DISCOURSES OR SERMONS ON SEVERAL SCRIPTURES BY THE Right Reverend Father in God EZEKIEL Late Lord Bishop of LONDON-DERRY LONDON Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1691. THE PREFACE TO THE READER Christian Reader ALthough the following Sermons need no Epistle to commend them to any intelligent Reader yet Custom having made it necessary to say something for the Satisfaction of the World concerning the Posthumous Works of deceased Persons I shall therefore speak a few Words briefly The Reverend Prelate the Author of them was a Person of great Natural Parts and Excellent Learning as well as of great Piety and Charity One that adorned the Church of England whereof he was an Eminent Pillar ruling well in the Church of God and therefore deserved double Honour as the Apostle speaks And doubtless his Reward is now great in Heaven with his Lord and Master whose Service here on Earth was accounted by him as his highest Honour and that which he professed himself most ambitious of He was a Person of great Modesty and Humility having very mean and low Thoughts of himself and his own Abilities which was the Reason why the World had so little Knowledge of him from the Press having published nothing See his Vanity of the World and A Funeral Sermon c. Octavo but what he was constrained to either by the restless Importunity of Friends or the Commands of those that some Time were his Superiors But the Intendment of this Epistle being not to give the World an Account of the Life of this Excellent Person whose Praise is deservedly in the Church of God I forbear to add any thing farther concerning him hoping it will shortly be done by a more worthy Pen. And as for the following Sermons the excellent Style in which they are written and the exact Accuracy with which they are penn'd may give abundant Satisfaction unto All in the Reading of them that they are His Lordship 's own and were fairly written with his own Hand and copied out from thence since his Death by one of his nearest Relations and so transmitted unto the Press The Subject Matter of them being agreeable to the Divine Inspirations of the Holy Scriptures will speak better for themselves than the Words of any other can And that they may be very useful and profitable unto those that heard them and unto all that shall read them is the hearty and sincere Prayer of the Publisher Farewell THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOK CONTAINING The Titles of the several Subjects treated of therein with the Texts of Scripture from which they are handled I. The Folly of Sinners in making a Mock at Sin from Prov. 14.19 Fools make a Mock at Sin II. True Happiness A Sermon preached at St. Lawrence Jewry from Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have Right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the Gates into the City III. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ A Sermon preached on Easter-Day from Act. 2.24 Whom God hath raised up having loosed the Pains of Death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it IV. Brotherly Admonition In several Sermons from Levit. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him V. The Dreadfulness of God's Wrath against Sinners Explained in several Sermons from Heb. 10.30 31. For we know him that hath said Vengeance belongeth unto me I will recompence saith the Lord. And again The Lord shall judge his People It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God â—primatur Z. Isham R.R.D. Henrico Episc Lond. a Sacris THE FOLLY OF SINNERS In Making a Mock at Sin A SERMON ON PROV XIV IX BY EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-Derry LONDON Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1691. THE FOLLY OF Sinners c. PROV 14.9 Fools make a Mock at Sin WE are not generally to expect any connexion either of Sense or Sentences in this Book of the Proverbs Other parts of Scripture are like a rich Mine where the precious Ore runs along in one continued Vein But this is like a Heap of Pearls which though they are loose and unstrung are not therefore the less excellent or valuable The Text I have now read is one of them an entire Proposition in it self without relation to or dependance upon any Context In it The Division of the Words we have these things considerable First The Character or Periphrasis of wicked and ungodly Men and they are said to be such as make a Mock at Sin Secondly Here is the Censure past upon them by the All-wise God and the wisest of Men they are Fools for so doing Fools make a Mock at Sin The Words are plain and obvious only the Phrase of making a Mock may seem subject to some ambiguity and various acceptations and indeed the Scripture useth it in divers Senses Sometimes it signifies an abusing of others by violent and leud Actions So we read that the Hebrew Servant Gen. 39.17 says Potipher's Wife came in unto me to mock me Sometimes it signifies an exposing of Men to Shame and Dishonour So the wise Man tells us Wine is a mocker Prov. 20.1 Sometimes it signifies an imposing upon the Credulity of others things that seem incredible and impossible So we read in Genesis when Lot had declared to his Sons in Law the Destruction of Sodom it is said Gen. 19.14 He seemed unto them as one that mocked Sometimes it is taken for a failing in our Promises and thereby defeating and frustrating the Expectations of others And thus Herod is said to be mocked by the wise Men Matth. 2.16 in Matth. 2.16 But none of these are at all congruous to our present purpose nor applicable to the Words of the Text. There are therefore two other acceptations of this Expression What 's meant by Mocking frequently occurring in the Holy Scriptures First This Word Mock is commonly taken for scoffing or bitter taunting at others Thus our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ suffered the Flouts and Derisions of an insolent Rabble who set him at nought and mocked him Luk. 23.11 as St. Luke speaks Thus those blessed Martyrs and Confessors that followed his steps are said to have indured the trial of cruel Mockings Heb. 11.36 as the Apostle tells us And indeed this is the difference between a wise Reprover and a bitter Mocker that the Words of the one are like Balm both soft and sanative but the Words of the other are like sharp Swords which cut deep into the Minds of Men and commonly make them rankle into Hatred and Malice And doubtless there are very many Spirits can sooner put up an injury done them than a cutting bitter scoff because nothing expresseth so much Contempt nor shews how despicable we account them as a fleering Gibe
Secondly Mocking may be taken for slighting and making no account of looking upon things or Persons as trivial and inconsiderable And thus it is used in Job where the Horse is said to mock at fear Job 39.2 when he rusheth into the Battel and is not terrified but rather enraged by all the Horrors of War When the Quiver rattleth against him the glittering Spear and the Shield And so it is said of the Leviathan Job 41.29 Job 41.29 He laugheth at the shaking of the Spear for he esteemeth Iron as Straw and Brass as rotten Wood. Now in either of these two Senses may the Words of the Text be taken when they tell us they are Fools that make a Mock at Sin For Sin may be considered A twofold Consideration of Sin either as committed by others or as committed by our solves and it is egregious Folly to make a Mock of either so as to sport at the one or to slight the other First They are Fools that make a Mock at other Men's Sins so as to turn them into a Matter of Jest and Raillery Secondly They are Fools that make a Mock at their own Sins so as to think the Commission of them a slight and inconsiderable thing I shall very briefly speak of the First and so pass on unto the Second Particular First therefore They are Fools that make a Mock at other Men's Sins They are Fools that make a Mock at other Men's Sins so as to make them a matter of Mirth and Pastime This indeed is Sport for Devils all whose Recreation and Hellish Solace is the Sin and Wickedness of Men. The Damnation of Souls is the Sport of Hell And Thou who canst rejoice in their Joy deservest likewise to howl under their Woes and Torments We justly condemn it as a most barbarous and inhumane Custom amongst the ancient Romans who brought many selected Pairs of miserable Men into their publick Theatres only to delight the Spectators with their Blood and Death But this was an innocent Recreation in comparison of thine who takest pleasure to see thy poor Brother wounding and stabbing yea damning his precious Soul Go laugh at a wrethed Man upon the Rack or upon the Wheel Laugh at the odd distorted Postures of Epilepticks or the Convulse Motions of Dying and Expiring Men Sport thy self with their writh'd Looks and antick Shapes of Misery This is far more civil more humane more pious than to make those Sins thy Mirth which will be thy Brothers Eternal Woe and Anguish What thinkest thou Couldst thou look into Hell that place of Torment Couldst thou see there all the Engines of God's Justice and the Devil's Cruelty set on work in the eternal Torture of those who perhaps once made as light of their own Sins as thou dost of other Men's wouldst thou think this a pleasant Spectacle Wouldst thou sport and divert thy self to see how they wallow in Fire and Brimstone or how they circle and twist themselves in unquenchable Flames Certainly such a Sight as this would affect thee with a cold Horrour and a shivering Dread And how then canst thou sport thy self to see thy Brother damning himself since it would fright thee to see him damned Believe it Sirs The Sins that now abound in the World challenge our Tears and Pity We ought to mourn and repent for those who do not who will not repent for themselves It is a sad and a doleful Sight to see so many every where dishonour God disgrace their Natures and destroy their Souls to see some come reeling home disguis'd in all the brutish Shapes that Drunkenness can put upon them ready to discharge their Vomit in the Face of every one they meet Others frantick with Wrath and Rage like a Company of Mad Men Prov. 26.18 flinging about Fire-brands Arrows and Death To see such woeful Transformations and the dire Effects that Sin and Wickedness have caused in the World certainly he that can entertain himself with Mirth at these things hath not only forsworn his Religion but his Humanity and may with much more Reason make the Miseries of poor distracted People chain'd up in Bedlam to become his Sport and Pastime I know it will be here pretended that surely it can be no such great Crime to explode and hiss Sin off the Stage nay it were a proper Means to keep Men from being generally so wicked could we but make Wickedness more ridiculous in them But alas Vice is now-a-days grown too impudent to be laughed out of Countenance and those Methods of a scurrilous Mockery which some plead for as rendring Vice ridiculous have I doubt only made it the more taking and spreading and encouraged others to be the more openly sinful by teaching them to be the more wittily vile and wicked Few will be deterred from sinning when they think they shall but gratifie others by making Sport for them and stir up not their Indignation and Abhorrence but their Mirth and Laughter 'T is true we read that Elijah mock'd the Idolatrous Worshippers of Baal and his Scoffs and Taunts at them were very biting and sarcastical and cut them much deeper than they are said to cut themselves But this he did in a serious and zealous reproving of their Sins not in a jocular and sportive Merriment There are two things in Sin Impiety and Folly we may lawfully enough scorn the one while we are sure to hate and detest the other And a due Mixture of both these together Scorn and Detestation are very fit to enkindle our Zeal for God and may oftentimes be a requisite Temper for him who is to reprove confident and audacious Sinners But to laugh and sport at others Wickedness and to make the Guilt Shame of others our Mirth and Recreation is both unchristian and inhumane and we may as well laugh at their Damnation as at that which will lead them to it Thus to make a Mock at Sin is to make our very Mocks to be our Sins and argues us not only profane but foolish for this is to laugh and rejoyce at our own Stain and Dishonour and to abuse our own Nature that Nature which is common to us as well as others that Nature which were it not debased with Sin renders us but a little lower than the Angels What a fair and glorious Creature was Man before Sin debased and sullied him A Friend to his God Lord of the Creation made a little lower than the Angels being a-kin to them though of a younger House and meaner Extract adorn'd with all both natural and divine Perfections till Sin despoil'd him of his Excellency and made him who was almost equal to the Angels worse than the very Brutes that perish sottish and miserable And canst thou laugh and sport thy self at that which hath ruin'd and undone thee as well as others Thy Nature is blemish'd and corrupted as much as theirs When we look abroad in the World and observe the abominable Wickednesses
Inheritance 3. They have a Right of Promise 1. Obedience to Gods Commandments gives us a Right of Evidence to Eternal Life A Right of Evidence He is judged to have the best Right to an Estate who can produce the best Evidence for it Now the best Evidence that can be shewn for Heaven is our unfeigned Obedience All other things that Men may rely upon to justifie their Title will prove but forged Deeds to which only the Spirit of Presumption or Enthusiasm hath set his Seal and not the Spirit of God and therefore we find how miserably the Confidence of those Wretches were dismounted and their Hopes frustrated who came with Lord Matth. 7.22 Lord Have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Devils and in thy Name have done many wonderful Works All this may be and yet be no good Title no good Evidence for Heaven for if those who cast out Devils have not cast out their Lusts if those who prophesie in his Name by their Sins dishonour and blaspheme that Name if those who are Workers of Miracles are yet Workers of Iniquity he professeth against them that he knows them not and commands them to depart from him for ever as Workers of Iniquity Matth. 7.22 23. whereas on the contrary we find a joyful and blessed Sentence pronounced upon others according to the Evidence brought in for them by their good Works so our Lord himself tells us Come ye Blessed of my Father Matth. 25.30 inherit the Kingdom prepared for you for I was hungry and ye gave me Meat for I was thirsty and ye gave me Drink a Stranger and ye took me in naked and ye cloathed me sick and in Prison and ye visited me This Particle For is not a Note of Causality or Merit but only of Evidence for as Evidences prove our Right to our Possessions so likewise our Obedience and good Works do effectually prove the Right which we have to Eternal Life through Christ's Purchase and God's free Donation and therefore the Evidence being clear the Sentence must in Equity proceed accordingly God as a just and righteous Judge instates them in the Possession of the Kingdom of Heaven because they visited and releived and cherished his Son in his Members Not that their Love to him or their Charity to them purchased any such Right but only proves and evinceth it It is not the Cause of their Justification but a Reason why God declares them justified as the Deeds which I produce are the Reason why an Estate is adjudged mine though the Cause of my Title to it be either my own Purchase or another's Gift As therefore those are said to have no Right nor Title to what they pretend who can shew no Evidence for it so those who obey not the holy Will and Commands of God have no Right to the Tree of Life because they have no Evidence to shew nor no Plea to urge for it but will certainly be cast in their Suit 2. A Right of Heirship Those that do God's Commandments have a Right of Heirship and Inheritance unto Eternal Life for they are born of God and therefore Heaven is their Patrimony their Paternal Estate for so are the Words of the Apostle 1 Joh. 2.29 Every one that doth Righteousness is born of God And if they are born of God then according to the Apostle's Argumentation If Children Rom. 8.17 then Heirs Heirs of God and Joint Heirs with Christ who is the Heir of all things The Trial of thy Legitimation whether thou art a true and genuine Son of God will lie upon thy Obedience to his Commands For in this 1 Joh. 3.9 10. says the Apostle the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil Whosoever is born of God doth not commit Sin and whosoever doth not Righteousness is not of God Now if by our Obedience and Dutifulness it appears that we are indeed the Children of God our Father will certainly give us a Child's Portion and that is no less than a Kingdom So saith our Saviour Luk. 12.32 Fear not little Flock it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom 3. A Right of Promise Those that do God's Commandments have a Right to Eternal Life by Promise and Stipulation and therefore it is called Eternal Life Tit. 1.2 which God that cannot lie hath promised Indeed the whole Tenour of the Gospel is nothing else but the Exhibition of this Promise and a Comment upon it This is the Summ of the Gospel the Terms of the Covenant Matth. 19.17 the Indenture made between God and Man If thou wilt enter into Life says our Saviour keep the Commandments And in another place our Lord tells us Matth. 7.21 Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven And thus you see what Right it is that Obedience to the Commands of God gives us to Eternal Life A Right of Evidence a Right of Heirship and a Right of Promise Objection But may some say Is not this again to establish the antiquated Covenant of Works Do this and live And doth not this abolish the Law of Faith He that believeth shall be saved Is it not the Office of Faith alone to convey unto us a Right and Title unto Eternal Life Answer I answer No it doth no prejudice unto Faith for we still affirm that our original and fundamental Right to Heaven is grounded not upon our Obedience but Christ's not upon our Works but upon his his Merits and Purchase which through Faith are imparted and imputed to us Yet give me leave to say that I think the Notion of Justifying and Saving Faith is very much if not generally mistaken by us And as the Soul is the most noble and most vital Principle of Man and yet is most unknown to him what it is and how it operates so Faith which is the vital Principle of Christians and by which the Just are said to live is yet most unknown both as to its Nature and Operations unto the Generality of them Some place it in Assurance some in Affiance and Recumbence some in one Act of Faith and some in another which are either the Effects of Faith as true or the Degrees of it as strong rather than the proper and adequate Nature and Essence of it and then they mightily puzzle themselves how to accord and reconcile Faith and Obedience in carrying on the great Work of our Salvation which yet were never at a variance about it but only in their mistaken Hypothesis For what is Faith but an Assent to a Testimony The very force and import of the Word can carry no other Sense And he that saith he believes must needs mean he believes some Record or Testimony or else he speaks that which neither himself nor any other can understand Consequently
therefore a Divine Faith must be an Assent to a Divine Testimony that is to the Word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures But now if this Faith rest only in a bare and naked Assent to the Truth of Divine Revelation it is but Historical and Dogmatical which though it be a Divine Faith in respect of the Objects believed yet is it but Humane and Natural in respect of its Principle and Motives But when this Assent to the Truths of the Scripture is joined with proportionable Affections to those Truths and doth excite us to Actions conformable to the Discoveries of the Divine Will there this Faith is Justifying and Saving And certainly this is not so very distant from Obedience as to be thought hardly reconcileable with it As for Instance A Man may give a bare Assent to this great Gospel-Truth that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners and yet this Faith may not save him because it may be unoperative and pass no farther than the Act of the Understanding This is a dead Faith which can never bring any Man to Heaven yea such a Faith as the very Devils and Damned Jam. 2.19 Spirits in Hell have who believe and tremble Another Man believes the same Truth and assents to the same Proposition but this his Assent influenceth his Affections and governs his Actions in Conformity to the Nature and Consequences of such a Belief And because he is assured that Jesus Christ came into the World to be the Saviour of it therefore he loves him trusts in him relies upon him hopes in his Promises and obeys his Commands And this indeed What Saving Faith is is a true Saving Justifying Faith for Saving Faith is a firm Assent unto the Truths of God revealed in the holy Scriptures working in us proportionable Affections and Actions He who so believes the Glory of Heaven as to have his Endeavours thereby quickned to use his utmost Diligence for the obtaining of it He who so believes the Torments of Hell as thereby to be terrified from doing any thing that might expose him to so great and fearful a Condemnation He who so believes the Attributes of God as thereby to be excited to fear him for his Greatness to love him for his Goodness to imitate him in his Bounty Purity and Holiness He who so believes the All-sufficiency Merits and Mediatory Office of Jesus Christ as thereby to be engaged with all his Soul to love him to trust in him to rely upon him alone for Salvavation and to yield to him all sincere Obedience as the Law requires such an ones Faith is Saving and Justifying So that you see there is no such Discord between Faith and Works as some would imagine for that Faith that saves us must work by Love Gal. 5.6 and those Works which capacitate us for Salvation must be the Obedience of Faith Rom. 16.26 as it is called Rom. 16.26 Use Now What is the End of all this but to press you to true practical Holiness and a strict Obedience to the Commandments of God If I should go from one Person to another and ask you one by one Do you hope to be saved Where is the Man that would not testifie the Confidence of his Hopes by his Disdain at the Question Yea but remember that Salvation is a litigious Claim and you have a powerful Adversary that puts in a strong Plea against you even the Justice of God and his Eternal Wrath and Vengeance whose Title to us were it but better weighed and considered would wofully stagger the Hopes of most Men and make their Faces gather Blackness and smite their Hearts with Amazement and their Knees with Trembling In a Matter of such infinite Importance it highly concerns us to examine our Right and Title and to peruse and try our Evidences lest at the Day of Trial we be cast in our Suit and pay dreadful Damages unto the Justice of God Only those who do God's Commandments have this Right to the Tree of Life Christ hath indeed purchased Salvation for all Heb. 5.19 but he is the Author of Salvation only to those who obey him as the Author to the Hebrews speaks Heb. 2.14 And Without Holiness no Man shall ever see the Lord. The Inheritance is indeed purchased but where are your Evidences of your Heirship Sirs flatter not your selves with any vain Conceits of the Mercy of the Gospel in prejudice to the Authority of the Law The Commandments are the Statute-Law of God's Kingdom the Gospel is his Court of Chancery but neither Justice nor Equity will relieve those who have not done their utmost to observe his Statute-Law and therefore those who indulge themselves in their Sloth and wilful Neglect both of what they ought and might have done do but deceive their Souls with vain Hopes they have no Right to the Eternal Inheritance but their Portion must for ever be with Dogs and Swine without the holy City into which no unclean thing shall ever enter And if any think this Legal Preaching let mine ever be so THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST A SERMON PREACHED ON EASTER-DAY FROM ACTS II. XXIV BY EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-Derry LONDON Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1691. THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST c. ACT. 2.24 Whom God hath raised up having loosed the Pains of Death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it CHristian Religion is founded upon such mysterious and supernatural Truths Introduction and the Principles of it are so paradoxal to the received Opinions of Mankind that the greatest Persecution it ever found in the World was not so much from Fire and Sword Racks and Tortures the evident Cruelties of the first Opposers of it as from the Magisterial Dictates of partial and corrupt Reason The Philosophers whom Tertullian calls the Patrons of Hereticks have established two peremptory Maxims utterly repugnant unto what the Scripture reveals to us both concerning our Happiness Comfort The one is Ex nihilo nihil habetur Out of nothing nothing can be made directly levell'd against the Creation of the World And the other is A privatione ad habitum non datur Regressus There is no Restoration of the same Being after a total Corruption and Dissolution of it which still continues a great Prejudice against the Resurrection of our Bodies which the Oracles of Reason have so much troubled the World with that whatsoever seem'd in the least contradictory to it they judged contradictory to common Sense and exploded it as ridiculous and impossible Under these great Disadvantages the Christian Religion labour'd whilst it not only own'd the Creation of the World out of nothing formerly described by Moses but more clearly and openly attested the Resurrection of the Dead which before was not either so clearly known or so clearly proved for these Doctrines were held so absurd by the great Sophisters of the
Justice of God arrayed in all the terrible Circumstances of it that if Mercy cannot allure us Justice at least might affright us from our Sins And as those who are to travel thorow Wildernesses and Deserts carry Fire with them to terrify wild and ravenous Beasts and to secure themselves from their Assaults So doth the great God who hath to deal with brutish Men Men more savage than wild Beasts he kindles a Fire about him and appears to them all in Flames and Fury that so he might fright them from their bold Attempts who otherwise would be ready to run upon his Neck and upon the thick Bosses of his Buckler Job 15.26 And therefore in the four precedent Verses we find the Apostle threatning most tremendous Judgments against all that should wilfully trangress after they had received the knowledg of the Truth He tells us Verse 26. That there remains no more sacrifice for their Sins Nothing to expiate their Guilt but that they themselves must fall a Burnt-Sacrifice to the offended Justice of God consumed with that fiery Indignation that shall certainly seize and prey upon them for ever And in v. Heb. 10.28 29. 28 29. he sets forth the exceeding Dreadfulness of their Judgment by a comparison between those that violated the Law of Moses and those that renounce and annul the Law of Christ He that despised Moses 's Law who himself was but a Servant and his Laws consisted of inferiour and less spiritual Ordinances yet a Despiser and Transgressor of these was to die without Mercy certainly much sorer Judgments await those who reject the Laws of Christ and trample him who is the Son and Lord of the House under foot accounting his Blood unholy and prophane renouncing his Merits and blaspheming the Holy Spirit by which our Saviour acted Such as these says the Apostle shall eternally perish with less Mercy than those that died without Mercy Where by the way observe the strange Emphasis that the Apostle lays upon this dreadful Commination he tells us they shall be sorer punish'd than those that are punished without Mercy to let us know that as there are transcendent Glories such as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive reserved in the highest Heavens for those that love God so also are there Woes and Torments such as Eye hath not seen Ear heard nor can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive how great and insupportable they are prepared in Hell for those that hate him They shall die with less Mercy than those that die without Mercy Now that we might not wonder at such a Paradox as this the Apostle gives the Reason of it in my Text For we know him that hath said Vengeance belongeth unto me it is the Vengeance of God and a falling into the Hands of God and therefore it is no wonder if their Punishments shall be beyond all extremity They fall under the Power and Wrath of an infinite God which when we have heaped Superlatives upon Superlatives yet still we must express defectively and all that we can conceive of it falls vastly short of reaching but a faint and languishing resemblance thereof It is a State so full of perfect Misery that Misery it self is too easy a Name to give it yea whatsoever we can speak most appositly of it is but diminishing it for because it is the Wrath and Vengeance of an infinite God it can no more be known by us than God himself Plunge your Thoughts as deep into it as you can yet still there remains an infinite Abysse which you can never fathom And O that the consideration of this Wrath might cause us all to tremble before this great and terrible God that we might so fear it as never to feel it and be perswaded to fall down at his Feet that we may never fall into his Hands And that we may be thus affected I have chosen this Text to set forth the Greatness and Dreadfulness of that Wrath and Vengeance which the righteous God will execute upon all stubborn and disobedient Wretches A Text that speaks to us as God did to the Israelites from Mount Sinai out of the midst of the Fire and Blackness Darkness and Tempest in the Voice of a Trumpet And truly we have all need to have such rousing Truths frequently inculcated upon us for the best of us are Lethargical and though sometimes when our Consciences are pincht hard by a severe and searching Truth we start up and look abroad yet as soon as the present Impression is over we suddenly close our Eyes and fall asleep again in Sin and Security There is a strange Dullness and Stupor hath seiz'd us that we can no longer keep waking than we are shook And therefore as we use to apply Fire and burning Coals to Lethargick Persons to awaken them so we have need to heap Coals of Fire upon Mens Heads to speak with fiery Tongues and thunder Woe and Wrath and Judgments against them that we may rouze the secure stupid World and so at least scorch them into Life and Sense In the Words we have these two Parts observable First An Appropriation of Vengeance unto God Vengeance belongeth unto me I will recompence saith the Lord. Secondly The Dreadfulness of that Vengeance inferred from the consideration of the Author and Inflicter of it It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the living God I begin with the first of these God's appropriating and challenging Vengeance unto himself Vengeance belongeth unto me I will recompence saith the Lord. Which Passage the Apostle cites out of Deuteronomy ch Deut. 32.35 32.35 36. To me belongeth Vengeance and Recompence and the Lord shall judge his People It is his great and royal Prerogative that he doth sometimes make use of in inflicting Judgments upon the Wicked in this World but most especially in the World to come And to this future Vengeance the Words ought particularly to be applyed Now from this consideration That Vengeance in a peculiar Manner belongs unto the great God hence we may observe That God himself will be the immediate Inflicter of the Punishments of the Damned It is therefore here likewise called a falling into the Hands of the living God which denotes his immediate Efficiency in their Torments It is true God doth use several Instruments of Torture in Hell There is the Worm that never dies and the Fire that never goes out which I suppose to be not only a Metaphorical but possibly a Material Fire elevated to such a degree of Subtilty as that it shall at once torture the Soul and not consume the Body And this Fire the Devils who are their Executioners will be still very officiously raking about them using all their malicious Art to increase their eternal Misery But yet these things are but small Appendages and only the slighter Circumstances of their Torments the most exact and intolerable part of
Fury upon thee And when it falls in all its weight and force upon thee thou hast nothing to uphold or support thee It is true the Almighty Power of God shall continue thee in thy Being but thou wilt for ever curse and blaspeme that Support that shall be given thee only to perpetuate thy Torments and ten thousand times wish that God would destroy thee once for all and that thou mightest for ever shrink away into nothing but that alas poor miserable Wretch will not be granted thee no thou shalt not have so much as the relief and comfort of dying nor escape the Vengeance of God by Annihilation but his Power will for ever so support thee as for ever to torment thee which is only such a Support as a Man is supported on the Rack or on the Wheel supported so as they cannot come off the very Engine of their Torture upholds them And as for any help or relief the Ministry of Angels will afford thee think what solace it will bring thee when God shall set on whole Legions of infernal Ghosts black and hideous Spirits as the Executioners of his Wrath who shall for ever triumph in thy Woes and add to them hurl Fire-brands at thee heap fewel about thee and fully satiate their Malice upon thee as God satisfies his Justice And this is one Consideration of the dreadfulness of this Vengeance in that it aims at and exacts satisfaction for Sin which will be infinitely intolerable because our Sins are infinite both in Number and Heinousness And because Jesus Christ who was to satisfy not for his own but for the Sins of others though he were upheld by the Divine Nature and possibly underwent not such Acrimony of Wrath as the Damned do yet his Sufferings were unspeakable and unknown Sorrows And how much sorer then shall wicked Men bear for their own Sins when Justice shall come to reckon with them and to exact from them to the very utmost Farthing of all that they owe Secondly Consider that Revenging Wrath stirs up all that is in God against a Sinner Wrath when it is whet and set on by Revenge redoubles a Man's Force and makes him perform Things that he could not do in his cold Blood it fires all a Man's Spirits and calls them forth to express their utmost Efforts So this Revenging Wrath of God draws forth all the Force and Activity of his Attributes and sets them against a Sinner and how dreadful then must that Execution needs be We see what great Works God can perform when he is not stirred up thereunto by his Wrath and Indignation He speaks a whole World into Being and speaks it with a cold and calm Breath Certainly it was no small peice of work to spread out the Heavens and lay the Foundations of the Earth and to work all those Wonders of Creation and Providence which we daily behold but yet all these Things God did if I may so speak without any Emotion But when he comes to take Vengeance upon Sinners he is then inflamed all that is in God is as it were on fire Jealousy says Solomon is the Rage of a Man Proverbs 6.34 Prov. 6.34 Now when God's Jealousy shall be stirred in him think how impetuously it will break forth in the fearful effects of it Isa 42.13 Isa 42.13 The Lord shall stir up Jealousy like a Man of War he shall cry yea roar he shall prevail against his Enemies If the calm and sedate Works of God are so great and wonderful how great then will his Vengeance be when Anger Fury and Indignation shall excite and whet his Power to shew the very utmost of what it can do And therefore we find that though God had inflicted dreadful Plagues upon the Israelites in the Wilderness and had shewn mighty effects of his Power and Vengeance yet we find the Church blesseth him That he turned away his Anger and did not stir up all his Wrath. Psal 78.38 But in Hell God stirs up all his Wrath every thing is set and bent against the Damned And as to the Saints in Heaven every Attribute of God concurs to make him merciful and gracious to them So to the Wicked in Hell all the Perfections of God conspire either to stir up and kindle his Wrath or else to assist him in the execution of it upon them The infinite Wisdom of God contrives their Punishments and which way to lay them on so that they shall be most sharp and poinant The Power of God that rouses it self against them and proffers all its Succours and Assistance unto Vengeance The Eternity and Unchangeableness of God come in as a dreadful Addition and makes that Wrath which of it self is insupportable to be also everlasting Yea that sweet and mild Attribute of God his Mercy the only Refuge and the only comfort of miserable Mankind yet even this turns against them too and because they despised it when it shone forth in Patience and Forbearance will not now regard them when they stand in need of its Rescue and Deliverance So that all that is in God arms it self to take Vengeance on Sinners And O think how sore and fearful that Vengeance will be when God shall put forth all that is in himself for the executing of his Wrath upon impenitent Sinners And thus I have done with the Demonstrations of the Dreadfulness of God's Wrath taken from the Words in the Text Vengeance is mine I will recompence it 'T is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the living God Let us now consider some other Demonstrations of the Greatness of this Wrath. And First It appears to be exceeding dreadful in that it is set forth to us in Scripture by all those things which are most terrible to Humane Nature God maketh use of many Metaphorical Expressions of things most grievous to our Senses that from them we may take an hint to conceive how intolerable his Wrath is in it self It is called a Prison 1 Pet. 3.19 1 Peter 3.19 where mention is made of the Spirits in Prison that is the Souls of those Men to whom the Spirit of Christ in Noah went and preached in the Days of their Mortal Life but for their Disobedience are shut up under the Wrath of God in Hell And certainly Hell is a Prison large enough to hold all the World Psalm 9.17 Psal 9.17 The Wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God A Prison it is where the Devil and wicked Spirits are shackled with Chains of massy and substantial Darkness 2 Peter 2.4 They are 2 Pet. 2.4 says the Apostle reserved in Chains of Darkness unto the Judgment of the great Day And they are there kept in everlasting Chains under Darkness not one Cranny in this great Prison to let in the least ray or glimpse of Light It is called a Place of Torment Luke 16.28 Luke 16.28 It is a Region of Woe and