for a Man who must die to forfeit an immortal Life to reprieve a mortal and perishing Life for some few years II. As Death which is our leaving this World proves that these present things are not very valuable to us so it proves that they are not the most valuable things in their own natures though we were to enjoy them always it would be but a very mean and imperfect state in comparison of that better Life which is reserved for good Men in the next World. For 1. It is congruous to the Divine Wisdom and Goodness that the best things should be the most lasting Wisdom dictates this for it is no more than to give the preference to those things which are best The longest continuance gives a natural preference to things we always value those things most which we shall enjoy longest and therefore to give the longest duration to the worst things is to set the greatest value on them and to teach mankind to prefer them before that which is better What we value most we desire to enjoy longest and were it in our power we would make such things the most lasting which shows that it is the natural sense of mankind that the best things deserve to continue longest and therefore we need not doubt but that infinite Wisdom which made the World has proportioned the continuance of things to their true worth And if God have made the best things the most lasting then the next World in its own intrinsick nature is as much better then this World as it will last longer For this is most agreeable to the Divine Goodness too and Gods love to his Creatures that what is their greatest and truest happiness should be most lasting For if God have made Man capable of different degrees and states of happiness of living in this World and in the next it is an expression of more perfect goodness as it is most for the happiness of his Creatures that the most perfect state of happiness should last the longest for the more perfectly happy we are the more do we experience the Divine Goodness and he is the most perfectly happy who has the longest enjoyment of the best things 2. It seems most agreeable also to the Divine Wisdom and Goodness that where God makes such a vast change in the state of his Creatures as to remove them from this World to the next the last state should be the most perfect and happy I speak now of such Creatures as God designs for happiness for the reason alters where he intends to punish But where God intends to do good to Creatures it seems a very improper method to translate them from a more perfect and happy to a less happy state Every abatement of Happiness is a degree of Punishment and that which those Men are very sensible of who have enjoyed a more perfect Happiness And therefore we may certainly conclude that God would not remove good Men out of this World were this the happiest place Yes you 'l say Death is the Punishment of Sin and therefore it is a Punishment to be removed out of this World which spoils that Argument that this World is not the happiest place because God removes good Men out of it For this is the effect of that curse which was entailed on Mankind for the sin of Adam dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Now I grant Death as it signifies a separation of Soul and Body and the death of both which was included in that Curse was a Curse and a Punishment but not as it signifies leaving this World and living in the next We have some reason to think that though Man should never have died if he had not sinned yet he should not always have lived in this World. Human nature was certainly made for greater things than the enjoyment of sense It is capable of nobler advancements it is related to Heaven and to the World of Spirits and therefore it seems more likely that had Man continued innocent and by the constant exercise of Wisdom and Vertue improved his faculties and raised himself above this body and grown up into the Divine Nature and Life after a long and happy life here he should have been translated into Heaven as Enoch and Elias were without dying For had all Men continued innocent and lived to this day and propagated their kind this little spot of Earth had many Ages since been over-peopled and could not have subsisted without transplanting some Colonies of the most Divine and Purified Souls into the other World. But however that be it is certain that being removed out of this World and living in Heaven is not the Curse This fallen Man had no right to for he who by Sin had forfeited an earthly Paradise could not hereby gain a Title to Heaven Eternal Life is the gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lord it is the reward of good Men of a well spent life in this World of our Faith and Patience in doing and suffering the Will of God it is our last and final State where we shall live for ever and therefore the Argument is still good that this World cannot be the happiest place for then Heaven could not be a reward Though all Men are under the necessity of dying yet if this World had been the happiest place God would have raised good Men to have lived again in this World which he could as easily have done as have translated them to Heaven Now if this World be not the happiest place if present things be not the most valuable as appears from this very consideration that we must leave this World for to this I must confine my discourse at present there are several very good uses to be made of this As 1. To rectifie our Notions about present things 2. To live in expectation of some better things 3. Not to be over-concerned about the shortness of our Lives here 1. To rectify our Notions about present things 'T is our opinions of things which ruin us For what Mankind account their greatest happiness they must love and they must love without bounds or measures And it would go a great way to cure our extravagant fondness and passion for these things could we perswade our selves that there is any thing better But this I confess is a very hard thing for most Men to do because present things have much the advantage of what is absent and future Some who believe another life after this what ever great things they may talk of the other World yet do not seem throughly perswaded that the next World is a happier state than this for I think they could not be so fond of this World if they were And the reason of it is plain because happiness cannot be so well known as by feeling now Men feel the pleasures and happiness of this World but do not feel the happiness of the next and therefore are apt to think that that is the greatest
have no reason to think this any great hurt Nay indeed if we consider things aright the Divine Goodness has improved the Fall of Adam to the raising of Mankind to a more happy and perfect state for though Paradise where God placed Adam in Innocence was a happier state of life than this World freed from all the disorders of a mortal Body and from all the necessary cares and troubles of this Life yet you 'll all grant that Heaven is a happier place than an earthly Paradise and therefore it is more for our happiness to be translated from Earth to Heaven than to have lived always in an earthly Paradise You will all grant that the state of good men when they go out of these Bodies before the Resurrection is a happier life than Paradise was for it is to be with Christ as St. Paul tells us which is far better 1. Phil. 23. And when our Bodies rise again from the Dead you will grant they will be more glorious Bodies than Adam's was in Innocence For the first man was of the earth earthy but the second man is the Lord from heaven 1 Cor. 15. 47. Adam had an earthly mortal Body tho' it should have been immortal by Grace but at the Resurrection our Bodies shall be fashioned like unto Christ's most glorious Body The righteous shall shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of the Father that as we have born the image of the earthy we shall also bear the image of the heavenly 1 Cor. 15 49. So that our Redemption by Christ has infinitely the advantage of Adam's Fall and we have no reason to complain That by man came death since by man also came the resurrection of the dead That St. Paul might well magnifie the Grace of God in our Redemption by Christ above his Justice and Severity in punshing Adam's Sin with Death 5. Rom. 15 16 17. But not as the offence so also is the free gift For if through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Iesus Christ hath abounded unto many And not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto justification For if by one man's offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Iesus Christ. Where the Apostle magnifies the Grace of God upon a fourfold account 1. That Death was the just Reward of Sin it came by the offence of one and was an act of Justice in God whereas our Redemption by Christ is the Gift of Grace the free Gift which we had no just claim to 2. That by Christ we are not only delivered from the effects of Adam's Sin but from the guilt of our own For though the judgement was by one to condemnation the free gift is of many offences unto justification 3. That though we die in Adam we are not barely made alive again in Christ but shall reign in life by one Iesus Christ which is a much happier Life than what we lost in Adam 4. That as we die by one man's offence so we live by one too By the righteousness of one the free gift comes upon all men unto justification of life We have no reason to complain that the Sin of Adam is imputed to us to Death if the Righteousness of Christ purchase for us eternal Life The first was a necessary consequence of Adam's losing Paradise the second is wholly owing to the Grace of God. Thus we see what it is that makes us mortal God did not make Death he created us in a happy and immortal state but by man sin entred into the world and death by sin What ever aversion then we have to Death should beget in us a greater horrour of Sin which did not only at first make us mortal but is to this day both the cause of Death and the Sting of it No degree indeed of Vertue now can preserve us from dying but yet Vertue may prolong our lives and make them happy while sin very often hastens us to the Grave and cuts us off in the very midst of our days An intemperate and lustful man destroys the most vigorous constitution of Body dies of a Feavour or a Dropsie of Rottenness and Consumptions others fall a Sacrifice to private Revenge or publick Justice or a Divine Vengeance for the wicked shall not live out half their days However setting aside some little natural aversions which are more easily conquered and Death were a very innocent harmless nay desirable thing did not Sin give a sting to it and terrifie us with the thoughts of that Judgment which is to follow quarrel not then at the Divine Justice in appointing Death God is very good as well as just in it but vent all your indignation against Sin pull out this sting of Death and then you will see nothing but smiles and charms in it then it is nothing but putting off these mortal Bodies to reassume them again with all the advantages of an immortal Youth It is certain indeed we must die this is appointed for us and the very certainty of our death will teach us that Wisdom which may help us to regain a better Immortality then we have lost SECT II. How to improve this Consideration that we must certainly Die. FOr 1. if it be certain that we must Die this should teach us frequently to think of Death to keep it always in our eye and view For why should we cast off the thoughts of that which will certainly come especially when it is so necessary to the good government of our lives to remember that we must die If we must die I think it concerns us to take care that we may die happily and that depends upon our living well and nothing has such a powerful influence upon the good government of our lives as the thoughts of Death I have already shewed you what Wisdom Death will teach us but no man will learn this who does not consider what it is to die and no man will practise it who does not often remember that he must die but he that lives under a constant sence of Death has a perpetual Antidote against the Follies and Vanities of this World and a perpetual Spur to Vertue When such a man finds his desires after this World enlarge beyond not onely the wants but the conveniencies of Nature Thou Fool says he to himself what is the meaning of all this what kindles this insatiable thirst of Riches why must there be no end of adding House to House and Field to Field is this World thy home is this thy abiding City dost thou hope to take up an eternal Rest here Vain man thou must shortly remove thy dwelling and then whose shall all these things be Death will shortly close thy eyes
the objects only of a subordinate fear or hope when the fear of man comes in competition with the fear of God it is wise counsel which the Prophet Isaiah gives Say ye not A confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say A confederacy neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid Sanctifie the Lord God of Hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread and he shall be for a sanctuary 8 Isai. 12 13 14. There is a vast difference between the power of God and men which is our Saviour's reason why we should fear God more than men Be not afraid of them who can kill the body and after that have no more that they can do but I will forewarn ye whom ye shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him 12 Luke 4 5. But whatever power men may have to hurt while they live they can do us no hurt when they are dead and their lives are so very uncertain that we may be quickly eased of those fears The same may be said with respect to hope and confidence in men though their word and promise were always sacred yet their lives are uncertain Their breath goeth forth they return to the earth in that very day their thoughts perish all the good and all the evil they intended to do But happy is he that hath the God of Iacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God which made heaven and earth the sea and all that therein is who keepeth truth for ever 146 Psal. 5. 6. 6. For a conclusion of this Argument I shall briefly vindicate the wisdom and goodness of God in concealing from us the time of our Death This we are very apt to complain of that our lives are so very uncertain that we know not to day but that we may die to morrow and we would be mighty glad to meet with any one who could certainly inform us in this matter how long we are to live but if we think a little better of it we shall be of another mind For 1. though I presume many of you would be glad to know that you shall certainly live twenty or thirty or forty years longer yet would it be any comfort to know that you must die to morrow or some few months or a year or two hence which may be your case for ought you know and this I believe you are not very desirous to know for how would this chill your blood and spirits how would it overcast all the pleasures and comforts of life You would spend your days like men under the sentence of Death while the execution is suspended Did all men who must die young certainly know it it would destroy the industry and improvements of half Mankind which would half destroy the World or be an insupportable mischief to Humane Societies For what man who knows that he must die at twenty or five and twenty a little sooner or later would trouble himself with ingenious or gainful Arts or concern himself any more with this World than just to live so long in it and yet how necessary is the service of such men in the World what great things do they many times do and what great improvements do they make how pleasant and diverting is their conversation while it is innocent how do they enjoy themselves and give life and spirit to the graver Age how thin would our Schools our Shops our Universities and all places of Education be did they know how little time many of them were to live in the World for would such men concern themselves to learn the Arts of living who must die as soon as they have learnt them Would any Father be at a great expence in educating his Child only that he might die with a little Latine and Greek Logick and Philosophy No half the World must be divided into Cloysters and Nunneries and Nurseries for the Grave Well you 'll say suppose that and is not this an advantage above all the inconveniencies you can think of to secure the salvation of so many thousands who are now eternally ruined by youthful Lusts and Vanities but would spend their days in Piety and Devotion and make the next World their only care if they knew how little while they were to live here Right I grant this might be a good way to correct the heat and extravagancies of Youth and so it would be to shew them Heaven and Hell but God does not think fit to do either because it offers too much force and violence to mens minds it is no trial of their vertue of their reverence for God of their conquests and victory over this World by the power of Faith but makes Religion a matter of necessity not of choice now God will force and drive no man to Heaven the Gospel-Dispensation is the trial and discipline of ingenuous Spirits and if the certain hopes and fears of another World and the uncertainty of our living here will not conquer these flattering temptations and make men seriously religious as those who must certainly die and go into another World and they know not how soon God will not try whether the certain knowledge of the time of their death will make them religious That they may die young and that thousands do so is reason enough to engage young men to expect death and prepare for it if they will venture they must take their chance and not say they had no warning of dying young if they eternally miscarry by their wilful delays And besides this God expects our youthful service and obedience though we were to live on till old Age that we may die young is not the proper much less the only reason why we should remember our Creator in the days of our youth but because God has a right to our youthful strength and vigour and if this will not oblige us to an early Piety we must not expect that God will set death in our view to fright and terrifie us as if the only design God had in requiring our obedience was not that we might live like reasonable Creatures to the glory of their Maker and Redeemer but that we might repent of our sins time enough to escape Hell. God is so merciful as to accept of returning Prodigals but does not think fit to encourage us in Sin by giving us notice when we shall die and when it is time to think of repentance 2dly Though I doubt not but that it would be a great pleasure to you to know that you shall live till old Age yet consider a little with yourselves and then tell me whether you yourselves can judge it wise and fitting for God to let you know this I observed to you before what danger there is in flattering ourselves with the hopes of long life that it is apt to make us too fond of this World when we expect to live
a direct contradiction to justifying Faith nay if the justifying act of Faith were an actual reliance and recumbency on Christ for Salvation Despair must be very mortal because while Men are under these Agonies they do not they cannot rely on Christ for Salvation for they believe that Christ has cast them off and will not save them but if to believe in Christ that he is the Saviour of the World that he has made expiation for our Sins and intercedes for us at the right hand of God and is able to save to the uttermost all those that come unto God by him that he will save all true penitent Sinners and will save us if we be true Penitents I say if such a Faith as this when it brings forth the genuine fruits of Repentance and a holy Life be a true justifing Faith this is consistent with the blackest Despair and then Men may be in a justified state though they are never so strongly perswaded that they are Reprobates A very good Man may have his fancy disturbed and may pass a false judgment upon himself but this is no reason for God to condemn him no more than God will justifie a presuming and enthusiastick Hypocrite because he justifies himself 4. If Death put a final end to our Work and Labour and shuts up our Accounts then it concerns us to do all the good that we can while we live What ever our hand findeth to do we should do it with all our might seeing there is no wisdom nor knowledge nor working in the grave whither we are hasting Not that the next World is an idle and unactive State where we shall know nothing and have nothing to do but Death puts an end to our working for the other World nothing can be brought to our account at the Day of Judgment but the good we do while we live here for this onely we shall receive our reward proportionable to the encrease and wise improvement of our Talents And is not this a good reason why we should begin to serve God betimes and to take all opportunities of doing good since we have only a short life to work in for Eternity There are great and glorious rewards prepared for good Men but those shall have the brightest Crown who do the most good in the World who are rich in good works and lay up for themselves treasures in heaven Indeed the meanest place in Heaven is a happiness too great for us to conceive I 'm sure much greater than our greatest deserts but since our bountiful Lord will reward all the good service we do why should we neglect doing any good when such neglects will lessen our reward why should we be contented to lose any degrees of Glory This is a holy Ambition to be as good and to be as happy as God can make us This is never thought of by those Men who have no greater designs than to escape Hell but as for the Glories of Heaven they can be contented with the least share of them No Man will ever get to Heaven who so despises the Glories of it and if a late repentance should open our eyes not only to see our sins but to alter our opinions of this World and of the next yet we can never recal our past time and that little time that remains which is the very dregs and sediment of our lives the dead and unactive Scene will minister very few opportunities of doing good and if it did we are capable of doing very little and if we get to Heaven that will be all but the bright and triumphant Crowns shall be bestowed upon those who have improved their time and their talents better It is the good we do while we live that shall be rewarded and therefore we must take care to do good while we live It is well when Men who do no good while they live will remember to do some good when they die But if God should accept such presents as these yet it will make great abatements in the account that they kept their Riches themselves as long as they could and would part with nothing to God till they could keep it no longer it is not the Gift but the mind of the Giver that is accepted Under the Gospel God is pleased with a living Sacrifice but the Offerings of the Dead and such these Testimentary Charities are which are intended to have no effect as long as we live are no better than dead Sacrifices and it may be questioned whether they will be brought into the account of our lives if we did no good while we lived The case is different as to those who did all the good they could while they lived and when they saw they could live no longer took care to do good after death such surviving Charities as these prolong our lives and add daily to our account when such Men are removed into the other World they are doing good in this would still they have a Stock a going below the increase and improvements of which will follow them into the other World Men who have been charitable all their lives may prolong their Charity after death and this will be brought to the Account of their Lives but I cannot see how a Charity which commences after death can be called doing good while we live and then it cannot belong to the Account of our Lives all that can be said for it is this That they make their Wills whereby they bequeath these Charities while they live and therefore their bequeathing these Charities is an act of their Lives but they never intend they shall take place while they live but after their death and when they never intend their Charity to be an act of their Lives I know not why God should account it so These Death-bed Charities are too like a Death-bed Repentance Men seem to give their Estates to God and the Poor just as they part with their Sins when they can keep them no longer This is much such a Charity as it is Devotion to bequeath our dead Bodies to the Church or Chancel which we would never visit while we lived But yet as I have already intimated this is the only way to prolong our Lives and to have an increasing Account after death to lay the foundations of some great good to the World which shall out live us which like Seed sown in the Earth shall spring up and yeild a plentiful Harvest while we sleep sweetly in the dust such as the religious Education of our Children and Families which may propagate itself in the World and last many Ages after we are dead the Endowment of Publick Schools and Hospitals in a word whatever is for the Relief of the Necessities or for the Instruction and good Government of Mankind when we are gone To do good while we live and to lay designs of great good to future Generations will both come into our Account and this may extend the Account of our
Reason and by that time he has got a little Knowledge and is earnestly seeking after more by that time he knows what it is to be a Man and to what purpose he ought to live what God is and how much he is bound to Love and Worship him while he is ennobling his Soul with all Heavenly Qualities and Vertues and Coppying out the Divine Image when the Glories of Humane Nature begin to appear and to shine in him that is when he is most fit to live to serve God and Men then I say either this mortal Nature decays and dust returns to its dust again or some violent distemper or evil accident cuts him off in a vigorous age and when with great labour and industry he is become fit to live he must live no longer How is it possible to reconcile this with the Wisdom of God if man perishes when he dies if he ceases to be as soon as he comes to be a man. And therefore we have reason to believe that death only translates us into another World where the beginnings of Wisdom and Vertue here grow up into perfection and if that be a more happy place than this World as you have already heard we have no reason to quarrel that we live so little a while here For seting aside the Miseries and Calamities the troubles and inconveniencies of this Life which the happiest men are exposed to for our experience tells us that there is no complete and unmixt happiness here setting aside that this World is little else than a Scene of Misery to a great part of Mankind who struggle with want and poverty labour under the oppressions of Men or the pains and sicknesses of diseased Bodies yet if we were as happy as this World could make us we should have no reason to complain that we must exchange it for a much greater happiness We now call it death to leave this World but were we once out of it and enstated in the happiness of the next we should think it were dying indeed to come into it again We read of none of the Apostles who did so passionately desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ as St. Paul and there was some reason for it because he had had a tast of that happiness being snatched up into the third Heavens Indeed could we see the Glories of that place it would make us impatient of living here and possibly that is one reason why they are concealed from us but yet reason tells us that if death translate us to a better place the shortness of our lives here is an advantage to us if we take care to spend them well for we shall be the sooner possest of a much happier Life III. From this Notion of Death that it is our leaving this World I observe farther what this life is only a state of growth and improvement of trial and probation for the next There can be no doubt of this if we consider what the Scripture tells us of it that we shall be rewarded in the next World as we have behaved our selves in this That we shall receive according to what we have done in the Body whether good or evil Which proves that this life is only in order to the next that our eternal happiness or misery shall bare proportion to the good or evil which we have done here And when we only consider that after a short continuance here man must be removed out of this World if we believe that he does not utterly perish when he dies but subsists still in another state we have reason to believe that this life is only a preparation for the next For why should a man come into this World and afterwards be removed into another if this World had no relation nor subordination to the next Indeed it is evident that man is an improvable Creature not created at first in the utmost perfection of his Nature nor put into the happiest state he is capable of but trained up to perfection and happiness by degrees Adam himself in a state of innocence was but upon his good behaviour was but a probationer for Immortality which he forfeited by his sin and as I observed before it is most probable that had he continued innocent and refined and exalted his nature by the practise of Divine Vertues he should not have lived always in this World but have been translated into Heaven And I cannot see how it is inconsistent with the Wisdom of God to make some Creatures in a state of Probation that as the Angelical Nature was created so pure at first as to be fit to live in Heaven so Man though an earthly yet a reasonable Creature might be in a capacity by the improvement of his natural powers of advancing himself thither As it became the manifold Wisdom of God to create the Earth as well as the Heavens so it became his Wisdom to make Man to inhabitate this Earth for it was not fitting that any part of the World should be destitute of reasonable Beings to know and adore their Maker and to ascribe to him the glory of his Works but then since a reasonable Nature is capable of greater improvements than to live always in this World it became the Divine Goodness to make this World only a state of Probation and Discipline for the next that those who by a long and constant practice of Vertue had spiritualized their Natures into a Divine Purity might ascend into Heaven which is the true Center of all intelligent Beings This seems to be the original intention of God in making man and then this earthly life was from the beginning but a state of growth and improvement to make us fit for Heaven though without dying But to be sure the Scene is much alter'd now for Adam by his sin made himself mortal and corrupted his own nature and propagated a mortal and corrupt nature to his Posterity and therefore we have no natural right to Immortality nor can we refine our Souls into such a divine Purity as is fit for Heaven by the weakned and corrupted powers of Nature but what we cannot do Christ has done for us he has purchast Immortality for us by his Death and quickens and raises us into a new Life by his Spirit but since still we must die before we are immortal it is more plain than ever that this life is only in order to the next that the great business we have to do in this World is to prepare ourselves for Immortality and Glory Now if our life in this World be onely in order to another life we ought not to expect our complete Happiness here for we are only in the way to it we must finish the Work God has given us to do in this World and expect our reward in the next And if our reward cannot be had in this World we may conclude that there is something much better in the next World than any thing here If
the order of Nature to fall in love with our Slaves and change Fortunes and Shackles with them That our Saviour might well say He that commiteth sin is the Servant of Sin for this is a vile and unnatural subjection to serve the Body which was made to serve the Soul such Men shall receive the reward of Slaves to be turned out of God's Family and not to inherit with Sons and Freemen as our Saviour adds The Servant abideth not in the House for ever but the Son abideth for ever if the Son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed 8 John 31 32. III. That Death which is our leaving this World is nothing else but our putting off these Bodies teaches us That it is only our union to these Bodies which intercepts the sight of the other World The other World is not at such a distance from us as we may imagine the Throne of God indeed is at a great remove from this Earth above the third Heavens where he displays his Glory to those blessed Spirits which encompass his Throne but as soon as we step out of these Bodies we step into the other World which is not so properly another World for there is the same Heaven and Earth still as a new State of Life To live in these Bodies is to live in this World to live out of them is to remove into the next For while our Souls are confined to these Bodies and can look only through these material Casements nothing but what is material can affect us nay nothing but what is so gross that it can reflect light and convey the shapes and colours of things with it to the eye So that though within this visible World there be a more Glorious Scene of things than what appears to us we perceive nothing at all of it For this vail of Flesh parts the visible and invisible World But when we put off these Bodies there are new and surprizing Wonders present themselves to our view when these material spectacles are taken off our Souls with its own naked eyes sees what was invisible before And then we are in the other World when we can see it and converse with it Thus St. Paul tells us That when we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord but when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 6 8. And methinks this is enough to cure us of our fondness for these Bodies unless we think it more desirable to be confined to a Prison and to look through a Grate all our lives which gives us but a very narrow prospect and that none of the best neither then to be set at liberty to view all the glories of the World. What would we give now for the least glimpse of that Invisible World which the first step we take out of these Bodies will present us with There are such things as eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive Death opens ours eyes enlarges our prospect presents us with a new and more glorious World which we can never see while we are shut up in Flesh which should make us as willing to part with this Vail as to take the Film off of our Eyes which hinders our sight IV. If we must put off these Bodies methinks we should not much glory nor pride ourselves in them nor spend too much of our time about them For why should that be our pride why should that be our business which we must shortly part with And yet as for pride these mortal corruptible Bodies and what relates to them administer most of the occasions of it Some men glory in their Birth and in their Descent from Noble Ancestors and Ancient Families which besides the Vanity of it for if we trace our Pedigrees to their Original it is certain that all our Families are equally Ancient and equally Noble for we descend all from Adam and in such a long Descent as this no man can tell whether there have not been Beggars and Princes in those which are the noblest and meanest Families now Yet I say what is all this but to pride ourselves in our Bodies and our bodily Descent unless men think that their Souls are derived from their Parents too Indeed our Birth is so very ignoble whatever our Ancestors are or however it may be dissembled with some pompous circumstances that no man has any reason to glory in it for the greatest Prince is born like the wild Asses Colt. Others glory in their external Beauty which how great and charming soever it be is but the beauty of the Body which if it be spared by Sickness and old Age must perish in the Grave Death will spoil those features and colours which are now admired and after a short time there will be no distinction between this beautiful Body and common Dust. Others are guilty of greater Vanity than this and what Nature has denied they supply by Art they adorn their Bodies with rich Attire and many times such Bodies as will not be adorned and then they glory in their borrowed Feathers But what a sorry beauty is that which they cannot carry into the other World And if they must leave their Bodies in the Grave I think there will be no great occasion in the other World for their rich and splendid Apparel which will not fit a Soul. Thus what do Riches signifie but to minister to the wants and conveniences and pleasures of the Body And therefore to pride ourselves in Riches is to glory in the Body too to think our selves more considerable than other men because we can provide better for our Bodies than they can And what a mean and contemptible Vice is Pride whose subject and occasion is so mean and contemptible To pride ourselves in these Bodies which have so ignoble an extraction are of so short a continuance and will have so ignoble an end must lie down in the Grave and be food for Worms As for the Care of our Bodies that must unavoidably take up great part of our time to supply the necessities of Nature and to provide the conveniences of Life but this may be for the good of our Souls too as honest Labour and Industry and ingenious Arts are but for men to spend their whole time in Sloth and Luxury in Eating and Drinking and Sleeping in Dressing and Adorning their Bodies or gratifying their Lusts this is to be vile Slaves and Servants to the Body to Bodies which neither need nor deserve this from us after all our care they will tumble into Dust and commonly much the sooner for our indulgence of them V. If Death be our putting off these Bodies then it is certain that we must live without these Bodies till the Resurrection nay that we must always live without such Bodies as these are for though our Bodies shall rise again yet they shall be changed and
business and employment we shall have there where we shall have no occasion for any of these things which employ our time here for when we have no use of Food or Raiment or Physick or Houses to dwell in or whatever our Union to these Bodies makes necessary to us now all those Trades and Arts which are to provide these conveniences for us must then cease This must needs be a very surprizing change and though we are assured of a very great happiness in the next World which infinitely exceeds whatever men call happiness or pleasure here yet most men are very unwilling to change a known for an unknown happiness and it confounds and amazes them to think of going out of these Bodies they know not whither Now this consideration will suggest several very wise and useful thoughts to us 1. How necessary an entire Trust and Faith in God is We cannot live happily without it in this World and I am sure we cannot die comfortably without it for this is the noblest exercise of Faith to be able chearfully to resign up our Spirits into the hands of God when we know so little of the state of the other World whither we are going This was the first trial of Abraham's Faith when in obedience to the command of God he forsook his own Country and his Father's House and followed God into a strange Land 11. Hebr. 8. By faith Abraham when he was called to go into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went. Canaan was a Type of Heaven and Heaven is as unknown a Country to us as Canaan was to Abraham And herein we must imitate this Father of the Faithful to be contented to leave our native Country and the World we know to follow God whithersoever he leads us into unknown Regions and to an unknown and unexperienced Happiness This indeed all men must do because they cannot avoid leaving this World but must go when God calls for them but that which makes it our choice and an act of Faith and Vertue is this such a strong perswasion of and firm reliance on the Goodness and Wisdom and Promises of God that though we are ignorant of the state of the other World we can chearfully forsake all our known Enjoyments and embrace the promises of an unknown Happiness And there are two distinct acts of this which answer to Abraham's Faith in leaving his own Country and following God into a strange Land the first is the exercise of our Faith while we live the second when we die To mortifie all our inordinate Appetites and Desires to deny ourselves the sinful Vanities and Pleasures of this Life for the Promises of an unknown Happiness in the next World is our mystical dying to this World leaving our native Country and following God into a strange and unknown Land to quit all our present Possessions in this World to forfeit our Estates our Liberties all that is dear to us here nay to forsake our native Country rather than offend God and lose our Title to the Promises of an unknown Happiness is in a literal sence to leave our own Country at God's command not knowing whither we go which is like Abraham's going out of his own Country and living as a Sojourner in the Land of Promise without having any Inheritance in it this is that Faith which overcomes the World which makes us live as Pilgrims and Strangers here as those who seek for another Country for a heavenly Canaan as the Apostle tells us Abraham did For by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Iacob the heirs with him of the same promise for he looked for a city which hath foundations whose Builder and Maker is God 11. Heb. 9 10. And when we come to die and can with joy and triumph in an assurance of God's promises commend our Spirits to him and trust him with our Souls when we know not the Country we go to and never experienced what the happiness of it is without any concern or solocitude about it this is a noble act of Faith which does great honour to God and conquers all the natural aversions to death and makes it an easie thing to leave this World and the object of our desire and choice to see that promised Land and tast those pleasures which we are yet strangers to We must live and we must die in Faith too as the Patriarchs did who all died in Faith not having received the Promises but seeing them a far off and for that reason the other World must be in a great measure unknown to us for could we see it could we before hand tast the pleasures of it or know what they are it would be no act of Faith to leave this World for it to be willing to be translated from Earth to Heaven but no man is worthy of Heaven who dares not take God's word for it and therefore God has concealed those Glories from us and given us only a promise of a great but an unknown Happiness for the object of our hope to be a tryal of our Faith and Obedience and Trust in him That the other World is an unknown State to us trains us up to a great trust and confidence in God for we must trust God for our Souls and for the next World and this naturally teaches us to trust God in this World too to live securely upon his Providence and to suffer him to dispose of us as he pleases Indeed no man can trust God in this World who has not a stedfast Faith in God for the rewards of the next for the external administrations of Providence are not always what we could wish but good men are very well contented and have great reason to be so to take this World and the next together and therefore are not solicitous about present things but leave God to chuse what condition for them he pleases as being well assured of his goodness who has prepared for them eternal rewards And those who can trust God with their Souls who can trust him for an immortal Life for an unseen and unknown Happiness will find no difficulty in trusting him for this World I mean those who are concerned for their future Happiness and take any care of their Souls If all who are unconcerned for their Souls and never trouble their heads what will become of them hereafter may be said to trust God with their Souls then I confess this will not hold true for the greatest number of those who thus trust God with their Souls will trust him for nothing else But this is not to trust God but to be careless of our Souls but now when a man who stedfastly believes another Life after this and is heartily concerned what will become of him for ever can securely rely on God's promises beyond his own knowledge and prospect
him This is very reasonable when the fear of God and men is opposed to each other which is the only case our Saviour supposes No man ought foolishly to fling away his life nor to provoke and affront Princes who have the power of Life and Death this is not to die like a Martyr but like a Fool or a Rebel But when a Prince threatens Death and God threatens Damnation then our Saviour's counsel takes place not to fear men but God for indeed God's power in this is equal to mens at least men can kill for men are mortal and may be killed and this is only for a mortal Creature to die a little out of order but God can kill too and thus far the case is the same It is true most men are of the mind in such a case rather to trust God then men because he does not always punish in this World nor execute a speedy vengeance And yet when our Saviour takes notice that God kills as well as men it seems to intimate to us that such Apostates who rather chuse to provoke God then men may meet with their deserts in this World for no man is secure that God will not punish him in this World and Apostates of all others have least reason to expect it Those who renounce God for fear of men are the fittest persons to be examples of a sudden Vengeance But then when men have killed they can do no more they cannot kill the Soul and here the power of God and men is very unequal for when he has killed he can cast both Body and Soul into Hell fire This is a very formidable power indeed and we have reason to fear him but the power of men who can only kill a mortal Body is not very terrible it ought not to fright us into any sin which will make us obnoxious to that more terrible Power which can destroy the Soul. CHAP. III. Concerning the Time of our Death and the proper Improvement of it LEt us now consider the time of our Death which is once but when uncertain Now when I say the time of our Death is uncertain I need not tell you that I mean only it is uncertain to us that is that no man knows when he shall die for God certainly knows when we shall die because he knows all things and therefore with respect to the foreknowledge of God the time of our Death is certain Thus much is certain as to Death that we must all die and it is certain also that Death is not far off because we know our lives are very short before the Flood men lived many hundred years but it is a great while now since the Psalmist observed that the ordinary term of humane life had very narrow bounds set to it The days of our years are threescore years and ten and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years yet is their strength labour and sorrow for it is soon cut off and we flie away 90. Psal. 10. There are some exceptions from this general Rule but this is the ordinary period of humane life when it is spun out to the greatest length and therefore within this term we may reasonably expect it for in the ordinary course of Nature our Bodies are not made to last much longer Thus far we are certain but then how much of this time we shall run out how soon or how late we shall die we know not for we see no age exempted from Death some expire in the Cradle and at their Mother's Breasts others in the heat and vigour of youth others survive to a decrepit age and it may be follow their whole Family to their Graves Death very often surprizeth us when we least think of it without giving us any warning of its approach and that is proof enough that the time of our Death is unknown and uncertain to us But these things deserve to be particularly discoursed and therefore with reference to the time of our Death I shall observe these four things not so much to explain them for most of them are plain enough of themselves as to improve them for the government of our lives I. That the general Period of Humane Life which is the same thing with the Time of our Death is fixt and determin'd by God. II. That the particular time of every Man's Death though it be foreknown by God who foreknows all things yet it does not appear that it is peremtorily decreed and determined by God. III. That the particular time when any of us shall die is unknown and uncertain to us IV. That we must die but once It is appointed for all men once to die SECT I. That the general Period of Humane Life is fixt and determin'd by GOD and that it is but very short I. THat the general Period of Humane Life which is the same thing with the Time of our Death is fixt and determin'd by God That is there is a time set to humane Life beyond which no man shall live as Iob speaks 14 Job 5. His days are determined the number of his months are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass Which does not refer to the period of every particular man's life but is spoken of Man in general that there are fixt bounds set to humane Life which no man can exceed What these bounds are God has not expresly declared but that must be learnt from Observation Such a time as most commonly puts a period to mens lives who live longest may generally pass for the common measure of humane Life though there may be some few exceptions Before the Flood no man lived a thousand years and therefore we may conclude that the longest term of humane Life after the Sentence of Death was passed on man was confined within a thousand years Methusalah who was the longest liver lived but nine hundred sixty nine years and he died so that no man ever lived a thousand years And comparing this Observation with that Promise of a thousand years reign with Christ which is called the first Resurrection and is the portion only of Martyrs and Confessors and pure and sincere Christians 20 Revel I have been apt to conclude that to live a thousand years is the priviledge only of immortal Creatures that if Adam had continued innocent he should have lived no longer on Earth but have been translated to Heaven without dying for this thousand 's years reign of the Saints with Christ whatever that signifies seems to be intended as a reparation of that Death which they fell under by Adam's sin but then these thousand years do not put an end to the happiness of these glorious Saints but they are immortal Creatures and though this reign with Christ continues but a thousand years their happiness shall have no end though the Scene may change and vary for over such men the second death hath no power Or else this thousand years reign with Christ must
a Gospel-grace only while we live in this World at a great distance from Heaven to be contented in all Conditions to trust God in the greatest Dangers to suffer patiently for Righteousness sake c. I need not tell you are Vertues proper only for this World for there can be no exercise for them in Heaven unless we can think it a Vertue to be patient and contented with the Happiness and glory of that blessed Place Thus most of the Sins which the Gospel forbids under the penalty of eternal Damnation can be committed by us only in this World and in these Bodies such as Fornication Adultery Uncleanness Rioting Drunkenness Injustice Murder Theft Oppression of the Poor and Fatherless Earthly Pride and Ambition Covetuousness a fond Idolatry of this World Disobedience to Parents and Governours c. now if these be the things for which men shall be saved or damned it is certain that men must be saved or damned only for what they do in this Life Bad men who are fond of this World and of bodily Pleasures which makes them impatient of the severe restraints of Religion complain very much of this that their eternal Happiness or Misery depends upon such a short and uncertain Life that they must spend this Life under the awe and terrour of the next that some few momentary Pleasures must be punished with endless Misery and that if they out-slip their time of Repentance if they venture to sin on too long or die a little too soon there is no remedy for them for ever But let bad men look to this and consider the folly of their Choice I am sure how hard soever it may be thought to be eternally damned for the short pleasures of Sin no man can reasonably think it a hard condition of eternal Salvation to spend a short Life in the Service of God And if we will allow that God may justly require our Service and Obedience for so great a Reward as Heaven is where can we do him this Service but on Earth If a corrupt Nature must be cleansed and purified if an earthly Nature must be spiritualized and refined before it can be fit to live in Heaven where can this be done but on Earth while we live in these Bodies of flesh and are encompass'd with sensible Objects This is the time for a Divine Soul which aspires after Immortality to raise itself above the Body to conquer this present World by the belief and hope of unseen things to awaken and exercise its spiritual Powers and Faculties and to adorn itself with those Graces and Vertues which come down from Heaven and by the Mercies of God and the Merits of our Saviour will carry us up thither There is no middle State between living in this Body and out of it and therefore whatever habits and dispositions of Mind are necessary to make a Spirit happy when it goes out of this Body must be formed and exercised while it is in it Earth and Heaven are two extreams and opposite states of Life and therefore it is impossible immediately to pass from one to t'other a Soul which is wholly sensualiz'd by living in the Body if it be turn'd out of the Body without any change cannot ascend into Heaven which is a state of perfect Purity for in all reason the place and state of life must be fitted to the nature of things and therefore a life of Holiness while we live in these Bodies is a kind of a middle State between Earth and Heaven such a man belongs to both Worlds he is united to this World by his Body which is made of Earth and feels the impression of sensible Objects but his Heart and Affections are in Heaven by Faith he contemplates those invisible Glories and feels and relishes the pleasures of a heavenly Life and he who has his conversation in Heaven while he lives in this body is ready prepared and fitted to ascend thither when he goes out of it he passes from Earth to Heaven through the middle region if I may so speak of a holy and divine Life Besides this it was necessary to the happiness and good Government of this present World that future Rewards or Punishments should have relation to the good or evil which we do in this Life This in many cases lays restraints upon the lusts and passions of men when the Rods and Axes of Princes cannot reach them it over-awes them with invisible terrours and makes a guilty Conscience it s own Judge and Tormenter it sowers all the pleasures of sin stuffs the Adulterer's Pillow with Thorns and mingles Gall and Wormwood with the Drunkard's Cups it governs those who are under no other government whose boundless and uncontroulable power gives them opportunity of doing what mischief they please and gives them impunity in doing it but the most lawless Tyrants who fear no other Power yet feel the invisible restraints of Conscience and those secret and severe rebukes which make them tremble Nay many times the fear of the other World governs those whom no present Evils or Punishments could govern men who would venture whatever they could suffer in this life by their sins are yet afraid of Hell and dare not venture that those who would venture being sick after a Debauch who would venture to sacrifice their Bodies their Estates their Reputation in the service of their Lusts who are contented to take their fortune at the Gallows or at the Whipping-post yet dare not venture Lakes of Fire and Brimstone the Worm that never dieth and the Fire that never goeth out Thus on the other hand How much is it for the present Happiness of the World that Men should live in the practise of those Christian Graces and Vertues which no Humane Laws command and the neglect of which no Humane Laws will punish As to instance only in the love of Enemies and forgiveness of Injuries and such an universal Charity as does all the good it can to all Men. I need not prove that the exercise of these Vertues is for the good of the World or that no Humane Laws require the exercise of them in such noble measures and degrees as the Gospel does The Laws of the Land allow scope enough to satisfie the most revengful Man who will use all the extremities and all the vexatious arts of Prosecution unless nothing will satisfie his revenge but bloud and a speedy execution for the Laws ought to punish those Injuries which a good Christian ought to forgive and then some Men may be undone by legal Revenge and others damned for taking it If no Man should do any good Offices for others but what the Law commands there would be very little good done in the World for Laws are principally intended for the preservation of Justice but the acts of a generous and bountiful Charity are free and Men may be as charitable as the Law requires without any degree of that divine Charity which will carry them to
have a shorter period than our Lives and we may wander about in this World as the Israelites did in the Wilderness under an irreversible doom and sentence And the scope of the Apostle's argument seems to require this sence which is to engage them to a speedy repentance To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts But why to day is it because our Lives are uncertain and we may die before to morrow No but lest we provoke GOD to swear in his wrath that we shall not enter into his rest All Men know that if they die in a state of Sin they must be miserable for ever and this is a reason to repent before they die But the Apostle seems to argue farther that by their delays and repeated provocations they may tempt God to shorten their day of Grace and pronounce an irrevocable Sentence on them which leaves no place for Repentance which else where he inforces from the example of Esau who sold his Birth-right 12 Heb. 15 16 17. v. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be desiled Lest there be any fornicator or prophane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birth-right For ye know how that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears The stating of this matter may be thought a Digression from my present Design but indeed it is not for if by to day be meant the whole time of this Life that proves that Death puts a final period to our day of Grace and if any shorter period than this Life be meant by it it proves it much stronger for if our sentence be passed before we die it will not be revoked after death But the stating this Question is a matter of so great consequence to us that if it were a Digression it were very pardonable for many devout Minds when they are disturbed and clouded with melancholy are afflied with such thoughts as these That their day of Grace is past that God has sworn in his wrath that they shall not enter into his Rest and therefore their repentance and tears will be as fruitless as Esau's were which could not obtain the Blessing Now for the resolving this Question I shall say these three things 1. That the Day of Grace according to the terms of the Gospel is commensurate with our Lives 2. That notwithstanding this Men may shorten their own Day of Grace and God may in wrath and justice confirm the Sentence 3. That the reasons for lengthning the Day of Grace together with our Lives do not extend to the other World and therefore Death must put a final period to it 1. That the Day of Grace according to the Terms of the Gospel is commensurate with our Lives and there needs no other proof of this but that the promise of Pardon and Forgiveness is made to all true Penitents without any limitation of time Whoever believes in Christ and repents of his sins he shall be saved this is the Doctrine of the Gospel And if this be true then it is certain that at what time soever a Sinner sincerely repenteth of his sins he shall be saved for otherwise some true and sincere Penitents if they repent too late after the day of Grace is expired shall be damned and then it is not true that all sincere Penitents shall be saved I know but one Objection against this from the example of Esau who having sold his Birth-right when afterwards he would have inherited the blessing was rejected for he found no place for repentance though he sought it carefully with tears It seems then that Esau repented too late and so may we his repentance would not be accepted And if we are concerned in this example as the Apostle intimates we are then we may repent of our sins when it is too late and lose the Blessing as Esau did But this Objection is founded on a mistake of Esau's case the Repentance here mentioned is not Esau's Repentance but Isaac's that is when Isaac had blessed Iacob Esau with all his tears and importunity could not make him recal it i. e. Isaac would not repent of the blessing he had given to Iacob I have blessed him yea and he shall be blessed 27 Gen. 33. Esau's case then was not that his Repentance came too late to be accepted but that he could not obtain the Blessing after he had sold his Birth-right to which the Blessing was annexed Now to apply this to the state of Christians that which answers to Esau's Birth-right is their right and title to future Glory being made the Sons of God by baptismal Regeneration and Faith in Christ to sell this Birth-right is to part with our hopes of Heaven for the pleasures or riches or honours of this World as Esau sold his Birth-right for one morsel of Meat that is as the Apostle speaks to fail of the grace of God either through Unbelief which he calls the root of bitterness a renouncing the Faith of Christ and returning to Iudaism or Pagan Idolatries or by an impure and wicked Life Lest there be any fornicater or prophane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birth-right i. e. who despises the hopes of Heaven for the sinful pleasures and transient enjoyments of this World Men who thus fail of the grace of God and finally do so as Esau finally sold his Birth-right when our heavenly Father comes to give his Blessing those great rewards he has promised in his Gospel how importunate soever they shall then be for a Blessing as Esau was who sought it carefully with tears they shall find no place for repentance God will not alter his purposes and decrees for their sakes Our Saviour has given us a plain Comment on this 7 Mat. 21 22 23. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven Many will say unto me at that day that is the Day of Judgment when the Blessing is to be given Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works Here is Esau's Importunity for the Blessing And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity They were profane Esau's who had sold their Birth-right for a morsel of Meat and now they found no place for Repentance our Lord will not be perswaded by all their importunities to alter his Sentence But depart from me ye that work iniquity This example then of Esau does not concern our present case it does not prove that a wicked Man who hath spent the greatest part of his Life in sin and folly shall not be accepted and rewarded by