neglect their Duty and defer their Happiness They think it too soon to live for Heaven before the evil Days come wherein they shall have no pleasure when they cannot sin and vainly presume they can repent The danger of this I have consider'd in the Discourse of Death and shall therefore proceed to the next Head Thirdly Our Choice of Heaven must be constant and lasting The two principal Rules of the Spiritual Life are to begin and end well to fix and establish the main Design for everlasting Happiness and from a determinate Resolution and ratified Purpose of Heart to pursue it with firmness and constancy to live for Heaven and with readiness and courage to die for it if the Glory of God so require Perseverance is indispensably necessary in all that will obtain the Eternal Reward For the clearing this most important Point I will First Represent from Scripture the Idea of Perseverance that is attended with Salvation Secondly Consider why 't is so strictly required First Saving Perseverance includes the permanent residence of Grace in the Soul 'T is composed of the whole Chain of Graces the union of holy Habits that are at first infused into a Christian by the sanctifying Spirit When Eternal Life is promised to Faith or Love or Hope 't is upon supposal that those Graces being planted in the Heart shall finally prosper He that is faithful to the Death shall inherit the Crown of Life 'T is Love that never fails that shall enter into Heaven 'T is Hope firm unto the End that shall be accomplished in a glorious Fruition If Grace be disseised by a usurping Lust Apostacy will follow and the forfeiture of our right in the Kingdom of Heaven 2. Grace must be continually drawn forth into exercise according to our several states and duties and the various occasions that happen in our course through the World Those who are light in the Lord are commanded to walk as Children of the Light to signify the excellency and purity of the Christian Life Those who live in the Spirit must walk in the Spirit that is by a conspicuous course of Holiness declare the vigour and efficacy of the divine Principle that is communicated to them Paulum septultae distat inertiae celata virtus Vertue that breaks not forth into visible Actions is not worthy of the Name The meer abstaining from evil is not sufficient but all the positive acts of the holy Life are to be constantly done In discharging both these parts of our Duty compleat Religion is exprest and the power of Grace consists 3. Perseverance includes not only continuance in well-doing but fervour and progress towards Perfection There are two fix'd States the one in Heaven the other in Hell The blessed Spirits above are arrived to the height of Holiness The Devil and damned Spirits are sunk to the lowest extremity of Sin But in the middle state here Grace in the Saints is a rising growing Light and Sin in the Wicked improves every day like Poison in a Serpent that becomes more deadly by his Age. We are injoined not to remain in our first Imperfections but to follow Holiness to the utmost issue of our Lives to its intire consummation For this end all the dispensations of Providence must be improved whether prosperous or afflicting And the Ordinances of the Gospel were appointed that in the use of them we may be changed into the divine Image from Glory to Glory 4. Preseverance is required notwithstanding all Temptations that may allure or terrify us from our Duties what ever affects us one way or other while we are clothed with frail Flesh. 'T is the fundamental Principle of Christianity declared by our Saviour If any Man will come after me that is be my Disciple and Servant let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me even to be crucified with him rather than wilfully forfeit his Integrity and Loyalty to Christ. He must by a sacred sixt resolution devest himself of all things even the most valued and desirable in the present World and actually forsake them nay entertain what is most distasteful and resist unto Blood rather than desert his Duty 1. He must with unfainting Patience continue in doing his Duty notwithstanding all Miseries and Calamities Losses Disgraces Torments or Death it self which wicked Men and greater Enemies the Powers of Darkness can inflict upon him To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality Eternal Life is promised He that endures to the End notwithstanding the most terrible Sufferings to which he is exposed for Christ's sake shall be saved In this a Christian must be the express image of his Saviour who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despised the shame and is set down at the right hand of God Disgrace and Pain are Evils that humane Nature has a most tender sense of yet the Son of God with a divine generosity and constancy endured them in the highest degrees He was scorn'd as a feigned King and a false Prophet He suffered a bloody Death and by the Cross ascended to Glory And we must follow him if we desire to be where he is 2. But this is not the only trial of a Christian. Prosperity is a more dangerous Enemy to the Soul though Adversity be more rigorous Saevior armis Incumbit luxuria For the Spirit is excited by Perils and Difficulties to seek to God for Strength and with vigilant resolute Thoughts unites all its Powers to oppose them but 't is made weak and careless by what is grateful to the sensual Inclinations It keeps close the Spiritual Armour in the open encounter of Dangers that threaten its ruin but is inticed to put it off by the caresses and blandishments of the World It does not see its Enemies under the disguise of a pleasant Temptation Thus Sin insinuates its self and by stealing steps gets into the Throne without observation A Man is wounded with a pleasant Temptation as with the Plague that flies in the dark and Grace is insensibly weaken'd From hence it is that Adversity often reforms the Vicious and Prosperity corrupts the Vertuous Now Perseverance must be of proof against Fire and Water against what ever may terrify or allure us from our duty 5. Saving Perseverance excludes not all Sins but total Apostacy and final impenitency which are fatal and deadly under the New Covenant If the Righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth Iniquity and doth according to all the Abominations that the wicked Man doth shall he live all his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his Trespass that he has trespassed and in his Sin that he hath sinned he shall die If any Man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him saith the Lord. These Threatnings imply there is a possibility of the Saints falling away considered in themselves but not that
and as destructive to set our chief Love and Joy that is only due to God upon the Creature And what follows in the Prophet is justly applicable to such Persons He feedeth on Ashes that not only afford no nourishment but is very hurtful to the Body a deceived Heart has turn'd him aside that he cannot deliver his Soul nor say Is there not a Lie in my right Hand Thus Carnal Men are so blinded with their Affections to these short-liv'd Pleasures that they cannot take the true liberty of judging and reflecting that they are deceived and delighted with empty Shadows that will suddenly end in disappointment and sorrow Briefly these glittering Fictions and false Joys cannot please without an Error in the Mind that shall last but a little while And if you saw a distracted Person sing and dance with a conceit that he is a Prince would you be willing to lose sober Reason for his phantastick Pleasure especially if you knew that his chearful Fit should suddenly change into a mournful or raging Madness for ever But the Blessedness above is unchangeable as God the Author and Object of it Eternal as the Soul that enjoys it And shall the World that passes away with the Lusts thereof turn our Affections from the undefiled immortal Inheritance Shall the vanishing appearance the fleeting Figure of Happiness be preferred before what is substantial and durable If a spark of true Reason of sincere Love to our Souls be left we shall count all things but dross and dung that we may gain the Kingdom of Glory Thus Eternity inlightens thus it counsels us To encourage us to seek the Kingdom of Heaven I shall propound other Motives to Consideration 1. God is very willing that Men should be saved and partake of his Glory For this end he has brought Life and Immortality to light in the Gospel The Lord Jesus the Sun of Righteousness has dispel'd the darkness of the Gentiles and the shadows of the Jews and rendred the blessed and eternal State so clear and so visible that every Eye may see it Our assurance of it is upon infallible Principles And though the excellent Glory of it is inexpressible yet 't is represented under variety of fair and lovely Types to invite our Affections Besides God makes an earnest offer of Life to us in his Word he Commands Counsels Excites Urges nay Intreats and Beseeches with infinite Tenderness that Men will accept of it Thus the Apostle declares Now then wa are Embassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God Is it not evident then beyond the most jealous suspicion God is desirous of our Happiness Can we imagine any design any insincerity in his Words Why should Heaven court a Worm 'T is his love to Souls that expresses it self in that condescending compassionate manner to melt and overcome the perverse and hardned in Sin And as his Words so his Works are a convincing Argument of his Will His most gracious sustaining and supporting of sinful Men his innumerable Benefits conferr'd upon them in the provision of Good and preservation from Evil are for this End that by the conduct of his merciful Providence they may be led to Repentance and received into his Favour And the temporal Judgments inflicted on Sinners are medicinal in their Nature and in his design to bring them to a sight and abhorrence of Sin to prevent their final ruin if they prove mortal to any 't is from their obstinate Corruption The time allowed to those who are obnoxious to his Justice every hour is not a meer reprieve from Torment but a space of Repentance to sue out a Pardon They are spared in order to Salvation The Lord is long-suffering to usward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance But above all his other Works the giving of his Son to be a Sacrifice for Sin is an incomparable demonstration how much he delights in the Salvation of Men. Since God has been at such cost to put them into a capacity of obtaining the Kingdom of unchangeable Glory far transcending the earthly Paradise that was forfeited by Sin we have the strongest assurance that he desires their Felicity And how guilty and miserable will those Sinners be that when Christ has opened Heaven to us by his Blood refuse to enter into it When Brutus the most noble Roman propounded to a Philosopher his design to restore Rome to Liberty he replied That the action would be glorious indeed but that so many servile Spirits that tamely stoopt under Tyranny were not worthy that a Man of Vertue and Courage should hazard himself to recover that for them which they did so lightly esteem The Redemption of Mankind is without controversy the Master-piece of God's works wherein his principal Attributes appear in their excellent Glory But how astonishing is the unworthiness of Men who wretchedly neglect Salvation which the Son of God purchased by a Life full of Sorrows and a Death of infinite Sufferings Blessed Redeemer may it be spoken with the humble affectionate and thankful sense of thy dying Love why didst thou give thy self a ransom for those who are charm'd with their Misery and with the most foul Ingratitude disvalue so precious a Redemption How justly shall they be for ever deprived of it Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish 2. Consider this glorious Blessedness shall be the Portion of all that unfeignedly choose it and earnestly seek it This motive was inclosed in the first but deserves a separate Consideration And of this we have infallible assurance from the Word of God who cannot lie Godliness has the Promise of the Life to come This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation The hope of a Christian is so certain that 't is compar'd to an Anchor fastned in Heaven And besides the Fidelity of his Word God has given us Security of the Reward the Life of his Son This methinks should turn the Current of our Desires and Endeavours to Heaven For notwithstanding all our toil and sweat the labour of the Day and the watchings of the Night for the obtaining earthly things yet we many times fall short of our aims and hopes 'T was the observation of the wisest Man I returned and saw under the Sun that the Race is not to the Swift nor the Battel to the Strong neither yet Bread to the Wise nor yet Riches to Men of Vnderstanding nor yet Favour to Men of Skill but Time and Chance happeneth to all Indeed such is the order of Divine Providence in the World there must be different conditions of Men here some Rich others Poor some Noble others Mean some in Command others in Subjection And from hence it is also evident that neither Dignity nor Riches nor Pleasures are the Happiness of Man For 't is not becoming the Wisdom and Goodness of God to make that the last end of the
place with execration Thus the death of the Saints is precious in the sight of the Lord their Bodies are kept in the bosom of the Earth to be raised in Glory and the death of the Wicked is accurs'd In short as the Wood that Moses cast into the Waters of Marah by a miraculous virtue sweetned them so the Cross of Christ has taken away the malignity and bitterness of Death 2. Death is a blessed Advantage and enriching Gain to a Believer it brings him to the possession of that Good that incomparably exceeds the Evil that remains in it For the Death of a Saint is not total but as in the Ceremony of Purification from Leprosy one Bird was killed and the other let fly in the open Air the mysterious shadow of the Lepers being restored to a state of Liberty Thus when the Body dies and returns to the Earth the Spirit returns to God the Father of Spirits and Fountain of Life Our Saviour told the Jews I am the living Bread that came down from Heaven if any Man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the Bread that I will give is my Flesh that I will give for the Life of the World The Heavenly Divine Life that is communicated by the Spirit of Christ to Believers remains entire when the sensitive Life is lost The natural Order is There is a time to be born and a time to die the supernatural is there is a time to die and a time to be born The Death of a Saint is a new Birth the pains of the dying Body are as Throws whereby the ripen'd Soul is delivered into the Land of the Living The happiness of a Saint after Death more particularly will appear by considering 1. The freedom he obtains from all afflicting Evils that are numberless here and from Sin the worst in its nature and the cause of all the rest The present World is a Labyrinth of Thorns in every state we meet with something to vex us You may as well count the Waves of the Sea when inraged by a Tempest as the Troubles to which in this mortal open state we are expos'd Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of Trouble A short Life and many Miseries O our unhappy Capacity the Body is liable to as many Diseases as there are Members and the Soul to as many Perplexities as Passions How often are the Scenes and Habits chang'd in the time of one Man He that lives in Pleasures must act the Mourner's part Our sweetest Comforts have hidden Stings and whatever is most pleasing may occasion bitter grief And usually holy Men have a greater portion of Afflictions here sometimes by the malignity and violence of the Wicked as under the Law the Lamb and the Dove were Sacrifices the Emblems of Innocence and Purity and Meekness whilst the Vulture and the Lion the greedy Devourers escaped This the Apostle declares of the Elect They are predestinated to be conformed to the Image of God's Son who trac'd out the Way to Heaven in his own Blood and by the Cross ascended to the Throne Sometimes more immediately Divine Providence afflicts them to preserve their Spirits from the tainted Pleasures of the World and for other holy Ends but there is a Rest for the People of God in Heaven Besides there are Relicks of Sin in the best of the Saints here Indeed Sin is depos'd from Sovereignty and Rule the imperious Lusts are crucified but not quite expir'd As those that were nail'd to the Cross in their Hands and Feet the parts least vital and most sensible died a painful lingring Death Still the Flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh. As there is a complexion of Humours in humane Bodies always jarring when they are in the soundest Health and where there is not this active contrariety either the Body is without a Soul a meer Carcass or a glorified Body in Heaven So where there is not this internal Combat between Grace and Sin either the Man is wholly carnal dead in Sins and Trespasses or wholly spiritual reigning in Heaven And there is nothing more works on the tender Affections of a Saint than to find in himself what is displeasing to God that still he is under a sad necessity of sinning What is said concerning an old Man wasted and decayed in his drooping Years that the Grashopper is a burden to him is true of the new Man in a Christian the Sins that are counted light in the valuation of the World are a heavy weight to him Vain Thoughts idle Words irregular Passions unprofitable Actions are motives of heart-breaking Sorrow Now Death is to a Believer an universal Remedy against all the Evils of this Life it frees him from all Injuries and Sufferings and from Sin in all its degrees from all inclinations and temptations to it He that is dead ceaseth from Sin Death is the Passage from this Wilderness to the true Canaan the Rest above that flows with better Milk and Hony with Innocence and Happiness for ever There nothing can disturb the Peace or corrupt the Purity of the Blessed 3. Besides the privative advantage the freedom from all the Effects of God's Displeasure and the resentments of it there is the highest positive Good obtained by Death The Spirits of just Men are made perfect in Heaven The Soul is the Glory of Man and Grace is the Glory of the Soul and both are then in their Exaltation All the Faculties of the Soul are rais'd to the highest degrees of Natural and Divine Perfection In this Life Grace renews the Faculties but does not elevate them to their highest pitch it does not make a mean Understanding pregnant nor a frail Memory strong nor a slow Tongue eloquent but sanctifies them as they are But when the Soul is releas'd from this dark Body of Earth the Understanding is clear and quick the Memory firm the Will and Affections ardent and vigorous And they are enrich'd with Divine Light and Love and Power that makes them fit for the most noble and heavenly Operations The Lineaments of God's Image on the Soul are first drawn here but then it receives his last Hand All the Celestial Colours are added to give the utmost life and lustre to it Here we are advancing but by Death we arrive at Perfection We shall in Heaven be join'd to the Assembly of Saints and Angels our best Friends Love is the Law of that Kingdom and perfectly obeyed there Now how charming is the Conversation of one that is wise and holy especially if the sweetness of Affability be in his Temper How pleasantly does Time slide away in the company of our beloved Friends We are not sensible of its flight But what dear satisfaction is it to be united to that chosen consecrated Society Above who love one another as themselves Though the Angels and Saints have different degrees of Glory yet every one is
dispersed Rays are conspicuously united in him the Sun of Righteousness and as in a curious Piece of Mosaick Work each Stone according to its natural Vein and Colour is so exactly disposed and with that proportion join'd to another that the lively Figure of the Humane Body results from the Composure so by variety of Types the intire Image of our Saviour's Life is represented from his first appearing on Earth to his ascending to Heaven Now the due comparing and observing the harmonious Agreement between the Prophesies and Types of the Old Testament and the History of the New is a powerful means to produce and establish a true lively Faith in the blessed Jesus as the promised Messiah For it is an infallible Argument of the Divine Providence in disposing Times and Things so as the Oracle should be verified in the Event and the mysterious Figures substantially exhibited in the manifestation of the Son of God 'T is true his Miracles raised Admiration and argued the concurrence of Power truly Divine For the exercise of an absolute Dominion over the Order of Nature is a Royalty reserved to God but that his miraculous Operations were foretold added more Authority to his Person and Efficacy to his Doctrine Therefore our Saviour himself in answer to the publick Question sent from John the Baptist whether he were the expected Saviour of the World commanded the Messengers to tell him what they heard and said The Blind receive their Sight and the Lame walk the Lepers are cleansed the Deaf hear and the Dead are raised up Which healing Miracles were foretold by the Prophet Esay as the clear and distinguishing Characters of the Messiah from all Seducers when he should come The fulfilling God's Word by the Works of Christ of which there was sensible evidence was an irrefutable testimony that his Miracles were true and performed for the confirmation of the Truth Now of all the chosen Saints that foretold the coming of Christ the new Law of Grace and the new Kingdom of Glory that he should reveal and establish Of all that represented him in various Particularities concerning his Person and Offices there was not a more illustrious Type than David that by prophetical Words and by prophetical Actions did so clearly describe him In this Psalm composed by him there is a mixture of History and Prophecy Some things in the literal and immediate sense referring to David I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Our being at God's right Hand implies the highest Honour his being at our right Hand implies present and sure protection and defence And of this David had the infallible Promise of God to secure his Hope notwithstanding all his unrighteous and implacable Enemies But the following Verses are applicable to David but in a lower sense and by a remote Metaphor and have their literal and principal Accomplishment in our Saviour Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell that is in the State of the Dead nor suffer thy holy One to see Corruption that is the Body of our Saviour should be exempted from the corrupting Power of the Grave and restored the third Day to Life In this propriety and perfection of sense the Prophecy is applyed by St. Peter to our Saviour's alone for David died and saw Corruption and his Body still remains under the Dominion of Death And this last Verse Thou wilt shew me the Path of Life in thy Presente is fulness of Joy at thy right Hand are Pleasures for evermore is applied by the Apostle to Christ his Resurrection Ascension to Heaven and sitting at the right Hand of the Majesty on high Thou wilt shew me the Path of Life that is introduce him into the Kingdom of Glory and by experimental Fruition make him partaker of it In thy Presence is fulness of Joy at thy right Hand are Pleasures for evermore In these words the Causes and Excellencies of the Heavenly Life are express'd The Causes are the glorious Presence of God and the intimate application of his Presence and discovery of his peculiar Love to the Saints This our blessed Saviour had respect to as the compleat Reward of his Sufferings Thou shalt make me full of Joy with thy Countenance And his right Hand implies his Bounty that dispenses and his Power that secures our Happiness The Excellencies of it are fulness of Joy and Pleasures for evermore From the words I shall observe one Proposition The enjoyment of the Divine Presence in Heaven is the supream and everlasting Felicity of the Saints In the discoursing of this Point I will consider First The Place wherein the Divine Presence is gloriously reveal'd Secondly Shew that the enjoyment of the Divine Presence is the supream Felicity of the Saints Thirdly Prove that the Felicity shall be Everlasting First The Place wherein the Divine Presence is revealed 'T is consistent with the Divine Immensity to be differently present in some places The essential Presence of God is the same every where the influxive declarative Presence of God is special and wise in one place than another He is more excellently present in the living Temples his Saints on Earth by the gracious and eminent Operations of his Spirit than he is in the rest of the World He is most excellently present in Heaven by the clearest Manifestation and the express Characters and Effects of the Divine Perfections This inferior World is fram'd with exquisite Order The Earth is full of the Glory of the Lord yet 't is but the Sediment of the Creation the Habitation of Birds and Beasts nay of rebellious Sinners And by this we may raise our Thoughts to conceive something of the glorious Sanctuary of Life and Blessedness above 'T is called the Heaven of Heavens which is the highest Comparison to instruct and astonish us with the Amplitude and Glory of the Place 'T is a Place becoming the Majesty of God the Image of his Immensity Our Saviour assures us In his Father's House are many Mansions to receive the innumerable company of glorified Saints 'T is called the Excellent Glory 2 Pet. 1.17 The shining Firmament with all the Luminaries that adorn it are but the Frontispiece to the highest Heaven All the Lustre of Diamonds the Fire of Carbuncles and Rubies the Brightness of Pearls are dead in comparison of its Glory 'T is the Throne of the God of Glory wherein his Majesty is reveal'd in the most illustrious manner For Pleasantness 't is call'd Paradise in allusion to the delightful Garden planted by the Hands of God himself for Adam his Favourite whilst innocent There is the Tree of Life There are Rivers of Pleasure springing from the Divine Presence 'T is call'd the Inheritance of the Saints in Light to signify the Glory and Joy of the Place for Light has splendour and conciliates chearfulness and is a fit Emblem of both As on the contrary Hell is described by the blackness
reasonable Creature which though sought with Sincerity and Diligence may not be obtained or of which without his own consent he may be deprived But civil distinctions and qualities are of no value and consideration with respect to the obtaining or excluding from Heaven The rich and honourable that are in an exalted State have not a more easy ascent and entrance into the Kingdom of God than those who are in the lowest degree The Stars appear with the same bigness to him that stands in the deepest Valley as on the highest Hill Is there any difference between the Souls of the rich and great in the World and the Souls of the poor and despised Are they not equally the Off-spring of God and equally ransomed by the most precious Blood of his Son Are they not equally capable of Eternal Rewards Are not the Promises of the heavenly Kingdom equally addrest to every one that has an immortal Soul that is faithful to his Duty and Covenant with God This should inspire all with flaming Desires and draw forth their utmost Industry and make them stedfast and unmoveable always to abound in the Work of the Lord knowing our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. I know the Carnal Will is impetuous and impatient of delay and earnest for what is present with the neglect of the future Glory But the unreasonableness of this is evident to all for 't is not a new and strange thing to sow in hopes of reaping a Harvest for Men to be industrious and active on Land and Sea for future Advantage Nay 't is the constant practice of the World The Merchant the Husbandman the Student the Souldier and every Man in the Circle of his Calling are visible Instances of this and tho many times the most flourishing Hopes are blasted they are not discouraged And is it not a sight full of wonder to observe Men chearful in Labours and Hardships in the Service of the World to carry it so lightly as if they had Wings and all for a poor and uncertain Recompence and to be slow and languid in their Endeavours for a Reward as great and as sure as God is glorious and true How many ambitiously strive to please a Prince and wait long in his Service who is but a Man and therefore variable in his Temper and State sometimes is not willing to do what he can and sometimes cannot do what he would to reward his Servants And is there not infinitely more reason we should labour to please God who is the most liberal and rich and certain Rewarder of all that seek him 3. Consider how gracious the Terms are upon which Heaven is promised in the Gospel Our Saviour's Laws are so holy just and in their own Nature so good to Men even in their present performance that their own Excellence and Equity and Sweetness is sufficient to recommend them without a respect to the glorious Reward of Obedience For what can be more desirable than conformity to the Nature of the blessed God What Pleasure is comparable to that which springs from a pure Conscience from a godly righteous and sober Conversation How joyful is the performance of that Service which more immediately is directed to the honour of the Divine Majesty In Prayer and other sacred Actions we draw near to the Fountain of Felicity and receive from his Fulness In the affectionate Praises of God we are Companions of the Angels And is not Integrity and Honesty in our dealings with Men more easy and comfortable than Fraud and Oppression Is it not troublesome to be always under a Mask to use arts and disguises to avoid the reproach and revenge that attends unjust Actions when discovered Are Temperance and Chastity as hurtful to the Body as Luxury and Lasciviousness the essential parts of Carnal Felicity How miserably distracted is Man when the Heart is rent with numberless Vanities the Affections divided between various Objects how quiet and composed when the Heart is united to God as the supreme Good and the Affections joyfully conspire in his Service Can it then be pretended that the Yoke of Christ is heavy and his Law hard Or are his Promises uncertain and his Reward small No his Commands are not grievous in the keeping them there is a great Reward a present Paradise Religion will make us happy hereafter in the enjoyment of God and happy here in Obedience to his Holy Will Such is his Goodness that our Duty and Happiness are the same But it will be said That the Gospel requires us to pluck out the right Eye and to cut off the right Hand and to take up the Cross of Christ that is to mortify the dearest Lusts and to submit to the sharpest Sufferings for his Honour that we may be eternally Happy To this I answer 'T is true the humane Nature in this depraved State only relishes such Objects as pleasantly insinuate with the Carnal Senses and 't is bitter as Death to bind up the Affections from them But Grace gives a new divine Nature to the Soul and makes it easy to abstain from fleshly Lusts. To make this more clear by a sensible Instance Suppose a diseased Person whose Stomach is oppress'd with corrupt Humours and his Throat and Mouth so heated with Choller and continual Thirst that he thinks it impossible though for his Life to abstain from immoderate Drinking If a Physician by some powerful Medicine cleanses the Stomach and tempers the internal Heat he then can easily restrain himself from Excess Thus a Carnal Man that is full of false Estimations and irregular Desires while there are Pleasures without and Passions unsubdued within though his Salvation depends on it thinks it impossible to restrain the exorbitant Appetites of Flesh and Blood The Gentiles thought it strange Christians did not run with them to the same excess of Riot But divine Grace so clarifies and enlightens the Mind so purifies and elevates the Affections that 't is not only possible but easy to abstain from unlawful Pleasures St. Austin before his Conversion was astonish'd that many in the vigour of Youth and in a frail World lived Chastly and reflecting upon himself was encouraged by this Thought that which such and such observe why shall it be impossible to me to observe and upon serious trial by the prosperous influence of Heaven was a Conqueror over all carnal Temptations Nay after his holy Change the withholding his Heart from vitious Delights was inexpressibly more sweet than his former enjoying of them And are there not many visible examples of holy heavenly Christians to whom grosser sensual Pleasures are unsavory and contemptible You may as well tell the number of the Stars as of those who have practised Religion in its strictness and purity and by their enlightned Conversations directed us in the way to Heaven And are their Bodies taken from the Vein of a Rock and not composed of Flesh and Blood as well as others Are their
your Sex and more truly Honourable than your Noble Descent and Alliance but direct my best Desires to God that your Family may be a singular and eminent Example of the Divine Favour that the fading Gloss of this World may not deceive you but your Heart may be above where your Treasure is that you may live to God and your Soul for Heaven and Eternity I am Madam Your Honour 's very humble and faithful Servant WILLIAM BATES The Bookseller's Advertisement THE Four Last Things Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell are Subjects of that great Importance and so nearly concerns all Persons that serious Discourses publish'd upon them deserve the Reader 's best Attention and Application And that they may be of more diffusive and general Benefit it will be a proper Means that according to the Examples of some pious Persons Books treating of those solemn Arguments BE GIVEN AT FUNERALS AS A FUNERAL-LEGACY When according to the observation of the wise Preacher The Living lay to Heart their own Frailty and are more receptive of Holy Counsels to prepare for their great Change from Time to Eternity and would affect their Minds with the present Instance of Mortality much better than Wine Sweatmeats Gloves or Rings or unprofitable Talk as is too usual at such Solemnities All serious practical Books are proper for this Design which may be of any Price or Bigness And if Bound in Black with a Cypher of Mortality will be very decent And some Memorables of the Life of the Deceased if desired may be printed on a Leaf or more and bound with it Several Books so bound may be seen at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil B. A. OF DEATH HEB. 2.15 And deliver them who through fear of Death were all their Life-time subject to Bondage IN the first Chapter of this Epistle the Proofs of the Eternal Deity of Christ are produced with that evidence of Scripture-Light that only a vailed Heart obstinate Infidelity can resist The Medium which the inspired Pen-man makes use of is the comparing him with the Angels the most noble Flower of the Creation and shewing that he is infinitely dignified above them This he does by a strong connexion of Arguments First By his Title that is divinely high and peculiar to himself He is declared by the Testimony of the eternal Father to be his Son in the most proper and sublime sense begotten of him and therefore having the same essential Perfections of the Godhead in their uncreated Glory But the Angels are not dignified with this Name in any Places of Scripture where the Excellency of the Angels is in the fullest Terms expressed And that this Name is taken from his Nature is clearly proved because Adoration is due to him upon this account even from the Angels of the highest Order When he bringeth in the first-begotten into the World he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him Divine Worship is a Prerogative inseparably annex'd to the Deity both upon the account of the supream Excellencies of the Nature of God and his Relation to Angels and Men as Creator and Preserver the Fountain of their Being and Happiness This without the most open defiance of his Authority cannot be given to a meer Creature and by the Command of God himself is to be performed as a Respect due to the filial Godhead The Argument proceeds from the Name to the Offices Of the Angels he saith Who maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flame of Fire They are the prime Instruments of his Providence most zealous and active to accomplish his Pleasure But the Son is God not by Analogy and Deputation as Princes are nor with a limitation and diminution as Moses was made a God to Pharaoh but absolutely and really as subsisting in the Divine Nature And consequently he is the Supreme King and to him the Ensigns of Majesty divinely Royal are ascribed But unto the Son he saith Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever a Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom Whereas the Scepters of Earthly Kings are often unrighteously manag'd and their Thrones ruinously fall There is a further Confirmation from his Works that are divinely great and glorious wherein no Creature has any share of Efficiency The making of the World is ascribed to him Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Works of thy Hands The Divine Attributes the peculiar Character of the Deity belong to him Eternity and Immutability The most solid parts of the visible Creation shall perish and be changed but thou remainest and art the same His Life is an intire uniform unchangeable Perfection His Glory and Felicity are in the same invariable Tenor for ever possess'd by him Lastly the Son sits in that quality at the right Hand of the Father in the Society of Empire as equal to him in Power and Honour commanding all in the visible and invisible World most easily and irresistibly tho gradually subduing his Enemies to a consummate Victory But the Angels so numerous and powerful are ministring Spirits employed for the defence and benefit of the Church From this summary account we may understand how firmly the Divinity of Christ is establish'd in the Scripture For those Passages of the Prophets that speak of the God of Israel as Creator and the sole Object of Adoration are directly referr'd to Jesus Christ. And the Name Jehovah the Majesty of which consists in its being incommunicable is attributed to him This is the Foundation upon which the whole Fabrick of the Gospel is built The Office of Mediator in the Prophetical Priestly and Regal Administration is necessarily join'd with the Divinity of his Person And the revelation of it from Heaven is as clear as the Sun is visible in the Firmament All the Difficulties in our conceiving this great Mystery of Godliness are but like the Shadows that attend the Light And all the heretical Subtilties to pervert the Sense of such plain and positive Texts are as impertinent as impious This being establish'd the Apostle proceeds to give an account of the Son of God's assuming the Humane Nature and submitting to Sufferings and Death This is a Divine Secret so miraculously strange that the Contrivance was without the Compass of the Angelical Minds and the discovery of it is only by supernatural Revelation but when revealed the account of it is so open and consentaneous to Reason as being the most congruous Means for the illustration of God's Glory in the saving lost Men that the humane Mind if not deeply corrupted with the tincture of Prejudice must consent to it as worthy of all Acceptation The substance of his reasoning is this That it was the product of the most wise merciful and righteous Counsel of God that the Saviour of Men should have Communion with them in their Nature that he might have a
Order establish'd in the Gospel Thus the King at the last Day speaks to the Elect Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the Foundation of the World for I was hungry and ye fed me naked and ye clothed me And according as the Saints have excel'd in Fidelity Zeal in God's Service they shall be rewarded with a more excellent Glory The Stars of the supreme Heaven are of a different brightness and greatness as the Stars of the visible Firmament Indeed all are perfectly happy without jealousy that any is equal or superior to them in that Kingdom But God will crown his own Graces as the Saints have improved them Our Saviour valued the Widow's two Mites as transcending all the magnificent Gifts of others because of the degrees of Love in the Giver There was a richer Mine of Affection in her Heart Gold of a more noble Vein more pure and precious than all their Riches This was of greater price in God's Account who weighs the Spirits in his Ballance God will accept and reward according to what a Man has and not according to what he has not He that improves but two Talents with his best skill and diligence shall have a greater Reward than another that had ten Talents and was remiss and less careful to employ them for his Master's Profit The Rule will be exactly observed He that sows bountifully shall reap bountifully and he that sows sparingly shall reap sparingly And if God will be thus impartial in rewarding the Saints much more in punishing the Wicked For the remuneration of our Duty is the effect of his most free Favour but the recompences of Sin are due and decreed by Justice in Number Weight and Measure The severity of the Sentence will be in proportion as Mens Sins have been more numerous and heinous Although all the Damned shall be equally miserable in Despair all broken on an endless Wheel yet the degrees of their Torment are different Sins of Ignorance are extenuated in comparison of rebellious Sins against Knowledg The first are like a Servant's dashing against his Master in the dark the oother like the insolent striking of him in the light And as they incur greater Guilt will expose to greater Punishment Accordingly our Saviour predicts That the Servant which knew his Lord's Will and prepared not himself neither did according to his Will shall be beaten with many Stripes But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of Stripes shall be beaten with few Stripes Unactive Knowledg is worse than Ignorance For this reason the Case of Heathens will be more tolerable than of the Jews for though some natural Principles were strong and quick in their Minds that made them sensible of their Duty and Danger yet they were not so clear and perfect as the Law delivered by Moses Those Sins that were Infirmities in a Pagan were presumptuous in a Jew And the Case of the Jews will be more tolerable than of disobedient Christians who enjoy the Gospel less charged with Ceremonies and more abundant in Grace than the Mosaical Dispensation Those that have set before them the Life of Christ the Model of all Perfection that are excited by such loud Calls to flee from the Wrath to come and yet are deaf and regardless to the Commands nay to the melting Invitations and precious Promises of the Gospel shall have a more intolerable Judgment than the most guilty Sinners even the Sodomites and Sidonians that were Strangers to it The precious Blood of the Son of God despised induces a Crimson Guilt And as Sins are committed with Pride and Pleasure with eager Appetite and Obstinacy the revenge of Justice will be more heavy upon Persons More particularly Sins of Consesequence whereby others are drawn to Sin will heighten the Guilt and the retribution of Justice will be to every Man according to his Ways and according to the fruit of his Doings This will principally concern Superiours in eminency of Place whose Dignity has always a concomitant proportion of Duty Their vicious Actions are Examples and their Examples more powerful Rules than their Laws and give countenance to others to sin licentiously They sin with an high Hand and involve the Ruin of innumerable Persons that depend upon them As the Dragon in the Revelation whose Fall from Heaven drew a Train of lesser Stars with him And all inferiour Magistrates who by personal commission or partial connivance encourage and harden others in Sin and by their Power discountenance serious Religion and obstruct the Progress of it heap up Damnation to themselves And the Ministers of the Word who are obliged to watch for the Souls of Men and should like the Heavens by their Light Influence and Motion their Doctrine and Lives guide and quicken others in the Ways of Holiness if by their Neglect and Wickedness others are lost for ever their Account will be most heavy and undoing Of this Number are those who by their unholy Conversation weaken the Authority and Efficacy of the Word and more successfully perswade Men to do Evil than by their Preaching to do well for we are apt to take deeper impression through the Eye than thro' the Ear and to follow the Physician 's Practice rather than his Counsel These perish not alone in their Iniquity And such who are unfaithful Dispensers of the Treasures of their Lord and by loose Doctrines corrupt the Minds of Men to fancy a Mercy in God derogatory to his Holiness that although they live indulgently in Sin they may obtain an easy Pardon and Happiness at last And such who employ their high Commission for low and base Ends Those who instead of preaching Jesus Christ and him Crucified the pure and saving Truths derived from the Fountain of the Gospel entertain their Hearers with flashy Conceits and studied Vanities to give a relish to Curiosity and to have the applause of Fools and obscure the native Majesty of the Word enervate its Force and render it powerless to Conscience And those who spend their Zeal in things of no moment to Salvation and let fly bitter Invectives against those that dissent from them in unconcerning Matters by which they harden Atheistical Scorners in vilifying the Office of the Ministry as a Carnal Invention set up and used for Secular Ends and induce others to place Religion in Formalities and slight colours of it as if Conformity to needless Rites would exclude the Defects of substantial Holiness 'T is observ'd in the Chaldee Paraphrase when God was inquiring of Cain concerning Abel that he charges him The Voice of thy Brother's Blood cries unto me As if Cain were a Murderer not of a single Man only but of a numerous Race that might have descended from his Brother Thus a wicked Minister will be charg'd not only for murdering himself but as many precious Souls as might have been converted and saved if he had faithfully performed his Duty And
preferring the Bramble to reign over them Satan the Destroyer of Souls and ungrateful rejecting the true Vine the blessed Saviour who by so many miraculous Mercies sollicited their Love and deserved their Service this will make the Sentence as just as terrible and the more terrible because just This will exasperate the Anguish that the Gospel shall be a savour of Death to them and the blessed Redeemer pronounce them cursed and dispatch them to everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels for ever The Judgment of the Redeemer will be more heavy than that of the Creator For all the Riches of his Goodness which they despised shall be the Measure of their Guilt and Woes All the Means of Grace used for their Conversion but frustrated by their Perversness shall be charged upon their Score What Consternation will seize the Wicked when ten thousand Accusers shall rise up in Judgment against them and not one Advocate appear for their defence Satan will be ready to aggravate their Sins above his own For altho the superior Excellence of his Nature and State did heighten his Obligation and consequently his disobedience to his Creator and that he sinn'd of himself derived a Guilt upon him exceeding that of Man's original Sin who was seduced to his Ruin yet in that Justice was so quick and severe that the Angels after their Sin were immediately expell'd from their blessed Habitation no space of Repentance was allowed and no Mediator interpos'd to obtain Terms of Reconciliation with the incensed Deity their Doom was final and irrevocable but after our rebellious Sin the Son of God such was his immortal Love was willing to be mortal to redeem sinful Men and freely offer'd himself a Sacrifice to atone the divine Displeasure and a Day of Grace and Long-sufferance was granted and many compassionate Invitations were sent from Heaven to soften their stony Hearts But they neglected and despis'd the Grace of the Gospel and wilfully excluded themselves from Mercy In this respect they are more guilty than the fallen Angels and Justice will revenge the Abuse of Mercy Do they hope to soften the Judg by Submissions and Deprecations Alas he will be inflexible to all their Prayers and Tears The Lamb will be then a Lion arm'd with Terrors for their Destruction Or can they appeal to an higher Court to mitigate or reverse the Sentence No his Authority is supream and confirm'd by the immutable Oath of God Or do they think to resist the execution of the Sentence Desperate Folly The Angels notwithstanding their numbers and strength could not for a moment escape his revenging Hand The whole World of Sinners is of no more Force against his Wrath than the light Dust against a Whirlwind or dry Stubble against devouring Fire Or do they think by a stubborn Spirit to endure it Self-deceiving Wretches If the correction of his Children here tho allayed and for their amendment make their Beauty and Strength consume away as a Moth how insupportable will the Vengeance be on his obstinate Enemies Who knows the Power of his Anger Who can sound the Depths of his Displeasure 7. The Consideration of Eternal Judgment should be a powerful Incentive to prepare our selves for it The Affair is infinitely serious for it concerns our Salvation or Damnation for ever Yet the Pleasures and Business of the World fasten Men in Security and hinder the intire application of their Minds to prepare for their last Account 'T is an awful Caution of our Saviour to his Disciples Take heed lest at any time your Hearts be overcharged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness and Cares of this Life and so that Day come upon you unawares For as a Snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the Earth A dissolute voluptuous course of Life is join'd with a brutish neglect of God and the Soul and the indulging the carnal Appetite though not in such enormous Excesses as the Prophane are guilty of alienates the Minds of Men from due considering their Spiritual State and lessens the preventive Fear that makes us serious and diligent to be found of God in Peace And others are so involved in secular Business that they are not at leisure to regard the one Thing necessary their Minds are so overshaded with the Cares of the present World they cannot take a right Aspect of the World to come The Flood broke in upon the old World whilst they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage buying and selling and destroyed them all The last Fire will devour this World in the same wretched incogitancy and stupid neglect to prepare themselves for Judgment As it was in the Days of Noah so shall it be in the Days of the Son of Man 'T is a divine and solemn Warning Behold I come as a Thief in the Night blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his Garments lest he be found naked without the Robe of Holiness and be expos'd to confounding shame in that Day When secure and careless Sinners shall say Peace and Safety sudden destruction will come upon them as Travel upon a Woman with Child as surprisingly as irresistibly and they shall not escape But the Wise foresee the Evil and esteem it their incomparable Interest to secure the Favour of the Supream Judg. 'T is the Inference the Apostle makes from the Certainty of our appearing before the Righteous Judg Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent in this or the next Life we may be accepted of him This was his great Design his chief Care his Duty and his Glory Never did any person more ardently aspire and ambitiously endeavour for the obtaining a Kingdom than he did to secure his own Acceptance with the Lord. In order to this I will lay down the Rules of our Acceptance in that Day and conclude the Argument First Unfained Faith in the Lord Jesus is absolutely necessary that we may be accepted This is such a belief of his all-sufficient Merits and his merciful inclination to save us that the guilty and self-condemned Sinner entirely consents to the Terms of the Gospel as well as to the Priviledges of it with a reliance upon his Merits and a resolution to obey his Precepts He is a Priest on a Throne a Prince and a Saviour and so must be acknowledged and received Upon this condition his Righteousness is freely imputed to us for our Justification unto Life without which we must perish in our Sins For 1. The best Saints are guilty and deeply obnoxious to the Law and the Judgment of God is invariably according to Truth so that appearing in their Sins they will be cast for ever God's Tribunal like that of the severe Roman Judg is Reorum Scopulus a Rock that dashes in pieces all the Guilty that come to it Therefore the Psalmist so earnestly deprecates Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no Man living be justified And
of darkness for ever to signify the sadness and despair of the Damned and because in that centre of Misery a perpetual Night and invincible Darkness increases the horror of lost Souls Heaven for stability is called a City that has Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God The present World is like a Tent or Tabernacle set up for a time whilst the Church is passing through the Wilderness but Heaven is the City of the Living God the Place of his happy Residence the Seat of his eternal Empire The visible World with all its perishing Idols shall shortly fall this Beautiful Scene shall be abolish'd but the supreme Heaven is above this Sphere of mutability wherein all Bodies compounded of the jarring Elements are continually changing and dissolving 't is truly call'd a Kingdom that cannot be shaken Briefly the wise Maker has fram'd it correspondently to the end for which it was designed 't is the Seat of his Majesty his Sacred Temple wherein he diffuses the richest Beams of his Goodness and Glory and his chosen Servants see and praise his adorable Excellencies for ever Secondly I will endeavour to shew that the enjoyment of the Divine Presence in Heaven is the supreme Felicity of the Saints To make this supernatural Blessedness more easy and intelligible to us the Scripture describes it by sensible Representations For while the Soul is clothed with Flesh Fancy has such a dominion that we conceive of nothing but by Comparisons and Images taken from material things 'T is therefore set forth by a Marriage-Feast to signify the Joy and Glory of the Saints above But to prevent all gross Conceits we are instructed that the Bodies of the Saints shall be spiritual not capable of Hunger or Thirst nor consequently of any Refreshment that is caused by the satisfaction of those Appetites The Objects of the most noble Senses Seeing and Hearing the pleasure of which is mixed with Reason and not common to the Brutes are more frequently made use of to reconcile the blessed and Heavenly State to the proportion of our Minds Thus sometimes the Saints above are represented on Thrones and with Crowns on their Heads Sometimes clothed in White with Palms in their Hands sometimes singing Songs of Triumph to him that sits on the Throne But the real Felicity of the Saints infinitely exceeds all those faint Metaphors The Apostle to whom the admirable Revelation was exhibited of the Sufferings of the Church and the victorious issue out of them in the successive Ages of the World tells us it does not appear what the Saints shall be in Heaven The things that God has prepared for those that love him are far more above the highest ascent of our Thoughts than the Marriage-Feast of a King exceeds in splendor and Magnificence the Imagination of one that has always lived in an obscure Village and never saw any Ornaments of State nor tasted Wine in his Life We can think of those things but according to the Poverty of our Understandings But so much we know as is able to sweeten all the Bitterness and render insipid all the Sweetness of this World This will appear by considering whatever is requisite to constitute the compleat Blessedness of Man is fully enjoyed in the Divine Presence 1. An exemption from all Evils is the first condition of perfect Blessedness The Sentence of the wise Solon is true Dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet No Man can be call'd happy whilst in this Valley of Tears There are so many natural Calamities so many casual which no humane Mind can foresee or prevent that one may be less miserable than another but none perfectly happy here But upon the entrance into Heaven all those Evils that by their number variety or weight disquiet and oppress us here are at an end Sin of all Evils the worst and most hateful shall be abolish'd and all Temptations that surround us and endanger our Innocence shall cease Here the best Men lament the Weakness of the Flesh and sometimes the violent Assaults of Spiritual Enemies St. Paul himself breaks forth into a mournful Complaint O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this Body of Death And when harrass'd by the buffets of Satan renews his most earnest Addresses to God to be freed from them Here our Purity is not absolute we must be always cleansing our selves from the Reliques of that deep Defilement that cleaves to our Nature Here our Peace is preserv'd with the Sword in our Hand by a continual warfare against Satan and the World But in Heaven no Ignorance darkens the Mind no Passions rebel against the sanctified Will no Inherent Pollution remains The Church is without Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing And all Temptations shall then cease The Temper was cast out of Heaven and none of his poison'd Arrows can reach that purified Company Glorious Liberty here ardently desir'd but fully enjoyed by the Saints above And as Sin so all the penal Consequences of it are quite taken away The present Life is a continual disease and sometimes attended with that sharp sense that Death is desir'd as a remedy and accepted as a Benefit And though the Saints have reviving Cordials yet their Joys are mix'd with Sorrows nay caused 〈◊〉 Sorrows The tears of Repentance are their sweetest refreshment Here the living Stones are cut and wounded and made fit by sufferings for a Temple unto God in the new Jerusalem But as in building of Solomon's Temple the noise of a Hammer was not heard for all the parts were fram'd before with that exact design and correspondence that they firmly combin'd together They were hewen in another place and nothing remain'd but the putting them one upon another and then as Sacred they became inviolable So God the wise Architect having prepar'd the Saints here by many cutting Afflictions places them in the eternal Building where no Voice of Sorrow is heard Of the innumerable Assembly above is there any Eye that weeps any Breast that sighs any Tongue that complains or any appearance of Grief The Heavenly State is called Life as only worthy of that Title There is no infirmity of Body no Poverty no Disgrace no Treachery of Friends no persecution of Enemies There is no more Death nor Sorrow nor shall there be any more Pain for former things are past away God will wipe away all Tears from the Eyes of his People There Salvation is compleat in all degrees Pure Joy is the Priviledge of Heaven unmixed Sorrows the Punishment of Hell 2. A concurrence of all positive Excellencies is requisite to Blessedness And these are to be considered with respect to the entire Man 1. The Body shall be awak'd out of its dead Sleep and quicken'd into a glorious immortal Life The Soul and Body are the essential parts of Man and though the inequality be great in their holy Operations yet their concourse is necessary Good Actions are design'd by the
considered as an Affection of Friendship is always attended with two Desires to be assured of Reciprocal Love and to enjoy the Conversation of the Person beloved the testimony of his Esteem and Good-will This kind of Affection seems to be inconsistent with that infinite distance that is between God and the Creature But tho 't is disproportionable to the Divine Majesty 't is proportionable to his Goodness Accordingly our Saviour promises He that loves me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him And to confirm our belief of this astonishing Condescention repeats it If a Man love me my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him In the present state the signs of God's special Favour are exhibited to his Friends Now he bestows on them the honour of being his Sons the Graces and Comforts of his Spirit the precious Earnests of his Love and Seal of their Redemption But in eminency of degrees the Emanations of his Love and the Effects of his Beneficence are incomparably more glorious in Heaven Here the Saints are adopted there crown'd There he opens all the bright Treasures of his Wisdom the Riches of his Goodness the Beauties of his Holiness the Glories of his Power and by the intimate application of his Presence makes his Love most sensible to them Infinite Goodness excites and draws forth all the Powers of the Soul and fills the utmost Capacity and Expansion of the Spirit From hence perpetual Pleasure and Satisfaction springs O the pure Delights between God and glorified Souls God looks on them with an engaged Eye as his own by many dear Titles and is ravish'd with the Reflex of his own Excellencies shining in them As the Bridegroom rejoices over the Bride 't is the Language of Divine Love so their God rejoices over them The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoice over thee with joy he will rest in his love he will rejoice over thee with singing He is infinitely delighted in the communication of his Goodness to them And what a blessed Rest do they find in the compleat fruition of his Goodness All their Desires quietly expire in his Bosom What triumphs of Joy follow Can we frame a fuller Conception of Happiness than to be perfectly loved by the best and most blessed Being and perfectly to love him and to partake of the richest Emanations of his Loving-kindness that is far more valuable and desireable than Life it self How precious and joyful will the Presence of Christ be to the Saints 'T was his Prayer on Earth Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory When the Saints are received into the Everlasting Kingdom the first Object that draws their admiring regards is Christ on the Throne Inestimable Felicity whether we consider him as the Son of God in whose conspicuous Countenance all the Glory of his Father shines or as the Saviour of Men and the Head of the Elect upon a double account partly that he that loved us and wash'd us from our Sins in his Blood after suffering all Indignities and Cruelties for our sake has received the Reward of his meritorious Sufferings the triumph of his Victory being glorified with the Father with the Glory he had before the World was and partly because every Member shall be conform'd to him in Glory The sight of the Face of Moses when radiant had no transforming Efficacy for the Light of it was not in him as its Spring but by derivation But the Son of God is Light essentially and the sight of his Glory will transform us into his Likeness And how dear and joyful is the presence of the Saints to Christ He then sees of the travel of his Soul the fruit of his sharp Sufferings and bleeding Love and is satisfied How delightful is it to him to see all his Spiritual Progeny safely brought to Heaven and made partakers of his Glory and Joy in his everlasting Kingdom For according to the extent of the Object and dearness of the Affection Joy rises He will then present them to his Father with infinite complacency Behold here am I and the Children whom thou hast given me The dearest Affections of Christ and the Saints in Heaven are mutual and reflexive In the Sacred Song the expressions of Love Desire and Joy borrowed from the espousals of Solomon and his beloved Wife are as it were Characters in the Bark to be understood in a spiritual Sense of the Mystical Marriage of Christ and the Church What endearing entercourse is there between the most perfect Lover and his Spouse inspir'd with the same pure Flam Here amiable Perfections attract his Eye and Heart Thou art all fair my Love there is no spot in thee His propriety in the Church is his unvaluable Treasure My Vineyard which is mine is ever before me He repeats the word Mine in the sweetest and most tender manner And the Church with the same harmonious Affections speaks of Christ. She contemplates in a soft extasy his ever-satisfying Beauty My Beloved is the chiefest of ten thousand he is altogether lovely She breaks forth in triumph My Beloved is mine and I am his By all their expressions of joyful Love and Union we may ascend in our Thoughts what are the Joys of Heaven where the Communion of Christ and the Church is entire and uninterrupted for ever If Faith and Love of our unseen Saviour produce a Joy unspeakable and glorious as if Believers were wrap'd up to Paradise or Paradise descended into them what will the sight and fruition of him There is as great a difference in degrees between the Joy that flows from the assurance and application of Faith and the Joy from Vision and full Possession as between the impression of Joy the Forerunner of Christ felt when he sprang in the Womb at the coming of our Saviour and his ravishing Joy when he saw Christ and pointed him out to his Disciples Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the Sins of the World 3. The supream Joy of the Saints is for the Felicity and Glory of God himself For as the holy Soul feels no more powerful motive to love God than because he is most worthy of it as he is God a Being of infinite Excellencies and therefore to be loved above the dearest Persons and Things even it self so the highest Joy it partakes of is from this consideration that God is infinitely blessed and glorious For in this the supream desire of Love is accomplish'd that the most beloved Object is perfectly honour'd and pleased In Heaven the Love of the Saints to God is in its highest Perfection and they see his Glory in the most perfect manner which causes a transcendent Joy to them And this is one reason why the Saints tho shining with unequal degrees of
of God's Face and by the most attentive application always converses with that blessed Object so that the Joy of Heaven is never intermitted for a moment They always see and love and rejoice and praise him 'T is possible a carnal suspicion may arise in some as if the uniform perpetual vision of the same Glory might lose its perfect delightfulness For those who seek for happiness in the vanity of the Creatures are always desirous of change and have their Judgments so corrupted that while they languish with a secret desire after an unchangeable Good yet they conceive no Good as desireable that is not changed But to correct this gross errour of Fancy let us a little enquire into the causes of Dissatisfaction that make the constant fruition of the same thing here to be tedious Sensible things are of such a limited Goodness that not any of them can supply all our present wants so that 't is necessary to leave one for another And the most of them are Remedies of our diseased Appetites and if not temperately used are destructive Evils Eating and Drinking are to extinguish Hunger and Thirst but continued beyond just measure become nauseous Besides the Insufficiency of their Objects the Senses themselves cannot be satisfied all at once The Ear cannot attend to delightful Sounds and the Eye be intent on beautiful Colours at the same time The Satisfaction of one Sense defeats another of enjoying its proper good therefore the same Object is not constantly pleasant but the Heart is distemper'd from as many Causes as there are desires unaccomplish'd Add farther all things under the Sun afford only a superficial delight and miserably deceive the Expectations raised of them and many times there is a mixture of some evil in them that is more offensive than the good is delightful The Honey is attended with a Sting so that often those very things we sigh after through vehement desire when they are obtain'd we sigh for grief Now all these Causes of dissatisfaction cease in Heaven for there is an infinite variety in God and whatever is truly desirable is eminently enjoyed in him And in his Presence all the Powers of the Soul are drawn out in their most pleasant exercise and always enjoy their entire happiness The fruition of him exceeds our most raised hopes as much as he is more glorious in Himself than in any borrowed Representations God will be to us incomparably above what we can ask or think The compass of our thoughts the depth of our desires are imperfect measures of his Perfections And as he is a Pure Good in Himself so he is prevalent over all Evil. 'T is evident therefore that nothing can allay the Joys of Saints when they are in God's presence 2. Novelty is not requisite to ingratiate every Good and make it perfectly delightful God is infinitely happy to whom no Good was ever new 'T is indeed the Sauce that gives a delicious taste to inferior things For Men relish only what is eminent and the good things of this World are so truly mean that they are feign to borrow a shew of Greatness by comparison with a worse estate preceding But an infinite Good produces always the same pure equal compleat Joy because it arises from its intrinsick perfection that wants no Foil to commend it The Psalmist breaks forth Whom have I in Heaven but Thee This is no vanishing Rapture but a constant joyful height of Affection God the essential Happiness of the Saints is always perfectly lovely and delightful to them 3. The glorified Saints in every Period of their happy state have as lively a perception of it as in the beginning To make this evident we must consider that the pleasure of Novelty springs from a quick sense of the opposite terms between our condition in the want of some desired Good and after our obtaining it Now the Mind is more intense on the advantage and more strongly affected at first One newly freed from the torments of a sharp disease feels a greater pleasure than from a constant tenour of health Those who are rais'd from a low state to eminent Dignity are transported with their first change but in tract of time the remembrance of their mean condition is so weakned and spent that 't is like the shadow of a Dream and proportionably their Joy is lessened Honours like Perfumes by custom are less sensible to those that carry them But the Saints above always consider and feel the excellent difference between their suffering and triumphant state They never lose that ravishing part of felicity the vivid sense of past evils Their reflections are always as strong on the Misery from whence they were rais'd to the pitch of Happiness as in their first glorious Translation In what an Extasy of wonder and pleasure will they be from the fresh memory of what they were and the joyful sense of what they are I was says the admiring Soul poor blind and naked but O miraculous and happy Alteration I am full of Light enrich'd with the Treasures of Heaven adorn'd with Divine Glory I was under the tyrannous power of Satan but he is bruised under my feet I was sentenc'd to an everlasting separation from the Presence of God my only Life and Joy but now am possest of my supream Good O how transporting is the comparison of these wide and contrary extreams How beautiful and pleasant is the Day of Eternity after such a dark tempestuous Night How does the remembrance of such Evils produce a more lively and feeling fruition of such Happiness How strangely and mightily does Salvation with Eternal Glory affect the Soul This gives a spritely accent to their everlasting Hallelujahs This preserves an affectionate Heat in their Thanksgivings to their Victorious Deliverer And thus their Happiness is always the same and always new Their Pleasure is continued in its Perfection The number of Possessors cannot lessen their Felicity The Divine Presence is an unwasted Spring of Pleasure equally full and open to all and abundantly sufficient to satisfy the immensity of their Desires Envy reigns in this World because earthly things are so imperfect in their Nature and so peculiar in their Possession that they cannot suffice nor be enjoyed by all But in Heaven none is touch'd with that base low Passion for God contains all that is precious and desirable in the highest degrees of Perfection and all partake of his Universal Goodness without intercepting one another In the Kingdom of Heaven there is no cause for the Elder Brother to repine at the Father's Bounty to the Younger nor for the Younger to supplant the Elder to obtain the Birth-right The Heirs of God are all rais'd to Sovereign Glory and every one enjoys him as entirely and fully as if solely his Felicity God is a Good as indivisible as infinite and not diminished by the most liberal communications of Himself We may illustrate this by comparing the Price of our Redemption
laspes have justly deserved that God should withdraw his grieved Spirit are new Obligations to Thankfulness and the more Grace the less Merit 3. The best Works of Men are imperfect allayed with the mixtures of Infirmities and not of full weight in the Divine Ballance If God should strictly examin our Righteousness 't will be found neither pure nor perfect in his Eyes and without Favour and Indulgence would be rejected And that which wants Pardon cannot deserve Praise and Glory He shews Mercy to thousands that love him and keep his Commandments If Obedience were meritorious it were strict justice to reward them The Apostle prays for Onesiphorus who had exposed himself to great danger for his love to the Gospel The Lord grant he may find Mercy in that day The Divine Mercy gives the Crown of Life to the Faithful in the day of eternal Recompences II. The meritorious Cause of our obtaining Heaven is the Obedience of Jesus Christ comprehending all that he did and suffered to reconcile God to us From him as the eternal Word we have all benefits in the order of Nature for all things were made by him and for him as the incarnate Word all good things in the order of Grace What we enjoy in Time and expect in Eternity is by him To shew what influence his Mediation has to make us happy we must consider 1. Man by his Rebellion justly forfeited his Happiness and the Law exacts precisely the Forfeiture Pure Justice requires the Crime should be punish'd according to its Quality much less will it suffer the guilty to enjoy the favour of God For Sin is not to be considered as an Offence and Injury to a private Person but the violation of a Law and a disturbance in the order of Government so that to preserve the honour of governing Justice an equivalent reparation was appointed Till Sin was expiated by a proper Sacrifice the Divine Goodness was a sealed Spring and its blessed effects restrain'd from the guilty Creature Now the Son of God in our assumed Nature offered up himself a Sacrifice in our stead to satisfy Divine Justice and removed the Bar that Mercy might be glorified in our Salvation The Apostle gives this account of it We have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Christ by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vail that is to say his Flesh. 2. Such were the most precious Merits of his Obedience that it was not only sufficient to free the guilty contaminated Race of Mankind from Hell but to purchase for them the Kingdom of Heaven If we consider his Humane Nature all Graces were born with him as Rays with the Sun and shin'd in the whole course of his Life in the excellence of Perfection And the dignity of his Divine Person derived an immense Value to all he perform'd as Mediator One Act of his Obedience was more honourable to God than all the Lives of the Saints the Deaths of the Martyrs and the Service of the Angels God was more pleased in the Obedience of his Beloved Son than he was provok'd by the rebellion of his Servants Therefore as the just Recompence of it he constituted him to be Universal Head of the Church supream Judg of the World invested him with Divine Glory and with Power to communicate it to his faithful Servants He is the Prince of Life In short it is as much upon the account of Christ's Sufferings that we are glorified as that we are forgiven The Wounds he received in his Body the Characters of Ignominy and Footsteps of Death are the Fountains of our Glory His Abasement is the cause of our Exaltation If it be said This seems to lessen the freeness of this Gift The answer is clear This was due to Christ but undeserved by us Besides the appointing his Son to be our Mediator in the way of our Ransom was the most glorious Work of his Goodness 2. The Means of our obtaining Heaven are to be considered Though the Divine Goodness be free in its Acts and there can be nothing in the Creature of Merit or Inducement to prevail upon God in the nature of a Cause yet he requires Qualifications in all those who shall enjoy that blessed unchangeable Kingdom The Apostle expresly declares 'T is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that sheweth Mercy But we must distinguish the Effects of this Mercy which are dispensed in that order the Gospel lays down The first Mercy is the powerful calling the Sinner from his corrupt and wretched State a second Mercy is the pardoning his Sins the last and most eminent is the glorifying him in Heaven Now 't is clear that in this place the shewing of Mercy signifies the preventing Grace of God in Conversion for in the 18 th Verse 't is said God shews Mercy to whom he will and whom he will he hardens Where 't is evident that shewing Mercy is oppos'd not to condemning but to hardning and consequently the intent of the words is this That Divine Grace overcomes the Rebellious Will softens the stiff and stubborn Heart and makes it pliant to Obedience This flows from his pure good Will and Pleasure without the least Motive from the Inclinations or Endeavours of sinful Men. But the other Effects of God's Mercy require Conditions in the Subjects that receive them for he pardons only penitent Believers and glorifies none but persevering Saints To make this clear 't is worthy of Observation The Gospel has several Denominations 'T is called a Law a Covenant and a Testament 'T is called the Law of Faith and the Law of the Spiritual Life As a Law it signifies a new Right that God has most freely establish'd in favour of lost Man that commands certain Duties and sets before them Eternal Life as the Reward of Obedience and Eternal Death the Punishment of Disobedience According to this the trial and decision of Mens everlasting States shall be which is the Character of a true Law This Law of Grace is very different from the Law of Nature that requir'd intire Innocence and for the least omission or accusing Act past an irrevocable Doom upon the Offenders for that strictness and severity is mollified by the Gospel which accepts of sincere persevering Obedience tho imperfect accordingly 't is called the Law of Liberty But the Law of Faith is unalterable and admits of no Dispensation from the Duties required in order to our being everlastingly happy 2. The Gospel is stiled a Covenant and that imports a reciprocal Engagement between Parties for the performance of the Matter contained in it The Covenant of Grace includes the Promise of pardoning and rewarding Mercy on God's part and the Conditions on Man's with respect to which 't is to be perform'd There is an inviolable dependence between them He will be our God to make us happy but we must be his People to yield
partaker of the Divine Nature and elevates him above himself This holy Change is wrought by Divine Power Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The Analogy of a new Birth signifies that 't is entirely the Work of the sanctifying Spirit that conveys a Principle of Life in order to the Functions of it 'T is the living Impression of God the sole Efficient and Exemplar of it the Fruit and Image of the Divine Vertues 'T is exprest by the new Creature The production of it is attributed to God's Power displaying it self in a peculiar excellent way even in that precise manner as in making the World For as in the first Creation all things were made originally of nothing so in the second the Habit of Grace is infused into the Soul that was utterly void of it and in which there was as little preparation for true Holiness as of Nothing to produce this great and regular World And altho there is not only an absolute privation of Grace but a fierce resistance against it yet creating invincible Power does as infallibly and certainly produce its Effect in forming the new Creature as in making the World From hence it appears that preventing renewing Grace is so intirely the Work of God as his forming the humane Body from the Dust of Earth at first But with this difference the first Creation was done without any sense in the Subject of the efficiency of the Divine Power in producing it but in the new Creation Man feels the vital Influence of the Spirit applying it self to all his Faculties reforming and enabling them to act according to the quality of their Nature And by the way we may observe the admirable Grace shewed to Man in the renovation of his corrupted Nature In the composition of his Being are united a Spirit like the Angels and a Body like terrestrial Animals by which he partakes of the spiritual and natural Life but he has peculiar Favours conferred upon him For whereas his Soul sinn'd with the Angels and his Body dies with the Beasts yet God is pleased to restore them by his glorious Power An Angel after Sin never repents and is therefore incapable of Pardon and irrecoverably disinherited of Heaven a Beast after Death never revives but though Man sins and dies yet his Soul may be renewed by Divine Grace and his Body shall be raised in an incorruptible Glory Now the indispensable necessity of this holy Change is evident from the Words of our Saviour for he speaks universally Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God He does not simply declare that an unregenerate Man shall not but with the greatest Emphasis cannot to signify an absolute impossibility of it The Jews highly presumed of the priviledg of their carnal Birth they sprang from the pure and noble Blood of Abraham God's Friend they had the Seal of the Holy Covenant mark'd in their Flesh and hence it was proverbial amongst them that every Israelite should have a part in the World to come But our Saviour overthrows this vain conceit and tells them that the supernatural Birth entitles to the supernatural Inheritance Circumcision then and Baptism now without real Grace is an ineffectual sign of no avail to Salvation In the quality of Sons we are Heirs of God's Kingdom And that honourable Relation we have upon a double account by Adoption and Regeneration Divine Adoption is not a meer change of our state a naked Declaration that one shall be dignified with the Title of God's Son but a holy Nature is always infused into the Person whereby he is made like to God in his Excellencies In this it differs from humane Adoption that gives the Name and Arms the Honour and Estate of the Adopter to a Person without conveying any of his intellectual or moral Endowments Whom God adopts he begets to a Divine Life Besides our Saviour purchased this high Priviledg for us God sent his Son made of a Woman under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons By Union with him we receive the investiture of this Dignity Now whoever is in Christ is a new Creature For the quickning Spirit that is to the Soul what the Soul is to the Body the principle of Life and Strength of Beauty and Motion and an active purifying Faith that is influential upon all other Graces are the Band of that vital Union So that as all in Adam are universally corrupt by the first Birth all that are in Christ are made holy by a new Birth But of this I shall speak in the next Chapter more fully under a distinct Head Briefly the Spirit of Grace that sanctifies is the Spirit of Adoption that seals our Right to that Kingdom Now the Reasons why this Change must be in order to our obtaining of Heaven are these 1. There is an exquisite Wisdom shines in all God's Works in disposing them for the ends to which they are appointed and is it not monstrously absurd to imagin he will admit into his Presence and Kingdom those that are absolutely unqualified for its Blessedness and opposite to its Purity 2. His invariable Justice excludes for ever all unholy Persons from Heaven For in the last Judgment God will be glorified as a Governour in the distribution of Rewards with respect to the Obedience and Disobedience of Men. 'T is worthy of observation that the Actions of God on the reasonable Creatures are of two sorts Some proceed from his soveraign good Pleasure of which there is no motive or reason in the Subjects on which they are terminated Thus by a free and insuperable Decree when all Mankind laps'd and miserable was in his view he chose some to be Vessels of Mercy and by priviledg separated them from the rest that finally perish Now what induc'd him to place a singular Love on the Elect There was nothing in them to incline his Compassion being equally guilty and depraved with the rest of the Progeny of Adam This difference therefore is to be resolved into his unaccountable and adorable Will as the sole cause of it Thus God declares it to be his glorious Prerogative I will have Mercy on whom I will have Mercy and I will have Compassion on whom I will have Compassion And this is no unjust acceptance of Persons For as a Benefactor he may dispense his own Favours as he pleases A Gift from meer and arbitrary Bounty may be bestowed on some and not on others without injustice But there are other Actions of God for which there is an evident reason in Men on whom they are terminated Thus as the supreme Judg without respect of Persons he will judg and reward every Man according to his Works The Evangelical Law as was toucht on before is the rule of eternal Judgment and gives a right from the gracious
they are ever totally deserted by the Holy Spirit and left under the reigning Power of Sin The Threatnings are intended to awaken their Care and are Preservatives of them from Ruin and have a singular Influence on their Perseverance A vigilant and cautious Fear establishes the certainty of their Hope Indeed from the Reliques of weakness and corruption in the Saints they sometimes actually fall into presumptuous Sins and by rebellious relapses wound Conscience and let out much of the vital Spirits their Graces and Comforts But though the divine Nature in them is miserably wasted by such Sins yet 't is not abolish'd As after the Creation of Light there was never pure and total Darkness in the World Grace does not consist in a Point but is capable of Degrees The new Creature may decline in Beauty and Strength yet Life remain Between a lively and a dead Faith there may be a fainting Faith as in St. Peter for certainly our Saviour was heard in his Prayer for him that his Faith should not fail in his dreadful Temptation The Saints do not by a particular fall extinguish the first living Principles of Obedience Faith and Love nor change their last end by an entire turning from God to the World In short a single act of Wickedness does not reduce them into a state of Unregeneracy for 't is not the matter of the Sin singly considered but the disposition of the Sinner that denominates him If Grace in the Saints should utterly perish as some boldly assert their recovery would be impossible For the Apostle tells us that if those who were enlightned and had tasted of the Heavenly Gift that had been under some common Workings and lower Operations of the Spirit if such fall away universally and live in a course of Sin opposite to their former illuminations and resolutions it is impossible to renew them by Repentance how much more then if those who were truly sanctified by the holy Spirit should intirely lose all those gracious habits planted in them in their Regeneration But David though guilty of Adultery and Murder Sins of so foul a Nature as would dishonour Paganism it self and made the Enemies of God to blaspheme was restored by Repentance The Gospel propounds a remedy not only for Sins committed before Conversion but after it If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous God does not revoke the Adoption nor reverse the Justification of a Believer but upon scandalous disorders the effects of Justification are suspended with respect to the new contracted guilt till there be sincere and actual Repentance He is not disinherited but his right to the Kingdom of Heaven is eclipsed as to the comfortable sense of it nay suspended till by renovation he is qualified and made fit for the enjoyment of that pure Inheritance For those Sins which are a just cause of excommunicating an Offender from the Church on Earth would exclude him from the Kingdom of Heaven without Repentance Our Saviour tells us what is bound on Earth is ratified in Heaven And the Apostle expresly declares of those kinds of Sin for which Professors must be removed from the Communion of Saints here that they are an exclusive bar from the Kingdom of Heaven But I have written to you not to keep Company if any that is called a Brother be a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or a Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner with such a one no not to eat And know ye not that the Vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God If one that is truly a Child of God fall into any of these Sins till by an extraordinary Repentance he is prepared for Pardon he cannot obtain it nor have a comfortable hope of entring into Heaven For only those who are justified are glorified Indeed it is not imaginable where the Seed of God remains the vital Principle of Grace as it does in all that are born of God but that notorious Sins that cannot be concealed from the view of Conscience will cause stings and sorrows proportionable to their malignity and consequently a hatred and forsaking of them Now Perseverance principally respects the End of our Course There may be Interruptions in the way for a time but if with renewed Zeal and Diligence we prosecute our blessed End we shall not fall short of it Secondly I come now to consider the second thing propounded The Reason why Perseverance is requisite in all that will obtain Eternal Life and 't is this That their Sincerity may be discovered by constancy in Obedience under all Trials Blessed is the Man that endures Temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him The Law required unsinning Obedience as the Condition of Life the Gospel accepts of Sincerity but if that be wanting there is no Promise that gives right to the Reward Now Sincerity implies such an entire Love of God as makes a Person submit to all Duties commanded in his Law and all Trials appointed by his Providence A high Example we have of this in Abraham when he was commanded to offer up his only Son Isaac and by his own Hands for a Burnt-Offering This was to kill a double Sacrifice at one Blow for the Life of Abraham was bound up in Isaac he lived in him more dearly than in himself all his Joy all his Posterity by Sarah had died in Isaac What resentments what resistance of Nature did he suffer yet presently he address'd himself to perform his Duty Whoever saw a more glorious Victory over all the tender and powerful Passions of humane Nature O unexampled Obedience being an Original without any Precedent to imitate and without a Copy to succeed it After this clear infallible Testimony of his Sincerity the Angel declar'd from Heaven Now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son from me And 't is said concerning the followers of the Lamb that they loved not their Lives unto the Death The Love of Christ that animated them in all their Sufferings was sweeter than Life and stronger than Death Indeed there was a wonderful difference in the behaviour of the Martyrs under Sufferings but in all the same Persevering Grace was evident though working variously Some in the most beautiful Flower of their Age encounter'd Fire and Sword Tormentors and Torments with that sensible Joy with those Songs of Praise to Christ as if they saw the Heavens open with St. Stephen and their Saviour ready to receive and crown them But many others as Chrysostom testifies went to the Tribunals to the Theatres to Death with many appearances of Fear Upon hearing the wild Beasts roar they were struck with horror at the sight of
omnipresent and that what-ever Sin is done though in the deepest and darkest recess is manifest to him have no need of Lucian's Lamp to make our Judg to be feared by us 3. The Impartiality of the Sentence will make the Justice of God conspicuous before the whole World This consists in two things 1. There will be no distinction of Persons 2. There will be a distinction of Causes in that Judgment and according to their Nature the Sentence will pass upon all 1. There will be no distinction of Persons In humane Courts the Judges sometimes extend and amplify sometimes contract or smother the Evidence and are more rigorous or favourable in their Sentence as they are biass'd towards the Persons before them But the Righteous Judg of the World is uncapable of being inclin'd to Favour or Severity upon such base Motives This is frequently declared in Scripture to possess us with his Fear If ye call upon the Father who without respect of Persons judges according to every Man's Work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear No spiritual Priviledges upon which Men are so apt to presume viz. that they are Members of the Reformed Church that they are enrich'd with excellent Gifts that they enjoy the Ordinances in their purest Administration will avail them without real Holiness in their Hearts and Lives The being united to Societies of the most glorious Profession of strictest Purity and sublime Devotion does no more prove one to be a real Saint than the being of an eminent Company of Merchants proves one to be a rich Citizen Those that bow the Knee and not the Heart in faithful Reverence that give the empty Title of Lord to Christ without the tribute of Obedience will be rejected by him Many shall say at the Day of Judgment Lord Lord we have prophesied in thy Name and done many wondrous Works Then will the Judg say I know you not Depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity No degrees of Civil Greatness will be of any moment and advantage in that day Saint John testifies I saw the Dead small and great stand before God in an equal Line to receive their Trial. Kings shall then be devested of their Imperial Titles of their Crowns and Scepters and their Robes of State and only be accompanied with their Works Of this we have an undoubted Proof in that they are no more exempted from the common Law of dying than the meanest Slave Death that rugged Officer arrests them without Ceremony and summons them to appear before that Tribunal The Royal Purple could not protect Herod from being devoured by Worms The Apostle speaks indefinitely in the fore-cited Place He that does wrong shall receive for the wrong he has done and there is no respect of Persons No circumstantial Accidents can derive true worth or truly debase Persons but inherent Qualities and the Actions that flow from them and accordingly the High and Holy God will accept or disapprove them What St. Paul observes of the saving Grace of the Gospel being indifferently offer'd to all is applicable in this case He tells us There is neither Greek nor Jew Barbarian nor Scythian Bond nor Free that are preferr'd or excluded upon a Carnal account but that all may equally partake of spiritual Blessings Thus the difference of Nations will be no Priviledg or Prejudice to any in the Day of Judgment The most rude and contemptible shall have as fair and equal a Trial as the most polite and civiliz'd The ignorant Barbarians as the Learned Grecians that so much boasted of their vain Excellencies above them The Negroes in Africa as the People of Europe for they have the same Relation to God their Maker and as truly bear the impression of God stamped upon the Humane Nature in the Creation and therefore common to the whole species of Mankind An Image may be fashion'd in Ebony as well as in Ivory Briefly all Men are equally subject to his Laws and shall be equally accountable for their Actions The Rich and the Poor shall then meet together without distinction before God the Maker and Judg of them all 2. There shall be a distinction of Causes and every Man be judged according to his Works the tenour of good Works and the desert of bad The Apostle assures us That whatsoever a Man sows that shall he reap He that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting The Harvest shall be according to the Seed both in kind and measure 1. Those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality shall obtain eternal Life Indeed eternal Life is the Gift of infinite Bounty nay of pure Mercy and Mercy excludes Merit 'T is said of the blessed Martyrs who contended for the Truth and Purity of the Gospel to the Death that their Robes were wash'd white in the Blood of the Lamb not in their own Blood Their Right to Heaven was from the application of his Merits to them But the Reward is dispens'd from God according to the Evangelical Law not only as a magnificent Prince but as a Righteous Judg. All those to whom the Gospel promises eternal Life shall infallibly obtain it and none that the Gospel excludes Those who were sensible of their Sins and cordially forsaking them did humbly and entirely depend upon the Grace of God through the blessed Reconciler and Saviour shall be justified and glorified Then the Judg will discern between unfeigned Faith and vain Presumption and will justify the Faith of the Saints by the genuine Fruits of it the Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety of their Lives and a victorious perseverance in their Duty notwithstanding all the pleasing Temptations or Tortures to withdraw them from it Thus the Apostle expresses his humble Confidence I have fought the good Fight I have finish'd my Course henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which God the Righteous Judg will give me at that day and not only to me but to all that love his Appearance We read in the Description of the Last Judgment That the Book of Life was opened the Names of all that were written in Heaven shall then be declared that it may appear they are saved by Grace For it was his most free pleasure to select some from the common Mass of Perdition who were naturally as guilty and corrupted as others and to predestinate them to Eternal Glory and effectual persevering Grace to prepare them for it The Saints are created in Christ Jesus unto good Works which God hath before ordained that they should walk in them And the New Creation is as undeserved and entire an Effect of God's Love as the first was But 't is said That every Man was judged according to his Works For Eternal Election does not entitle a Person immediately to Heaven but according to the