toward Heaven earnestly observing him as he went up Acts 1.10 11 behold two men stood by him in white Apparel i. e. Two Angels appeared to them in the shape of men in a shining glorious Attire according as * Matt. 28.3 Angels are wont to do to signify that they retain their native purity and to represent the joyfulness of the message they are usually sent upon Indeed Joy had never so great reason to break forth reduntantly as at our Lord's Ascension into Heaven These Angelical Messengers rouzed the Disciples out of the extatical Trance they were in at that glorious sight and said unto them This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven He shall certainly come to judge the World in as glorious a manner as he left it When he departed from the World he was received up into Heaven by Angels and when he shall come again he shall be attended with his Satellites and Officers of State and Royalty myriads and legions of Angels Then a Cloud more than ordinarily bright and resplendent carried him out of his Apostles sight at his second coming the innumerable Inhabitants of the whole World all that ever descended out of the loins of Adam shall see him coming in the Clouds with great power and glory Mark 13.26 1 Thes 4.16 He shall certainly and infallibly descend from Heaven and the bodies of all the righteous and good men that ever lived shall rise first and then all that are alive on Earth and remain shall be caught up together with them either by some immediate and attractive power of Christ or by the Arms of Angels into the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air where this great Assize shall be held as being most convenient both for the capacity of the place and the more eminent visibility of the Judge and Assessors whom all the wicked shall behold with terror and astonishment Jude v. 15. and then and there be so fully convinced of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which they have spoken That they shall accuse themselves as Apollodore did in a dream fancying himself to be in a Cauldron of boyling Lead I am the cause of this Vengeance our destruction is from our selves we are the Authors of this misery For we hated instruction and our hearts despised reproof and obeyed not the voice of our Teachers nor inclined our ears to them that instructed us We regarded not the seasonable and tender admonitions of our Parents Friends and Ministers who warned us to flee from the wrath to come These hardned reprobate Sinners shall now tremble to see and hear the severity and righteousness of the judicial proceedings and more especially at their own final doom and sentence to everlasting Burnings whilst the Righteous are adjudged to life eternal to enjoy the sweet and comfortable presence of Christ for evermore This is the testimony of Angelical Witnesses Now if we receive the witness of Angels 3. The witness of God the Father and the assured promise of God the Son is greater and we have both these to confirm this Truth 1. The witness of God the Father who hath assured us that he will bring every work into judgment Eccles 12.14 with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil He will execute Justice and Mercy in retributing men according to their deeds But he will transact this great work by the Son Rom. 2.16 to whom he hath committed his power John 5.22 And he is the faithful God who hath never yet failed in the performance of one tittle of his word or promise to his people and he will not be deficient in this He hath appointed the day of Judgment and hath ordained the person of the Judge he hath given assurance publick and evident demonstration unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17.31 His Resurrection is a sound Argument of God's setting his Seal to his Commission of his Constituting and Confirming him Oecumenical Judge of all the World To it our Lord when he was upon Earth appealed as the great proof that he shall come again to execute that judicial Office and by it that is the resurrection from the dead he is declared to be the Omnipotent Son of God to whom all Power was given by the Father 2. The assured promise of God the Son In the last Sermon which our Saviour Preached to his beloved Disciples he told them that the time of his departure was at hand and gave them his last advice and dying charge A new Commandment give I unto you that ye love one another They were very much troubled to hear of parting with their dearest Lord who had resolved all their doubts satisfied their scruples instructed their ignorance and upon all occasions most sweetly communicated to them his heavenly doctrin and holy comforts It was very afflictive to them to understand from his own mouth that he was about to leave them whereupon he adviseth them not to be discouraged at it John 14.1 Let not your hearts be troubled nor be afraid He was but returning home and going to his Father's House the end of his going was to prepare mansions of Glory for them and for all his faithful Servants and he promiseth to come again and make them partakers of his Glory V. 3. If I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also Heb. 11.11 Faithful is he that hath promised who also will do it He will not fail the performing of his promise nor his peoples expectations He that shall come will come and will not tarry Now the certainty and full assurance of his coming being thus established by the plain evidence of God Angels and Men should breed in us a most attentive and accurate regard to every thing that we say or do should make us very serious in our thoughts words and works should mightily restrain us from vice and quicken us to vertue and beget in us a care and conscience in all our actions because we must undergo a severe trial upon the issue whereof depends our everlasting woe or endless felicity We shall be guilty of the greatest unfaithfulness of the basest treachery to our precious souls if we do not provide for that great account and prepare for the coming of our Lord and patiently expect his appearance iii. I proceed in the last place to consider the uncertainty of the time when our Lord will come In such an hour as ye think not The Wisdom of God hath thought fit to keep secret the particular time of the Judges coming that we might not spend our thoughts upon it nor out of curiosity enquire into it He hath not revealed it to the holy Angels and therefore it cannot be
Tribulations and Persecutions which were too great for human patience to bear Our rejoicing is this 2 Cor. 1.12 the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world A good Conscience is a continual Feast a Jubilee Pro. 15.15 in that dark dismal time when Death is breaking that Vital Union and making a separation between Soul and Body and the man is walking through the valley of the shadow of Death Ps 23.4 which is very full of terrors and dangers this will relieve his fears fill him with unspeakable Joys and enable him to grapple with the King of Terrors with courage and constancy of mind and to say with the blessed Apostle 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8 The time of my departure is at hand I have fought the good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith upheld and maintained it in and by my Ministry and lived in the exercise of the grace of Faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me of his free grace at that day My Soul shall enjoy it at my dissolution my whole man at the general resurrection Such a comfortable departure as this free from the stings accusations of Conscience is worth the most solicitous care earnest endeavour of a Christians whole life for when he comes to die Conscience will administer unspeakable Consolations to him make him lift up his head with joy and with a cheerful countenance to stand before the Son of Man and to say with Hezekiah Remember now o Lord Isa 33.3 I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight But on the contrary the case of a wicked man will be very deplorable when he falls into any calamity or affliction Job 15.24 pain or Sickness when the days of darkness are at hand Conscience is then most active upbraiding him with the greatness multitude and aggravations of his sin Guilt lies throbbing on his Soul Trouble and anguish make him afraid they shall prevail against him as a King ready to the Battle Who goes forth to fight with all the strength and power of his Kingdom attended with his Guards and Battalions of disciplined Soldiers and with all his Engines and Military preparations for slaughter and destruction which strikes a dread and terror into his Enemies which fills them with fears and anxious thoughts what the event issue may be Such are the troubles and agitations of Conscience in wicked men and that not only of the weaker fort but of such also as are cloathed with Purple and invested with Imperial Power The mighty Monarchs of the world such as Nero Tyberius Caligula c. who are above the reach of human Justice these are not exempted from the disquiets and stings of Conscience the Gripes and Convulsions of Self-conviction and the apprehensions and fears of a Caelestial Tribunal which they shall not escape tho' they have derided and laughed at it in the day of health But the dread and horror thereof encreaseth upon them as they draw near to the end of their days and this will be the case of every one of us if we do not now get our Consciences purged from dead works and the guilt of all our sins cancelled by a cordial sorrow for and moral revocation of it Therefore it very nearly concerns us to make a strict and severe inspection into our Consciences to state our Account right between God and our Souls For if any sin remain uncrossed it concerns us as much as our everlasting happiness is worth to set about it with all possible speed and diligence to give no rest to our Eyes nor slumber to our Eye lids till we have by an actual repentance and revocation of all that we have done amiss totally discharged them and gotten all our sins blotted out that they may not be found upon record against us When the times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord Jer. 17.1 For Conscience registers all that we do be it good or evil And when the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father and the Book of Conscience shall be opened and according to what is found written therein we shall be judged sentenced and rewarded for Conscience will be with us in Death and Judgment either to comfort justifie and acquit us or to terrifie accuse and condemn us 6 That we may be ready for the coming of our Lord it is necessity that we bear with patience and constancy the various troubles and tryals which we may meet with in this Life for as Job saith Affliction cometh not forth of the dust Chap. 5.6 neither doth trouble spring out of the ground but Man is born unto trouble as the sparks flie upward Crosses and Troubles befall us not by chance or accident but are fore-ordained by the Wisdom and dispenced by the providence of God or by his allowance Can a bird fall in a snare upon the Earth where no Gin is for him Amos 3.5 John 16.33 nor industriously prepared and laid to take him in the World we shall have tribulation reproach and injuries from Men the loss of Goods and good Name disappointments in Children Friends and Relations provocations to anger and revenge sickness and distempers in our Bodies troubles within disquietudes anxieties of mind which are little Deaths not only prologues but preparatives to Death Acts 14.22 We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God even as the Israelites went through many hardships in their peregrination through the Wilderness to the Land of Canaan so must we in our Pilgrimage through this World to the Inheritance which is above reserved in Heaven for us Therefore patience is absolutely necessary for us to enable us to bear our burdens to persevere in our Duty and to wait for our promised reward We have need of patience that after we have done the will of God Heb. 10.36 we may receive the promises Now many of the promises are of a long date and distance from us the reward is given to those that hold out unto the end wherefore the Apostle adviseth us To strengthen our selves with all patience and long suffering with joyfulness Coloss 1.11 Heb. 12.1 2.3 and to run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith who for that joyful and glorious state which was faithfully promised by his Father to be the reward of his Sufferings endured the Cross with all the concomitants of it despifing the shame and disgrace poured on him by his Enemies and is set down as a glorious and triumphing conqueror over Sin and Satan Death and Hell at the Right Hand of the Throne
Herald and in the Text proclaimeth the certainty of his coming but from the uncertainty of the time when presseth his Disciples to rouze up themselves and to stand perpetually upon their Watch looking for and awaiting the coming of the Lord either by Death or Judgment for it is all one in effect whether he come to us or we go to him whether the World endeth to us or we to it for when we die we then part with all our dear Delights and sweet enjoyments of this Life and go to Judgment for as Death leaves us Judgment will find us as soon as ever the Soul is separated from the body it is winged by the holy Angels to the Tribunal of God to receive its definitive Sentence to Joy or Misery according to its Works done in the body in this Life So that we had need to be ever waiting and prepared for that hour Therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh Which Words were spoken by our Lord particularly to his Disciples but are of Universal concern to all Christians and do as much belong to Vs in our days as to Them in theirs and therefore I shall look upon them with particular Application to our selves they do contain two General Parts I. Our Blessed Saviours seasonable and serious Advice solemnly to prepare our selves for Death and Judgment Be ye also ready II. A powerful and cogent Motive enforcing this good Advice For in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh I. The first thing to be considered is our Saviours serious Advice solemnly to prepare our selves for Death and Judgment therefore be ye also ready for this Reason because ye must die and come to Judgment and the time when is unknown be ye ready the Original imports set in the way as all those are whom God hath set in the Path of his Commandments Psal 85.13 Righteousness shall go before him as his Harbinger and shall set us in the way of his Steps i. e. in the path wherein he walketh and which he hath prescribed and appointed us to follow him in The Vulgar Latine reads it Parati made fit Now for as much as this is a long and difficult work and requires many Acts and Duties to be performed by us to dispose and qualifie us to meet our Lord with Joy and Comfort I will therefore shew i. Wherein this Preparation does chiefly consist ii Manifest the urgent necessity hereof and the many Obligations which we lie under to be always prepared for Death and Judgment i. My first work is to shew wherein this Preparation does chiefly consist this I shall do two ways Generally and Particularly 1. Generally This preparation does consist in the constant course of a Religious Holy and Heavenly Conversation and in the daily practice of Universal Purity 1. For this end the great and wise Creator did make us noble and reasonable Creatures Neh. 5.9 to walk in the fear of God to approve our selves by a blameless and harmless life Phil. 2.15 the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a perverse Nation among whom we being enlightned by the Son of Righteousness shine as lights in the World that others may see our good works the beauty and splendor of our Gifts and Graces Mat. 5.16 Joh. 15. â—8 and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven For herein is he glorified if we bring forth much fruit of Righteousness and true Holiness Not that it is in our power to add any thing to the essential glory of God but only contribute to the manifestation of his Glory and Majesty 2 This he doth command and require from us as we are his Creatures When God had chosen the Seed of Abraham and had separated them from all Nations and from all Impurities and Idolatries and set them apart for himself a peculiar People an holy Nation a chosen Race a People purchased to himself by Temptations by Signs and by Wonders and by War and by a mighty Hand and by a stretched out Arm and by great Terrors Deut. 4.34 according to all that he did in Aegypt He charged them thus Levit. 20.7 8. Sanctifie your selves and be ye holy for I am the Lord your God and ye shall keep my Statutes and do them We are the Seed of Faithful Abraham Gods peculiar People his proper portion and possession he hath brought us into a state of Salvation Tim. 1.9 and hath called us with an holy Calling not according to our works nor for any merit of ours but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began and as he that hath called us is holy so should we be holy in all manner of conversation 1. Pet. 1.16 for it is written be ye holy as I am holy Now there is a two fold likeness to God in holiness viz. a conformity to his nature and will in reference to which we are engaged to crucify the old man with his deeds to mortify the corruption of nature with all those sinful affections and actions which flow from it and to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness 3 Cor. 5.17 2 Pet. 1.4 Which is called by St. Paul the new Creature and by St. Peter the divine Nature which consists not in any communication of the divine Essence to us but in our partaking of those divine Qualities and dispositions of knowledge righteousness and holiness which do express the perfections of God and in our analogical resemblance to him in his Attributes of Meekness Humility Patience Long suffering Justice and Faithfulness Mercy and Charity Love and Purity and in our sincere endeavour to please him to do his Will and keep his Commandments which require us to do justly to love mercy Micah 6.8 and to walk humbly with God To love him with all our hearts and soul and strength and might to discharge all the Duties that we owe to his Divine Majesty and to be fervent in spirit in his service To abstain from all injurious practices against our Neighbours to perform all kind and friendly offices to all men to bear good will to them to rejoyce at their happiness to pity their miseries and commiserate them in adversity to pay all due respect to them sutable to their degree and quality to shew all meekness to all men candidly favourably to interpret their words and actions mildly to reprehend their faults and sparingly relate their miscarriages forgiving and forgetting their greater offences and conniving at their lesser injuries which make no great breach upon our interest or reputation studying by all fair means as much as lieth in us if it be possible to live peaceably with all tho we we may sometimes sail in our purposes because some men are of such a turbulent fiery and malicious spirit and such profest enemies to
dispose of every mans life at his pleasure as David did in the case of Vriah whom he had contrived and caused to be slain by the Sword of the Children of Ammon Psal 51.14 Deliver me from Blood-guiltiness O God thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness And forasmuch as no reparation can be made to the deceased Persons Mournful Friends the Offender must humbly beg Pardon of them also and make due Satisfaction to the Creditors and Children and Relations of the Person slain so far as it appears that they are damnified in their Temporal Estate by the immature Death of their dear Friend who was cut off out of the Land of the Living without time to repent and opportunity of making his peace with God In like manner he that hath taken away the good Name of another by Slander or Detraction and hath blasted his Reputation by opprobrious Defamations cannot prevent the Mischief that may ensue thereupon all that he can do is to confess his fault to the Person injured and endeavour to stop the spreading of the infamous Report by timely unsaying what he hath spoken in passion or prejudice against the Rule of Charity which obligeth to give every man his due Honour to whom Honour In these and such like Cases Restitution hath no place But in Oppression Bribery and unjust detention of what is anothers to which we have no legal right or title where the practice of this Vertue is absolutely necessary St. Augustine sets down this for a Canon Non remittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum the Sin of unjust getting is never pardoned unless restitution be made of what is unjustly gotten if the Offender be able Therefore it is necessary to do it in point of Duty and Obedience to God who hath commanded it and as a means of Pardon and Salvation our Repentance cannot be sincere without it as the Prophet Ezekiel assures us Ezek. 18.21 and 33.15 If the wicked man turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep my statutes and do that which is lawful and right if he restore the pledge give again that he hath robbed walk in the Statutes of Life without committing iniquity he shall surely live he shall not dye If he do not this the Commination threatned shall not be reversed He shall surely dye Evident then it is that a well grounded peace cannot be obtained with the person injured without restitution nor with Almighty God whose Laws which oblige men to love fidelity and justice are transgressed in every sin we commit against our Neighbour and particularly in the case before us Levit. 6.2 3 4 5. If a Soul sin and commit a trespass against the Lord and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep by denying a thing deposited in trust with him or in fellowship or commerce in trading or in any thing taken away by violence Isai 61.8 force and rapine God hating Robbery or hath deceived his Neighbour secretly of which kind of injustice Zacheus the Publican cleared himself by offering a Four fold Restitution of what he had gotten of any man wrongfully Luke 19. or have found that which was lost and sweareth falsly then it shall be because he hath sinned and is guilty he shall restore that which he took violently away or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten De male quaesitis vix gaudet tertius haeres or that which was delivered him to keep or the lost thing which is found he shall restore it in the principal for Restitution to Man must accompany Repentance towards God and shall add the Fifth part more thereto and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth and he shall bring his Trespass Offering unto the Lord and the Priest shall make an atonement for him before the Lord and it shall be forgiven him in any thing that he hath done in trespassing therein Which Law was again inculcated with additional directions to whom compensation is to be made either in kind or in equivalency in Numbers 5.6 7 8. and largely commented upon by the learned Ainsworth out of Maimonides his Treaty of Robbery Now if God did so strictly insist upon the performance of this duty from the Jews and encouraged them to it with promises of pardon and remission of temporal prosperity and eternal glory and expresly told them that he would not accept their Oblations if they did not confess their sins with grief and remorse and make full satisfaction according as the Law directed then we may rationally infer that he will not accept of our Repentance without the like practice if we would be at peace with him we must offer unto him the best and most acceptable sacrifice Psal 51.18.19 which is a broken spirit and a contrite heart Therefore our Saviour who came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets nor to abrogate the observation of them in his Kingdom but to fulfil supply and perfect them hath made this an Evangelical Duty Mat. 5.23 24. If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee any matter of complaint for any wrong or injury done by thee to him leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift St. Paul chargeth us 1 Thes 4.6 Rom. 13.7 8. not to go beyond or defraud our Brother in any matter and to owe no man any thing but love for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law this is the Golden Rule to do as we would be done by Wherefore it concerns us to have special regard to the discharge of this duty of Restitution as far as we are able and if we want ability to do it as the sacred Word and Law of God commands we are to manifest our Repentance and remorse of Conscience to testifie the sincerity thereof with compunction and tears and solemnly promise that if ever God make us able we will actually do it And in this case we need not doubt but that God will accept of a willing mind 2 Cor. 8.12 and every merciful and good man whom we have injured will pity pardon and forgive us and restore us to his favour 2. For the composing of our mind in order to our waiting for the coming of our Lord by Death or Judgment it is also necessary that as we submit our selves with all humility to all persons whom we have justly offended acknowledg our faults and crave their pardon so also cordially forgive those that have wronged us Tho' we find it a work of great difficulty to bring down our big Spirits and to bow our stubborn Wills to make an humble and ingenuous acknowledgment of our faults and ask the forgiveness of those whom we have justly displeased because as Salvian saith Totum durum est quicquid imperatur invitis every
by forgiving injuries are very considerable such are freedom from all those unreasonable Passions of envy hatred malice and desire of Revenge which are continually fretting and vexatious to our Spirits and eat out the peace and comfort of our Lives whensoever we do cordially forgive a Trespass we find a great Calm on a sudden in our Bosoms our Souls are at ease and our Thoughts are no longer disturbed with meditating of Revenge the offence is to us as if it had never been committed Envyings Strife and Contentions cease together with the sources of them anger malice pride emulation in the room whereof springs up charity kindness gentleness meekness humility long sufferings patience and other God like Vertues which are the Riches and Beauty the Glory and Ornament of a Christian and render him lovely and amiable in the Eyes of his Enemies and Venerable in the esteem of all good Men and all his Duties and Services pleasing and acceptable to God and greatly contribute to the obtaining remission of his sins with God as our Saviour himself certifies us Mat. 6.14 If ye forgive Men their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you not that our forgiving our Brethren without the concurrence of other divine Graces and holy Duties is alone sufficient to entitle us to the remission of our Sins but to shew us that without this forgiving of our Brethren Almighty God will not forgive us as also to represent the excellency and necessity of this Duty which is very grateful to him and of great Power in order to the commending us to his Grace and favourable acceptance and a principal part of that Obedience which we owe to him Psal 32.1 2. and which he will reward with eternal Blessedness Blessed is he whose Transgression is forgiven whose Sin is covered blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity and in whose Spirit there is no guile 2 The inconveniencies which do attend the neglect of this Duty are very dangerous and hurtful the implacable and irreconcilable Person encreaseth his own sorrows vexeth and cruciateth his own Soul makes his anguish more sharp and piercing To use the words of a great and good Man Arch Bp. Tillotson's Sermon on Mat 5.44 The very design of Revenge is troublesom and puts the Spirits into an unnatural fermentation and tumult the Man that meditates it is always restless his very Soul is stung swells and boiles is in pain and anguish hath no ease no enjoyment of it self so long as this passion reigns It entails enmitie and mischief upon him that is guilty of it from his Adversaries who will not fail to add weight unto his shoulders and multiply fresh injuries and affronts upon him which will gall his very Soul and make his Life painful and uneasie to him and which is most of all afflictive and deplorable he puts a bar to the remission of his own sins If ye forgive not Men their Trespasses Mat. 6.15 neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses one Man beareth hatred to another and doth he seek pardon of the Lord Ecclus. 28.3 4. he sheweth no mercy to a Man which is like himself and doth he ask forgivness of the Lord God will surely keep his sins in remembrance Mat. 7.2 and repay him in his own kind and measure he that is pitiful and merciful to his offending Brother shall find mercy from God he that will not forgive shall not be forgiven but shall be judged with impartial justice according to the severity of the Law without the least mixture of Mercy he shall have Judgment without mercy Jâ—m 2.13 that hath shewed no mercy God will deal with him according to the demerit of his sins and appoint him his portion with the reprobate Angels whose example he imitated in implacable malice and revenge this will be the dreadful sentence of malediction Mat. 25.41 depart from me thou cursed Sinner into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels miserable companions for distressed Souls but their condemnation is just and agreeable to their own requests for as oft as they said the Lords Prayer they in effect prayed for their own Damnation and besought God to forgive them their Debts as they forgave their Debtors i. e. that he would not forgive them because they will not forgive their offending Brethren Upon the whole then it does appear that as abiding anger malice and uncharitableness renders us unfit to die and to appear in Judgment so forgiveness and mercy dispose and prepare us for the coming of our Lord let us therefore take the Wise-Mans advice Ecclus 28.6 7. Remember our End and let enmity cease remember Corruption and Death and abide in the Commandments and bear no malice to our Neighbour tho' our Blood flows now warmly in our veins and our spirits are brisk and we enjoy a perfect state of Health and therefore delay and put off many things that are necessary to fit us for our final change yet it will not be long but we must put off this tabernacle and put on corruption when Death approacheth us we shall then with Balaam desire to die the death of the Righteous and that our latter End may be like his peaceable and happy that we may see the Felicity of Gods chosen and the glory of his Saints in Heaven the which we shall never attain unto unless we quit our selves of all uncharitableness and root out the malignant distemper of mind and all those bad dispositions those keen and tumultuous passions which hitherto have rufled us and disturbed the tranquility and repose of our Souls therefore the great Men of the World who have been prone to remember affronts and injuries with the highest resentments when they come to Die look upon Forgivness and Charity as necessary preparations for their change do give their general Amnesty to all that have offended them either out of Fear or Obedience to him who is the fountain of Love and Goodness who passeth by innumerable indignities and poureth down showers of bounty and mercy upon them that provoke him to wrath and indignation against them every day A chief part of our readiness and preparation to meet our Lord consists in doing all the good we can while we live with unwearied diligence and expedition For there is no work Eccles 9.10 nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave Now is the season for us to lay up for our selves Treasures in Heaven for if once Death put a period to our Lives the time of our preparation for Eternity is at an end our Souls will be for ever what they are when they leave the Body so that it ought to be our chiefest care to improve the present seasons of Grace and to secure to our selves a right and title to that exceeding great and eternal weight of Glory which is reserved in Heaven for all those that are rich in works of Piety Justice and Charity
will attend us no further than the Grave and if we dispense it not well and wisely but hoard it up as the unprofitable Servant did his Talent in a Napkin the rust and canker thereof will be a Witness against us and convince us of our unmercifulness in doing no good with it it will kindle the wrath of God against us and gall our Consciences with a vexatious remembrance of our Sin and Folly But good Works will certainly follow us into the future Life blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord Rev. 14.13 so saith the Spirit for they rest from their Labours and their Works follow them to Witness for them before the great Judge of the quick and dead and I had almost said to appease his Wrath Jam. 2 13. Dr. Ham. in locum Mat 5.7 and to prevent their Condemnation for St. James saith mercy rejoyceth against Judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 triumpheth over it for the merciful shall obtain mercy our Saviour doth not say that they shall Merit mercy at the hand of God but obtain mercy the reason is plain for when we have done all we are unprofitable Servants and have not at all benefitted the infinitely Glorious and Blessed God by our services but only done that which was our Duty and therefore must expect to receive our reward from Gods free mercy and not of merit Non properito accipis Vitam aeternam sed tantum pro gratiâ August St. James is very express Chap. 1.14 That we must be perfect and entire wanting nothing as to all the integral parts of Christianity to render us truly acceptable to God yet this we may firmly relie upon that no one single Vertue can better qualifie us for mercy or more effectually prevail with God to shew us mercy then this of mercifulness Phil. 8.14 which is an Odour of a sweet smell a Sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing to God the consideration whereof should induce us upon all occasions and opportunities to do good to be rich copious in good Works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for our selves not for our heirs and executors a good foundation against the time to come that we may lay hold on eternal Life A Life Bp. Reynolds which may be held when the last general conflagration shall have melted all the Treasures of the World our good works will abide that Tryal the Inheritance unto which they follow us is incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in the Heavens for us But we must qualifie our selves for it upon Earth by making it the whole business and trade of our Lives to do good which is to act according to the frame of our Natures and to comply with the best of those inclinations which God hath planted in us and to do a most delightful and pleasant Work even in the Opinion of Epicurus himself the great Patron of pleasure which is accompanied with satisfaction in the present performance of it and in the after reflection doth yield a huge refreshment to our Minds and a spring of peace and joy to our Souls which far exceeds all sensual and bodily delights and will most of all be sweet and comfortable to us when the pains of Death are upon us and our Souls are ready to take their flight into the eternal World therefore if we would have our Passage easie at our Death we must treasure up now a stock of Comfort against the evil day good Works will certainly support us in the Agony of Death and stand by us in the day of Judgment and plead for us before the Righteous judge and obtain for us a glorious Reward a Kingdom not purchased by our Works Mat. 25.34 35 c. but prepared for us from the foundation of the World and freely bestowed upon us for our obedience to his Holy Laws in being kind and merciful to his suffering Servants 5 The preparation which our Lord requires to fit us for his coming consists in keeping Conscience clear and free from offence either by abstaining from all filthiness of flesh and spirit or by a sincere endeavour if the mind and Conscience be defiled to get the guilt of sin done away by Godly sorrow which worketh Repentance unto Salvation for so St. Paul directs us alluding to the purifying under the Law by the sprinkling of Blood Heb. 10.22 1 Tim. 1.19 To get our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and to hold Faith and a good Conscience To this he assiduously applied himself with all his might Acts 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self to have alway a Conscience void of offence towards God and Man He made it his constant study and the daily business of his life continually to live inoffensively and to do his duty concscienciously both to God and Men. He felt the sweetness and comfort of it in his Soul when he was by the malice of the Jews imprisoned at Jerusalem and brought before the Sanhedrim where he makes this solemn profession Men and Brethren Acts 23.1 I have lived in all good Conscience before God Tho' Tertullus impleaded him with all the insinuative Arts of Learning and Eloquence he is able to make his own defence sully to answer the charge laid against him and his home and powerful reasonings of Temperance Righteousness and Judgment to come made his Judg to quake and tremble See here the great advantage a good man hath of his Adversaries and what invisible supports a good Conscience affords in the day of danger and adversity Hor. Car. L. 3. Od. 3. Neither the tumults of the People nor the face and indignation of Tyrants can abate his courage Inocency and Virtue animate him with boldness and confidence against all their accusations and terrors and lay the firmest foundation of a durable contentment and satisfaction therefore Seneca represents the mind of a wise man by the state of the superior Regions which were free from storms and tempests always serene and temperate A good man is never without joy Ep. 59. his contentment groweth not but from the Conscience of Vertue This made Paul and Silas when they were cast into Prison and thrust into the inner Dungeon Sanctorum sors est non melesté ferenda and their Feet mast fast in the Stocks sing divine Hymns and Songs of praise to God This was holy Job's comfort under all those piercing afflictions which besell him the loss of all his Substance and Children and desertion of his nearest Friends and Relations In these sad and miserable circumstances when there was none to pity and comfort him the conscience of his own innocence and integrity supported his Spirit Job 27.5 6. I will never remove my integrity from me my righteousness will I hold fast and will not let it go mine Heart i. e. my Conscience shall not reproach me so long as I live This supported and comforted the Primitive Believers in all their
or toward the North in the place where the Tree falleth there it shall lie which Scripture is thus interpreted by a learned Author Olympiodor in Eccles. In whatsoever place therefore whether of light or darkness whether in the work of wickedness or vertue a Man is taken at his death in that degree and rank doth he remain either in light with the just and Christ the King of all or in darkness with the wicked and Prince of the World There is no rectifying the errors of this Life in the next the day of Grace ends with this Life here all the Evidences and Graces of a Christian are to be acquired in the future state he shall receive his reward according to the things done in the Body Vid. Victoris Erabdum whether they be good or bad After we are gon from hence There remains no place for repentance no effect or benefit of satisfaction here Life is either lost or obtained and at the moment of death thou hast a passage hence to immortality So that whatever is done by us to obtain the favour of God and a blessed immortality must be done in this World The time of this Life Dr. Sherlock upon Death is all the preparation time that ever will be afforded to us to work out our Salvation There is no middle state or place as they of the Roman communion do fondly fancy to do it in we consist but of two parts Body and Soul and Solomon hath assured us that when we die Eccles. 12.7 the body returns to the Earth from whence it originally came Fundamentum ex pulvere et in pulvere finis ejus and the Soul to God that gave it The holy Angels conveyed Lazarus his Soul at his death into Abraham's bosom immediately upon its separation from the Body so saith the Spirit from henceforth from the instant of their dying the dead are blessed and rest from their labours from all the labours of their Christian calling their Race is at an end their course is finished and the crown is to be received All the Divine graces and Religious dispositions of mind which are requisite to fit the Soul for Heaven and make it happy when it leaves the Body must be obtained and exercised in the Body So that to day whilst it is called to day we must seriously mind and prosecute the things which belong to our peace and give obedience to the Commands of God which are reasonable and easie advantagious to our interest and do claim a Priority in our affections and endeavours for so we are directed to remember now our Creator and to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness in the first place for by so doing we not only secure to our selves the temporal Emoluments of this Life so far as the wisdom of God seeth them good for us but dispose and prepare our selves for eternal Glory and our obedience shall not miss of a suitable reward ii The solemn work of preparation for Death and Judgment is difficult it is not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of his Father which is in Heaven that sincerely endeavours to fulfil the whole will of God by faith and holyness The truth power of piety lies not in a mouthful of good words be ye warmed be ye filled be ye cloathed nor in a meer outside Form of worship but in practice 't is not enough for us to live inofsensively and harmlesly to abstain from that which is evil but we must actually do good and abound in fruits of righteousness 'T is a great work to die well and unless we do lay up an ample stock of spiritual preparations we shall never be able to go safely through the dark passage of death to Eternity Assure your selves dear Souls that a few penitent resolutions forced promises death-bed sorrows mournful tears melancholy looks formal prayers and crying God's mercy and asking him forgiveness will not serve the turn and prove effectual no we must put forth the most painful efforts of our Souls in mortifying our earthly Members in conquering vicious habits in regulating disordered appetites in governing according to the Laws of reason and religion all the faculties of our Souls in eradicating strong prejudices from our Understanings in bending our obstinate and rebellious Will in regulating unruly Affections in taming wild extravagant Passions in guarding our Hearts from vain Thoughts and inordinate Desires in subduing powerful Lusts which war against the Soul in resisting temptations and repelling the fiery darts of the professed Enemy of our Salvation in fighting manfully under Christ's Banner against Sin the World the Devil and the rebellious Flesh in curbing its impetuous and eager desires in bridling our Tongues from idle obscene and unsavoury talk in directing our steps in the straight path of holiness in sustaining Crosses Afflictions and Troubles with a generous patience and unshaken constancy doing our duty faithfully to God conscientiously waiting upon him in his Ordinances studying to know his Pleasure to do his Will to obey his Commands to promote his Interest advance his Glory in the World We shall have need of sincere Repentance Faith unfeigned unshaken Patience universal Charity seraphyck Love invincible Constancy an humble submission to the Will of God to bring down the Joys of Heaven into our Souls perseverance unto the end and a well grounded hope of partaking with the Saints in joys unspeakable and full of glory unless our Souls be habited and attired with these goodly vertues we shall be very unfit to die and to appear in Judgment Now to obtain these heavenly Graces is the work which we are to apply our selves unto with diligence and vigour For every Vertue hath its peculiar difficulty 2 Thes 1.11 1 Thes 1.3 Faith is called the work of Faith 'T is a difficult thing to believe the Existence of things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither is the heart of man able to conceive the immortality of the Soul and the existence of it in an immaterial world It 's hard to believe firmly all the promises and threatnings of the Word to rely upon Christ alone for Salvation perfectly to submit our Understandings and to resign our Wills to his holy will Repentance is a work not easily wrought upon the Soul though it be highly reasonable that when we have done contrary to our duty we should be cordially sorry for it resolve to do so no more and labour to undo what we have done amiss by godly sorrow and compunction of heart humble confession to God and restitution to Men yet experience sheweth that it is very hard to do this Gan the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots Jer. 13.23 then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil Hence it is called renovation a new creation regeneration a new birth in which there is pain and difficulty Charity
our selves ready to meet him in these words For in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh wherein we may observe three things to hasten and invigorate our preparations 1 The designation of the person to whom the administration of the last Judgment is committed the Son of Man 2 The certainty of his coming he cometh 3 The assignation of the time when he will come in such an hour as you think not These three things being duely considered wil make us very zealous in our preparations for the coming of Christ i. The designation of the Person to whom the administration of the last Judgment is committed is a very proper motive to quicken us in this important work The Son of Man who is no other then the Lord of Glory who in obedience to his Fathers will and an ardent desire of our happiness was pleased to take upon him our nature and to be born of a pure Virgin Joseph being his reputed Father in whose Womb and of whose substance he was conceived by the Holy Ghost and by a real and proper parturition was born into the world in the fulness of time Gal. 4.4 and at the very season which God had appointed for the redemption of Men in respect whereof he stiles himself The Son of Man The original power of Judgment doth certainly belong to God who hath an absolute sovereignty over his Creatures he as grand Lord of all the world hath intrusted us with various gifts and talents an improvement whereof he will require from us and exact an account of our obedience But such is the brightness and glory of his Majesty Exod. 33.20 that we poor mortals are unable to behold him If he should display the Beams of his glory to us we should certainly be astonished and overwhelmed with his dreadful presence It hath therefore pleased him to constitute the Son of Man to execute that last and grand trust of his Mediatory Office because he is capable by reason of his human nature which he assumed from his Mother of being visible to an eye of flesh The father judgeth no man Joh. 5.22 27. but hath committed all judgment unto the Son and hath given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man This Doctrine of his second coming our Saviour before his ascension into Heaven gave in strict charge to his Apostles principally and publickly to preach unto the People Acts 10.42 That it was he which was ordained of God to be judg of the quick and dead To him the Father delegated his power and commissioned him to be his Agent in performing this great work ch 17.31 He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world with righteousness by a man Dan. 7.13 14. that peculiar man mentioned in Daniel's Vision whom he hath ordained and confirmed under the broad Seal of Heaven John 6.27 to judg the world The Lord himself shall descend from heaven the Mediator between God and Man shall come in his own person and not by a representative every eye shall see him tho to agrandize his Advent all the holy Angels shall attend him 2 Thes 1.7 8. He shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire to take vengeance of them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Now if the Judg be appointed and that the Son of Man is the person to whom the office of executing judgment is consigned that the Divine Goodness hath committed it into his hands who hath taken upon him our nature hath born our griefs hath felt our infirmities and undergon those chastisements by which our peace of reconciliation with God our salvation and happiness were purchased and effected The consideration hereof should deeply engage us to make our selves ready to meet our Sovereign Lord For what can we wish more in our own favour than this that he shall be our Judg who hath been touched with a fellow feeling of our miseries and can have compassion of our infirmities For his coming we should be always ready because none but such as are in a prepared state shall pertake of the joys which God hath laid up for those that love him ii It is certain that the Son of Man will come he is about it upon the point of coming As for those persons that have the impudence and impiety to redicule and deride this fundamental Article of our Christian Faith they are generally such as deny the Being and Providence of God the immortality of the Soul and future rewards and punishments Men of Atheistical principles and dissolute lives whose interest it is that this Doctrine should not be true because it lays a great restraint upon their Lusts and fills them with fears and terrors and dreadful expectation of fiery wrath and indignation which shall be their portion if in the end they should prove mistaken but their judgment is not to be relied upon against the consentient belief of men of all Ages and Nations to the contrary for not only the Greeks and Romans persons among whom Arts and Sciences Learning and Policy have been improved to a considerable degree but also the rude and barbarous people among whom little of Policy or Religion or good Manners are to be met with have been of this perswasion That the Soul is immortal and destined to a future life in joy or misery according to its demerits in this life and that there shall pass future scrutinies after death upon the actions of this life That there are places of rest and pleasure provided for good men Some Paradysical Gardens and Elizian Fields where they shall partake of purer joys and sweeter delights then the finest sensitive pleasures On the other hand that black and dismal Regions are assigned for wicked men ubi fera regnat Erinnys where they shall be tormented by infernal Furies frightful Officers and grim Judges and dreadful punishments such as Ixion and Titius suffered who are said to have a Vulture perpetually gnawing his Vitals But suppose that this sort of men were wiser then all the world besides yet it is a great piece of rudeness and incivility to maintain a Position contrary to the sentiments of all mankind and their deriding the Doctrine of Christs Advent and scurrilously sporting with that which we account an essential principle of the Christian Religion is a clear agument of the truth and verity of it and of the near approach of his coming So St. Peter affirms that there shall come in the last days a little before the Son of Man appeareth Scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying 2 Pet. 3.3 4. where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the Creation They observed no discernible change or alteration saving that men die and others succeed in their room and so for ought they know may continue for