Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure The absolute necessity of Holiness will I suppose be acknowledged by all but I fear many mistake what it is and wherein it consists Some think that it lies in varnishing a little the outside the putting on a form of Godliness like the Pharisees whom our Saviour resembled to whited Sepulchers which covered rottenness and filth Some think they are holy enough if their Opinions be sound and that they are in Communion with an Orthodox Party and a Zeal to promote that Party which they think so is all the Sanctity which others aim at I heard of one who said of a certain Person That she was a Saint indeed because she had the Vocabula Artis What he meant thereby I do not well know except it was That she spake the Dialect and used the Phrases peculiar to some People Indeed he that is Holy will take heed to his words but I know no kind of Language sufficient to sanctifie one and if there were then there needed not great violence in taking the Kingdom of Heaven But not to pursue these manifold sad Mistakes of Men true Holiness regardeth God our neighbours and our selves As it regards God it consists in loving him sincerely above all things being ready to part with any thing rather than offend him In being zealously concerned for his Glory and Interest according to Knowledge and Equity For evil must not be done that good may come who doth so saith St. Paul their damnation is just to drive on things per fas nefas is so far from honouring God that it occasions him to be Blasphemed Finally he truly loves God and is holy towards him who makes Conscience of keeping his Commandments O that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy Commandments Psal. cxix 5 6. But Secondly He that is holy towards God will be holy also in all manner of Conversation towards Men these two God hath joined together by his Word and Men must not put them asunder Now Holiness towards Men is to honour all men and to love the brotherhood to deal with others as we would be dealt with to be unjust to none but to render all their due according to their several Places and Relations And if I have not quite mistaken the Moral of the Christian Religion it takes in Subjection and Obedience to our Superiours and lawful Governours in things lawful Moreover Holiness towards our Neighbour comprehends Mercy and Charity We ought to have Compassion upon him to relieve his Wants according to our Ability to forgive his Faults and to cover his Infirmities as much as possible A holy Man will not be hard-hearted and severe towards his Neighbour in his Transactions with him nor will he Treat him with the utmost Rigour especially when it cannot be done without his ruin And St. Iames tells us He shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy James ii 13. Lastly To compleat our Holiness we must look well to our selves and carefully preserve our selves unspotted from this World we must walk honestly as in the day not in chambering and wantonness not in gluttony and drunkenness not in strife and envy nor making provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Frequent or habitual Excess and Rioting Whoredom and Uncleanness Lascivious Looks and Speeches not only spoil the Beauty of Holiness but quite deface it As to our selves Holiness is Chastity and Purity Modesty and Humility Temperance and Sobriety the taking care to suppress the Corruption of our Nature and to improve our selves in the exercise of every Grace Thus I have given you a true Scheme of that Holiness to which Eternal Life is promised And having such a Promise let us therefore Cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. vii 1. By these things we must study to qualifie our selves for that other better life otherwise we do in vain expect it Whether it be fit and proper to imploy Wicked and Unhallowed hands in rearing up the Temple of God in this World I shall not now determine but sure I am such shall never inherit the Kingdom of God in the other Let Men be never so active and zealous for Christ's Kingdom upon Earth tho' they Prophesie in his Name and in his Name cast out Devils and do many wondrous Works yet if they be workers of Iniquity he will say unto them Depart from me I never knew you As the certainty of an after happy state is clearly demonstrated in Scripture so there is nothing more plain and evident than that holiness thorough Iesus Christ is the only way that leads to it What a strange thing then is it and how unaccountable that those who profess a Desire and Hope of this Life do not walk in this Way thereto We have at present a great deal of talk about Religion but there was never less of the Practice thereof There was never more Profession nor was there ever so little of the fruit of Godliness to be seen Religion and Truth are in every Bodies Mouth but very few endeavour a conformity to them Some are altogether careless of Holiness as if they knew some By-path or nearer or easier Way to Heaven Others as if they had no hope but in this Life are only concerned for a present Temporal Interest as if Christ's Kingdom were only in this World they only lay themselves out for advancing and establishing the external Policy of the Church And this too Quovis modo by any means whatsoever they will do ill that good may come and do think that the end will hallow the means tho' never so unlawful But my Friends be not deceived suffer not your selves to be cheated and deluded out of the hope of Heaven and Eternal Life And that you may not fall short hereof and lose this comfortable Expectation let me intreat you to talk less and do more be less anxious about the outward Forms of Godliness and be more careful to shew the power thereof in your Life and Actions trust God a little more with the Care of his Church and Truth and be somewhat more concerned to set up the Kingdom of Christ within you without which you shall both forfeit your part in that glorious Kingdom above and also the honour and privilege of his Kingdom here on Earth Therefore say I unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof This Judgment we have deserved and we have great cause to fear it Nothing will prevent it but our timely and unfeigned Repentance a serious turning to the Lord and bringing forth the fruits of Holiness and Righteousness If we do this God will yet have mercy upon our Nation settle the State preserve the Church and render her illustrious in
he tempted our Saviour quoted Scripture but we ought to look to the nature and tendency of the Doctrine and consider whether it agree to the Scope of the Scipture in its particular Precepts for that is the true Standard and Measure Ye shall know saith our Saviour the tree by its fruit Now the sum of what the Spirit saith to the Churches and to us by the Churches in the Scripture is what we have in the Text viz. To him that overcometh c. In handling of which words we shall first explain what is meant by overcoming Then Secondly what is the Reward here promised to him that overcometh As to the First seeing there is mention here of overcoming that necessarily supposeth Fighting for there can be no Victory without Fighting and if there must be a Fight there must also be Enemies for we cannot fight but against Enemies And by this it appears that the Life of a Christian is a Warfare and that by coming to Christ we become Soldiers who are engaged to fight Idleness and Ease is not the End of our Calling nor are we listed merely for shew and ostentation for we are called to Wrestle and Fight and that so stoutly and valiantly so constantly and stedfastly until we overcome It is not enough to begin to make ready and present our selves to the Battel nor yet to Fight a while to hold out against two or three Onsets but we must never turn back never yield or give over but must hold out to the end and so too as to carry away the Victory for the Promise is here only to him that overcometh As in the Olympick Games none got the Prize until he had first got the Mastery over his Antagonists and as among the Romans a Triumph was granted not to him that had essayed the War but to him who had come off Victorious So Christians are not to expect these glorious things here proposed unless they have not only enterprized the good Fight but gained a Victory therein If any man turn back saith God my soul shall have no pleasure in him But blessed is he who endureth to the end for the same shall be saved Heb. x. 22. But then you 'll ask whom we are to fight with and after what manner In the first place our Text speaks not of Carnal Fighting we are not to understand it of Mustering Human Forces of Encamping Armies setting of Battels laying of Sieges making Assaults upon Cities to take them nor of using these or any other Stratagems of War where there is occasion of shewing Military Art and Valour and where only Carnal and Material Weapons are used The Rewards of these Earthly Victories are Conquests of new Dominions the Submissions of the Conquered acquirements of great Power and Riches the erection of Trophies in the places of Victory Publick Triumphs and the result of all Vain-glory and false Renown which reach not further than this lower World But the Manna the white Stone and new Name and the Glories signified by them are true substantial and eternal and regard the life to come which is Everlasting And tho' doubtless some great Warriors are in Heaven some great Conquerours will triumph with the Lord Jesus at the last Day yet most of those who acquired Kingdoms in any Ages here below will lose that above and be condemned at the last Judgment as Thieves Robbers and Murtherers for Plunder and Rapine and shedding of Blood But as for those few warlike Princes who have gone to Heaven they have not got thither by their mighty feats of Arms but by the Justice and Equity of their respective Causes for which they took up Arms and by using of them with Mercy and Tenderness and with a sincere intention for Peace or else if their Wars were Unjust by true and serious Repentance for all the Violence committed in them and by making Restitution and Satisfaction for all Injuries to their utmost power But the Spiritual Conquerours cannot fail of Heaven their very Conquest entitles them to it and all the Glories of it because it is a Spiritual Conquest and the Weapons of their Warfare are not Carnal but Spiritual and the World the Flesh and the Devil the Enemies which they conquer are Spiritual Enemies against which they Arm themselves with the whole Armour of God with the Girdle of Truth the Brest-plate of Righteousness the Shield of Faith the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God because as the Apostle saith we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against Principalities against Powers against the Rulers of the darkness of this World against spiritual wickedness in High places Eph. vi 12. More particularly if we do well consider these Letters to the Seven Churches which our Lord shuts up with these words to him that overcometh we shall find the Enemies he proposeth to be encountered are such as go about to destroy our Faith to defile our Worship to extinguish our Charity and to stain the Purity of our Christian Life and Conversation Persecutions and Trouble for the sake of the Gospel or any part of it Idolatry and Superstition Heresie and false Doctrine the Corruption and inordinate Lusts within us and the Pollution and wicked Practises of the World without us are the things we have to struggle and wrestle with And the word overcome in our Text hath a reference to a perpetual War which ought to be maintained against all and every one of them For it is not enough to attack or resist stoutly any one of them if we do not withstand all He doth not overcome according to the Text nor can he claim the Reward promised therein who strikes in with any one of these or meanly yields to it though he stand never so stiffly out against the rest As for Example He cannot be said to overcome who resists Errour and false Doctrine and yet suffers himself to be captivated by Vice or Sin nor is he to be accounted Victorious who meets Trouble and Persecution with Courage and Undauntedness and in the mean time is not careful to keep a sound Faith and a good Conscience it is Treachery and Cowardice to yield to or make an Agreement with any Enemy whatsoever But wherein will you say doth this Victory properly consist Doth Christ require us to destroy the Superstitions and Idolatries of the World to amend the Corruption of the Age we live in and to stop Persecution and Trouble which come upon the Church For according to the usual way of speaking he overcometh that gets the upper hand of his Enemies and ruins them Truly the Church of God should not suffer Idolatry and Superstition to creep into its Worship and should guard its Discipline and Constitutions from being vitiated and if it were in her power to deliver her self from Persecution by ways just and lawful the Motions of Nature would induce thereto and Nature in this is not contrary to the
making Man's Life so much shorter now than what it was at first in the Patriarchs timse is so far from being a Matter of Complaint that it is indeed a great Blessing He who must run will not complain of the shortness of the Race especially if the way be not good but rough and uneven The shortest Life is long enough if it be well employed If we can be so wise as to live well it is our Happiness to die soon for then Death is but the ending of our Misery and a wafting us over to eternal Bliss And this is it which St. Iohn here calls Life it is that glorious and happy State in the other World which God hath prepared for all true Believers That it is this which is here meant we need no further Proof than to look to the Verse before and after our Text for there he names it expressly Eternal Life This is indeed the End of our Faith the Completion of the Promises the great and last Design of Christianity All other are subordinate to this Whatever else is given is either to further the Attainment of this or to cherish the Hopes of it For this end Christ was born for this end he died and rose again for this end the Gospel was preached and thither tend all the Dispensations of the Divine Providence even to bring Men to Eternal Life which also is called by other glorious Names in Scripture as Heaven the Kingdom of God the Kingdom of Glory If you ask why the Apostle should call this State Life simply when Men do live who are not in this State The Answer is he calls it Life by way of Eminence and Excellency no State being comparable to it It is deservedly called Life if we either consider the Felicity or Duration of it First it deserveth the Name of Life upon the Account of the Felicity and Happiness it affords for Life and Happiness are often used as Reciprocal Terms as Words of one Importance according to that Saying non est vivere sed valere vita to live merely to have a being and no more is not worth the Name of Life A Man would chuse to be dead rather than miserable Wherefore it is also that St. Paul calleth this Life a dying daily He only is said to live truly who liveth happily And there is no true Happiness but in this Life which the Apostle here speaks of What and how great this Happiness is is not yet known Some late Enthusiasts and Visionaries have taken upon them to describe this future State as particularly as if they had already lived some time in it But St. Iohn saith It doth not yet appear what we shall be and we have Reason to believe that there was as much revealed to him as to them What he says is certain what they add ought to be rejected as presumptuous Dreams and Delusions God has revealed clearly that there is another Life and has assured us that it is more than a sufficient Recompence for all our Labours and Services and that it will afford perfect Contentment and Satisfaction But the particular Circumstances of that Life are yet kept secret partly because we could not conceive or comprehend them We are not capable of a full Discovery of that Life for it exceeds our highest Thoughts and best Apprehensions Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him The Scripture speaks to us of Rivers of Pleasure Kingdoms Scepters and uncorruptible Crowns But we are to understand this no otherwise than as Similitudes representing something of exceeding great Worth and Value As our greatest Thoughts of God fall short of what he is so also all our Apprehensions of Heaven for the Happiness of Heaven is infinite like the Nature of God Kings and Princes study to have their Courts answerable to their Magnificence and Dignity How Glorious and Magnificent then must Heaven be the Court of the great King Whose Power is Almighty whose Wisdom is Infinite and all whose Perfections are past finding out either by Men or Angels Surely God shall there display himself and his Attributes most clearly and most fully to all Beholders St. Iohn who had a clearer Prospect of Heaven than ever any mortal Man tells us That there is no manner of Imperfection there The city saith he had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof And there is no night there and they need no candle neither light of the Sun for the Lord God giveth them light There is also he tells us a Freedom and absolute Exemption from all Misery Pain and Trouble they who are there shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them neither any heat for the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and lead them to living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their Eyes There we shall not be clogged and fettered to a weak infirm sickly Body as now for then this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal immortality and Christ Iesus shall change this vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself And if our Bodies shall suffer such glorious Changes what think you shall be done to our Souls those precious and better parts of us It is not to be doubted but they also shall be highly exalted and perfected we shall not be liable to Ignorance and Error but shall be enlightned with the Knowledge of all Truth for as St. Paul saith Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now we know in part but then shall we know even as we are known There shall be excellent choice and most desirable Company not only all Saints and the Spirits of just Men made perfect but Angels and Arch-Angels Cherubims and Seraphims And we shall not only have the Pleasure of their Company but shall be equal unto them as our Saviour tells us Nay which is yet more there we shall enjoy Christ and God and not only enjoy them but be transformed into their Likeness Beloved saith St. Iohn now we are the Sons of God and it doth not appear what we shall be but this we know that when he doth appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Seeing this doth appear what needs more there is no climbing higher God is the Height of Perfection and the Fountain of all Happiness And it is impossible to conceive greater Felicity than what this Enjoyment of God and Likeness to him amount to The highest Creatures are not capable of more The aspiring to be as Gods was the Sin of our first Parents and did tempt them
in a meer Historical Faith and speculative Knowledge of Christ without offering to bring forth the Fruits of Obedience and Holiness Now taking the words thus as it indeed appears they ought to be taken so they may be thus Paraphrased Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not those things which I say That is Why should you take my Name in your Mouth seeing you hate Instruction and cast my Words behind you How dare you be so bold as to call me your Lord seeing you refuse to obey me Do you not know what a Presumption this is And how highly it displeaseth me I had far rather you 'd disown me And it would please me much better that you forsake my Service altogether than to say and not to do What do you fancy I am ignorant of your ways Or do you think I am altogether such an one as your selves one who doth secretly countenance and approve of Vice and Sin Do you think I will sit down with such an Affront No certainly I will not pass it I will both reprove you and punish you either therefore do those things which I say unto you or else cease to call me Lord Lord. This is the sence and meaning of the words and we need not think it very strange that Christ should so passionately reprove and expostulate with such Disciples as are unobservant of his Will and negligent to keep his Commandments For their carriage and behaviour is very provoking it throweth a great deal of dishonour and reproach upon our Lord and is very prejudicial to his Interest because it doth very much obstruct the Advancement of his Kingdom First I say the Disobedience and the naughty Lives of those who call themselves Christians cannot but very much provoke the Lord Iesus Christ For he being really a Man as well as God therefore we must think he hath all the Passions which are natural unto Men and which are not the effects of the present Corruption and Disorder of our Nature by Sin and it 's not only natural even to the best to be grieved and irritated when they consider how unworthily they are dealt with by those who are strictly obliged unto them But also to be so provoked and grieved upon such a just occasion is consistent with the most perfect vertue Unless therefore we make a Stoical Apathy to be true Perfection it is impossible but that Jesus Christ must be displeased and troubled when his own Disciples slight and neglect him No Man can take it well to be slighted and abused by any But the ungratitude and undutifulness of Servants and Children is an insolency which none can patiently bear with The wickedness of the rest of the World is indeed grievous but that the Disciples of Jesus Christ should commit Sin and prove Ungodly cannot but be thought highly offensive The Heathen know not what they do and therefore they deserve Pity and Compassion Our Lord doth not expect Obedience from them or any regard to his Will and Pleasure because he is not yet made known unto them which doth somewhat excuse them But I pray what excuse can be pretended for those to whom he hath manifested himself and to whom his Majesty Power and Glory have been revealed That they should resist the Power of his Doctrine despise his Laws and work Wickedness and run into all Excess and Riot is a most irritating insolent and inexcusable thing This cannot but stir up his Anger vex and grieve his Spirit Especially considering in the next place what reproach and dishonour he receives thereby It 's well known how much the carriage of Servants and Friends tends either to a Man's Credit or Disgrace He hath honour whose Family is kept in good order whose Servants and Children behave themselves vertuously and discreetly but when they are vicious and unruly he is put to shame affronted Thus the Patriarch Iacob said to his Sons Simeon and Levi because of their Cruelty committed upon the Shechemites Ye have troubled me to make me stink among the Inhabitants of the Land And certainly corrupt and bad Christians do the same dis-service unto Christ their Lord they occasion him to be dishonoured and lightly esteemed by such as are Strangers unto him God told David That the Murther and Adultery he had committed had given great occasion to the Enemies of the Lord to blaspheme And the same Enemies I mean the Heathens do still Blaspheme our God and the Lord Jesus Christ upon the account of those and the like Enormities and Abominations which abound among us who call our selves his Servants and do profess to worship him For by these things they cannot be perswaded that he is the true God more than those they serve and are tempted to think as well of their false Gods and petty Deities Some tell us that in some places it is ordinary for People when their Honesty and Integrity is called in question to vindicate themselves by Swearing and Professing they are no Christians which is a most horrid shame and disgrace to us and our holy Profession It is well known what a contempt and reproach the Spaniards brought upon the Christian Religion when they first discovered America the poor Indians saw their Covetousness so exorbitant their Cruelty so horrid and all their Practices so filthy and abominable that they could not but loath and disgust them and upon that account they abhorred the God whom they adored and the Religion which they professed and one of them peremptorily refused to go to Heaven because the Spaniards said they were to be there For he could not think that a good place into which such bad persons were admitted And now tell me I pray you what can be imagined more offensive and displeasing unto God than the making him liable to be thus blasphem'd and evil thought of That he should be thought a Friend to and favourer of the most wicked and wretchedly debauch'd Persons Sure the Wounds which our Saviour receiv'd upon the Cross were neither so deep nor so sore as those which such Reproaches give him and we may be sure he will resent them The Wounds he received upon the Cross he suffered willingly but these are against his Will The first he forgave freely for they made for his Honour and Glory But we cannot think he will forgive the other which cast such a stain upon his Holiness and Purity He that despised Moses Law died without Mercy under three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God who hath crucified him afresh and put him to open shame who hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and doth despite unto the Spirit of Grace Know ye not that Vengeance belongeth unto the Lord and that he hath said he will recompence it Heb. x. 28. But Thirdly and Lastly when these who call themselves Christians deny Obedience
own Christ and not to obey his Will Disobedience to a lawful Lord and Master is a great Crime and passeth not unpunished Ye call me Master and Lord saith Christ and ye say well for so I am If he then be your Lord and Master see that ye do whatsoever he hath commanded you else he will be sure to punish your Disobedience These my Servants that would not that I should reign over them bring them hither to me and slay them before mine eyes The Lord Iesus Christ will one day appear with his mighty Angels in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ. The Lord will accept of nothing instead of this neither Prayers nor Sacrifices nor Professions will make Compensation for it For as Samuel said to Saul hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord he hath rejected thee 1 Sam. xv 22. Thus we see That our embracing of Christ and taking him for our Lord because we are assured he is sent from God and is ordained by him the Lord of Angels and Men that the same doth in its Nature also tie and oblige us to honour him not only with the calves of our Lips not only by professing with our Mouths that he is our Lord and Master but by doing him real and hearty Service and rendring all due Obedience to his Will and Pleasure But further is it Love to Christ that ties us to him and which makes us adhere to the Profession of his Name If so then this will oblige us to serve and obey him We read of some Servants under the Law who so loved their Masters that they would not part from them and who though they might have had their Freedom yet would not accept of it but suffered their Ears to be bored through that they might stay with their Masters for ever And certainly Christ is such a Master as deserves to be thus loved For never any did so much for gaining the Affection of their Servants as he hath done to gain ours He hath first loved us and that with an admirable and astonishing Love Greater love than this hath no Man than that a Man lay down his Life for his Friends and he hath not refused this Expression of Love to us for he laid down his Life and shed his precious Blood for our sakes There is therefore all the Reason in the World that we should love him and adhere to him Besides what Obligation the Commandment of God layeth upon us to take him for our Lord the Sense of his Love should oblige us to do it we are very ungrateful if we do not love him who hath so highly loved us and who hath bought us at so dear a Rate not with corruptible things as Gold and Silver but with his own most precious Blood Now if it be Love which moves us to call Christ Lord Lord to make Profession of his Name and Gospel then certainly this will excite us also to do his Will and observe his Commandments It is the very natural Result of Love the proper Fruits and Expressions of it to be observant of the Person who is loved to take a delight in doing their Will and Pleasure Love doth always discover it self this way and it is simply impossible for it not to do so and it is most certain they have little or no Love who cannot shew it this way Hereby a Wife manifesteth her Affection to her Husband and Children their Love and Respect to their Parents and one Man to another and when this Method is not followed and these Evidences given do we not presently conclude that the Persons have little Kindness or Regard for each other Now our Love to Christ must follow the same Course and express it self in the same manner If ye love me saith he keep my Commandments And again He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me if a Man love me he will keep my Words but he that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings And therefore if Love be the Motive of our professing Christ it will not rest there it will carry us further even to the doing whatsoever he hath commanded us Besides the two Inducements already mentioned there is one other Motive which may perswade us to come to Christ and to yield our selves his Disciples and that is the Hope of these Rewards he hath to bestow These Services are much sought after which are honourable and profitable and truly there is none which hath more either of Honour or Profit than this of the Lord Jesus Christ There is more advantage of having him our Master than in serving Kings and Princes or the greatest in the World For besides the Temporal Benefits and Spiritual Blessings which he gives in this present Life he giveth Glory and Eternal Happiness in the Life to come and therefore we may with good Reason say with St. Peter when our Lord asked him Will ye also go away from me to whom shall we go thou hast the Words of Eternal Life The Hope of Reward then may reasonably excite us to own and profess Christ but we do in vain look for his Reward without paying him due Obedience What I pray you is there any Man that will pay his Servant his Wages when he hath not performed his Work do we think our Lord will bestow upon us the Eternal Rewards of the other World when we have done nothing for it He told the Woman of Canaan that it was not meet to take the childrens bread and cast it to the dogs and we may be sure he will never think it just to make the Children of Disobedience to share alike as those that do sincerely obey him Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful Works And then I will profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity He is a just Iudge who will have no respect of persons but will certainly render to every Man according to his deeds to them who by patient Continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality he will give eternal Life but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness he will give indignation and wrath And as Christ will never bestow Heaven and that Eternal Weight of Glory