what Instruction he hath met with in the School of Righteousness what plenty of Religious Discourses and Exhortations he has enjoy'd and how frequently he has felt Motions from within to a still more and more holy and exemplary Life He that hath experienc'd all this in a great degree that hath had his pregnant natural Capacity well cultivated by an early and excellent Instruction and had the whole of Religion plainly laid before him in all the Doctrines Duties Rewards and Punishments of it and been often and affectionately exhorted to live accordingly in all holy Conversation and Godliness and has frequently felt secret internal Motions and Perswasions to it this Man has received much more than One Talent at the hands of God and God will expect from him a proportionable Improvement and he must abound in every good Word and Work For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much requir'd and to whom Men have committed much of him they will ask the more But because all Men are not of equal Abilities naturally neither have the same Opportunities of Instruction and Improvement nor the same immediate Impulses of the Blessed Spirit where there is any defect in these Respects God will abate proportionably in his Expectations and he that received the One Talent had he gained but One other with it would have been call'd a good and faithful Servant and been receiv'd into the Joy of his Lord. Let us all therefore endeavour to grow in Grace according to the measure of this unspeakable Gift to perform our Duties each in his Station and according to his Ability faithfully and industriously that when our Lord comes to make Enquiry into each ones Improvement of his Talent and call for every ones particular Account we may all from the least to the greatest chearfully give it up and receive the immense Reward of a sincere Diligence For In the third Place There will most certainly be a Time when our Great Lord will come to take Account of every Man's Improvement of the Grace that was given him and reward every Man according to his Deserving That there will certainly be a Day of Judgment both of Quick and Dead when every Man shall be rewarded according to that he hath done in the Body whether it be good or evil is a Truth so evident from Scripture that those who have read and do believe those Writings can make no doubt of it And the Proof of this from Reason has been so convincingly manag'd by several Learned Pens particularly of late by Dr. Sherlock in his Excellent Discourse upon Judgment that I think nothing can be added to it I shall only therefore Collect such a Description of that Great Day and the Proceedings in it out of the Revelations where it is the most movingly represented as may incline us all with the greatest Diligence and immediately by self-Examination and Amendment of every evil Way to prepare for that great Audit that we may give up our Accounts with joy and not with grief In the 20th Chapter of the Revelations ver 12. after the divine Apostle had given a Description of the Appearing of the great Judge upon his Throne I saw a great White Throne says he and him that sat on it from whose face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was found no place for them He proceeds I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened And another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the dead were judged out of those Things that were written in the Books according to their Works and the Sea gave up the dead that were in it and Death and the Grave deliver'd up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their Works And whosoever was not written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire That is The Records shall then be laid open wherein every Man's Receipt of Grace is enter'd and those whose Works shall be found proportionably good according to the Assistance they have receiv'd from Above or in the Stile of the Parable that have made an answerable Improvement to the Number of Talents committed to them their Names shall be written in the Book of Life and they received into the eternal Joy of their Lord. But those who can then give no good Account of their Talents shew no suitable Improvement in Holiness according to the measure of Grace they have received shall never see Life but be cast into the Lake of Fire which is the second Death And because so very few will be so wise as to make due Preparation for this great Day of Account by improving the Grace God has given them to the great Ends for which it was design'd therefore as 't is describ'd Rev. 3.15 The Kings of the Earth and the great Men and the rich Men and the chief Captains and the mighty Men and every Bond-man and every Freeman many of all Qualities and Conditions from the highest to the lowest shall hide themselves in Dens in Rocks and Mountains and say to the Rocks and Mountains fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb for the great Day of his Wrath is come and who shall be able to stand May these Terrors of the Lord perswade us to provide in this our day for the Things that belong to our Peace before they be hid from our eyes looking for by frequent Meditation and hastning unto by a diligent Improvement of our Talents the coming of this dreadful day of God and being above all things careful That we be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless for God will bring every secret Thing into Judgment whether it be good or evil and exactly adapt every Man's Recompense to his Work Which brings me to the next Thing I am to consider in this Parable namely Fourthly That at that great Day of Account when every Man's Work is fully known and his Improvement compar'd with what he has receiv'd the Diligent shall not only in general be receiv'd into the Joy of their Lord and the unprofitable cast into outer Darkness but the most Diligent those that have made the greatest Improvement shall receive the greatest share of Happiness And those that have been most careless and Unprofitable shall be doom'd to the greatest misery That is in short there will be degrees of Happiness or Misery respectively awarded to Men according to the degrees of their Holiness or Impiety I know this has been much question'd by some and wholly deny'd by others and their main Reason against it I conceive to be this That since the Happiness of the Just in Heaven consists in the Vision of God or the Excellencies and Beauties of the Divine Nature which will fill a holy Soul with eternal and inexpressible Delight for so St. John expresses the Bliss of Heaven by seeing God as
sows these Tares because he is the busy Prompter to Vice and Hypocrisy and the great Encourager of it by his sly and wheedling Insinuations and wicked Injections He is that great Enemy of God and all things heavenly and good and whose constant Endeavour it is to oppose and weaken the Kingdom of Righteousness and upon the Ruins of it to establish his infernal Dominion The End of the World is compared to the Harvest because then is the Time of Gods gathering all Men from off the Face of the Earth and disposing them according to their Deservings into a new State of endless Happiness or Misery as good Corn at Harvest is taken from off the Ground and carryed-away and laid up in Repositories of Safety but the Tares and other noxious Weeds sever'd from the rest and bound up in Bundles to be burnt And the Angels are said to be the Reapers at this great Harvest because 't is by their Ministry that God will execute his most equal Sentence whether of Absolution or Condemnation the Righteous shall by them be caught up into the Clouds to meet their Lord in the Air and like good Corn be laid up and that for ever in God's heavenly Garner for they shall ever be with the Lord And the wicked and hypocritical shall by them be separated from the good and like vile Tares be thrown into a Furnace of Fire unquenchable And thus much in short for the Aptness of this Parable to express the Sense that our Lord conceal'd under it I shall now proceed to consider its several Parts And it will inform us of six things First it will inform us of the State of the Christian Church in this World that there will be both good and bad under the general Name of Christians as Tares and Wheat together go under the Name of one Field of Corn and that the Two first Planters of this Good and Evil respectively are Christ and the Devil That there will be both good and bad in this World under the general Name of Christians will be no wonder to any Man that considers how many there are that are Christians by Custom and Education only because their Fathers were so before 'em and in their tender Years procur'd their Reception into that Communion but seldom look any further into the Reasons and Inducements to such Belief and trouble themselves but very little to be inform'd in much less to practise the Duties that are bound upon them by that holy Profession And for the same Reason would have been Mahometans or Jews had their Parents been so and educated them in that Way and therefore are Christians by Chance not Choice And this those would do well to consider who spend the whole Six Days of the Week in drudging for the World from Morning until Night and then like tir'd Beasts when they have fill'd their Bellies without any further Thoughts lay them down to rest and when the Lord's Day comes which is design'd for the Nourishment and Improvement of their Souls in Piety and Goodness and their Instruction in the Religion they profess to be of make little better Use of it than their Horses do in the Stable rest from bodily Labour and saunter and prate and drink away the Day but seldom come at the Places of divine Worship and Instruction and if they do are as little the better for it as if they were absent Let such consider before it be too late whether this Sort of Christianity will bring 'em to Heaven or no Whether their being baptized in their Infancy will save 'em without any more to do Whether their telling our Lord at the Day of Judgment that they happen'd to be born in a Country where his holy Religion was profess'd and of such as call'd themselves Christians and were by them presented to a Minister of Christ who receiv'd them into the Pale of the Catholick Church and that they continued to call themselves Christians all their Lives and now and then came to Church as other Christians did Let them consider whether at that great Day such an empty Plea will be accepted when the Judg comes to enquire into what Obedience they have paid to his Commandments If it will be accepted Mat. 7.21 why does our Lord say not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.14 And why is the Way said to be narrow and the Gate strait that leads to Life and that few there be that find it but if it will not be accepted as most certainly it will not Doubtless it highly concerns such Men to consider more seriously of Religion than they have done hitherto unless they think their Souls not worth taking care of or that the everlasting Pains of Hell are not so great as those of Repentance and living a new Life And tho' for the Reason assign'd above it is no Wonder that many ill Men here go under the common Name of Christians and that Title be all the Christianity they can boast of yet 't would be a very great Wonder indeed if such empty Tares as these should be laid up with the good Wheat and get to Heaven as much by Chance as they became Christians Further 't is no strange thing to find ill Men amongst a Society of Christians because Men are free Agents and Religion does not force but only by proper Methods incline and perswade And those who in their Infancy were devoted to the Service of God and educated in his Discipline in their tender Years may yet through the Predominancy of their Lusts and vile Affections and the Temptations of the wicked one together with their own careless Inadvertency be when grown up inclined to live at quite another Rate than Christianity allows And though for Fashion's sake they may retain the Name of Christians yet choose to be indeed the Servants of their own Passions and of the Prince of Darkness And therefore 't is very unreasonable for the Enemies of Religion to conclude as they do that because many that profess Christianity live in direct Contradiction to it therefore the whole is a Cheat Because did they believe what that Religion teaches to be true they would not dare to live in such continual Opposition to it Indeed this should make all Christians very careful and circumspect in their Conversation lest they bring so great a Scandal as this upon their holy Religion remembring our Lord's Words Woe be to him by whom the Offence or Scandal cometh But it will not at all follow that because some of a Profession live contrary to its Precepts and Doctrin that therefore the whole is a Forgery For believing and doing are Two very different things and a Man may habitually assent to the Truth of a thing and yet not actually attend to it As a Man may be very well assured that there is a dangerous Pit in his Way and
Death though they dread it above all things and know that it will certainly come and are uncertain how soon they make as little Provision as if they were immortal as the Angels in Heaven what a Bundle of foolish Inconsistencies is here They look upon Death as the greatest of Evils and yet regard it the least of all things they know it highly concerns 'em to make Preparation for it by a good Life and they know the sad Consequence if it surprize 'em unawares and they are not sure they shall not be surpriz'd the next Hour or Minute and yet for all this they put the evil Day far from them and by all Arts endeavour to remove such melancholy Thoughts as if they were resolv'd not to avoid but suffer what they fear and secure to themselves the Miserie 's consequent upon an untimely and unprepar'd Death And what is this but just the same Piece of Folly and Madness as for a Man because he greatly dreads the Plague therefore to run into an infected House because he is afraid of Poverty therefore to grow prodigal and squander away what he hath And what can be more strangely foolish and contradictious than this Indeed a Sinners whole Life is the greatest Folly and Contradiction but 't is most gross and palpable with Relation to dying for because a Man loves his Body therefore so to indulge it in this World as to make it become eternally miserable in the next and live in such a Course of sinful Pleasures as will be repaid with a double Death is unaccountably foolish and against all the Dictates even of natural Reason I need not say more I think to expose the Folly of not making Preparation for so great a Change as Death will effect in every Man's Condition or in the Phrase of this Parable of not keeping Oyl in our Lamps nor watching against the divine Bridegroom's coming but slumbering in a careless Inadvertency to those great things of Religion Death and Judgment till they overtake us as a Thief in the Night And from what has been said of the Folly of not preparing for that Time of Terrors and greatest Concern to every Man we may in a few Words collect the great Wisdom of being always in a Readiness to obey the Summons of our great Lord with Chearfulness For in short to be ready and prepar'd to die when God shall please to call us has all the Wisdom in it of making a constant due Provision against the greatest and most concerning Change that can befall us and which we must certainly undergo and how soon we know not and that but once neither and which will be follow'd by the final Judgment without any new Opportunity being afforded wherein to amend the Errors of our then irrecoverably past Life 'T is to make such a Preparation for this great Change as may render it advantageous to us whenever it shall come than which no greater Piece of Wisdom can be imagin'd For that certainly is the greatest Wisdom that makes a Man wise to Salvation Wherefore to conclude this Parable Since it is appointed to Men once to dye and after that the Judgment or in the Stile of this Parable since Jesus the divine Bridegroom will one time come to summon every particular Member of the Christian Church his mystical Spouse to leave this World and attend him in the World of Spirits there to partake with him if ready and adorn'd with the Wedding Garment and their Lamps burning with the Oyl of Righteousness of the everlasting Felicities of this heavenly Kingdom or else if not prepar'd to appear before him then to be for ever excluded his Presence and thrust into the dire Abodes of the Devil and his Angels Since this is so let us all make it our sincere Endeavour by a serious and hearty Observation of those holy Rules of living which our Lord has mark'd out to us as the Way to Immortality and a Preparation for his Appearance to be always ready to go out and meet him that we may enter with him into the Marriage Chamber before the Door be shut and not hear that dismal Sound I know ye not depart from me ye Workers of Iniqutity And because this great Coming of the Bridegroom will be but once for 't is appointed to Men but once to dye and after that but one final Judgment let us by no means trifle away this only Opportunity of working out our Salvation in Folly and Impertinency much less in Wickedness and Vice but often reflect upon the Agonies we shall feel when we shall find this one only Life which we have so wretchedly mispent drawing to a Conclusion and no Hopes of any further Opportunity to recover our selves in but just as we then are in that deplorable unprepar'd Condition be hurried away to give Account of our Works Lord What Confusion must such wretches feel what horrid Tortures must needs pierce their Souls to see Hell gaping to receive 'em and no Possibility of Escape or so much as a Reprieve but plunge they must into those Lakes of Fire and Brimstone which yet they might have avoided if they would If this be a Case infinitely deplorable and if this be not certainly nothing is then it nearly concerns us all while we have Time that is while this one only Life does last to make Provision for a happy Departure out of it by a more holy and circumspect Conversation in it And because the Time when this one only Life shall end is wholly in the Dark to us and we know not the Day nor the Hour when our Lord will come let this awaken us into serious Thoughts and Resolutions of making the best Use of the remaining Portion of our Lives and break off immediately our sinful Course of living lest the Opportunity for so doing be gone before we think of it and we be surpriz'd into endless Misery e're we are aware Let us always keep our Lamps burning our Souls employ'd in holy Meditations and our selves in a Readiness by a good Life and then though it is appointed for us all to die and that but once and after that the Judgment and we know not the Day nor the Hour when the Summons shall be given We may with Comfort wait for our dear Lord's appearing and say Come Lord Jesus come quickly The PRAYER I. O Glorious Jesus The Saviour and the Judg of Mankind before whose just Tribunal we must all certainly appear but when we know not and there give Account of our Works and be rewarded according to them assist me I beseech thee with thy Grace that I may make it my chief Care with Cheerfulness and Comfort to obey thy Summons to this great Audit whenever thou shalt call And to that End grant I may be frequent in the Contemplation of my Mortality how short and frail my Life is here how inevitably and closely Judgment follows Death and how certainly the one will find me as the other leaves
say to his angelical Reapers gather ye first together the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them but gather the Wheat into my Barn And accordingly they shall gather out of his Kingdom all that have been a Scandal to it and under the Disguise of Christianity have done Iniquity and shall cast them into a Furnace of Fire where shall be wailing and gnashing of Teeth And then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father That is when the Close of the World shall come and the whole intelligent Creation be met together at the Summons of the Trump of God Men to receive their several Sentences whether of Absolution or Condemnation according to their several Deserts and Angels to execute these Sentences Then shall the sincerely good Christians indeed and in Truth be plac'd by the blessed Angels of God on the right Hand of the glorious and just Judg and after a Display of their excellent Piety and Charity to all the World hear this joyful Sound Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepar'd for you from the Foundation of the World and then be immediately caught up into the Clouds to meet their dear Lord in the Air and from thenceforth be for ever with him and shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father having Crowns of eternal Glory plac'd upon their Heads and loud and rapturous Halleluja's in their Mouths Whilst those miserable Wretches that knew no more of Christianity than the Name in whom Religion was only Shew and Formality having no real Influence upon thir Lives and bringing forth no Fruits of Piety whilst these shall find to their Confusion that God is not to be mock'd and be plac'd on the left Hand as Vessels of Wrath and be doom'd to depart for ever from the Fountain of Happiness into eternal Burnings prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels Then will the good find by a happy Experience that there is indeed a Reward for the Righteous and that however they were laugh'd at and discourag'd here their Labour is not in vain in the Lord. And then will the Mock Hypocritical Christians be sadly assur'd notwithstanding all their Plea of having eaten and drank in the Presence of the Judge and at his Table and of his having taught in their Streets that without real and substantial Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. And instead of being receiv'd into their Master's Joy for cringing and fawning upon him and giving him magnificent Titles Lord Lord Jesus Saviour but heeding little his Commandments they shall be rejected with I know you not depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity And then will God be justifyed in the Face of the whole World and found to be not an unconcern'd Spectator of the Affairs of Man-kind but a wise all-knowing and just Governour of the Universe And though Clouds and Darkness seem here to be round about him yet Righteousness and Judgment are the Establishment of his Throne Then will there be eternal Joy and Exultation of the blissful beatify'd Souls of the righteous and weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth in the wretched Companies of the Damn'd for ever Mal. 4.1 Behold the Day cometh saith the Prophet Malachi that shall burn like an Oven and all the proud and all they that do wickedly shall be as Stubble and the Day that cometh saith the Lord of Hosts shall burn them up that it shall leave them neither Root nor Branch Rev. 9.6 And in that Day shall Men seek Death and shall not find it and shall desire to die and Death shall flee from them And now for a Conclusion of the whole Matter Since from this Parable of our Lord's it appears that though an empty Shew of Religion may pass well enough in this World and meet with no open Discrimination or Punishment from God here yet there shall most certainly be an after Reckoning when all the Thoughts and Intentions of Men's Hearts shall be reveal'd and their vile Hypocrisy and secret Impiety laid open before Men and Angels and an irreversible Doom of greatest Severity pay'd upon them according to their Deservings Since this is true it nearly concerns us all to be Christians in Reality as well as in Name and Appearance to obey the Commands of Christ as well as call him Lord and to approve our selves true Disciples of this holy Institution by leading our Lives in all holy Conversation and Godliness diligently endeavouring to be found of this great Judg in Peace without Spot and blameless Remembring that God shall bring every Work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or evil and that the wicked shall go into everlasting Punishment but the righteous into Life eternal The PRAYER I. O Holy Saviour Jesus from whom are deriv'd all our Possibilities of Salvation the Means of Grace and the Hopes of Glory but who expectest our Concurrence with thy gracious Endeavours for our Hapiness and for the Tryal of our Sincerity permittest thine and our great Enemy to scatter his hellish Injections where thou sowest thy heavenly Doctrin I earnestly intreat thee so to assist me with thy Life-giving Spirit that my Faith and Obedience which thou hast made the Condition of my Happiness may be so vigorous and active as to manifest that I am thine not only in Word and in Shew but in Deed and in Truth Grant that I may ever esteem those inward Motions which I feel to a progressive Holiness to be what indeed they are thy gracious Endeavours to promote my eternal Welfare and may I always thankfully and chearfully embrace and follow them And whatever Thoughts and Inclinations tend to discourage sincere Religion and perswade to rest in the Formality of it for thy Mercies Sake help me to reject them with the greatest Abhorrence and Indignation as the Endeavours of Satan to involve me in his own Ruin And since 't is while we sleep that our great Adversary sowes these his Tares Give me Grace O blessed Jesus to awake to Righteousness and rouze from my thoughtless Inadvertency and shake off my Dreams of Vanity lest this spiritual Slumber at length prove fatal and betray me into eternal Death II. Thou hast assur'd us O Lord to whom the Father hath committed all Judgment that this Life is the only Time of our Probation O therefore grant that now in this our Day all we that name the Name of Christ may depart from Iniquity and embrace the things that belong to our Peace before they be hid from our Eyes That by serious Consideration we may make Religion our Choice and adhere to it firmly with all our Powers and Faculties and be in Reality thy peculiar People zealous of good Works remembring thy blessed Words why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I command And that though here the wicked go unpunish'd it will not be always so and at last Hypocrisy shall meet with its Deserts And
obstinate Infidelity and their murdering their Saviour was to urge the Jewish Christians to a Preparation and watchful Care against that Time of Sorrows and that they would be so wise as to make Provision for their Safety by being very careful that that Time surprize them not in wicked Courses but that living like faithful Disciples of Christ in all Obedience to his holy Commands his Providence might watch over them and secure them from perishing in that dreadful Destruction Though this might be the first Intention of this Parable yet I suppose it designed likewise to represent the Necessity of Men's constant Preparation for Death and Judgment by a sedulous Care and Watchfulness over themselves and diligent Practice of all religious Duties and Obligations Because 't is very uncertain when God will summon any of us to leave this World and appear before his just Tribunal and his Call may be very suddain and unexpected and because the Consequence of being unready and not fit to obey it will be inexpressibly miserable Watch therefore says our Lord in the Conclusion of this Parable for ye know neither the Day nor the Hour when the Son of Man cometh In my Discourse upon this Parable thus understood I shall do two things First I shall give a particular Interpretation of the Parable and shew how aptly expressive it is of the Sense our Lord couch'd under it And Secondly I shall urge that upon the Practice of Christians which is express'd by it namely that they would watch and be ready because they know not the Day nor the Hour First I shall give a particular Interpretation of this Parable and shew how aptly expressive it is of the Sense our Lord couched under it The Parable is an Allusion to a Custom among the Jews of the Friends and Neighbours of the Bridegroom when there was a Wedding conducting him to the Bride-Chamber with Songs and burning Lamps and partaking of an Entertainment that was prepar'd for them and shutting the Door when the Bridegroom was enter'd to keep out the intruding Rabble and afterwards admitting none that were not ready to attend him at the Hour he came which was uncertain And the Sense which our Lord couch'd under this Representation is this That 't is highly necessary every Christian should be always ready and prepar'd by a holy Life to attend the Call of Christ whenever he shall summon him out of this World by Death in order to his final Judgment because the Time of that great Summons is so very uncertain and eternal Happiness or Misery respectively depends upon Men's being prepar'd or not prepar'd for it Now how aptly and movingly expressive this Parable is of this Sense will appear from the following Interpretation of it By the Virgins in the Parable is represented the Society of Christians those that profess to believe in and to be Disciples of the holy Jesus who like Virgins ought to be pure and spotless innocent and modest and humble solâ— and temperate in all things pious and devout and the like And as the Want of these or any of these good Qualifications is to a Virgin the greatest Blackening and Disparagement so the Want of them in Christians is likewise the greatest Dishonour to them exposes them to the Scorn and Contempt of God and all good Men renders them unworthy of that holy Name by which they are call'd and defiles and stains those Souls which Christ purified with his precious Blood that they might be his own Peculiar zealous of good Works By half of those Virgins being wise and half foolish is represented the great Difference there is among those that go under the same general Character of Christians some vain and idle careless and unthoughtful taken up with the Gaieties and Follies of the World lavish of their Reputation and loose in their Conversation and Behaviour while others are so wise as to consider the Character they bear and live as those that make Profession of Holiness that is with Care and Circamspection Watchfulness and a diligent and attentive Piety That so they may preserve their Honour and the Dignity of their Profession inviolate and unstain'd and be presented as chaste Virgins unto Christ that divine Bridegroom whenever he shall come By the Lamps of those Virgins is expressed the Souls of Christians which are to burn with holy Fires of Love and Devotion to God and their Saviour and make them as so many Lights in this dark and benighted World for ye are the Light of the World says our Lord to his Disciples therefore let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Mat. 5.14 16. That is as the Souls of Christians are illuminated by the Spirit of him who is the Father of Lights and in whom is no Darkness at all as they are warm'd by his Influences who descended upon the Apostles in the Likeness of Fire and have divine Affections by his holy Breathings inkindled in them so they should influence the whole Man and make those that name the Name of Christ like so many burning and shining Lights in the Midst of a crooked and perverse Generation so many eminent Examples of Piety and real Goodness such as by theis own Practice should recommend their most hloy Religion and set before Men's Eyes the Beauty of Holiness by their own Conversation By the Bridegroom whom these Virgins with their Lamps went forth to meet is represented our dear Saviour that heavenly King 's divine Son for whom he made so glorious a Marriage in the Parable I last discours'd of where the Reasons why the Gospel is compar'd to a Marriage and our Lord to a Bridegroom are particularly insisted on And by going forth to meet this divine Bridegroom is signifyed our preparing against his calling us from this World by Death and providing against his Advent to Judgment that is by frequently contemplating our Mortality reflecting on the Shortness and Uncertainty of Life and therefore making the best Use of our Time while we have it as not knowing how soon our Breath may be required of us and because after Death comes Judgment therefore endeavouring to make ready our Accounts by frequent Self-Examination and from the serious Consideration of the Terrors of that great Day and the severe Scrutiny into our Thoughts as well as Words and Actions that we must then undergo collecting with S. Peter 2 Pet. 3.11 what manner of Persons we ought to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness that we may be found of the great Judg in Peace and as Virgins without Spot and blameless By the Oyl in the Virgins Lamps and which they took with them in their Vessels when they went to meet the Bridegroom is represented the Graces and Vertues of Christianity which are the proper Nourishment of the Soul that Lamp of the Lord as Solomon calls it and will brighten and enliven it as Plenty of Oyl does a
would have return'd again to their Dream of Vanity when this their Fright was a little over And so it is with those that think not of Repentance till Death and Judgment stare 'em in the Face they are then wondrous sorry for having offended God because they see they are like to be for ever punish'd for it with the Devil and his Angels and wish they had liv'd better and beg God to forgive 'em and promise Amendment for the Time to come But all this very seldom proceeds from Love to God or his holy Religion as appears by their being as bad as ever when God has been pleased to restore them to their former Health But such Repentance as this is but a Piece of Mockery and will not be accepted it must be a real and thorough Change of Mind express'd in an intire Reformation of Life and Manners that will incline God to pardon and forgive Notwithstanding all the Hurry of the foolish Virgins to get Oyl for their Lamps upon this suddain Notice of the Bridegroom 's coming because their Lamps were before suffer'd to go out we see the Door was shut upon them By the wise Virgins that were ready their going in with the Bridegroom to the Marriage Feast is represented the great Happiness of the sincerely good who by holy living are ready and prepar'd for their Departure hence into the World of Spirits That is as there was great Preparation made to receive the Bridegroom among the Jews and other Easterns great Joy and Festivity and which the Children of the Bride-Chamber or those that attended the Bridegroom did partake of singing Epithalamiums or nuptial Songs in Praise of the Bridegroom and his Bride and rejoycing in their Happiness and wishing them long Prosperity So the Joys of the highest Heavens which are the Marriage Chamber of this divine Bridegroom our Saviour in the Society of innumerable Saints and Angels and glorified Spirits are prepar'd for those that love our Lord Jesus in Sincerity and by a constant holy Life are ready to leave these earthly Habitations and enter with him into that holy Place Where they shall enjoy a most blisful Eternity for ever singing Halleluja's to the Praise and Honour of that glorious Name in which all the Nations of the World are blessed praising God and saying Rev. 19.7 9. Let us be glad and rejoyce and give Honour to him for the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready and blessed are they which are call'd to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. And well is that Care and Watchfulness and holy Preparation repay'd which will procure an Entrance into that holy Place where Christ is sitting at the right Hand of God and make us Sharers in the Joys of Angels and in the Happiness of our dear Redeemer In the last place by the foolish Virgins coming after the Door was shut and saying Lord Lord open unto us and his answering I know you not is express'd the sad and remidiless Condition of those whom Death and Judgment surprize unawares and that are not prepar'd by a holy Life They may cry Lord Lord long enough in the Bitterness and Anguish of their Souls and profess that they believe in him and are his Disciples and call'd by his Name that they have eat and drunk in his Presence and that he hath taught in their Streets and the like but yet for all this without a constant persevering Piety Christ will tell them I know you not whence you are depart from me all ye that work Iniquity And what inconceivable Agonies will those excluded Wretches then be in What Horror and Despair will then take Seisure of their Souls What Outcries what hideous Wailings will there be How will some frame fruitless Excuses Lord we have eaten and drank in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our Streets c. while others with deep Sighs in vain beg Pity and Commiseration of him who never before deny'd it What intolerable Anguish will they feel to see those whom they hated and despis'd on Earth then enter'd into the glorious Marriage Chamber of the Son of God and they themselves they who are prosperous here and to all Appearance the Friends and Favourites of the divine Bridegroom eternally shut out from his Presence and the Joys of those celestial Regions and left behind in unconceivable Torments and in the Company of malicious Fiends and Devils to linger under an Eternity of Misery No Words can ever reach those Horrors nor can our Thoughts conceive them and may none of us ever be so unhappy as to feel them But be so wise as to watch and be ready and have our Lamps burning and our selves always prepar'd for this great coming of our Lord for we know not the Day nor the Hour And thus have I given a particular plain and practical Interpretation of this Parable of the Ten Virgins whereof five were wise and five foolish and shewn as I went along how aptly expressive it is of the Sense our Lord couch'd under it I proceed now to the other thing to be done which is to urge that Watchfulness and Preparation by all manner of holy living against this coming of our Lord which is necessary to our being admitted into his Joy and to shew how great the Wisdom of so doing is and how great the Folly of the Contrary For those that were ready and trimm'd their Lamps are call'd wise Virgins in the Parable and those that were not ready and their Lamps out are call'd foolish As for the Folly of not taking Care to be ready and prepar'd against that great Change of Death shall come it is a thing justly to be wonder'd at that Men who know that one Time or other they must surely die and are wholly in the Dark as to the precise Time of their Death and that they must die but once and that without any any further Probation after Death comes Judgment it is much to be wonder'd at that those who know all this to be true as Christians are suppos'd to do should live so much at random and be so foolishly careless in managing their last Stake so heedless in doing that well which admits of no Repetition and which if done ill they are for ever miserable 'T is the very Height of Folly this and which one would think a Man of any Sense could not be guilty of There is nothing that Men are more afraid of than dying and yet so strangely contradictious are they to themselves they make the least Provision against this greatest Evil. In other Matters Men are so wise as to endeavour to secure themselves against their Fears they provide against Poverty by Diligence and Parsimony against Pain and Diseases by proper Antidotes and Preservatives against the Approach of Enemies by the best Defence they are capable of making and the like and this many times when there is only a Probability of these Evils coming upon them And yet against
believe and the things he is to do are so excellent in themselves and so conducive to intire Happiness both here and hereafter that no Man that duly considers and attends to either but will be powerfully inclin'd to assent to the one and practise the other and be no longer an Infidel or Heretick or live a vicious irreligious Life 'T was Consideration made the Prodigal Son resolve to return to his Father and humble himself before him and could the Sinners of this Age be perswaded seriously to consider and weigh things together they would soon see Reason enough to convince them that 't is their wisest Course to live at another Rate than formerly and put an End to their Extravagances by Repentance But what did this Prodigal consider when he came to himself that so powerfully inclin'd him to return to his Father with such an humble and shameful Confession of his Extravagancy 'T was this How many of my Father's hired Servants have Bread enough and to spare and I perish with Hunger He found by a woful Experience that however uneasie 't was to him formerly to be under his Father's Eye and in Subjection to his Commands 't was by far a happier Condition than that which by his Prodigality he was then reduc'd to The meanest of his Father's Servants was in happier Circumstances than he and therefore he thought it his wisest Course to arise and return to his Father And so would it be with a Sinner would he but compare a Virtuous and Vicious Course of Life together He would find by his own sad Experience if he would but attend to it that all his Extravagances from which at first he expected to reap so much Happiness are not only Vanity empty and unsatisfying but likewise Vexation of Spirit full of Troubles and Misfortunes attended with Shame and Disgrace inward Remorse and Gripings of Conscience and dire Forbodings of the Wrath to come And this would soon convince him of the much greater Happiness of Obedience and Submission to the Will of God for that has none of all this Misery but Peace of Conscience inward Contentment and Satisfaction of Mind and the comfortable Expectation of Eternal Happiness in the Presence of God And the Conclusion of such Considerations would be his Resolution to arise and go to his Heavenly Father and with much Humility and sincere Contrition say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be call'd thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants And indeed the poorest good Man that is a diligent and faithful Servant of God is in an infinitely happier Condition than the greatest wicked Prince he experiences more true Happiness even in this World and when he shall hear the joyful Sound at the Day of Judgment Well done good and faithful Servant enter into the Joy of thy Lord and wicked Emperors be thrust away with I know you not depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity then shall all the World discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not The former shall have Bread enough and to spare their Happiness shall be compleat and full while the latter shall perish with a keen Hunger after what they shall never enjoy and for ever be sent empty away After the Prodigal had consider'd himself into a Resolution of returning to his Father he put his Resolution into practice and arose and came to his Father and said Father I have sinned c. And truly 't is not bare resolving that is sufficient to Amendment of Life we must act agreeably and that immediately too or else our Resolutions though never so earnestly made will vanish into nothing and the Breach of them still more increase our Guilt For when a Man has proceeded so far towards a new Life as to resolve to forsake every Evil Way and no longer to insist in his former Vile Courses 't is a sign that his Soul is rous'd and awaken'd from its spiritual Sleep that his Eyes are open'd and that he discerns his Error and if after all this he still persists in it he then sins against clear Light and Knowledge which is the highest Aggravation of a Fault As a Sinner therefore should as soon as he is become sensible of his Sin immediately resolve to forsake it and return to his Obedience to God so must he immediately put his Resolution into Practice for otherwise he does but mock God and deceive his own Soul and will only increase his Damnation A well-grounded Resolution is a good Preparative to Amendment but 't is but a Preparative and to resolve to do a Thing and actually to do it are two very different Things We all of us I hope that pretend to be Christians so far consider as to grieve and be asham'd for having offended our Good God and are at that instant resolv'd never willingly to transgress his Holy Will again Let us but keep our Resolutions and we shall be Happy for such as with the Prodigal actually return to their Heavenly Father and humble themselves before him he is ready with the greatest Expressions of Kindness to receive to his Favour Which brings me to the Last Thing express'd in this Parable viz. The great Tenderness and Compassion of the Father of Spirits to such as repent in earnest and perform their Resolves of Amendment his Readiness to be reconciled to them and extraordinary Joy for their Return because they were dead but are alive again were lost but are found For so 't is said in the Parable That when the Returning Prodigal was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had Compassion and ran and fell on his Neck and kissed him and said to his Servants Bring forth the best Robe and put it on him and put a Ring on his Hand and Shooes on his Feet and bring hither the fatted Galf and kill it and let us eat and be merry While he was yet a great way off his Father had Compassion and ran to meet him By this is express'd God's great Desire that a Sinner's Repentance should be compleated he will meet him and that with more than ordinary Assistances of his Spirit lest any Temptation should so far prevail as to divert his Return and make him change or defer to put in practice that good Resolution he had taken up He prevents a real Penitent with the Riches of his Grace and while he is yet a great way off labouring with the Difficulties that attend a thorough Change of Life he with infinite Charity and Compassion comes forth to meet him that by his Divine Aid he may secure his Retreat from the Endeavours of the Devil and his own vile Affections to bring him back to his former vain and wicked Courses which by God's Grace he has resolved to break off by Repentance And when a Sinner's Repentance is compleated and he is actually return'd with Shame and Sorrow
Ruin and the Wages of Sin this eternal Torment and Death we would be above all things careful to avoid this Place of everlasting Torments and make use of our Time and Opportunity while we have it in providing for a happy Eternity The End of every Man's Life is the Beginning of Eternity to him then Time shall be no more no more Space for Repentance and working out our Salvation and after the great Change that Death will make in our Condition no more Changes from thence forward for ever no intermediate Purgatory to cleanse our remaining Filthiness but as Death leaves a Soul so shall Judgment find it and an irreversible Sentence be pass'd upon it And this great Truth can never be too often call'd to Remembrance and there is so much of Terror in it to a wicked Liver that whoever thinks at all must needs be inclin'd by it to husband well this his only Opportunity of making himself for ever Happy and immediately endeavour to clear himself from that Guilt which if he dies in will make him for ever miserable and that without the least Alleviation The last thing this Parable informs us of is That every Man may be sufficiently assur'd of this great Truth that reads the Scriptures and powerfully enough inclin'd to avoid that future Misery and secure his eternal Happiness without any more extraordinary Ways of Conviction in this Matter or Perswasives to act accordingly And that those who are not satisfied with what has already been reveal'd of future Rewards and Punishments in all Probability will never be satisfied though one should come from the Dead to assure them of it This is express'd in the Parable by the Rich Man's desiring after he was sadly assur'd by Abraham that there was no Remedy for himself that he would send Lazarus to his Father's House for I have five Brethren says he that he may testifie unto them lest they also come into this Place of Torment To this Abraham answers They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them But this would not satisfie the miserable Rich Man and he said nay Father Abraham but if one went to them from the Dead they will repent To this Abraham gives this final Answer If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one arose from the Dead As if he had said There is all the Assurance given to Men by the Holy Writings of the Truth of these things that any reasonable Man can desire and the same Obstinate and Atheistick Infidelity and Debauchery of Manners that makes Men disbelieve what the Scriptures affirm of another Life would make them still disbelieve it though one arose from the Dead to assure them of it And if this was true before the Gospel when these things were but darkly reveal'd in comparison of what they are now and the Jews might then be sufficiently assur'd of them by attending to the Writings of Moses and the Prophets it is a much more confirm'd Truth to us Christians the Scriptures of the New Testament assuring us of it in the most plain and express Terms that can be According to what the Apostle says 2 Tim. 1.8 that our Lord has brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel And yet some are so unreasonable as when we discourse about Judgment to come and the Rewards and Punishments of another Life not to tremble at it as Foelix did but with perverse Infidelity question the Truth of the thing and ask us how we can be sure it is and shall be so and whether we have been told it by one that came from the other World and has experienc'd what we say to be true And that nothing less than such a Proof shall ever make them believe it And when they are urg'd with the Testimony of Moses and the Prophets and of the Son of God himself they have the Confidence to laugh at this as an Invention of Church-Men and no better than a Religious Cheat. They are not ignorant they say that the Writings which we affirm were divinely inspir'd do very plainly and expresly assert That there shall be a Judgment to come and that every Man shall be rais'd from the Dead and plac'd before the Almighty Judge and consign'd to eternal Happiness or Misery according to what they have done in this Life whether it be good or evil But they deny the Truth of those Writings and consequently the Reality of what they assert of this Nature Our Business therefore must be to prove the Truth and Divine Authority of those Holy Scriptures and then 't will follow that he that still disbelieves the Doctrine of future Rewards and Punishments and is not inclin'd to live accordingly will neither be convinc'd nor perswaded in this Instance though one rose from the Dead The Opposition Anti-scripturists make against the Holy Writings is in short this Either they will deny that those Books were written by the Men whose Names they bear or if they are forc'd to grant that they will deny the Truth of the Matters of fact which they set down and endeavour to pick out Inconsistencies and Contradictions in their Relation and if beaten from that Post they 'll deny that the Writers were Men divinely inspired and affirm that the Doctrine they wrote was meerly the Product of their own Brains and what strange Occurrences they record of their Master Jesus as of his Resurrection from the Dead as an Argument that there shall be another Life after this is ended and all Men then arise likewise and be call'd to give account of their Works that this and the like strange Passages they record of Jesus supposing them to be true were not done by a Divine Power but by Art Magick and the Power of the Devil And this could it be made good would be a shrewd Blow indeed and all reveal'd Religion soon sink into Ruine But in short for to inlarge here would far exceed the Bounds of a single Sermon a Christian's Defence of the Truth and divine Authority of the Holy Writings may be this First Though some have deny'd that the Books of the Old and New Testament were written by the Men whose Names they bear yet no Man ever yet could prove it nay on the contrary they have been receiv'd as Genuine for many Hundreds of Years and by Men of very different Religions and Perswasions and that were bitter Enemies to the Religion there taught and the Professors of it and would have been extreamly glad to have prov'd the Whole a Forgery if they could But since they did not when 't was so much for their Interest to have don 't 't is plain they could not and since they are to this Day approv'd by all Sorts of Religions as genuine 't is as much as can be said in the Case and as much as can be said for any other Book in the World And we must either throw aside all Books as spurious or believe this which we