their Breasts be transparent to the Eyes of all How will they be ashamed of their foul and permanent Deformity in the Light of that glorious Presence How will they be astonisht to appear in all their Pollutions before that bright and immense Theatre How will they be confounded to stand in all their Guilt before that sublime and severe Tribunal How will they endure the upbraidings for all the Sins which they have so wickedly committed and the derision for the punishment they so deservedly suffer The holy Judg will laugh at their Calamity and mock when their fear comes The Righteous also shall see and shall laugh at them Lo these are the Men that made not God their Portion but perishing Vanities that prefer'd sweet Folly before severe Wisdom The Devils will reproach them for that scornful advantage they had over them that as Children are seduc'd for things of Lustre to part with real Treasures so they were easily persuaded for the Trifles of Time to exchange Eternal Happiness Whither will they cause their Shame to go Those black Sinners that here never change colour for their Filthiness that hardned by custom in Sin are impenetrable to Shame as the brute Beasts that are absolutely destitute of reason nay that have not only overcome all tenderness but glory in their Shame shall glow at the manifestation of their sordid Lusts their vile Servilities and be covered with Confusion and the sence of it shall be revived in their Minds for ever 2. To open Shame is joined the greatest inward Sorrow This Passion when violent penetrates the Soul in all its Faculties and fastens it to the afflicting Object When it dwells in the Bosom it gives an easy entrance to what ever cherishes and increases it and rejects what might asswage and lessen the sence of the Evil. The most pleasant things do not excite desire or joy but exasperate Grief Like those Animals that convert the best nourishment into their own Poison so deep Sorrow receives mournful impressions from all things and turns the sweetest Comforts of Life into Wormwood and Gall. The causes of Sorrow are either the loss of some valued Good or the sence of some present Evil. And the Sorrow is more violent as the Cause is great in it self and in the apprehension and tenderness of the Sufferers Now both these Causes with all the heavy Circumstances that can multiply and aggravate Sorrow meet in Hell the Centre of Misery The loss is inconceivably great If Cain when banisht from the Society of the Saints where God was publickly worshipt and by spiritual Revelations and visible Apparitions graciously made himself known cry'd out in anguish of Soul My punishment is greater than I can bear from thy Face shall I be hid and I shall be a Fugitive upon the Earth how intolerable will be the final separation from his glorious and joyful Presence 'T is often seen how tenderly and impatiently the human Spirit resents the loss of a dear Relation Jacob for the supposed Death of Joseph was so overcome with Grief that when all his Sons and Daughters rose up to comfort him he refused to be comforted and said I will go down to the Grave unto my Son mourning This is a Sin and a punishment 'T is establisht by the righteous and unchangeable Decree of God that every inordinate Affection in Man should be his own Tormentor But if the loss of a poor frail Creature for a short time be so afflicting how insupportable will be the Sorrow for the loss of an infinite Eternal Good It may be a carnal Wretch may think comfortably of this now whilst he lives in Pleasures but in the next World he shall be totally deprived of all things that please his voluptuous Senses and shall understand what a misery it is to lose the favour and enjoyment of the blessed God Our Saviour told the Jews There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth the Symptoms of extreme Sorrow when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out The sight of that blessed Company entring into the sacred Mansions of Light will make the loss of Heaven infinitely more discernable and terrible to the Wicked who shall be cast into outer Darkness and for ever be deprived of Communion with God and his Saints With the loss of the most excellent Good the suffering of the most afflicting painful Evil is join'd The Sentence is Depart ye cursed into everlasting Fire And if an imaginary Sorrow conceived in the Mind without a real external Cause as in Melancholly Persons when gross Vapours darken and corrupt the brightness and purity of the Spirits that are requisite for its chearful Operations is often so oppressing that Nature sinks under it how insupportable will the Sorrow of condemned Sinners be under the impression and sence of God's Almighty and avenging Hand when it shall fully appear how pure and holy he is in his Anger for Sin how just and dreadful in punishing Sinners It may be the indulgent Sinner may lessen his fear of Hell by fancying the number of Sufferers will asswage the sence of their Misery But this is a foolish mistake For the number of Sufferers shall be so far from affording any relief that the Misery is aggravated by the Company and Communication of the Miserable Every one is surrounded with Sorrows and by the sights of Woe about him feels the universal Grief The weeping and wailing the cries and dolorous expressions of all the Damned increases the torment and vexation of every one As when the Wind conspires with the Flame 't is more fierce and spreading 3. The Concomitant of Sorrow will be Fury and Rage against themselves as the true causes of their Misery For God will make such a discovery of his righteous Judgment that not only the Saints shall glorify his Justice in the condemnation of the Wicked but they shall be so convinc'd of it as not to be able to charge their Judg with any defect of Mercy or excess of Rigour in his proceedings against them As the Man in the Parable of the Marriage-Feast when taxt for his presumptuous intrusion without a Wedding Garment how camest thou in hither was speechless so they will find no plea for their Justification and Defence but must receive the eternal Doom with Silence and Confusion Then Conscience shall revive the bitter remembrance of all the methods of divine Mercy for their Salvation that were ineffectual by their Contempt and Obstinacy All the compassionate calls of his Word with the holy Motions of the Spirit were like the sowing of Seed in the Stony Ground that took no root and never came to perfection All his terrible Threatnings were but as Thunder to the Deaf or Lightning to the Blind that little affects them the bounty of his Providence design'd to lead them to Repentance had the same effect as the Showers of Heaven upon Briers and Thorns
lapst and miserable was in his view he chose some to be Vessels of Mercy and by priviledg separated them from the rest that finally perish Now what induc't him to place a singular Love on the Elect There was nothing in them to incline his Compassion being equally guilty and depraved with the rest of the Progeny of Adam This difference therefore is to be resolved into his unaccountable and adorable Will as the sole cause of it Thus God declares it to be his glorious Prerogative I will have Mercy on whom I will have Mercy and I will have Compassion on whom I will have Compassion And this is no unjust acceptance of Persons For as a Benefactor he may dispense his own Favors as he pleases A Gift from meer and arbitrary Bounty may be bestowed on some and not on others without injustice But there are other actions of God for which there is an evident reason in Men on whom they are terminated Thus as the supreme Judg without respect of Persons he will judg and reward every Man according to his Works The Evangelical Law as was toucht on before is the rule of eternal Judgment and gives a right from the gracious Promise of God to all penitent Believers in the Kingdom of Heaven and excludes all impenitent Infidels Divine Justice will illustriously appear then in distinguishing Believers from Unbelievers by their Works the proper Fruits either of Faith or Infidelity All the thick Clouds of Disgraces Calumnies Persecutions that often oppress the most sincere Christians here shall not then darken their Holiness and all the specious appearances of Piety which the most artificial Hypocrites make use of to deceive others shall not conceal their Wickedness And accordingly the one shall be absolved and glorified the others condemned and punisht for ever In short without violation of his own righteous establishment in the Gospel God cannot receive the unholy into his Glory 3. Besides the Legal Bar that excludes unsanctified Persons from the beatifick vision of God there is a moral incapacity Suppose that Justice should allow Omnipotence to translate such a Sinner to Heaven would the Place make him happy Can two incongruous Natures delight in one another The happiness of Sense is by an impression of Pleasure from a suitable Object The happiness of intellectual Beings arises from an entire conformity of dispositions So that unless God recede from his Holiness which is absolutely impossible or Man be purified and changed into his likeness there can be no sweet Communion between them Our Saviour assigns this Reason of the necessity of Regeneration in order to our admission into Heaven That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit According to the quality of the Principle such is what proceeds from it The Flesh is a corrupt Principle and accordingly the Natural Man is wholly carnal in his propensions operations and end The Disease is turn'd into his Constitution He is dead to the Spiritual Life to the actions and enjoyments that are proper to it Nay there is in him a surviving Principle of Enmity to that Life not only a mortal coldness to God but a stiff aversation from him a perpetual resistance and impatience of the Divine Presence that would disturb his voluptuous enjoyments The Exercises of Heaven would be as the Torments of Hell to him while in the midst of those pure Joys his inward inclinations vehemently run into the lowest Lees of Sensuality And therefore till this contrariety so deep and predomanant in an unholy Person be removed 't is utterly impossible he should enjoy God with satisfaction As it was necessary that God should become like Man on Earth to purchase that Felicity for him so Man must be like God in Heaven before he can possess it Holiness alone prepares Men for Celestial Happiness that is against the corruption and above the perfection of meer Nature CHAP. IV. Faith in the Redemer is required of all that will obtain Salvation The choice of Supernatural Happiness previous to our obtaining it The choice must be sincere early and constant The sincerity of the Heavenly Choice declared by its Qualities and Effects I Shall now proceed to consider more particularly what is requisite in order to our obtaining of Heaven 1. Faith in the Redeemer is absolutely required of all that will partake of the Salvation purchased by him God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have Eternal Life This is the Spirit and Substance of the Gospel therefore I will briefly unfold it The Son of God having assumed the human Nature and performed what was necessary for the expiation of Sin the Father was so pleased with his Obedience that from his lowest State he rais'd him to Divine Glory and gave him supream Authority and all-sufficient Power to communicate that Glory to others Thus our Saviour declares Thou hast given him i. e. the Son power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him And he exhorts the People Labour for that Meat that endures unto Eternal Life which the Son of Man shall give unto you for him hath God the Father sealed Now this glorious Life is not given to all but only to those who are united to him As Adam the principle of the carnal corrupt Nature derives Guilt and Death to all his Progeny so Jesus Christ who is opposed to him the Head and Prince of the renewed State communicates Life and Glory to his People The Apostle expresses it As in Adam all dye his natural Descendants are involv'd in his Condemnation even so in Christ shall all be made alive that is all that are spiritually united to him shall partake of his glorious Resurrection And St. John tells us He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life The having the Son upon which our right to Eternal Life depends is believing in him Faith has a principal Efficiency in receiving Christ therefore 't is exprest by that Act But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God and consequently Heirs of Glory to as many as believed on his Name And Christ is said to dwell in our Hearts by Faith This is not a meer assent to the Doctrines of the Gospel concerning the Dignity of his Person that he is in so high and glorious a Relation of being the Eternal Son of God and the infinite value of his Merits whereby he is able to save all that come unto God by him and his merciful compassionate Nature to embrace returning Sinners and the excellency of the benefits purchased by him but such a Belief as sways the Will and Affections to receive him upon God's terms for our Salvation Faith is seated in the whole Soul in the Mind and
image of his Saviour who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despised the shame and is set down at the right hand of God Disgrace and Pain are Evils that humane Nature has a most tender sence of yet the Son of God with a divine generosity and constancy endured them in the highest degrees He was scorn'd as a feigned King and a false Prophet He suffered a bloody Death and by the Cross ascended to Glory And we must follow him if we desire to be where he is 2. But this is not the only trial of a Christian. Prosperity is a more dangerous Enemy to the Soul though Adversity be more rigorous Saevior armis Incumbit luxuria For the Spirit is excited by Perils and Difficulties to seek to God for Strength and with vigilant resolute Thoughts unites all its Powers to oppose them but 't is made weak and careless by what is grateful to the sensual Inclinations It keeps close the Spiritual Armour in the open encounter of Dangers that threaten its ruin but is inticed to put it off by the caresses and blandishments of the World It does not see its Enemies under the disguise of a pleasant Temptation Thus Sin insinuates its self and by stealing steps gets into the Throne without observation A Man is wounded with a pleasant Temptation as with the Plague that flies in the dark and Grace is insensibly weaken'd From hence it is that Adversity often reforms the Vicious and Prosperity corrupts the Vertuous Now Perseverance must be of proof against Fire and Water against what ever may terrify or allure us from our duty 5. Saving Perseverance excludes not all Sins but total Apostacy and final impenitency which are fatal and deadly under the New Covenant If the Righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth Iniquity and doth according to all the Abominations that the wicked Man doth shall he live all his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his Trespass that he has trespassed and in his Sin that he hath sinned he shall die If any Man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him saith the Lord. These Threatnings imply there is a possibility of the Saints falling away considered in themselves but not that they are ever totally deserted by the Holy Spirit and left under the reigning Power of Sin The Threatnings are intended to awaken their Care and are Preservatives of them from Ruine and have a singular Influence on their Perseverance A vigilant and cautious Fear establishes the certainty of their Hope Indeed from the Reliques of weakness and corruption in the Saints they sometimes actually fall into presumptuous Sins and by rebellious relapses wound Conscience and let out much of the vital Spirits their Graces and Comforts But though the divine Nature in them is miserably wasted by such Sins yet 't is not abolisht As after the Creation of Light there was never pure and total Darkness in the World Grace does not consist in a Point but is capable of Degrees The new Creature may decline in Beauty and Strength yet Life remain Between a lively and a dead Faith there may be a fainting Faith as in St. Peter for certainly our Saviour was heard in his Prayer for him that his Faith should not fail in his dreadful Temptation The Saints do not by a particular fall extinguish the first living Principles of Obedience Faith and Love nor change their last end by an entire turning from God to the World In short a single act of Wickedness does not reduce them into a state of Unregeneracy for 't is not the matter of the Sin singly considered but the disposition of the Sinner that denominates him If Grace in the Saints should utterly perish as some boldly assert their recovery would be impossible For the Apostle tells us that if those who were enlightned and had tasted of the Heavenly Gift that had been under some common Workings and lower Operations of the Spirit if such fall away universally and live in a course of Sin opposite to their former illuminations and resolutions it is impossible to renew them by Repentance how much more then if those who were truly sanctified by the holy Spirit should intirely lose all those gracious habits planted in them in their Regeneration But David though guilty of Adultery and Murder Sins of so foul a Nature as would dishonour Paganism it self and made the Enemies of God to blaspheme was restored by Repentance The Gospel propounds a remedy not only for Sins committed before Conversion but after it If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous God does not revoke the Adoption nor reverse the Justification of a Believer but upon scandalous disorders a Pardon is not granted with respect to the new contracted Guilt till there be sincere and actual Repentance He is not disinherited but his right to the Kingdom of Heaven is eclipsed as to the comfortable sence of it nay suspended till by renovation he is qualified and made fit for the enjoyment of that pure Inheritance For those Sins which are a just cause of excommunicating an Offender from the Church on Earth would exclude him from the Kingdom of Heaven without Repentance Our Saviour tells us what is bound on Earth is ratified in Heaven And the Apostle expresly declares of those kinds of Sin for which Professors must be removed from the Communion of Saints here that they are an exclusive bar from the Kingdom of Heaven But I have written to you not to keep Company if any that is called a Brother be a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or a Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner with such a one no not to eat And know ye not that the Vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God If one that is truly a Child of God fall into any of these Sins till by an extraordinary Repentance he is prepared for Pardon he cannot obtain it nor have a comfortable hope of entring into Heaven For only those who are justified are glorified Indeed it is not imaginable where the Seed of God remains the vital principle of Grace as it does in all that are born of God but that notorious Sins that cannot be concealed from the view of Conscience will cause stings and sorrows proportionable to their malignity and consequently a hatred and forsaking of them Now Perseverance principally respects the end of our course There may be interruptions in the way for a time but if with renewed Zeal and Diligence we prosecute our blessed End we shall not fall short of it 2. I come now to consider the second thing propounded The reason why Perseverance is requisite in all that will obtain Eternal Life and 't is this That their Sincerity may
be discovered by constancy in Obedience under all Tryals Blessed is the Man that endures Temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him The Law required unsinning Obedience as the condition of Life the Gospel accepts of Sincerity but if that be wanting there is no Promise that gives right to the Reward Now Sincerity implies such an entire Love of God as makes a Person submit to all Duties commanded in his Law and all Trials appointed by his Providence A high Example we have of this in Abraham when he was commanded to offer up his only Son Isaac and by his own Hands for a burnt Offering This was to kill a double Sacrifice at one blow for the Life of Abraham was bound up in Isaac he lived in him more dearly than in himself all his Joy all his Posterity by Sarah had dyed in Isaac What resentments what resistance of Nature did he suffer yet presently he addrest himself to perform his Duty Who ever saw a more glorious Victory over all the tender and powerful Passions of human Nature O unexampled Obedience being an Original without any Precedent to imitate and without a Copy to succeed it After this clear infallible Testimony of his Sincerity the Angel declar'd from Heaven Now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son from me And 't is said concerning the Followers of the Lamb that they loved not their Lives unto the Death The Love of Christ that animated them in all their Sufferings was sweeter than Life and stronger than Death Indeed there was a wonderful difference in the Behaviour of the Martyrs under Sufferings but in all the same Persevering Grace was evident though working variously Some in the most beautiful Flower of their Age encounter'd Fire and Sword Tormentors and Torments with that sensible Joy with those Songs of Praise to Christ as if they saw the Heavens open with St. Stephen and their Saviour ready to receive and crown them But many others as Chrysostom testifies went to the Tribunals to the Theatres to Death with many Appearances of Fear Upon hearing the wild Beasts roar they were struck with horrour at the sight of the Executioners and the Instruments of Torment they were pale and trembling The Flesh seem'd to cry out O let this Cup pass from me yet weak and faint it followed the Spirit that corrected the natural desire with not my will but thine be done As the Moon in Eclipse though obscure yet goes on in a regular course as when 't is full of Light by the reflection of the Sun So those desolate Martyrs though as it were forsaken and deprived of the bright Beams of Comfort yet persever'd in their Profession of the Truth When one word to renounce Christianity would have saved them no Torments could force it from them but they patiently endured all Now in these the Combate of Nature was visible and the admirable Power of Grace They first overcame their own Fears the reluctancy of the carnal part their Affections to what ever is desireable in the World which is the noblest Victory and then the Cruelty of their Persecutors In them was verified the Testimony of the Spirit Here is the patience of the Saints Here are they that keep the Command of God and the Faith of Jesus But how many appear faithful while their Faith is not to be shewed by difficult Works and proved by Sufferings The Seed that fell on the stony Ground sprang up as hopeful as the Seed in the good Ground at first but when Tribulation came it wither'd away wanting the Root of Sincerity And that which was sown among Thorns was choakt by the Cares and Pleasures of the World Some Lust in the Heart interweaves with the Affections and causes Apostacy How many from glorious Beginnings have made a lamentable End not only Mercenaries in Religion whose Zeal is a foraign Complexion not springing from an inward Principle of Life and Health relinquish even the profession of Godliness when their gain ceases but some who have thought themselves sincere yet in times of danger their resolutions like sick Feathers dropt away As the foolish Builder that computed not the charges of his designed Work began to raise a magnificent Structure but unable to finish it laid the Foundation in his own Shame They repented their choice of Heaven when they saw what it must cost them and would save the World with the loss of their Souls Others that began in the Spirit and with raised Affections set out in the ways of Godliness yet by the allurements of sensual Lusts and Temptations and therefore with greater Guilt leave their first Love and end in the Flesh. They fall from high Professions but received by soft Pleasures feel not the fall These were never sincere and never had a right to Heaven They took up sudden Resolutions not grounded in serious and deep Thoughts and for a Flash were hot and active but with great levity return to their former Lusts. The Apostle tells us of such it had been better for them they had not known the way of Righteousness than to turn back and voluntarily to forsake it 'T is observed that boiling Water taken off from the Fire congeals more strongly than that which was never heated because the subtile parts being evaporated by the Fire the more terrestrial parts remaining are more capable of Cold. So those who have felt the power of the Word in their Affections and afterwards lose that holy heat become more harden'd in their Sins God justly withdraws his Grace and the evil Spirit that was expell'd for a time returns with seven worse and aggravates his Tyranny To conclude Since the certainty of Salvation is conditional if we persevere in a holy State let us beware of a corrupt Confidence and a vicious Dejection of Spirit the trusting in our selves or distrusting God To prevent the trusting in our selves Consider 1. The most excellent Creatures are by the instability of Nature liable to defection subject to a corruptive change Of this the fallen Angels are a dreadful Example who of their own motion untempted sinned in Heaven 2. The danger is greater of falling away when they are urged and solicited by a violent or grateful Temptation Thus our first Parents fell and lost more Grace in an Hour then can be recovered by their Posterity in all Ages to the end of the World 3. When there is supervenient Corruption in the Creature that inclines them with earnest propensity to forbidden Things and takes Flame from every Spark the danger is extream Like a besieged City that is in great hazard of taking by Assaults from without and Conspiracies from within Let us therefore be very watchful over our Hearts and Senses and keep as much as is possible at a safe distance from Temptations And be very diligent in the use of all holy means to
is not so purified but some Vapors arise that intercept his chearful refreshing Light From hence there are alternate successions of Spiritual Comforts and Sorrows of Doubts and filial Confidence in the Saints 'T is a rare favour of Heaven when an humble Believer in his whole course is so circumspect as not to provoke God to appear displeased against him When a Christian as those tutelar Angels spoken of in the Gospel always beholds the face of his Heavenly Father and converses with him with an holy Liberty And what a torment the hiding of God's Face is to a deserted Soul only they know who feel it External troubles are many times attended with more Consolations to the Spirit than Afflictions to Sense but to love God with a transcendent Affection and to fear he is our Enemy no Punishment exceeds or is equal to it As his Loving-kindness in their esteem is better than Life so his Displeasure is worse than Death How do they wrestle with God by Prayers and Tears and offer as it were a holy Violence to the King of Heaven to recover their first serenity of Mind the lost Peace of Heart How passionately do they cry out with Job in the Book of his Patience O that I were as in months past as in the days when God preserved me when his Candle shin'd upon my head and when by his Light I walk'd through darkness As I was in the days of my youth when the Secret of God was upon my Tabernacle And sometimes God delays the revealing himself even to his dearest Children not that he does not see their Necessities and hears their Prayers or is so hard that till their Extremities he is not moved with Compassion but for wise and holy Reasons Either that they may not return to folly if by any presumptuous Sin they forfeited their Peace or if they have been careful to please him yet he may deprive them of Spiritual Comforts for a time to keep them humble and that with an obedient resignation to his Sovereign Pleasure they may wait for his reviving Presence And then Joy returns greater than before For thus God usually renders with interest what he suspended only for trial But the Saints above are for ever enlightned with the vital splendor and dear regards of his Countenance always enjoy his beamy smiles A continual effusion of Glory illustrates Heaven and all its blessed Inhabitants And their Contemplation of God is fixed If the Object though extraordinary glorious were transient or the Eye so weak that it could only see it but by glances the heighth of Joy would not be perpetual But the mind is prepar'd with supernatural vigour to see the brightness of God's Face and by the most attentive application always converses with that blessed Object so that the Joy of Heaven is never intermitted for a moment They always see and love and rejoyce and praise him 'T is possible a carnal suspicion may arise in some as if the uniform perpetual vision of the same Glory might lose its perfect delightfulness For those who seek for happiness in the vanity of the Creatures are always desirous of change and have their Judgments so corrupted that while they languish with a secret desire after an unchangeable Good yet they conceive no Good as desireable that is not changed But to correct this gross errour of Fancy let us a little enquire into the causes of Dissatisfaction that make the constant fruition of the same thing here to be tedious Sensible things are of such a limited Goodness that not any of them can supply all our present wants so that 't is necessary to leave one for another And the most of them are Remedies of our diseased Appetites and if not temperately used are destructive Evils Eating and Drinking are to extinguish Hunger and Thirst but continued beyond just measure become nauseous Besides the Insufficiency of their Objects the Senses themselves cannot be satisfied all at once The Ear cannot attend to delightful Sounds and the Eye be intent on beautiful Colours at the same time The Satisfaction of one Sense defeats another of enjoying its proper good therefore the same Object is not constantly pleasant but the Heart is distemper'd from as many Causes as there are desires unaccomplish'd Add farther all things under the Sun afford only a superficial delight and miserably deceive the Expectations raised of them and many times there is a mixture of some evil in them that is more offensive than the good is delightful The Honey is attended with a Sting so that often those very things we sigh after through vehement desire when they are obtain'd we sigh for grief Now all these Causes of dissatisfaction cease in Heaven for God is an infinite Good and whatever is truly desireable and precious is in Him in all degrees of Perfection And in his Presence all the Powers of the Soul are drawn out in their most pleasant exercise and always enjoy their entire happiness The fruition of him exceeds our most raised hopes as much as he is more glorious in Himself than in any borrowed Representations God will be to us incomparably above what we can ask or think The compass of our thoughts the depth of our desires are imperfect measures of his Perfections And as he is a Pure Good in Himself so he is prevalent over all Evil. 'T is evident therefore that nothing can allay the Joys of Saints when they are in God's presence 2. Novelty is not requisite to ingratiate every Good and make it perfectly delightful God is infinitely happy to whom no Good was ever new 'T is indeed the Sauce that gives a delicious taste to inferiour things For Men relish only what is eminent and the good things of this World are so truly mean that they are feign to borrow a shew of Greatness by comparison with a worse estate preceding But an infinite Good produces always the same pure equal compleat Joy because it arises from its intrinsic perfection that wants no Foil to commend it The Psalmist breaks forth Whom have I in Heaven but Thee This is no vanishing Rapture but a constant joyful height of Affection God the essential happiness of the Saints is always perfectly lovely and delightful to them 3. The glorified Saints in every period of their happy state have as lively a perception of it as in the beginning To make this evident we must consider that the pleasure of Novelty springs from a quick sense of the opposite terms between our condition in the want of some desired Good and after our obtaining it Now the Mind is more intense on the advantage and more strongly affected at first One newly freed from the torments of a sharp disease feels a greater pleasure than from a constant tenour of health Those who are rais'd from a low state to eminent Dignity are transported with their first change but in tract of time the remembrance of their mean condition is so weakned
I will give as a King Thus God in the dispensing his Favours does not respect the meanness of our Persons or Services but gives to us as a God And the clearest Notion of the Deity is that he is a Being infinite in all Perfections therefore all-sufficient and most willing to make his Creatures compleatly happy 4. If a Creature perfectly Holy that never sinn'd is uncapable to merit any thing from God much less can those who are born in a sinful State and guilty of innumerable actual Transgressions pretend to deserve any Reward for their Works This were presumption inspir'd by prodigious Vanity For 1. By his most free Grace they are restored in conversion to that Spiritual Power by which they serve him The Chaos was not a deader Lump before the Spirit of God moved on the Face of the Waters than the best of Men were before the vital influences of the Spirit wrought upon them And for this they are so deeply obliged to God that if a thousand times more for his Glory were perform'd yet they cannot discharge what they owe. 2. The continuance and increase of the powerful supplies of Grace to the Saints who even since their holy calling by many lapses have justly deserved that God should withdraw his grieved Spirit are new Obligations to Thankfulness and the more Grace the less Merit 3. The best Works of Men are imperfect allayed with the mixtures of Infirmities and not of full weight in the Divine Ballance If God should strictly examin our Righteousness 't will be found neither pure nor perfect in his Eyes and without Favour and Indulgence would be rejected And that which wants Pardon cannot deserve Praise and Glory He shews Mercy to thousands that love him and keep his Commandments If Obedience were meritorious it were strict justice to reward them The Apostle prays for Onesiphorus who had exposed himself to great danger for his love to the Gospel The Lord grant he may find Mercy in that day The Divine Mercy gives the Crown of Life to the Faithful in the day of eternal Recompenses II. The meritorious Cause of our obtaining Heaven is the Obedience of Jesus Christ comprehending all that he did and suffered to reconcile God to us From him as the eternal Word we have all benefits in the order of Nature for all things were made by him and for him as the incarnate Word all good things in the order of Grace What we enjoy in Time and expect in Eternity is by him To shew what influence his Mediation has to make us happy we must consider 1. Man by his Rebellion justly forfeited his Happiness and the Law exacts precisely the forfeiture Pure Justice requires the Crime should be punisht according to its Quality much less will it suffer the guilty to enjoy the favour of God For Sin is not to be considered as an Offence and Injury to a private Person but the violation of a Law and a disturbance in the order of Government so that to preserve the honour of governing Justice an equivalent reparation was necessary Till Sin was expiated by a proper Sacrifice the Divine Goodness was a sealed Spring and its blessed effects restrain'd from the guilty Creature Now the Son of God in our assumed Nature offered up himself a Sacrifice in our stead to satisfy Divine Justice and removed the Bar that Mercy might be glorified in our Salvation The Apostle gives this account of it We have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Christ by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vaile that is to say his Flesh. 2. Such were the most precious Merits of his Obedience that it was not only sufficient to free the guilty contaminated race of Mankind from Hell but to purchase for them the Kingdom of Heaven If we consider his Human Nature all Graces were born with him as Rays with the Sun and shin'd in the whole course of his Life in the excellence of perfection And the dignity of his divine Person derived an immense value to all he perform'd as Mediator One act of his Obedience was more honourable to God than all the Lives of the Saints the Deaths of the Martyrs and the Service of the Angels God was more pleased in the Obedience of his Beloved Son than he was provok't by the Rebellion of his Servants Therefore as the just recompence of it he constituted him to be Universal Head of the Church supream Judg of the World invested him with Divine Glory and with Power to communicate it to his faithful Servants He is the Prince of Life In short it is as much upon the account of Christ's Sufferings that we are glorified as that we are forgiven The Wounds he received in his Body the Characters of Ignominy and Footsteps of Death are the Fountains of our Glory His Abasement is the cause of our Exaltation If it be said this seems to lessen the freeness of this Gift The answer is clear This was due to Christ but undeserved by us Besides the appointing his Son to be our Mediator in the way of our ransom was the most glorious work of his Goodness 2. The means of our obtaining Heaven are to be considered Though the Divine Goodness be free in its Acts and there can be nothing in the Creature of Merit or Inducement to prevail upon God in the nature of a cause yet he requires qualifications in all those who shall enjoy that blessed unchangeable Kingdom The Apostle expresly declares 'T is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that sheweth Mercy But we must distinguish the Effects of this Mercy which are dispensed in that order the Gospel lays down The first Mercy is the powerful calling the Sinner from his corrupt and wretched State a second Mercy is the pardoning his Sins the last and most eminent is the glorifying him in Heaven Now 't is clear that in this place the shewing of Mercy signifies the preventing Grace of God in Conversion for in the 18 th verse 't is said God shews Mercy to whom he will and whom he will he hardens Where 't is evident that shewing Mercy is oppos'd not to condemning but to hardning and consequently the intent of the Words is this That Divine Grace overcomes the Rebellious Will softens the stiff and stubborn Heart and makes it pliant to Obedience This flows from his pure good Will and Pleasure without the least motive from the inclinations or endeavours of sinful Men. But the other Effects of God's Mercy require Conditions in the Subjects that receive them for he pardons only penitent Believers and glorifies none but persevering Saints To make this clear 't is worthy of Observation The Gospel has several Denominations 'T is called a Law a Covenant and a Testament 'T is called the Law of Faith and the Law of the Spiritual Life As a Law it signifies a new Right that God has most freely establisht in
the Psalmist A moral Principle may induce one to abstain from many Sins and to perform many praise-worthy things in conformity to Reason But this is neither sanctifying nor saving for it only prunes Sin as if it were a good Plant and does not root it up it compounds with it and does not destroy it There may be still an impure indulgence to the secret lustings of the Heart notwithstanding the restraint upon their Exercise And many Duties may be done on lower motives without a divine respect to the Commands and Glory of God But renewing Grace subjects the Soul to the whole Royalty of the Law uniformly inclines it to express Obedience to all its Precepts because they are pure and derived from the eternal Spring of Purity It mortifies Concupiscence and quickens to every good Work from a Principle of Love to God and in this is distinguisht from the most refined unregenerate Morality In short there may be a superficial tincture of Religion from common Grace a transient Esteem vanishing Affections and earnest Endeavours for a time after Spiritual Things and yet a Person remain in a state of unregeneracy But renewing Grace is a permanent solid Principle that makes a Man partaker of the Divine Nature and elevates him above himself This holy Change is wrought by Divine Power Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The Analogy of a new Birth signifies that 't is intirely the work of the sanctifying Spirit that conveys a Principle of Life in order to the Functions of it 'T is the living impression of God the sole Efficient and Exemplar of it the Fruit and Image of the Divine Vertues 'T is exprest by the new Creature The production of it is attributed to God's power displaying it self in a peculiar excellent way even in that precise manner as in making the World For as in the first Creation all things were made originally of nothing so in the second the habit of Grace is infused into the Soul that was utterly void of it and in which there was as little preparation for true Holiness as of nothing to produce this great and regular World And although there is not only an absolute privation of Grace but a fierce resistance against it yet creating invincible Power does as infallibly and certainly produce its effect in forming the new Creature as in making the World From hence it appears that preventing renewing Grace is so intirely the Work of God as his forming the human Body from the Dust of Earth at first But with this difference the first Creation was done without any sence in the Subject of the efficiency of the Divine Power in produceing it but in the new Creation Man feels the vital influence of the Spirit applying it self to all his Faculties reforming and enabling them to act according to the quality of their nature And by the way we may observe the admirable Grace shewed to Man in the renovation of his corrupted Nature In the composition of his Being are united a Spirit like the Angels and a Body like terrestrial Animals by which he partakes of the spiritual and natural Life but he has peculiar Favours conferred upon him For whereas his Soul sin'd with the Angels and his Body dies with the Beasts yet God is pleased to restore them by his glorious Power An Angel after Sin never repents and is therefore incapable of Pardon and irrecoverably disinherited of Heaven a Beast after Death never revives but though Man sins and dies yet his Soul may be renewed by Divine Grace and his Body shall be raised in an incorruptible Glory Now the indispensible necessity of this holy Change is evident from the Words of our Saviour for he speaks universally Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God He does not simply declare that an unregenerate Man shall not but with the greatest Emphasis cannot to signify an absolute impossibility of it The Jews highly presumed of the priviledg of their carnal Birth they sprang from the pure and noble Blood of Abraham God's Friend they had the Seal of the Holy Covenant markt in their Flesh and hence it was proverbial among them that every Israelite should have a part in the World to come But our Saviour overthrows this vain conceit and tells them that the supernatural Birth entitles to the supernatural Inheritance Circumcision then and Baptism now without real Grace is an ineffectual sign of no avail to Salvation In the quality of Sons we are Heirs of God's Kingdom And that honourable Relation we have upon a double account by Adoption and Regeneration Divine Adoption is not a meer change of our state a naked Declaration that one shall be dignified with the Title of God's Son but a holy Nature is always infused into the Person whereby he is made like to God in his Excellencies In this it differs from humane Adoption that gives the Name and Arms the Honour and Estate of the Adopter to a Person without conveying any of his intellectual or moral Endowments Whom God adopts he begets to a Divine Life Besides our Saviour purchased this high priviledg for us God sent his Son made of a Woman under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons By Union with him we receive the investiture of this Dignity Now whoever is in Christ is a new Creature For the quickning Spirit that is to the Soul what the Soul is to the Body the principle of Life and Strength of Beauty and Motion and an active purifying Faith that is influential upon all other Graces are the band of that vital Union So that as all in Adam are universally corrupt by the first Birth all that are in Christ are made holy by a new Birth But of this I shall speak in the next Chapter more fully under a distinct Head Briefly the Spirit of Grace that sanctifies is the Spirit of Adoption that seals our Right to that Kingdom Now the reasons why this Change must be in order to our obtaining of Heaven are these 1. There is an exquisite Wisdom shines in all God's works in disposing them for the ends to which they are appointed and is it not monstrously absurd to imagin he will admit into his Presence and Kingdom those that are absolutely unqualified for its Blessedness and opposite to its Purity 2. His invariable Justice excludes for ever all unholy Persons from Heaven For in the last Judgment God will be glorified as a Governour in the distribution of Rewards with respect to the Obedience and Disobedience of Men. 'T is worthy of observation that the Actions of God on the reasonable Creatures are of two sorts Some proceed from his soveraign good Pleasure of which there is no motive or reason in the Subjects on which they are terminated Thus by a free and insuperable Decree when all Mankind
an Imposthume a Flux of Rhume stopping Respiration kills the Body without any presaging signs of Death As if the Roof and all the Chambers should fall within the House whiles the Walls are standing And how many unforseen Accidents and therefore inevitable put a sudden period to Life Is it not then the truest Wisdom to be early in our work for Heaven when the season is certainly short and uncertainly continued and the omission is irreparable Therefore the Gospel represents the coming of our Judg under different images of surprisal of a Thief that by the favour of the Night breaks into the House of a Master that returns from abroad unexpected to call his Servants to an account Of a Bridegroom that makes his Nuptial entrance at an unthought of hour when the wise and foolish Virgins were asleep Conscience was slumbred in the Good and stupified in the Bad to keep us always vigilant and prepared for that hour that is the end of Time and beginning of Eternity 2. Suppose Life be continued yet Sinners can have no rational hopes that they shall sincerely repent For 1. Saving Repentance is the Gift of God And is it likely that those who have been insensible of the loud and earnest calls of the Word that have been inflexible to the gracious methods of Providence leading them to repentance should at last obtain converting Grace The gales of the Spirit are very transient and blow where he pleases and can it be expected that those who have wilfully and often resisted his pure Motions should by an exuberant Favour receive afterwards more powerful Grace to overrule their stubborn Wills and make them obedient Our Saviour tells us To him that hath shall be given but to him that neglects the improving spiritual Treasures that which he hath shall be taken away There are special seasons of Grace as the passing of Christ in the way where the blind men sate which neglected are irrecoverably lost God has threatned that his Spirit shall not always strive with rebellious Sinners and then their state is remediless This may be the case of many even in this Life who are insensible of their Misery As Consumptive Persons decline by degrees lose their Appetite Colour and Strength till at last they are hopeless so the withdrawings of the Spirit are gradual his motions are not so frequent nor strong and upon the continued provocations of Sinners finally leaves them under that most fearful doom He that is filthy let him be filthy still He that is unrighteous let him be unrighteous still and thus punishes them on this side Hell as he does the damned by giving them over to Sin Nothing therefore is more dangerous than the usual excuses for the delays of Repentance 'T is written as with a Sun beam that God will graciously pardon repenting Sinners but 't is no where promised that he will give repentance to those who securely break his Laws upon a corrupt confidence they will repent at last 'T is a bloody adventure to indulge their carnal Affections as if they had infallible assurance the word of God confirm'd by his Oath that they should not dye in an impenitent state 2. Supposing the Holy Spirit be not totally withdrawn yet by every days continuance in an evil course the Heart is more hardened against the impressions of Grace and more incapable of returning to God 'T is therefore the subtilty of the old Serpent to make the entrance of Sin easy for he knows that after sometime it will plead a right by prescription and with difficulty be ejected Custom is a second Nature and has a mighty power either in that which is good or evil Can the Aethiopian change his Skin can the Leopard change his spots then may you who are accustomed to do evil do good If Sin in its infancy can make such resistance that the Spirit of Grace is foil'd in his Motions to rescue the Soul from its bondage how much more when 't is grown into a confirm'd habit Therefore the Apostle urges so emphatically to day while it is called to day hear the voice of God lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of Sin 3. How uncertain is it whether God will accept the Addresses of such at last We are commanded to seek the Lord while he maybe found and to call upon him while he is near The limitation implies if the season be neglected he will hide his Face for ever Now in cases of great moment and hazard what diligence what caution should be used 1. How derogatory is it to his Majesty to offer to him the dregs of our Age the reliques of a licentious careless Life spent in the works of Vanity Is this to give Glory to God Contempt provokes Superiors as much as actual Injuries And how vilifying is it of his excellent Greatness that Men lavishly wast the best of their time upon their Lusts and the World and when through weakness of Age or the violence of a Disease they can no more relish the pleasures of Sin then only to seek his favour and presume upon it as if he could not be happy without them and it were his interest to receive them If ye offer the blind for a Sacrifice is it not evil and if ye offer the lame and the sick is it not evil Offer it now to thy Governour will he be pleased with thee to accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts 2. Consider what Sincerity or moral Value is in Religion that meerly proceeds from bitter constraint 'T is a rule in Law falsum est eam peperisse cui mortuae Filius extractus est 'T is not a natural Birth when the Child is extracted from the dead Mother 'T is not Genuine Piety that is only extorted by the Rack whilst the Heart full of aversion and reluctancy does not truly consent Pure Religion flows uncompell'd from love to God 'T is the Dreggs that come forth with pressing 'T is observed of the Israelites that when God slew them they sought him and returned and enquired early after God But 't is added Nevertheless they did flatter him with their Mouths and they lied to him with their Tongues for their Hearts were not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant When Sinners are plunged in deep distress when the shadow of Death sits upon their Eye-lids they may with plentiful effusions of Prayers and Tears desire God to receive them to Heaven not to serve him there not to enjoy the Divine Presence but as a Sanctuary from revenging Justice as a Refuge from Hell And will such Desires prevail what swells the Confidence of Sinners but unworthy Notions of God as if a forc'd and formal Expression to him were sufficient to reconcile his offended Majesty 3. There is nothing renders Men more unworthy of Mercy than continuance in Sin upon presumption of an easy Pardon at last This is the most common deceitful Principle upon which they build their Hopes
as their Actions that bear the image of their Minds clearly manifest They think that God is so gracious such a lover of Souls so easy to be entreated that upon their dying Prayer Lord remember me in thy Kingdom the answer will be To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Now this presumptuous Indulgence gives the deepest grain to their Sins and makes them more uncapable of Pardon Chrysostome observes that Judas was encouraged to betray his Master presuming on his Lenity Goodness and Benignity which Consideration intolerably aggravated his Treason and confounded his Hopes There is a dreadful threatning against those who reject the invitations of Grace in their Prosperity and when the righteous Judg comes to Sentence and Execution are earnest Suppliants for Mercy Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my Hands and no Man regarded But ye have set at naught all my Counsel and would none of my Reproof I will also laugh at your Calamity and mock when your fear comes when your fear comes as a Desolation and your destruction as a Whirlwind when distress and anguish come upon you then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but shall not find me for they hated knowledg and did not choose the fear of the Lord. A doleful case beyond all possible expression when the sinful Creature forsaken of all Comforts below addresses to Heaven for Relief and meets with Derision and Fury Scorn and Indignation The foolish Virgins careless to prepare for the Bridegrooms coming in vain at last discovered their want of Oil in vain sollicited the wise Virgins for a supply in vain knockt at the door crying Lord Lord open unto us the answer was severe and peremptory I know you not and they were for ever excluded from Spiritual Joys 3. I will add further how incongruous it is to delay the solemn work of Reconciliation with God till the time of Sickness This is an affair wherein our transcendent interest is concern'd and should be perform'd in our most calm and sensible condition when we are most capable of reflecting upon our ways and making an exact trial of our selves and returning to God by a holy Change of our Lives Now that the time of Sickness is not a convenient season for this Work is sadly evident For some Diseases are stupifying and all the Powers of the Spirit are benummed in a dull Captivity so that the sick Man only perceives with his animal Faculties Some Diseases are tormenting and cause a great disorder in the Soul and wholly distract the Thoughts from considering his spiritual State When the Storm is at the highest and the Pilot so sick that he can give no Directions the Ship is left to the fury of the Winds and escapes by Maracle When there is a Tempest in the humours of the Body and the Soul by sympathy is so discomposed that it cannot apply it self seriously to prepare for the Divine Tribunal what danger of being lost and passing from a short Agony to everlasting Pains Besides suppose the Sickness more tolerable yet how unfit is a Person weak and languishing when Sence and Conscience are both afflicted to encounter with the cruel Enemy of Souls All that truly seek Peace with God must expect fierce Anger and War from Satan therefore 't is a point of necessary Wisdom while we are possest of Health and Strength to be in a heavenly preparation against his Assaults 4. Consider how uncomfortable it is to delay Repentance till Age and Sickness when the Fruits of it are not so evident and acceptable In evil days and the approaches of Death 't is very hard to discover the sincerity of the Heart whether Repentance proceed from holy Principles whether the sorrow then exprest be Godly for Sin or meerly natural for Punishment whether the good resolutions be the effects of a permanent Fidelity or of violent Fear that will vanish the cause being removed When the invitations to Sin cease there may remain a secret undiscerned love to it in the Heart which is the centre of Corruption and root of Apostacy The Snake that seemed dead in the cold revived by the Fire The inordinate Affection that seemed mortified when the sensitive Faculties were disabled for carnal Enjoyments may have inward Life and will soon be active and vigorous in the presence of Temptations And that a Death-bed Repentance is usually deceitful appears from hence that not one of a thousand who recover from dangerous Diseases are faithful in performance of their most sacred Vows to God How many having a Sentence of Death in themselves and under the terrours of the Lord have exprest the greatest detestation of their Lusts and resolved as they thought sincerely that if God would spare them to reform their ways to become new refined Creatures exemplary in all holy Conversation yet the danger being over their heats of devotion expire as they revive and their lusts recover strength with their Bodies and having been supprest only by fear are more fierce in their return Their Hearts were as Marbles that in rainy Weather seems dissolved into Water but 't is only from the moisture of the Air and remain as hard as ever All their promises of Reformation are ineffective as violent and void Now if these Persons had died before this visible trial and discovery they had past into another World with the reputation of true Penitents deceiving others with their Prayers and Tears and liberal Promises the outward signs of Repentance and deceived themselves by the inward workings of an alarm'd Conscience Therefore Ministers ought to be very circumspect in applying the Promises of Mercy to Persons in such a state for an errour in that kind has fearful Consequences A little opiate Divinity may quiet the Mind for a time but the virtue of it will be soon spent and the Presumer perishes for ever But suppose a dying Person with true Tears and unfeined persevering Affections returns to God can he have a comfortable assurance of his Sincerity Indeed the Searcher and Judg of Hearts will accept him but how doubtful and wavering are his Hopes what anxious Fears are in his Breast lest he builds upon a sandy Foundation And how dreadful is it to appear before the Tribunal of God and expect an uncertain Sentence But Sinners still please themselves in this That God has effectually called some at the last hour and they may find the same favour with others To this I answer 1. 'T is true we have some rare admirable instances of God's Mercy and Grace the dying Thief and some others which shew 't is possible with God to abolish the most vicious confirmed habits in a short time and by a swift Conversion to prepare a Sinner for Heaven But these Examples are not to be drawn into Consequence for the encouragement of any in their Sins A Prince will not indure that his free Favours should be made a
all that call upon him in Truth But to tell Sinners who securely proceed in an habitual course of evil that they may be saved at last and notwithstanding their presumptuous repulses of Gods calls to his Service yet they may come into the Vineyard at the eleventh hour and be rewarded is to give countenance and protection to Sin and to harden them to Destruction Poison is not cured by giving Food but Antidotes that put Nature into a Passion till it be expell'd The Terrours of the Lord can only prove medicinal to such depraved Souls To conclude this Discourse Let us seriously consider the Revelation God has made of himself in the Gospel as a Father and a Judg that Justice and Holiness as well as Mercy are essential to his Nature that our Affections may be accordingly moved towards him If ye call on the Father who without respect of Persons judgeth according to every mans work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear Presumption and Despair are very dishonourable to God and pernicious to the Soul the one destroys the Fear the other the Love of God But Hope contemper'd with fear hath an excellent influence in the Christian Life As the Ballast and the Wind are both necessary that the Ship may go safely and regularly without the Winds the Ship can make no way and without Ballast 't is in danger of oversetting by every gust Thus Hope and Fear are very useful to bring us safely to Eternal Felicity Fear without Hope stupifies the vigour and alacrity of the Soul that it cannot come to God and Hope without Fear makes it vain and careless of its Duty and liable to be overthrown by every pleasing temptation Briefly let us rightly understand the tenour of Evangelical Promises of Pardon and Grace they are conditional and applicable only to penitent Believers And unfeigned Faith the condition of our Justification purifies the Heart works by Love and is the living Principle of universal Obedience And Repentance unto Life is productive of all good Fruits in their Season Be not deceived God is not mocked as a Man Sows so shall he Reap He that sows to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption He that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life Everlasting CHAP. VI. Our Choice must be Constant. Perseverance in a holy Life absolutely required in order to attaining the Reward The various Temptations that assault Christians to divert them from the pursuit of Heaven The Reason why Perseverance is necessary Cautions against Presumption and a vicious dejection of Spirit I Shall proceed next to consider that our Choice must be firm and lasting victorious over all Temptations The two principal Rules of the Spiritual Life are to begin and end well to fix and establish the main design for Everlasting Happiness and from a determinate Resolution and ratified purpose of Heart to pursue it with firmness and constancy to live for Heaven and with readiness and courage to dye for it if the Glory of God so require Perseverance is indispensably necessary in all that will obtain the Eternal Reward For the clearing this most important Point I will first represent from Scripture the Idea of Perseverance that is attended with Salvation Secondly Confider why 't is so strictly required I. Saving Perseverance includes the permanent residence of Grace in the Soul 'T is composed of the whole Chain of Graces the union of holy habits that are at first infused into a Christian by the sanctifying Spirit When Eternal Life is promised to Faith or Love or Hope 't is upon supposal that those Graces being planted in the Heart shall finally prosper He that is faithful to the Death shall inherit the Crown of Life 'T is Love that never fails that shall enter into Heaven 'T is hope firm unto the end that shall be accomplished in a glorious Fruition If Grace be disseised by a usurping Lust Apostacy will follow and the forfeiture of our right in the Kingdom of Heaven 2. Grace must be continually drawn forth into exercise according to our several states and duties and the various occasions that happen in our course through the World Those who are light in the Lord are commanded to walk as Children of the Light to signify the excellency and purity of the Christian Life Those who live in the Spirit must walk in the Spirit that is by a conspicuous course of Holiness declare the vigour and efficacy of the divine principle that is communicated to them Paulum sepultae distat inertiae celata virtus Virtue that breaks not forth into visible Actions is not worthy of the Name The meer abstaining from evil is not sufficient but all the positive acts of the holy Life are to be constantly done In discharging both these parts of our Duty compleat Religion is exprest and the power of Grace consists 3. Perseverance includes not only continuance in well-doing but fervour and progress towards Perfection There are two fixt States the one in Heaven the other in Hell The blessed Spirits above are arrived to the height of Holiness The Devil and damned Spirits are sunck to the lowest extremity of Sin But in the middle state here Grace in the Saints is a rising growing Light and Sin in the Wicked improves every day like Poison in a Serpent that becomes more deadly by his Age. We are injoined not to remain in our first Imperfections but to follow Holiness to the utmost issue of our Lives to its intire consummation For this end all the dispensations of Providence must be improved whether prosperous or afflicting And the Ordinances of the Gospel were appointed that in the use of them we may be changed into the divine Image from Glory to Glory 4. Perseverance is required notwithstanding all Temptations that may allure or terrify us from our Duties what ever affects us one way or other while we are cloathed with frail Flesh. 'T is the fundamental Principle of Christianity declared by our Saviour If any Man will come after me that is be my Disciple and Servant let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me even to be crucified with him rather than wilfully forfeit his Integrity and Loyalty to Christ. He must by a sacred fixt resolution devest himself of all things even the most valued and desireable in the present World and actually forsake them nay entertain what is most distasteful and resist unto Blood rather than desert his Duty 1. He must with unfainting Patience continue in doing his Duty notwithstanding all Miseries and Calamities Losses Disgraces Torments or Death it self which wicked Men and greater Enemies the Powers of Darkness can inflict upon us To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality Eternal Life is promised He that endures to the End notwithstanding the most terrible Sufferings to which he is exposed for Christ's sake shall be saved In this a Christian must be the express
confirm and fortify our resolutions for Heaven God promised to Hezekiah 15 years but not to preserve his Life by Miracle he was obliged to repair the wastings of Nature by daily Food and to abstain from what was noxious and destructive to his Body The Apostle excites Christians to work out their own Salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that works in them to will and to do of his good Pleasure Let him that stands take heed lest he fall None are a more easy Conquest to the Tempter then those who presume upon their own Strength We should be always jealous of ourselves from the sad Examples of Apostacy in every Age. St. Ambrose testifies from his own knowledg that many after the couragious enduring of cruel Torments for Religion the tearing open their Sides that their Bowels appeared and the burning of some parts of their Bodies yet when led forth to finish the Victory of Faith to be a triumphant Spectacle to Angels and Men when the blessed Rewarder was ready to put the Martyrs Crown on their Heads at the sight of their mourning Wives and Children in the way were overcome by Pity the weakest Affection and fail'd in the last act of Christian Fortitude We must pray to be strengthned with all Might according to his glorious Power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness For some may vigorously resist one sort of Temptation and render themselves to others And if finally vanquisht by one of those Enemies we lose our Victory and Crown And as Presumption betrays the Soul into the Devils Snares so a vicious dejection of Spirit from a distrust of Relief from God in our Difficulties and his assistance with our unfeigned endeavours for Salvation is very pernicious For this damps Industry and causes either a total neglect or uncomfortable use of Means for that End Many Christians considering their Graces are weak their Nature fickle and apt to revolt are ready as David said One day I shall perish by the hand of Saul to conclude sadly of the issue of their Condition To encourage such let them consider that Perseverance is not only a Coudition but a Privilege of the Covenant of Grace For that affords supply of spiritual Strength to the sincere Believer for performing the condition it requires Indeed if Grace were the meer product of Free Will the most fervent Resolutions would vanish into a Lye upon the Assault of an overpowering Temptation As Hezekiah acknowledged that the Assyrian Kings had destroyed the Gods of the Nations that were no Gods but Idols the work of Mens Hands But sanctifying Grace is the effect of the Holy Spirit and he that begins that good work in the Saints will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He that inclin'd them joyfully to chuse the Spiritual Eternal Good will bind their unconstant Hearts that by a faithful adherence they shall cleave to their Duty and Felicity God has most graciously declared I will put my Spirit into their Hearts that they shall never depart from me The Promise is founded in the unchangeable Love of God to his People Were God as Man subject to Variation there might be Jealousies in Believers lest they should lose his good Will As those who depend on Princes are suspicious lest from the natural inconstancy of the human Will a new Favourite should supplant them But whom God loves he loves to the end The Apostle prays for the Thessalonians that God would preserve them blameless till unto the coming of Christ by this Consideration faithful is he that calleth you he will do it He speaks of the Internal Call that opens the Heart and overpowers all Resistance As when the Angel came with a Light shining in the Prison to St. Peter and struck him on the Side bid him arise quickly loosed his Chains aud led him through the Guards open'd the Doors and restored him to Liberty The effectual calling of a Sinner is the visible and infallible effect of electing Mercy and God is unchangeable in his own purpose and faithful to his Promises of bringing all such by Sanctification to Glory The same Apostle tells the Saints at Corinth That the Redeemer would confirm them to the End God is faithful by whom ye are called Grace that was at first inspir'd is continually actuated by the Spirit who is stiled the earnest of the Saints Inheritance So that whereas the Angels that excell'd in Strength kept not their first State of Purity and Glory but are sunk into Corruption and Misery yet true humble Believers though weak and encompast with many Difficulties shall be preserved from destructive Evil and raised to an unchangeable Estate of Perfection This is as truly admirable as if the Stars should fall from Heaven and Clods of Earth ascend and shine in the Firmament The Apostle who acknowledged his insufficiency of himself to think a good Thought yet triumphantly declares I can do all things within the compass of his Duty through Christ that strengthens me The Love Fidelity and Power of God are a sure Fountain of Assistance to every Christian that sincerely resolves and endeavours to prosecute his last and blessed End CHAP. VII An Account how Men are induc't to choose a false Happiness and reject the true Directions for the regulating our Choice The Senses and Passions are the worst Councellors The Example of the multitude is contagious I Shall now come to the Directions how to fix our Choice aright This is a matter of everlasting Consequence it therefore becoms us with the most intense application of Mind to consider it and according to the advice of Wisdom to keep the Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life Indeed the choice were not difficult between lying Vanities and substantial Blessedness if uncorrupted reason had the Superior sway but in this lapsed state of Nature the Understanding and Willare so depraved that present things pleasing to sence ravish the Heart into a Compliance Men are deceived not compelled into ruin the subtile Seducer prevails by fair Temptations This will be evident by reflecting upon the frame and composition of Man as he consists of Spirit Soul and Body and the manner of his acting The Spirit is the intellective discerning Faculty the Seat of Reason capable to compare and judge of the qualities of things and foresee their issues The Body includes the lower Faculties the Sences Fancy and Passions that are coversant about present things The Soul is the Will the principle of Election in the midst of the other as the Centre to which all their Addresses flow Now upon the proposal of the spiritual and carnal Good in order to Choice the Will is to be directed by the Mind and by its own Authority to rule the lower Passions But alas the Mind has lost its primitive Light and Purity Vigilance and Integrity neglects its Duty and from Ignorance Errour and carnal Prejudices often pleads for the Flesh and the
future State where the Misery is extream and nothing remains to allay it that the Damned should be in love with the unhappy good of simple being and not choose an absolute extinction if it might be If any one should be so foolish to think that custom will render that State more tolerable he may find a terrible confutation of his vain Fancy Indeed continuance under light Evils may arm the Mind with patience to bear them but in great extremities it makes the Evil more ponderous and intolerable He that is tortured with the Stone or on the Rack the longer the Torture continues the less able he is to sustain it In short as the Joy of Heaven is infinitely more ravishing that the Blessed are without fear of losing it so the Misery of Hell is proportionably tormenting that the Damned are absolutely destitute of hopes of a release O 't is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who lives for ever and can punish for ever Now the serious Consideration of this Misery is the most proper and powerful means to awaken indulgent Sinners and make them resolved to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right Eye to part with the dearest Lusts rather than be exposed to it According to the judgment of Sense would any one in his Wits choose the enjoyment of the most intense and exquisite Pleasures for a Year and afterwards be content to burn in a Fornace for a Day much less to enjoy them for a Day and to burn for a Year what stupid Beasts are they who for momentary Delights incur the Fiery and Eternal Indignation of God Do we provoke the Lord to Jealousy are we stronger than he Try but the Finger with the Flame of a Candle or touch but a hot Coal you will soon discover your weakness But alas how hardly are Men induc't to exercise their Minds on this terrible Object He thinks least of Hell who has most reason to consider it so unwilling is the carnal Heart to have represented to it the evil to come Yet this is the first Motive that compels Sinners to change their course and turn from Sin to Holiness from the Creatures to God The Joys of Heaven being Spiritual and Divine as was before observed have no attractive influence upon their Affections would never convert and reform any but the torment of Fire being most evident and vehement to Sense is strongly represented by the Imagination and affects carnal Men. How many abound with vicious obstinate habits that by solemn and believing thoughts of the unquenchable Fire have felt the Miracle upon the three Children in the Fornace renewed in themselves their strong Cords burnt asunder and all their Powers restored to the freedom of Duty the blessed liberty of Obedience The Truth is if God had not formed Hell for the Punishment of Sin and only prepared the Celestial Kingdom for the Reward of Holiness the blessed Angels would be the sole Possessors of it and Heaven would be as empty of human Souls as 't is full of Glory so foolishly and violently is the corrupt nature of Man drawn by what is pleasing to Sense though with the certain loss of the most precious and eternal good things in the Divine Treasury But the belief that within a little time nothing will remain of their sinful Pleasures but the never dying Worm and ever living Flames makes them considerative of their imminent danger and as it were by necessity to seek the Kingdom of Heaven as a secondary Object to escape from Hell As the vertue of the Load-stone when encompast and arm'd with Iron is increast and draws a far greater weight than when 't is single thus the attractives of Heaven are more powerful to move our obdurate Hearts when enforc'd from the terrors of Hell In this respect the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom of the active and best Wisdom that directs us in the way to Blessedness CHAP. XIII The last Direction Earnest Prayer to God to inlighten our Minds to believe the Eternal World and effectually turn our Wills to desire and prosecute the Blessedness to come HAving a discovery so clear and certain in the Holy Scriptures of the everlasting recompences in the next World of the Kingdom of Heaven prepared by God to shew his excellent Glory to his faithful Servants where Love and Peace and Joy dwell for ever and of the infernal Prison where despair and Rage and Sorrow and whatever is signified under the terrible allusions of Fire and Brimstone are ordained by Divine Justice for the Wicked it might be justly hoped that all Men would by a holy violence take Heaven and by the swiftest Motion flee from the Wrath to come The instinct of Nature and the light of Reason excite them to secure their most precious Interest Can there be an Expectation Desire or Capacity in Man of enjoying a Blessedness beyond what is Infinite and Eternal And can there be any Evil so formidable as Everlasting Misery Now both these Objects are set before Men and propounded to their Choice And we are infallibly assured from God himself that all who are sincere and constant in their Choice and Pursuit shall obtain Heaven and that none shall be cast into Hell but those who choose it and therefore most worthily suffer it But O astonishment if with a serious Eye we regard the course of Mens Actions 't is visible that incomparably the greatest number of Christians in Profession love Death and hate Eternal Life Not that 't is possible for the reasonable Creature to do this directly with an explicit aim but virtually and by interpretation They intend Happiness but choose Misery For he that voluntarily breaks the Law of God chooses the known Penalty of its Violation He that prefers this perishing World before Heaven rejects it in the most contumelious manner And such is the depravation of Man since his Fall the Mind being diverted by vain Thoughts and the Heart prepossessed with sensual Desires that till the Spirit of his Mind be renewed and his original Affections to the Supream Good be revived and restored by Divine Grace he is regardless of it and only applies himself to what is pleasing to Sense Therefore a most necessary Duty incumbent upon us is by humble and fervent Prayer to address our selves to God for his Spirit to enlighten our Minds that we may believe the reality and greatness of the Eternal Reward and to reform our Wills that we may feel its attractive Force Both these acts of the Spirit are requisite that the Love of God as our chief Felicity may be the regent Principle of our Hearts and Lives 1. For this end the Holy Spirit convinces Men thorowly of the reality and greatness of an invisible Happiness Indeed the Heathens saw something of this as it were in a Dream they had some transient Glances and volatile Wishes concerning it but miserably weak and ineffectual And in the most of
Christians the convictions of a future State are not so clear and strong as to govern their Hearts and Lives How many of eminent intellectual Faculties are stupid as to their great Interest and spend themselves about Trifles and are equally tractable to Eternal Ruine as the Ox to the Slaughter He that is destitute of the illuminating Grace of the Spirit is blind and cannot see afar off Now by the Analogy between the corporal and the intellectual Faculties we may understand in some measure how the Mind is illuminated by the Spirit of God For as to the act of Seeing two things are requisite 1. External Light in the Air without which the Colours Figures and Beauties of Objects are not visible to the sharpest Eye but lie obscur'd under impenitrable Darkness 2. Internal Light in the Eye in which the visive Power consists if this be extinguish'd the clearest Light of Heaven is of no use for the discovery of Things Thus the Understanding is enabled to see Spiritual Things 1. By the revelation of the Object in this respect Life and Immortality are brought to Light by the Gospel Till that bright discovery was made of Eternal Blessedness it was above the desires and hopes of sinful Man Coelum homo nec optare poterat ex ignorantia nec sperare ex propriae miseriae conscientia 2. By the inward inlightning from the Spirit of Wisdom that removes the Ignorance Prejudice and Inadvertency of the Mind which as Scales darkned its Sight and disposes it to perceive the verity and excellency of spiritual and future Things though not with comprehensive evidence yet with that assurance that no doubtfulness or suspence remains concerning them 'T is observable that Faith is exprest in Scripture by Prudence Wisdom and Knowledg whereby a Man knows the grounds and motives of his Judgment and Actions And Sin is called Folly For as when the understanding Faculty either from the indisposedness of the Organs as in Idiots or from the disorder of Fancy by the inflammation of the Humours as in distracted Persons cannot weigh and compare and therefore makes a perverse judgment of things so the carnal Mind by not due measuring and pondering judges falsly of Spiritual Things If something no bigger than the Hand were put before the Eye it would intercept the Sight of the Heavens and he that not considering the properties of things near and distant should conclude that piece to be bigger than the Heavens were justly reputed a Fool. And the Folly of carnal Men is more gross who prefer things present to Sense before what is future and of everlasting consequence to the Soul But there are some actions which if done by a Natural would be counted Folly yet being done by those who in the reputation of the World are Wise are esteemed Prudent but they are the most deplorable Folly Now as the restoring the Laesum principium the broken Mind to its sound State whereby 't is able to consider discern and conclude of things according to their Nature such is the action of God's Spirit upon the corrupt Mind clarifying and enlightning it so that it receives full conviction by the clearest marks of divine Authority shining in the Gospel of the Truth of all the great and precious Promises therein contained and causing it by a steddy application of the Thoughts to see the vast difference between what is Temporal and Eternal how despicably light all the Vanities of this World are found when put in the Ballance against the infinite inestimable Happiness of the next In short the renewed Mind knows Spiritual Things according to their Nature and Qualities believes esteems and determins that they are of Eternal moment and absolutely necessary for the Happiness of Man And as when the natural Faculty of seeing is perish'd 't is irreparable by human Skill and without a Miracle can never be restored so the intellectual Faculty when darkned by sinful Lusts without the renewing power of the Spirit can never know Spiritual Things as they ought to be known Therefore as the blind Men in the Gospel who dispair'd of help from the Physicians hearing of the miraculous Power of Christ importunately begg'd his healing Mercy so let us pray to the Light and Saviour of the World but in a more noble and higher Sense Lord that we may receive our sight Let us with the most zealous Affections call upon the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory that he would give unto us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of him the Eyes of our understanding being inlightned that we may know what is the hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints 2. The efficacious Influence of the Holy Spirit is requisite to change the Will that with a free and full consent it may desire and prosecute the Spiritual Eternal Good Without this the conviction of the Mind is not powerful enough to convert the Soul from the love of the World to choose Heaven There may be an inlightned Conscience without a renewed Heart Though the Judgment assents that God is the Supream Good yet till the Heart be circumcised the sensuality of the Affections taken away divine Love that directs the Life to God as our blessed End can never possess it Suppose that Men had a sensible and strong assurance of the Eternal State hereafter if all those who lived godly in a visible manner ascended with Elias to Heaven and if all who continued in their Sins visibly descended into Hell as Corah and his Company were swallowed up alive by the Earth before the Israelites if Men could hear the joyful Exultations of the Saints above their high Praises of God and hear the desperate Crys and deep Complaints of the Damned if one according to the desire of the rich Man were sent from Hell and with his Fiery Tongue should preach a Sermon of those Torments not describing them at a distance but by a sensible demonstration in himself yet this alone were not sufficient to draw off their Hearts from the deceitful Happiness of this World and fasten them on the perfect and Eternal Happiness in the next Indeed they could not then indulge their Lusts so securely but they would be Strangers to the Life of God such an inveterate alienation of Heart is in Men from real Holiness Till the sanctifying Spirit by a directive persuasive Light that represents the Truth and Goodness of Spiritual Things transforms the Soul and makes it Spiritual in its Valuations and Affections 't is inwardly averse from Grace and Glory The Lord direct our Hearts into the Love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe FINIS * Beatitudo est bonorum omnium complexio secretis omnibus malis Cicer. †Quicquid illis congesseris non finis erit cupiditatum sed gradus Sen. ‖ Nullum