come now Fourthly In the fourth place to shew you what Reasons and Encouragements we have to endeavour after the highest degrees of Grace And 1st Our serious endeavours after the highest degrees of Grace will be an excellent means to preserve that saving growth in Grace the pious Christian has already attain'd to There is a dangerous Opinion in the World that a man cannot totally and finally fall away from Grace According to these mens sentiments he that is once sincerely Righteous will infallibly hold on and persevere unto the end Now if this Opinion were true this exhortation would be vain But certainly nothing can be more contrary to the plain Doctrine of the Scripture Hear what St. Peter saith Chap. 1. of this Epistle vers 10. Give all dilligence saith he to make your Calling and Election sure for if you do these things you shall never fall You see he puts an if in the case such as fairly implies that we may neglect our Duty and fall from our own stedfastness For the same reason St. Paul gives this necessary Caution Rom. 11. 20. c. Be not high-minded but fear for if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fall severity but towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off But a fuller confutation of this dangerous Opinion we cannot desire than what may be gathered from the words of the Prophet Ezek. 18. 24. VVhen the righteous man turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall he live saith the Lord No All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespass that he hath trespassed and in his sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die Thus plain it is that a Christian may fall away from that saving state of Grace he has attained to And what I pray is more likely to secure his steadfastness than serious endeavours after the highest degrees of Holiness Our Apostle it seems thought so for having in the foregoing Verse given this necessary Caution Beware Brethren lest you fall from your own steadfastness he presently subjoins in the Text as the properest means to secure them from falling but grow in Grace It is the same in spiritual growths that it is in naturals For as a man by eating and drinking and other natural Actions preserves his natural Life so the Christian by serious endeavours after higher degrees of Holiness preserves his spiritual Life The Musician screws up his Peg to an higher pitch that he may be sure it will not fall lower than the true Note Even so the higher degrees of Perfection we aspire to the less danger shall we be in of falling lower than what is absolutely necessary And this certainly is sufficient encouragement to continue these our serious endeavours 2ly These serious endeavours after a further growth in Grace than what is absolutely necessary to Salvation will give the pious Christian a more comfortable assurance of Eternal Happiness It is no doubt a kind of Heaven upon Earth to be assured of Heaven whilst we are here upon Earth This is that hidden Manna mentioned in the Revelations which fills the Soul with all variety of Delights Now nothing besides a particular Revelation from Heaven can be more likely to create this full assurance in the Soul than these Heroick attainments of Grace and Vertue Grace is that Seal of the Spirit by which we are marked and sealed unto the day of Redemption And certainly the brighter and more evident that Grace is the more evident will it be to our own selves and the fuller our assurance of Heaven and Eternal Happiness Many good Christians are in a safe condition and yet their condition is not so comfortable by reason of those fears and doubtings which do often accompany these lower degrees of Grace But the more we abound in good Works and the more eminently our Graces shine the more comfortable will our Assurance be and the clearer our Title to Heaven and Eternal Happiness Read St. Paul's 11 Chap. to the Hebrews where he sets down a large Calendar of God's eminent Saints such as advanc't into the highest form of Piety and Vertue and you 'l find their Faith as great as was their growth in Grace and their assurance of Heaven bearing a just proportion to their improvements in Holiness For St. Paul describing their Faith ver 1. calls it the substance or subsistence of things hoped for the evidence or clear demonstration of things not seen 3ly These serious endeavours after the highest degrees of Grace as they will secure our Title to Heaven and give us a more comfortable assurance of it for the present so they will hereafter advance us to higher degrees of Glory in Heaven We know there are different degrees of Glory in Heaven even as one Star differeth from another Star in Glory so also saith St. Paul shall be the Resurrection of the Iust As St. Austin speaks Splendor dispar Caelum commune the Saints shall dwell together in the same Heaven but yet like Stars they shall shine with different Rays of Glory Now these higher degrees of Glory will be conferred on such who arrived at higher degrees of Grace Hence when our Saviour tells his Disciples John 14. 2. In my Fathers House are many Mansions Tertullian remarks thus upon the place Quomodo multae Mansiones si non pro varietate Meritorum Wherefore saith he should our Saviour mention many Mansions in his Fathers House if there were not several Rooms of different Size and Glory provided for his Saints according to the variety of their deserts Indeed Heaven has room enough to lodge all the Godly but as in other Magnificent Palaces so in this of Heaven there are higher and lower larger and lesser Mansions in which God's Saints shall be disposed of according to those Services they have performed upon Earth Their Rewards hereafter shall be answerable to their Obedience here See then what incouragement there is to endeavour after the highest degrees of Glory These it seems will create an Heaven in our Souls whilst we live here on Earth These will at our Deaths carry our Souls as high as Heaven nay which is more they will lodge them in the best Mansions there Hence is that of our Apostle Chap. 1. 11. If these things be in you and abound then shall an entrance be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ. Having therefore these Promises Dearly Beloved let us cleanse our selves from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of the Lord. Let us go from Strength to Strength and grow from one degree of Grace unto another until we appear before our God in Sion I shall conclude all with St. Pauls Exhortation
before thou be sick and in the time of Sins shew Repentance Let nothing hinder to pay thy Vows in due time and defer not till Death to be justified The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ c. SERMON VIII Luke xxiv 43. To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise THE Occasion of which Words we may easily learn from the Context We find Ver. 33. that our Blessed Saviour was Crucified betwixt two Theives or Malefactors Tho' he was without Sin yet as the Apostles speaks he appeared in the likeness of sinful Flesh and as the Prophet Esay tells us was numbred with the Transgressors Chap. 53. 12. Now one of these Malefactors begins to rail on our Saviour saying If thou be the Christ save thy self and us vers 39. It is an Argument of desperate Wickedness to insult over such as are in Misery it is no less than to defie Almighty God who is the Protector of such as are in misery and uses to avenge their quarrel And therefore the other Malefactor rebukes him ver 40. saying Dost not thou fear God especially since thou art in the same Condemnation Such as are in Prosperity do ordinarily forget God but in time of Adversity most men will consider When they are approaching towards the Gates of Death they are then generally serious the Thoughts of another World and the prospect of a Future State usually strikes an awe into their Souls But this Thief is so desperately wicked that even on the Cross and when Death was near at hand he despises God and reviles our Saviour But the other Thief gives ample demonstrations of his sincere Repentance and Faith in the Messiah For he does not only rebuke his Fellow Thief and endeavours his Conversion but he also acknowledges his Fault aud patiently submits to the Punishment as a just reward of his evil deeds ver 41. If such scandalous persons that are amongst us would when they are upon their Death-beds thus take shame to themselves by a free Confession of their Faults If they would send for such persons whom in the time of their Health they have endeavour'd to debauch either by their Example or Counsel and acquaint them with the danger of Sin and the bitterness they then find in it they would give the World much better demonstrations of their sincere Repentance and much surer grounds to hope their Eternal welfare And as this poor Thief gives such ample demonstrations of his sincere Repentance so he gives also very good proof of a true and stedfast Faith in Christ for ver 42. he says unto Christ Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom Ye see he believes Christ to be the Lord and to have a Kingdom tho' not in this World which was more than Christ's own Disciples did Nay farther he owns Christ upon the Cross and when in the lowest degree of his state of Humiliation even when all the Iews were mocking and persecuting him yea when his own Disciples forsook him and St. Peter one of the Chiefest had deny'd him thrice Nay farther yet how wonderful was his Humility He only desires that Christ would remember him in his Kingdom He does not presume to ask that he might sit on Christ's Right hand or on his Left in his Kingdom but only that he would remember him A true penitent humble Soul will think the least degree of Mercy great enough or too great for him I have the rather noted all this because too many encourage themselves in their Wickedness by the Example of this poor Thief They think they may live as they list and yet be saved if they repent on a Sick-bed and at the Hour of Death But how rare is it that God does give such Presumptuous sinners so much Grace in the time of their Sickness How seldom do they give such ample demonstrations of their Faith Humility and sincere Repentance Now what Answer doth Christ return to this honest Thief The Text will give you a fair account of this Then said Iesus unto him Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise In which Words we have a fair description of the happiness of pious Souls after they are departed from this wretched Body I shall consider the Words in the same order that they lye And First They assure us That pious Souls are immediately admitted to the actual possession of Happiness upon their departure from the Body To Day saith Christ. Secondly They do farther assure us of the greatness of this Happiness they shall be with Christ and they shall be in Paradise To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise First These Words assure us that pious Souls are immediately admitted to the actual possession of Happiness upon their depature from the Body There are a sort of Men in the World they call Psychoparruychites who hold that the Soul after its departure from the Body sleeps all the while till the General Resurrection and consequently is neither in a state of Ioy nor Misery till the Day of Iudgment when it shall be reunited united to the Body and sent with it either to Heaven or Hell But it is plain from the Text that the Souls of Good men are immediately after their departure from the Body admitted to the actual possession of Eternal happiness For Christ does here promise this honest Thief that he should be that very day with him in Paradise Paradise is a place of Joy and Bliss and to be with Christ is to be in a state of Happiness Now in such a place and in such a state was the Thief to be that very day So Act. 7. 56. St. Stephen saw the Heavens open'd and the Son of Man standing on the Right hand of God He knew the Heavens were open'd for him and that Christ stood there ready to receive him into Glory and therefore he prays ver 59. Lord Iesus receive my Spirit So again 2 Cor. 5. 8. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. It seems the pious Soul as soon as it is absent from the Body it is present with the Lord and consequently in a state of Bliss and Glory Again Revel 14. 13. I heard a Voice from Heaven saying Write blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them Ye see here the Godly are said to be blessed as soon as they dye and not only to rest but also to receive the reward of their good Works I shall add but one Text more which you 'l find Phil. 1. 21 22. I am in a strait betwixt two saith St. Paul having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you As much as if the Apostle should have said I cannot tell whether I should desire to live longer or
shall not only know all God's Saints in Heaven but we shall have more sweet and ravishing Communion with them Here a Nazianzin shall repeat the embraces of his beloved Basil a David for ever enjoy his Dearest Ionathan and the Pious Soul possess what Socrates could of old but wish for namely the intimate converses of all those Brave Heroes who have gone thither before him And you 'l easily believe there shall be most sweet Communion among the Saints in Heaven when you have considered the important Phrase by which it is exprest Mat. 8. 11. And I say unto you that many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven In our Translation it is shall sit down but in the Greek it is shall lie down upon Beds as they used to do at their greatest Feasts So that there shall be much sweet and pleasant Communion among the Saints in Heaven as uses to be among Friends at their most solemn Feasts Hence also we read Luke 16. 22. That Lazarus was carried by the Angels into Abrahams Bosom It was the manner of the Iews when they feasted to lean in the Bosom one of another Thus St. Iohn when he sat to eat with Christ is said to lean in his Bosom So here Lazarus being laid in Abrahams Bosom denotes they have a continual Feast of Joy in Heaven they are constantly entertained with the Supper of the Lamb and consequently must needs have sweet and ravishing Society and Communion each with other And how does this inhance the Happiness of Paradise above Ask your own experience what sweetness you have found in their Conversation here below Did not King David account them the most excellent Persons upon Earth and delight exceedingly in the society of God's Saints And if so much delight be to be found if so much Sweetness be to be tasted in the Society of the Saints here on Earth How much more abundantly shall we be satisfied with their Company and Conversation in Heaven Alas here the very best of men have so many Imperfections and are subject to so many Misfortunes as do often make their Acquaintance troublesome and unpleasant to us Hence it was good Advice which was given by Aristotle namely that we should not greatly multiply Friends because their frequent falling into Miseries and Misfortunes would imbitter our Lives and make our Condition wretched and miserable But in Heaven we are told to our Comfort that we shall converse with the Spirits of just men made Perfect The Saints in Heaven will have no infirmities no imperfections to abate and allay the solaces of their Conversation But on the other hand they will have all those Excellencies and Advantages which are requisite to make their Company Sweet and Desirable and how great must this Happiness needs be When Christs Disciples at the Transfiguration enjoyed the Company only of Moses and Elias they were so well satisfied with it that they cried out bonum est nobis esse hic it is good for us to be here How much greater will their Happiness be who shall be with Christ in Paradise For they cannot be with him but they must be with all his Saints As soon as this Penitent Thief entred the gates of Heaven he was joyfully received with all the Honourable Companies and Troops above There did the Patriarch meet him the Prophets hug'd him and the Martys struck up their Harps and bid him welcome to the Celestial Regions such joy as this did enter his Soul when he did enter into the joy of his Master But 2ly To be with Christ is not only to be with all the Saints but also with all the Angels of Heaven St. Paul tells us Heb. 12. 22. That when we come to the Heavenly Ierusalem we shall come to an innumerable Company of Angels How great must the pleasure be of being acquainted with such Glorious Creatures How great the Happiness of hearing their ravishing Musick The Seraphims and Cherubims are continually Blessing and Praising God and their Heavenly Harmony consists of ten thousand times ten thousand various Voices So we read Rev. 5. 11. I heard saith St. Iohn the Voice of many Angels round about the Throne and the number of them was ten thousand times ten Thousand yea even thousands of thousands This is the true Musick of the Sphears and it will certainly be most ravishing since it is performed by such vast numbers of such Glorious Choristers This is the great Happiness of the Godly in Heaven they shall live with the General Assembly of the First-born and with an innumerable company of Angels crying out continually with them Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Honour and Glory and Power But this is not all for the Godly shall not only be with Christs Saints and Angels But 3ly They shall be with Christ himself Now the Godly in Heaven shall be with Christ. First In respect of his Humility Secondly In respect of his Divinity First The Godly shall be with Christ in respect of his Humility This day saith Christ shalt thou be with me As soon as Christ's Soul was separated from his Body it went to Heaven and the poor Thiefs went along with it But the Godly that die now they see not only the Soul but also the Body of Christ. Hence St. Paul describing the Happiness of the Godly in Heaven tells us That they shall come to Iesus the Mediator of the New Covenant Now Christ as Mediator was Man as well as God And it will be part of our Happiness to be with him as Man It was one of St. Austins three wishes that he might see Christ in the Flesh But in Heaven we shall not only see Christs Body but we shall see all that Glory God has bestowed upon it there To this purpose is our Saviours Prayer John 17. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me How great will our Happiness be when we shall behold all Christs Glory When we shall see him sitting at the Right Hand of Power highly exalted above every Name yea even above the most Glorious Cherubims and Seraphims And this Glory of Christ will rejoyce us the more because our Nature is Glorified in him As a Queen that sees the Prince in his Glory delights the more in it because she looks upon it as her own So when the Church Triumphant shall see Christ her Husband in all his Glory she will rejoyce in it because it is her own Glory Who can express this part of our Happiness Blessed are the Eyes saith Christ which see those things that you see here If it were such a blessed thing to see Christ in his state of Humiliation How great will that Blessedness be when we shall see him in his State of Glory and Exaltation It will be the business of God's Saints in Heaven
Judge at the last Day and he comes because he is the Son of Man It will not be amiss to enquire briefly into the Reasons of it 1st God has committed the Judgment of the last Day to the Son of Man because he has appointed it should be Visible This is fairly hinted in the Text where it is said they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven God himself is a Spirit and consequently invisible but the Son of Man is Visible and therefore he is appointed to Ride the Circuit that he may be seen of all his Enemies And that we might take the more notice of this Reason it is repeated again Chap. 26. 64. where Christ tells his Enemies that hereafter they shall see the Son of Man sitting on the Right hand of Power and coming in the Clouds of Heaven It seems the Son of Man shall come and his Enemies shall see him and be confounded at the sight of him This may be farther confirm'd from Act. 1. 11. where you 'l find the Angels preaching this Doctrin This same Iesus who is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven The Comparison is here made between our Saviour's Ascending into Heaven and his returning again to Judgment Ascendit visibiliter descendit visibiliter He Ascended saith Gerhard in a visible manner and he shall descend to Iudgment in a visible manner too 2ly God has committed the Judgment of the last Day to the Son of Man for the reward of his Obedience and greater exaltation of his Human Nature It is but Justice in God to make this Son of Man Judge the World seeing he came into the World and was judged by it It is but equal to invest Christ with a power of Absolution and Condemnation seeing he was Condemned by us to dye and dyed that he might be in a capacity to Absolve us It is but reasonable that all the Sons of Men should bow before his Throne and submit to his Judgment who disdain'd not for our sakes to stand before the Tribunal of wicked Men and receive the Sentence of Condemnation To this purpose are those Expressions of St. Paul Phil. 2. 8 9. Being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto the Death even the death of the Cross Wherefore God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the Name of Iesus every knee should bow He that came at first to save us must it seems come at last Judge us And it is but just that he who before carried a Reed in his hand and was derided by his Enemies should hereafter sway a Scepter of Righteousness and break his Enemies in peices with a Rod of Iron But 3ly God has committed the Judgment of the last Day to the Son of Man for the greater Comfort and Consolation of the Godly What a joyful sight will it be unto all sincere Penitents when they shall see the Advocate become their Judge and none but their Saviour siting on the Throne of Glory For he knows all the Frailties and Infirmities of our Natures He knoweth our frame and remembreth that we are but Dust Yea he will be yet more ready to pity us seeing he was pleased to assume our Natures bear our Infirmities and to be tempted in all things like as we are Well then may the Godly be said in Scripture to long for this glorious appearance of the Lord Iesus Well may the Bride in the Revelations cry Come Lord Iesus come quickly seeing this Day of Judgment will be to her no other than the Day of Nuptuals A Day in which Christ will be married to his People and admit them unto the nearest Union and Communion with himself and that unto all Eternity 4thly God has committed the Judgment of the last Day to the Son of Man for the greater Terror and Confusion of the Wicked The Angels who were present at our Saviours Ascention tell his Disciples Act. 1. 11. that the same Iesus who then ascended into Heaven should descend in like manner as he then ascended up into Haeven Now we know our Saviour when he ascended into Heaven carried along with him the print of the Spear and all those Scars that were made by the Nails and Thorns And these it seems he will bring along with him when he returns to Judgment How then will the wicked mourn as we are told in the Text when they look upon him whom they had formerly pierced Those Wounds which were at first opened to heal their Souls will now open their Mouths and call for Vengeance on them Christ's Eyes saith St. Iohn will now become flames of Fire and such as will certainly consume them his Feet like fine Brass burning in a Furnance and cannot but destroy them Well may the wicked call then upon the Rocks to cover and the Mountains to hide them since the presence of the Lamb will be infinitely more dreadful than the presence of the fiercest Lion For unto such as have trampled this Son of God and Man under foot unto such as have counted the Blood of the Covenant an unholy thing unto such I say there will now remain nothing but a certain fearful looking for of Iudgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour these Adversaries Thus I have dispatch'd the Third General and shewn you that this Son of Man must come at the last Day to judge the World and the Reason of it I come now Fourthly In the Fourth place to shew you that He will come with great Power and Glory This is plainly deliver'd in the Text Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory And 1st He will come with great Glory And 2dly He shall come with Power 1st Let us consider the greatness of that Glory with which this Son of Man shall come to Judge the World Tho' his first coming into the World was mean and contemptible clouded with Poverty and Grief and such other humble Circumstances as were proper for his state of Humiliation yet his second Coming will be splendid and glorious as will appear from these following Particulars 1st Let us consider the immediate Fore-runners and Harbingers of our Saviour's Second coming Kings and Princes have their Harbingers and so has this King of Kings too St Ierome tells us of an Antient Tradition of the Iewish Doctors namely that for fifteen Days together before the great Day of Judgment there shall be transacted upon the Stage of Nature a continued scene of fearful Signs and Wonders The Sea shall lift up his mountainous billows and make a fearful noise with its rouling Waves The Heaven shall crack night and day with loud and roaring Thunders The Earth shall groan under hidious Convulsions and quotidian Earthquakes The Air shall blaze with portentous Comets The Moon shall shed forth purple streams of
discolour'd Light The Sun shall shroud himself in perpetual Darkness and the rest of the Stars shall suffer themselves to be hid in dismal Obscurity Thus the whole frame of Nature shall be hung with Mourning a little before the approach of the Day of Iudgment Nor is this only a Tradition of the Iews but it is also the Prediction of our Saviour who tells us in the Verse foregoing the Text that in those days the Sun shall be darkened and the Moon shall not give her light and the Stars shall fall from Heaven c. and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man Such Harbingers such Fore-runners as these do abundantly declare the glorious coming of our Saviour to Judgment But 2dly His glorious coming to Judgment will yet farther appear if we consider the transcendant lustre of his own Person How beautiful how glorious is our blessed Saviour whilst he now sits at the right Hand of God He is now cloathed with Light as with a Garment and his Human Nature does far surpass the globe of the Sun for lustre What an astonishing description of his Glory is given Rev. 1. 13 c. In the midst of the seven Candlesticks was one like the Son of Man His Head was white as Wool and his locks were white as the Snow His Eyes were as a flame of Fire and his Countenance was as the Sun shining in his strength Thus glorious is Christ in his own Person Wherever he goes he carries Day along with him and therefore when at the Last Day he shall descend from the right Hand of his Father to that part of the Air where he will fix his Throne he will appear like a large walking Star sparkling with beams of Majesty and dazling Glory And this is called in Scripture Christ's own glory Luke 9. 26. When the Son of Man shall come in his own Glory But 3dly This glory of Christs own Person will receive additional lustre from the glory of his Attendants This Son of Man when he comes to judge the World he will not come alone but he will come attended with Myriads of Saints and Angels St. Iude has Recorded an antient Prophecy of Enoch's to this purpose ver 14 15. Behold saith he the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Iudgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds Now how will the attendance of so many glorious Saints add to the lustre of this great Day We are told in Scripture that the Iust shall shine with the brightness of the Sun What an amazing spectacle then will it be to see this Son of Man descend from his Imperial Seat far above all Heavens and coming in the Clouds with a glorious Train of shining Saints all following him with Crowns of Glory on their Heads and the most ravishing Hallelujahs in their Mouths But he will not be attended only with innumerable of his Saints but Myriads of Angels will also augment his Train Hence in Luke 9. 26 it is said that he shall come in his own glory and in his Fathers and of his holy Angels All the Angels of Heaven will deck themselves with all their Ornaments of Light and wait upon our Saviour when he comes to triumph over his Enemies We know these glorious Beings attended on him at his Birth and when he was but in a state of Humiliation and therefore we need not question but they will add to the pomps and triumphs of his glorious Day Well then may our Saviour be said in the Text to come with glory when he shall come attended with all the Host of Heaven with an inumerable Retinue of glorious Saints and Angels But this is not all For 4thly The great Glory of Christ's coming to Judgment will yet farther apear if we consider the glory of his Throne According to the transcendant Majesty of his Person so shall his Throne be even a Throne of Glory Hence is that of St. Matth. Chap. 25. 31. When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the Holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory Now what this Throne of Glory will be is fairly hinted in the Text where it is said that the Son of Man will come at the last Day in the Clouds of Heaven Christ will sit on a bright radiant Cloud when he keeps the General Assizes of the last Day This may farther be gathered from the Testimony of the Angels Act. 1. 11. where they tell his Disciples at his Ascention that the same Iesus who was then taken up into Heaven will so come in like manner as they saw him then go up into Heaven Now if you will know how he ascended into Heaven the 9th verse will inform you where it is said that He was taken up and a Cloud received him out of their sight Now as he rode up to Heaven on a radiant Cloud so will he in like manner come riding down from thence No wonder then if we read often in the Revelations of Thunderings and Lightnings coming out of the Throne of Christ For these roaring Meteors are ordinarily discharg'd from some terrible Cloud Christ therefore will sit on a bright shining Cloud when he shall judge the World And indeed this is the general Opinion of the Iews as Learned Men observe For this is a Common saying among them as Raimundus reports If ever the Iews deserve that the Messias should come he shall come gloriously according to the Prophet Daniel i. e. in the Clouds of Heaven Now how will such a bright shining Throne hanging in the Air add to the lustre of of our Saviours appearing For the Heathens when they would describe the glorious Majesty of their Deities were wont to bring them wrapt up in some bright and radiant Cloud Thus Homer represents one of the Gods coming to Diomedes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With his Shoulders wrapt up in a Cloud And so Virgil represents Iupiter coming to assist Aeneas in a bright shining Cloud Thus both Iews and Gentiles looked upon a bright Cloud as a glorious sign and Character of a Divine Majesty Thus I have shewn you with what Glory and Majesty the Son of Man will appear at the last Day His appearing will be usher'd in with dreadful Harbingers and Fore-runners he will descend with all the glory and lustre of his own person He will come attended with a glorious Retinue of shining Saints and Angels and he will sit upon a Throne of Glory namely a bright and radiant Cloud All this will be sufficient to shew you that the Son of Man at the last Day will come in the Clouds with great Glory before I proceed farther I shall crave leave to draw one or two Inferences from what has been already delivered And First We may learn from hence the place which is appointed for the Judgment of the last Day This place it seems will be the Air for ye hear our
Saviour is to have a bright shining Cloud for his Throne and is said accordingly in the Text to Come in the Clouds of Heaven To the same purpose is what we read 1 Thess. 4. 17. where we are told that the Righteous shall be caught up in the Clouds and meet the Lord in the Air And indeed the Air is a most proper place for our Saviour to keep his great Assizes For being here advanced some distance above the Earth he will more easily be seen by all the Inhabitants of it Nay farther yet this is now the Seat of the Devils Empire Satan we know is called the Prince of the Air and the Infernal Fiends are styled Spiritual Wickednesses in high places Here therefore will the Son of Man fix his Judgment Seat here he will place his Throne That all the World may know that he has now spoiled Principalities and Powers and got a compleat and perfect Victory over these his malicious Enemies Then is the time when he will trample Satan under his Feet and put a full Period to that Tyranny which he has exercised so long over the Sons of Men. Secondly We may infer from hence what deep Impressions such Doctrins as these ought to make upon us The News of our Saviours coming to Judgment with all this Glory should cause us to take the greatest Care imaginable to fit and prepare our selves to meet him at this great Day We have a remarkable Instance to this purpose in Ecclesiastical History which is attested by many and great Authors It seems about Four hundred years after our Saviours Ascension one Gregentius a Bishop endeavour'd the Conversion of those Iews which liv'd in Arabia Felix after a tedious Disputation of three days continuance some of the Iews desired the Bishop to shew them Jesus alive and it would convince them Immediately upon this the Earth began to tremble and the Sky to shine and eccho with Lightnings and Thunder After these ceased the Gates of the Celestial Palace open'd and a bright serene Cloud appear'd darting forth Beams of an extraordinary lustre At last our Blessed Saviour shewed himself walking on this bright Cloud and a Voice was heard from this Excellent Glory saying I am he who was Crucified by your Fathers This glorious Appearance cast all the Iews prostrate on the ground and beating their Breasts they cried with a loud Voice Lord have mercy on us and afterwards were Baptized into the Faith of Christ. A like account we have of the Conversion of St. Paul Act. 9. 3 c. where we read that as he journied towards Damascus breathing forth nothing but Rage and Malice against Christians suddenly there shined round about him a Light from Heaven and he heard a Voice saying unto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Upon which he trembling and astonished said Lord what wilt thou have me to do Such effects as these are the Natural Attendants of such great and glorious Appearances as these And ought they not to have the same influence upon us What tho' they are not made to the Eye of our Sense yet in Scripture they are made to the Eye of our Faith If we are sincere Christians and do heartily believe the Gospel we have no more reason to doubt of this Coming of our Saviour with great power and glory than if we were actual Spectators of it Let us therefore bethink our selves what manner of persons we ought to be in all holy and godly Conversation If we were certain this great Day were near at hand I am confident we would walk more circumspectly not as fools but as wise We would then soon be perswaded to break off our League with Sin and endeavour by a sincere and speedy Repentance to make a firm Peace with our God and Saviour I shall not pretend to tell you the precise time of this Day of Judgment but this I can assure you that several Learned and Pious Divines who have lately enquired into the Scripture Prophesies with great accuracy and diligence do tell us that this great Day is even at the door and that we may expect this glorious Appearance of the Son of Man in a very short time But tho' they should be mistaken in their Conjectures yet this is most certain that it will come at last and that the time of our Life which is all the time we have to prepare for it is exceeding short Let us therefore beseech Almighty God that we all may be found such wise and faithful Servants as are described v. 46. then shall we with joy meet our Saviour in the Air and make a part of his glorious Train when he returns to the highest Heaven giving as is most due all Honour and Glory unto him that sitteth on the Throne and unto the Lamb for evermore Let us therefore beseech Almighty God to give us Grace so to redeem our time that we may be found in the number of his wise and faithful Servants then shall we at the Day of Iudgment meet our Saviour in the Air and return with him to the Highest Heavens singing Praises and Hallelujahs unto him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore Amen Amen SERMON XI Prov. xvi 9. A mans heart deviseth his way but the Lord directeth his steps WHat great Esteem and Veneration the Ancient World entertain'd of Proverbs may easily be learned from the Writings of Aristotle He tells in his Rhetorick that they always allowed them the next place to Oracles And in other parts of his Writings he gives them the noble Epithet of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they were the very Extract and Quintessence of Refined Wisdom The Divine Solomon sets them yet higher and thinks them worthy to be placed in the very Throne for Prov. 86. he styles them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which tho' our Translation renders only Excellent words Gejerus and other Learned Criticks translate them more agreeably to the Hebrew Princes of Words Intimating thus much to us That these Divine Sentences which are called Proverbs excel as much other Schemes of Speech as Kings and Princes do their ordinary Subjects But tho' Proverbs in the general have so much of Majesty in them and have always challenged a particular veneration from the Sons of Men Yet the Proverbs of Holy Writ are farther commended to us from the very Inscription and Title Page of the Book It is a known Observation of Learned Men that neither the Books of Moses Ioshua nor other Pen-men of Sacred Writ are recommended to the World by the Name of the Author till we come to this Book of Proverbs as if the Holy Ghost had designed some extraordinary advantage to this Heavenly Book when in the very Front of it was prefix'd the most August Name of Solomon Son of David King of Israel and we may be sure the Queen of the South will rise up in Judgment against us at the last Day if we do not give our best Attention to these
they reviled in a horrid manner as appears by the Blasphemies of Rabseca And yet even these stout-hearted Assyrians were spoiled the Army of this great Monarch Sennacherib was miraculously defeated either by the Pestilence as Iosephus reports or by a destroying Angel as the Scripture relates Even Sennacherib himself tho' then the greatest King upon Earth was not able to stand in God's sight when he was angry he came to a fatal end and was slain in the Temple of his God by his own Sons Nay farther yet after his death he had a Statue erected in the Temple of Vulcan with this pious Lesson inscribed on it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in English Whosoever beholdeth me let him learn Piety And since these things were so our Psalmist had good reason to make this Epiphonema in the Text Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand in thy Sight when once thou art Angry From the words thus far explained I shall take occasion to shew you First That there is great reason to fear the Lord our God And Secondly The vanity of those reasons which cause most men to shew so little fear of God in their Lives and Conversations First Let me shew you what great reason there is to fear the Lord our God and this will appear at large by these particulars 1st We shall find reason enough to fear the Lord our God if we consider his Sovereign Power over all Creatures which he is able to command at his Pleasure and make them revenge his Quarrel upon impenitent Sinners As God Almighty by the bare speaking of a word created all things both in Heaven and in Earth so he can with as much ease command all Creatures to execute his Wrath and Vengeance upon Sinners It is the observation of the Eloquent Tertullian that God as soon as he had finished the great work of the Creation did then but not till then assume the dreadful Title of Lord of Hosts And it is further observed by others that this Dreadful Title is mentioned in Scripture more than two hundred times the better to deter Sinners from affronting Omnipotent Majesty It seems the Sinner cannot make War with Heaven but he must at the same time arm the whole Creation against himself he cannot fight against the Almighty but he must also fight against all those Creatures which are under the Command of this Lord of Hosts The Heathen Poet is able to tell us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All the Elements saith he are full fraught with Evils and ready when God pleaseth to pour forth ruin and destruction upon Sinners Sodom and Gomorrah did no sooner kindle their impure flames but the Element of Fire descending in sulphureous Streams made them most dreadful Monuments of Eternal Vengeance As soon as Israel began to murmur against Moses the Element of Air mingled Pestilential Vapours with their Vital Breath and chastised their Rebellion with a dreadful Plague When proud Pharaoh gathered together all the strength of Egypt and furiously pursued the Children of Israel to the Red Sea the waters thereof soon swelled themselves into mountainous Billows as if they had been proud to be imployed in the service of Heaven and the destruction of the Egyptians The Earth also as dull and sensless as it seems to be is yet able to resent such indignities as are offered to the Almighty and when commanded by God will open its devouring Mouth and swallow down alive Corah Dathan and Abiram Thus all the Elements are at Gods command yea even rejoyce to be employed by Heaven in executing Wrath and Vengeance upon Sinners And whither now will the Sinner fly from this Lord of Hosts Will his Alliance with Hell protect him from the Almighty Or can he hope to hide himself from the heat of his fury in the shades below No certes he may as well seek Heaven in Hell as expect one single beam of comfort from these Regions of Darkness for from these black quarters it was that God of old commanded an evil Spirit to vex Saul and drew whole Legions of Devils to punish the degenerous Iews in the days of our Saviour Nor does our God rule only in this sublunary World in the Seas and in all deep places but he ruleth also in the Heavens For if the Almighty doth at any time frown upon the Sinner each Planet will put on its Malign Aspect and every Constellation shall foretel his destiny Thus the Stars fought in their Ranks against Sisera and as Iosephus reports poured down such prodigious showers of Hail as served instead of Shot to destroy his Army Thus also the Sun and Moon became fixt Stars in Heaven that the Israelites might not want the benefit of the light to compleat their Victory over the Amorites Thus the Elements the Heavens and Hell it self are at the Command of Almighty God and if there yet be wanting more Forces to fight these Battles of the Lord the Angels are still remaining those mighty Hosts of Heaven and standing Militia of the Almighty Indeed God doth not always draw forth these Trainbands of Heaven an Army of Lice serves sometimes to baffle a proud Pharaoh and a silly Worm when commissioned by God is able to spoil the Divinity of a Blaspheming Herod But when the King of Heaven appears as it were in Person against his Enemies then these Courtiers of Heaven attend the Divine Presence and putting on their Robes of Light add what Lustre they can to the Majestatick Appearance Hence it is that Christ when he shall come at the last day to destroy at once all the Works of Satan he shall not only have Angels for his Trumpeters but Matt. 16. 27. he is said to come in the Glory of the Father because he shall come attended with these Glorious Angels And now when all these Battalions of the Almighty shall set themselves in array against the Sinner when he shall not only fear with Cain lest he fall a prey to every Wild Beast but with Pashur in the Prophet Ieremy becomes a Magor Missabib that is surrounded with fears from all parts of the Creation then doubtless he will say with the Psalmist Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry Our Saviour in the Parable makes him more stout than wise who having only ten thousand is not affraid to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand But sure every Sinner stands guilty of infinitely greater madness who with his single valour dares the Almighty and bids defiance to him who comes not only with twenty thousand but with the whole Universe against him O consider this all ye that forget God lest he pluck you away and there be none to deliver you Take our Saviours advice send and sue for peace whilst this Almighty Adversary is but yet on his way Labour by your Prayers your Fasting and Humiliation to reconcile your selves to this Lord of Hosts
Text for it seems he believed Christ to have been both able and willing to save him which is in effect to own him for a Mediatour Hence we find him making solemn and earnest Addresses to him for Mercy Lord saith he remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom One would think these Circumstances which I have mention'd namely his deep Sense of his Sins his humble Confession of them his Charity to the Soul of his Fellow Thief and his strange and prodigious Faith I say one would think these Circumstances so wonderful and so extraordinary that they were sufficient of themselves to evidence the sincerity of his Repentance how short soever it was and yet by way of Overplus we have the Testimony of our Saviour himself concerning it This day saith our Saviour thou shalt be with me in Paradise Sure that Repentance must be sincere and perfect which enters into Heaven passeth into Paradise and makes so notorious a Thief all on a sudden so fit a Companion for the Holy Jesus And now let us enquire what matter of Comfort here can be for the bold Daring Sinners of the Times Have they any reason to expect such a lively vigorous and extraordinary Faith Or is it possible they should be so well assured of the sincerity of their Repentance The Age of Miracles did expire long ago and God having abundantly confirmed the Truths of the Gospel by mighty Signs and Wonders did resolve to leave the succeeding Ages of the Church to the ordinary Means of Grace How then can we expect at the Hour of Death to find such a wonderful Faith wrought in those profligate Wretches who have all their Life time despised Gods Ministers quenched all the Motions of his Holy Spirit trampled on the Blood of the New Covenant and shamefully abused all the ordinary Methods and Dispensations of the Gospel And as we cannot expect to find in the Clinicks of the Age such a prodigious and extraordinary Faith as was in this penitent Thief so neither is it possible they should be so well assur'd of the sincerity of their Repentance as he was I am willing to be as Charitable to these Penitents as the Salvation of their Souls will allow me to be And therefore let us suppose such Presumptuous sinners to be deeply sensible of their sins and willing to Confess them Let us suppose them sending for their Debauch'd Companions to remind them of Eternity and the great danger of delaying their Repentance Nay farther let us suppose them watering their Couches with their Tears and making most solemn Protestations of better Obedience if God should restore them to their former Health Supposing all this be done by the Clinicks of the Age is it possible for a Minister to afford them a Cordial or any solid Comfort from this Example of the Text For my part I must declare that I think it impossible We may hope well in the Judgment of Charity but to give them any such Assurance as this penitent Thief is beyond the power and skill of the wisest Minister for the Heart is deceitful above all things and since Ministers are not Omniscious as our Saviour was they cannot pass an infallible Judgment upon the sincerity of such a late Repentance When Esau had lost his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage did not he shed as hearty and unfeigned Tears as these supposed Penitents can do and yet it is said found no place for Repentance Did not Iudas run to the Scribes and Pharisees Did he not confess publickly that he had betrayed the Innocent Blood Nay did he not throw down the Thirty peices of Silver And sure if he had not been in earnest such a Covetous Wretch would never have parted with his Mony and yet we know his Repentance was not right Alas the Horrours of Conscience and the ghastly Apparitions of Death will force men to do many things which God will not accept of because they proceed from fear of Punishment and not from the Love of him Nay let me add yet farther that sad Experience has set its Seal to this Observation That many such Penitents who have made the most solemn Protestations of better Obedience in the time of their Sickness when God has restored them in Mercy to their former Health they have with the Dog return'd to their Vomits and with the Sow to their wallowings in the Mire Thus you see that Repentance of the Thief in the Text was so remarkable so wonderful so extraordinary in all the parts of it as will afford little solid Comfort to repenting Sinners at the Hour of Death 4ly This Repentance of the Thief will be found yet farther extraordinary and such as can afford little Comfort to the Clinicks of the Age if we consider those great and extraordinary Temptations he had to grapple with Christ was now in his worst Estate in the very lowest degree of his Humiliation there was no Beauty no Form no Comeliness in him that he should be desired The Chief Priests the Scribes and the Elders mocked him all that passed by reviled him wagging their Heads Of his own Disciples some denied him and all of them shamefully and most ungratefully forsook him This poor penitent Thief was the only Confessor he had And what Inducements had he at this time to own him He could expect no Wordly Advantages all that he could promise himself was only this that as he was now Crucified as a Malefactor only so for such his Confession his Torments would have been enhanced and he persecuted as a Martyr And can now the Clinicks of the Age shew us any such extraordinary Repentance Is Christ now under the same Circumstances of Pain and Ignominy that he was then Do not all our Creeds tell us that he is now at the Right Hand of God That He is made the Head of all things both in Heaven and in Earth And will it be any such heroick Act of Faith now to seek unto such a Glorious and Triumphant Saviour Sure there is a vast difference between the case of the Thief and the case of the presumptuous Sinners The Thief had no inducements to fly to Christ for succour and these have none to fly to but their Saviour There is therefore but little solid comfort for such Penitents in the Example of the Text. 5ly The case of the Thief will yet further be found extraordinary if we consider the time when he obtained Mercy it was no ordinary time but a time when God was shewing a publick Act of Grace and Mercy to the World God at this time was giving his own Son out of great love to Mankind And therefore it might seem proper and well becoming so solemn a time that there should be some Monument of this Infinite Mercy It may possibly deserve your serious observation that God Almighty did always something extraordinary to grace the several Passages of our Saviours Mediatorship We know at his Nativity a Glorious Star shone in the Air
to dye sooner being prest with Arguments on both sides If I consult my self and my own good it is doubtless better for me to dye and enter presently into Happiness But then if I consult your Convenience it were better I should live longer in the World to be serviceable unto your Edification Now I think it is evident that if the Apostle could have supposed that his Soul should have slept after death and not presently have enter'd into the fruition of Bliss there could have been no strait in the case nor any dispute but that it was better to live still in the World to continue in the Comforts of a good Conscience and of doing good to others rather than to be in a constant sleep or in a sensless state of stupidity and inactivity From all which Places of Scripture it is most plain that the Souls of good Men do not sleep after their separation from the Body as some among us fancy but are immediately received into Bliss as Lazarus was into Abrahams Bosom and the Thief here in the Text into Paradise Vse And we learn from hence the Reason why the Primitive Christians did celebrate their Funerals with Joy and Feasting We use to rejoyce at the Happiness of our Friends in this World and they much more at their happiness in a better They did not therefore as we do now hang their Houses and Churches with Mourning but as Prudentius tells us with White the Emblem of Ioy For they looked upon the day of their Deaths as their Birth-day to an Eternal life and their going out of this World as an entrance upon the incomprehensible Happiness of a better And indeed we shall find they had Cause enough to rejoyce if we consider the greatness of the Happiness they were possess'd of and this I told you was exprest in the Text by these two things 1st They shall be with Christ. 2dly They shall be in Paradise 1st The Godly after death are said to be with Christ. Now how great is the Happiness which lies couched in these Words We cannot be with Christ but we must be with all the Saints and Angels of Heaven Nay farther we must enjoy the sweet and ravishing Communion of all the Persons of the Ever Blessed Trinity And sure such Company cannot but enhaunce the happiness of Heaven Society is ordinarily styled Sal vitae the Salt of Life without this the Life of Man would be most unsavoury and unpleasant We know God said at the Creation of the World It is not good for Man to be alone It seems Paradise it self would have been a Valley of Bacha little less than a Comfortless Solitude without the refreshments of Society That therefore nothing may be wanting to compleat the happiness of the Paradise above St. Paul Heb. 12. 22. gives us a large Catalogue of that Glorious Company we shall converse with in Heaven We shall come saith he to the General Assembly of the First born to the Spirits of Iust Men made Perfect to an innumerable Company of Angels and to God the Iudge of all and to Iesus the Mediator of the New Covenant From which place it is most plain that we cannot be with Christ but we must also be with God with Angels and with the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect Now such Glorious Company cannot but make the Happiness of Paradise exceeding great as will appear more at large by considering in particular what it is to be First With all the Saints of Heaven Secondly What it is to be with the Angels And Thirdly What it is to be with God and Christ. 1st Let us enquire what it is to be with all the Saints of Heaven and how the happiness of Paradise is inhaunced by such Glorious Company It is the unhappiness of the Godly here below that with Daniel they are forced sometimes to dwell in the same Den with Lions or else converse as St. Paul did at Ephesus with Men that did more truly deserve the name of Beasts How was righteous Lot vexed daily with the filthy Conversation of the Sodomites How does David mourn that he was forced to dwell in Mesech and sojourn in the Tents of Kedar The good Man whilst he lives in this World has his Eyes daily bloodshot with Murders his Ears unhallowed with Oaths and Blasphemies his Nostrils offended with the Drunkards Vomits and his Memory made too often the Cabinet of vain frothy or obscene Discourses so that with good Lucullus in Tully he frequently desires his Memory were worse or that he could learn the Art of Oblivion But in Heaven the Godly shall be free from all such vile and troublesom Company Here there will be no Murderers no Whoremongers no Drunkards no Dogs to molest them Rev. 22. 15. In the Heavenly Canaan there will be no Canaanites to be pricks in their Eyes and Thorns in their Sides But they shall converse for ever with all the Saints of Heaven and live in the general Assembly of the First-born Now what it is thus to live with all the Saints of Heaven I shall shew you more distinctly in these following Particulars 1st The Godly shall know all the Blessed Saints that are in Heaven It is a wonder it should be disputed by any Divines whether the Saints in Glory shall know one another But sure there can be little comfort in Society where there is not a particular Knowledge and a familiar Acquaintance St. Austin therefore tells us In Caelo a singulis omnes ab omnibus singuli cognoscentur In Heaven saith he all Men shall be known of every Man and every Man shall be known of all Men. It is reported of Luther that being reasonable well the night before he died he sate at Table with his Friends and the matter of their Discourse hapned to be Whether they should know one another in Heaven Whether the Father should know his Child a Husband his Wife and a Friend his Friend Luther resolv'd the point in the Affirmative and gave this Reason among others for it Adam saith he knew Eve as soon as he saw her and be sure our Knowledge in the Heavenly Paradise shall be much greater than his was in the Earthly Paradise none will be stranggers there but every Glorified Saint shall know all the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and all the Servants of God We find Mat. 17. 4. Peter Iames and Iohn who were allowed to see Christs Transfiguration knew Moses and Elias whom they had never seen before how much more shall we being fully illuminated and perfectly Glorified in Heaven know exactly all the blessed Ones tho' never acquainted with them upon Earth This therefore is one part of the Happiness of the Godly in Heaven they shall see Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of God as our Saviour speaks Luke 13. 28. They shall know all those Worthies and Heroes that have gone to Heaven before or shall come thither after them but this is not all For 2ly We
shall see the King of Kings in all his beauty Esay 33. 17. Indeed the Soul here below like the Spouse in the Canticles seeks her Beloved only in the dark beholds his Back-parts in the Glass of his Creatures reads a little more of him in the Holy Scripture and tastes a litle more of him in his Comfortable Ordinances yet still she sees him but darkly and through the Lattice and all is able to do no more than to make her sick of Love But hereafter we shall see God face to face and we shall know him even as we are known 1 Cor. 13. 12 We shall not then sit down content with the School-mans Negative Knowledge and be proud when we know only what God is not No we shall then have a Positive Knowledge of him and as St. Iohn phrases it see him even as he is 1 Joh. 3. 2. What strange Expressions are these How clear and how full a Knowledge of God do they import We shall no longer read of God in the Scripture or hear of him by his Ministers but we shall see him with our Eyes yea and we shall see him as he is in all that wonderful Glory which is the Light and Sun of the highest Heavens Now how much such clear Knowledge of God will increase our future happiness we may learn in some measure from the Story of the Queen of the South The Q. of Sheba heard indeed some imperfect Reports of Solomon's Wisdom in her own Country but when she came and saw his Person heard his incomparable Wisdom and had been an happy Spectator of all the Pomp and Royal Magnificence of his Court she was then sweetly astonished so that there was no more Spirit left in her Even so when the pious Soul shall come to the Court of Heaven and there see God as he is cloathed with Majesty and Honour infinitely beyond and above all she ever heard of him by his Ministers or read of him in the Scripture when she shall behold the Attendance of his Throne even ten thousand times ten thousand Angels and comprehend all those ineffable Glories which neither Eye hath seen nor Ear heard with what pleasing Ecstasies of Admiration will she then be transported But this is not all For 2dly Our happiness in Paradise will not barely consist in the clear and perfect Knowledge of God but also in the enjoyment of him unto all Eternity Knowledge without Fruition can only give us the Happiness of Moses upon Mount Nebo at best but a fairer prospect of the Heavenly Canaan but we are assured in Scripture that we shall not only see this Land of Promise but we shall taste the Milk and the Hony of it We shall not only see and know God but we shall also enjoy him This Enjoyment of God is elegantly set forth in Scripture by the Metaphor of a Feast because Friends usually enjoy themselves most when they Feast together Now what strange Expressions to this purpose are those which we read Rev. 19. 9. where the Angel bids S. Iohn write thus Blessed are they which are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. They used to have their greatest Feasts at Supper but the happiness of Heaven is here set forth not only by the Metaphor of a Supper but also of a Marriage Supper to denote that more intimate and pleasant enjoyment of God and Christ the Saints may expect in Heaven And lest we should in the least doubt of this these Emphatical words are added which perhaps ye do not use much to take notice of but now I desire you to do these saith the Angel are the true Sayings of God So that we may well believe the Saints shall enjoy all this happiness I have spoken of Tho' this which I last mention'd be a most comfortable Text yet I think you 'l find one fuller to this purpose Luk. 12. 37. Blessed are those Servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching Verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them sit down to meat and will come forth and serve them Here again the happiness of Heaven is set forth by the Metaphor of a Feast and our Saviour alludes to those Feasts among the Romans which they called their Saturnalia when the Masters were obliged to provide sumptuous Feasts for their Servants and to gird themselves and come forth and serve It seems God will deal thus with his poor unworthy Servants He will prepare as great a Feast for them as Heaven can afford and will come forth himself and serve them In this World he makes use of Angels as Ministring Spirits and imploys them for the good of his People But in the other World the happiness of the Godly will be so great and so infinite that Angels being but finite Creatures cannot serve any longer as Conduits to convey it to them No God himself as he will be the Feast so he will be the Entertainer too and in a word All in all Thus I have shewn you how great our happiness will be in respect of God himself we shall have a clear and perfect knowledge of him and his infinite Excellencies and we shall also have a full Enjoyment of him unto all Eternity I proceed now to the last thing proposed namely to consider the greatness of this happiness with reference to the place Lastly We shall not only be with Christ but we shall be with Christ in Paradise To be with Christ in any place cannot but be happiness Had our Saviour took the Penitent Thief along with him when he descended into Hell there to have seen him Triumph over Principalities and Powers and all our spiritual Enemies this had been a blessed and most pleasant sight But to carry him along with himself to Paradise the pleasantness and glories of the place could not but add to the happiness of it To this end you 'l find the Holy Ghost in Scripture exceeding large in the description of this place and it is set forth by such Metaphors as denote the most incomprehensible both beauty pleasantness strength splendour and glory for pleasure it is in the Text called Paradise for Magnificence a Kingdom yea a Kingdom of Glory too It is styled an House not made with hands but by God himself to denote both its strength and workmanship For Magnitude it is called a Great City For Purity the Holy and Heavenly Ierusalem Would we some Evening take a walk with Isaac into the Fields and there view how God has garnished these upper Regions of the World how many are those Stars which sparkle there And they are also most of them of such an incredible Magnitude as to be more than an hundred times bigger than the Earth and yet this Firmament as glorious as it is is only the outside of the Pavement of that Ierusalem which is above What incomprehensible Glory then must shine within it We read in the Book of Revelations that the very Streets are of pure
Gold the Walls and Foundations all of Precious Stones Such incredible lustre and glory is in it that the Sun shall not need to give his Light nor the Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God shall inlighten it and the Lamb shall be the light thereof for ever Thus happy shall the Godly be after they depart this Life they shall be with Christ and which is more they shall be with Christ in Paradise I come now to draw some practical Inferences from what has been delivered Application 1st Has the Holy Ghost in Scripture made such discoveries of Paradise and our future happiness then certainly they ought to fill our Souls with earnest Longings and vehement Pursuits after them When King Hezekiah had shewn to the Ambassador of Baladan King of Babylon the House of his Precious things his Silver and his Gold and all his Treasures we read these finite perishing Treasures proved Load-stones powerful enough to draw these Babylonians to War against Iudah How much more ought the infinite Glories of Heaven which God has revealed in the Scripture raise such violent Desires in us as may make us resemble the Spouse in the Canticles who is compared to a Pillar of Smoak mounting continually towards Heaven or them who lived in the dayes of Iohn the Baptist who are said to have taken the Kingdom of Heaven by violence Such a temper of Spirit as this we find in the Saints of God My Soul fainteth for thy Salvation I have longed for it saith Holy David Psal. 119. 81 It is a remarkable Passage of Cornelius a Lapide upon Gen. 47. where enquiring why the Patriarchs of old were so passionately desirous to have their bones buried in the Land of Canaan he gives this Reason God saith he had revealed unto these Holy men the Day of Christ they all as well as Abraham saw Christ Day and rejoyced Not only the Day of his Nativity but that more glorious Day of his Resurrection In which not only Christ himself should rise but others that slept should rise with him and attend upon him into Heaven at his Ascension These hopes of Rising with Christ and getting sooner to Heaven both in their Bodies and Souls than others made them thus careful and solicitous to be buried near the place where Christ was to rise How unlike these Holy Patriarchs are many amongst us whose heavy Souls move down to Earth as to their Center Neither God nor Heaven does ever so much trouble their Thoughts as to make them breath forth their desires after them But such as are true Believers and sincere Christians are in Scripture described by this known Periphrasis of being such as love the appearing of Christ such as desire to be dissolved that they may be with him such as earnestly groan to be cloathed upon with their House which is from Heaven and therefore pray often with the Bride in the Revelations Come Lord Iesus come quickly 2dly If we do earnestly and seriously desire this exceeding great happiness of Paradise we must be willing to use the Means which will bring us to it It is a known Maxim in the Schools Qui vult finem vult media ad finem He that effectually desires the End desires also the Means which lead unto that End If with the Thief upon the Cross we expect after Death to enjoy Christ in Paradise we must labour to imitate him and give such demonstrations of our Humility Faith in Christ and sincere Repentance as he did Our Saviour tells us that the wise Merchant in the Gospel had no sooner found a Pearl of great Price but he presently sold all he had and purchas'd it It is reported of Camillus that Famous French Commander that when he had tasted some of the pleasant Grapes of Italy he could never be at rest till he had raised a great Army and Conquer'd that pleasant Country God has been pleased in Scripture to present us with some of the Grapes of Canaan to give us some taste of the Heavenly gift and the Powers of the World to come How should this make us restless and unquiet till we arrive at this happy Country Should we not now raise all the Forces that we can to fight our Spiritual Enemies and conquer those Lusts which oppose our happiness Should we now spare any Sin tho' it were as dear to us as a beloved Ionathan Sure Heaven will recompence the loss of a right Eye and a right Hand should we pluck them off and sacrifice them to our Saviour And indeed we must thus forsake sin every sin the most darling sin if ever we hope to get to Paradise The Young man in the Gospel lacked but one thing and yet fell short of Heaven And if thou wilt still indulge thy self in thy Covetousness Uncleanness Swearing Drunkenness or any other known sin thou canst never expect to be with Christ in Paradise For Christ has told us plainly Mat. 19. 17. that if we will enter into Life we must keep the Commandments Which that we may all do God of his Infinite Mercy grant c. SERMON X. Matt. xxiv 3â— And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven and then shall all the Tribes of the Earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory THE Office of our Blessed Saviours Mediatorship consists chiefly in three Parts his Satisfaction Intercession and Judging the World at the Last Day The First of these he performed here on Earth the Second he is still performing in Heaven and the Third he will perform in the Air When he shall come in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory We know he satisfied infinite Justice when he offered up himself a propitiatory Sacrifice on the Cross and he is still interceeding in Heaven at the Right Hand of God As he purchased Salvation for sinners by dying for them so he interceeds that this Salvation may be applied unto such as repent sincerely of their sins and believe on his Name The third part of his Mediatorship is still to be performed for he is not as Mediator to judge the World till the time appointed by his Father and then he will for certain Judge both the Quick and the Dead Indeed the Father himself Iudgeth no Man but hath committed all Iudgment unto the Son as our Saviour speaks Iohn 5. 22. and he gives the reason of it vers 27. because he is the Son of Man As he became the Son of Man that he might be in a capacity to save the Penitent So God has appointed the same Son of Man to judge the World that he may be able to punish the Impenitent Such as before would not accept him for a Saviour will now be forced to admit him as a Judge Hence we are told Act. 17. 31. That God has appointed a Day in which he will Iudge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath
Ordained and whereof he hath given us assurance in that he hath raised him from the Dead Tho' we are not certain when the day of Judgment will come that we may be alwayes preparing for it yet you see it is certain that there will be such a day and that Christ our Mediator is ordained Judge A happy day for all that are truly pious they need not fear this Judge who is no other than their Merciful Saviour But it will be a day of darkness and gloominess unto the Wicked these will then mourn when they shall see this Son of Man coming with great Power and Glory so much we are told in the Text Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven and then shall all the Tribes of the Earth Mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory For the better understanding of these words we will enquire First Why Christ is called the Son of Man Secondly What is here meant by the Sign of the Son of Man Thirdly That this Son of Man will come to Judge the World Fourthly That he will come with great Power and Glory Fifthly That all the wicked of the Earth will then have just cause to Mourn First Let us briefly enquire why Christ is called the Son of Man Some learned Men observe that he is called so in the Scriptures more than forty times and there are two reasons of the Name 1st He is called the Son of Man in token of his Humanity Christ our Blessed Mediator was both God and Man and therefore as he is often called the Son of God to denote his Divinity so he is as often called the Son of Man to denote his Humanity 2ly He is called the Son of Man to denote that state of Humiliation to which he condescended for our sakes It was usual for the Jews to style Princes and Potentates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sons of strong Men but such as were poor they styl'd Beni-Adam Sons of Men. Christ therefore aspired to no higher title than that of Son of Man He was pleased to humble himself for us He as the Apostle speaks became poor that we might become rich Born he was of the poorest Parents such as neither had an House of their own to lay him in when he was born nor able to procure any place besides a Stable for his reception into this World And as he was born in this poor condition so tho' the Birds of the Air have Nests as he speaks yet whilst he lived he had not of his own where to lay his Head Nay further yet when he came to die we know he was beholding to the Charity of Ioseph of Arimathea for a room in his Sepulchre No wonder then if Christ be ambitious of no more Honourable Title than this of Son of Man since he made himself so vile so mean so contemptible for our sakes Thus I have briefly shewn why Christ is called so often the Son of Man it denotes the truth of his Humanity as also that state of Humiliation to which he condescended for our sakes I come now in the second place to enquire Secondly What is here meant by the sign of the Son of Man It would spend too much of our time to mention all those conjectures which learned Men have made concerning this Sign since it is a matter we may be safely ignorant of I shall only set down two of the best interpretaions I have met with 1st Very many learned Men both Antient and Modern do by the Sign of the Son of Man understand the Cross. St. Ierom St. Chrysostom and Venerable Bede upon this place affirm this Sign to be no other than that of the Cross. The Ethiopian Church is so peremptory in this matter that it is put into the Articles of their Creed as the Learned Gregory informs us There is hardly any thing the Antient Fathers are more unanimous in than this And to say the truth there is some tolerable Reason for this Antient Opinion For what can be more Honourable to our Lord and Saviour or more full of Terror to his Enemies than that the Cross of Christ which they counted foolishness and more than so esteemed the greatest reproach of the Christian Faith should at that day be made the Herald to Proclaim his Coming and call all Nations of the World to appear before him But tho' this interpretation be backt both with Reason and great Authorities Yet 2ly There is another interpretation that seems as plausible if not more plausible than it For the learned Vossius Mede Twisse Millet and several others do understand by the Sign of the Son of Man who is a Sign This kind of Dialect this manner of Speaking is frequent in the Scripture thus the Law of Faith is all one with Faith that is a Law the Law of Sin that is Sin it self which dwelling in unregenerate Persons reigns as it were by Law So the Sign of the Son of Man that is the Son of Man who is a Sign And that which gives the greatest Authority to this Opinion is that St. Luke in the parallel place interprets it so Chap. 21. 27. where the word Sign is left out and the Verse runs thus Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a Cloud with Power and great Glory And St. Mark renders the words the same way Chap. 13. 26. If therefore St. Mark and St. Luke may be allowed to be as good interpreters of St. Matthew as any other by the Sign of the Son of Man we may understand the Son of Man himself whose Glorious appearance in the Clouds will be a certain infallible sign that the day of Judgment is come Thus I have shewn you what Conjectures learned Men have made concerning this Sign of the Son of Man Some understand the Cross others Christ himself whose Glorious appearance will be a certain sign of the approaching Judgment I come now in the third place to shew you Thirdly That this Son of Man will come to judge the World None but that God who made us has any right to judge us As we have received all things from him so as Stewards must we render an account of all things to him Indeed this Judgment belongs originally to the whole Trinity but the outward administration of it shall be committed to the Son of Man So we are told expresly in the Text Then shall ye see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven Thus you see the Judgment of the last Day is committed to the Son of Man and indeed it is committed to him because he is the Son of Man our Saviour tells us so expresly John 5. 20 27. As the Father has life in himself so hath he given unto the Son to have life in himself and has given him Authority to execute Iudgment also because he is the Son of Man Ye see the Son of Man will come as
other Nations And now was the time for God's Providence to step in and determin him to what Object he thought most proper He therefore directs the fury of this Assyrian chiefly against Israel and uses him as a Rod to chastise his own chosen People And as God does thus imploy the wicked as Schoolmasters to correct his People so he also imploys them as Executioners to punish his Enemies Hence Isaiah 13. 17. God is said to stir up the Medes against the Babylonians a People notorious for their Enmity to God and the Iews These Medes and Persians are upon this account called God's sanctified ones Verse 3. not in respect of any inherent righteousness or holiness in them but because like the Vessels of the Sanctuary set a-part for Gods service and excited by a secret instinct of Providence to execute wrath upon wicked Babylon Thus God turns the Hearts of Kings as the Rivers of Waters whither soever he pleaseth Tho' their Hearts be very full of wickedness and like the troubled Sea are always ready to cast up the Mire and Dirt of Sin yet God's Providence shuts up this Sea with Bars that it cannot pass till God is pleased to break up these Bars and let it rush sometimes on his Enemies to overwhelm them sometimes on his own People to chastise them and wash away their Filth 2ly The Providence of God does not only determine the wickedness of Man as to the Object but likewise as to the Modus and measure of it If God did not bound the Malice of Satan and wicked Men their little Finger would be bigger than their Loins are now and instead of Chastising God's People with Whips like cruel Rehoboam they would scourge them with Scorpions When God was pleased to break down the Hedge of his Providence he had set about Iob with what fury did the Sabeans and Chaldeans kill his Servants drive his Camels and spoil him of all his Goods Nor did all this mischief satisfie Satans Malice he would fain have gone further and made attempts upon his Life But God here was pleased to set limits to his fury as we read Iob 2. 6. Behold saith God to Satan he is now in thy Hand only spare his Life I need not spare much time in proving the boundless Malice of Satan and his Instruments against God's People we may learn enough of this from that remarkable Name the Prophet bestows upon them Isaiah 27. 1. In that day the Lord with his great and strong Sword shall punish Leviathan the peircing Serpent By Leviathan in this place is generally understood Satan and his malicious Instruments and the word in the Hebrew signifies Augmentation or Addition intimating the boundless Malice of Satan and his Instruments who still desire to lay more burdens on the Godly to increase their Troubles and augment their Afflictions But God he is faithful and merciful and by his Providence takes care that his People be not tempted above what they are able to bear And therefore the same Prophet tells us at Verse 8. That God allows Satan and his Instruments to smite his People only in measure There is a greater Elegance in the Hebrew than is exprest in our English Translation for the word which we render Measure signifies one of the smallest Measures in use among the Iews namely that Measure which they called the Sea containing no more than the third part of an Epha Such you see is the wonderful goodness of God that he curbs and restrains the Fury of those Leviathans and tho' they think no Strokes too many no Burdens too heavy for the People of God yet he limits their Malice and allows them only to smite in Measure and with Moderation 3ly The Providence of God does also determin the Malice and Wickedness of Men as to its time and duration There is indeed a great and sad truth in the observation of the Antient Tragedian Nullum ad nocendum tempus angustum è malis No time saith he is too little no time unseasonable for the Wicked to do Mischief yet there is some comfort in what the Wise Man tells us Eccles. 3. 1 That God has set a Season to every Thing and a time to every Purpose under Heaven And indeed the Providence of God does limit the Wicked both as to the time when their Fury shall begin and also how long it shall continue Our blessed Saviour was no sooner born into the World but there was a bloody Herod seeking to destroy him and send him out of it again Afterwards when he was to enter upon his Ministry we find Satan carrying him to a Pinacle of the Temple and tempting him to cast himself down from that dangerous height And when all this proved succesless several stratagems were used by the Iews to dispatch him out of this World But God who has put Times and Seasons in his own Power defeated all these their wicked purposes till that determinate time was come mentioned by St. Luke 22. 53. Tho' I was with you daily in the Temple saith Christ yet you could not stretch forth any hands against me but now is your Hour and the power of Darkness And as the Wickedness of Man is limited in respect of its beginning so likewise in respect of its continuance and duration Thus God determined the afflictions of Israel in Aegypt four hundred years and their Captivity in Babylon to seventy If God had not predetermined the persecutions of the Primitive Christians St. Iohn could not have foretold they should last no longer than forty two Months Now if we reckon these Months by Sabbaths of Years as the honest Author of the Book of Martyrs tells us he was taught to reckon them by a particular Revelation they will amount to the sum of two hundred ninety four years the precise time of the ten first Persecutions I shall add but one instance more of these effects of God's Providence and that one is hinted to me by a Right Reverend Historian of our own Nation It seems in Queen Mary's days Gardiner and the other bloody Papists hoped to continue their persecution of the Protestants till they had utterly destroyed them But God's good Providence allowed them but a very short time to rage in for when Queen Mary fell into that kind of Dropsie which Physitians call the Mola the wisest of her Friends and Physitians were so far infatuated as to conclude her to be with Child By this means all Physick was forbid till her Distemper grew desperate and so her unexpected death put a speedy period to the Rage and Fury of the Papists Thus I have shewn you how the Providence of God is employed about sin and wickedness whilst it is in fieri whilst the Heart of Man is but conceiving and devising it I now proceed to shew how the same Providence is employed about sin in facto esse after it is finisht and brought forth into Act. Tho' Almighty God can wither the Arm of a wicked Ieroboam
us VVhat Plots and Descents has he detected and defeated How has he baffled the profoundest Policy of the subtilest Achitophel and made him prove according to his name in Hebrew no better than the Brother or Cousin-Germain to a Fool Oh then let us praise our God according to his excellent Greatness and being wonderfully delivered from the hands of our Enemies let us serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life This God of his infinite Mercy grant for the merits of his dearest Son c. SERMON XII Preached November 27. 1692. the Sunday before the Author died Heb. ii 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation SAint Paul in the former Chap. displays the excellent Glory and Majesty of our Saviour He styles him ver 2. the Son of God the Heir of all things and Maker of the Worlds He tells us us farther ver 3. that He is the brightness of his Fathers Glory the express Image of his Person and the upholder of all things In the following part of the Chapter he shews how far Christ transcends all the Holy Angels These he says are but Servants and Ministring Spirits but Christ he is the Eternal and only begotten Son of God These are all commanded to fall down and worship Christ but He has á Throne a Scepter a Scepter of Righteousness yea the Scepter of his own Heavenly Kingdom Thus great thus glorious a Person is Christ Heaven it self has nothing greater and yet as great as glorious as He is his Father thought fit to employ him in the work of Mans Salvation O the wonderful Condescentions of Heaven We may be sure God is most willing to save poor Sinners seeing he sends to them and that his own Son to beseech and entreat them to accept of Salvation Hence is that of St. Paul in the beginning of this Epistle God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son Had God spoken to us by the meanest of his Prophets it had been strange and wonderful Condescension but that he should send his own Son to preach the Gospel and intreat Rebel sinners to be reconciled to Heaven and accept of Eternal Happiness this is such an instance of stupendious Love and Mercy as does as much exceed our imaginations as it does our Deserts St. Paul having thus dispiayed the Excellent Majesty of Christ and the infinite Riches of Gods Free Grace and Mercy in that he sent his Eternal Son to be the first Preacher of the Gospel and tender Salvation to lost and undone sinners he begins the 2d Chapter with a serious and passionate Admonition We therefore saith he ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip If God had conveyed the Gospel to Christians as he did the Law unto the Jews by the Ministry of Angels we could not have slighted it without gross ingratitude and our Disobedience as we are told ver 2. would have received a just recompence of reward Of how much sorer punishment shall we now he thought worthy seeing the Eternal Son of God condescended to be of the Order of Predicants seeing Christ Jesus himself vouchsafed to be the first Preacher of the Gospel how should we then honour and value this Gospel What earnest heed should we give to the things contained in it or preached from it Whatever Admonitions Exhortations or Reproofs Ministers give us out of these Sacred Oracles should not be look'd upon as the Words of frail Men but as they are in truth the Words of God and Christ. Christians therefore will be most inexcusable They of all men will deserve the severest Punishments if they shall neglect so great Salvation And because the danger is thus great our Apostle is the more earnest and passionate in his Exhortation He employs all his Divine Rhetorick to make Christians sensible of their greater Priviledge and consequently of their greater Obligations to obey the Gospel How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Having by this short Preface led you into the very Bowels of the Text I shall fetch from thence these Three Observations First That the Salvation which is published by the Gospel is exceeding great Secondly That those Christians which neglect this great Salvation must expect the severest Punishments in Hell Thirdly That Ministers may very well be allowed to be mighty earnest and passionate in their Exhortations of Obedience to the Gospel First I begin with the first of these namely to shew you that the Salvation which is published by the Gospel is exceeding great It is called Great Salvation in the Text yea the Apostle puts an Emphasis upon it and calls it So great Salvation Learned Men render it Eximiam ut mire magnam salutem i. e. Most admirable and most excellent Salvation And it will appear at large to be so from these following Considerations 1st The greatness of this Salvation will appear if we consider the greatness of the Price that was paid for it The worth and excellency of a thing is usually measur'd by the greatness of its price Now how great was that price which was paid for this Salvation St. Peter tells us we were not redeemed with such corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of the Son of God Had we offer'd a thousand Rams and ten thousand Rivers of Oil Had we given the fruit of our Bodies for the sin of our Souls yea had it been possible for us to have sacrificed whole Hecatombs of Angels to the Justice of Heaven they would not all have been sufficient to atone for our Sins and purchase this Salvation Nothing could purchase it but the Blood of Iesus and that not only as he was Man but as he was God too Hence we are said expresly to be purchas'd with the Blood of God Act. 20. 28. We see an Infinite price was paid Heaven to purchase this Salvation And therefore we may well allow the Apostles Emphasis of so great Salvation 2ly The greatness of this Salvation will yet further appear if we consider the greatness of those evils it delivers us from It is an excellent saying of Seneca Lenocinium est gaudii antecedens metus the greatness of the danger uses to commend and inhance the greatness of the deliverance Now how great was the danger we were in how great those Evils we were exposed to The Prophet Esay gives us a most Tragical Description of the Infernal Tophet which was to be the Portion of the Rebellious Sinner Chap. 30. 31. Tophet saith he is prepared of old the Pile thereof is Fire and much Wood and the Breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it continually See how each word is arm'd with Terror It seems there is an eternal Tophet prepared for all
brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10. Thus great is the Light of the Gospel and therefore those sins which are committed against it are the more heinous and damnable sins against Knowledg have more of wilfulness in them and argue greater contempt of God Hence such sinners are said in Scripture to reproach the Lord Numb 15. 30. Yea to rebel against the Light Job 24. 13. Since therefore Christians sin against greater Light they must expect severer Punishments Fer he that knoweth his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with more stripes 3. Another reason why Christians must expect the severest Punishments if they neglect this great Salvation is because the means of Grace which the Gospel affords for the obtaining of this Salvation are now more plentiful than they were before St. Iohn tells us Chap. 1. 17. That the Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Iesus Christ of whose fulness saith he Verse 16. we all have received and Grace for Grace or Grace upon Grace to denote the great plenty and abundance of it The Law could do no more than shew Man his Duty but the Gospel affords him Grace to perform it Hence the Preachers of the Gospel are styled Able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life 2 Cor. 3. 6. The Law is here called the Letter and is said to Kill because it shews our Duty and the Danger of neglecting it but gives no Grace to help us in the performing of it But the Gospel is called the Spirit because the Spirit of Grace does by his internal Operations accompany the outward Ministration of the Gospel and so gives us Life Thus you see what plentiful Means of Grace the Gospel affords us for the obtaining of this great Salvation And therefore if we do neglect these Means of Grace our Condemnation as it will be more just so it will be more heavy too This is plain from our Saviours threatning Chorazin and Bethsaida Mat. 11. 21 22. Wo unto thee Chorazin wo unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in Sackcloath and Ashes But I say unto you it shall be more tollerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of Iudgment than for you Thus Christians as they enjoy more plentiful Means of Grace than others so if all these be lost upon them they must expect the severer Punishments Thirdly I come now in the Third and Last Place to shew you that Ministers may very well be allowed to be mighty earnest and passionate in their Exhortations and Admonitions See how earnest and passionate St. Paul is in the Text with what Vehemency and Fervency of Spirit does he cry out How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation St. Paul was one of the greatest Orators in the World And he never thought his Oratory better employed than in the winning Souls to Christ. Hence we find him in the Acts Preaching with such Zeal and Eloquence that the Men of Lycaonia fancied Mercury their God of Eloquence was come down from Heaven And as St. Paul was thus Fervent in Spirit serving the Lord and promoting the Salvation of Souls so 2 Tim. 4. 2. He charges Ministers to be Instant in Season and out of Season Reproving Rebuking and Exhorting with all long Suffering And in truth what Zeal what Vehemency can be thought too much for the Pulpit Indeed the Heathen of old said well Stultus labor ineptiarum It is a ridiculous thing said he to make a noise about Trifles But sure Life and Death Heaven and Hell these are no Trifles Men do not well consider the worth of Souls and the greatness of that Salvation Christ has purchast for them when they are offended at the Zeal and Earnestness of Ministers when they are angry at the seriousness of their Exhortations or the severity of their Reproofs But what pity is it that Hell should be hung with such rich Furniture as the precious Souls of Men And who would not employ their utmost Zeal to save such wicked sinners as are ready every moment to drop into Hell Fire Let me therefore with all seriousness intreat you to work out your Salvation with Fear and Trembling As you love your own Immortal Souls and value that Infinite Price which Christ has paid for them as you dread the everlasting Burnings of the infernal Tophet and earnestly desire the endless Joys of Heaven be perswaded to break off your League with Sin and make your Peace with Almighty God that when ye come to die your Blessed Saviour may see the travel of his Soul and be satisfied that he may then be as ready to Bestow on you as he was to Purchase for you that you may at last obtain this great Salvation Which God grant unto us all for the sake of Jesus Christ to whom c. The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the Love of God c. A SERMON Preached at the Assizes in New-Castle upon Tine in the Reign of K. Iames II. Ephes. ii 19 20. vers Now therefore you are no more strangers and forreigners but fellow-citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God Vers. 20. And are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets ST Paul having planted the Gospel among the Ephesians labours in this most excellent Epistle to confirm them in the same by sundry Arguments Some of these Arguments are drawn from the consideration of that wretched condition they were in before and some from the excellency and blessedness of their present State Their former condition is displayed in all its colours ver 12. of this chapter where he tells them that they were then without Christ they were then Aliens from the common wealth of Israel strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the World It seems such as are without the pale of the Church are no better than the Children of Wrath they are expos'd to all the dreadful effects of God's anger in this World and must hereafter be cast into everlasting burnings in the next But tho' this was the lamentable condition of these Ephesians before their conversion yet the planting of the Gospel had made a happy change for they were now no more strangers and forreigners but fellow citizens with the Saints they were now delivered from the fears of Eternal damnation and had a Right and Title to all these glorious Priviledges which Abraham and the other blessed Citizens of Heaven did actually possess And what was it which gave them a right and title to all this happiness If you please to look a little farther into the Text you 'l find it was because they were of the houshold of God or in plain terms Members of the true Church for this indeed is the true Gospel which
remember such Texts of Scripture as these Prove all things hold fast that which is good 1. Thess. 5. 21. Take heed lest ye being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness 2. Pet. 3. 17. Nay St. Iude carries the duty one step higher and tells us we must contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints Ministers must contend by their Tongues and Pens Magistrates and Gentry by their Power Interest and Authority and private Christians by their Prayers and open Profession of it And if St. Iude would have the Primitive Christians not barely own but even contend and that earnestly for the faith when they groaned under the heavy Persecutions of Pagan Emperours sure we have little reason to be afraid to do so who live under the Protection of a most gracious King And since these things are so I hope I shall need no more than these two Motives to back the Exhortation and to enforce the Duty 1. Let us consider The great happiness of such as continue stedfast in the Faith of Christ and Doctrine of the Apostles 2. The lamentable condition of those that shall dare to disown it 1. Let us consider the great Happiness of such as continue stedfast in the Faith of Christ and Doctrine of the Apostles As the Church of Christ is that Golden Candlestick which holds forth the light of the Gospel so it is the Treasurer of all the Riches of Heaven for to it belong the Adoption and the Glory to it appertain the Covenants the Service of God and all the Promises Here we may enjoy all the Ordinances of God and satisfie our Souls with the marrow and fatness of his Sanctuary Yea if we will believe our Apostle in the Verses following my Text every Christian does now grow into an holy Temple in the Lord he becomes an habitation where God vouchsafes to dwell and manifest his special Presence by the saving Operations of his Holy Spirit Happy Souls who have the Honour and the Privilege to lodge and entertain their God! What Joys and Comforts will now crowd into the Soul and attend this glorious Guest And yet all this is only a preparatory for much greater Happiness For these happy Believers as our Apostle speaks are now become fellow citizens with the Saints such are here of the houshold of God and if they make a just improvement of that Grace which is afforded them they shall hereafter be admitted into the Society and Fellowship of Saints and Angels And what Tongue is able to express this Happiness How great an Honour how great a Priviledge was it thought of Old to be a free Citizen of Rome and to have a right to all the Offices and Franchises of that Imperial City So highly valuable was this Freedom that the chief Captain in the Acts tells us he did not obtain it but with a great sum of Mony To these Priviledges S. Paul alludes when he tells the Ephesians and in them all Christians that if they are of the houshold of God and built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets then they are fellow citizens with the Saints that is Denizons of Heaven and free of that City which is above even the heavenly Ierusalem Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of God St. Paul tells us Heb. 12. That here dwell an innumerable company of glorious Angels the general Assembly of the First-born That is the Holy Apostles the First-born of the Gospel the Spirits of Prophets Martyrs Confessors and all those just men that are already made perfect Nay farther yet here God the Judge of all vouchsales his glorious Presence and Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant appears in all his Glory To be Citizens therefore of this Heavenly Ierusalem is to enjoy the most ravishing Society of Saints and Angels to be admitted to the Beatifick Vision of God himself and to live for ever in Paradise with the Holy Jesus It is to lye with Lazarus in Abrahams bosom feeding continually on the feast of the Lamb and drinking of those Rivers of pleasures which ran at Gods right hand for evermore This one would think should be argument enough to make us hold fast the profession of our Faith stedfast unto the end But if all this will not prevail with us I know nothing that can unless it be what I proposed to be considered in the 2d place Namely the Lamentable condition of those who dare disown and deny the Truths of the Gospel And I cannot give you a truer prospect of their sad condition than in the words of our Saviour Mat. 10. 33. Whosoever shall deny me or be ashamed of my words before men him will I deny before my Father and his holy Angels How many Woes are crowded into this one sentence I will deny him It is to say no more a compendious expression of Hell an Eternity of torments comprized in a word Oh the ineffable horror that will seize the poor Sinner when he stands arraign'd before the Tribunal of Heaven When at the great Assize at the last day he shall see his very Advocate become his Accufer and hear his Sentence pronounced by his merciful Saviour the very hearing of it will be a kind of Hell and the Promulgation of the Punishment anticipate the Execution And now if I could give you a lively representation of the guilt and horror on the one hand and paint out eternal Wrath and Vengeance on the other I might then hope to shew you the condition of such a Sinner as shall be thus disowned and denied by his Saviour But alas this is not all we shall find more ingredients of horror in this Condemnation if we consider that Christ threatens to deny such a Sinner before his Father and the Holy Angels If there could be any room for comfort after the Sentence of Damnation it would be this of being executed in secret But it seems the Sinners folly must be laid open before God and his Holy Angels and all his baseness ript up before the whole World Christ will now in the presence of God the Father of Men and of Angels compare himself who was denied and the Cause for which he was denied together he will now parallel his infinite Merits with a Lust and lay Eternity in the ballance with a Trifle he will now propose that worthy price for which he was denied he will hold it up to open view he will call upon Men and Angels saying Behold that piece of dirt that windy applause that corruptible dower that poor transitory satisfaction for which I was dishonoured and my Truths disowned for which Life Eternity and God himself was scorned yea trampled on by this vile wretched Sinner Judge all the World whether what he despised in the other Life he deserves to enjoy in this How will the vile wretched Sinner then crawl forth and appear in all his filth He will then call in vain upon the
eternally to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth and admire the Lustre and Beauty of the Glorified Jesus So we are told 2 Thess. 1. 10. where it is said that when Christ shall come in the Glory of his Power he shall come to be Glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe 2ly The Godly shall be with Christ in respect of his Divinity In Heaven we shall enjoy the Glorious presence of the Divine Majesty Here we shall see God and which is more we shall see him as he is Here it is that we shall see the King of Heaven in his perfect Beauty and we shall not only see him but we shall also enjoy him and have sweet and ravishing Communion with all the persons of the ever blessed Trinity And this is that which is the very height of bliss To enjoy the Company of Saints and Angels is happiness great beyond our utmost imagination and yet they are but as little drops if compared to that Ocean of Bliss which will flow into the Soul upon the enjoyment of God himself It was a noble saying of Luthers that he had rather be in Hell with God's presence than in Heaven without it And if the presence of God be thus able to convert even Hell it self into Heaven the enjoyment of this will certainly make Heaven become what it is styled in Scripture an Heaven of Heavens This therefore is the Flower of Joy the Quintessence of Comfort the Crown of Blessedness and the very Soul of Heaven For whilst we enjoy God we must needs enjoy all things All that is good did at first flow from him and therefore is more eminently to be found in him as in its Fountain and Original All that can delight our Souls or ravish our Hearts all that is lovely and desirable are here to be found in their greatest perfections Well then might the Psalmist say Psal. 16. 11. In thy Presence there is fulness of Ioy and at thy Right Hand there are Pleasures for evermore But because so Copious so Pleasant and so edifying a Subject does deserve better than to be lightly toucht in the close of a Sermon I shall reserve the fuller handling of it till the next opportunity Thus ye see the top of our Happiness in Heaven consists in our enjoyment of the Blessed Trinity And since these things are so give me leave to exhort you to acquaint your selves with this great Mystery of the Trinity The more we know of the Trinity here the more capable shall we be of enjoying Communion with the Father Son and Holy Ghost hereafter When therefore ye go home meditate on the Lessons and other Portions of Scripture which our Church this day recommends to your serious consideration This is the way to be well acquainted with the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity and prepare your selves for the happy enjoyment of them in Heaven which God grant SERMON IX Luke xxiv 43. To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise I Have formerly made some entrance upon these Words and hope now to finish them The Method I proposed was First To shew you that the Souls of the Godly are immediately admitted to the actual possession of Happiness upon their departure from the Body Secondly The Happiness is exceeding great for it is said here in the Text That they shall be with Christ and they shall be in Paradise First The Souls of the Godly after their departure from the Body are immediately admitted to the actual possession of Happiness There are a sort of Men in the World they call Psycho-pannicletes who hold the Soul after its separation from the Body sleeps all the while till the general Resurrection and consequently is neither in a State of Joy or Misery But how do these men err not knowing the Scripture For here in the Text our Saviour says unto the Thief to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Paradise is a place of Joy and Bliss and to be with Christ is to be in a state of Happiness Now in such a place and in such a state was this honest Thief to be that very day I named several Texts for the clearing of this Truth but I shall only name one of them at this time which you will find Phil. 1. 21 22. I am in a strait betwixt two saith St. Paul having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the Flesh is more needful for you As much as if the Apostle should have said I cannot tell whether I should desire to live longer or die sooner being prest with Arguments on both sides If I consult my own good it is doubtless better for me die and enter presently into Happiness but then if I consult your convenience it were better I should live longer in the World to be serviceable to your Edification Now I think it is evident that if the Apostle could have supposed that his Soul should have slept after Death and not presently have entred into the fruition of Bliss there could have been no strait in the case nor any dispute but that it was better to live still in the World to continue in the Comforts of a good Conscience and of doing good to others rather than to be in a constant Sleep or in a sensless state of Stupidity and Inactivity From these places of Scripture it is most plain that the Souls of good Men do not sleep after Death but are immediately received into Bliss as Lazarus was into Abrahams Bosom and this honest Thief in the Text into Paradise Secondly This Happiness of the Godly is exceeding great for they are said 1st To be with Christ. And 2ly To be in Paradise 1. The Godly after Death are said to be with Christ and how great is the Happiness which lies couched in these words For we cannot be with Christ but we must be with all the Saints and with all the Angels of Heaven nay further we must enjoy the sweet and ravishing Communion of all the Persons of the ever Blessed Trinity So much may be gathered from Heb. 12. 22 23. We shall come saith St. Paul to the General Assembly of the First-Born to the Spirits of Iust Men made Perfect to an innumerable company of Angels to God the Iudge of all and to Iesus the Mediator of the New Covenant From this place it is most plain that we cannot be with Christ but we must be with God with Angels and with the Spirits of Just Men made perfect And sure such Glorious Company cannot but make the Happiness of Paradise exceeding great 1. I shew'd you that we shall in Paradise be with all the Saints in Heaven nor shall we barely be with them but we shall know them If the Three Disciples who were admitted to Christ's Transfiguration knew Moses and Elias whom they had never seen before no doubt but we being fully illuminated and perfectly Glorified in Heaven shall know all
the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Saints and Martyrs and therefore our Saviour says expresly Luke 13. 28. That the Godly hereafter shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God Thus we shall see and know all the Blessed Inhabitants of Heaven Nor shall we only know them but we shall have sweet Converse and Communion with them To this purpose is that Matt. 8. 11. Many shall come from the East and from the West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven Sit down that is as the Original imports they shall feast with them And this sure does not only denote their mutual Knowledge each of other but also the highest Caresses of Love and Friendship such as this Metaphor of feasting is used in Scripture to denote And this sure cannot but mightily inhance the Happiness of Paradise David accounted the Saints of God the most excellent Persons here upon Earth and delighted in nothing so much as in their Society But in Heaven they shall be made perfect there they shall be freed from all those Human Infirmities and Imperfections which use to allay the solaces of their Conversation Yea on the contray they shall be adorned with all those Excellencies and Advantages which are requisite to make their Society most pleasant and desirable And indeed we find the Disciples at the Transfiguration were so satisfied with the Company of Moses and Elias two of these Glorious Inhabitants of Heaven that they presently cry out it is good for us to be here and would have built Tabernacles and have been content to have taken their rest on this side of Heaven How much greater will their Happiness be who shall enjoy the most ravishing Society of all the Blessed Inhabitants of Heaven But 2. We shall not only enjoy the Society of Saints but of Angels too So I have shewn you already from Heb. 12. 22. where it is said We shall come to an innumerable Company of Angels Angels are far more glorious Creatures than the Saints and therefore the enjoyment of them must needs be a farther addition to our happiness 3dly We shall also in Paradise be with Christ in respect of his Humanity To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise With me whom thou now seest hanging on the Cross. It was one of St. Austin's three famous Wishes to see Christ in the Body but it shall be our happiness in Paradise not barely to see Christ's Body but also to see that Glory God has adorn'd it with there To this purpose is that Prayer of our Saviour Ioh. 17. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me We shall there see Christ sitting on the Right hand of Power highly exalted above Seraphims and Cherubims and the sight of all this Glory will rejoyce us the more because our Human Nature is glorified in him 4thly The Godly by being with Christ in Paradise shall also be with God himself St. Paul therefore giving a full Catalogue of that glorious Company we shall enjoy in Heaven tells us Heb. 12. 22 23. that we shall not only come to the General Assembly of the First-born and to an innumerable Company of Angels and to Iesus the Mediatour of the New-Covenant but he adds to God the Iudge of all To enjoy the Company of Saints Angels and Christ as Man is Happiness great beyond our utmost Imagination But yet they are but as little Drops if compared to that Ocean of Bliss which will flow into the Soul upon the enjoyment of God himself It was a Noble Saying of Luthers That he had rather be in Hell with Gods presence than in Heaven without it Now if this Presence of God be able to convert even Hell it self into a kind of Heaven the enjoyment of this must certainly make Heaven become what it is styled in Scripture an Heaven of Heavens This therefore is the Flower of our Joy the Crown of Blessedness and the very Soul of Heaven For whilst we enjoy God we must needs enjoy all things All that is good did at first flow from him and is therefore certainly more eminently to be found in Him as in its Fountain and Original All that can delight our Souls or ravish our Hearts all that is lovely and desirable are here to be found in their greatest perfections Well then might the Psalmist say Psal. 16. 11. In thy presence O God there is fulness of Ioy and at thy right hand there are Pleasures for evermore But because this will be the Quintessence of our happiness in Heaven we will enquire wherein it will consist But 1. Give me leave to premise this Caution That in this Vale of Misery we cannot fully understand those Joys which God has prepared for us in Heaven They are such saith St. Paul as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of Man to conceive You 'l find also St. Iohn speaking the same Truth 1. Ioh. 3. 2. Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him As God gave Moses the sight of the Land of Canaan only from Mount Nebo so he gives us a prospect of the Heavenly but it is at a distance So that we do not fully here understand the greatness of our happiness and it is some honour and advantage to it that it is so great as that we cannot fully comprehend it But so far as God in Scripture has revealed the happiness of Paradise to us it will chiefly consist in these two Observations 1st A clear and perfect Knowledge of God and his Infinite Perfections 2dly In the enjoyment of him to all Eternity 1st Our happiness in Paradise will chiefly consist in a clear and perfect Knowledge of God and his Infinite Perfections Knowledge was the fairest Fruit that ever grew in the Earthly Paradise and we cannot imagin the Paradise above should be compleat and perfect without it Knowledge is so sweet and pleasant to the Soul that the Roman Oratour calls it Naturale Animâ— pabulum the most grateful and palatable Food of the Soul It is dearer to us saith Aristotle than our Eyes which are usually wasted and worn away in pursuits after it Now as Knowledge in the general is thus sweet and pleasant to the Soul so the nobler the Objects are which we know the sweeter and more pleasant must the Knowledge be Now there can be no Object so noble and excellent as Almighty God He is Infinite in Perfections and therefore to have a clear and perfect Knowledge of his Infinite and Divine Perfections must needs make a considerable part of our future happiness Now it is plain from Scripture that we shall have a clear and perfect knowledge of God in Heaven Here it is that as the Prophet Esay speaks we