lapst and miserable was in his view he chose some to be Vessels of Mercy and by priviledg separated them from the rest that finally perish Now what induc't him to place a singular Love on the Elect There was nothing in them to incline his Compassion being equally guilty and depraved with the rest of the Progeny of Adam This difference therefore is to be resolved into his unaccountable and adorable Will as the sole cause of it Thus God declares it to be his glorious Prerogative I will have Mercy on whom I will have Mercy and I will have Compassion on whom I will have Compassion And this is no unjust acceptance of Persons For as a Benefactor he may dispense his own Favors as he pleases A Gift from meer and arbitrary Bounty may be bestowed on some and not on others without injustice But there are other actions of God for which there is an evident reason in Men on whom they are terminated Thus as the supreme Judg without respect of Persons he will judg and reward every Man according to his Works The Evangelical Law as was toucht on before is the rule of eternal Judgment and gives a right from the gracious Promise of God to all penitent Believers in the Kingdom of Heaven and excludes all impenitent Infidels Divine Justice will illustriously appear then in distinguishing Believers from Unbelievers by their Works the proper Fruits either of Faith or Infidelity All the thick Clouds of Disgraces Calumnies Persecutions that often oppress the most sincere Christians here shall not then darken their Holiness and all the specious appearances of Piety which the most artificial Hypocrites make use of to deceive others shall not conceal their Wickedness And accordingly the one shall be absolved and glorified the others condemned and punisht for ever In short without violation of his own righteous establishment in the Gospel God cannot receive the unholy into his Glory 3. Besides the Legal Bar that excludes unsanctified Persons from the beatifick vision of God there is a moral incapacity Suppose that Justice should allow Omnipotence to translate such a Sinner to Heaven would the Place make him happy Can two incongruous Natures delight in one another The happiness of Sense is by an impression of Pleasure from a suitable Object The happiness of intellectual Beings arises from an entire conformity of dispositions So that unless God recede from his Holiness which is absolutely impossible or Man be purified and changed into his likeness there can be no sweet Communion between them Our Saviour assigns this Reason of the necessity of Regeneration in order to our admission into Heaven That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit According to the quality of the Principle such is what proceeds from it The Flesh is a corrupt Principle and accordingly the Natural Man is wholly carnal in his propensions operations and end The Disease is turn'd into his Constitution He is dead to the Spiritual Life to the actions and enjoyments that are proper to it Nay there is in him a surviving Principle of Enmity to that Life not only a mortal coldness to God but a stiff aversation from him a perpetual resistance and impatience of the Divine Presence that would disturb his voluptuous enjoyments The Exercises of Heaven would be as the Torments of Hell to him while in the midst of those pure Joys his inward inclinations vehemently run into the lowest Lees of Sensuality And therefore till this contrariety so deep and predomanant in an unholy Person be removed 't is utterly impossible he should enjoy God with satisfaction As it was necessary that God should become like Man on Earth to purchase that Felicity for him so Man must be like God in Heaven before he can possess it Holiness alone prepares Men for Celestial Happiness that is against the corruption and above the perfection of meer Nature CHAP. IV. Faith in the Redemer is required of all that will obtain Salvation The choice of Supernatural Happiness previous to our obtaining it The choice must be sincere early and constant The sincerity of the Heavenly Choice declared by its Qualities and Effects I Shall now proceed to consider more particularly what is requisite in order to our obtaining of Heaven 1. Faith in the Redeemer is absolutely required of all that will partake of the Salvation purchased by him God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have Eternal Life This is the Spirit and Substance of the Gospel therefore I will briefly unfold it The Son of God having assumed the human Nature and performed what was necessary for the expiation of Sin the Father was so pleased with his Obedience that from his lowest State he rais'd him to Divine Glory and gave him supream Authority and all-sufficient Power to communicate that Glory to others Thus our Saviour declares Thou hast given him i. e. the Son power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him And he exhorts the People Labour for that Meat that endures unto Eternal Life which the Son of Man shall give unto you for him hath God the Father sealed Now this glorious Life is not given to all but only to those who are united to him As Adam the principle of the carnal corrupt Nature derives Guilt and Death to all his Progeny so Jesus Christ who is opposed to him the Head and Prince of the renewed State communicates Life and Glory to his People The Apostle expresses it As in Adam all dye his natural Descendants are involv'd in his Condemnation even so in Christ shall all be made alive that is all that are spiritually united to him shall partake of his glorious Resurrection And St. John tells us He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life The having the Son upon which our right to Eternal Life depends is believing in him Faith has a principal Efficiency in receiving Christ therefore 't is exprest by that Act But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God and consequently Heirs of Glory to as many as believed on his Name And Christ is said to dwell in our Hearts by Faith This is not a meer assent to the Doctrines of the Gospel concerning the Dignity of his Person that he is in so high and glorious a Relation of being the Eternal Son of God and the infinite value of his Merits whereby he is able to save all that come unto God by him and his merciful compassionate Nature to embrace returning Sinners and the excellency of the benefits purchased by him but such a Belief as sways the Will and Affections to receive him upon God's terms for our Salvation Faith is seated in the whole Soul in the Mind and
him for ever The most conspicuous difference of Men in this World is that of the Victorious over the Vanquisht prostrate at his Feet But Death makes them equal Then the wretched Captive shall upbraid the proud Conqueror Art thou become weak as we art thou become like us 'T is no wonder then that the wise Preacher despises all the States of the present Life as Vanity For the Fabric cannot be more solid than the Foundation nor the Accident more real than the Being on which it depends On every side Death is in our view and the Shadow of it approaching darkens our brightest Days 'T is no wonder then that he equals the Fool with the Wise. For all that Wisdom that is confin'd to mortal things dies with them Nay he confounds Man with the Beast One thing befals them as the one dieth so dieth the other yea they have all one Breath so that Man has no preeminence above them While we regard him only with the Eye of Sence what shall we see in his Life but Folly mixt with Anxieties and Cares and what in his Death but wasted Spirits the Springs of Motion disordered and at last the living Frame dissolved into the Earth from whence it came But if we consider the Soul that carries in it the clear marks of its Original from God by the same reason that every thing shall be reunited to its Principle that shall return to God that gave it and remain for ever The Felicity therefore to which it naturally aspires must be parallel to its duration From these Considerations 't is above all doubt that Man was designed by his Maker for a higher End than the enjoyment of the present World 2. The consummate Happiness of Man is in his Communion with God For God is a Spiritual Good suitable to the Nature of his better and divine part and communicates Himself to the Spiritual Faculties the Understanding and Will the principles of Man's eminent Operations and most capable of enjoying Felicity God is an infinite Good and can so fully appease all the rational Appetites that nothing is wanting to his entire Blessedness God is an unchangeable Good not to be lost with this Life but may be securely enjoyed to Eternity In the Knowledg and Love in the Imitation and Enjoyment of his Excellencies the highest elevation and compleat satisfaction of the rational Nature consists As Man by applying himself to unworthy things is degraded into a lower Order and his Thoughts and Affections that are Spiritual in respect of their Principles are Sensual and Perishing in respect of their Object so when the noble Faculties are exercised in a perfect manner on their Soveraign Good he is advanc't to an equality of Perfection and Joy with the Angels The more refined Heathens had a glimpse of this Happiness some streaks of it run through their Philosophy But till God was pleased to reveal it the World sat in Darkness and slept securely in the shadow of Death unconcerned for an invisible future Felicity 'T is necessary therefore to inquire into his Word what that blessed State is wherein the final Happiness of Man consists CHAP. II. The clear Revelation of Man's final Happiness by the Gospel 'T is set forth by sensible Representations to make it more intelligible It includes an exemption from all Evils sinful and penal The concurrence of all positive Excellencies to intire Blessedness The Body shall be raised in Glory The Soul shall be made perfect The Vnderstanding shall clearly contemplate the most excellent Objects The Will be inflamed with the perfect Love of God The highest Satisfaction arises from Vnion with God by Knowledg and Love The full Joy of Heaven shall be perpetual 'T Is the peculiar honour of the Gospel that by it Life and Immortality are brought to Light 'T was not wholly concealed from Men that only saw the Creator in his visible Works 'T was more fully discovered by the Law but with incomparable more Clearness by the Gospel The Nature of it is now revealed 'T is a pure and holy Felicity in everlasting Communion with the blessed God The subject of it is the intire Man for this End the Body shall be awakened out of its dead sleep and quickned to an Immortal Life The place is the highest Heavens fram'd by the Divine Hand for the seat of his Majesty the Kingdom of his Love wherein the glorious Communications of himself are to his Favourites The causes of it are the infinite Mercy of God and the meritorious Obedience of his Son in Man's Nature The Means whereby 't is obtained are a lively purifying Faith that unites us to Christ and entitles us to an Inheritance purchased by his most precious Blood And to confirm our Hopes of this Supernatural Happiness Our Saviour exhibited a perfect example of this in himself rising from the Grave crown'd with Immortality and in the presence of his Apostles ascending to Heaven where he sits at the right Hand of God the Head of the Church from whom Glory will descend to his Members To make this supernatural Blessedness more easy and intelligible to us the Scripture describes it by sensible Representations For while the Soul is cloath'd with Flesh Fancy has such a Dominion that we can conceive of nothing but by Comparisons and Images taken from material Things 'T is therefore set forth by a Feast and a Kingdom to signify the Joy and Glory of that State But to prevent all gross conceits it tells us that the Bodies of the Saints shall be spiritual not capable of hunger and thirst nor consequently of any refreshment that is caused by the satisfaction of those Appetites The Objects of the most noble Senses Seeing and Hearing the pleasure of which is mix'd with Reason and not common to the Brutes are more frequently made use of to reconcile that glorious State to the proportion of our Minds Thus sometimes the Blessed are represented plac'd on Thrones with Crowns on their Heads sometimes cloathed in White with Palms in their Hands sometimes singing Songs of triumph to Him that sits on the Throne and to their Saviour But the reality of this Blessedness infinitely exceeds all those faint Metaphors Heaven is lessened by Comparisons from earthly things The Apostle who was dignifi'd with the revelation of the Successes that shall happen to the Church till Time shall be no more tells us It does not appear what we shall be in Eternity The things that God has prepar'd for those that love him are far more above the highest ascent of our Thoughts than the Marriage-Feast of a great Prince exceeds in splendor and magnificence the imagination of one that has always liv'd in an obscure Village and never saw any Ornaments of State nor tasted Wine in his Life We can think of those things but according to the poverty of our Understandings But so much we know that is able to sweeten all the bitterness and render insipid all the sweetness of this World
highest Joy it partakes of is from this consideration that God is infinitely blessed and glorious For in this the supream desire of love is accomplish'd that the most beloved Object is perfectly honour'd and pleased In Heaven the Love of the Saints to God is in its highest Perfection and they see his Glory in the most perfect manner which causes a transcendent Joy to them And this is one reason why the Saints though shining with unequal degrees of Glory are equally content For their most ardent Love being set on God that he is pleased to glorify himself by such various communications of his Goodness is full satisfaction to their desires Besides in those different degrees of Glory every one is so content with his own that there is no possible desire of being but what he is 4. The full joy of Heaven shall continue without diminution or end The number of Possessors cannot lessen it The Divine Presence is an unwasted Spring of Pleasure equally full and open to all and abundantly sufficient to satisfy the immensity of their desires Envy reigns in this World because earthly things are so imperfect in their nature and so peculiar in their possession that they cannot suffice nor be enjoyed by all But in Heaven none is touch'd with that low base passion for God contains all that is precious and desireable in the highest degrees of Perfection and all partake of the influence of his universal Goodness without intercepting one another In the Kingdom above there is no cause for the elder Brother to repine at the Father's Bounty to the younger nor for the younger to supplant the elder to obtain the Birth-right The Heirs of God are all rais'd to Sovereign Glory Every one enjoys him as entirely and fully as if solely his felicity God is a Good as indivisible as infinite and not diminished by the most liberal communications of Himself We may illustrate this by comparing the Price of our Redemption and the Reward The Death of Christ is a universal benefit to all the Saints yet 't is so applied to every Believer for his perfect Redemption as if our Saviour in all his Agonies and Sufferings had no other in his Eye and Heart as if all his Prayers his Tears his Blood were offer'd up to his Father only for that Person The common respect of it the Apostle declares in those admirable words that signify such an excess of God's Love to us He that spared not his own Son but deliver'd him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things But to imagin that the propriety of every Believer is thereby prejudiced is not only false but extreamly injurious to the Merit and Dignity and to the infinite Love of Christ. Therefore the same Apostle tells us The Life which I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me as if he were the sole Object of Christ's Love the End and Reward of his Sufferings And this appropriating of it to himself is no prejudice to the Rights of all others St. John describes himself by that truly glorious Title The Disciple whom Jesus loved Could he speak this of himself without the injury and indignation of the other Disciples Certainly he might For if we consider that incomprehensible Love of Christ exprest to them all at his last Supper after Judas was gone forth As the Father hath loved me so I have loved you we may easily understand that every one of them might justly believe that he was singularly beloved of Christ. They were all received in the Heart though with John they did not all lean on the Breast of their Divine Master Thus in Heaven God is the universal Treasure of all the Saints and the peculiar Portion of every one not engrost by possessing nor wasted by enjoying As by his Essence he equally fills the whole World and every part of it and by his Providence equally regards all and every partitular Creature so in Heaven he dispenses the Riches of his Love to all that they cannot desire more if every one of them were if I may so express it the only begotten of the only begotten himself the sole Heir of all the Merits of his Son Every Saint may with the inflamed Spouse break forth in that Triumph of Love My Beloved is mine and I am his Nay the great number of the glorifi'd Saints is so far from lessening their Joy that it unspeakably encreases it The innumerable Company of Angels and the General Assembly of the Church of the First-born next of the happiness of enjoying God are a chief part of Heaven An unfeigned ardent Affection unites that pure society Our Love is now kindled either from a relation in Nature or a civil account or some visible Excellencies that render a Person worthy of our choice and friendship but in Heaven the Reasons are greater and the degrees of Love incomparably more fervent All Carnal Alliances and Respects cease in that supernatural state The Apostle tells us If I have known Christ after the Flesh I know him so no more By the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ he was transported into another World and had communion with him as an Heavenly King without low regards to the temporal Priviledg of conversing with him on Earth The Spiritual relation is more near and permanent than the strictest band of Nature The Saints have all relation to the same Heavenly Father and to Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace and Head of that happy Fraternity The principal motives of Love here are the inherent Excellencies of a Person Wisdom Holiness Goodness Fidelity are mighty Attractives and produce a more worthy Affection a more intimate Confederacy of Souls than propinquity in Nature or any carnal respects Virtue is amiable in an old Person though wrinkled and deformed Vice is hateful in a young Person though beautiful There are clearer Eyes than those of Flesh a purer Light than what is sensible a diviner Beauty than what is Corporeal and a nobler Love than what is sensual David declares that all his delight was in the Excellent But there are allays of this Spiritual Love here For 1. There are reliques of Frailty in the best Men on Earth some Blemishes that render them less amiable when discovered Here their Graces are mixt with Infirmities and but ascending to Glory Accordingly our Love to them must be regular and serene not clouded with Error mistaking defects for amiable qualities But in Heaven the Image of God is compleat by the union of all the glorious Vertues requisite to its perfection Every Saint there exactly agrees with the first Exemplar is transformed according to the primitive beauty of Holiness No spot or wrinkle remains nor any such thing that may cast the least aspect of deformity upon them 2. In the present state the least part of the Saints Worth is visible As the Earth is
I will give as a King Thus God in the dispensing his Favours does not respect the meanness of our Persons or Services but gives to us as a God And the clearest Notion of the Deity is that he is a Being infinite in all Perfections therefore all-sufficient and most willing to make his Creatures compleatly happy 4. If a Creature perfectly Holy that never sinn'd is uncapable to merit any thing from God much less can those who are born in a sinful State and guilty of innumerable actual Transgressions pretend to deserve any Reward for their Works This were presumption inspir'd by prodigious Vanity For 1. By his most free Grace they are restored in conversion to that Spiritual Power by which they serve him The Chaos was not a deader Lump before the Spirit of God moved on the Face of the Waters than the best of Men were before the vital influences of the Spirit wrought upon them And for this they are so deeply obliged to God that if a thousand times more for his Glory were perform'd yet they cannot discharge what they owe. 2. The continuance and increase of the powerful supplies of Grace to the Saints who even since their holy calling by many lapses have justly deserved that God should withdraw his grieved Spirit are new Obligations to Thankfulness and the more Grace the less Merit 3. The best Works of Men are imperfect allayed with the mixtures of Infirmities and not of full weight in the Divine Ballance If God should strictly examin our Righteousness 't will be found neither pure nor perfect in his Eyes and without Favour and Indulgence would be rejected And that which wants Pardon cannot deserve Praise and Glory He shews Mercy to thousands that love him and keep his Commandments If Obedience were meritorious it were strict justice to reward them The Apostle prays for Onesiphorus who had exposed himself to great danger for his love to the Gospel The Lord grant he may find Mercy in that day The Divine Mercy gives the Crown of Life to the Faithful in the day of eternal Recompenses II. The meritorious Cause of our obtaining Heaven is the Obedience of Jesus Christ comprehending all that he did and suffered to reconcile God to us From him as the eternal Word we have all benefits in the order of Nature for all things were made by him and for him as the incarnate Word all good things in the order of Grace What we enjoy in Time and expect in Eternity is by him To shew what influence his Mediation has to make us happy we must consider 1. Man by his Rebellion justly forfeited his Happiness and the Law exacts precisely the forfeiture Pure Justice requires the Crime should be punisht according to its Quality much less will it suffer the guilty to enjoy the favour of God For Sin is not to be considered as an Offence and Injury to a private Person but the violation of a Law and a disturbance in the order of Government so that to preserve the honour of governing Justice an equivalent reparation was necessary Till Sin was expiated by a proper Sacrifice the Divine Goodness was a sealed Spring and its blessed effects restrain'd from the guilty Creature Now the Son of God in our assumed Nature offered up himself a Sacrifice in our stead to satisfy Divine Justice and removed the Bar that Mercy might be glorified in our Salvation The Apostle gives this account of it We have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Christ by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vaile that is to say his Flesh. 2. Such were the most precious Merits of his Obedience that it was not only sufficient to free the guilty contaminated race of Mankind from Hell but to purchase for them the Kingdom of Heaven If we consider his Human Nature all Graces were born with him as Rays with the Sun and shin'd in the whole course of his Life in the excellence of perfection And the dignity of his divine Person derived an immense value to all he perform'd as Mediator One act of his Obedience was more honourable to God than all the Lives of the Saints the Deaths of the Martyrs and the Service of the Angels God was more pleased in the Obedience of his Beloved Son than he was provok't by the Rebellion of his Servants Therefore as the just recompence of it he constituted him to be Universal Head of the Church supream Judg of the World invested him with Divine Glory and with Power to communicate it to his faithful Servants He is the Prince of Life In short it is as much upon the account of Christ's Sufferings that we are glorified as that we are forgiven The Wounds he received in his Body the Characters of Ignominy and Footsteps of Death are the Fountains of our Glory His Abasement is the cause of our Exaltation If it be said this seems to lessen the freeness of this Gift The answer is clear This was due to Christ but undeserved by us Besides the appointing his Son to be our Mediator in the way of our ransom was the most glorious work of his Goodness 2. The means of our obtaining Heaven are to be considered Though the Divine Goodness be free in its Acts and there can be nothing in the Creature of Merit or Inducement to prevail upon God in the nature of a cause yet he requires qualifications in all those who shall enjoy that blessed unchangeable Kingdom The Apostle expresly declares 'T is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that sheweth Mercy But we must distinguish the Effects of this Mercy which are dispensed in that order the Gospel lays down The first Mercy is the powerful calling the Sinner from his corrupt and wretched State a second Mercy is the pardoning his Sins the last and most eminent is the glorifying him in Heaven Now 't is clear that in this place the shewing of Mercy signifies the preventing Grace of God in Conversion for in the 18 th verse 't is said God shews Mercy to whom he will and whom he will he hardens Where 't is evident that shewing Mercy is oppos'd not to condemning but to hardning and consequently the intent of the Words is this That Divine Grace overcomes the Rebellious Will softens the stiff and stubborn Heart and makes it pliant to Obedience This flows from his pure good Will and Pleasure without the least motive from the inclinations or endeavours of sinful Men. But the other Effects of God's Mercy require Conditions in the Subjects that receive them for he pardons only penitent Believers and glorifies none but persevering Saints To make this clear 't is worthy of Observation The Gospel has several Denominations 'T is called a Law a Covenant and a Testament 'T is called the Law of Faith and the Law of the Spiritual Life As a Law it signifies a new Right that God has most freely establisht in
the Psalmist A moral Principle may induce one to abstain from many Sins and to perform many praise-worthy things in conformity to Reason But this is neither sanctifying nor saving for it only prunes Sin as if it were a good Plant and does not root it up it compounds with it and does not destroy it There may be still an impure indulgence to the secret lustings of the Heart notwithstanding the restraint upon their Exercise And many Duties may be done on lower motives without a divine respect to the Commands and Glory of God But renewing Grace subjects the Soul to the whole Royalty of the Law uniformly inclines it to express Obedience to all its Precepts because they are pure and derived from the eternal Spring of Purity It mortifies Concupiscence and quickens to every good Work from a Principle of Love to God and in this is distinguisht from the most refined unregenerate Morality In short there may be a superficial tincture of Religion from common Grace a transient Esteem vanishing Affections and earnest Endeavours for a time after Spiritual Things and yet a Person remain in a state of unregeneracy But renewing Grace is a permanent solid Principle that makes a Man partaker of the Divine Nature and elevates him above himself This holy Change is wrought by Divine Power Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The Analogy of a new Birth signifies that 't is intirely the work of the sanctifying Spirit that conveys a Principle of Life in order to the Functions of it 'T is the living impression of God the sole Efficient and Exemplar of it the Fruit and Image of the Divine Vertues 'T is exprest by the new Creature The production of it is attributed to God's power displaying it self in a peculiar excellent way even in that precise manner as in making the World For as in the first Creation all things were made originally of nothing so in the second the habit of Grace is infused into the Soul that was utterly void of it and in which there was as little preparation for true Holiness as of nothing to produce this great and regular World And although there is not only an absolute privation of Grace but a fierce resistance against it yet creating invincible Power does as infallibly and certainly produce its effect in forming the new Creature as in making the World From hence it appears that preventing renewing Grace is so intirely the Work of God as his forming the human Body from the Dust of Earth at first But with this difference the first Creation was done without any sence in the Subject of the efficiency of the Divine Power in produceing it but in the new Creation Man feels the vital influence of the Spirit applying it self to all his Faculties reforming and enabling them to act according to the quality of their nature And by the way we may observe the admirable Grace shewed to Man in the renovation of his corrupted Nature In the composition of his Being are united a Spirit like the Angels and a Body like terrestrial Animals by which he partakes of the spiritual and natural Life but he has peculiar Favours conferred upon him For whereas his Soul sin'd with the Angels and his Body dies with the Beasts yet God is pleased to restore them by his glorious Power An Angel after Sin never repents and is therefore incapable of Pardon and irrecoverably disinherited of Heaven a Beast after Death never revives but though Man sins and dies yet his Soul may be renewed by Divine Grace and his Body shall be raised in an incorruptible Glory Now the indispensible necessity of this holy Change is evident from the Words of our Saviour for he speaks universally Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God He does not simply declare that an unregenerate Man shall not but with the greatest Emphasis cannot to signify an absolute impossibility of it The Jews highly presumed of the priviledg of their carnal Birth they sprang from the pure and noble Blood of Abraham God's Friend they had the Seal of the Holy Covenant markt in their Flesh and hence it was proverbial among them that every Israelite should have a part in the World to come But our Saviour overthrows this vain conceit and tells them that the supernatural Birth entitles to the supernatural Inheritance Circumcision then and Baptism now without real Grace is an ineffectual sign of no avail to Salvation In the quality of Sons we are Heirs of God's Kingdom And that honourable Relation we have upon a double account by Adoption and Regeneration Divine Adoption is not a meer change of our state a naked Declaration that one shall be dignified with the Title of God's Son but a holy Nature is always infused into the Person whereby he is made like to God in his Excellencies In this it differs from humane Adoption that gives the Name and Arms the Honour and Estate of the Adopter to a Person without conveying any of his intellectual or moral Endowments Whom God adopts he begets to a Divine Life Besides our Saviour purchased this high priviledg for us God sent his Son made of a Woman under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons By Union with him we receive the investiture of this Dignity Now whoever is in Christ is a new Creature For the quickning Spirit that is to the Soul what the Soul is to the Body the principle of Life and Strength of Beauty and Motion and an active purifying Faith that is influential upon all other Graces are the band of that vital Union So that as all in Adam are universally corrupt by the first Birth all that are in Christ are made holy by a new Birth But of this I shall speak in the next Chapter more fully under a distinct Head Briefly the Spirit of Grace that sanctifies is the Spirit of Adoption that seals our Right to that Kingdom Now the reasons why this Change must be in order to our obtaining of Heaven are these 1. There is an exquisite Wisdom shines in all God's works in disposing them for the ends to which they are appointed and is it not monstrously absurd to imagin he will admit into his Presence and Kingdom those that are absolutely unqualified for its Blessedness and opposite to its Purity 2. His invariable Justice excludes for ever all unholy Persons from Heaven For in the last Judgment God will be glorified as a Governour in the distribution of Rewards with respect to the Obedience and Disobedience of Men. 'T is worthy of observation that the Actions of God on the reasonable Creatures are of two sorts Some proceed from his soveraign good Pleasure of which there is no motive or reason in the Subjects on which they are terminated Thus by a free and insuperable Decree when all Mankind
afraid lest the belief of those terrible Truths should enter into their Breasts therefore are utterly careless of what may convince them of their danger and will not foresee what they shall certainly suffer This is obstinate and the most incurable Infidelity An instance whereof we have in the Pharisees who rejected our Saviour Though all the Characters of the Messiah were conspicuous in his Person though his Doctrines were confirmed by Miracles yet they would not yeild up themselves to that omnipotent conviction so strong were their carnal prejudices against his humble State and holy Doctrines That reproach is more justly due to Infidels under the Gospel than to Israel in the Prophet Who is blind as my Servant The Heathens who are blind from their Birth and have only some glimmering apprehensions that Eternity succeeds Time are less culpable than those who have infinitely more reason to believe it and yet believe it less The Plea for them will be a terrible Accusation against such Unbelievers If a blind Person falls it moves compassion but if one voluntarily shuts his Eyes against the Sun and refuses the direction of the Light and falls from a Precipice his Ruin is the just consequence of his Folly Simple Ignorance excuses as to the degrees of the Fault but affected wilful Ignorance now Reason and Revelation with united Beams give so clear a prospect into the Eternal World aggravates the Guilt and Sentence of such Unbelievers 'T is in vain to offer Arguments to convince them for they are as deaf as Adders to the wisest Instructions till Sense extort a belief from them They have hardned their Hearts and Faces against all Reproofs and by an open contempt of Scripture-Threatnings are past reclaiming There are many degrees of Sins many steps in the descent to Hell but the lowest and nearest the Gates of that infernal Prison is the scornful derision of God's terrible preparations for the Wicked hereafter Besides the most who are Believers in Title are Infidels in Heart Our Saviour tells the Jews who pretended the highest Veneration to the Writings of Moses That if they had believed Moses they would have believed him for Moses wrote of him If Men did seriously believe such an excellent Reward as the Gospel propounds would it be a cold unpersuasive motive to them The depravation of the Will argues a correspondent defect in the Mind though not absolute total Infidelity yet such a weakness and wavering in the Assent that when Temptations are present and urgent and it comes to actual choice Sense prevails over Faith This will be clear by Universal Experience in temporal things The probable hope of Gain will make those who are greedy of Gold prodigal of their Lives and venture through tempestuous Seas to accomplish their Desires And if the belief were equal would not Men do or suffer as much for obtaining what is infinitely more valuable A firm Assent would produce adherence and Faith in the Promises Fidelity in obeying the Commands of Christ. Tertullian proprounds it as a powerful incentive to the Martyrs Quis ergo non libentissimè tantum pro vero habeat erogare quantum alii pro falso Who would not joyfully sacrifice Life and all it sindearments to obtain true Blessedness which others do for the vain Appearance of it On the contrary the fear of a present destructive Evil will controul the most eager Appetites 'T is recorded that when the Army of Israel were in pursuit of the Philistins Saul to compleat his Victory forbad upon pain of Death that any should taste Food till the Sun was down In the chase of their Enemies they past through a Wood abounding with Honey yet notwithstanding their Hunger and Faintness and the easy Provision before them no Man so much as tasted it for the People feared the King's Oath And did Men truly believe and fear the Law of God threatning Hell for Sin would they dare to commit it though invited by pleasant Temptations Nay not only a strong fear but the meer suspicion of great danger will restrain the most vehement desires of Nature What Person though inflamed with Thirst would drink a Glass of cool Liquor if he suspected that deadly Poison were mixt with it And if Men were persuaded that Sin is attended with Death would they drink in Iniquity like Water The Devils themselves are not able to conquer the Fear of Judgment to come they believe and tremble Therefore when it is not active upon the Conscience it is either because Men do not believe the thing it self or that Holiness is necessary to prepare for it Indeed even in true Believers the apprehension of Eternal Things has such great allays that temporal things are over-valued and over-feared A strong Faith in the Truth and Power of God would make the glorious World so sure and near in our Thoughts that with indifferent Affections we should receive good or evil things here rejoice as if we rejoiced not and mourn as if we mourned not Our Lives would be so regular and pure as if the Judg were to come the next hour as if the Sun did now begin to be darkned and the Trumpet of the Arch-angel were sounding and the noise of the dissolving World were universally heard Infidelity deads the Impression and suppresses the reigning Power of Eternal Things in our Hearts In short Men are heavenly or earthly in their Choice and Conversation as they are directed by the sincere Light of Faith or misled by the false beams of Sense CHAP. IX Consideration is requisite in order to a wise Choice How it must be managed that it may be effectual It must be serious frequent and with application to the Soul Motives to it The true Causes why Carnal Men are averse from it THE second thing requisite in order to a wise Choice is Consideration For as by Faith the virtue of the Reward is diffused through all the Faculties and the Powers of the World to come are felt in the Soul so by consideration Faith is exercised and becomes effectual This unites and reinforces the beams of Eternal Truth and inflames the Affections As the Psalmist expresses himself My Heart was hot within me while I was musing the Fire burned Heaven is a Felicity so glorious and attractive that if duly considered no Man can possibly refuse it and Hell is a Misery so extream and fearful that if seriously laid to Heart none can possibly choose it The last End is to be conceived under the notion of an infinite Good without the least mixture of Evil to which the human Will has a natural tendency The liberty of indifference is with respect to some particular good Things which may be variously represented so as to cause inclination or aversion That Men who believe Eternal Life is the Reward of Holiness yet with a careless inadvertency pass over their Duty and that Eternal Death is the Wages of Sin yet securely continue in it is more wonderful than to see
should be despised for painted Trifles If a spark of true Reason of sincere Love to our Souls be left we shall count all things but dross and dung that we may gain the Kingdom of Glory Thus Eternity inlightens thus it counsels us CHAP. XI Other Motives propounded God desires the Eternal Happiness of Men. All that unfeignedly seek it shall enjoy it The terms are gracious and easy upon which 't is offered to Men. TO excite us further to seek the Kingdom of Heaven I shall propound other Motives to Consideration 1. God is very willing that Men should be saved and partake of his Glory For this end he has brought Life and Immortality to light in the Gospel The Lord Jesus the Sun of Righteousness has dispel'd the darkness of the Gentiles and the shadows of the Jews and rendred the blessed and eternal State so clear and so visible that every Eye may see it Our assurance of it is upon infallible Principles And though the excellent Glory of it is inexpressible yet 't is represented under variety of fair and lovely Types to invite our Affections Besides God makes an earnest offer of Life to us in his Word he Commands Counsels Excites Urges nay Intreats and Beseeches with infinite Tenderness that Men will accept of it Thus the Apostle declares Now then we are Embassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God Is it not evident then beyond the most jealous suspicion God is desirous of our Happiness Can we imagine any design any insincerity in his Words Why should Heaven court a Worm 'T is his love to Souls that expresses it self in that condescending compassionate manner to melt and overcome the perverse and hardned in Sin And as his Words so his Works are a convincing Argument of his Will His most gracious sustaining and supporting of sinful Men his innumerable Benefits conferr'd upon them in the provision of Good and preservation from Evil are for this End that by the conduct of his merciful Providence they may be led to Repentance and received to Grace And the temporal Judgments inflicted on Sinners are medecinal in their Nature and in his design to bring them to a sight and abhorrence of Sin to prevent their final ruin if they prove mortal to any 't is from their obstinate Corruption The time allowed to those who are obnoxious to his Justice every hour is not a meer reprieve from Torment but a space of Repentance to sue out a Pardon They are spared in order to Salvation The Lord is long-suffering to usward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance But above all his other Works the giving of his Son to be a Sacrifice for Sin is an incomparable demonstration how much he delights in the Salvation of Men. Since God has been at such cost to put them into a capacity of obtaining the Kingdom of unchangeable Glory far transcending the earthly Paradise that was forfeited by Sin we have the strongest assurance that he desires their Felicity And how guilty and miserable will those Sinners be that when Christ has opened Heaven to us by his Blood refuse to enter into it When Brutus propounded to a Philosopher his design to restore Rome to Liberty he replied That the action would be glorious indeed but that so many servile Spirits that tamely stoopt under Tyranny were not worthy that a Man of Vertue and Courage should hazard himself to recover that for them which they did so lightly esteem The Redemption of Mankind is without controversy the most glorious work of God wherein the concurrence and concord of his Attributes appear in that excellent manner that only his miraculous Wisdom could find out But how astonishing is the unworthiness of Men who wretchedly neglect Salvation which the Son of God purchased by a Life full of Sorrows and a Death of infinite Sufferings Blessed Redeemer may it be spoken with the humble affectionate and thankful sence of thy dying Love why didst thou give thy self a ransom for those who are charm'd with their Misery and with the most foul Ingratitude disvalue so precious a Redemption How justly shall they be for ever deprived of it Behold ye dispisers and wonder and perish 2. Consider this glorious Blessedness shall be the Portion of all that unfeignedly choose it and earnestly seek it This motive was inclosed in the first but deserves a separate Consideration And of this we have infallible assurance from the Word of God who cannot lye Godliness has the Promise of the Life to come This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation The hope of a Christian is so certain that 't is compar'd to an Anchor fastned in Heaven And besides the Fidelity of his Word God has given us Security of the Reward the Life of his Son This methinks should turn the Current of our Desires and Endeavours to Heaven For notwithstanding all our toil and sweat the labour of the Day and the watchings of the Night for the obtaining earthly things yet we many times fall short of our aims and hopes 'T was the observation of the wisest Man I returned and saw under the Sun that the Race is not to the Swift nor the Battel to the Strong neither yet Bread to the Wise nor yet Riches to Men of Vnderstanding nor yet Favour to Men of Skill but Time and Chance happeneth to all Indeed such is the order of Divine Providence in the World there must be different conditions of Men here some Rich others Poor some Noble others Mean some in Command others in Subjection And from hence it is also evident that neither Dignity nor Riches nor Pleasures are the Happiness of Man For 't is not becoming the Wisdom and Goodness of God to make that the last end of the reasonable Creature which though sought with Sincerity and Diligence may not be obtained or of which without his own consent he may be deprived But civil distinctions and qualities are of no value and consideration with respect to the obtaining or excluding from Heaven The rich and honourable that are in an exalted State have not a more easy ascent and entrance into the Kingdom of God than those who are in the lowest degree The Starrs appear with the same bigness to him that stands in the deepest Valley as on the highest Hill Is there any difference between the Souls of the rich and great in the World and the Souls of the poor and despised are they not equally the Off-spring of God and equally ransomed by the most precious Blood of his Son are they not equally capable of Eternal Rewards are not the Promises of the heavenly Kingdom equally addrest to every one that has an immortal Soul that is faithful to his Duty and Covenant with God This should inspire all with flaming Desires and draw forth their utmost Industry and make them stedfast and unmoveable always to abound
future State where the Misery is extream and nothing remains to allay it that the Damned should be in love with the unhappy good of simple being and not choose an absolute extinction if it might be If any one should be so foolish to think that custom will render that State more tolerable he may find a terrible confutation of his vain Fancy Indeed continuance under light Evils may arm the Mind with patience to bear them but in great extremities it makes the Evil more ponderous and intolerable He that is tortured with the Stone or on the Rack the longer the Torture continues the less able he is to sustain it In short as the Joy of Heaven is infinitely more ravishing that the Blessed are without fear of losing it so the Misery of Hell is proportionably tormenting that the Damned are absolutely destitute of hopes of a release O 't is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who lives for ever and can punish for ever Now the serious Consideration of this Misery is the most proper and powerful means to awaken indulgent Sinners and make them resolved to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right Eye to part with the dearest Lusts rather than be exposed to it According to the judgment of Sense would any one in his Wits choose the enjoyment of the most intense and exquisite Pleasures for a Year and afterwards be content to burn in a Fornace for a Day much less to enjoy them for a Day and to burn for a Year what stupid Beasts are they who for momentary Delights incur the Fiery and Eternal Indignation of God Do we provoke the Lord to Jealousy are we stronger than he Try but the Finger with the Flame of a Candle or touch but a hot Coal you will soon discover your weakness But alas how hardly are Men induc't to exercise their Minds on this terrible Object He thinks least of Hell who has most reason to consider it so unwilling is the carnal Heart to have represented to it the evil to come Yet this is the first Motive that compels Sinners to change their course and turn from Sin to Holiness from the Creatures to God The Joys of Heaven being Spiritual and Divine as was before observed have no attractive influence upon their Affections would never convert and reform any but the torment of Fire being most evident and vehement to Sense is strongly represented by the Imagination and affects carnal Men. How many abound with vicious obstinate habits that by solemn and believing thoughts of the unquenchable Fire have felt the Miracle upon the three Children in the Fornace renewed in themselves their strong Cords burnt asunder and all their Powers restored to the freedom of Duty the blessed liberty of Obedience The Truth is if God had not formed Hell for the Punishment of Sin and only prepared the Celestial Kingdom for the Reward of Holiness the blessed Angels would be the sole Possessors of it and Heaven would be as empty of human Souls as 't is full of Glory so foolishly and violently is the corrupt nature of Man drawn by what is pleasing to Sense though with the certain loss of the most precious and eternal good things in the Divine Treasury But the belief that within a little time nothing will remain of their sinful Pleasures but the never dying Worm and ever living Flames makes them considerative of their imminent danger and as it were by necessity to seek the Kingdom of Heaven as a secondary Object to escape from Hell As the vertue of the Load-stone when encompast and arm'd with Iron is increast and draws a far greater weight than when 't is single thus the attractives of Heaven are more powerful to move our obdurate Hearts when enforc'd from the terrors of Hell In this respect the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom of the active and best Wisdom that directs us in the way to Blessedness CHAP. XIII The last Direction Earnest Prayer to God to inlighten our Minds to believe the Eternal World and effectually turn our Wills to desire and prosecute the Blessedness to come HAving a discovery so clear and certain in the Holy Scriptures of the everlasting recompences in the next World of the Kingdom of Heaven prepared by God to shew his excellent Glory to his faithful Servants where Love and Peace and Joy dwell for ever and of the infernal Prison where despair and Rage and Sorrow and whatever is signified under the terrible allusions of Fire and Brimstone are ordained by Divine Justice for the Wicked it might be justly hoped that all Men would by a holy violence take Heaven and by the swiftest Motion flee from the Wrath to come The instinct of Nature and the light of Reason excite them to secure their most precious Interest Can there be an Expectation Desire or Capacity in Man of enjoying a Blessedness beyond what is Infinite and Eternal And can there be any Evil so formidable as Everlasting Misery Now both these Objects are set before Men and propounded to their Choice And we are infallibly assured from God himself that all who are sincere and constant in their Choice and Pursuit shall obtain Heaven and that none shall be cast into Hell but those who choose it and therefore most worthily suffer it But O astonishment if with a serious Eye we regard the course of Mens Actions 't is visible that incomparably the greatest number of Christians in Profession love Death and hate Eternal Life Not that 't is possible for the reasonable Creature to do this directly with an explicit aim but virtually and by interpretation They intend Happiness but choose Misery For he that voluntarily breaks the Law of God chooses the known Penalty of its Violation He that prefers this perishing World before Heaven rejects it in the most contumelious manner And such is the depravation of Man since his Fall the Mind being diverted by vain Thoughts and the Heart prepossessed with sensual Desires that till the Spirit of his Mind be renewed and his original Affections to the Supream Good be revived and restored by Divine Grace he is regardless of it and only applies himself to what is pleasing to Sense Therefore a most necessary Duty incumbent upon us is by humble and fervent Prayer to address our selves to God for his Spirit to enlighten our Minds that we may believe the reality and greatness of the Eternal Reward and to reform our Wills that we may feel its attractive Force Both these acts of the Spirit are requisite that the Love of God as our chief Felicity may be the regent Principle of our Hearts and Lives 1. For this end the Holy Spirit convinces Men thorowly of the reality and greatness of an invisible Happiness Indeed the Heathens saw something of this as it were in a Dream they had some transient Glances and volatile Wishes concerning it but miserably weak and ineffectual And in the most of