upon Heaven and all that time look'd very ghastly recovering out of the Extasie and being asked by his Friends where he had been and what his Thoughts had been during those three days and what made him look so strangely O my Friends said he Do you ask me where I have been Alas I have been these three days standing before the great Tribunal and seen how the most just Judge sentenced divers Souls to Eternal Darkness and who would not stand amazed at the dreadful Spectacle It was therefore a very good Prayer of St. Ambrose I do most vehemently desire O Lord that thou wouldest be pleased to imprint and very deeply imprint the Land skip of the future World the Miseries of the Disobedient the Groans of the Stubborn the Agonies of the Impenitent the Shrieks of the Prophane the Vexations of Hypocrites the Fears of the Careless the Destruction of the Covetous the Perdition of Worldlings the Flames of the Revengeful the Terror of Damnation and Eternal Torments and the future Felicity of thy Kingdom upon my Mind for it is impossible that he that thinks much of these things should not become thy Child and Servant and one of those whom thou host predestinated to Eternal Life Dost thou laugh said the Old Man in Ruffinus to a Youngster whose Behaviour was very light when you and I are to be judged before Heaven and Earth And indeed that Person that surveys what the Divine Jesus hath said of this future Judgment thinks how in that Day the Powers of Heaven will be shaken the Sun turned into Darkness the Moon into Blood and the Stars forbear to give their Light how the World and all the Elements will be on Fire the Universe melt like Wax the Earth be burnt up the Seas dried and the Rivers consumed and with what Glory and Bravery the once afflicted Son of God will then appear with an Army of Angels about him displaying their Banners and carrying the Sign of the Son of Man before him how before him all Nations will be assembled and all that are in their graves upon hearing the Voice of God loud as Thunder and more dreadful too will be summoned to appear before his Bar the Judge shining in his Meridian-glory brighter than Moses clearer than the Sun and how the Consciences of guilty men will quake at this sight their Hearts misgiving them that their Portion will be in outward Darkness how formidable all the Transactions will be how immutable the Sentence after it is once passed not to be altered or deprecated by Saints or Angels how all Evasions Subterfuges will be out of doors there and all possibility of transferring our Errors upon others who have been Partners with us in our Sins will vanish how those that make themselves Fools for Christ's sake in this Life were reproached reviled derided and laughed at for their Severities would not lose their Souls for a Trifle nor sell their Birthright to Eternal Bliss for a Morsel of Meat would hold fast their integrity though solicited by innumerable Losses and Crosses and by their nearest Relations to curse God and die how these who were here made the off-scourings of all things will then be absolved and quitted and have Seats appointed them in the Mansions of Glory there to reign and sing the Goodness of God to all Eternity I say he that seriously surveys these things if he be a Person who hath not debauch'd or lost his Reason cannot but be affected by passages of this Nature and think it time to curb himself in his sensual Delights and Satisfactions But 2. Bare thinking is not enough but the Particulars of this future Judgment must be actually applied to our selves General things and what is done to others though they may touch the Heart yet do not subdue it till particular applications give them force and power A Fire that is a Mile off from me though it causes in me some sense of the Calamity yet if it threatens the House I live in my Faculties soon bestir themselves and I fall to work and secure my self in good earnest so here when I behold the tremendous Process of this Judgment I must reflect that as God deals with others so he will certainly deal with me that I have no greater privilege than others but must stand and fall by the same Law that they stand and fall by that to fancy any more favourable proceedings towards me than God intends to others is but a Dream and contrary to the impartiality of the Judge that as I have a Soul to be saved as well as my Neighbour so God will expect I should live here as he bids my Neighbour live that neither my Estate nor Dignity neither my Offices nor Friends neither my Riches nor my Greatness will excuse my living more carelesly than my poorer Friends nay that my outward Advantages make my Account greater and as I have had greater Talents bestowed upon me so more will be required of me than of them who have not had those opportunities of being good and holy which I have had that as God hath advanced me in the World placed me in a higher station given me a considerable figure here on Earth made his Candle to shine upon me caused my Root to spread by the Waters and the Dew of Heaven to lie all night upon my Branch and afforded me Credit and Respect among men so he looks for greater Fruitfulness in good Works and more than ordinary exemplariness to advance his Glory and to spread the Power of Religion among my Inferiors and Dependants and therefore upon a view of this future Process I must needs rouze my Soul by such Questions as these If God be resolved to judge the Secrets of mens hearts according to his Gospel what will become of me Should God call thee to Judgment O my Soul this Night or this Hour art thou in a condition to appeat before so great so dreadful a God Is this Foolery thou pleasest thy self with this wanton Dress this jolly Life these merry Hours this Gaming this Carousing this extravagant Laughter this Fondness of the Humor of the Age this immodest and frothy Talk this foolish Garb this phantastick Fashion this mispending thy Time this keeping of vain Company this unprofitable way of Living this thy being intent altogether upon the Profits and Pleasures of the World this Indifferency in Religion these faint Resistances of Temptations this Neglect of known Duties this unfaithful Discharge of the Duties of thy Relations this unwillingness to mind any thing that 's serious this Aversion from Spiritual Discourses and Actions this want of Gravity c. Are these fit Wedding-Garments to come before the King of Heaven in Thou maist be summon'd to come to his Bar within this day or two think what an infinite Majesty thou must be presented to Should God speak the word within a few Minutes Come away come away and give an Account of thy Behaviour how unprepared art thou
of that future Judgment and consequently is enough to check and damp the greatest Jollities on this side Hell and though it 's true that it doth not cause the least disturbance in thousands of Men that drink of these stollen waters for men in this Age are as jovial as ever and a Judgment to come frights them no more than an House on fire a Thousand Miles off but sure this is for want of taking the proper way and method which God and Reason doth prescribe and what that way and method is shall be shewn in the following Paragraph 3. How the Prospect of that future Judgment must be managed that it may actually damp and put a stop to these carnal Delights This is to be done no other way but 1. By thinking reflecting and ruminating upon that future Judgment This stands to Reason for except things be made visible to us how shall they move or fright us This future Judgment being out of sight and afar off it must be brought near and set before us and there is no way to do it but by thinking Our Thoughts are the Picture-drawers which make the Land-skip of that Judgment so lively that our Faculties cannot but be signally affected with it These are the Divine Part within us which can make things past and future as present and summon the remotest Objects to become familiar and palpable These are the Glasses in which all that God hath said or promised or threatned becomes visible and with the help of these we may make that Substance which seemed but Air before and condense that into solid Notions which to a carnal Man seemed but Fancy and Wind before These can make us in a manner grasp and feel that which was out of our reach before and make us concern'd about things which we neither see nor hear nor feel with our grosser Organs These can transplant the other World into this and make Eternity appear before us though we live in Tabernacles of Clay To prove this we need only appeal to Experience Behold those pious Souls that take a course contrary to that of the World What makes them afraid of sinning What makes them afraid of running with their Neighbors into Riot What makes them that they dare not do what some of their Carnal Acquaintance and Relations do What makes them mourn What makes them rejoyce in Spirit You see nothing that have reason to mourn for They have a competency they want nothing in the World they have Necessaries and Conveniencies and they prosper in their lawful Undertakings and under some of their greatest Afflictions you see nothing that should make them chearful no outward cause of their Joy but rather all that is about them is an invitation to sorrow and dejection Why They are invisible things that make them mourn and rejoyce and by thinking of them they make them visible and so visible that they are affected with them as much as other men are with Objects that incur into their Senses by thinking they see the Terrors of the Lord and the Affronts they have offered to the Divine Majesty and the Wounds they have given to their own Souls and that makes them weep by thinking they see the Glory that is set before them and the recompence which is promised them and the Right and Title they have to it and that makes their Soul rejoyce So then by thinking this future Judgment may be seen and if it be seen in any lively colours there is no Sinner so stout no Man so perverse no Creature so dull and stupid but it will startle him and put Wormwood into his Cup. When I eat or drink or whatever I do the last Trump sounds in mine Ears and I think I hear the terrible Voice of the Arch. Angel Arise ye dead and come to Judgment saith St. Hierom These Thoughts made him eat and drink with great moderation These brought a holy Fear upon him in all his Actions These kept him from going beyond the Bounds God had set him These struck Seriousness into him in all places These made him as circumspect in the Market-place as if he had been at Church and as devout in the Street as if he had stood at the High Altar And therefore I do not wonder at that Hermit that he became so serious a Man as Antiquity reports him who carried a little Book about him consisting only of four Leaves in which he was always seen reading and after reading meditating in the first Leaf was expressed Christ's Passion and what that Darling of Mankind suffered for poor Mortals during his abode in the World in the second was represented the Process of the future Judgment with the Terrors and Consternations that guilty men will be in at that time in the third were described the Glories of Paradise and of that third Heaven which all holy Souls shall enter into there to possess the Inheritance of the Saints in light in the fourth was drawn to the life the Picture of Hell and of the Miseries which shall await the stubborn and impenitent in the next life These four Leaves were soon read over but they afforded infinite Matter for Thoughts and Meditations and by these his Soul was so warmed that he cared not what became of him here so he might but enjoy the promised Glory and that Life and Immortality Christ had brought to light by the Gospel So true is that Saying of St. Chrysosiom There is no Man that thinks much of Hell that will ever fall into it as indeed there is no Man who makes light of it that will ever escape it For as it is among men they that are afraid of the Penalties of the Law seldom or never feel them for their Fear makes them shun those Actions which deserve them This keeps them from Theft and Rapine from Murder and Adultery from Burglary and Wrong from Violence and Oppression and consequently from the punishments the Law inflicts in such Cases The Plagues and the Stripes they fear make them cautious and whatever their inclination may be the Rods and Axes they fear restrain them whereas those that are regardless of the Mulct bring it upon themselves so it is here the frequent thinking of it is the best Antidote against the Terrors of that future Judgment If the Ninivites had not feared their overthrow they had certainly been overthrown and how could they have feared it if they had not thought of it If the men that lived before the Flood had thought of it and been afraid they would not have been drowned nor would the People of Sodom have been consumed by Fire if they had taken this course It 's a great Misfortune not to think of the fulfilling of Gods Threatnings for he that thinks not of it of all men will be the first that shall have woful experience of it It is reported of Agatho That in his last Sickness falling into a Trance for three days together he lay with his Eyes fixed
that thou art of nor so much his Religion because he professes the same Faith with thee nor so much his Person because he is a Gentleman nor so much his readiness to extol thy bounty as the Love and Charity of the Holy Jesus to thy Soul and Body Have that in thine Eye chiefly when thou openest thy Hand let him be in thy Mind when thou distributest thy bounty this makes thy Charity amiable and acceptable and fit to be proclaimed and commended in this Day And indeed How dost thou know Christian but that thy Saviour may sometimes disguise himself and appear to thee in the shape of a poor Man and wilt not thou give freely wilt not thou give cheerfully wilt not thou give readily since thou knowest not but thou may'st give it to thy Saviour himself And how glorious an Encomium will it be in the last Day to hear him say before the World I was naked and this good Man cloathed me I was in Prison and he visited me The three Angels of Old disguised themselves in the shape of Travellers to try Abraham's hospitality and from hence possibly came the Heathenish Fables that their Jupiter came in the Habit of a poor Man to Philemon who entertaining him Jupiter made his House a Temple and the Owner the Priest of it and that Apollo coming as a Traveller to Mydas and being kindly entertain'd by him rewarded his Bounty with vast Wealth and Riches tho' we have no warrant from Scripture to believe that Christ doth actually disguise himself to us in such shapes and appears to us to try our Charity yet it is no impossible thing and we may piously believe it thereby to encourage our selves to cheerful Contributions lest finding us hard-hearted and ill-natured covetous and incompassionate he deal with us as Jupiter among the Heathens is said to have dealt with Lycaon whom when he came to visit as a guest and found cruel instead of being hospitable he turned him into a Wolf Christ hath threatned the hard hearted a worse and stranger Metamorphosis for they that will not be like him in doing good shall be doomed to be like Devils to mourn and lament as they and to Eternal Ages too for this is the Sentence Go into Everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels for I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat c. Mat. 25. 41 42. 12. Let nothing discourage you from admiring those men who live in the Thoughts and Contemplation of this future Judgment We admire men for their Parts Abilities and Accomplishments we admire Aristotle for his Learning Archimedes for his Mathemathicks Socrates for his Gravity Absolom for his Beauty Achitophel for his Policy Saul for his Tallness Arion for his Musick Asahel for his Nimbleness the Men of Benjamin for their Skill in Slinging Darius for his Gratitude Cicero for speaking Virgil for Poetry Urbino for Painting c. but these are poor things for our Reason to admire Men that live Day and Night in a sense of this future Judgment live continually in expectation of the Arch-angel's Trumpet or the Summons of Almighty God these are the Men whose Praise we ought to shew forth in the Gates Let others admire Demosthenes for his Rhetorick I will admire St. Paul who so look'd at the things not seen even at this Judgment as to rejoyce in Tribulation and though troubled on every side yet was not distressed though perplex'd yet was not in despair tho' persecuted yet was not forsaken tho' cast down yet was not destroyed appeared to the World as sorrowful yet was always rejoycing as poor yet made many rich as having nothing and yet possessed all things 2 Cor. 4. 7 8 18. 2 Cor. 6. 10. Let others admire Arcesilaus for his Prudence Scipio for his Fortitude Aristoclides for his humanity Pythagoras for his Philosophy I will admire the Primitive Believers who stood in such awe of this Great Day that their constant Thoughts and Contrivances were how to resist their Adversary the Devil and upon this account stood fast in the Faith quitted themselves like Men were strong and always abounding in the work of the Lord. The thoughts of that Day made them vigilant sober heavenly minded despisers of the World charitable kind tender-hearted fruitful in all good Works and why should we delude our selves or fancy we need not do so or that they did more than they ought to have done The Best of Men the Wisest Men the Holiest Men that ever lived have been frighted over-awed supported preserved in goodness by the contemplations of that Day and therefore if we are not it 's no sign that we are wiser than they but that we are more stupid we are all ambitious of participating of their glory and why should we be afraid of taking the way that led them to it These are the men who choose the better part These are the men who though laugh'd at by the World are a Crown of Glory and a Royal Diadem in the Hand of their God and for their Shame they shall have Double and for their confusion they shall rejoice in their portion Their light shall come the Glory of the Lord shall rise upon them They shall break forth on the right Hand and on the left and in Righteousness shall they be established They shall dwell on high their place of defence shall be the Munition of Rocks Bread shall be given them their Water shall be sure Their Eyes shall see the King of Glory in his Beauty they shall behold the Land that is very far off even the Land where Rivers of Pleasures flow where no Tears are to be seen no Sorrow to be found no anguish to be heard of These are the Men which at last shall sit down in the Throne of God and having suffered Hunger and Thrist with the Holy Jesus here shall Eat and Drink at his Table in his Kingdom These Men will at last be look'd upon with greater fear and reverence than now they are and when the bruitish World shall see them advanced to the highest Seats of Bliss and behold that these which once were the most contemptible Creatures shall judge the World with the Son of God they will change their Voices and with the Maltheses be ready to call them Gods whom but a little before they condemned as Varlets and Villains I conclude this discourse with St. Peter's exhortation 2 Pet. 3. 9. 15. The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise as some men count slackness but is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance But the Day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the Night in the which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness looking for and hastening unto the coming of the Day of God wherein the Heavens being on Fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat Nevertheless we according to his Promise look for New Heavens and a New Earth wherein dwells Righteousness wherefore Beloved seeing that ye look for such things be diligent that you may be found of him in Peace without Spot and Blameless FINIS Socrat. Eccl. Hist. l. 1. c. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 24. 25. Plat. in Phaed. Psal. 8. 6. 2 Sam. 15. 23. Isa. 1. 3. Lam. 1. 12 13 14. Chrysost. Hom 2. in 2 Thessalon Rev. 22. 15. Zeph. 1. 14 15 16 17 18. Prov. 5. 11 12. Happy Asectic p. 425. Seq Phil. 4. 4. Eccles. 2. 4 8 10 11. Gen. 4. 21. Conc. Eliber c. 79. Conc. Const. 6. c. 50. Es. 3. 18 19 20 21. 1 Tim. 2. 9 10. 1 Pet. 3. 3 4. De Serm. in Monte lib. 2. 1 Tim. 2. 9 1 Pet. 3. 3. Vid. Chrysost. Hom. 10. in Col. Vid. Cypr. de Habit. Virg. Ed. Oxon. p. 95. Est. 14. 16. Cyprian de Habit Virgin Rev. 17. 4. Tertul. de cult Foem l. 2. c. 13. Vid. Celada commentar in Judith c. 10. Plutarch in Apophthegm Aelian var. Hist. l. 8. Rom. 8. 9. Rom. 8. 5. Platin. in Paul 2. Euseb. l. 5. c. 15. Greg. Naz. in laudem Gorg. De Habit. virg p. 100. Homil. 31. in Matth. Vid. P. Martyr loc com class 2. c. 11. P. Mart. loc cit Summ. Part. 2. tit 6. c. 6. ss 3. De Bell. Belg. l. 1. Hom. 49. in Matth. De và nit scient c. 18. Ps. 119. 47. Exod. 23. 13. Vid. Gerh. Joh. Voss. de Idol l. 2. c. 8. Matt. 5. 13. Ephes. 5. 4. Mar. 8. 38. Salvian de gubern Dei lib. 6. Tertul. de spect c. 15. c. 15. c. 15. c. 16. c. 17. c. 23. c. 23. c. 25. c. 25. c. 26. c. 26. c. 27. c. 29. 2 Cor. 6. 4 5. Pro. 7. 14. Vid Drexel Tribun Christi l. 1. c. 8. ss 5. In Epitaph Paulae Rom. Rev. 21. 20 21. Psal. 37. 6. 1 Pet. 2. 23. Matt. 11. 22. Luke 6. 38.
Talking loosly c. But in some measure in Lawful also especially where a greater good is to be promoted and hath bid us use these outward Comforts as if we used them not and rejoyce in them as if we rejoyced not with fear and cautiousness that they draw not our hearts away and with a generous indifferency as Persons who have laid up their Treasure in another World and look for the Blessed Hope and the Glorious appearing of the great God Such a Judge appears in this prospect one who descended into this vally of Tears upon the most serious Errand imaginable even to call Sinners to Repentance to make them sensible of what God expects at their hands to convince them that they have Souls to be saved to assure them that though God is patient yet he will not be everlastingly affronted by bold and daring Men and judges otherwise of things than besotted Mortals and is in good earnest when he bids them set their Affections upon the things which are above one who will not be put off with fooling nor spare a Malefactor for a jest one who gave Mankind a Being and Habitation here not to play but to work not to mind Trifles and Rattles but the Concerns of a tremendous Eternity a Judge whose Eyes are like Flames of Fire and his Feet like Brass glowing in a Furnace who was indeed a Lamb when he had his conversation here on Earth and like one was led to the slaughter not opening his Mouth and is still so to all those that take his Yoke upon them and learn of him to be humble and meek but will at last appear in all the Robes of Majesty which the Clouds of Heaven and a Guard of Ten Thousand times Ten Thousand Angels and all the Light of the Throne of God can furnish him with This Judge knows all the Secrets of our Hearts and before him all things are naked and open and no Creature can hide himself he is one who cannot be imposed upon by Sophistry nor nor wheadled into a wrong Judgment of things by equivocation whose presence will shake the World and put the greatest Captains and stoutest Souldiers into Fits of Trembling and make them cry to Rocks and Mountains Fall on us and hide us from the Face of him that sits upon the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb. This Judge is not to be corrupted nor to be bribed cannot be carried away with outward respects which make Judges here on Earth pervert Judgment these judge too often according to Affection and call white black and black white good evil and evil good defend vice under the notion of virtue rashness under the name of fortitude laziness under the colour of moderation and timorousness under the title of cautiousness these do too often become advocates for the Prodigal and call them liberal and generous the covetous with them pass for frugal the Lascivious for Courtiers the Talkative for affable the Obstinate for Men of resolution and the Dull and Idle for persons who act with great deliberation Love to their Kindred and Blood makes them extenuate Faults in their Relations and that which appears an inexpiable crime in Strangers seems but a peccadillo or infirmity in a Child or Brother Herod hurried away with his Amours to Herodias beheads the innocent Baptist Flaminius out of Love to his Harlot violates the Publick Faith Julius Caesar out of fondness to Cleopatra gives Sentence against her Brothers David's inordinate affection to a Rebel-Son tempts him to give the Army charge to take care of the young Man Absolom But the Judge we speak of is of another temper it was his Character here on Earth that he was no respecter of Persons nor could the Sons of Zebedee prevail with him to place them one at his right hand the other at his left and it was not Kindred he would advance to that Dignity but such for whom it was prepared by his Father Hence it was that his Mother and Brethren found no farther acceptance with him than they were obedient to his Word and he deliver'd it as his Eternal Rule They that do the will of my Father they are my Mother and Brethren and Sisters and with this Motto he gave a Reprimand to the Woman that cried Blessed is the Womb that bare thee and the Paps which thou hast sucked yea blessed are they said he who hear the Word of God and do it And he that here on Earth could not be wrought upon by Kindred or Consanguinity nor blinded by Affection sure will not be misled by these false Fires in the great Day of Judgment Judges here on Earth if Passion or Hatred to a Man reigns in their Minds are too often tempted to pass wrong Sentences What the Effects of Prognes hatred to her Husband Tereus were and how the innocent Son suffered by it how dire the hatred of Medea to Jason was and drew the death of their Children after it how Joseph's Brethren condemned that guiltless Soul meerly because they hated and envied him and how the Jews dealt with our great Master the Lord Jesus upon this Principle both Civil and Sacred Histories do sufficiently manifest But this impotent Passion cannot light upon him who is to be the Judge in the last Day He hates nothing that he hath made and is so great a lover of all Mankind that he would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledg of the Truth and would give them all Eternal Life if they would but take the way he prescribes them The Devils themselves could they be penitent would be received into favour and let a Man be born of a Jew or Turk if he do but bring forth fruits meet for Repentance neither his odious Name nor loathsome Kindred shall exclude him from his bosom He hath no secret Spleen or Pique against any Person living and though God under the Law seems to vent a particular displeasure against the seven Nations and especially against the Amalekites yet it was for their monstrous and unnatural Sins that his just Displeasure rose against them not any private Grudge or Envy he bore to them as Men above other of his Creatures Such Imperfections are not incident to our Judge who detests and abhors no person but what makes himself deformed and odious to his purer Eyes and in every Nation whosoever serves him and works Righteousness is accepted of him Fear very often prevails upon Governors and Men in Office here upon Earth that they dare not speak their mind in passing Sentence for fear of offending a Favorite or losing their Places or being accounted pragmatical or missing such a Preferment distorts their Judgments and makes them take wrong measures of things This makes Laws Cobwebs for great Men and Traps to catch lesser Animals this tempted Pilate to crucifie the Holy Jesus and though he was sensible of his Innocence yet the word If thou let this Man go thou art not Caesar ' s Friend turns
to Gods Vengeance who would in despight of all the Offers of Gods favour prefer their Dirt and Trash before an invisible lasting and solid Felicity And though its true that holy mens Sins are said in Scripture to be covered and God is brought in promising to remember their Sins no more but to drown them all in the depth of the Sea yet can the meaning of such Passages be no other than this that God will not remember them so as to make use of their Errors against them to their ruine and condemnation notwithstanding this he may justly publish them that their Wisdom being compared with their Folly that may appear to go beyond this and themselves from the thoughts of their former Sins may reap the greater comfort as Agathocles being advanced from the Trade of a Potter to a Throne at his Meals would still make use of Earthen Pots not only to remember his Original but from the contemplation of his former poor and miserable Condition to increase his present satisfaction for as in our fall from a high degree of Prosperity to the greatest Poverty and Misery nothing torments the Mind more than the Remembrance that once it was otherwise with us so where Providence is so kind as to bring us out of a horrible Pit and sets our Feet upon a Rock the remembrance of our former Misery signally increases our Joy and Comfort in the present Mercy So then in this great Day all mens Sins will be examined and published though with different effects the Penitents to their absolution and glory the Impenitents to their terror and condemnation for to be presented there with a List of innumerable offences and Affronts of the Divine Majesty which their own Consciences know and must acknowledg which yet they either never seriously thought of or never seriously attempted to forsake or if they repented discovered only a mock-repentance what effects can this be supposed to cause but monstrous confusion and horror of mind Enough to put men into the greatest rage and distraction to think that they should neglect purchasing the Pearl of Price when it was offered to their choice by God and Man Here particular enquiry will be made how we have discharged the Duties of our several Relations it 's not the Purple of Princes nor the Rods and Axes of Magistrates that will make the Almighty afraid of demanding of them whether they have ruled their Subjects in the fear of God shewn them a good Example and punished the obstinate and encouraged the good and made it their business to advance Gods glory and to maintain the true worship of the living God Nor will Subjects be excused here neither must they think to come off without making distinct Answers to these Interrogatories Whether they have obeyed not only for Wrath but for Conscience-sake whether they have behaved themselves peaceably under the Government they have lived under whether they have paid Tribute to whom Tribute was due Honour to whom Honour and whether they have not used their Liberty for a Cloak of Maliciousness In the same manner Parents will be strictly examined Whether they have brought up their Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Children Whether they have honoured their Parents as became persons who under God owed their Being to them Servants whether they served their Masters according to the Flesh in singleness of Heart as unto Christ And likewise all other Persons according to the Relations and Offices they stood in for in all these Relations men are Stewards and both Reason and Gods Justice and his Word require that all should give an Account of their Stewardship At this time the Soul being throughly awaken'd from her former Lethargy every Sin will appear more dreadful every Error more red every Fault more bloody every Offence blacker than ordinary for the Fire of that Day doth not only scorch but enlighten and elevate the Soul into a thinking state and none of the former Impediments will now be able to divert her Thoughts which will be fix'd upon an offended God and his Majesty Greatness and Holiness and make at this time more sensible impressions on her while every thing especially what hath been committed against God will appear in more lively Colours and consequently if the Conscience hath not the remembrance of a former sincere Repentance to support her self withal the frights must necessarily be great and the whole Frame sink into inexpressible confusion There are innumerable Sins which neither Prince nor Magistrate can take notice of How many Poor are oppressed How many innocent men wrong'd daily A Socrates is abused and hath no helper but neither this Mans Misery nor the others oppression shall escape the Eyes of that all-seeing Judge who will infallibly publish both the one and the other and make good the Type St. John speaks oâ— Rev. 6. 5. And I beheld a black Horse and he that sate on him had a pair of Ballances in his Hand Ballances to weigh every mans evil works which if they be found to preponderate above the good or to be pure Sins pure Offences without a godly sorrow to take off either the colour or the weight all will be turned into blackness and desolation 3. In the Prospect of this Judgment there appears a very wonderful Scene the same Person that is the Judge is the Lawgiver too the Party offended the witness and his own Advocate He that shall sit on the Tribunal in that Day was the Person that came down from Heaven and blessed the World with the equitable Precepts of the Gospel it 's he that went up into a Mountain and from that Pulpit pronounced Blessed are the Poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the Earth Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled c. Matth. 5. 1 2 3 4 5 6. It 's he that came to undeceive both the Jewish and Heathen World in the false Notions they had imbibed concerning their Duty and cleared the Moral Law of Moses of the false Glosses the Pharisees had put upon it explain'd the will of God set it naked and pure before the People he came to call to Repentance and let them see what were the proper Preparatives for the everlasting Joys of Heaven It 's he who guarded the Law which he promulged with Sanctions sutable to his majesty and greatness and as he made the Rewards eternal so the Punishments he threatned to the stubborn and impenitent were endless too So it became him who appeared in the World to offer infinite Mercy to poor Sinners to reveal to them Gods infinite Love to their Souls and to acquaint them with the infinite condescension of the Son of God who would humble himself to the Death of the Cross to redeem them from the Bondage of the Devil He that came into this Valley of
Friends what shall we say what Apology shall we make when this Judge shall plead for himself in that Day Thou disobedient Wretch I made thee of Clay with mine own hands and breathed the Breath of Life into thee I made thee after my Image I gave thee Reason and Understanding and Power and Dominion over the Beasts of the Field a Mercy which iâ— I had not vouchsafed unto thee those Creatures which are stronger than thou would have master'd and destroy'd thee I placed thee among the Pleasures of Paradise made thee a happy Inhabitant of Eden and when thou wouldest needs hearken to the false and treacherous Suggestions of thy sworn Enemy behold in pity and commiseration to thee I resolved to be born of a Virgin and accordingly took Flesh and became Man for thy sake was born in a Stable lay unregarded in a Manager swadled in Rags and Clouts endured all the Reproaches and Injuries that Childhood is subject to bore thy griefs and assumed thy infirmities and was made like thy self that thou mightest be like me in Felicity at the end of thy Race I suffered men to trample on me to buffet me to spit in my Face to give me Gall and Vinegar to drink to scourge me to crown me with Thorns to wound and nail me to the Cross and all this that I might deliver thee from Eternal Contempt and Torments Behold the Mark of the Nails which were struck into my Flesh. Behold my wounded side I suffered that thou mightest triumph I died that thou mightest live was buried that thou mightest rise and made my self a scorn of the People that thou mightest reign in Heaven and why wouldest thou throw away this Mercy Why wouldest thou refuse this Treasure What evil Spirit did possess thee to make light of these kindnesses Why wouldest thou pollute that Soul which I redeemed with mine own Blood Why wouldest thou make thy Heart a habitation of Devils which I intended for my Throne Why wouldest thou lose that which I purchased at so dear a rate What pleasure couldest thou take in doing that which cost me so many Sighs and Tears and a bloody Sweat Why wouldest thou make a mock of so great a Mercy How couldest thou undervalue a Favour of that importance and consequence Can any Hell be thought too much for such Stubbornness Either thou didst believe that thy God did all this for thee or thou didst not If thou didst not believe it why didst thou make confession of it with thy Mouth If thou didst how couldest thou be so ungrateful How couldest thou abuse a Friendship of that worth and value Thou lovest a Friend a Neighbour a Man a Woman for Kindnesses which are meer Shadows and Bubbles to my Love and hadst not thou reason to love me beyond all earthly Comforts Hadst not thou reason to prefer my Favour before the Smiles of a transitory World How did I deserve such preposterous usages at thy hands Couldest thou have dealt worse with a Slave or with an Enemy than thou hast done with me Did this condescension deserve dost thou think such Affronts and Injuries such Contempt and Disobedience as thou hast returned to me Therefore as for those mine Enemies which would not have this Man to reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me All this appears in the Prospect of a future Judgment and therefore there must be Vertue in it to check that Mirth and Jollity which infatuates Souls and leads them into ruine 4. In the Prospect of this future Judgment there appears the unspeakable anguish and misery of those who have been most jolly and merry in this Life Dives who cloath'd himself in Purple and fine Linnen and fared sumptuously every day appears there quaking and trembling and crying Father Abraham Have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my Tongue his Tables which were overlaid with Silver his richer Beds his Tapestry his Ornaments his Ointments his Balsams his Cordials his delicate Wines his various Dishes his Cooks his Flatterers his Parasites his Retinue his Servants and all the Noise and Pomp that attended him are not only extinct and turned into Ashes and Dust and Dirt but his naked Soul is dragg'd and carried before a tremendous Majesty to endure intolerable torments and before this terrible God â—e appears with his Eyes cast down blushing and ashamed trembling and fearful and all his former Comforts seem to have been but dreams to him See how the Scene is changed he to whom the poor man formerly supplicated for relief now is forced to supplicate to the poor Man to be relieved of him would be glad of Lazarus's Table who once scorned to let Lazarus gather the Crumbs that fell from his when Lazarus was near him he slighted him now he is afar off he adores him and himself now is the poor man while Lazarus swims in Riches such a discovery doth that last Day make who are the Rich and who are the Poor who the Wise and who the Fools In this Judgment Nimrod Senacharib Nebuchadnezzar Belshazzar Tiberius Nero Domitian men who would be thought Gods and denied themselves in no pleasure their Fancies craved stand all ashamed and confounded flames of a guilty Conscience burning in their Breasts and forcing their voices into bitter lamentations there Sardanapalus Croesus Cambyses Herod and all the Mighty men that spared no Woman in their Lust and no Man in their Anger appear all like guilty Malefactors their Hearts failing them for fear and they chaâ—tering like a Crane and mourning like a Dove and bewailing their aiery short and transitory satisfactions and cursing the Hour and the Minute when the first Temptations courted them to those dangerous Embraces there Cleopatra that sailed in a Vessel glistering with Gold a Vessel fitted for Pride and Luxury and Magnificence and tried how far Sensuality might be improved and to what height brutish Pleasure might be advanced there the wretched Woman is seen not so much with Serpents clasping about her Breast as with a Worm within that dies not tormenting her awakened Conscience with shapes of Death and Images of Ruine and all the Beasts that here could not be satisfied with Pleasure there cannot be eased of gnawing Vultures and Agonies for these the just God must at last inflict to make them sensible that his Threatnings were no Fables and to let them see that the Advices of wise Men and Philosophers who exhorted them to the study of Virtue were grounded on rational Foundations These Tortures and Vexations must not expire till the Ancient of Days who was affronted by their sins doth die and that 's never he being the same yesterday to day and for ever Thus their sweet Meat must have sour Sauce and if they will have their Pleasures they must feel the Sting too that 's inseparably affix'd to them The Bait cannot be swallowed without the Hook and as pleasant as the Honey is
must be the fullness of his vertues that it may burst out from the mind within to the habit without and press from the conscience to the outward man that men from without may see what store and treasure he hath in the secret recesses of his Soul Voluptuousness and Wantonness must be renounced for by these the Vertue of Faith loses its masculine vigor I doubt the hand that hath been used to Bracelets will never endure the sturdiness of a Chain for Christ Jesus nor can I apprehend how the Knee used to a soft Garter will be able to endure the Stocks or Racks for the Gospel and I very much question whether that Neck which glistered with Pearls and precious Stones will ever yield unto the Sword of persecution therefore my beloved let 's chuse hard and uneasie things and we shall not feel them let 's forsake the pleasant things of this World and we shall not desire them these are the Anchors of our hope let 's lay aside these outward gayeties if we aim at the Wedding Garment in Heaven let not Gold prove the object of our love by which the sins of Israel are expressed let 's hate that which hath undone the Patriarchs and was adored by them after they had forsaken the fountain of living waters Come forth beloved and set before you the rich attire of the Prophets and Apostles of our Lord take your fairness from their simplicity your blushes from their modesty paint your eyes with their shamefacedness and your lips with their self-denial in speaking instead of Pendants insert in your ears the word of God and let your necks bear the yoke of Christ Jesus submit your heads to your own Husbands and then you 'll be dressed like Christians employ your hands about Wool and as much as you can keep at home and this will render you more amiable than Gold Clothe your selves with the Silk of Innocence with the Velvet of Holiness and with the Purple of Chastity and thus adorned God will fall in love with you 10. Delight in Painting and Patching and artificial meliorations of the Fate and Skin to please and delude spectators or to draw others into admiration of our persons as it is a thing which the very Heathens have condemn'd for reasons drawn from the light of nature so it is almost needless to discourse of it or to batter it with Arms and Weapons out of the Magazine of the Gospel This Delight hath in most Ages been infamous and the thing it self counted incongruous with the Law of our very Creation The Fathers of the second third and fourth Centuries derive the Original of it from the Devil and will allow nothing of this nature in any person that looks like a Christian It is a sign that the Spirit of Christ doth not dwell in a person that dares delight in such Vanities for that Spirit inclines the Soul to other things makes her regardless of Beauty and external Comeliness obliges her solicitous about inward Accomplishments and how she may please him that died and hath purchased an eternal Salvation for her and it 's enough that he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his A Soul that hath the Spirit of Christ hath other things to do than spend her time and care in mending the Face for they that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit And what are the things of the Spirit but setting our affections upon the things which are above meditating of the purchased possession longing after the light of God's countenance despising the world self-denial taking up the Cross of Christ a transcendent love of God a burning zeal to his Glory laying up in store a good foundation against the time to come growing strong in the Lord and in the power of his might resisting temptations growing in Grace labouring after a greater hatred of sin a greater fore-taste of Heaven a greater conformity to the Will of God a greater sense of the love of God c. And he that in good earnest minds these things will have no great desire to busie himself about such pitiful trivial and impertinent things these will be trash and dirt to him and his Soul will soar above them and scorn them as the Devils Lime twigs whereby he lies in wait to deceive And though I will not deny but that a man in case of danger and when his Life is in jeopardy or when he would pass through a party of his Enemies may lawfully disguise himself and by Art change and alter his Countenance that he may not be known and though a man who hath lately had the Small Pox or hath been Sun-burnt or whose Face hath been parch'd with Wind may lawfully take care by ordinary helps to reduce his face to his former or native colour and complexion and though we do not judge it against the Law of God to hide some great Blemish or Defect in the Face whereby Spectators may be offended and particularly Women that are with Child frighted and though it is not inconsistent with the Rule of the Gospel to wash the Face when dirty yet all those Pains and additional Washes and artificial black Spots whereby Men and Women endeavour either to set off their complexion the better to give themselves a more pleasing Colour or to mend their Meen or to make themselves look more beautiful or to attract the Eyes and Admiration and sometimes the unlawful Amours of those they converse withal are things which a Christian must be a stranger to When I say Men it is not without reason for we read of such a Beast as Paul the Second Pope of Rome who whenever he went abroad painted himself that the Beauty of his Face might in some measure be answerable to the Comeliness of his Stature which was procere and tall and it is to be feared that this Effeminacy dwells in too many Persons of the Masculine Sex at this day However as Women are usually more faulty this way than Men so they give us but small hopes to believe that they are Heirs of Heaven while they are so industrious to please their Acquaintance and others here on Earth St. Paul would not please Men no not in the Ceremonies of the Law which were things formerly commanded by God thinking it unworthy of a Christian that had been freed from that Yoke by the Son of God and how unworthy must it be then to please Men in things which God hath never commanded nay by many hints and places discovered his dislike of How justly may God look upon it as Presumption to alter that Face which he thought fit to create in that shape it is of And what is it but contending with our Maker and expostulating with the Potter Why hast thou made me thus and controuling his Art and Wisdom while not content with the Countenance he hath given we seek
an hypocrite did practise it Here few sacred things are spared if they serve to make up the Decorum of the Act and Heathenism is reduced into Christian territories in a pleasant way The Pagan Gods must make the Drama great and while these are in all the Actors mouths the licentious spectator in time applies that to the true which the fond Poet ascribed to fictitious Deities Here the supream Creator is too often reviled through the ill language that 's given to Heathen Numens and things that savour of real piety rendred flat insipid and impertinent here all that may raise the Flesh into action and desire is advanced and whatever serves to lay reason asleep and to exalt fancy and imagination and the glory of the World is made the proper object of admiration Here all thâ— wanton looks and gestures and postureâ— that be in the mode are practised according to art and you may remember yoâ— have seen people when dismist from a Play strive and labour to get that grace and antick meen they saw in the Mimick on the Stage Here men swear and curse and actually imprecate themselves and tho' they do it under the name of the person they act yet their own tongue speaks their sin their body is the agent that commits it and thus they damn themselves for a Man in imagination And are these things fit for a Christian to behold a Christian who is to be a new Creature a candidate of Eternity an heir of Heaven an Enemy to the World a spiritual Prince a King over his lusts and Emperour over his carnal desires Is this a sight agreeable to the strait way and the narrow gate which leads to life Can you or any man reconcile such darkness with light such Idols with the Temple of God Is there any thing in the Gospel more plainly forbid than conforming to the World and what can that prohibition import if conformity to the World in beholding these dangerous sights be not in a great measure meant by it We may put forced glosses upon the words but doth not this look like the natural sense of them Holiness for without it no man shall ever see the Lord is the very Character of men who name the name of Christ if they bear not that name in vain and will any man of sense be so bold as to say that Shews which have so much sin in them are suitable to that Holiness We know who said Turn away mine eyes from beholding Vanity and who sees not that he who delights in such shews neither dares pray that Prayer nor can have any desire to imitate David in his holiness for he is pleased with vanity fixes his eyes upon it makes it the pleasing object of his sight and consequently instead of turning his eyes away from it turns them to it and would not for a World lose that pleasure If thy right Eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitablâ— for thee that one of thy members shoulâ— perish and not that thy whole body shoulâ— be cast into Hell said he who hath protested that not the least tittle or jota oâ— his words shall perish Matth. 5. 29. If there be any sense in this passage the meaning must necessarily be that if the eye or beholding an object prove an occasion of evil the eye must be so carefully and so totally withdrawn from that object as if it were actually pluck'd out or were of no use in the body what an occasion of evil the beholding of such Scurrilous shews is none can judge so well as he who takes notice how by these sights the horror which attended some sins is taken off and men are tempted to entertain a more favourable opinion of them how apt upon these occasions they are to laugh at those sins which require rivers of tears and to smile at the jest they hear which deserves their most rigid censures how natural it is to be affected with these representations and if there be any thing of evil in them how readily is it imbiâ—ed for if not imbibed yet excused if not totally excused yet qualified and construed as a thing of no great hurt and thus its dreadfulness abates and it 's afterwards left out in the Catalogue of errors God was either so jealous of his own glory or so tender of the spiritual welfare of the Israelites that he would not suffer them to take the names of the Heathen Gods in their mouths nor suffer them familiarly to mention them for fear their frequent naming of them should lessen their awful apprehensions of the supream Deity or they be tempted through that familiarity to think there was no great harm in worshiping of them this was no ceremonial precept nor judicial The substance is moral and consequently cannot be supposed to be abolish'd by the death of Christ and since God would not permit it to the Jews how should he be supposed to give leave to Christians of whom he requires greater strictness to be lavish in such expressions How iâ— our modern Plays in most addresseâ— wishes and imprecations the Heatheâ— Deities are brought in I need not tâ— you The Actors indeed swear bâ— God in the singular number but 〈◊〉 their entire Harangues or witty sentences or expressions which they iâ— tend shall move most the Gods arâ— call'd in and that 's the grace 〈◊〉 their part If it be said that this 〈◊〉 done out of a reverential respect tâ— the true God who is too great to be mention'd in such trivial speeches 't is soon replied that it 's a very marvellous thing they should stand iâ— awe of the true God and yet maâ—â— nothing of swearing by him and takinâ— his name in vain and tho' they minâ— their Oaths sometimes yet that doâ—â— not excuse the crime as long as 〈◊〉 shews their willingness to act it bâ—â— the truth is such men seek to tuâ—â— Religion again into Paganism so thâ— style they use in their respectivâ— speeches about things above is fitteâ— for that purpose I know that it 's commonly alledged that the stories which are Acted relate to transactions among the Gentiles and that it would be incongruous to represent their actions and not to mention their Deities or to speak in their language but not to mention that there is no necessity of representing passages of this nature â—here being as noble things among Christians that deserve remembrance why cannot the vertues of Pagans be represented without mentioning their Gods or the sins and extravagancies of their Gods whereby corrupted nature is so easily debauch'd into a mean opinion of the great Sovereign Being and tempted to believe the powers above either subject to the same infirmities that we are or at â—east not much displeased with our irregularities here below He that makes bold with false Gods does very easily slide into contempt of the true and while men are brought in to dare the supposed Deities above they 'll
have the same effect in you if you use the same means why should you not fear the same unhappy influence Why should you shut your eyes against a thing as clear as the Sun Do not you see do not you perceive how sin grows upon you by frequenting these places Do not you find how under these shews the brutish part in you grows strong and vigorous how the Flesh distends its plumes grows easie and pleased and in time engrosses all the nobler faculties of your Soul As you are a Christian you are to bring your Flesh into subjection and to keep under your Body and do not these shews signally help towards its power and dominion over the nobler part and promote its Soveraignity and triumph over the reasonable appetite what pampers it more than such sights What feeds its preposterous longings more than these Do not these evidently make this Slave usurp Authority over her Mistress And is this fit to be done by Christians who are to crucifie the Flesh with its lusts and affections Who sees not that these sights are meer incentives to lust and fewel to feed the impurer fire in our breasts And is this to walk after the Spirit as we are commanded If they that walk after the Flesh cannot please God how can you hope to please him while you allow your self in this work of the Flesh Is this to promote a lively sense of God Is the Stage likely to produce vigorous apprehensions of Gods grace and favour you know it damps and obscures them you know it is an Enemy to them you know it is the worm that hinders you Spiritual growth and yet will you fancy a necessity to frequent it Men may count it necessary to be drunk and to kill a person they do hate but will this necessity hold water when the great Judge comes to examine it The Flesh may count that necessary which reason apprehends to be absurd and impious and he that hearkens to the dictates of the brute within him will call any thing necessary though never so contradictory to the Oracles of Heaven and the lessons of our great Master Jesus Is this to have the same mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus I hope you do not question the duty and if you believe it incumbent upon you can you imagin that in frequenting the Stage you imitate his example Did he ever encourage such empty things Is there any thing in all the History of his life that may be said to countenance such doings Could he applaud these follies do you think whose life was a perfect pattern of holiness nay are not all his precepts levell'd against these scurrilities Is it possible to live up to his precepts and feed our eyes with these Shews Is it possible to be his friend and a friend to these vanities He whose life was a perpetual selfdenial in the pleasures of this life could he give the least colour or shadow of approbation of them He who preached up the Doctrin of the Cross could he have any liking to that which is directly contrary to that Doctrin Would any man that looks upon the jolly assembly in a Play-house think that these are Disciples of the crucified God Do they not look liker Mahomet's Votaries or Epicurus his Followers Would not one think that they had never heard of the Cross and that whoever their Master was they were disciplined only to live merrily Would not one think that these persons are very different in their tempers from those Christians the primitive Fathers do describe who trampled on the World and were afraid of any thing that favoured of its satisfactions Would not one think that they are rather disciples of some Heathen Jupiter or Venus or Flora or some such wanton Minion than of the grave the austere and the serious Jesus for such he would have his followers to be these he would have tread in his steps thâ—se he would have known by actions and a behaviour like his own and is a Play likely to plant this noble temper in you Is the sight of a Comedy a probable means to make you live above the World are the profane railleries that are used there fit preparatives for austerity of conversation Is this the way to promote gravity to visit the Stage where all gravity is look'd upon as Pedantry and traduced as a thing proper only for old Usurers and Women who are past their sins and vices Is this the way to advance seriousness to be much at places where seriousness is censured as a trick of Divines or at the best as an effect of vapours and the natural result of melancholy and the spleen As a Christian you are to shun the very appearances of evil and is this your obedience to delight in that which is evil to applaud it with your smiles to commend it with your tongue and to encourage it by your presence As a Christian you are the Salt of the Earth and consequently are to preserve your Neighbour from corruption and is this the way to preserve him from infection by your presence in such places and being as vain as he to encourage not only the actors in their unlawful profession but the spectators too in their disobedience to the Gospel And what is this but to make your self a Proctor to sin to help people to be undone to assist them in going to Hell and to make your self accessary to their folly Are these the Christians that are to help one another to Heaven Are these the Christians that are to go hand in hand together to Gods everlasting Kingdom Are these the lights the shining the burning lights that are to light the ignorant Brother to the inheritance of the Saints in light Is not this to be blind to the great design of the Gospel And if the blind lead the blind shall not they both fall into the pit Wo to that man by whom the offence cometh it had been better for him that a Mill stone were hang'd about his neck and he drown'd in the midst of the Sea saith our great Master Matth. 18. 6. Does not this threatning fright you Doth this put no sad thoughts into your mind Do you believe he spoke true And do not you think you are concern'd What is your going to a Play-house but giving Offence What is it but hardning other men in their sins Is not this tempting young people to those extravagancies they should detest Is not this justifying the Players profession and to make them think that you approve of their ludicrous vocations Their profession is infamous by our Law which looks upon them as persons of no honest calling and if you go to see their actings and to see how they prostitute themselves doth not this look like a commendation of their undertakings And have not you sins enough of your own to answer for but you must transfer other mens upon you too Are you afraid Gods anger to you will not be great
enough except you add your Neighbours offences to make his wrath the heavier All those persons of your acquaintance that go to a Play because you do are all Scandalized by your example and is not this putting a stumbling-block in your Neighbours way especially if people believe that you have some goodness in you or have a name that you are Religious how bold doth this make other persons to venture on these vanities And how dreadful must this make your account Either you do not think much of another World or if you do you cannot but conclude that these things will lie very heavy upon your conscience one day What if you do not think it to be sin will your thinking so excuse you Willful ignorance is as bad as a known sin and how easily might you know such doings to be sinful But being unwilling to be better informed judge you whether it will not agravate your Condemnation how could the Primitive Christians know these things to be sinful And is it not possible for you to know it They had the Bible so have you They had the same precepts that you have only they did not read the Scripture so superficially as perhaps you do and that was the reason why they came to the knowledge of this sin while you halt betwixt two opinions Their affections did not lean and bend so much to the the World as perhaps yours do and therefore they might easily perceive Christ's and the Apostles meaning while you who dote too much upon these outward things have a cloud or mist before your eyes that you cannot discern the sense of the Holy Ghost Your present divertisements may hide the guilt from your sight but when the Summons of a terrible God to appear at his bar shall rouze your Conscience one day you 'll be of anothermind How Did Christ come down from Heaven and die and spill his blood for you that you might securely indulge your carnal Genius Did he sacrifice himself for you that you might please your self with such fooleries Hath he appeased the Almighties wrath for you that you might spend your time in a Theatre Is this a proper end of the mighty purchase he hath made Did such phantastick actions deserve so great a condescension Is it likely that he would have astonish'd all the Angels of Heaven with his descent into this valley of tears if this security in carnal satisfactions had been his design One would rather think that so deep a humiliation called for the greatest severities and was shewn on purpose to engage poor mortals to the profoundest acknowledgments of his favour One would think that such miracles of charity challenged a most serious behaviour and that after this men should not dare to think of trivial and impertinent things This is more likely to be the end of his Incarnation and Suffering than the other To delight in such vanities is a disparagement to his love a blemish to his charity a disgrace to his condescension and an undervaluing of so great a mercy And do you thus reward him Do you thus requite his kindness Is this the return you make him for his sweat and agonies for his sighs and groans for his pains and all his labours Did he bleed that you might grow strong in sin Did he die that you might cherish the lusts of the Flesh Did he make himself of no reputation that you might please your self with divertisements invented only to affront him and to render his endeavours to convert our souls ineffectual Have not you observed it Have not you taken notice how men and women who have had some zeal for Religion and very pious inclinations how that zeal hath decreas'd upon their frequenting these Houses how their goodness hath decay'd how flat they are grown in Devotion how weak in their Holy Performances how dull in the work of Meditation how slovenly and superficial in Gods service may be they have kept up some outward shews some external formality some earnestness for the fringes of Religion or for the ceremonial part of Christianity But have not you seen how they are become strangers to that life which must adorn it to that contemplation of good things they formerly delighted in to that strictness they once professed Have not you seen how they have remitted in their warmth and how the holy fire that once burn'd in their breasts is gone out And is your Christianity so fierce and violent that it needs a bridle Is it so hot that it must have an extinguisher Is it so flaming that it wants this stolen water to quench it With what face dare you approach the Table of your Lord who have been a spectator of such shews but a little before With what eyes can you appear in the presence of that King of Kings who have but a little before prostituted your Soul to the Devil With what conscience can you promise the Lord Jesus to follow him when you intend to expose your self again to these temptations Do not you blush to think how you serve both God and Mammon Christ and the World contrary to your Redeemers protestation that you cannot serve two Masters If you come to the Lords Table one day and run to a Play-house another do not you destroy all that you built the day before If you come to the Supper of the Lord there to profess your sorrow for loving the World are you in good earnest sorry for it or are you not If not why do you play the hypocrite or do you think to put a cheat upon the Almighty as if he did not see your heart or would be taken with shew and pomp If you are how can you run into the same temptation again or go to a place where you will infallibly be tempted to the love of the World Is not this to shut the gates of mercy against you Is not this to make your self odious to that God whose favour you expect in the last day Is not this to live in contradictions In this Sacrament you profess to imitate your Lord in despising the World and is this imitation to go one day into the house of God and the next into a den of Thieves for so the Stage may justly be called where men are robb'd of their rellish of spiritual objects Whence hath come that Atheism that looseness that indifferency in things Divine that low esteem of the tremendous mysteries of Christianity which of late like a Land-flood hath over run us Have they not deriv'd their boldness from these places Have not the vices represented there in jest been practised by the forward youth at home in good earnest And can a Christian have a good opinion of these houses where so many have lost their vertue Can any man of reason think that after all this mischief they may be safely hugg'd and applauded Those many notorious Fornications and Adulteries we have heard and know of those bare-faced cheats mens boastings of their sins and
with celestial Milk that you may be strong in the Lord and able to put on the whole Armour of God and grow up into a perfect Man in Christ what if it will not suffer you to please your Flesh beyond what is necessary for it's Subsistence must it therefore be your Enemy Will you count it a Foe because it denies you the Sword which would kill you How lovely should this very thing make it in your Eyes How dear should this make its holy Precepts to you How should you rejoyce that you have such a Monitor to prevent your Ruine What Praises do you owe to God that witholds you from that which would precipitate your Souls into the gulf of Perdition I conclude the Inference with this Story Two Brethren were travelling one a very prudent Man the other rude and silly coming to a place where two Ways met they dispute which of the two they should take one look'd as if great Art had been bestow'd upon it Flowers grew on both sides and it seemed to be most frequented the other look'd rough and uneven liker a Foot-path than a High-way the weaker Brother charmed with the out-side was clearly for making choice of the former but the wiser though he saw that the pleasant way invited the Eye yet I fear saith he it will not bring us to a commodious Lodging the rather because I have heard that the less beaten Path leads to an Inn where we may have excellent Accomodation The foolish Fellow was peremptory in it that the most pleasant way must be the right way and prevails with the Brother to bear him Company and being advanced considerably in it they light upon a Company of Robbers who immediately clap Shackles on their hands and feet and hale them both to their Captain and Governour Here one Brother accuses the other the wiser charges the other with Stubbornness the weaker blamed the other's Facility and alledged That since his Brother pretended to greater Wisdom than he he should not have been perswaded In fine both are found guilty and both laid up in Prison These two Brethren are your Souls and Bodies your Soul is the wise your Body the foolish Brother Let not your Body by its Importunity prevail with the Soul to consent to its Desires and Fondnesses of the dangerous Delights of the World O! hearken not to the Perswasions of a sensual Appetite that chooses a present Satisfaction but considers not there are Robbers at the end of the way which will certainly throw both into outward Darkness 5. The great Day is at Hand let 's prepare for it So Christ told his Disciples and so the Apostles taught the Christian World nor must we wonder that the Blessed Jesus should fright his Followers with the Approaches of that day when he knew it would not come in sixteen hundred Years and more which are past since his appearing in the World I omit here the Calculations of curious Men who have been bold to determine the Year in which the day of Judgment will happen some that follow the Tradition of Elias have allow'd two thousand Years to the Oeconomy before the Law two thousand to that under the Law and two thousand to that under the Gospel and after this have placed the Succession of that tremendous day But I doubt that this is rather a Jewish Criticism than a real Prophecy for God having created the World in six days and a Thousand Years being as one Day with the Lord it 's like Men have concluded from this Notion That as the World was created in six days so after six days i. e. six thousand years it would be destroyed Some when they have seen any extraordinary Judgments of Hail or Rain or Thunder or Locusts or great Confusions happen in the World have from thence inferr'd the immediate coming of this Day Some have placed it in one Year some in another but all these are needless Speculations It 's enough that the Decree is sealed in Heaven that there will be such a prodigious day and it was as truly at hand in Christ's time as it is now and now as much as it was then nay as much now as it will be but a Year or a Month before it comes in good earnest for the day of our Death is at hand and we know not when or how soon whether this hour or the next the fatal Messenger will arrest us in our Journey The day of our Death is the fore-runner of that greater Day and according as our Souls are found at the day of our Death so they will be judged in that glorious day the Judgment that will be pronounced upon our Souls at our Death will be proclaimed aloud before the whole World another day and if they be so unhappy as to be condemned upon their departure hence they will all that while till the great day comes torment themselves with the thoughts of that Sentence and the Shame that will ensue upon it as holy Souls will comfort themselves with the Thoughts of their Absolution Therefore when our Souls leave this Body that day and hour is really a day of Judgment to us and that this day is at hand none but a Sot can deny and accordingly all Men of Sense have made and do make early Preparation for it and he that doth not imitate them is so far from giving Proof to the World that he is wiser than they that he proclaims his Stupidity and in a manner renounces his Portion in the Inheritance of the Saints in light But then by Preparation I do not mean those little Sprinklings of Devotion which Hypocrites and Men who pretend to love God yet will not part with their Lusts usually lay upon his Altar not the Pharisees Alms and Fasts and Prayer which were performed with sinister designs out of Vain-glory and Ostentation not Ahab's Repentance who put on Sac◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 walk'd softly but still kept an unmoâ—â—â—ed Heart not the Harlots Piety Solomon speaks of who said her Orisoâ—â— and paid her Vows and her Peace-offerings and thought to make God amends for the Crimes she lived in by these Services not Judas his Sorrow who lamented his Sin because he saw the Hell he was like to drop into not Demas his temporary Severity which soon chang'd into fondness of the World not the Angel of Sardis his Profession of Religion who had the name that he lived but was dead not the Jews Zeal for the Ceremonial Part of God's Worship while they neglected Justice Mercy Chastity Sobriety and Charity not the Zeal of Ezekiel's Hearers who loved to hear but were loath to do but if you would prepare for this day of Account so as to be commended by the Judge the Preparation must have these following ingredients 1. Pity those inconsiderate Men that live as if there were no future Judgment Say not where are they to be found There is no Country no City no Town no Village no Street but the greater part of
Hell there is no Friend all are Enemies all hate one another because none can deliver the other from his Torments In a sick Bed Neighbours may give their advice but in Hell no advice can be given for the Inhabitants are not capable of taking it The Devils indeed may advise them to speak evil of God because of the irreversible doom they lie under but that 's a Remedy infinitely worse than the Disease and they that follow this counsel increase God's Anger and their own Plagues and as they venture upon new Sins so God must inflict new Curses and try new Rods and new Scourges which makes the misery truly infinite Such Reflections the sight of a sick and dying Man will cause nor is this judging of his everlasting and final State but a mere occasional Meditation undertaken for no other end but to affect our own Souls with the day of God's righteous Judgment to improve our own Thoughts and to make a holy use of such Occasions as God's Providence thinks fit to present to us 6. Whenever you go to a Funeral think of this Day of Judgment It 's a marvellous thing to see how Men spend their time at Funerals Though they are in the Room where the dead Body lies yet they drink and laugh and are merry and talk of any thing that their Fancy or their Business or the Reports of People abroad do suggest Though Death stands before them and the Corps seems to exhort them to Contemplations of their Mortality and the Consequences of Death yet how carefully do they shun all Discourses and Thoughts of that Nature The Life the Actions the Vertues and the good Qualities of the dead Persons might deserve some Pious Conferences or his Change and passing from this Life into another and being freed from the Burden of the Flesh and from innumerable Troubles and Vexations which this Life is subject to would be no unseasonable Subject of Discourse upon such Occasions But so great is the Aversion of most men from such kind of Entertainments that any thing rather than this though never so frivolous shall be hearken'd to and either the News of the Town or their Trade or their Merchandise or their Sports or some thing of this Nature is preferr'd before the melancholy Prospect of Eternity Or if some Pious Person begins a Spiritual Discourse or to talk of something suitable to that Occasion the Company is struck dumb on a sudden and glad when the Stream turns and some other impertinent Subject is pitch'd upon In a word Men go to a Funeral as to a Play or Shew and as they bring no serious Thoughts with them so they carry none away But thus it must not be with you who are sensible that such Opportunities are presented to you by Providence to strengthen your inward Man And therefore when you see the Mourners go about the Streets when you your selves accompany the Corps to the Grave think of the great Sentence the Soul will receive upon her Approaches to the Throne of the Heavenly Majesty St. Hierom describing the Funeral of the happy Paula that famous Saint who while she lived here was Eyes to the Blind a Nurse of the Poor a Staff to the Lame and an Example to all religious Persons tells us That when she was dead there were heard no Shrieks no Howlings no Weeping no despairing Lamentations but Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs her Corps was carried to the Grave upon Bishops Shoulders Prelates carried Lamps and Wax-Candles before her and a Quire of Singing-Men accompanied her to her Tomb and most of the People of Palestina came together to attend the Funeral The Monks crept out of their Cells the Virgins from their Retirement and good Men in all Places thereabout thought it Sacriledge not to pay the last Office to her The Widows and Orphans as in the case of Dorcas came and shew'd the Garments she had made for them and all the indigent and needy cryed they had lost a Mother and for three Days Psalms were sung in Greek Hebrew Latin and Syriack and every Body celebrated her Funeral as if it had been their own When you behold the Funeral of such a holy Person think how with far greater Pomp the Angels meet the Soul of the deceased at the Gates of Heaven and on their Shoulders carry it to the Throne of everlasting Mercy Think how joyfully those blessed Ministers conduct such a Soul to her eternal Rest and how they triumph that she is deliver'd from the Burden of the Flesh and advanced from a Valley of Tears to a place of endless Glory When the great Constantius died in Britain his Ashes were put in a golden Chest and with great Pomp carried through France and Italy to Rome but think how far greater Honour it is for such a holy Soul to be convey'd by the Spirits of Light into the City coming down from Heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband the twelve Gates whereof are twelve Pearls and the Streets pure Gold as it were transparent Glass On the other side when you see the stately Funeral of a voluptuous and sensual Man such as Attila was the Soldiers tearing their Hair the Courtiers weeping the Body wrap'd up in Silk the Guard proclaiming his valiant Actions and Monuments erected upon the Grave of Gold of Silver and of Iron think on the more dismal Funeral of his Soul in case it was not wash'd here with the Waters of Repentance and which is the greatest Purification with the Blood of Jesus think if the Soul be for ever separated from the glorious Presence of God and commanded away into everlasting Darkness not all the stately Monuments raised for the honour of her Body will qualifie her Misery in the other World not all the Acclamations or Applauses of Flatterers will give her any Comfort not all the Riches she enjoy'd on Earth nor all her Wealth and Greatness and Dominion will there extinguish the least Spark of Fire her Conscience will feel This dreadful Funeral will be attended with crouds of unhappy Spirits who instead of mourning will rejoyce at the Guest that 's come into their Tents and Lycaon like cover her with eternal Darkness Such a Soul is laid in a worse Grave than her Body even in the burning Lake where the Misery is proportion'd to her former Sins and her Conscience frighted with Scenes of Horror and the Remembrance of her quondam Pomp encreases her Discontent and Anguish think of this and learn to be sober think of this and learn self-denial think of this and learn not to love the World think of this and learn to secure the Light of God's Countenance think of this and learn to honour them that fear the Lord think of this and learn to do good in your Generation 7. To avoid the Terror of this future Judgment judge your selves here on Earth for if we would judge our selves we should not be judged saith the Apostle 1 Cor.