Dr. TILLOTSON's SERMON Before the QUEEN. March the 7th. 1689/90.   

A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITEHALL, March the 7th, 1689/90.  
By JOHN TILLOTSON, D. D. Dean of St. Paul's: And Clerk of the Closet to His Majesty.  
Published by Their Majesty's Special Command.  
LONDON, Printed for Brabazon Aylmer, at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill: Will. Rogers, at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet: and John Tillotson Bookseller in London. M DC XC.   

A SERMON Preached at White-Hall.  MATTH. 25. 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the Righteous into life eternal. 
AMong all the arguments to Repentance and a good Life, those have the greatest force and power upon the minds of men, which are fetched from another World; and from the final state of good and bad men after this Life. And this our Saviour represents to us in a most lively manner, in that prospect which, in the later part of this Chapter, he gives us of the Judgement of the great Day, namely, that at the end of the World the Son of Man shall come in his glory, with his Holy Angels, and shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory; and all Nations shall be gathered before him, and shall be separated into two great Companies, the Righteous and the Wicked; who shall stand the one on the Right hand, and the other on the Left of this great Judge; who shall pronounce sentence severally upon them according to the actions which they have done in this Life: The Righteous shall be rewarded with eternal happiness, and the Wicked shall be sentenced to everlasting punishment. And these, that is, the Wicked, shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the Righteous into Life eternal.  
The Words are plain and need no explication. For I take it for granted, that every one, at first hearing of them, does clearly apprehend the difference between the Righteous and the Wicked, and between endless Happiness and Misery: But although these Words be so very easy to be understood, they can never be too much considered by us. The Scope and design of them is, to represent to us the different Fates of good and bad men in another World, and that their Ends there, will be as different, as their Ways and doings have been here in this World: The serious consideration whereof is the greatest discouragement to Sin, and the most powerful argument in the World to a holy and virtuous life: Because it is an argument taken from our greatest and most lasting interest, our happiness or our misery to all Eternity: A concernment of that vast consequence, that it must be the greatest stupidity and folly in the World for any man to neglect it.  
This eternal state of Rewards and Punishments in another World, our Blessed Saviour hath clearly revealed to us. And as to one part of it, viz. That good men shall be eternally happy in another World, every one gladly admits it: But many are loath that the other part should be true, concerning the eternal punishment of wicked men. And therefore they pretend that it is contrary to the Justice of God to punish temporary Crimes with eternal Torments: Because Justice always observes a proportion between Offences and Punishments: but between temporary Sins and eternal Punishments there is no proportion. And as this seems hard to be reconciled with Justice, so much more with that excess of Goodness which we suppose to be in God.  
And therefore they say, that though God seem to have declared that impenitent Sinners shall be everlastingly punished, yet these declarations of Scripture are so to be mollified and understood, as that we may be able to reconcile them with the essential perfections of the Divine nature.  
This is the full force and strength of the Objection. And my work at this time shall be to clear, if I can, this difficult Point. And that for these two Reasons. First, For the vindication of the Divine Justice and Goodness. That God may be justified in his sayings, and appear Righteous when he judgeth. And Secondly, because the belief of the threatenings of God in their utmost extent is of so great moment to a good Life, and so great a discouragement to Sin: For the sting of Sin is the terror of eternal punishment; and if men were once set free from the fear and belief of this, the most powerful restraint from Sin would be taken away.  
So that in answer to this Objection, I shall endeavour to prove these two things.  
First, That the eternal punishment of wicked men in another World is plainly threatened in Scripture.  
Secondly, That this is not inconsistent either with the Justice or the Goodness of God.  
First, That the eternal punishment of wicked men in another World is plainly threatened in Scripture, namely, in these following Texts, Matth. 18. 8. It is better for thee to enter into Life halt and maimed, than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And Matth. 25. 41. Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. And here in the Text, these, that is the wicked, shall go away into everlasting punishment. And Mark 9 It is there three several times with great vehemency repeated by our Saviour, where their worm dyeth not, and the fire is not quenched. And 2 Thess. 1. 9 speaking of them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of his Son, it is said of them, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction.  
I know very well that great endeavour hath been used to avoid the force of these Texts, by showing that the words, for ever and everlasting, are frequently used in Scripture in a more limited sense, only for a long duration and continuance. Thus, for ever, doth very often in the Old Testament only signify for a long time and till the end of the Jewish Dispensation. And in the Epistle of St. Judas, verse 7th. The Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are said to be set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, that is, of a fire that was not extinguished till those Cities were utterly consumed.  
And therefore to clear the meaning of the forementioned Texts. First, I shall readily grant, that the words, for ever and everlasting, do not always in Scripture signify an endless duration; and that this is sufficiently proved by the instances alleged to this purpose. But then, Secondly, it cannot be denied on the other hand, that these words are often in Scripture used in a larger sense and so as necessarily to signify an interminable and endless duration. As where Eternity is attributed to God, and he is said to live for ever and ever: And where eternal happiness is another World is promised to good men, and that they shall be for ever with the Lord. Now the very same words and expressions are used concerning the punishment of wicked men in another life, and there is great reason why we should understand them in the same extent: Both, because if God had intended to have told us that the punishment of wicked men shall have no end, the Languages wherein the Scriptures are written do hardly afford fuller and more certain words, than those that are used in this case, whereby to express to us a duration without end: And likewise, which is almost a peremptory decision of the thing, because the duration of the punishment of wicked men is in the very same sentence expressed by the very same word which is used for the duration of the happiness of the righteous: As is evident from the Text, These, speaking of the wicked, shall go away, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, into eternal punishment, but the righteous, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, into life eternal. I proceed to the  
Second thing I proposed; namely, to show that 
II.  this is not inconsistent either with the Justice or the Goodness of God. For in this the force of the Objection lies. And it hath been attempted to be answered several ways, none of which seems to me to give clear and full satisfaction to it.  
First, it is said by some, that because sin is infinite in respect of the Object against whom it is committed, which is God, therefore it deserves an infinite punishment.  
But this I doubt will upon examination be found to have more of subtlety than of solidity in it. 'Tis true indeed, that the dignity of the Person against whom any offence is committed is a great aggravation of the fault. For which reason all offences against God are certainly the greatest of all other. But that crimes should hereby be heightened to an infinite degree can by no means be admitted; and that for this plain reason; because then the evil and demerit of all sins must necessarily be equal; for the demerit of no sin can be more than infinite: And if the demerit of all sins be equal, there can then be no reason for the degrees of punishment in another World: But to deny that there are degrees of punishment there, is not only contrary to reason, but to our Saviour's express assertion, that some shall be beaten with many stripes and some with fewer, and that it shall be more tolerable for some in the day of judgement than for others. Besides, that by the same reason that the lest sin that is committed against God may be said to be infinite because of its object, the least punishment that is inflicted by God may be said to be infinite because of its Author; and then all punishments from God as well as all sins against him would be equal; which is palpably absurd. So that this answer is by no means sufficient to break the force of this Objection.  
Secondly, It is said by others, that if wicked men lived for ever, in this World they would sin for ever, and therefore they deserve to be punished for ever. But this hath neither truth nor reason enough in it to give satisfaction. For who can certainly tell that if a man lived never so long he would never repent and grow better?  
Besides, that the Justice of God doth only punish the sins which men have committed in this life, and not those which they might possibly have committed if they had lived longer.  
Thirdly, it is said in the last place, that God hath set before men everlasting Happiness and Misery, and the sinner hath his choice. Here are two things said which seem to bid fairly towards an answer.  
First, that the reward which God promiseth to our obedience is equal to the punishment which he threatens to our disobedience. But yet this I doubt will not reach the business: Because though it be not contrary to Justice to exceed in Rewards, that being matter of mere favour; yet it may be so, to exceed in Punishments.  
Secondly, it is further said, that the sinner in this case hath nothing to complain of, since he hath his own choice. This I confess is enough to silence the sinner, and to make him to acknowledge that his destruction is of himself; but yet for all that, it does not seem so clearly to satisfy the objection from the disproportion between the fault and the punishment.  
And therefore I shall endeavour to clear, if it may be, this matter yet a little further by these following Considerations.  
First, let it be considered, that the measure of Penalties with respect to Crimes is not only, nor always, to be taken from the quality and degree of the offence, much less from the duration and continuance of it, but from the ends and reasons of Government; which require such penalties as may, if it be possible, secure the observation of the Law and deter men from the breach of it. And the reason of this is evident, because if it were once declared that no man should suffer longer for any Crime than according to the proportion of the time in which it was committed, the consequence of this would be that sinners would be better husbands of their time & sin so much the faster, that they might have the greater bargain of it, and might satisfy for their sins by a shorter punishment.  
And it would be unreasonable likewise upon another account; because some of the greatest sins may perhaps be committed in the shortest time; for instance, Murder; the act whereof may be over in a moment, but the effects of it are perpetual. For he that kills a man once kills him for ever. The act of Murder may be committed in a trice, but the injury is endless and irreparable. So that this objection of temporary Crimes being punished with so much longer sufferings is plainly of no force.  
Besides, that whoever considers how ineffectual the threatening even of eternal torments is to greatest part of sinners, will soon be satisfied that a less penalty than that of eternal suffering would to the far greatest part of mankind have been in all probability of little or no force. And therefore if any thing more terrible than eternal vengeance could have been threatened to the workers of iniquity, it had not been unreasonable, because it would all have been little enough to deter men effectually from sin.  
So that what proportion Crimes and Penalties ought to bear to each other, is not so properly a consideration of Justice, as of Wisdom and Prudence in the Lawgiver.  
And the reason of this seems very plain, because the measure of Penalties is not taken from any strict proportion betwixt Crimes and Punishment; but from one great end and design of Government, which is to secure the observation of wholesome and necessary Laws; and consequently whatever Penalties are proper and necessary to this end are not unjust.  
And this Consideration I desire may be more especially observed, because it strikes at the very foundation of the objection. For if the appointing and apportioning of Penalties to Crimes be not so properly a consideration of Justice, but rather of Prudence in the Lawgiver; than whatever the disproportion may be between temporary Sins and eternal sufferings Justice cannot be said to be concerned in it.  
Justice indeed is concerned, that the Righteous and the Wicked should not be treated alike; and farther yet, that greater sins should have a heavier punishment, and that mighty sinners should be mightily tormented; but all this may be considered and adjusted in the degree and the intenseness of the suffering, without making any difference in the duration of it.  
The case then in short stands thus. Whenever we break the Laws of God we fall into his hands and lie at his mercy, and he may without injustice inflict what punishment upon us he pleaseth: And consequently, to secure his Law from violation, he may beforehand threaten what penalties he thinks fit and necessary to deter men from the Transgression of it. And this is not esteemed unjust among men, to punish Crimes that are committed in an instant with the perpetual loss of Estate, or Liberty, or Life.  
Secondly, This will yet appear more reasonable when we consider, that after all he that threatens hath still the power of execution in his own hands. For there is this remarkable difference between Promises and threatenings, that he who promiseth passeth over a right to another, and thereby stands obliged to him in Justice and Faithfulness to make good his promise; and if he do not, the party to whom the promise is made is not only disappointed but injuriously dealt withal: But in threatenings it is quite otherwise. He that threatens keeps the right of punishing in his own hand, and is not obliged to execute what he hath threatened any further than the reasons and ends of Government do require: And he may without any injury to the party threatened remit and abate as much as he pleaseth of the punishment that he hath threatened: And because in so doing he is not worse but better than his word, no body can find fault, or complain of any wrong or injustice thereby done to him.  
Nor is this any impeachment of God's truth and faithfulness, any more than it is esteemed among men a piece of falsehood not to do what they have threatened. God did absolutely threaten the destruction of the City of Niniveh, and his peevish Prophet did understand the threatening to be absolute, and was very angry with God for employing him in a message that was not made good. But God understood his own right, and did what he pleased notwithstanding the threatening he had denounced, and for all Jonah was so touched in honour that he had rather have died himself, than that Niniveh should not have been destroyed, only to have verified his message.  
I know it is said in this case, that God hath confirmed these threatenings by an Oath, which is a certain sign of the immutability of his counsel; and therefore his Truth is concerned in the strict and rigorous execution of them. The Land of Canaan was a Type of Heaven, and the Israelites who rebelled in the Wilderness were also a Type of impenitent Sinners under the Gospel; and consequently the Oath of God concerning the rebellious Israelites, when he swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest, that is, into the Land of Canaan, doth equally oblige Him to execute his threatening upon all impenitent Sinners under the Gospel, that they shall never enter into the Kingdom of God. And this is very truly reasoned, so far as the threatening extends; which if we attend to the plain words of it, beyond which threatenings are never to be stretched, doth not seem to reach any further than to the exclusion of impenitent Sinners out of Heaven and their falling finally short of the Rest and Happiness of the Righteous: Which however, directly overthrows the Opinion ascribed to Origen that the Devils and wicked men shall all be saved at last; God having sworn in his wrath that they shall never enter into his rest.  
But then, as to the eternal misery and punishment threatened to wicked men in the other World, though it be not necessarily comprehended in this Oath that they shall not enter into his Rest: yet we are to consider, that both the tenor of the Sentence which our Blessed Saviour hath assured us will be passed upon them at the Judgement of the Great Day, Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire; and likewise this Declaration in the Text, that the Wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, though they do not restrain God from doing what he pleases, yet they cut off from the Sinner all reasonable hopes of the relaxation or mitigation of them. For since the great Judge of the World hath made so plain and express a Declaration, and will certainly pass such a Sentence, it would be the greatest folly and madness in the world for the Sinner to entertain any hope of escaping it, and to venture his soul upon that hope.  
I know but one thing more, commonly said upon this Argument, that seems material. And that is this, That the words death and destruction and perishing, whereby the punishment of wicked men in the other World is most frequently expressed in Scripture, do most properly import annihilation and an utter end of Being; and therefore may reasonably be so understood in the matter of which we are now speaking.  
To this I answer, that these words, and those which answer them in other Languages, are often, both in Scripture and other Authors, used to signify a state of great misery and suffering without the utter extinction of the miserable. Thus God is often in Scripture said to bring destruction upon a Nation when he sends great Judgements upon them, though they do not exterminate and make an utter end of them.  
And nothing is more common in most Languages, than by perishing to express a person's being undone and made very miserable. As in that known passage in Tiberius his Letter to the Roman Senate, 
* Ita me Dij Deaeque omnes ●ejùs perdant quam hodiè perire me sentio, etc.  Let all the Gods and Goddesses, saith he, destroy me worse than at this very time I feel myself to perish, etc. in which Saying, the words, destroy and perish, are both of them used to express the miserable anguish and torment which at that time he felt in his mind, as Tacitus tells us at large.  
And as for the word Death; a state of misery which is as bad or worse than death may properly enough be called by that name: And for this reason the punishment of wicked men after the Day of Judgement is in the Book of the Revelation so frequently and fitly called the second death. And the Lake of fire, into which the wicked shall be cast to be tormented in it, is expressly called the second death. 
Rev. 20. 14▪   
But besides this, they that argue from the force of these words, that the punishment of wicked men in the other world shall be nothing else but an utter end of their Being, do necessarily fall into two great inconveniencies.  
First, that hereby they exclude all positive punishment and torment of Sinners. For if the second death, and to be destroyed, and to perish, signify nothing else but the Annihilation of Sinners and an utter extinction of their Being; and if this be all the effect of that dreadful Sentence which shall be passed upon them at the Day of Judgement, than the Fire of Hell is quenched all at once, and is only a frightful Metaphor without any meaning. But this is directly contrary to the tenor of Scripture, which doth so often describe the punishment of wicked men in Hell by positive torments: And particularly our Blessed Saviour, describing the lamentable state of the damned in Hell, expressly says that there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth; which cannot be, if Annihilation be all the meaning and effect of the Sentence of the Great Day.  
Secondly, another inconvenience of this Opinion is, that if Annihilation be all the punishment of Sinners in the other World, than the punishment of all Sinners must of necessity be equal, because there are no degrees of Annihilation or not-being. But this also is most directly contrary to Scripture, as I have already shown.  
I know very well that some who are of this Opinion do allow a very long and tedious time of the most terrible and intolerable torment of Sinners, and after that they believe that there shall be an utter end of their Being.  
But then they must not argue this from the force of the Words before mentioned, because the plain inference from thence is, that Annihilation is all the punishment that wicked men shall undergo in the next Life; And if that be not true, as I have plainly shown that it is not, I do not see from what other words or expressions in Scripture they can find the least ground for this Opinion, that the torment of wicked men shall at last end in their Annihilation. And yet admitting all this, for which I think there is no ground at all in Scripture, I cannot see what great comfort Sinners can take in the thought of a tedious time of terrible torment, ending at last in Annihilation and the utter extinction of their Being's.  
Thirdly, we may consider further, that the primary end of all threatenings is not punishment, but the prevention of it. For God does not threaten that men may sin and be punished, but that they may not sin, and so may escape the punishment threatened. And therefore the higher the threatening runs, so much the more mercy and goodness there is in it; because it is so much the more likely to hinder men from incurring the penalty that is threatened.  
Fourthly, Let it be considered likewise, that when it is so very plain that God hath threatened eternal misery to impenitent Sinners, all the prudence in the World obliges men to believe that he is in good earnest and will execute these threatenings upon them, if they will obstinately stand it out with him and will not be brought to Repentance. And therefore in all reason we ought so to demean ourselves, and so to persuade others, as knowing the terror of the Lord, and that they who wilfully break his Laws are in danger of eternal Death. To which I will add in the  
Fifth and lást place, That if we suppose that God did intend that his threatenings should have their effect to deter men from the breach of his Laws, it cannot be imagined that in the same Revelation which declares these threatenings any intimation should be given of the abatement or non-execution of them. For by this God would have weakened his own Laws, and have taken off the edge and terror of his threatenings: Because a threatening hath quite lost its force, if we once come to believe that it will not be executed: And consequently, it would be a very impious design to go about to teach or persuade any thing to the contrary, and a betraying men into that misery which had it been firmly believed might have been avoided.  
We are all bound to preach, and You and I are all bound to believe the terrors of the Lord. Not so, as saucily to determine and pronounce what God must do in this case; for after all, He may do what he will, as I have clearly shown: But what is fit for us to do, and what we have reason to expect, if notwithstanding a plain and express threatening of the vengeance of eternal fire, we still go on to treasure up to ourselves wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous Judgement of God; and will desperately put it to the hazard, whether, and how far, God will execute his threatenings upon Sinners in another World.  
And therefore there is no need why we should be very solicitously concerned for the honour of God's Justice or Goodness in this matter. Let us but take care to believe and avoid the threatenings of God; and then, how terrible soever they are, no harm can come to us. And as for God, let us not doubt but that he will take care of his own Honour; and that He, who is holy in all his ways, and righteous in all his works, will do nothing that is repugnant to his eternal Goodness and Righteousness; and that He will certainly so manage things at the Judgement of the Great Day, as to be justified in his sayings, and to be righteous when we are judged. For, notwithstanding his threatenings, he hath reserved Power enough in his own hands to do right to all his Perfections: And therefore we may rest assured, that he will judge the world in righteousness; and if it be any wise inconsistent either with Righteousness or Goodness, which He knows much better than we do, to make Sinners miserable for ever, that He will not do it.  
But let Sinners always be afraid of it, and reckon upon it: And always remember, that there is great Goodness and Mercy in the severity of God's threatenings; and that nothing will more justify the infliction of eternal Torments, than the foolish presumption of Sinners in venturing upon them, notwithstanding such plain and terrible threatenings.  
This, I am sure, is a good Argument to all of us, to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling; and with all possible care to endeavour the prevention of that misery which is so terribly severe, that at present we can hardly tell how to reconcile it with the Justice and Goodness of God.  
This God heartily desires we would do; and hath solemnly sworn, that he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live. So that here is all imaginable care taken to prevent our miscarriage, and all the assurance that the God of Truth can give us of his unwillingness to bring this misery upon us. And both these, I am sure, are arguments of great Goodness. For what can Goodness do more, than to warn us of this misery, and earnestly to persuade us to prevent it; and to threaten us so very terribly, on purpose to deter us from so great a danger?  
And if this will not prevail with us, but we will still go on to despise the riches of God's goodness, and long-suffering, and forbearance; what in reason remains for us, but a fearful looking for of Judgement and fiery Indignation to consume us? And what almost can Justice, or even Goodness itself do less, than to inflict that punishment upon us, which with eyes open we would wilfully run upon; and which no warning, no persuasion▪ no importunity could prevail with us to avoid? And when, as the Apostle says, knowing the Judgement of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death; yet for all that, we would venture to commit them.  
And therefore, whatever we suffer, we do but inherit our own choice; and have no reason to complain of God, who hath set before us Life and Death, eternal Happiness and Misery, and hath left us to be the Carvers of our own Fortune: And if, after all this, we will obstinately refuse this happiness, and wilfully run upon this Misery, Woe unto us! for we have rewarded evil to ourselves.  
You see then, by all that hath been said upon this Argment, what we have all reason to expect, if we will still go on in our Sins, and will not be brought to Repentance. You have heard, what a terrible Punishment the just God hath threatened to the Workers of Iniquity: and that in as plain words as can be used to express any thing. These, that is, the wicked, shall go away into everlasting Punishment, but the righteous into Life eternal.  
Here are Life and Death, Happiness and Misery set before us. Not this frail and mortal Life, which is hardly worth the having, were it not in order to a better and happier Life; nor a temporal Death, to get above the dread whereof should not me thinks be difficult to us, were it not for the bitter and terrible consequences of it: But an eternal Life, and an eternal enjoyment of all things which can render Life pleasant and happy; and a perpetual Death, which will for ever torment us, but never make an end of us.  
These God propounds to our choice: And if the consideration of them will not prevail with us to leave our sins, and to reform our lives, what will? Weightier Motives cannot be proposed to the understanding of Man, than everlasting Punishment, and Life eternal; than the greatest and most durable happiness, and the most intolerable and lasting misery that human Nature is capable of.  
Now, considering in what terms the threatenings of the Gospel are expressed, we have all the reason in the world to believe that the Punishment of Sinners in another world will be everlasting. However, we cannot be certain of the contrary, time enough to prevent it; not till we come there, and find by experience how it is: And if it prove so, it will then be too late either to prevent that terrible Doom, or to get it reversed.  
Some comfort themselves with the uncomfortable and uncertain hope of being discharged out of Being, and reduced to their first Nothing; at least after the tedious and terrible suffering of the most grievous and exquisite Torments for innumerable Ages. And if this should happen to be true, good God how feeble, how cold a comfort is this? Where is the Reason and Understanding of Men, to make this their last Refuge and Hope; and to lean upon it as a matter of mighty consolation, that they shall be miserable beyond all imagination, and beyond all patience, for God knows how many Ages? Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? No right sense and judgement of things? No consideration and care of themselves, no concernment for their own lasting Interest and Happiness?  
Origen, I know not for what good reason, is said to have been of opinion, That the punishment of Devils and wicked men, after the Day of Judgement, will continue but for a thousand years; and that after that time, they shall all be finally saved. I can very hardly persuade myself, that so wise and learned a man as Origen was, should be positive in an Opinion for which there can be no certain ground in Reason, especially for the punctual and precise term of a thousand years; and for which there is no ground at all, that I know of, from Divine Revelation.  
But upon the whole matter, however it be; be it for a thousand years, or be it for a longer and unknown term, or be it for ever, which seems to be plainly threatened in the Gospel: I say, however it be, this is certain, that it is infinitely wiser to take care to avoid it, than to dispute it, and to run the final hazard of it. Put it which way we will, especially if we put it at the worst, as in all prudence we ought to do, it is by all possible means to be provided against: So terrible, so intolerable is the thought, yea the very lest suspicion of being miserable for ever.  
And now give me leave to ask You, as St. Paul did King Agrippa, Do you believe the Scriptures? And I hope I may answer myself as he did, I know you do believe them. And in them these things are clearly revealed, and are part of that Creed of which we make a solemn profession every day.  
And yet when we consider how most men live, is it credible that they do firmly believe this plain Declaration of our Saviour and our Judge, That the wicked shall go away into everlasting Punishment, but the righteous into Life eternal?  
Or if they do in some sort believe it, is it credible that they do at all consider it seriously, and lay it to heart? So that if we have a mind to reconcile our belief with our Actions, we must either alter our Bible and our Creed, or we must change our Lives.  
Let us then consider, and show ourselves men. And if we do so, can any man to please himself for a little while be contented to be punished for ever; and for the shadow of a short and imperfect happiness in this life, be willing to run the hazard of being really and eternally miserable in the next World?  
Surely this consideration alone, of the extreme and endless misery of impenitent Sinners in another World, if it were but well wrought into our minds, would be sufficient to kill all the temptations of this World, and to lay them dead at our feet; and to make us deaf to all the Enchantments of Sin and Vice: Because they bid us so infinitely to our loss, when they offer us the enjoyment of a short Pleasure, upon so very hard and unequal a condition as that of being miserable for ever.  
The eternal Rewards and Punishments of another Life, which are the great Sanction and Security of God's Laws, one would think should be a sufficient weight to cast the Scales against any Pleasure, or any Pain, that this World can tempt, or can threaten us withal.  
And yet, after all this, will we still go on to do wickedly; when we know the terrors of the Lord, and that we must one day answer all our bold violations of his Law, and contempts of his Authority, with the loss of our immortal Souls, and by suffering the vengeance of eternal Fire?  
What is it then that can give men the Heart and Courage; but I recall that Word, because it is not true Courage, but fool-hardiness, thus to outbrave the Judgement of God, and to set at nought the horrible and amazing consideration of a miserable Eternity? How is it possible that men that are awake, and in their wits, should have any ease in their minds, or enjoy so much as one quiet hour, whilst so great a danger hangs over their heads, and they have taken no tolerable care to prevent it? If we have any true and just sense of this danger, we cannot fail to show that we have it, by making haste to escape it, and by taking that care of our Souls, which is due to immortal Spirits that are made to be Happy or Miserable to all Eternity.  
Let us not therefore estimate and measure things as they appear now to our sensual and deluded and depraved Judgements; but let us open our eyes, and look to the last issue and consequence of them: Let us often think of these things, and consider well with ourselves, what apprehensions will then probably fill and possess our minds, when we shall stand trembling before our Judge, in a fearful expectation of that terrible Sentence which is just ready to be pronounced, and as soon as ever it is pronounced to be executed upon us: When we shall have a full and clear sight of the unspeakable Happiness, and of the horrible and astonishing Miseries of another World: When there shall be no longer any Veil of Flesh and Sense to interpose between them and us, and to hide these things from our eyes: And, in a word, when Heaven with all the Glories of it, shall be open to our view; and, as the expression is in Job, Hell shall be naked before us, and Destruction shall have no covering.  
How shall we then be confounded, to find the truth and reality of those things which we will not now be persuaded to believe? And how shall we then wish, that we had believed the terrors of the Lord; and instead of quarrelling with the Principles of Religion, and calling them into question, we had lived under the constant sense and awe of them?  
Blessed be God, that there is yet hope concerning us, and that we may yet flee from the wrath to come; and that the Miseries of Eternity may yet be prevented in Time: And that for this very end and purpose, our most Gracious and Merciful God hath so clearly revealed these things to us, not with a mind to bring them upon us, but that we being warned by his threatenings, might not bring them upon ourselves.  
I will conclude all with the Counsel of the Wise Man; Seek not Death in the error of your 
Wisd. of Solomon, chap. 1. ver. 12, 13, 16.  Life, and pull not upon yourselves destruction with the works of your own hands. For God made not Death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the Living: But ungodly men with their works and words have called it down upon themselves. Which that none of us may do, God of his infinite Goodness grant, for his Mercies sake in Jesus Christ: To whom, with Thee, O Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all Honour and Glory, Dominion and Power, Thanksgiving and Praise, both now and for ever. AMEN.  
FINIS.   

Books Published by the Reverend Dr. Tillotson, Dean of St. Paul's  

THirty Sermons and Discourses upon several Occasions, in three Volumes, in Octavo.  
The Rule of Faith; or, an Answer to the Treatise of Mr. J. Sergeant, by Dr. Tillotson. To which is adjoined, A Reply to Mr. J. S. his third Appendix, etc. by Edward Stilling fleet, D. D. late Dean of St. Paul's, now the Right Reverend Bishop of Worcester. 80.  
A Discourse against Transubstantiation, in 80. Price 3 d.  
A Persuasive to frequent Communion in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, in 80. Price 3 d.  
A Sermon Preached at Lincolns-Inn-Chappel, on the 31st of January 1688. being appointed for a Public Thanksgiving to Almighty God for having made His Highness the Prince of Orange the Glorious Instrument of the great Deliverance of this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power. 40.  
A Sermon Preached before the Queen at Whitehall. 40.  
A Sermon Preached before the King and Queen at Hampton-Court. 40.   
Printed for B. Aylmer, and W. Rogers.  
A Practical Discourse concerning Death, by William Sherlock, D. D. Master of the Temple. The Third Edition, 80. Printed for W. Rogers.