is so much the kinder is GOD to give such repeated warning of it and so much the more Inexcusable are Sinners that will not consider it and lay it to Heart 'T is from Ignorance of GOD and how much he is above us that they dare talk so boldly of Divine Justice and Goodness And declare that the Everlasting Punishment of the Wicked is inconsistent with either or both GOD knows better than we what it is to be Just and what is Consistent with his Goodness and Mercy His Word is express and plain concerning the State of Sinners when the Day of Mercy is ended The measure of Punishment with respect to Crimes is not to be taken alway from the Quality and Degree of the Offence much less from the Time and Duration of it but from the Ends and Reasons of Government to deter men from the Breach of the Law The greatest Sins may often be committed in a short space of Time as Murder So that to argue from the Disproportion between Temporary Sins and Eternal Punishment will not conclude against the Justice of GOD. Can we think that God would threaten Sinners with a Punishment he could not inflict without Injustice Cannot GOD be Just and Good and Merciful except he save the Wilful and Disobedient who continue to despise the Offers of his Grace and persist in their Contempt and Rebellion to the very last Hath he not told us how far his Mercy shall reach Thousands of Holy Souls shall know to their Eternal Comfort that GOD is infinitely Good tho' he render Vengeance on them that slighted his Mercy and died without Repentance They had a time of tryal Mercy was offered them They were entreated to accept it GOD waited with much Long-suffering and Patience and often renewed his Calls and Warnings and Invitations to perswade them to flee from Wrath to come But they would not accept his Mercy in time If they plead that the endless Punishment of Sinners doth not answer the proper Ends and Design of Punishment viz. to reform the Sinner or to admonish and warn others against the like Offence It must be considered That this is not all the End and Design of Punishment But that when God hath declared his Will to punish one great End of that Punishment is to vindicate his Honour as Governour of the World that is injured and affronted by the Sins of Men And there 's a great deal of difference between the Ends of Punishment in this Life which very much respect the Community and those in another World And yet even here God as the Governour of the World may vindicate the Rites of his Honour and Soveraignty by inflicting Punishment But in the next Life they who are punished are Obstinate Offenders that would not take warning or be reclaim'd by all the Mercies and Judgments of God either as to others or themselves Moreover supposing the Immortality of the Soul and the remaining Wickedness and Impenitence of Sinners and Death will not change the ill Temper and Disposition of Men's Minds but they that were filthy and unholy will be still so as well as they that were Unrighteous and Unjustify'd A sinful Soul if it be Immortal must needs be unchangeably miserable He will never Repent there is no promise of Mercy to encourage it And therefore if he shall never die he must be miserable for ever And what reason is there to expect that God should Annihilate those that are incurably Wicked especially when he has so expressly declared the contrary Matt. xxv ult and in the same Terms express'd the Duration of the Punishment of the Wicked as the Everlasting Life and Happiness of the Righteous Of the many that sleep in the Dust some shall awake and arise to Everlasting Life and others to Shame and Everlasting Contempt Dan. xii 2. There cannot be Perpetual Shame and Everlasting Contempt without the Everlasting Existence of the Persons How can they continue for ever under Shame and Contempt unless they continue in their Being Let us therefore urge this upon our Minds and Hearts as what we ought to believe and seriously consider and therefore instead of replying against God whose Terrors should make us afraid and whose Truth endures for ever let us think of it in time and put the Questions to our selves we often meet with in the Scripture which can never be answered Who can stand before him when he is angry Can thy Hands be strong or thy Heart endure when he shall execute Vengeance Who can dwell with a Devouring Fire Who can dwell with Everlasting Burnings Can You or You You who have lived in Ease and Pleasure all your Days and by a sharp fit of Pain but for one half Hour would groan as if your Hearts would break could you abide Everlasting Fire An Everlasting Toothach Stone or Cholick or a much less Pain but suppos'd Endless is insupportable what then is Hell However you may ask another Question which blessed be God may be Resolv'd and that is What shall we do to be saved How shall we escape this Intolerable and Everlasting Wrath And this brings me to the Application by Inferences of Truth and Duty First 'T is then obvious that Now or Never is the season to prepare for Eternity seeing both States are unchangeable after Death The Gulf will then be fix'd there is no Possibility for Repentance or hope of Pardon beyond the Grave 't will be in vain to cry with the Foolish Virgins Lord open to us when the Door is shut Now you are encouraged to pray for Mercy earnestly invited and entreated to work out your own Salvation and warn'd of your Danger Now is your time to hearken to good Counsel Many of you have mispent a great part of your Life past you shall not live it over again You are not certain of the Future You may be in an Unchangeable State e're you are aware so that to defer it one Week or Day longer may be your undoing You have now a Promise of Forgiveness if you Repent and the Hopes of God's Grace if you seek it You have yet an Opportunity to make Peace with God This is your accepted time and Day of Salvation The Door of Mercy and of Hope is yet open but e're long it will be shut and your State Immutable Whatever is to be done in Preparation for Eternity must be Now or Never Now quickly or it will be too late now presently and without Delay or it may be too late Is he not a bold Man that will venture to deferr if he believes both States after Death to be Endless and Unchangeable How can he be satisfy'd to live in such a state wherein he is as near to Hell as he is to Death You have reason to be Thankful that when others have been snatch'd away in their Impenitence Others it may be of your Companions and possibly lesser Sinners than you that you are yet spar'd You must think him to be a
Atonement made by Jesus Christ who was Rom. iii. 24 28. by God himself set forth to be a Propitiation for our Sins and had purchased our Freedom and merited our Acceptance with his Father I recommended the Fifth Chapter of the Romans and the Seventh Chapter of the Second of the Corinthians and told him he must seek Pardon and Life in the way God had appointed for by no other Way or Means would it be obtained He answer'd he did not hope for nor would seek Salvation but by Jesus Christ I told him now I hop'd his sense of Sin was such as to its destructive and defiling Nature as to satisfy him of the Justice of God in entailing of the Divine Wrath upon all Mankind as the just Consequence of Original and Actual Sins And that the Grant of Pardon and Salvation upon the Satisfaction and Purchase of Jesus Christ did best suit with the Honour and Government of an Infinitely Wise and Holy God as well as with the Safety and Happiness of us lapsed Creatures His Reply was He was fully convinc'd that as God was Gracious so he was Just and Holy therefore could not Reasonably entertain Hopes of Impunity I told him many now-a-days presum'd upon Pardon from God's General Goodness Eph. i. 7. as tho' his Regard to his Just and Holy Laws was as mean as theirs was He said he did not ask Pardon or Mercy on any other Account but for Jesus sake whom God had set forth as a Propitiation and through Faith in him he was satisfied there was forgiveness for him a Miserable Offendor I further told him then I hoped he was throughly convinc'd that our Saviour was a Divine Person GOD as well as Man This is a Mystery above but not contrary to Reason for an Infinite Being as God is might become what he was not and yet cease not to be what he was Heb. i 3. 1 John i. 2 3. might become Man yet cease not to be God as Phil. vi 8. fully proves Besides had Jesus our Saviour been only a Dependent Creature how could he have discharg'd our Debt by way of Satisfaction or obtain'd for us God's Favour and Love by way of Merit Reason as well as Scripture will attest this to a Sinner awaken'd and convinc'd of the malignity of Sin and the pure Nature of God Such will find no solid Foundation or Rational Hope but in the Lord Jesus Christ For it was He only that was capable of honouring all those Divine Attributes Laws and Rules of Government that our Sins and Rebellions had dishonoured and despised by which he has render'd our Salvation both sure and compleat Col. i. 14 15. Rom. iii. 25. Colos ii 9 10. So that God may now be just and holy and yet justifie and save those Penitent Sinners who believe in Jesus which if he had not been God as well as Man He could never have effected But now He has inhanc'd the Divine Honour and Glory by the Salvation of Such He reply'd Oh! I 'm abundantly satisfy'd of all this my sight of Sin and the Holiness of my Creator and Law-giver is such that if I did not eye and own my Blessed Saviour as GOD I could not so account of what he did and suffered as to lay the Stress of my Salvation upon him For as Man he could never have satisfy'd Justice for the Breach of the Law or merited that Mercy or Grace I want My applying what he has done as being performed by one that was God is the Foundation of all my Trust and Hope And I bless God who restrain'd me from being corrupted as too many are in a Doctrine from which now I desire all my Support and Comfort and he is able to save me to the uttermost He further admir'd the Love of God in giving his Son and of Christ in giving himself to die that such as he might have Life But says he I have a wretched hard Heart it 's a Stone I can't make it Relent or take Impressions from any thing I hear or think Oh! the Patience of God towards me that I am out of Hell Oh! that I could Repent But God may justly leave me to my own Blindness and Stupidness that have so long repulsed his Offers of Grace Oh! horrid Ingratitude It cuts me to the Heart I know there is Mercy could I but Repent and Believe I reply'd That he must fetch Repentance as well as Forgiveness from Jesus Christ Act. v. 31. for God hath exalted him to be both a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance as well as Remission of Sins I further told him That Repentance did produce such a mighty Change upon the Soul turning it to hate Sin which naturally we love and to esteem and admire God and his Son whom naturally we hate That nothing but the Influences of the Almighty Spirit could effect it For a Sinful Nature could not change its self Nothing can operate above its Natural Power I spent some time to convince him as I was able that that Image of God in which we are said to be Created Rom. iii. 23. Chap v 12. Eph. iv 24. Col. iii. 10. consists chiefly in that Knowledge Righteousness and Holiness with which God at first adorn'd our Faculties but was separable from our Beings and lost by our first Apostacy in Adam And now being Children of Disobedience we became Children of Wrath also Dead in Trespasses and Sins polluted in every Faculty Ephes ii 1 2. till Quicken'd and Created a-new in Christ Jesus after the Divine Image and then we shall be capable and inclin'd to perform Sincere Holy Obedience to God I desired him therefore in the Sense of his Necessity and Impotency to address himself speedily to God and plead the Promises and Merits of Jesus for the Gift of his Holy Spirit to convince him throughly of Sin and display the Riches and Glory of Free-Grace in Christ and beg also a Correspondent Temper to God's Designs and Appointments in the Gospel that so you may apply this great Salvation to your self for your Security and Blessedness After this Discourse he expressed himself in this manner I find what you say agreeable to my Reason and that little Knowledge I have of Scripture I feel I am by Sin an Unclean Creature and as such can't cleanse and heal my self or work Repentance or Faith They are not such slight easie things as my self once thought them to be but poor carnal Creatures delay Repentance as if it were in their Power to attain it when they please But I find by Experience now that no less than the Omnipotent Spirit of God can work this Change as you mention and nothing less than such a Change is or can be True Repentance I must hate the Sins I naturally indulg'd and Love and Esteem and endeavour Conformity and Obedience to God that by Nature and Practice I have loath'd and despis'd It is a Power above my own must work me
if you believe another an Everlasting World and that this is all the Time you have to prepare for it and that you have lost a great deal and that One Day in Seven is but a small Proportion of Time Employ that Day as taking more Pleasure in the Service of God than in Earthly Business accounting it the most honourable and delightful Work to be so employ'd and that accordingly you may expect the Divine Blessing all the Week after and you will surely find it And here I cannot but take Occasion to justify and praise the Attempts of the Worthy Societies for Reformation of Manners in and about this City one part of whose Business is to suppress and punish such a Liberty in Publick Houses upon the Lord's Day as is contrary to the Commandment of God and the Law of the Land and tends to ruin the Souls of Men. I can easily believe what I am told That they find more Difficulty and Opposition in this part of their Work than in any other especially in the Out-parts of the City But the Word of God and the Testimony of Men's Consciences when awaken'd to a Sence of Sin is on their side and should encourage them to proceed I am far from reflecting upon All his Acquaintance as if none of those who were frequently in his Company but were notorious Drunkards and Prophaners of the Sabbath I know divers of them of a very different Character None but the Guilty can apprehend themselves concern'd in any thing he said or I say of him I shall be heartily glad if there be very Few who have reason to accuse Themselves and that they may All profit by his Example and Counsel It would not be difficult to enlarge on the many Evils that attend Drunkenness and the many Sins it leads to as disposing to the violation of almost all the Commandments of God I beg you would consider the sad Effects of that Vice even in this World How it makes Men despis'd by their Inferiours How it impoverisheth Families How it occasions Quarrels How it weakens and destroys the best Constitution of Health and is often followed with manifold Diseases How it debases the Humane Nature overturns our Reason and so far destroys the Natural Image of God upon the Soul which is a greater Affront to the Majesty of Heaven as one well says than if a Subject should deface the King's Arms or Image and set up the Image of a Swine or Dog in its room How it runs Men into Extravagancies for which they beg Pardon the next Day and are forgiven with the like Shame and Contempt as we pardon Fools and Madmen How it betrays the Secrets of our Heart which Duty and Interest obliges to conceal and those of our dearest Friends which it may be we have vow'd never to discover I beg you to consider how it unfits for all holy Thoughts Words and Actions and is directly contrary to the being filled with the Holy Spirit How it besots the Mind and hardens the Heart so as to render a Man weak and unable to make good his Resolutions for though after a Debauch he resolves the next Morning never more to commit the like Folly 't is ten to one but he yields at the Summons of the next Temptation And further let it be considered that by a Man's opposing his Light and breaking his Vows and Resolutions by repeated Instances of Guilt in this sort his Conscience must needs be uneasie and clamorous And hereupon he is easily perswaded to stupify himself with Wine that he may be armed against the Apprehensions of his own Mind and returns to hard Drinking as needful for his Cure and Relief to defend himself against his own Accusing Thoughts and try to forget his ill Condition 'Till at last an Habitual Sottishness saves him the Labour of a daily Conflict and Skirmish with his Conscience Which is the deplorable Case of many who have harden'd themselves by Custom and Continuance in Sin so as to be past Feeling and unlikely ever to be brought to Repentance And yet the Scripture is most express as to the other World that Men of this Character without Repentance shall never inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. vi 9 10. Gal. v. 21. Matt. xxiv 49 51. I am charg'd by the Deceased to speak at this Rate in hope of calling Some to Repentance for their past Sins and of warning Others against Temptation I hope it will be consider'd as the Faithfull Admonition of a Dying Penitent But I have promis'd you a further Account of his Last Sickness from Another Hand which is as follows An Account of some Passages of the last Sickness of Mr. S. T. by another Hand WHEN I told him his Doctors despaired of his Recovery and press'd him to consider how awfull a thing it was to appear before the Bar of a Holy God He said he was sensible it was so and that it was not his leaving this World that was his Concern or that he fear'd the pain of Death But what would become of his poor Soul He that had been such a vile Wretch and despis'd all the Methods that a Gracious God had us'd to make him Happy He had broke through all the Restraints of Grace the Advantages of a good Education the Calls Offers and Warnings of God by which he had quench'd and griev'd the Holy Spirit These things lay as a heavy Load upon his Soul and broke his Rest and wasted his Spirits for some time before He wept very much I asked whether Sin did not now appear an Abominable thing And Holiness in the most Difficult parts of it appear very Amiable And They the only wise Persons that shun and mortify Sin and endeavour to attain and promote Holiness He answer'd with great Seriousness and Earnestness that his Apprehensions and Opinion of those different courses of Life was so alterd that he now saw Sin to be the only Evil worse than any Affliction and that if he knew his own Heart which he found Deceitful he would chuse rather to dye although his Case was so hazardous than to live such an odious Life and dishonour so Good a God as he had done And he further said that he was now convinc'd that a Holy Temper of Soul in Conformity to God could only make him Happy Oh saith he my Sentiments and Notions of God and Jesus Christ of Sin and Holiness are quite otherwise than when in Health What the Word of God reveals of these things I feel to be Real and Momentous indeed Here he proceeded to charge himself with Excess in Drinking with Disregard to the Sabbath Day and a constant allowed Neglect of almost all the Positive Duties of Religion especially Closet-Retirements And then added Do you think there is Hope for such a vile Wretch I told him Yes doubtless there was Forgiveness with God for the Chiefest of Sinners which I endeavour'd to demonstrate from the Infiniteness of God's Mercies the Valuableness of the