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A46713 A sermon preach'd in the Cathedral Church of Norwich, March 8th, 1695/6 being the second Sunday in Lent / by John Jeffery ... Jeffery, John, 1647-1720. 1696 (1696) Wing J521; ESTC R1811 12,473 30

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then at Death and Judgment that they themselves had been as much rejected and injured as the Righteous were so they might at the great and terrible day of the Lord stand before the divine Tribunal with that Advantage which the Righteous do But as the Righteous shall then have their Character and Distinction according to what they did in the Body So the Sinner who did not those things but the contrary cannot with all his Out-crys and Importunities make himself such an one as the Righteous are He cannot put on so much of the Similitude of the Righteous as once was done in Hypocrisie He is not a righteous Person and he cannot make a shew of such an one he cannot then personate a religious Man If he should pretend to it in any term whatsoever he would be discovered he cannot place himself among the Righteous or expect to pass for such an one He cannot mingle with the Saints or come into the Assembly of those Ps 1.5 whose Company he shunn'd while he was on Earth Nay he cannot then act the part of a Dissembler he cannot pretend to that Reverence of God and love of good Men which the Hypocrite used to do and which perhaps himself has sometimes done in the course of his past Life Thus shall wicked Men wish at last and in vain that they were not what they are and that they were what they are not what they cannot for ever be We see what that good is which wicked Men desire but the Righteous onely can enjoy viz. The Character and the Reward of the Righteous Religion is the Foundation of Happiness and Happiness is the Perfection of Religion That Religion and that Happiness wicked Men shall desire at last and when they have a distinct View of the last things wishing they had lived that Religion and that they might enjoy that Happiness But the Righteous are they alone who have lived religiously in this World and the Righteous are they alone who can live happily for ever Summum bonum This is that great Good which wicked Men necessarily and unavoidably desire but the Righteous only can enjoy From this Truth we may reprove the Wicked encourage the Righteous and admonish all Men. 1. From this Truth we may reprove the Wicked because by this it is manifest their Wickedness is inexcusable and their Hopes are vain There is a notorious Contradiction between their Lives and their Desires while they wish for the Happiness of the Righteous and chuse what renders them uncapable of it Lu. 19.22 They shall be judged out of their own Mouths and their own Hearts shall condemn them 2. By this Truth the Righteous are approved and encouraged in their Duty and their Expectation because they live according to the Constitution of Things and the Declaration of God They live as the Consciences of the Wicked tell them they ought to live and as they shall wish at last they had lived The Righteousness of the Righteous is approved by all true Wisdom and those who calumniate the religious are reproached by their own Hearts for so doing 3. This Truth may be of use to admonish all Men to live the Life of the Righteous and that their early Beginning be like his Eccl. 12.1 and then they shall die the Death of the Righteous and their last End shall be like his too And since this will at last be the most serious wish of all Men since those who hated the Life of the Righteous will wish they might die the Death of the Righteous and that their last End may be like his what can be more proper for the Conclusion of this Discourse than that wish of Moses O that they were wise that they understood this Prometheus Epimetheus Dent. 32.29 that they would consider their latter End If Men were but so kind to themselves and so provident for Eternity as before the great day of Decision comes now while they are preparing for it to place themselves by a suitable exercise of Faith in those circumstances in which they must stand at the last Day and then look upon themselves as they are at the time of such Representation did a wicked Man who knows the Transgressions of his Life and that feels the Remorse of his Consoience did he suppose himself laid upon a Bed of Sickness and Death and view his Circumstances as they will at last be if he dies such an one as he now is did he suppose his Soul separating from the Body and departing into the secret and invisible Society of the Dead did he suppose the last Trump sounding and himself among the rest of Mankind awakened out of the sleep of Death by that dreadfull Alarm did he represent to himself the great and universal Assembly standing together upon the face of the trembling Earth and beholding the Son of God descending from Heaven in the Glory of his Father and his Holy Angels did he suppose the Judgment-Seat placed and the Son of God set down upon it the Books opened that of the Law of God and Gospel of Christ that of Mens Lives and Consciences and the Dead ready to be judged according to the Things written in those Books did he consider the Distinction and Separation of Good from Bad the one placed at the Right Hand Matth. 25.33 Dextra quae ditis magni sub moenia tendit● Hac iter Elysium nobis at laeva malorum Exercet poenas ad impia Tartara mi●●●● Virg Aen. 1.6 and the other at the Left Hand of the Glorious Judge did he hearken to the Sentence that will then be passed upon each Man according to his Deeds and view by Faith the Execution of that Sentence looking upon the Wicked as falling headlong into the Bottomless Pit and looking upon the Righteous ascending their Thrones of Glory I say did wicked Men often and seriously represent these important Truths unto themselves did they thus consider their latter End what Effect would that Consideration have upon them Thus to do would be their Wisdom for thus it will be with them at last and by a due and timely considering they may prevent the worst Things being their Portion If Men did consider they would say with the greatest Seriousness Let me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last End be like his And knowing such a Wish cannot be verified merely by vehement Desires and passionate Expressions they might at one time or other be perswaded by such Considerations to live the Life of the Righteous and if they did so They should also die the Death of the Righteous and their last End should be like his that would be their Everlasting Portion They should then Quo fat● trahunt Virtus secura sequetur Luc. 1.2 not only make their Wishes but also have what they wished they should at their great Extremity be received into the Joy of their Lord. FINIS
Duty he has violated But in vain and to their Torment do wicked Men Wish they might Obtain that Happiness or Avoid that Misery That they had Forsaken their Sin or Performed their Duty 3ly The Desires which wicked Men shall have at last of the Portion of the Righteous has then respect to what is present for They shall then Wish 1. That they were not the Sinners they are And 2. That they were the Righteous persons they are not 1. They shall Wish at last that they were not the Sinners they are The meaning of this Wish is That they were not under such Guilt as they have contracted and that they were not so Viciously inclined as they are By their past Sins which they have not Repented of they are consigned to the Misery they fear and by their prevailing sinfull Disposition they are uncapable of the Happiness which the Righteous enjoy Under that Guilt and with that Temper Sinners appear before God who knows what they are and what they have done And the same Appearance every Sinner at certain Seasons hath unto Himself When a Sinner has as Balaam when he spake the words of the Text had a distinct Prospect and affecting Representation of the last things then his Conscience awakens and shows him to himself in all the odious Characters that a Sinner shall appear at the Judgment-Seat of God He then considers what He is and that God does and will account him such an one as he is But the Sinner who considers this knows that Wickedness is abominable in the sight of God and that He who has committed Wickedness and not Repented of it is abominable unto God for it How shall I says the Sinner when he becomes sensible what it is to be such a Sinner How shall I appear before God Psal 1.5 How shall I stand in Judgment And what can such an One as I expect from Him Hab. 1.13 1 Pet. 4.18 who is a God of purer eyes than to behold Iniquity Where shall the Ungodly and Sinner appear And such a frighted Conscience will be apt to suggest That 't is altogether uncertain whether the Person shall have Time or Heart to Repent and That for ought he knows He must in the same Condition that his Soul now is receive his final Doom What Perplexity must a wicked Man be in when he has these Thoughts abiding vigorously upon his Spirit and what manner of person shall he then wish he were Sure he will Wish he were such an one as God will forgive That he were not guilty of such heinous Sins That he were freed from that vicious Disposition That he had the Character and Heart of a Penitent that so he might hope for Mercy But if a Sinner can be thus Distressed by his guilty Conscience when he is in Health and Safety and Confidence of Life What must be his Case What the Workings of his Mind when he is upon a Bed of Sickness and Death When he is Departed into the other World and when he shall be Awakened out of the Sleep of the Grave by the Voice of the Arch-Angel and the Trump of God Then he will Wish with all the Vehemency that is possible and with such Confusions as no man can now imagine that he were not the Sinner he is He shall wish this and wish it in vain for he cannot by all the Wishes that are possible become other than he is Those Wishes can make no alteration in the State of his Soul and those Means which were provided in order to the Conversion of a Sinner now are not The Time in which that Change should have been made is gone is gone for ever The despairing Soul of a wicked Man shall cry out in Agonies more violent and insupportable than those of Death O that I were not among the Enemies of God! this accursed and forlorn Society to which I belong O that I could now be changed into another Man and that I were as contrary to what I am as is possible But he that shall utter such Wishes shall know that he must be judged according to what has been done by him in the Body in time past 2 Cor. 5.10 and that he is now such an one as his past wicked Life has made him to be What he now is does depend upon what he has formerly done And the Character of a wicked Man is That he is one who has lived wickedly and never so repented as to live otherwise This is the Quality of a Sinner and this is no more to be put off by any Wishes that can be made or any Action that can be done by him at last than he can make that not to have been done which was done or make that to have been done which was not done All the Consternation and Exclamation that a Man is capable of can make no Alteration in the State of his Accounts which is drawn up according to what is past Yet cannot Sinners see what the final condition of such will be without wishing in the most passionate manner that they were not what they are that they were not the Sinners they are 2. Wicked Men shall at last wish they were those Righteous Persons they are not When Sinners appear to themselves what they are and appear unto the Judge who knows them more perfectly than they can know themselves they do also see others 1 Joh. 3.20 who are contrary to them in their Lives and Characters They know who they are and what manner of Persons they are whom they scorned and hated whom they maligned and persecuted and they know what the Reason was of their Ill-will against them and their Contempt of them They lived among such as were Righteous such as minded the things of a better World and sought their Satisfaction from the Hopes of Heaven and their Communion with God they employed the greatest part of their Care and Time in impressing upon their Souls and Lives the Image of God that so they might be fitted by the Likeness of God for the Enjoyment of him They chose the exercise and the Company of those who studied divine Wisdom and practised divine Vertue They kept themselves unspotted of the World Jam. 1.27 1 Joh. 2.16.1 Pet. 4.4 and would not for the sake of carnal Pleasure or earthly Riches or secular Honour adventure upon those wicked Courses that others took By this the Righteous were distinguished from the wicked and became contrary to them For this they were hated by the Wicked and shut out of their Friendships and Affections The characters of Holiness that appeared upon their Speech and Conversation did manifest what manner of Persons they were and fuch Persons Sinners had in Abomination By the same Marks which formerly Sinners knew and distinguished the Righteous as the Objects of their Malice they shall at last remember them with Emulation wishing themselves were such as these once despised and persecuted righteous Men are Sinners shall wish