the objects only of a subordinate fear or hope when the fear of man comes in competition with the fear of God it is wise counsel which the Prophet Isaiah gives Say ye not A confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say A confederacy neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid Sanctifie the Lord God of Hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread and he shall be for a sanctuary 8 Isai. 12 13 14. There is a vast difference between the power of God and men which is our Saviour's reason why we should fear God more than men Be not afraid of them who can kill the body and after that have no more that they can do but I will forewarn ye whom ye shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him 12 Luke 4 5. But whatever power men may have to hurt while they live they can do us no hurt when they are dead and their lives are so very uncertain that we may be quickly eased of those fears The same may be said with respect to hope and confidence in men though their word and promise were always sacred yet their lives are uncertain Their breath goeth forth they return to the earth in that very day their thoughts perish all the good and all the evil they intended to do But happy is he that hath the God of Iacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God which made heaven and earth the sea and all that therein is who keepeth truth for ever 146 Psal. 5. 6. 6. For a conclusion of this Argument I shall briefly vindicate the wisdom and goodness of God in concealing from us the time of our Death This we are very apt to complain of that our lives are so very uncertain that we know not to day but that we may die to morrow and we would be mighty glad to meet with any one who could certainly inform us in this matter how long we are to live but if we think a little better of it we shall be of another mind For 1. though I presume many of you would be glad to know that you shall certainly live twenty or thirty or forty years longer yet would it be any comfort to know that you must die to morrow or some few months or a year or two hence which may be your case for ought you know and this I believe you are not very desirous to know for how would this chill your blood and spirits how would it overcast all the pleasures and comforts of life You would spend your days like men under the sentence of Death while the execution is suspended Did all men who must die young certainly know it it would destroy the industry and improvements of half Mankind which would half destroy the World or be an insupportable mischief to Humane Societies For what man who knows that he must die at twenty or five and twenty a little sooner or later would trouble himself with ingenious or gainful Arts or concern himself any more with this World than just to live so long in it and yet how necessary is the service of such men in the World what great things do they many times do and what great improvements do they make how pleasant and diverting is their conversation while it is innocent how do they enjoy themselves and give life and spirit to the graver Age how thin would our Schools our Shops our Universities and all places of Education be did they know how little time many of them were to live in the World for would such men concern themselves to learn the Arts of living who must die as soon as they have learnt them Would any Father be at a great expence in educating his Child only that he might die with a little Latine and Greek Logick and Philosophy No half the World must be divided into Cloysters and Nunneries and Nurseries for the Grave Well you 'll say suppose that and is not this an advantage above all the inconveniencies you can think of to secure the salvation of so many thousands who are now eternally ruined by youthful Lusts and Vanities but would spend their days in Piety and Devotion and make the next World their only care if they knew how little while they were to live here Right I grant this might be a good way to correct the heat and extravagancies of Youth and so it would be to shew them Heaven and Hell but God does not think fit to do either because it offers too much force and violence to mens minds it is no trial of their vertue of their reverence for God of their conquests and victory over this World by the power of Faith but makes Religion a matter of necessity not of choice now God will force and drive no man to Heaven the Gospel-Dispensation is the trial and discipline of ingenuous Spirits and if the certain hopes and fears of another World and the uncertainty of our living here will not conquer these flattering temptations and make men seriously religious as those who must certainly die and go into another World and they know not how soon God will not try whether the certain knowledge of the time of their death will make them religious That they may die young and that thousands do so is reason enough to engage young men to expect death and prepare for it if they will venture they must take their chance and not say they had no warning of dying young if they eternally miscarry by their wilful delays And besides this God expects our youthful service and obedience though we were to live on till old Age that we may die young is not the proper much less the only reason why we should remember our Creator in the days of our youth but because God has a right to our youthful strength and vigour and if this will not oblige us to an early Piety we must not expect that God will set death in our view to fright and terrifie us as if the only design God had in requiring our obedience was not that we might live like reasonable Creatures to the glory of their Maker and Redeemer but that we might repent of our sins time enough to escape Hell. God is so merciful as to accept of returning Prodigals but does not think fit to encourage us in Sin by giving us notice when we shall die and when it is time to think of repentance 2dly Though I doubt not but that it would be a great pleasure to you to know that you shall live till old Age yet consider a little with yourselves and then tell me whether you yourselves can judge it wise and fitting for God to let you know this I observed to you before what danger there is in flattering ourselves with the hopes of long life that it is apt to make us too fond of this World when we expect to live
happiness which does most sensibly affect them But would they but seriously consider things they might see reason to think otherwise that the unknown joys and pleasures of the other World are much greater than any pleasures which they feel here For let us thus reason with our selves I find I am mortal and must shortly leave this World and yet I believe that my Soul cannot die as my Body does but shall only be translated to another state whatever I take pleasure in in this World I must leave behind me and know not what I shall find in the next But surely the other World where I must live for ever is not worse furnished than this World which I must so quickly leave For has God made me immortal and provided no sorts of pleasures and entertainments for an immortal state when he has so liberally furnished the short and changeable Scene of this Life I know not indeed what the pleasures of the next World are but no more did I know what the pleasures of this World were till I came into it and therefore that is no argument that there are no pleasures there because I do not yet know them and if there be any pleasures there surely they must be greater than what are here because it is a more lasting State For can we think that God has emptied all his Stores and Treasures into this World Nay can we think that he has given us the best things first where we can only just tast them and leave them behind us which is to excite and provoke an appetite which shall be restless and uneasy to Eternity No surely the other World must be infinitely a more happy place than this because it will last infinitely longer The Divine Wisdom and Goodness has certainly reserved the best things for Eternity for as eternal beings are the most perfect so they must be the most happy too unless we can separate perfection and happiness And therefore I cannot but conclude that there are greater pleasures that there is a happier state of Life then this because there is a Life which lasts for ever 2. This will naturally teach us to live in expectation of better things of greater though unknown and unexperienced pleasures which methinks all Men should do who know that there are better things to be had and that they must go into that State where these better things are to be had For can any Man be contented with a less degree of happiness who knows there is a greater This is stupidity and baseness of Spirit an ignoble mind which is not capable of great hopes Ambition and Covetousness indeed are ill names but yet they are symptoms of a great and generous Soul and are excellent Vertues when directed to their right Objects that is to such Objects as are truely great and excellent for it is only the meanness of the Object which makes them Vices to be ambitious of true Honour of the true Glory and Perfection of our Natures is the very principle and incentive of Vertue But to be ambitious of Titles of Place of some Ceremonious respects and Civil Pageantry is as vain and little as the things are which they court To be covetous of true and real Happiness to set no bounds nor measures to our desire or pursuit of it is true greatness of mind which will take up with nothing on this side perfection for God and Nature have set no bounds to our desires of happiness but as it is in natural so it ought to be in moral agents every thing grows till it comes to its maturity and perfection but then Covetousness is a Vice when men mistake their Object and are insatiable in their desires of that which is not their Happiness as Gold and Silver Houses and Lands what is more than we want and more than we can use cannot be the happiness of a Man. And thus it is on the other hand though Humility be a great Vertue as it is opposed to earthly ambitions as it sets us above the little opinions and courtship of the World which are such mean things as argue meanness of Spirit to stoop to them yet it is not Humility but sordidness to be regardless of true Honour Thus to be contented with our external Fortune in this World what ever it be to be able to see the greater prosperity and splendor of other Men without envy and without repining at our own meanness is a great Vertue because these things are not our happiness but for the use and conveniencies of this present Life and to be contented with a little of them for present use is an Argument that we do not think them our happiness which is the true excellency of this Vertue of Contentment but to be contented if we may so call it to want that which is our true happiness or any degree or portion of it to be contented never to enjoy the greatest and the best things is a Vice which contradicts the natural desires of happiness and you may call it what you will if you can think of any name bad enough for it It is the most despicable temper in the World to have no sense of true Honour or Happiness or when we know there are greater and better things to take up with some low enjoyments And therefore let the thoughts of this ennoble our minds and since there are better things in the other World let us use our utmost endeavours to possess our selves of them let us live like Men who are born for greater things then this World affords let us endeavour to inform our selves what the happiness of the next World is and how we may attain it and let us use all present things as those who know there are infinitely greater and better things reserved for us in the next World. III. This should teach us also not to be over-concerned for the shortness of our lives Our lives indeed are very short they flie away like a shadow and fade like the Flowers of the Field and this were a very unsupportable thought were there either no life after this or not so happy a life as this But besides all the other proofs we have of another life the very shortness of our lives may convince us that Death does not put an end to our being For can we imagine that so noble a Creature as Man is was made for a day Man I say who is big with such immortal designs full of projects for future ages who can look backward and forward and see an Eternity without beginning and without end Who was made to contemplate the wonders of Nature and Providence and to admire and adore his Maker Who is the Lord of this lower World but has eyes to look up to Heaven and view all the glories of it and to pry into that invisible World which this veil of Flesh intercepts the sight of Man who is so long a Child and by such slow steps arrives to the use of
wise man will propose to himself because they are not safe and there are so many occasions to put these men in mind of Death that it is a very hard thing not to think of it and when ever they do it chills their Blood and Spirits and draws a black and melancholly Veil over all the Glories in the World. How are such men surprized when any danger approaches when Death comes within view and shews his Sithe and only some few sands at the bottom of the Glass This is a very frightful sight to men who are not prepared to die and yet should they give themselves liberty to think in what danger they live every minute how many thousand accidents may cut them off which they can neither foresee nor prevent fear and horror and consternation would be their constant entertainment till they could think of Death without fear till they were reconciled to the thoughts of dying by great and certain hopes of a better life after death So that no man can live happily if he lives like a man with his thoughts and reason and consideration about him but he who takes care betimes to prepare for Death and another World Till this be done a wise man will see himself always in danger and then he must always fear but he is a happy man who knows and considers himself to be mortal and is not afraid to die his pleasures and enjoyments are sincere and unmixt never disturbed with a Hand writing upon the Wall nor with some secret qualms and misgivings of mind he is not terrified with present dangers at least not amazed and distracted with them A man who is delivered from the fears of Death fears nothing else in excess but God and fear is so troublesome a passion that nothing is more for the happiness of our lives than to be delivered from it 2. As a consequent of this an early Preparation for Death will support men under all the troubles and calamities of this life There are so many troubles that Mankind are exposed to in this World that no man must expect to escape them all nay there are a great many troubles which are unsupportable to humane Nature which there can be no releif for in this World The hopes and expectations of a better life are in most cases the safest retreat a man may bear his present sufferings with some courage when he knows that he shall quickly see an end of them that Death will put an end to them and place him out of their reach For there the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest there the prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the oppressor the small and great are there and the servant is free from his master 3. Job 17 18 19. So that in many cases the thoughts and expectations of Death is the only thing that can support us under present sufferings but while the thoughts of Death itself are terrible to us this will be a poor comfort Men who are under the sence of guilt are more afraid of Death than they are of all the Evils of this World Whatever their present sufferings are they are not so terrible as lakes of fire and brimstone the worm that never dieth and the fire that never goeth out So that such men while they are under the fears and terrors of Death have nothing to support them under present miseries The next World which Death puts us into the possession of is a very delightful prospect to good men there they see the rewards of their labour and sufferings of their faith and patience They can suffer shame and reproach and take joyfully the spoiling of their goods since these light afflictions which are but for a season will work for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory But men who are not prepared to die while they are afraid of Death can find no relief in the thoughts of it and therefore want the greatest support that we can have in this life against the sufferings of it The sooner we prepare to die the sooner we are delivered from the fears of Death and then the hope of a better life will carry us chearfully through this World whatever storms we meet with 3ly Since we must certainly die it makes it extreamly reasonable to sacrifice our lives to God whenever he calls for them that is rather to chuse to die a little before our time then to renounce God or to give his Worship to Idols or any created Beings or to corrupt the Faith and Religion of Christ There are arguments indeed enough to encourage Christians to Martyrdom when God calls them to suffer for his sake the love of Christ in dying for us is a sufficient reason why we should chearfully die for him and the great rewards of Martyrdom that glorious Crown which is reserved for such Conquerors made the Primitive Christians ambitious of it It is certain there is no hurt in it nay that it is a peculiar favour to die for Christ because those persons who were most dear to him were crowned with Martyrdom but our present argument shews us at what an easie rate we may purchase so glorious a Crown for we part with nothing for it We die for God and we must die whether we die Martyrs or not and what man then who knows he must die and believes the rewards of Martyrdom can think it so terrible to die a Martyr No good Christian can think that he loses any thing by the bargain to exchange this life for a better for as many years as he goes sooner out of this World then he should have done by the course of Nature so many years he gets sooner to Heaven and I suppose that is no great loss It is indeed a noble expression of our love to God and our entire obedience and subjection to him and of a perfect trust in him to part with our lives for his sake but what can a man who knows he must die do less for God then this to part with a life which he cannot keep willingly to lay down a life for God which would shortly be taken from him whether he will or not 4ly This shews us also what little reason we have to be afraid of the power of Men the utmost they can do is to kill the Body a mortal Body which will die whether they kill it or not which is no mighty argument of power no more than it is to break a brittle Glass nor any great hurt to us no more than it is to die which we are all born to and which is no injury to a good man and therefore our Saviour's counsel is very reasonable 12. Luke 4 5. Be not afraid of them who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear
Lives much beyond the short Period of them in this World. 5. If Death puts an end to our Account methinks a Dying-bed is a little of the latest to begin it for this is to begin just where we must end The Account of our Lives is the Account of the Good or Evil we have done while we lived And what account can a dying Man give of this who has spent his whole life in sin and wickedness If he must be judged according to what he hath done in the Body how sad is his account and how impossible is it for him to mend it now For when he is just a dying it is too late for him to begin to live If without holiness no man shall see God how hopeless is his condition who has lived a wicked and profligate life all his days and is now past living and therefore past living a holy life A Man who is confined to a sick and dying Bed is uncapable of exercising the vertues of life his time of work is over almost as perfectly over as if he were dead and therefore his account is finished and he must expect his reward according to what he has already done No you 'll say he may still repent of his sins and a true Penitent shall find mercy even at his last gasp Now I readily grant that all true Penitents shall be saved whensoever they truly repent but it is hard to think that any dying sorrows or the dying vows and resolutions of Sinners shall be accepted by GOD for true repentance The mistakes of this matter are very fatal and therefore I shall briefly explain it In expounding the Promises of the Gospel we must take care to reconcile the Gospel to itself and not make one part of it contradict or overthrow another now as the Gospel promises pardon of sin to true Repentance so it makes Holiness of life as necessary a condition of Salvation as true Repentance Without holiness no man shall see GOD. GOD will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil but glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good Be not deceived GOD is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting The Promises of forgiveness to Repentance are not more express than these Texts are which declare that we shall be rewarded according to our works and we have as much reason to believe the one as the other and if we believe the Gospel we must believe them both and then Repentance and a holy Life are both necessary to Salvation and then the dying sorrows of Sinners who have lived very wicked lives and are past mending them now cannot be true saving Repentance If sorrow for sin without a holy life can carry Men to Heaven then I 'm sure Holiness is not necessary then Men may see God without Holiness and then the promises of pardon to Repentance if this dying Sorrow be true Repentance overthrows the necessity of a holy Life the necessity of a holy Life contradicts the promises of pardon to such Penitents and then either one or both of them must be false To state this Matter plainly and in a few words we must distinguish between two kinds of Repentance 1. The Baptismal Repentance 2. Repentance upon a Relapse or falling into any known and wilful Sin. I. By Baptismal Repentance I mean that Repentance which is necessary in adult persons in order to their receiving Christian Baptism this is the Repentance which is most frequently mentioned in the New Testament and to which the promise of Remission and Forgiveness is annexed this our Saviour preached Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand 4 Matth. 17. This he gave authority to his Apostles to preach That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his Name among all nations 24 Luke 47. Now this Repentance both as to Iews and Heathens who embraced the Faith of Christ was a renouncing all their former Sins and false superstitious or idolatrous Worship and this qualified them for Baptism in which they obtain'd the remission of all their Sins in the Name of Christ and for this reason remission of Sins is promised to Repentance because all such Penitents are received to Baptism which is the washing of Regeneration which washes away all their Sins and puts them into a state of Grace and Favour with God as St. Peter tells the Iews Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins 2 Acts 38. And much to the same purpose Ananias told St. Paul Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the Name of the Lord 22 Acts 16. And I know not any one Text in the New Testament wherein the remission of Sins is absolutely promised to Repentance but what must be understood of this Baptismal Repentance and then Repentance and Remission of Sin are inseparably annexed because such Penitents wash away all their Sins in Baptism and come pure and undefiled out of that mystical Fountain which is set open for Sin and for Uncleanness to wash in and to be clean Now I grant should any person who comes to Baptism rightly qualified and disposed with a sincere Repentance and stedfast Faith in Christ die soon after he is baptized before he has time and opportunity to exercise any of the Graces of the Christian Life such a Man shall go to Heaven without actual Holiness the remission of his Sins in Baptism upon his Repentance will save him though he have not time to bring forth the fruits of Repentance in a holy Life and this is the only case I know of wherein a Penitent can be saved without actual Holiness viz. by Baptismal Grace and Regeneration Only the Primitive Church and I think with very good reason allowed the same to Martyrdom when it prevented the Baptism of young Converts as we know under the Pagan Persecutions young Converts who made bold confessions of their Faith in Christ were hurried away to Martyrdom before they had opportunity of being baptized but such Men were baptized in their own Bloud and that supplied the want of Water-baptism which they could not have Now in this case also if Martyrdom be instead of Baptism as the Primitive Church thought it then had any Heathen been converted from a lewd and profligate life to the Faith of Christ and been immediately apprehended and halled to Martyrdom before he could either be baptized or give any other testimony of the reformation of his Life and Manners but by dying
for a Man who must die to forfeit an immortal Life to reprieve a mortal and perishing Life for some few years II. As Death which is our leaving this World proves that these present things are not very valuable to us so it proves that they are not the most valuable things in their own natures though we were to enjoy them always it would be but a very mean and imperfect state in comparison of that better Life which is reserved for good Men in the next World. For 1. It is congruous to the Divine Wisdom and Goodness that the best things should be the most lasting Wisdom dictates this for it is no more than to give the preference to those things which are best The longest continuance gives a natural preference to things we always value those things most which we shall enjoy longest and therefore to give the longest duration to the worst things is to set the greatest value on them and to teach mankind to prefer them before that which is better What we value most we desire to enjoy longest and were it in our power we would make such things the most lasting which shows that it is the natural sense of mankind that the best things deserve to continue longest and therefore we need not doubt but that infinite Wisdom which made the World has proportioned the continuance of things to their true worth And if God have made the best things the most lasting then the next World in its own intrinsick nature is as much better then this World as it will last longer For this is most agreeable to the Divine Goodness too and Gods love to his Creatures that what is their greatest and truest happiness should be most lasting For if God have made Man capable of different degrees and states of happiness of living in this World and in the next it is an expression of more perfect goodness as it is most for the happiness of his Creatures that the most perfect state of happiness should last the longest for the more perfectly happy we are the more do we experience the Divine Goodness and he is the most perfectly happy who has the longest enjoyment of the best things 2. It seems most agreeable also to the Divine Wisdom and Goodness that where God makes such a vast change in the state of his Creatures as to remove them from this World to the next the last state should be the most perfect and happy I speak now of such Creatures as God designs for happiness for the reason alters where he intends to punish But where God intends to do good to Creatures it seems a very improper method to translate them from a more perfect and happy to a less happy state Every abatement of Happiness is a degree of Punishment and that which those Men are very sensible of who have enjoyed a more perfect Happiness And therefore we may certainly conclude that God would not remove good Men out of this World were this the happiest place Yes you 'l say Death is the Punishment of Sin and therefore it is a Punishment to be removed out of this World which spoils that Argument that this World is not the happiest place because God removes good Men out of it For this is the effect of that curse which was entailed on Mankind for the sin of Adam dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Now I grant Death as it signifies a separation of Soul and Body and the death of both which was included in that Curse was a Curse and a Punishment but not as it signifies leaving this World and living in the next We have some reason to think that though Man should never have died if he had not sinned yet he should not always have lived in this World. Human nature was certainly made for greater things than the enjoyment of sense It is capable of nobler advancements it is related to Heaven and to the World of Spirits and therefore it seems more likely that had Man continued innocent and by the constant exercise of Wisdom and Vertue improved his faculties and raised himself above this body and grown up into the Divine Nature and Life after a long and happy life here he should have been translated into Heaven as Enoch and Elias were without dying For had all Men continued innocent and lived to this day and propagated their kind this little spot of Earth had many Ages since been over-peopled and could not have subsisted without transplanting some Colonies of the most Divine and Purified Souls into the other World. But however that be it is certain that being removed out of this World and living in Heaven is not the Curse This fallen Man had no right to for he who by Sin had forfeited an earthly Paradise could not hereby gain a Title to Heaven Eternal Life is the gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lord it is the reward of good Men of a well spent life in this World of our Faith and Patience in doing and suffering the Will of God it is our last and final State where we shall live for ever and therefore the Argument is still good that this World cannot be the happiest place for then Heaven could not be a reward Though all Men are under the necessity of dying yet if this World had been the happiest place God would have raised good Men to have lived again in this World which he could as easily have done as have translated them to Heaven Now if this World be not the happiest place if present things be not the most valuable as appears from this very consideration that we must leave this World for to this I must confine my discourse at present there are several very good uses to be made of this As 1. To rectifie our Notions about present things 2. To live in expectation of some better things 3. Not to be over-concerned about the shortness of our Lives here 1. To rectify our Notions about present things 'T is our opinions of things which ruin us For what Mankind account their greatest happiness they must love and they must love without bounds or measures And it would go a great way to cure our extravagant fondness and passion for these things could we perswade our selves that there is any thing better But this I confess is a very hard thing for most Men to do because present things have much the advantage of what is absent and future Some who believe another life after this what ever great things they may talk of the other World yet do not seem throughly perswaded that the next World is a happier state than this for I think they could not be so fond of this World if they were And the reason of it is plain because happiness cannot be so well known as by feeling now Men feel the pleasures and happiness of this World but do not feel the happiness of the next and therefore are apt to think that that is the greatest
Reason and by that time he has got a little Knowledge and is earnestly seeking after more by that time he knows what it is to be a Man and to what purpose he ought to live what God is and how much he is bound to Love and Worship him while he is ennobling his Soul with all Heavenly Qualities and Vertues and Coppying out the Divine Image when the Glories of Humane Nature begin to appear and to shine in him that is when he is most fit to live to serve God and Men then I say either this mortal Nature decays and dust returns to its dust again or some violent distemper or evil accident cuts him off in a vigorous age and when with great labour and industry he is become fit to live he must live no longer How is it possible to reconcile this with the Wisdom of God if man perishes when he dies if he ceases to be as soon as he comes to be a man. And therefore we have reason to believe that death only translates us into another World where the beginnings of Wisdom and Vertue here grow up into perfection and if that be a more happy place than this World as you have already heard we have no reason to quarrel that we live so little a while here For seting aside the Miseries and Calamities the troubles and inconveniencies of this Life which the happiest men are exposed to for our experience tells us that there is no complete and unmixt happiness here setting aside that this World is little else than a Scene of Misery to a great part of Mankind who struggle with want and poverty labour under the oppressions of Men or the pains and sicknesses of diseased Bodies yet if we were as happy as this World could make us we should have no reason to complain that we must exchange it for a much greater happiness We now call it death to leave this World but were we once out of it and enstated in the happiness of the next we should think it were dying indeed to come into it again We read of none of the Apostles who did so passionately desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ as St. Paul and there was some reason for it because he had had a tast of that happiness being snatched up into the third Heavens Indeed could we see the Glories of that place it would make us impatient of living here and possibly that is one reason why they are concealed from us but yet reason tells us that if death translate us to a better place the shortness of our lives here is an advantage to us if we take care to spend them well for we shall be the sooner possest of a much happier Life III. From this Notion of Death that it is our leaving this World I observe farther what this life is only a state of growth and improvement of trial and probation for the next There can be no doubt of this if we consider what the Scripture tells us of it that we shall be rewarded in the next World as we have behaved our selves in this That we shall receive according to what we have done in the Body whether good or evil Which proves that this life is only in order to the next that our eternal happiness or misery shall bare proportion to the good or evil which we have done here And when we only consider that after a short continuance here man must be removed out of this World if we believe that he does not utterly perish when he dies but subsists still in another state we have reason to believe that this life is only a preparation for the next For why should a man come into this World and afterwards be removed into another if this World had no relation nor subordination to the next Indeed it is evident that man is an improvable Creature not created at first in the utmost perfection of his Nature nor put into the happiest state he is capable of but trained up to perfection and happiness by degrees Adam himself in a state of innocence was but upon his good behaviour was but a probationer for Immortality which he forfeited by his sin and as I observed before it is most probable that had he continued innocent and refined and exalted his nature by the practise of Divine Vertues he should not have lived always in this World but have been translated into Heaven And I cannot see how it is inconsistent with the Wisdom of God to make some Creatures in a state of Probation that as the Angelical Nature was created so pure at first as to be fit to live in Heaven so Man though an earthly yet a reasonable Creature might be in a capacity by the improvement of his natural powers of advancing himself thither As it became the manifold Wisdom of God to create the Earth as well as the Heavens so it became his Wisdom to make Man to inhabitate this Earth for it was not fitting that any part of the World should be destitute of reasonable Beings to know and adore their Maker and to ascribe to him the glory of his Works but then since a reasonable Nature is capable of greater improvements than to live always in this World it became the Divine Goodness to make this World only a state of Probation and Discipline for the next that those who by a long and constant practice of Vertue had spiritualized their Natures into a Divine Purity might ascend into Heaven which is the true Center of all intelligent Beings This seems to be the original intention of God in making man and then this earthly life was from the beginning but a state of growth and improvement to make us fit for Heaven though without dying But to be sure the Scene is much alter'd now for Adam by his sin made himself mortal and corrupted his own nature and propagated a mortal and corrupt nature to his Posterity and therefore we have no natural right to Immortality nor can we refine our Souls into such a divine Purity as is fit for Heaven by the weakned and corrupted powers of Nature but what we cannot do Christ has done for us he has purchast Immortality for us by his Death and quickens and raises us into a new Life by his Spirit but since still we must die before we are immortal it is more plain than ever that this life is only in order to the next that the great business we have to do in this World is to prepare ourselves for Immortality and Glory Now if our life in this World be onely in order to another life we ought not to expect our complete Happiness here for we are only in the way to it we must finish the Work God has given us to do in this World and expect our reward in the next And if our reward cannot be had in this World we may conclude that there is something much better in the next World than any thing here If
and Sense to govern our bodily Appetites and Passions to grow indifferent to the Pleasures of Sense to use them for the refreshment and necessities of Nature but not to be over-curious about them not to be fond of enjoying them nor troubled for the want of them never to indulge ourselves in unlawful Pleasures and to be very temperate in our use of lawful ones to be sure we must take care that the Spiritual part that the sense of God and of Religion be always predominant in us and this will be a principle of Life in us a principle of divine Sensations and Joys when this Body shall tumble into Dust. VI. If Death be our putting off these Bodies then the Resurrection from the Dead is the Re-union of Soul and Body the Soul does not die and therefore cannot be said to rise again from the Dead but it is the Body which like Seed falls into the Earth and springs up again more beautiful and glorious at the Resurrection of the Just. To believe the Resurrection of the Body or of the Flesh and to believe another Life after this are two very different things the Heathens believed a future State but never dreamt of the Resurrection of the Body which is the peculiar Article of the Christian Faith. And yet it is the Resurrection of our Bodies which is our Victory and Triumph over Death for Death was the Punishment of Adam's sin and those who are in a separate state still suffer the Curse of the Law Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Christ came to deliver us from this Curse by being made a Curse for us that is to deliver us from Death by dying for us But no man can be said to be delivered from Death till his body rise again for part of him is under the power of Death still while his body rots in the Grave nay he is properly in a state of Death while he is in a state of Separation of Soul and Body which is the true notion of Death And therefore St. Paul calls the Resurrection of the Body the destroying Death 1 Cor. 15. 25 26. He must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet the last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death That is by the Resurrection of the Dead as appears from the whole scope of the place and is particularly expressed 54 55 c. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass that saying which is written Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but blessed be God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. This is the perfection and consummation of our reward when our Bodies shall be raised incorruptible and glorious when Christ shall change our vile Bodies and make them like to his own most glorious Body I doubt not but good men are in a very happy state before the Resurrection but yet their happiness is not complete for the very state of Separation is an imperfect state because a separate Soul is not a perfect Man a Man by the original Constitution of his Nature consists of Soul and Body and therefore his perfect happiness requires the united glory and happiness of both parts of the whole Man. Which is not considered by those who cannot apprehend any necessity why the Body should rise again since as they conceive the Soul might be as completely and perfectly happy without it But yet the Soul would not be an intire and perfect Man for a Man consists of Soul and Body a Soul in a state of Separation how happy soever otherwise it may be has still this mark of God's displeasure on it that it has lost its body and therefore the Reunion of our Souls and Bodies has at least this advantage in it that it is a perfect restoring of us to the Divine Favour that the badge and memorial of our Sin and Apostacy is done away in the Resurrection of our Bodies and therefore this is called the Adoption viz. the Redemption of our Bodies 8. Rom. 23. For then it is that God publickly owns us for his Sons when he raises our dead Bodies into a glorious and immortal Life And besides this I think we have no reason to doubt but the Reunion of Soul and Body will be a new addition of Happiness and Glory for though we cannot guess what the pleasures of glorified Bodies are yet sure we cannot imagine that when these earthly Bodies are the instruments of so many pleasures a spiritual and glorified Body should be of no use A Soul and Body cannot be vitally united but there must be a sympathy between them and receive mutual impressions from each other and then we need not doubt but that such glorified Bodies will highly minister though in a way unknown to us to the pleasures of a divine and perfect Soul will infinitely more contribute to the divine pleasures of the Mind then these earthly Bodies do to our sensual pleasures That all who have this hope and expectation may as St. Paul speaks earnestly groan within themselves waiting for the adoption even the redemption of our bodies 8. Rom. 23. This being the day of the Marriage of the Lamb this consummates our Happiness when our Bodies and Souls meet again not to disturb and oppose each other as they do in this World where the Flesh and the Spirit are at perpetual Enmity but to live in eternal Harmony and to heighten and inflame each others Joys Now this consideration that Death being a putting off these Bodies the Resurrection of the Dead must be the raising our Bodies into a new and immortal Life and the Reunion of them to our Souls suggests many useful thoughts to us For This teaches us how we are to use our Bodies how we are to prepare them for Immortality and Glory Death which is the separation of Soul and Body is the punishment of Sin and indeed it is the cure of it too for Sin is such a Leprosie as cannot be perfectly cleansed without pulling down the House which it has once infected But if we would have these Bodies raised up again immortal and glorious we must begin the Cleansing and Purification of them here We must be sanctified throughout both in body soul and spirit 1 Thess. 5. 23. Our Bodies must be the Temples of the Holy Ghost must be holy and consecrated places 1 Cor. 6. 19. must not be polluted with filthy Lusts if we would have them rebuilt again by the Divine Spirit after the desolations which Sin hath made Thus St. Paul tells us at large 8. Rom. 10 11 12 13. And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness That is that divine and holy Nature which we receive from
business and employment we shall have there where we shall have no occasion for any of these things which employ our time here for when we have no use of Food or Raiment or Physick or Houses to dwell in or whatever our Union to these Bodies makes necessary to us now all those Trades and Arts which are to provide these conveniences for us must then cease This must needs be a very surprizing change and though we are assured of a very great happiness in the next World which infinitely exceeds whatever men call happiness or pleasure here yet most men are very unwilling to change a known for an unknown happiness and it confounds and amazes them to think of going out of these Bodies they know not whither Now this consideration will suggest several very wise and useful thoughts to us 1. How necessary an entire Trust and Faith in God is We cannot live happily without it in this World and I am sure we cannot die comfortably without it for this is the noblest exercise of Faith to be able chearfully to resign up our Spirits into the hands of God when we know so little of the state of the other World whither we are going This was the first trial of Abraham's Faith when in obedience to the command of God he forsook his own Country and his Father's House and followed God into a strange Land 11. Hebr. 8. By faith Abraham when he was called to go into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went. Canaan was a Type of Heaven and Heaven is as unknown a Country to us as Canaan was to Abraham And herein we must imitate this Father of the Faithful to be contented to leave our native Country and the World we know to follow God whithersoever he leads us into unknown Regions and to an unknown and unexperienced Happiness This indeed all men must do because they cannot avoid leaving this World but must go when God calls for them but that which makes it our choice and an act of Faith and Vertue is this such a strong perswasion of and firm reliance on the Goodness and Wisdom and Promises of God that though we are ignorant of the state of the other World we can chearfully forsake all our known Enjoyments and embrace the promises of an unknown Happiness And there are two distinct acts of this which answer to Abraham's Faith in leaving his own Country and following God into a strange Land the first is the exercise of our Faith while we live the second when we die To mortifie all our inordinate Appetites and Desires to deny ourselves the sinful Vanities and Pleasures of this Life for the Promises of an unknown Happiness in the next World is our mystical dying to this World leaving our native Country and following God into a strange and unknown Land to quit all our present Possessions in this World to forfeit our Estates our Liberties all that is dear to us here nay to forsake our native Country rather than offend God and lose our Title to the Promises of an unknown Happiness is in a literal sence to leave our own Country at God's command not knowing whither we go which is like Abraham's going out of his own Country and living as a Sojourner in the Land of Promise without having any Inheritance in it this is that Faith which overcomes the World which makes us live as Pilgrims and Strangers here as those who seek for another Country for a heavenly Canaan as the Apostle tells us Abraham did For by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Iacob the heirs with him of the same promise for he looked for a city which hath foundations whose Builder and Maker is God 11. Heb. 9 10. And when we come to die and can with joy and triumph in an assurance of God's promises commend our Spirits to him and trust him with our Souls when we know not the Country we go to and never experienced what the happiness of it is without any concern or solocitude about it this is a noble act of Faith which does great honour to God and conquers all the natural aversions to death and makes it an easie thing to leave this World and the object of our desire and choice to see that promised Land and tast those pleasures which we are yet strangers to We must live and we must die in Faith too as the Patriarchs did who all died in Faith not having received the Promises but seeing them a far off and for that reason the other World must be in a great measure unknown to us for could we see it could we before hand tast the pleasures of it or know what they are it would be no act of Faith to leave this World for it to be willing to be translated from Earth to Heaven but no man is worthy of Heaven who dares not take God's word for it and therefore God has concealed those Glories from us and given us only a promise of a great but an unknown Happiness for the object of our hope to be a tryal of our Faith and Obedience and Trust in him That the other World is an unknown State to us trains us up to a great trust and confidence in God for we must trust God for our Souls and for the next World and this naturally teaches us to trust God in this World too to live securely upon his Providence and to suffer him to dispose of us as he pleases Indeed no man can trust God in this World who has not a stedfast Faith in God for the rewards of the next for the external administrations of Providence are not always what we could wish but good men are very well contented and have great reason to be so to take this World and the next together and therefore are not solicitous about present things but leave God to chuse what condition for them he pleases as being well assured of his goodness who has prepared for them eternal rewards And those who can trust God with their Souls who can trust him for an immortal Life for an unseen and unknown Happiness will find no difficulty in trusting him for this World I mean those who are concerned for their future Happiness and take any care of their Souls If all who are unconcerned for their Souls and never trouble their heads what will become of them hereafter may be said to trust God with their Souls then I confess this will not hold true for the greatest number of those who thus trust God with their Souls will trust him for nothing else But this is not to trust God but to be careless of our Souls but now when a man who stedfastly believes another Life after this and is heartily concerned what will become of him for ever can securely rely on God's promises beyond his own knowledge and prospect
signifie an eternal and unchangable Kingdom a thousand years being a certain earnest of Immortality but there is an unreasonable Objection against that because we read of the expiring of these thousand years and what shall come after them even the final Judgment of all the World. But this is a great Mystery which we must not hope perfectly to understand till we see the blessed accomplishment of it But though before the Flood some persons lived very near the thousand years yet after the Flood the term of life was much shortned Some think this was done by God when he pronounced that Sentence 6 Gen. 3. And the Lord said My spirit shall not always strive with man for that he also is flesh yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years As if God had then decreed that the life of man should not exceed an hundred and twenty years but this does not agree with that account we have of mens lives after the Flood for not only Noah and his Sons who were with him in the Ark lived much longer than this after the Flood but Arphazad lived five hundred and thirty years Salah four hundred and three years Eber four hundred and thirty years and Abraham himself a hundred seventy five years and therefore this hundred and twenty years cannot refer to the ordinary term of man's life but to the continuance of God's patience with that wicked World before he would bring the Flood upon them to destroy that corrupt Generation of Men that is that he would bear with them a hundred and twenty years before he would send the Flood to destroy them But afterwards by degrees life was shortned insomuch that though Moses himself lived a great deal longer yet if the 90 Psalm were composed by him as the Title tells us it was the ordinary term of life in his days was but threescore and ten or fourscore years 10 v. The days of our years are threescore years and ten and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years yet is their strength labour and sorrow so soon passeth it away and it is gone And this has continued the ordinary measure of life ever since which is so very short that David might well say Behold thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth and mine age is as nothing before thee verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity 39 Psal. 5. I shall not scrupulously inquire into the reason of this great change why our lives are reduced into so narrow a compass Some will not believe that it was so but think that there is a mistake in the manner of the account that when they are said to live eight or nine hundred years they computed their years by the Moon not by the Sun that is their years were months twelve of which make but one of our years and then indeed the longest livers of them did not live so long as many men do at this day for Methusalah himself who lived nine hundred sixty nine years according to this computation of months for years lived but fourscore years and five months But it is very absurd to imagine that Moses should use two such different accounts of time that sometimes by a year he should mean no more than a month and sometimes twelve months without giving the least notice of it which is unpardonable in any Historian And therefore others complain much that they were not born in those days when the life of man was prolonged for so many hundred years There had been some comfort in living then when they enjoyed all the vigour and gaiety of youth and could relish the pleasure of life for seven eight or nine hundred years A blessing which men would purchase at any rate in our days but now we can scarce turn ourselves about in the World but we are admonished by gray Hairs or the sensible decays of Nature to prepare for our Winding-sheet And therefore for the farther improvement of this argument I shall 1. shew you what little reason we have to complain of the Shortness of Life 2. What wise use we are to make of it SECT II. What little reason we have to complain of the Shortness of Humane Life 1. WHat little reason we have to complain of the Shortness of Life and the too hasty Approaches of Death to us For 1. such a long Life is not reconcileable with the present State of the World. And 2ly our Lives are long enough for all the wise purposes of living 1. Such a long Life is not reconcileable with the present state of the World. What the state of the World was before the Flood in what manner they lived and how they employed their time we cannot tell for Moses has given no account of it but taking the World as it is and as we find it I dare undertake to convince those men who are most apt to complain of the shortness of Life that it would not be for the general Happiness of Mankind to have it much longer For 1. the World is at present very unequally divided some have a large share and portion of it others have nothing but what they earn by very hard Labour or extort from other mens Charity by their restless Importunities or gain by more ungodly Arts Now though the Rich and Prosperous who have the World at command and live in ease and pleasure would be very well contented to spend some hundred years in this World yet I should think fifty or threescore years abundantly enough for Slaves and Beggars enough to spend in Hunger and Want in a Jaol and a Prison And those who are so foolish as not to think this enough owe a great deal to the wisdom and goodness of God that he does So that the greatest part of Mankind have great reason to be contented with the shortness of Life because they have no temptation to wish it longer 2ly The present state of this World requires a more quick Succession the World is pretty well peopled and is divided among its present Inhabitants and but very few in comparison as I observed before have any considerable share in the division Now let us but suppose that all our Ancestors who lived an hundred or two hundred years ago were alive still and possessed their old Estates and Honours what had become of this present Generation of Men who have now taken their places and make as great a show and busle in the World as they did And if you look back three or four or five hundred years the case is still so much the worse the World would be over-peopl'd and where there is one poor miserable man now there must have been five hundred or the World must have been common and all men reduced to the same level which I believe the rich and happy People who are so fond of long Life would not like very well This would utterly undo our young prodigal Heirs were their hopes of Succession three or four hundred
make up that defect and when we have done with the World to give up ourselves wholly to the service of God We should now be very importunate in our Prayers to God that for the Merits and Intercession of Christ he would freely pardon all the Sins and Frailties and Errors of our past life and give us such a comfortable hope and sence of his love to us as may support us in the hour of Death and sweeten the terrors and agonies of it We should meditate on the great love of God in sending Christ into the World to save Sinners and contemplate the height and depth and length and breadth of that love of God which passeth all humane Understanding We should represent to ourselves the wonderful condescension of the Son of God in becoming Man his amazing goodness in dying for Sinners the Just for the Unjust to reconcile us to God And when we have warmed our Souls with such thoughts as these we should break forth into raptures and extasies of Devotion in the praise of our Maker and Redeemer Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever 5 Revel 12 13. And besides other reasons which makes this a very proper Preparation for Death this accustoms us to the work and employment of the next World for Heaven is a life of Devotion and Praise there we shall see God and admire and adore him and sing eternal Halelujahs to him and therefore nothing can so dispose and prepare us for Heaven as to have our hearts ready tuned to the praises of God ravished with his love transported with his glory and perfections and swallowed up in the most profound and humble adorations of him 3. Thus when we are going into another World it becomes us most to have our thoughts there to consider what a blessed place that is where we shall be delivered from all the fears and sorrows and temptations of this World where we shall see God and the Blessed Jesus and converse with Angels and glorified Spirits and live an endless life without fear of dying where there is nothing but perfect love and peace no cross interests and factions to contend with no storms to ruffle or discompose our joy and rest to Eternity where there is no pain no sickness no labour no care to refresh the weariness or to repair the decays of a mortal Body not so much as the image of Death to interrupt our constant enjoyments where there is a perpetual day and an eternal calm where our Souls shall attain their utmost perfection of Knowledge and Vertue where we shall serve God not with dull and sleepy and unaffecting Devotion but with piercing thoughts with life and vigour with ravishment and transport in a word where there are such things as neither eye hath seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive These are proper thoughts for a man who is to compose himself for Death not to think of the pale and ghastly looks of Death when he shall be wrapt up in his Winding-sheet not to think of the dark and melancholly retirements of the Grave where his Body must rot and putrifie till it be raised up again immortal and glorious but to lift up his eyes to Heaven to view that lightsom and happy Country with Moses to ascend up into the Mount and take a prospect of the heavenly Canaan whither he is going This will conquer even the natural aversions to Death and make us with St. Paul desirous to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all make it as easie to us to leave this World for Heaven as it is to remove into a more pleasant and wholesome Air or into a more convenient and beautiful House so easie so pleasant will it be to die with such thoughts as these about us This indeed ought to be the constant Exercise of the Christian Life it is fit for all times and for all persons and without some degree of it it is impossible to conquer the Temptations of the World or to live in the practice of divine and heavenly Vertues But this ought to be the constant business or entertainment rather of those happy men who have lived long enough in the World to take a fair leave of it who have run through all the Scenes and Stages of Humane Life and have now Death and another World in view and prospect And it is this makes a Retirement from the World so necessary or very useful not meerly to ease our bodily labours and to get a little rest from business to dissolve in sloth and idleness or to wander about to seek a Companion or to hear News or to talk Politicks or to find out some way to spend time which now lies upon their hands and is more uneasy and troublesom to them than business was This is a more dangerous state and does more indispose them for a happy Death than all the cares and troubles of an active Life but we must retire from this World to have more leisure and greater opportunities to prepare for the next to adorn and cultivate our Minds and dress our Souls like a Bride who is adorned to meet her Bridegroom When men converse much in this World and are distracted with the cares and business of it when they live in a crowd of Customers or Clients and are hurried from their Shops to the Exchange or Custom-house or from their Chambers to the Bar and when they have discharged one obligation are pressed hard by another that at night they have hardly Spirits left to say their Prayers nor any time for them in the morning and the Lord's Day itself is thought more proper for Rest and Refreshment than Devotion I say what dull cold apprehensions must such men have of another World And after all the care we can take how will this World insinuate itself into our affections when it imploys our time and thoughts when our whole business is buying and selling and driving good Bargains and making Conveyances and Settlements of Estates How will this disorder our Passions occasion Feuds and Quarrels give us a tincture of Pride Ambition Covetuousness that there is work enough after a busie life even for very good men to wash out these stains and pollutions and to get the tast and relish of this World out of their mouths and to revive and quicken the sence of GOD and of another World. This is a sufficient reason for such men as I observed before to think when it is time to leave off and if not wholly to withdraw from the World yet to contract their business and to have the command of it that they may have more leisure to take care of their Souls before they have so near a call and
lost 2dly To be sure that time is doubly lost which we cannot review without amazement and horror I mean in which we have contracted some great guilt which we have not only spent vainly but wickedly which we ourselves wish had never been which we desire to forget and could be glad that both God and men would forget it too For is not that lost time which loses us which undoes us which distracts us with guilty fears which we would give all the World we could lose out of the account of our lives and could lose the very remembrance of it I think that somewhat worse than lost time which forfeits a blessed Eternity and for which men must lose their Souls for ever 3dly That is lost time too which men must live over again and tread back their steps like him who has mistaken his way not that we can recal our past time and those minutes that are fled from us but we must substitute some of our remaining time in its room and begin our lives again and undo what we had formerly done This is the case of those who have spent great part of their lives ill whenever they are convinced of their folly and danger they must give all their past lives for lost and it may be when half or two thirds or more of their lives are spent they must then begin to live and to undo by Repentance and Reformation the Errours and Follies and Impieties of their former lives Now I suppose all men will confess that time to be lost which they must unlive again to be sure Penitents are very sensible it is and I wish all those would consider it who resolve to spend their youthful and vigorous age in Sin and to repent hereafter that is they resolve to fling away the greatest and best part of their lives and to begin to live when they see themselves a dying This I am sure is no remedy against a short life to resolve not to live one third of it 2dly Since our life is so very short it becomes us to live as much as we can in so short a time for we must not measure the length or shortness of our lives by days or months or years that is the measure of our duration or being but to live and to be are two things and of a distinct consideration and account To live when we speak of a man signifies to act like a reasonable Creature to exercise his understanding and will upon such objects as answer the dignity and perfection of humane Nature to be employed in such actions as are proper to his nature and distinguish a Man from all other Creatures and therefore though a man must eat and drink and perform the other offices of a natural Life which are common to him with Beasts yet this is not to live like a Man any otherwise than as these common actions are governed by Reason and rules of Vertue but he who minds nothing higher than this lives like a Beast not like a Man A life of Reason Religion and Vertue is properly the life of a Man because it is peculiar to him and distinguishes him from all other Creatures in this World and therefore he who improves his knowledge and understanding most who has his passions and appetites under the best government who does most good and makes himself most useful to the World though he does not continue longer yet he lives more and longer than other men that is he exerts more frequent and more perfect acts of a rational Life But besides this this life is only in order to a better life it is not for it self but only a passage to a state of trial and probation for Immortality and it were hardly worth the while to come into the World upon any meaner design and therefore he lives most who improves the Grace of God to make himself most fit for Heaven and qualified for the greatest rewards for the richest and the brightest Crown Who knows God most and worships him in the most perfect manner with the greatest ravishments and transports of Spirit who lives most above this World in the exercise of the most Divine Vertues who does most service to God in the World and improves all his talents to the best advantage in a word who most adorns and perfects his own mind brings most glory to God and does most good to men such a man at thirty years old has lived more nay indeed may properly be said to have lived longer than an old decrepit Sinner for he has not lived at all to the purposes of a man or to the ends of the other World. That man has lived a great while how short soever the time be who is old enough for Heaven and for Eternity who has laid up rich and glorious treasures for himself in the other World who has answered the ends of this Life and is fit to remove out of it this is the true way of measuring our lives by acts of Piety and Vertue by our improvements in Knowledge and Grace and Wisdom by our Ripeness for another World and therefore if we would live a great while in this World We must 1. begin to live betimes 2. We must have a care of all interruptions and intermissions of Life 3. We must live apace 1. We must begin to live betimes that is must begin betimes to live like men and like Christians to live to God and to another World that is in a word to be good betimes for those who begin to live with the first bloomings of Reason and understanding and give early and youthful specimens of Piety and Vertue if they reach to old Age they live three times as long as those who count indeed as many years as they do but it may be have not lived a third of their time but have lost it in Sin and Folly. The first can look back to the very beginning of his life and enjoy all his past years still review them with pleasure and satisfaction and bring them all to account but a late Penitent must date his life from his repentance and reformation he dares look no farther back for all beyond is lost or worse than lost it is like looking back upon the rude Chaos which was nothing but confusion and darkness before God formed the World such is the life of a Sinner before this new birth and new creation and therefore he has but a very little way to look back can give but a very short account of his life has but a very few years of his life which he dares own and carry into the other World with him 2. We must have a care of all interruptions and intermissions of life that is of falling back into sin again after some hopeful beginnings This is too often seen that those who by the care and good government and wise instructions of Parents and Tutors have had the principles of Vertue and Piety early instilled into them and
c. 19 Luke 12 c. But suppose it were to be understood not of the Iewish and Christian Church but of particular Christians yet their being called to work in the Vine-yard at what hour soever it was though the eleventh hour was their first admission into the Christian Church their first conversion to the Faith of Christ and from this time they laboured in the Vine-yard lived a holy and religious life and I readily grant should a Iew a Turk or a Pagan be converted to Christianity in the eleventh hour in his declining Age and from that time live in obedience to the Gospel of Christ there is no doubt but he shall be greatly rewarded But what is this to any of us who were born of Christian Parents baptized in our very Infancy instructed in the Christian Religion from the very beginning and have always professed the Faith of Christ but lived like Pagans and Infidels We were not called into the Vineyard at the eleventh hour but early in the morning and though Men who were called at the last hour shall be rewarded for that hours work this does not prove that Men who enter into the Vineyard in the morning and play or riot away their time till the eleventh hour shall receive a day's wages for an hour's work But suppose this too yet it will not answer the case of a Death-bed Repentance such Men delay not till the eleventh hour but till night comes when they can do no work at all whereas those who came last into the Vineyard wrought an hour now that God in infinite grace and goodness will reward Men for one hour's work does not prove that he will reward those who do no work but spend their whole day idlely or wickedly and only ask his pardon for not working at night II. But what a fatal Cheat these Men put upon themselves will better appear if we consider the second kind of Repentance which is Repentance after Baptism when Men have relapsed into the commission of new Sins after they have washed away all their old Sins in the laver of Regeneration which is the only Notion of Repentance concerned in this Question for such Sinners when they come to die are to repent of a whole Life spent in wickedness after Baptism and this extreamly alters the Case for though Faith and Repentance as that Repentance signifies a sorrow for past Sins and the purposes and resolutions of a new life be the only Conditions of Baptismal Remission and Justification yet when we are baptized we then Covenant with God for an actual obedience and holiness of Life To deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world and therefore meer Repentance or a sorrow for Sin with the most solemn Resolutions and Vows of a new life which is all the Repentance dying Men can have cannot according to the Terms of the Gospel be accepted instead of the obedience and holiness of our lives Had the Gospel said you shall either abstain from all sin and do good while you live or repent of all your sins when you die this had been a sufficient encouragement for a Death-bed Repentance but when holiness of life is made the necessary condition of seeing God and the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men when we are so expresly forewarned That the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of GOD be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor aduliers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetuous nor drunkards nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of GOD When our Saviour expresly tells us That it is only the doers of the word are blessed that not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven that as for all others what pretences soever they make he will profess to them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity I say whoever after such express Declarations as these can perswade himself that sorrow for Sin and some good resolutions and fair promises upon a Death-bed shall carry him to Heaven though he has done no good in his life and has been guilty of all or many of those sins which the Gospel has threatned with Damnation makes void the whole Gospel of our Saviour But you 'll say Is there no place then for Repentance under the Gospel no remission of Sins committed after Baptism God forbid for who then could be saved Our Saviour has taught us to pray every day Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us and has taught us to forgive our Brother though he offend against us seventy times seven in imitation of God's goodness in forgiving us and if we must forgive so often surely God will forgive more than once But then Repentance after Baptism requires not only a sorrow for sin and some good purposes and resolutions of a new life for the future but the actual forsaking of sin and amendment of our lives In Baptism God justifies the ungodly 4 Rom. 5 that is how wicked soever Men have been whenever they repent of their sins renounce their former wicked practices and believe in Christ and enter into Covenant with him by Baptism all their former sins are immediately forgiven and washed away without expecting the actual reformation of their lives this was plainly the case both of Iewish and Heathen Converts whâ—â—â—pon the profession of Faith in Christ and renouncing their former wicked lives whatever they had been were immediately received to Baptism as St. Peter exhorted the Iews Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost And the same day there were three thousand baptized This is Gospel-grace which is the purchase of Christ's blood that the greatest Sinners upon their Repentance and Faith in Christ are received to Mercy and wash away all their sins in Baptism but when they are in Covenant they shall then be judged according to the terms and conditions of that Covenant which requires the practice of an universal Righteousness such persons must not expect as St Paul reasons that if they continue still in sin grace will abound the very Covenant of Grace which we enter into at Baptism confutes all such ungodly hopes For how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Iesus Christ were baptized into his death therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so we also should walk in newness of life 6 Rom. 1 2 3 4. This is the difference St. Paul makes between the Grace of the Gospel in receiving