present advantage although they are sure in a very little time to lose both their Interest and the Principal too How many for the sake of the Honours and Preferments of this World are willing to do by their Consciences as the Indian did by his Letter lay them aside till their business be done and then expect to hear no more of them What poor and trifling things in this World do men continually venture their souls for As though all were clear gains which they could put off so dead a commodity as the Salvation of their Souls for How apt are such to applaud themselves for their own skill when meerly by a little swearing and lying and cheating things which cost them nothing but a few words they can defeat the designs of their Enemies and compass their own But how low is the rate of Souls fallen in the esteem of such persons as these are If they had not been of any greater value they had not been worth any ordinary man's much less the Son of God's laying down his life for the redemption of them Is this all the requital men make him for the travail of his Soul the wounds of his Body the bitterness of his Passion to squander away those Souls upon any trifling advantages of this world which he shed his most precious blood for the redemption of Whenever men are tempted to sin with the hopes of gain let them but consider how much they undervalue not only their own Souls but the eternal Son of God and all that he hath done and suffered for the sake of the Souls of men If there had been no greater worth in our Souls silver and gold would have been a sufficient price of redemption for them for if men lose their Souls for these things it is a sign they set a higher value upon them But God's justice was not to be bribed his wrath against sin was not to be appeased by the greatest riches of this World nothing but the inestimable blood of Christ would be accepted for the purchase of Souls and when they are so dearly bought must they be cast away upon such trifles as the riches and honours of this World are in comparison with them These are men who lose their Souls upon design but there are others so prodigal of them that they can play and sport them away or lose them only because it is the custom to do so With whom all the reasons and arguments in the world cannot prevail to leave off their sins if it once be accounted a â—ashion to commit them Yea so dangerous things are fashionable vices that some will seem to be worse than they are although few continue long Hypocritical in that way that they might not be out of the fashion and some will be sure to follow it if not out-do it though to the eternal ruine of their Souls But although all damn'd persons at the great day will be confounded and ashamed yet none will be more ridiculously miserable than such who go to Hell for fashion-sake What a strange account would this be at the dreadful day of judgment for any to plead for themselves that they knew that chastity temperance sobriety and devotion were things more pleasing to God but it was grown a Mode to be vicious and they had rather be damned thâ—n be out of the fashion The most charitable opinion we can have of such persons now is that they do not think they have any Souls at all for it is prodigious folly for men to believe they have Souls that are immortal and yet be so regardless of them Yet these who are vicious out of complyance are not the only persons who shew so little care of their Souls what shall we say to those who enjoying the good things of this life scarce ever do so much as think of another Who are very solicitous about every little mode of attire for their bodies and think no time long enough to be spent in the grand affairs of dressing and adorning their out-sides but from one end of the year to the other never spend one serious thought about eternity or the future state of their souls Their utmost contrivances are how to pass away their days with the greatest ease and pleasure to themselves and never consider what will become of their souls when they come to die Alas poor immortal souls are they become the only contemptible things men have about them All care is lâ—ttle enough with some for the body for the pampering and indulging of that and making provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof but any cure is thought too much for the soul and no time passes so heavily away as the hours of devotion do The very shew of Religion is looked on as a burden what then do they think of the practice of it The Devil himself shews a greater esâ—eem of the souls of men than such persons do for he hath been always very active and industrious in seeking their ruin but is ready enough to comply with all the inclinations of the body or mens designs in this world nay he makes the greatest use of these as the most powerful temptations for the ruin of their souls by all which it is evident that being our greatest enemy he aims only at the ruin of that which is of greatest value and consideration and that is the thing so much despised by wicked men viz. the soul. These do in effect tell the Devil he may spare his pains in tempting them they can do his work fast enough themselves and destroy their own souls without any help from him And if all men were so bent upon their own ruin the Devil would have so little to do that he must find out some other imployment besides that of tempting to divert himself with unless it be the greatest diversion of all to him to see men turned Devils to themselves But are the temptations of this world so infatuating that no reason or consideration can bring men to any care of or regard to their souls we have no ground to think so since there have been and I hope still are such who can despise the glittering vanities the riches and honours the pleasures and delights of this world when they stand in competition with the eternal happiness of their souls in a better world And that not out of a sullen humour or a morose temper or a discontented mind but from the most prudent weighing and ballancing the gain of this world and the loss of the soul together For what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall he give in exchange for his soul. 3. Which is the last particular to represent the folly of losing the soul though it were for the gain of the whole world Which will appear by comparing the gain and the loss with each other in these Four things 1. The gain here proposed is at the best but possible to
for the reputation of their wisdom than the meer vogue of the people He who was pronounced by the Heathen Oracle to be the wisest among the Greeks was the person who brought down Philosophy from the obscure and uncertain speculations of Nature and in all his discourses recommended Vertue as the truest Wisdom And he among the Iews whose soul was as large as the sand on the Sea-shore whose wisdom out-went that of all the persons of his own or future Ages writes a Book on purpose to perswade men that there is no real wisdom but to fear God and keep his Commandments that sin is the greatest folly and the meaner apprehensions men have of it the more they are infatuated by the temptations to it But as there are degrees of sinning so there are of folly in it Some sin with a blushing Countenance and a trembling Conscience they sin but yet they are afraid to sin but in the act of it they condemn themselves for what they do they sin but with confusion in their faces with horror in their minds and an earthquake in their Consciences though the condition of such persons be dangerous and their unquietness shews the greatness of their folly yet because these twitches of Conscience argue there are some quick touches left of the sence of good and evil their case is not desperate nor their condition incurable But there are others who despise these as the reproach of the School of Wickedness because they are not yet attained to those heights of impiety which they glory in such who have subdued their Consciences much easier than others do their sins who have almost worn out all the impressions of the work of the Law written in their hearts who not only make a practice but a boast of sin and defend it with as much greediness as they commit it these are the men whose folly is manifest to all men but themselves and surely since these are the men whom Solomon in the words of the Text describes 1. By their character as Fools and 2. By the instance of their folly in making a mock at sin We may have not only the liberty to use but 1. To prove that Name of reproach to be due unto them and 2. To shew the reasonableness of fastning it upon them because they make a mock at sin But before I come more closely to pursue that it will be necessary to consider another sence of these words caused by the ambiguity of the Hebrew Verb which sometimes signifies to deride and scorn sometimes to plead for and excuse a thing with all the arts of Rhetorick thence the word for Rhetorick is derived from the Verb here used according to which sense it notes all the plausible pretences and subtle extenuations which wicked men use in defence of their evil actions For as if men intended to make some recompence for the folly they betray in the acts of sin by the wit they employ in the pleading for them there is nothing they shew more industry and care in than in endeavouring to baffle their own Consciences and please themselves in their folly till death and eternal â—lames awaken them That we may not therefore seem to beg all wicked men for Fools till we have heard what they have to say for themselves we shall first examine the reasonableness of their fairest Pleas for their evil actions before we make good the particular impeachment of folly against them There are three ways especially whereby they seek to jusâ—ifie themselves by laying the blame of all their evil actions either upon the fatal necessity of all events the unavoidable frailty of humane nature or the impossibility of keeping the Laws of Heaven But that none of these will serve to excuse them from the just imputation of folly is our present business to discover 1. The fatal necessity of all humane actions Those who upon any other terms are unwilling willing enough to own either God or Providence yet if they can but make these serve their turn to justifie their sins by their quarrel against them then ceaseth as being much more willing that God should bear the blame of their sins than themselves But yet the very fears of a Deity suggest so many dreadful thoughts of his Majesty Iustice and Power that they are very well contented to have him wholly left out and then to suppose Man to be a meer Engine that is necessarily moved by such a train and series of causes that there is no action how bad soever that is done by him which it was any more possible for him not to have done than for the fire not to burn when it pleases If this be true farewel all the differences of good and evil in mens actions farewel all expectations of future rewards and punishments Religion becomes but a meer name and righteousness but an art to live by But it is with this as it is with the other arguments they use against Religion there is something within which checks and controlls them in what they say and that inward remorse of Conscience which such men sometimes feel in their evil actions when conscience is forced to recoil by the foulness of them doth effectually confute their own hypothesis and makes them not believe those actions to be necessary for which they suffer so much in themselves because they knew they did them freely Or it is as fatal for man to believe himself free when he is not so as it is for him to act when his choice is determined but what series of causes is there that doth so necessarily impose upon the common sense of all mankind It seems very strange that man should have so little sense of his own interest to be still necessitated to the worst of actions and yet torment himself with the thoughts that he did them freely Or is it only the freedom of action and not of choice that men have an experience of within themselves But surely however men may subtilly dispute of the difference between these two no man would ever believe himself to be free in what he does unless he first thought himself to be so in what he determines And if we suppose man to have as great a freedom of choice in all his evil actions which is the liberty we are now speaking of as any persons assert or contend for we cannot suppose that he should have a greater experience of it than now he hath So that either it is impossible for man to know when his choice is free or if it may be known the constant experience of all evil men in the world will testifie that it is so now Is it possible for the most intemperate person to believe when the most pleasing temptations to lust or gluttony are presented to him that no consideration whatever could restrain his appetite or keep him from the satisfaction of his brutish inclinations Will not the sudden though groundless apprehension of poyson in the Cup make the
Drunkards heart to ake and hand to tremble and to let fall the supposed fatal mixture in the midst of all his jollity and excess How often have persons who have designed the greatest mischief to the lives and fortunes of others when all opportunities have fallen out beyond their expectation for accomplishing their ends through some sudden thoughts which have surprized them almost in the very act been diverted from their intended purposes Did ever any yet imagine that the charms of beauty and allurements of lust were so irresistible that if men knew before-hand they should surely dye in the embraces of an adulterous bed they could not yet withstand the temptations to it If then some considerations which are quite of another nature from all the objects which are presented to him may quite hinder the force and efficacy of them upon the mind of man as we see in Ioseph's resisting the importunate Caresses of his Mistress what reason can there be to imagine that man is a meer machine moved only as outward objects determine him And if the considerations of present fear and danger may divert men from the practice of evil actions shall not the far more weighty considerations of eternity have at least an equal if not a far greater power and efficacy upon mens minds to keep them from everlasting misery Is an immortal soul and the eternal happiness of it so mean a thing in our esteem and value that we will not deny our selves those sensual pleasures for the sake of that which we would renounce for some present danger Are the flames of another world such painted fires that they deserve only to be laughed at and not seriously considered by us Fond man art thou only free to ruine and destroy thy self a strange fatality indeed when nothing but what is mean and trivial shall determine thy choice when matters of the highest moment are therefore less regarded because they are such Hast thou no other plea for thy self but that thy sins were fatal thou hast no reason then to believe but that thy misery shall be so too But if thou ownest a God and Providence assure thy self that justice and righteousness are not meer Titles of his Honour but the real properties of his nature And he who hath appointed the rewards and punishments of the great day will then call the sinner to account not only for all his other sins but for offering to lay the imputation of them upon himself For if the greater abhorrency of mens evil ways the rigour of his laws the severity of his judgments the exactness of his justice the greatest care used to reclaim men from their sins and the highest assurance that he is not the cause of their ruine may be any vindication of the holiness of God now and his justice in the life to come we have the greatest reason to lay the blame of all our evil actions upon our selves as to attribute the glory of all our good unto himself alone 2. The frailty of humane Nature those who find themselves to be free enough to do their souls mischief and yet continue still in the doing of it find nothing more ready to plead for themselves than the unhappiness of mans composition and the degenerate state of the world If God had designed they are ready to say that man should lead a life free from sin why did he confine the soul of man to a body so apt to taint and pollute it But who art thou O man that thus findest fault with thy Maker Was not his kindness the greater in not only giving thee a soul capable of enjoying himself but such an habitation for it here which by the curiosity of its contrivance the number and usefulness of its parts might be a perpetual and domestick testimony of the wisdom of its Maker Was not such a conjunction of soul and body necessary for the exercise of that dominion whâ—ch God designed man for over the creatures endued only with sense and motion And if we suppose this life to be a state of tryal in order to a better as in all reason we ought to do what can be imagined more proper to such a state than to have the soul constantly employed in the Government of those sensual inclinations which arise from the body In the doing of which the proper exercise of that vertue consists which is made the condition of future happiness Had it not been for such a composition the differencâ— could never have been seen between good and bad men i. e. between those who maintain the Empire of reason assisted by the motives of Religion over all the inferiour faculties and such who dethrone their souls and make them slaves to every lust that will command them And if men willingly subject themselves to that which they were born to rule they have none to blame but themselves for it Neither is it any excuse at all that this through the degeneracy of mankind is grown the common custom of the world unless that be in it self so great a Tyrant that there is no resisting the power of it If God had commanded us to comply with all the customs of the world and at the same time to be sober righteous and good we must have lived in another age than we live in to have excused these two commands from a palpable contradiction But instead of this he hath forewarned us of the danger of being led aside by the soft and easie compliances of the world and if we are sensible of our own infirmities as we have all reason to be he hath offered us the assistance of his Grace and of that Spirit of his which is greater than the Spirit that is in the World He hath promised us those weapons whereby we may withstand the torrent of wickedness in the world with far greater success than the old Gauls were wont to do in the inundations of their Country whose custom was to be drowned with their arms in their hands But it will be the greater folly in us to be so because we have not only sufficient means of resistance but we understand the danger before-hand If we once forsake the strict rules of Religion and Goodness and are ready to yield our selves to whatever hath got retainers enough to set up for a custom we may know where we begin but we cannot where we shall make an end For every fresh assault makes the breach wider at which more enemies may come in still so that when we find our selves under their power we are contented for our own ease to call them Friends Which is the unhappy consequence of too easie yielding at first till at last the greatest slavery to sin be accounted but good humour and a gentile compliance with the fashions of the world So that when men are perswaded eithâ—r through fear or too great easiness to disuse that strict eye which they had before to their actions it oft-times falls out with them
of a future happiness by it that they valued Martyrdoms above Crowns and Scepters But God be thanked we may hope to come to Heaven on easier terms than these or else many others might never come thither besides those who think to make this a pretence for their sin that now when with encouragement and honour we may practise our Religion the commands of it are thought impossible by them Thus we have made good the general Charge here implyed against wicked men in that they are called Fools by examining the most plausible pretences they bring for themselves I now come to the particular impeachment of their folly because they make a mock at sin And that I shall prove especially by two things 1. Because this argues the highest degree of wickedness 2. Because it betrays the greatest weakness of judgment and want of consideration 1. Because it argues the highest degree of wickedness If to sin be folly to make a mock at it is little short of madness It is such a height of impiety that few but those who are of very proffigate consciences can attain to without a long custom in sinning For Conscience is at first modest and starts and boggles at the appearance of a great wickedness till it be used to it and grown familiar with it It is no such easie matter for a man to get the mastery of his conscience a great deal of force and violence must be used to ones self before he does it The natural impressions of good and evil the fears of a Deity and the apprehensions of a future state are such curbs and checks in a sinners way that he must first sin himself beyond all â—eeling of these before he can attain to the seat of the scorners And we may justly wonder how any should ever come thither when they must break through all that is ingenuous and modest all that is vertuous and good all that is tender and apprehensive in humane nature before they can arrive at it They must first deny a God and despise an immortal soul they must conquer their own reason and cancel the Law written in their hearts they must hate all that is serious and yet soberly believe themselves to be no better than the beasts that perish before men can come to make a scoff at religion and a mock at sin And who now could ever imagine that in a Nation professing Christianity among a people whose genius enclines them to civility and religion yea among those who have the greatest advantages of behaviour and education and who are to give the Laws of civility to the rest of the Nation there should any be found who should deride religion make sport with their own profaneness and make so light of nothing as being damned I come not here to accuse any and least of all those who shew so much regard of religion as to be present in the places devoted to sacred purposes but if there be any such here whose consciences accuse themselves for any degrees of so great impiety I beseech them by all that is dear and precious to them by all that is sacred and serious by the vows of their Baptism and their participation of the Holy Eucharist by all the kindness of Heaven which they either enjoy or hope for by the death and sufferings of the Son of God that they would now consider how great folly and wickedness they betray in it and what the dreadful consequence of it will be if they do not timely repent of it If it were a doubt as I hope it is not among any here whether the matters of Religion be true or no they are surely things which ought to be seriously thought and spoken of It is certainly no jesting matter to affront a God of infinite Maiesty and Power and he judges every wilful sinner to do so nor can any one in his wits think it a thing not to be regarded whether he be eternally happy or miserable Methinks then among persons of civility and honour above all others Religion might at least be treated with the respect and reverence due to the concernments of it that it be not made the sport of Entertainments nor the common subject of Plays and Comedies For is there nothing to trifle with but God and his Service Is wit grown so schismatical and sacrilegious that it can please it self with nothing but holy ground Are prophaneness and wit grown such inseparable companions that none shall be allowed to pretend to the one but such as dare be highly guilty of the other Far be it from those who have but the name of Christians either to do these things themselves or to be pleased with them that do them especially in such times as ours of late have been when God hath used to many ways to make us serious if any thing would ever do it If men had only slighted God and Religion and made a mock at sin when they had grown wanton through the abundance of peace and plenty and saw no severities of God's justice used upon such who did it yet the fault had been so great as might have done enough to have interrupted their peace and destroyed that plenty which made them out of the greatness of their pride and wantonnâ—ss to kick against Heaven but to do it in despight of all God's judgments to laugh in his face when his rod is upon our backs when neither Pestilence nor Fire can make us more afraid of him exceedingly aggravates the impiety and makes it more unpardonable When like the old Germans we dance among naked swords when men shall defie and reproach Heaven in the midst of a Cities ruines and over the graves of those whom the arrows of the Almighty have heaped together what can be thought of such but that nothing will make them serious but eternal misery And are they so sure there is no such rising to be feared that they never think of it but when by their execrable oaths they call upon God to damn them for fear he should not do it time enough for them Thus will men abuse his patience and provoke his justice while they trample upon his kindness and slight his severities while they despise his Laws and mock at the breaches of them what can be added more to their impiety or what can be expected by such who are guilty of it but that God should quickly discover their mighty folly by letting them see how much they have deceived themselves since God will not be mocked but because of these things the wrath of God will most certainly come upon the children of disobedience Which leads to the second thing wherein this folly is seen 2. Which is in the weakness of judgment and want of consideration which this betrays in men Folly is the great unsteadiness of the mind in the thoughts of what is good and fitting to be done It were happy for many in the world if none should suffer in their
to be spoken by our Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness by signs and wonders c. Wherein we have all the satisfaction which the minds of reasonable men could desire as to these things It might be justly expected that the messenger of so great news to the World should be no mean and ordinary person neither was he for the honour was as great in the person who brought it as the importance was in the thing it self No less than the Eternal Son of God came down from the Bosom of his Father to rectifie the mistakes of Mankind and not only to shew them the way to be happy but by the most powerful arguments to perswade them to be so Nay we find all the three persons of the Trinity here engaged in the great work of mans salvation it was first spoken by our Lord God also bearing them witness and that with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost So that not only the first revelation was from God but the testimony to confirm that it was so was from him too there being never so clear an attestation of any divine truths as was of the Gospel From whence it follows that the foundation whereon our Faith stands is nothing short of a divine testimony which God gave to the truth of that revelation of his will so vain are the cavils of those who say we have nothing but meer probabilities for our Faith and do interpret that manner of proof which matters of fact are capable of in a sense derogatory to the firmness of our Christian Faith As tho' we made the Spirit of God a Paraclete or Advocate in the worst sense which might as well plead a bad as a good cause No we acknowledge that God himself did bear witness to that doctrine deliver'd by our Lord and that in a moâ—t signal and effectual manner for the conviction of the world by those demonâ—â—rations of a divine power which accompanied the first Preachers of salvation by the Gospel of Christ. So that here the Apostle briefly and clearly resolves our Faith if you ask Why we believe that great salvation which the Gospel ofâ—ers the anâ—wer is Because it was declared by our Lord who neither could nor woulâ— deceive us if it be asked How we know that this was delivered by our Lord he answers because this was the constant Doctrine of all his Disciples of those who constantly heard him and conversed with him But if you ask again how can we know that their testimony was infallible since they were but men he then resolves all into that that God bare witness to them by signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost And those persons whom these arguments will not convince none other will Who are we that should not think that sufficient which God himself thought so who are we that dare question the certainty of that which hath had the Broad Seal of Heaven to attest it Can any thing make it surer than God himself hath done and can there be any other way more effectual for that end than those demonstrations of a divine power and presence which the Apostles were acted by Those that cavil at this way of proof would have done so at any other if God had made choice of it and those who will cavil at any thing are resolved to be convinced by nothing and such are not fit to be discoursed with 4. Here are the most prevailing motives to perswade them to accept of these offers of salvation There are two passions which are the great hinges of Government viz. mens Hopes and Fears and therefore all Laws have had their sanctions suitable to these two in Rewards and Punishments now there was never any reward which gave greater encouragement to hope never any punishment which made fear more reasonable than those are which the Gospel proposes Will ever that man be good whom the hopes of Heaven will not make so or will ever that man leave his sins whom the fears of Hell will not make to do it What other arguments can we imagine should ever have that power and influence on mankind which these may be reasonably supposed to have Would you have God alter the methods of his Providence and give his rewards and punishments in this life but if so what exercise would there be of the patience forbearance and goodness of God towards wicked men must he do it as soon as ever men sin then he would never try whether they would repent and grow better or must he stay till they have come to such a height of sin then no persons would have cause to fear him but such who are arrived at that pitch of wickedness but how then should he punish them must it be by continuing their lives and making them miserable but let them live and they will sin yet further must it be by utterly destroying them that to persons who might have time to sin the mean while supposing annihilation were all to be fear'd would never have power enough to deter men from the height of their wickedness So that nothing but the misery of a life to come can be of force enough to make men fear God and regard themselves and this is that which the Gospel threatens to those that neglect their salvation which it sometimes calls everlasting fire sometimes the Worm that never dies sometimes the wrath to come sometimes everlasting destruction all enough to fill the minds of men with horror at the apprehension and what then will the undergoing it do Thence our Saviour reasonably bids men not fear them that can only kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell Thus the Gospel suggests the most proper object of fear to keep men from sin and as it doth that so it presents likewise the most desireable object of hope to encourage men to be good which is no less than a happiness that is easier to hope to enjoy than to comprehend a happiness infinitely above the most ambitious hopes and glories of this world wherein greatness is added to glory weight to greatness and eternity to them all therefore call'd a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Wherein the Joys shall be full and constant the perception clear and undisturbed the fruition with continual delight and continual desire Where there shall be no fears to disquiet no enemies to allarm no dangers to conquer nothing shall then be but an uninterrupted peace an unexpressible Joy and pleasures for evermore And what could be ever imagined more satisfactory to minds tired out with the vanities of this world than such a repose as that is What more agreeable to the minds and desires of good men than to be eased of this clog of flesh and to spend eternity with the fountain of all
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
so the ratification of the Covenant must be consequent to that oblation which he made of himself upon the Cross. Besides how incongruous must this needs be that the death of Christ the most innocent person in the World without any respect to the guilt of sin should suffer so much on purpose to assure us that God will pardon those who are guilty of it May we not much rather infer the contrary considering the holiness and justice of God's nature if he dealt so severely with the green tree how much more will he with the dry If one so innocent suffer'd so much what then may the guilty expect If a Prince should suffer the best subject he hath to be severely punished could ever any imagine that it was with a design to assure them that he would pardon the most rebellious No but would it not rather make men afraid of being too innocent for fear of suffering too much for it And those who seem very careful to preserve the honour of God's Justice in not punishing one for another's faults ought likewise to maintain it in the punishing of one who had no fault at all to answer for And to think to escape this by saying That to such a person such things are calamities but no punishments is to revive the ancient exploded Stoicism which thought to reform the diseases of Mankind by meer changing the names of things though never so contrary to the common sense of humane nature which judges of the nature of punishments by the evils men undergo and the ends they are designed for And by the very same reason that God might exercise his dominion on so innocent a person as our Saviour was without any respect to sin as the moving cause to it he might lay eternal torments on a most innocent Creature for degrees and continuance do not alter the reason of things and then escape with the same evasion that this was no act of injustice in God because it was a meer exercise of Dominion And when once a sinner comes to be perswaded by this that God will pardon him it must be by the hopes that God will shew kindness to the guilty because he shews so little to the innocent and if this be agreeable to the Justice and Holiness of God's nature it is hard to say what is repugnant to it If to this it be said That Christ's consent made it no unjust exercise of Dominion in God towards him it is easily answered that the same consent will make it less injustice in God to lay the punishment of our sins upon Christ upon his undertaking to satisfie for us for then the consent supposes a meritorious cause of punishment but in this case the consent implyeth none at all And we are now enquiring into the reasons of such sufferings and consequently of such a consent which cannot be imagined but upon very weighty motives such as might make it just in him to consent as well as in God to inflict Neither can it be thought that all the design of the sufferings of Christ was to give us an example and an encouragement to suffer our selves though it does so in a very great measure as appears by the Text it self For the hopes of an eternal reward for these short and light afflictions ought to be encouragement enough to go through the miseries of of this life in expectation of a better to come And the Cloud of Witnesses both under the Law and the Gospel of those who have suffer'd for righteousness sake ought to make no one think it strange if he must endure that which so many have done before him and been crowned for it And lastly to question whether Christ could have pity enough upon us in our sufferings unless he had suffer'd so deeply himself will lead men to distrust the pity and compassion of Almighty God because he was never capable of suffering as we do But the Scripture is very plain and full to all those who rack not their minds to pervert it in assigning a higher reason than all these of the sufferings of Christ viz. That Christ suffered for sins the just for the unjust that his soul was made an offering for sin and that the Lord therefore as on a sacrifice of atonement laid on him the iniquities of us all That through the eternal Spirit He offer'd himself without spot to God and did appear to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself that he was made a propitiation for our sins that He laid down his life as a price of Redemption for Mankind that through his blood we obtain Redemption even the forgiveness of sins which in a more particular manner is attributed to the blood of Christ as the procuring cause of it That he dyed to reconcile God and us together and that the Ministery of Reconciliation is founded on God's making him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him and that we may not think that all this Reconciliation respects us and not God he is said To offer up himself to God and for this cause to be a Mediator of the New Testament and to be a faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people and every High-Priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God not appointed by God in things meerly tending to the good of men which is rather the Office of a Prophet than a Priest So that from all these places it may easily appear that the blood of Christ is to be looked on as a sacrifice of Atonement for the sins of the World Not as though Christ did suffer the very same which we should have suffer'd for that was eternal death as the consequent of guilt in the person of the Offender and then the discharge must have been immediately consequent upon the payment and no room had been left for the freeness of remission or for the conditions required on our parts But that God was pleased to accept of the death of his Son as a full perfect sufficient sacrifice oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the World as our Church expresseth it and in consideration of the sufferings of his Son is pleased to offer pardon of sin upon sincere repentance and eternal life upon a holy obedience to his will Thus much for the things we are to consider concerning the contradiction of sinners which Christ endured against himself Nothing now remains but the influence that ought to have upon us lest we be weary and faint in our minds For which end I shall suggest two things 1. The vast disproportion between Christ's sufferings and ours 2. The great encouragement we have from his sufferings to bear our own the better 1. The vast Disproportion between Christ's sufferings and our own Our lot is fallen into suffering times and we
of crucifying Christ As often as we think of them we ought to consider the danger of infidelity and the heavy judgments which that brings upon a people We may take some estimate of the wrath of God against that sin by the desolation of the Country and the miseries of the inhabitants of it When you think it a small sin to despise the Son of God to revile his doctrine and reproach his miracles consider then what the Jews have suffered for these sins As long as they continue a people in the world they are the living monuments of the Vengeance of God upon an incorrigible and unbelieving Nation And it may be one of the ends of God's dispersing them almost among all nations that as often as they see and despise them they may have a care of those sins which have made them a byword and reproach among men who were once a nation beloved of God and feared by men See what it is to despise the offers of grace to reproach and ill use the Messengers of it who have no other errand but to perswade men to accept that Grace and bring forth the fruits thereof See what it is for men to be slaves to their own lusts which makes them not only neglect their own truest interest but that of their nation too If that had not been the fundamental miscarriage of the Rulers of the Jewish Nation at the time of our Saviour they would most readily have entertained him and saved their land from ruine See what it is for a people to be high in conceit of themselves and to presume upon God's favour towards them For there never was a nation more self-opinionated as to their wisdom goodness and interest with God than the Jews were when they began their war and the confidence of this made them think it long till they had destroyed themselves See what it is to be once engaged too far in a bad cause how hard it is though they suffer never so much for it afterwards for them to repent of it We might have thought the Jews when they had seen the destruction of Ierusalem would have come off from their obstinacy but how very few in comparison from that time to this have sincerely repented of the sins of their Forefathers in the death of Christ. See how hard a matter it is to conquer the prejudices of education and to condemn the most unjust actions of those when we come to understanding whom from our infancy we had in veneration For it is in great measure because they were their Ancestors that the Jews to this day are so hardly convinâ—ed they could be guilty of so soul a sin as crucifying the Messias 2. Is it nothing to us what they have suffered who enjoy the greatest blessings we have by their means and upon the same terms which they did For to them at first were committed the Oracles of God we enjoy all the excellent and sacred records of ancient times from them all the prophecies of the men whom God raised up and inspired from time to time among them By their means we converse with those great persons Moses David Solomon and others and understand their wisdom and piety by the writings which at this day we enjoy By them we have conveyed to us all the particular prophesies which relate to the Messias which point out the Tribe the place the time the very person he was to be born of By their means we are able to confute their infidelity and to confirm our own faith Therefore we have some common concernment with them and ought on that account to be sensible of their miseries Is it nothing then to you that God hath dealt so severely with them from whom you derive so great a part of your Relâ—gion But if that be nothing consider the terms upon which you enjoy these mercies you have and they are as the latter clause of the Text assures us no other than the bringing forth the fruits thereof If we prove as obsâ—inate and incorrigible as they God may justly punish us as he hath done thâ—m It is but a Vineyard that God lets us it is no inheritance God expects our improvement and giving him the fruits of it or else he may justâ—y take it away from us and give it to other Husbandmen Let us never flatter our selves in thinking it impossible God should make us as miserable and contemptible a people as he hath done the Jews but we may be miserable enough and yet fall short of them Have we any such promises of his favour as they had how great were their priviledges while they stood in favour with Gâ—d above all other nations in the world But we see though they were the first and the natural branches they are broken off by unbelief and we stand by faith Nothing then can be more reasonable than the exhortation of the Apostle be not high minded but fear Bâ—ast not of your presâ—nt priviledges despise not those who are broken off for consâ—der if God spared not the natural branches we ought to take heed lest he also spare not us 3. Is it nothing to us what the Jews suffer since our sins are in some senses more aggâ—avated than theirs were For though there can be no just excuse made for their wilful blindness yet there may be much less made for ours For wâ—at they did against hâ—m was when he appeared in the weakness of humane flesh in a very mean and low condition before the great confirmation of our faith by his resurrection from the dead But our contempt of Christ is much more unpardonable not only after that but the miraculous consequences of it and the spreading and continuance of his Doctrine in the world after the multitudes of Martyrs and the glorious Triumphs of our Religion over all the attempts of the persecutors and betrayers of it after the solemn Vows of our Baptism in his Name and frequent addresses to God by him and celebrating the memory of his death and passion What can be more mean and ungrateful what can shew more folly and weakness than after all these to esteem the blood of Christ no otherwise than as of a common malefactor or at least to live as if we so esteemed it Nay we may add to all this after so severe an instance of God's vengeance already upon the Jews which ought to increase our care and will therefore aggravate our sin What the Jews did they did as open and professed enemies what we do we do as false and perfidious friends and let any man judge which is the greater crime to assault an Enemy or to betray a Friend 4. Can this be nothing to us who have so many of those Symptoms upon us which were the fore-runners of their desolation Not as though I came hither like the son of Anani in the Jewish story who of a sudden four years before the war cryed out in the Temple a voice from the East
Glory to the world which he then concealed from it If in the short time of his transfiguration on the Holy Mount his own Disciples were so far from being able to behold the glory of his presence that they fell on their faces and were sore afraid how shall his enemies abide the day of his wrath or how can they stand when he shall appear in the full glory of his Majesty and Power 3. The terror of the proceedings upon that day for then we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ not for any ostentation of his greatness and power before the whole world but that every one may receive according to the things done in his body whether it be good or bad How full of terror will the proceedings of that day be wherein all secrets shall be disclosed all actions examined and all persons judged That will be the day of the Revelation of the righteous judgment of God this is the time of darkness and therefore of disputes and quarrels but then the wisdom and justice of divine providence shall be made manifest to all For every one shall receive according to his works and none will wonder at the sentence when they have seen the evidence Then the most secret Impurities the most subtile Hypocrisie the most artificial Fraud and the most dissembled Malice shall be laid open to publick view For then God will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts Then all the intrigues of lust and ambition so much the talk and business of this world will be nothing but mens shame and reproach in the next With what horror will they then behold all the sins of their lives set in order before them when they seemed in this life next to the committing them to design as much as may be to forget them Happy men if their Consciences were like their Table-Books that they could blot out and put in what they pleased themselves Then all the black Catalogue of their sins would be presently expunged and they would have nothing to be seen there but the Characters of what at least seemed to be good For though men be never so vicious they neither care that others should think so of them nor they of themselves of all things they do not love to dispute where they cannot answer and that is their case in all their retoâ—ts of Conscience upon them They know there is no drolling with so sour a piece as that within them is for that makes the smartest and and most cutting repartees which are uneasie to bear but impossible to answer Therefore they study their own quiet by seeking to keep that silent and since they never hope to make Conscience dumb they would have it sleep as much as may be and although the starts it sometimes makes shew that the most sleepy sinners have some troublesome dreams yet if it doth not throughly awake in this world it will do it with a vengeance in another Then there will be no Musick and Dancing which can cure the bâ—ting of this Tarantula within no Opium or stupidity or Atheism will be able to give one minutes rest How will men then curse themselves for their own fâ—lly in being so easily tempted and all those who laid traps and snares to betray them by what different apprehensions of sin will they have then from what they have now while they are beset with â—â—mptations to it O will a forsaken sinner then say had I ever believed as I ought to have done that this would have been the fruit of a sinful life I should have taken more care to prevent this misery than I have done but O the folly of intemperance the mischief of ambition the rage of lust the unsatiableness of covetousness the madness of debauchery and the dulness of Atheism what have ye now brought me to with all your pleasures and promises and flatteries while I lost my soul in your service O that I had time to grow wise again and once more to try whether I could withstand the cheats and witchcraft of a deceitful world Now all my sins are as fresh before me as if committed yesterday and their burden is heavier than the weight of mountains however lâ—ght I made of them then I need no judge to condemn me but mine own Conscience O that I could as easily see an end of my misery as I do that I have deserved that there should be none Thus shall the Book of Conscience be opened at that day in the heart of every impenitent sinner wherein like Ezekiels roul he finds written within and without Lamentation and Mourning and Woe Yet this will not be the only terror in the proceedings oâ— that day that all the sins that ever wicked men commâ—tted will be set in order before them with their several circumstances and aggravations although the remembrance of them cannot be without extreme horrour and amazement but that they must undergo a strict and severe examination of all their actions by a most powerfull holy and just Judge And if it be so troublesome a thing to them in this world to go down into themselves or to call to remembrance their own wicked actions which they have loved and delightâ—d in what will it be when they must all be brought forth before the judgment seat of Christ who hates and abhors them If men can so hardly endure to have the deformity of their vices represented to them though very imperfectly here how will they bear the dissecting and laying them open in the view of the whole world When the smallest fibres and the most subtile threads in our hearts shall be curiously examined and the influence they have had upon our actions fully discovered When sins that have been despised for their littleness or unregarded â—or their frequency or laughed at as no sins at all shall appear to have had a greater venom in them than men would imagine What shall they think then of their great and presumptuous sins whereby they have not only offered violâ—nce to God and his Laws but to the dictates of their own Consciences in committâ—â—g â—hem Never think that lengâ—h of time will abate the severity of the enquiry or lessen the displeasure of God against thee for them Remember the case of Amalek how God dealt with that people in this world for a sin committed 400 years before and then think whether God be not in earnest when he tells us how much he hates sin and how severe he will be in the punishment of it I remember saith God what Amalek did to Israel how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not but slay both man and woman infant and suckling c. What a whole nation to be destroyed for one sin and for a sin they thought to be none at
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
one but the hazard of losing the soul is certain to all And what folly is it for men to run themselves upon so great and certain danger for so uncertain gain which never any man yet attained to or is like to do it our Saviour knew how hard a matter it was to set any bounds to the ambitious thoughts or the covetous designs of men every step the ambitious man takes higher gives him the fairer prospect before him it raises his thoughts enlarges his desires puts new projects into his mind which like the circles of water spread still farther and farther till his honour and he be both laid in the dust together The covetous person is never satisfied with what he enjoys the more he gets still the more he hopes for and like the grave whither he is going is always devouring and always craving Yet neither of these can be thought so vain as to propose no less to themselves than the Empire or riches of the whole world But our Saviour allows them the utmost that ever can be supposed as to mens designs for this world let men be never so ambitious or covetous they could desire no more than all the world though they would have all this yet this all would never make amends for the loss of the Soul It is a thing possible that one person might by degrees bring the whole world in subjection to him but it is possible in so remote a degree that no man in his wits can be thought to design it How small a part of the inhabited world have the greatest Conquerours been able to subdue and if the Macedonian Prince was ever so vain to weep that he had no more worlds to conquer he gave others a just occasion to laugh at so much Ignorance which made him think he had conquered this And to put a check to such a troublesome ambition of disturbing the world in others how early was he taken away in the midst of his vast thoughts and designs What a small thing would the compass of the whole earth appear to one that should behold it at the distance of the fixed stars and the mighty Empires which have made the greatest noise in the world have taken up but an inconsiderable part of the whole earth What are then those mean designs which men continually hazard their souls for as much as if they aimed at the whole world For we are not to imagine that only Kings and Princes are in any hazard of losing their souls for the sake of this world for it is not the greatness of mens condition but their immoderate love to the world which ruins and destroys their souls And Covetousness and ambition do not always raign in Courts and Palaces they can stoop to the meanness of a Cottage and ruin the souls of such as want the things of this world as well as those that enjoy them So that no state oâ— condition of men is exempt from the hazard of losing the soul for the love of this world although but one person can be supposed at once to have the possession of the whole world 2. The gain of this world brings but an imaginary happiness but the loss of the soul a most real misery It is easie to suppose a person to have the whole world at his command and not himself and how can that man be happy that is not at his own command The cares of Government in a small part of the earth are so great and troublesome that by the consent of mankind the managers of it are invested with more than ordinary priviledges by way of recompence for them but what are these to the solicitous thoughts the continual fears the restless imployments the uninterrupted troubles which must attend the gain of the whole world So that after all the success of such a mans designs he may be farther off from any true contentment than he was at the beginning of them And in that respect mens conditions seem to be brought to a greater equality in the world because those who enjoy the most of the world do oft-times enjoy the least of themselves which hath made some great Emperours lay down their Crowns and Scepters to enjoy themselves in the retirements of a Cloyster or a Garden All the real happiness of this world lies in a contented mind and that we plainly see doth not depend upon mens outward circumstances for some men may be much farther from it in a higher condition in this world than others are or it may be themselves have been in a far lower But if mens happiness did ariâ—e from any thing without them that must be always agreeable to their outward condition but we find great difference as to mens contentment in equal circumstances and many times much greater in a private State of life than in the most publick capacity By which it appears that whatever looks like happiness in this world depends upon a mans soul and not upon the gain of the world nay it is only from thence that ever men are able to abuse themselves with false notions and Idea's of happiness here But none of those shall go into another world with them farewel then to all imaginary happiness to the pleasures of sin and the cheats of a deceitful world then nothing but the dreadful apprehensions of its own misery shall possess that soul which shall then too late discern its folly and lament it when it is past recovery Then the torments of the mind shall never be imputed to melancholy vapours or a disordered fancy There will be no drinking away sorrows no jesting with the sting of conscience no playing with the flames of another world God will then no longer be mocked by wicked men but they shall find to their own eternal horrour and confusion that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God He neither wants power to inflict nor justice to execute nor vengeance to pursue nor wrath to punish but his power is irresistible his justice inflexible and his wrath is insupportable Consider now O foolish sinner that hast hitherto been ready to cast away thy soul upon the pleasures of sin for a season what a wise exchange thou wilt make of a poor imaginary happiness for a most real and intollerable misery What will all the gain of this world signifie in that State whither we are all hastening apace What contentment will it be to thee then to think of all those bewitching vanities which have betrayed thy soul into unspeakable misery Wouldst thou be willing to be treated with all the ceremonies of State and Greatness for an hour or two if thou wert sure that immediately after thou must undergo the most exquisite tortures and be â—acked and tormented to death When men neglect their souls and cast them away upon the sinful pleasures and gains of this world it is but such a kind of airy and phantastical happiness but the miseries of a lost soul
are infinitely beyond the racks and torments of the body It hath sometimes happened that the horrour of despair hath seized upon mens minds for some notorious crimes in this life which hath given no rest either to body or mind but the violence of the inward pains have forced them to put an end to this miserable life as in the case of Iudas But if the expectation of future misery be so dreadful what must the enduring of it be Of all the ways of dying we can hardly imagine any more painful or full of horrour than that of sacrificing their Children to Molock was among the Canaanites and Children of Amon where the Children were put into the body of a Brass Image and a fire made under it which by degrees with lamentable shrieks and cryings roasted them to death yet this above all others in the New Testament is chosen as the fittest representation of the miseries of another world and thence the very name of Gehenna is taken But as the joys of heaven will far surpass all the pleasure which the mind of a good man hath in this life so will the torments of Hell as much exceed the greatest miseries of this world But in the most exquisite pains of the body there is that satisfaction still left that death will at last put an end to them but that is a farther discovery of the unspeakable folly of losing the soul for the sake of this world that 3. The happiness of this world can last but for a little time but the misery of the soul will have no end Suppose a man had all the world at his command and enjoyed as much satisfaction in it as it was possible for humane nature to have yet the very thoughts of dying and leaving all in a short time must needs make his happiness seem much less considerable to him And every wise man would provide most for that State wherein he is sure to continue longest The shortness of life makes the pleasures of it less desireable and the miseries less dreadful but an endless State makes every thing of moment which belongs to it Where there is variety and liberty of change there is no necessity of any long deliberation before-hand but for that which is to continue always the same the greatest consideration is needful because the very continuance of some things is apt to bring weariness and satiety with it If a man were bound for his whole life-time to converse only with one person without so much as seeing any other he would desire time and use his best judgment in the choice of him If one were bound to lie in the same posture without any motion but for a month together how would he imploy his wits before-hand to make it as easie and tolerable as might be Thus solicitous and careful would men be for any thing that was to continue the same although but for a short time here But what are those things to the endless duration of a soul in a misery that is a perpetual destruction and everlasting death always intolerable and yet must always be endured A misery that must last when time it self shall be no more and the utmost periods we can imagine fall infinitely short of the continuance of it O the unfathomable Abyss of Eternity how are our imaginations lost in the conceptions of it But what will it then be to be swallowed up in an Abyss of misery and eternity together And I do not know how such an eternal State of misery could have been represented in Scripture in words more Emphatical than it is not only by everlasting fire and everlasting destruction but by a worm that never dies and a fire that never goes out and the very same expressions are used concerning the eternal State of the blessed and the damned so that if there were any reason to question the one there would be the same to question the other also 4. The loss of this world may be abundantly recompenced but the loss of the Soul can never be For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul If a man runs the hazard of losing all that is valuable or desirable in this world for the sake of his Soul heaven and eternal happiness will make him infinite amends for it He will have no cause to repent of his bargain that parts with his share in this evil world for the joys and glories that are above They who have done this in the resolution of their minds have before-hand had so great satisfaction in it that they have gloried in tribulations and rejoyced in hopes of the glory of God they have upon casting up their accounts found that the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed because the afflictions they meet with here are but light and momentany but that which they expected in recompence for them was an exceeding and an eternal weight of Glory O blessed change what life can be so desirable as the parting with it is on such terms as these It was the hopes of this glorious recompence which inspired so many Martyrs to adventure for Heaven with so much courage patience and constancy in the primitive times of the Christian Church How do they look down from Heaven and despise all the vanities of this World in comparison with what they enjoy And if they are sensible of what is done on earth with what pity do they behold us miserable creatures that for the sake of the honours pleasures or riches of this World venture the loss of all which they enjoy and thereby of their Souls too Which is a loss so great that no recompence can ever be made for it no price of redemption can ever be accepted for the delivery of it For even the Son of God himself who laid down his life for the redemption of Souls shall then come from heaven with flaming fire to take vengeance on all those who so much despise the blood he hath shed for them the warnings he hath given to them the Spirit he hath promised them the reward he is ready to bestow upon them as in spight of all to cast away those precious and immortal Souls which he hath so dearly bought with his own blood Methinks the consideration of these things might serve to awaken our security to cure our stupidity to check our immoderate love of this world and inflame our desires of a better Wherein can we shew our selves men more than by having the greatest regard to that which makes us men which is our souls Wherein can we shew our selves Christians better than by abstaining from all those hurtful lusts which war against our souls and doing those things which tend to make them happy We are all walking upon the shore of eternity and for all that we know the next tide may sweep us away shall we only sport and play or gather cockle-shells and lay them in