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
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
habitual Vices in the Possessors and indifferently serve for bad or good uses The greedy pursuit of them blasts all true worth of Spirit and turns the Soul to Earth and Corruption And sensual Pleasures are so far from advancing Man that the luxurious enjoyment of them by the lowest degradement makes him like the Beasts in all things but Innocence In short all the admired things of the World are of so little value that they debase and inslave him by an overprising and affecting them 'T is his true perfection from consciousness of his native worth and through Royality of Mind to despise them 2. The sensible World cannot give compleat satisfaction to Man Felicity is the complacence and test of the Soul in the enjoyment of a suitable Object commensurate to its real capacity and duration Such an Object must be a Spiritual Good pure without Alloys infinite and eternal Now all things in the World are in every respect insufficient to satisfy our Desires 1. They are not a convenient Good to the Soul What proportion is there between a spiritual Nature and carnal Sensualities between the divine Off-spring and the low voluptuousness of Flesh What are Treasures of Gold and Pearls but shining Dust and the froth of the Sea and can these enrich a Heavenly Being What is Honour and Reputation an invisible imagination form'd in a few Heads What is Praise a favourable sound from a few Mouths And can a Fancy a Breath be the solid Good of the Soul As well may an empty Dream afford substantial Nourishment to the Body Hence the Expectation is far above the Fruition of earthly Things Whilst seen by the false Beams of Fancy and the Passions they promise fair but upon trial are found to be a meer Illusion that has nothing real but the bitterness that attends them And from hence there is a perpetual generation of Desires in the Breasts of Men the end of one is the beginning of another as Fewel increases the Fire The wanting Soul becomes more ardent by failing in what it expected and makes endless inquiries for matter of satisfaction Seneca observed an image of this in Nature and gives the Moral of it A Tortoise if turn'd on the Back though it suffer no pain is violent in Motion till it recovers its natural Posture Thus Man though free from external Troubles yet is in restless changes always casting about till he obtains the Happiness for which he was made that is adequate to his Capacity Who will shew us any Good is the voice of Mankind chasing several Hopes and ingaged in infinite errors in the search of Felicity here below But the confluence of all worldly things cannot quiet the ravings of their misguided Appetites The Persian Kings with all their Royalties and Revenues and Delights were so unsatisfied that they proclaimed a Reward to any that invented a new Pleasure The sweetest Enjoyments are not without secret distastes The most pleasurable Heights are infinitely distant from Felicity Therefore the most prosperous in the World are fain to borrow the Opinions of others who blindly admire what they never had experience of to conceit themselves Happy For their real inward Sence is perfectly contrary to the vain Fancies of those below them Nay suppose a Man possest of all the Varieties that compound earthly Felicity the more full the less satisfied he is for his desires being unquencht when all things are ready that promised to appease them and no lure of Hope remaining the disappointment in a mistaken Object and despair of ever finding satisfaction here necessarily involves him in a double Misery Of this we have the certain Testimony of Solomon himself who after a curious and earnest search for Happiness declares that all even the most valued things below are Vanity pompous Names without sence and reality and therefore vexation of Spirit Now what a poor Happiness is the World when the fullest possession of it is so far from inriching a Man with true content that it makes his Poverty desperate 2. The Things of the World are temporal not commensurate to the duration of the Soul Blessedness signifies an unchangeable State not a transient Passage The Object must be firm as the Center and the Fruition of it without end or interruption The fear that arises from the naked possibility of losing it dashes our Joy how much more the certainty Now suppose the whole World were the Portion of a Man can he joyfully acquiesce in it The fear nay certainty of parting with all these things are inseparable Properties of our possessing them Fear upon the account of their transitory condition certainty from Death that is inevitable to all Men. 1. Fear of losing them Such is the instability of worldly Things through vicissitudes of Times disasters of Chance decays of Nature that we cannot be secure of them a day Honour is a casual Happiness depending on the uncertain Opinions of Men that rise and fall every Hour Riches are deceitful not only because they do not supply our greatest Wants but fly from us when we think our hold is fastest They are a Quick-Silver no Art can fix Beauty is a fading Flower often blasted while the stalk remains All things under the Sun are Vanity What ever is measur'd by Time is in a continual Flux like a Torrent one part is present to the Eye because another is swiftly past away So that 't is evident they are insufficient to make a Man happy For who can possess them without a just jealousy lest they should slip away or by violence be ravisht from him As the Inhabitants of Campania the most fruitful and delicious part of Italy but near Vesuvius that always flames or smoaks and scatters Ashes abroad are in frequent apprehensions lest a sudden deluge of Fire should break forth and devour their Palaces and Gardens and Vineyards and change that natural Paradise into a Scene of Horrour an accidental Hell Now the very suspicion of losing what is our Happiness is perfectly irreconcileable to it 2. There is a certainty of losing all earthly things at Death Other Evils may surprise us unexpected or not come when fear'd And this relieves Mankind in the present state that is liable to innumerable Evils that many may be prevented But the last evil is inevitable Though Men are distinguisht in the condition of Living yet all are equal in the necessity of Dying Human Greatness in every kind Nobility Riches Empires cannot protect from the sovereign and suddain hand of Death that overthrows all The expressions of Scripture concerning the frailty of Man are often precisely and literally verified He is like Grass in the Morning it flourisheth and groweth up in the Evening it is cut down and withereth Now suppose the World constant and faithful to you till the last hour of your Lives will it not fail you then And can that be the Happiness of a Man that attends him for a time and leaves
him for ever The most conspicuous difference of Men in this World is that of the Victorious over the Vanquisht prostrate at his Feet But Death makes them equal Then the wretched Captive shall upbraid the proud Conqueror Art thou become weak as we art thou become like us 'T is no wonder then that the wise Preacher despises all the States of the present Life as Vanity For the Fabric cannot be more solid than the Foundation nor the Accident more real than the Being on which it depends On every side Death is in our view and the Shadow of it approaching darkens our brightest Days 'T is no wonder then that he equals the Fool with the Wise. For all that Wisdom that is confin'd to mortal things dies with them Nay he confounds Man with the Beast One thing befals them as the one dieth so dieth the other yea they have all one Breath so that Man has no preeminence above them While we regard him only with the Eye of Sence what shall we see in his Life but Folly mixt with Anxieties and Cares and what in his Death but wasted Spirits the Springs of Motion disordered and at last the living Frame dissolved into the Earth from whence it came But if we consider the Soul that carries in it the clear marks of its Original from God by the same reason that every thing shall be reunited to its Principle that shall return to God that gave it and remain for ever The Felicity therefore to which it naturally aspires must be parallel to its duration From these Considerations 't is above all doubt that Man was designed by his Maker for a higher End than the enjoyment of the present World 2. The consummate Happiness of Man is in his Communion with God For God is a Spiritual Good suitable to the Nature of his better and divine part and communicates Himself to the Spiritual Faculties the Understanding and Will the principles of Man's eminent Operations and most capable of enjoying Felicity God is an infinite Good and can so fully appease all the rational Appetites that nothing is wanting to his entire Blessedness God is an unchangeable Good not to be lost with this Life but may be securely enjoyed to Eternity In the Knowledg and Love in the Imitation and Enjoyment of his Excellencies the highest elevation and compleat satisfaction of the rational Nature consists As Man by applying himself to unworthy things is degraded into a lower Order and his Thoughts and Affections that are Spiritual in respect of their Principles are Sensual and Perishing in respect of their Object so when the noble Faculties are exercised in a perfect manner on their Soveraign Good he is advanc't to an equality of Perfection and Joy with the Angels The more refined Heathens had a glimpse of this Happiness some streaks of it run through their Philosophy But till God was pleased to reveal it the World sat in Darkness and slept securely in the shadow of Death unconcerned for an invisible future Felicity 'T is necessary therefore to inquire into his Word what that blessed State is wherein the final Happiness of Man consists CHAP. II. The clear Revelation of Man's final Happiness by the Gospel 'T is set forth by sensible Representations to make it more intelligible It includes an exemption from all Evils sinful and penal The concurrence of all positive Excellencies to intire Blessedness The Body shall be raised in Glory The Soul shall be made perfect The Vnderstanding shall clearly contemplate the most excellent Objects The Will be inflamed with the perfect Love of God The highest Satisfaction arises from Vnion with God by Knowledg and Love The full Joy of Heaven shall be perpetual 'T Is the peculiar honour of the Gospel that by it Life and Immortality are brought to Light 'T was not wholly concealed from Men that only saw the Creator in his visible Works 'T was more fully discovered by the Law but with incomparable more Clearness by the Gospel The Nature of it is now revealed 'T is a pure and holy Felicity in everlasting Communion with the blessed God The subject of it is the intire Man for this End the Body shall be awakened out of its dead sleep and quickned to an Immortal Life The place is the highest Heavens fram'd by the Divine Hand for the seat of his Majesty the Kingdom of his Love wherein the glorious Communications of himself are to his Favourites The causes of it are the infinite Mercy of God and the meritorious Obedience of his Son in Man's Nature The Means whereby 't is obtained are a lively purifying Faith that unites us to Christ and entitles us to an Inheritance purchased by his most precious Blood And to confirm our Hopes of this Supernatural Happiness Our Saviour exhibited a perfect example of this in himself rising from the Grave crown'd with Immortality and in the presence of his Apostles ascending to Heaven where he sits at the right Hand of God the Head of the Church from whom Glory will descend to his Members To make this supernatural Blessedness more easy and intelligible to us the Scripture describes it by sensible Representations For while the Soul is cloath'd with Flesh Fancy has such a Dominion that we can conceive of nothing but by Comparisons and Images taken from material Things 'T is therefore set forth by a Feast and a Kingdom to signify the Joy and Glory of that State But to prevent all gross conceits it tells us that the Bodies of the Saints shall be spiritual not capable of hunger and thirst nor consequently of any refreshment that is caused by the satisfaction of those Appetites The Objects of the most noble Senses Seeing and Hearing the pleasure of which is mix'd with Reason and not common to the Brutes are more frequently made use of to reconcile that glorious State to the proportion of our Minds Thus sometimes the Blessed are represented plac'd on Thrones with Crowns on their Heads sometimes cloathed in White with Palms in their Hands sometimes singing Songs of triumph to Him that sits on the Throne and to their Saviour But the reality of this Blessedness infinitely exceeds all those faint Metaphors Heaven is lessened by Comparisons from earthly things The Apostle who was dignifi'd with the revelation of the Successes that shall happen to the Church till Time shall be no more tells us It does not appear what we shall be in Eternity The things that God has prepar'd for those that love him are far more above the highest ascent of our Thoughts than the Marriage-Feast of a great Prince exceeds in splendor and magnificence the imagination of one that has always liv'd in an obscure Village and never saw any Ornaments of State nor tasted Wine in his Life We can think of those things but according to the poverty of our Understandings But so much we know that is able to sweeten all the bitterness and render insipid all the sweetness of this World
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
favour of lost Man that commands certain Duties and sets before them Eternal Life as the reward of Obedience and Eternal Death the punishment of Disobedience According to this the trial and decision of Mens everlasting States shall be which is the Character of a true Law This Law of Grace is very different from the Law of Nature that requir'd intire innocence and for the least omission or accusing act past an irrevokable doom upon the Offender for that strictness and severity is mollified by the Gospel which accepts of sincere persevering Obedience though imperfect accordingly 't is called the Law of Liberty But the Law of Faith is unalterable and admits of no dispensation from the duties required in order to our being everlastingly happy 2. The Gospel is stiled a Covenant and that imports a reciprocal engagement between parties for the performance of the matter contained in it The Covenant of Grace includes the promise of pardoning and rewarding Mercy on God's part and the Conditions on Man's with respect to which 't is to be perform'd There is an inviolable dependence between them He will be our God to make us happy but we must be his People to yeild unreserved Obedience to him He will be our Father and we shall be his Sons and Daughters but 't is upon the terms of purifying our selves from all pollutions of Flesh and Spirit and unfeigned endeavours to perfect Holiness in his fear 'T is astonishing Goodness that he is pleased to condescend to such a treaty with fallen Creatures by a voluntary promise he encourages them but though most free in making 't is conditional in the performance The constancy of his holy Nature obliges him to fulfil his Word but 't is if we do not fail on our part by carelessness of our Duty A Presumer may seal assurance to himself and be deceived in this great matter but God will not be mocked If we prove false in the Covenant he will be faithful and exclude those from Heaven that were neglectful of the Conditions to which it is promised 3. The Gospel is stiled a Testament sealed in the Blood of Christ confirm'd by his Death The donation of eternal blessings in it is not absolute and irrespective but the Heirs are admitted to the Possession of the Inheritance according to the Will of the rich liberal and wise Testator There can be no regular title or claim made out without performing what is required And this is the Will of God and Christ our Sanctification without which we cannot enjoy it Now from hence we may see the admirable agreement between these two Notions that Heaven is a Gift and a Reward 'T is a Reward in the order of giving it not due to the Work but from the Bounty of the Giver God gives Heaven to those that faithfully serve him But their Service was due to God of no worth in respect of Heaven so that Man's Work is no Merit and God's Reward is a Gift Our everlasting Glory must be ascribed to his most free Grace as much as the pardon of our Sins I shall now proceed to consider what the Gospel declares to be indispensibly requisite in order to our obtaining of Heaven this is compriz'd in the holy change of Man's Nature which I will briefly unfold and shew how necessary it is to qualify us for Celestial Glory 1. This holy Change is exprest in Scripture by the new Birth Our Saviour with a solemn repeated Asseveration tells Nicodemus Verily Verily except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Sin is natural to Man from his Conception and Birth and infects with its contagion all his Faculties This is fomented and cherisht by temptations that easily encompass him The Understanding is polluted with evil Principles full of strong Prejudices and lofty Imaginations against the supernatural Mysteries of Salvation 'T is full of Ignorance and Folly and from hence either rejects them as incredible or despises them as impertinent or unprofitable The Will is depraved and perverse full of unruly and unhallowed Affections The Senses are luxurious and rebellious In short Man is so viciously and sensually inclined so alienated from the Life of God as if he had no diviner part within him that should aspire to a Spiritual Blessedness that should regulate and controul the excess of the inferiour Appetites This is the unhappy Character Satan imprest on him in his Fall and without renovation upon an infinite account he is uncapable of seeing God This renovation consists not in the change of his substance as the Water was miraculously turn'd into Wine at the Marriage in Cana of Galilee the same Soul with its essential Powers the same Body with its natural Senses the Work of the Creator remains but in the cleansing of his stain'd nature in the sanctifying his Faculties that are the Springs of his Actions The whole Man is quickned into a Divine Life and enabled to act in conformity to it And of this the new Birth is a convenient Illustration An active Principle of Holiness is planted in him that springs up into visible Actions The Apostle particularly expresses it in his earnest Prayer for the Thessalonians The very God of Peace sanctify you wholly and preserve your whole Spirit Soul and Body blameless till the coming of Jesus Christ. Every Faculty is renewed and every Grace infused that constitutes the Divine Image The Mind is renewed by Spiritual Light to believe the Truth and Goodness of unseen things promised the reality and dreadfulness of things threatned in the Word of God It sees the truest Beauty in Holiness the highest Honour in Obedience to God the greatest Equity and Excellence in his Service The Will is renewed by holy Love a purifying Flame and feels the attractive virtue of our blessed End before all desireable things on Earth and determins to pursue it in the vigorous use of proper means The Body is made a holy instrument fit for the renewed Soul In short the natural Man becomes spiritual in his Perceptions Resolutions and Actions All things are become New There is a firm assent an inviolable adherence to those most precious Objects revealed in the Scripture and a sincere chosen constant Obedience flows from the renewed Faculties And from hence we may distinguish between regenerating Grace and formal Hypocrisy in some and the proficiency of Nature and power of common Grace in others A Hypocrite in Religion is acted from without by mercenary base respects and his Conscience being cauteris'd handles sacred things without feeling a regenerate Person is moved by an internal living Principle and performs his Duties with lively Affections Natural Conscience under the compulsion of Fear may lay a restraint upon the outward acts of Sin without an inward consent to the sanctity of the Law Renewing Grace cleanses the Fountain and the current is pure It reconciles the Affections to the most holy Commands I love thy Law because 't is pure saith
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
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
advantage frequently to sequester our selves from the World to redeem Time from secular Affairs for the recollecting of our Thoughts and their solemn exercise upon the Eternal World Sense that reveals natural things darkens spiritual How can the Thoughts be fixt on invisible things so distant from Sense if always conversant with secular Objects that draw them down In the silence of the Night a small Voice is more distinctly heard and a little distant Light more clearly seen so when the Soul is withdrawn from the noisy throng of the World and outward things are darkned the Voice of Conscience is better heard and the Light of Heaven more perfectly received 3. Consideration of Eternal Things must be with present Application to the Soul 'T is not the meer conviction of the Mind but the decree of the Will that turns Men from Sin to Holiness from the Creatures to God The Heart is very deceitful and by variety of shifts and palliations is disposed to irresolutions and delays in spiritual Concernments How often does the miserable Sinner contend with himself and while Conscience urges him to seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the Affections draw down to the Earth the carnal part prevailing over the rational he overcomes and is overcome he is convinced and condemned by his own Mind Till Consideration issues in this that with setled Judgment and Affections the Soul determines for God and Heaven 't is without profit Therefore in the managing this Duty 't is our Wisdom not to be curious and inquisitive after subtile Conceptions and exalted Notions of the future State that little confer to the making the Heart better but to think seriously on what is plain and evident and most useful to produce a present lasting Change It were egregious Folly in a Man that for the use of his Garden should with great labour fetch Water from distant Fountains and neglect that which springs up in his own Ground That Meditation is profitable which produces not new Thoughts but holy and firm resolutions of obeying God in order to the full enjoying of him for ever To persuade us to the serious practice of this Duty there are many enforcements Is any Man so foolish so regardless of his convenience to purchase a House wherein he must live all his Days and will not first see whether it will be convenient and secure for his Habitation Shall we not then consider Heaven the Mansion of Blessedness and Hell the Seat of Misery and Horror for according as we chuse here we shall be in the one or other place for ever I shall in a particular Chapter endeavour to represent something of the inexpressible Misery of the Wicked hereafter and shew how congruous and powerful the Thoughts of it are to restrain Men from Sin but at present shall briefly excite to the Meditation of the Heavenly Glory as the most noble delightful and fruitful work of the Soul whiles confin'd to the Body of Flesh. 'T is the most exalted exercise of the Mind the purest converse with God the Flower of consecrated Reason 'T is most like the Life of glorified Spirits above who are in continual contemplation of the Divine Excellencies and 't is most raised above the Life of carnal Men that are sunk into sensuality and brutishness 'T is the most joyful Life in that it sheds abroad in the Soul delights that neither satiate nor corrupt nor weaken the Faculties as the delights of Sense do but afford perfection as well as pleasure 'T is the most profitable Life As in those parts of the Earth where the beams of the Sun are strongly reflected precious Metals and Jewels are produc'd wherein the refulgent resemblance of that bright Planet appears so the lively and vigorous exercise of the Thoughts upon the heavenly Glory will produce Heavenly Affections heavenly Discourses and a heavenly shining Conversation This will make us live like the blessed Society above imitating their Innocence and Purity their joyful entire and constant Obedience to God This confirms the holy Soul in its Choice with an invincible efficacy against the Temptations and Lusts of the World The serious considering Believer is filled with ravishing Wonder of the Glory that shall be revealed and looks down with Contempt upon the Earth and all that has the Name of Felicity here All the Invitations nay Terrors of the World are as unable to check his pursuit of his blessed End as the Breath of an Infant to stop the high flight of an Eagle But how rare and disused a Duty is this How hardly are Men induc'd to set about it Business and Pleasures are powerful Diversions Some pretend Business as a just cause but in vain for the one thing necessary challenges our principal Thoughts and Care Besides there are intervals of Leisure and the Thoughts are always streaming and often run waste which directed aright would be very fruitful to the Soul The true cause of this neglect is from the inward temper of Men. Carnal Pleasures alienate the Mind and make it unfit for the deep serious actings of the Thoughts upon Eternal Things I have said of Laughter thou art mad it makes the Mind light and vain and desultory As a distracted Person by every motion of Fancy flys from one thing to another without coherence The Heart fill'd with cloudy Cares and smoaky Fires with Thoughts and Desires about worldly Things is unprepar'd for such a clear calm and sedate Work A Carnal Person can taste no sweetness feel no relish in the Meditation of Heaven nor any spiritual Duty 'T is as if one should take some delicious Fruit into his Mouth a Peach or the like without breaking the Skin it would be rather a trouble than pleasant Nay the Gospel expresly declaring that without Holiness no Man shall see God those who by vicious Affections are ingaged in any sinful way being conscious of their guilt and unpreparedness and that while such they are under a peremptory exclusion from celestial Glory cannot endure the thoughts of Heaven The Divine Presence is their Torment and the serious Consideration of it is to bring them before God's holy and just Tribunal to accuse and condemn them CHAP. X. The Objects of Consideration specified The End of Man's Creation considered The Things of the World and Heaven that solicit our Choice considered in their Quality and Duration I Shall next proceed to a more particular view of those Objects from whence Consideration derives vigour for the inclining of the Will to a right Choice and for regulating the Life 1. Consider the End for which Man was designed in his Creation why endued with rational and noble Powers of Soul and plac'd by the Soveraign Maker in the highest rank of so numerous and various Natures that fill the Universe Is it to raise an Estate to shine in Pomp to enjoy sensual Pleasures for a little while and after the fatal term to be no more for ever Was he sent into the World upon as mean a Business
his absolute Power The Apostle tells us that the wicked are punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and the Glory of his Power What is the lashing with a few Rushes to a blow given by the hand of a Giant that strikes dead at once This comparison is below the Truth More particularly the state of Misery is set forth in Scripture by such representations as may powerfully instruct and terrifie even the most carnal Men. Nothing is more intolerably painful then suffering the violence of Fire inraged with Brimstone and Hell is described by a Lake of Fire and Brimstone wherein the Wicked are tormented Whether the Fire be Material or Metaphorical the reality and intenseness of the Torment is signified by it But the ordinary Fire though mingled with the most torturing Ingredients is not an adequate representation of it For that is prepared by Men but the Fire of Hell is prepared by the Wrath of God for the Devil and his Angels The Divine Power is illustriously manifested in that terrible preparation So that as some of the Fathers express it if one of the Damned might pass from those Flames into the fiercest Fires here it were to exchange a Torment for a Refreshment The Scripture speaks of the vehement heat and fiery Thirst and outer Darkness in which the Damned suffer to satisfy the rights of Justice in the torment of those Senses for the Pleasure of which Men wilfully broke the Laws of God But the Soul being the chief Sinner shall be the chief Mourner in those Regions of Sorrow An Image of this we have in the Agonies of Spirit which sometimes the Saints themselves are in here and which the most stubborn Sinners can neither resist nor endure Job was afflicted in that manner that he complains The Arrows of the Almighty are with me the Poison whereof drinks up my Spirit the Terrors of God set themselves in Array against me If a Spark of his Displeasure falls on the guilty Conscience it tears and blows up all as a Fire-ball cast into a Magazine All the Diversions in the World Business Pleasures Merry Conversation Comedies are as ineffectual to give freedom from those Stings and Furies in the Breast as the sprinkling of Holy Water is to expel a raging Divil from a possest Person Those who in their Pride and Jollity have despised serious Religion either as a fond Transport and Extasy towards God or a dull Melancholy and Dejection about the Soul or an idle Scrupulosity about indifferent things yet when God has set their Sins with all their killing circumstances in order before their Eyes how changed how confounded are they at that Apparition How restless with the dreadful expectation of the doom that attends them Belshazzer in the midst of his Cups and Herd of Concubines by a few Words written on the Wall containing his Process and Judgment was so terrified by his guilty jealous Conscience that his Joints were loosed Nature sunk under the apprehension Now all these troubles of Mind are but the beginnings of Sorrows but the Smoak of the infernal Fornace but earnests of that terrible Sum which divine Justice will severely exact of the Wicked in Hell Indeed these Examples are rare and not regarded by the most and by some lookt on as the effects of Distraction but to convince the bold and careless Sinners who never felt the stings of an awakned Conscience what extream terrors seize upon the Wicked in the other World Consider 1. The Apprehension shall be more clear and enlarged than in the present State Now the Soul is opprest with a weight of Clay and in Drowsiness and Obscurity The great things of Eternity are of little force to convince the Conscience or perswade the Affections But then the Soul shall work with the quickest activity The Mind shall by an irresistible Light take a full view of all afflicting Objects The most stupid and unconcerned Sinners shall then see and feel their ruin'd State what a glorious Felicity they have lost what a Misery they are plunged into without any possibility of lessening it by false Conceits and receiving any relief by the error of Imagination 2. The mournful Thoughts shall be always fixt upon what is tormenting The Soul in conjunction with the Body cannot always apply it self to one sort of Objects For the Ministry of the sensible Faculties is requisite to its Operations And the Body must be supported by Eating and Drinking and Rest which interrupts troublesome Thoughts Besides the variety of Objects and Accidents here avert the Mind sometimes from what is afflicting But the separate Soul is in no dependence on the Body and after their reunion there shall be no necessity of Food or Sleep or any other animal actions to support it but it shall be restored to a new capacity for new torments and preserved in that miserable State by the power of God There will be nothing then to divert the lost Soul from sad Reflections upon its Misery There are no lucid intervals in Hell 3. All the passionate Powers will then be let loose at once upon the guilty Creature And if there be no single Passion so weak but heightned will break the Spirit and render Life so miserable that a Man will take Sanctuary in the Grave to escape how miserable is the Condition when the most fierce and united Passions war against the Soul This is signified by the never dying Worm that gnaws on the tenderest parts and of quickest sence Shame Sorrow Despair Fury Hatred and Revenge are some of that Blood of Vipers that torment the Damned 1. Shame is a Passion of which human Nature is very sensible and this in the highest degree of Confusion shall seize on the Wicked For all the just causes of Shame shall then meet The inward source of it is the consciousness of Guilt or Turpitude and Folly in the Actions and all these are the inseparable Adjuncts of Sin The guilty Soul by a piercing reflection upon its Crimes has a secret shame of its Degeneracy and Unworthiness The Passion is increast when a discovery is made of vile practices that defile and debase a Man expose to Contempt and Infamy before Persons of high Quality and eminent Vertue whom we admire and reverence and whose esteem we value To be surprized in an unworthy Action by such a Person disorders the Blood and transfuses a Colour into the Face to cover it with a Vail of Blushing And the more numerous the Spectators are the more the Disgrace is aggravated And if Derision be joined with the Ignominy it causes extream Displeasure O the universal Confusion the over-powring amazement that will seise on Sinners in the great day of Discovery when all the Works of Darkness all their base Sensualities shall be revealed before God Angels and Saints When all the covers of Shame shall be taken off the excuses and denials to extenuate or conceal their Sins shall vanish and
tormentum sentit resupinata testudo inquieta est tamen desiderio naturalis status nec aut ea desinit niti quatere se quam in pedes constitit Ergo omnibus constitutionis suae sensus est Athen. Media de fonte teporum surgit amari aliquid quod in ipsis floribus angat Lucret. * Nec unquam placidam sceptra quietem certumve sui tenuere Diem S. n. †Forma bonum fragile est quantumque accedit ad annos Fit minor spatio carpitur illa suo Ovid. ‖ Vid. Plat Symp. Phoed. Rev. 21. 4. 1 Cor. 15. Phil. 3. 1. 1 Cor. 13. * Vt cum istud quicquid est de quo disputatis percepero mortar Val. Max. ‖ Aristot †Sic itaque habebit donum aliud aelio minus ut hic quoque donum habeat ne velit amplius Aug. * Et totum se dedit universis et totum singulis Ac per hoc quicquid passione sua Salvator praestitit sicut totum ei debent universi sic singuli nisiquod propè hoc plus singuli quà m universi quod totum acceperunt singuli quantum universi Salvian †Si audiaet multitudo silens non inter se particulatim comminuunt sonos tanquam cibos sed omne quod sonat omnibus totum est singulis totum August in Epist. ad Volusan * O si animum boni viri liceret inspicere ex magnifico placidoque fulgentem nonne veluti numinis occurs◠obstupefacti essemus Senec. Non errâti Mater nam hic Alexander est Curt. lib. 3. Job 29. 2 3 4. * Vitae nos taedium tenet timor mortis natat omne consilium nec implere nos ulla faelicitas potest Causae autem est quod non pervenimus ad illud bonum immensum insuperabile ubi necesse est consistat nobis voluntas nostra quia ultra summum non est locus Senec. epist. 74. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Eth. l. 7. c. ult Heb. 10. 19 20. Rom. 9. 16. James 2. Heb. 9. 2 Cor. John 3. 3. Rom. 8. 17. Gal. 4. 7. 1 Pet. 1. 17. Rom. 2. 16. Acts 26. 18. Heb. 1◠14. Joh. 3. 16. Phil. 2. 8 9. Joh. 17. 2. Joh. 6. 1 Cor. 15. 22. 1 Joh. 5. 12. Joh. 1. 12. Ephes. 3. 17. 1 Cor. 1. Acts 5. 31. Rom. 8. Psal. 106. 14. Frui est amore alicujus rei inhaerere propter seipsam uti autem quod in usum venerit ad id quod amas obtinendum referre Aug. de Doct. Christ. * Acosta Tim. 6. 18 19. Psal. 115. 8. Phil. 3. 13 14. Athen. l. 20. c. 9. Tam modico ore tam immensa aequorum vastitas panditur Plin. †Nos corpus tam putre sortiti nihilo minus aeterna proponimus in quantum potest aetas humana protendi tantum occupamus nulla contenti pecunia nulla potentia Quid hac re fieri impudentius quid stultius potest Nihil satis est morituris nihil morientibus Sen. Epist. 120. ‖ Nemo ergo sibi promittat quod Evangelium non promittit Aug. Jer. 13. 16. Psal. 78. 34 36. Prov. 1. Malè cum his agitur quibus necessitas belli incumbit morbi Veget. * Quod alicui gratiosè conceditur trahi non debet ab aliis in exemplum Plut. Symp. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. Vix dici potest quantos haec inanis spei umbra deceperit Aug. ‖ Tu qui Deos putas humana negligere nonne animadvertisti ex tot tabulis pictis quam multi vim tempestatis effugerint in portumque salutis pervenerint Tull. ‖ Miserrimum morbi genus in que aeger siti aquae metu cruciatur quorum spes in angusto est Cels. Rev. 2. 1 Cor. 13. * Natator amnem interpositum superaturus exuitur nec tamen hoc tanto apparatu quod se dispoliaverit transnatabit nisi totius Corporis nisu torrentis impetum scindat laborem natationis exhauriat Paulin. Rom. 2. Mat. 10. 22 Juven Eze. 18. 24 Heb. 10. 38 1 Cor. 5. 11. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. * Homil. 6. de laud. Paul †Quae justior venia in omnibus causis quam voluntarius an quam invitus peccator implorat Negationem quanta compellunt ingenia carnificum genera poenarum Quis magis negavit qui Christum vexatus an qui delectatus amisit Qui quum amitteret doluit an qui quum amitteret lusit Tert. de pudicit Denique saepe cognovimus quoniam quem formidolosa carnificum pompa non terruit nec divisi lateris sulcus infregit nec ardentes laminae à triumphalis fortitudinis vigore abducere potuerunt eum inter sacra praemia constitutum Vxor tenerae prolis oblatione miserabilis unius lachrymae miseratione decepit ‖ Flagitio insigni semper alicujus foeminae amore flagrans ob id Deas pingens sub dilectarum imagine Itaque scorta ejus venerabantur Plin * Bion. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aelian l. 13. c. 32. †Nunquam de vita judicatur semper creditur sanabimur si modò separemur à coetu Sen. de vit Beat. Heb. 11. ◠Nec vereamu occidi quos constat quando occidim◠coronari Cyp. 1 Sam. 14. 24 25 26. Isa. 1. 2 3. * Primum ego scriptoris officium existimo ut titulum suum legat atque identidem interroget se quid caeperit scribere †Cum natalis dies Februarii admonuisset aetatis numerandae tricesimo reperissem invasit me subita moestitia perculsit admirantem quomodo sine sensu vitae ad ejus culmen pervenissem à quo lux quaelibet fit obscurior dies nostri ad occasum inclinare incipiunt Visa est mihi rerum facies momento mutata tunc primum me hominem agnovi Memoires Chanut 2 Pet. 3. 9. Quam suave carere suavitatibus istis Si frigido loquar nescit quod loquor Aug. Identidem dictitans qualis artifex pereo Suet. Nisi timore incipiat homo Deum colere non perveniet ad amorem Aug. Psal. 90. 11. Rom. 9. 22. 2 Thess. 1. Indeed it is difficult to conceive how a material Fire can act on a spiritual Substance But 't is unreasonable to determine that it is impossible For if we consider what pain is it is as conceiveable how pure Spirits are capable of it as Spirits in Conjunction with Bodies The human Soul in its Nature is Spiritual as the Angels yet has a painful sence of Fire or other afflicting Evils incumbent on the Sences The Body meerly feels not pain but it passes through the Body to the Soul If the Soul by a strong diversion of Thoughts apply it self to an Object the Body is insensible of pain as is evident in some Diseases and that in the heat of Battel deep Wounds are not felt And as God by a natural Constitution has ordered that the Body so touch'd and moved excites a painful Sense in the Soul he may have ordained that the Devils shall feel the impressions of Material Fire in the places to which they shall be confin'd Job 6. 4. Dan. 12. 2. Tacitâ sudant praecordia culpa Juv. Jer. 14. 12. Jussisti Domine sic est ut poena sit sibi omnis inordinatus affectus Aug. Rev. 16. 10 11. Psal. 77. 7.