madness or that which is the next to it a great heat of brain would make men the most learned If this were true there would be a much easier way of attaining to speak in the languages of all nations than that which many take to gain a very few of them for the heightening of Phancy either by Wine or a degree of madness would inspire men with skill in tongues to a miracle 2. But supposing such a thing possible which is far from being so yet it is very remote from our present case for the Apostles made it manifest to all persons that they were far enough from being inspired with the vapours of wine or touched with any Enthusiastick madness They spake with strange tongues but in such a manner as convinced great numbers of their hearers of the excellency of that doctrine which was delivered by them As St. Paul answered Festus I am not mad most noble Festus but speak forth the words of truth and soberness so they did not speak incoherent and insignificant words which madness makes men do nor any mean and trivial things meerly for ostentation of their gifts but they spake though with divers tongues the great or wonderful things of God So their Auditors confessed with admiration These are not the eâ—â—ects of Wine or Madness as St. Peter at large proves against the unreasonable cavils of some who mocked and said they were full of new wine Which he doth with so great success that the same day 3000 persons disowned their former course of life and embraced Christianity Surely madness was never more infectious never made men more wise and sober than this did if the Apostlâ—s were acted only by that When was there ever better and more weighty sense spoken by any than by the Apostles after the day of Pentecost With what reason do they argue with what strength do they discourse with what a sedate and manly courage do they withstand the opposition of the Sanhedrin against them they never fly out into any extravagant passion never betray any weakness or fear but speak the truth with boldness and rejoyce when they suffer for it It could be no sudden heat which acted them on the day of Pentecost for the same Spirit and power continued with them afterwards they lived and acted by vertue of it so that their life was as great a miracle as any that was wrought by them Their zeal was great but regular their devotion fervent and constant their conversation honest and prudent their discourses inflaming and convincing and the whole course of their lives breathed nothing but glory to God and good-will towards Men. If they are called to suffer for their Religion with what constancy do they own the truth with what submission do they yield to their persecutors with what meekness and patience do they bear their sufferings If differences arise among Christians with what care do they advise with what caution do they direct with what gentleness do they instruct with what tenderness do they bear with dissenters with what earnestness do they endeavour to preserve the peace of the Christian Church When they are to plant Churches how ready to go about it how diligent in attending it how watchful to prevent all miscarriages among them When they write Epistles to those already planted with what Authority do they teach with what Majesty do they command with what severity do they rebuke with what pity do they chastise with what vehemency do they exhort and with what weighty arguments do they perswade all Christians to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things So that such persons who after all these things can believe that the Apostles were acted only by some extravagant heats may as easily perswade themselves that men may be drunk with sobriety and mad with reason and debauched with goodness But such are fit only to be treated in a dark room if any can be found darker than their understandings are 2. But yet there may be imagined a higher sort of madness than these men are guilty of viz. That when men are convinced that these things could not be done by meer Mechanical causes then they attribute them to the assistance of Spirits but not to the holy and divine but such as are evil and impure A madness so great and extravagant that we could hardly imagine that it were incident to humane nature unless the Scripture had told us that some had thus blasphemed the son of man and either had or were in danger of blaspheming the Holy Ghost too And this is properly blaspheming the Holy Ghost which was not given as our text tells us till after Christ's ascension when men attribute all those miraculous gifts which were poured out upon the Apostles in confirmation of the Christian doctrine to the power of an unclean Spirit For so the Evangelist St. Luke when he mentions the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost which shall not be forgiven immediately subjoyns their bringing in the Apostles to the Synagogues and Magistrates and Powers and adds that the Holy Ghost even that which they so blasphemed in them should teach them in that same hour what they ought to say I deny not but the attributing the miraculous works of Christ who had the Holy Spirit without measure to an evil Spirit was the same kind of sin but it received a greater aggravation aâ—ter the resurrection of Christ from the dead and the miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles For now the great confirmation was given to the truth of all that Christ had said before he had sometimes concealed his miracles and forbid the publishing of them and to such he appeared but as the son of man of whom it is said that had they known him they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory and St. Peter more expresly and now Brethren I wrote that through ignorance you did it as did also your Rulers But now since his resurrection and ascension when God by the effusion of the Holy Ghost hath given the largest and fullest Testimony to the doctrine of the Gospel if men after all this shall go on to blaspheme the Holy Ghost by attributing all these miracles to a Diabolical power then there is no forgiveness to be expected either in this world or the world to come because this argues the greatest obstinacy of mind the highest contempt of God and the greatest affront that can be put upon the Testimony of the Holy Spirit for it is charging the Spirit of truth to be an evil and a lying Spirit By which we see what great weight and moment the Scripture lays upon this pouring out of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles and what care men ought to have how they undervalue and despise it and much more how they do reproach and blaspheme it They might as well imagine that light and darkness may meet and embrace each other as that the infernal Spirits should
they cannot cure the tooth-ach by But here they will say the imagination of the Patient is necessary in order to a miracle being wrought upon him not such I am sure as Christ and his Apostles wrought who not only healed the lame and the blind but raised the dead and what power of imagination do they suppose in Lazarus when he had lain four days in the Grave and however they think of the soul they must in this case allow this power of imagination to be immortal So that were there no other arguments but that of raising the dead that demonstrates it impossible that what Christ or his Apostles did did depend on the strength of Fancy in thoâ—e on whom they wrought their miracles Object But say they did not Christ and his Apostles require believing first in all persons that had miracles wrought upon them and why should this be but because the strength of imagination was required to it And is it not expresly said that Christ could not do any mighty works among his own country-men because of their unbelief by which it appears that the efficacy of his miracles did depend on the Faith of the Persons To which I answer Answ. 1. That Christ did not always require faith in the person on whom he wrought his miracles for then it had been impossible he should ever have raised any from the dead which we are sure he did And did not St. Paul raise Eutychius from the dead and can any think so absurdly as that faith was required from a dead man in order to his resurrection So that the greatest miracles of all others were wrought where there was no possibility of believing in those on whom they were wrought 2. When in miraculous cures believing was required it was to shew for what end those miracles were wrought viz. to confirm the Doctrine of the Gospel by them they did not work miracles to be admired by the people as Simon Magus would have done the Apostles had no such intolerable vanity to be cried up for Gods though they did such great things not like that Caesar of the Atheists as some call him who concludes one of his Dialogues with that horrible piece of vanity to say no more of it aut Deus es aut Vaninus and Pomponatius his Master before him had said Philosophi sunt Dii terrestres and you must be sure to reckon him in the number but how was it possible for these men to discover more their mean thoughts of a Deity than by making him to be as deâ—picable as themselves What boasting and ostentation would these men have made of themselves if they could have done but the thousand part of what the Apostles did But they were men did as far excel all such in all true vertue and real excellency as they did in that miraculous power which God had given them If they required men to believe whom they cured it was that they might cure both body and soul together but sometimes they cured persons whom they saw not as the handkerchiefs from Sâ— Paul at Ephesus cured the diseased when they were carried to them But generally they took all opportunities to convey the Doctrine of Christianity into the minds of those out of whose bodies they cast either Diseases or Devils But is it not said that Christ could do no mighty works among them because of their unbelief and the power of his disciples could not be greater than his own To which I answer 1. It is no-where said in the Scripture that Christ could do no miracles at all among them because of their unbelief for in one place it is said And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief He did miracles enough to convince them but when he saw their obstinacy he would not cast away any more upon them And in that other place where it is said that he could there do no mighty work it is presently added save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them And what absurdity is there that Christ should do no extraordinary miracle among them among whom he saw that himself and his miracles were both equally contemned It is not the method of divine goodness to bestow the largest kindnesses at first those who improve the beginnings of favour shall have more but those who despise the first may justly be rejected from any farther kindness 2. When it is said that he could not that expression doth not imply any impossibility in the thing but a deliberate resolution to the contrary so it is used Acts 4.20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard Who questions but there was a possibility in the thing that they might have held their peace but it was a thing which upon great deliberation they had resolved not to do So thou canst not bear them which are evil and we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth From which it appears that this can be no prejudice to the power of Christ in working miracles but only shews his just resolution not to do it considering the contempt wherewith he had been entertained among them 3. It is pretended by those men who set themselves to undervalue those miraculous gifts which the Apostles had that the gift of tongues might be only the effect of an Enthusiastick heat or some distemper of their brains as men in a high Fever are apt to speak such things and words which while they are in health they could never do But that such unreasonable imaginations do more argue a distempered brain than any thing we assert concerning these divine persons will easily appear from these considerations 1. That no violent heat whatsoever can form a new language to a man which he never knew before If language had been natural to man there might have been some reason for it but that we all know to be an arbitrary thing and as well might a blind man paint with an exact difference of colours or one write plainly who could never read as any person by the meer heat of his Phancy speak suddenly in a tongue which he never learnt There have been some who have said that the mind of man hath naturally all kinds of languages within it self and it wants nothing but some mighty heat to stir men up to speak in any kind of them But we are to take notice that those things are accounted wit when spoken against Religion which would have been nonsense and contradictions if spoken for it And certainly nothing could be more absurdly said than for the same men to make all the imaginations 〈◊〉 have of things to come in by our senses and yet to say that the mind of man can have those things in it which he never learnt or heard If this supposition were true we might invert that saying of Festus to St. Paul Much learning hath made thee mad for then
That would seem indeed to bear some analogy with the present ruines of the City and the calamities we lie under at this time but God will more easily dispense with the pompous shews and solemn garbs of our humiliation if our hearts bleed within â—or our â—ormer impietieâ— and our repentance discovers its sincerity by bringing us to that temper that though we have done iniquity we will do so no more That is the true and proper end which Almighty God aims at in all his Judgments he takes no delight in hurling the World into confusions and turning Cities into ruinous heaps and making whole Countries a desolation but when he sees it necessary to vindicate the honour of his Justice to the World he doth it with that severity that may make us apprehend his displeasure and yet with that mercy which may incourage us to repent and return unto the Lord. Thus we find in the instances recorded in the Text when some Cities were consumed by him so that as far as concerned them they were made like to Sodom and Gomorrah yet he doth it with that kindness to the Inhabitants that they are pluckt as firebrands out of the burning and therefore he looks upon it as a â—rustrating the design both of his Iustice and of his Mercy when he is sain to conclude with that sad reflection on their incorrigibleness Yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord. Thus ye see what the design and scope of the words is which I have read unto you wherein we may consider 1. The severity of the Judgment which God was pleased to execute upon them I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah 2. The mixture of his mercy in the midst of his severity and ye were as a fire-brand pluckt out of the burning 3. The incorrigibleness of the people notwithstanding both Yet have ye not c. In the first we have Godâ—s Rod liâ—ted up to strike in the second we have Gods Hand stretched out to save yet neither of these would make them sensible of their disobedience though their Cities were overthrown for their sakes though they themselves escaped not for their own sakes but for his mercies sake only whom they had so highly provoked yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord. I am sure I may say of the two former parts of the Text. as our Saviour doth in another case This day hath this Scripture been fulfilled among you we have seen a sad instance of God's severity a City almost wholly consumed as Sodom and Gomorrah and a great expression of his kindnâ—ss the Inhabitants saved as firebrands pluckt out of the burning O let it never be said that the lâ—st part of the words is â—ulfillâ—d too Yet have ye not returned unto me c. which that it may not be I shall first conâ—â—der the severity of God in his judgment â—hâ—s day and then discover the mixture of his kindness with it and the râ—sult of both will â—e tâ—e unreasonableness of obstinate disobedience after them 1. The severity of the judgment here expressed which though we take it not in reference to the persons of men but to the Cities wherein they dwelt as it seems to be understood not only by the Original wherein the words relating to persons are left out but by the â—ollowing clâ—use expressing their preservation yet we shall â—ind the Judgment to be severe enough in regard 1. Of the nature and kind of it 2. The series and order of it 3. The causes moving to it 4. The Author of it I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew c. 1. The nature and kind of it We can imagine nothing more severe when we consider what it is set forth by the most unparrallel'd Judgment we read of viz. the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by a fire from Heaven Although in all circumstances the instance might not come up to the parallel yet in several respects there might be so sad a desolation that any other example but that might fall beneath the greatness and severity of it And we may better understand of how sad and dreadful a nature such a Judgment must be if we consider it with relation to the suddenness and unexpectedness of it to the force and violence of it and to all that sad train of circumstances which attend and follow it 1. The suddenness and unexpectedness of it as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah i. e. when they least of all looked for such a desolation For thus it was in the days of Lot as our Saviour tells us they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from Heaven and destroyed them all They were all immersed either in their pleasures or in their business they little thought of destruction being so near them as it proved to be Thus it was with the Iews in their first and latter destruction both of their City and Country they were as high and as confident of the contrary as might be to the very last nothing could perswade them that their Temple or their City should be burnt with Fire till they saw them flaming before their eyes Thus Iosephus observes of his Countrymen that in the midst of all their miseries they had no kind of sense at all of their sins but were as proud presumptuous and arrogant as if all things went well with them and were like to do so They thought God could not possibly punish such a people as they were in such a manner they could easily have believed it of any other people but themselves but that God should punish his own people in Covenant with him that Judgment should begin at the house of God that they who had loved to be called by his Name should be made examples to all other Nations this seemed so harsh and incredible that by no means could they entertain it But God and wise men too thought otherwise of them than they did of themselves they could not but see an outward shew of Religion joyned with a deep and subtil hypocrisie there being among them an heap of pride and luxury of fraud and injustice of sedition and faction gilded over with a fair shew of greater zeal for God and his Glory which that impartial Historian as one who knew them well hath described at large and although they could not believe that such heavy Judgments should befall them yet others did not only believe but tremble at the apprehensions of them Who among all the Citizens of London could have been perswaded but the day before the Fire brake out nay when they saw the Flames for near a day together that ever in four days time not a fourth part of the City should be left standing For when were they ever more secure and inapprehensive of their danger than at this time they had not been long returned to
of Baubles are in request at the Indies or whether the Customs of China or Iapan are the wiser i. e. than the most trifling things and the remotest from our knowledge But this is to absurd and unreasonable to suppose that men should not think themselves concerned in their own eternal happiness and misery that I shall not shew so much distrust of their understandings to speak any longer to it 3. But if notwithstanding all these things our neglect still continues then there remains nothing but a fearful looking for of judgement and the fiery indignation of God For there is no possibility of escaping if we continue to neglect so great salvation All hopes of escaping are taken away which are only in that which men neglect and those who neglect their only way to salvation must needs be miserable How can that man ever hope to be saved by him whose blood he despises and tramples under foot What grace and favour can he expect from God who hath done despight unto the Spirit of Grace That hath cast away with reproach and contempt the greatest kindness and offers of Heaven What can save him that resolves to be damned and every one does so who knows he shall be damned if he lives in his sins and yet continues to do so God himself in whose only pity our hopes are hath irreversibly decreed that he will have no pity upon those who despise his goodness slight his threatnings abuse his patience and sin the more because he offers to pardon It is not any delight that God takes in the miseries of his Creatures which makes him punish them but shall not God vindicate his own honour against obstinate and impenitent sinners He declares before-hand that he is far from delighting in their ruine and that is the reason he hath made such large offers and used so many means to make them happy but if men resolve to despise his offers and slight the means of their salvation shall not God be just without being thought to be cruel And we may assure our selves none shall ever suffer beyond the just desert of their sins for punishment as the Apostle tells us in the words before the Text is nothing but a just recompence of reward And if there were such a one proportionable to the violation of the Law delivered by Angels how shall we think to escape who neglect a more excellent means of happiness which was delivered by our Lord himself If God did not hate sin and there were not a punishment belonging to it why did the Son of God die for the expiation of it and if his death were the only means of expiation how is it possible that those who neglect that should escape the punishment not only of their other sins but of that great contempt of the means of our salvation by him Let us not then think to trifle with God as though it were impossible a Being so merciful and kind should ever punish his Creatures with the miseries of another life For however we may deceive our selves God will not be mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he 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 I shall only propound some few Considerations to prevent so great a neglect as that of your salvation is 1. Consider what it is you neglect the offer of Eternal Happiness the greatest kindness that ever was expressed to the World the foundation of your present peace the end of your beings the stay of your minds the great desire of your Souls the utmost felicity that humane Nature is capable of Is it nothing to neglect the favour of a Prince the kindness of Great Men the offers of a large and plentiful Estate but these are nothing to the neglect of the favour of God the love of his Son and that salvation which he hath purchased for you Nay it is not a bare neglect but it implies in it a mighty contempt not only of the things offered but of the kindness of him who offers them If men had any due regard for God or themselves if they had any esteem for his love or their own welfare they would be much more serious in Religion than they are When I see a person wholly immersed in affairs of the World or spending his time in luxury and vanity can I possibly think that man hath any esteem of God or of his own Soul When I find one very serious in the pursuit of his Designs in the World thoughtful and busie subtle in contriving them careful in managing them but very formal remiss and negligent in all affairs of Religion neither inquisitive about them nor serious in minding them what can we otherwise think but that such a one doth really think the things of the World better worth looking after than those which concern his eternal salvation But consider before it be too late and repent of so great folly Value an immortal Soul as you ought to do think what Reconciliation with God and the Pardon of sin is worth slight not the dear Purchase which was bought at no meaner a rate than the Blood of the Son of God and then you cannot but mind the great salvation which God hath tendered you 2. Consider on what terms you neglect it or what the things are for whose sake you are so great enemies to your own salvation Have you ever found that contentment in sin or the vanities of the World that for the sake of them you are willing to be for ever miserable What will you think of all your debaucheries and your neglects of God and your selves when you come to die what would you then if it were in your power to redeem your lost time that you had spent your time less to the satisfaction of your sensual desires and more in seeking to please God How uncomfortable will the remembrance be of all your excesses oaths injustice and profaneness when death approaches and judgement follows it What peace of mind will there then be to those who have served God with faithfulness and have endeavoured to work out their salvation though it hath been with fear and trembling But what would it then profit a man to have gained the whole World and to lose his own Soul Nay what unspeakable losers must they then be that lose their Souls for that which hath no value at all if compared with the World 3. Consider what follows upon this neglect not only the loss of great salvation but the incurring as great damnation for it The Scripture describes the miseries of the life to come not meerly by negatives but by the most sensible and painful things If destruction be dreadful what is everlasting destruction if the anguish of the soul and the pains of the body be so troublesome what will the destruction be both of Body and Soul in Hell If a Serpent
opened not his mouth but only in Prayer for them who were his bitter enemies and though nothing had been more easie than for him to have cleared himself from all their accusations who had so often baffled them before yet he would not now give them that suspicion of his innocency as to make any Apology for himself but committed himself to God that judges righteously and was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers was dumb so he opened not his mouth And the reason thereof was he knew what further design for the good of mankind was carrying on by the bitterness of his passion and that all the cruel usage he underwent was that he might be a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the World Which leads to the last thing propounded to our consideration 4. Which is the causes why God was plâ—ased to suffer his Son to endure such contradiction of sinners against himself I know it is an easie answer to say that God had determin'd it should be so and that we ought to enquire no further but sure such an answer can satisfie none who consider how much our salvation depends upon the knowledge of it and how clear and express the Scripture is in assigning the causes of the Sufferings of Christ. Which though as far as the instruments were concerned in it we have given an account of already yet considering the particular management of this grand affair by the care of divine Providence a higher account must be given of it why so divine and excellent a Person should be exposed to all the contempt and reproach imaginable and after being made a Sacrifice to the tongues and rods of the people then to dye a painfull and ignominious death So that allowing but that common care of divine Providence which all sober Heathens acknowledged so transcendent Sufferings as these were of so holy and innocent a person ought to be accounted for in a more than ordinary manner when they thought themselves concerned to vindicate the Justice of God's Providence in the common calamities of those who are reputed to be better than the generality of Mankind But the reasons assigned in that common case will not hold here since this was a person immediately sent from God upon a particular message to the World and therefore might plead an exemption by virtue of his Ambassage from the common arrests and troubles of humane nature But it was so far otherwise as tho' God had designed him on purpose to let us see how much miâ—ery humane nature can undergo Some think themselves to go as far as their reason will permit them when they tell us that he suffer'd all these things to confirm the truth of what he had said and particularly the Promise of Remission of sins and that he might be an example to others who should go to Heaven by suffering afterwards and that he might being touched with the feeling of our infirmities here have the greater pity upon us now he is in Heaven All these I grant to have been true and weighty reasons of the Sufferings of Christ in subordination to greater ends but if there had been nothing beyond all this I can neither understand why he should suffer so deeply as he did nor why the Scripture should insist upon a far greater reason more than upon any of these I grant the death of Christ did confirm the truth of his Doctrine as far as it is unreasonable to believe that any one who knew his Doctrine to be false would make himself miserable to make others believe it but if this had been all intended why would not an easier and less ignominious death have served since he who would be willing to dye to confirm a falshood would not be thought to confirm a truth by his death because it was painful and shameful Why if all his Sufferings were designed as a testimony to others of the truth of what he spake were the greatest of his Sufferings such as none could know the anguish of them but himself I mean his Agony in the Garden and that which made him cry out upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why were not his Miracles enough to confirm the truth of his Doctrine since the Law of Moses was received without his death by the evidence his Miracles gave that he was sent from God since the Doctrine of remission of sins had been already deliver'd by the Prophets and received by the People of the Iews since those who would not believe for his Miracles sake neither would they believe though they should have seen him riâ—e from the Grave and therefore not surely because they saw him put into it But of all things the manner of our Saviour's sufferings seems least designed to bring the World to the belief of his Doctrine which was the main obstacle to the entertainment of it among the men of greatest reputation for wisdom and knowledge For it was Christ crucified which was to the Iews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness Had the Apostles only preached that the Son of God had appeared from Heaven and discovered the only way to bring men thither that he assumed our Nature for a time to render himself capable of conversing with us and therein had wrought many strange and stupendious miracles but after he had sufficiently acquainted the World with the nature of his Doctrine he was again assumed up into Heaven in all probability the Doctrine might have been so easily received by the World as might have saved the lives of many thousand persons who dyed as Martyrs for it And if it had been necessary that some must have dyed to confirm it why must the Son of God himself do it when he had so many Disciples who willingly sacrificed their lives for him and whose death would on that account have been as great a confirmation of the truth of it as his own But if it be alledged further that God now entring into a Covenant with man for the pardon of sin the shedding of the blood of Christ was necessary as a federal rite to confirm it I answer if only as a federal rite why no cheaper blood would serve to confirm it but that of the Son God We never read that any Covenant was confirmed by the death of one of the contracting parties and we cannot think that God was so prodigal of the blood of his Son to have it shed only in allusion to some ancient customs But if there were such a necessity of alluding to them why might not the blood of any other person have done it when yet all that custom was no more but that a sacrifice should be offer'd and upon the parts of the sacrifice divided they did solemnly swear and and ratifie their Covenant And if this be yielded them it then follows from this custom that Christ must be consider'd as a sacrifice in his death and
all who committed it and for a sin at so great a distance of time from the commission of it But I forbear I know not whether there be such another instance of God's severity in Scripture but it is such as may justly make us cry out with the Psalmist If thou Lord shouldst thus mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand But although God in this world so seldom shews his severity and tempers it with so much kindness we have no reason to expect he should do so in another For here he hath declared that mercy rejoyceth against judgment This being the time of Gods patience and forbearance and goodness towards sinners being not willing that any should â—erish but that all should come to repentance but if men will despise the riches of his goodness if they will still abuse his patience if they will trample under â—oot the means of â—heir own salvation then they shall to their unspeakable sorrow find that there is a day of wrath to come wherein their own dreadful experience will tell them That it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God For that will be a day of justice without mercy a day of vengeance without pity a day of execution without any further patience Thâ—n no vain excuses will be taken whereby men seek to palliate their sins and give ease to â—heir minds now It will be to no purpose to charge thy wilful sins upon â—he infirmity of thy nature the power of temptation the subtilty of the Devâ—l the allurement of company the common practice of the world the corruption of the age the badness of education the folly of youth all these and such like excuses will be too weak to be made then when it shall appear to thy eternal confusion that thy own vicious inclination swayed thee beyond them all Then there will be as little place for intreaties as for vain excuses God shews his great pity and indulgence to mankind now that he is so ready to hear the prayers and grant the desires of all penitent sinners but for those who stop their ears to all his instructions and will not hearken to the reproofs of his word or the rebukes of their own consciences but contemn all sober Counsels and scoff at Religion what can they expect from him but that when they shall call upon him he will not answer and when they seek him earnestly they shall not find him bâ—t he will laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh O blessed Jesus didst thou weep over an incorrigible people in the days of thy flesh and wilt thou laugh at their miseries when thou comest to judge the world didst thou shed thy precious blood to save them and wilt thou mock at their destruction didst thou woo and intreat and beseech sinners to be reconciled and wilt thou not hear them when in the anguish of their souls they cry unto thee See then the mighty difference between Christ's coming as a Saviour and as a Judge between the day of our salvation and the day of his wrath between the joy in Heaven at the conversion of penitent sinners and at the confusion of the impenitent and unreclaimable How terrible is the representation of Gods wrath in the style of the Prophets when he punisheth a people in this world for their sins It is called the day of the Lord cruel with wrath and fierce anger the day of the Lord's vengeance The great and dreadful day of the Lord. If it were thus when his wrath was kindled but a little when mercy was mixed with his severity what will it be when he shall stir up all his wrath and the heavens and the earth shall shake that never did offend him what shall they then do that shall to their sorrow know how much they have displeased him Then neither power nor wit nor eloquence nor craft shall stand men in any stead for the great Judge of that day can neither be over-awed by power nor over-reached by wit nor moved by eloquence nor betrayed by craft but every man shall receive according to his deeds The mighty disturbers of mankind who have been called Conquerours shall not then be attended with their great armies but must stand alone to receive their sentence the greatest wits of the world will then find that a sincere honest heart will avail them more than the deepest reach or the greatest subtilty the most eloquent persons without true goodness will be like the man in the parable without the wedding garment speechless the most crafty and politick will then see that though they may deceive men and themselves too yet God will not be mocked for whatsoever a man sows that shall he reap and they who have spread snares for others and been hugely pleased to see them caught by them shall then be convinced that they have laid the greatest of all for themselves for God will then be fully known by the judgment which he shall execute and the wicked shall be snared in the work of their own hands for the wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the nations that forget God 4. The terror of the sentence which shall then be passed That the Judge himself hath told us before hand what it shall be to make us more apprehensive of it in this State wherein we are capable to prevent it by sincere repentance and a holy liâ—e The tenour of it is expressed in those dreadful words depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels It is impossible to conceive words fuller of horrour and amazement than those are to such as duâ—y consider the importance of them It is true indeed wicked men in this world are so little apprehensive of the misery of departing from God that they are ready to bid God depart from them and place no mean part of their felicity in keeping themselves at a distance from him The true reason of which is that while they pursue their lusts the thâ—ughts of God are disquieting to them as no man that robs his neighbour loves to think of the Judge while he does it not as though his condition were securer by it but when men are not wise enough to prevent a danger they are so great fools to count it their wisdom not to think of it But therein lies a great part of the misery of another world that men shall not be able to cheat and abuse themselves with false notions and shews of happiness The clouds they have embraced for Deities shall then vanish into smoke all the satisfaction they ever imagined in their lusts shall be wholly gone and nothing but the sad remembrance of them left behind to torment them All the Philosophy in the world will never make men understand their true happiness so much as one hours experience of another State will do all men shall know better but some