YfiLE UNIVERSITY LIBRfiRY

Ml Hi 111fi39002085613884B

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Deposited by
The Rhetorical Society 1857

The World to Come:
OR,
DISCOURSES O N T H E
JOYS ok SORROWS
O F
Departed Souls at Death,
AND THE
Glory or Terror of the Resurrection.' i
To which is Prefixed,
An ESSAY toward the Proof of a Separate State of
Souls after Death.
Wherein, after fome Reprefentations of the Happinefs of
Heaven, and a Preparation for it, there follows a Rational
and Scriptural Account of the Punifhments in Hell, and a
Proof of their Eternal Duration. With a plain AN
SWER to all the moft plaufible Objections.
~ By /. WA TTS, D. D.
The Fifth Edition.

EDINBURGH}
Printed for W. Gray, and J. Beis,,
M,DCC,LXXVn,

THE

PREFACE.

AMong all the folemn and important things
which relate to religion., there is nothing that
ftrikes the foul of man with fo much awe and folem-
nity,- as the fcenes of death, and the dreadful or de
lightful confequents whith attend it. Who can think
of* entering into that unknown region where fpirits
dwell, without the ftrangeft impreffions upon the mind
arifing from fo ftrange a manner of exiftence ? Who
can take a furvey of the refurrecYion of the millions
of the dead, and of the tribunal of Chrift, whence
men, and angels mufl receive their doom, without the
the moft painful folicitude, What will my fentence be ?
Who can meditate on the intenfe and unmingled plea-
fure or pain in the world to come, without the moft
pathetic emotions of foul, fince each of us muft be
determined to one of thefe ftates,,and they are both
of everiafting duration ?
Thefe are the things that touch the fprings of every
paffion in the moft fenfible manner, and raife our
hopes and our fears to their fupreme exercife. Thefe
are the fubje&s with which our blefled Saviour and
his Apoftles' frequently entertained their hearers, in
order to perfuade them to hearken, and attend to the
divine leffons which they publiflieci amongft them.
Thefe were fome of the fharpeft weapons of their ho- '
ly warfare, which entered into the inmoft vitals of
mankind, and pierced their confciences with the high-
eft folicitude, Thefe have been the happy means to
awaken thoufands of finners to flee from the wrath
to come, and to allure and haften them to enter into
that glorious refuge that is fet before them in the gofpeL It

iv The P R £ F A C E.
It is for the fame reafon that I have feledted a few
difcourfes on thefe arguments out of my public mini-
ftry, to fet them before the eyes of the world in a
more public manner, that if poffible, fome thought -
lefs creatures might be rouzed out of their finful
(lumbers, and might awake into a fpiritual and eternal
life, through the concurring influences of the bleffed
Spirit. I am not willing to difappoint my readers, and
therefore I would let them know before-hand, that
they will find very little in this book to gratify their
curiofity about the many queftions relating to the in-
vifible world, and the things which God has not
plainly revealed : Something of this kind, perhaps,
may be found in two difcourfes of death and heaven,
which I publifhed long ago ; But in the prefent dif
courfes 1 have very much neglected fuch curious en
quiries. Nor will the ear that has an itch for contro
versy be much entertained here, for I have avoided
matters of doubtful debate. Nor need the moft zea
lous man of orthodoxy, fear to be led aftray into new
and dangerous fentiments, if he will but take the
plaineft and moft evident dictates of Scripture, for
bis direction into all truth.
My only defign has been to fet the great and moft
momentous things of a future world in the moft con
vincing and affecting light, and to inforce them upon
the confcience with all the fervour that fuch fubjects
demand and require. And may our blefled Redeem
er, who rdigns Lord of the invifible world, pronounce
thefe words with a divine power to the heart of every
man, who fhall either read or hear them.
The treatife which is fet as an introduction to this
Book, was printed many years ago without the Au
thor's name, and there, in a fhort preface, reprefented
to the reader thefe few reafons of its writing and pu
blication, viz.
The principles of atheifm and infidelity have pre
vailed fo far upon our age, as to break in upon the
facred

The PREFACE. \r
facred fences of virtue and piety, and to deftroy the
nobleft and moft effectual fprings of true and vital re
ligion ; I mean thofe which are contained in the blef.
fed gofpel. The doctrine of the refurreclion of the
body, and the confequent ftates of heaven and hell, is
a guard and motive of divine force ; but it is renoun
ced by the enemies of our holy Chriftianity : And
fhould we give up the recompences of fepar ate fouls,
while the deift denies the refurreclion of the body, I fear
between both we fhould fadly infeeble and expofe the
caufe of virtue, and leave it too naked and defence-
Ms. The Chrijiian would have but one perfuafive of
this kind remaining, and the deift would have none
at alt.
It is neceffary therefore to be upon our guard, and
to eftablifh every motive that we can derive either
from reafon or Scripture, to fecure religion in the
world. The doctrine of the ftate of feparate fpirits,
and the commencement of rewards and punifhments
immediately after death, -is one of thofe facred fences;
of virtue which we borrow from Scripture, and it is
highly favoured by reafon, and therefore it may not
be unfeafonable to publifh fuch arguments as may
tend to the fupport of it.
In this fecond edition of this fmall treatife, I have
added feveral paragraphs and pages to defend the
fame doctrine, and the laft fedtion contains an anfwer
to various new objections' which I had not met with,
when I firft began to write on this fubject. I hope it
is fet upon fuch a firm foundation of many Scriptures,
as cannot poflibly be overturned, nor do I think it a
very eafy matter any way to evade the force of them.
May the grace of God lead us on further into every
truth that tends to maintain and propagate faith and
holinefs. In the firft of thefe difcourfes, I have endeavoured
to prove, that at the departure of the foul from the body.
by death, the rewards or puni/hments, i. e. the joys or
forrows of the other world, are appointed to commerce .•
And

vi The PREFACE
And I hope I have given, from the evidence of Scrip
ture, fuch arguments to fupport this doctrine, as that
the faith of Chriftians may not be daggered and con
founded by different opinions, or made to wait for
thefe events, through all the many years that may arife
between death and the refurrection.
I know nothing befides this, that is made a matter
of controverfy ; and I hope that the whole of thefe
fermons, by the blefling of God, will be made happily
ufeful to Chriftians, to awaken and warn them againft,
the danger of being feized by death in a ftate unpre
pared for the prefence of God, and the happinefs of
heaven, and to raife the comforts and joys of many
pious fouls in the lively expectation of future bleffed-
nefs. - i
The laft difcourfes of this book, efpecially the eter
nity of the punifhments of hell, have been in latter and
former years made a matter of difpute ; and were I
to purfue my enquiries into this doctrine, only by the
aids of the light of nature and reafon, I fear my natu
ral tendernefs might warp me afide from the rules and
the demands of ftrict juftice, and the wife and holy
government of the great God.
But as I confine myfelf almoft intirely to the revela
tion of fcripture in all my fearches into the things of
revealed religion and Chrtfiianity, I am conftrained to
forget or to Jay afide that foftnefs and tendernefs of
animal nature which might lead me aftray, and to fol
low the unerring dictates of the word of God.
The Scripture frequently, and in the. plaineft and
ftrongeft manner, afferts the everlafting punifhment of
finners in hell ; and that by all the methods of expref-
fion which are ufed in Scripture to fignify an everlaft
ing continuance.
God's utter hatred and averfion to fin, in this per
petual punifhment of it,: are manifefted many ways ;
(i.) By the juft and fevere threatnings of the wife and
righteous Governor of the world,, which are fcattered
up and down in, his word. (2.) By the veracity of God in

The PREFACE. vii
in his intimations or narratives of paft events, ag Jude
v. 7. Sodom and Gomorrha fujfering the vengeance of eter
nal fi re. (3.) By his exprefs predictions, Matth. xxv. 46.
Thefe Jhall go away into everlafting punifhment. 2, Theff.
i. 9. Who Jhall be punijhed with everlafting deftruclion ;
and I might add, (4.) by the veracity and truth of all
his holy Prophets and' Apoftles, and his Son Jefus
Chrift at the head of them, whom he has fent to ac
quaint mankind with the rules of their duty, and the
certain judgment of God in a holy correfpondence
therewith, and that in fuch words as feem to admit
of no way of efcape, or of hope for the condemned
criminals. I muft confefs here, if it were poffible for the great
and blefled God any other way to vindicate his own
eternal and unchangeable hatred of fin, the inflexible
juftice of his government, the wifdom of his fevere
threatenings, and the veracity of his predictions, if it
were alfo poffible for him, without this terrible execu
tion, to vindicate the veracity, fincerity, and wifdom
of the Prophets and Apoftles, and Jefus Chrift his Son,
the greateit and chiefeft of his divine meflengers ; and
then, if the blefled God fhould at any time, in a con-
fiftence with his glorious and incomprehenfible per
fections, releafe thofe wretched creatures from their
acute pains and long imprifonment in hell, either with
a defign of the utter deftruction of their beings by an
nihilation, or to put them into fome unknown world,
upon a new foot of trial, I think I ought chearfully
and joyfully to accept this appointment of God, for
the good* of millions of my fellow-creatures, and add
my joys apd praifes to all the fongs and triumphs of the
heavenly world in the day of fuch a divine and glori
ous releafe of thefe prifoners.
But I feel myfelf under a neceflity of confefling, that
I am utterly unable to folve thefe difficulties according
to the difcoveries of the New Teftament, which muft
be my conftant rule of faith, and hope, and expecta
tion, with regard to myfelf and others. I have read the

viii The PREFACE.
the ftrongeft and beft writers on the other fide, yet
after all my ftudies I have not been able to find any
way how thefe difficulties may be removed, and how
the divine perfections, and the conduct of God in
his word, may be fairly vindicated without the efta-
blifhment of this doctrine, as awful and formidable as
it is. The ways indeed of the great God and his thoughts
are above our thoughts and , our ways, as the heavens are
above the earth ; yet I muft reft and acquiefce where
our Lord Jefus Chrift, the Father's chief Minifter,
both of his wrath and his love, has left me in the di
vine revelations of Scripture ; and I am conftrained
therefore to leave thefe unhappy creatures under the
chains of everlafting darknefs, into which they have
call themfelves by their wilful iniquities, till the blefled
God fhall fee fit to releafe them.
This would be indeed fuch a neW^ fuch an aftonifh-
ing and univerfal jubilee, both for devils and wicked
men, as muft fill heaven, earth, and hell, with halle
lujahs and joy : In the mean time it is my ardent wifh,
that this awful fenfe of the terrors of the Almighty,
and his everlafting anger, which the word of the great
God denounces, may awaken fome fouls timely to be
think themfelves of the dreadful danger into which
they are running, before thefe terrors feize them at
death, and begin to be executed • upon them without
releafe and without hope.
Note, Where thefe difcourfes fhall be ufed as a religious fervice
in private families on Lord's-day evenings, each pf them will af
ford a divifion near the middle, left the fervice be made too long,
and tirefome.

THE

T H E
G O N TENT S.

An Essay toward the Proof of a. Separate State.?
of Souls.
Sect. I. CT^HE introduclion or propofal of thf queftion •
with the different oppqfitions which are made
to it, and reafons againft them. Page 1 7
Sect. II. Probable arguments from Scripture for thefepa- -
rate ft ate ... - - 23 .
Sect. III.- Some firmer and more evident proofs of afepa-
rate ftate from Scripture, - - 32
Sect. IV. Objeclions againft it anfwered - 50 ¦
Seel;. V. An anfwer 'to fever al new objeclions - 66 >
The Difcourfes on the world to come. .
Difcourfe I. The end of time - - 74 ¦
Difc. II. The watchful Chrijiian dying in peace 97
Difc. III. Surprize in death - - 125
Difc. IV. Chrift admired and glorified in his faints 149
Difc. V. The wrath of the Lamb - 176 .
Difc. VI. The vain refuge of ftnners, or a medi
tation on the rocks near Tunbridge-Wells.
1729. 190
Difc, VII. No night in heaven ¦ - 208
Difc.

The CONTENTS.
Difc. VIII. Afoul prepared for heaven -, 227
Difc. IX. No pain among the bleffed - 259
Difc. X. The firft fruits of the Spirit, or the foretafte of
heaven - ... 299
Difc. XI. Safety in the grave, and joy at the refurrec-
tion , * - - 326
Difc. XII. The nature of the punijhments of hell 354
Difc. XIII. The eternal duration of the punifhments in
hell - - - 393,

A; N

A N
ESSAY

TOWARD the

Proof of a Separate State of Souls be
tween Death and the Resurrection.

SECT. I.
The introduclion or propofal of the queftion, with a di-
ftinclion of the perfons who oppofe it.
IT is confefled that the doctrine of the refurrectiori
of the dead at the laft day, and the everlafting
joys, and the eternal forrows, that fhall fuc-
ceed it, as they are defcribed in the New Tefta
ment, are a very awful fanction to the gofpel of Chrift,
and carry in them fuch principles of hope and terror
as fhould effectually difcourage vice and irreligion,
and become a powerful attractive to the practice of
faith and love, and univerfal holinefs.
But-fo corrupt and perverfe are the inclinations of
men in this fallen and degenerate world, and their paf-
fions are fo much impreffed and moved by things that
are prefent or juft at hand, that the joys of heaven, and
the forrows of hell, when fet far beyond death and the
grave at fome vaft and unknown diftance of time, would
have but too little influence on their hearts and lives.
And though thefe folemn and- important events are
never fo certain in themfelves, yet being looked upon
as things a great way oft', make too feeble an impref-
fion on the confcience, and their diftance is much
abufed to give an indulgence to prefent fenfualities.
C For

1 8 EJfay towards the proof x Sect. I.
For this we have theteftimony of our blef&d Saviour
himfelf, Matt. xxiv. 48. The evil fervant fays, my Lord
delays, his coming ; then he begins to finite his fellow-fer-
•vants, and to eat and dritfk with the drunken .< And
Solomon teaches us the fame truth, Ecclef. viii. 11. Be-
caufe fentence againft an evil work is not executed Jpeedily,
therefore the heart of the fons of men is fidly fet in them
to do evil. And even the good fervants in this imper
fect ftate, the fons of virtue and piety, may, be too
much allured to indulge finful negligence, and yield
to temptations too eafily when the terrors of another
worlds are fet fo far off, and their hope of happinefs is
delayed fo long. It is granted, indeed, that this fort of
reafoning is very unjuft ; but fc\ foolifh are our natures,
that we are too ready to take up with it, and to grow
more remifs in the caufe of religion.
Whereas, if it can be made to appear from the word
of God, that, at the moment of death, the foul enters
into an unchangeable ftate, according to its character
and conduct here on earth, and that the recompences
of vice and virtue, are, in fame meafure, to. begin
immediately upon the end of our ftate of trial ; and if,
befides all this, there be a glorious and a dreadful refur*
rection to be expected, with eternal pain or eternal plea^>
fure both, for foul and body, and that in a more intenfe
degree, when the theatre of this world is fliut up, and
Chrift Jefus appears to pronounce his public judgment
on the' world, then all thofe little fybterfuges are pre
cluded, which mankind would form to themfelves from
the unknown diftance of the day of recdmpence : Vir
tue will have a nearer and ftronger guard placed about
it, and piety will be attended with fuperior motives,
if its initial rewards are near at hand, and fhall com
mence as.foon as this life expires ; and. the vicious and
profane will be more effectually affrighted, if the hour
of death muft immediately confign them to a ftate of
perpetual forrows and bitter anguifh of confcience,
iwithout hope: and with a fearful expectation, of yet
greater forrows and anguifh.

Sect. I. 0/4 Separate STAtE. 19
I know what the oppofers of the Separate State re!-
ply here, viz. That the whole time from death to the
refurrection is but as the fleep of a night, and the
dead fhall awake out of their graves, utterly ignorant
and infenfible of the long diftance of time that hath
paft fince their death. One year x>r one thoufand years
will be the fame thing to them ; and therefore, they
fhould be as careful to prepare for the day of judg-
mfht, and the rewards that attend it, as they are for
their entrance into the Separate State at death, if there
Were any fuch State to receive them.
I grant, men fhould be fo in reafon and juftice :
But fuch is the weaknefs and folly of our natures, that
men will not be fo much influenced nor alarmed by
diftant profpectSj not fo follicitous to prepare for an
event which they fuppofe to be fo very far off, as they
Would for the fame event, if it commences as foon
as ever this mortal life expires. The vicious man will
indulge his fenfualities, and lie down to fleep in death
with this comfort, I Jhall take my reft here for a hundred
or a thotifand years, and perhaps, in all that fpace, my
¦offences may be forgotten, or fomething may happen that 1
may efcape ; or, let the worft come that can come, I fhall
have a long fweet nap before my forrows begin : Thus
the force of divine terrors are greatly enervated by
this delay of punifhment.
I will not undertake to determine, when the foul is
difmiffed from the body, whether there be any explicit
divine fentence paffed concerning its eternal ftate of
happinefs or mifery, according to its works in this
life ; or whether the pain or pleafure that belongs to
the Separate State be not chiefly fuch as arifes by natu
ral confequence from a life of fin or a life of holinefs»
and as being under the power of an approving or a
condemning confcience : But, it feems to me more
probable, that firice the fpirit returns to God that gave
it, to GoiLthe Judge of all, with whom thefpirks of the
juft made perfecl dwell, and, fince the fpirit of a chri-
ftian, when abfent from the body, is prefent with the
Lord,

so EJfay towards the proof - Se£t. I*
Lord, i. c. Chrift, I am more inclined to think that
there is fome fort of judicial determination of this im
portant point, either by God himfelf, or by Jefus
Chrift, into whofe hands he has committed all judgment.
Heb. ix. 27. It is appointed unto men once to die, but
after this the judgment : Whether immediate or more
diftant, is not here exprefsly declared, though the
immediate connection of the words hardly gives room.
for feventeen hundred years to intervene. But, ifThe
folemn formalities of a judgment be delayed, yet the
confcience of a feparate fpirit, reflecting on a holy or
a finful life, is fufEcient to begin a heaven or a hell
immediately after death.
Amongft thofe who delay the feafon of recompence
till the refurrection, there are fome who fuppofe the
foul to exift ftill as a diftinct being- from the body, but
to pafs the whole interval of time in a ftate of ftupor or
fleep, being altogether unconfcious and unactive. Others
again imagine, that the, foul itfelf has not a fufficient
diftinctiori from the body to give it any proper exift-
ence when the body dies ; but that its exiftence fhall
be renewed at the refurrection of the body, and then
be made the fubject of joy or pain, according to its
behaviour in this mortal ftate.
I think there might be an effectual argument againft
each of thefe opinions raifed from the principles of phi-
lofophy : I fhall juft give a hint of them, and then pro
ceed to fearch what Scripture has revealed in this mat
ter, which is of much greater importance to us, and
will have a more powerful influence on the minds of
chriftians. I. Some imagine the foul of man to be his blood of
his breath, or a fort of vital flame, or refined air or
vapour, or the compofition and motion of the fluids
and folids in the animal body. This they fuppofe to
be the fpring or principle of his intellectual life, and
of all his thoughts and confcioufnefs, as well as of his
animal life. And though this foul of man dies toge
ther with the body, and has no manner of feparate
exift ancc.

Se&.I. Of a Separate State. ii
exiftence or confcioufnefs, yet when his body is raifed
from the grave they fuppofe this principle of confciouf
nefs is renewed again, and intellectual life is given him
at the refurrection as well as a new corporeal life.
But it fhould be confidered, that this confeious or
thinking principle having 16ft its exiftence for a feafon,
it will be quite a new thing, or another creature at the
refurreclion ; and the man will be properly another
Perfon, another Self, another I or He : and fuch a
new confeious principle or perfon cannot properly be
rewarded or punifhed for perfonal virtues or vices of
which itfelf cannot be confeious by any power of memo
ry or reflection, and which were tranfacted in this mor
tal ftate by another diftindt principle of confcioufnefs.
For if the confeious principle itfelf, or the thinking
being has ceafed to exift, it is impoflible that it fhould
retain any memory of former actions, fince itfelf began
to be but in the moment of the refurrection. The doc
trine of rewarding or punifhing the fame foul or intel
ligent nature which did good or evil in this life, necef-
farily requires that the fame foul or intelligent nature
fhould have a continued and uninterrtipted exiftence,
that fo the fame confeious being which did good or
evil may be rewarded or punifhed.
II. Those who fuppofe the foul of man to have a
real diftinct exiftence when the body dies, but only to
fall into a ftate of flumber without confcioufnefs or ac
tivity, muft, I think, fuppofe this foul to be material,
i. e. an extended and folid fubftance.
If they fuppofe it to be inextended, or to have no
parts or quantity, I confefs I have no manner of idea
of the exiftence or poflibility of • fuch an inextended
being without confcioufnefs or active power, nor do
they pretend to have any fuch idea as I ever heard,
and therefore they generally grant it to be extended.
. But if they imagine the foul to be extended, it muft
either have fomething more of folidity or denfity than
mere empty fpace, or it muft be quite as unfolid and
thin as fpace itfelf : Let us confider both thefe. If

2a £jay towards the proof Sect. L
If it be as thin and fubtle as mere enipty fpace, yefi
while it is active and confeious, I own it muft have' al
proper exiftence ; but if it once begin to fleep and
, drop all confcioufnefs and activity, 1 have no other.
idea of it, but, the fame which I have of empty fpace ;
and that I conceive to be mere nothing, though it im-
pofe upon us with the appearance of fome fort of pro-.
pertfes. If they allow the foul to have any the leaft degree
of denfity above what belongs to empty fpace, this is
folidity.m the philofophie fenfe of the word,-' and then
it hfolid extenfion, which 1 call matter .- and a material
being may indeed be laid afleep, /'. e. it, may ceafe to
have any motion in its parts ; but motion is- not con
fcioufnefs : and how either folid or unfolid extenfion,-
either fpace or matter, can have any confcioufnefs or'
thought belonging to any part of it, or fpread through
the whole of it, I know not j or what any fort of ex-
tenfion can do toward thought or confcioufnefs", I con*
fefs I underftand not ; nor can I frame any more an
idea of it, than I can of a blue motion or a fweet fmel-
ling found, or of fire or air or water reafoning or re
joicing : and I do not affect t6 fpeak of things or
words, when I can form no correfpondent ideas o£
what is fpoken.
So far as I can judge, the foul of man in its own
nature, is nothing elfe but a confeious and active prin
ciple, fubfifting by itfelf, made after the image of
God, who is all confeious activity ; and it is ftill the
fame being, whether it be united to an animal body, or
feparated from it. If the body die, the foul, ftill exifts
an active and confeious power or principle, or being ;
and if it ceafes to be confeious and aftive, I think it
ceafes to be ; for I have no conception of what re
mains. Now, if the confeious principle continue confeious1
after death, it will not be in a mere confejous indo
lence : the good man and the wicked will not have
the fame indolent exiftence. Virtue or vice, in the
very

Sect. II. Of a Separate State. 23
very temper of this being when abfent from matter or
body, will become a pleafure or a pain to the confci
ence of a feparate fpirit.
I am well aware that this is a fubject which has em
ployed the thoughts of many philofophers, and I do
but juft intimate my own fentiments without prefum-
ing to judge for others. But the defence or refuta
tion of arguments on this fubject would draw me into
a field of philofophical difcourfe, which is very foreign
to my prefent purpofe : and whether this teafoning
ftand or fall, it will have but very little influence on
this controverfy with the generality of chriftians, be-
caufe it is a thing rather to be determined by the re
velation of the word of God. I therefore drop this
argument at once, and apply myfelf immediately to
confider the proofs that may be drawn from Scripture
for the foul's exiftence in a feparate State after death,
and before the refurreftion.
SECT. II.
Probable Arguments for the Separate State.
THERE are feveral places. of Scripture in the
Old Teftament, as well as in the New, which
may be moft naturally and properly conftrued to fig-
nify the exiftence of the foul in a Separate State after
the body is dead ; but fince they do not carry with
them fuch plain evidence, or forcible proof, and may
poffibly be interpreted to another fenfe, I fhall not long
infift upon them : however it may not be amifs juft
to mention a few of them, and pafs away.
Pfal. lxxiii. 24, 26. Thoujhalt guide me with thy
counfel, and afterward receive me to glory : myftejh' and
my heart faileth ; but God is the ftrength of my heart
and my portion for ever. In thefe verfes receiving to
glory feerns immediately to follow a guidance through
this world ; and when the flefh and heart of the Pfal-
mift fhould/??/ him in death, God continued to be his
portion

•24 Effay towards the proof Sect. II.
portion for ever, God would receive him to himfelf as
fuch a portion, and thereby he gave ftrength or courage
to his heart even in a dying hour. It would be a
very odd and unnatural expofition of this text to in
terpret it only of the refurreclion, thus, Thou Jhalt guide
me by thy counfel through this life, and after the long inter
val of fome thoufand <$ears thou wilt receive me to glory.
Ecclef. xii. 7. . TWn Jhall the duft return to the earth
as it was, and the fpirit to God that gave it. It is con-
feffed the word fpirit in the Hebrew is the fame with
breath, and is reprefented in fome places of Scrip
ture as the fpring of animal life to the body : yet it is
evident in many other places, the word fpirit fignifies
the confeious principle in man, or the intelligent be
ing, which knows and reafons, perceives and acts.
The Scripture fpeaks of being grieved in fpirit, I/a.
liv. 6. Of rejoicing in fpirit, Luke x. 21. The fpirit of
a man knoweth the things of a man, 1 Cor. ii. 1 1. There
is a fpirit in man, Wk. a principle of underftanding,
Job xxxii. 8. Anaimis fpirit both of the wicked and
the righteous at death returns to God, Eccl. xii. 7. to God
who (as I hinted before) is the Judge of all in the world
of*fpirits,^probably to be further determined and dif-
pofed of^as to its ftate of reward or punifhment.
Ifa. Wni*^^ The righteous is taken away from the
evil to come, he' fhall enter into peace, they jhall reft in
their beds, each one walking in his uprightnefs. The
foul of every one that walketh uprightly fhall at death
enter into a ftate of peace while their body refts in
the bed of duft.
Luke ix. 30, 31. And behold there talked with him,
i. e. with Jefus, two men, which were Mofes and Elias,
who appeared in glory, andfpake of his deceafe which he
JJjould accornplifo at Jerufalem. I grant it poffible that
thefe might be but mere virions which appeared to our
blefled Saviour and his apoftles: but it is a much
more natural and obvious interpretation to fuppofe
that the fpirits of thefe two great men, whereof one
was the inftitutor, and the other the reformer of the
Jewijh

Sect. II. Of a Separate State. 25
Jewifh church, did really appear to Christ, who was
the reformer of the world, and the inftitutor of the
Chriftian church, and converfe with him about the
important event of his death and his return to heaven.
Perhaps the fpirit of Elijah had his heavenly body with
him there, fince he never died, but was carried alive
to heaven ; but Mofes gave up his foul at the call
of God when no man was near him, and his body
was buried by God himfelf. See 2 Kings ii. 11. and
Deut. xxxiv. 1.5,6. and his fpirit was probably made
vifible only by an afiumed vehicle for that purpofe.
John v. 24. Whofo heareth my word and believeth
en him that fent me, hath everlafting life ; is pa fed from
death to life. John vi. 47, 50, 51. This is the bread
which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat
thereof, and not die. If any man eat of this"- bread, he
Jhall live for ever. John xi. 26. Whofo liveth and be
lieveth in me,, Jhall never die^ to which may be added the
words of Chrift to the woman of Samaria, John iv. 14.
The water that I Jhall give him Jhall be in himn well of
water, fpringing up into everlq/lmg life. 1 John v. 12.
He that hath the Son hath life, &c. The argument
I draw from thefe Scriptures is this : It is hardly to
be fuppofed that our Saviour in this Gofpel, and John
in his firft epiftle imitating him, fhould fpeak fuch
ftrong language concerning eternal ilife, actually given
to and pofleffed by the believers of that day, if there
muft be an interruption of it by total death or fleep
both of foul and body for almoft two thoufand years,
i. e. till the refurrection. :
Acls vii. 59. And they ftoned Stephen calling upon God,
and faying, Lord Jefus receive my fpirit. Thofe who
deny a Separate State, fuppofe that Stephen here com
mits his fpirit, or principle of. human fife, into the
hands or care of Christ (becaufe the life of a faint is
faid to be hid with Christ in God, Colof. iii. 3, 4.) that
he might reftore it at the refurrection, and raife him
to life again. But I think this is an unnatural force
put upon thefe words.,, contrary to their moft obvious
D meaning,

%6 Effay towards the proof Sect. II,
meaning, if we confider the context : for Stephen here
had a vifion of the Sonof Man or Chrift Jefus, ftand-
ing on the right hand of God, and the glory of God near
him ; fee ver. 55, 56, Whereupon Stephen being
confeious of the exiftence of Christ in that glorious
ftate, defired that he would receive his fpirit, and take
it to dwell with hira in his Father's houfe ; not to lie
and fleep in heaven, for there is no night there, but to
behold the glory of Christ according to the many pro-
mifes that Christ had made to his difciples, that he
would go and prepare a place for them in his Father's
houfe, and that they fliould be with him there to behold
his glory, John xiv. and xvii. which I fhall have occa->
fion to fpeak of afterward,
Rom. viii. 10, 11. And if Chrift be in you, the body
is dead becaufe of Jin, but the fpirit is life becaufe ofrigh-
teoufnefs, i. e. If Chrift dwell in you by the fanctifying
influences of his Spirit, it is true indeed, your body is
mortal and muft die, becaufe it is doomed to death
from the fall of Adam on the account of fin, and be
caufe finful principles ftill dwell in this flefhly body ;
but your; foul or fpirit is life, or (as fome copies read
& inftead of ^r) your fpirit lives when the body is
dead, and enjoys a life of happinefs, becaufe of the
righteoufnefs! imputed to you, /. e. your juftification
unto life, Rom. v. 17, 18. 21., I know there are feve-
ral other ways of conftruing the words of this verfe
by metaphors ; but the plain and moft natural antithe
sis which appears here between the death of the body
of a faint becaufe of fin or guilt, and the continue
ance of the fpirit or foul in a life of peace becaufe of
juftification or righteoufnefs, and that even when the
body is dead, gives a pretty clear proof that this is
the fenfe of the Apoftle.. ¦-> This is alfo further confirm-,
ed by the next verfe, which promifes the refurrection
of the dead body1 in due time. If the Spirit of him
that raifed up Chrift froxh the dead dwell in you, he that
raifed up Chrift from the dead, i. e. God the Father,
Jhall alfo quicken your mortal bodies by his- Spirit that
dwelleth

SeftilL Of a Separate State. 47
dwelleth in you. The fpirit or foul of the faint lives
without dying, becaufe of its pardon of fin and jufti
fication and fanctifieation, in the 10th verfe ; and the
body (not the fpirit or foul) fhall be quickened or raif
ed to life again, by the blefled Spirit of God which
dwells in the faints, ver. 1 1.
2 Cor. v. 1,2. For we know that if our earthly houfe
Of this tabernacle were dififolved, we have a building of
God, an houfe not made with hands eternal in the hea
vens. For in this we groan earneftly, defiring to be cloth
ed upon with our houfe which is from heaven. Ver. 4.
We in this tabernacle groan being burdened, not for that
we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality
might be fwallowed up of lifd It is evident that this
houfe from heaven, this building of God, is fomething
which is like the clothing of a foul diverted of this
earthly tabernacle, ver. 1,2. or it is the clothing of
the whole perfon, body and foul, which would abro
gate the ftate of mortality and fwallow it up in life,
ver. 4. For though in ver. 4. the Apoftle fuppofes
that the foul doth not, defire the death of the body, or
that itfelf fhould be unclothed, and therefore he would
rather choofe to have this ftate of blefled immortality
fuperinduced on his body and foul at once without dy
ing, yet in the firft verfe he plainly means fuch a houfe
in or from heaven, or fuch a clothing which may come
upon the foul immediately as foon as the earthly houfe
or tabernacle of his body is diffblved. And how dubi
ous foever this may appear to thofe who read the chap
ter only thus far, yet the 8th verfe, which fuppofes good
men to be prefent with Chrift when abfent from the bo
dy, determines the fenfe of it as I have explained it j
of which hereafter.
Perhaps it is hard to determine, whether this fu
perinduced clothing be like the Shechinah or vifible
glory in which Chrift, Mofes, and Elias, appeared at
the transfiguration, and which fome fuppofe to have
belonged to Adam in innocency ; or whether it fignify
only a ftate of happy immortality, fuperinduced or
brought

28 ' Efifay towards the proof Sect. If.
brought in upon the departing foul at death,_ or upon
the foul and body united as in this life, and with Which
thofe faints fhall be clothed, who are found alive at the
coming of Chrift, according to i Cor. xv. 52, 53, 54*
which will not kill the body, but fwallow up its mor
tal ftate in immortal life.
Let this matter, I fay, be determined either way*
yet the great point feems to be evident, even beyond
probability, that there is a confeious being fpoken pf,
which is very diftinct from its tabernacle, or houfe, or
clothing, and which exifts ftill, whatever its clothing
or its dwelling be, or whether it be put off or put on ;
and that, when the earthly houfe or veffel is diflblved
or put off, the heavenly houfe or clothing is ready at
hand to be put on immediately, to render the foul of
the Chriftian fit to be prefent with the Lord.
1 Cor. xii. 2,^.' I knew a man in Chrift above four
teen years ago, whether in the body or out of the body, t
cannot tell, God knoiveth ; how that he was caught up
into paradife, and heard unfpeakable words. I grant
this ecftafy of the Apoftle does not actually fhew the
exiftence of a Separate State after death till the refur
rection ; yet, it plainly manifefts St Paul's belief, that
there might be fuch a ftate, and that the foul might
be feparated from the body, and might exift, and think*
and know, and act, in paradife, in a ftate of repara
tion, and hear, and perhaps converfe in the unfpeak
able language of that world, while it was abfent from
the body.
And, as I acknowledge I am one of thofe perfons
who do not believe that the intellectual fpirit or mind
of man is the proper principle of animal life to the
body, but that it is another diftinct confeious being,
that generally ufes the body as an habitation, engine,
or inftrument, while its animal life remains '; fo I am of
opinion, it is a poffible thing for the intellectual fpirit,.
in a miraculous manner, by the fpecial order of God,
to act in a ftate of feparation without the death of the
animal body, fince the life of the body depends upon
breath

Se&. It. O/^ Separate State, 4$
breath and air, and the regular temper and motion of
the folids and fluids, of which it is compofed. * And
St Paul feems here to be of the fame mind, by his
doubting whether his fpirit was in the body or out of the
body, whilft it was wrapt into the third heaven and en
joyed this vifion, his body being yet alive.
Phil. i. 21. For me to live is Chrift, and to die is gain.
The Apoftle, whilft he was here Upon earth, fpent his
life in the fervice of Christ, and enjoyed many glori
ous communications from him. For him to live was
Chrift. And, on this account, he was contented to
continue here in life longer : Yet he is well fatisfied
that death would be an advantage or gain to him. Now
We can hardly fuppofe what gain it would be for St Paid
to die, if his foul immediately went to fleep, and be
came unactive and unconfcious, while his body lay in
the
* It would be thought, perhaps, a little foreign to my prefent
purpofe, if I fliould ftay here, to prove that it is not the confeious
principle in man that gives or maintains the animal life of his body.
It is granted, that, according to the courfe of nature, and the ge
neral appointment of God therein, this confeious principle or fpi
rit continues its communications with the body, while the body has
animal life, or is capable of its natural motions, and able to obey
the volitions of the fpirit ; and, on this account, the unhn of the
rational fpirit to the bbdy, and the animal life of the body, are of
ten reprefented as one and the fame thing.
But, if we enter into a philofophical confideration of things,
we fhould remember that animals of every kind in earth, air, and
fea, and even the minuteft infects which fwarm in millions, and
worlds of them, which are invifible to the naked eye, have all an
animal life, but no fuch confeious or thinking principle as is in man :
and why may not the body of man have the fame fort of animal
life quite diftinct from the confeious fpirit ?
Befides, if this confeious principle give life to the body, medi
cines and phyficians, whofe power reaches only to rectify the dif-
ordered folids or fluids of the body, would not be fo neceffary to
preferve life, as an orator to perfnade the fpirit to continue in the
body and preferve its life. And accordingly, we read of foreign
ignorant nations, where the kindred perfuade the dying perfon to
live and tarry with them, and not to forfake them ; ahd, when
the perfon is dead, they mourn and reprove him, " Why were
" you fo unkind to leave and forfake us ;" and indeed this conduct
of thofe' poor favages is a very natural inference from their fup-
pofition of the intelligent fpirit giving animal life to the body.

$o Effay towards the, proof Se£t. II.'
the grave, and neither foul nor body could do any fer
vice for Christ, or. receive any communications from
him, till the great rifing-day. This text feems to car
ry the argument above a mere probability.
i Theff. iv. 1 4. For if we believe that Jefus died, and
rofe again, even fo them alfo which fleep in Jefus will God
bring with him. The moft natural and evident fenfe,
of thefe words is this, that when the man Jefus Chrijl
(in whom dwells the fullnefs of the Godhead) fhall de-
fcend from heaven, in order to raife the dead bodies of
thofe that died or went to fleep in the faith of Chr 1 st^
God dwelling in him, will bring with him the fouls of
his faints who were in paradife, down to earth to be
reunited to their bodies when Jefus raifes them from
the dead, of which the Apoftle fpeaks in the 6th
verfe : This, I fay, is the moft natural and obvious
fenfe ; other paraphrafes of the words feem ftrained
and unnatural.
1 Theff. v. 1 o. Jefus Chrift, who died for us, that
whether we wake or fleep, we fhould live together with
him. Sleep is the death of good men, in the language
of the Apoftle, in chap. iv. 13, 14, 15. wad. fleep in this
Verfe, can neither fignify natural fleep, as ver. 7. nor
fpiritualftoth, as ver. 6. therefore it muft fignify death
here. Now, they who fleep in Christ, in this fenfe,
do ftill live together with him in their fouls, and fhall
live with him in their bodies alfoj when raifed from
the dead. This expofition arifes near to a certainty of
evidence. 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19, 20. Chrift was put to death in the!
flejh, but quickened by the Spirit; by which alfo he went
and preached unto the Jpirits in prifon, which fometime
were difobedient, when once the longfuffering of God'
waited in the days of Noah. I confefs this is a text that
has much puzzled interpreters, in what fenfe Christ
may be faid to go and preach to. thofe ancient rebels
who were deftroyed by the flood ; whether he did it
by his fpirit working in Noah the preacher of righte-
oufnefs in thofe days ; or whether, in the three days in

Sect. II. Of a Separate State. 31
in which the body of Christ lay dead, his foul vlfited
the fpirits of thofe rebels in their feparate ftate of im-
prifonment, on which fome ground the notion of his
defcent into hell : But, let this be determined as it
will, the moft clear and eafy fenfe of the Apoftle, when
he i peaks of the fpirits in prifon, is, that the fouls of
thofe rebels, after their bodies, were deftroye^by the
flood, were referved in prifon for fome fpechrPnnd fu
ture defign ; And this is very parallel to the prefent
circumftances of fallen angels in Jude ver. 6. The an
gels that kept not their firft eft ate, he hath referved in
everlafting chains under darknefs, unto the judgment of
the great day : And why may not the fpirits of men
be as well kept in fuch a prifon as angelic fpirits ?
Jude ver. 7. Sodom and Gomorrha are fet forth for
an example, fuff'ering the vengeance of eternal fire. It
is evident that the material fire which deftroyed Sodom
and Gomorrha was not eternal, for a great lake of water
quickly overflowed, and now coyers all that plain
where the fire was kindled, which burnt down thofe
cities. It is manifeft alfo, that, the day of refurrection
and future punifhment being' not yet come, they do
not, at this time, fufter the vengeance of eternal fire
in their, bodies : Nor can this verfe, I think, be well
explained to make Sodom and Gomorrha an example
to deter prefent finners from uncleannefs, but by al
lowing that the fpirits of thofe lewd perfons are now
fuffering a degree of vengeance or punifhment from the
juftice of God, which is compared to that fire where
by their cities and their bodies were burnt ; and which
vengeance, at the laft great day, fhall continue their
punifhment, and pronounce it eternal, or kindle ma
terial fire which fhall never be quenched.
The laft text I fliall mention, is, Rev. vi. 9. / faw
under the altar the fouls of them that were ftlain for the
word of God, and for the teftimony which they held. I
confefs this is a book of vifions,.and this place, amongft
others, might be explained as a mere vifion of the
Apoftle, if there were no other text which confirmed the

32 Ejfay towards the proof Sect. II.
the doftrine 'of a Separate State : But, fince I think
there are fome folid proofs of it in other parts of the
New Teftament, I know not why this may not be ex
plained, at leaft fomething nearer to the literal fenfe
of it than thofe will allow, who fuppofe the foul to
fleep from death to the refurredion. Why may not
the fpirits of the martyrs, which are now with God,
pray hiirfto haften the accomplifhment of his promifes
made to his Church, and the day of vengeance upon
his irreconcileable enemies.
SECT. III.
Some firmer or more evident proofs of a Separate
State.
Come now to confider thofe texts which do more
exprefsly and certainly difcover the Separate State,
and which, I think, cannot, with any tolerable appear
ance of reafon, be turned afide from their plain and
obvious intention, to reveal and declare that there is
a Separate State of fouls. And fuch, in my opinion,
are thefe that follow.
I. Text, Matth. x. 28. Fear not them which kill the
body, but are not able to kill the foul ; but rather fear him
who is able to deftroy both body and foul in hell. Every
common reader, as well as every man of learning,
who reads this text with a fincere mind and without
prejudice, I think, will acknowledge at leaft, that the
moft obvious and eafy fenfe of the words, implies, that
there is a foul in man which men cannot kill, even
though they kill the body.
It is to very little purpofe for writers to fay, that the
Greek word Yvxji which we tranflateyow/ here, doth in
other places of ScriptUre, and even in the 39th verfe of
this very chapter, fignify life, and confequently here it
may alfo fignify the animal life or the perfon of the man ,
for it is manifeft, that in this place it muft fignify fome
immortal

Sect. III. Of a Separate State. 33
immortal principle in man that cannot die ; whereas
when the body is killed, the animal life dies too, and
does not exift till the body is raifed again : but the
foul is a principle in this place which men cannot kill
even though they deftroy the life of the body : and
whatfoever other fenfes the word •Vu^ may obtain in
other texts, that cannot preclude fuch a fenfe of it in
this text, as is moft ufual in itfelf, and which the con
text makes neceflary in this place.
Nor will it avail the fupporters of the mortality of
the foul to fay that this Scripture means only that men
cannot kill the foul for ever, fo that it fhall for ever pe-
rifh and have no future life hereafter by a refurreclion :
for in this fenfe men cannot kill the body, fo that it fhall
never revive or rife again : but here is a plain diftine-
tion in the text, that the body may be killed;, but the
foul cannot.
And I think this Scripture proves alfo, thaft though
the body may be laid to fleep in the grave, yet the
foul cannot be laid to fleep 5 for the fubftance of the
body ftill exifts, and is not utterly deftroyed by killing
it, but only laid to fleep for a time, as the Scripture of
ten defcribes death : but the foul cannot be thus laid
to fleep for a time, with its fubftance ftill exifting, for
that would be to have no pre-eminence above the bo
dy, which is contrary to this aflertion of our Saviour.
II. Luke xvi. 22, &c. The beggar died and was car
ried by angels into Abraham's bofom : The rich man alfo
died and was buried, and in hell he lift up 'his eyes, being
in torments, and faid, father Abraham, have tnerty on
me, &c. and fend Lazarus, ver. 27. to my father's houfe
that he may teftify to my brethren, left they come alfo into
this place of torment. I grant that this account of the
rich man and the beggar is but a parable, and yet it
may prove the exiftence of the rich man's foul in a
place of torment before the refurrection of the body;
1. Becaufe the exiftence of fouls in a Separate State,
whilft other men dwell here on earth, is the very foun
dation of the whole parable, and runs through the
E whole

34 Effay towards the. proof Sect. Ill,
whole of it. The poor man died and his foul was in
paradife. The rich man's dead body was buried and
his foul was in hell, while his five brethren were here
pn earth in a ftate of probation, and would not heark
en to Mofes and the prophets.
2. Becaufe the very defign of the parable is to fhew,
that a ghoft font from the other world, whether hea
ven or hell, to wicked men who are here in a ftate of
trial, will not be fufficient to convert them to holinefs,
if they reject the means of grace and. the minifters of
the word. The very defign of our Saviour feems to
be loft, if there be no fouls exifting in a Separate State.
A ghoft fent from the other world could never be fup-
pofed to have any influence to convert finUers in this
world, even in a parable, if there were no fuch things
as ghofts there. The rich man's five brethren could
have no motive to hearken to a ghoft pretending tp
come from heaven or hell, if there were no fuch thing
as ghofts or feparate fouls 'either happy or miferable.
Now furely, if parables can. prove any thing at all,
they muft prove thofe propofitiqns which are both the
foundation and the defign of the whole parable.
3. I might add yet further, that it is very ftrange
that our Saviour fhould fo particularly fpeak of angels
carrying the foul of a man/whofe body was juft -dead,
into heaven or paradife, which he calls Abraham's
bofom ; if there were no fiich ftate or place as a hea-i
ven for feparate fouls ; if Abraham's foul had no refi-
dence there, np exiftence in that ftate ; if angels had
never any thing to do in fuch an office. What would
the Jews have faid or thought of a prophet come
from God, who had taught his doctrines to the people
in fuch parables as had fcarce any fort of foundation,
in the reality or nature of things.
But you will fay the Jews had fuch an opinion cur
rent amc-ng ^hem, though it was a very falfe one, and
that this was enough to fupport a parable : I anfwer,
what .could Christ (who is truth itfelf) have faid
more or plainer tp confirm the Jews in this grofs error of

3cft.HL Of a Separate State. 35
of a Separate State of fouls, than to form a parable
which fuppofes this doctrine in the very defign and mo
ral of it, as well as in the foundation and matter of it.
III. Luke xx. 37, 38. Now that the dead are raifed
even Mofes Jhewed at the bujh, when he calleth the Lord
the God of Abraham, the God of Ifaac, and the God of
Jacob ; for he is not a God of the dead but of the living;
for all live unto him. Some learned men fuppofe that
the controverfy between Christ and the Sadducees
in this place was about the anaftafis, which implies the
whole ftate of exiftence after death, including both
the Separate State and the refurrection, becaufe the
Sadducees denied both thefe at Once, and believed that
death finifh'd the whole exiftence of the man. They
denied angels and fpirits, Ails xxiii. 8. i. e. feparate
fouls of men, and thought the rewards and puhifh*
ments mentioned in Scripture related only to this life*
Upon this account they fuppofe our Saviour's defign
is to prove the exiftence of perfons or fpirits irt the
Separate State as much as the refurrection of the body*
Atid When he fays, that the Lord or Jehovah is de-
fcribed as the God of Abraham, &c. it fuppofes Abra
ham at the fame time to have actually fome life and
exiftence in fome ftate or other, for God is not a God of
the dead but of the living, for all that are dead and gone
Put of this world ftill live unto God, i. e. they have a
prefent life irt- the invifible world of fpirits as God is
an invifible Spirit, as well as they expect a. refurrection
of their body in due time^
HoW- could God in the days of Mofes be called ac
tually the God of Abraham, Ifaac and Jacob* who were
long fince dead, if there was „no fenfe in which they
were now alive to God, fince bur Saviour declares \God
is properly the God only of the livings and not of the
dead? This part of the argument holds good in what-
foever fenfe you conftrue the whole debate, and by
whatfoever medium or connection you prove the doc
trine of the refurrection of the body ; and this is ob
vious

36 Effay towards the proof Sect. III-
vious to the honeft and unlearned reader, as well as to
the men of learning.
IV. Luke xxiii. 42, 43. And he (that is the penitent
thief upon the crofs) faid unto Jefus, Lord, remember
me when thou eomejl into thy kingdom : and Jefus faid
unto him, verify I fay unto thee, to-day Jhalt thou be with
me in paradife. The thief upon the crofs believed
that Christ would enter into paradife which he fup-
pofed to be Christ's kingdom, when he departed
from this world which was not his kingdom ; and this
he believed partly according to the common fentiment
pf the Jews concerning good men at their death, as
well as it is agreeable to our Saviour's own expreflions
to God, John xvii. 1 1>. Holy Father, I am no more in
the world and I am come unto thee : or as he had faid
to his difciples, John xvi. 28. / leave the world and go
to the Father.
: And according to thefe expreffions, Luke xxiii. 46.
Christ dies with thefe words on his lips, Father, into
thy hands I csmmend my fpirit. Our Saviour taking
notice of the repentance of the thief, acknowledging
his own guilt, thus, we are juftly under this condemna'
tion and receive the due reward of our deeds ; and tak
ing notice alfo of his faith in the Mejfiah, as a king
whofe kingdom ivas not of this world, when he prayed*
Lord, remember me when thou comeft into thy kingdom ¦'
Chrift, I fay, taking notice pf both thefe, anfwers hirn
with a promife of much grace, Verily, I fay unto thee,
to-day Jhalt thou be with me in paradife.
The ufe of the word paradife in Scripture, and a-
mongft ancient writers Jewifty and Chrijiian, is to fig
nify the happinefs of holy fouls in a Separate State ; and
our Saviour entering into that ftate at his death de
clared to the dying penitent, that he fhould be with him
there immediately. It is certain that by the word pa-'
radife St Paul means the place of happy fpirits,, into
which he was tranfported, 2 Cor. xii. 4. And this
fenfe is very accommodate and proper tp this expref-
fiori of our Saviour and to the prayer of the penitent thief,

Seft. III. Of a Separate State. 37
thief, and it is as fuitable to the defign of Christ in
his epiftle to the church of Ephefus, Rev. ii. 7. the
tree of life in the midft of the paradife of God, which
are the only three places where the New Teftament
ufes this word. .
I know there have been great pains taken to fhew
that the flops fliould be altered, and the comma fhould
be placed after the word to-day, thus, I fay unto thee to
day, thou Jhalt be with me in paradife, i. e. fome time or
other hereafter. As tho' Christ meant no more than
this, viz. " thou afkeft me to remember thee when I
" come into my kingdom : and I declare unto thee truly
" this very day, that fome long time hereafter thou
" flralt be with me in happinefs at thy refurrection*
" when my kingdom (hall be juft at an end and I fhalf
<c give it all up to the Father," as in 1 Cor. xv. 24.
Can any one imagine this to be the meaning of our
blefled Saviour in anfwer to this prayer of the dying
penitent ? I know alfo there are other' laborious criti-
cifms to reprefent thefe words (to-day) in other places
of Scripture as referring to fome diftant time, and not
to riiean that very day of twenty-four hours : but ra
ther than enter into a long and critical debate upon
all thefe texts, 1 will venture to truft the fenfe of it in
this place with any fincere and unlearned reader.
But if we confult the learned Dr Whitby, he will tell
us, that it was a familiar phrafe of the Jews to fay, on
a juft man's dying, to-day fhall he fit in the bofom of A-
braham : And it was their opinion, that the fouls of the
righteous, who were very eminent in piety, were carried
immediately into paradife. The Chaldee paraphrafe on
Solomon's Song iv. 12. takes fome notice of the fouls of
the juft, who are carried into paradife by the hands of
0ngels. Qrotius, in his notes prt Luke xxiii. 43. men
tions the hearty and ferious wifh of the Jews concern
ing their friends who are dead, in the language of the
jfalmudical writers, let his foul be gathered to the garden
if Eden : And, in their folemn prayers when one
<$ics,* let him have his portion in paradife, and alfo in the
world

38 EJby> towards the pro&f v- Seft, lit.
•world- fo corner by which 'they mean the ftate of the re-
fiirreclton, andplainlydiftingiuifh.it from this imme
diate /entrance into Eden or* paradife at the hour of
death, i The Jews fuppofe Enoch to be carried to. pa
radife even in his body ; and that the fouls of good
men. have: no interruption of life, but that there was
a ; reward- for blamelefs, fouls,, .as ;the • book of Wifdom"
fpeaks, -Ghap. ii. 22. For God created man to be immor^
tal, and to be an image cf his own eternity, -which feems<
to fuppofe blamelefs- foul? entering into this, reward with
out interruption of their life.. And, if this be the.
meaning .of paradife among the Jews, doubtlefs our
Saviour fpake the words in fuch a. known and common
fenfe,' in which ; the penitent thief: would eafily and
prefbritly uhderftand him^ it being a promife of grace
in his :dyirig hour, wherein he had no long time to
ftudy hard for the fenfe of it, or.confult the critics irt
order to find the meaningi ;
We come now- to confider the writings: of St Paul ;
And jt is certain,' that the moft natural and obvious
fenfe of his words j« in many places of his epiftles, re-»
fer to a Separate State; of the. fouls after death: For^
as he was a Pharifee in his fentiments of religion, fo he
feems'to be forrsething of a Platonift irt philofophy, fo
far as-Chriftianity admitted the fame principles. Why
then fhould it n'otbe reafortably fuppofed, wherefoever
he fpeaks of this fubject, and fpeaks in their language
too, that he means the fame thing which. the Phar.ifees.
and . the Platonifts believed, that is,, the immortality
and life of the foul in a Separate State* But I pro
ceed to the particular texts.
V. 2 Cor. v. 6, 8. Therefore we are always Confident,
(or of good courage, J • knowing, that whilft we' are at
home in the body we are abfeni from the Lord : We' are
confident, I fay, and willing rather to be abfent from' the
body, and to be prefent with the Lord. The' Apoftle
ver. 4. feems to wifh that he might be clothed upon at
once with immortality in foul and body, without dying of

Sect. III. Ofi-a -Separate -State. 39
or being unclothed : But, fince things are otherwife
determined, then, in the next place, he would rather
choofe abfence from, the body, that he might be prefent
with the Lord. Thefe words feem to me fo plain* fo
exprefs, and fo unanfwerable a proof, of the fpirits of
good men exifting in a Separate State, and being pre
fent with the Lord when they are abfent from the body
at death, that I could never meet but with two ways
of evading it,
The firft is what a gentleman many years ago, who
profeffed Chriftianity, acknowledged to me, (viz.)
that he believed St Paul did mean, in this place, the
fame fenfe in. which I have explained him ; but he
thought St Paul might be miftaken in his opinion, for
he was not of -the Apoftle's mind in this point* I think
I need not tarry to refute this anfwer : But I may
make this remark upon it, (viz.) that the fenfe of St
Paul concerning the Separate State was fo evident, in
this place, that this man had rather differ from the
Apoftle than deny this to be his meaning. All his
prejudices againft this doctrine could not hinder him
from acknowledging that the Apoftle believed and
taught it.
The fecond way of evading it is, that this text, with
one or two others of like kind, do indeed fpeak of the
happinefs ©f fouls in a Separate State, but it doth re
fer only to the Apoftles themfelves, who had this pe
culiar favour and- privilege granted them by Christ,
to follow him to paradife and enjoy his prefence
there, while the fouls of -other Chriftians were afleep,
unconfcious and una&ive till the refurrection.
-Anfwer 1. It is granted indeed, that feveral verfes
, of this chapter, as well as in the former, have a pecu
liar reference to the minifters of Christ, and perhaps
to the Apoftles who were his Ambaffadors ; but there
are many things in both thefe chapters that are per
fectly applicable to every Chriftian, and the verfes juft
'? before and juft after this eight verfe, may belong to
all good men as well as to the Apoftles. or minifters.

40 Effhy towards the proof Sect. lit.
He that hath wrought Us for the felf -fame thing, i. e. for
the happinefs of the future ftate, is God, who hath. alfo
given unto us the earHeft of the Spirit, at leaft as an en-
lightener and a fartctifier, if not as the author of fpecial
gifts, for Rom. viii. 9. If any man hath not the Spirit of
Chrift, he is none of his. And ver. 6. therefore we are
always confident, or of good courage,knowingthat whilft
we are at home in the body we are abfent from the Lord,
for we walk by faith not by fight. This is or fhould be
the character of every Chriftian. And the 9th verfe
that follows it belongs to all the faints : Wherefore tve
labour that whether prefent or abfent we may be accepted
of him ; for we muft all appear before the judgment-feat
of Chrift, that every one may receive the things done in
his body according to that he hath done, whether it be
good or bad. Now why fhould we fuppofe that St
Paul excludes all other Chriftians befides himfelf and
his brethren the Apoftles from the blefling of the 8th
verfe, (viz.) that when they are abfent from the body
they Jhall be prefent with the Lord, fince the verfes all
round it are applicable to all Chriftians ?
Anfwer 2. Thefe chapters were written with a de
fign not only to vindicate and encourage the Apoftle
himfelf under the fufferings and reproaches which he
met with, but doubtlefs to give encouragement to the
Corinthians, and all Chriftians under any fufferings or
reproaches they might meet with in the world ; that
(as he expreffes it a little before) they might learn to
walk by faith and to look at the things which are unfeen
which are eternal. Artd indeed if this peculiar blef-
fmg of the happinefs of a Separate State belongs on
ly to the Apoftles, how much are the comforts of the
New Teftament narrowed and diminifhed, and the
faith and hope of common Chriftians difcouraged and
enervated* and their motives to holinefs Weakened,
when they are told, that they have nothing to do to lay
hold upon fuch promifed favours, fuch revelations of
grace, becaufe they belong only to the Apoftles and
not to them. And

Sect. III. Of a Separate State. 41
And indeed how fhall common Chriftians ever
know what part of the epiftles they may apply to
themfelves for their direction and confolation, if they
may not hope in fuch words of grace, where the holy
writers ufe the Word we, and do not plainly intimate
that they belong to preachers or apoftles only ?
Anfwer 3. When our Saviour prays for himfelf and
his Apoftles in the beginning of the xviith of St John,
he comes in the 20th verfe to extend the bleflings he
had prayed for to all believers. Ver. 20. Neither
pray I for thefe alone, but for them alfo which Jhall
believe' on me through their word ; that they all may
be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they
may be one in us ; that the world may believe that thou
haft fent me. Ver. 24. Father, I will that they alfo
whom thou haft given me may be with me where I am,
thai they may behold my glory which thou haft given me.
Here it is evident that our Saviour prays that thofe that
fhall believe on him through the word of the Apoftles
may be prefent with him in his kingdom to behold his
glory ; and is not that a very confiderable part of his
glory, which the Father hath conferred upon him to be
Lord and King and Head of his Church ? but this pe
culiar glory reaches no further than the refurrection and
judgment and cannot be feen afterwards; for in 1 Cor.
xv. 24. then -comet h the end, and Chrift fhall deliver up
the kingdom to God the Father ; the Son himfelf alfo Jhall
befubjecl unto the Father, that God may be all in all,
ver. 28'.
As for that 'final blaze of fupreme glory wherein
Christ fhall appear at the day of judgment juft be
fore he refigns up his kingdom, and which perhaps is
once called his kingdom, 2 Tim. iv. 1. When he fhall
come in the glory off his Father and of his holy angels as
well as his own, Mark viii. 38. The fight of it fhall be
public and common to all the world, and not any pe
culiar favoUr to the faints.
It feems therefore moft probable that it is only or
chiefly in the Separate State of fouls departed, that the
faints have a fpecial promife of beholding this media-
F torial

42 Effay towards the proof Sect. III.
torial glory of Christ in his kingdom ; and this fa
vour our Saviour entreats of his Father for others that
fhall believe on him, as well as for his Apoftles.
I might here take occafion to enquire whether eve
ry text which promifes to other Chriftians as well as
to the Apoftles, a dwelling with Christ in his king
dom, muft not have a more fpecial reference to the
glory of the Separate State \ upon this very account,
becaufe this kingdom of Christ ceafes at the refur
rection and judgment ; and particularly that text in
2 Pet. i. n.fo an entrance Jhall be miniftred unto you
abundantly into the everlafting kingdom of our Lord and
Saviour Jefus Chrift : which is often in Scripture cal
led everlafting becaufe it continues to the end of the
world ; and the abundant entrance into it very naturally
refers to our departure from this life.
Anfwer 4. I canpot find any text of Scripture where
this blefling of being prefent with the Lord after death
in the Separate State is limited only to the Apoftles ,
I read not one word of fuch a peculiar favour promif-
ed them by Christ ; and therefore, according to the
current courfe of feveral other places of Scripture
which have been here produced, I am perfuaded it be
longs to all true Chriftians, unlefs the Apoftle in fome
plainer manner had limited it to himfelf and his twelve
brethren, and fecluded or forbid our hopes of it.
After all, if it be allowed that the Apoftles may en*
joy the bleffednefs of a Separate State before the re-!
furrection, then there is fuch a thing as a Separate
State of happinefs for fouls : This precludes at once all
the arguments againft it that arife from the nature of
things, and from any fuppofed impropriety in fuch a
divine conftitution : And fince it is granted that there
are millions of angels and feveral human fpirits in
this unbodied ftate, enjoying happinefs, I fee no rea
fon why the reft of the unbodied fpirits of faints de
parted fhould not be received to their fociety after
death, unlefs there were fome particular Scriptures
that excluded them from it. VI,

Sect. III. Of a Separate State. 43
VI. Phil. i. 23, 24. For lam in aftrait betwixt two,
having a defire to depart, and to be with Chrift ; which
is far better : neverthelef, to abide in the ftejh is more
needful for you. When the Apoftle fpeaks here of his
abiding in theftejh, and his departing from the ftejh, he
declares the firft was more needful for the Philippians,
to promote religion in their hearts and lives ; but the
fecond Would be better for himfelf, for he mould be
With Christ, when he was departed from the flefh.
I would ' only afk any reafonable man to determine
Whether, when St Paul fpeaks of his being with Chrift
after his departure from the flefh, he can fuppofe that
the Apoftle did not expect to fee Christ till the re
furrection, which he knew would be a confiderable
diftance of time, though perhaps it has proved many
hundred years longer than the Apoftle himfelf expec
ted it ? No ; it is evident he hoped to be prefent with
the Lord immediately as foon as he was abfent from
the body ; otherwife, as I have hinted before, death to
him WoUld have been but of little gain if he muft
have lain fleeping till the dead fhall rife, and have been
cut off from his delightful fervice for Chr i st in the
gofpel and all the blefled Communications of his grace.
The objection which may arife here alfo from fuppof-
ing this to be a peculiar favour granted to the Apof
tles is anfwered juft before.
VII Heb. xii. 23. Te are come to the heavenly Jeru
falem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general
affembly and church of the firft-born which are writ
ten (or regiftered) in heaven, to God the judge of all,
and to the fpirits of juft men made perfeel, and to Jefus
the mediator of the new covenant, i. e. The gofpel or
the Chriftian ftate brings good men into a nearer union
and communion with the heavenly world, and the in
habitants thereof, than the Jewifh ftate could do :
< now the inhabitants of this upper world, this heavenly
Jerufalem, are here reckoned up, God as the prime
Lord or head ; Jefus the mediator as the King of his
church ;

44 Effay towards the proof Sect. III.
church ; the innumerable company of angels as' minifters
of his kingdom ; the general affembly of God's favou
rites or children who are called the firft-born ; perhaps
this may refer in general to all the faints of all ages
paft and to come whofe names are written in the book
of life in heaven ; and particularly to the feparate fpi
rits of juft men who are departed from this world, and
are made perfecl in the heavenly ftate. The criticifms
that are ufed to put other fenfes upon thefe words
feem to carry them away fo far from their more
plain and obvious meaning, that I can hardly think
they are the meaning of the Apoftle ; for it would be
of very little ufe for a common Chriftian to read thefe
verfes of divine confolation and grace, if he could
take no comfort from them 'till he had learnt thofe
critical and diftant expofitions of fuch plain language.
It has been indeed objected againft the plain fenfe
of this text, that the fpirits of the juft or good men
are not yet made perfect in heaven, becaufe the fame
Apoftle, Heb. xi. 39, 40. fays, Thefe all, i. e. the faints
of the Old Teftament, having obtained a good report
through faith, received not the promifes, God having pro
vided fome better things for us, that they without us fhould
not be made perfecl : Now thefe had been dead for ma
ny generations, yet they received not the promifes nor
were made perfect- Thus faith the objection.
But the evident meaning of this text is, that they
lived and died in the faith of many promifes,' fame of
which were to be fulfilled after their days here on
earth, but were not fulfilled in their lifert.ime : they
did not enjoy the privileges and' bleffings of the gof
pel of the Meftfmh in that perfect manner in which we
do fince the Mefftah is actually come and has fulfilled
thefe promifes, and by his death, or offering himfelf, as
the fame Apoftle exprefles it, for ever perfecled them that
are fanclified, Heb. x. 14. But all this does by no means
preclude their exiftence and happinefs in a Separate
State as fpirits made perfecl, i. e. in a perfect freedom from

Seel. Ill, Of a Separate State. 45
from all fin and forrow ; though it is probable this
very ftate of comparative perfection might have feve
ral degrees of joy added to it at the afcenfion of
Christ, and will have many more at the refurrection
from the dead.
VIII. 2 Pet. i. 13. / think it meet, as long as I am in
this tabernacle, to ftir you up, by putting you in remem
brance ; knowing that Jhortly I muft put off this my ta
bernacle. Here it is evident that the perfon who
thinks it meet to ftir up Chriftians to their duty, has a
tabernacle belonging to him, and which he mufti Jhortly
put off. The foul or thinking principle of the Apoftle
Peter, which is here fuppofed to be himfelf, is fo plain
ly diftinguifhed from the tabernacle of the bbdy in
which he dwelt for a feafon, and which he muft put iff'
Jhortly, that moft evidently implies an exiftence of this
thinking foul very diftinct from the body, and which
will exift when the body is laid afide. Surely the
confeious being and its tabernacle or dwelling-place
are two very diftinct things, and the confeious being
exifts when he puts off his prefent dwelling.
After all thefe arguments from Scripture, may I
be permitted to mention one which is derived partly
from reafon and partly from the facred records, which
feems to carry fome weight with it.
The doctrine of rewards and punifhments in a Se
parate State of fouls hath been one of the very chief
principles or motives whereby virtue and religion have
been maintained in this finful world throughout all forr
mer ages and .nations, and under the feveral difpenfa-
tions of God among men, 'till the refurrection of the
body was fully revealed : Now, it is fcarce to be fup
pofed that fuch a doctrine, which God, in the courfe
of his providence, hath made ufe of as a chief principle
and motive of religion and virtue, through all the
world which had any true virtue, and in all ages be
fore Chriftianity, fhould be a falfe doctrine. Let us
prove the firft proposition by a view of the feveral ages
of mankind and difpenfations of religion. The

46 Effaj towards the proof Sect. Ill*
The Heathens, who have had nothing elfe but the
light of nature to guide them, could have no notion
at all Pf the refurrection of the body ; and therefore,
.not only the wifeft and beft of them, but perhaps the
bulk of mankind among the Gentiles, at leaft in Europe
and Afia, if not in Africa and America alfo, who have
been taught by priefts, and poets, and the public opi
nions of their nation, and traditions of their anceftors,
have generally fuppofed fuch a Separate State after
this life, wherein their fouls fhould be- rewarded or
punifhed, except where the fancy of tratifmigration
prevailed ; and even thefe very transmigrations into o-
ther bodies, viz. of dogs, or horfes, or men, were
afligned as fpeedy rewards or punifhments of their be
haviour in this life.
Now, though this doctrine of immediate reCompen-
ces could not be proved by them with certainty and
clearnefs, and had many follies mingled with it, yet
the probable expectation of it, fo far as it hath obtain*
ed among men, hath had a good degree of influence
through the conduct of common providence, to keep
the world in fome tolerable order, and prevent univer-
fal irregularities and excefles of the higheft degree ; it
hath had fome force on the confcience to reftrain the
enormous wickednefs of men.
The patriarchs of the firft ages, whofe hiftoryis re
lated in Scripture, had no notion of the refurrection
of the body exprefsly revealed to them that We Can
find ; and it muft be the hope of fuch a ftate of recom- «
pence of their fouls after death, that influenced their '
practice of piety, if they were not informed that their
bodies fhould rife again.
Abraham, Ifaac and Jacob, had no plain and diftinct
promife of the refurrection of the body ; yet it is faid,
Heb. xi. 14. They received the promifes, that is, of fome
future happinefs, and embraced them, and confeffed they
were ftr angers and pilgrims on earth, whereby they plain
ly declared, that they fought fome other country, i. e. an
heavenly, and God hath prepared a city for them. What city,

Sect. III. Of a Separate State. 47
city, what heavenly country can this be, which they
themfelves fought after, but the city or country of fe
parate fouls or paradife, where good men are reward
ed, and God is their God, if they had no plain promifes
or views of a refurrection of the body ? And indeed
they had need of a very plain and exprefs promife of
fuch a refurrection, to encourage their faith and obe
dience, if they had no notion or belief of a Separate
State, or a heavenly country, whither their fouls lhould
go at their death.
Job feems to have fome bright glimpfes of refurrec
tion in chap, xixth, but this was far above the level
of the difpenfation wherein he lived, and a peculiar
and diftinguifhing favour granted to him under his
uncommon and peculiar fufferings.
In the inftitution of the Jewijh religion by Mofes,
there is no exprefs mention of a refurrection, and we
muft fuppofe their hope of a future ftate was chiefly
fuch as they could gain from the light of nature, and
learn by traditions from their fathers, or from un
written instructions. For, though our Saviour im
proves the words of God to Mofes in the bufh, I am
¦ the God of Abraham, &c. fo far as to prove a refurrec
tion from them, yet we can hardly fuppofe the Israel
ites could carry it any further, than merely to the hap
pinefs of Abraham's foul, &c. in fome Separate State;
and thence came the notion of departed fouls of good
men going to the bofom of Abraham.
I grant that David in his Pfalms, Ifaiah and Daniel
in their prophecies, have fome hints of the refurrec
tion of the body ; but this doth not feem to have been
the common principle or fupport of virtue and good-
nefs, or a general article of belief among the Jews in
the early ages.
In the days of the later prophets, and after their
return from Babylon, I confefs the Jews had fome no
tions of a refurrection; but they alfo retained their
opinion of the righteous fouls being at reft with God in
a Separate State before the refurrection. See the book oi

48 Efifay towards the proof Sect. III.
^Wifdom, chap. iii. I* 2, 3, 4. 7£<? fouls-cf the righte
ous are in the hand of God, and there pall no torment
touch them. In the fight of the unwife they feemed to die,
and their departure is taken for mtfery, and their going
from us to be utter deftruclion ; but they are in peace ;
for, though they be perifhed in the fight of men, yet is
their hope full of immortality, and iv. 7. Though the righ
teous be prevented with death, yet they jhall be in reft.
That this was the moft common doctrine of the
Jews, except the Sadducees and their followers, in our
Saviour's time, and that it was the doctrine of the
primitive Chriftians alfo, need not be proved here ;
though they alfo had the expectation of the resurrec
tion of the body.
Now, if this be the chief or only doctrine Which
men could attain to under the difpenfation of natural
reafon, as the moft powerful motive to virtue and pi
ety, if this be the chiefeft doctrine of that kind that
we know of, which the patriarchs and primitive Jews
enjoyed, if this, alfo be a conftant doctrine of later
Jewsj i. e. the wifeft and beft of them, and alfo of
the primitive Chriftians, which had fo much influence
on the good behaviour of all of them toward God and
men, and by which God carried on his Work of piety
in their hearts and lives, and by Which alfo he impreft
the confcienees of evil men, in fome measure, and re
strained them from their utmoft exceffes of vice and
wickednefs, is it not hard to be fuppofed that this doc
trine is all mere fancy and delufibn, and hath nothing .
of truth in it ? And indeed* if, this doctrine had been1.
taken away, the Heathens would be left without any
poffible true notion of a future ftate of recompence*
and the Patriarchs feem to have had no sufficient prin
ciple or motive to virtue and piety left them, and the
principles and motives of goodnefs in the following
ages among Jews and Chriftians, had been greatly di-
minifhed and enfeebled.
At the conclufion of this chapter, I cannot help ta
king notice, (though I fhall but juft mention it,) that the

Scft.111. Of a Separate State. 49
the multitude of narratives which we have heard of in
all ages of the apparition of the fpirits or ghofts, of per-
fons departed from this life, can hardly be all delufion
and falfhood. Some of them have been affirmed to
appear upon 'fuch great and important occafions, as
may be equal to fuch an unufual event : And feveral
of thefe accounts have been attefted by fuch witneffes
of wifdom, and prudence, and fagacity, under no di
stempers of imagination, that they may juftly demand
a belief ; and the effects of thefe apparitions in the dif-
covery of murthers and things unknown, have been
fo considerable and ufeful, that a fair difputant fhould
hardly venture to run directly counter to fuch a cloud
of witneffes, without fome good affurance on the con
trary fide. He muft be a fhrewd philofopher indeed,
who, upon any other hypothefis, can give a tolerable
account of all the narratives in Glanvill's Sadducifmus
Triumphatus, or Baxter's World of fpirits and appari
tions, &c. Though I will grant fome of thefe ftories
have but insufficient proof* yet, if there be but one
real apparition of a departed fpirit, then the point is
gained, that there is a Separate State.
And indeed, the Scripture itfelf feems to mention
fuch fort of ghofts or appearances of fouls departed,
Matth. xiv. 26. When the difciples faw Jefus walking
on the water, they thought it had been a fpirit : And,
Luke xxiv. 36. After his refurrection they faw him at
once appearing in the midft of them, and they fuppofed
they had feen a fpirit ; and our Saviour doth not con
tradict their notion, but argues with them upon the
fuppofition of the truth of it, A fpirit hath not ftejh and
bones as ye fee me to have. And Acls xxiii. 8, 9. The
•word, fpirit feems to fignify the apparition of a departed
foul, where it is faid the Sadducees fay, There is no re
furreclion, neither angel nor fpirit, and ver. 9. If a fpi
rit or an angel hath fpoken to this man, &c. A fpirit here
is plainly diftinct from an angel, and what can it mean
but an apparition of a human foul which has left the
body ?
G SECT..

jo Efifay toward the proof Sect. IV.
SECT. IV.
Objections anfwered.
HAVING pointed oyt fo many fprings of argu
ment to support this doctrine, from the word
of God, as well as from reafon and tradition, I proT
ceed now to anfwer fome particular objeclions which are
raifed againft it.
Objecl. I. The Scripture is fo far from fuppofing that
the foul of man is immortal, or that there is any fuch
thing as the life of the foul continuing after the death
of the body, that it often fpeaks of the death of the
foul, if the words were tranflated exactly according to
the original, Numb. xxxi. 19. Whofoever hath killed any
perfon, Hebr: any foul, 1 Sam. xxii. 22. / have occafion-
ed the death of every foul of thy father's houfe. Judges
xvi. 30. And Samfon faid, let my foul die with the Phi-
liftines. Ezek. xviii. 20. The foul that finneth it fhall
die. Pfal. lxxxix. 48. What man is he that liveth and
fhall not fee death ? Jhall he deliver his [ouXfrom the hand
of the grave ? 1 Kings xix. 4. Elijah requefted for him
felf that he might die, Hebr. that his foul might die.
Anfw. The word foul in Englifh, Nephejh in Hebrew,
Pfyche in Greek, and Anima in Latin, &c. signifies not
only the confeious and active principle in man, which
thinks and reafons, loves and hates, hopes and fears,
and which is the proper agent in virtue or vice, but it,
is ufed alfo to fignify the principle of animal life and
motion in a living creature. And, though thefe two
in . themfelves are very diftinct things, yet, upon this
account, the word foul is attributed to brutes as well
as to men : For the Jews as well as fome Heathens, in
their miftaken philofophy, fuppofed the fame foul of
man, which gives natural life to, the body, to be alfo
that very intellectual principle, which thinks and rea
fons, fears and loves ; and, Upon this account, they
gave both thefe principles, how diftinct foever in
themfelveSj

Sdft. IV; Of a Separate State. 51
themfelves, one cbrhmon name, and called them the
foul.
Now, the foul or the principle of animal life and
motion, being the chief or moft Valuable thing in an
animal, it came to p'afs that the whole animal was cal
led a foul : Therefore, even birds and fifties are called
living fouls, Gen. i. 20. and any animals whatfoever in
Scripture are called yiz/Zr or living fouls. And then, for
the fame reafon, /. e. becaufe the foul of man is his
chief part, the whole perfon of man is called his foul,
Gen. ii. 7. Man became a living foul, i. e. a living perfon.
So Exod. i. 5. All the fouls that came out of the loins of
Jacob were feventy fouls, i. e. all the perfons were
feventy. And this is not only the language of the Jews, but
even of other nations. In our country we ufe the
Word fotds to fignify perfons .- So we fay a poor foul,
when we fee a perfon in mifery ; we ufe the word a
meagre foul for a thin man ; we fay* there were twenty
folds loft in the Jhip, i. e. twenty perfons, &c.
Now, the word foul among the Jews being fo uni-
Verfally Ufed to fignify the perfon ofman^ they ufed the
fame word to fignify the perfon, when he was dead as
Well as when he was alive. Numb. vi. 6. He fhall come
at no dead body^ in the Hebr. no dead foul* /'. e. no
dead man or woman, or perhaps no dead animal.
Since the word foul is taken fo often and fo com
monly td fignify the perfon of a man or woman* no
wonder that there is fo frequent mention of fouls dying
ih the Scripture, when human perfons die.
And, if the foul fignify a man or woman when
they are dead as Well as when living, here is a fair ac
count why the Scriptures may fpeak of the fouls going
down to the grave, or being delivered from the grave,
&c. Pfal. Ixxxix. 48. Shall he deliver his foul from
the hand of the grave? This may either denote his prin
ciple of animal life, or his perfon, /. e. himfelf.
Now this account of things is ve.17 confiftent with
the fcriptural doctrine of the distinction of the intelli gent

51 Effay towards the proof Seft. IV.
gent foul of man from his body, and the intelligent fours
furvival of the body, nor do any of thefe fcriptural ex-
preffions concerning the foul forbid this fuppofition :
For, though in, fome places, the word foul fignifies the
perfon of the man or his body, or that animal principle
which may die, yet in other places it fignifies that in
telligent or thinking principle which cannot die, as we
have before proved where our Saviour tells us, we fhould
not fear them that kill the body, but cannot kill the foul.
Wherefoever the Scripture fpeaks of a foul's being kil
led, it only means that the perfon who was mortal is
flain, i. e. the life of the body is deftroyed, and the
man confidered as a compound being made up of foul
and body is in fome fenfe diflblved when one part of
the compofition dies. But where the foul fignifies the
intellectual principle in man, it is never faid to die, un
lefs when the word death means a lofs of happinefs, or
living in mifery ; but this implies natural life ftill, for
this foul cannot naturally be deftroyed by any power
but that which made it.
If any perfon object that the Apoftle in Acls ii. 31.
fays, the find of Chrift was not left in hell, or the grave;
for fo the word in the Hebrew may fignify, Pfal. xvi. 1 o.
whence this is cited ; there is a fufficient anfwer to be
given to this two or three ways. It may be conftrued,
that the principle of the animal life of Chrift was not left
to continue in death ; or that the perfon of the man
Jefus was not left in death or^ the grave, the body be
ing fometimes put for the perfon; or it may be as well
conftrued, that the fpirit of Chrift or his intellectual
foul was not left in the ftate of the dead, or of fepara-
tion from the body, which the word foeol in the He
brew, and aAc in the Greek, fignify.
Here it may be obferved alfo, that the word which
fignify fpirit, ruach, pneuma,fpiritus, in Hebrew, Greek
and Latin, and other languages, is ufed fometimes for
air or breath, which is fuppofed to be the principle of
life to the animal body ; and fometimes it fignifies the
intelleclual foul, the 'confeious and active principle in
man ;

Sett. IV* 0/« Separate State. $%
man ; and therefore whatfoever may be faid of the
fpirit's dying or being loft, is no proof that the confeious
principle in man dies, which is a very different thing
from breath or air.
Perhaps it will be faid here, does not Mofes fuppofe
breath to be the foul or fpirit in man, when he fays,
Gen. ii. 7. God breathed into his noftrils the breath of
life, and man. became a living foul.
I anfwer, it is evident that Mofes makes a plain dif
ference between God's formation of man and brutes,
for he makes no diftinctiori between their foul and bo
dy in their creation ; but he diftinguifhes the foul from
the body of man, in his creation, fpeaking according
to the common language and philofophy of that age
as though the foul were in the breath : Nor was it pro
per to fpeak in ftridt philofophical language to thofe
ignorant people ; nor were the modes of expreffion in
the Bible fo peculiarly formed to teach us philofophy
as religion.
But of this diftinction between the foul of a brute, and
the foul of a man, there feems to be a plain intimation
given by Solomon in the book of Ecclefiaftes, chap. iii.
21. Who- knoweth the fpirit of man that goeth upward,
and the fpirit of a beqft that goeth downward to the earth?
that the fpirit of man, i. e. his confeious and intellec
tual principle goeth upward, ox survives at the death of
the body, but the fpirit of the beqft, i. e. the fpring of
its animal life, goeth down to the earth, is mingled with
the common elements of this material world and en
tirely loft.
But the wife man in this place perhaps expreffes
fome of his former atheiftical doubts, faying, who
knows whether there is any difference between them ?
yet it intimates thus much, that men who pretended
to wifdom in that age, fuppofed fuch a difference be
tween the fpirit of man and the fpirit of a brute.
Objecl. II. Is taken from Pfal. vi. 5. In death there
is no remembrance of thee ; in the grave who Jhall give thee

54 Effay towards the prdof Seft. IV.
thee thanks ? and Pfal. cxlvi. 4. His breath goeth forth 'y
he returneth to his earth ; in that very day his thoughts
perijh. . And Ecclef. ix. 5. The living know that they
Jhall die, but the dead know not any thing. From all
which words fome would infer there is no fuch thing
as a Separate State of fouls.
Anfw. Both David and his, fen Solomon exclude all
fuch fort of thoughts and actions, both religious and
civil, from the ftate of death' as are prattifed in this
life, all the purfuits of their prefent purpofes, their
prefent way and manner of divine worship* and their
management br confcioufnefs of human affairs : But
they do not exclude all manner of confcioufnefs, know-.
ledge, thought or action, fuch as may be fuited to the
invifible ftate of fpirits. The defign of the writers in
thofe places of Scripture require no more than this*
and therefore the words _ cannot be conftrued to any
farther fenfe, or to exclude the confeious and active
powers of a feparate fpirit from their proper exercife
in that invifible world, though they have done with all
their actions in the prefent vifible ftate.
Objecl. III. Is taken from John xiv. 3. If I go and
prepare a place fof yOu, I will come again and receive you
to myfelf, that where I am there ye may be alfo ; which
feems to determine the point* that the followers of
Chrift were not to be prefent with him 'till he Came
again to this world to raife the dead, and to take his
difciples to dwell with him>
. Anfw'. 1 . It hath been already granted by fome per
fons who doubt of the Separate State of all fouls, that
the apoftles had this fpecial favour allowed them to be
received into the prefence of Chrift when they depart
ed from this body : Now thefe words were fpoken to
the apoftles, and therefore they cannot preclude this
privilege which they expected (viz.) that when they
were abfent from the body they fliould be prefent with"
the Lord, 2 Cor. v. 8.
Anfw. 1. Chrift came again to his difciples at his own
refin reclion from the dead, and taught them the
things

Seft. IV. Of a Separate State.

'55

things of the other world, and better prepared them
. for the happinefs of heaven and his own prefcnce : He
came again alfo by the deftruction of the Jezviftj ftate,
and called his own people thence before-hand, as an
emblem of their falvation when the world fliould be
deftroyed. He alfo came again at their death ; when
lie that hath the keys of death and the invifible world let
them out of the prifon of the body into the Separate
State, that they might dwell with him : The coming of
Chrift has many and various fenfes in the New Tefta
ment, and need not be referred only to his coming at
the day of judgment.
Anfw. 3. But fuppofe in this place the words of
Chrift be conftrued concerning his great and public
coming to raife the dead and judge the world; it is cer
tain that in that day the difciples fhall be received to
dwell with him in a much more compleat and glorious
. manner, when both foul and body fhall be made the
inhabitants of heaven : But this does not preclude or
forbid that the feparate fouls of his followers fliould
be favoured with his prefencc in paradife before his
public coming to judge the world. Though the laft
and greateft blefling be pnly mentioned here, it does
riot exclude the former,
'-• Objecl. IV. St Paul in Phil. iii. to, i i. fays, that he
desired to know Chrift and the power of his refurreclion,
&c. if by any means he might attain to the refurreclion of
the dead: Now what need had the Apoftle to be fo fe
licitous about the refurrection if he expected to be
with Chrift immediately upon his death, fince being
with Chrift is the ftate of ultimate happinefs ?
Anfw. 1 . Some learned men fuppofe that the Apoftle
here prefles after fome peculiar exaltations of piety in
this world, and after an intereft in fome firft refurrec
tion, or refurredion of the martyrs and moft eminent
,faints, which would be long before the general refur
rection of all the dead, according to the vifions of St
* John, Rev. xx. 4 — 7. But as I am not sufficiently
acquainted with the fenfe of that prophecy to deter

mine

56 Efifay towards the proof Seft. IV.
mine my opinion on this fide, I proceed to other an-
fwers. Anfw. 2. What if the words of St Paul in this place
to the Philippians, fhould mean no more than this, as
ver. 13, 14. 1 forgot the things that are behind, as though
I had gained fo little already as not to be worth my
notice ; and I reach forth unto thofe things which are be
fore, \. e. further degrees of holinefs to be obtained,
prejffing towards the mark of perfeaion, if by any means
I might be made fo conformable to the death of Chrift, as
to be entirely dead to fin, and if by any means I might
attain to the refurreclion of the dead, i. e. to fuch a per
feaion of holinefs as is reprefented by the refurreaion-
of Chrift, Rom. vi. or as that in which the dead faints
fhall be raifed ; for I know / have not already attained
it, nor am already perfecl.
Anfw. 3. Suppofe the foul of St Paul to be prefent
with Chrift after death in heaven in the Separate State,
yet this is not the ultimate or higheft happinefs of the
faints, and therefore he aimed at fomething higher
and further, namely, the more compleat happinefs
which he fhould enjoy at the refurreaion of the dead.
Objecl. V. Is borrowed from feveral verfes of 1 Cor.
xv. where the Apoftle is imagined to argue thus, If
there be no refurreclion of the dead, ver. 18. Then they
which are fallen afleep in Chrift are perifhed, ver. 1 9.
Then we have hope only in this life, and nothing elfe to
support, us. Then ver. 32. What advantage do I get by
all my fufferings for Chrift, if the dead rife not ? We
had better comply with the appetites of the flefh and -
enjoy a merry life here, Let us eat and drink for to-mor
row we die ; whereby it is evident that the Apoftle
places the blefled expeaation of thofe that are fallen
afleep in Chrift only and entirely upon their being raif
ed from the dead, which he would not have done if
there had been fuch a Separate State : he extends our
hope in Chrift beyond this life, and raifes his own expec
tation of advantage or reward for his fufferings on the
account of the gofpel entirely and only upon the re
furreclion

Seft. IV/ Of a Separate State. 57
furreclionof the dead, haying no notion of any happi
nefs in a Separate State of fouls : for if he had any
fuch opinion or hope, this expeaation of the happinefs
of the foul in a .Separate State might have been a suf
ficient proof, that thofe who died or flept in the faith
of Chrift,tare not perifhed, and he had abundant reward
for his fufferings in that world of feparate fouls with
out the refurreaion of the body.
Anfw. 1. It muft be granted that the Scripture, in
order to fupport Chriftians under prefent trials, chiefly
refers them to the day of the refurreaion and final
judgment, as the great and chief feafon of retribution :
the reafon of this will appear under my anfwer to a
following objeclion : Now the Apoftie may be fuppofed
to argue here only on this foot, neglcaing or over
looking the Separate State, as though this final retri
bution at and after the refurreaion of the body were
comparatively the whole, becaufe it is far the chief and
moft, considerable part, being much the moft fenfible,
and conspicuous, and of the longeft duration. The
chief part of any thing is often _ taken for the whole :
and if there were no refurreaion of the dead, i. e. if
there were, no ftate of retribution at all, then the Epi
curean reafoning would be good, Let us eat and drink
for to-morrow we die.
And, to confirm this expofition, we may take notice,
that in other places of Scripture, where the refurreclion
of, the dead is mentioned, this anaftafis includes the
whole ftate of exiftence after death, both the Sepa
rate and the refurreaion State : This feems to be the
fenfe of it in that famous place, Luke xx. 35. Where
Christ argues with the Sadducees, who denied the Se
parate State as weft as the refurreclion of the body :
Now if you take away this anaftafis, this whole ftate of
exiftence and retribution, then they that fuffer for
Christ have no advantage or recompence, and the
Epicurean doctrine is plainly preferable, at leaft in the
common fenfe and reafoning of men, and in fuch fea-
fons of trial and perfecution.
H Nor

58 Effay towards the proof Seft. Fv*.
Nor is it unreafortable to fuppofe that there might be
fome of thefe principles of Sadducifm begun to be in
stilled into fome of the Corinthians, viz. that: theref
were no rewards and punifhments at all irt any future
ftate ; for. he tells them, ver. 34. that fame of them
had not the knowledge of God, i.e. as a righteous re-
Warder of them that diligently feek him, I fpeak this,
fays he, toyourfhame. And ver. 5, 8. he encourages
them to beftedfaftand unmotieable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your
labour is not in vain in the Lord ; i. e. there is certain
ly a future ftate of recPmpenee for piety, and the dif-
coVery of it at the refurreaion of the dead is the moft
public and glorious part of it, and therefore he infifts
upon this alone.'
' 'Anfw. 2. But we may give yet a more particular an-
fwer to this objeaion: for- if we take in the whole
fcheme of the Apoftle*s argument in this chapter, we
fhall find there is no fufficient ground for this object
tion againft a Separate State. He begins, ver. 12, 13,
&c. and argues thus, If there be no refurreclion of the
dead; then Chrift is not rifen, for he rofe as the firft
fruits, and his followers fhall be the harvest, ver. 23.
but if there be no harveft there were no firft -fruits i
and if Chrift be not rifen, then oUr preaching is vain; and.
your faith is vain ; ver. 14. Then we are found f alfo
witneffes in matters that relate to God, ver. 13. mere im
porters, who preach a wicked falfhood, and lead you
to hope for a happinefs which ye fhall never obtain ;
for if Chrift, who died for our fins, ver. 3. be not raifed
for our juftification, as in Rom. iv. ult. then are ye yet in
your fins, ye lie yet under the guilt of fin ; and if fo,
then alfo they which are-fallen afleep in Chrift, or have
died in the faith of Chrift, are perifjed, ver. 1 8. they
muft either be condemned, or be utterly loft both foul
and body, having no ground for hope of eternal life,
or any life or happinefs at all hereafter. Then the
hope of Chriftians would be in this life only, and we are
miferable creatures who fuffer fo much for Christ's fake,

Sea. IV. Of a Separate State. 59
fake, ver. 19. It would be better for us who have
fenfes and appetites as well as other men, to indulge
thefe fenfes and appetites, and eat and drink for to-mor
row we die,sxxA there is an end of us : There can be
no future ftate of happinefs of any kind for us to ex-
pea, either in foul or body, if we have deceived you
in the doarine of the refurreaion of Christ, and all
our Gofpel be falfe : We are then fuch fort of impof-
tors and wicked cheats as can have no belief of a fu
ture ftate of rewards or punifhments, and we had bet
ter aa like ourfelves, and like mere Epicureans, give
ourfelves up to all prefent pleafures than expofe our
felves to perpetual sufferings for the fake of a man,
who (if there be no refurreaion) died and never rofe
again, and therefore cannot make us any recompence.
Now this fort.pf arguing does not at all preclude the
Separate State of happinefs, but rather eftablifh it.
I might add here a further anfwer to this objeclion,
viz. the Apoftle is reprefenting the fufferings of the
body '-for Chrift' s fake, ver. 30, 31, 32. and therefore
he thinks it proper to encourage Chriftians with the
recompence of the refurreclion of the body, without tak~
ing any particular notice of the happinefs of the Se
parate State of the Soul: and in this view of things
his argument ftands good. If there be no resurrec
tion of the body, there is no recompence for fufferings
in the body ; let us then give the body its pleafures of
fenfe ; Let us eat and drink while we live, for there is
an utter end of us in death. But (faith he ver. 33.)
fuch evil traditions corrupt all good manners, and there
fore they are not, they.cannot be true : There muft be
a refurreaion of the body to encourage sufferings in
the body for the fake of virtue and religion.* Objecf. VI.
. * There are feveral pages of juft and pertinent anfwers to this
objection by my learned and ingenious friend Mr Hcv.ry drove,
in his thoughts concerning the proof of a future ftate from reafon,
which confirm the replies I have here made. " Then they,
*' faith he, who are fallen afleep in Chrift (by whom the martyrs
(< feem to be more efpecially intended) are perifhed, for any
" thing

60 Effay towards the proof Sea. IV.
Objecl. VI. Doth not the New Teftament conftantly
refer the rewards and punifhments of good and bad
men to the time of the refurreaion of the dead, or
the fecond coming of Chrift ? Is it not with this pro-
fpea it terrifies the finner '? Is it not with this it com
forts the good man, and supports him under his pre
fent fufferings ? It would be endlefs to cite all the par
ticular texts on this occafion. That one text i Theff.
iv. 14. fpeaks the fenfe of many others, and is sufficient
to be cited here. The Apoftle perfuades Chriftians'
not to mourn for the dead as thofe that forrow without
hope, and gives this reafon, for thofe who fleep in Jefus
God will bring with him, when he comes to raife the
dead, and then they 'Jhall be for ever with the Lord ;
and he bids them cot) fort one another with thefe words :
Whereas their comforts had been much nearer at
hand if he could have told them of the. Separate State
of happinefs Which the departed fouls of their friends
at prefent enjoyed ; and if there had been any fuch
ftate he had the fairest opportunity here to introduce it.
Anfw. This very text 1 have mentioned before as a
proof of the Separate State, and it is plain the Apostle
feems to hint it, though he doth not infill upon it,
when he fuppofes the foul of the deceafed to be with
Chrift already; for he faith, God will bring them with him,
i. e. from heaven when he comes to raife their bodies.
But to give a more general answer to the objeaion,
as drawn from the filence of Scripture, in many places,
about this doarine of the Separate State. There
" thing that Chrift can do for them, who will never reward them
" for their fuiferings, never reftore that life which they loft
" for his fake." And particularly his expofition on thofe words,
•we are moft miferabte of all men, is very agreeable to the place,
" The Creek EXeKvoispoi fignifies that we are more to be pitied than
" any men, as wanting the common understanding of men to
<' fuffer death for Qhnji's fake, who would never be able to re-
" compence us for it, if he be not rifen from the dead. And it
'• is (faith he a little afterward) for want of obferving the inter-
<< mediate links of .the Apoftk's .argument (which he there repre-
<* fents), that fome have been at a.lofs for hjs meaning, while
« others have quite miftaken it." See p. 1:4, ire.

Sea.IV. Of a Separate State. 6i
There are good teafons why the New Teftament
more fparingly mentions the Separate State of fouls,
arid doth moft frequently (but not conftantly) refer
both rewards and punifhments to the refutreaion.
(i.) Becaufe the Heathens themfelves (at leaft the
wifeft and beft of them) did believe fome fort of fu
ture ftate of happinefs or mifery, into which the fouls
of men should be difpofed when they departed from
thefe bodies, according to the vices or virtues they
had praaifed in this life ; and they derived this doc
trine from their reafonings upon the foot of the light
of nature. The writings of Plato and his followers,
and the fentiments of Socrates conveyed to us in Plato's
writings, are full of this opinion, viz. of the exiftence
of the fouls of good men in a happy ftate when they.
depart from the body. Cicero fometimes fpeaks of it
as his opinion, his desire and his hope, nor were other
heathen writers ignorant of this doarine; but the New
Teftament fpeaks lefs of this point, becaufe it is the
evident defign of Chrift and his Apoftles to lead their
difciples to the more peculiar doclrines of revelation, ra
ther than to treat them with fentiments derived frorrj,,
the light of nature : And this doarine of the refurrec
tion from the dead, and the eternal rewards and eter
nal punifhments that attend it, are more abundantly
mentioned in the New Teftament, becaufe they ftand
fo much more conneaed with the gofpel of Chrift, and
with his own refurreaion from the dead, which is the
chief evidence of its divine authority. It is Chrift who
rofe from the dead who is appointed to rife and to
judge all mankind ; and therefore it is natural for the
Apoftles in their writings, who defire to keep the death
and refurreaion of Chrift always in the view of their
converts, to point to the awful events of that day,
when their Saviour, rifen from the dead, fhall appear
in the execution of his glorious commiflion and judge
the world. Thus St Paul preaches to the Athenians,
Aas xvii. 30. God now commands all men everywhere
to repent; becaufe he hath appointed a day in which he will
judge

6z Efifay toward the proof Sea. IV.
judge the world in righteoufnefs, by that man whom he
hath ordained ; whereof he hath given afifurance to all
men, in that he hath raifed him from the dead. And in
many other places he conneas our refurreaion and
future recompences with the refurreaion of Chrift.
And in this refpea, as well as in fome others, the
doarine of rewards and punifhments after the resurrec
tion, feems to carry fuch superior force in it, especially
upon thofe who believe the gofpel, that it is no wonder
the New Teftament more frequently refers to this
great day of refurreaion, and the Apoftle derives the
chief part of his confolations or terrors frpm it.
(2.) Then will be the public and univerfal retributi
ons of vice and virtue in a more folemn manner exhi
bited before all the world, whereas the entrance of
mankind into the recompences of the Separate State is
more private and perfonal.
(3.) Then will be the day of compleat rewards and
punifhments of man in both parts of his nature, foul
and body : All the Separate State belongs only to the
foul, and even thofe recompences are but imperfea
before in comparifon of what they will be when body
and foul are united.
(4.) Then will be the moft glorious vifible and fen-
fible diftinaion made between the good and bad ; and
fince this belongs to the body as well as the foul, it is
very properly fet before, the eyesof men in the holy
Writings as done at the refurreaion ; becaufe corporeal
and fenfible things work more powerfully on their ima
gination, and more fenfibly and effeaually ftrike the
confciences of men, than the notion of mere spiritual
rewards and punifhments in the Separate State.
(5.) The ftate of rewards and punifhments after the
refurreaion, will be far the longeft and moft durable
recompence of the good and the bad: And therefore> it
is called eternal fo often in Scripture ; everlafting life,
and everlafting fire, Matth. xxv. 41. Whereas the
retributions of the Separate State are comparatively
but of fhort duration j and this is another thing that
makes

Sea; IV. Of a Separate State. 63
makes a fenfible impreffion on the hearts of men, viz.
the eternal continuance of the joys and forroWs that fol
low the laft judgment.
Perhaps it will be replied here* that in the beginning
pf this effay I reprefented the Separate State as a more
effeclual motive to the hopes and fears of men, becaufe
the joys arid forrows of it were fo much nearer at hand
than thofe of the refurreaion : And why do I now re-
prefent the recompences of the refurreaion under fuch
charaaers as are fit to have the ftrongeft influence,
and become the moft effeclual motive ?
Anfw. It is granted, that the recompences after the
refurreaion have feveral circumftances that carry with
them fome peculiar and moft powerful motives to re
ligion and virtue ; but that awful day may ftill feem
to want this one motive, viz. the nearnefs of it,
whieh belongs eminently to the recompences of the
Separate States Now, if the Scripture does really re
veal the doarine of rewards arid punifhments of fouls
immediately after death, arid of foul .arid body toge
ther at the refurreaion, then all thofe circumftances
of effeaual motive to piety are colfeaedin our doc
trine, v'r&. the immediate nearnefs Of them in the Se
parate State, and the public appearance, the univerfa-
lity, the compleainefs, the fenfibility, and the duration
of them after the great rifing'-day.
1 might yet take occafiori, from this objeaion, to
give a further reafon, why the Apoftles more frequent
ly draw their motives of hope and fear from the refur-
reaion and the great judgment, /'. e . that even that
day of recompence was generally then fuppofed to be
Hear at hand, and fo there was lefs need to infill upon
the joys and forrows of the Separate State.
As the patriarchs and the Jews of old, after the
Meftiah was promifed, were conftantly expeaing his
firft coming, almpft in every generation till he did ap
pear, and many modes of prophetical expreffion in
Scripture (which fpeak of things long to come, as
though they were prefent or juft at hand) gave them fome

64 Effay towards the proof Sea. IV*
fome eccafion for.ithis expeaation, fo the Chriftians
of the firft age did generally expect the fecond coming
of Chrift to judgment, and the refurreaion of the
dead, : in that very age .wherein it was foretold. ;St
Paul gives us a hint of it in 2 Theff. ii. 1* 2. They fop-*
pofedthe day of the Lord was juji appearing. And
many e^prefiions of Chrift concerning his return or',
coming again after his departure, feemed to reprefent
his abfence as a thing of no long continuance. It is
true, thefe words of his may partly refer to his coming
to deftroy Jerufalem ; and the coming in of his king
dom among the Gentiles, or his coming by his meffen-
ger-of. death, yet they generally, in their fupreme and
final fenfe, point to his coming to raife the. dead and
judge the werld : And from the words of Chrift, alfo
concerning John, chap, xxi.22. If I will that he tarry
till' I come. It is probable that the Apoftles themfelves
at firft, as well as other Chriftians, might derive this
apprehension of his fpeedy coming.
It; ;is, certain, that when Chrift fpeaks of his coming,
in general and promifcuous and. parabolical terms,
whether, with regard tp the deftruaion • of Jerufalem
or,thq judgment of the world, he faith, Matih. xxiv. ,34.
Verily 1 fay unto you,, this generation Jhall not pafs till all
thefe things' be fulfilled. . And the Apoftles frequently
told the world, the coming of the Lord was near,
Phil. iv. 5.- The Lord is at hand, Heb. x. 25. Exhort
ing one another, fo much the more as ye fee ' the day api
proaching. And that this is the day of the coming, of
Chrift, ver. 37. affures us, For yet. a little while, he'
that Jloall come will come, and will not tarry. Rom. xiii,
1 2. Now it is high time to awake out of fleep. The night
is far fpent, the day is at hand- 1 Pet. iv. 5. To him who
is ready to judge the. quick and the dead. Ver. 7. The end.
of all things is at. hand., James v. 8, 9. The coming of
the Lord draweth nigh. Behold the judge ftandeth at
the door. Rev. xxii. 1 o. Seal not up the prophecy of this
book, for the time is at hand. Ver. 1 2. And behold I come
quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to every' man as

Sea.lV. Of a Separate State. 65
as his work fhall be .' And the facred volume is clofed
with this affurance, ver. 20. Surely I come quickly, and
the echo and the expeaation of the Apoftle or the
Church, Amen. Even Jo, come Lord Jefus.
It is granted, that in prophetical expreflions, fuch
as all thefe are, fome obfcurity is allowed ; And it
may be doubtful, perhaps, whether fome of them may
refer to Chrift's, coming by the deftruaion of Jerufa^
lem, or his coming to call particular perfons away by
his meffenger. of death, or his appearance to the laft
judgment. It is granted alfo, it belongs to propheti
cal language to fet things far diftant, as it Were, before
our eyes, and make them feem prefent or very near
at hand. But ftill thefe expreflions had plainly fuch
an influence on primitive Chriftians, as that they ima
gined the day of refurreaion and judgment was very
near : And, finCe the prophetical words of Chrift and
his Apoftles feemed to carry this appearance in them,
and to keep the church under fome uncertainty, it is
no wonder that the Apoftles chiefly referred the dif
ciples of that age to the day of the refurreaion for
comfort under their fufferings and forrows : And,
though they never afferted that Chrift would come to
raife the dead and judge the world in that age, yet,
when they knew themfelves that he would not come
fo foon, they might not think it neceffary to give eve-
rv Chriftian, nor every church, an immediate account
of the more diftant time of this great event, that the
uncertainty of it might keep them ever watchful : And
even when St Paul informs the Theffalonians that the
day of the Lord was not fo very near as they ima
gined it, 2 Theff. ii. 2. yet he does not put it off be
yond that century by any exprefs language.
Thus We fee there is very good reafon why the New
Teftament fliould derive its motives of terror and com
fort chiefly from the refurredion and the day of judg-
.ment } though it is not altogether filent of the Separate
State of fouls, and their happinefs or mifery, commen
cing, in fome measure, immediately after death, which
I has

66 Effay towards the proof Sea- V.
has been before proved by many Scriptures cited for
thatpurpofe. Here let it be obferved, that I am not concerned in
that queftion, Whether human fouls feparated from
their bodies have any other corporeal vehicle to which
they are united, or by which they aa during the in
termediate ftate between death and the refurreaion r
All that I propofe to maintain here, is, that that pe
riod or interval is not a ftate of fleep, i. e. utter uncon-
feioufnefs and unaaivity : And* whether it be united
to a vehicle or no, I call it ftill the Separate State, be
caufe it is a ftate of the foul's feparation from this body,
which is united to it in the prefent life.

s

SECT. V.
More Objections anfwered.
INCE this book was written I have met with fe
veral other objeclions againft the doarine here
maintained ; and, as I think they may all have a suf
ficient anfwer given to them, and the truth be de
fended againft the force of them, I thought it very
proper to lead the reader into a plain and eafy folution
of them.
Ohjecl. VII. Is not long life reprefented often in
Scripture, and efpecially in the Old Teftament, as A
bleffing to man ? And, is not death fet before us as a
curie or punifhment ? But, how can either of thefe .
reprefentations be juft or true, if fouls exift in a Sepa
rate State ? Are they not then brought into a ftate of
liberty by death, and freed from all the inconveni-
encies of this flefh and blood ? By this means death
ceafes to be a punifhment, and long life to be a
bleffing. Anfw. It is according as the charaaers of men
are either good or bad, and according as good men
know more or lefs of a Separate State of rewards or
punifhments, fo a long life, or early death, are to
be

Sea.V. Of a Separate State. 67
be. efteemed bleflings or calamities in a greater or a
lefs degree.
Long life was reprefented as a bleffing to good men,
in as much as it gave them opportunity to injoy more
of the bleflings of this life, and to do more fervice for
God in the world : And efpecially fince, in ancient
times, there was much darknefs upon this doarine of
the future ftate, and many good men had not fo clear
a knowledge of it. Long life was alfo a bleffing to wic
ked men, becaufe it kept them in a ftate wherein there
were fome comforts, and withheld them, for a feafon,
from the punifhments of the Separate State.
Death was doubtlefs a punifhment and a curfe when it.
was firft brought into human nature by the fin of Adam,
as it cut "off mankind from the bleflings of this life,
and plunged him into a dark and unknown ftate : And
if he were a wicked man, it plunged him into certain
mifery. But, fince the bleflings of the future ftate of happi
nefs for good men are more clearly revealed, long life
is not fo very great a bleffing, nor death fo great a pu
nifhment to good men ; for death is fanaified by the
covenant of grace to be an introduaion of their fouls
into the Separate State of happinefs, and the curfe is
turned in fome refpea into a bleffing.
Object. VIII. Was it not fuppofed to be a great pri
vilege to Enoch and Elijah when they were tranflated
without dying ? But, v/hat advantage could it be to
either of them to carry a body with them to heaven,
if their fouls could aa without it ?
I anfover, when Enoch and Elijah carried their bo
dies to heaven with them, it was certainly a fublime
honour and a peculiar privilege which they enjoyed,
to have fo early an happinefs both in flefh and fpirit
conferred upon them fo many ages before the reft of
mankind : For though the foul can aa without the bo
dy, yet as a body is part of the compounded nature
of man, our happinefs is not designed to be compleat
till the foufand body are united in a ftate of perfec tion

68 Effay towards the proof Sea. V.
tion and glory : And this happinefs was conferred
early on thofe two favourites of heaven.
- Objetl. IX. Was it not defigned as a favour when
perfons were raifed, from the dead under the Old Tef
tament or the New, by the Prophets, by Chrift, and
by his Apoftles ? But what benefit could this be to
them, if they had confcioufnefs and enjoyment in the
other world ? Was it not rather an injury to bring
them back from a ftate of happinefs into fuch a mife*
rable world as this ?
Anfw, i. Since thefe fouls were defigned to be foon
reftored to their bodies, and the perfons were to be
raifed to a mortal life again in a few days, it is pro
bable they were kept juft in the fame ftate of im
memorial confcioufnefs, as the foul is in while the bo
dy is in the deepeft fleep ; and fo were not immedi
ately font to heaven or hell, or determined to a ftate
of fenfible happinefs or mifery. Then when the per
fon was raifed to life again, there was no remembrance
of the intermediate ftate, but all the confcioufnefs of
that day or two vanifhed and were forgotten for ever,
as it is with us when we fleep foundly without dream
ing. Anfw. 2. If thofe who were raifed by Christ, or
the Prophets, or the Apoftles, were pious perfons,
they submitted by the will of God to a longer conti
nuance in this world, amidft fome difficulties and for-<
rows, which fubmiffion would be abundantly recom-
penced hereafter. If they were not good perfons,
their renewed life on earth was a reprieve from pu
nifhment. So there was no injury done to any of them.
As for thofe who were raifed at the refurreclion of
Chrift, and were foen by many perfons in the holy city,
there is no doubt but they were raifed to immortality,
and afcended to heaven when Chrift did, as part of his
triumphant attendants, and went to dwell with hira
in the heavenly ftate.
Objetl. X. If the martyrs and confeflbrs were to be
partakers of the firft refurreaion in Puv, xx. 4, 5.
would

Sea.V. Of a Separate State. 69
would not this be punifhment inftead of a bleffing, to
be called from the immediate prefence of God and
Chrift and angels, to be re-united to bodies on earth
and dwell here again with men ? Therefore it feems
more probable, that the fouls of thefe holy martyrs had
no fuch feparate exiftence or enjoyment of happinefs.
Anfw. Perhaps neither that text nor any others in
the Bible foretell the refurreaion of any number of
perfons to an animal earthly life again in this world :
Perhaps that prophecy means no more, than that the
caufe of Chrift and religion, for which men were mar
tyred and beheaded heretofore, fhall rife again in the
world, and the profeffors of it in that day fhall be in
flourifhing circumftances for a thoufand years, or a
very long feafon : So that in prophetic language thefe
words do not fignify the fame individual martyrs or
confeffors, but their fucceffors in the fame faith and
praaice. Or if there fhould be any refurreaion of good men
to an animal life in this world, foretold by the pro
phets, and intended by the great and blefled God, I
doubt not but they would be here fo far feparated
from the wicked world where fins and forrows reign,
that it would be a gradual advance of their happinefs
beyond what they enjoyed before in the Separate State.
Objetl. XI. Though man is often faid to be a com
pounded creature of foul and body, yet in Scripture
he is reprefented as one being : It is the man that is
born, that lives, that fleeps or wakes, and that rifes
from the dead. This is evident in many places of
Scripture, where thefe things are fpoken of ; and it
feems to be the law of our nature or being, that we
fhould always aa and live in fuch a ftate as fouls unit
ed to bodies, and never in a ftate of feparation.
Anfw. Though there are feveral Scriptures which
reprefent man as one being, viz. foul and body united,
yet there are many other Scriptures which have been
cited in the former parts of this Effay, wherein the
fouls

70 Effay towards the proof Sea. V.
fouls and the bodies of men are reprefented as two
Very diftina things : The one goes to the grave at
death, and the other either into Abraham'?, bofom, or
to a place of torment ; either to dwell with God, to be
prefent with Chrift the Lord, and to become one of the
fpirits of the juft made perfea, or to go to their own
place as Judas did. Now thofe texts where 'man is re
prefented as one being, maybe explained with very great
eafe, considering man as made up of two diftina fubftan-
ces, viz. body and fpirit united into one perfonal agent,
as we have fhewn before : . But the feveral texts where
the foul and body are fo ftrongly and plainly diftinguifh-
ed, as has been before reprefented, there is no poffible
way of reprefenting thefe Scriptures but by supposing
a Separate State of exiftence for fouls after the body
is dead, which makes it neceffary that this expofition
fhould take place.
Objetl. XII. How comes death to be called fo often
in Scripture afleep, if the foul wakes all the while ?
Anfw. Why is the repofe of man every night called
fleep, fince the foul wakes, as appears by a thoufand
dreams ? But as a fleeping man ceafes to aa in the
bufineffes or affairs of this world, though the foul be
not dead or unthinking, fo death* is calledy?^, becaufe
during that ftate men are cut off from the bufineffes of
this world, though the foul may think and aa in
another. Objetl. XIII. The Scripture fpeaks often of the ge
neral judgment of mankind at the laft great day of the
refurreaion, but it does not teach us the doarine of a
particular judgment, which the foul is fuppofed to pafs
under when every fingle man dies : why then fhould
we invent fuch a fuppofition, or believe fuch a doc
trine of a particular judgment in a Separate State ?
Anfw. It is evident in many Scriptures, as we have
fhewn before, that the fouls of men after death are
reprefented as enjoying pleafure or punishment in the
Separate State. The foul of Lazarus in heaven, the
foul of Dives in hell, the foul of Paul as being pre-
3 f™t

Sea. V. Off a Separate State. 71
fent with the Lord, which is far better, than dwelling
in this flefh, or being prefent with this body, &c*
therefore there muft be a fort of judgment or fen
tence of determination paft upon every fuch foul by
the great God, whether it fhall be happy or miferable ;
for it can never be fuppofed that happinefs or mifery
fhould be given to fuch fouls without the determination
of God the Judge of all : And perhaps that text Heb.
ix. 27. refers to it, it is appointed unto men once to die,
but after this the judgment : i. e. immediately after it.
Or fuppofe that in the Separate State the pleafures
or forrows, which attend fouls departing from the bo
dy, fhould be only fuch as are the neceffary confe-
quents of a life fpent in the praaice of vice or of vir
tue, of religion or ungodlinefs, without any formali
ties of ftanding before a judgment-feat, or a folemn
fentence of abfolutiort or condemnation : Yet the very
entrance upon this ftate, whether it be of peace or of
torment, muft be fuppofed to fignify, that the ftate of
that foul is adjudged or determined by the great Go
vernor of the world : And this is all that is neceffarily
meant by a particular judgment of each foul at death,
whether it pafs under the folemrt formalities of a judg
ment and a tribunal or not.
Objetl. XIV. If the faints can be happy without a
body, what need of a refurreaion ? Let the body be
as refined, as aaive, as powerful and glorious as it can
be, ftill it muft certainly be a clog to the foul ; and
¦this was the objeaion that the heathen philofophers
made to the doarine of the refurreaion, which the
Chriftians profefs ; for the philofophers told them, this
•refurreaion, which they called their higheft reward, was
really a punijlment.
Anfw. The force of this objeaion has been quite
taken away before, when it has been fhewn that man,
being a creature compounded of body and fpirit, was
defigned for its higheft happinefs, and the perfcaion
of its nature in this ftate of union, and not in a ftate
of Separation. And let it be obferved, that when the
body

Ji Effay towards the proof Sea. V«
body fhall be raifed from the grave, it fhall not be fuch
fleih and blood as we now wear, nor made up of fuch
materials, as fhall clog Or obftrua the foul in any of
its moft vigorous and divine exercifes ; but it fhall be a
fpiritual body, i Cor. xv. 44. a body fitted to ferve a
holy and a glorified fpirit in its aaions and its enjoy
ments, and to render the fpirit capable of fome fur
ther excellencies, both of aaion and enjoyment, thart
it is naturally capable of without a body. What fort
of qualities this new-raifed body fhall be endued with,
in order to increafe the excellency or the happinefs of
pious fouls, will be, in a great meafure, a myftery or1
a fccret, till that bfeffed morning appears.
Objetl. XV. Is not our immortality in Scripture de-
fcribed as built upon the incorruptible ftate of our
new-raifed bodies ? 1 Cor. xv. 53. This Corruptible muft
put on incorruption, and this mortal muft put on immorta
lity : but the doarine of the immortality of the foul
is not particularly found or taught in Scripture.
Anfw, It is granted that the immortality of the new-
raifed body is built on that corruptible fort of materials
of which it is to be formed, or which fhall be mingled
with it, or the incorruptible qualities which fhall be
given to it by God himfelf : But the foul is immortal
in. itfelf, whether with or without a body : And he
that can read all thofe texts of Scripture which have
been before made ufe of in this Effay, wherein the ex
iftence of the fpirit after the death of the body is fo
plainly expreffed, and cannot find the immortality of
the foul in them, or the fpirit's capacity of exiftence in a
Separate State from the body, muft be left to his own
fentiments to explain and verify the expreffions of
Christ and his Apoftles fome other way ; or he muft
acknowledge that 'thefe expreffions are fomewhat uri-
cautious and dangerous, fince it is evident they lead
thoufands and ten thoufands of wife and fober readers
into this fentiment of the foul's immortality.
Whether the foul in its own nature be neceffarily
immortal, is a point of philofophy, and not to be fought for

Sea. V; Of a Separate StaTK. 7J
for direaly in Scripture : But whether the great God,
the Governor of the world, has not appointed fouls to
exift in a Separate State of happinefs or niifery after
the bodies ate dead, feems to me to be fo plainly de
termined in many of the Scriptures which have been
cited, as leaves no sufficient reafon to doubt of the
truth of it.
To conclude, though I think the doarine of the Se
parate State of fouls to be of much importance in Chrif-
tianity, and that the denial of it carries great inconve-
niencies, and weakens the motive to virtue and piety,
by putting off all mannef of rewards and punifhments
to fuch a diftance as the general refurreaion* yet I
dare not contend for it as a matter of fuch abfolute ne-
ceflity, that a man cannot be a Chriftian without it.
But this muft be confeffed, that they who deny this
doarine feem to have need of ftronger inward zeal to
guard them againft temptation, and to keep their
hearts always alive and watchful to God and religion*
fince their motives to ftria piety and virtue are fenfibly
Weakened, by renouncing all belief of this nearer and
more irftmediate commencement of heaven and hell.

K D I S-

>

( 74 >
DISCOURSES on the World to
Come.

DISCOURSE I.
The End of T i m e.
Rfiv. x. 5, 6. And the angel which Ifawftand upon the
fea, and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven
and fware by him that livefh for \ever and ever, — that
there fhould be time no longer.
THIS is the oath and the folerhn fentence of a
mighty angel who came down from heaven, and
by the defcription of him in the firft verfe, he feems
to be the angel of God's prefence, in whom is the name
of God, even our Lord Jefus Chrift himfelf, who pro
nounced and fware that Time fhould be no longer ; for
all feafons and Times are now put into his hand, toge
ther with the book of his Father's decrees, Rev. v. 7,
9. What fpecial age or period of time in this world
the prophecy refers to, may not be fo eafy to deter
mine; but this is certain, that it may be happily ap
plied to the period of every man's life ; for whenfo-
ever the term of our continuance in this world is finifh-
ed, our Time, in the prefent circumftances and fcenes
that attend it, Jhall be no more : We fhall be fwept off"
the ftagc of this vifible ftate into an unfeen and eter
nal world : Eternity comes upon us at once, and all
that we enjoy, all that we do, and all that we suffer in
Time, Jhall be no longer.
Let us ftand ftill here, and consider in the firft place
what awful and important thoughts are contained in
this fentence, what folemn ideas fhould arife to the view
of mortal creatures when it fhall be pronounced Con
cerning each of them, that Time Jhall be no more. 1. The

Difc. I. -The End of Time. 75
1. The Time of the recovery of our nature from its ft n-
ful and wretched ftate fhall be no longer. We come in
to this world fallen creatures, children of iniquity, and
heirs of death; we have loft the image of God who
made us, and which our nature enjoyed in our firft
parents; and inftead of it we are changed into the
image of the devil in the lufts of the mind, in pride and
malice, in felf -sufficiency and enmity to God; and we
have put on alfo the image of the brute in finful appe
tites and fenfualities, and in the lufts of the flefh ; nor
can we ever be made truly happy till the image of the
bleffed God be reftored upon us, till we are made ho
ly as he is holy, till we have a divine change paft upon
us, whereby we are created anew and reformed in
heart and praaice. And this life is the only time gi
ven us for this important change. If this life be fi-
nifhed before the image of God be reftored to us, this
image will never be ieftored ; but we fhall bear the
likenefs of devils for ever ; and perhaps the image of
the brute too at the refurreaion of the body, and be
further off from God and all that is holy than ever we
were here upon earth.
Of what infinite importance is it then to be frequent
ly awakening ourfelves at fpecial feafons and periods
of life to inquire, whether this image of God is begun
to be renewed, whether we have this glorious change
wrought in us, whether our defires and delights are
fixed upon holy and heavenly things, inftead of thofe
fenfual and earthly objeas which draw away all our
fouls from God and heaven. Let it appear to us as a
matter of utmoft moment to feek after this change;
let us pursue it with unwearied labours and strivings
with our own hearts, and perpetual importunities at
the throne of grace, left the voice of him who fwears
that there jhall be Time no longer, fliould feize us in fome
, unexpeaed moment, and leaft he fwear in his wrath
concerning us, let him that is unholy be unholy ftill, and
let kirn that is filthy be filthy ftill.
2. When

y6 The End of Time. Difc. I.
2. When fhis*fentence is pronounced concerning us,
the feafon and the means of reftoring us to the favour and
love of Godfoall be no longer. We are born children of
wrath as well as the fons and daughters of iniquity,
Ephef. ii. 2. We have loft the original favour of our
Maker and are banifhed from his love, and the fupe-
rior bleflings of his goodnefs; and yet, blefled be the
Lord, that we are not at prefent for ever banifhed be
yond all hope: This Time of life is given us to feek the
recovery of the love of God, by returning to him ac
cording to the Gofpel of his Son: Now is pardon and
peace, now is grace and falvation preached unto men,
to finful wretched men, who are at enmity with God
and the objeas of his high displeasure ; now the voice
of mercy calls to us, This is the accepted time, this is the
day of falvation, i Cor. vi. 2. To-day if ye will hear
his voice let not your hearts be hardened to refufe it : Now
the fountain of the blood of Chrift is fet open to wafh
our fouls' from the guilt of fin ; now all the springs of
his mercy are broken up in the miniftrations of the
Gofpel : Now God is in Chrift reconciling finners to him*
felf, and he has font us, his minifters, to intreat you in
Chrift 's fie ad, be ye reconciled to God; and we befeech
you in his name, continue not one day, or one hour,
longer in your enmity and rebellion, but be ye, reconcin
led to God your creator, and accept pf his offered for-.
givenefs and grace. 2 Cor, v. 20,
The moment is haftening upon us when this mighty
angel, who manages the affairs of the kingdom of
providence, fhall fwear concerning every unbelieving
and impenitent finner, that the Time of offered mercy.
fhall be no longer, the Time of pardon and grace and re
conciliation Jhall be no more : The found of this mercy
reaches not tp the regions of the dead ; thofe who die
before they are reconciled, ihey die under the load of
all their fins, and muft perifh for ever, without the
"leaft hope or glimpfe of reconciling or forgiving grace.
3. At the term of this mortal life, the Time of prayer
Ond repentance and fervice fir God or man in this world Jhall.

Difc. I. The End of Time. 77
foall be no longer. Eccl. ix. 10.. There is no work nor
device, nor knowledge, nor wifdom, in the grave whither
thou goeft, whither we are all haftening. Let every
sinful creature therefore afk himfelf, have I never yet
began to pray ? Never began to call upon the mercy
of the God that made me ? Never began to repent of
all my crimes and follies ? Nor begun in good earneft
to do fervice for God, or to honour him amongft men ?
Dreadful thought indeed! When it maybe the next hour
we may be put out of all capacity and opportunity to do
it for ever ! As foon as ever an impenitent finner has the
vail of death drawn over him, all his opportunities of
this kind are for ever cut off : He that has never re
pented, never prayed, never honoured his God, fhall ne
ver be able to pray or repent or do any thing for God or
his honour through all the ages of his future immorta
lity: Nor is there any promife made to returning or
repenting finners in the other world, whither we are
haftening. As the tree falls, when it is cut down, fo it
lies, and it muft for ever lie, -pointing to the north or the
fouth, to hell or heaven, Ecclef. xi. 3.
And indeed there is no true prayer, no fincere re
pentance can be exercifed after this life; for the foul
that has wafted away all its time given for repentance
and prayer, is, at the moment of death; left under ever
lafting hardnefs of heart; and whatfoever enmity againft
God and godfinefs was found in the heart in this world
is increafed in the world to come, when all manner of
foftning means and mercies areitver at an end. This
leads me to the next thought^/
4, How wretched foever our ftate is at death, the day
of hope is ended, and it returns no more. Be our cir
cumftances never fo bad, yet we are. not compkatly
wretched while the time of hope remain?. ' We are all
by nature miferabie by reafon of fin,, but it is only de
spair can perfea our mifcry. Therefore fallen angels
are foaled up under mifery becaufe there is no door
of hope opened for them. But in this life there is
hope for the worft of finfu-1 men : There is the word of

78 The End of Time. Difc. I.
of grace and hopd calling them in the Gofpel ; there
is the voice of divine mercy founding in the fanauary,
and bleffed are they that hear the joyful found : But if
we turn the deaf ear to the voice of God and his Son,
and to all the tender and compaflionate intreaties of a
dying Saviour, hope is haftening to its period ; for
this very angel will fhortly fwear, that this joyful found
fhall be heard no longer.
/' He comes now to the door of our hearts, he fues
' there for admittance, " Open unto me and receive
" me as your Saviour and your Lord, give me and
" my Gofpel free admiffion, and 1 will come in and
" beftow upon you the riches of my grace and ail
" my falvation : Open your hearts to me with the
" holy defires and humble fubmiflion of penitence,
" and receive the bleflings of righteoufnefs, and par-
" don, and eternal life." He now invites you to re
turn to God with an acknowledgment and renuncia
tion of every fin, and he offers to take you by the
hand and introduce you into his Father's prefence with
comfort : This is a day of hope for the vileft and moft
hateful criminals ; but if you continue to refufe, he
will fhortly fwear in his wrath, you shall never enter
into his kingdom, you fhall never tafte of the provifi-
ons of his grace, you fhall never be partakers of the
bleflings purchafed'with his blood, Heb. iii. 18. I fware
in my wrath, faith the Lord, they Jhall not enter into
my reft.
Oh the dreadful ftate of finful creatures, who con
tinue in fuch obftinacy, who wafte away the means of
grace and the. feafons of hope, week after week, and
month after month, till the day of grace and hope is
for ever at an end with them ! Hopelefs creatures !
Under the power and the plague of fin, under the
wrath and curfe of a God, under the eternal displea
sure of Jefus who'was once the minifter of his Father's
love ; and they muft abide under all this wretchednefs
through a long eternity, and in the land of everlafting despair.

, Difc. I. The End of Time. 79
defpair. But I forbear that theme at prefent, and pro
ceed. '
5. At the moment of our death the time of our pre
paration for the hour of judgment, and for the infurance
of heaven and happinefs fhall be no longer. Miferable
creatures that are fummoned to die thus unprepared !
This life is the only time to prepare for dying, to get
ready to ftand before the Judge of the whole earth,
and to fecure our title to the heavenly bleffednefs.
"T7et my heart enquire, " Have I ever ferioufly begun to
" prepare for a dying hour, and to appear before the
" Judge of all ? Have I ever concerned myfelf in good
" earneft to fecure an intereft in the heavenly inheri-
" tance, when this earthly tabernacle fhall be diffolved ?
" Have I ever made intereft for the favour of God
" and a fhare of the inheritance of the faints, by Jefus
" the great Mediator while he afforded life and time ?"
'"Death is daily and hourly haftening upon us : Death
is the king of terrors, and will fulfil all his name to
every foul that is unprepared. It is a piece of wifdom
then for every one of us, fince we muft die, to fearch
and feel whether death has loft its fling or no : Whe
ther it be taken away by the blood of Chrift ? Is this
blood fprinkled on my confcience by the humble ex-
ercife of faith on a dying Saviour ? Are the terrors of
death removed, and am I prepared to meet it by the
fanaifying influences of the blefled Spirit ? Have 1 fuch
an interest in the covenant of grace as takes away the
fling of death, as turns the curfe into a bleffing, and
changes the dark fcenes of death into the commence
ment of a new and everlafting life ? This is that pre
paration for dying for which our time of life was given
us ; and happy are thofe who are taught of God to
make this ufe of it.
Judgment is making hafte towards us ; months and
days of divine patience are flying swift away, and the
laft great day is juft at hand : Then we muft give an
account of all that has been done in the body, whether
it has been good or evil : And what a dismal and. diftref- fing

80 The End of Tiut. Difc; t
fing forprife will it be to have the Judge come upon
us in a blaze of glory and terror, while we have no
good account to give at his demand ? And yet this is
the very end and defign of all our time, which is
lengthened out to us on this fide the grave, and of all
the advantages that we have injoyed in this life, that
We may be ready to render up our account with joy
to the Judge of all the earth;
/ Heaven is not ours by birth and inheritance, as
/lands and houfes on earth defcend to us ffom our
earthly parents. We as well as they are by nature un
fit for heaven and children of wrath ; but We may be
born again, we may be born of God, and become
heirs of the heavenly inheritance through Jefus Chrift .*
We may be renewed into the temper arid fpirit of hea*
ven ; and this life is the only feafon that is given Us
for this important change : Shall we let our days and
years pafs away one after another in long fucceflion,
and continue the children of wrath still ? Are we con
tented to go on this year as the laft, without a title to
heaven, without a divine temper, and without any
preparation for the bufinefs or the bleflednefs of that
happy world ?
~TS. When this life comes to an end, the time of all
our earthly comforts and amufoments fhall be no morei
We fhall have none of thefe fenfible things arpUnd usy
to employ or entertain our eyes or our ears, to gratify
our appetites, to footh our paflions,-or to support Pur
fpirits in diftrefs. All the infinite variety of cares, la
bours and joys, which furround us here, fhall be no
more ; life, with all the bufy feenes and the pleafing
fatisfaaions of it diffolve and perifh tPgether : Have a
care then that you do not make any of them your
chief hope, for they are but the things of time, they
are all fhort and dying injoyments.
Under the various calamities of this life we find a
variety of fenfible reliefs, and our thoughts and fouls
are called away from their forrows by prefent bufinefs,
or diverted by prefent pleafures ; but all thefe avoca tions

Difc. I. The End of Time. 8r
tions and amufements will forfake us at once, when
we drop this mortal tabernacle ; we muft enter alone
into the world of fpirits, and live without them there.
Whatfoever agonies or terrors, or huge diftreffes,
we may meet with in that unknown region, We fhall
have none of thefe fenfible injoyments to foften and
allay them, no drop of fweetnefs to mix with that bit
ter cup, no fcenes of gaiety and merriment to relieve
the gloom of that utter darknefs, or to fopth the an
guifh of that eternal heart-ake. / O take heed, my
friends, that your fouls do not live too much on any
of the fatisfaaions of this life, that your affeaions be
not fet upon them in too high a degree, that you make
them not your idols and your chief good, left you be
left helplefs and miferable under everlafting difappoint-
ment, for they cannot follow you into the world of
fouls : They are the things of time, and they have no
place in eternity. Read what caution^the Apoftle
Paul gives us in our converfe with the deareft com
forts of life ; i Cor. vii, 29. The time is Jhort ; and lei
thofe who have the largeft affluence of temporal blefi-
fings, who have the neareft and kindeft relatives, and
the moft endeared friendfhips, be mortified to them,
and be, in fome fenfe, as though they had them not, for
ye cannot poffefs them long. St Peter joins in the
fame fort of advice, 1 Pet. iv. 7. The end of' all things
is at hand, therefore be ye fiber, be ye moderate in
every injoyment on earth, and prepare to part with
thern all, when the angel pronounces that Time Jhall be
no longer : His fentence puts an effeaual period to
every joy in this life, and to every hope that is not
eternal. Thus we have taken' a brief survey, what are the
folemn and awful thoughts relating to fuch mortal crea-
tfires in general, which are contained in this voice ot
fentence of the angel, That time Jhall be no longer.
In the fecond place let us proceed further, and in
quire a little what are thofe terrors which will attend
finners, impenitent finners, at the end of time.
L 1. A

82 The End of Time. Difc. 1,
r. A dreadful account muft be given of all this loft
and wafted time. When the Judge fhall afcend his
throne in the air, and all the fons and daughters of
Adam are brought before him, the grand inquiry will
be, What have you done with all the time of life in
yonder world ? " You spent thirty or forty years
" there, or perhaps feventy or eighty, and I gave you
" this time with a thoufand opportunities and means
" of grace and falvation ; what have you done with
fi them all ? How many Sabbaths did I afford you ?
" How many fermons have ye heard? How many
?e feafons did I give you for prayer and retirement,
f( and converfe with God and your own fouls ? Did
" you improve time well? Did you pray? Did you
" converfe with your fouls and with God ? Or did
?' you fuffer time to Aide away in a thoufand imper-
*' tinenci.es, and negfea the one thing neceffary ?"
2. A fruit 'jefs and bitter mourning for the wafte and
¦abufo of time will be another confequence of your folly.
Whatfoever fatisfaaion you may take now in palling
time away merrily and without thinking, it muft not
pafs away fo for ever. If the approaches of death dq
not awaken you, yet judgment will do it. Your con
fidences will be worried with terrible reflections on
your foolifh condua.
O could we but hear the complaints of the fouls in
hell, what multitudes of them would be found groan*
ing out this difmal note, li How hath my time been
" loft in vanity, and my foul is now loft for ever in
" diftrefs :'' How might 1 have fhone among the
faints in heaven, had I wifely improved the time which
was given me on earth, given me on purpofe to pre
pare for death and heaven ? Then they will for ever
curfe themfelves, and call themfelves eternal fools, for
hearkening to the temptations of flefh and fenfe, which
wafted their time, and deprived them of eternal trea*
fures. 3. Another of the terrors which will feize upon im
penitent finners at the end of time, will be endlefs de-
fpair

bile.

I. the End of Time.

fpair of the recovery of loft timei and of thofe bleflings
'whofe hope is for ever loft with iti There are bleffmgs
offered to sinful miferable men in time, which will ne
ver be offered in eternity, nor put within their reach
for ever. -The Gofpel hath no calls, no invitations*
no encouragements, no promifes for the dead, who
have loft and Wafted their time, and are perifhed with
out hope. The region of forrow* whither the Judge
fhall drive impenitent finners, is a dark and defolate
place, where light and hope can never come : But
fruitlefs repentance, with horrors and agonies of foul*
and doleful defpair reign through that world, without
one gleam of light or hope, or one moment of-inter-
miffion. Then will defpairing finners grtaW their
tongues for anguifh of heart, and curfe themfelves
with long execrations, and curfe their fellow fin
ners, who affifted them to wafte their time, and ruin
their fouls.
4. The laft terror I fhall mention which will attend
finners at the end of time, is an eternal fuffering of all
the painful and difmal confequences of loft and wafted time.
Not one fmile from the face of God for ever, not one
glimpfe of love or mercy in his countenance, not one
word of grace from Jefus Chrift who was once the
chief meffenger of the grace of God, not one favour
able regard from all the holy faints and angels ; but the
fire and brimftone burn without end, and thefmoke of
this their torment will afcend for ever and ever before
the throne of God and the Lamb.
Who knows how keen and bitter will be the agonies^
pf an awakened confcience, and the vengeance of a
provoked God in that world of mifery ? How will you
cry out, " O what a wretch have I been to renounce
" all the advices of a compaflioriate father, when he
" would have perfuaded me to improve the time of
" youth and health ! Alas, I turned a deaf ear to his
" advice, and now time is loft, and my hopes of mer-
" cy for ever perifhed. How have I treated with ri-
K dicule among my vain companions the compaffion- " ate

84 The End of Time. Difc* L
'* ate and pious councils of my aged parents who la*
" boured for my falvation ? How have I fcomed the
*' tender admonitions of a mother, and wafted that
" time in finning and fenfuality which fhould have
" been fpent in prayer and devotion ? And God turns
" a deaf ear to my cries now, and is regardlefs of all
" my groanings.'i- This fort of anguifh of fpirit with
loud and cutting complaints would deftroy life itfelf;
and thefe inward terrors would fling their fouls to
death, if there could be any fuch thing as dying there.
Such fighs and fobs and bitter agonies would break
their hearts* and diflblve their being, if the heart could
break, or the being could be diffolved : But immorta
lity is their dreadful portion, immortality of forrows to
punifh their wicked and wilful abufe of time, and that
wafte of the means of grace they were guiky of in their
mortal ftate.
I proceed in the laft place to consider what refleclions
may be made on this difcourfe, or what are fome of
the profitable leffons to be learnt from it.
Reflecl. I. We may learn with great evidence the in-
eftimable worth and value of time, and particularly to thofe
who are not prepared for eternity. - Every hour you live
is an hour longer given you to prepare for dying, and to
fave a foul.— If you were but apprized of the worth of
your own fouls, you would better know the worth of
days and hours, and of every paffing moment, for they
are given to fecure your immortal intereft, and fave a*
foul from everlafting mifery. And you would be zeal
ous and importunate in the prayer of Mofes, the man
of God, upon a meditation of the fhortnefs of life,
Pfal. xc. 1 2. So teach us to number our days as to apply
our hearts to wifdom, i. e. So teach us to confider how
few and uncertain our days are, that we may be truly
wife in preparing for the end of them.
It is a matter of vaft importance to be ever ready
for the end of time, ready to hear this awful fentence
confirmed with the oath of the glorious angel, that
Time Jhall be no longer. The terrors or the comforts of

Difc. t. The End of Tin*. 85
a dying bed depend upon it : The folemn and decifive
voice of judgment depends upon it : The joys and the
forrows of a long eternity depend upon it : Go now,
carelefs finner, and in the view of fuch things as thefe,
go and trifle away time as you have done before*, time,
that invaluable treasure : Go and venture the lofs of
your fouls, and the hopes of heaven and your eternal
happinefs, in wafting away the remnant hours or mo
ments of life t But remember the awful voice of the
angel is haftening towards you, and the found is juft
breaking in upon you, that Time Jhall be no longer.
Reflecl. II. A due fenfe of Time haftening to its period
will fur nijh us with perpetual new occqftons of holy medita-
tioni Do I pbferve the declining day and the fetting fun
finking into darknefs : So declines the day of life, the
hours of labour, and the feafon of grace : O may I fi-
nifh my appointed work with honour before the light
is fled ! May I improve the fhining hours of grace be
fore the fhadows of the evening overtake me* and my
time of working is no more !
Do I fee the moon gliding along through midnight,
and fulfilling her ftages in the dufky fky ? This planet
alfo is meafuring out my life, and bringing the num
ber of my months to their end. May I be prepared
to take leave of the fun and moon, and bid adieu to
thefe vifible heavens and all the twinkling glories of
them ! Thefe are all but the measurers of my time,
and haflen me on towards eternity^/
Am I walking in a garden aYraftand ftill to obferve
th& flow motion of the fhadow upon a dial there ? It
paflfes over the hour-lines with an imperceptible pro-
grefs, yet it will touch the laft line of day-light fhortly :
So my hours and my moments move onward with a
filent pace ; but they will arrive with certainty at the
laft limit, how heedlefs foever I am of their motion,
and how thoughtlefs foever I may be of the improve
ment of time, or of the end of it. Does

86 The End of Time. Difc. 1
f:, Does a pew year commence, and the' firft morning
of it dawn upon me ? Let me remember that the laft
year was finifhed, and gone over my head* in order to
make way for the entrance of the prefent : I have one
year the lefs to travel through this, world* and to fulfil
the various fervices of a travelling ftate : May my dili
gence irt duty be doubled fince the number of my ap
pointed years is diminifhed.
Do I find a new birth-day in my furvey of the ka-
lendar, the day wherein I entered upon the ftage of
mortality, and was born into this world of fins, frail-*
ties arid forrows, in order to my probation for a better
ftate ? Blefled Lord, how much have I fperit already
of this mortal life,- this feafon of my probation, and
how little am I prepared for that happier world ? How1
unready for my dying' moment? I arn hafteriing hour
ly to the end of the life of man which began at rny
nativity ; am I yet born of God ? Have I begun the
life of a faint \ Am 1 prepared for that awful day
which fhall determine the nurriber of my months on
earth ? Am I fit to be - born into the world of fpirits
through the ftrait gate of death ? Am I renewed in
all the powers of my nature, and made meet to enter
into that unfeeri world, where there fhall be rio more
of thefe revolutions of days and years, but one eter
nal day fills up all the fpace with divine pleaiure, or
one eternal night with long and deplorable dlftrefs arid
darknefs ?
When I fee a friend expiring, or the corps of my
neighbour conveyed to the gfaVe, alas ! Their months
and minutes are all determined, and the feafons of their
trial are finifhed for ever ; they are gone to their eter
nal home, and the estate of their fouls is fixed un
changeably : The angel that, has fwofn their time fhall
be no longer, has concluded their hopes, or has finifhed
their fears, and, according to the. rules of righteous
judgment, has decided their mifery or happinefs for a
long immortality. Take this warning, O my foul,
and think of thy own removal. Are

Difc. I. The End of Time. 87
Are we ftanding in the church-yard, paying the last
honours to the relicks of our friends ? What a num
ber of hillocks of death appear all round Us ? What
are the tomb-Hones, but memorials of the inhabitants
of that town, to inform u? of the periods of all their
lives, and to point out the day when it was faid to
each of them, your time Jhall be no longer. O may I
readily learn this important leffon, that my turn is haf
tening too ; fuch a little hillock fhall fhortly arife for
me in fome unknown fpot of ground, it fhall cover
this flefh and thefe bones of. mine in darknefs, and
fhall hide them from the light of the fun, and from
the fight of man till the heavens be no more.
Perhaps fome kind surviving friend may engrave, my
name, with the number of my days, upon a plain fu
neral ftone, without ornament, and below envy :
There fhall my tomb ftand among the reft as a frefls
monument of the frailty of nature and the end of
time. It is poffible fome friendly foot may now and
then vifit the place of my repofe, and fome tender eye
may bedew the cold memorial with a tear : One or
another of my old acquaintance may poffibly attend
there to learn the filent feaure of mortality from my
grave-ftone, which my lips are now preaching aloud
to the world ; And if love and forrow fhould reach fo
far, perhaps while his foul is melting in his eye-lids,
and his voice fearce finds an utterance, he will point
with his- finger, and shew his companion the month
and the day of my deceafe. . O that folemn, that aw
ful day, which fhall finifh my appointed time on earth,
and put a full period to all the designs of my heart,
:and all the labours of my tongue and pen !
Think, O my foul, that while friends or. strangers
are engaged on that fpot, and reading the date of thy
departure hence, thou wilt be fixed under a decifive
and unchangeable fentence, rejoicing in the rewards of
time well-improved, or suffering the long forrows
which fhall attend the abufe of it, in an unknown
world of happinefs or mifery. Reftetl.

88 The End of "Time. Difc. I.
Reftetl. III. We may learn from this difeourfe, the
ftupid folly andmadnefo of thofe who are terribly afraid
of the end of time whenfoevet they think of it, and yet
they know not what to do with their time as it runs off
daily and hourly. They find their fouls unready for
death, and yet they live from year to year without any
Further preparation for dying : They wafte away their
hours of leifure in meer trifling, they lofe their fea-
fons of grace, their means and opportunities of falva
tion, in a thoughtlefs and fhameful manner, as though
they had no bufinefs to employ them in ; they live as
though they had nothing to do with all their time but
to eat and drink, and be eafy and merry. From the rifing
to the fetting fun, you find them ftill in pursuit of im-
pertinencies ; they wafte God's facred time as well as
their own* either in a lazy, indolent, and carelefs hu
mour, or in following after vanity, fin and madnefs,
while the end of time is haftening upon them,/
What multitudes ' are there of the race~of Adam,
both in higher and lower ranks, who are ever com
plaining they want leifure ; and when they have a re
leafe from bufinefs for one day, or one hour, they hardly
know what to do with that idle day, nor how to lay out
one of the hours of it for any Valuable purpofe?
Thofe in higher ftation and richer circumftances, have
moft of their time at their own command and difpofai ;
but by their aaual difpofai of it, you plainly fee they
know not what it is good for, nor what ufe to make
of it ; they are quite at a lofs how to get rid of this
tedious thing called time, which lies daily as a burden
on their hands. Indeed if their head ake, or their face
grow pale, and a phyfician feel their pulfe, or look
wifhfully *on their countenance ; and, efpecially, if he
fhould fhalce his head, or tell them his fears that they
will not hold out long, what surprize of foul, what a-
gonies and terrors feize them on a fudden for fear of
the end of time? For they are confeious how unfit they
are for eternity ; Yet when the pain vanifhes and they feel

Difc. I. Tl)e End of Time. 89
feel health again, they are as much at a lofs as ever
what to do with the remnant of life.
O the painful and the unhappy ignorance of the fons
and daughters of men, that are fent hither on a trial
for eternity, and yet know not how to pafs away time !
they know not how to wear out life, and get foon
enough to the end of the day : They doze their hours
away, or faunter from place to place, without any defign1
or meaning : They enquire of every one they meet,
what they fhall do to kill time, (as. the French phrafe is,)
becaufe they cannot fpend itfaft enough; they are perpe
tually calling in the affiftance.of others to laugh, or fport,
or trifle with them, and to help them off with this dead
weight of time, while, at fame moment, if you do but
mention the end of time, they are dreadfully afraid of
coming near it. What folly and diftraaion is this ?
What fottifh ineonfiftency is found in the heart and
praaice of finful men, Ecclef. ix. 3. The heart of the
fons of men, is full of evil, madnefs is in their heart while
they live, dnd after that they go down to the dead,
O that thefe loiterers would once confider that time
loiters not; days and hours, months and years, loiter
not ; each of them flies away with fwifteft wing, as
faft as fucceffion admits of, and bears them onward to
the goal of eternity. If they delay and linger among
toys and fhadr.ws, time knows no delay ; and they will
one day learn by bitter experience what fubftantial,
important, and eternal bleflings they have loft by their
criminal and fhameful wafte of time. The Apoftle Peter
- affures them, 2 Pet. ii. 3^ Though they flumber and
fleep in a lethargy of fin, fo that you cannot awaken
them, yet their judgment lingereth not, and their damnation
ftumbereth not. The awful moment is hafting upon
them which fhall teach them terribly the true value of
time : Then they would give all the golden pleafures,
and the riches and the grandeur of this world, to pur-
chafe one fhort day more, or one hour of time, where
in they might repent and return to God," and get with
in the reach af hope and falvation : But time and fal-
M vation

93 The End of Time. Difc. I,
vation and hope arc all vanifhaeT, and fled, and gone
out of their reach for evetv/
Reflecl. IV. Learn from fuch meditations as thefe,
the rich mercy of God, and the grace of our Lord Jefus
Chrift, in giving us fo long a warning, before he (wears
that time mall be np more. Every stroke of ficknefs
is a warning-piece that life is coming to its period s
every death amongft our friends and acquaintance, is
another tender and painful admonition that our death
alfo is at hand : The end of every week and every
dawning Sabbath is another warning ; every fermon
we hear of the Jhortnefs of time, and the uncertainty of
life, is a frefh intimation that the great Angel will fhort
ly pronounce a period upon all our time. How inex
cusable fhall we be if we turn the deaf ear to all thefe
warnings ? St Peter advifes us to count the long-fuffering
of the Lord for falvation. 2 Pet. iii. 15. and to fecure
pur eternal fafety, and our efcape from hel\, during
the feafon of his lengthened grace. •/„ ¦¦'' ¦ ' ;
Alas ! How long has Jefus, and his mercy," and his
gofpel, waited on you, before you began to think of
the things of your everlafting peace ? And if you are
now folerrinly awakened, yet hpw long has he waited
on ypu with frefh admonitions, and with fpecial pro
vidences, with mercies and judgments, with promifes
and invitations of grace, with threatenmgs and words
of terror, and with the whispers and advices pf his pwn.
Spirit, fince you began to fee your danger I Axia\ after
all, have you yet sincerely repented pf fin ? $lave you
yet received the offered grace ? Have you given up
yourfelves to the Lord and laid hold of his falvation ?
2 Cor. vi. a. This is the accepted time, this is the day of
falvation ; To-day if ye will hear hjs voice harden not your
hearts. Heb. iii. 7, 8, &c. It is never faid through all
the Bible, that tormorrow is the day of grace ; or to-mor
row is the time of acceptance : It is the prefent hour on
ly that is offered. Every day and every hour is a
mercy of unknown importance to finful men : It is a
mjsrcy, 0 finners, that you awaked, not this morning in

Difc. I. The End of Time. 9*
in hell*„.and that you were not fixed without remedy
beyond the reach of hope and mefcy.
Reftecl. V. Learn from this difcourfe what a very ufe*
ful pratlite it would be to fet ourfelves often before hand
as at the end of time, to imagine ourfelves juft undef
the found of the voice of this mighty Angel* or at the
tribunal of Ghrijl, and to call our fouls to a folemn ac^
count in What manner we have paftaway all our leifure
time hitherto : I mean, all that time which hath not
been laid out in the neceflitie^of the natural life, for its
fupport and its needful refrefhment, or in the dud and
proper employments of the civil life : Both thefe are
allowed and required by the God of nature and the
God of providence who governs the world : But what
haft thou done O man ; O woman, what haft thou
done with all the hours of leifure which might have
been laid out on far better employments, and to far
nobler purpofes ? Give me leave to enter into particu
lars a little, for generals do but feldom Convince the
mind, or awaken the confcience, or affea the heart.
h Have you not flumbered or fquandered away too
much time without any ufeful purpofe or defign at all ?
How many are there, that when they have morning
hours on their hands, can pafs them off on their beds,
and lofe and forget time in a little more fleep and a little
more flumber ; a few impertinencies with br'eakfaft arid
drefling Wear out the morning without God. And
how marty afternoon and evening hoUrs are worn away
in fuch fauntring idlenefs as 1 have defcribed, that
When the night comes they cannot review one half
hour's ufeful Work, from the dawn of the morning to
the hour of reft. Time is gone and vanifhed, and as
they knew not what to do with it while it was prefent,
fo now it is paft, they know not what they have done
with it : They keep no account of it, and are never
prepared to come to a reckoning j But will the great
y udge of all take this for anfwer to fuch a folemn inquiry ? .
2. Have, you never laid out much more time than
was needful in recreations and pleafures of fenfe ? re
creations

92 The End of Tims. Difc. t
creations are riot unlawful, fo far as they are neceflary
and proper to relieve the fatigue of the fpirits, when
they are tired with bufinefs or labour, and to prepare for
new labours and new bufineffes ; but have we not fol
lowed fports without meafure and without due limita
tion ? Hath not fome of that very time been spent in
them which fhould have been laid out in preparing for
death and eternity, and in feeking things of far high
er importance ?
3. Have you not wafted too much time in your fre*
quent clubs, and what you call good company, and in
places of public refort. , Hath not the tavern, or the
coffee-houfe, or the ale-houfe* feen and known you
from hour to hour for a whole evening, and that fome
times before the trade or labours of the day fhould
have been ended ? And when your Bible and your ckv
fet, or the devotion of your family, have fometimes
called upon your confcience, have you not turn'd the
deaf ear to them all ?
4. Have not ufolefs and impertinent vifits been made
to no good purpofe, or been prolonged beyond alj:ne-
ceffity or improvement ? When your convention runs
low even to the dregs, and both you and your friends
have been at a lofs what to fay next, and knew not
how to fill up the time* yet the vifit muft go on, and
time muft be wafted. Sometimes the wind and the
weather, and twenty infignificancies, or (what is much
worfe) fcandal of perfons or families, have come j-nta
your relief, that there might not be too long a filence ;
but not one v/ord of God or gaodnefs could find room
to enter in and relieve the dull hour, . Is none of this
time ever to be accounted for ? And will it found, well
in the ears of the great Judge, " We ran to thefe for-
" ry topics, thefe flanderous and backbiting ftories,
" becaufe we could not tell what to talk of, and we
" knew not how to fpend our time."
5. Have you not been guilty of frequent and even
perpetual delays or neglecls of your proper neceffary bufi
nefs in the civil life, or in the folemn duties of religion, by

Difc. I. $%e End of Time. 93
by bufybg yourfelves in fome other neeedlefs thing
under this pretence, // is time enough yet ?
Have you learnt that important and eternal rule of
prudence, never delay till to-morrow what may be done
to-ddy ; never put off till the next hour what may be done
in this ? Have' you not often experienced your own
difappointment and folly by thefe delays ? And yet
have you ever fo repented as to learn to mend them ?
Solomon tells us, Ecclef. iii. 1. There is a time for every
purpofe, and every work, under the fun : A proper and
agreeable time for every lawful work of nature and
life 5 and it is the bufinefs and care of a wife man to
do proper work in proper time ; but when We have let
flip the proper feafon, how often have we been titterly
difappointed ? Have we not fuftained great irtconVeni-
encies ? And fometimes it hath fo happened that we
could never do that work or bufinefs at all, becaufe
another proper feafon for it hath never offered ? Time
hath been no more. Felix put off his difcourfe with
Paul about the faith of Chrift^ and righteoufnefs, and
judgment to\ come, to a more convenient time^ which pro
bably never came. Aas xxiv.25. And the word of
God teaches us, that if We negfea our falvation in the
prefent day of grace, the angel .in my text is ready to
fwear, that Time Jhall be no longer.
Here permit me to put in a fhart word to thofe who
have loft mUch tithe already.
O my friends, begin now to do what in you lies tP
regain it, by double diligence in the matters of your
falvation, left the voice of the arch-angel fhould nni-fh
your time of trial, and call you to judgment before
you are prepared. --^zz-
What time lies before you for this double improve
ment God only knows : The remnant of the meafure of
your days are with him, and every evening the number
is diminifhed : Let not the rifirtg fuft upbraid you with
continued negligence. Remember your former abufes
of hours, and months, and years, in folly and fin, or at
beft in vanity and trifling : Let thefe thoughts of your
paft condua ly with fuch an effe&ual weight on your
hearts,

94 The End of Tiuz. Difc. I,
hearts, as to. keep ypu ever vigorous. in prefent duty*
Since you have been fo lazy and loitering in your
Chriftian race in time paft, take larger fteps daily, and
. itretch all the powers of your fouls to haften towards
the crown and the prize. Hearken to the voice of
God in his word, with , ftronger attention and zeal to
profit: Pray tP a.long-fuffe.ring God with double fer
vency ; cry aloud, and give him no reft till your finful
foul is changed into penitence, and renewed to holi
nefs, till you have, fome good evidences of your sincere
love to God*, and unfeigned faith irt his Son Jefus/
Never be fatisfied till you are come tp a well-groundr
ed hope through grace, that God is yoUr friend* your.
reconciled Father ; that when days and months are no
more, you may enter into the regiprt of everlafting
light and peace. .
But I proceed to, the laft gerieral rerhark. Learn
the unfpeakable happinefs of thofe who have improved time
well, and who wait for the end of time with chriftia-h
hope. They are not afraid, or at leaft they need not
be afraid of the fentence, nor the oath- of this mighty1
Angel, when he lifts up. his hand to heaven* and fwears
with a loud voice, There Jhall be time no more ¦:
O blefled. creatures,: who have fo happily improved
the time of life and day of grace^ as to obtain the re
storation j of the image of God* in fome degree, i on
their fouls, and to recover the favour of God througli
the gofpel of Chrift, for which end time was bellowed
upon them : They have reviewed : their, follies with
fhame in the land- of hope ; they have mourned and
repented of fin ere. the feafon of repentance was paft*
and are become new creatures, and their lips and
their lives declare the. divine change. They have made
preparation for death, for which purpofe life arid time
were given^ Happy, fouls indeed, who have fo valued
time as not to let itrun off in trifles, but have obtain
ed treasures more valuable than that, time which is
gone, even the riches of the covenant of grace* and
the hopes of an eternal inheritance in glory. . .,"
Happy

Dife.T. The- End- of Time. ' 95
Happy fuch fouls indeed when time is no more with
them 1 Their happinefs begins when the duration of
their mortal life is finifhed. Let us furvey this their
happinefs in a few particulars.
The time of their darkneffes and difficulties is no
longer : The time of painful ignorance and error is
come to an end : You fhall wander no more in mif-
take and folly : You fhall behold all things in the light
of God, and fee him face to face, who is the original
beauty and the eternal truth. You fhall fee him with
out, vails and fhadows, without the refleairig glafs of his
word and ordinances, which at beft give us but a faint
glimpfe of him, either in his nature or wifdom, his power
or goodnefs. You fhall fee him in himfelf and in his Son
Jefus, the brighteft and faireft image of the Father,and
Jhall.know him as you are known. 1 Cor. xiii. 10, 12.
There is no more time for temptation and danger', when
once you are got beyond the limits of this vifible world,
and all the enticing objeas of flefh and fenfe, there fhall
be no more hazard of your falvation, no more doubting
and diftrefling fears about your intereft in your Father's
love, or in the falvation of his beloved Son.
There is no more time nor place for fin to inhabit
in you : The leafe of its habitation in your mortal bo
dy muft end, when the body itfelf falls into the duft :
you fhall feel no more of its powerful and defiling
operations either in heart or life for ever.
The time of conftitl with your fpiritual adverfaries is
'no longer. There is no more warfare betwixt the flefh
and fpirit, no more combat with the world and the de
vil, who, by a thoufand ways, have attempted to deceive
you, and to bear you off from your heavenly hope.
Your warfare is accomplifhed, your viaory is com-
pleat, you are made overcomers through him that has
loved you. Death is the laft enemy to be overcome ;
the fling of it is already taken away, and you have
now finifhed the conqueft, and are aflured of the
crown. 1 Cor. xv. 56, $j.
The time of your diftance and abfencefrbm God is no
more : The time of coldnefs and indifference, and the
fearful

96 The End of Time. Difc, 1.
fearful danger of backflidings, is no more : You fhall
be made as pillars in the temple of your God, and Jhall
go no more out : He fhall love you like; a God, and
kindle the flames of your love to fo intenfe a degree,
a$. is only known to angels and to the fpirits of the
juft made perfea. '
There is no more time for you to be vexed with
the fociety of finful creatures : Your fpirit within you
fhall be no more ruffled and difquieted with the teizing
converfation of the wicked, nor fhall you be inter
rupted in your holy and heavenly exercifes by any pf
the enemies of God and his grace.
The time of your painful labours and fufferings is no
more. Rev. xiv. 13. Bleffed are the dead that die in the
Lord, for they reft from all their labours that carry toil
or fatigue with them : There Jhall be no more complaints
nor groans, noforrow or crying ; the fprings of grief
are for ever dried up, neither fhall there be any more pain
in the flefh or the fpirit. God fhall wipe away all tears
from your eyes, and death fhall be no more. Rev. xxi. 4.
It is finifhed, faid our bleffed Lord on the crofs : It
is finifhed, may every one of his followers fay at the
hour of death, and at the end of time : My fins and
follies, my diftreffes and my fufferings, are finifhed for
ever, and the mighty Angel fwears to it, that the time
of thefe evils is no longer : They are vanifhed, and fhall
never return. O happy fouls, who have been fo, wife
to count the fhort and. uncertain number of your days
on earth, as to make an early provifion for a removal
to heaven. Bleft are you above all the powers of pre-.
fent thought and language. Days, and months, and
years, and all thefe fhort and painful periods of time,
fhall be fwallowed up in a long and blifsful eternity ;
the ftream of time which has run between the batiks of
this mortal life, and bore you along amidft many dan
gerous rocks of temptation, fear and forrow, fhall
launch you out into the ocean of pleafures which have
no period : Thofe felicities muft be everlafting, for
duration has no limit there, time, with all its measures,
Jhall be no more. Amen. DIS-

( 97 )
DISCOURSE II.
The Watchful Christian dying in Peace.

Occafioned by the deccafe of Mrs Sarah Abney,
Daughter of the late Sir Thomas Abney, Knt. &c.
Preached April 2. 1732.
Dedicated to the Lady Abney, Mother of the deceafed,
and to Mrs Mary and Mrs Elizabeth Abney,
her twofurviv'mg Sifters,
Madam,
IF Sorrows could be diminifhed in proportion to the
multitude of thofe who fhare in them, the spring
of your tears Would have been drawn almoft dry, arid
the tide of grief have funk low, by being divided in
to a thoufand ftreams. But though this cannot afford
perfea relief to your Ladyship, yet it muft be fome
confolation to have been bleffed with - a daughter,
whofe removal from our world could give occafion
for fo general a mourning.
T confefs, Madam, the wound which was made by
fuch a fmarting ftroke is riot to be healed in a day or
two, reafon permits fome rifings of the fofter and
kinder paffions in fuch a feafon ; it fhews at leaft that
our hearts are not marble, and reveals the tender in
gredients that are moulded up in our frame ; nor does
religion permit us to be infenfible when a Godafflias,
though he doth it with the hand of a father and a
friend. Nature and love are full of thefe fenfibilities,
and incline you to mifs her prefence in everyplace
where the was wont to attend you, and where you re
joiced in her as one of your deareft bleflings. She is
• N .taken

98 The DEDICATION.
taken away indeed from mortal fight, and to follow her
remains to the grave, and to dwell there, gives but a
dark and melancholy view, till the great rifing-day.
Faith may ken the diftant profpea, and exult in the
fight of that glorious futurity ; yet I think there is al
fo a nearer relief, Madam, to your forrows. By the
virtues which fhone in her life, you may trace the
afcent of her fpirit to the world of immortality and
joy.. Could your Ladyship keep the eye of your '
foul direaed thither, you would find it an effeaual
balm for- a heart that bleeds at the painful remem
brance of her death. What could your Ladyship
have afked as a higher favour of heaven, than to have
born and trained up a child for that glorious inheri
tance, and to have her fecured of the pofleflion be
yond all poffible fear or danger of lofing it.
This, Madam, is your own divineft hope for your-
felf, and you are haftening: on toward that bleffed foci-
ety as fait as days and hours give; leave. When your
thoughts defcend to this lower world agaia, there are
two* living comforts near yott of the fame kind with
what you have loft : May your Ladyship rejoice in
them yet many years, and they in you ! And when
Jesus, who hath the keys of death: and the invifible
ftate, fhall appoint the hour for your: afcent to hea
ven, may you leave them behind' to blefs' the world
with fair examples of virtue and piety among men,
and, a long train of fervices, for the intereft of their
Redeemer. IF I were to fay arty thing, Young Ladies,, to
you in particular, it fhould be: in the language af
our Saviour and his, beloved. Apoftle, Hold faft what
you have till the Lord comes, that none may- deprive you
cf your crown. Take heed toyourfehuesr that, you lofe not
the things, which you have wrought, but that ye receive, a
full reward. Go on and perfevere as you. have: begun,
in the path of true religion; and happinefs : And in
this age of infidelity and degenerate life,, be ye daily
more

The DEDICATION. 99
more eftablifhed and in the Chriftian faith praaice, in \
oppofition to the smiles and frowns, and every fnare
of a vain delufive world. Let this one thought
fet a double guard upon you, that while your elder
fifter was with you, it was fomething eafier to refift
every temptation, when fhe had pronounced the firft
refufal : Her steadiness was a guard which you have
now loft, but you have an Almighty God in covenant
on your fide, and the grace of our Lord Jefus isfuffici-
entfbr you.
To his care, My Lady, I commend yourfelf, and
your whole family, with affeaionate petitions : And
anu

Madam,
Tour Ladyship's moft obliged
and 'faithful Servant-,
ionden, Jfpril 38. 1732*
I. WATTS.

The

( 100 )
The Watchful Christian dying iii
Peace.

A
FUNERAL SERMON,^.
IT is an awful providence which hath lately removed
from among us a young perfon well known to moft
of you, whofe agreeable temper and condua had gain
ed the efteem of all her acquaintance, whofe constitu
tion of body, together with the furniture of her mind,
and circumftances in the world, concurred to promife
many future years of life and ufefulnefs. But all that
is born of the race of man is frail and mortal, ^and all
that is done by the hand of God is wife and holy. We
mourn, and we submit in filence. Yet the providence
hath a vdice in it, and the friends of the deceafed are
very folicitous that fuch an unexpeaed and inftruaive
appearance of death, might be religioufly improved to
the benefit of the living. For this end I am desired to
entertain you at prefent with fome meditations on thofe
words of our SavioUr, which you read in
Luke xii. 37.
Bleffed are thefe fervants, whom the Lord, when he *
cometh, Jhall find watching.
TTARIOUS and well chofen are thofe parables
Vi whereby our Saviour gave warning to his dif
ciples, that when he was departed from this world
they fhould ever be upon their guard, and always in
a readinefs to receive him at his return i Becaufe he
would come on a fudden, and in fuch an hour as they
thought

Difc. II. The watchful Christian, &c. ioi
thought not, to demand an account of their behaviour*
and to diftribute his reCorripences according to their
works, There are two of thefe parables in this chap
ter : But to enter into a detail of all the particular me
taphors which relate to this one* whenee I have bor
rowed my text, would be too tedious here, and would
fpend too much of the prefent hour. Without any
longer preface therefore, I fhall apply myfelf to im
prove the words to our fpiritual profit in the following
method.
L I fhall inquire what is meant by the coming of Chrift
in the text, arid how it may be properly applied to
our prefent purpofe, or the hour of death.
II. I fhall consider what is implied in the watchfulnefs
which our Saviour recommends.
III. I propofe fome considerations which will dlfeover
the bleffednefs of the watchful foul in a dyirig hour.
IV. I fhall add fome praclical remarks.
Firft, Let us enquire what is meant by the coming
of Chrift in my text.
The coming of Chrift, in fome of thefe parables,
may have reference to his fpeedy appearance " in the
courfe of his providence in that very age, to judge and
punifh the Jewifh nation, to deftroy their city, and put
an end to their church and ftate, for their many heinous
iniquities, and the moft provoking crime of rejeaing
and crucifying the Son of God. But thefe words, in
their supreme and moft important fenfe, always point
to the glorious appearance of Chrift at the laft day, when
he fhall come to fhut up all the fcenes of this frail life,
to put. an end to the prefent world, to finifh all the
works of this mortal ftate, and to decide and deter
mine the eternal ftates of all mankind by the general
judgment. Yet Chrift comes to each of Us in the hour of death
alfo, fothe hath the keys of death and of hell, or of the
invifible

.lot The watchful Christian Difc.lt
invifible world, Rev. \. 18- It is he who appoints the
very moment when the foul fhall be difmifled from
this flefh, he opens the doors of the grave for the dy
ing body ; and he is Lord of the world of fpirits, and
lets in new inhabitants every minute into thofe unfeen
regions of immortal forrow, or immortal peace.
And as Chrift may be faid to come to Us by the mef-
fage or fummons of death, fo the many folemn writings
and commands of watchfulneft, Which attend thefe pa
rables of Chrift, have been ufually, and with good
teafon, applied to the hour of death alfo, for then the
Lord comes tojhut up thefcene of each of our lives, our
works are then finifhed, our laft day is come, and the
world is then at an end with us.
Let it be obferved alfo, that there is a further paral
lel between the day of the general judgment, and that
of our own death : The one will as certainly come as
the other, but the time when Chrift will come in either
of thefe fenfes, is unknown to us and uncertain ; And
it is this, which renders the duty of perpetual watch-
fulnefs fo neceffary to all men. The parable allures
us, that our Lord will certainly come, but whether at
the fecon.d or third watch, whether at midnight, or at
cock-crowing, or near the morning, this is all uncertain
ty ; yet whenfoever he comes, he expeas we fhould
have our loins girded, like fervants fit for bufinefs, and
our lamps burning, to attend him at the door, and that
we be ready to receive him as foon as he knocks.
Were the appointed hour of judgment, or of death,
made known to us for months or years before-hand,
we fhould be ready to think conftant watchfulneft, a ve
ry needlefs thing. Mankind would persuade themfelves
to indulge their foolifh and finful flumbers, and only
take care to rub their eyes a little, and beftir them
felves an hour or two before this awful event : But it
is the fuddennefs and uncertainty of the coming of
Chrift to all mankind, for either of thefe purpofes, that
extends the charge of watchfulnefs to all men as well
as to the Apoftles, Mark xiii. ^y. and that calls upon us

Difc. II. dying in Peace. i 03
us aloud to keep our fouls ever awake, left (as our
Lord there expreffes it,} eomhtg fuddenly he Jhouldfind
usfleeping. And remember thig, that if we are unpre
pared to meet the Lord at death, we cam never be
ready when he comes to judgment : Peace and bleffed-
nefs attend the watchful Chriftian, whenfoever his Lord
cometh. Bleffed is tliatforvant, whom, when his Lord
comes, he fhall find w&tthing. This leads me tp the fe
cond general head.
Secondly, What is implied in watchfulnefs. '
Anfw. In general, it is oppofed tofieeping, as I have
already hinted, in Mark xiii. 35,36. And in the
language of fcripture, as well as in common speech,
fleep <Lftdj?umberi?ig, denote an unpreparednefs' to receive
whatever comes, for this is the cafe with thofe who
are afleep : On the other hand, watchfulnefs is a pre
paration and readinefs for every event, and fo it is ex-
- preffed in feme of thefe parables, ver. 40; Be ye there
fore ready. But to enter into a few particulars.
1. There is afleep of death, Pfal. xiii. 3. Spiritual
death as well as natural, is fometimes cr-lled afleep.
Such is the cafe of a foul dead in trefpaffes and fins,
Eph. v. 14.' compared with<ii. 1. Awake thou thatftcep-
eft and arife from the dead; and Chrift fhall give thee light.
Watchfulnefs therefore implies life, a principle of fpi
ritual life in. the foul : Surely thofe who are dead in
fins ( are not prepared to receive their Lord : He is a
perfea stranger to them, they know him not, they
love him not, they obey him- not ; and a terrible ftran-
ger he will be, if he comes upon them before they, are
awake. But thofe who are awakened by divine grace
, into a fpiritual life, have feen fomething of the glory if
God in the face of Jefus Chrift, they are acquainted with
their Lord, they love hitn, and have fome degree of
preparation to meet their Saviour when he fummons
them to leave this world'. This is therefore a matter
of higheft confequence, that we awake from a ftate of
fin and death; that 'we be made alive to God, begin
the chriftian life, and fet*upon religion in good earneft,
according

104 The watchful Christian Difc. II.
according 'to the rules of the gofpel; before Chrift calls
us away. It is only this divine life begun in us, that
Can fecure us from eternal death ; though even Chrif
tians may be found'flumbering in other refpeas, and
expofe therrifelves to painful evils, if that hour furprize
them at unawares.
2. There is afleep of indolence and thoughtleffhefs :
When a man is infenfible of his own circumftances,
and too carelefs of the things which moft concern him,
we fay, the man is afleep. ;Such a fleep feems to be
upon the church of Ifrael, Ifa. xxix. i o. a fpirit of deep
fleep, when the law which contained the great things
of God, and their falvation, was to them as a foaled
book, they read it not, their eyes were clofed, their
fpiritual fenfes were bound up. Many a Chriftian who
hath been raifed from a death in fin, has been feized
with this criminal flumber, and has had the image of
death come again upon him : He has grown too care.
lefs and unconcerned about his moft important and
eternal affairs ; and in this temper he hardly knows
what his ftate is toward God, nor keeps up a lively
fenfe or notice of divine and eternal things upon his fpirit.
Watchfulnefs in opposition to th\s fleep, implies a holy
folicitude and diligence, to know our own fpiritual
ftate ; a confcioufnefs of what we are ; a keeping all
the fpiritual fenfes in proper exercife, and maintaining
a lively perception of divine things. It implies an acute,
painful fenfe of indwelling'fin, and the irregular pro-
penfities of the heart, a delightful relifh of heavenly
objeas, frequent thoughts of death and eternity, con-
ftant waiting for thofe awful events, with a quick ap-
prehenfiort and refentment of all things, that help or
Isinder the fpiritual life. This is the charaaer of a
wakeful Chriftian, and fuch an qne as is ready to re
ceive his returning Lord,
3. There is afleep offecurity and foolijl) peace, when
a perfon is not apprehenfive of imminent danger, and
is much unguarded againft it. Such was the fleep of
Jonah in the ftorm; of Samfon on the lap of Delilah, when

Difc. Hi dying in Peace. tojf
when the Philiftines were upon him, and of the difciples
when Judas and the band of foldiers Were juft ready
to feize their Mafter. This is the cafe of many a num
bering Chriftian ; he is not upon his guard againft his
inward lufts and paffions, nor againft thofe oUtward
temptations and perils to which he is continually ex-
pofed, while he dwells in flefh and blood.
Watchfulnefs in this refpea is, when a Chriftian hath
his eyes open, and turns them round on every fide to
forefee approaching evil, and prevent it ; when he is
prepared for every affault of every adverfary, whether
fin or the world, whether death or the devil; he hath
his fpiritual armour girt upon him, and is ready for the
combat. He is eVery hour guarded againft the powers of
the flefh, and watching againft its allurements and at-
traaions, left he be defiled thereby, and unfit to meet
his returning Lord : He is daily loofehing his heart
from all fertfual attachments, and weaning himfelf from
the world and creatures, becaufe he knows he muft
quickly take his long farewel, and part with them all,
at the call and appointment of his great Mafter. He
is like1 a centinel upon his watch-tower, ever awake,
becaufe dangers ftand thick around him. ^
4. There is afleep offlbth and indclivity, Prov. xix.
i 5. Slothfulnefs caft into a deep fleep. A little more fleep,
a little more flumber, faith the kzy Chriftian, who turns
upon his bed, as the door upon its hinges, and makes no
progrefs or advance in his way to heaven. We are
fleepy Chriftians when we do little for God, or our
Own fouls, in comparifon of the vaft work, and im
portant varieties of duty that lye upon us : When our
zeal is cold, and our efforts of fervice flight and feeble:
When the light of grace fhines fo dim, and the fpark
of holinefs is fo covered with aflies, that it is hard to
fay, whether it burn or no. As in natural things, fo
in fpiritual, it is a difficult matter fometimes to diftin-
guifh between a dead man, and a lethargick fleeper.
Watchfulnefs in oppofition to this flumber, is a lively
and vigorous exercife of every grace, and a diligent
O attendance

*o6 The watchful Christian Difc. lh
attendance on every duty, both toward God and man,
a conftant converfe with heaven by daily devotion, an
aaive zeal for God in the world, a fteady faith in the
promifes, a joyful hope of heavenly bleffednefs, a long
ing expeaation of the returning Saviour, which makes
the foul ftretch out the wings of defire and joy, as-
though it were going forth to meet him. This is the
meaning of the Apoftle Peter's expreffion, 2 Pet. iii.
12. Looking for, and haftening to the coming of the day
of God. Put all thefe things together now, and they make
up the charaaer of a watchful Chriftian : He is aWake
from the fleep of death, and made fpiritually alive ; he
hath the work of vital religion begun in his heart.
He is awake from the fleep of thoughtleffnefs and in
dolence ; he is folicitous to know his own ftate, and
hath good hope through grace ; he lives in the view
of heavenly things, and keeps his eye open to future
and eternal glories. *
He is awake from the fleep of focurity, he is upon
his guard againft every danger, and ready to receive
every alarm.
He is awake from the fleep oiftothfulnefo, and is ac
tive in the pursuit of the glory of his God, and his own-
eternal' intereft, and ftill prejfing toward the mark to ob
tain the prize. This is the foul that is ready to meet a
returning Saviour, and to receive his Lord when he
comes, either at ths hour of death, or to the general
judgment. Thirdly, Let me propofe fome fpec'ral considerations
which difcover the bleffednefs- of the watchful Chriftian at
the hour of death.
1. Confid. That moment difpoffeffes us of every en
joyment of flefh and blood, and divides us from the
commerce of this vifible world ; but the wakeful Chrif
tian is happy, for he is ready to be thus divided and dif-
peffeffed. Death breaks the band at once between us,
and all the fenfible things round about us, by diffolv-
ing the frame of this body, which had united us- to
the n\ ;

Difc. Ill dying in Peace. 107
them ; and the watchful Saint is content to have that
bond broken, thefe unions diffolvedl His heart and
foul are not torn away, from the dear delights of this
mortal ftate with that pain, anguifh and horror, that
attends the finner when death summons him off' the
ftage, and divides him from his flefhly idols. The
Chriftian hath been untying his heart by degrees from
. the deareft delights of fenfe, and difengaging it from
•all that is not immortal :' With holy pleasure he can
bid farewel to fun, moon, and ftars, and to all things
which their light can fhew him, for he is going to a
world where the Sun of righteoufnefs ever fhines in un
clouded, glory, and difcovers fuch fights, as are infi
nitely fuperior to all that the eyes of flesh can behold ;
he can part with friends and kindred with a compofed
fpirit, for he is going to meet better friends and divin
er kindred, as we fhall fhew immediately ; He can
leave his dying flefn behind him, and commit it to the
duft, in joyful hope of the great rising-day, and he
hath a better mansion at prefent provided for him on
high in his Father's houfe, while he lives far feparate
from all earthly dwellings, 2 Cor. v. 1 . We know that
if this earthly houfe of our tabernacle be difolved, we
have a building of God mt made with hands eternal in the
¦heavens. 2. Confid. The moment of death finishes our ftate of
trial, and fixes us unchangeably in the ftate of fin or
holinefs, in which we are then found ; and bleffed is
the watchful Chriftian, for he is prepared to have his
trial thus ended, and his ftate thus fixed and made un
changeable. As the tree falls, fo it lies, Ecclef. xi. 1 o.
whether to the north, or the fouth. : As the foul parts
from the body, fo it remains, whether fitted for hea
ven or hell. It is therefore a matter of the laft import
ance to be prepared and ready for fuch an eternal fen
tence, and unchangeable determination. Were any
of us to be surprized forrie moment this day, and for
ced to continue all our lives, in that very posture of bo
dy, in which we are then found, fliould we not be
awake,

f 08 The watchful Christian Difc. II;
awake, and keep ourfelves iri the moft natural and
eafy gestures all that day, left we be feized at once,
and fixed in fome distorted, painful, and uneafy fitua-
tion, all our months and years to come ? Or if we
were to be bound down to one fingle thought, or paf-
fion, all the remnant of our life, in which we were
found in any uncertain minute in this hour, fho*uld we
not watch with utmoft care, and guard againft every
unpleafing thought, and every fretful and, vexing paf-
fion, left it fhould be fixed upon us till we die ?
Now this is the cafe at death : The Almighty voice
of God then pronounces, he that is unclean and unholy
muft for ever be unholy and unclean, but he that is righ
teous let him be righteous Jlill, and he that is holy Jhall be
for ever holy. Rev. xxii. 1 1 . I will not precife'ly deter
mine that this is the fenfe of*that text, yet fince the
Apoftle fpeaks there concerning the coming of Chrift,
it may be very applicable to the prefent cafe. Now,
how dreadful foever this thought is to a guilty finfuj
creature, it is no terror to a wakeful Chriftian : He is
ready to have thefe words pronounced from heaven,
for they will eftablifh him in eternal holinefs and eter
nal peace: He hath endeavoured to fecure to himfelf an
intereft in the love of God, through the faith and love
of Jefus, the blefled Mediator, and at death he is fixed
for ever in their love. He hath loved God in time,
and in this vifible » orld, and there is nothing in all
the unfeen worlds, nothing through all the ages of
eternity, fhall ever feparate him from the love of God
in Chrift Jefus. The moment of death hath fixed him
for ever a holy and beloved foul, beyond the power
of creatures to change his temper, or his ftate. This
is the bleffednefs of the watchful Chriftian.
3. Conftd. Death fets us in a more immediate and
fenfible manner in the prefence of God, a glorious and
holy God, God the Judge of all ; and bleffed is the
watchful Chriftian, for he is willing to ftand before this
God, to be brought into his prefence : This is what he
hath

Difc. II. dying in Peace. 1 09
hath longed and prayed for, to be for ever w,ith God.
It is the bleffednefs that he hath fought with inceflant
labours and tears, with holy diligence, and daily de
votion, and blefled is the pure in heart, who hath
watched againft the pollutions of the world,y*or he Jhall
fee God, Matth. v, §.
It is certain, that when the foul departs, from the
body, /'/ returns to God who gave it, Ecclef. xii. 7. And
probably to God as a Judge too, Heb. ix. 27. After
death judgment. There is fome fort of determination
pf the ftate of each fingle perfon at death, before the
great and general judgment-day, becaufe that day is
appointed rather for the puhlic vindication of the equi
ty of God in his diftribution of rewards and punish
ments,, and is particularly put into the hands of our
Lord Jefus : Now, fince the feparate foul retupns to
God who gave it, it is of vaft importance that we be
then prepared to come before him.
Some of us here would be mightily afraid of appear
ing before a prince, or a great and honourable per
fon in an undrefs ; but for our fouls in a naked ftate,
or in a garment of finful pollution, to be furprized by
the great and holy God, to be fet on a fudden in his
prefence, what terror, is contained in this thought !
Now the watchful Chriftian hath this bleffednefs, that he
is waftied from his defilements in the blood of the
Lamb, he is clothed with the robe of righteoufnefs, and
the garments of falvation, Ifa. lxi. 10. He is prepared
to appear before a God of infinite holinefs without
terror, for he is made like him, he bears his image,
he appears as one of his children, and he is not afraid
to fee his Father.
However fome commentators may confine and im-.
poverifh the fenfe of David in the end of. the feven-
teenth Pfalm, yet I am persuaded the Spirit of God in
him defigned to exprefs his faith and joy, either at the
hour of death, or in the morning of the refurreaion,
I Jhall behold thy face in righteoufnefs, I fhall be fatisfied
when I awake with thy likenefs : When the Pfalmift had

no The watchful Christian Difc. II.
had defcribed what were the fatisfaaions of the men
of this world in death, ver. 14. viz. that they had
filled their houfes with children, and leave their fub
ftance or riches to them, he then declares, what was.
his support and hope in his dying hour, As for me,
faith he, I have other views ; I am not afraid, O my
God, to appear before thee in the other world, for
/ fhall foe thy face, not as a criminal, but as a perfon
approved and accepted, and righteous in thy fight : /
fhall awake from this world of dreams and shadows
into thy compleat image and perfea ' holinefs ; or, I
fhall awake from the duft of death, and fhall be fully
fatisfied ; and rejoice to find myfelf made fo like my
God, and to dwell for ever in his prefence,
4. Con/id. It is the Lord Jefus Chrift that lets the foul
out of the body, for he hath the keys of death, and of
the unfeen world, and bleffed is the watchful Chriftian^
who waits for the coming of his Lord, for he can meet
him gladly, when fulfilling this part of his glorious office \
He fhall be introduced by him into the prefence of
God his Father, arid fhall receive moft condefcending
inftances of mercy from Chrift himfelf. See the text,
Luke xii, 36, 37. Be ye y ourfelves like men that wait
for the Lord, that when he cometh and knqcketh, ye may
open to him immediately. Bleffed are thofe fervants,
whom the Lord, when he cometh, fhall find watching :¦
Verily I fay to you, he Jhall gird himfelf, and make them
Jit down to meat, and come forth and ferve them, He
fhall condefcend, as it were, even below the office of
a fteward, he fhall bring out the heavenly provisions
of his Father's houfe, and make them fit down in his
kingdom, and give them divine refreshments after
their labours ; he 'hah feed them as a fhepherd, fhall
lead them to living fountains of waters, and afford them
his prefence for ever.
The watchful Chriftian is bleffed indeed, when he
fhall be abfent from the body, and be at once prefent with
the Lord, 2 Cor. v. 8. The Lord Jefus whom he
hath feen by faith in his gofpel, whofe voice he hath
heard

Difc. II. dying in Peace. 1 1 j
heard in his word, and obeyed it ; Jefus-, wtiPm he
hath touched and tafted in the appointed etnblems of
his fupper on earth, in whom he hath believed through
the word of grace, and whom he hath loVed before
he faw him* fhall now receive him into hie prefence j
and the difciple fhall rejoice for ever to meet his Lord*
with joy unfpeakable and full of glory.
5. Confid. At the hour of death we are fent at Once
into an invifible world ; we fhall find ourfelves in the
midft of holy or of unclean fpirits ; borne away at
once into an unknown region, and into tfye midst of
unknown inhabitants, the nations of the faved* or the
crouds of damned fouls ; and bleffed' is the watchful
Chriftian, for he is ready to enter into the Unfeen regions* :
He knows he fhall not be placed among thofe whofe
company and whofe character he never loved here on
earth ; his foul Jhall not be gathered with finners^ nor
his dwelling be with the workers of iniquity, but with
the faints, the excellent in the earthy in whom was all
his delight. , Every one when difmiffed from the prifon
of this body, muft go as the Apoftles did* when, re-
leafed from the prifon at Jerufalem, muft go to their
own company, A^s iv. 23. Judas the traitor went to
his own place, Aas i. 25. And the watchful Chriftian *
will be difpofed among fpirits of the juft made perfecl,
he will find himfelf in that blefled fociety, at his dif-
miflion from flefh and blood. Read .and fee what a
glorious' fociety it is, tieb. xii. 22, 23. To the innume
rable company of angels, the general affembly and church
of the firft-born, who are written in heaven, to God the
Judge of all, and to the fpirits of juft men made perfecl,
and Jefus the Mediator of the new covenant. The
Apoftle fays, we are come to them already, that is, by
the covenant of grace, as admirriftered Under the go
fpel ; we are brought into a bleffed union with them,
in fpirit, and in temper, even in this life ; we are
members of the fame body, we are United to the fame
head, and made parts of the fame houfhold, though
we are not yet brought home : But at death we are
aftually

til the watchful Christian Difc. IL
dually prefent with them* and dwell and converfe
among them with holy familiarity, as citizens of the
fame heavenly Jerufalem, as parts of the fame faCred
family, and at home, as children of the fame God,
and in their Father's houfe. The watchful Chriftian
is at once carried into the midft of the blefled world
by miniftring angels, the world where Abraham, Ifaac,
and Jacob dwell, and made a fpeedy partaker Of their
bleffednefs, Luke xvi. 22.
6. Confid. Death brings with it a moft amazing and
inconceivable change of all oUr prefent circumftances
and thoughts, our aaions and pursuits, our fenfa-
tions and injpyments ; I mean all thofe that relate
to this life only, fuch as eating, drinking, buying, fel
ling, &e . it diflodges Us from thefe bodies, and thereby
finiffees all thofe affeaions, concerns and troubles, which
belong to the body, and fends Us' into another fort
of World, whofe affairs artd concerns are fuch on
ly* as belong to spirits''* Whether finfu'l or holy : A
moft delightful, or a moft dreadful change ! A world
of uriknown forrows, or unknown happinefs ! Luke
xxiii. 43, This day jhalt thou be with me in paradife u
Luke xvi. 22. The rich man died$ and in hell he lift' up
his eyes. And indeed the change is fo vaft, that, com
paratively fpeaking, we know not what forrow, or hap
pinefs is, till this day comes. Now it is a very fooiifh
and dangerous thing at beft, to pafs into fuch an ex
treme change of ftates, infinitely worfe, or infinitely
better, while we are afleep and at all Uncertainties :
What if it fhould be the miferable ftate, and We fhould
awake in hell ? But the watchful Chriftian is bleffed*,
for he is ready for this amazing change. He hath long
lived upon it by faith and hope, though he knows not
fo well what the particular injoyments of heaven are ;
and he is well fatisfied that he is prepared for that
happy world by God himfelf. 2 Cor. v. 5. He thai
hath wrought us for the fe/f-fame thing is God .- He is
well pleafed to have his faith changed into fight, and
his hope into fruition : He hath been long pained and
burdened

Difc. IL dying in Peace \ llj
burdened in this finful world* with the vain trifles, the
poor low cares and amufements of it; the fins and
forrows and temptations that surround him in it, give
him continual difquietudes, and he hath been training
up in the fchool of Qhrift, by devotion and good works
for thofe higher fervices of heaven. Since he can
truft the promifes of the gofpel, and has had fome
fmall foretafte of thefe pleafures, he knows that the
aaioris and employments, the bufineffes. and joys of
the upper World, are incomparably fuperior to any
thing here on earth, and free from all the uneafy and
defiling circumftances of this life. He is awake to
receive this change : He rejoices in his removal from
world to world : His vital and aaive poWers are, ready
for the bUfinefs of paradife, and he opens his heart to
take in the joy.
7. Confid. Death makes its approaches oftentimes,
and feizes us in filch a manner as to give no room for
prayers or repentance, then the bleffednefs of the watch
ful foul appears, that if he is (arried out of the world
and time in fuch dfurprizing way,, he is fafifor eternity.
Sometimes the meflenger of death flops all our
thoughts and aaions at once by a lethargick ftroke,
or confounds them all, by the delirious rovings of a
fever ; the light of reafon is eclipfed and darkened^
the powers of the mind are all obftruaed, or the lan-
guifhings of nature have fo enfeebled them, that either
we cannot exercife them td any spiritual purpofes, or
We are forbid to do it, for fear of counter-working
the phyfieian, increasing the malady, and haftening
our death. Thus we are not capable of making any
new preparation, for the important work of dying ;
we can make ufe of none of the means of grace, nor
do any thing more to fecure an intereft in the love
of God, the falvation of Christ, and the bleflings of
heaven. This is. a very difmal thought Indeed. But the
"watchful Chriftian hath this bleffednefs, that he is fit
to receive the fentence of death in any form ; nor le-
P thargies,

ii4 The watchful Christian Difc. IL
thargies, nor deliriums, nor languors of nature, can de
stroy the feed of grace and religion in the heart, which
were fown there in the days of health ; nor can any of
the formidable attendants of death, cancel his former
tranfaaions with God and Chrift, about his immortal
concerns. That great and momentous work was done
before death appeared, or any of its attendants. He
was not fo unwife, as to leave matters of infinite im
portance at that dreadful hazard : He is not now to
begin to feek after a loft God, nor to begin his repen
tance for paft fins : He is not now a ftranger at the
throne of grace, nor beginning to learn to pray : He
is not now commencing his acquaintance with Jefus
Chrift his Saviour, in the midft of a tumult and hurry
of thoughts and fears, nor are the works of faith, and
love, and holinefs, to be now begun. Dreadful work
indeed, and infinitely hazardous ! To begin to be con
vinced of fin on the borders of death, and to make
our firft eriquiries after God and heaven, upon the
very brink of hell 1 To begin to afk for pardon, when
we can live in fin no longer ; to cry out, Jefus, fave
me, when the waves of the wrath of God, are breaking
in upon the drowning foul ! Hopelefs condition and
extreme wretchednefs I To have all the hard work of
converfion to go through, under the finkings of feeble
nature, and to begin the exercifes of virtue and godli-
nefs, under the wild diforders of reafon ! What a mad
nefs is it, to leave our infinite concerns at fuch a hor
rible uncertainty !
But thefe are not thy circumftances, oh wakeful
Chriftian : Nor was this the cafe of our young de
parted friend, though her diftemper foon difcompofed
her reafoning powers, and gave.- her very little oppor
tunity to make a prefent preparation for dying. But
fhe had heard the voice of Chrift in his gofpel betimes.,
and awoke to righteoufnefs at his call, that fhe might
be always ready for his fummons in death. Religion
was her early care, a fear to offend God, poffeffed and'
governed her thoughts and aaions from her child
hood,

Difc. II. dying in Peace. 115
hood, and heavenly things were her youthful choice.
She had appeared for fome years, in the publicprofel-
fion of Chriftianity, and maintained the practice of
gbdlinefs in the church, and the world ; but it began
much more early in fecret. Her beloved clofet, and
her retiring hours, were filent witneffes of her daily
converfe with God, and her Saviour : There fhe de
voted her foul to her Creator betimes, according to the
incouragements and rules of the gofpel of Chrift, and
there fhe found peace and falvation. It was there fhe
made a confcientious recolfeaion of the fermons fhe.
heard in public, from her tender years, and left be
hind her thefe fruits of her memory, and her pen
to atteft, what improvements fhe gained in know
ledge, by the miniftrations of the word ; and her ca
binet has now difcovered to us, another. fet of me
moirs, wherein fhe continually obferved what advan
ces fhe might make in real piety by thofe weekly fea-
fons of grace.
It was under thefe influences fhe maintained a moft
dutiful and affeaionate behaviour to her honoured pa
rents, and with filial fondnefs mingled, with efteem*
fubmiffion and reverence paid her coriftant regards to
the lady her mother, in her widow'd eftate. It was
by the united principles of grace and nature, fhe lived
with her younger filters in uncommon harmony and'
friendship, as though one heart and foul animated
them all. It was under thefe influences, fhe ever
flood upon her guard, amongft all the innocent free
doms of life, and though fhe did not immure herfelf,
in the walls of a mother's houfe, but indulged a juft
curiofity to learn fome of the forms of the world, the
magnificence of courts, and the grandeurs of life, yet
fhe knew how far to appear among them, and when
to retire. Nor did lire forbid herfelf all the polite di-
verfions of youth, agreeable to her rank ; nor did
reafon or religion, or her superior relatives forbid her \
yet fhe was ftill awake to fecure all that belongs to ho
nour and virtue, nor did Use ufe to venture to the ut-
mofr

•>

n6 • The watchful Christian Difc, II.
moft bounds, of what fobrtety and religion might aU
low. Danger of guilt stands near the extreme limits.
of innocence.
Shall I let this paper inform the world, with what
friendly decency, fhe treated her young companions
and acquaintance, how far from indulging the inodiih
liberties of fcandal on the abfent, how much fhe hated
thofe fcornful and derifive airs, which perfons on high
er ground, too often affume toward thofe who' are
feated in the inferior ranks of life ? Is it proper I
fhould fay, how much her behaviour won upon the
efteem of all that knew her, though I could appeal
to the general forrow at her' death, to confirm the
truth of it ? But who can forbear on this occasion, to
take notice, how far fhe acquired that lovely charaaer
in her narrow and private sphere, which feems almoft
to have been derived to her by inheritance, from her
honoured father, deceafed, who had the tears of hig
country long dropping upon his tomb, artd whofe
memory yet lives in a thoufand hearts?
Such a converfation, and fuch a charaaer, made
up of piety and virtue, were prepared for the attacks of
a fever, with malignant and mortal fymptoms. Slow
and unfufpeaed were the advances of the difeafe, till
trte powers of reafon began to faulter and retire, till the
heralds of death had made their appearance, and fpread
op her bofom, their purple enfigns. When thefe dis
orders began, her lucid intervals were longer, and
while fhe thought no perfon was near, ftfocould ad-
drefs herfelf to God, and fay, how often fhe had given
herfelf tp him ; fhe hpped Are had done it sincerely,
and found acceptance with h'im, and trufted that fhe
was not deceived. The gleams of reafon that broke in
between the clouds, gave her light enough to difcern
her own evidences of piety, and refrefh her hope.
Then fhe repeated fome of the laft verfes of the 139th
Pfalm in metre, viz.

Lord, foarch my foul, try every thought :
Tho' my own heart dccufo me not,

Of

Difc. II. dying in Peace. . ijjr
Of walking in a f alfo difguifo,
I beg the trial of thine eyes.
Doth fecret mif chief lurk within ?
Do I indulge fome unknown fin !
0 turn my feet whene'er Iftray,
And lead me in thy perfecl^ -way.
She was frequent and importunate in her requefts for
the Pfalm-book, that fhe might read that Pfalm, or at
leaft have it read to her throughout ; and it was with
fome difficulty, we perfuaded her to be compofed in
filence ; thus fincerely willing was fhe, that God might
fearch and try her heart, ftill hoping well concerning
her fpiritual ftate, yet ftill folicitous about the affurance
of her own fincerity, in her former tranfaaions with
heaven. ^
The next day among the roving of her thoughts,
fhe rehearfed all thofe verfes of the 17th Pfalm, which
are paraphrafed in the fame book, with very little fal
tering in a line or two :
Lord I am thine ; but thou wilt prove
My faith, my patience, and my love, &c.
The traces of her thoughts under this confufion of ani
mal nature, retained fomething in them divine and
heavenly. O bleffed situation of foul, when we Hand prepared
for death, though it come with the formidable retinue
of a difordered brain, and clouded reafon ! It would be
too long at prefent to reprefent to you the fad confo-
quences of being found afleep when Chrift comes to call us
away from this world, I fhall therefore only make thefe
three refteclions.
Reflect. 1 . None can begin too early to axuake to righ
teoufnefs, and prepare for the call of Chrift, fince no one
is too young to be fent for by his meffenger of death. I do
not here fpeak of the ftate of infancy, when perfons
can hardly be faid to be in a perfonal ftate of trial :
But when I fay, none can awake too early tp mind the
things of religion, I mean, after reafon begins its proper
exercife,

n8 The moaichful Christian Difc. II.
exercife, and this appears fometimes in early childhood.
All our life in this world, compared with heaven, is a
fort of night and feafon of darknefs ; and if our Lord
fummon us away in the firft watch of the night, in the
midft of youth and vigour, and the pleafing allure
ments of flefh and fenfe, we are in a deplorable ftate if
we are found fleeping, and hurried away from earth,
into the invifible world, in the midft of our foolifh
dreams of golden vanity. Dreadful indeed, to have a
young thoughtlefs creature carried off the ftage,
fleeping and dead in trefpaffes and fins ! Let thofe that
are drunk with wine fall afleep upon the top of a maft
in the middle of the fea, where the winds and the
waves are toffing and roaring all around them ; let
a mad-man who has loft his reafon, lie down to fleep
upon the edge of a precipice, where a pit of fire and
brimftone is burning beneath him, and ready to re
ceive his fall ; but let not young finners, whofe ration
al powers are in exercife, and whofe life is every mo
ment a mere uncertainty, venture to go on in their
dangerous flumbers, while the wrath of a God and
eternal mifery attend them, if they die before they are
awake. It is granted that no power beneath that which is
divine, can effeaually quicken a dead foul, and awaken
it into a divine life. It is the work of God to quicken
the dead, Rom. iv. 17. Eph. ii. 5. It is the Sort of
God who is the light and life of the world, John i. 4.
To whom the Father hath given this quickening power,
John vi- 26. He calls finners to awaken them from
their deadly fleep, Eph. v. 14. And they live by him,
as he lives by the Father, John vi. 57. He awakens
dead fouls to life, by the fame living fpirit, vihichjhall
quicken their mortal bodies, and raife them from the
grave, Rom. viii. 9, 11, 13. 2 Cor. iii. 3. which fpirit
he hath received from the Father, John iii. 34. And
on this account we are to feek the vital influences of
this grace from heaven, by conftant and importunate
prayer. Yet in my text, as well as in other Scriptures,, awaking

Difc. II. dying in Peace* Up
awaking out of fleep, and watching unto righteoufnefs, is
reprefented as our duty, and we are to exert all our
natural powers with holy fervency* for this end, while
our daily petitions draw down from heaven the promi-
fed aid of grace. Our diligence in duty, and our depen-
dance on the divine power and mercy, are happily and
effeaually joined in the command of our Saviour, on
this very occafion, in one of his parables, Mark xiii.
33. Watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is
that the Lord will come. And again, Chap. xiv. 38.
Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. Trufl
not in your own ftrength and fufficiency for the glo
rious change to be wrought in your finful hearts, and
yet negfea not your own labours and reftlefs endea
vours under a pretence, , that it is God's work, and
not yours. Awake thou thatfteepeft, and arife from the
dead, and Chrift fhall give thee light.
Nor fhould frail dying creatures in their youngeft
years, delay this work, one day, nor one hour, fince
the confequences of being found afleep when Chrift
calls, are terrible indeed. We are befet with mortali
ty all around us ; the feeds of difeafe and diffolution
are working within us from our very birth and cradle,
ever fince fin entered into our natures; and we fhould
ever be in a readinefs to remove hence, fince we are
never fecure from the fummons of heaven, the ftroke
of death, tand the demands of the grave.
There was a lovely boy, the fon of the Shunamite,
who was given to his mother in a miraculous way, and
when he was in the field among the reapers, he cried
out, my head, my head ; he was carried home imme
diately, and in a few hours died in his mother's bo-
fom, a Kings iv. 18. Who would have imagined that
head-ach fhould have beendeath, and thatin fo fhort
a time too ? This is almoft the cafe which we lament
at prefent ; the head-ach was fent but a few days be
fore, nor was the pain very intenfe, nor the appearance
dangerous, yet it became the fatal, though unexpeaed
fore-runner of death. ¦ This

i'20 The watchful CHRistiAN Difc. If.-
This providence is an awful warning-piece to all her
young acquaintance, to be ready for a fudden remo
val ; for fhe was of a healthy, make, and feemed to
ftand at as great diftance from the gates df death as
any of you : But the firmeft conftitution of human na
ture is born with death in it. From every age, and
every fpot of ground, and every moment of tiraej
there are fhort and fudden ways of defcent to the
grave. Trap-doors (if I may ufe fo low a metaphor)
are always under us, and a thoufand unfeert avenues
to the regions of the dead. A malignant fever strikes
the ftrongeft nature with a rnortal blast, at the com--
mand of the great Author and Difpofer of life. My
voungeft hearers rriay be called away from the earth,
by the next pain that feizes them. Nothing but re
ligion, early religion, and sincere godlinefs, can give
you hope in youthful death, or leave a fragrant favour1
On your name or memory arfrong thofe that furvive.
*"Refletl. 2. If fuch bleffednefs as- I have defcribed,'
belong to every watchful. Chriftian at the hour of death,
then it may not be improper here to take notice of
fome peculiar advantages which attend thofe who fhake
off the deadly fleep of fin in their younger years, and are
awake early to God and religion.
(i.) They have much fewer firrs id iriourri over on
a death-bed, and they prevent rriuch bitter repentance
for youthful iniquities. Holy Job was a man of diftin-
guifhed piety, and God himfelf pronounces of him,
that there was none like him in all the earth, . Job i.- 28.
But, it is a queftion whether his moft early days were
devoted to God, and whether he was fo watchful over
his behaviour, in that dangerous feafon of life, for he
makes a heavy complaint in his addreffes to God, Job
Xiii. 26. Thou wrileft bitter things againft me, and makeft
nie to poffefs the iniquities of my youth; The fooner we
begin to be awake to holinefs, the more of thefe fol
lies and forrows ate prevented: Happy' thofe who
have the feweft of them, to imbitter their following
lives, or make a death-bed painful ! (2.) Young

Difc. It* dying in Peace. %n
(2.) Young perfons have fewer attachments to the
world, and the perfons and things of it, which are
round about them, and! are more ready to part with
it when their fouls are united to God by an early faith
and love. They have not yet entered into fo nume
rous engagements of life, nor dwelt long enough here
to have their hearts grown fo faft on to creatures,
which ufually makes the parting ftroke fo full of an
guifh and fmarting forrpw. A child can much, more
eafily afcend to heaven, and leave a parent behind,
Without that tender and painful folicitude, which a dy
ing parent has for the welfare of a surviving child.
The surrender of all mortal interefts at the call of God,
is much more eafy when our fouls are not tied to them
by fo many firings, nor united by fo many of the foft-
er endearments of nature, and where grace has taught
us to praaife an early weaning from all temporal com
forts, and a little loofened our hearts from them, by
the faith of things eternal.
(j.) Thofe that have been awake betimes to godli-
nefs^give peculiar honours to the gofpel at death, and
leave this testimony to the divine religion of Jefus,
that it was able to fubdue paflion and appetite in thaf
feafon of life, when they are ufually ftrongeft and moft
Unruly. They give peculiar credit and glory to the
Chriftian name' and the gpfpe' , which has gained them
fo many viaories over the enemies of their falvation,
at that age wherein multitudes are the captives of fin,
and flaves to folly and yanky.
(4.) Thofe Chriftians who are awake to God in
their early years, leave more happy and powerful ex
amples of living and dying, to their young companions
and acquaintance. It is the temper of every age of
life, to be more influenced and affeaed by the prac
tice of perfons of the fame years.' Sin has fewer ex-
eufes to make, in order to fhield itfelf from the reproof
of fuch examples, who have renounced it betimes ;
and virtue carries with it a more effeaual motive to
persuade young finners to pietv and goodnefs, when
0. 5t

122 The watchful Christian Difc. IL
it can point to its votaries of the fame age, and in the
fame circumftances of life. " Why may not this be
*' praaifed by you, as well as by your Companions
*' round about you, of the fame age ?" But I muft
¦haften to the laft refkaion.
Reftetl. 3. When we mourn the death of friends who
were prepared for an early fummons,. let their prepara
tion be our fupport. Bleffed be God they were not
found fleeping ! While we drop our tears upon the
grave of any young Chriftian who was awake arid alive
to God, that bleffednefs which Chrift himfelf pronoun
ces upon them, is a fweet cordial to mingle with our
bitter forrows, and will greatly aflift to dry up the
spring of ttfem. The idea of their piety, and their
approbation in the fight of God, is a balm to Ileal the
wound, and give prefent eafe to the heart -ach.
We are ready to run over their virtues, and fpread
abroad their amiable qualities in our thoughts, and
then, with feeming. reafon, we give a loofe to the
mournful paflion ; whereas all thefe, when fet in a
true light, are real Ingredients towards our relief.
We lament the lofs of our departed friend, when*
we review that capacious and uncommon power of
memory, which, the God of nature had given her, and
which was fo well furnifhed with a variety Of humane
and divine knowledge, and was ftored with a rich
treasure of the word of God, fo that if providence had
called her into a more public appearance, flie might
have flood up in the World as a burning and fhining
light, fo far as her fex and nation required. This
furniture of the mind feems indeed to be-Ioft in death,
and burled in the grave; but we give in too much'tP
the judgment of fenfe ; did not this extenfive know
ledge lay a foundation for her early piety ? And did it
not, by this means, prepare her for a more fpeedy re
moval to a higher fcho6l,of improvement, and a world
of fublimer devotion ? And does fhe not fhine there
among the better and brighter company ?
We

Difc. II. dying in Peace, 123
We mourn again for our lofs of a perfon fo valuable,
When we think of that general calmnefs and fedat.enefs
of foul, which fhe poffeffed in a peculiar degree, fo
that fhe was not greatly elevated or depreffed, by com
mon accidents or occurrences ; but this fecured her
from the rife of unruly paffions, thofe flormy powers
of nature, which fometimes fink us into guilt and di-
ftrefs, and make us unwilling arid afraid of the fud
den fummons of Chrift, left he fhould find us under
thefe diforders.
We think of her firmnefs of fpirit, . and that fleady
refolution, which, joined with a natural referve, was
a happy guard againft many of the forward follies and
dangers of youth, and proved a fuccefsful defence a-
gainfl fome of the allurements arid temptations of the
gayer years of life : And then we mourn afrefh that a
perfon fo well formed for growing prudence and vir
tue, fhould be fo fuddenly fnatched away from amongft
us. But this fleady and difpafiionate frame of foul,
well improved by religion and divine grace, became
an effeaual means to preferve her youth more unble-
mifhed, and made her fpirit fitter for the heavenly
world, where nothing can enter that is defiled, and
whofe delights are not tumultuous as ours are on
earth ; but all is a calm and rational ftate of joy.
We lament yet further when we think of her native
goodnefs and unwillingnefs to difpleafe : But goodnefs
is the very temper of that region to which fhe is gone,
and fhe is the fitter companion for the inhabitants of a
world of love.
We lament that fuch a pattern of early piety fhould
be taken from the earth, when there are fo few prac-
tifers of it, efpecially among the youth of our degene
rate age, and in plentiful circumftances of life. But
it is a matter of high thankfulnefs to God, who en
dowed her with thofe valuable qualities, and trained
her up fo foon for a world fo much better than ours
is. Let our forrow for the deceafed, be changed into
devout praifes to divine grace. Let us imitate the
holy

124 The watchful Christian, &c. Difc. II.
holy language of St Paul to the Theffalonians, and fay,
we are comforted even at her grave, in all our affHtlion
and diftrefs, by the remembrance of her faith and piety,
What fufficient thanks can we render unto God, upon her
account, for all the joy wherewith we rejoice for her fake
before our God, night and day, praying exceedingly that
we may foe her face in the ftate of perfeaion ? And
may God himfelf, even our Father, and our Lord Jefus
Chrift, direcl our way,, to the happy world, where flic
dwells,, i Theff. iii. 7, &c. The imitation of what was
excellent in her life, and watchful readinefs to follow
her in death, are the beft honours we can pay her me
mory, and the wifeft improvement of the prefent pro
vidence. May the fpirit of grace teach us thefe ief-
fons, and make us all learn them with power* that
when our Lord Jefus fhall Come to call us hence by
death, or fhall appear with all his faints, in the great
rifing-day, we may be found among his wakeful for-'
Vants, and partake qf the promifed bleffednefs ! Amen*

DI8.

( "S )
DISCOURSE III.
Surprize in DEATH.

Mark xiii. 36.
Watch ye therefore, left coming fuddenly, he find you fleeping.
AMONG the parables of our Saviour, there are
feveral recorded by the Evailgelifts, which re-
prefent him as a Prince, or Lord and Mafter of a fa
mily, departing for a feafon from his fervants, and in
his abfertce, appointing them their proper work, with
a folemn charge to wait for his return ; at which time
he foretold them, that he fhould require an account of
their behaviour in his abfence, and he either intimates
orsexpreffes a fevere treatment of thofe, who fhould
neglea their duty while he was gone, or make no pre
paration for his appearance. He informs them alfo that
he fhould come upon them on a fudden* and for this
reafon charges them to be always awake and upon their
guards ver, 35. Watch ye therefore, for ye know not
when the Mafter of the houfe cometh, whether at even,
Or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning.
Though the ultimate defign of thefe parables, and
the coming of Chrift mentioned therein, refer to the
great day of judgment, when he fhall returji from hea-
veri, fhall raife the dead, and call mankind to appear^
before his judgment-feat, to receive a recompence ac
cording to their works ; yet both the duties arid the
warnings, which are reprefented in thefe parables* feem
to be Very accommodable to the hour of our death ;
for .then our Lord JefuS, who has the .keys of death and
the grave, and the unfeen world, comes to finifh our
ftate of trial, and to put a period to all our works on
earth; He comes then to call us into the invifible ftate; he

126 Surprize in Death. Difc III.
he difpofcs our bodies to the duft, and our fouls are
fent into other manfions, and tafte fome degrees of ap
pointed happinefs or mifery, according to their beha
viour here*. The folemn and awful warning which my
text gives us concerning the return of Chrift to judg
ment, may be therefore pertinently applied to the fea
fon when he fhall fend his meffenger of death, to fetch
us hence : Watch ye therefore, left coming fuddenly, he
find you fleeping.
When I had occafion to treat on a fubjea near akin
to this,. * I fhewed that there was a diftinaion to be
made, between the dead fleep of afinner, and. flumber
of an unwatchful Chriftian. Thofe who never had the
work of religion begun in their hearts or lives, are
fleeping the fleep of death ; whereas fome who are
made alive by the grace of Chrift yet may indulge fin-
ful drowfinefs, and grow carelefs and fecure, flothful
and unaaive. The wife virgins as well as thefoolijh,
were flumbering and fleeping, Matt. xxv. 5. The mif-
chiefs and forrows which attend each of thefe, when
Chrift fhall fummon them to judgment, or fhall call
them away from earth, by natural death, are great and
formidable, though they are not equally dangerous :
Let us consider each of them in fucceffion, in order
to roufe dead finners from their lethargy, and to keep
drowzy Chriftians awake.
Firft, Let us furvey the fad confequences which at
tend thofe that are qfteep in fin and fpiritually dead,
when the hour of natural death approaches : They are
fuch as thefe,
I. If they happen to be awakened on the borders of the
grave, into what a horrible confufion and diftrefs of foul
are they plunged ? What keen anguifh of confcience
for their paft iniquities feizes upon them? What bitter
remorfe and felf-reproaches, for the feafons of grace
which they have wafted, for the propofals of mercy, which
, * In a funeral Sermon for Mrs Sarah Abney, on Luke xii. 37.
Bleffed are thofe fervants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, fhall
find watching.

Difc. III. Surprize in Death. 127
which they have abufed and rejeaed, and for the di
vine falvation which feems now to be loft for eVer, and
put almoft beyond the reach of poflibility and hope.
They feel the mefTenger of death, laying his cold hands
upon them* and they fhudder and tremble, with th«
expeaation of approaching mifery. They look up to
heaven and they fee a God of holinefs there, as a con-
fuming fire ready to devour them, as ftubble fit for the
flame : They look to the Son of God, who has the
keys of death in his hand, and who calls them away
from the land of the living, even to Jefus the compaf-
fionate Mediator, but they can fcarce persuade them
felves to expea any thing from him, becaufe they have
turned a deaf ear fo long to the invitations of his gof
pel, and fo long affronted his divine compaffion. They
look behind them, and with painful agonies are fright
ed at the mountains of their former guilt, ready to
overwhelm them : They look forward, and fee the pit
of hell opening upon them, with all its torments';
long darknefs without a glimpfe of light, and eternal
despair with no glimmerings of hope.
Or if now and then amidft their horrors, they would
try to form fome faint hope of mercy, how are their
fpirits perplexed with prevailing and diftraaing fears,
with keen and cutting reffeaions ? " Oh that I had
" improved my former feafons for reading, for praying,
" for meditating on divine things ! But I cannot read,
'* I can hardly meditate, and fcarce know how to pray.
" Will the ear of God ever hearken to the cries and
*' grOans of a rebel that has fo long refilled his grace?
" Are there any pardons to be had for a criminal,
" who never left his fins till vengeance was in view ?
" Will the blood of Chrift ever be appfied to wafh a
" foul, that has wallowed in his defilements, till death
" rouzed him out of them ? Will the meaneft favour
" of heaven, be indulged to a wretch who has grown
" bold in fin, in oppofition to fo loud and repeated
** warnings ? I am awake indeed, but I can fee nothing
" round me but diftrefles and difcouragements, and
" my

128 Surprize in Death. Difc lit
t( ray foul finks within me, and my heart dies at the
" thoughts of appearing before God."
It is. a wife, and : juft obfervation among Chriftians^
though it is a very common one, that the Scriptures
give us one inftance of a penitent faved in his dying
hour, and that is the thief upon the crofs, that fo none
might utterly defpair ; but there is but one fuch inftance
given, that none might presume. The work of repen- /
tance is too difficult, and too important a thing, to be
left to the languors of a dying bed, and the tumults
and fiutterings of thought, which attend fuch a late
conviaion. There can be hardly any efie&ual proofs
given of the fincgrity of fuch repentings : And I am
verily persuaded there are few of them fincere ; for
we have. often found thefe violent emotions of confci
ence vapifh again, if the finner has happened to. reco
ver his health : They feem to -be merely the wild per*
plexities and ftruggles of nature, averfe to mifery, xz*
ther than averfe to fin : Their renouncing their for.-
mer lufts,. on the very borders of hell and deftruaion,
is more like the vehement and irregular efforts of a
drowning creature, conftrained to let go a moft belov
ed objea, and taking eager hold of any plank for fafee
ty, rather than the calm and reafonable, and volun
tary defigns of a mariner, who forefakes -his earthly
joys, ventures himfelf in a fhip that is offered Urn,
and fets fail for the heavenly country. I never w'M
pronounce fuch efforts and endeavours defperate, left
I limit the grace .of God which is unbounded ; but- $
can give very little encouragement for hope to an hour
or two, of this vehement and tumultuous penitence,
on the very brink of damnation.. Judas repented,
but his agonies of foul hurried him to haften his own
death, that he might go to his own place : And there iB a-
bundance of fuch kind of repenting, in every corner of
hell ; that is a deep and dreadful pit, whence there is
no redemption, though there are millions of fuch forts
of penitents ; it is a ftrong and dark prifon, where no
beam of comfort ever ibines, where bitter anguifh and
mourning

Difc lit* SUrprke in Death. i£><j
mourning for fins paft, is no evangelical repentance*
but everlafting and hopelefs forroW.
IL Thofe that are found fleeping at the hour of death,
are carried away at once, from all their fonfual purfuits
and injoyments, which were their chofen portion, and their
higheft happinefs. At once they lofe all their golden
dreams* and their chief good is, as it were fnatched away
from them at once and for ever. They ftand bnfllip-
pery places, they are brought to deftrutlion in a moment,
and all their former joys are like a dream when one
awaketbj and finds himfelf bcfet round with terrors.
Are there any of you that are pleafing yourfelves
here in the days of youth and vanity, ahd indulge
your dreams of pleafure, in the fleep of fpiritual
death, think of the approaching moment, when the
death of nature fhall diffolve your fleep, and featter
all the delufive images of finful joy. This reparation
from the body of flefh, is a fearful fhock given to the
foul, that makes it awake indeed. Sermons would
hot do it j the voice of the preacher was not loud
enough ; ftrokes of affhaion, and fmarting provi
dences would not do it ; perhaps the foul might be
rouzed a little, but dropt into profound fleep again :
fudden or surprizing deaths near them, and even the
pains of nature in their own flefh, their own fickneffes
and difeafes* did not awaken them* nor the voice of
the Lord in them all : But the parting-stroke that di
vides the foul and body, will terribly awaken the foul
from the vain delufion, and all its faricied delights for
ever vartifh.
When they are vifited by the Lord ofhofts with -this
thunder and earthquake,- as the Prophet ffdiah fpeaks*
when this ftorm and tempeft of death, fhall fhake the
dinner out of his airy vifions, he fhall be as an hungry
man that dreameth he was eating, but awakes and his foul
is empty ; or as a thirfty creature dreaming that he drinks,
but he awaketh and behold he is faint, and his foul is
pained with raging appetite : The finrter finds to his
own torment, how wretchedly he has deceived himfelf
R ' and

130 Surprize in D^ath. Difc. III.
and fed upon vanity : There are no more earthly ob*
jeas to pleafe his fenfes, and to gratify his inclinations:;
but the foul for ever lives upon a rack of carnal de
fire, and no proper objea to fatisfy it. His tafte is
not fuited to the pleafures of a world of fpirits, he
can find no God there to comfort him : God with his
offers of grace are gone. for ever, and the world with
its joys are for ever vanifhed, while the wretched and
malicious creatures* into whofe company he is hurried,
and who were the tempters or affociates of his crimes,
fhall ftand round him to become his tormentors. .
III. Though death will awaken finful fouls into afharp-
er and more .lively fenfe of divine and heavenly things
than ever they had in this world, yet they fhall , never he
• awakened to fpiritual life and holinefs: And.: I think I
may add, that though they fhould be awakened to a
fight of God, and his juftice, and his grace, to a fight
of heaven and hell, more immediate and perfpicuous
than what even the faints themfelves ufually injoy in
this life, yet they would remain ftill under the bon
dage of their lufts, ftill dead in trefpaffes and fins*
They fhall for ever continue unbeloved of God, and
uncapable of all the Tlappinefs of the heavenly ftate,
becaufe they are for ever averfe to the holinefs of God,
and themfelves for ever unholy. It is only in the pre
fent ftate of trial, and under the prefent propofals of
grace, that fleeping finners can be awakened into the
fpiritual and divine life. The voice of the Son of God-,
that breaks the monuments of brafs, and makes tombs
of hardeft marble yield to his call, fhall never break
one heart of ftorte, which is gone down to death, in
its native and finful hardnefs : That almighty voice '
that muft awaken the nations of the dead, and com
mand their bodies up from the grave, fhall never awakr
en one dead foul, when they are paft the limits of this
life. The companionate calls of a Saviour, and the
offers of mercy, are then come to their utmoft period :
And if we refufe to hear the call of mercy to the mo
ment of death, we fhall then be. terribly conftrained t©

Difc. HI. Surprize in Death. 131
to feel the lofs of it, but never able to obtain the
bleflirigi Obftinate fleepers fhall be awakened to fee God,
but only a& Balaam was : I Jhall fee him but not nigh,
Numb. xxiv. 17. The faints in this life have God
near them in all their trials, as a father and a friend,
to uphold, to comfort, to fanaify, though they fee him
but darkly through a glafs, and behold but little of his
power or gloay : The finner awaking in hell fhall, per
haps, have a clearer and more acute perception of
what God is, than any faint on earth : But he mail
behold him as an enemy, and not a friend : If he be
holds him in the glory of his grace, it is at a dreadful
and ihfuperable diftance ; there is no grace for him :
He fees him in his holinefs, but he cannot love him,
he has no meltings of true penitence for his former
rebellions againft God, his heart is hardened into
everlafting enmity, and fhall never tafte of his love.
Hence arife all the foul and gnawing paffions of envy,
malignity, and long defpair, which are the very image
of Satan, and change mankind into devils,
Thefe impenitent fons and daughters of men, fhall
•grow into the more complete likenefs of thofe wicked
fpirits, and, under the impreflions of their guilt and
damnation, they fhall rival thofe apoftate and curfed
creatures, in the obftinate hatred of God, and all that
is holy. IV. Hence it will follow in the laft place, that the
finner who is faft afleep in his fins at the hour of death,
Jhall awake into fuch a life as is worfe , than dying. He
fhall be furprized all at once into darknefs and fire,
which have no gleam of light, and forrows without
mitigation, and which can find no end. The punifh
ment of hell is not called eternal death, to denote a
ftate of fenfelefs and ftupid exifterice ; but death being
the moft oppofite to life, and all the injoyments of it,
'the mifery of hell is defcribed by death, as the moft
formidable thing' to nature, as a word that puts a pe
riod to all the injoyments of this mortal life, and ftands
direaiy

13a Surprize in Death. Difc. Ill,
direaiy oppofite to a life of joy and glory in the im
mortal world. Happy would it be for fuch fouls if
-they could fink into an everlafting fleep, -and grow
ftupid and fenfelefs for ever and ever ; but this is a fa
vour not to be granted to thofe who have been con
ftant and unrepenting rebels, againft the law and the
grace of God.
The moment when the body falls afleep in death,
the foul is more awake than ever, to behold its own
guilt and wretchednefs. It has then foch a lively and
piercing fenfe of its own iniquities, and the divine
wrath that is due to them, as it never faw. or felt be
fore. The inward fenfes of the foul (if I may fo exi
prefs it) which have been darkened and ftupified, and
benummed in this body, are all awake at once, when
the veil of flefh is thrown off, and the curtains are
drawn back which divided them from the world of fpi
rits. Every thought of fin, and the anger of God,
wounds the fpirit deep in this awakened ftate, though
it fcarce felt any thing of it before; and a wounded fp'u
rit who can bear ? Prov. xviii. 1 4. But finners muft
bear it days without end, and ages without hope.
Then the crimes they have committed, and the fin*
ful pleafures they have indulged, fhall glare upon their
remembrance, and flare them in the face with dreads
ful furprize ; and each of them is enough to drive a
foul to despair : Nor can they turn their eyes away
from the horrid fight, for their criminal praaices befet
them around, and the naked foul is all fightand all
fenfe ; it is eye and ear all over ; it hears the dreadful
curies of the law, and the fentence of the Judge, and
never, never forgets it; This is the charaaer, thefe
the circumftances of an obftinate finner, that awakes
not till the moment of death, and lift up his eyes in hell,
as our Saviour expreffes it : Thefe will be the confe-
quences of our guilt and folly, if we are found in a
deed fleep of fin, when pur Lord comes to call us from
this mortal ftate, Secondly

Difc. III. Surprize in Death. 133^
Secondly, Let us fpend a few thoughts alfo upon the
dangerous and unhappy circumftances of thofe of whom
we may have fome reafon to hope, they have once begun
religion in good earneft, and are made fpiritually alive,
but have indulged themfelves in drowzinefs, and worn
out the latter end of theit days in a carelefs, fecure, and
flothful frame of fpirit.
1 . If they have had the principle of vital religion
wrought in thfir hearts, yet by thefe criminal fllumbers%
they darken and lofe their evidences of grace, and by this
means, they cut themfelves off from the fweet refleclions
and comforts of it on a dying bed, when .they have moft
need of them. They know not whether they are the
children of God or no, and are in anxious confufion
and diftrefling fear: They have fcarce any plain, proofs
pf their conversion to God, and the evidences of true
Chriftianity ready at hand, when all are little enough
to support their fpirits: They have not ufed themfelves
to fearch for them by felf-enquiry, and to keep them
in their fight, and therefore they are miffing in this
important hour : They have not been wont to live up
on their heavenly hopes, and they cannot be found
when they want them to tell upon in death : They die
therefore almoft like finners, though they may per
haps have been once converted to holinefs, and there
may be a root of grace remaining in them ; and the
reafon is, becaufe tneY nave lived too much as finners
do : They have given too great and criminal an indul
gence, to the vain and worldly cares, or the trifling
amufements of this life ; thefe have engroffed almoft
all their thoughts and their time, and therefore in the
day of death they fall under terrors and painful appre-
henfions of a doubtful eternity juft at hand.
If we have not walked qlofely with God in this
world, we may well be afraid to appear before him in
the next. If we have not maintained a conftant
converfe with Jefus our Saviour, by holy exer
cifes of faith and hope, it is no wonder if we are not
fo ready with chearfulnefs and joy, to refign our de-
,';&. parting

134 Surprize in Death. Difc. III.
parting fpirits into his' hand. It is poflible we may
nave a right to the inheritance of heaven, having had
fpme fight of it by faith as revealed in the gofpel, ha
ving in the main chofen it for our portion, and fet our
feet in the path of holinefs that leads to it ; but we
have fo often wandered out of the way, that in this
awful and folemn hour, we fhall be in doubt, whether
we fhallbe received at the gates, and enter into the
City. *
Such unwatchful Chriftiarts have not kept the eter
nal glories of heaven, in their conftant and aaive pur-
fuit, they have not lived upon them as their portion
and inheritance, they have been too much strangers to
the invifible world of happinefs, and they know not
how" to venture through death into it. They have
built indeed upon the folid foundation^ -Chrift Jefus and
the gofpel, but they have mingled fo much hay and
ftubble with the fuperftruaure, that when they depart
hence, or when they appear before Chrift in judgment,
they fhall fluffier great lofs by the burning of their works,
yet themfelves may befavedfo as by fire, i Cor. iii. i o—
15. They may pafs as it were by the flame of hell,
and have fomething like the fcorching terrors of it in
death, though the abounding and forgiving grace of
the gofpel, may convey them fafe to heaven : They
efcape as a man that is awakened with the fudden a-
larms of fire, who fuffers the lofs of his fubftance, and
a great part of the fruit of his labours, and juft faves
his own life. They plunge into eternity, and make a.
fort of terrible efcape from hell.
2. They can never expecl any peculiar favours from
heaven at the hour of death, no fpecial vifitations of the
comforting fpirit, nor that the love of God, and the joy of
his prefence, Jhould attend them through the dark valley.
It is not to fuch Unwatchful or fleepy Chriftians, that God
is wont to vouchfafe his choicefl confolations. They
fall under terrible fears about the pardon of their fins,
whert they ftand in moft need of the fight of their par
don ; and Chrift as the ruler of his Church, fees it fit
they

Difc. III. Surprize in Death* 13 c
they fhould be thus punifhed for their negligence.
They lay hold of the promifes of mercy with a trem
bling hand, and cannot claim them by a vigorous faith,
becaufe they have .not been wont to live upon them,
nor do they fee thofe holy cbaraaers in their own
hearts and lives, which confirm their title to them.
They have no bright views of the celeftial world, and
earnefts of their falvation, for it is only for watchful
fouls, that thefe cordials are prepared in the fainting
ho.ur : It is only to the watchful Chriftian, that thefe
fore-taftes of glory are given. The fruit of righteouf
nefs is peace, and the effecl of righteoufnefs is quietnefs and
affurance forever, Ifai. xxxii. 17. Bleffed is he which
•watcheth, and keepeth his garments clean, that he may
enter with triumph into that city, where nothing fhall
enter that defileth*
3. Slumbering and fllothful Chriftians are oftentimes left
to wreflle with fore temptations of {atari, and have dread'
fulconflicls in the day of death : and the reafon is evident,
becaufe they have not watched againft their adVerfary,
and obtained but few viaories over him in their Jife.
Thefe temptations are keen and piercing thprns, that
enter deep into the heart of a dying creature. The
devil maybe let loofe upon them with great wrath,
knowing that his time is but fhort; and yet there is great
juftice in the condua of*the God in heaven, in giving
them up to be buffetted by the powers of hell. What
frightful agonies, are raifed in the confcience, by the
temper, and theaccufer of fouls* on a fick or dying
bed, . can hardly be defcribed by the living, and are
known only to thofe who have felt them in death'.
4. Such drOwzy Chriftians make difmal work for new
and terrible repentance on a death bed ; for, though they
have fincerely repented in times paft of their former
firts, yet, having too much omitted the felf-mortifying
duties, having given too much indulgence to tempta
tion and folly, and having not maintained this habi
tual penitence, for their daily offences in conftant ex
ercife, their fpirits are now filled with frefh canviafons, and

i$6 Surprke in Death* Difc lit
and bitter remorfe of heart. The guilt of their care*
lefs and flothful condua finds them out now, and be-
fets them around* arid they feel moft acute forrows,
and wounding teffeaksns of confcience, while they
have need of moft comfort. What a glorious entrance
had St Paul into the World of fpirits, and the prefence
of Chrift t He had made repentance and mortificatidn
and faith in Jefus, bis daily work : 0 wretched man
that I am / Who fball deliver me from the body of this
death? I run, I fight, I fubdue 'my body, dnd. keep it
under ; I am crucified to the world) and the world to me ;
the life which I live in the flefh, I live by the faith of the
Son of God i When he was ready to be offered up, and
the time of his departure was at bandj from the edge of
the fword, and the borders of the graVe, he could
look back upon his former life, and fay, I have fought
the good fight, I have finifhed. my courfe, I have kept. the
¦faith,- henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righ-
teoufhefoi which the Lord the righteous Judge will give.
me. 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. -f>
5. The Unwatchful Chriftian^ at the hour of death, has
the pain and dnguifh of refletling, that he has omitted
many duties to God and man^ and thefe can never be per-'
formed now ; that he has done. fcarce any fervices for
Chrift in the world, and thofe iriaft be left for ever
undone 2 There is no further work or device, no la
bours of zeal, no aaivity for God in the grave, whi
ther we are haftening. Eccl. ix. 10. " Alas ! 1 have
" brought forth but little fruit to God, and it is well
" if I be not caft away as an unprofitable fervant. , My
" talents have lain bound up irt ruft, or been but
" poorly empfoyed, whilft I have lain flumbering and
*' unaaive : The records of my life in the- court of
«' heaven, will fhew but very little fervice for God a-
" rnongft men : I have raifed few monuments of praife
¦** to my Redeemer, and I can never raife them now;
" I fhall have but few teftimonies for my love and
" zeal, to appear in the great day of account, When
" the martyrs, and the confefTors, and the lively Chri-
*' ftians,

Difc lit ¦ Surprize in DeATH^ tj7
" ftians, fliall be furrounded with the living enfigns
" of their viaories over fin and the world, and their
" glorious fervices for their Redeemer. Wretch that
" I am ! That I have loved my Lord at fo cold a rate,
" and lain flumbering on a bed of eafe, whilft I fhould
" have been fighting the battles of the Lord, and gain-
*' ing daily honours for my Saviour !"
6. As fuch fort of Chriftians give but little glory to
God in life, fo they do him no honour in death ; they are
no ornaments to religion while they continue here, and
leave perhaps but little comfort with their friends when
they go hence : Doubtings and jealoufies about their
eternal welfare, mingle with our tears and forrows for
a dying friend ; thefe anxious fears about the departed
fpirit fwell the tide of our grief high, and double the
inward anguifh. They are gone alas ! from our world,
but We know not whither they are gone, to heaven or
to hell. A fad farewel to thofe whom we love ! A dif
mal parting-stroke, arid a long heart-ake !
Arid what honour can be expeaed to be done to
God Or his Son, what reputation or glory can be given
,to religion and the gofpel, by a drowzy Chriftian de
parting, as it were* under a fpiritual lethargy ? He
dies under a cloud, and cafts a gloom upon the Chri
ftian faith. St Paul was a man of another fpirit, a
lively and aa'ive faint* full of vigour and zeal in his
foul : It was the holy refolution and affurance of this
bleffed Apoftle, that Chrift fhould be magnified in his
body, whether by life or death. Phil. i. 20. He fpent
his life in the fervice of Chrift, and he could rejoice in
death as his gain. It is a glory to the gofpel, when
We can ly down and die with courage, in the hope of
its promifed bleflings. It is an honour to our com
mon faith, when it overcomes the terrors of death,
and raifes the Chriftian to a fong of triumph, in view
of the laft enemy. It is as a new crown put upon the
'head of our Redeemer, and a living cordial put into
the hands of mourning friends in our dying hour,
when we can take our leave of them with holy forti-
S tude?

138 Surprize in Death. Difc III.
tude, rejoicing in the falvation of Chrift. No fooner
does he call but we are ready, and can anfwer, with
holy tranfport, Lord I come. This is a bleffing that
belongs only to the watchful Chriftian. May every
one of us be awake to falvation in our expiring mo
ments, and partake of this glorious bleffednefs !
I proceed now to a few remarks, and particularly
fuch as relate to the neceffify and duty of conftant
watchfulnefs, and the hazardous cafe of fleeping fouls.
1 . Remark. To prefume on long life is a moft dangerous
temptation, for it is the common fpring and caufe of fpiri
tual fleep and drowzinefs. Could we take an inward '
view of the hearts of men, and trace out the fprings
of their coldnefs and indifference about eternal things,
and the fhameful negfea of their moft important inte-
refts, we fhould find this fecret thought in the bottom
of their hearts, that we are not like to die to-day or to
morrow. They put this evil day, afar off, and indulge
themfelves in their carnal delights, without due folici
tude to prepare for the call of God. There is fcarce
any thing produces fo much evil fruit in the world, fo
much fhameful wickednefs amongft the fenfual and
the profane, or fuch negfea of lively religion among
real Chriftians, as this bitter root of presumption upon
life and time before us. Matth. xxiv. 48, 49. The
evilfervant did not begin to finite his fellows, and to eat
and drink with the drunken, till he faid in his heart, my
Lord delayeth his coming : It was while the bridegroom
tarried, and they imagined he would tarry longer, that
even the wife virgins fell into flumber s. Afk your own
hearts, my friends, does not this thought fecretly lurk
within you, when you comply with a temptation, fure-
ly 1 Jhall not die yet, I have no flcknefs upon me, nor tokens
of death, I fhall live a little longer, and repent of my fol
lies ? Vain expeaation and groundlefs fancy ! When
you fee the young, and the ftrong, and the healthy,
feized away from the midft of you, and a final period
put at once to all their works and defigns in this life. Yet

Difc. III. Surprize in Death. 139
Yet we are foolifh enough to imagine our term of life
fhall be extended, and we prefume upon months and
years, which God hath not written down for us in his
own book, and which he willl never give us to injoy.
We are all borderers upon the river of death,
which conveys us into the eternal world, and we fliould
be ever waiting the call of our Lord, that we may
launch away with joy, to the regions of immortality :
But thoughtlefs creatures that we are, we are perpetu
ally wandering far up, into the fields of fer.fe and
time, we are gathering the gay and fading flowers that
grow there, and filling our laps with them as a fair
treasure, or making garlands for ambition to crown
our brows, till one and another of us is called off on
a fudden, and hurried away from this mortal coaft :
Thofe of, us who furvive, are furprized a little, we
ftand gazing, we follow our departing friends with a
weeping eye for a minute or two, and then we fall to
our amufements again, and grow bufy as before, in
gathering the flowers of time and fenfe. O how fond
we are to enrich ourfelves with thefe perifhing trifles,
and adorn our heads with honours and withering va
nities, never thinking which of us may receive the
next fummons to leave all behind us, and ftand before
God ; but each presumes, it will not be fent to me. We
trifle with God and things eternal, or utterly forget
them, while our hands and our hearts are thus deeply en
gaged in the pursuit of our earthly delights : Aft our
powers of thought and aaion, are intenfely bufied
amongft the dreams of this life, while we are afleep
to God, becaufe we vainly imagine he will not call
us yet.
2. Remark. Whatfoever puts us in mind of dying, fhould
he improved to awaken us from our fpiritual fleep. Sud
den deaths near us fhould have this effea ; our young
companions and acquaintance fnatched away from
among us in an unexpeaed hour, fhould become our
monitors in death, and teach us this divine and need
ful leffbn : The surprizing lofs of our friends who lay
near

«4<& Surprize in Death. Difc. III.
near our hearts, fliould put us in mind of Our own de
parture, and powerfully awaken us from our danger
ous flumbers. Sinners when they feel no forrows, they
think of no death ; but when the judgments of God are
in the earth, his Spirit can awaken* the inhabitants of the
world to learn righteoufnefs. At fuch feafons it is time
for the finners in Zion to be afraid, and fearfulnefs to
furp'rize the hypocrites. Even the children of God have
fometimes need of painful warning-pieces, to awaken
' them from their carelefs, their flothful, and their fe
cure frame ; And as for thofe fouls who are indeed
awake to righteoufnefs, and lively in the praaice of all
religion and virtue, fuch fudden and awful ftrokes of
providence have a happy tendency to wean them from
creatures, and keep them awake to God* that when
their Lord comes he may find them watching, and pro
nounce upon them everlafting bleffednefs.
¦ 3. Remark. No perfon can be exempted from this duty
of watchfulnefs, till he is Lord of his own life^ and can
appoint the time of his own dying. Then indeed you
might have fome colour for your carnal indulgences',
fome pretence for fleeping, if you were fovereign or
death and the grave, and had the keys in your own
hand. And truly fuch as venture to fleep in fin, do in effect
fay, we are Lords of our own life : They aa and ma*
nage as if their times were in their own hands,- and
not in the hand of their Maker : But the watchful
Chriftian lives upon that principle, which David pro-
feffes, Pfal. xxxi. 15. my times are in thine hand, O
Lord ; and they never give reft to themfelves till they
can rejoice with him, and fay to the Lord, " thou art
" my God, into thy hands I commit my fpirit, for thou haft
" redeemed it, and I leave it to thy appointment when
*' thou wilt diflodge me from this bqdy of flefh and
" blood, and call me into thy more immediate pre-
« fence." If we could but refift the meffenger of
death, when the Lord of hofts has fent it, if we could
#mt the mouth of the grave when the Son pf 'God has
opened

Difc. IIK Surprize in Death. 141
opened it for us, with the key that is intrufted in his
hand, we might fay then to our fouls, fleep on upon
your bed of eaje, and take your reft : But woe be to
thofe, who will venture to fleep in an unholy and u«r
pardoned ftate, or even allow themfelves the indul
gence of fhort and finful numbers, when they cannot
refift death one moment, when 'they cannot delay the
fummons of heaven, when they cannot defer their ap
pearance before that Judge, whofe fentence is eternal
pleasure, or everlafting pain.
Our holy watch muft not be intermitted one mc
ment, for every following moment is a grand uncer
tainty. There is no minute of life, no point of time,
wherein 1 can fay I-Jhall not die, and therefore I fhould
not dare to fay, this minute I will take a fhort flumber.
What if my Lord fhould summon me while he finds me
fleeping? His command cannot be difcbeyed, the ve
ry call and found of it divides me from flefh and blood,
and all that is mortal, and fends me at once into the
eternal world, for it is an almighty voice.
4. Remark. As it is a foolifh and dangerous thing,
for any of the fons and daughters of men to presume
upon long life, and negfea their watch, fo perfons un
der fome peculiar circumftances, are eminently called to be
ever wakefull Give me leave here to reckon up fome
of them, and make a particular addrefs to the perfons
concerned. ( 1 .) Is your conftitution of body weak and feeble ? You
carty then a perpetual warning about you never to in
dulge finful droWzhlefs. Every languor of nature af-
fures you, that it is finking to the duft : Every pain
you feel, fhould put you in mind* that the pains of
death are ready to feize you : You are tottering upon
the very borders of the grave, and will you venture to
dtop in before your hopes of life and immortality are
fecured, and a joyful refurreaion ? You pafs perhaps
many nights, Wherein the infirmities of your flefh will
not suffer you to fleep, and to take that common re-
frefhment of nature, and fhall not thefe fame- infirmi ties

f4* Surprize in Death. Difc III.
ties keep you awake to things fpiritual, and rouze all
your thoughts and cares about your immortal interefts ?
(2.) You whofe circumftances or employments of life,
expofe you to perpetual dangers either by land or byfoa;
you who carry your lives as it were in your hand* and
are often in a day within' a few inches of death ; is it
not neceflaryfor you to inquire daily, Am I prepared
for a departure hence ? Am I ready to hear the fum-
mons of my Lord, and ready to give up my account
before him ? Shall I dare go on another day with my
fins unpardoned, with my foul unfanaified, and in
immediate danger of eternal mifery ? A fall from a
horfc, or a houfe-top, may fend you down to the pit
whence there is no redemption ; every wind that
blows, and every rifing wave, may convey you into
the eternal world, and are you ready to meet the great
God in fuch a furprize, and without warning ?
(3.) You who are young and vigorous, and flourifh
amidft all the gaieties and allurements of life, you are in
moft danger of being lulled afleep in fin, and there*
fore I addreffed you lately in a funeral difcourfe, when
the prefent providence gave each of you a new and
loud call to awake, and I pray God you may hear his
voice in it.
(4.) Pprhaps others of you are arrived at old age,
and the courfe of nature forbids you to expea a long
continuance in the land of the living : Are any of my
hearers ancient finners and afleerr ftill ? Venturou s
and thoughtlefs creatures ! That have grown old in.
flumber,8 and worn out their whole life in iniquities !
Surely it is time for you to hear the voice of the Sort
of God in the gofpel, and accept of his falvation :
Behold the judge is at the door, he comes fpeedily,
and he will not tarry, his herald of death is juft at
hand : Are you willing he fhould feize you in a deadly
fleep, artd fend you into eternal forrows ?
And let aged Chriftians beftir themfelves, and awake
from their flothful and fecure frames of fpirit, let
them look upward to the crown that is not far oft", to

Difc III. Surprke in Death. 143
to the prize that is almoft within reach : Whatfoever
your hand or heart find to do for God, do it with all
your zeal and might : Let your loins be girt about, and
your natural powers aaive in his fervice, let your lamp
of profeflion be bright and burning, that when Jefus
comes, ye may receive him with joy.
(5.) And are there any of you that are under decays
of grace and piety, that are labouring and wreftling with
ftrong corruptions, or in aaual conflia with repeated
temptations which too often prevail over you, it be
comes you to hear the watch-word which Chrift often
gives to his churches under fuch circumftances: Make
hafte and awake unto holinefs, be watchful and
ftrengthen the things that remain that are ready to die ;
holdfqft what thou haft received ; remember thy firft afo
feclion and zeal> and repent and mourn for what thou
haft loft, left I come upon thee as a thief, and thoufhalt
not know the hour : Remember whence thou art fallen,
and repent, and do thy firft works, for thou haft loft thy
firft love : Have a care of dangerous luke-warmnefs,
and indifference in the things of religion. This is the
very temper of a fleepy declining Chriftian, while he
dreams he is rich and has great attainments : Take
heed, left prefuming upon thy riches and thy felf-fuf-
ficiency, thou fhouldeft be found wretched and mifo-
rable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Keep your fouls
awake hourly, and be upon your guard againft eve
ry adverfary* and every defilement, fleft ye be feiz-
ed away in the commiflion of fome fin, or in the com
pliance with fome foul temptation. The drowfy fol-
dier is liable to be led captive* and to die in fetters,
and groan heavily in death. But bleffed is the watchful
Chriftian ; he fhall be found amongft the overcomers,
and fhall partake of the rich variety of divine favours,
which are contained in the epistles to the feven
churches. Rev. ii. and ui.
Though the greateft part of a former difcourfe, has
been defcribing the bleffednefs of a watchful Chriftian
at the hour of death, and in this I have fet before you the

j 44 Surprize in Death. Difc. lit
the fad confequences that attend- fleepers, (both which
are powerful preforvatives againft drowzinefs) yet at
the conclufion pf this fermon, give me leave to add a
few more motives to the duty of watchfulnefs, for we
cannot be too well guarded againft the danger of fpi
ritual floth and fecurity.
" Motive 1 . Our natures at beft in the prefent ftate are
too much inclined to ftumber. We are too ready to fall
afleep hourly : All the faints on earth, even the moft
lively and aaive of them, are not out of danger,
while they carry this flefh and blood about them. In
deed the beft of Chriftians here below dwell but as it
were in twilight, and in fome fenfe they may be defc
cribed as perfons between fleeping and waking, in
comparifon of the world of fpirits. We behold di
vine things here but darkly, and exert our fpiritual fa
culties but in a feeble manner : It is only in the other
world, that we are broad awake, and in the perfect ¦
and unreftrained exercife of our vital powers ; there
only the complete life and vigour of a faint appears,
In fuch a drowzy ftate then, and in this dufky hour*
we cannot be too diligent in rouzing ourfelves, left we
fink down into dangerous flumbers. Befides* if we
profefs to be children of the light and of the day, and
growing up to a brighter immortality, let us not fleep
as others do who are the fons and daughters of night
and darknefs. i Thef. v. 4, 5.
Motive 2. Almoft every thing around us in this world
of fenfe and fin, tends to lull us afleep again asfoon as ide
begin to be awake. The bufy or the pleafant fcenes of
this temporal life are ever calling away our thoughts
from eternal things, they conceal from us the spiritual
world, and clofe our eyes to God, and things divine
and heavenly. If the eye of the foul were but open
to invifible things, what lively Chriftians fliould we be?
But either the winds of worldly cares rock us to fleep,
or the charm of worldly pleafures footh us into deceit
ful flumbers. We are too ready to indulge earthly
delights, and while we dream of pleafure in the -creatures,

Difc. lit Surprize In DeaT«. 145
hires, we lofe, or at leaft, abate oUr delights In God.
Even the lawful fatisfaaioris of flefh and ferife, and
the enticing objeas rourid about us, may attach our
hearts fo faft to them* as to draw us down into a bed of
carnal eafe, till We fall afleep irt fpiritual fecurity, and
forget that we are made for heaven, and that our hope
and our home is on high.
Motive 3. Many thoufands hdve been found fleeping at
the call of Chr'fi : Some perhaps in a profound and
deadly fleep, and others in an hour of dangerous
flumber J Many an acquaintance of ours has gone
down to the grave* when neither they nor we thought
of their dying at fuch a feafon. But as thoughtlefs as
they were* they Were riever the further from the point
of death ; and We fhudder with horror when We think
what is become of their fouls.
While we are yoUng we are ready to pleafc our
felves with the injoyments of life, and natter our hopes
with a lortg fUCCeffidfl of fherri. We fuppofe death to
be at the diftance of fifty or threefoore fniles ; threefepre
years and ten is the appointed period : But alas ! How
few are there whofe hopes are fulfilled, or whofe life
is extended to thofe dirrienfions ? Perhaps the meffen-
ger of death is within a furlong of oUr dwelling ; a few
more fleps onward, and he forites us down to the duft.
There are fome beautiful verfes which I have read
perhaps thirty years ago, wherein the ingenious au
thor defcribes the different stages of human life, un
der the image of a fair profpea or kndfcape* and
death is placed by miftaken mortals, afar off, beyond
them ail, *' Since the- lines return now upon my re
membrance, I will repeat them here with fome froall
alteration.- They are as follow :
Life and the fcenes that round it rife,
Share in fhe fame uncertainties;
Tet ftill we hugg ourfehe's with vain prefage
Of future days for ene andlottg,
Of pleafures frefh and ever Jtrong,
An atlive youth and flow declining age.
T Like,

146 Surprize in Death. Difc.ttfc
Like a fair profpecl ftill we make
Things future pleafing forms to take : ,
.Firft verdant meads arife and flowery fields ;
Cool groves and jhady copfos here,
There brooks and. winding fir earns appear,
While change of obj eels ftill new pleafures yields*
Farther fine caftles court the eye,
There wealth and honours we efpy ;
Beyond, a huddled mixture fills the ftage,
Till the remoter diftance Jhrouds
The plains with hills t thofe hills with clouds*
There we place death behind old Jhivering age. ^
When, death, alas, perhaps too nigh,
In the next hedge doth fkulking lie,
There plants his engines; thence lets fly his dart ;
Which while we ramble without fear,
Will flop us in our full career,
And force us from our airy dreams to part.
How fond and vain are our imaginations, when we
have feen others called away on a fudden from the
early fcenes of life, to promife ourfelves a long conti
nuance here ! We have the fame feeble bodies, the
fame tabernacles of clay that others have, and we are
liable to many of the fame accidents or casualties :
The fame killing difeafes are at work in our natures*
and why fhould we imagine, or presume* that others
fhould' go fo much before us ?
. And if we inquire of ourfelves as to charaaer or
merit, or moral circumftances of any kind, and com
pare ourfelves with thofe that are gone before, what
foundation: have we to promife ourfelves a longer con-
tinuance'here ? Have we not the fame fins or greater
to provoke God ? Are we more ufeful in the world
than they, and do more fervice for his name ? May
not God summon us off the ftage of life on a fudden,
as well as others ? What are we better than they
Are we not as much under the fovereign difpofai of
the

-Difc. III. Surprize in Death. 14*7
the great God as any of our acquaintance who have
been feized in the flower arid prime of life, and called
away in an unexpeaed' hour ? And what power have
we to refift the feizure, or what promife to hope that
God will delay longer ? Let us then no more deceive
ourfelves with vain imaginations, but each of us
awake and beftir ourfelves as though we were the
next perfons to be called away from this affembly, and
to appear next before the Lord.
Motive 4. When we are anuake, we are not only fitter
for the coming of our Lord to call us away by death, and
fitter for his appearance to the greixi judgment, but we are
better prepared alfo to attend him in every call to prefent
duty, and more ready to meet, his appearance in every pro^
vidence. It is the Chriftian**foldier who is ever awake
and on his guard, that is only fit for eVery fudden api
pointment to, new ftations and fervices, he' is 'more
prepared for any poft of danger or hazardous eriter-
prize, and better furnished to fuftain the rougheft af-
faults. We fhall be lefs fhocked at fudden afHiaions
here on earth, if our fouls keep lieaven in view, and
are ready winged for immortality. When we are fit
to die we are fit to live alfo, and to do better fervice
for God in whichfoever of his worlds he fhall pleafe '
to appoint our ftation. My bufinefs, O Father, and
my joy, is to do thy will among the fons of mortality,
or among the fpirits of the bleft on high.
Motive 5. Let us remember we haveflept too long al
ready in days paft, and it is but a little while that we are
called to watch. We have worn away too much of our
life in floth and drowzinefs. The night is far fpent
with many of us, the day is at hand ; it is now high
time to awake out of fleep, for now is our falvation nearer
than when we firft believed. Rom. xiii. 1 1, 12. Ano
ther hour or two, and the night will be at an end with
us, Jefus the morning ftar is juft appearing ; what ?
Can we not watch one hour ? O happy fouls, that keep
themfelves awake to- God in the midft of this dream
ing world ! Happy indeed, when our Lord fhall call us

148 Surprize in Death. Difc. III.
us out of thefe dufky regions, and we fhall anfwer his
call with holy joy, and spring upward to the inherit
tanee of the faints in light ! Then all the feafons of darkr
nefs, and flumbering, will be finifhed for ever ; there is
no need of laborious watchfulnefs in that world, where
there is no flefh and blood to hang heavy upon the
fpirit ; but the fanaified powers of the foul are all
life, and immortal vigour. There is no want of the
fun-beams to make their day-light, or to irradiate that
.city ; the glory of God enlightens it with divine fplen-
dors, and the Lamb is the light thereof ': No inhabitant
can fleep under fuch an united blaze pf grace and
glpry : No faintings of nature, no languors or wea-?
rinefs are found in all that vital climate ; every citizen,
is for ever awake and bufy under the beams of that
glorious day ; zeal, and love, and joy, are the fpring§
of their eternal aaivity, and there is no night there*

»ia.

(, 149 >
DISCOURSE' IV,
CHRIST admired and gloriHed in his
Saints.

2 Ep. Thessal, i. 10.
When he fhall come to be glorified in his faints, and ad
mired in all them that believe.
HO W mean and contemptible foever our Lord
Jefus Chrift might appear heretofore on earth,
yet there is a day coming when he fhall make a glori
ous figure in the fight of men and angels. How little
foever the faints may be efteemed in our day, and
look poor and despicable in an ungodly world, yet
there is an hour approaching when they fhall be glori
ous laeyond all imagination, and Chrift himfelf fhall be
glorified in them. In that day fhall the Lord our Savi
our be the objea of adoration and wonder, not only
among thofe of the fons of men that have believed
on him, but before all the intelfeaual creation, and
that upon the account of his grace manifefted in be
lievers. The natural enquiry that arifes here is this, What
particular inftances of the grace of Chrift in his faints,
fhall be the matter of our admiration, and his glory in
that day?
To this I fhall propofe an anfwer under the folio w-
ing particulars.
Firft, It is a matter of pleafing wonder, that perfons
of all characlers Jhould. have been united in one faith, and
perfuaded to truft in the fame Saviour, and embrace the
feme falvation ; for fome of all forts fhall ftand in that
bleffed

150 Christ admired" and Difc. IV.
bleffed Affembly. Then it fhall be a fruitful fpring of
wonder andUglory* that men of various nations and
ages, of different tempers, capacities, and interefts,
of contrary educations, and contrary prejudices, fhould
belieVe one gofpel, and truft in one Deliverer, from
hell and death : That the fprightly, the ftudious and
the ftupid, the wife and the , foolifh, fhould relifh and
rejoice in the fame fublime truths, not only concern
ing the true God, but alfo concerning Jefus the Re
deemer ; that the Barbarian and the Roman, the
Greek and the Jew, fhould approve and receive the
fame doarines of falvation, that they fhould come into
the fame fentiments in the matters of religion, and live
upon them as their only hope.
Aftonifhing fpeaacle ! When the dark and favage ,
inhabitants of Africa, and our fore-fathers, the rugged
and warlike Britons, from the ends of the earth, fhall
appear in that affembly, with fome of the polite na
tions of Greece and Rome, and each of them fhall glo
ry in having been taught to renounce the gods of their
anceftors, and the demons which they once worfhipped,
and fhall rejoice in Jefus the king of Ifrael, and ,jn Je
hovah the everlafting God.
. The converfion of the Gentile world to Chriftianity,
is a matter of glorious wonder, and fhall appear to be
fo in that great day: That thofe who had been edu
cated to believe many gods, or no god at all, fhould
renounce atheifm. and. idolatry, and adore the true
God only ; and thofe that were taught to facrifice to
idols, and to atone for their own fins with the blood
pf beafts, fhould truft in one facrifice, and the atoning
blood of the Son of God. Here fhall ftand a believing
atheift, and there a converted idolater, as monument!!
of the Almighty power of his grace.
There fhall ftrine alfo in that affembly, here and
there a prince, and a philofopher, though not many
wife, not many noble, not many mighty are called ; and
they fliall be matter of wonder and glory ; that princes
who love no controul, fhould bow their fceptres and
their

Difc IV* glorified in his Saints. j^k
their fouls* to the royalty and godhead of the poor
man of Nazareth : That the heathen philofophers, who
had been ufed only to yield to reafon, fhould fubmit.
their underftandings to divine revelation, even when
it has fomething above the powers and difcoveries of
reafon in it.
It fhall raife our holy wonder too when we fhall
behold fome of the Jewifh Priefts and P bar i fees, who
became converts to the Chriftian faith, adorning the
triumph of that day. The Jewijh Pharifees who ex-
peaed a glorious temporal Prince for their Meffiah*
that they fhould at laft own the fon of a carpenter for.
their Teacher, their Saviour and their King; that they
ihould veil the pride of their fouls, and acknowledge a
parcel of poor fifhermen for his chief minifters of ftate,
and receive them as ambafladors to the world. That
thofe who thought they were righteous, and boafted
in it, fhould renounce their boaftings and their righ-
tepufneffes, and learn to expea falvation and life for
themfeves, from the death and righteoufnefs of ano
ther :. That they who once called the crofs of Chrift
folly and weaknefs, fhould come to fee the wifdom and
poweftofGod in a crucified man, and belieye him who
hung upon a tree as an accurfed creature, to be Emma-,
nuel, God with us, God manifeli in the flefh, and the
Saviour of mankind.
Surely fhailjinen and angels fay in that day, " thefe
" were the .effects, of an Almighty Power, it was the
" work of God the Saviour, and it is marvellous in
" our eyes." With united voices fhall all the faints
confefs, " flefh and blood has not revealed this unto
" us, but the fpirit of our Lord Jefus Chrift, and of
" God the Father. We had perifhed in our folly,
" but Chrift has been made wifdom to us ; we were in
" darknefs and lay under the fhadow of death, but^
" Chrift has given us light, i Cor. i. 30. Ephef. v. 14."
Come, all ye faints of thefe latter ages upon whom
the end of the world is come, raife your heads with
me and look far backwards, even to beginning of time and

i$$ Christ admired and . Difc Pf*
and the days of Adam-, for the believers pf all ages, as
well as of all nations, fhall appear together in that day,-
and acknowledge jefus the Saviour: According to the
brighter or darker difcoveries of the dge irt which they
lived, he has beetf the Common object of their faith.
Ever finCe he was called the feed of the woman, till the
time of his appearance irt the flefh, all the chofen of
God have lived upon his grace* though multitudes of
them never knew his name. It is true* the greater*
part of that illuftrioUs company ori the right hand of*
Chrift^ lived fince the time of his incarnation, (for thd
great multitude which no mart could number^ is derived^
from the Gentile nation's. Rev. Vii. 9.) Yet the atiEfertt
patriarchs, with the Jewijh prophets and fairtts, fhall
make a fplendid appearance there i One hundred and
forty four thoufand are foaled among the tribes of lf-
raeti Thefe of old embraced the gofpel in types' and
fhadows ; but now their eyes behold Chrift Jefus thd
fubftance and the truth. In the days of their ifteffr they1
read his riame in dark lines, and looked through thd
long glafs of prophecy fo diftant ages, and a SaViatn?
to come, 2nd now behold they find eorhplete and cer
tain fakation and glory' in him. Thefe all died in faith j
not having received the promifes, but having fern therri
afar -off, arid were perfuaded of them, and embraced thenu
Heb. xi. 13. They died in the hope' of this falrationv
and they fhall arife in the bleffed poffeffiom of it.
Behold Abraham appearing there, the Father of the'
faithfisf, -who faw the day of Chrift, arid rejoiced to fee
it, who trufted in his Sort Jefus two thoufand years be
fore he was born : His elder family the pious Jews
surround him there, and we his younger children- among
the Gentiles, fhall ftand with hiih as the followers of
his faith, who truft in the fame Jefas almoft two thoU-<
fand years after he is dead. How fhall we both rejoice
to- fee this brightest day of the So*! 'of Man,, and Congra
tulate' each others faith, While our' eyes meet and cen
ter in him, and our fouls triump. in the fight and
love-, arid enjoyment of him in w-hdnir we believ ed!

Difc IV. glorified in his SainTs. 153
ed ! How admirable and divinely glorious fhall our
Lord himfelf appear on whom every eye is fixed with
unutterable delight, in whom the faith of diftant coun
tries arid ages is centered and reconciled, and in whom
all the nations of the earth appear to be bleffed, according
to the aritient word of promife. Gen. xv. and xvii.
Secondly, It is a further occafion of pleafing wonder,
that fo many wkked obftinate wills of men, and fo many
perverfo affetlions, fhould he bowed down, and fubmit
themfelves to the holy rules of the gofpel. This is ano
ther inftanee of the grace of Chrift, and fhall be the
fubjea of our joyful admiration. Every fon arid
daughter of Adam by nature is averfe to God, and iri-
clmed to fin, a Child of difobedience and death. Eph.
ii. 2. There is a new miracle wrought by Chrift in
every inftanee of converting grace, and he fhall have
the glory of them all in that day. It is a firft refurrec
tion from the dead, it is a new creation, and the Al
mighty Power fliall then be publickly adored.
Then one fhall fay, " Lwas a fonfual finner, drench-
" ed in liquor and unclean lufts, and wicked in all the
" forms of lewdnefs and intemperance : The grace of
" God my Saviour appeared to -me, and taught me to deny
" wordly lufts, which I once thought 1 could never
<e have patted with. I loved my fins as my life* but
*' he has perfuaded and conftrained me to cut off a
" right hand, and to pluck out a right eye, and to
" part with my darling vices 5 and behold me here a
" monument of his faviwg mercy.
" I was envious againft my neighbour, (fhall arto-
*' ther fay) and my temper was malice and wrath ; re-
" venge was mingled with my conftitution, and I
" thought it no iniquity: But I blefs the name of Chr ift
" my Redeemer, who in the day of his grace turned
" my wrath into meekriefs ; he inclined- me to love
" even mine enemies, and to pray for therh that curfed
" me ; he taught me all this by his own example, and
*' he made me learn it by the Sovereign influences of
" his Spirit. I am a wonder to myfelf, when I think
U «' what

154 Christ admired and D'tfc TV*
*' what once I was; Amazing change, and Almighty
w grace!"
Then a third fhall confefs, " I was a profane .wretch <t
" a fwear er, a blafphemer; I hoped for no heaven,
Ci and I feared no hell ; but the Lord feized me in the
" midft of my rebellions, and fent his arrows Into my
" foul ; he made me feel the flings of an awakened
" confcience, and conftrained me to believe there was
" a God and a hell, till I cried out aftdnifhed, what
" fhall I do to befaved? Then he led me to partake of
" his own falvation, , and from a proud rebellious infi-
" del, he has; made me a penitent and a humble, be-
*' liever ; and here I ftand to fhew forth the wonders
" of his grace, and the boundlefs extent of his for-
" givenefs."
A fourth fliall ftand up and acknowledge in that day,.
" And Iwas a poor carnal covetous creature, who made
" this world, my God, and abundance of money was
" my heaven ; but he cured me of this vile idolatry
" of gold, taught rrie how to. obtain treafures in the
" heavenly world, and to forfake all on earth, that I
" might have an inheritance there; and behold he has
" not difappointed my hope ; I am now made rich in-
" deed, andl muft for ever ffpeak his praifes."
There fhall be no doubt or difpute in that day, whe
ther it was the power of our own will, Or the superior
power of divine grace, that wrought the bleffed ehange,-
that turned a lion into a lamb, a groveling earth-worm
into a bird of paradife, and of a covetous or malicious
finner, made a^ meek and a heavenly faint. The grace
of Chrift fliall be fo confpicuous in every glorified be
liever in that affembly, that with one voice they fhall
all fhout to the praife and glory of his grace ; Not to
Wf , 0 Lord, not to us, but to thy name be all the honour.
Pfal. cxv. r.
Thirdly, It fhall be the matter of our wonder, and
the glory of Chrift in that day, thatfo many thoufand-
guilty wretches Jhould be made righteous by one righteouf
nefs, cleanfod- in one laver from all their iniquities, and
Jprinkled

Difc. IV. glorified in his Saints. 155
fprinkled unto pardon and fanclification, with the blood of
one man, Jefus Chrift. See the great multitude that no
man can number, Rev. vii. 9, \ o. They all wajhed their
robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ver. 1 4.
It is a matter of wOnder to Us now on earth, that
the bleffed Son of God who is one with the Father,
fhould ftoop fo low as to unite himfelf to a mortal na
ture, that he. fhould become a poor defpicable man,
and pafs through a life of fufferings and forrows, and
die an accurfed death, to redeem us from guilt and
deferved mifery : But when v* fhall fee him in his na
tive glory and luftre, his acquired dignities, and all the
honours of heaven heaped upon him, it will raife our
wonder high, to think that fuch a One fhould once
humble himfelf to the death of the crofs, the death of
the vileft Have, that he might fave our fouls from dy
ing ; that he fliould pour out his own blood to wafh
off' the ftains of millions of fins, that we might appear
righteous before a God of holinefs. Then fliall the
multitude of the faved join in that fong, To him that
loved us, and wajhed us from our fins in his own blood,
be glory and dominion for ever. Rev. i. 5, 6. Worthy is
the Lamb that wasflain to receive power, and riches, and
honour, for thou haft redeemed us with thy blood from
every kindred, tribe and nation. Rev. v.
Then fhall thofe bleffed words of Scripture appear
and fhine in full glory, howfoeVer they are often paffed
over in filence, and too much forgotten in our age.
Rom. v. 17, 19,21. If by one man's offence death reign
ed by one ; much more they which receive abundance of
grace, and of the gift of righteoufnefs, fhall reign in life
by one, Jefus Chrift. For as by one maris difobedience
many were made finners : So by the obedience of one fhall
many be made righteous. That as fin hath reigned unto
death, evenfo might grace reign through righteoufnefs un
to eternal life, by Jefus Chrift our Lord., Then fhall
our blefled Lord fhine in the complete luftre of that
incommunicable name, Jehovah Tzidkenu, the Lord
our righteoufnefs. Jer. xxiii. 6.
And

156 Christ admired and Due. IV.
And not only the atonement and falvation itfelf, fhall
be the fubjea of our glorious admiration, but the way
and manner how finners partake of it, fhall minifter
further to our wonder, and to the glory of Chrift.
That fuch a world of poor miferable creatures fhould
be faved from hell, by believing or trufting in grace,
wheri they could never be faved by all their own works ;
that they fhould obtain righteoufnefs and acceptance
unto eternal life, by a humble penitence and poverty
of fpirit, depending on the death and righteoufnefs of
another, when all their labour and toil m works of the
law, could not make up a righteoufnefs of their own,
fufficient to appear before the justice of God ; Chrift
will not only be glorified in their holinefs as faints, but-
admired and honoured in and by their faith as believers ¦* ,
His blood and his grace fhall fhare all the glory. There
fore it is of faith, and not of works, that it might be of
grace, Rom. iv. 1 5. Yet, this faving faith is the fpring
of fliining holinefs in every believer, Duties and vir..
tues are not left out of our religion, when faith is.
brought into it. The graces of the faints join happily
with the atonement of Chrift, to render that day more
illuftrious. Fourthly, That a company of fuch feeble Chriftians ,
fhould maintain their courfe towards heaven, through fo
many thoufand obftacles : This fhall be another fubjea
of admiration, and yield a further revenue of glory to
our Lord jefus Chrjft, for he who is their righteoufnefs
is their ftrength alfo. Ifa. xlv. 24, 25. In the Lord Jhall
all the feed of Ifrael glory in that day, as their ftrength
and their falvation. They have broke through all their
difficulties, and were able Jo do all things through Chrift
firenthening them, Phil, i v. 13.
Behold that noble army with palms in their hands ;
once they were weak warriors, yet they overcame
mighty enemies, and have gained the viaory and the
prize ) enemies rifing from earth* and from hell, to
tempt and to accufe them, but they overcame by the blood
of the Lamb. Rev. xii. 7, 11. What a diving honour fliall

Difc. IV, glorified in his Saints. »57
fhall it be to our Lard Jefus Chrift, the captain of our fal
vation, that weak Chriftians fhould fubdue their ftrong
corruptions, and get fafe to heaven through a thoufand
oppositions within and without : It is all owing to the
grace of Chrift, that grace which is all-fufficient for
every faint. 2 Cor. xii. 9. They are made more than con
querors through him that has loved them. Rom, viii. 38.
Then fhall the faith, and courage, and patience of
the faints, have a bleffed review ; and it fhall be told
before the whole creation what ftrife and wreftlings a
poor believer has paffed through in a dark cottage, a
chamber of long ficknefs, or perhaps in a dungeon ;
how he has there combated with, powers of darknefs,
how he has ftruggled with huge forrows, and has borne
and has not fainted, though he has been often in heavi-
nefs through manifold temptations. Then fhall appear
the bright feene which St Peter reprefents as the event
of fore trials. 1 Pet. i. 6, 7, When our faith has been
tried in the fire of tribulation, and is found more preci
ous than gold, it fhall fhine to the praife, honour, and
glory, of the fuffering faints, and of Chrift himfelf at
his appearance.
Behold that illustrious troop of martyrs, and fome
among them of the feebleft fex and of tender age ;
now that women fhould grow bold in faith, even in
the fight of torments, and children, with a manly cou
rage, fhould profefs the name of Chrift in the face o£,
angry and threatening rulers ; that fome of thefe fliould
become undaunted confeffors of the truth, and others
triumph in fire and torture ; thefe things fhall be mat
ter of glory to Chrift in that day ; it was his power
that gave them courage and viaory in martyrdom and
death. . Every Chriftian there, every foldier in that
triumphing army, fhall afcribe his conqueft to the
grace of his Lord,, his Leader, and lay down all their
trophies at the feet of his Saviour, with humble ac
knowledgments and fhouts of honour.
Almoft all the faved number were, at fome part of
their lives, weak in faith, and yet, by the grace of
Chrift,

158 Christ admired and Difc. IV.
Chrift, they held out to the end, and are crowned.
" I was a poor trembling creature, fhall one fay, but
" I was confirmed in my faith and holinefs by the
" gofpel of Chrift; or I refted on a naked promife and
" found fupport, becaufe Chrift was there, and he
*' fhall have the glory of it." In him are all the pro
mifes yea, and in him Amen, to the glory of the Father,
1 Cor. i. 20, 21, 22. And the Son fhall fhare in this
glory, for he died to ratify thefe promifes, and he
lives to fulfil them.
" Oh what an almighty arm is this (fhall the be-
" liever fay) that has borne up fo many thoufands of
*' poor finking creatures, and lifted their heads above
*' the waves !" The fpark of grace that lived many
years in a flood of temptations, and was not quenched,
fhall then fhine bright, to the glory of Chrift who
kindled and maintained it. When we have been
Drought through all the ftorms and the threatening
feas, and yet the raging waves have been forbid to
fwallow us up, we fhall cry put in raptures of joy. and
wonder, " What manner of man is this, that the winds
and the feas have obeyed him ?"
Then fhall it be glorioufly evident, that he has con-
<juered Satan, and kept the hofts of hell in chains,
when it fhall appear that he has made poor mean
trembling believers viaorious over all the powers of
darknefs, for the Prince of peace has bruifod him under
their feet.
Fifthly, There is more work for our wonder and
joy, and more glory for our bleffed Lord, when we
fhall fee that fo many dark and dreadful providences were
working together in mercy, for the good of the faints ; it
is becaufe jefus Chrift had the management of them
all put in his hand ; and we fhall acknowledge he has
done all things well, Rom viii. 28. All things have wrought
together for good. It is the voice of Chrift to every
faint in forrow, what I do, thou knoweft not now, but
thou jhalt know hereafter, John xii. 7. I/aw not theii,
faith the Chriftian, that my Lord was effing my pride, by

Difc. IV. glorified in his Saints. x$g
by fuch a threatening and abafing providence, that he
was Weaning my heart from fenfuai delights, «by fuch
a fharp and painful wound ; but now I behold things
in another light, and give thanks and praifes to my
Divine Phyficiam
We fhall look back upon the hours of our impati
ence* and be afhamed ; we fhall chide the flefh for its
old repinings, when we fhall ftand upon the eternal
hills of paradife, and caft our eyes back upon yonder
tranfaaions of time, thofe paft ages, of complaint and
infirmity. We fhall then, with pleafure and thankful-
nefs, confefs* that the. captain of our falvation was
much in the right to lead us through fo many fuffer
ings and forrows, and we were much in the wrong to
complain of his condua. ,
Bear Up your fpirits thence poor afniaed diftreffed
fouls, who are wreftling through difficult providences
all in the dark. Bear up but a little longer, he that
fhall come, will come, and will not tarry ; he will fet all
his condua in a fair light, and you fhall fay, " Bleffed
*' be the Lord, and alibis government"
Sixthly, That heaven fhould be fo well filled out of fuch
a hell of fin and mifery as this world is, fhall be another
delightful reffeaion full of wonder and glory. Take
a fhort survey of mankind, how allflejlo has corrupted
its ways before God, and every imagination of the thought
of maris heart is only evil, and that continually ; there is
none righteous, no not one. Look round about you and
fee how iniquity abounds, violence, oppreflion*. pride*
luft, fenfualities of all kinds, how they reign among
the children of men : Religion is loft, and God for
gotten in the world ; and yet, out of this wretched
world, thrift has, provided inhabitants for heaven,
where nothing can enter that defileth, , Look into your
own hearts, ye finners, fee what a. hell lies there ; and
ye converts of the grace of Chrift, look into your
hearts too, and fee how many of the feeds of wicked-
nefs ftill lie hid there ; how much corruption, and how
little holinefs j look inward, and wonder that Chrift
fliould

t5d Christ admired and Difc. Iv<
fhould ever fit yoti. for heaven, by his converting and
his fanaifying grace;
Look round the world again, and survey the miferieS
of this earth ; as rrrany calamities as there are crea
tures, arid perhaps ten times more : Who is there ori
earth without his forrows? And fometimes a multi
tude of them meet in one fingfe fufferer :' See ho#
toil, arid weafinefs, and difappbiritment, poverty and
ficknefs, pain; and anguifh, and vexation, are diftri-
buted through this world, that lies on the borders of
hell ; fee all this, and wonder at the grace of Chrift,
that has taken a colony out of this miferable world*
and made a heaven of it.
We fhall, many of us, be a wonder to each Other as
well as to ourfelves, and We fliall all review and admire
the grace of Chrift in and towards us all. Ariiong
the reft, there are two forts of Chriftians whofe falva
tion fhall be a fpecial matter of wdnder, and thefe are
the melancholy and the uncharitable. The melancholy
Chriftian fhall wonder that ever fuch a finner as him
felf was brought to heaven ; and the uncharitable fliall
wonder how fuch a finner as his neighbour came
there. The poor doubting melancholy' foul, who was
full of fears left he fhould be conderrrried, ' fhall then
have full affurance that he is efeaed and redeemed,
pardoned and faved, when he fees, hears and feels, the
falvation and the glory upon him, within him, and all
around him, and he fhafl admire and adore the grace
of God his Sa'viour. The narrow-foul' d Chriftian,
who faid his neighbour would be damned for want of
fome party-notions/ or for fame leffer failings, fliall
confers his Uncharitable miftake,' and fhall wonder at
the abounding mercy of Chrift, which has pardoned
thofe errors in his neighbour, for which he had ex
communicated and condemned him. Both thefe
Chriftians in that day* I mean, the timorous and the cen-
' forious, fhall ftand at his right-hand, as monuments of
his furprifing grace, who foregave one the defeas of
h\s faith, and the other his want of love ; and their
fouls

Difc. IV. glorified in his " SainTs. i6i
fouls and their tongues fhall join together to rejoice in
the Lord, and their fpirits fhall magnify their God and
Redeemer : Chrift fhall have his due revenue of glory
from both, in the hour of their public falvation.
O what honour fhall it add to the overflowing mer
cy of Chrift, what joy and wonder to all the faints, to
fee Paul the perfecutor and blafphemer there, and Pe*
ter who denied the Lord that bought him, and Mary
Magdalen that impure finner ! See what a foul and
'fhameful catalogue, what children of iniquity are at
laft made heirs and poffeflbrs of heaven. 1 Cor. vi.
9,10, it. The fornicators and idolaters, the thieves
and the covetous, the drunkards, the revilers, and the
¦extortioners. Such they were in the days of ignorance
and heathenifm* fit fuel for the fire of hell ; and in
thofe circumftances they are utterly excluded/raw the
kingdom of God, but now they find a place in that blef
fed affembly ; and the converting grace of Chrift is
admired and glorified, that could turn fuch finners
into faints. Q furprifing fcene of rich falvation, when
thefe Corinthian Converts, waflied in the blood of Chrift,
and renewed by his Spirit, fhall appear in their white
garments of holinefs and glory ! There is not one
finful creature to be found in all the vaft retinue of
the holy Jefus. But there are thoufands who have
been once great criminals* notorious finners, and have
beeri fnatched by the arm of divine love, as brands
out of the burning. What an affeaing fight will it be,
when we fhall behold all the members of Chrift unit
ed to their Head, and compleat in glory ; and fee at
the fame time, a world of vile finners doomed to de
struction ! With what adoration and wonder fhall we
cry out, and fuch were fome of thefe happy ones, but they
are fanclified, but they are juftified, in the name of the
Lord Jefus, and by the Spirit of our God, ver. 11. Not
unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, but to God our Saviour be
eternal honour.
¦ In the feventh place, There is another glory and
wonder added to this illuftrious fcene, and gives ho-
X nour

i6i Christ admired and Difc. IV.
nour to our bleffed Saviour, and that is, that fo many
vigorous, beautiful, and immortal bodies, Jhould be raifed
at once out of the duft, with all their old infirmities left
behind them : Not one ach or pain, not one weaknefs
or difeafe, among all the glorified millions : As the
Ifraelites came out of their bondage in Egypt, fo fhall
the army of faints from the prifon of the grave, and
not one feeble among them. Pfal. cv, 37. This is the
work of Chrift the Creator and the Healer.
Here I might run many forrowfuL divifions, and
travel over the large and thorny field of ficknefs and
pains that attend human nature, thofe imborn mif-
chiefs that vex poor Christians in this ftate of trial
and fuffering : But thefe were all buried when the
body went to the grave, and they are buried for ever;
he that has the keys of death, fhall let the bodies of
his faints out of prifon ; but no gout nor ftone, no
infirmity nor distemper, no head-ach nor heart-ach, fhall
ever attend them. The body was flown in weaknefs,
but it is raifed in power ; it was fown in dijhonour, it is
raifed in glory, through the power of the fecond Adamx
and his quickening. Spirit, 1 Cor. xv. 43, 45, Rom,
viii. 11.
Then fhall Christ appear to be Sovereign and Lord
of death, when fuch an endlefs multitude of old and
new captives are releafed at his word, and the grave has
reftored its prey ; when thofe bodies which have been
turned into duft fome thoufands of years, and their
atoms fcattered abroad by the winds of heaven, fliall
be raifed again in glory and dignity, to meet their de-
fcending Lord in the air. Surely Jefus in that day
fhall be acknowledged as a Sovereign of nature, when,
at the word of his command, a new creation fhall arife,
all perfea and immortal.
It will add yet further glory to Christ, when we
remember what fruitful feeds of iniquity were lodged
in that flefh and blood, which we wore on earth, and
which we laid down in the tomb ; and when, at the
feme time, we forvey our glorified bodies, how spiri tual,

Difc. IV glorified in his Saints. 163
thai, how holy,' how happily fitted for the fervice of
glorified fouls made perfea in holirtefs. How did all
the faints once complain of a law in their members, that
warred againft the law of their minds, and brought them
into bondage to the law of fin ? but this law of fin is now
for ever abolifhed, this bondage diffolVed and broken,
and thefe members are all new-created, for inftruments
of righteoufnefs to ferve God in his temple, for ever
and ever. Holy Paul fhall no more groan in a finful
tabernacle, he fhall no more complain of that ftejh
wherein no good thing dwelti he fhall cry out no more,
0 wretched man that I dm, who Jhall deliver me ?
Many and bitter have been the forrows of a holy
foul in this world, becaufe of the perverfo difpofitions
of animal nature and the flefh : But none of the faints
in that affembly fhall ever feel again the flings of in
ward envy, the pricking thorns of peevijhnefs, nor the
wild ferments of wrath and paffton : None of them
fhall ever find thofe unruly appetites which wrought fo
ftrortgly in their old flefh and blood, and too often
over-powered their unwilling fouls* thofe appetites
which brought their confciences fometimes under frefh
guilt, and filled them with inward reproaches, and
agonies of fpirit. Thefe evil principles are all destroy
ed by death, they are loft in the grave, and fhall have
no refurreaion. The new-raifed bodies of the righ
teous in that day, fhall be compleatly obedient to the
diaates of their fpirits, without any vicious juices to
make reluaance, or perverfe humours to raife an in
ward rebellion : And not only fo, but perhaps even
our bodies fhall have fome aaive holy tendencies,
wrought in them fo far as corporeal nature can admi-
nifter, toward the facred exercifes of a glorified faint.
A fweet and bleffed change indeed ! And jefus who
raifed thefe bodies in this beauty of holinefs, fhall re
ceive the glory of this divine work.
The laft inftance 1 fhall mention, wherein Christ
fhall be admired in his faints, is this, they Jhall all appear in

164 Christ admired 'and Difc. IV.
in that day, as fo many images of bis perfon, and asfo
many monuments of the fuccefs. of his offce.
Is the bleffed Jefus a great Prophet and the Teacher
of his church I Thefe are the perfons that have learnt
his divine doarine, they have heard the joyful found of
his gofpel, and the holy truths of it are copied out in
their hearts. Thefe are the difciples of his fchool ;
and by his word, and by his fpirit, they have been taught
to know God and their Saviour, and they Ijave been
trained up in the way to eternal life.
Is jefus a great High Prieft, both of facrifice and in-
terceffion ? Behold all thefe fouls, an endfefs number,
purified from their defilements by the blood of his crofs,
wafti'd and' made white in that bleffed laver, and re
conciled' to God by his: atoning facrifice : Behold the
power of his intercefEon, in fecuring millions from
the wrath of God, and in procuring for them every
divine bleffing. He has obtained for each: of thenv
grace and glory.
Is jefus the Lard of all things, and the King of his
church ? Behold his fubjeas waiting on him, a nume
rous and a loyal multitude, who have the laws of their
King engraven on their fouls. Thefe are the fons and
daughters, of Adam, whom he has refcucd by his power
from the kingdom of darknefs, and the hands of the
devil : He has guarded them from the rage of their
malicious adverfaries in earth and hell, and brought
shera fafe through all difficulties, to behold the glories
of this day, and to celebrate the honours of their King.
-Is he foe-Captain- of falvation ? See what a bleffed
army he has lifted under his banner, of love ; and they
have followed him through all the dangers of life and
time under his condua. Thefe are the chofon, the
called, the faithful. They have fuftained many a fharp
conflia, many a dreadful battle, and they are at laft,
made more than conquerors through him that has loved
them. They attribute all their viaories to the wifdom,
the goodnefs, and the power of their divine Leader \
and even ftand amazed at their own fuccefs, againft fucb.

Difc IV. glorified in his Sa-IntS. t6$
fuch mighty adverfaries : But they fought Under the
banner, condua, and influence of the Prince of life,
the King of righteoufnefs, who is always viaorious,
and has a crown in. his hand for every conqueror.
Is jefus the great example of his faints ? Behold the
virtues and graces of the Son of God, copied out in
all his followers. As he was,fo were they in this world,
holy, harmlefs and undefiled, and feparate from finners ¦
As he now is, fo are they, glorious in holinefs, and
divinely beautiful, while each of them refleas the image
of their bleffed Lord, and they appear as wonders to
all the beholding world. They we're unknown here
on earth* even as Chrift himfelf was unknown : This is
the day appointed to reveal their works and their gra
ces, jefus is the brightnefs of his Father's glory, and
the- expr-efo image of his perfon ; and all the fons and
daughters of God fliall then appear, as fo many pic
tures of the bleffed Jefus, drawn by the finger of the
eternal Spirit.
And not their fouls only, but their glorified bodies
alfo are framed in his likenefs. What grace and
grandeur dwells in each countenance, as thou art, O
blefled Jefus, fo fhall they be in that day, all of them
refembling the children of a king ! Vigour and health,
beauty and immortality, fhine and reign throughout
all that bleffed Affembly. The- adopted fons and
daughters of God refemble the original and only be
gotten Son : Chrift will have all his brethren arid
sifters conformed unto his glories, that they may be
known to be his kindred, the children of his Father,
and that he may appear the firft-born among many bre
thren. When the Son of God breaks open the graves,
he forms the duft of his faints, by the model of his
Own glorious afpea and figure, and changes their vile
bodies into, the likenefs of his own glorious body, by that
power whereby he is able to. fubdue all things to himfelf.
Phil. iii. ult. He fhall be admired as the bright origi
nal, and each of the faints as a fair and glorious copy :
The various beauties that are difperfed among all that
afferiibly,

1 66 ChrisT admired and Difc. IV.
affembly, are fortuned up and united in himfelf; he is
the chief eft of ten thoufands, and altogether lovely. One
fun in the firmament can paint his own bright image
at once, upon a thoufand reffeaing glaffes, or mirrors
of gold : What a dazzling luftre would arife front fuch
a fcene of reffeaions ! But what fuperior and inex-
preflible glory, above all the powers of fimilitu.de and
beyond the reach of comparifon, fhall irradiate the
world in that day, when Jefus, the fon of righteouf
nefs fhall fliine upon all his faints, and find each of
them well prepared to receive this luftre, and to re-
flea it round the creation ; each of thenf difplaying
the image of the original Son of God* and confefling
all their virtues arid graces, all their beauties and glo
ries, both of foul and body, to be nothing elfe but
mere copies and derivations from Jefus, the firft and
faireft image of the Father !
USE.
The doarines and the works of divine grace are
full of wonder arid glory : Such is the perfon and
offices of Chrift, fuch are his holy and faithful follow
ers, and fuch eminently will be the blefled fcene at his
appearance. In the foregoing part of the difcourfe,
we have briefly furveyed fome of thofe glorious won
ders, we now come to confider what Ufe may be made
of fuch a theme.
Ufe I. It gives us eminently thefe two leffons of in-
flrutlion. Leffon i . How miftaken is the judgment of flefh and
fenfe, in the things that relate to Christ and his faints.
The Son of God himfelf, was abufed and fcorned by
the blind world, they efteeined him as one fmitten of
God and unbeloved, and they faw no beauty nor comelinefs
in him, Ifa. liii. 23. He was poor and defpifed all his
life, and he was doomed to the death of a criminal
and a Have. As for the faints, they find no more ho
nour or efteem among men than their Lord, they are
many times called and counted the filth of the world,
. and

Difc. IV. glorified in his Saints. 167
and the off-fcouring of all things, 1 Cor. iv. 13. This
is the judgment of flefh and fenfe.
But when the great appointed hour is come, and
Jefus fhall return from heaven with afhoutofthe arch
angel, and the trump of God, when he fhall call up his
faints from their beds of duft and darknefs, and make
the graves refign thofe prifoners of hope, when they
fhall all gather together around their Lord, a bright
and numerous army, fhining and reffeaing the splen
dours of his prefence, how will the judgment of flefh
and fenfevbe confounded at once, and reverfed with
fhame ! " Is this the man that was loaded with fcan-
" dal, that was bufletted with fcorn, and feourged artd
" crucified in the land of Judea ? Is this the perfon
" that hung on the curfed tree, and expired under
" agonies of pain and forrow ? Amazing fight ! How
" majeftick, how divine his appearance ! The Son of
" God, and the King of Glory ! And are thefe the
" men that were made the mockery of the world f
" That wandered about in Jheep-Jkins, and goatfkins, in
*' dens and caves of the earth ? Surprifing appearance !
" How illuftrious! How full of glory!" O that fuch a
mediation might awaken us to judge more by faith.
Leffon 2. The next Leffon that we may derive from
the text is this, viz. One great defign of the day ofjudg-..
ment, is to advance and publijh the glory of Chrift, He
fhall come on purpofe to be glorified in his faints ; the
whole creation was made by him and for him ; the
tranfaaions of, providence, grace and juftice, are ma
naged for his honour ; and the joyful and terrible af
fairs of the day of judgment, are defigned to difplay
the majefty and the power of Jefus the King, the wif
dom and equity of Jefus the Judge, and the grace and
truth of Jefus the Saviour. I will grant indeed, that
the appointment of this day is partly intended for the
glory of Chrift, in the juft deftruclion of the impenitent,
for he will be glorified in pouring out the vengeance of
his Father upon rebellious finners : The Lord jefus fhall
be revealed, from heaven with his mighty angels inflaming fire,

1 68 Christ admired and Difc. IV.
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and
obey not the gofpel of our Lord Jefus Chrift, who Jhall be
punijhed with everlafting deftruftion from the prefence of
the Lord, and from the glory of his power, ver. 7, 8, 9.
before my text. But his fweeteft and moft valuable reve*
tiue of glory arifes from among his faints.
If the meffengers of the churches are called the glory of
Chrift., with all the weakneffes, and fins, and follies
that attend the beft of them here, as in 1 Cor. viii. 23.
much more fliall they be his glory hereafter, when they
fhall have no fpot nor blemifti found upon them, and
the work df Chrift upon their fouls has formed and fi
nifhed them, in the perfea beauty of holinefs. The
faints fliall reffea glory on each other, and all of them
caft supreme luftre on Chrift their head : The people
fhall be the crdwn and glory of the minister in that
day, and the minifter fhall be the joy and glory of the
people, and both fhall be the crown, joy and glory of
our Lord Jefus Chrift, 1 Ihef. ii. 19, 20. 2 Cor. i. 14.
1 Thef. i. 12. He fliall appear high on a throne in the
midft of that bright 'affembly, and fay, " Father, thefe
" are the fheep that thou' haft given me, in the coun-
" fels of thine eternal love ; all thefe have I ranfomed
" from hell at the price of my own blood ; thefe have I
" refcued by my grace, from the dominion of fin and
" the devil ; I have formed them unto holinefs, and
*' fitted them for heaven; I have kept them by my
" power through all the dangers of their mortal ftate,
" and have, brought them fafe to thy celeftial king-
" dom : fill thine are mine, and all mine are thine ; I
" was glorified in them on earth. John xvh\ ic. and
*' they are now my everlafting crown and glory."
Then fhall the unknown worlds that never fell,
worlds of angels and innocent creatures, and the world
of guilty devils and condemned rebels, ftand and woh-
der together at the recovery and falvation Chrift has
provided for the fallen fons of Adam. They fliall ftand
amazed to fee the millions of apoftate creatures, the
inhabitants of this earthly globe, recovered to their duty

Difc IV. glorified in his Saints. 169
duty and allegiance by {he Son of God, going down
to dwell amOrigft them ; millions of impure and de
formed fouls reftored to the divine image, and-made
beautiful as angels,, b|f.the grace and fpirit of our Lord
Jefus. Thofe spectators fliall be filled with admiration
and tranfport, to fee fuch a multitude of criminals par
doned and justified, for the fake of. a righteoufnefs
which they themfelves. never wrought, and accepted
as righteous in the fight of God, by a covenant of
grace unknown to other worlds, and by faith in the
great Mediator. They fhall wonder to fee fuch an in
numerable company of polluted Wretches; wafhej(|ifrom
their fins in fo precious a laver as the blood of God's
own Son : And he that hung upon the crofs as a fpec-
tacle of wretchednefs at Jerufalem, fhall entertain the
fuperiof and ipferior worlds with the fight of his ado
rable and divine glories, and the fpoils he has brought
from the regions df death and hell. Thus to the prin
cipalities and powers in heavenly places, Jhall be made
known by. the church triumphant, tbe^ manifold wifdom,
and the manifold grace of Gad the Father, and his
Sort Jefus Chrift, Eph. iii, 1 o.
But tremble, Oh ye obftinate and impenitent wretches,
ye, fenfual finners, ye infidels of a Chriftian name and
riafion, Chrift will be glorified in you one way or ano
ther : If your hearts are not bowed and melted to re
ceive his gofpel* you fhall be punifhed with everlafting
deftrutlion among thofe that know not God, and obey not
the gofpel of his Son.
Tremble, ye fenfual and ye profane fons of iniquity,
when ye remember this day, when ye fliall fee the ho
ly fouls that ye fcorned, with crowns on their heads,
and palms in their hands, with the fhortt of viaory and
joy on their tongues, arid the God-man whom ye de-
fpifed, and whofe grace ye negfeaed, fhining at the
'head of that bright affembly.
Tremble, ye infidels, ye defpifers of the name of a
crucified Chrift, behold his crofs is become a throne,
and his crown of thorns a crown of glory : See the
Y man

170 Christ admired and ¦ Difc. IV/
man rwhom ye have fqprned and reproached, at the
head of millions of angels, and adored by. ten thoufand.
times ten thoufand faints, while wicked princes and
captains, armies and nations of finners, wait, their
doom from his mouth, nor dare hope for a word of
his mercy. O make hafte, and come and be reconci
led to him, and to God by him, that ye may belong
to that bleffed affenibly, that ye may bear a part in the
triumphs of that day, and that Chrift. maybe glorified
in your recovery from the very borders of damnation.
This thought leads me to the next Ufe.
II. This difcourfe gives rich, encouragement to the
greateft finners to hope for mercy, and to the weakeft faints
to hope for vitlory and falvation. Such fort of fubjeas
of the grace of Chrift, fhall yield him fome of the
brighteft rays of glory at the laft day. Yet, finners,
let me charge you here never to hope for this happi
nefs without folemn repentance, and an intire change
of heart unto holinefs, for an unholy foul would be a
fearful blemifh in that affembly, and a difgrace. to our
Lord Jefus. Chriftians I wpuld charge you alfo .never
to hope for the happinefs of this day, without ^battle
and- conqueft, for all the members of that affembly
muft be overeomers ; but where there is a hearty de
fire and longing after grace and falvation, fet not the
worft of finners defpair, nor the weakeft believer let
go his hope, for it is fuch as you and I are* in whom
Chrift will be magnified in that day.
Believe this. Oh thou humbled and convinced fin
ner, who complaineft thy heart is hard, though thou
wouldeft fain repent and mourn ; who feareft the
bonds of thy corruptions are fo ftrong that they fhall
never be broken ; believe that the fovereign grace of
Chrift has defigned to exalt itfelf in the fanaification of
fuch unholy fouls as thou art, and in melting fuch hard
hearts as thine. And thou poor trembling foul that
wouldeft fain truft in a Saviour, but art afraid, becaufe
of the greatness of thy guilt, and thine abounding imV
quities, believe this, that where fin has abounded^ grace has

Difc. IV. glorified in 7ms Saints. 171
has much more abounded : It is from the bringing fuch
finners as thou art to heaven, that the choiceft reve
nues of glory fliall arife to our Lord jefus Chrift, and
thy acclamations of joy and honour to the Saviour,
fhall perhaps be loudeft in that day, when he foall
come to be glorified in his faints, and admired in all than
that believe.
Read 1 Tim.'u 13, 14, 15, and 16. and fee there
what an account the great Apoftle gives of his own
converfion ; / was a blafphemer, and a perfocutor,
and injurious, yet I obtained mercy.; and the grace of our
Lord was exceeding abundant with faith, and love, which
is in Jefus Chrift. Now I am fent to publifh and
preach to blafphemers and perfecutors, that this is a
faithful faying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Chrift
jefus came into the world to fave finners ; of whom I am
chief. Howbeit, for this caufe I obtained mercy, that in
me firft, jefus Chrift might fhew forth all long fuffering,
for a pattern to them which fhould hereafter believe on
him to Ufe everlafting.
Turn to another text, ye feeble believers, 2 Cor. xii.
9, 10. there you fliall find the fame Apoftle a Convert
and a Chriftian, but too weak to conflia with the mef-
fenger of fatan that buffeted him, nor able to releafe
himfelf from that fore temptation that lay heavy upon
him ; but'having received a word from Chrift that his
grace was fufficient, and that his Jirength was to fhine
perfecl in glory in the midft of our weaknefs, the Apoftle
encourages himfelf to a joyful hope : Now, fays he, I
can even glory in my infirmities (fo far as they are with
out fin) that the power of Chrift may reft upon me ; when
I am weak in myfelf, I am ftrong in the Lord. '
Are not the moft difeafed patients the chief honours
of the phyfician that hath healed them ? And muft not
thefe appear eminently in that day, when he difplays
to the fight pf the world the nobleft monuments of his
healing power ? When cripples and invalids gain the
viaory over mighty enemies, is not the fkill and con
dua of their leader moft admired ? You are the per fons

iyz Christ admired and Difc. IV.
fons then in whom Chrift will be glorified, be of good
chear, receive his offered grace, and wait for his fal
vation. Ill, The next Ufe I fliall make of this difcourfe,ls
to draw a word of advice from it. Learn to defpifo thofe
honours and ornaments in this world, in which Chrift
fhall have nojhare in the world to come. I do not fay,
caft them all away, for many things are needful in this
life, that can have no immediate regard to the other 5
but learn to defpifo them, and fet light by them, becaufe
they reach no further than time, and fliall be forgotten
in eternity. Never put the higher efteem on yourfelves
or your neighbours, becaufe of the gay glitterings of
filk or filver ; nor let thefe employ your eyes and your
thoughts in the time of worfhip, when the things of
the future world fhould fill up all your attention ; nor
let them entertain your tongues in your friendly vifits,
fo as to exclude the difcourfe of divine ornaments, and
the glorious appearance of our Lord jefus.
When I am to put on rny beft attire, let me confi-
der, if I am hung round with jewels and gold, thefe
muft perifh before that folemn day, or melt^ in the laft
great burning, they can add no beauty to me in that af
fembly. If I put on love, and faith, and humility, I fhall
fhine in thefe hereafter, and Chrift fhall have fome rays
of glory from them. O may your fouls and mine be
drelt in thofe graces which are ornaments of great price
in the fight of God! 1 Pet. iii, 3, 4. Such as may com
mand the refpea of angels, and reffea honour upon
Chrift in that folemnity !
I confefs we dwell in flefh and blood, and human
nature in the beft of us is too much impreft by things
fenfible : When we fee a train of human pomp and
grandeur, and long ranks of fhining garments and
equipage, it is ready to dazzle our eyes, and attraa
our hearts : Vain pomp, and poor equipage, all this,
when compared with the triumph of our bleffed Lord,
at his appearance with an eftdlefs army of his holy ones ;
where every faint fliall be yefted (not in filks and gold) but

Difc. IV; gkri/ied in his Saints. 173
but in robes of refined light* out -fhining the fun, filch
as Chrift himfelf wore in the mount of transfiguration.
Millions of funs in one firmament of glory. Think on
that day, and the illuftious retinue of our Lord : Think
on that splendor that fhall attraa the eyes of heav£»
and earth, fhall confound the prdud finner, and afto-
nifti the inhabitants of hell : Such a meditation as this
will caft a dim fhadow over the brighteft appearances
of a court, or a royal feftival ; it will fpread a -dead co^-
louring oVer all the painted vanities of this life ; it will
damp every thought of rifing ambition and; earthly
pride, and we fhall have but little heart to admire or
wifh for any of the vain fhows of mortality. Methihks
every gaudy fcene of the prefent life, and all the gild*
ed honours of courts and armies, fhould groW faint;
and fade away, and vanilh, at the meditation of this
illuftrious appearance.
IV. This text will give us aifo two hints of caution.
Firft* You that are rich in this wdrld, or wife, or
mighty, dare not ridicule nor feoff at thofe poor weak Chri
ftians; in whom Chrift Jhall be admired and glorified- in
the laft day. You that fancy you have any advan
tages of birth or beauty, of mind or body here ori
earth, dare hot make a jeft of your poor pious neighbour
that wants them, for he is one of thofe perfons whom
Christ calls his glory, and he himfelf has given you
warning, left you incur his refentment on this account,'
Matth. xviii. 6. Whofo Jhall offend one of thefe little ones
which believe in me, it were better for him that a mill-
ftone •were hanged about his neck, and that he were
drowned in the depth of the fea. Perhaps the good
man has fome blemifh in his outward form, or it may
be his countenance is dejeaed, or his meih and figure
aukward and uncomely ; perhaps his garments fit
wrong and unfafhionable upon him, or it may be they
hang in tatters ; the motions of his body perhaps are
ungraceful, his fptech improper, and his deportment
is fimple and unpolifhed ; but he has fhining graces
in his foul, in which Christ fliall be admired in the
laft

174 ¦ Christ admired and Difc IV.
laft day* and how dareft thou make him thy laughing-
flock ? Wilt thou be willing to hear4:hy fcornful jeft
repeated again at that day, when the poor derided
Chriftian has his robes of glory on, and the Judge of
all fhall acknowledge him for one of his favourites ?
The fecond hint of caution is this, Tou that Jhall 'be
the glory of Chrift in that day, dare not do any thing that
may dijhonour him now. Walk anfwerable to yoUr
charaaer and your hope, nor indulge the leaft firtful
defilement. Say within yourfelvCs, " Am I to make
" one in that fplendid retinue of my Lord, where
" every one muft appear in robes of holinefs, and
" fhall I fpot my garments with the flefh ? When I
" am provoked to anger and indignation, let me fay,
" doth wrath and blufter become a follower and an
" attendant of the meek and peaceful, Jefus? When I
" am tempted to pride and vanity of mind, will this
" be a beauty, or a blemifh, to that affembly that
" fhines in glorious humility ? Or perhaps I am wa-
" vering, and ready to yield, and become a captive to
" fome foolifh temptation ; but how then can I ex-
" pea a place in that holy triumph, which is appoint-
" ed for none but conquerors ? And how fhall I be
" able to look my bleffed General in the face on that
" day, if I prove a coward under his banner, and
" abandon my profeflion of ftria holinefs, at the de-
" mand of a finful and threatnirtg world ?"
V. The laft Ufe I fhall make of the text, is matter
of confolation and joy to two forts of Chriftians.
Firft, To the poor, mean, and defpifed followers of
Chrift, and in whom Chrift himfelf is defpifed by the
ungodly; world read my text, and believe that in you,
Chrift fliall be glorified and admired, when, with a
million of angels, he fhall defcend from heaven, and
make his laft appearance upon earth ; mean as you are in
your own efteem, becaufe of your ignorance and your
weaknefs in this world, you fhall be one of the glo
ries of Christ in the world to come : Little and def-
pieable as you are in the efteem of proud finners, they fliall

Difc IV. glorified in his Saints. 175
fhall behold your Lord exalted on his throne, and you
fitting among the honours at his right hand, while
they fhall rage afar off, and gnafh their teeth at your
glory : When the eye of faith is open, it can fpy this
bright hour at a diftance, and bid the mourning Chri
ftian rejoice in hope.
Secondly, There is comfort aho in my text, to thofe
who mourn for the dijhonour of Chrift in the world; thofe
lively members of the mystical body who sympathize
with the bleffed Head, under all the reproaches that
are call upon him and his gofpel, who groan under
the load of fcandal that is thrown upon Chrift in an in
fidel age, as thdugh it were perfonally thrown upon
themfelves. It is matter of lamentation indeed, that
there are but few of this fort of Chriftians in our day,
few that love our Lord Jefus with fuch tendernefs j
but if fuch there be among you, open your eyes, and
look forward to this glorious day. This day, to which
Enoch, the firft of all the Prophets, and John, the laft
of all the Apoftles, direas our faith. Read theirfown
words, Jude 14, 15. ReV. i. 7. Behold, th? Lord com*
eth with ten thoufands of his faints, to execute judgment
upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them,
of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily com
mitted, and of all the hard fpeeches, which ungodly fin
ners have fpokeh againft him. Behold, he cometh "with
clouds ; and every eye fhall fee him, and they alfo which
pierced him : And all kindreds of the earth fhall wail be
caufe of him. Bear Up your hearts', ye mourners, and
fupport your hopes with the promife of oUr Lord.
Again, a little while and ye Jhall fee me ; ye fhall fee the
Son of man fitting on the throne of his glory. : Matt. xxv.
31. Then fhall your heart rejoice in his honours and in
your own, and this joy no ?nan iaketh from you, John
xvi. 19, 22. And while he repeats this promife with
his laft words in the TSih\e,furely home quickly, let eve
ry foul of us eccho to the voice of our beloved, Amen.
Evenfo come Lord Jefus,
DIS-

( i>« )
DISCOURSE V.
The Wrath of tli€ : Xamb.

! $fev. iri: 15, 16, 17,
And thii, kings of the earth, and the great men*, and the-
rich men, and ther chief captains, arid! the mighty merit,
and every bond-man^ and every free-man, hid them-
, fohe>s in the dens, find in the rocks of the mountains! ;
and. faid to fhe mountains and rooks, fall on us, awk
hide us from the face of him thatfittetk am the throne,
and from the 3vraib of the Lamb ; For the great day of
of his wrath is come ; and who jhall be able to ftand* .
WHEN fome terrible judgment, or execution
pf divine vengeance is denounced againft an.
age or a nation, it is fometiwes deJijrjbed, in the lan-<
guage of prophecy, by a. refemblance to the. laft and
great, judgment-day, when all mankind fhall be called
to accpupt for their fins, and the juft- and final indig
nation of jGod fhall be executed upon obstinate and
unrepenting criminals ; the difeourfe.of Pur Saviour in
the xxiyth of Matthe w, is an eminent example of this
kind* where the deftruaion of the Jewijh nation is
prediaed, together with the final judgment of the
World, in fuch uniform language, and fintilar phrafes
of fpeech, that it is difficult to fay» whether both thefe
fcenes of vengeance run through, the whole difcourfe,
or which part of the difcourfe belongs to the one, and
which to the other. The farne manner of praphecy
appears ir», this text.
Learned interpreters fuppofe thfife words to foretel
the univerfal confirmation which was found ariiongft
the heathen idolaters and perfecutors of .the Church of
Chrift, when Conftantine, the firft Chrijiian Emperor, was

Difc. V. the Wrath of the' LaUb* 177
was raifed to the throne of Rome, and became gover
nor of the world. But whether they hit Upon the pro
per application of this prophecy or not, yet ftill it is
pretty evident, that this fcene of terror is borrowed
from the laft judgment, which will eminently appear
to be the day of wrath, as it is called, Rom. ii. 5. It
is the great day of divine indignation, in fo eminent a
manner* that all the tremendous defolations^ of king
doms and people, from the creation of the world, to
the confummation of all things, fhall be but as fhadows
of that day of terror and Vengeance.
I fliall therefore consider thefe Words at prefent, as
they contain a folemn repfefentation of that laft glo
rious and dreadful day ; and here I fhall enquire par
ticularly, (1.) Who are the perfon' s whofe afpetl and 'ap
pearance Jhall then be fo dreadful ip finners ? (2.) How
comes the wrath which difoovers itfelf at that time to be
fo formidable ? and (3.) How vain will all the jhifts and
hopes of finners be, in that dreadful day, to avoid the
wrath and vengeance* .•
Firft, Who are the perfons that appear clothed info
much terror?
Anfw. It is he that fits upon the throne, and the Lamb:
It is God the Father of all, the great and Almighty
Creator, the supreme Lord and Governor of the World*
and the Lamb of God, i. e- our Lord Jefus Chrift, his
Son, dwelling in human nature, to whom the judg^
ment of the World is committed, and by Whom the
Father will introduce the terrible and the illuftrious
fcenes of that day, and manage the important and
eternal affairs of it. It is by thefe. names that the
Apoftle John, in this prophetical book, deferibes God
the Father * and his Son Jefus. Rev. iv. 10. and
v. 6. — 13.
If it be enquired* why God the Father is defcribed
as the perfon fitting on the throne* this is plainly agree
able to the other reprefentations of him throughout
the Scripture, where he is defcribed as firft and fu-
preme in authority, as fitting on the throne of ma-
V J Z* jefty

178 The Wrath of the LaU*. Difc. V,
jefty on high, as denoting and commiflioning the Lord
Jefus, his well-beloved Son, to aa for him* and as
placing him on his throne, to execute his works of
mercy or vengeance. Rev. iii. 2 1 . He that overcometh
Jhall fit down with me on my throne, faith our Saviour,
even as I have overcome, and am fet down with the Fa
ther on his throne. John v. 22. — 27. The Father hath
committed all judgment into the hands of the Son. It is
true, the Godhead or divine effence is. but one, and it
is the fame Godhead which belongs to the Father that
dwells in the Son, and in this refpea Chrift and the
Father are one, he is in fhe Father, and the Father' in
him, John x. 30, 38 ; yet the Father is conftantly ex
hibited in Scripture, with peculiar charaaers of prime
authority, and the Son is reprefented as receiving all
from the Father. John v. 19, 20, 22, 26. 27.
If it be farther enquired, why Chrift is called the
Lamb of God, I fhall not purfue thofe many fine me
taphors and fimiles, in which the wit and fancy of
men have run a long courfe on this fubjea ; but fhall
only mention thefe two things.
1. He is called the Lamb, from the innocence of
his behaviour, the quietnefs and meeknefs of his dif-
pofition and condua in the world. The charaaer of
Jefus, among men, was peaceful, and harmlefs, and
patient of injuries ;¦ when he was reviled, he reviled
not again, but was led as a lamb to the flaughtS, with
fubmiffion, and without revenge : This refemblance
appears, and is fet forth to view in feveral Scriptures,
wherein he is compared to this gentle creature. Acls
viii. 32. 1 Pet. ii. 23.
2. He is called the Lamb* becaufe he was appointed
a facrifice for the fins of men ; John i. 29. Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the fins of the world.
1 Pet. i. 18, 1 9. Tou were redeemed with the precious
blood of Chrift, as of a lamb without btemijh, and with
out fpot. It was a lamb that was ordained for the con
ftant daily facrifice amongft the Jews, morning and
evening, to typify the conftant and everlafting influence of

Difc.V. The Wrath of the Lamb. 179
of the atonement made by. the death of Chrift. Heb.
x. 11, 12. "It was a lamb which was facrificed at the
paffover, and on which the families of Ifrael feafted, to
commemorate their redemption from the flavery of
Egypt, and to typify Chrift who is our paffover, who was
facrificed for us, and for whofe fake the deftroying an
gel fparcs all. that truft in him, 1 Cor. v. 7.
But will a lamb difcover fuch dreadful wrath ? Has
the Lamb of God fuch indignation in him ? Can the
meek, the companionate, the merciful Son of God,
put on fuch terrible forms and appearances ? Are 'his
tender mercies vanifhed quite away, and will he re
nounce the kind afpea, and the gentle language of a
lamb for ever ?
To this I anfwer, that the various glories and offices
of our bleffed Lord, require a variety of human me
taphors and emblems to reprefent them. He was a
Lamb, full of gentlenefs, meeknefs, andcompaffion,
to invite and encourage finful perifhing creatures, to
accept of divine mercy : But he has now to deal with
obftinate and rebellious criminals, who renounce his
Father's mercy, and refift all the gentle methods of
his own grace and falvation : And he is fent by the
Father to punifli thofe rebellions, but he is named the
Lamb of God ftill, to put the rebels in mind what
gentlenefs and compaffion they have affronted and
abufed, and to make it appear that their guilt is utter
ly inexcufable.
Let us remember, Chrift is now a Lamb, raifed to
the throne in heaven, and furnilhed and armed with
feven eyes andfeven horns, with perfea knowledge and
perfea power, to govern the world, to vindicate his
own honour, and to avenge himfelf upon his impeni
tent and obftinate enemies. Rev. v. 5, 6. Here the
Lamb will affume the name of the Lion of the tribe of
Judah alfo, and he muft aa in different charaaers,
according to the perfons he has to deal with.
The fecond general queftion which we are to consi
der, is, How comes the wrath of that great day to be fo
terrible ? I

j8o The Wrath ef the Lam^ Difc.V,
I anfwer in general, becaufe it is not only the wrath
of Go,d, but of the Lamb : It is the wrath that is mani-
tested for the affronts of divine authority, and the
abufe of divine mercy : It is wrath that is awakened by
the contempt of the laws of God, written in the books
pf nature, and Scripture, and for the contempt of his
love revealed in the gofpel by Jefus Chrift,
It is proper to obferve here, that thewrath of God,
&nd the wrath of the Lamb, are not to be conceived as
exaaiy the fame, for it is the wrath of the Son of God
in his human nature exalted, as well as the difpleafure
of God the Father : It is the righteous and holy refent-
ment of the man jefus, awakened and let loofe againft
rebellious creatures, that have broken all the rules of
his Father's government, and have refufed all the pro
pofals of his Father's grace : It is the wrath of the
higheft, the greateft, and the beft of creatures, joined
to the wrath of an offended Creator*. But let us en.
ter a little into/particulars.
i. It is righteous wrath* and juft and deferyed ven
geance, that arifes from the deareft difcoveries of the love
ofGodneglecled, and the fweeteft meffages of divine grace
refufed. All the former difcoveries of the love of God
to men, both in nature and providence, as well as by
divine revelation, whether made by men, or by angels,
whether
* Here let it be obferved, that when the holy' Scripture fpeaks
of the wrath and indignation of the bleffed God, we are not to un
derstand it as though God were fubject to fuch paffions or affefti-.
ons of nature, as we feel fermenting or working within ourfelves
when our anger rifes : But becaufe the juftice pr rectb'ral wiidom
of God inclines him to bring natural evil, pain or forrow, upon thofe
who are obftinately guilty of moral evil or fin, and t© treat them
as anger or wrath inclines men to treat thofe that have offended
them ; therefore the Scripture, fpeaking after the manner of men,
calls it, the -wrath and indignation of Cod.
And it is hard to fay, whether or no the wrath of the Lamb,
j. e. of the man Chrifl. Jefus, in whom Godhead dwells, be any
thing more,, than the cahn,- difpaflionate, reftoral wifdom of the
human nature , of Phrjfl, inclining, him to punifh rebellions and im
penitent finners, in conformity to the will of God his Father, oij
in concurrence Svith the Godhead' which dwells in him.

Difc. V. The Wrath of the Lamb. 181
whether in the days of the Patriarchs, or in the days
of Mofes and the Jews, were far inferior to the grace
which was revealed- by Jefus Chrift; and therefore the
fin of rejeaing it is greater in proportion, and the pu
nifhment will be more fevere. If the word fpoken by
angels was ftedfaft, and every franfgreflfion and difobe*
dience received a juft recompence of reward,— ^-how Jhall
we efcape if we negletl fo great falvation, as this which
began to be fpoken by our Lord? Heb. ii. 2, 3.
Mofes had many true difcoveries of grace made to
him, and intrufted with him, for finful men : But the
Scripture faith, John i. 17. The law came by Mofesi, and
grace and truth came by Jefus Chrift, i, e. in fuch fu-
perabundance, as though grace and truth had never
appeared jn the world before. The forgiving mercy
of God, under the veil of ceremonk^ and facrifices,
and the mediation of Chrift, under the type of the high
Priest, was but a dark and imperfea difcovery, in
comparifon of the free, the large, the. full forgivenefs,
which is brought to us by the gofpel of Chrift. Learn
this doarine at large, frorti Heb. x. 1 — 14. This is
amazing mercy, aftonifhing grace, and the defpifers
of it will deferve to perifh with double deftruaiori, for
they wink their eyes againft clearer light, and rejea
the offers of more abounding love.
2. It is wrath that is awakened by the moft precious
and moft expenfinie methods of falvation flighted and un
dervalued. Well may God fay to Chriftian nations,
especially to Great-Britain, who fits under the daily
found of this gofpel, " What could I have dme more for
" you than I have done ? Ifa. v. 4. I have fent my own
" Son, the Son of my bofom, the Son of my eternal
" love, to take flefh and blood upon him, that he
" might be able to die in your ftead, who were guilty
" rebels, and deferved to die: I have given him up to
" the infults and injuries of men, to the temptations,
" the buffetings, and rage of devils, to the ftroke of
«' the fword of my juftice, to the curfed death of the
" crofs for you; here is heaven and falvation purchaf- « ed

1 82 The Wrath of the Lamb. Difc. V.
" ed for man, with the deareft and moft valuable life
" in all the creation, with the richeft blodd that ever
" ran in the veins of a creature, with the life and
" blood of the Son of God ; and yet you refufed to
" receive and accept of this falvation, procured at fo
" immehfe a price. I called you to partake of this
" invaluable bleffing freely, without money, and with-
" 'out price, and yet you flighted all thefe offers of mer-
" cy ; what remains but that my wrath fhould kindle
'* againft you in the hotteft degree, and fill your fouls
" with exquifite anguifh and mifery ; you haverefuf-
" ed to accept of a covenant which was fealed with
" the blood of my own Son, which was confirmed by
" miraculous operations of my own Spirit ; you have
" valued your sinful pleafures, and the trifles of this
(e vain world, above the blood of my Son, and the
*' life of your fouls : It is divinely proper that divine
" vengeance fhould be your portion, who have rejec-
" ted fuch rich treasures of divine love." Heb. x. 28
—3 1 . He that defpifed Mofes' law, died without mercy,
under two or three witneffes ; of how muchforer punifh
ment fuppofe ye, fhall he be thought worthy, who hath
trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the
blood of the covenant, wherewith he was fantltfied, an
unholy thing, and hath done defpite unto the fpirit of
grace ? For we know him that hath faid vengeance be-
"longeth unto me, I will repay, faith the Lord.
3. It is wrath that muft avenge the affronts and inju
ries done to the prime minifter of God's government, and
the chief meffenger of his mercy. All the Patriarchs,
and the Prophets, and Angels themfelves, were but
fervants to bring meffages of divine grace to men :
and fome of them in awful forms and appearances,
reprefented the authority of God too : But the Son of
God is the prime minifter of his government, and the
nobleft ambaffador of his grace, and the chief deputy
or vicegerent in his Father's kingdom. See Heb. i. 1,
2. Pfal. ii. 6, 9, 12. His Father's glory and grandeur,
compaflion and love, are moft fublirnely exhibited in
the

Difc. V. She Wrath of the LamS. i$g
the face of Christ his Son* and God will not have
his higheft and faireft image difgraced and affronted,
without peculiar and fignal vengeance.
The great God will vindicate the honours pf hk
Son Jefus, in the infinite deftruaion of a rebellious
and unbelieving world : And the Son himfelf hath
wrath, and juft refentment j he will vindicate his own
authority, and his commiflion of grace. He hath a
rod of iron put into his hands, as well as a fceptre of
meccy, and with this rod will he break to pieces re
bellious nations. Rev. iii. latter end. It is not fit
that the firft minifter of the empire of the king of
heaven, and the brighteft image of his majefty and
of his love* fhould appear always in the charaaer of
a Lamb, a meek and unrefenting creature. He will
put on the Lion wnen his commiflion of grace is end
ed : He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Rev. v. 5.
And will rend the caul of the heart of thofe unrepenting
finners, who have refifted his authority and abufed
his love.
And how will the wrath of the Lamb of God pe
netrate the foul of finners with intenfe anguifh, when
the meek and the compaflionate Jefus, fhall be com-
miffioned and conftrained to fpeak the language of re
fentment and divine indignation ?
" Did you not hear of me finners in yonder world,
" which lies weltering in flames ? Did you not read
" of me in the gofpel of my grace ? Did you not
" learn my charaSer and my falvation in the mini-
" ftrations of my Word I Were you not told that I was
" appointed to be the Saviour of a loft world, and a
" minifter of divine mercy to men ? And was there
" not abundant evidence of it by miracles and pro-
" phecies ? Were you not told that I was exalted af-
" ter my fufferings to the right hand of God, on
" purpofe to beflow repentance and remiffton of fins ?
" Aas v. 3 1 . And were you not informed alfo, that
" I had a rod of iron given me to dafh rebels to death?
" Pfal. ii. What is the reafon you never came to me,
" or

184 The Wrath of the LamS* Difc V
*' or submitted to ttiy government, or accepted of my
" grace? Did you neVer hear of the threatenjngs
" that flood like drawn fwords againft thofe who wilful-
"¦ ly refufe this mercy? Did you think thefe were, mere
" bugbears, mere founding words to fright Children
" with, and harmfefs thunder that would never blaft
" you? Did you think thefe flafhes.pf wrath in my
" word, were fuch fort, of lightenings as you might
" fafely play with, and flame, that would never burn?
*' What punifhments think you, do you deferve,
" firfi f°r the abufe of my authority, and then for
" the wilful and obftinate refufal of my grace ? Is
" it not divinely fit and proper, my wrath fhould
" awake againft fuch heinous criminals ? Where i&
" any proper objea for my refentment, if you are not
" made objeas of it ? Take them, apgels, bind them
<f hand and foot, arid caft them into utter darknefs :
" Let them be thrown headlong into the prifon of
" hell, where fire and brimftone burn unquenchably,
" where light, and peace, and hope can never come.
*' Let them be crufhed with the rod of iron, which
" the Father hath put into my hands, as the firft mi-
*f nifter of his kingdom, as the avenger of his de-
*' fpifed grace."
4. It is a wrath, that is excited by a final and utter
rejeclion of the laft propofals of divine love. When
mercy was offered to men by the bleffed God at firft,
the difcoveries were more dark and imperfea, there
were ftill further difcoveries to be made in following
ages : Therefore the crime and guilt of finners in
thofe former days, was much lefs than the crime and
guilt of thofe who rejea this laft propofal of mercy.
( There is no further edition of the covenant of grace,
for thofe who refufe this offer. Thofe who negfea
Christ as he is fet furth in the gospel, to be a facri.-"
fice for. fin, there remains no more facrifice for them?
but a certain fearful expectation of vengeance and fiery.
indignation, which Jhall confume the advevfary. Heb.
x. 26, 28. •-•' • All

Difc. V. The Wrath of the Lamb. 185
AH the former difpenfations of1 grace are contained
eminently and compleated in this difpenfation of the
gofpel. God can fend no greater meffenger than his
own Son, and he concludes and finifhes the whofe
fcene and period of grace, with the gofpel of Christ,
There remains nothing but wrath to the uttermoft for
thofe who have abufed this laft offer of mercy. This
was exemplified in the deftruaion of Jerufalem and
the Jews, a little after they had put Christ to death,
and rejeaed the falvation which he propofed ; and
this wrath will be more terribly glorified in the final
deftruaion of every finner that wilfully rejeas the
glad tidings of this salvation.
5. It is fuch wrath, as arifes from the patience of a,
God, tired and worn out by the boldeft iniquities of men,
and by a final perfoverance in their rebellions. It is the
charaaer and glory of God to be longfuffering, and
flow to anger. Exod. xxxiv. 6. The Lprd, God merciful
and gracious,, longfuffering, and abundant in goodnefs and
truth ; and Jefus his Son, is the minifter of this his.
patience, and the interceffor for this delay of judg-.
ment and vengeance. He is reprefented as interced
ing one year after another, for the reprieve of obfti
nate finners, and at his interceflion, God the Father
waits to be gracious : But God will not wait and delay,
and keep filence for ever, nor will jefus for ever plead.
Pfal. 1. 1, 3, 21, 22. Confider this ye that forget GqJa
left he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver,
God will fay then to obftinate finners, as he did to the
Jews of. old, jer, xv. 5, 6. I will ftretch gut my hand
againft thee and deftroy thee^ I am weary of repenting :
and even the abufed patience of jefus the Saviour, fhail
turn into fury, when the day of recompence fliall come,
and the day of vengeance which is in his heart, Ifa,
Ixiii. ',4. ;,
O let each of us confider, " How long, hsye I
*' made the grace of God wait on me ? How many
" meffages of peace, and pardon have I negfeaed ?
*' How many years have I delayed to accept of this
A a " falvation,

1 86 The Wrath of the Lamb Difc V.
" falvation, and made Jefus wait on an impenitent re-.
" bel with the commiffion of mercy in his hand, while
" I have refufed to receive it ? Let my foul be this
*' day awakened to lay hold of the covenant of grace,
*' to submit to the gofpel of Christ, left to-morrow
" the days of his commiflion of mercy toward me ex*
" pire, left the patience of a God be finifhed, left the
*' abufed love of a Saviour turn into fury, and nothing
*' remains for me, but unavoidable deftruaion."
6. It is a fentence of divine wrath, which Jhall be
attended with the fulleft conviclion of 'finners ," and folf-
(ondemnation in their own confidences. This doubles the
fenfations of divine wrath, and enhances the anguifh,-
of the criminal, to a high degree,
This final unbelief and rejeaion of grace, is a fin
againft fo much light and fo much love, that however
men cheat their coafciences noW, and charrri them in
to filence, yet at the laft great day their own confci-
ences fliall be on the fide of the Judge, wh?n he pro
nounces wrath and damnation upon them, What in-,
finite terrors will fhake the foul, when there is not one
of its own thoughts can fpeak peace within ? When,
all its own inward powers, fliall echo to the fentencp
of the Judge, and acknowledge the juftice and equity
of it for ever. j»
Oh who can exprefs the agonies of pain and tor-.
ture, when the impenitent finner fhall be awakened
into fuch reffeaions as thefe ? " I was placed in a land
" of light and knowledge ; the light of the gospel of
" grace fhone all round me ; but I Winked my eyes
il againft the light, and now I am plunged into utter
" and eternal darknefs 5 I was convinced often that I
*' was a finner, and in danger of death and hell, I was
" convinced of the truth "of the gofpel, and the all->
" fufflciency of the falvation of Christ, but I loved
*{ the vanities of this life, I followed the appetites of
" the. 'flefh, and the delufiv/e charms of a. tempting
" world, I delayed to anfwer to the voice of provi-
•<e dence and the voice of mercy, the voice of the
gofpel

-j?

Difc V. fhe Wrath of the Lamb. 187
" gofpel inviting me to this falvation, and the voice
** of ChrisT requiring me to be faved. My own
" heart condemns me with ten thoufand reproaches i
*' how righteous is God in his indignation ! How juft
" is the refentment of the Lamb of God in this day of
" his Wrath ! What cfear and convincing and dreadful
" equity attends the fehfence of my condemnation,
*' and doubles the anguifh of my foul V
7. It is fuch wrath as Jhall be executed immediately
and eterndlly , without one hour of reprieve, and without
the leaft hope of mercy i, and that through all the ages to
come : For though Jefus is the Mediator between God
and man, to reconcile thofe to God who have broken
his law, there is no Mediator appointed to reconcile
thofe finners to Chrift, when they haVe finally refilled
the grace of his gofpel. There is no blood nor death
that can atone, for the final rejeaiori of the blood of
this dying Saviour. If we refift Jefus Chrift the Lord,
and his atonement, and his facrifice, his gofpel, and
his falvation, there remains no rriore atonement for us.
Let us confider each of thefe circumftances apart, and
dwell a little on thefe terrors, that our hearts may be
affeaed with them.
(1,) This wrath Jhall be executed immediately, for the
time of reprieve is come to an end. Here divine wif>
dom and juftice have fet the limits of divine patience,
and they reach no further*
(2.) It is wrath that fhall be executed without mercy$
becaufe the day and hour of mercy is for ever finifhed.
That belongs only to this life. The day of grace is
gone for eVer : ' He that once made them, will now have
no mercy upon them ; and he that formed them will Jhew
them no favour, Ifa. xxyii. 11. The very mCrcy of the
Mediator, the corripaflion of the Lamb of God, is
turned into wrath and fury. The Lamb himfelf has
put on the form of a Lion, and there is no Redeemer
or Advocate to fpeak a word for them who have fi
nally rejeaed Jefus the only Mediator, worn out the
age

1 88 The Wrath of the Lamb". Dife.V
age of his pity, artd provoked his wrath as well as hi*
Father's. (3.) It is wrath without end, for their fouls are im
mortal, their bodies are raifed to an immortal ftate,
and their whofe nature being finful and mifcrable, and
immortal, they muft endure a wretched and miferable
immortality. This is the reprefentation of the book
of God, even of the New Teftament, and I have no
commiflion from God, either to foften thefe words of
terror, or to fhorten the term of their mifery.
REMARKS on this Discourse.
Rfem. I. What a wretched miftake is it to imagine the
great God is nothing elfe but Mercy, and Jefus Chrift is
nothing elfe but Love and Salvation,. It is true, God
has mote mercy than we can imagine, his love is
boundlefs in many of its exercifes, and Jefus his Son,
who is the image of the Father, is the faireft image of
his love and grace. His companions have heights and
depths, and lengths and breadths in them, that pafs all
tur knowledge, Eph. iii. 1 8. But God is an univerfal
Sovereign, a wife and righteous Governor: There is
majefty with, him as well as grace ; and jefus is Lord
of lords and King of kings ; he bears the image of his
Father's juftice, as well as of his Father's love ; other-
wife, he could not be the full brightnefs of bis' glory,
nor the exprefo image of his perfon.
And besides, the Father hath armed him with
powers of divine vengeance, as well as with powers of
mercy and 'falvation. Pfal. ii. 9. He has put the rod of
iron into his hand, to dafh the nations like a potters veffel.
Rev. ii. 27. and xix 13. He is the eletl and precious
corner ft'one laid in Zion, l Pet. ii. ,6. But' he is a ftOne
that will bruifo thofe who ftumble at him, and thofe on
whom he Jhall fall, he will grind them to powder,
Matth. xxi. 42. He is a Lamb and a Lion too: file
can fuffer at Jerufalem and mount Calvary, with si
lence, and not open his mouth ; and he can roar from
heaven with overfpreading terror, and fhake the world with

DlfcV. The Wrath of the Lamb. 189
with the found of his anger. See that his mercy be
riot abufed.
Rem. 2. The day of Chrift's patience makes haflte to
an end. Evefy day of negfeaed grace haftens on the
hour of his wrath and vengeance. Sinners wafte their
months and years in rebellion againft his love, while
he waits months and years to be gracious : but Chrift
is all-wife, and he knows the proper period of long
fuffering," and the proper moment to let all his wrath
and refentment loofe, on obftinate and unreclaimable
finners. Oh may every one of our fouls awake to
faith and repentance, to religion and righteoufnefs, to
hope and falvation, before this day of our peace be fi
nifhed and gone for ever. Pfal. ii. 12. Kifs the Son left
he be angry, and ye perijh from the way, when bis wrath
is kindled but a little- There was once a feafon when
he faw the nation of the Jews, and the people of Je
rufalem, wafting the propofals of his love ; they fet
their day of mercy pafs away unimproved, and he fore
told their deftruaion with tears in his eyes. Luke
xix. 4 1 , 42. He beheld the city and wept over it, alas,
for the inhabitants who would not be faved. He was
then a meffenger of falvation, and clothed with pity to
finners* but in the laft great day of his wrath, there is
no place for thefe tears of compaffion, no room for pi
ty or forgivenefs.
Rem. 3. When we preach terror to obftinate finners,
we may preach Jefus Chrift as well as when we preach
love and falvation, for he is tlje minifter of his Father's
government both in vengeance and in mercy : The Lamb
hath wrath as well as grace, and he is to be feared as
well as to be trufted ; and he muft be reprefented un
der all the charaaers of dignity to which he is exalted,
that knowings the terrors of the Lord, as well as the
compafEon of the Saviour, we may perfuade finful men
to accept -of falvation and happinefs.

DIS-

DISCOURSE VT,
The vain Refuge of Sinners :
O Rj
A Meditation on the Rocks near Tunbridge Wells. 1 7294

Rev. Vi. 15, 16, 17.
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the
rich men, &c hid themfelves in the dens, and in the
rocks of the mountains ; and faid to the rocks and
mountains, fall on us, and hide us from the face of
him thatfitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of
the Lamb. .
IN the former difcourfe on this text, we haVe takerf
a survey of thefe two perfons and their charaaers^
God and the Lamb, whofe united wrath fpreads fo ter
rible a fcene through the world at the great judgment-
day ; we have alfo enquired, and found fufHcien't rea-
fons, why the anger and juftice of God fhould be fo
fevere againft the finful fons and daughters of men^
who have wilfully broken his law, and refufed the
'grace of his gofpel ; and why the indignation of the
Son of God fhould be superadded to all the terrors of
his Father's vengeance.
We are now come to the third and laft general head
of difcourfe, and that is to confider, How vain will
all the refuges and hopes of finners be found in that dread
ful day, when God and the Lamb fhall join to manifeft
their wrath and indignation againft them.
Thefe hopes, and fhifts, and refuges of rebellious'
and guilty creatures, are reprefented by a noble image
and defcription in my text : They fliall call to the rocks ,
and the mountains to fall upon them, and to cover them
from

Difc. VI. The vain Refuge of Sinners. 191
from the face of him that fits upon the throne, and from
the wrath of the Lamb. As this addrefs to mountains
and to rocks appears to be but a vain hope in extreme
diftrefs, when a feeble and helplefs criminal is pur-
fued by a fwift and mighty avenger, fo vain and fruit-
lefs fhall all the hopes of finners be, to efcape the juft
indignation and fentence of their Judge, In order to
fhew the vanity of all the refuges and fhifts to which
finners fhall betake themfelves in that day, let us fpread
abroad this facred defcription of them in a paraphrafe
under the following heads.
1 . Let us confider the rocks and mountains, as vaft
and: mighty created beings, of huge figure, and high ap
pearance, whofe aid is fought in the laft extremity of di*
firefs ; and what is this but calling upon creatures to
help them againft their Creator ? What is it but fly
ing to creatures to deliver and fave them, when their
offended God refolves to punifli ? A vain refuge in
deed, when God, the Almighty Maker of all things,
and Jefus his Son, by whom all things were made,
fhall agree to arife and go forth againft them, in their
robes of judgment, and with their artillery of ven
geance ! What created being dares interpofe in that
hour to fhelter or defend a condemned criminal ? What
high and mighty creature is able to afford the leaft fe-
curity or proteaion ?
The princes of the earth, and the captains, the
kings, and heroes, and conquerors, with all their mil
lions of armed men, are not able to lift a hand, for
the defence of one finner, againft the anger of God
and the Lamb. They themfelves fhall quake and
fhiver at the tremendous fight, and they fhall fly into
the ' holes of the rocks like mere cowards, and fhall
join their outcries with the poor and the Have, entreat
ing the rocks , and mountains to befriend them with
fhelter and fafety.
Not the higheft mountains, not the hardeft or the
ftrongeft rocks, not the moft exalted or moft power
ful perfonS, or things in nature can defend, when the
God

*92 'The vain Refuge of Sinners, Difc VL
God of nature refolves to deftroy : When He who is
higher than the higheft, and stronger than the ftrong
eft, fhall pronounce deftruaion upon rebels, what
creature can fpeak deliverance ?
The rocks and the mountains obey their Maker,
they fhiver in pieces at the word of his wrath, and
will yield no relief to criminals : But man, rebellious
man, difobeys his Maker, and calls to the rocks and
mountains to protea him. Vain hope, Oh finner, to
make the moft, exalted creatures your friends, when
God the Creator is your enemy. Thefe inanimate
things have never learnt difobedience to their Maker,
and rather than fereen a rebel from his deferved judg
ments, they will offer themfelves as inftruments of di
vine vengeance.
2. Rocks and mountains in their cliffs, and dens, and
caverns, are fometimes considered as places of focrecy
and concealment. My text tells us, that kings and migh
ty men, the rich and the free man, as well as the poor and
theftave, hid themfelves in dens, and in the rocks of the
mountains. They hoped there might be fome fecret
corner, whofe thick fhadows and darknefs were' fuffi
cient to hide them, where the Judge /might not fpy or
find them out. Vain hope for finners to hide in the
holes of the rocks, and the deepeft caverns of the
mountairis, to efcape the notice of that God, who is all
eye and. all ear, and prefent at once in every place of
earth and heaven ! Foolifh expeaation indeed, to
avoid the notice of the Son of God, whofe eyes are
as aflame of fire, and fhoot through the earth and its
darkeft caves.
Read the 139th Pfalm, Oh finner, and then think
if it be poffible to flee from the eye of God, and to
hide thyfelf in the clefts of the rock, where his hand
fhall not find thee. — He has already befet thee behind
and before, and his hand already compaffes thee>round
about in all thy paths. Darknefs itfelf cannot cover
thee ; the night Jhines as the day before him, and fcat-
ters light round about the criminal that would hide
himfelf

Difc. VL t'he vain Refuge of Sinner's. I93
himfelf from the wrath of God. Afk Jeremy the pro-t
phet, and he fliall tell thee, that 'hone can hide himfelf
in fecret places where God fhall not foe hthi^ the God who
fills heaven and earth, Jer. xxiii 4; He fhall hunt ob
ftinate finners from evfcry mountain, and out of the
holes of the rocks j for his eyes are upon all their
ways, neither their perfons, nor their iniquities, can
be hid from him.
And, aS you can never conceal yourfelves from the
light and nbtice of the Judge, fo neither can you turn
your eyes away from him 5 You rhuft behold his face
in vengeance, and endure the diftreffing fight. The
fays of his Majefty, in the day of his Wrath, fhall
strike through all the crannies of the darkeft den, and
pierce the deepeft fhade. Lord^ when thy hand Is lift*
ed vp they will not foe ; but they Jhall fee and be ajhanicdt
tfa. xxvi. 10. And the fade of the Lamb muft be
feen in allltS unknown terrors. Rev. i. 7. Behold, he
tomes in the clouds, and every eye Jhall foe him i The
guilty creature, arid the diVme Avenger, fhall trteet
eye to eye, though the creature has hid himfelf under
rocks and mountains.
3; Thefe rocks and Mountains are defigned to repre
sent, riot only concealment arid darknefs by their holes
and caVefhs, but they are known bulwarks of defence'^
and places of fecuftty and fhelter, by reafon of their ftrength
'and thicknefs. When the prophet would exprefs the
fafety of the man who praftifes righteoufnefs iri a vici
ous age, Ifa. xxxiii. 16. he fays* He Jhall dwell on high,
his place of defence Jhall be a munition of rocks. Thefe
fhall be a bulwark round him for his guard and fafety.
When finners therefore flee to the mountains, and to
the rocks, they may be fuppofed to feek a thick cove
ring, or a fhield of defence to fecure them, where the
ftrokes of divine anger fhall not break through and
teach them : They truft to the folid proteaion of the
rocks, and the ftrength of the mountains to guard
them ; but thefe, alas ! can yield no fhelter from the
ftroke of the arm of God. Should the rocks, Oh
B b finners,

1 94 ' The vain Refuge of Sinners. Difc VL
finners,' attempt to, befriend thee, and furround thee
with their thickeft fortification, his wrath would cleave
them asunder, and pierce thee to the foul, with great
er eafe than thou canft break through a paper wall
with the .battering engines of war. Afk the Prophet
Nahum, who- was acquainted with the majefty of God,
and he fhall tell thee, how it throws , down the ?noun-
tain, and tears the rock in pieces : When his fury is
poured out like fire, the mountains quake at him, the hills
melt, the earth is burnt at his prefence, with all that
dwell therein. He that has his way in the, whirlwind
and in the ftorm, and the clouds are the duft of his feett
What riiountain can ftand before his indignation? And
where is the rock that can abide in the fiercenefs of his
anger? Nah. i. 2. — 6, Were the whole globe of the
earth one rnaffy rock, and fhould it yawn to the very
centre to give thee a refuge and hiding-place, and
then clofe again and furround thee with its folid de
fence,- yet, when the Lord commands, the earth will
obey the voice of him that made it ; this folid earth
would cleave again and refign the guilty prifoner, and
yield thee up to the fword of his juftice. Wneref°~
ever a God refolves. to ftrike, fafety and defence are
impoflibfe things. The finner muft suffer without re
medy, and without hope, who has provoked an Al
mighty God, and awakened the wrath of that Saviour
who can fubdue all things to himfelf.
4, Rocks . and mountains falling upon us are inftru-
merits of fudden and overwhelming death. When finners
therefore call to the rocks and mountains to fall upon
them and cover them, they are fuppofed to endeavour
to put an end to their own beings, by fome overwhelm
ing deftruaion, that they may not live to feel and en
dure the refentments of an affronted God, and an
abufed Saviour. Though they are juft raifed to life,
they would fain die again ; but God, who calls the
idead from their graves, will forbid the rocks and the
mountains, and every creature, to lend finners their
aid tp deftroy themfelves. Sinners, in that dreadful day.

Difc VI. The vain Refuge of Sinners. 195
day, fhall feek death, but death fhall flee from them.
Their natures are now made immortal, arid the fall of
rocks and ihountains canrtot crufh them to death.
They muft Jive to fuftain the weight of divine wrath,
which is heavier than rocks artd mountains.
The life which God hath now given to men in this
mortal ftate, may be given up again, or thrown away
by the daring impiety of felf-murder ; and they may
make many creatures instruments of their own destruc
tion ; but the life which the Son of God fhall give
them, when he calls them from the dead, is.everlafU
ing ; they cannot refign their exiftence and immorta
lity, they cannot 'part with it, nor can any creature
take it from them. They would rather die than fee
God in his majefty, or the Lamb arrayed in his robes
of judgment; but the wretches are immortalized to
punifhment, by the long abufed majefty and power of
God : And they muft live for ever to learn what it is
to defpife the authority of a God, and to abufe the
grace of a Saviour. Their doom is everlafting burn
ings : They have no reft day nor night, thefmoak of their ,
torment will afoend for ever and ever, in the prefence of
the holy angels, and in the prefence of the Lamb. Rev.
xiv. 10, 11.
Thus have we considered thofe huge apd bulky be
ings, the rocks and the mountains, in all their vaft
and mighty figures and appearances, with all their
clefts, and dens, and caverns, for fhelter and conceal
ment, with all their fortification and mafly ¦thicknefs
for defence, and with all their power to crufh and de
stroy mankind, and yet we find them - utterly insuffi
cient to 'hide, cover, or prbtea guilty creatures, in
that great day of the wrath of God arid the Lamb.
Reflections on the foregoing Discourse.
1. How ftrangely do' all the appearances' of Chrift to
finners, in the fever af feafons and difpenfations of his
grace, differ from that- laft great and folemn appedrance^
which to them will be a difpenfation affinal vengeance. He
vifited

1 96 The vain Refuge 'of 'Sinners, Difc VI,
vifited; the world in divine vifions of old, even from
the day of the fin of Adam, and it was. to reveal mer
cy to finful man ; and he fometimes affumed the ma
jefty of God, to let the world know he was not to be
trifled with. He vifited the earth at his incarnation :
How lowly was his ftate ! How full of grace his mini?
ftry ! yet he then gave notice of this day of vengeance,
when he fhould appear in his own and his Father's
moft awful glories.
He vifits the nations now with the word of falvation,
he appears in the glafs pf his gofpel, and in the ordi
nances of his fanauary, as a Saviour whofe heart melts.
with love, and in the language of his tendereft com-
paffions, and of his dying groans, he invites finners to
be reconciled to an offended God ; He appears as a
Larnb made a facrifice for fin, and as a Minifter of his
Father's mercy, offering and diftributing pardons to
criminals. But, when he vifits the world as a final
judge, how folemn and illuftrious xvill that appearance
be ? How terrible his countenance to all thofe who
have refufed to receive him as a Saviour ? Behold he
Cometh inflaming fire, with ten thoufand of .his angels, to
tender vengeance to them that refifted his grace, and
difobeyed the invitation of his gofpel, 2 Thef. i. 7,
Time was, when the Father font forth his Son, not to
condemn the world, but that through him the world might
have life, John iii. 17. But the time is coming, when
God fhall fend him arrayed with Majefty, and with
righteous indignation, to condemn the rebellious world,
and inflia upon them the pains of eternal death. Haft
thou feen him, Oh my foul, in the difcoveries of his
mercy, fly to him with all the wings of faith and love,
with all the speed of defire and joy fly to him, receive
his grace, and accept of his falvation, that when the
day of the wrath of the Lamb fliall appear, thou mayeft
behold his countenance without terror and confufion.
Refl. 2. How very different will the thoughts of finners
be in that day, from wfial they are at prefent ? How dif
ferent their wtifhes and their inclinations.? And that with
regavd

Difc VI. The vain Refuge of Sinners. 197
regard to this one terror, which my text defcribes,
viz. that they fhall addrefs themfelves to the rocks
and mountains for fhelter, and fly into the dens and
caverns of the earth for concealment and fafety. Let
us furvey this in a few particulars.
. Sinners, whofe looks were once lofty and difdainful,
whofe eyes were exalted in pride, their mouth fet
againft the heavens, and their hearts haughty and full
of feorn, they fhall be humbled to the duft of the
earth, they fhall creep into the hiding-places of tha
moles and the bats, and thruft their heads into holes
and caverns, and dens of defolation, at the appearance
of God their Creator in flaming fire, and the Son of
God their Judge ; for he is the avenger of his own
and his Father's injured honours.
Sinners who were once fond of their idols and their
fenfual delights, who made idols tp themfelves of every
agreeable creature, and gave it that place |in their
hearts which belongs only to God, they fliall be hor
ribly confounded in that day, when God fhall appear
in his Majefty, to fhake the earth to the centre, and to
burn the furface of it with all its bravery. This is nob
ly defcribed by the Prophet lfaiah, Chap, the 2d from
1 o-r-% i . In that day fhall a man caft his idols of filver,
and his idols of gold, which thy made, each one for him
felf to worfhip, to the moles and to the bats, to go into the
clefts of the rock, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for
fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his Majefty, when
he arifeth tojhake terribly the earth.
Sinners who once could not tell how to fpend a day
without gay company, thofe fons and daughters of mirth,
who turned their midnights into noon, with the fplen-
dor of their lamps, and the rich and fhining furniture
of their palaces, thofe noify companions of riot, who
made the. ftreets of the city refound with their mid
night revels, they fhall now fly to the folitary caverns
of the rocks, and would be glad to dwell there in dark
nefs and filence for ever, if they might but avoid the
wrath of a provoked God, and the countenance of an
abufed

198 The vain Refuge of Sinners. Difc VI.
abufed Saviour. They would fain be fhut up for ever
from day- light, left they fhould fee the face of an Al
mighty enemy, whofe name and honour have been re
proached, in their fongs of lewd jollity and prophane-
nefs. Sinners who once were fond of liberty in the wildeft fenfe,
and.could not bear that any reftraints fliould be laid up
on their perfons or their wifhes, whenever could endure
the thought of a confinement to their clofets, for one
half hour to converfe with God, or with their own fouls
there, they now call aloud to the rocks and the moun
tains to immure them round, as a refuge from the
eye of their Judge. They were once perpetually rov
ing abroad, and gadding through all the gay fcenes of
fenfuality, in queft of new and flowery pleafures, but
now they beg to be imprifoned for ever in the dens
and caves of the earth ; the deepeft and moft difmal
caves are their moft ardent wiflies, that they might
never fee the countenance of their divine Avenger, nor
feel the weight of his hand.
Sinners who heretofore thought themfelves and their
deeds of darknefs fecure enough from the eye of God, and
from the ftrokes of his juftice, While they revelled in
their common habitations, thofe, who even under the
open fky could defy the Almighty, could laugh at his
threatnings, and mock the prophecies of his vengeance,
now they can find no caverns, deep or dark enough,
to hide them from his fight ; his lightenings penetrate
the hardeft rocks, and fhine into the deepeft folitudes :
There is no fcreen or fhelter thick and ftrong enough
to ftand between God and them, and to cover and
fhield them from his thunder. They call now to the
mountains and the rocks to be an eternal fcreen ; but
the rocks and the mountains are deaf to their cry :
Then fhall they remember, with unknown regret and
anguifh, thofe days of grace,, when Chrift Jefus, who
is now their Judge, offered himfelf to become a fcreen
to them, and a defence from the anger of God their
Creator : - But they rejeaed this offered grace. He
would

Difc VI* The vain Refuge of Sinners* 199
would have been the rock of their fafety, where they
fhould have found refuge from the fiery threatnin'gs
of the broken law, and the majefty of an offended
God : The Father hihifelf had appointed him for this
kind office to repenting finners *¦ and perhaps he gave
Mofes a type or emblem of it, when he commanded
himfelf to hide in the clefts of the rock, to fecure him
from deftruaion, while the burning blaze of.his glory
paffed by, Exod. xxxiii. 22. And Ifaiah the Prophet
had foretold, that this Jefus fhould be as, the Jhadow
of a great rock, to fhelter them from the beams of the
wrath of God ; but they refufed this bleffing, they re
nounced this refuge ; and now they find there is, no
other rockfufncient to become a fhelter fromthe ftroke
of his Almighty .arm, or a fufficient fliadow from the
burning vengeance.
Sinners, who once over-rated their fiejh and blood, and
loved it with infinite fondnefs, who treated their flefhly
appetites with exceflive nicety and elegance, and affec
ted a humourous delicacy in every thing round about
them, would now gladly creep into the mouldy ca
verns of the rocks, they would be glad to hide and defile
themfelves, in the dark and noifome grottos of the
earth, and fqueeze their bodies into the rough and
narrow clefts, to fhield themfelves from the indignation
of him that fits upon the throne, and of the Lamb.
Thofe who once were fo tender of this mortal life and
limbs, and could not think of bearing the leaft hard-
fhip for the fake of virtue and piety, are now wifhing
to have thofe delicate limbs of theirs crufh'd by the fall
of rocks and mountains : They wifh earneftly to have.
their lives and their fouls destroyed for ever, and' their
whofe natures buried in defolation and death, if they
¦might but avoid the eternal agonies and torments that
are prepared for them. Now they long for caverns,
and graves, to hide them for ever from the justice of
God, whofe authority they have defpifed, and from the
wrath . of a Saviour, whofe mercy they have impioufly
.renounced. ¦ Look

&6d The vain Refuge of Sinners^ Difc Vh
Look forward j Oh my foul, to this awful and dreads
ful hour ; survey this tremendous fcerie of confusion^
when finners' fhall f tin counter to all their former prin-*
ciples and wifhes* and pafs a quite different judgment
upon their finful delights, 'from what they were wont
to do in the days of this life of vanity* Learn, Oh
my foul, to judge of things fnore agreeably to the!
appearances of that day : NeVer caflft thou fet the flat*
tering pleafures of fenfe, and the joys pf fin, iri a truer
and juftef view, than ih the light of this glorious and
tremeridotis judgment*
Refl; p How great and dreadful muft the diftrefs of
creatures be$ When they cannot bear to fee the fate of God
their Creator?' How terrible muft be the circumftances
of the fons df nfen, when they cannot indrire to fee
the face of the Son of God, but would fain hide them'
felves from the fight under rocks and mountains? How
Wretched muft their ftate be* Who avoid the face of
the bleffed God with hPrrOr, which the holy angels
ever behold With moft intenfe delight, and which the
faints rejoice in as their higheft happinefs ? It is their
heaven to fee God, and behold the glory of his Sort
Jefus, Matth. v. 8. John xvii.. . But this is the Very
hell of finners in that difmal hour, and will fill theit
fouls with fuch inexpreffible anguifh* that they call to
the rocks and mountains to hide them from the fight.
Dreadful and deplorable is their cafe indeed, who can
not endure to fee the Countenance of jefus the Son of
God, Jefus the Saviour of men, the copy of the. Fa
ther's glory, arid the image of his beauty and love.
They cannot bear to fee that Jefus who is the chiefeft
often thoufands, and altogether lovely; they fly from
that bleffed countenance, which is the ornament, and
the joy of all the holy and happy creation: That bleffed
countenance is become the terror and confusion of im-'
penitent and guilty rebels.
And what fhall I do, if I should be found amongix
this criminal number, in that great day ? If I look at
the wifdom and the righteoufnefs of God, thefe will re-
flea

Difc. VI; The vain Refuge of Sinners* 201
flea the keeneft rays of horror and anguifh upon my
foul, for it is that Wifdom, and that righteoufnefs, that
have joined to prepare the falvation which I have re
jected, and therefore now that wife and righteous God
feeth it proper and neceflary to punifh me with ever
lafting forrows. If I look at the power of God, it is
a dreadful fight : Eternal and Almighty power, that
can break through rocks and mountains, to inflia ven
geance upon the guilty, and ftands engaged by his ho
nour to break my rebellious fpirit with unknown tor
ments. If 1 look at his goodnefs or his love, it is love
and goodnefs that I have defpifed and abufed, and it
is now changed into divine fury. If I look at the face
of Jefus, and 'find there the correfpondent features of
his Father, I fhall then hate to fee it-- — for this very
reafon, becaufe it bears his Father's image, who is fo
terrible to my thoughts. I fhall neither be able to
bear the fight- of God Or of his faireft copy, that is,
jefus his Son, becaufe 1 am fo (hamefully unlike them
both, and besides, I have affronted their majefty, and
defpifed their mercy.
How painful and smarting will be the reffeaion of
riiy heart in that day, when 1 fhall remember, that Je
fus called out to me from heaven, by the meffengers
of his grace, and faid, Behold me, beMd me, look unto
me from the ends of the earth, and be faved : But now
he is armed with a commiflion of vengeance, and he
ftrikes terror and exquifite pain into my foul with eve
ry frown, fo that I fhall wifh to be for ever hid from
the fate of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is
come, and who Jhall be able to endure this Wrath, to
ftand before his thunder, or bear the lightning of
this 'day ? Alas, how miferable muft I be by an ever
lafting neceffity, if I cannot bear the countenance of
God and Chrift, which is the fpring of Unchangeable
happinefs to all the faints and the bleffed angels ? Oh
may I timely fecure the love of my God, and gain an
intereft in the favour and falvation of the blefled Jefus i
Hers, Oh Lord, at thy foot 1 lay down all the wea-
C c pons

aoi The vain Refuge of Sinners* Difc Vl/
pons of my former rebellions ; I implore thy love
through the intereft of thy Son, the great Mediator :
Let me fee the light of thy countenance, and the fmiles
of thy face : Let nle fee a reconciled God, and let
him tell me that my fins are all forgiven ; then fhall I
not be afraid to meet the countenance of him that
fits upon the throne, or the Lamb, when Chrift fhall
return from heaven, to punifh the impenitent rebels
againft divine grace.
Refl. 4. How hopelefs, as well as diftreffed, is the cafe
of finners in that day, when they are driven to this laft
extremity, to feek help from the rocks and the mountains ?
It is the laft, but the fruitlefs refuge of a frighted and
perifhing creature : The rocks and mountains refufe
to help them ; they will not crufh to death thofe
wretches, whom the juftice of God has doomed to a
painful immortality, nor will- they conceal or fhelter
thofe obftinate rebels, whom the Son of God has raif
ed out of their graves, to be expofed to public fhame
and punifhment. Thofe high and hollow rocks, thofe
difmal dens and caverns, dark as midnight, thofe deep
and gloomy retreats of melancholy and forrow, which
they fhunned with utmoft averfion, and could hardly
bear to think of them without horror here on earth,
are now become their only retreat and fhelter j but it
is a very vain and hopelefs one.
When I fee fuch awful appearances in nature, huge
and lofty rocks hanging over my head, and at every
ftep of my approach they feem to nod upon, me with
overwhelming ruin, when my curiosity fearches far
into their hollow defts, their dark and deep caverns
of folitude and defolation, methinks while I ftand
amongft them, 1 can hardly think myfelf in fafety,
and at beft they give a fort of folemn and dreadful de
light : Let me improve the fcene to religious purpofes-,
and raife a divine meditation. Am- I one of thofe
wretches, who fliall call to thefe huge impending rocks
to fall upon me ? Am I that guilty and miferable crea
ture, who fhall entreat thefe mountains to cover me
from*

Difc. VI. The vain Refuge of Sinners. 203
from him that fits on the throne and the Lamb ? Am
I prepared to meet the countenance of the bleffed Je
fus the Judge in that day ? Have I fuch an acquaint
ance with the Lamb of God who takes away the fins
of the world, fuch a holy faith in his mediation, fuch
a sincere love to him, and fuch an unfeigned repen
tance of all my fins, that I can look upon him as my
friend and rriy refuge, and a friend infinitely better
than rocks and mountains, for he not only fereens me
from the divine anger, but introduces me into the Fa
ther's love, and places me in his blifsful prefence for
ever? Refl. 5, What hideous and everlafting mifchiefis contain
ed in the nature of fin, efpecially fin -againft the gofpel of
Chrift, againft the methods of grace, and the offers of fal
vation, which expofes creatures to fuch extreme diftrefs ?
The faireft and the moft flattering iniquity, what beau
tiful colours foever it may put on in the hour of temp
tation, yet it carries all this hidden mifchief and terror
in the bofom of it, for it frights the creature from the
fight of his Creator and his Saviour, and makes him
fly to every vain refuge. Adam and Eve, the parents
of our race, when they loft their innocence and be
came criminals, fled from the prefence of God, whom
they converfed with before in holy friendfliip. Gen.
iii. 8. They hid themfelves among the trees of paradife,
and the thickeft fhadows of the garden ; but the eye
and the voice of God reached them there : The curfe
found them out, though that was a curfe allayed with
the promifed bleffing of a Saviour. Guilt will work
in the confcience, and tell us, that God is angry, and
the next thought is, where jhall I hide myfelf from an
angry God ? But when the mercy of God has taught
us where we may hide ourfelves, even under the fha-
dow of the crofs of his Son, and we refufe to make
him our refuge, there remains nothing but a final hor
ror of foul, and a hopelefs addrefs to rocks and'moun-
tains, to hide us from an offended , God, and a pro
voked Saviour. Whenfoever,

204 The vain Refuge of Sinners. Difc. VI*
Whenfoever, Oh my foul, thou fhalt find or feel
fome flattering iniquity alluring thy fenfes, making
court to thy heart, and ready to gain upon thy inward
wifhes, remember the diftrefs and terror of heart that
finners muft undergo in the great and terrible day of
the Lord. Think of the rocks and mountains which
they vainly call upon to befriend them, to fhield them
from the vengeance of that almighty arm which is
provoked by fin, to make his creatures miferable.
Remember, Ob my foul, and fear ; remember and
refift the vile temptation, and ftand afar off from that
praaice, which will make thee afraid to fee the face
of God.
Refl. 6. Of what infinite importance is it then to fin
ners, to gain a humble acquaintance and friendfhip with
the Lamb of G.od, who takes away the fins of the world,
that we may be able with comfort, to behold the face of
him that fits on the throne in that day. Which of us
can fay, I am not a finner, I am not guilty before God?
And which pf us then has the courage and, hardnefs
to declare, / have no need of a Saviour ? And is there
any one amongft us, who hath not yet fled for refuge
to jefus our only and fufficient hope ? There is
a proteaion provided againft a provoked God, but
there is none againft a negfeaed and abufed Savi
our : I mean, where this negfea and abufe is final
and unrepented. Oh, how follicitous fhould every
foul be, in a matter of this divine moment, this ever
lafting importance ? What words of compaflion fhall
we ufe, what words of awakening terror, to put fin
ners in mind of their extreme danger, if they negfea
the only fecurity which the gofpel has appointed, ?
What language of fear and importunity fhall we make
ufe of, to hasten you, Oh finners, to the acquaintance,
the faith, and the love, of jefus the Saviour, that you
may behold his face, and the face of the Father, with
ferenity and joy in the laft day ? Give yourfelves up
to him then without further delay, as your teacher,
your high-prieft, your reconciler, your Lord and king. His

Difc. VI. TJie vain Refuge- of Sinners* ^05
His bleffed offices are the only chambers of protec
tion, when God fhall arife to burn the world, and to
avenge himfelf on his enemies that will not be recon
ciled. Refl. 7. Let us take occafion from my text, alfo to
meditate on the happy circunfiances of true Chriftians,
in that day of terror : Behold the Judge appears, he
cometh in the clouds surrounded with armies of aveng
ing angels, the minifters of his indignation ; he rideth
on a chariot of flaming fire, the earth with all its
mountains melt like wax at the prefence of the Lord,
the fields and the forefts become one fpacious blaze,
the fea grows dry and forfakes its fhores, and rivers
flee away at his lightening ; the rocks are broken and
fhivered at the appearance of his majefty, the tombs
are thrown open, and with terrible difmay fhall the
graves give up their dead ; the pyramids of brick and
ftone, moulder and fink into duft, the fepulchres of
brafs and marble yield up their royal prifoners, and all
the captives of death awake and start into life, at the
voice of the Son of God. Amidft all thefe fcenes of
furprize and horror, with how ferene a countenance,
and how peaceful a foul, do the faints awake from
their beds of earth ? Calm and ferene among all thefe
confufions they arife from their long flumber* and go
to meet their returning Saviour and their friend. They
have feen him in the glafs of his gofpel, fubmitted to
his laws, and rejoiced in his grace, and they now cfe-
light to fee him face to face in his glory. They have
feen him veiled with his commiflion of mercy, they
have heard and received his meffage of goodnefs and
love, and they cannot but rejoice to fee him coming
to fulfil his laft promifes. They have chearfully fub-
jeaed themfelves to his government here on earth,
they have followed him in paths of holinefs, through
the wildernefs of this world } and what remains, but
that they be publicly acknowledged by jefus the
Judge of all, and follow him up to the place of blef
fednefs which he hath prepared for them. Perhaps

lo5 The vain Refuge of Sinners. Difc. VI.
Perhaps fome of thefe holy ones, in the days of the
flefh, were banifhed from the cities and the focieties
of men for the fake of Chrift, they were driven out
from their native towns, and forced to feek a fhelter
in folitary dens and caves among rocks and mountains,
to wander through defarts injheep-jkins and goat-fk'ms, defti-
tute, afflitled, tormented, Heb. xi. 3 1 . They made the
clefts of the rock and caverns of the earth their refuge
from the face of their cruel perfecutors : The mountains
and rocks fheltered them from the wrath of princes,
and the dark grottos of the earth, and the dens of wild
beafts, concealed them from the rage of men, from
the fword of the mighty ; but now the fcene is glori-
pufly changed, the martyrs and holy confeffors awak
ing from their graves, exult and triumph in the fmiles
of their Judge, and receive public honours before the
whole creation of God. They behold the infinite con-
fternation of haughty tyrants and perfecuting princes,
of proud generals and bloody captains in that day ;
They hear them call to rocks and mountains to hide them
from the face of him that fits upon the throne and the
Lamb. The authority and regal honour of the empe
rors of the earth, hath long flept in the duft, but it is
loft there for ever ; their glory fhall not awake nor a-
rife with them : Behold the mighty finners, who have
been the enemies of Chrift, or negligent of his falva
tion, how they creep affrighted out of their fhattered
marbles, and leave all that pomp and pride of death
in ruins, to appear before God with fhame and ever
lafting contempt. The men of arms, the captains and
fons of valour, whofe fwords lay under their heads,
with their trophies and titles fpread around them, fhall
raife their heads up from the duft, with utmoft affright
and anguifh of fpirit : Their courage fails them Defore
the face 6f Jefus the Lord and Judge of the whole
creation. They would fly to the common refuge of
(laves, they fhrink into the holes of the rocks, and call
to the mountains to fcreen and protea them : and eve
ry bgnd-man, and every free-man, who have not known nor

Difc. VI. The vain Refuge of Sinners. %of
hor loved God and Chrift, are plunged into extreameft
diftrefs ; but the humble Chriftian is ferene and joy
ful, and lifts up his head with courage and delight, in
the midft of thefe fcenes of aftonifhment and difmay.
" He is come, he is come, faith the faint, even that
" Lord Jefus, whom I have feen, whom I have known
*' and loved in the days of my mortal,. life, whom t
** have long waited for in the duft of death ; he is
" come to reward all my labours, to wipe away all
" my forrows, to finifh my faith, and turn it into fight,
" to fulfil all my hopes and his own promifes ; he is
" come to deliver me for ever* from all my enemies,
" and to bear me to the place which he has prepared
" for thofe that loVe him, and long for his appearance.
" O bleffed be the God of grace, who hath con-
" vinced me of the fins of my nature, and the fins of
" my life in the days of my flefh ; who hath difcover-
" ed to mc the danger of a guilty and finful ftate, hath
" fhewn me the commiflion of mercy in the hands of
" his Son, hath pointed me to the Lamb of God,
" who was offered as a facrifice to take away the fins
" of men, and hath inclined me to receive him in all
" his divine charaaers and offices, and to follow the
" Captain of my falvation through all the labours and
" dangers of life. I have trailed him, I have loved
" him, I have endeavoured, though under many frail-
" ties, to honour and obey him, and I can now behold
" his face without terror : While the mighty men of
*' the earth tremble with amazement, and call to the
" rocks and mountains to hide them from his face, I
" rejoice to fee him in his robes of judgment, for he is
" come to pronounce me righteous in the face of men
" and angels, to declare me a good and faithful fer-
" vant before the whole creation, to fet the crown of
" viaory on my head, to take me to heaven with
" him, that where he is I may be alfo to behold his glory,,
" and to partake for ever of the bleflings of his love."
Amen. DIS-

( 20& )
DISCOURSE Vlt.
No Night in Heaven*

Rev. xxii-. 25.
And there Jhall be no. Night there.
LENGTH of night and overspreading darknefs
in the winter feafon, carries fo many irieonve-
nieneies with it, that it is generally esteemed a moft uri^
comfortable part of our time. Though night and day
neceflarily fucceed each other all theyear, by the Wife
appointment of God in the eburfe of nature, by means
of the revolution of the heavenly bodies-, or rather of
this earthly globe, yet the- hightrfeafon is neither fo
delightful nor fo u-fe-ful1 a part of life, as the duration
of day-light. It is the voice of alii nature, as well as
the word of Solomon, tight isfweet, and a pleafant thing
to enjoy the fun-beams-. Light gives a glory and beau
ty to every thing that is vifible, and fhews the face of
nature in its moft agreeable colours y but night, as it
covers all the vifible world with one dark and undif-
tinguifhmg vail, is lefs pleafmg to all the animal parts
of the creation. Therefore as hell and the place of
punifhment is called utter darknefs- \n Scripture, fo
heaven is reprefented as a mansion of glory, as the in
heritance of the faints in light : And this light is conftant
without interruption, and everlafting, or without end :
So my text expreffes it, there Jhall be no night there.
Let it be obferved, that in the language of the holy
writers, light is often aferibed to mtelfeaual beings,
and is ufed as a metaphor to imply knowledge., and ho
linefs, and joy. Knowledge as the beauty and excellen
cy of the mind, holinefs as -the beft regulation of the
will, andy<?y as the harmony of our beft affeaiorts in
the poffeffion of what we love : And in oppofition to
thefe

Difc. VII. Aro Night in Heaven. 209
thefe, ignorance, iniquity and forrow, are reprefented
by the metaphor of darknefs. Then we are in darknefs
in a fpiritual fenfe, when the underftanding is becloud
ed or led into miftake, or when the will is perverted
or turned away from God and holinefs, or when the
moft uncomfortable affections prevail in the foul. I
might cite particular texts of Scripture to exemplify all
this. And when it is faid, there Jhall be no night in hea
ven, it may be very well applied in the fpiritual fenfe ;
there fhall be no errors or miftakes among the bleffed,
no fuch ignorance as to lead them aftray, or to make
them uneafy; the will fhall never be turned afide from
its pursuit of holinefs, and obedience to God ; nor
fhall the af&aions ever be ruffled with any thing that
may administer grief and pain. Clear and unerring
knowledge, unspotted holinefs, and everlafting joy,
fhall he the portion of all the inhabitants of the upper
world. Thefe are more common fubjeas of difcourfe.
But 1 chiife rather at prefent to confider this word
night* in its literal fenfe* and fliall endeavour to re-
prefent part of the bleffednefs of the heavenly ftate,
under this special defcription of it. There is no night
there. Now, in order to pursue this defign, let us take a
brief furvey of the feveral evils or inconveniencies Which
attend the night, or the feafon of darknefs here on
earth, and fhew how far the heavenly world is remo
ved, and free from all manner of inconvenience of
this kind.
1 . Though night be the feafon of fleep for the re*.
lief of nature, and for our refreihmetit after the la
bours of the day, yet // is a certain fign of the weaknefs
and wearinefo of nature, when it wants fuch refrejhments,
and fuch dark feafons of relief. But there is no night
in heaven. Say, O ye inhabitants of that vital world,
are ye ever weary ? Do your natures know any fuch
weaknefs ? Or are your holy labours of fuch a kind,
as to expofe you to fatigue, or to tire your fpirits ?
The bleffed above mount up towards God as on eagles
D d wings,

110 No Night in Heaven. Difc Vlf.
wings, they run at the command of ' God and are not
weary, they walk on the hills of paradife and never
faint, as the Prophet Ifaiah expreffes a vigorous and
pleasurable ftate. Chap. xl. ver. laft.
There are no fuch animal bodies irt heaven, whofe
natural fprings of aaion can be exhaufted or weaken
ed by the bufinefs of the day : There is no flefh and
blood there, to complain of wearinefs, and to want-
reft. O bleffed ftate, where our faculties fhall be fo
happily fuited to our work, that we fhall never feel
ourfelves weary of it, nor fatigued by it.
And, as there is no wearinefs, fo there is no fleep
ing there. Sleep was not made for the heavenly ftate.
Can the fpirits of the juft ever fleep, under the full
blaze of divine glory, under the inceffant communica^
tions of divine love, under the perpetual influences of
the grace of God the Father, and of jefus the Savi
our, and amidft the inviting confluence of every fpring
of bleffednefs.
2, Another inconvenience of night, near akin to
the former, is, that bufinefs is interrupted by it, partly
fir want. of light to perform it, as well as for want of
ftrength and fpirits to purfue it. This is conftantly vi*
fible in the fucceffions of labour and repofe here on
earth ; and the darknefs of the night is appointed to
interrupt the courfe of labour, and the bufinefs of the
day, that nature may be recruited. But the bufinefs
of heaven is never interrupted ; there is everlafting
light and everlafting ftrength. Say, ye bleffed fpirits
on high, who join in the fervices which are performed
for God and the Lamb there, ye who unite all your
powers in the worfhip and homage that is paid to the
Father and to the Son, ye that mingle in all the joyful
converfation of that divine and holy Affembly, fay, is
there found any ufelefe hour there ? Do your devo^-
tiorrs, your duties and your joys, ever fuffer fuch an
intire interruption of reft and filence, as the feafon of
darknefs on earth neceffarily creates amongft the inha
bitants of our world ?
The

Difc VII. No Night in -Heaven. 2 1 1
The living creatures * which are reprefented by
John the Apoftle, in Rev. iv. whether they fignify
faints or angels, yet they were full of eyes that never
flumber ; they reft not day nor night ; this is fpoken in
the language of mortals, to fignify, that they are never
interrupted by any change of feafons, or interveriing
darknefs in the honours they pay to God : They are
defcribed as ever faying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God
Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. And the
fame fort of expreffion is ufed concerning the faints in
heaven. Rev. vii. 15. " They who came out of great
•" tribulation, and have warned their robes, and made
" them white in the blood of the Lamb, they are be-
'* fore the throne of God, and ferve him day and
" night in his temple," /'. e. they conftantly ferve or
worfhip him in his holy temple in heaven. Perhaps
the different orders and ranks of them in a continual
fucceuion, are ever doing fome honours to God. As
there is no night there, fo there is no ceffation of their
fervices, their worfhip, and their holy exercifes, in
one form or another, throughout the duration of
their being.
Our pleafures here on earth are fhort-lived : If they
are intenfe, nature cannot bear them long, any more
than conftant bufinefs and labour : And, if our labours
and our pleafures fliould happily join and mingle here
on earth, which is not always the cafe, yet night com
pels us to break off the pfeafing labour, and we muft
reft from the moft delightful bufinefs. Happy is that
region on high, where bufinefs and pleafure are for
ever the fame among all the inhabitants of it, and
there is no paufe or entire ceffation of the one or the
other. Tell me, ye warm and lively Chriftians, when
your hearts are sweetly and joyfully ingaged in the
worfhip of God, in holy converfation, or in any pious
fervices
* The word Z«*, which is tranflated bsafls.,. fignifies only asti-
qials or living creatures, and does not carry with it To mean and
fj difagreeabie an idea a^ the word beafii in Enfffo.

a 1 2 No Night in Heaven. Difc. VII,
fervices here on earth, how often you have been for
ced to break oft* thefe celeftial entertainments .by the
returning night ? But in the heavenly ftate there is.
everlafting aaive fervice, with everlafting delight and
fatisfaaion. In that bleffed world there can be no idlenefs, no
inaaivity, no trifling intervals to pafs away time, no
vacant or empty fpaces in eternal life. Who can be
idle under the immediate eye of God ? Who can trifle
in the prefence of Chrift ? Who can negfea the plea-
furable work of heaven, under the fweet influences of
the prefent Deity, and under the fmiles of his coun
tenance, who approves all their work and worfhip ?
3. As in our prefent world " the hours pf night''
are unaaive if we fleep, fo " they feem long and
*' tedious when our eyes are wakeful, and fleep
" flies from us." Perhaps we hear the clock ftrike
one hour after another, with wearifome longings for
the next focceeding hour : We wifh the dark feafon
at an end, and we long for the approach of morning,
we grow impatient for the dawning of the day. But
in heaven, ye fpirits who have dwelt longeft there,
can ye remember one tirefome or tedious hour, thro'
all the years of your refidence. in that country ? Is
there not eternal wakefulnefs among all the bleffed ?
Can any of you ever indulge a flumber ? Can you fleep
in heaven? Can you. want it, or wifh for it ? No, for
that world is all vital and sprightly for ever. When we
leave this flefh and blood, farewel to all the tedious
meafures of time, farewel tireforne darknefs; pur whole
remaining duration is life and light, vital aaivity and
vigour, attended with everlafting holinefs and joy.
4. While we are here on earth, the darknefs of the
night often expofes us to the danger of lofing o-ur way, of
wandering into confufion,. or falling into > mifohief. When
the fun-beams have withdrawn their light, and mid
night clouds over-fpread the heaven, we cannot fee
our path befor; us, we cannot purfue our proper courfe,
nor fecure ourfelves from {tumbling. How many tra
vellers

Difc. VII, No Night in Heaven. 2I3
vejlers have been betrayed by the thick fhadoWs of the
night, into miftaken ways or pathlefs defarts, into
endlefs mazes among thorns and briars, into bogs, and
pits, and precipices, into fudden deftruaion and death?
But there are no dangers of this kind in the heavenly
world : All the regions of paradife are for ever illumi*-
nated by the glory of God ; The light of his counte
nance fhines upon every ftep that we fhall take, and
brightens all our way. We fhall walk in the light of
God, and under the bleffed beams pf the Son of righ
teoufnefs, and we are fecured for ever againft wan
dering, and againft every danger of tripping or falling
in our courfe. Our fret mayfiumble on the dark moun
tains here below, but there is no ftumbling-block on
the hills of paradife, nor can we go aftray from our God
or our duty. The paths of that country are all plea-
fure, and ever-living day-light fhines upon them with
out end. Happy beings who dwell or travel there !
5. In the night we are expofed here on earth, to the
violence and plunder of wicked men, whether we are
abroad or at home. There is fcarce any fafety now
a-days to thofe who travel in the night, ancj even in
our own habitations there is frequent fear and furprize.
At that feafon, the fons of mifchief dig through houfes
in the dark, which they had marked for themfelves in the
day-time : They lurk in corners to feize the innocent, and
to rob him of' his poffeffions. But in the heavenly
world there is no dark hour ; there is nothing that
can encourage fuch mifchievous defigns ; nor are any
of the fons of violence, or the malicious powers of
darknefs, suffered to have an abode or refuge in that
country. No furprize nor fear belongs to the inhabi
tants of thofe regions. Happy fouls, who fpend all
their life in the light of the countenance of God, and
are for ever fecure from the plots and mifchievous de
vices of the wicked !
While we dwell here below, amongft the changing
feafons of light and darknefs, what daily care is taken
to fhut the doors of our dwellings againft the men of
mifchief ?

ai4 No Night in Heaven. Difc. VII,
mifchief? What folicitude in a time of war to keep the
gates of our towns and cities well fecured againft all
invafion of enemies ? Every man with his fword upon
his thigh, becaufe of fear in the night. But in that blef
fed world there is no need of fuch defences ; no fuch
guardian cares to fecure the inhabitants. The gates of
that city fhall, not be Jhut ''by day, and there is no night
there. There fhines perpetual day-light, and the gates
are ever open to receive new-comers from our world,
or for the conveyance of orders and meffages to and
fro from the throne through all the dominions of God
and of the Lamb. Bleffed are the inhabitants of that
country, where there are no dangers arifing from any
of the wicked powers of darknefs, nor any dark mi
nute to favour their plots of mifchief,
6. The time of night and darknefs is the time of the
concealment of fecret fins. Shameful iniquities are
then praaifed amongft men, becaufe the darknefs
is a cover to them. The eye of the adulterer watches
for the twilight, faying, no eye Jhall fee me,r Job xxiv.
15. In the black and dark night he hopes for conceal
ment as well as the thief and the murderer, and they
that are drunken, are drunken in the night, 1 Thef. v. 7.
The hours of darknefs are a temptation to thefe iniqui
ties, and the fhadows of the evening are a vail to cover
them from the fight of men : They find a fcreen be
hind the curtains of the night, and a 'refuge in thick
darknefs. But in the heavenly world there is no temp
tation to fuch iniquities, no defilement can gain an en
trance there, nor could it find any vail or cover
ing. The regions of light, and peace, and holy love,
are never violated with fuch fcenes of villany and guilt.
No fecret fins can be committed there, nor (can they
hope for any fcreen to defend them from the eye of
God and the Lamb, whofe eyes are like aflame of fire.
The light of God fhines round every creature in that
country, and there is not a faint or angel there, that
desires a covering from the fight of God, nor would
accept of a vail or fcreen to interpofe between him and

Difc. Vlf. No Night, in Heaven* ii$
and the lovely glories of divine holinefs and grace.
To behold God, and to live under the bleflings of bis
eye, is their everlafting and chofen joy, O that bur
world were more like it !
7. When the night returns upon us here on earth,
the pleafures of fight vanijh and are loft. Knowledge is
fhut out at one entrance in a great degree, and one of
our fenfes is with-held from the fpreading. beauties and
glories of this lower creation, almoft as though we
were deprived of it, and were grown blind for a feafon *
It is true, the God of nature has appointed the
moon and flars to relieve the darknefs at fome feafons*
that when the fun is withdrawn, half the world at thofe
hours may not be in confufion: And by the inventions
of men, we are furnished with lamps and candles to
relieve our darknefs within doors : But if we ftir
abroad in the black and dark night, inftead of the va
rious and delightful fcenes of the creation of God in
the fkies and the fields, we are prefented with an uni
verfal blank of nature, and one of the great enter
tainments and fatisfaaions of this life, is quite taken
away from us. But* in heaven, the glories of that
world are for ever in view : The beauteous fcenes and
profpeas of the hills of paradife are never hidden ;
we fhall there continually behold a rich variety of
things which eye hath not feen on earth, which ear hath
not heard, and which the heart of man hath not conceiv
ed, Say, ye fouls in paradife, ye inhabitants of that
glorious world, is there any lofs of pleafure by your
abfence from thofe works of God which are vifible
here on earth* while you are for ever entertained with
thofe brighter works of God in the upper world ?
While every corner of that country is enlightened by
the glory of God himfelf, and while the Son of God
with all his beams of grace fhines for ever upon it ?
8. It is another unpleafing circumftance of the
night feafon, that it is the coldefl part of time. When
the fun is funk below the earth, and its beams are hid
den from us, its kindly and vital heat, as well as its
light,

ii& No Night in Heaven. Difc. VII*
light, are removed from one fide of the globe ; and
this gives a fenfible uneafinefs in the hours of mid
night, to thofe who are not well provided with warm
accommodations. And I might add alfo, it is too often night with, us
in a fpiritual fenfe, While we dwell here on earth :
Our hearts are cold as well as dkrk : How feldom do
we feel that fervency of fpirit in religious duties
which God requires? How cool is our love to the
greateft and the beft of beings ? How languid and in*
different are our affeaions to the Son, of God, the
chiefeft of ten thoufand, and altogether lovely ? And
how much doth the devotion of our fouls want its
proper ardour and vivacity ?
But When the foul is arrived at heaven, we fhall be
all warm and fervent in our divine and delightful
work* As there fliall be nothing painful to the fenfes
in that bleffed' climate, fo there fhall not be orie cold
heart there, nor fo much as one lukewarm worfhip-
pet'; for we fhall live under the immediate rays, of
God who formed the light, and Under' the kindeft in
fluences of jefus the Son of righteoufnefs.- We fhall be
made like his angels who are moft aaive fpirits, and
his minifters who are flames of. fire. Pfal. civ. 3. Nor
fhall any dulnefs or indifferency hang Upon our fanai-
fied powers and paffions : They fhall be all warm and
vigorous in their exercife, amidft the holy injoyments
of that country.
In the 9th and laft place, as night is the feafon ap
pointed for fleep, fo it, becomes a conftant periodical em
blem of death, as it returns every evening. Sleep and
midnight, as I have fhewn before, are no feafons of
labour or aaivity, nor of delight in the vifibfe things of
this world : It is a dark and ftupid fcene wherein we
behold nothing with truth, though we are fome
times deceived and deluded by dreaming vifions
and vanities : Night, and the flumbers of it, are a
fort of fhorter death and burial, interpofed between
the feveral daily fcenes and tranfaaions of human life, But

Difb. VII. fro Night in Heaven. ziy
But in heaven, as there is no fleeping, there is no dy
ing, nor is there any thing there that looks like death.
Sleep, the image or emblem of death, is for ever ba
nifhed from that world. All is vital aaivity there :*
Every power is immortal* and eVery thing that dwells
there is for ever alive. There can be no death, nor
the image of it, where the ever-living God dwells and
fhines with his kindeft' beams ; his prefence maintains
perpetual vitality in every foul, and keeps the new
creature in its youth and vigour for ever. The faints
fhall never have reafon to mourn Over their withering
graces, languid virtues, or dying comforts •* nor fhall
they ever complain of, drowzy faculties, or unaaive
powers, where God ayd the Lamb are forever prefent
in the midft of them. Shall I invite your thoughts to
dwell a little upon this fubjea ?
Shall we make a more particular enquiry, whence it
tomes titpafs that there is no night nor darknefs in the
heavenly pity ? We are told a little before the words of
my text, that the glory of God inlightens it, and the
Lamb, is the light thereof. There is no need of the fun by
day, or of the m°on. by night ; there is no need of any
fuch change of feafons as day and night in the upper
regions, nor any fuch alternate inlightners of a dark
World* as. God has placed in our firmament, or in this
vifible fky. The inheritance of the faints in light is
fufficiently irradiated by God himfelf, who at his firft
call made the light fpring up out of darknefs over a
wide chaos of confufion, before the fun and moon ap
peared ; and the beams of divine light, grace and
glory, are communicated from God, the original foun
dation of it, by the Lamb, to all the inhabitants of the
heavenly country. It was by Jefus his Son that God
made the light at firft, and by him he conveys it to all
the happy worlds.
There is no doubt of this in the prefent heaven of
faints departed from flefh* who are afcended to thefp'f
rits of the juft made perfecl. It is one of their privi
leges that they go to dwell, not only where they fee
E e the

•2 1 8 No Night in Heaven. Difc.VIt*
the face of God, but where they behold the glory of
Christ, arid converfe with Jefus the Mediator of the
new covenant, and are for ever prefent with the Lord
who redeemed them. Heb. xii. 23, 24. 2 Cor. v. 8.
Since his rnediatorial kingdom and offices are not yet
finifhed in the prefent heaven of feparate fouls, we
may depend on this bleffednefs to be communicated
through Chrift the Lamb of God, and all the fpiritual
injbymerits arid felicities which are reprefented under
the metaphor of light, are conveyed to them through
Jefus the Mediator.
The fun* in the natural world, is a bright emblem
of divinity, or the Godhead, for it is the fpring of all
light, arid heat, and life, to the creation. It is by the
influences of the fun, that herbs, plants, and animals,
are produced in their proper feafons, and in all their
various beauties, and they are all refrefhed and fup-
pbrted by it. Now if we fhould fuppofe this vaft
globe of fire which we call the fun, to be inclofed in a
huge hollow fphere of chryftal, which fhould attemper
its rays like a tranfparent vail* and give milder and
gentler influences to the burning beams of it, and yet
tranfmit every desirable and ufeful portion of light or
heat, this would bean happy emblem of the man Chrift
Jefus, in whom dwells all the fulnefs of the Godhead^odi-
ly. It is the Lamb of God -who, in a mild and gracious
manner, conveys the bleflings originally derived from
God his Father to all the faints. We partake of them
in our meafure in this lower world among his churches
here on earth-; but it is with a nobler influence, and
in a more fublime degree, the bleflings of paradife are
diffufed through all the manfions of glory, by this il
lustrious rnedium of conveyance, Jefus the Son of
God ; and there can be no night nor coldnefs, death
nor darknefs, in this happy ftate of feparate fouls.
When the bodies of the faints fhall be raifed again,
and re-united to their proper fpirits, when they fhall
afcend to the place of their final heaven and fupreme
happinefs* we know not what manner of bodies they fliall

Difc. VII. No Night in 'Heaven. 2 19
fliall be, what fort of fenfes they fhall be^urnifhed
with, nor how many powers of converfing with the
corporeal world fhall be beftowed upon them. Whe
ther they fliall have fuch organs of fenfation as eyes
and ears, and ftand in need of fuch light as we derive
from the fun or moon, is not abfolutely certain. The
Scripture tells us, it fhall not be a body of flefh and
blood : Thefe are not materials refined enough for
the heavenly ftate ; that which is corruptible cannot in
herit incorruption. 1 Cor. xv. 50. But this we may be
affured of, that whatfoever inlets of knowledge, what
ever avenues of pleasure, whatever delightful fenfa-
tions are neceffary to make the inhabitants of that
world happy, they, fhall be all united in that fpiritual
body which God will prepare for the new-raifed faints.
If eyes and ears fhall belong to that glorified body,
thofe fenfitive powers fhall be nobly enlarged, and
made more delightfully fufceptive of richer fhares of
knowledge and joy.
Or what if we fhall have that body furnifhed with
fuch unknown mediums, or organs of fenfation, as
fhall make light and found, fuch as we here partake pf,
ujpneceffary to us ? Thefe organs fhall certainly be
fuch, as fhall tranfcend all the advantages that we re
ceive in this prefent ftate from founds or fun-beams.
There fhall be no difconfolate darknefs, nor any tire-
fome filence there. There fhall be no night to inter
rupt the bufinefs or the pleafures of that everlafting
day. Or what if the whole body fhall be indued all over
with the fenfes oi feeing and; hearing? What if thefe
fort of fenfations fhall be diffufed throughout all that
immortal body, as feeling is diffufed through all our
prefent mortal flefh I What if God himfelf fliall in a
more illuftrious manner irradiate all the powers of the
body and fpirit, and communicate the light of know
ledge, holinefs, and joy, in a fuperior manner to what
we can now conceive or imagine ? This is certain,
that darknefs in every fenfe, with all the inconvenien cies

5S20 No Night in Heaven. Difc. VII.
cies "and unhappy confequences of it, is and muft be
for ever banifhed from the heavenly ftate* There is no
night there-
When our Lord Jefus Chrift fhall have given up his
mediatorial kingdom to the Father, and have prefented
all his faints fpotlefs and without blemifh before his
throne, it is hard for us mortals in the prefent ftate,
to fay how' far he fliall be the everlafting medium of
the communication of divine bleflings to the happy
inhabitants on high. " Yet when we confider that the
faints and angels, and the whole happy creation, are
gathered together in. him as their head* it is certain
they fhall all be accounted in fome fenfe his members ;
and it is highly probable he, as their head, fhall be
for ever aaive in communicating and diffufing the
unknown bleffings of that world, amongft all the in
habitants of it who are gathered and united in him.
I come in the laft place fo make a few remarks upon
• the foregoing difcourfe, and in order to render them
more effeaual for our fpiritual advantage, 1 fhall con
fider the words of my text, there Jliall be no night there,
in their metaphorical or fpiritual meaning, as well as
in their literal fenfe. There is no night of ignorance
or error in the mind, no night of guilt or of forrow
in the foul : But the bleffed above fhall dwell furr|||fcl-
ed with the light of divine knowledge, they fhall wal
in the light of holinefs, and they fhall be for ever fille
with the light of confolation and joy, as I have exi
plained it at the beginning of this difcourfe,
The i ft remark then is this, When heaven, earth and
bell, are compared together, with relation to light and
darknefs, or night and day, we then fee them in their
proper diftinaions and afpeas. Every thing is fet in
•its moft diftinguifhing fituation and appeal ance, when
it is compared with things which are moft oppofite.
The earth on which we dwell during this ftate of
trial, has neither all day nor all night belonging to it,
but
The Greek word i v«x£»ax«i»u, ufed Jn Eph. i. 10. favours thjs
meaning, and perhaps Col. i. 2q. includes the fame thing. ,

Difc VII. '-' No Night in Heaven. 22 1
but fometimes light appears, and again darknefs, whe
ther in a natural or a fpiritual fenfe.
Though there be long feafons of darknefs in the
winter, and darknefs in the fummer alfo, in its con
ftant returns, divides one day from another, yet the
God of nature has given us a larger portion of light
than there is of darknefs, throughput the whofe globe
of the e,arth : And this benefit we receive by the re
maining beams of the fun after its fetting, and by the
affiftance of the moon and the ftars of heaven. Blef-
fed be God for the moon and ftars, as well as for the
fun-beams and the brightnefs of noon. Bleffed be
God for all the lights of nature, but we ftill blefs him
more for the light of the gofpel, and for any rays
from heaven, any beams of the fun of righteoufnefs,
which diffufe in lower meafures knowledge, and holi
nefs, and comfort, among the inhabitants of this our
world. God is here manifefting his love and grace
in fuch proportions as he thinks proper. Some beams
of the heavenly world break out upon us here in this
dark region. God the fpring of all our light, and the
Lamb of God by his Spirit communicates fufficient
lig|pt to us, to guide us on in our way to that heavenly
country. Injhell there is all night and darknefs, thick darknefs
in every fenfe, for the God of glory is abfent there as
to any manifestations of his face and favour. And
therefore it is often called utter darknefs, where there is
weeping, and wailing, and gnajhing of teeth. There is
no holinefs, there is no comfort, there are no benefits
of the creation, no bleffings of grace ; all are forfeited
and gone for ever. It is everlafting night and black-
nefs of darknefs in that world : Horror of foul, with
out a beam of refrefhment from the face of God or
the Iamb, for ever. The devils are now referved in
everlafting chains under darknefs to the judgment of the
great day. Jude 6. But then their confinement fhall
be clofer, and their darknefs, guilt, and forrow, fhall
be more overwhelming, Is it lawful for me in this
place,

222 No Night in Heaven. Difc. VII.
place, to mention the defcription which Milton our
Englifh poet gives of their wretched habitation ?
A dungeon horrible on all fides round,
As one great furnace flam' d ; yet from thofe flames
No light, but rather darknefs vifible
Serv'd only to difcover fights of woe ;
Regions of forrow, doleful Jhades, where peace
And reft can never dwell ; hope never comes,
That comes to all :'• But torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge fed
With ever burning fulphur unconfum'd.
Such place eternal juftice had prepar'd
For rebel-angels ; here their pris'n ordain' d
In utter darknefs, and their portion fet
As far remov' d from God and light of heaven
As from the centre thrice to th' utmofl pole.
To this the poet adds,
0 how unlike the place from whence they fell .' !
How unlike to that heaven which I have been de-
fcribing, in which there is no night ; and all the evils
of darknefs in every fenfe are for ever fecluded from
that happy region, where knowledge, holinefs, and
joy, are all infeparable and immortal.
2. Remark. What light of every kind we areWhade
partakers of here on earth, let us ufe it with holy thanfe-
fulnefs, with zeal and religious improvement. Hereby
we may be affifted and animated to travel on, through
the mingled ftages and fcenes of light and darknefs,
in this world, till we arrive at the inheritance of the
faints in perfea light. It is a glorious bleffing to this
dark world, that the light of Chriftianity is added to
the light of judaifm, and the light of nature ; and that
the law of Mofes, and. the gofpel of Christ, are fet
before us in this nation in their diftina views, on pur-
pofe to make our way to happinefs more evident and
eafy. May the fong of Mofes, and the fong of the
Lamb, be fung in our land ! But let us never reft fa
tisfied, till the light that is let into our minds become

Difc. VII. No Night in Heaven. 223
a fpring of divine life within us, a life of knowledge,
holinefs, and comfort. Let us not be found amongft
the number of thofe, who, when light is come into the
world, love darknefs rather than light, left we fall un-1
der their condemnation. John iii. 19. Let us never
reft till we fee the evidences of the children of God
wrought in us with power ; till the day-fpring that has
vifited us from on high has entered into our fpirits, and
refined and moulded them into the divirie image ; till
We who are by nature all darknefs are made light in the
Lord. O what a bleffed change does the converting grace
of Christ make in the foul of a fon or daughter of
Adam ? It is like the beauty and pleasure which the
rifing morning diffufes over the face of the earth, af
ter a night of ftorm and darkriefs : It is fo much of
heaven let into all the chambers of the foul * It is then
only that we begin to know ourfelves aright, and know
God in his moft awful and moft lovely manifeftations:
It is in this light we fee the hateful evil of every fin,
the beauty of holinefs, the worth of the gofpel of
Christ, and of his falvation. It is a light that car
ries divine heat and life with it ; it renews all , the
powers of the fpirit, and introduces holinefs, hope and
joy, in the room of folly and guilt, fin, darknefs, and
forrow. ""'3. Remark. If God has wrought this facred and di
vine change in our fouls, if we are made the children
of light, or if we profefs to have felt this change, and
hope for an intereft in this bright inheritance of the
faints, let us put away all the works of darknefs with
haired and deteflation. Let us walk in the light of truth
and holinefs, Eph. V. 8. Te were once darknefs, but are
now light in the Lord ; walk as children of light. And
the Apoftle repeats his exhortation to the Theffelonians
in 1 Epift. 5th chapter and the 5th verfe. Te are all
children of the light and of the day, and not the fons of
night or darknefs ; therefore let us not fleep as do others,
but let us watch and befober ; putting on the breafl-plate of

224 fa Night in Heaven. Difc. VI!-.-
of faith and love,, and for an helmet the hope of falvation;*.
for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain fal
vation by our Lord Jefus Chrift. *
Tp animate every Chriftian to this holy care and
watchfulnefs,) let us think what a terrible difappoint-
mentit will be, after we have made a bright profeffiori
of Ghriftianity in our lives, to lie down in death in a
ftate of fin and guilt, and to awake in the world of
fpirits, in the midft of the groans and agonies of hell*
furrounded and covered with everlafting darknefs.
Let our public profeflion be as illustrious and bright
as it will, yet if we indulge works of darknefs in fe--
eret, night and darknefs will be our eternal portion,
with the anguifh of confcience, and the terrors of the
Almighty, without one glimpfe of hope or relief. It
is only thofe who walk in the light of holinefs here,
who cart be fit to dwell in the prefence of a God of
holinefs hereafter. Light isfown only for the righteous,
and joy for the upriglrt in heart ;: and it fhall break out
one day from amongft the clods, a- glorious harveft -j
but only the fons and the daughters of light fhall tafte
of the bleffed fruits of it.
Think again with yourfelves when you are tempted
to fin and folly, What if I fliould be cut off on a fudden^
praaifing the works of darknefs, and my foul be fum-
moned into the eternal world, covered with guilt and
defilement ? Shall I then be fit for the world of light4?
Will the God of light ever receive me to his dwelling ?
Do I not hereby render myfelf unfit company for the
angels of light ? and what if 1 fhould be fent down to
dwell among the fpirits of darknefs, fince I have imi
tated their finful manners? and obeyed their curfed in
fluences ?
O may fuch thoughts as thefe dwell upon our fpirits
with an awful folemnity, and be a perpetual guard
againft defiling our garments with any iniquity, left
our Lord fhould come and find us thus polluted. Let
us walk onwards in the paths of light, which are dif-
covered to us in the word of God, and which are il
lustrated

Difc. VII. No Night in Heaven. '225
luftrated by his holy ordinances, to guide us through
the clouds and fhades which attend us in this wilder
nefs, till our Lord Jefus fhall come with all his fur-
rounding glories, and take us to the full poffeffion of
the inheritance in light.
4. Remark.' Under our darkeft nights, our moft unac-
tive and heavy hours, our moft uncomfortable feafons here
on earth, let us remember we are travelling to a zuorld of
light and joy. If we happen to lie awake in midnight
darknefs, and count the tedious hours one after ano
ther, in a mournful fucceflion, under any of the ma
ladies of nature, or the forrows of this life, let us
comfort ourfelves that we are not fhut up in eternal
night and darknefs without hope, but we are ftill mak
ing our way towards that country where there is no
night, where there is neither fin nor pain, malady nor
forrow. What if the bleffed God is pleafed to try us, by the
with -holding of light from our eyes for a feafon ? What
if we are called to feek our duty in dark providences,
or are perplexed in deep and difficult controverfies
wherein we cannot find the light of truth ? What if
vie Jit in darknefs and mourning, and fee no light, and
the beams of divine confolation are cut off, let us ftill
truft in the name of the Lord, and flay ourfelves upon our
God, efpecially as he manifefts himfelf in the Lamb
that was flain, the bleffed medium of his mercy, Ifa. 1,
1 o. Let us learn to fay with the Prophet Micah in
the fpirit of faith, Micah vii. 8, 9. When I fit in dark
nefs the Lord will be a light unto me ; he will bring me
forth to' the light, and I Jhall behold his righteoufnefs.
Bleffed be God that the night of ignorance, grief,
or affliaion, which attends us in this world, is not
everlafting night. Heaven and glory are at hand ;
wait and watch for the morning ftar, for Jefus and the
refurreaion. Roll on apace in your appointed courfe
ye funs and moons, and all ye twinkling inlightners
of the fky, carry on the changing feafons of light and
darknefs in this lower world with your utmost fpeed,
F f , till

126 No Night in Heaven. Difc VII,
till you have finifhed all my appointed months of con
tinuance here. The light of faith fhews me the dawn
ing of that glorious day, which fhall finifh all my nights
and darkneffes for ever. Make hafte, O delightful
morning, and delay not my hopes. Let me haften,
let me arrive at that bleffed inheritance, thofe manfions
of paradife, where night is never known, but one
eternal day fhall make our knowledge, our holinefs,
and pur joy, eternal. Amen.

d i a,

( 227 )
DISCOURSE Vllt.
A Soul prepared for Heaven.
2 Cor. v. 5*
Now he that hath wrought us for the felf -fame thing, is God.
WHEN this Apoftle defignS to entertain our hope
in the nobleft manner, and raife our faith to
its higheft joys, he generally calls our thoughts fat
away from all prefent and Vifible things, arid fends
them forward to the great and glorious day of the re
furreaion : He points our meditations to take a diftant
profpea of the final and compleat happinefs of the
faints in Heaven, when their bodies fliall be raifed fhin
ing and immortal ; whereas it is but feldom that he
takes notice of the Heaveri of feparate fouls, or that
part of our future happinefs which commences at the
hour of death. But in this chapter the holy writer
feems to keep both thefe Heavens in his eye, and fpeaks
pf that bleffednefs with which the fpirits of the juft
fliall enjoy in the prefence of the Lord, as foon as they
are abfent from the body, and yet leads our fouls on
wards alfo tb our' laft and moft perfea ftate of happi
nefs, which is delayed till our corruptible bodies fliall
be raifed from the duft, and mortality fhall be fwalloW-
ed up in life. We know, faith he in the firft verfe of
this chapter, we know that as foon as our mortal taber
nacle, in which we now dwell, is diffolvcd, we have a
building, ready for us in the heavens ; i. e. an irivefti-
ture irt a glorious ftate of holinefs and immortality,
which waits to receive our fpirits when we drop this
dying flefh : Yet the felicities of this paradife, or firft
heaven* fliall receive an tmfpeakable addition and ad
vancement, when Chrift fhall come the fecond time, with
all his faints, to compleat our falvation. But

228 , A Soul prepared for Heaven. Difc. ViUv
But'which heaven foever we arrive at, whether it be
this of the [feparate ftate, or that when our bodies-
fhall be reftored, ftill we muft be wrought up to a
proper fitnefs for \tby God himfelf; arid as the end of
this verfe tells us, he gives us his own fpirit as an earneft
of thefe future bleffings.
The obfervation which fhall be the fubjea of my
difcburfe, is this : Thofe who Jhall enjoy the heavenly!
bleffednefs hereafter, muft be prepared for ii here in this
world, by the operation of the bleffed God.
Here we muft take notice in the firft place, that
fince we are finful and guilty creatures in ourfelves,
and have forfeited all our pretences to the favour of
God and happinefs, we muft be reftored to his favour,
we muft have our fins forgiven, we: muft be juftified
in his fight with an everlafting, righteoufnefs, we muft
be adopted as the children of God, and have a right
and title given us to the heavenly inheritance, before
we can enter into it, or poffefs it ; and this bleffing is-
procured for us by the obedience and death of the Son,
of G,od. It is in his? blood that we find an atonement
for our iniquities, and we muft be made heirs of glory,-
by becoming the adopted children of God, and fo we
are joint-heirs with his Son Jefus, and fhall be glorified
with him, Rom. viii. 17.
And it is by a true and living faith in the Son of
God, that we become partakers of this bleffing. God
has fet forth his Son jefus a<s a propitiation for finners
thro' faith in his blood, Rom., iii- 24. We are juftified
by faith in his blood, ar\a\ have hope, of eternal, life thro"
him, Rom. v. We alfo receive our adoption, and be
come the children of God thro' faith in Chrift Jefus, GaL
iii. 2 6. and thereby we obtain a title to fome manfion
in our Father's houfe in Heaven, fince Jefus our elder
brother, and our forerunner, is admitted into it to
take a place there in our name. This is a very confi-
derable part of our neceffary preparation for the hea
venly world, that we fliould be believers in the Son of
God, and united, to him by a living faith; and this-
faitB

Difc VIII. A Soul prepared for Heaven, 22$
faith alfo is the gift of God, Eph* ii. 8. We are wrought
up to it by his grace.
But as this does not feem to be the chief thing de
signed in the words of my text, I fliall pafs it over
thus briefly, and apply myfelf to confider what that
further fitnefs or preparation-, for heaven intends, for
which we are faid here to be wrought up by God him
felf. The former preparation for heaven, may rather
be faid to be a relative change, which is included in
our pardon or juftification, and alters our ftate from
the condemnation of hell, to the favour and love of
God : But this latter preparation implies a real change
of our nature by fanaifying grace, and gives lis a
temper of foul suited to the bufinefs and bleffednefs
of the heavenly world. . This is the preparation which
my text fpeaks of.
The great enquiry therefore at prefent is, What are
thofe flips, or gradual operations, by which the bleffed
God works us up to this fitnefs for heaven ?
And here I fliall not run over all the parts and linea
ments of the new creature, which is formed by rege
neration, nor the particular operations of converting
grace, whereby we are convinced of fin, and led to faith
and repentance, and new obedience, tho' thefe are all
neceffary to this end ; but 1 fhall confine myfelf only
to thofe things which have a more immediate reference
to the heavenly bleffednefs ; and they are fuch as follow :
1 . " God works us up to a preparation for the hea-
" venly felicity, by eftabtifhing and confirming our
" belief, that there is a heaven provided for the faints,
" and by giving us fome clearer acquaintance with the
" nature, the bufinefs, and the bleffednefs of this hea-
" ven." All this is done by the gofpel of Christ, and
by the fecret operation of the bleffed God, teaching us
to underftand his gofpel.
Alas I how ignorant were the heathen fages about
any future ftate for the righteous ? How bewildered
were the beft of them in all their imaginations ? how
vain were all their reafonings upon this fubjea, and
how

236 A Soul prepared for Heaved Difc Vttl
how little fatisfaaion could they give to an honeft en
quirer, whether there was any reward provided for
good men beyond this life ? The light of nature was
their guide ; and thofe in whom this feeble taper
burnt with the faireft luftre, were ftill left in great
darknefs about futurity. As the Gentile philofophers
were left in great uncertainties whether there was any
heaven or no, fo were their conceptions of heavenly
things Very abfurd and ridiculous ; and their various
fancies about the nature and enjoyments of it, were all
impertinence. And how little knowledge had the Patriarchs them
felves, if we may judge of their knowledge by the five'
books of Mofes, which give no plain and exprefs pro
mife of future happinefs in another world, neither to
Abel nor Noah, to Abraham, Ifaac, Jacob, or to Mofes
himfelf? And were it not for fome expreffion? in the
New Teftament, and by the xith chapter to the Hebrews;
where we are told, that thefe good men fought a hea
venly country, and hoped for happinefs in a future arid
invifible ftate, We fhould fometimes be ready to doubt
whether they knew almoft any thing of the future re
furreaion and glory.
That great and excellent man Job had One or twd
lucid intervals of peculiar brightnefs, which fhone up
on him from heaven, in the midft of his diftrelTes, and
raifed him above and beyond the common level of the!
difpenfation he lived in ; yet, in the main, When he
defcribes the ftate of the dead, how defolate and dple-
fome is his language, and what heavy darknefs hangs
upon his hope! See his expreffion, Job x. 21, 22.
" Let me alone that I may take comfort a little, before
" I go whence I fhall not return, even to the land of
" darknefs, and the fhadow of death, a land of dark-
" nefs as darknefs itfelf, and of the fhadow of death
" without any order, and where the light is as dark-
" nefs." Mark how this good man heaps one dark
nefs upon another, and makes fo formidable a gloom as

Difc VIII, A Soul prepared for Heaven. 235
as was hardly to be dispelled by the common notices
given to men in that age.
And if we look into the Jewifh writings in and af
ter the days of Mofes, we find the men of righteouf
nefs frequently entertained with promifes of corn, and
wine, and oil, and other bleffings of fenfe ; and few
there were amongft them who faw clearly, and firmly
believed the heavenly inheritance through the types,
and fhadows, and figures of Canaan, the promifed land,
which flowed with milk and honey.
It is granted there are fome hints and difcoveries of a
bleffednefs beyond the grave in the Writings of David,
Ifaiah, Daniel, and fome pf the prophets : But the
brightefl of thefe notices fall far fhort of what the gof
pel of our Lord jefus Chrift has fet before us. The
Son of God, who came down from heaven, where he
had lived from before the creation of this world, has
revealed to us infinitely mpre of the invifible ftate
than all that went before him : He tells us of the pure
in heart enjoying the fight of God, and converfing with
Abraham, Ifaac and Jacob, the ancient faints : He af-
fures us there are many manfions in his Father's houfe,-
and that he went to prepare a place there for his follow
ers. I tell you, fays he, John viii. 38. I tell you the
things which I have feen with my Father. And when
he came again- from the dead, he made it appear to
his difciples that he had brought life and immortality to
light by his gofpel, 2 Tim. i. 10.
It is only the New Teftament that gives us fo bright
and fatisfaaory an account what our future heaven is :
The righteous Jhall be with God, fhall behold him, fhall
dwell with Chrift, and fee his glory ; they fhall worjhip
day and night in his temple, and fing the praifes of him
that fits upon the throne, and of the Lamb that has re- ,
deemed them by his blood ; there Jhall be no fin, noj'orrow,
no death, nor any more pain ; they fhall have fuch fa-
tisfaaions and employments as are worthy of a rati
onal nature, and a foul refined from fenfe and fin. St
Paul, one of his difciples, was tranfported into the
third

«32 A Soul prepared for Heaven. Difc. VIII.
third heaven before he died, and there learnt unfpedk-
able things, 2 Cor. xii. 2. 4. and he, together with the
other Apoftles, have publifhed the glories of that fu
ture world which they learnt from Jefus their Lord,
and confirmed thefe things to our faith by prophecies
and miracles without number.
Now the bleffed God himfelf prepares his own
people for this heaven of happinefs, by giving them a
full conviaion and affurance of the truth of all thefe
divine difcoveries ; he impreffes them upon their heart
with power, and makes them attend to thofe divine
impreffions. Every true Chriftian has learnt to fay
within himfelf, " This celeftial bleffednefs is no dream,
" is no painted vision, no gay fcene of flattering fan-
*' cy, nor is it a matter of doubtful difpute, or of un-
" certain opinion. > I am affured of it from the words
" of Chrift the Son of God, and from his bleffed fol-
" lowers, whom he authorized to teach me the things
" of a future world." He that is taught of God be
holds thefe glories in the light of a divine faith, which
is to him the fubftance of things hoped for, and the evi
dence of things not yet feen, Heb. xi. t.
2. God works up the fouls of his people to a pre
paration for the heavenly ftate, by purifying them from
every defilement that might unfit them fir the bleffednefs
of heaven. The removal of the guilt of fin by his par
doning mercy I have mentioned before, as neceffary
to our entrance into the heavenly ftate ; and we muft
walk through this world, this defiling world, with all
holy watchfulnefs, left our foul be blemifhed with new
pollutions, left new guilt come upon our confidences**
and the thoughts of appearance before God be terrible
to us. That foul is very much unfit for an entrance into
the prefence of a holy God, who is ever plunging itfelf
into new circumftances of guilt, by a carelefs and un
holy converfation. To ftand upon the borders of life,
and the very edge of eternity, will be dreadful to
thofe who have given themfelves a loofe to criminal'
pleafures^

Difc Viii. A Soul prepared fir Heaven. 233
pleafures, and indulged their irregular appetites and
paffions. ;
But it is not Only a corifcience purged frofn the guilt
of fin by the blood of Chrift, but a foul wafhed alfo
from the defiling power^ arid taint of fin by the fanc-
tifyirig fpirit that is neceffary to make us meet for the
heavenly inheritance. This is that purification which
I now chiefly intend, Matth. v. 8. Bleffed are the pure
in heart for they Jhall foe God. Nothing that defiletb
muft enter into the city of God ori high, rior whofoever
makeih a lye or loveth it, Rdv. xxi. 27. No injustice, nP
falfehOod, no guile Or deceit can be admitted within
thofe gates . They mrift be without guile both in their
heart arid tongue, if they will ftand before the throne of
God, Rdv. xiv. j. fincerity arid truth of foui, With all
the beauties' of an upright heart and charaaer, are ne
ceffary to prepare an irihabitant for that bleffed ftate.
There rhuft be no envy, no Wrath or' malice, rip re
venge, ribr any pf tlie angry principles that dwell irt
bur flefh and blood, Or that ihflame and difturb the
mind, will be found in thofe regions of peace and love.
There muft be no pride of ambition, no felf-exaltatiort
and vanity that cart dwell in heaven, for it caft out the
angels of glorious degree, when they Would exalt
themfelves above their own ftatibn. Fride was the ceii*
demnation of the devil, and it muft not dwell in a human
heart that ever hopes for a heavenly dwelling-place,
t Tim. iii. 6. and jude Ver. 6. There muft be no fen
fual and intemperate creature there, nb covetous felfifh-
hefs, no irregular paffions, rto narfownefs of foul,
fio uncharitable and party fpirit will eVer be found in
that country of diffufive love and joy.
And finCethe beft of Chriftians have had the feeds
of many of thefe iniquities in their hearts, and they
have made a painful c'orhplaint of thefe riling Corrup
tions of nature upon many occafions, thefe iniquities
riiuft be mortified atid flain by tlie work of the Spirit
of God within us, if ever we ourfelves would live the
divine life of heaven, Rom. viii. 13. Thefe is a great
* G g deal

,234 A Soul prepared for Heaven.' Difc VIII.
deal of this purifying work to be done in the fouls of
all of us, before we can be prepared for the heavenly
world, and though we cannot arrive at perfeaion here,
yet we muft be wrought up to a temper in fome meafure
fit to enter intp that bleffednefs : And God is training
his people up for this purpofe all the days of their tra;
vels through this defart world. Happy fouls, who
feel themfelves more and more releafed from the bonds
of thefe iniquities, day by day, and thereby feel with
in themfelves the growing evidences of a joyful hope!
3. God does not only purify us from every fin in
order to prepare us for heaven, but he is ever loofoning
and weaning our hearts from all thofe lawful things in
this life, which are not to be enjoyed in heaven. Our
fenfual appetites, and our carnal defires, fo far as they
are natural,, though not finful, muft die before we can
. enter into eternal life. Flefh and blood cannot inherit
that divine, incorruptible, and refined happinefs . Riches
and treasures. of gold and silver which the rufl can
corrupt, and which thieves can break through . and fleaf,
are not provided for the heavenly ftate : They are all
of the earthly kind, and too mean for the reliffi of a
heavenly fpirit. Although a Chriftian maypoffefs ma
ny of thefe things in the prefent life, yet his affeaions
muft be diverted of them, and his foul divided from
them, if he would be a faint indeed, and ever ready ,
for the purer, bleffings of paradife. .The, bufineffes,
the cares and the concerns of this fecul'ar life, are
ready to drink up our. fpirits too much while we are
here ; we ate too prone to mingle our very fouls with
?hem, and thereby grow unfit for heavenly felicities i
And therefore it is that our Saviour has warned us,
Luke xxi. 34. Let not your hearts be overcharged with
the cares of this world, any "more than with furfiiting
and drunkennefs, if you would be always ready for
your flight to a better ftate, and meet the fummons of
your Lord to paradife.
There are alfo many curious fpeculations and de
lightful amufehients which may lawfully entertain us
, while

Difc. V11L A Soul prepared for Heaven. &$$
while we are here ; there are fports and recreations
which may divert the flefh or the mind in a lawful
manner, whilft we dwell in tabernacles of flefh and
blood, and are encompaffed with mortal things : But
the foul that is wrought for heaven muft arife to an
holy indifference to all the entertainments of flefh and
fenfe, and time, if it would put on the appearance of
an heavenly inhabitant. Chriftians that would be ever
ready for the glories of a better world muft be fuch
in fome meafure as the Apoftle deferibes, i Cor. vii.
29. &c. They muft rejoice with fuch moderation in
their deareft comforts of life as though they rejoiced not,
they muft weep and mourn for the lofs of them with
fuch a divine felf-government as though they wept not,
they muft buy as though they poffeffed not, they muft ufe
this world .as not abvfing it in any inftance, but muft
look upon the fafhions and the fcenes of it as vanifli-
ing things, and have their hearts fet on the things that
are above where Chrift Jefus is at the Father's right
hand, Colof. iii. 1, 2.
If you afk me, what methods the bleffed God ufes
in order to attain thefe ends, and to purify and refine
the foul for heaven? I anfwer, he fometimes does it by
fharp ftrokes of aftliaion, making our interefts in the
creature bitter to us, that we may be weaned from the
relifh of them, and the power of divine grace muft
accompany all his weaning providences, or the-work
will not be done.
Sometimes again he weans the foul from the lawful
things of this world, by permitting our earthly enjoy
ments to plunge us into difficulties, to feize the heart
with anxieties, or to furround us with fore temptations :
Then, when we feel ourfelves falling into fin, and
bruifed or defiled thereby, we lofe our former guft of
pleafure in them ; and when we are recovered by di
vine grace, we are more effeaually weaned from fuch
kind of temptations for the future ; but it is impof-
fible in the compafs of a few lines to defcribe the va
rious methods which the bleffed God ufes to wean the
fpirit

23^ A Soul prepared for Heaven. Difc. VIII,
fpirit from all its earthly attachments, and to work it
up to a meetnefs for the inheritance of the faints in
light. Bfeffed fouls, who are thus loofened and wean
ed from fenfible things, though it be done by painful
fufferings !
4. The great God not only weans our hearts from
thofe things that are not to be enjoyed in heaven, but
he gives us a holy appetite and rel'ijh fuited to the provi-
flons of the heavenly 'world and raifes our defires and ten
dencies of foul towards theni- By nature our minds are
estranged from God, and from all that is divine and
holy ; we have no defires after his love, nor delight
in the thoughts of dwelling. with God : but when dir
vine grace has effeaually touched the heart, it ever
tends upwards to that world of holinefs and peace. So
the needle, when it is touched by the load-ftone, ever
points to the beloved pole-ftar, and feems uneafy when
it is diverted from it, nor will it reft till it return thither
again. Do the fweet fenfations of divine love make up a
great part pf the heavenly bleffednefs? The foul is in fome
meafure fitted for it, who can fay with David in Pfal.
iv. 7. Lord lift thqu up upon me the light of thy counte
nance, and it fhall rejoice my heart more than if "corn and
wine, and oil abounded, and all earthly bleffings were mul
tiplied upon me ; for in thy love is the life of my foul,
and thy loving-kindnefs is better thanlife, Pfal. lxiii.
Is the felicitating prefence of God to be injoyed fo
the future world, and fhall we fee his face there with
unfpeakable delight ? Then thofe fouls are prepared
for heaven, who can fay with the Pfalmift, Pfal. xliii.
2. When Jhall I come and appear before God? When
fhall I have finifhed my travels thro' this wilder
nefs, ;'that I may arrive at my Father's houfe ? This
one thing have I defired, that I may dwell in the
houfe of God for ever to behold the beauty of the Lord
there, Pfal. xxvii. 4. It is enough for 'me that I fhall
behold thy face in righteoufnefs, and I fhall be fatisfied
when I awake out of the duft with thy likenefs. With mv

Difc VIII. A Soul prepared for Heaven, 237
my foul have I defired thee, 0 Lord, in the night, in the
darknefs of this defart world I have longed for the
light of thy face, and with my fpirit within me I will
feek thee early. Whom have I in heaven but thee, neither
"is there any on earth that I defire be fide thee, Pfal. xvii.
Jfa. xxvi. Pfal. lxxiii. O when fhall the day come
when there fhall be no more diftance and eftrange-
ment of my heart from God, but I fhall feel all my
powers for ever near him ?
Is the fweet fociety of Jefus to be enjoyed in the
heavenly region, then thofe are prepared for this hap
pinefs who feel in themfelves a defire to depart, and to
be with Chrift, which is far better than the moft plea-
furable fcenes on earth, Phil. i. 23. lam willing and
rejoice in the thought of it rather to be abfent from the
body, and to be prefent with the Lord, 2 Cor. v. 8. I be
hold in the light of faith the dawning glory of that
day, when jefus fhall return from heaven, when he
fhall revifit this wretched world, and put an end to
thefe wretched fceries of vanity. Behold he cometh in
the clouds, and every eye Jhall fee him. He comes into
our world to them that look for him, not to be made a
facrifice for fin, but to compleat our falvation. 1 long
to behold him, and I love the thought of his appear
ance, Rev. i. Heb. ix. 2 Tim. iv. &c.
Is there not only a freedom from pain and forrow
among the faints on high, but is there alfo an eternal
releafe from all the bonds of fin and temptation ?
Then that foul difcovers a degree of preparation for
it, who can fay with an holy groan and grief of heart,
0 wretched man that I am, who Jhall deliver me from
this body of fin and death ? Rom. vii. In this tabernacle
we groan indeed being burdened, and are defirous rather
to be cloathed upon with our houfe which is from heaven,
with our holy ftate of immortality, 2 Cor. v.
5. That God who has wrought thefe divine breath
ings in the foul will one day fulfil them all, and he is
working up the Chriftian to a bleffed meetnefs for this
felicity* by awakening thefe wifhes in the very centre of

i$8 A Soul prepared for Heaven. Difc VII.
of the heart. Happy heart, which feels thefe holy
afpirations, thefe divine breathings !
6.\ The bleffed God is pleafed to work us up to a
preparation for the heavenly world by forming the tem
per of our minds into a likenefs to the inhabitants of hea
ven, i. e. to God himfelf, to Chrift Jefus the Son of
God, to angels and faints, to the fpirits of the juft
made perfea. From the children of folly and fin we
muft be transformed into the children of God, we
muft be created anew after his image, and refemble
our heavenly Father, that we may be capable of in:
joying his love, and rejoicing in his prefence. We
muft be conformable to the image of his only begot
ten Son Chrift jefus, and walk and live as he did in
this world, that we may be prepared to dwell with
him in the world to come, Rom. viii. 29. 1 John iv. 17.
We muft have the fame temper and fpirit of holinefs
wrought in us, that we may be imitators of all the ho
ly ones that dwell in heaven, and that we may be fol
lowers of the faints who have been ftrangers and tra
vellers in this world in all former agfes.
How can we hope to have free converfation with
glorious beings, which are fo unlike to ourfelves, as
God, and Chrift, and angels, are unlike to the finful
children of, men? How can we imagine ourfelves to
be fit company for fuch pure and perfea beings, beau
teous, and fhining in holinefs, while we are defiled
with the iniquities of our natures, and ever falling in
to new guilt and pollution ? Happy fouls, who can fay
through grace, I have walked in the light as God is in
the light, and I truft, O Father, I fhall dwell for ever
with thee there. I have been a follower of the Lamb
through the thorny and rugged paffages of this wil
dernefs, and I humbly hope 1 fhall fit with thee, O Je
fus, upon a throne glorious and holy. I have been a
companion of them who have finifhed the Chriftian
race, who have fought the good fight, and obtained
the viaory, and I truft I fhall have a name and a place
amongft all you holy ones who have fought and over
come.

Difc VIII. A Soul prepared for Heaven. 239
come. O for a heart and tongue furnifhed for fuch
appeals to all the bleffed inhabitants of paradife, the
poffeffors of thofe manfions On high !
7. The grace of God works us up to a preparation
for heaven by carrying us through thofe trials and fuffer
ings, thofe labours and conflitls here in this life, which
will not only make heaven the fweeter to us, but will make
it more honourable for God "himfelf to beftow this heaven
upon us.
When the fpirits of a creature are almoft worn out
with the toilfome labours of the day, what an addi
tional fweetnefs does he find in reft and repofe ? What
an inward relifh and fatisfaaion to the foul, that has
been fatigued under a long and tedious war with fins
and temptations, to be tranfported to fuch a place
where fin cannot follow them, and temptation can ne
ver reach them? HoW will it inhance all the felicities
of the heavenly world when we enter into it, to feel
ourfelves releafed from all the trials and diftreffes and
fufferings which we have fuftained in our travels thi
therwards ? The review of the waves and the ftorms
wherein we had been toffed for a long feafon, and had
been almoft fliipwreck'd there, will make the peaceful
haven of eternity, to which we fhall arrive, much more
agreeable to every one of the fufferers, 2 Cor. iv. 17.
Our light ajfiiclions, which are but for a moment, are in
this way working for us a far more exceeding and eter
nal weight of glory, and preparing us for the, poffeffion
of it.
But it fhould be added alfo, that the prize of life,
and the crown of glory, is much more honourably be
llowed, on thofe who have been long fighting, running,
arid labouring to obtain it. Heaven will appear as a
condecent reward of all the faithful fervants of God
upon earth, and a divine recompence of their labours
and fufferings, 2 Thef. i. 6. As it is a righteous thing
with God to recompenfo tribulation to t'hem that trouble you,
fo to give to thofe who are troubled reft and falvation.
This is that equitable or condecent fitnefs that God, as

240 d. Soul prepared fir Heaven. Difc* VIII.
as governor of the world, has wifely appointed and
made neceffary before our entrance into heaven.
Chrift himfelf our forerunner, and the captain of our
falvation, was made perfecl thro' his fufferings, and was
trained up for his throne on high by enduring the
contradiaion of finners* arid the variety of agonies
which attended this life and death in his lower World,
this ftage of conflia and fufferings. See Heb. ii. 1 o*
and xii* 1.
Though We c'atindt. pretend by our labours in the '
race to have merited the prize, yet we muft labour
through the race before we receive if. Our conflias
cannot pretend to have deferved the crown which is
promifed, but We muft fight the battles of the Lord
before we obtain it. This was St Paul's encourage
ment and hope, iTim. iv. 7. 8, I have fought the good
fight, I have finifhed my coitrfe, I have kept the faithj
henceforth there is laid up for nie a crown iof righteoufnefs :;
which the Lord the righteous Judge will give me, and not to
me only, but to all thofe who love his appearance. There is
a great deal of divine wifdom in this appointrrient, that
the children of God may be counted in this fenfe, wor
thy of his kingdom for which they alfo fluffier, 2 Thef. i. 5.
and that the reliffi of thofe fatisfactipris may be doubled
to all the sufferers'. '
8. God yet further prepares and works up his peo
ple for heaven, by teaching themfome of the employments
of the heavenly world, and initiating arid inuring them to
the praclice thereof. Is the contemplation of the bleffed
God in his nature and his various perfeaions the bufi
nefs of glorified fouls? God teaches his children, whom
he is training up for glory, to praaice this holy con
templation : He fixes their thoughts upon the' wonders
of his nature and his grace, his works of creation arid
providence, the bleflings pf his redeeming love by his
Son Jefus, and the terrors of his juftice which fhall be
executed by the fame, hand, while the foul at the fame
time can appeal to God with holy delight, My medita
tion of thee fhall befweet indeed, O may I dwell for ever fa

Difc VIII* A Soul prepared for Heaven. 24*
in the midft Of thy light, and fee all thy Wondrous
glories diffufed around me, and make my. joys ever
lafting !
Are we told that heaven confifts alfo in beholding the
glory of Chrift, John xvii. 24. And how happily does
God prepare his faints for this part of heaven, by fil
ling their thoughts with the various graces and ho*
nours of Jefus the Saviour ? And when they are in
their lonely retirements, they trace the footfteps of
their beloved through all his labours and forrows irt
this mortal ftate, even from his cradle to his crofs $
they follow him in their holy meditations to his agonies
in the garden, to his anguifh of foul there ; through
all his fufferings in death, through the grave his bed
of darknefs, and trace him on ftill to his glorious re
furreaion, and to his afcent to his Father's houfe, when
' a bright cloud like a chariot bore him up to heaven
With attending angels : This is my beloved*, fays the foul*
and this is my friend, whom I fhall fee with joy in the
upper worid : He is altogether lovely* and he demands
. my higheft love.-
Is it part of the happinefs pf fteaven to converfe with
the bleffed God by holy addreffes of acknowledgements and
praife,, as it is defcribed in Rev. iv. and v* and vii.
They are before the throne of God day and night, and
ferve him in his temple', and join with holy joy to pro
nounce that divine fong, Bleffing and honour, and glory
and power, be to him that flit eth on the throne, and to the
Lamb for ever and ever : Worthy art thou; 0 Lord, to. re-
teive glory and honour, for thou haft ¦ created all things
for thy pleafure .-' Worthy is the Lamb that was flain to
receive power, and riches, and ftrength, glory, and
bleffing, for thou was flain, and haft redeemed^us untd
God by thy blood, out of every kindred and nation* Now
it is evident that thofe Whofe hearts and lips are joy
fully fitted to pronounce this holy fong, and to join irt
this harmony, is fitted alfo for thefe bleffed employ
ments of the heavenly ftate : And yet at the fame
time they abafe themfelves in the duft of humility, and
H h with

342 A Soul prepared fir lieaven-. Difc. VlfL
with the fiVifag creatures or angels they fall down be
fore the throne, and with the elders they caft down
their crowns at his foot, they confefs themfelves the
fons of earth and duft, and Would appear as nothing
while God is all, Rev. iv. 9, 10. and v. 8.
Are all the powers of glorified nature in heaven ac
tive in the unknown fervices of God and Chrift there ?
So the Saints are trained up- for this fervice and this
aaivity here on earth, by diligence and delight in their
lefs noble employments, the inferior labours and duties
that providence demands of them here* whereby they
are prepared for more glorious employment on high ;
for heaven is no idle or unaaive ftate.
Do fome pf the fatisfaaions of the heavenly world
arife from the fubeet fociety of the bleffed above, their fer
vent love to each other, their mutual delight in holy con
verfe, the joy that arifes in the heart of each upon a fur
vey of the happinefs of all the holy and bleffed inhabitants?
Does benevolence and goodnefs of every kind overflow in
the heavenly world? It is plain that God is training up
his own children for this bleffednefs, by employing
them in this manner while they are here below ; He is
in fome meafure fitted for this heaven, who can fay,
the faints are the excellent of the earth, in whom is all mf
delight : I love them from my foul, becaufe they love
my God and my Saviour. I fee the image of the Fa
ther, and of Jefus his Son in them, and I cannot but
love that image wherefoever I behold it. I feel my
felf ready to rejoice when my fellow chriftians partake
of joy, and 1 long for that temper of mind when I fhall
delight myfelf in the felicity of all my fellow faints in
perfeaion, and fhall make their heaven a part of my
own. But I proceed not here, becaufe this would an
ticipate what I defign hereafter.
9. God is pleafed to work up his people to a prepa
ration for the heavenly ftate, by giving them a pledge
and earneft of the bleffednefs of heaven, that1 is, by fend
ing his own Spirit into their hearts under this very cha
raaer, both as the fpring of a divine life, and as the
evidence

Difc VIII. A Soul prepared for Heaven. 243
evidence of our hope, and fometimes bellowing upon,
them fuch foretaftes of the heavenly world, by the opera
tions of his holy Spirit,, which are too joyful and glori
ous to be fully expreffed in mortal language ; but we
fhall attempt fomething of it in another difcourfe.
I proceed now to feek what inferences or edifying
remarks may be made upon our meditations thus far.
Rem. 1. We learn from my text what are the bright-
eft, the plaineft, and the fureft evidences of our inter eji in
the heavenly bleffednefs : Are we trained up to it, and pre
pared for it ? Has the bleffed God wrought up our
fouls to any hopeful degrees of this preparatipn ? Has
he in any meafure made us meet for this inheritance of
tiie faints in light ?
I grant the fcripture teaches us, that it is by a true
and living faith in our Lord Jefus Chrift, that we ob
tain a title to eternal life, according to the propofajs of
the covenant of grace in the gofpel ; but our prepara?
tion for heaven by a holy and heavenly temper pf
mind and condua of life, is the faireft and moft un-
contefted evidence of the truth and life of our faith,
and fuch a proof of it as will fljapd the teft hoth in life
and death, in this world, and in the world to come. If
we would manifeft our faith in Chrift to be fincere and
genuine and effeaual for our falvation, we muft make
it appear that we are growing up into the image of
Chrift in all things, we irmft be formed after the like
nefs of the Son of God, who is our great example,
and our fore-runner into heaven ; and where this; evi
dence is found the foul cannot fail of falvation. Where-
foever there is this fitnefs for the joys on high, God
will assuredly beftpw thefe diyine pleafures. It is for
fuch fouls that he lias prepared a heaven, and when he
has prepared fuch fouls for the heavenly world, he will
furely bring them to the poffeffion of it.
Of how great moment and importance is it then for
each of us to examine ourfelves with watchful dili
gence and sincerity, whether we are in any meafure
fitted for the bleffednefs above : And to this end we
may

244 A "Soul prepared for tieaven. Difc. VIII,
may run over in our inquiries all the former fteps of
preparation. Let us 'enquire of our fouls then, am I fo fully per
fuaded of this ftate of future happinefs, as to reforye,
this fhall be my aim, this my everlafting pursuit ? Have
we feen this bleffednefs in the various reprefentations
of it in the word of God, as the moft amiable and de
sirable thing, and have we fet our faces to travel thi,
ther with an holy purpofe and determination, through
grace, never to tire, or grow weary till we arrive at
the enjoyment of it ? Have we fixed our hope and ex
peaation upon the bleffed promifes in the word, and
are we by thefe promifes, endeavouring daily to cleanfe
ourfelves from all defilements of flefh and fpirit, and to
perfea holinefs in the fear of God ? Do we obtain any
viaories over our fpiritual enemies, and maintain our pi
ous conflias againft all the oppofitions which we meet
with in our way ? Do we labour to fopprefs every ri
ling ferment of envy, pride, wrath, fenfuality, and thofe
corrupt appetites and paffions which render us unfit
for that holy and heavenly world ? Are your hearts
daily more mortified to the things of this world, the
enjoyments of flefh and fenfe, which are not to be
found in heaven ? Are our hearts more weaned from
the fenfual fatisfaaions and intemperate delights of the
animal life ! Are we dead to the temptations of gold
and filver, the grandeurs and the gaieties, and fplen-
dors of this prefent low life of flefh and blood, which
are no part nor portion of the heavenly felicity ? Do
we view the tempting things of this world with an holy
indifference, and poffefs and ufe them with affeaions,
fo calm and fo cool, as becomes a rank of beings that
have a nobler, a richer, and a more exalted hope ?
Have we found the labours and burdens, the forrows
and affliaions of the prefent ftate, happy instruments
to prepare us for the bleffednefs above, by curing all
our vain and carnal defires ? Are we in any meafure
imitators of thofe who have gone before us thro' faith
find patience, and are made poffeffors of the promifed j°y?

Difc. VIII. A Soul prepared for Heaven. 245
joy ? Are we followers of God as dear children ? Have
we the image of our heavenly Father created anew in
US, and do we walk as our Lord Jefus Chrift alfo
walked, while he was in this wildernefs travelling to
his Father's houfe ? Are our earneft defires towards
this fort of felicity excited and raifed high ? Have we
a ftrong tendency of foul to the holy enjoyments of
the upper world ? Do we figh and groan after a com
pleat freedom from fin, and a deliverance from every
temptation ? Do we employ ourfelves with pleafure in
the work and bufinefs of heaven, in the holy contemp
lation of God, in a delightful furvey of the perfon and
offices of his Son jefus, his wondrous condefcenfion,
and his amazing compafEon ? Do we take pleafure in
converfing with God our Father by holy addreffes of
praife and thankfulnefs ? Do we love all the faints, and
delight in their fociety, and do we rejoice to fpend our
time with them in heavenly converfation, though they
may be amongft the lower ranks of life here on earth?
And do we diftufe our love through all who wear the
image of God, and take a pleafing fatisfaaion of foul
in their increafe in holinefs, and rejoice in their joys ?
If God has thus fitted thee, O Chriftian, in this
manner for the manfions of the happy world, then
furely he has fet thee apart for himfelf, he has begun
eternal life in thee, the dawn of eternal glory is rifen
upon thee,, and he will bring thee into the compleat
noon of bleffednefs, into the overflowing light of di
vine beatitudes. Arife and Jhine O Chriftian, for thy
life is come, the glory of the Lord is rifen upon thee ;
thou haft no need to afcend into heaven to fearch for
thy evidences among the decrees of God, and to pry
into the rolls of electing grace ; for if thou haft been
transformed into an heavenly temper, thy name is
furely written in the Lamb's book of life ; heaven is
begun within thee, and God will fulfil his own work. '
Rem. 2. What a folid comfort is it to poor mourning,
troubled, afflitled fouls under all their forrows, their frail
ties, their temptations, and infirmities here on earth, that they

246 A Soul prepared fir Heaven. Difc. VIII.
they have a clear evidence of heaven within, them. This
k fuch a peace as Jefus Chrift left to his difciples by
legacy, johnsiv. 27. Such as the world cannot give,
and fuch as the world cannot take away.
This is a fpring of conftant and divine confolation;
to thofe who feem to be worn out with old age or in
firmities of nature, and they complain they are fit for
no fervice in this world ; but if they can feel in them
felves this holy fitnefs for the enjoyments of heaven, they
have a rich and living fountain of pleafure in their
own breafts, ever springing, ever flowing, and fuch as,
will follow them with daily fupplies of pleafure, if
they are not wanting to. themfelves, through all this,
wildernefs, till they arrive at that land where all the
rivers of bleffing meet and join in a full ftream, tp
make the inhabitants for ever happy.
It may be, O Chriftian, thou art afraid that thou
haft felt but little of this divine preparation ; thou
feeft fo many defeas in thyfelf daily, fo much unlike-
nefs to God, fo much working of iniquity, fuch reft-
lefs efforts of the body of fin, fo much prevalence of
temptation, fo much coldnefs in duty, fuch deadnefs,
in aas of devotion, fuch frequent returns of guilt and
pain in a tender confcience, and fo many enemies to
ftruggle with every ftep of thy way to heaven, that
thou art greatly difeouraged and afraid this divine pre
paration is not wrought in thee. Enquire then ye$
further, are all thefe melancholy fcenes Both within
and without, the matter of thy fincere grief and bur
den ? Canft thou fay in this tabernacle, I groan,
being burdened with the body of fin, as well as with
the frailties and pains- of nature ? Canft thou fay fin-
cercly, that thy inmoft defires are towards God and
his glory in the prefent life, and towards his enjoy
ment in the life to come ? Doft thou maintain a con
ftant converfe with heaven as well as thou canft, tho' it
be fo much broken, and fo often painfully interrupted ?
Haft thou a continual and fettled aversion and hatred
to fin, and a holv jealoufy and fear of its defilements ?
Haft

Difc. VIII. A Soul prepared for Heaven. i$y
Haft thou a reftlefs breathing of foul after greater like
nefs to God, and greater communion with him ? Doft
thou delight in fpiritual and holy converfation ; and
does thy zeal for the honour of God and his Son Je
fus, carry thee forth to thofe aaions which are fuitable
to thy ftation, for the advancement of religion in the
world ? Be affured then that God is training thee up
for this heavenly ftate, and has in fome meafure pre
pared thee for it. God has begun in thee the bufi
nefs and bleffednefs of the upper world. In the midft
of all thy forrows and complaints here below, peace
be with thee, and joy in the Lord, for thy falvation
and thy felicity fhall be compleated.
Rem. 3. How vain, and idle, and unreafonable are all
the hopes of finners, that they Jhall ever arrive at heaven
without any preparation for it here ? There is nothing
divine and holy begun in them in this world, and yet
they hope to be made happy in the world that is to
Come ; there is nothing of true grace in their hearts here,
and yet they vainly expea to be made perfea in plea
fure and glory hereafter.
Think with thyfelf, O carnal creature, that heaven
will be a burden to thee ; the powers, the appetites,
and paffions of thy finful nature, will not suffer thee
to relifh the joys of the heaverily ftate. Doft thou
imagine that a worm or ferpent of the earth, or a
fwine which is ever tumbling in the mire, can be en
tertained with the golden ornaments and fplendors of
a palace ? Or will the ftupid afs be delighted with the
harmony of a harp or viol ? No rriore can a, foul of a
carnal and fenfual tafte, and which is ever feeking and
•groveling after earthly gratifications, be pleafed or gra
tified with the refined enjoyments of the' heavenly
world. Thou muft have a new nature, new appetites
and affeaions, ere thou canft partake of divine joys,
or relifh them if thou wert placed in the midft of
them. Holy adoration of God, and humble converfe
with him in worfhip, converfe with the faints about
divine things, perfea purity and clex'otion, with the
. meditation

248 A Soul prepared for Heaven. Difc. Vlif*
meditation of the excellencies of Chrift, and the fight
of him in his ordinances, have never yet been the ob-
jea of thy delight or joy ; nay, they have rather been
thine averfion ; and fhouldft thou have the gates of
heaven open before thee, and fee what bufinefs the
holy fouls there are employed in, thou wouldft find no
defire to fuch fort of fatisfaaipns ; the place and the
company Would be thy burden, if thou couldft be let
at once into the midft of them.
Think again, O finful wretch, thy carriality of foul*
thy fupreme love of fenfual and brutal joys, the fecret
malice or envy* thfe pride and impiety of thy heart*
have prepared thee for another fort of company ; thou
art fitted for hell by the very temper of thy fpirit, for
fuch are the inhabitants pf that miferable world, and
in thy prefent ftate there can be no admiffion for thee
into heaveri. Thou haft treasured up food for the
worm that never dies, for the eternal anguifh of con
fcience ; thou haft made thyfelf fit fuel by indulgence
of thy finful and rebellious appetites and paffions, for
the fiery indignation of God; and every day thou
perfifteft in this ftate, thy preparation for the dark re
gions of fin and forrow is increafed. But this leads
me to the laft Remark.
Rem. 4. How dangerous a thing it is fir a finner to con
tinue a day longer in a ftate fo unprepared for the hea
venly world. Doft thou not know, whilft we are in
habitants in thefe regions of mortality, We are bor
derers upon death ; and if we are unprepared for
heaven, we are borderers upon damnation and hell ?
Our life is but a' vapour, and the next priff may blow
us away into the regions of everlafting darknefs, mi
fery, and defpair. \
Alas ! How much of this divine preparation do the
beft of faints ftand in ' need of for an immediate en
trance into heaven ? What care do they take, how
cbnftant are their labours, and how fervent their pray
ers to increafe in this divine fitnefs, in thefe holy and
heavenly qualifications ? And doft thou vainly ima gine.

Difc. VIII. A Soul prepared for Heaven. 249
gine to exchange earth for heaven at once, and to be
received into the pure and holy manfions of paradife,
without any conformity to God or Chrift, or the reft
of the inhabitants of that world ?
Objetlion. But fome idle and flothful creatures will
be ready to objea and fay, if it be God who creates
his people anew* according to his own image, and fits
them for heaven ; if wc muft be wrought up by his
power and grace for the participation of this glory,
what can we do towards it ourfelves ? Or why are we
charged and exhorted to prepare ourfelves for hea
ven ? Since then it is God muft do this work, why
may we not lie ftill, and wait till his grace fliall pre
pare us ?
I anfwer, no, by no means ; for God is Wont to
exert his grace orily while creatures are in the ufe of
his appointments, and fulfil their duty. This language
therefore, and thefe excufes, feem to be the mere ca
vils of a carnal mind, or the voice of floth and indo
lence. Thofe who have no inclination to prepare
themfelves for the joys of the heavenly ftate, may wait
and expea divine influences in vain, if they will never
ftir up themfelves to praaife what is in their own
power, and to attempt what the gofpel of grace de
mands. In almoft all1 the tranfaaions of God with men, it
is the way of his wifdom to join our diligence and his
grace together ; and there are many Scriptures that
give us fufficient riotice of this. See how St Paul ar
gues with the Philippians, and ftirs them' up to zeal
and aaivity in fecuring their own falvation by the
hope of divine affiftances : Phil.'u. 12. 13. Work out
your own falvation, for it is God that worketh in you both
to will and 'to do. So faid David to his {on. Solomon,
when he appointed him to build the temple of the
Lord, 1 Chron, xxviii. 20. Be ftrong and of good cou
rage, and do it, — -for the Lord God, even, my God, will be
with thee, and will not fail thee, nor forfake thee, 'till
thou haft finifhed all the work. This was the charge
I i alfo

25Q A Soul prepared fir Heaven. Difc VIII,
alfo that God gave to his people Ifrael, Lev. xx, 7. 8.
Santlify yourfelves, and be ye holy, keep myftatutes ; I
am the Lord who fanclifieth you. So the Pfahmft tells
us, Pfal. iv. 3. The Lord hath fet apart, or. feparated
him who is godly for himfelf ; and yet, 2 Cor. vi. 17.^ The
Lord commands his people to feparate themfelves unto
him, to come out from amongft. the finners of this world ;
and be you feparate, faith fhe Lord, and I will receive
you. So in other places' of Scripture, divine wifdom.
commands finners to fulfil their duty, Prov. i. 2,3.
Turn ye at my reproof ': And yet in the 8pth Pfalm, the
church prays, turn us, 0 Lord, and we Jhall be faved.
The cafe is very much the fame even in the things that
relate to this life, wherein divine affiftance and bleffing
are conneaed with our diligence in duty.. Solomon
tells us, Prov. x- 4, The hand' of the diligent maketh
rich ; and yet ver. 22. It is the bleffing of the Lord that
maketh rich alfo. We can never expea the favours of
heaven, unlefs we are zealous to obey the cpmmands,
of heaven.
When the finful children of men are found waiting on
God in his own appointed ordinances, then they are in
the faireft' way to receive divine communications, and
be transformed into faints.. If the blind man had not
obeyed the voice of Chrift, John ix. 7. and wafhed
himfelf in the pool of Siloam, he could not expea to
have received his eye-fight. If the man with the
withered hand, Matth, xii, 10, 13, had not ufed his
own endeavours to ftretch forth his hand at the com
mand of Chrift, I can hardly believe it would have
been reflored to its ancient vigour and ufefulnefs. If
the poor impotent creature had not been waiting at the
fide of the pool in Bethcfda, John v. he had not met
with the bleffed Jefus, nor been healed by his miracu
lous power. Ypu will fay, perhaps, that our bleffed
Saviour could have vifited him in his own houfe, could
have direaed his journey towards his habitation, or
have fent for him into the public, and healed him
there, No, our Lord did' not chufe either of thefe
ways ;

Difc. VIII. A Soul prepared for Heaven. 251
Wttys ; but while the man was waiting at the pool,
where he had encouragement to hope for a cure,
there the Lord found him, and healed him.
Let not any presuming finner therefore, who is fen
fible of his own unfitnefs for heaven, dare to continue
in a carelefs indifference about fo important a concern :
Let him not put off his own confcience with this foolifh
excufe, // is God muft do all in us and for us, and there
fore I will do nothing myfelf Doft thou think, O foul,
that this will be a fufficient anfwer to him that fhall
judge thee in the great and folemn day ? May you not
expea to hear the Judge reply terribly to fuch an ex
cufe, " You never fought after this preparation for
" heaven, and you muft be plunged into hell, for
*' which your own rebellion and flothfulnefs hath pre-
" pared you."
But perhaps you will objetl again, what can So]
feeble* fo finful a creature as 1 am, do towards this di-,
vine work ?
I anfwer, Canft thou not feparate one quarter of an
hour daily to think of thy dreadful circumftances, and
thine eternal danger in a finful and defiled ftate of
foul ? Think of the uncertainty of life, and how fud
den thy fummons may be into the eterrial and un
changeable ftate. Survey thyfelf in thy finful condi
tion both of heart and life, and fee how unfit thou art
for the company of all the holy ones above. Meditate
on thefe thy perilous circumftances, till thy heart be
deeply affected therewith ; fall down before God in
humble acknowledgment of thy former guilt and pol
lutions : Give up thyfelf to him with holy folemnity,
to have thy heart' turned away from every fin, and
ftrongly inclined to holinefs and heaven. Commit thy
foul, guilty and defiled as it is, into the hands of Jefus
the Mediator ; erttruft thy cafe with him as an all-fuf-
ficient Saviour ; entreat that he Would cleanfe thee
from all thy guilt and pollution, by the blood of his
facrifice, and the grace of his Spirit ; that blood of a- f
tenement which has procured for finners pardon and/
peace

2$i A Soul prepared for Heaven* Difc. Vtlf.
peace with God, and thofe operations of his grace
which may fanaify thy finful nature. Addrefs thyfelf
fo the exalted Saviour for healing influences from his
hand, to cure all the maladies of thy foul, to form thee
after his image, and to make thee a fon of God. Pray
with holy importunity for this neceffary and divine
bleffing, wait on God in fecret and in public; give hjm
no reft night nor day till he has renewed thy foul, and
transformed thee into a new creature, and given thee
a relifh of the heavenly enjoyments : Dwell at the
throne of grace till thou feeleft thy heart draWn up
ward and heavenward, and watch againft every thing
that would defile thy foul anew, or make thee unfit to
enter into the company of the bleffed.
Permit me here to dwell a little uponthofe motives
that fhould awaken thee to bethink thyfelf ere it be
too late, before the grave has fhut its mouth upon
thee, and thou art configned to the place of eternal
mifery. Awake, awake, O impenitent finners, who
are as yet unprepared for the bufinefs and bleffedriefs
of the heavenly ftate ; awake and exert your fouls in
warmeft reffeaions on matters of infinite importance. •
(i.) Think with yourfelves how much the great God
has done towards the preparation of finful men for'
this heaven; think ferioufly of his long fuffering good
nefs, and his sparing mercy, which fliould have led you
long ago to a melting fenfe of your own folly, and
brought you back unto him by humble repentance.
For what reafon were his patience and his long fuffer
ing exercifed towards you, if not for this very purpofe ?
Rom. ii. 4. Think of the bleflings of nature with which
lie has furtounded you, and the comforts of this life
wherewith he has furnifhed you, in order to allure your
thoughts towards him, who is the fpring of all good
nefs ; and to raife your defires towards him : It is he
.invites: you, who will be the everlafting portion and
happinefs of his people, and in whofe favour confifts/
life and felicity ; and dare not any longer negfea your
preparation for this happinefs, which confifts in the
enjoyment

Dife. Viii. A Soul prepared for Heaven. 255
enjoyment of God, left you fhould be cut off before
you are prepared.
(2.) Confider again what Jefus the Son of God has
done and fuffered, and confider what he is yet doing
towards the preparation of fouls for heaven : He came
down to our world to undertake the glorious and
dreadful work of the redemption of finners from the
curfe of the law and the terrors of hell, and to procure
a heaven for every rebellious creature that would re
turn to God his Father. Think of the agonies of his
death With which he purchafed manfions of glory for
thofe that receive his grace in his own appointed me
thods, thofe that are willing to have their hearts and
minds formed into a fuitable frame to receive this fe
licity. Remember that he is rifen from the dead, he
is afeended to prepare a place in glory for thofe that
are willing to follow him through the paths of holinefs.
Hearken to the many kind invitatipns and allurements
of his gofpel, which calls to the worft of finners to re
turn and live, and intreats and exhorts thofe who are
in the ends of the earth, and upon the borders of hell,
to look unto him that they may be faved, Ifa. xlv. 22. Take
heed that you suffer not thefe feafons of his inviting
love to Aide away and vanifh unimproved ; take heed
how you rebel againft the language of the grace of his
gpfpel, and thereby prepare yourfelves for double and
everlafting deftruaion.
(3.) Think again, what bleffed affiftances he has
propofcd to thofe who are defirous to be trained up
for heaven ; how many thoufand fouls, as carnal, as
fenfual, and as criminal as yours are, have been reco
vered by the word of his gofpel, and the influences df
his Spirit, to a new nature and life of holinefs ? How
many are there who from children of wrath, have be
come the fons and daughters of the moft high God,
heirs of this bleffednefs, and prepared for the enjoy
ment of it ? O take heed that you refift not this grace,
nor rebel againft the kind and facred motions of the
bleffed Spirit within you, when his very office and bu
finefs

254 fiA Soul prepared for Heaven. Difc VIH*
Finefs is to change yonr finful natures, and to prepare
you for the regions of eternal holinefs and peace.
(4.) Think yet further what advantages you have
had from the weekly niiniftrations of the W6rd of grace,
from reading the bbok of God in your own language,
and from the pious education many of you have en
joyed in the families from whence you fprung. Think
what awakertirtg hints you have received by the in
ward conviaion of your own confidences, and by the
chriftian friends you may have converted with : Have
you not been told plainly enough by the voice of con
fcience, that you are now utterly unprepared for hea
ven ? Have not public and private admonitions given
you fufficient warning of the danger of your prefent
ftate ? And after all this will you proceed in your own
finful courfe till you arrive at the very gates of hell
and deftruaion, till you have prepared yourfelves, and
niade your fouls ripe for the vengeance of God, and
are plunged into it by death without remedy or relief?
(5.) Confider how dreadful will your ftate be if
death meet you in all your guilt and defilements, un-
wafhed, unpardoned, and unfanaified, without any
garment of righteoufnefs, without any robe Of falva
tion. What a terrible fentence is that which death
will pronounce upon every fuch finner the moment
that he ftrikes their heart ? Hear it and tremble, O
miferable creature, hear the formidable and eternal
fentence, Let him that is unholy be unholy ftill : Let him
that, is unprepared for heaven go down to the regions
of death and hell, for which his iniquities have beft
prepared him.
(6.) Think with yourfelves, if you have arty thing
of importance to do in this world, or have any mo-
mentuous fcene of life to pafs through, how diligent
are you in preparation for it. If you are but to Vint
the court of a prince, or to go to make your addreffes
to any great man of honour and power, or to be ad-'
mitted into any numerous fociety of a fuperior charac
ter, how diligently do you endeavour to furnifhr yourfelves

Difc VIII, A Soul prepared for Heaven. 255
felves with fuch knowledge, of the common ceremonies
of life, and fuch ornaments about your body as may
render you acceptable amongft thofe whom you are
going to converfe with : And does not an entrance in
to the court of heaven, into the prefence of a God of
holinefs, and into the fociety of pure and bleffed fpi
rits, require fome folicitude and care about thofe orna
ments and qualifications which are neceffary for fo fo
lemn and glorious an appearance ? If you are defigning
in this life to commence any trade or bufinefs for your
employment and your fuppart, you are willing to ferve
an appifenticefhip of feven years in order to a prepara
tion, for the exercife of this public hufinefs ; and can
you not afford one day in a week to learn the bufi
nefs of heaven, and to prepare for the bleffednefs of
it? And let parents alfo confider with themfelves what
pains they have taken that their children may be fit
for the trades and employments of Ufe to which they
defign them, and then fet each enquire of their own
cpnfciences, have I ever done fo much to train up my
fon for the heavenly world, to fit him for the appearance.
before God, and faints and angels, and for all the un
known fervices of that celeftial country ? j.
(7,) Go on yet further, O impenitent finners, and
consider with yourfelves what a bleffednefs it is to be
prepared for heaven ; for then you are prepared for
death, and at once you take away all the terrors of it.
0 what an unfpeakftble happinefs is it, to pafs through
this world daily without the fear of dying; what is it that
makes life fo bitter to multitudes of fouls, and every ma
lady or accident fo frightful to them, but the perpetual
terrors of death. ? Think what, a divine fatisfaaion it is
~tp walk up and down in this dgfart land, ready prepa
red f°r an- entrance into the land of promife, the inhe
ritance of the faints in light : Think of the folid joy
ajjd inward confolation of thofe fouls who feel in them-
felyes an habitual readinefs for a departure hence, and
whip, are wrought up by divine grace to a prepara tion

256 A Soul prepared for Heaven. Difc. VIII.
tion for the bufinefs and the joys above. Think: of
the, viaory over death, which is pbtairied by fuch a
readinefs for heaven, and how glorious a thing it is to
meet thatlaft enemy the king of terrors, and encoun
ter him ^without fear, arid to triumph over him with
divine language, 0 death! where is thy fling ? How joy
ful a fcene would it be to take leave of all our friends irt
this land of mortality, with an affured hope that we
are entering into a happier climate and a better coun
try, ready prepared for all the more glorious fcenes
that fhall meet us in the invifible world ?
It is an amazing thing to me, how the children of
men, who are dying daily off from this ftage of life,
who muft all fhortly die, and enter into a World of e-
rernal futurity, fhould be no more concerned about a
preparation for their departure hence : That they fhould'
be fo ftupidly thoughtlefs of a world to come, while
they are on the very borders of it, and eternal joy1 or
eternal forrowdepends upon this one queftion, am Ipre-
paredfor heaven or not ? O thefe two awful regions of
the unfeen world; where the loVe'of God fhines with
its brighteft glories, or where the vengeance of God is
difcovered in all its anguifh and horror ! One of thefe ,
will be the certain arid eternal dwelling place of the
fouls that are prepared for them, and there muft they
pafs their long immortality, either in joy pr in forrow,
without a change ; and yet the foolifh and befotted!
tribes of mankind feem to have abandoned all thought
and concern about therii. A dangerous lethargy, or
diftraaion !
What fhall we do to cure finrierS of this madnefs ?
Shall I try to roufe thefe indolent unthinking wretches
out of their dangerous and mortal flurhbers with the
loudeft voice of thunder and' divine terror ? But the
lethargy of fin is proof againft all thefe terrors and
thunders. Shall I call for a fountain of tears into rny
eyes, and weep Over them with the tendereft fympathy
and compaffion ? But they feel not any meltings of
pity for themfelves, nor are their hearts to be foftened
•by

Difc. VIII. A Soul prepared for Heaven. 257
by all our tears and wailings. Shall I befeech them in
the name of Chrift by the bowels of his dying love,
and the blood and anguifh of his fufferings for our fal
vation ? But even thefe divine and aftonifhing inftances
of tendernefs and mercy make no imprefiion on their
fouls. While Satan holds them in his chains, they are
fleeping the fleep of death. O for a word of Sove
reign and Almighty Grace to reach the centre of their
fpirits ! To fhake all the powers of their nature ! To
awaken them to behold their eternal intereft ! And to
prepare for heavenly felicity. Awake, O fleepers, ere
the angel of death feize you, and the grave fhut its
mouth upon you ; then all your feafons and hopes of
mercy are cut off for ever, and you will awake hope
lefs immortals.
I fhall conclude this difcourfe with one xvord of ex
hortation to thofe who are in any meafure wrought up
to a preparation for the heavenly bleffednefs. O hap
py creature ! Whatfoever, pains you have taken, what-
»ever conflias you have endured in the matter of your
own falvation, yet let God and his grace have all the
honour of this work. It is to God you owe your fa-
crifices of praife. He that hath wrought you up for this
felicity is God. It was he who awakened you firft, and
fet you a thinking of your moft important concerns :
It Was he that led you firft into the v/ay of falvation by
Jefus Chrift his Son, and hath thus far crowned your la
bours and your prayers with fuccefs and bleffing. Every
ftumbliftg-block in your way might have thrown you
down to perdition : Every temptation might have turn
ed you back from this glorious purfuit: Every enemy of
your fouls might have difcouraged or overcome you, if
God and his grace had not been engaged on your fide.
It is he hath upheld you when you were falling, he
hath taken ypu by the hand and led you right onward
when you were wandering, and he hath fupported you
by his divine cordials of promife when you were faint
ing. It is God who hath enabled you to maintain
your conflia with all the mighty obftacles of your
K k fa.th

258 A Soul prepared for Heaven. Difc. VIIL
faith and hope ; it is his grace hath renewed your na
ture, hath weaned you from this vain flattering world,
and given you a facred relifh of divine bleffednefs,
It is he who hath formed you again after his own
image, and hath trained you up, and made you meet
for the inheritance of the faints in, light. Call up all
your powers to praife his goodnefs, and fay* " Blefs
" the Lord, 0 my foul, and all that is within me, blefs
" his holy name ; Blefs the Lord for ever, and forget not
*' all his benefits. It is God who hath called me out of
" darknefs into his marvellous light, and given me to
" fee the things that belong to my everlafting peace*
" It is God who wafhed away my iniquities in the
'' blood of his own Son, and hath renewed me unto
" holinefs by his bleffed Spirit, It is God who hath
*c taken me out of the family of fin and Satan, and
" given me a place among his children ; who hath
/" begun to prepare me for the joys and bleffings of
" heaven, and in his own time he will fulfil all my
" hopes, and compleat my felicity." Walk before
him with all holy care and watchfulnefs, and take heed
that you lofe not the things which you have wrought, nor
the things which God hath wrought in you, but that,
perfevering to the end, you may receive the full reward^
and pbtain the crown of everlafting life, Amen<

D I S,

( *59 )
Discourse ix*
No Pain among the Blefled.
Rev. xxi. 4;
Neither Jlmll there be any more pain*
THERE have been fome divines in ancient times*
as well as in our prefent age, Who fuppofe this
prophecy relates to fome glorious and happy event
here on earth, wherein the faints and faithful follow
ers of Chrift fhall be delivered from the bondage and
miferies to which they have been expofed in all for
mer ages, and fhall enjoy the bleffing which thefe words
promife. Among thefe writers fome haVe placed this
happy ftate before the refurreaion of the body ; others
make it to belong to that firft refurreclion which is
fpoken of in Rev. xx. 6. But let this prophecy have
a particular afpea upon what earthly period foever, yet
all muft grant it is certainly true concerning the hea
venly ftate ; from whofe felicities, taken in the literal
fenfe, thefe figurative expreffions are derived to foretel
the happinefs of ariy period of the church in this world;
and in this fenfe, as part of our happinefs in heaven, I
fhall underftand the words here, and propofe them as
the foundation for my prefent difcourfe.
Among the many things that make this life uncom
fortable, and render mankind unhappy here below,
this is one that has a large influence, viz. that in this
mortal ftate we are all liable to pain, from which we fhall
be perfeaiy delivered in the life to come. The Greek
word which is here tranflated pain, fignifies alfo toil
and fatigue and exceffive labour of the body, as well as
anguifh and vexation of the fpirit : But fince in the two
other places of the New Teftament where it is ufed,
the word moft properly fignifies the pain of the body, I
prefume

160 No Pain among the Bleffed. Difc. Da#
presume to underftand it chiefly in this fenfe alfo in my
text. I need not fpend time in explaining what pain is to
perfons who dwell in flefh and blood: There is not
one of you in this affembly but is better acquainted '
with the -nature of it by the fenfe of feeling, than it is
poffible for the wifeft philofopher to inform you by all
his learned language. Yet that I may proceed regu
larly, I woujd juft give you this fhort defcription of it.
Pain is an uneafy perception of the foul, occafioned by fome
indifpofition of the body to which it is united ; whether
this arife frpm fome diforder or malady in the flefh it
felf, or from fome injury received from without by
wounds, bruifes, or any thing of the like kind. Now
this fort, of uneafy fenfations is not to be found or fear
ed in, heaven..
In order to make our prefent meditations on this
part of the bleffednefs of heaven ufeful and joyful to us
while we are here on earth, let us enquire,
I* What are the evils or grand inconveniencies that
generally flow from the pains we suffer here ; and as
we go we fliall furvey the fatisfaaions which arife by
our freedom from them all in heaven.
II. What, juft and convincing proofs may be given
that there are no fuch uneafy fenfations to be felt in
heaven, or to be feared after this life.
III. What are the chief reafons or designs of tlie
bleffed God In fending pain on his creatures in this
world ; and at the fame time I fliall fhew that pain is ba
nifhed from the heavenly ftate, becaufe God has no
fuch defigns remaining to be accomplished in thatworld.
IV. What Ieflbns we may learn from the painful
difcipline which we feel while we are here, in order to
fhew there is no need of fuch difcipline to teach us
thofe Ieflbns in heaven, let us addrefs ourfelves to make
thefe four inquiries in their order.
' . „;., SECT.

Difc. IX. No Pain among the Bleffed. 261
SECT. I.
Firft. What are the evils which flow from pain, and
ufually attend it in this life ; and all along as we go
we fhall take a fhort view of the heavenly ftate, where
we fhall be releafed from all thefe evils and inconve
niencies. 1 . Pain has a natural tendency to make the mindfor-
rowful as well as the body uneafy. Our fouls are fo
nearly united to flefh and blood* that it is not poffible
for the mind to poffefs perfea happinefs and eafe,
while the body is expofed to fo many occafions of
pain. It is granted, that natural courage and ftrength
of heart may prevail in fome perfons to bear up their
fpirits under long and intenfe pains of the flefh, yet
they really take away fo much of the eafe and plea
fure of life, while any of us lie under the acute fenfa
tions of them. Pain will make us confefs that we are
flefh and blood, and force us fometimes to cry out and
groan. Even a floick in fpite of all the pride of his
philofophy, will fometimes be forced, by a figh or
groan to confefs himfelf a man. What are the great
eft part of the groans and outcries that are heard all
round this our globe of earth but the effeas of pain,
either felt or feared ?
But in heaven, where there is no pain, there fhall be
no fighing or groaning, nor any more crying, as my
text expreffes. There fhall be nothing to make the
flefh or the fpirit uneafy, and to break the eternal
thread of peace and pleasure that runs through the
whole duration of the faints : Not one painful mo
ment to interrupt the everlafting felicity of that ftate.
When we have done with earth and mortality, we
have done alfo with ficknefs and anguifh of nature, and
with all forrow and vexation for ever. There are no
groans in the heavenly world to break in upon the
harmony of the harps and the fongs of the bleffed ;
no fighs, no outcries, no anguifh there to difturb the
mufic and the joy of the inhabitants. And though the

26*2 No Fain among the Bieffed. Difc. IX*
the foul fhall be united to the . body new-raifed from
the dead, to dwell for ever in union, yet that new-raif
ed body fhall have neither any fprings of pairi in if*
hor be capable of giving anguifh or uneafinefs to the
indwelling fpirit for ever.
.2. Another evil which attends on pain is this, that
it fo indifpofes our nature as often to unfit us for the bu+
fineffes and duties of the prefent ftate. With how much
eoldnefs and indifferency do we go about our daily
work, and perform it too with many interruptions,
when nature is burdened with continual pain, and the
vital fprings of aaion are overborn with perpetual un
eafinefs ? What a liftleffnefs do we find to many of
the duties of religion at fuch a feafon, unlefs it be to
run more frequently to the throne of God, and pour .
out our groanings and our complaints there ? Groan-1
ings and cries are the language of nature, and the
children of God addrefs themfelves in this language
to their heavenly Father : Bleffed be the name of our
gracious God, who hears every fecret figh, who is ac
quainted with the fenfe of eVery groan, while we
mourn before him, and make our complaints to him,
that we cannot worfhip him, nor work for him as we
would do* becaufe of the anguifh and maladies of na*
ture. -
And what an indisposition and backwardness do we
feel in ourfelves to fulfil many of the duties towards
our fellow creatures while we ourfelves are under pre*
fent fmart and anguifh ? Pain will fo fenfibly affea felf
as to draw off all our thqughts thither, and centre
them there* that we cannot fo much employ our cares
and our aaive powers for the benefit of our neigh
bours : It abates our concern for our friends, and -
while it awakens the fpirit within us into keen fenfa*
tions, it takes away the aaivity of the man that feels
it from almoft all the fervices of human life. When
human nature bears fo much it can aa but little.
But what a bleffed ftate will that be when we fhall
never feel this indifpofition to duties, either human or
divine

Difc. IX, No Pain among the Bleffed. 26$
divine, through any uneafinefs of the body ? When
we fhall never more be fubjea to any of thefe painful
impediments, but for ever caft off all thofe clogs and
burdens which fetter the aaive powers of the foul ?
Then we fliall be joyfully employed in fuch unknown
and glorious fervices to God our Father, and to the blef-
fed jefus, as require much fuperior capacities to what
we here poffefs, and fhall find no weaknefs, no wearinefs,
no pain thrqughout all the years of our immortality,
Rev. yii. 1 5. None of the bleffed above are at reft or
idle, either day or night, but they ferve him in his temple,
and never ceufe, and iv. 8. No faintnefs, no languors
are known there. The inhabitants of that land Jhall
not fay, I amflck : Everlasting vigour, chearfulnefs and
eafe fliall render every bleffed foul for ever zealous and
aaive in obedience, as the angels are in heaven.
3. Pain unfits us for the enjoyments of life, as well
as for the labours and duties of it. It takes away all the
pleafing fatisfaaions which might attend our circum
ftances, and renders the objeas of them infipid and
unrelifhing. What pleafure can a rich man take in
all the affluence of earthly bleffings around him, while
fome painful diftemper holds him upon the rack, and,
diftreffes him with the torture ? How little delight can
he find in meats or in drinks which are prepared for
luxury when fharp pain calls all his attention to the
difeafed part ? What joy can he find in magnificent
buildings, in gay and fhining furniture, in elegant
gardens, or in all the glittering treafures of the Indies,
when the gout torments his hands and his feet, or the
rheumatifm afflias his limbs with intenfe anguifh ? If
pain attacks any part of the body and rifes to a high
degree, the luxuries of life grow taftelefs, and life it
felf is imbittered to us : Or when pains lefs acute are
prolonged through weeks and months, and perhaps
flick in our flefh all the night as well as in the day ;
how vain and feeble are all the efforts of the bright
and gay things, around us to raife the foul into chear
fulnefs ? Therefore Solomon calls old age. the years where in

264 No Pain among the Bleffed. Difc. IX,
in there is no pleafure, Ecclef. xii. 1 . Becaufe fo many
aches and ails in that feafon purfue us in a continual
fucceffion ; fo many infirmities and painful hours at
tend us ufually in that ftage of life, even in the beft
fituation that mortality can boaft of, as cuts off and
deftroys all our pleafures.
But O what a wondrous, what a joyful change fhall
that be, when the foul is commanded to forfake this
flefh and blood, when it rifes as on the wings of an
gels to the heavenly world, and leaves every pain be
hind it, together with the body in the arms of death ?
And what a more illuftrious and delightful change
fhall we meet in the great rifing day, when our bo
dies fhall ftart up out of the duft with vigorous im
mortality, and without any fpring or feat of pain ? All
the unknown enjoyments with which heaven is furnifh-
ed, fhall be taken in by the enlarged powers of thq
foul with intenfe pleafure, and not a moment's pain,
fhall ever interrupt them.
4. Another inconvenience and evil which belongs
to pain is, that it makes time and life itfelf appear tedi
ous and tirefome, and adds a new burden to all other
grievances. Many evidences of this truth are fcatter-
ed throughout all nature, and on all fides of this
globe. There is not one age of mankind but can
furnifh us with millions of inftances. In what me
lancholy language does Job difcover his fenfations of
the tirefome nature of pain ? lam made to poffefs months
ef vanity, and wearifome nights are appointed to me:
When I lie down I fay, when floall I rife and the night be
gone ? And I am full of toffing to and fro unto the dawn
ing of the day, Job vii. 3. When pain takes hold of
our flefh, it feems to ftretch the measures of time to a
tedious length : We cry out as Mofes expreffes it,
Deut. xxviii. 6y. In the morning we fay, would to God
it were evening ; and at the return of the evening-we
fay again, would to God it were morning.
Long are thofe hours indeed, whether of day-light
or darknefs, wherein there is no relief or intermiffion " of

Difc. IX. No Pain among the Bleffed. 265
of acute pain. -How tirefome a thing is it to count
the clock at midnight in long fucceffions, and to wait
every hour for the diftant approach of morning, while
our eyes are unable to clofe themfelves in flumber,
and our anguifh admits not the common refuge of
fleep. There are multitudes among the race of mor
tals who have known thefe truths by fore experience.
Bleffed be God that we do not always feel them.
But when we turn our thoughts to the heavenly
world, where there is no pain, there we fhall find no
weary hours, no tedious days, though eternity with all
its unmeafurable lengths of duration lies before us.
What a difmal thought is eternal pain ? The very
mention of it makes nature fhudder and ftand aghaft;
but futurity with all its endlefs years, in a land of peace
and pleafore gives the foul the moft delightful pro-
fpea, for there is no fhadow of uneafinefs in that ftate
to render our abode there tirefome, or to think the
ages of it long.
5. Another evil that belongs to pain is, that it has
an unhappy tendency to ruffle the paffions, and to render
us fretful and peevifh within ourfelves, as well as towards
thofe who are round about us. Even the kindeft and
the tendereft hand that minifters to our relief, can
hardly fecure itfelf from the peevifh quarrels of a man
in extreme pain.
Not that we are to fuppofe that this peevifh humour,
this fretfulnefs of fpirit are thereby made innocent and
perfeaiy excufed : No, by no means ; but it muft be
acknowledged ftill that continuance in pain is too ready
to work up the fpirit into frequent difquietude and
eagernefs : We are tempted to fret at every thing, we
quarrel with every thing, we grow impatient under
every delay, angry with our beft friends,, fliarp and
fudden in our refentments, with wrathful fpeeches
breaking out of our lips.
This peevifh humour in a day of pain is fo common
a fault, that I fear it is too much excufed and indul
ged. Let me rather fay with myfelf, " My God is
L 1 " now

266 No Pain among the Bleffed. Difc. IX,
" now putting me to the trial what fort of Chriftian
" I am, and how much I have learnt of felf-govern-
" ment, and thrphgh his grace I will fubdue my un-
" eafy paffions, though I Cannot relieve my pain."
O it is a noble point of honour gained in a fick cham
ber, or on a bed of anguifh, to lie preffed 'with ex
treme pain, and yet maintain a ferenity and calmnefs
of foul ; to be all meeknefs and gentlenefs and pati
ence among our friends or attendants, under the fharp
twinges of it ; to utter no rude or angry language,
and to' take every thirig kindly that they fay or do,
and become like a weaned child. But fiich a charaaer
is not found in every houfe.
A holy foul, through the feverity of pain, may
fometimes in fuch an hour be, too much ruffled by vio
lent and fudden fits ofimpatience. This proceeded
to fuch a degree even in that good man job, under
his various calamities and the fore boils upon his flefh,
that made him curfe the day wherein he was born, and
cry out- in the anguish of his fpirit, my foul chufeth
fir angling and death rather than lifei Job iii. and vii. 15.
and there have been feveral inftances of thofe who,
having not the fear of God before their eyes, with
hafty violence and murderous hands have put an end,
to their own lives, through their wild and finful im-.
patience of conftant pain.
But th~fe trials are for ever finifhed when this life
expires : Then all our pains are ended for ever if we
are found among the children of God. There is not,
nor can be ariy temptation in heaven, to fretfulnefs or
difquietude of mind: All the peevifh paffions are
dropped into the grave, together with the body of
flefh ; and thofe evil humours which were the fources
of fmart and anguifh here on earth have no place in
the new-raifed body : Thofe irregular juices of animal
nature which tormented the nerves, and excited pain
in the flefh, and which at the fame time provoked
choler and irritated the fpirit, are never found in the
heavenly manfions. There is nothing but peace and
pleafure,

Difc. IX. No Pain among the Bleffed. 267
pleafure* joy and love, goodnefs and benevolence* eafe
and fatisfaaipn diffufed through all the regions on
high : There are no inward fprings of uneafinefs to
ruffle the mind, none of thofe fretful ferments which
were wont to kindle in the mortal body, and explode
themfelves, with fire and thunder upon every fuppofed
offence, or even fometimes without provocation. O
happy ftate and bleffed manfions of the faints, when
this body of fin fhall be deftroyed, and all the reftlefs
atoms that difquieted the flefh and provoked the fpirit
to impatience, fhall be buried in the dull of death*
and never, never rife again !
6. Pain carries a temptation with it, fometimes to re
pine and murmUr at the providence of God* Not fellow-
creatures alone, but even our fovereign Creator comes,
within the reach of the peevifh humours, which ars
alarmed and roufed by fharp or continual pain. Jo
nah the Prophet, when he felt the fultry heat of the
fun finite fiercely upon him, and the gourd which
gave him a friendly fhadow was withered away, he
told God himfelf in a paflion, that he did well to be
angry, even unto death, Jonah iv. 9* And even the
man of Hz, the pattern of patience, was fometimes
tranfported with the fmart and maladies that were up
on him, fo that he complained againft God as well as
complained to him, and ufed fome very unbecoming
expreflions towards his Maker. When we are Under
the fmarting rebukes of providence* we are ready to
compare ourfelves with others who are in peace, and
then the envious and the murmuring humour breaks
out into rebellious language, Why am 1 thus afflicted
more than others? Why haft thou fet me as a mark for
thine arrows ? Why doji thou not let loofe thy hand and
cut me off from the earth ?
But in heaven there is a glorious reverfe of all fuch
unhappy fcenes : There is no pain nor any temptation
to murmur at the dealings of the Almighty : There. is
nothing that can incline us to think hardly of God :
The days of chaftifement are for ever ended, and pain ful

26-8 No Pain among the &lefled. Difc ts.*
ful difcipline fhall be ufed no more. We fhall live fo*1
ever in the embraces' of the love of God, and he fhall
be the objea of our everlafting praife. Perfea felici
ty without the interruption of one uneafy thought, for
ever forbids the inhabitants of that world to repine at
their fituation under the eternal fmiles of that bleffed
Being that made them.
7. To add no more, pain and anguifh of the flefh have
fometimes prevailed fo far as to diftracl the mind as well
as deftroy the body. It has overpowered all the reafon
ing faculties of man, it has deftroyed natural life, and
brought it down to the grave : The fenfes have been
confounded, arid the understanding overwhelmed with
fevere and racking pain, efpecially where there hath
been an impatient temper to conteft with them. Ex
treme fmart of the flefh diftreffes feeble nature, and
turns the whole frame of it upfide down in wild con
fufion : It has aaually worn out this animal frame,
and flopped all the fprings of vital motion. The gout'
and the ftone have brought death upon the patient in
this manner ; and a dreadful manner of dying it is, to
have breath, and life and nature quite oppreffed and
deftroyed with intenfe and painful fenfations.
But when we furvey the manfions of the heavenly
world, we fhall find none of thefe. evils there : No
danger of any fuch events as thefe ; for there is no
pain, no forrow, no crying, no death nor deftruaion
there. The mind fhall be for ever clear and ferene in
the eafe and happinefs of fhe feparate ftate : And when
the body fhall be raifed again, that glorified body, as
was intimated a little before, fliall have none of the
feeds of diftemper in it, no ferments that can rack the
nerves, or create anguifh ; no fever, or gout, or ftone,
was ever known in that country, no head-ach or hea-rt-
' ach have afcended thither.
That body alfo fhall be capable of no outward wounds
nor bruifes, for it is raifed only for happinefs, and leaves
all the caufes of pain behind it. It is a body made for
immortality and pleafure ; there the sickly chriftian is
delivered

Difc IX. No Pdin among the Bleffed. 269
delivered from all the maladies of the flefh, arid the
twinges of acute pain which made him groan here on
earth night arid day. There the martyrs of the reli
gion of jefus, and all the holy confeffors are free from
their cruel tormentors, thofe fUrly executioners of hea
then fury, or anti-chriftian Wrath : They are for ever
releafed from racks, and wheels, and fires, and every
engine of torture and fmart. Immortal eafe and un
fading health and chearfulnefs run through their eter
nal ftate, and all the powers of the man are compofed
for the moft regular exercifes of devotion and divine
i°y- Thus I have endeavoured briefly to fet the different
ftates of heaven and earth before you, under this dif-
tinguifhing charaaer, that all the tempting, the diftreffing
and mifchievous attendants and confequences of pain to
which we are expofed in our mortal life, are for ever
banifhed from the heavenly world.
S E C T. II. •
The fecbnd general enquiry was this, What juft and
convincing arguments or proofs can be given, that there
are no pains or uneafy fenfations to be felt by the faints in
a future ftate, nor to be feared after this life?
My answers to this queftion fhall be very few ; be
caufe I think the thing muft be fufficiently evident to
thofe who believe the New Teftament, and have liber
ty to read it.
ift Argument. God has affured us fo in his word,
that there is no pain for holy fouls to endure in the world
to come : My text may be efteemed a fufficient proof
of it ; for whatfoever particular event or period of the
church on earth this prophecy may refer to, yet the
defcription is borrowed from the bleffednefs of hea
ven ; and if there fhall be any fuch ftate on earth,
much more Will it be fo in the heavenly world, whereas
that period on earth is but a fhadow and emblem. We
are exprefsly told, Rev. xiv. 8. in order to encourage
the perfecuted faints and martyrs, Bleffed are the dead who

270 No Pain among the Bleffed. Difc. IX*
who die in the Lord from henceforth, for they reft from
their labours \_or pains~\ and their works follow them ;
i. e. in a way of gracious recompence.
It is granted indeed by the Papifts themfelves, that
in heaven there is no pain ; yet they fuppofe there are
many and grievous pains for the foul to undergo in a
place called purgatory, after the death of the body,. be
fore it arrives at heaven.
But give me leave to afk, does not St Paul exprefs
himfelf with confidence concerning himfelf and his
fellow chriftians — -that they Jhall be prefent with the
Lord when they are abfent from the body, 1 Cor. v. 8 ?
Surely the ftate wherein Chrift our Lord dwells after
all his fufferings and agonies, is a ftate of everlafting
eafe without fuffering ; and fhall not his followers dwell
With him? Do we not read in the parable of our Saviour,
Luke xvi. 22. that Lazarus Was no fooner dead, but
his foul was carried by angels into the bofom of Abraham,
or paradife ? Every holy foul wherein the work of
grace is begun, and fin hath received its mortal wound*
is perfeaiy fanaified when it is releafed from this
body ; and it puts off the body of fin and the body of
flefh together, for nothing that defileth muft enter into
paradife or the heavenly ftate.
The word of God has appointed but twoftaies, viz.
heaven and hell, for the reception of all mankind when
they depart from this world : And how vain a thing
muft it be for men to invent a third ftate, and make a
purgatory of it ? This is a building ereaed by the church
of Rome between heaven and hell, and prepared by
their wild imagination for fouls of imperfea virtue, to
be tormented there with pains equal to thofe of hell,
but of fhorter duration. This ftate of fiery purgation,
and extreme anguifh, is devifed by that mother of lies,
partly under a pretence of compleating the penances
and fatisfaaions for the fins of men committed in this1
life, and partly alfo to purify and refine their fouls
from all the remaining dregs of fin, and to fill up their
virtues to perfeaion, that they may be fit for the im-
rileditate

Difc. IX. No Pain vmong the Bleffed. 271"
mediate prefence of God. But does not the fcripture
fufficiently inform us, that the atonement or fatisfaaion
of Chrift for fin is full and compleat in itfelf, and needs
none of our additions in this world or another ? Does
not the Apoftle John tell us, ift epift. ch. i. ver. 7. The
blood of Jefus Chrift cleanfeth us from all fin ? Nor fhall
the faints after this life fin any more, to require any
new atonement ; nor do they carry the feeds of fin to
heaven with them, but drop them together with the
flefh, and all the fources of pain together : Now fince
neither Chrift nor his apoftles give us any intimation
of fuch a place as purgatory for the refinement or puri
fication of fouls after this life, we have no ground to
hearken to fuch a fable.
The fecond argument is this : God has not provided
any medium to convey pain to holy fouls after they have
dropped this body of flefh. They are pardoned, they are
fanaified, they are accepted of God for ever ; and
fince they are m no danger of finning afrefh by the in
fluences of corrupt flefh and blood, therefore they are
in no fear of fuffering any thing thereby. And if, as
fome divines have fuppofed, there fhould be any pure
ssthereal bodies or vehicles provided for holy feparate
fpirits, v/hen departed from this groffer tabernacle of
flefh and blood, yet it cannot be fuppofed that the God
of all grace would mix up any feeds of pain with that
sethereal matter, which is to be the occafional habita
tion of fanaified fpirits in that ftate, nor that he would
make any avenues or doors of entrance for pain into
thefe refined vehicles, when the ftate of their finning
and their trial is for ever finifhed.
Nor will the body at the final refurreaion of the
faints be made for a medium of any painful fenfations.
All the pains of nature are ended, when the firft union
between flefh and fpirit is diffolved. When this body
lies down to fleep in the duft, it fhall never awake
again with any of the principles of fin or pain in it :
Though it be flown in weaknefs, it is raifed in power ;
though it befown in dijhonour, it is raifed in glory ; and
''¦'¦- we

lj% No Pain among the Bleffed. Difc IX,
we fhall be made like the Son of God without forrow
and without fin for ever.
3d Argument. There are no moral caufos or reafons
why there Jhould be any thing of pain provided for the
heavenly ftate. * And if there be no moral reafons for
it, furely God will not provide pains for his creatures
without reafon ! But this thought leads me tp the next
general head of my difcourfe.
SECT. III.
The third general enquiry which I propofcd to make
was this, what may be the chief moral reafons, motives, or,
deflgns of the bleffed God in fending pain on his creatures
here below ; and at the fame time I Jhall Jhew that thefe s
deflgns and purpofes of God are finifhed, and they have no
place in heaven.
ift, Then, pain is fometimes fent into our natures to
awaken flothful and drowfly Chriftians out of their fpiritual
flumbers, or to roufo ftupid finners from a ftate of fpiritual
death. Intenfe and fharp pain of the flefh has often*
times been the appointed and effeaua! means of pro
vidence to attain thefe desirable ends.
Pain is like a rod in the hand of God, wherewith
he fmites finners that are dead in their trefpaffes, and
his Spirit joins with it to awaken them into fpiritual
life. This rod is fometimes fo fmarting and fevere,
that it will make a fenfelefs and ungodly wretch look
upwards to the hand that fmites it, and take notice of
the rebuke of heaven, though all the thundering and
lightning of the word, and all the terrors of hell de*
nounced there, could not awaken them,
Acute pain is. alfo a common inftrument in our hea*
venly Father's hand, to recover backfliding faints from
their fecure and drowfy frames of fpirit. David often
found it fo, and fpeaks it plainly in the 38th and 39th
Pflalms ; and in Pfalm cxix. 6y. he confeffes, before I
was afflicled I went aftray; but when he had felt the
feourge, he learnt to obey, and to keep the word of his
God. But

Difc. IX. No Pain among the Bleffed. 273
But there is no need of this difcipline in heaven : No
need of this smarting feourge to make dead finners
feel their Maker's hand, in order to rouze them into
life, for there' are no fuch inhabitants in that world :
Nor is there any need of fuch divine and paternal dif
cipline of God in thofe holy manfions, where there is
no drowfy Chriftian to be awakened, no wandering fpi
rit that wants to be reduced to duty : And where the
defigns of fuch fmarting ftrokes have no place, pain
itfelf muft be for ever banifhed ; for God does not
willingly afflitl, nor take delight in grieving the children
of men, without fubftantial reafons for it. ; .
2. Another ufe of bodily pain and anguifh in this
world is, topunijh men for their faults and follies, to make
them know what an evil and bitter thing it is to fin againjl
God, and thereby to guard them againft new temptations,
Jer. ii. 19. Thy own wickednefs foall corretl thee, and.
thy backfliding fhall reprove thee ; i. e. by means of the
fmarting chaftifements they bring upon men. When
God makes the finner tafte of the fruit of his own
ways, he makes others alfo obferve how hateful a
thing every fin is in the fight of God, which he thinks
fit fo terribly to punifh.
This is one general reafon why fpecial difeafes, ma
ladies, and plagues are fpread over a whofe nation,
viz. to punifh the fins of the inhabitants, when they
have provoked God by public and fpreading iniquities.
War and famine with all their terrible train of anguifh
and agony, and the dying pains which they diffufe
over a kingdom, are rods of punifhment in the hand
of God, the Governor of the world, to declare from
heaven and earth his indignation againft an ungodly
and an unrighteous age.
This indeed is one defign of the pains and torments
of hell, where God inflias pain without intermiinon :
And this is fometimes the purpofe of God in his pain
ful providences here on earth : Shall I rife yet higher
and fay, that this was one great defign in the. eye of
God, when it pleafod the Father to bruife his beft belov-
M m ed

274 No Pain among the Bleffed. DifclX,
ed Son, and put him under the impreffions of extreme
pain, viz. to difcoyer to the world the aboininable evil
that was in fin ? \yh\le Jefus flood in the ftead of fin
ners, then his foul was exceeding forrowjul even to death,
and he fiweat drops of blood under the preffure of his
agonies, to let the world fee what the fin of man had
deferved : And fometimes God fmites his own chil
dren in this world with fmarting ftrokes of gorreaion,
when they have indulged any iniquity, to fhew the
world that God hates fin in his own people wherefor
ever he finds it, and to bring his children back again to
the paths of righteoufnefs.
But in the heavenly ftate, there are no faults to punijh,
mo Jollies to cbaflife. jefus, our Surety in the days of
his flefh, has suffered thofe forrows which made atone
ment for fin, and that anguifh of his holy foul, and the
blood of his crofsj have fatisfied the demands of God ;
fo that with honour he can pardon ten thoufand' peni
tent criminals, and provide an inheritance of eafe and ,
bleffednefs for them for ever. When once we are
difmjffed from this body, the fpirit is throughly fanai?
fied, and there is no fire of purgatory needful tp burn
out the remains of fin : Thofe foolifh invented flames
are but falfe fire, kindled by the priefts of Rome to
fright the fouls of the dying, and to fqueeze money
out pf them to purchafe fo many vain and idle maffes
to relieve the fouls of the dead. Upon our aaual re
leafe from this fiefli and blood, neither the guilt nor
the power of fin fhall attend the faints in their flight to
heaven : All the fpirits that arrive there are made per
fea in holinefs without new fcourges, and commence
a ftate of felicity that fhall never be interrupted.
3. God has appointed pain in this world, to. exercife-
and try the virtues and the graces of his people. As gold
is thrown into the fire to prove and try how pure it is
from any coarfe alloy, fo the chifdren of God are fome
times left for a feafon in the furnace of fufferings, partr
ly to refine them from their drofs, and partly to difco
ver their purity and their fubftantial weight and worth.
Sometime?

Difc. IX. No Pain dmotig the Bleffed. ij$
Sometimes God lays fmarting pain with his own hand
Pn the flefh of his people, on purpofe to try their gra
ces : When we endure the pain without murmuring
at providence, then it is we come off conquerors.
Chriftian fubmiffion and filence under the hand of God*
is one way to viaory. / wqs dumb, fays David; and
opened not my mouth, becaufe thou didft it, Pfal. xxxix*
Our love to God, our resignation to his will, our holy
fortitude and our patience find a proper trial in fuch
fmarting feafons. Perhaps when fome fevere pain firft
feizes and furprizes us, we find ourfelves like a wild
bull in a net, and all the powers of nature are thrown
into tumult and difquietude, fo that we have no pof
feffion of our own fpirits ; but when the hand of God
has continued us a While tinder this divine difcipline,
we learn to bow down to his fovereignty, we lie at his
footftool calm and compofed : He brings our haughty
and refoaant fpirits down to his foot, and makes us
lie humble in the duft* and we wait with patience the
hour of his releafe. Rom. v. 3, 4. Tribulation worketh
patience, and patience Under tribulation gives us expe
rience of the dealings of God with his people* and
rnakes our way to a confirmed hope in his love. The
evidence of our , various graces grows brighter and
stronger under a fmarting rod, till we are fettled in a
joyful confidence, and the foul refts in God himfelf.
Sometimes he~ftas permitted evil angels to put the flefi b
to pain, for the trial of his children ; fo Job was fmitten
with fore boils from head to foot by the malice of Satanj
at the permiffion of God ; but he knows the way that 1
take, fays this holy man, and when he has tried me I
fhall come forth as gold ; for my foot hath held Ins Jicps
through all thefe trials, neither have I gone back from
the commandments of his lips, Job. xxii. 10. 12.
At other times he fuffers wicked men to fpend their
own malice, and to inflitl dreadfi I pains on his own chil
dren : Look back to the years of ancient perfecution
in the land of Ifrael, under Jew'fo or heathen tyrants ;
review the annals of Great Britain ; look over the feas
into

iy6 "No Pain among the Bleffed. Difc. IX*
into popifh kingdoms ; take a view of the curfed courts
of inquifition in Spain,, Portugal, and Italy ; behold the
weapons, the feourges* the racks, the machines of
torture and engines of cruelty, devifed by the barba
rous and inhuman wit of men, to conflrain the Saints
fo renounce their faith, and difhonour their Saviour.
See the flow fires where the martyrs have been roafted
to death with lingering torment : Thefe are feafons of
terrible trial indeed, whereby the malice of fatan- and
antichrijl would force the fervants of God," and the fol
lowers of the Lamb, into finful compliances with their
idolatry, or a defertion of their poft of duty : But the
Spirit of God has fupported his children to bear a glo
rious teftimony to pure and undefiled religion ; and
they have feemed to mock the rage of their tormentors,
to defy all the flings of pain, and triumphed over their
vain attempts, to compel them to fin againft their God.
One would fometimes be ready to wonder, that a
God of infinite mercy and companion fhould suffer his
own dear children to be tried in fo terrible a manner
as this ; but unfearchable wifdom is with him, and he
does not give an account to men of all the reafons and
the rules of his condua. This has been his method of
providence with his Saints at especial feafons*' under
the Jewijh and the .Chriftian difpenfations, and per
haps under all the difpenfations of God to men* from
the days of Cain and Abel to the prefent hour. Our
bleffed Lord has given us many warnings of it in
his word by his own mouth, and by all his three
Apoftles, Paul, Peter and John : They that will live
godly in Chrift Jefus fhall fifffer perfecution : 'Think
it not ftrange therefore concerning the fiery trial : The
devil, by his wicked agents, fhall caft fome of you into
prifon, that ye may be tried ; and ye Jhall have tribulation
ten days, but fear none of the things which thou Jhalt fuf
fer : Be thou faithful unto death, and I zvill give thee a
crown of life.
, But bleffed be God that this world is the only ftage
of fuch trials. As foon as the ftate of probation is-
finifhed, the ftate of recompence begins. Such hard and

Difc. IX. No Pain among the Bleffed. 277
and painful exercifes to try the virtues of the faints,
have no place in that world which was not made for a
ftage of trial and conflia, but a palace of glorious re
ward. Heaven is a place where crowns and prizes are
diftributed to all thofe bleffed ones who have endured
temptation, and who have been found faithful to the
death. Thefe fharp and dreadful combats with pain,
have no place among conquerors, who have finifhed
their warfare, and have begun their triumph.
4. Pain is fent us by the hand of providence to teach us
many a leffon both of truth and duty, which perhaps we
Jhould never have learnt fo well without it. This ftiarp
fenfation awakens our beft powers to attend to thofe
truths and duties which we took lefs notice of before :
In the time of perfea eafe we are ready to let them
lie negfeaed or forgotten, till God our great Mafter
takes his rod in hand for our inftruaion.
SECT. IV.
And this leads me to the fourth general head o? my
difcourfe, and that is to enquire what are thofe fpiritual
leffons' which may be learnt on earth from the pains we
have fluffier ed, or may fluff er in the ftejh. I fhall divide
them into two forts, Viz. Leffons of inftruclion in ufeful
truth, and leffons of duty, or praaical chriftianity ; and
there are many of each kind with which the difciples
of Chrift in this world may be better acquainted, by
the aaual fenfations of pain, than any other way : In
this world I fay, and in this only ; for in heaven moft of
thefe leffons of doclrine and pratlice are utterly needlefs
to be taught, either becaufe they have been fo perfea
iy well known to all its inhabitants before, and their
prefent situation makes it impoffible to forget them ;
or they fhall be let into the fuller knowledge of them
in heaven in a far fuperior way of inftruaion, and
without any fuch uneafy difcipline. And this I fliall
evidently make appear, when I have firft enumerated
all thefe general leffons both of truth and duty, and
fhewn how wifely the great God has appointed them to

278 fa Pain among the Bleffed. Difc. IX*
to be taught here on earth, under the feourge and the
wholefome difcipline of pain in the flefh;
I. The leffons of inftruclion here on earth, or the ufeful
truths, are fuch as thefe .
1. Pain teaches us feelingly, what feeble creatures we
are, and how entirely dependant on God our Maker for
every hour and moment of eafe. We are naturally wild
and wanton creatures, and efpecially in the feafon of
youth, our gayer powers are gadding abroad at the
call of every temptation ; but when God fends his ar^
rows into our flefh, he arrefts us on a fudden, and
teaches us that we are but men, poor feeble dying
creatures, foon crufhed, and finking under his hand.
We are ready to exult in the vigour of youth, when
animal nature, in its prime of ftrength and glory,
raifes our pride, and supports us in a fort of felf-fufn-
ciency ; we are fo vain and foolifh, as to imagine no
thing can hurt us : But when the pain of a little nerve
feizes us, and we feel the acute twinges of it* we are
made to confefs that our ftejh is not iron, nor our bones
brafs ; that we are by no means the lords of ourfelves,.
or fovereigns over our own nature : We cannot re
move the leaft degree of pain, till the Lord who fent
it takes off his hand, and commands the fmart to
ceafe. If the torture fix itfelf but in a finger or a toe,
or in the little nerve of a tooth, what intenfe agonies
may it create in us, and that beyond all the relief of
medicines, till the moment wherein God fliall give us
eafe. This leffon of the frailty of human nature muft
be fome time written upon our hearts in deep and fmart
ing charaaers, by intenfe pain, before we have learnf
it well; and this gives us, for fome time to come, a
happy guard againft our pride and vartity. Pfal. xxxix.
10. When David felt the ftroke of the hand of God
upon him, and correaed him with fharp rebukes for
his iniquity, he makes an humble addrefs to God, and
acknowledges that his beauty, and all the boafted excel
lencies of flefh and blood, confume away like a moth;
furely every man is vanity! Pfal. xxxix. 10, 1 1.
2, The'

Difc. IX. No Pain among the Bleffed. 279
2. The rtext ufeful truth in which pain iriftruas us,
is the freat evil that is contained in the nature of fin,
becaufe it is the occafion of fuch intenfe pain and mifery to
human nature. I grant, I have hinted this before, but
I would have it more powerfully imprefied upon our
fpirits, and therefore I introduce it here again in this
part of my difcourfe as a fpiritual leffon, which we
learn under the difcipline of our heavenly Father.
It is true indeed that innocent nature was made
capable of pain in the firft Adam, and the innocent
nature of the man Jefus Chrift fuffered acute pain,
wiien he came in the likenefs of finful flefh : But if
Adam had continued in his ftate of innocence, it is a
great question with me, whether he or his children
would have aaually tafted or felt what acute pain is -;
I mean fuch pain as we now fuffer, fuch as makes us
fo far unhappy, and fuch as we cannot immediately
relieve. It may be granted, that natural hunger, and thirft,
and wearinefs after labour, would have carried in
them fome degrees of pain or uneafinefs, even in the
ftate of innocence ; but thefe are neceffary to awaken
nature to feek food and reft, arid to put the man in
mind to fupply his natural wants ; and man might
have immediately relieved them himfelf, for the fup
plies of eafe were at hand ; and thefe fort of uneafi-
rieffes were abundantly compenfated by the pleafure of
reft and food, and perhaps they were in fome meafure
neceffary to make food and reft pleafant.
But furely if fin had never been known in our
world, all the pain that arifes from inward difeafes of
nature, or from outward violence, had been a stranger
to the human race, an unknown evil among the fons
of men, as it is among the holy angels, the fons of
God. There had been no diftempers or acute pains
to meet young babes at their entrance into this world ;
no maladies to attend the fons and daughters of Adam
through the journey of life ; and they fliould have
been tranflated" to fome higher and happier region,
without death, and without pain. It

280 No Fain among the Bleffed. ¦ Difc IX,
It was the eating of the tree of knowledge of good
and evil, that acquainted Adam and his offspring with
the evil of pain. Or if pain could have attacked in
nocence in any form or degree, it would have been
but in a way of trial, to exercife and illustrate his vir
tues ; and if he had endured the teft, and continued
innocent, I am fatisfied he fhould never have felt any
pain which was riot overbalanced with fuperior plea
fure, or abundantly recompenfed by succeeding re
wards and fatisfaaions.
Some perfons indeed, have fuppofed it within the
reach of the fovereignty of God to afflia and tor
ment a finlefs creature : Yet I think it is hardly con-
fiftent with his goodnefs, or his equity, tp conftrain an
innocent being, which has no fin, to fuffer pain with
out his own confent, and without giving that creature
equal or fuperior pleafure as a recompence. Both
thofe were the cafe in the fufferings of our bleffed
Lord in his human nature, who was perfeaiy inno
cent : It was with his own confent that he gave himfelf
up to be a facrifice, when it pleafed the Father to bruife
him and put him to grief: And God rewarded him
with tranfeendent honours and joys after his paffion,
he exalted hirii to his own right hand and his throne,
and gave him authority over all things.
In general therefore we have fufficient reafon to fay,
that as fin brought in death into human nature, fo it
was fin that brought in pain alfo ; and wherefoever
there is any pain fuffered among the fons and daugh
ters of men, I am fure we may venture to affert bold
ly, that the sufferer may learn the evil of fin. Even
the Son of God himfelf, when he fuffered pain in his
body, as well as anguifh in his fpirit, has told us by
his apoftles, that our fins were the caufes of it ; he
bore our fins on his own body on the tree, and for our ini
quities he was bruifed, fo fays Ifaiah the prophet, and
fo fpeaks Peter the apoftle.
And fometimes the providence of God is pleafed to
point out to us the particular fin we are guilty of by
the;

Difc. IX. No Pain among the Bleffed* 281
the fpecial punifhment which he inflias. In Pfal.
cvii. 17, 18. Fools are faid to be afflitled, i. e. with
pain and ficknefs, becaufe of their tranfgreffwns of riot
and intemperance ; their foul abhors all manner of meat,
and they draw near to the gates of death. Sicknefs and
pain over-balance all the pleafures of luxury in meats
and drinks, and make the epicure pay dear for the ele
gance of his palate, and the fweet relifh of his morfels
or his cups.. The drunkard in his debauches, is pre
paring, fome fmarting pain for his own punifhment.
And let us all be fo wife as to learn this leffon by the
pains we feel, that fin which introduced them into the
world is an abominable thing in the fight of God,
becaufe it provokes him to ufe fuch fmarting ftrokes
of difcipline in order to recover us from our folly,
and to reduce us back again to the paths of righteouf
nefs. O bleffed fmart ! O happy pain, that helps to foften
the heart of a finner, and melts it to receive divine in
ftruaion, which before was hard as iron, and attended
to no divine counfel ! we are ready to wander from
God* and forget him amongft the months and the years
of eafe and pleafure ; but when the foul is melted in
this furnace of painful fufferings, it more ea'fily receives
fome divine ftamp, fome lafting impreflion of truth,
which the words pf the preacher and the book of
God had before inculcated without fuccefs, and re
peated almoft in vain. Happy is the foul that learns
this leffon thoroughly, and gains a more lafting ac
quaintance with the evil of fin, and abhorrence of it,
under the fmarting ftroke of the hand of God. Blef
fed is the man whom thou corretleft, 0 Lord, and teacheft
him the truths that are written in thy law, Pfal. xciv. 12.
3. Pain in the flefh teaches us alfo how dreadfully
the great God can punifh fin and finners when he pleafes,
in this world or in the other. It is written in the fong
of Mofes, the man of God, Pfal. xc. 11. According to
thy fear, fo is thy wrath; i. e. the difpleafure and anger
of the bleffed God is as terrible as we can fear it to
N n be 5

282 No Pain among the Bleffed. Difc. IX.
be ; and he can inflia on us fuch intenfe pains and
agonies, whofe diftreffing fmart we may learn by feel
ing a Jittle of them. Unknown multiplications of
racking pain, lengthened out beyond years and ages,
is part of the defcription of hellifh torments, and the
other part lies in the bitter twinges of confcience and
keen remorfe of foul for our paft iniquities, but with
out all hope. Behold a man under a fharp fit of the
goqt or ftone, which wrings the groans from his heart,
and tears from his eye-lids ; this is the hand of God
in the prefent World, where there are many mixtures
of divine goodnefs ; but if ever we fhould be fo wil
fully unhappy as to be plunged into thofe regions
where the almighty vengeance of God reigns, without
one beam of divine light or love, this muft be dread
ful indeed. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God, Heb. x. 3 1 . to be banifhed far off from
all that is holy and happy, and to be confined to that
dark dungeon, that place of torture, where the gnaw
ing worm of Confcience never dies, and where the fire
of divine anger is never quenched.
We who are made up of flefh and blood, which is
interwoven with many nerves and mufcles, and mem
branes* may learn a little of the terrors of the Lord,
if we reffea that every nerve, mufcle, and membrane
of the- body is capable of giving us moft fharp and
painful fenfations. We may be wounded in every
fenfible part of nature ; fmart and anguifh may enter
in at every pore, and make almoft every atom of our
eonftitution an instrument- of our anguifh. Fearfully
and wonderfully are we formed indeed, capable of pain
all over us ; and if a God fhall fee fit to punifh fin to
its full defert, and penetrate every atom of our nature
-with pain, what furprifing and intolerable mifery muft
that be ? And if God fliould raife the wicked out of
their graves to dwell in fuch fort of bodies again, on
purpofe to fhew his juft anger againft fin in their pu
nifhment, how dreadful, beyond expreffion, muft their
anguifh be through the long ages of eternity ? God can

Difc. IX. No Pain among the Bleffed. 283
can form even fuch bodies for immortality, and can
fuftain them to endure everlafting agonies.
Let us think again, that when the hand of our Cre
ator fends pain into our flefh, we cannot avoid it, we
cannot fly from it, we carry it with us wherefoever we
go : His arrows flick faft in us, and we cannot fhake
them off; oftentimes it appears that we can find no
relief from creatures : And if by the deftruaion of
ourfelves, i. e. of thefe bodies, we plunge ourfelves
into the world of fpirits at once, we fhall find the fame
God of holinefs and vengeance there, who can pierce
our fouls with unknown forrows, equal, if not fupe
rior, to all that we felt in the flefh. If I make my bed
in the grave, Lord, thou art there, thy hand of juftice
and punifhment would find me out.
What a formidable thing it is to fuch creatures as
we are, to have God, our Maker, for our enemy ?
That God who has all the tribes of pain and difeafe,
and the innumerable hoft of maladies at his command?
He fills the air in which we breath with fevers' and
peftilences as often as he will : The gout and the ftone
arreft and feize us by his order, and ftretch us upon a
bed of pain : Rheumatifms and cholicks come and go
wherefoever he fends them, and execute his anger
againft criminals. He keeps in his hand all the vari
ous fprings of pain, and every invifible rack that can
torment the head or members, the bowels or the
joints of man : He fets them at their dreadful work
when and where he pleafes. Let the finner tremble
at the name of his power and terror, who can fill both
flefh and fpirit with thrilling agonies ; and yet he ne
ver punishes beyond what our iniquities deferve. How
neceffary is it for fuch finful and guilty beings as we
are, whofe natures are capable of fuch conftant and
acute fenfations of pain, to have the God of nature
our friend and our reconciled God ?
4. When we feel the acute pains of nature, we may
learn fomething of the exceeding greatnefs of the love of
Chrift, even the Son of God, that glorious Spirit, who
took

284 No Pain among the Bleffed. Difc. IX,
took upon him flefh and blood for our fakes, that he
might be capable of pain and death, though he had
never finned. He endured intenfe anguifh, to make
atonement for our crimes. Becaufe the children whom
he came to fave from mifery were partakers of flefh and
blood, he alfo himfelf took part of the fame, that he might
fufter in the flefh, and by his fufferings put away our fins.
Happy was he in his Father's bofom, and the de
light of his foul through many long ages before his
incarnation : But he condefcended to be born in the
likenefs of finful flefh, that he might feel fuch fmart
and forrows as our fins had expofed us to. His inno
cent and holy foul was uncapable of fuch fort of fuf
ferings till he put on this cloathing of human nature,
and become a Surety for finful perifhing creatures.
Let us furvey his fufferings a little. He was born
to forrow, and trained up through the common un
eafy circumftances of the infant and childifh ftate, till
he grew up to man : What pains did attend him in
hunger and thirft, and Wearinefs, while he travelled on
foot from city to city, through wilds and defarts, where
there was no food nor reft ? The Son of Man fome
times wanted the common bread of nature, nor had
he where to lay his head. What uneafy fenfations
was he expofed to, when he was buffeted, when he
was fmitten on the cheek, when his tender flefh was
fcourged with whips, and his temples were crowned
with thorns, when his hands and his feet were barba-
roufly torn with rude nails, and fattened to the crofs,
where the whole weight of his body hung on thofe
wounds ? And what man or angel can tell the inward
anguifh, when his foul was exceedingforrowful unto death,
and the conflicts and agonies of his fpirit forced out
the drops of bloody fweat through every pore. It was
by the extreme torture of his nature that he was fup
pofed to expire on the crofs ; thefe were the pangs of
his atonement and agonies that expiated the fins of men.
O bleffed jefus ! What manner of fufferings were
thefe ? And what manner of love was it that willingly gave

Difc. IX. -No Pain among -the Bleffed. 285
gave up thy facred nature to fuftain therri ? And what
was the defign of them, but to deliver us from the
wrath of God in hell, to lave our flefh and fpirit from
eternal anguifh and' diftrefs there ? Why was he made
fuch a curfe for us, but that he might redeem us from the
curfe of the law, and the juft punifhment of our own
iniquities. Let us carry our thoughts of his love, and our be
nefit by it, yet one flep further : Was it not by thefe
forrows, and this painful paffion, that he provided for
us this very heaven of happinefs, where we fhall be for
ever freed from all pain ? Were they not all endured
by him to procure a paradife of pleafure, a manfion of
everlafting peace and joy for guilty creatures, who had
merited everlafting pain ? Was it not by thefe his ago
nies in the mortal body, which he affumed, that he
purchafed for each of us a glorified body, ftrong and
immortal as his own when he rofe from the dead, a
body which has no feeds of difeafe or pain in it, no
fprings of mortality or death? May glory, honour and
praife, with fupreme pleafure, ever attend the facred
perfon of our Redeemer, whofe forrows and anguifh of
flefh and fpirit were equal to our mifery, and to his
own compaflion.
5. Another leffon, which we are taught by the long
and tirefome pains of nature, is the value and worth of
the word of God, and the fweetnefs of a promife, which
can give the kindeft relief to a painful hour, and foot h the
anguifh of nature. They teach us the excellency of the
covenant of Grace, which has fometimes ftrengthened
the feebleft pieces of human nature to bear intenfe
fufferings in the body, and which fanaifies them all to
our advantage. Painful and tirefome maladies teach us
to improve the promifes to valuable purpofes, and the
promifes take away half the fmart of our pains by the
fenfations of divine love fet into the foul.
We read of philofophers and heroes in fome ancient
histories, who could endure pain by dint of reafoning, by

4 86* No Pain among the Bleffed. Difc IX.
by a pride of their fcience, by an obftinacy of heart,
or by, natural courage ; but a Chriftian takes the word
of a promife, and lies down upon it in the midft of in
tenfe pains of nature ; and the pleafure of devotion
fupplies him with fuch eafe, that all the reafonings of
philofophy, all the courage of nature, all the anodynes
of medicine, and foothing plaifters have attempted
without fuccefs. When a child of God can read his
Father's love in a promife, and by fearching into the
qualifications of his own foul, can lay fafter hold of it
by a living faith, the rage of his pain is much allayed,
and made half eafy. A promife is a fweet couch to
reft a languifhing body in the midft of pains, and a foft
repofe for the head or heart-ach.
The Stoicks pretended to give eafe to pain, by per
suading themfelves there was no evil in it ; as though
the mere mifnaming of things would deftroy their na
ture : But the Chriftian, by a fweet fubmiffion to the
evil which his heavenly Father inflias upon his flefh,
repofes himfelf at the foot of God on the covenant pf
grace, and bears the wounds and the fmart with much
more ferenity and honour. " It is my heavenly Fa-
*¦' ther that feourges me, and I know he defigns me
*' no hurt, though he fills my flefh with prefent pain:
** His own prefence, and the fenfe of his love, foften the
" anguifh of all that I feel : He bids me not yield to
" fear, for when I pafls through the fires he will be with
" me ; and he that loved me, and died for me, has
** fuffered greater forrows and more anguifh on my ac-
*{ count, than what he calls me to bear under the
*c ftrokes of his wife and holy difcipline : He has left
" his word with me as an univerfal medicine to relieve
" me under all my anguifh, till he fhall bring me to
" thofe manfions on high, where forrows and pains are
*' found no more."
6. Anguifh and painof nature here on earth teach
us the excellency and^ ufe of the mercy-feat in heaven, and
the admirable privilege of prayer. Even the fons of
mere nature are ready to think of God at fuch a fea
fon :

Difc. IX. No Pain among the Bleffed. 487
fon ; and they who never prayed before, pour out a
prayer before him when his chqftening is upon them, Ifai.
xxvi. 16. An hour of twinging and tormenting pain,
when creatures and medicines can give no relief, drives
them to the throne of God to try whether he will re
lieve them or not. But much more delightful is it for
a child of God that has been ufed to addrefs the throne
of Grace, to run thither with pleafure and hope, and
to fpread all his anguifh before the face of his heavenly
Father. The bleffed God has built this mercy-feat
for his people to bring all their forrows thither, and
fpread them before his eyes in all their fmarting cir
cumftances, and he has been often pleafed to fpeak a
word of relief.
Our Lord Jefus Chrift, when he dwelt in flefh and
blood, praaifed this part' of religion with holy fatisfac-
tion and fuccefs. Being in an agony he prayed more ear-
neftly, and an angel, was fent to filrengthen and comfort
him, Luke xxii. 43, 44. This was the relief of holy
David in ancient times, Pfidm xxv. 18. Look upon my
affliclion and my pain, and pardon all my fins. Pfal.
cxvi. 3, 4. The forrows of death compaffeth me, and the
pains of hell, or the grave, took hold of me ; then called I
upon the name of the Lord ; 0 Lord, I befeech thee, deli
ver my feul. And when he found a gracious anfwer to
his requeft, he acknowledges the grace of God there
in, and charges his foul to dwell near to God ; return
to thy reft, 0 my foul, for the Lord hath dealt bomvtifully
with thee : I was brought low, and he helped me, he de
livered my foul from death, and mine eyes from tears.
But we have ftronger encouragement than David
was acquainted with, fince it is revealed to us, that we
have an High Prkft at this throne ready to befpeak all
neceffary relief for us there, Heb. ii. 18. An High
Prieft who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmi
ties^ who has fuftained the fame forrows and pains in
the flefh, who can pity and relieve his people under
their maladies and acuteft anguifh, Heb. iv. 15. When
we groan an4 £gh under continued pains, they are
ready

288 No Phin dmong the Bleffed* Difc IX*
ready to make nature weary and faint : We groan un
to the Lord, who knows the language of our frailty :
Our High Prieft carries every groan to the mercy-feat-
His. compafEon works towards his brethren, and he
will: suffer them to continue no longer, under thisdif-
cipline than is neceffary for their own beft improve
ment and happinefs. '.".u . i ;:i!; ,.
O how much of this fort of confolation has many a
Chriftian' learrit and tafted, by a holy intercourfe with
heaven, in fuch painful feafons ? How much has he
learnt of the tender mercies of God the Father, and of
the pity and sympathy of our great High Prieft above ?
Who. would be content to live in fuch a painful world
as this is, without the pleafure and relief of prayer ?
Who would live without an intereft at this mercy-feat,
and without the Tupporting friendship of this Advocate
at the throne ?
Thus I have run over the chief leffons of inftrucliomor
doclrine, which may be derived from our fenfations of
pain here in this world.: But there is no need of this
fort of difcipline in the bleffed regions of heaven to
teach the inhabitants fuch truths, r . . C
They will remember what feeble helplefs creatures they
were wheri they dwelt in flefh and blood ; but they,
have put off thofe flefhly garments of. mortality, with
all its weakneffes together. The fpirits of the bleffed
know-nothing of thofe frailties, nor fhall the bodies of
the faints, new raifed from the duft, bring back any of
their old infirmities with them. Thefebleffed. crea
tures know well how entirely dependent they are for all.
things upon God theirCreator, without the need of
pains and maladies to teach them, for they live every
moment with God, and in a full dependence upon
him : They are fuppofted in their life, and all its ever
lafting bleffings, by.his immediate prefence, power and
mercy. '- , '¦¦ '
They have no need of pain in thofe fields- on garden's
of pleafure to teach them the evil of fin ; they well re
member all the forrows they have paffed through in their
mortal

Difc. IX. No Pain among the Bleffed. 289
mortal ftate, while they were traverfing the wildernefs
of this world, and they know that fin was the caufe of
them all. They fee the evil of fin in the glafs of the
divine holinefs, and the hateful contrariety that is in it
to the nature of God is difcovered in the immediate
light of all his perfeaions, his wifdom, his truth and
his goodnefs. They behold the evil of fin in the
marks of the fufferings of their bleffed Saviour ; he ap
pears in glory as the Lamb that was flain, and carries
fome memorials of his death about him, to let the
faints know for ever what he has fuffered to make
atonement for their fins.
Nor have the bleffed above any need to learn how
dreadfully God can punifh fin and finners, while they be
hold his indignation going forth in a long and endlefs
ftream, to make the wicked enemies of God in hell
for ever juftly miferable : And in this fenfe it may be
faid, that thefmoke of their torments comes up before God
and his holy angels, and his faints for ever.
Nor do thefe happy beings ftand in need of new
fenfations of pain, to teach them the exceeding greatnefs
of the love of Chrift, who .expofed himfelf to intenfe
and fmarting anguifh, both of flefh and fpirit, to pro
cure their falvation : For while they dwell amidft the
bleffednefs of that ftate, which the Redeemer purchaf-
ed with the price of his own fufferings, they can never
forget his love.
Nor do they want to learn in heaven the value of the
word of God and his promifes, by which they were sup
ported under their pains and forrows in this mortal
ftate. Thofe promifes have been fulfilled to thenj<
partly on earth, and in a more glorious and abundant
manner in the heavenly world. They relifh the fweet-
nefs of all thofe words of mercy, in reviewing the
means whereby divine grace fuftained them in their
former ftate of trial, and in the compleat accomplifh-
ment of the beft of thofe promifes in their prefent fitu-
ation amidft ten thoufand endlefs bleffings.
O o And

«9© No Pain among the Bleffed. Difc IX,
And if any of them were too cold and remifs, and
infrequent in their applications to the mercy-feat by
prayer, when they were here on earth, and flood in need
of chaftifement to make them pour out their prayers
to God, yet they can never forget the value of this privi-
lege, while theythemfelves dwell round ;bout the throne,
and behold all their ancient fincere addreffes to the
mercy-feat anfwered and fwallowed up in the full fruiT
tion of their preferit glories and joys. Praife is pro
perly the language of heaven, when all their wants are
fupplied, and their prayers on earth are finiflied ; and
whatever further defires they may have to prefent be
fore God, the throne of grace is ever at hand, arid
God himfelf is ever in the midft of them to bestow
every proper bleffing in its feafon that belongs to the
heavenly world. Not one of them can any more ftand
in need of chaftifement or painful exercifes of the flefh
to drive them to the throne of God, while they are
at home in their Father's houfe, and for ever, near him
and his all-fufficiency. It is from thence they are con-
flantly deriving immortal fupplies of bleffednefs, as from
a fpring that will never fail.
S E C T. V.
I proceed now to confider in the laft place, what
are the praclical leffons which pain may teach us while
we are here on earth in our ftate of probation and dif
cipline, and fhall afterward make it evident, that there
is no need of pain in heaven for the fame purpofes.
i. The frequent returns of pain may put us in mind
to offer to God his due facrifices of praife for the months
and years of eafe which, we have enjoyed ; we are' too
ready to forget the mercy of God herein, unlefs we
are awakened by new painful fenfations ; and when we
experience new relief, then our lips are opened with
thankfulnefs, and our mouth fhews forth his praife .-
Then we cry out with devout language, Bleffed be the
Lord that has delivered us ! When we have been op-,
preffed for fome time with extreme anguifh, then one
day,

Difc. IX. No Pain among the Bleffed. 291
day, or one hour of eafe fills the heart and the tongue
with tfaankfutnefs ; bleffed be the God of nature that has
appointed medicines to re/lore our eafe, and bleffed be that
goodnefs that has given fuccefs to them ! What a rich
mercy is it under oUr acute torments, that there are
methods of relief and healing found among the powers
of nature, among the plants and the herbs, and the
mineral ftores which are under ground ? Blefled be the
Lord, who in the courfe of his providence has given
fkill to phyficians to compofe and to apply the proper
means of relief ! Bleffed be that hand that has planted
every herb in tlie field or the garden, and has made
the bowels of the earth to team with medicines for. the
recovery of our health and eafe, and bleffed be his
name who has rebuked our maladies, who has con-
ftrained the fmarting difeafes to depart by the ufe of
balms and balfams that are happily applied !
While we enjoy the benefits of common life, in
health of body and in eafy circumftances, we are too
often tboughtfefs of the hand of God, Which fhowers
down thefe favours of heaven upon us in a long and
conftant fucceffion ; but when he fees fit to touch us
with his finger, and awaken fome lurking malady
within us, our eafe vaniflies, our days are reftlefs and
painful, and tirefome nights of darknefs pafs over us
without fleep or repofe. Then we rfepent that we
have fo long forgotten the God of our mercies ; and
we learn to lift up our praifes to the Lord, that every
night of our lives has not been reftlefs, that every day
and hour has not been a feafon of racking pain. Bleffed
be the Lord that enables us, without anguifh or unea-
finefs, to fulfil the common bufinefs of the day ; and
bleffed be his hand that draws the peaceful curtains of
the night round about us ! And even in the midft of
moderate pains, we bliss his name who gives us re-
frefhing flumbers ; and we grow more careful to em
ploy and improve every moment of returning eafe, as
the moft proper way of expreffing our thankfulnefs to
our Almighty healer. Alas,

292 No Pain among the Bleffed. Difc. IX*
Alas, what poor, forry, finful creatures are we in
the prefent ftate, who want to be taught the value of
our mercies by the removal of them ! The man of a
robuft and vigorous make, and a healthy conftitution,
knows not the true worth of health and eafe, nor fets
a due value upon thefe bleffings of heaven ; but we
are taught to thank God feelingly, for an. eafy hour
after long repeated twinges of pain : We blefs that
goodnefs which gives us an eafy night after a day of
diftreffing anguifh. Bleffed be the God of nature and
grace, that has not made the gout or the ftone immor
tal, nor fubjeaed our fenfible powers to an everlafting
cholick or tooth-ach.
¦2. Pain in the flefh more effeaually teaches us to
fympathize with thofe who fuff'er. We learn a tender
nefs of foul experimentally by our own fufferings. We
generally love felf fo well, that we forget our neigh
bours under fpecial tribulation and diftrefs, unlefs we
are made to feel them too* In a particular manner,
when our nature is pinched and pierced through with
fome fmarting malady, we learn to pity thofe who lie
groaning under the fame difeafe. A kindred of for
rows and fufferings works up our natures into com
paffion ; ¦ and we find our own hearts more, fenfibly af
fected with the groans of our friends under a fharp fit
of the gout or rheumatifm, when we ourfelves have
felt the flings of the fame distemper.
Our bleffed Saviour himfelf, though he wanted not
compaffion . and love to the children of men, fince he
came down from heaven on purpofe to die for them*
yet he is reprefented to us as our' merciful High Prieft,
who had learnt fympathy and compaffion to our forrows
in the fame way of experience as we learn it. He was
incompaffed about with infirmities, when lie took the
finfefs frailties of our nature upon him, that he might
learn to pity us under thofe frailties. In that he himfelf
hath fuffered being tempted, he is able to fuccour them that
are tempted : For we have not an High Prieft which canr
not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in

Difc IX. No Pain among the Bleffed. 295
in all points tempted, like as we are, though he was al
ways without fin ; and by the things which he fuffered,
he may be faid, after the manner of men, to leamfym-
pathy and pity to miferable creatures, as well as obedience
to God, who is bleffed for ever, Heb. ii. 18. and iv. 15.
and v. 2. 8.
3. Since our natures are fubjea to pain, it fhould
teach us watchfulnefs againft every fin, left we double our
own difireffes by the mixture of guilt with them. How
careful fliould we be to keep always a clear confcience,
that we may be able at all times to look up with plea?
fure to the hand of God who fmites us, and be better
compofed to endure the pains which he infli£ts upon
us for our trial and improvement in grace. Innocence
and piety, and a peaceful confcience, are an admirable
defence to fupport the fpirit againft. the overwhelming
efforts of bodily pain : But when inward reproaches of
mind, and a racking confcience join with' acute pain
in the flefh, it is double mifery, and aggravated wretch
ednefs. The feourges and inward remorfe of pur own
hearts, joined to the forrows of nature, add torment to
torment. How dreadful is it when we are forced to
confefs, / have procured all this to myfelf by intemperance,
by my rajhnefs, by my obftinacy againft the advice of friends,
and rebellion againft the commands of God !
Probably it was fuch circumftances as thefe, that
gave the foul of David double anguifh, * when his
* bones waxed old, through his roaring all the day
1 longrwhen day and night the hand of God was heavy
' upon him, and his moisture was turned into the
* drought of fummer ; when he complained unto God,
' thine arrows flick faft in me, and thy hand preffetk
' me fore : There is no foundnefs in my flefh, becaufe
' of thine anger ; nor any reft in my bones, becaufe
* of my fin. Mine iniquities are gone over mine head
' as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
' Deep calls unto deep at the noife of thy water-fpouts,
* all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.'
The deep of anguifh in my flefh calls to the deep of for -
row

&94 No Pain among the Bleffed* Difc. IX*
row in my foul* and makes a tremendous tumult
within me. My wounds ft ink; and are corrupt, becaufe
of my fiolijhnefs :. I am feeble and fore broken ; I have
roared by reafon of the difquietnefs of my heart ; nor
could he find any reft or eafe till he ackowledged his ,
fin unto God, and confeffed his tranfgreffions, and till he
had fome comfortable Hope that God had forgiven the
iniquity of his fin. See this forrowful fcene exemplified
in a very affeaing manner in the 32d and 38th Pfalms;
Happy is the man that walks clofely with his God in
the days of health and eafe, that whenever it fhall
pleafe his heavenly Father to try him with fmarting
pain, he may find fweet relief from a peaceful con*.
fcience, and humble appeals to God concerning his
own sincerity and watchfulnefs.
4. Pain in the flefh may fometimes be fent by the
hand of God, to teach us to wean ourfelves by degrees
from this body, which we love too well ; this body, which
has all the fprings of pain in it. HoW little fhould We
be fond of this flefh and blood in the prefent feeble
ftate, wherein we are continually liable to one malady
or another ; to the head-ach or the heart-ach, to
wounds or bruifes, and uneafy fenfations of various
kinds ? Nor can the foul fecure itfelf from them, while
it is fo clofely united to this mortal body. And yet
we are too fond of our prefent dwelling, though it be
but a cottage of clay, feeble and ruinous, where the
winds and the ftorms are continually ready to break in
and diftrefs us. A forry habitation indeed for an im
mortal fpirit, fince fin has mingled fo many difeafes in
our constitution, has made fo many avenues for fmart
and anguifh in our flefh, and we are capable of ad
mitting pain and agonies at every pore.
Pain is appointed to be a fort of balance to the
tempting pleafures of life, and to make us feel that per
fea happinefs does not grow among the inhabitants of
flefh and blood. Pain takes away the pleafures of the
day and the repofe of the night, and makes- life bitter
in all the returning feafons. The God of nature and
grace

Difc- IX. No Pain among the Bleffed. 295
grace is pleafed, by fending ficknefs and pain, to loofen
his own children by degrees from their fond attach
ment to this flefhly tabernacle, and to make us willing
to depart at his call.
A long continuance of pain, or the frequent repeat
ed twinges of it, will teach a Chriftian and incline him
to meet death with courage, at the appointed hour of re
leafe. This will much abate the fiercenefs of the king
of terrors, when he appears as a fovereign phyficianto
finifh every malady of nature. Death is fanaified to
the holy foul, and by the covenant of grace this curfe
of nature is changed into a bleffing. The grave is a
fafe retiring place from all the attacks of difeafe and
anguifh : And there are fome incurables here on earth,
which can find no perfea relief but in the grave.
Neither maladies, nor tyrants can ftretch their terrors
beyond this life : And if we can but look upon death
as a conquered enemy, and its fling taken away by
the death of Chrift, we fhall eafily venture into this laft
ecrmbat, and obtain an everlafting viaory. Bleffed be
God for the grave as a refuge from fmarting pains !
Thanks be to God through Chrift jefus, who enables
us to triumph over the laft pain of nature, and to fay,
0 death where is thy fling ? and 0 grave where is thy
vitlory ?,
In the fifth and laft place, by the pains that we fuf-
fer in this body, we are taught to breathe after the blef
fednefs of the heavenly ftate wherein there fhall be no pain.
When the foul is difmiffed from the bonds of flefh, and
prefented before God in the world of fpirits without
fpot or blemifh by Jefus our great Forerunner, it is
then appointed to dwell among the fpirits of the juft
made perfecl, who were all releafed in their feveral fea
fons from the body of flefh and fin. Maladies and in
firmities of every kind are buried in the grave, and
ceafc for ever ; and if we furvey the properties of the
new raifed body in the great refurreaion-day, as de
fcribed 1 Cor. xv. we fhall find no room for pain there,
ho avenue or refidence for fmart or anguifh. It will not

296 No Pain among the Bleffed. Difc. IX.
not be fuch a body of flefh and blood which can be a
fource of maladies, or fubjea to outward injuries ; but
by its own principles of innate vigour and immortality,
'as well as by the power and mercy of God, it fhall be
for ever fecured from thofe uneafy fenfations which
made our flefh on earth painful and burdenfome, and
which tended toward diffolution and death. It is fuch
a body as our Lord Jefus wore at his afcent to heaven
in a bright cloud for ever incorruptible ; for flefh and
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth cor
ruption inherit incorruption. As we have borne the image
of the earthly Adam in the frailties and fufferings • that
belong to it, fo fhall we alfo bear the image of the hea
venly, even the Lord Jefus Chrift who Jhall change our
vile body, that it may be fafhioned like unto his own glori
ous body, according to the working whereby he is able to
fubdue all things unto himfelf, Phil. iii. 21. We Jhall
hunger no more, we Jhall thirfi no more, nor Jhall the fun
light on us with its parching beams, nor fhall we be an
noyed with fire or froft, with heat or cold, in thufe
temperate and happy regions. The Lamb which is in
the midft of the throne Jhall feed his people for ever
there with the fruits of the tree of life, and with un
known entertainments suited to a glorified ftate. He
fhall lead them to living fountains of waters, and God
Jhall wipe away all tears from, their eyes.
Thus have I fet before you the praclical leffons which
pain is defigned to teach us 'in our prefent ftate ; and
we find that a body fubjea to maladies and pains, is a
well appointed fchool, wherein our great Mafter gives
us thefe divine inftruaions, and trains us up by de
grees for the heavenly world. It is rough difcipline
indeed for the flefh, but it is wholefome for the foul :
And there is many a Chriftian here on earth that have
been made to confefs, they had never learnt the prac
tice of fome of thefe virtues, if they had not been
taught by fuch fort of difcipline. Pain, which was
brought into human nature at firft by fin, is happily
fuited by the providence of God to fuch a ftate of pro
bation,

Difc. IX* No Pain among the *Bleffed* 297
bation, wherein creatures born in the midft of fins and
forrows are by degrees recovered to the love of God
and holinefs, and fitted for a world of peace and joy.
But when we have done with this world, and de
parted from the tribes of mortal men, and from all the
fcenes of allurement and temptation, there is no more
need that fetch leffons fhould be taught us in heaven, nor
any painful fecurge made ufe of by the Father of fpirits,
to carry cr*,ipr to maintain the divine work of holinefs
and grace within us. Let us furvey this matter accord
ing to the foregoing particulars.
Is it poffible that while the bleffed above are fur-
rounded with endlefs fatisfaaions flowing from the
throne of God and the Lamb, they fhould forget their
benefatlor, and negletl his praifos ? Is it poffible they
fhould dwell in immortal health and eafe without in
terruption, Under the conftant vital influences of the
King of Glory, and yet want gratitude to the fpring of
all their bleffings ?
Nor is there any need for the inhabitants of a world,
where no pains nor forrows are found, to learn compaf
fion and fympathy to thofe who fuffer, for there are no
fufferers there : But love and joy* intenfe and intimate
love, and a harmony of joy runs through all that blef
fed company, and unites them in an univerfal fympa
thy, if 1 may fo exprefs it, or blifsful fenfation of each
other's happinefs. And I might add alfo, could there
be fuch a thing as forrow and mifery in thofe regions,
this divine principle of love would work fweetly and
powerfully towards fuch objeas in all neceffary com
paffion. What if pain was once made a four to our duties in
this frail ftate of flefh and blood? What if pain were
defigned as a guard againft temptation, and a means to
awaken our watcb againft new tranfgreffion and guilt ?
But in a climate where all is holinefs, and all is peace,
in the full enjoyment of - the great God, and fecured
by that everlafting covenant which was fealed by the
blood of the Lamb, there is no mose danger of finning.
P r» The

29& -No Pain among the Bleffed. Difc. LX«
The foul is moulded into the more complete likenefs
of God, by living for ever under the light of his coun
tenance and the warmeft beams of his lovp.
What if we had need of the flings of pain and anguifh
in time paft, to wean Us by degrees from this body, and
from all fenfible Abings, and to make us willing to part
with them all at the call of God ? Yet when we ar
rive at the heavenly world, we fhaft have no rnore
need of being weaned from earth, we fhall neVer look
back upon that ftate of pain and frailty with a wifhful
eye, being for ever fatisfied in the affluence of prefent
O gloripus and happy ftate ! Where millions of
creatures who have dwelt in bodies of fin and pain,
and have been guilty of innumerable follies and offen
ces againft their Maker, yet they are all forgiven,, their
robes are waflied, and made white in the blood of Jefus,
their iniquities are cancelled for ever, and there fhall
not be one stroke more from the hand of God to
chaften them, nor one more fenfation of pain to punifh
them. Divine and illuftrious privilege indeed, and a
glorious world, where complete fanaifieatiOn of all the
powers of nature fliall for ever fecure us from new fins,
and where the fprings and caufes of pain fhall for evei
ceafe, both within us and without us. Our glorified
bodies fhall have no avenue for pain to enter; trie gates
of heaven fhall admit no enemy to affiia or hurt us ;
God is our everlafting friend, and our fouls fhall be
fatisfied with the rivers of pleafure which flow for ever
at the right hand of God. Amen.

D I S-

( 299 )
DISCOURSE X.
The Firft Fruits of the Spirit, or the
Foretafte of Heaven.

Rom. viii. 23.
And not only they, but ourfelves alfo who have the firft
'fruits of the Spirit, even we ourfelves groan within
ourfelves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemp
tion of the body.
SECT. I.
IT is by a beautiful figure of fpeech the Apoftle had
been defcribing, in the foregoing verfes, the unna
tural abufe which the creatures fuffer through the fins
of men, when they are employed to finful purpofes
atid the difhonour of God their creator. Permit me
to read the words and reprefent the fenfe of them in a
fhort paraphrafe. Ver, 22. We know that the whole
creation groaneth and travelleth in pain together until
now. The earth itfelf may be repreferited as groaning.
to bear fuch loads of iniquity, fuch a multitude of
Wicked men who abufe the creatures of God to the
difhonour of him that made them : The air may be
faid to groan to give breath to thofe vile wretches' who
abufe it in filthinefs and foolifh talking,' to the difho
nour of God, and to the fcandal of their neighbours ;
it groans to furnifh men with breath that is abufed in
idolatry by the falfe worfhip of the true God, or the*
worfhip of creatures which is abominable in his fight :
The fun itfelf may be faid to groan to give, light to thofe
finners who abufe both day-light and darknefs in riot
ing and wantonnefs, in doing mifchief among men and
committing frefh iniquities againft their Maker : The
moon and ftars are abufed by adulterers and thieVes, and

300 The Firft Fruits of the Spirit, Difc. X,
and other midnight finners when they any way afford
light enough to them to guide them in their purfuit of
wicked ways and praaices. The beafts of burthen may
be faid alfo to groan and be abufed, when they bear'
the wicked fons and daughters of Adam to the accom-
plifliment of their iniquities : And even all the parts of
the brutal world, as well as of the inanimate creation,
are fome Way or other made to ferve the deteftable
and wicked purpofes of the finful children of men,
and may be figuratively faid to groan on this account,
And if we have tafted of the fruits of the fpirit of
grace, we cannot but in fome meafure groan with the
reft of the creation in expeaation of the bleffed day,
when the creatures fhall be delivered from this bon
dage of corruption, to which the providence of God
has fuffered them to be fubjeaed in this degenerate
ftate of things.
We hope there is a time coming, when the creatures
themfelves fhall be ufed according to the original ap-
pointmerit of their Maker, agreeable to their own firft
defign, and for the good of their fellow-creatures, and
fupremely for the honour of their God, in that day
when holinefs to the Lord Jhall be written upon the bells
of the horfos ; and every pot in Jerusalem fhall he holinefs
unto the- Lord of hofts. Why fliould we not join then
with the whole creation in groaning and longing after
this promifed time, when all the works of God fhall
be reftored to their rightful ufe, and the glory pf the
Maker fliall fome way or. other be made to fliine in
every one of them ?
The Apoftle then adds, in the words of my text,
and not thefe creatures only, but ourfelves alfo who have
the firft fruits of the Spirit, we who are filled with the
gifts and graces of the holy Spirit, and eminently the
firft fruits hereof appear in our tafte and relifh of the
divine provisions that God has given us here in this
world to prepare for a better ; and even beftows upon
fome of his Chriftian fervants thefe firft fruits of the
tree of paradife, thefe bleffings, and thefe foretastes which

Difc X.* or the Foretafte of Heaven. 301.
which are near a-kin to thofe of the upper world, when
the faints fliall be raifed from the dead, when their
adoption fhall be clearly manifefted, and they fhall
look like the children of God, and their bodies and
all their natural powers fhall be redeemed from thofe
diforders, whether of fin or forrow, and from all the
fprings and feeds of them, which they are more or:
lefs liable to feel in the prefent ftate.
Here let it be obferved, that the firft fruits of any
field, or plant, or tree, are of the fame kind with the
full produa or the harveft ; therefore it is plain, that
the firft fruits of the Spirit, in this place cannot chiefly
fignify the gifts of the Spirit, fuch as the gifts of
tongues, or of healing, or of miracles, nor the gifts
of prophecy, preaching, or praying, becaufe thefe are
not the employments nor the enjoyments of heaven.
The firft fruits of the Spirit muft rather refer therefore
to the knowledge and holinefs, the graces and the
joys which are more perfea and glorious in the hea
venly ftate, than they were ever defigned to be here
upon earth. Now thefe firft fruits of graces and joys
are fometimes beftowed upon Chriftians in this world,
in fuch a degree as brings them near to the heavenly
ftate : And that is the chief obfervation I defign to
draw from thefe words, viz. That God has been pleafed
to give fome of his children here on earth feveral of the
foretaftes of the heavenly bleffednefs, the graces and the
joys of the upper world ; as they are the firft fruits of
that paradife to which we are travelling : And thefe
privileges have brought fome of the faints within the
verge of the courts of heaven, within the confines
and borders of the celeftial country. What thefe are
I fhall fhew immediately ; but before I reprefent them
1 defire to lay down thefe few cautions.
Caution i. Thefe fenfible foretaftes of heaven do not
belong to all Chriftians ; thefe are not fuch general blef
fings of the covenant of grace, of which every Chriftian
is made partaker ; but they are fpecial favours now
and then beftowed on fome particular perfons by the
I fpecial

3©* The Ftfffl Fruits of the Spirit, Difc. X.
fpecial Will of God. (i.) Such as are more eminent
in faithj sai. holinefs, and prayer than others are, fuch
as have made great advancements in every part of re
ligion, in mortification to the world*, in fpiritual- mind-
ednefs, in hurnilifey* and in muds converfe with Godf
&c. Or, (2*) Sometimes thefe firft fruits may be
given unto fuch as are weak both in reafon and in
faith, and may be babes in Chrift, and are not able by
their reafonhig powers to fearch. out their evidences
for heaven, efpecially under fome prefent temptation
or darknefs. Or, (3.) Sometimes to thofe who are
called by providence to go through huge and uncom
mon trials and fufferings, irt order to support their fpi
rits, and bear up their courage* their faith and pati
ence. It is true, the more general and common way
whereby God prepares his people for heaven,, is by
leading them through feveral fteps of advancing holi
nefs, fincere repentance, mortification of fin, Weaned-
nefs from the world,- likenefs to God, heavenly mind-
edriefs, &c. Thefe are indeed the ufual preparatives
for glory, and the fureft evidences of a ftate of grace.
Therefore let not any perfon imagine he is, not a true
Chriftian, becaufe he hath not enjoyed thefe fpecial fa'-
Vours and figrtal manifeftations.
Caution 2. If there be any who have been favoured
with thefe peculiar bleffings, they muft not expeft them to
be conftant and perpetual,- nor always to be given in the
fame manner or fame meafure ; they are rare bleffings1
and fpecial reviving cordials ; they are not the com
mon food of Chriftians, nor the daily nourifhment of?
the faints. The word of God, and the grace of Chrift
in the promifes is our daily foppOrt, and the conftant
nourifhment of our fouls-. Cordials are not given for
our daily nourifhment in the life of grace.
Caution 3. However great and rapturous thefe fore
taftes may be,- let us noffo depend on them as to negletl
the more fubftantial and folid evidences for heaven, and
thofe fteps of preparation whichT have elfewhere men
tioned.

Difc* X. t>r the foretafte of Heaven. ^6$
tioned* Let not thofe who have enjoyed them give %
loofe to their fouls, and let go their watchfulnefs, or
negfea their daily mortification and diligence in every
duty. Some of thefe divine raptures have fometimes
been fo nearly counterfeited by raptures of fancy, by
warm felf-love, or perhaps by the deceit of evil angels,
that thfey are not fo fafe a foundation for our dependence
and affined hope, as the foul's experience" of a sincere
repentanee, and general turn of heart to God, and
mortification of fin, and delight in every praaice of
holinefs. The devil fometimes has transformed himfelf
into an angel of light, 2 Cor. xi. 14. And there have
been fome who at firft hearing of the gofpel have had '
wondrous raptures. Heb. vi. 4. it is faid, they have
tafted of the powers of the world to come, &c — who have
yet fallen away again, and having loft all their fenfe and
favour of divine things, have become vile apoftates.
Caution 4. If you feem to enjoy any of thefe qffetl'w-
nate and rapturous foretaftes of heaven, be jealous of the
truth of them, if they havejnoi a propdrtiohabk fanclify
ing influence upon your fouls and your aclions.
If you find they incline you to negligence in duty,
to coldnefs in the common praaices of religion and
godlinefs, if they make you fancy that common ordi
nances are a low and needlefs difpenfation, if they
feem to excufe you from diligence in the common du
ties of life towards man, or religion towards God,
there is great reafon then tp fufpea them : There is
danger left they fhould be mere fuggeftions and de
ceitful workings either of your own natural paffions,
or the crafty fhares pf the artful and bufy adverfary
of fouls, on purpofe to make you negfea folid religion,
and make you part with what is fubftantial for a bright
and flafliy glimpfe of heavenly things.
But, on the other hand, if you find that thefe fpe
cial favours and enjoyments raife your hearts to a
greater nearnefs to God, and more conftant converfe
with him ; if they keep you deep in humility, and in
everlafting dependence on the grace of Chrift in the
gofpel,

3 04 The Firft Fruits of the Spirit, Difc* X*
gofpel, and warm and zealous attendance ori the ordU
nances of worfhip ; if they teach and incline yo.u to
fulfil every duty of love to your neighbour, and parti
cularly to your fellow-chriftians, then they appear to
be the fruits of the Spirit ; and as they fit you for eve
ry duty and every providence here upon earth, there
is very good reafon to hope they are rpal vifits from
heaven, and are fent from the God of all grace to
make you more meet for the heavenly glory*
SECT. II.
Thefe are the ioxviScautions* I proceed how to de-
fcribe fome of thefe foretaftes of the heavenly bleffednefs*
and fhew how nearly they refemble the bleffednefs and
enjoyments of the_ heavenly world**
Firft, In heaven there is a near view of God in his
glories, with fuch a fixed contemplation of his feveral per-
feclions, as draws out the heart into all correfpondent ex
ercifes, in an uncommon*, tranfoendent, and fupreme degree*
It is defcribed as One of the felicities of heaven, that
we Jhall fee God. Matth. v. 8. that we fhall behold him
face to face, and not in fhadows and glaffes, i Cor. xiii*
12. Let us exhibit fome particulars of this kind, and
dwell a little upon them in. the moft eafy and natural
method. i. In heaven the bleffed inhabitants behold the ma
jefty and greatnefs of God in fuch a light as fixes their
thoughts in glorious wonder and the humbleft adora
tion, and exalts them to the higheft pleafure and praife.
Have you never fallen into fuch a devout and fixed
contemplation of the majefty of God, as to be even
aftonifhed at his glory and greatnefs, and to have your
fouls fo swallowed up in this- fight, that all the forrows
and the joys of this life, all the bufineffes and necef-
fities of it hath been forgotten for a feafon, all things
below and beneath God have feemed as nothing in
your eyes ? All the grandeurs and splendors of morta
lity have been buried in darknefs and oblivion, and
"creatures

Difc. X. or the Foretafte of Heaven. 305
creatures have, as it were, vanifhed from the thoughts
and been loft, as the ftars die and vanifh at the rising
fun and are no more feen ? Have you never feen the
face of God in his fublime grandeur, excellence and
majefty, fo as to flirink into the duft before him, and
lie low at his foot with humbleft adoration ? And. you
have been tranfported into a feeling acknowledgement
of your own nothingnefs in the prefence of God.
Such a fight the prophet Ifaiah feems to have enjoyed,
Iflai. Ix. 12, 15, 17. Behold the nations before him are
as the drop of the bucket, and as the fmall duft of the ba
lance, he taketh up the iftes as a very little thing. All
nations before him are as nothing, they are counted to him
lefs than nothing and vanity.
When the lips are not only direaed to fpeak this
fublime language, but the foul, as it were, beholds
God in thefe heights of tranfeendent majefty, it is
overwhelmed with bleffed wonder and furprizing de
light, even while it adores in moft profound lowlinefs
and felf-abafement. This is the emblem of the wor
fhip of the heavenly world, fee Rev. iv. 10. where the
elders, faints arid prophets, martyrs, angels, and do
minions, and principalities of the higheft degree cqft
down their crowns at the foot of him that made them,
and exalt God in his fupremacy over all.
2. In heaven there are fuch bleffed and extenfive
surveys of the infinite knowledge of God, and his amaz
ing wifdom difcovered in his works, as makes even all
their own heavenly improvements in knowledge and
underflanding to appear as mere ignorance, darknefs,
and follv before him. In fuch an hour as this is, the
J ...
holy angels may charge themfelves with follf'va. his fight,
as he beholds them in the imperfeaion of their un
derflanding. Now have you never been carried away
in your meditations of the all-comprehenfive know
ledge of God to fuch a degree, as to lofe and aban
don all your former pride and appearances of know
ledge and wifdom in all the native and acquired riches
of it, and count them all as nothing in his fight? Have
Q^q you

306 The Firft Fruits of the Spirit, Difc. X.
you never looked upward to the midnight fkies, and
with amazement fent your thoughts upward to him
who calls all the ftars by their names, and brings them
forth in all their fparkling glories, who marfhals them
in their nightly ranks and orders, and then flood over
whelmed With facred' aftonifhment at the wifdom
which made and ranged them all in their proper fitu-
ations, and there appointed them to fulfil ten thoufand
ufeful purpofes, and that not only towards this little
ball of Earth, but to a multitude of upper planetary
worlds ? Have you never enquired into the wonders
of his wifdom in framing the bodies, the limbs, and
the fenfes of millions of animals, birds, and beafts,
fifhes, and infeas, as well asrmen all around this globe,
and who hath framed all their organs and powers of
nature with exquifite fkill, to fee and hear, to run and
fly, and fwim, to produce their young in all their pro
per forms and fizes, furniflied with their various powers,
and to feed and nourifh them in their innumerable
fhapes and colours, admirable for ftrength and beauty?
And have you not felt your fouls filled with devout
adoration at the unfpeakable and infinite contrivances
of a God.
And not only his works of creation, but of his pro
vidence too, have afforded fome pious fouls fuch devout
amazement. What aftonifhing wifdom muft that be
which has created mankind on earth near fix thoufand
years ago, and by his divine word in every age conti
nues to create them or give them being, with all the
fame natural powers and parts, beauties and excellen
cies ! That he hath wifely governed fo many millions
of animals with living fouls or fpirits in them, fo ma
ny millions of intelligent creatures, endued with a free
will of their own to chufe or refufe what they will or
will not do, and hath managed this innumerable com
pany of beings in all ages, notwithstanding all their
different and clafhing opinions and customs, their crof-
fing humours, wills and paffions in endlefs variety, and
yet hath made them all fubfervient to his own compre- henfive

Difc. X. dr the Foretafte of Heaven, ^bf
henfive defigris and purpofes through all ages of the
world and all nations on earth ! What unconceivable
wifdom is that which hath effeaually appointed them
all to Center in the accomplifhment of his own eternal
counfels ! And with what overwhelming amazement
Will this fcene appear, when he fhall fliut up the theatre
of this earth, and fold Up thefe heavens as a curtain,
and this vifible ftruaure of things fhall be laid in
afhes ? What an aftonifhing view muft this be of the
all-furVeying knowledge, all-comprehending wifdom of
a God, and with what holy and humble pleafure muft
the pious foul be filled who takes in and 'enjoys this
fcene of infinite varieties and wPnders ? How near
doth fuch an hour approach to the blifs of heaven and
the raptures of contemplation, which belong to the
bleffed inhabitants of it ?
3. I might add fomething of the Almighty power of
God in his creation and government of the world, in
his kingdoms of nature and providence. Did not the
angels rejoice at the birth-day of this univerfe, and
thofe morning ftars jhout for joy at the firft appearance
of this - creation ? And what the inhabitants of heaven
make their fong, may not a holy foul be entertained
with it, even to extacy and rapture ? 1 behold, fays he,
in divine meditation, I behold this huge ftruaure of
the univerfe rifing out of nothing at the voice of his
command ; I behold the feveral planets in their vari
ous orders fet a moving -by the fame word of power.
With what delightful furprize do I hear him pronoun
cing the words, let there be light, and, lo the light ap
pears ? Let there be earth and feas ; let there be
clouds and heavens ; let there be fun, moon and ftars,
and lo the heavens, and the dry land, and the waters
appear, the clouds and the ftars in their various order
and fituation, and all the parts of the creation arife,
all replenifhed with proper ornaments and animals ac
cording to his word. At his command nature exifts
iri all its regions with all its furniture ; the beads, and
birds, and fifties in all their forms arife, and at once they

308 The Firft Fruits of the Spirit, Difc X.
thej obey the feveral Almighty orders he gave, and
by the unknown and unconceivable force of fuch a
word they leap out into exiftence in ten thoufand forms.
Again, what divine pleafure is it to hear a God be
ginning the work of his providence, and speaking
thofe wondrous words of power to every plant and
animal, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenifh the earth,
and lo, in a long fucceffion of near fix thoufand years
the earth has been covered all over with herbs and
plants, with fhrubs and tall trees, in all their beauty
and dimenfions. The air hath been filled with birds
and infeas, the feas and rivers with fifh, and the dry
land with beafts and men even to this prefent day.
When all this philofophy is changed into devotion, it
muft alfo be transformed into divine and unutterable
Nor are thefe things too low and mean for the con
templation of heavenly beings : For God is feen in all
of them : There is not a fpire of grafs but the power
and wifdom of a God are vifible therein- And it is
certain the heavenly beings muft be fometimes. em
ployed in the contemplation of many of thefe lower
wonders. The plants and beafts in defolate regions
Where no man inhabits, and in diftant and foreign
oceans and rivers, where the fifhy fhoals in all their va
riety and numbers, in all their fucceffions and gene
rations for near fix thoufand years were never feen nor
known by any of the fons of men ; thefe feem to have
been created in vain, if no heavenly beings are ac
quainted with them, nor raife a revenue of glory to
him that made them.
This Almighty power therefore which made this huge
univerfe, which fuftains the frame of it every moment,
and fecures it from diffolving ; this power which brings
forth the ftars in their order, and worms and creeping
things in their innumerable millions, and governs all
the motions of them to the purpofes of divine glory,
muft needs affea a contemplative foul with raptures of
pleafing meditation j arid in thefe fublime meditations, by

Difc. X. or the Foretafte of Heaven. 309
by the aids of the divine Spirit, a foul on earth may
get near to heaven. And with what religious and un
known pleafure at fuch a feafon doth it fhrink its own
being as it were into an atom, and lie in the duft and
adore !
4. The allfufficiency of the great God to form and to
fupply every creature with all that it can want or defire,
is another perfeaion of the divine nature, which is
better known in heaven than it ever was here on earth,
and affords another fcene of aftonifhment and facred
delight : And there may be fome advances towards
this pleafure found among faints below, fome firft
fruits of this heavenly felicity and joy in the all-fuffici-
ency of God.
My whole felf, body and mind, is from God and
from him alone. All my limbs and powers of flefh
and fpirit were derived from him, and borrowed their
firft exiftence from their original pattern in his fruitful
mind. All that I have of life or comfort, of breath or
being, with all my bleffings round about me, is owing
to his boundlefs and eternal fulnefs ; and all my long
reaching hopes and endlefs expeaations that ftretch
far into futurity, and an eternal world, are growing
out of this fame all-fufficient fulnefs.
But what do I think or fpeak of fo little a trifle as I
am? Stretch thy thoughts, 0 my foul, through the
lengths, and breadths, and depths of his creation, O
what an unconceivable fulnefs of being, glory, and
excellency is found in God the univerfal parent and
fpring of all ! What an inexhauftible ocean of being
and life, of perfeaion and bleffednefs muft our God
be, who fupplies all the infinite armies of his creatures
in all his known and unknown dominions with life
and motion, with breath and aaivity, with food and
fupport, with fatisfaaion and delight ! Who maintains
the vital powers and faculties of all the fpirits which he
hath made in all the vifible and invifible worlds, in all
his territories of light, and peace, and joy, and in all
the regions of darknefs, punifhment and mifery ! In
him

3»6 The Firft Fruits of the Spirit, Difc. X.
him all things live, and move, and have their beings,
Aas xvii. 28. Pfal* civ. 29. He withdraws his breath
and they die. He hath writ down all their names in
his own mind, he gives thefti all their . natures, and
without him there is nothing, there can be nothing ;
all nature without him would have been a perpetual
blank, an univerfal emptinefs, an everlafting void, arid
with one turn of his will he could fink and diffolVe all
nature into its original nothing.
Confefs, O my foul, thy owri nothingnefs in his'
prefence, and with aftonifhing pleafure and worfhip
adore his fulnefs : He is thy everlafting all. Be thy
dependance ever fixed upon him ; thou canft not, thou
fhalt not live a moment without him, without this ha
bitual dependance, and a frequent delightful acknow
ledgment of it. Such a devout frame as this, is hea
ven, and fuch fcenes now and then paffing through
the foul, are glimpfes of the heavenly bleffednefs.
SECT. III.
Though the eternity and immenfity of God might
perhaps, in their own nature, and in the reafori of
things, be firft mentioned, yet his majefty, his power,
and his wifdom in their fovereign excellency ftrike the*
fouls of creatures more immediately, therefore I have
put thefe firft. However, let us now confider the eternity
of the great God and his omniprefonce , and think how
the fpirits in heaven are affeaed therewith, and what
kindred meditations may be derived from thefe per-
feaions by the faints here on earth. I proceed there
fore, 5. To the eternity of God : Which, though the
moft exalted fpirit in heaven cannot comprehend, yet
it is probable they have fome nearer and clearer difco-
very of it than we can have here in this mortal ftate,
while we dwell in flefh and blood. We have nothing
in this vifible world that gives us fo much as an ex
ample or fimilitude of it. The great God who is, who
was, and who is to come through all ages, he is, and
was,

Difc. X. or the Foretafte of Heaven. 311
was, and for ever will be the fame. Let us go back
as many thoufand ages as we can in our thoughts, and
ftill an eternal God was before them ; a Being that
had no beginning of his exiftence, nor will have any
end of his life or duration. And as he fays to Mofes, my
name is I am that 1 am, fo as there is nothing which
had any hand in his being, but all the reafons of it
are derived from his own felf-fulnefs, therefore we
may fay of him that he is becaufe he is, and becaufe he
will be: He had no fpring of his firft beginning, nor
any caufe of his continued exiftence, but what is with
in himfelf. We can never fet ourfelves in too mean a
light when an eternal God is near us ; and every thing
befides God can be but little in our eyes.
And, O my thinking powers, are ye not fweetlyloft
in this holy rapture, and overpowered with divine
pleafure, O my foul in fuch meditation as this? Art
thou not delightfully furprized with the thoughts of
fuch felf-fufficience and fuch an unconceivable perfec
tion ? Thy being confidered as here in this life, is not
fo much in the fight of God as an atom in comparifon
of the whole earth ; and even the fuppofed future ages
pf thy exiftence in the eternal ftate are unconceivably
fhort, when compared with the glory of that Being
that never began his life or his duration.
Many things here on earth concur towards my fa
tisfaaion and peace, but if I have God my friend, I
have all in him that I can poffibly want or defire. Let
me then live no longer upon creatures when God is all.
Let fun, moon and ftars vanifh, and all this vifible
creation difappear and be for ever annihilated if God
pleafe, he himfelf Ms ftill my eternal hope and never-
failing fpring of all my bleffednefs : My expeaation s
are continually fafe in his hands, and fhall never fail
while I am fo near to him. This is joy unfpeakable and
a-kin to glory,
6. Let us meditate alfo on the immenjity of God,
which I think.is much better expreffed by his omnipre-
fonce, God is wherefoever any creature is or can be ;
knowing

312 The Firft Fruits of the Spirit, Difc. X.
knowing immediately by his own prefence all that be
longs to them, all that they are or can be, all that they
do or can do, all that concerns them, whether their
fins or their virtues, their pains or their pleafures, their
hopes or their fears. It implies alfo that he doth by
his immediate power and influence fupport and govern
all the creatures. In fhort, this immenfity is nothing
elfe but the infinite extent of his knowledge and his
power, and it reaches to and beyond all places, as eter
nity reaches to and beyond all time. This the bleffed
above know and rejoice in, and take infinite fatisfac-
tion therein : Having God, as it were, furrounding
them on all fides, fo that they cannot be where he is
not, he is ever prefent with his all-fufficiency ready to
bellow on them all they wifh or defire while he con
tinues their God, /. e. for ever and ever. They are
under the bleffing of his eye, and the care of his
hand, to guard them from every evil, and to fecure
their peace.
Let thy flefh or fpirit be fiirrounded with ever fo
many thoufand dangers or enemies, they cannot do
thee the leaft damage without his leave by force or
by furprize while fuch an Almighty Being is all around
thee : Nor haft, thou reafon to indulge any fear while
the fpring and ocean of all life, aaivity, and bleffed
nefs thus fecures thee on every fide. If thou haft the
evidences of his children on thee, thou poffeffeft an
eternal fecurity of thy peace.
7. The fovereignty and dominion of the bleffed God
i& a further meditation and pleafure which becomes
and adorns the inhabitants of the heavenly world.
There he reigns upon the throne of his glory, and the
greater part of the territories which are fubject to him
are lefs in their view than our fcanty powers of na
ture or perception can now apprehend, and a propor
tionable degree of pleafure is found with the faints
above in thefe contemplations.
But in our prefent ftate of mortality Our fouls can
only look through thefe lattices of flefh and blood, and

Difc. X. or the Foretafte of Hedven* 313
and make a few feanty and imperfea inferences from
what they always fee, and hear, and feel : And yet
the glorious fovereignty and dominion of the bleffed
God may fo penetrate the foul with a divine fenfe of
it here on earth, as to raife up a heaven of wonder and
joy within.
Adore him, O my foul, who "surveys and rules all
things which he has made with an abfolute authority,
and is for ever uncontroulable. How righteous a
thing is it that he fhould give laws to all the beings
which his hand hath formed, which his breath hath
fpoken into life, and efpecially that rank which his fa
vour hath furnifhed with immortality ? How juft that
he fhould be obeyed by every creature without the
leaft reluaance or referve, without a moment's delay,
and that to all the length of their exiftence ?
Submit to his government with pleafure, O my
nature, and be all ye my powers of > foul and
body in everlafting readinefs to do whatfoever he
requires, artd to be whatfoever he appoints* Wilt
thou have me, O Lord, lie under ficknefs or pain,
wilt thou have me languifh under weaknefs and con
finement ? I am at thy foot, I am for ever at thy dif
pofai. Wilt thou have me aaive and vigorous in thy
fervice ? Lord, I am ready with utmoft ehearfulnefs.
Wilt thou confine me to painful idlenefs and long pa
tience ? Lord here I am, do with me what feemeth
good unto thee, I am ready to ferve thy purpofes here,
or thy orders in the unknown world of Spirits, when
thou fhalt diffolve this mortal frame : I lay down thefe
limbs in the duft of death at thy command : I venture
"into the regions of angels and unbodied minds at thy
fummons. I will be what thou wilt, I will go when
thou wilt, I will dwell where thou wilt, for thou art
always with me, and I am entirely thine. I both re
joice and tremble at thy fovereignty and dominion
over all. God cannot do injury to a creature who. is
fo entirely his own property ; God will not deal un
kindly With a creature who is fo fenfible of his juft
R r dominion

314 The Firft Fruits of the Spirit, , Difc. X.
dominion and supremacy, and which bows at the foot
of his fovereignty with fo much relifh of fatisfaaion.
8. Let us next take notice of the perfecl purity of the
nature of God, his univerfal holinefs, the retlitude of
the divine nature manifested in all his thoughts, his
works, and his words, all perfeaiy agreeable to the
eternal rules of truth and righteoufnefs, and at the
furtheft diftance from every thing that is falfe and
faulty, every thing that is or can be difhonoUrable to
fo glorious a Being. Have we never feen God in this
light, in the glory of his holinefs, his univerfal reai-
tude, and the everlafting harmony of all his perfec
tions in exaa correfpondence with all the notions we
can have of truth and reafon ? And has not God ap
peared then as a glorious and lovely Being ? And have
we not at the fame time beheld ourfelves as unclean*
and( unholy creatures, in one part or other of our na
tures, ever ready to jar or fall out with fome of the
moft pure and perfea rules of holinefs, juftice or
truth ? Have we not feen all our fins and iniquities in
this light, with utmoft abhorrence and highest hatred
of them, and looked down upon ourfelves with a deep
and overwhelming fenfe of fhame and difplicence
againft our depraved and corrupted natures, and aba-
fed ourfelves as Job does, in duft and afhes, and not
daring to open our mouths before him ? Job xiii. 6.
I Ikive heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now
mine eye feeth thee, and I abhor myfelf in duft and ajhes.
The leaft fpot or blemifh of fin grows highly offenfive
and painful to the eyes of a Saint in this situation.
Every little warping from: truth in our conversation,
every degree of insincerity or fraud becomes a fmart
ing uneafinefs to the mind in the remembrance of our
paft follies in the prefent ftate. There is the higheft
abhorrence of fin among all the heavenly inhabitants,
and this fight of God in the beauties of his holinefs,
and his perfea retlitude, is an everlafting prefervative
to holy fouls againft the admiffion of an impure or un
holy thought : And therefore fome divines have fup
pofed,

Difc. X. • or the Fcretafte" of Heavem 315
pofed, that the angels at their firft creation were put
into a ftate of trial before they were admitted to this
full fight of the beauty of God in his holinefs, which
would have fecured them from the leaft thought or
ftep towards apoftacy.
O my foul, of what happy importance it is to thee
to maintain, as long as poffible, this fenfe of the purity,
retlitude and perfetlion of the nature of the bkfl'ed God,
who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, with the
leaft regard of approbation or allowance ? And what
infinite condefcenfion is it in fuch a God to find out
and appoint a way of grace, whereby fuch fhameful
polluted creatures as we are fliould ever be admitted,
into his prefence to make the leaft addrefs to his ma
jefty, or to hope for his favour ?
Befides, in this fublime view of the holinefs of God*
we fhall not only love God better than ever, as we fee
him more amiable under this view of his glorious at
tributes, but we fhall grow more fincere and fervent
in our love to all that is holy, to every fellow-chriftian,
to every faint in heaven and on earth : We fliall not
bear any eflrangednefs or alienation from thofe who
have fo much of the likenefs of God in them. They
will ever appear to be the excellent of the earth, in whom
is all our 'delight : Their fuppofed blemishes will vaniffi
at the thought of their likenefs to God in holinefs :
And efpecially our bleffed Lord jefus, the Son of
God, will be moft precious and all-glorious in our
eyes as he is the moil perfea image of his Father's
hqlinefs. There is nothing in the bleffed God, but
the man Chrift Jefus bears a proportionable- refem-
blance to it, as far as a creature can refemble God,
and he will. eonfequently be higheft in our efteem un
der God the Lord and Father 'of all.
9. The ever -plea fing attribute of divine goodnefs and
love is another endlefs and joyful theme or objea of
the contemplation of the heavenly world. There this
perfeaion fhines in its brighteit rays, there it difplays , its

316 The Firft Fruits of the Spirit, Difc. X.
its moft triumphant glories, and kindles a flame of ever.
lafting joy in all the fons of bleffednefs.
But we in this world may have fuch glimpfes of this
goodnefs and love as may fill the foul with unfpeakable
pleafure, and begin in it the firft fruits and earneft of
neaven. When we furvey the inexhaustible ocean of
goodnefs which is in God, which fills and fupplies all
the creatures with every thing they ftand in need of ;
when we behold all the tribes of the fons of men fup-
ported by his boundlefs sufficiency, his bounty and
kind providence, and refrefhed with a thoufand com.
forts beyond what the mere neceffities of nature re
quire. In fuch an hour if we feel the leaft flowings
of goodnefs in ourfelves towards others, we fhall
Jiumble ourfelves to the duft, and cry out in holy
amazement, Lord, what is an atom to a mountain ?
What is a drop to a river, a fea of beneficence ? What
is a fhadow to the eternal fubftance ? What good thing
is there in time or in eternity, which I can poffibly want
which is not abundantly fupplied out of thine overflow
ing fulnefs ? Hence arifes the eternal fatisfaaion of all
the holy and happy creation in being fo near to thee,
and under the everlafting assurances of thy love. I
can do nothing but fall down before thee in deepeft
humility, and admire, adore, and everlaftingly love'
thee, who haft affumed to thyfelf the name of love,
I John iv, 8. God is love.
SECT. IV.
Thus far our joys may rife into an imitation of fhq -
joys above in the devout contemplation of divine perfec
tions. And not only the perfeclions of God confidered and
furveyed fingle in themfelves, but the union and blef
fed harmony of many of them in the divine works and
tranfaaions of providence and of grace, efpecially in
the gofpel of Chrift, adminifter further matter for con
templation and pleafure among the happy fpirits in
heaven ;

Difc. X. or the Foretafte of Heaven. 317
heaven : And fo far as this enjoyment may be com
municated to the faints here on earth, they may be al
fo faid to have a foretafte of the bufinefs and pleafure
of heaven. Let us take notice of this harmony in
feveral inftances.
1. In the facred conftitution of the perfon of our
Lord Jefus Chrift as God and man united in one per
fonal agent : Here majefty and mercy give a glorious in
ftance of their union, here all the grandeur and dig
nity of Godhead condefcends to join itfelf in union with
a creature, fuch as man is, a fpirit dwelling in flefh
and blood. 1 Tim. ii. 5. There is one God, and one
Mediator between God and man, • even the man Chrift
Jefus .- But this man is perfonally united to the blef
fed God, he is God manififted in the ftejh : He is a
man in whom dwells all the fulnefs of the Godhead
bodily, to conftitute one all-fufficient Saviour of tni-.
ferable and fallen mankind : What an amazing ftoop
or condefcenfion is this for the eternal Godhead
thus to join itfelf to a creature, and what a fur
prifing exaltation is this of the creature for the man,
Chrift Jefus thus to be affumed into fo near a relation
to the bleffed God ? All the glories that result from,
this divine contrivance and tranfaaion are not to be
enumerated in paper, nor by the beft capacity of writ
ers here on earth : The heavenly inhabitants are much
better acquainted with them.
Again, here is an example of the harmony and co
operation of unfearchable wifdom and all-commanding
power in the perfon of the bleffed Jefus ; and what a
happy defign is hereby executed, namely, the recon
ciliation of finful man and the holy and glorious God :
and who could do this but one who was poffeffed of
fuch wifdom and fuch power? When there was no
creature in heaven or earth fufficient for this work,
God was pleafed to appoint fuch an union between a
creature and Creator, between God and man, as might
anfwer all the inconceivable purpofes concealed in his
thought. If there be wanting a perfon fit to execute any

1 8 The Firft Fruits of the Spirit, Difc, X,
any of his infinite defigns, he will not oe fruftrated
for want of an agent, he will appoint .God and man
to be' fo nearly united as to become one agent to exe
cute this defign.
2. In the manherof our falvation, (viz.) by an atonek
ment for fin. ; The great God did not think it proper,
nor agreeable to his fublime holinefs, to receive finful
man into his. favour without an atonement for fin, and
a fatisfaaion made to the Governor of the world for
the abufe and violation of his holy law here on earth;
and therefore he appointed fuch a facrifice of atone
ment as might be fufficient to do complete honour to
the law-giver, as well as to fave and deiiver the often*
der from death : Therefore Jefus was made a man
capable of fuffering and dying, that he might honour
the majefty and the juftice of the broken law of God*
. and that . he might do it completely by the union of
Godhead to this man and Mediator ; the dignity of
whofe divinity diffufes itfelf over all that he did and
all that he fuffered, fo as to make his obedience com
pletely acceptable to God inftead of thoufands of crea.
tures, <and fully fatisfaaory for the offence that was
given him by them; here is a facrifice .provided equal
to the guilt of fin, and therefore fufficient to take it
away. . You fee here what a bleffed harmony there is between
the juftice of God doing honour to his own law, and
his compaffion refolved tofave a ruined creature : Here
is no blemifh caft upon the ftria juftice and righteouf
nefs of God, when the offender is forgiven in fuch a
method as may do. honour to juftice and, mercy at
once. Rom. iii. 24, 25. We are juftified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Jefus Chrift ;
whom God hath fot forth to be a propitiation through faith
in his blood, to declare his righteoufnefs, even his perfea
governing juftice, though, he panes by and pardons
the fins of a thoufand criminal creatures : To declare,
I fay, at this time his righteoufnefs, that he might appear
to be juft to his own authority and law,, while he justi fies

Difc X. or the Foretafte of Heaven. 319
fifes the finful man who believeth or trufteth in Jefus
the Mediator as becoming a proper facrifice and pro
pitiation for fin.
3. By the fanclification of our nature. There is alfo
another remarkable harmony between the holinefs of
God and his mercy in this work of the falvation of
finful man. The guilt of fin is not only to be for
given and taken away by a complete atonement and
facrifice, but the finful nature of this ruined creature
is to be changed into holinefs, is to be renewed and
fanaified by the bleffed Spirit, and reformed into the
image of God his maker . He muft not only be re-
leafed from punifliment by forgivenefs, but he muft
be reftored to the image of God by fanaifying grace;
that fo he may be fit company for the reft of the fa
vourites of God in the upper world ; that he may be
qualified to be admitted into this fociety, where perfea
purity and holinefs are neceffary for all the inhabitants
of this upper world, and for fuch near attendants on
the bleffed God : In that happy ftate nothing fhall en
ter there that defileth, Rev. xxi. 27. and therefore
concerning the criminals amongft the Corinthians, as,
vile and as offenfive to the pure and holy God as they
are reprefented, 1 Cor. vi. 9,-^11. viz. Fornicators, ido*
laters, adulterers, drunkards, &c. but, it is faid, they are
wajhed, but they are fantlified, but they are juftified in,
the name of the Lord Jefus, and by the Spirit of our
God. Now when the fouls of the faints here on earth are
raifed to fuch divine contemplations, what tranfporting
fatisfaaion and delight muft arife from the furprizing,
union ^and harmony of the attributes of the bleffed God
in thefe his tranfaai'ons ? And efpecially when the foul
in the lively exercife of grace and view of its own
pardon, juftification, and reftored holinefs, looks upon
itfelf as one of thefe happy favourites of the majefty
of heaven : It cries out as it were in holy amazement,
What a divme profufion is here of wifdom and power,
glory and grace, to fave a wretched worm from ever
lafting

3fto The Firft Fruits of 'the Spirit, Difc X.
lafting burnings, and- to advance a worthlefs rebel fo
fuch undeferved and exalted glories !
SECT. V.
The wonders of divine perfetlions united in the fuecefi
of the gofpel, give an ecftafy of joy fometimes to holy
fouls. Not only do thefe views of the united perfecJ
tions of God, as they are concerned in the contriV"
ance of the gofpel, entertain the faints above with new
and pleafurable contemplations, but the wonders of
divine wiJdom,power and grace, united and harmonizing
in the propagation and fuccefs of this gofpel, become a
matter of delightful attention and survey to the faints
on high.
This is imitated alfo in a meafure by the children of
God here on earth. Have you never felt fuch a fur-
prizing pleafure in the view of the attributes of God,
his grace, wifdom, and power in making thefe divine
defigns fo happily efficacious for the good of thou
fands of fouls ? If there be joy in heaven aftiong the angels
of God at the converfion of a finner, what perpetual
meffages of unknown fatisfaaion and delight did the
daily and conftant labours of the bleffed Apoftle Paul
fertd to the upper World ? What perpetual tidings were'
carried to the worlds on high of fuch .-and fuch fouls*
converted unto God from grofs idolatry, from the wor
fhip of dumb idols, from the vain superstition of their
heroes and mediator-gods, and from the impure and
bloody facrifices of their own countrymen, whereby
they intended to fatisfy their gods for their own ini
quities, and to reconcile themfelves to thefe invented
gods, thefe daemons or devils which were deified by
the folly and madnefs of finful men ? What new hal
lelujahs muft it put into the mouths of the faints and
angels on high, to fee the true and living God wor-
fhipped by thoufands that had never before known
him, and to fee Jefus the Mediator in all the glories
of his divine offices admired and adored by thofe who
lately

Difc. X; or the Foretafte of Heaiiem $it
lately had either known nothing of him, or been
fhameful revifers and blafphemers of his majefty.
And what an unknown delight is diffufed through
many of the faints of God now here oh earth upon
fuch tidings* not only from the foreign and heathen
countries, but even fome that have profe'ffed Chriftia
nity, but under grofs riiiftakes and miferable fogs o£
darknefs and fuperftition ? What an unconceivable
and overwhelming pleafure has furprized a Chriftian
fometimes in the midft of his zealous worfhip of God
and his Saviour *; to hear of fuch tidings of new fob-
jeas in multitudes fubmitting themfelves to their di
vine dominion ?
And even in our day, wherifoever we hear of the
Work of grace begun by the mini dry of the word
awakening a drowzy and lethargic foul from its dan
gerous fleep on the brink of hell, rouzing a negligent
and flothful Creature from his indolence and careleff-
nefs about the things of eternity ; or again, iri mak
ing a heart foft and impreffive to the powers Of divine
grace* which was before hard as the nether milftone ;
and efpecially when multitudes of thefe tidings come
together from diftant places, as of late we have
heard from New England, and feveral of thofe planta- -
tions, from Scotland and feveral of her affemblies, What
additional fcenes of heavenly joy and pleafure have
been raifed amongft the pious fouls., both thofe who
relate and thofe who hear them.
S E C T. VI.
Foretaftes of heaven are fometimes derived from
the overflowing fenfe of the love of God let in upon the
foul. The fpirits abpve who are surrounded with this blef
fednefs and this love, and rejoice in the everlafting af
furance of it, cannot but be filled with intenfe joy*
What can be a greater foundation of complete blef
fednefs and delight than the immediate fenfation qnd
affurance of being beloved by the glorious, and fupreme,
S f and

322 The Firfl Fruits of the Spirit, Difc X.
and the all-fufficient Being, who will never fuffer his ^fa
vourites to want any thing he can bellow upon them,
to make them happy in perfeaion,. and for ever ? All
creatures are under his prefent view arid immediate
command ; there is not the feaft of them can give
disturbance to any of the favourites of heaven, who
dwell in the midft of their Creator's love ; nor is
there any creature that can be employed towards the
complete happinefs of the faints on high, but is for
ever under the difpofai of that God who has made all
things, and it fhall be employed upon every juft occa-
fion for the display of his love to his faints.
Some have imagined, that that perfecl fatisfaclion of
foul which arifes from a good confcience, fpeaking peace '
inwardly in the furvey of its fincere defire to pleafe God
in all things, and having with uprightnefs of heart ful
filled its duty, is the fupreme delight of heaven : But
it is my opinion God has never made the felicity of
his creatures to be drawn fo entirely out of themfelves,
or from the fpring of their own bofom, as this notion
feems to imply. God himfelf will be all in all to his
creatures ; and all their original fprings of blefledriefs
as well as being are in him, and muft be derived from
him: It is therefore the overflowing fenfe of being
- beloved by a God almighty and. eternal, that is the
fupreme fountain of joy and bleffednefs to every rea-
fonable nature, and the endlefs fecurity of this happi
nefs is joy everlafting in all. the regions of the bleffed,
above. Now a tafte of this kind is heavenly bleffednefs even
on this earth, where God is pleafed to beftow it on
his creatures ; and the glimpfes of it bring fuch ecfta-
cies into the foul as can hardly be conceived, or re
vealed to others, but it is beft felt by them who enjoy
it.

SECT.

Difc. X. or the Fdretafle of Heaven. 323
\
SECT. VII.
Foretaftes of heaven in the fervent emotions of foul in
love to Jefus Chrift.
What the love and ftrong affeaions of the bleffed
faints above towards Jefus Chrift their Lord and Savi
our may imprefs of joy on their fpirits, is not poffible
for us to learn in the prefent ftate ; but there are fome
who have even here on earth felt fuchtranfcendent affec
tions to Jejus the Son of God, even though they have
never enjoyed the fight of him, yet they love him
with moft intenfe and ardent zeal ; their devotion al
moft fwallows them up and carries them away captive
above all earthly things, and- brings them near to the
heavenly world. There is an unknown joy which
arifes from fuch intenfe love to an objea fo lovely and
fo deferving ; fuch is that which is fpoken concerning
the faints to whom St Peter wrote, 1 Pet. i. 8. Whom
having notfoen, 'ye love, irt whom though now ye foe him
not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy unjpeakable and full
of glory. It is through this divine tafte of love, and
joy, and glory communicated by the bleffed Spirit, re-
'Vealing the things of Chrift to their fouls, that many
'of the confeffors and martyrs in the primitive ages and
in latter times, have not only joyfully parted with all
their poffeflions and their comforts in this life, but
have followed the call of God through prifons and
deaths of a moft dreadful kind ; through racks, and
fires, and many torments for the fake of the love of
Jefus : Arid perhaps there may be fome in oUr clay
who have had fo lively and ftrong a fenfation of the
love of Chrift let in upon their fouls, that they could
not only be content to be abfent from all their carnal
delights for ever, but even from their intelfeaual and
more fpiritual entertainments, if they might be for
ever placed in fuch a fituation to Jefvts Chrift, as to '
feel the everlafting beams of his love let out upon
them, and to- rejoice in him with perpetual delight.
As he is the neareft image of God the Father, they can

324 fhe Firft Fruits of the Spirit, Difc, X*
can love nothing beneath God equal to their love of
him, nor delight in any thing beneath God equal
to their delight in Jefhs Chrift : Indeed their love and
their joy are fo wrapped up in the great and bleffed
God as he appears in Chrift Jefus, that they do not
ufually divide their affeaions in this matter, but love
God fupremely for ever, as revealing himfelf in hk
moft perfea love in Chrift Jefus unto their fouls.
How near this may approach to the glorified love. of
the faints in heaven, or what difference there is be-!
tween the holy ones above and the faints below in
this refpea> pay be hard to fay*
SECT. VIII.
Foretaftes of heaven in the franfoendent love of the
faints to each other. I might here afk fome advanced
Saints, , ,
Have ypu never feen or heard of a fellow-chriftian
growing into fuch a near refemblance tp the , bleffed
jefus, in all the virtues and graces of the Spirit, that
you would willingly part with all the attainments and
honours that you have already arrived at, wbich make
you never fo eminent in the world pr the church, as
to be made fo near a cpnformift to the image of the
bleffed Jefus as this fellow-chriftian has feemed to be?
Have ypu never feen or read pf the glories and
graces of the Son of God exemplified in fome of the
faints in fo high a degree, and at the fame tithe been
fo diverted of felf, and fo mortified tp a narrow felf-
Jove, as to be fatisfied with the loweft and the meaneft
fuppprts of fife, and the meaneft ftation in the church
of Chrift here on earth, if you might but be favoured
to partake of that tranfeendent likenefs to the holy je?
fus, as you would fain imitate and poffefst .
Have you never had a view of all the virtues and
graces of the Saints, derived from orie eternal foun
tain, the bleffed God, and flowing through the media-*
tion of jefus his Son, in fo glorfous a ^ manner, that yoti

Difc. X* or the Foretafte of Heaven. 325
you have longed for the day when you fhall be amongft
them,- and receive your fliare of this bleffednefs ? Have
you never found yourfelf fo united to them in one
heart and one foul, that you have wifhed them all the
fame bleffings that you wifhed to yourfelf, and that
without the leaft fhadow of grudging or envy, if every
one of them were partaker as much as you ? There is
no envy among the heavenly inhabitants ; nor doth St
Paul receive the lefs becaufe Cephas or Apollos has a
large fhare. Every veffel has its capacity enlarged to
a proper extent by the God of nature and grace, and
every veffel is completely filled, and feels itfelf for ever
full and for ever happy : Then there cannot be found
the fhadow of envy amongft them.
Now, to fum up the view of thefe things in fhort ;
who is there that enjoys thefe bleffed evidences of an
intereft in the inheritance on high, who is there that
has any fuch foretaftes of the felicity above, but muft
join with fhe whole creation in groaning for that great
day, when all the children of God fhall appear in the
fplendor of their adoption, and every thing in naturp
and grace among them fhall attain the proper end for
which it was at firft defigned ? And whenfoeyer any
fuch chriftian hears fome of the laft words in the Bible
pronounced by our Lord jefus, Surely I come quickly,
he muft immediately join the univerfal echo of the
Saints with unfpeakable delight, even fo come, 0 Lord
jeM .* ¦

\ DIS-

C 3*« )
DISCOURSE XL
Safety in the Grave, and Joy at the
Refurre&ion.

Jobxiv. 13, 14, 15.
0 that thou wouldft.hide me in the grave, that thou wouldft
keep me in fecret until thy wrath be paft, that thou
, wouldft appoint me a fet time and remember me ! If. a
man die floall he live again ? All the days of my ap
pointed time will I wait till my, change come. Thou
fhalt (all and I will anfwer thee : Thou, wilt have a
defire to the work of thy hands.
BEFORE we attempt to make any improvement
of thefe words of Job for our prefent edification,
it is neceffary that we fearch out fhe.tru? meaning of
them. There are two general fenfes of thefe three
Verfes,"' which are given by fome of the moft confiderable
interpreters of fcripture, and they are exceeding diffe
rent from each other. .
The firft ig this- jSqrne fuppofe job under the ex
tremity of his anguifh to long after death here, as he
does in fome other parts of this book, and to defire
that God would cut him off from the land of the liv
ing, and hide him in the grave, or, at leaft, take him
away from the prefent ftage of aaion, and conceal
him in fome retired and folitary place, dark as the
grave is, till all the days which might be defigned
for his pain and forrow were finifhed : And that God
would appoint him a time for his restoration to health
and happinefs again in this world, and raife him to
the poffeffion of it, by calling him out of that dark
and folitary place of retreat ; and then Job would an
fwer him, and appear with pleafure at fuch a call of
providence. Others

Difc. XI. and Joy at the Refurreclion. pf
Others give this fenfe of the words,f hat though the
preffing and overwhelming forrows of this good man
conftrained him to long for death', and he entreated of
God that he might be fent to the grave as a hiding-
place, and thus be delivered from his prefent calamities,
yet he had fome divine glimpfe of a refurreaion or
living again, and he hopes for the happinefs of a future
ftate when God fhould call him out of the grave. He
knew that the bleffed God would have a defire to re-
ftore the work of his own hands to life again, and Job
would anfwer the call of his God into a refurreaion
with holy pleafure and joy.
Now there are four or five reafons which incline me
to prefer this latter fenfe of the words, and to fhew that
the comforts and hope which Job afpires to in this
place, are only to be derived from a refurreaion to final
happinefs. , i. The exprefs words of the text are, 0 that thou
wouldft hide me in the grave ! Not in a darkfome place
like the grave ; and where the literal fenfe of the
Words is plain and agreeable to the context, there is no
need of making metaphors to explain them. There is
nothing that can encourage us to fuppofe that Job had
any hope of happinefs in this world again, after he
was gone down to the grave, and therefore he would
not make fo unreafonable a petition to the great God.
This feems to be too foolifh and too hopelefs a re-
queft for us to put into the mouth of fo wife and good
a man. 2. He feems to limit the continuance of man in
the ftate of death to the duration of the heavens, ver.
1 2th, man lieth down and rifeth not till the heavens be no
more : Not abfolutely for ever does Job defire to be
hidden in the grave, but till the diffolution of all thefe
vifible things, thefe heavens and this earth, and the
great rifing-day for the fons of men. Thefe words
feem to have a plain afpea towards the refurreaion.
And efpecially when he adds, they Jhall not be waken
ed nor raifed out of their fleep. The brutes when dying- are

328 '- Safety in the Grave, , Difc* Xf;
are never faid to fleep in fcripture, becaufe they fhall
liever rife again ; but this is a frequent word ufed to
fignify the death of man both in the Old Teftament
and in the New, becaufe he only lies down in the grave
for a feafon, as in a bed of fleep, in order to awake
and arife hereafter.
3. In other places of this book, Job gives uS fome
evident hints of his hope of a refurreaion, efpecially
that divine paflage and propheGy, when he fpake as
one furioUnded wifh a vifion of glory, and filled with
thejjgnt and joy of faith. Job xix. 25. I' know that
my 'Redeemer liveth, and that he fhall ftand at the latter
day upon the earth : And though after niyfkin Worms deftroy
this body, yet in my flefh fliall I fee God ; tvhom IJhallJee
JW myfelf '* and mine eyes fhall behold, and not another ^
though my reins be confumed within me. But in many
parts of this book the good man lets us know, that he
had no manner of hope of any reftoration to health
and peace in this life* Job vii. 6, 7, 8. My days are
Jpent without hope i Mine eye fhall no more fee good :
The eye of him that hath feen ' me fhall fee me no more i
Thine eyes are upon me> and I am not. Ver. 21. 'Nov*
fhall I fleep in the duft, thou fhalt feek me in the morning
and I Jhall not be* Job xvii. 15* Where is now my
hope ? As for my hope, who fhall fee it ? He and his
hope feemed to go down to the bars of the pit together 4
and to reft in the duft* And if Job had no hope of a
reftoration in this world* then his hopes muft point ta
ttle refurreaion of the dead. *
4. If we turn thefe verfes here, as well as that noble
paflage in Job xix. to the more evangelical fenfe of a
refurreaion, the truths which are contained in the one
and the other* are all supported by the language of
the New Teftament : And the exprefs words of both
thefe texts are much more naturally and eafily ap
plied to the evangelical fenfe, without ahy strain and
difficulty. The expreffions in the xixth of Job, I know that my
Redeemer liveth, &c have been refcued by many wife
interpreters

Difc XI. and Joy at the Refurreclion. 329
interpreters from that poor and low fenfe which has
been forced upon them, by thofe who will not allow
job to have any profpea beyond this life : And it has
been made to appear to be a bright glimpfe of divine
light and joy, a ray or vifion of the fun of righteouf
nefs breaking in between the dark clouds of his pref-
fing forrow : And that the words of my text demand
the fame fort of interpretation, will appear further by
thefe fhort remarks, and this paraphrafe upon them.
job had been speaking, ver. 7, &c that there is hope
of a tree when it is cut down that it will fpr out again vi
sibly, and bring forth boughs ; but when man gives up
the ghoft he is no more vifible upon earth : Where
is he ? Job does not deny his future exiftence, but
only intimates that he does not appear in the place
where he was ; and in the following verfes he does not
fay, a .dying man fhall never rife, or fhall never be
awakened out of his fteep, but afferts that he rifles not till
the diffolution of thefe heavens and thefe vifible things :
And by calling death a fleep, he fuppofes an awaking
time, though it may be diftant and far off.
Then he proceeds to long for death, 0 that thou
wouldft hide me in the grave ! That thou wouldft keep
me fecret till thy wrath be paft ! Till thefe times and
feafons of forrow be ended, which feems to be the
effea of divine wrath or anger : But then I intreat
thou wouldft appoint me a fet time for my tarrying in the
grave, and remember me in order to raife me again.
Then with a fort of furprife of faith and pleafure he
adds, if a man die fhall he live again? Shall, thefe dry
bones live ? And he answers in the language of hope :
All the days of that appointed time of thine / will wait
till that glorious change Jhall come. Thou Jhalt call from
heaven, and I will anfwer thee from the duff of death.
I will appear at thy call and fay, here am I : Thou wilt
have a defire to the work of thy hands, to raife me again
from the dead, whom thou haft made of clay, and
fafhioned me into life. T t From

3 jo Safety in the Grave, Difc. XI,
From the words thus expounded, we may draw thefe
feveral obfervations, and make a fhort refleclion upon
each of \ them, as we pafs along.
Obfi. I. This world is a place wherein good men are
expofed to great calamities, and they are ready to
think the anger Or wrath of God appears in them.
Obfl. II. The grave is God's known hiding-place for
his people.
Obfl. III. God has appointed a fet time in his own
counfels for all his children to continue in death.
Obf. IV. The lively view of a happy refurreaion,
and a well grounded hope of this bleffed change, is a
folid and divine comfort to the faints of God, under
all trials of every kind both in life and death.
Obf. V. The Saints of God who are refting in their
beds of duft, will arife joyfully at the call of their Hea
venly Father.
Obf, VI. God takes delight in his works of nature,
but much more when they are dignified and adorned
by the operations of divine grace.
Obf. VII. How much are we indebted to God for
the revelation of the New Teftament, which teaches
us to find out the bleffings which are contained in the
Old, and to fetch out the glories and treafures which
are concealed there?
Let us dwell a while upon each of thefe, and endea
vour to improve them by a particular application.
Obf. I. This world is a place wherein good men are ex
pofed to great calamities, and they are ready to think, the
anger or wrath of God appears in them. This mortal
life and this prefent ftate of things, as furrounded with
croffes and difappointments ; the lofs of our deareft
friends, as well as our own pains and fickneffes, have
fo much anguifh and mifery attending them, that they
feem to be the feafons of divine wrath, and they grieve
and pain the fpirit of many a pious man, under a fenfe
of the anger of his God. It muft be confeffed in ge
neral that mifery is the effea of fin, for fin and forrow
came into the world together. It is granted alfo, that
God

Difc. XI. and Joy at the Refurreclion. 331
God fometimes afflicls his people in anger, and corretls
them in his hot difpleafure, when they have finned
againft him in a remarkable manner : But this is not
always the cafe.
The great God was not seally angry with Job when
he fuffered him to fall into fuch complicated diftreffes;
for it is plain, that while he delivered him up into the
hands of Satan to be afniaed, he vindicates and ho
nours him with a divine teftimony concerning his piety.
Job. i. 8. There is none like him in the earth, a perfecl
and an upright man, one that feareth God and avoideth
evil. Nor was he angry with his Son jefus Chrift,
when it pleafed the Father to bruife him and put him to
grief, when he made his foul an offering for fin, and he
was ftricken, fmitten of God and afflitled, Ifai. liii. To
thefe we may add Paul the beft of the apoftles, and
the greateft of chriftians, who was abundant in labours
and fufferings beyond all the reft. See a difmal cata
logue of his calamities, 2 Cor. xi. 23, &c What variety
of wretchednefs, what terrible persecutions from men,
what repeated ftrokes of diftrefs came upon him by
the providence of God, which appeared like the effeas
of divine wrath or anger ? But they were plainly de
figned for more divine and bleffed purpofes, both
with regard to God, with regard to himfelf, and to all
the fucceeding ages of the chriftian church.
God does not always finite his own people to punifh
fin and fhew his anger ; hut thefe fuflerings are often
appointed for the trial of their chriftian virtues and
graces, for the exercife of their humility and their pa
tience, for the proof of their fteadfaftnefs in religion,
for the honour of the grace of God in them, and for
the increafe of their own future weight of glory.
Bleffed is the man that endures temptation, for when he is
tried, he Jhall receive the crown of life which the Lord
hath promifed to them that love him, Jam. i. 12. The
devil Jhall caft fome of you into prifon, that you may be
tried, and ye Jhall have tribulation ten days : Be thou
faithful unto death, and I will give thee a croivn of life,
Rev.

332 Safety in the Grave, Difc. XI.
Rev. ii. 10. Our light ajfiitlions which are but fir a
moment, are working for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory, i Cor. iv. 1 7.
However, upon the whole, this world is a very
troublefome and painful place to the children of God;
They are fubjea here to many weakneffes and fins,
temptations and follies ; they are in danger of new
defilements ; they go through many threatning perils
and many real forrows, which either are the effeas of '
the difpleafure of God, or, at leaft, carry an appear
ance of divine anger in them : But there is a time
when thefe fhall be finifhed, and forrow fliall have its
laft period : There is a time when thefe calamities wilt
be Overpaft, and fhall return no more for ever.
Reftetlion. Why then, O my foul, why fhouldft
thou be fo fond of dwelling in this prefent world ?
Why fhouldft thou be defirous of a long continuance
in it ? Haft thou never found forrows and affliaions
enough among the fcenes of life, to niake thee weary
of them ? And when forrow and fin have joined toge
ther, have they not grievoufly imbittered this life unto
thee ? Wilt thou never be weaned from thefe fenfible
fcenes of flefh and blood ? Haft thou fuch a love to
the darkneffes, the defilements, and the uneafineffes
which are found in fuch a prifon as this is, as to make
tiiee unwilling to depart when God fliall call ? Haft
thou dwelt fo long in this tabernacle of clay, and doeft
thou not groan, being burdened ? Haft thou no defire
to a releafe into that upper and better world, where
forrows, fins and temptations have no place, and where
there fliall never be the leaft appearance or fufpiGion
of the difpleafure of thy God towards thee ?
Obferv. II. The grave is God's known hiding-place
for his people .- It is his appointed fhelter and retreat
for his favourites, when he finds them overpreffed
either with prefent dangers or calamities, or when he
forefees huge calamities and dangers, like ftorms and
billows, ready to overtake them, Ifa. lvii. 1. The righ
teous is taken away from the evil to come. God our '
heavenly

Difc. XI. and' Joy at the Refurreclion. 335
heavenly Father beholds this evil advancing forward
through all the prefent fmiles of nature, and all the
peaceful circumftances that furround us. He hides
his children in the grave from a thoufand fins, and
forrows, and diftreffes of this life, which they forefaw
not : And even when they are aaually befet behind
and before, fo that there feems to be no natural way
for their efcape, God calls them afide into the cham
bers of death, in the fame fort of language as he ufes
in another cafe, Ifa. xxvi. 20. Come my people, enter
thou into thy chambers, andjhut thy doors about thee, hide
thyfelf as it were for a little moment till the indignation
be overpaffid.
And yet perhaps it is poffible, that this very lan
guage of the Lord in Ifaiah may refer to the grave,
as God's hiding-place, for the verfe before promifes a
refurreaion. Thy dead men Jhall live ; together with
my dead body Jhall they arife : Awake and fling ye that
dwell in the duft, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and
the earth jhall caft out the dead. And if we may fup
pofe this laft verfe to have been tranfpofed by any an
cient tranfcribers, fo as to have followed originally
verfe' 20, or 21, it is very natural then to interpret the
whole paragraph concerning death, as God's hiding-
place for his people, and their rifing again through the
virtue of the refurreaion of Chrift as their joyful re
leafe. Many a time God is pleafed to fhorten the labours,
and travels, and fatigues of good men in this wilder
nefs, and he opens a door of reft to them where he
pleafes, and perhaps furprizes them into a ftate of
fafety and peace, where the weary are at reft, and the
wicked ceafe from troubling ; and holy Job feems to de
fire this favour from his Maker here.
Sometimes indeed, in the history of this book, he
feems to break out into thefe defires in too rude and
angry a manner of expreffion ; and in a fit of crimi
nal impatience he murmurs againft God for uphold
ing him in the land of the living : But at other times, as

334 Safety in the Grave, Difc. XI.
as in this text, he reprefents his defires with more de
cency and fubmiffion. Every defire to die is not to
be conftrued finful and criminal. Nature may afk
pf God a relief from, its agonies and a period to its
forrows ; nor does grace utterly forbid it, if there be
alfo an huhible fubmiffion and resignation to the will
of God, fuch as we find exemplified by our bleffed
Saviour, Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pafsfrom
me ; yet not as I will, but as thou wilt.
On this fecond obfervation, 1 defire tp make thefe
three refletlions.
Reflecl. i. Though a good man knows that death-
was originally appointed as a curfe for fin, yet his faith
can truft God to turn that curfe into a hlefling : He
can humbly afk his Maker to releafe him from the
painful bonds of life, to haften the flow approaches of
death, and to hide him in the grave from fome over
whelming forrows. This is the glory of God in his
covenant of grace with the children of men, that he
turns curfes into bleffings, Deut. xxiii. 5. And the
grave, which was defignedas a prifon for finners, is be
come a place of fhelter to the faints, where they are
hidden and fecured from rifing forrows and calamities.
It is God's known hiding-place for his own children
from the envy and the rage of men; from all the
known and unknown agonies of nature, the difeafes
of the flefh, and the diftreffes of human life, which
perhaps might be overbearing and intolerable.
Why, O my fearful Soul, why fhouldft thou be
afraid of dying ? Why fhouldft thou be frighted at
the dark fhadows of the grave, when thou art weary
with the toils and croffes of the day ? Haft thou not
often desired the fhadow of the evening, and longed
for the bed of natural fleep; where thy fatigues and
thy forrows may be forgotten for a feafon ? And is
not the grave itfelf a fweet fleeping -place for the faints,
wherein they lie down and forget their diftreffes, and
feel none of the miferies of human life, and efpecial
ly fince it is foftened and fanaified by-the Son of God
lying

Difc. XI. and Joy at the Refurreclion. 335
lying down there ? Why fhouldft thou be afraid to lay
thy head in the duft ? It is but entering into God's
hiding-place, into his chambers of reft and repofe : It
is but committing thy flefh, the meaner part of thy
compofition, to his care in the dark for a fhort feafon:
He will hide thee there, and keep thee in fafety from
the dreadful trials' which perhaps , would overwhelm
thy fpirit. Sometimes in the courfe of his providence
he may find it neceffary that fome fpreading calamity
fhould overtake the-place where thou dwelleft, or fome
diftrefling ftroke fall upon thy family, or thy friends,
but he will hide thee under ground before it comes^
and thus difappoint all thy fears, and lay every per
plexing thought into reft and filence.
Reflecl. 2. Let it be ever remembered, that the
grave is God's hiding-place and not our own : We
are to venture into it without terror when he calls us ;
but he does not fuffer us to break into it our own
way without his call. Death and life are in the hands
of God, and he never gave tlie keys of them to mor
tal men, to let themfelves out of this world when
they pleafe, nor to enter his hiding-place without his
leave. Bear up then, O my foul, under all the forrows
and trials of this prefent ftate, till God himfelf fhall
fay, /'/ is finifhed ; till our bleffed Jefus, who has the
keys put into his hands, fhall open the door of death,
and give thee an entrance into that dark and peaceful
retreat. It is a fafe and filent refuge from the buftle
and the noife, the labours and the troubles of life; but
he that forces it open with his own hands, how will he
dare to appear before God in the world of fpirits ?
What will he anfwer, when with a dreadful frown the
great God fhall demand of him, friend, how comefl thou
in hither? Who fent for thee, or gave thee leave to
come ? Such a wretch muft venture ' upon fo rafh an
aaion at the peril of the wrath of God, and his own
eternal deftruaion.
... Our

336 Safety in the Grave, Difc. XL
Our blefled Jefus, who has all the vaft fcheme of
divine counfels before his eyes, by having the books
of his Father's degrees put into his hands, he knows
how long it, is proper for thee, O Chriftian, to fight
and labour, to wreftle and strive with fins, temptations
and difficulties in the prefent life : He knows beft in
what moment to put a period to them, and pronounce
thee conqueror. Fly not from the field of battle for
want of holy fortitude, though thy enemies and thy
dangers be never fo many, nor dare to difmifs thyfelf
from thy appointed poft, till the Lord of life, pro
nounce the word of thy difmi'ffion.
Sometimes I have been ready to fay within myfelf,
why is my life prolonged in forrow ? , Why are my
days lengthened out to fee further wretchednefs ? Me-
thinks the grave Jhoidd be ready for me, and the houfe
appointed for all the living. What can I do further
for God or for man here on earth, fince ' my nature
pines away with painful ficknefs, my nerves are un-
ftrung, my fpirits diffipated, and my beft powers of
aaing are enfeebled and almoft loft ? Peace, peace, 0
thou complaining fpirit ! Doft thou know the coun
fels of the Almighty, and the fecret defigns of thy
God and thy Saviour ? He has many deep and un
known purpofes in continuing his children amidft
heavy forrows, which they can never penetrate or learn
in this world. Silence and fubmiffion becoriies thee
at all times. Father, not my will but thy will be done.
And let it be hinted to thpe, O my foul, that it is
much more honourable to be weary of this life, be
caufe of the fins and temptations of it, than becaufe
of the toils and forrows that attend it. If we muff
groan in this tabernacle being burdened, let the fnares,
and the dangers, and the defilements of it be the chief
fprings of thy groaning and the warmeft motives to
requeft a releafe. God loves to fee his people more
afraid of fin than of forrow. If thy corruptions are
fo ftrong, and the temptations of life fo unhappily
furround thee, that thou art daily crying out, who Jhall
deliver

Difc. XI."' and Joy at the Refurreclion. 337
deliver thee from the body of fin and death, then thou
mayefl more honourably fend up a wifli to heaven, 0
that I had the wings of a dove, that I might fly away
and be at reft ! 0 that God would hide me in the grave
from my prevailing iniquities, arid from the ruffling
and difquieting influence of my own follies and my
daily temptations ! But never be thou quite weary of
doing or fuffering .the will of thy heavenly Father, tho'
he fhould continue thee in this mortal life a length of
years beyond thy defires, and fliould with-hold thee
from his fecret place of retreat and reft.
A conftant and joyful readinefs at the call of God
to depart hence, with a chearful patience to continue
here during his pleafure, is the moft perfea and blef
fed temper that a Chriftian can arrive at: It gives God
the higheft glory, and keeps the foul in the fweeteft
peace. Reflet! . 3. This one thought, that the grave is God's
hiding-place, fhould compofe our fpirits to filence, and
abate our mourning for the lofs of friends, who have
given fufficient evidence that they are the children of
God. Their heavenly Father has feized them from
the midft of their trials, dangers and difficulties, and
given them a fecure refuge in his own appointed place
of reft and fafety. Jefus has opened the door of the
grave with his .golden key, and hath let them into a
chamber of repofe : He has concealed them in a filent
retreat, where temptation and fin cannot reach them,
and where anguifh and mifery can never come.
Wheri I have loft therefore a dear and delightful
relative or friend, or perhaps many of them in a fhort
feafon are called fucceffively down to the duft, let me
fay thus within myfelf, " It is their God and my God
*' has done it : He faw what new temptations were
" ready to furround them in the circumftances of life
" wherein they flood : He beheld the trials and dif-
" Acuities that were ready to ertcompafs them on all
*' fides, and his love made a way for their efcape : He
* opened the dark retreat of death, and hid them there
U u " from

338 '.Safety in the Grave, Difc. XI.
«' from a thoufand perils which might have plunged
" them into guilt and defilement : He beheld this as
« the proper feafon to give them a releafe from a
«' world of labour and toil, vanity and vexation, fin and
" forrow : They are^ taken away from the evil to come,
" and I will learn to complain no more. The bleffed
" Jefus to whom they had devoted themfelves, well
** knew what allurements of gaiety and joy might
?t have been too prevalent over them, and he gave
" them a kind efcape left their fouls fhould fuffer any
(i real detriment, left their ftria profeffion of piety*
" fliodd be foiled or diflionoured : He knew how ,,
" much they were able to bear, and he would lay upon
" them no further burden: He faw rifing difficulties
" approaching, and new perils coming upon them
" beyond their ftrength, and he fulfils their own pro-
" mifes, and glorifies his own faithfulnefs, by opening
" the door of his well-known hiding-place, and giv-
" ing them a fafe refuge there. He keeps them
*' there in fecret from the corruptions of a public life,
'*' and the multiplied dangers of a degenerate age,
" which might have divided their hearts from God
*' and things heavenly : And perhaps he guards them
il alfo in that dark retreat from fome long and lan-
" guifhing ficknefs, fome unknown diftrefs, fome
" over-bearing flood of mifery, which was like to
" come upon them had they continued longer on the
" ftage of life.
" Let this filence thy murrriuring thoughts, O my
" foul ; let this dry up thy tears which are ready to
" overflow on fuch an occafion. Dare not pronounce
*' it a ftrokeof anger from the hand of God, who
" divided them from the tempting or the diftreffing
" fcenes of this world, and kindly removed them
" out of the way of danger. This was the wifeft
" method of his loVe to guard them from many a fol-
«* ly and many a forrow, which he. forefaw juft at the
« door."
Will

Difc. XI. and Joy at the Refiirreclion. 335
Will the wounded and complaining heart go on to
groan and murmur ftill* " But my fori was carried off
" in the prime of life, or my daughter in her bloom-
" ing years ; they flood flourifhing in the vigour of
" their nature, and it was my delight to behold their
" growing appearances of Virtue and goodnefs, and
" that in the midft of eafe, and plenty, and profpeas
" of happinefs, fo far as this world can afford it ?"
But could you look through the next year to the
fend of it ? Could you penetrate into future events*
and furvey the fcenes of feVen years to come ? Could
your heart affure itfelf of the real poffeffion of this
imaginary view of happinefs and peace ? Perhaps the
bleffed God faw the clouds gathering afar off, and at a
great diftance of time, and in much kindnefs he houfed
your favourite from unknown trials, dangers andforrows*
So a prudent gardener, who is acquainted with the iky*
and fkilful in the figns of the feafons, even in the
month of May, forefces a heavy tempeft rifing in the
edge of the horizon,- while a vulgar eye obferves no
thing but funfhine ; and he who knows the worth and
the tendernefs of fome fpecial plants in his garden,
houfes them in hafte, left they fhould be expofed and
demolifhed by the fweeping rain or hail.
You fay, thefe children were in the bloom of life, and
in the moft deferable appearance of joy and fmtisfatlion :
But is not that alfo ufoally the moft dangerous feafon
of life, and the hour of moft powerful temptation ?
Was not that the time wheri their paffions might have
been too hard for them, and the deluding pleafures of
life flood round them with a moft perilous affault ?
And what if God, out of pure compaffion, faw it ne
ceffary to hide them from an army of perils at once,
and to carry them off the ftage of life with more pu
rity and honour ? Surely when the great God has ap
pointed it, when the bleffed Jefus has done it, we
Would riot rife up in oppofition and fay, " But I would
" have had them live longer here at all adventures ;
" I wifh they were alive again, let the confequence be
" what

340 Safety in the Grave, Difc XL
" what it will." This is not the voice of faith or pa
tience ;- this is not the language of holy fubmiffion
and love to God, nor can Our fouls approve of fuch
irregular ftorms of ungoverned affeaion* which op-
pofe themfelves to the divine will, and ruffle the foul
with criminal difquietude.
There are many, even of the children of God, who
had left a more unbleniifhe.d and a more honourable
charaaer behind them, if they had died much fooner.
The latter end of life hath fometimes fullied their
brightnefs, and tarnifhed the glory they had acquired
in a hopeful youth : Their growing years have fallen
under fuch' temptations, arid been defiled and difgraced
by fuch fallings, as would have been entirely -prevented
had they been summoned away into God's hiding-
place fome years before. ; Our bleffed jefus walks
among the rofes and lilies in the garden of his church*.
and when he fees a wintry ftorm coming upon fome
tender plants of righteoufnefs, he hides them, in earth
to preferve life in them, that they may bloom with
new glories when they fhall be raifed from that bed.
The bleffed God aas like a tender Father, and con-
fults the fafety and honour of his children, when the
hand of his mercy fnafches them away before that
powerful temptation comes, which he forefees would
have defiled and diftreffed, and almoft destroyed them.
They are not loft, but they are gone to reft a little
fooner than we are. Peace be to> that bed of duft
where they are hidden, by the-, hand of their God,
from unknown dangers ! Bleffed be our Lord Jefus,
who has the keys of the grave, and never opens it for
his favourites but in the wifeft feafon ! u
tObferv. III. God has appointed a fet time in his own
counfels for all his children to continue in death : Thofe
whom he has hidden in the grave he remembers they lie
there, and he will not fuller them to abide in the duft
for ever. When Job intreats of God that he may be
hidden from his forrows in the duft of death, he re-
quefts alfo that God would appoint a fot time, for his re
leafe,

Difc. XL and joy at the 'Refurreclion. 341
leafe, and remember him. His faith feems to have had a
glimpfe of the bleffed refurreaion. Our fenfes and
our carnal paffions would cry out, where is Abraham,
and Ifaac, and Jacob, and the reft of the ancient wor
thies, who have been long fleepers in their beds of re-
pofe for many thoufand years ? But faith allures us,
that God numbers the days and the months of their
concealment under ground, he knows where their duft
lies, and where to find every feattered atom againft the
great refloring day. They are unfeen indeed and for
gotten of men, but they are under the eye and the
keeping of the bleffed God: He watches over their
fleeping duft, and while the world has forgotten and
loft even their names, they are every moment under
the eye of God, for they ftand written in his book of
life, with the name of the Lamb at the head of them.
jefus, his Son, had but three days appointed. him to
dwell in this hiding-place, and he rofe again at the ap
pointed hour. Other good men, who were gone to
their grave not long before him, arofe again at the re
furreaion of Chrift, and made a vifit to many in Jeru
falem : Their appointed hiding-place was but for a
fhort feafon ; and all the children of God fhall be re
membered in their proper feafons in faithfulnefs to his
Son to whom he has given them* The Head is raifed,
to the manflpns of glory, and the members muft not
for ever lie in duft.
Refleclion. Then let all the Saints of God wait with
patience for the appointed time when he will call them
down to death, and let them lie down in their fecret
beds of repofe, and in a waiting frame commit their
duft to his care till the refurreaion. All the days of
my appointed time (fays Job) I will wait till my change
come. The word appointed time is fuppofed to fignify
warfare in the Hebrew : As a centinel, when he is
fixed to his poll by his general, he waits there till he
has orders for a releafe. And this claufe of the verfe
may refer either to dying or rifing again, for either of
them is a very great and important change pafling up on

34** Safety in theGrav^ Difc XL
on human nature, whether from life to death, orfroni
death to life.
It is faid by the prophet Ifaiah, chap, xxviii. 1 6. He
that believeth Jhall not make hafte, i. e. he that ttufts in
the wifdom and the prpmifed mercy of God will not
be too Urgent or importunate irt any of his defires : If
is for want of faith that nature fometimes is in too
much hafte to die, as Job in fome of his expreffions
appears to have been* or as Elijah perhaps difcovered
himfelf when he was wandering in the wildernefs dif-
confolate and almoft despairing, or as the prophet Je*
remiah sufficiently manifefted, when he curfed the day
of his birth, or as Jonah was* that peevifh prophet*
when he was angry with God for not taking away h\4
life ; but the ground of it was, he was vexed be.caufd
God did not deftroy Nineveh according to his prophe
cy : Thefe are certain blemifhes of the children of God
left upon record in his word, to give us warning of our
danger of impatience, and to guard us againft their
fins and follies. And fince we know that God has
appointed the feafons of our entrance into death, and
into the ftate of the refurreaion, we fhould humbly,
commit the difpofai of ourfelves to the hand of our
God, who will beftoW upon us the moft needful blef
fings in the moft proper feafon*
Do not the fpirits 'of the juft made perfect Wait in pa
tience for the great and bleffed rifirig-day which God
has appointed, and for the illuftrioUs change of their
bodies from corruption and darknefs to light, and life,
and glory ? God has promifed it, and that fuffices* and
supports their waiting fpirits, though they know not
the hour. The Father keeps that in his own hand, and
perhaps reveals it to none but his Son jefus, Who is
exalted to be the governor and judge of the world*
There are millions of fouls waiting irt that feparate
ftate for the accomplifhrnent of thefe laft and beft pro-*
niifes, ready to fhout arid rejoice when they fhall fee
and feel that bright morning dawning upon them.
i Waif

Difc. XI. and Joy at the Refurreclion. 345
Wait therefore, O my foul, as becomes a child of
God in the wildernefs among many trials, darkneffes
and diftreffes. He has ftripped thee perhaps of one
comfort after another, and thy friends and dear rela
tives in fucceffion are called down to the duft ; they
are releafed from their conflias, and are placed far out
of the reach of every temptation ; and it is not thy
bufinefs to prefcribe to God at what hour he fhall re
leafe thee alfo. Whenfoever he is pleafed to call thee
to lay down thy flefh in the duft, and to enter into
God's hiding-place, meet thou the fummons with holy
courage, fatisfaaion and joy, enter into the chamber
of reft till all the days of fin, forrow and wretchednefs
are overpast : Lie down there in a waiting frame, and
commit thy flefh to his care and keeping till the hour
in which he has appointed thy glorious change.
Obferv. IV. The lively view of a happy refurreclion,
and a well grounded hope of this bleffed change, is a folid
and divine comfort to the Saints of God, under all trials
of every kind, both in life and death. The faith and
hope of a joyful rifing-day has fupported the children
of God under long diftreffes and huge agonies of for
row which they fuftain here. It is the expeaation of
this desirable day that animates the foul with vigour
and life to fulfil every painful and dangerous duty.
It is for this we expofe ourfelves to the bitter re
proaches and perfecutions of the wicked world ; it is
for this that we conflia with all our adverfaries on
earth, and all the powers of darknefs that are fent
from hell to annoy us ; it is this joyful expeaation that ,
bears up our fpirits under every prefent burden and ca
lamity of life.
What could we do in fuch a painful and dying
world, or how could we bear with patience the long
fatigues of fuch a wretched life, if we had no hope of
rifing again from the dead ? Surely we are the moft
miferable of all men in days of public perfecution, if
we had hope only in this life, 1 Cor. xv. 19. It is for
this that we labour, and fuffer, and eridure whatfoever our

344 Safety, in the Grave, Difc. XI.
our heavenly Father is pleafed to lay upon us. It is
this confirms our fortitude, and makes usfteadfaft, un-
moveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord^for
as much as we know that our labour fhall not be in vain
in the Lord, i Cor. xv. 58. It is this that enables us
to bear the lofs of our deareft friends with patience
and hope, and affuages the fmart of our fharpeft for
rows : For fince we believe that Jefus died and rofo
again, fo we rejoice in hope that they which fleep in
Jefus fhall be brought with him at his return, and fhall
appear in brighter and more glorious circumftances
than ever our eyes were bleffed with here on earth,
1 Thef.'iv. 13. This teaches us to triumph oyer death
and the grave in divine language, 0 death, where is thy
fling ? 0 grave, where is thy viclory ?
Refleclion. What are thy chief burdens, O, my
foul ? Whence are all thy fighs and thy daily groan-
ings ? What are thy diftreffes of flefh or fpirit ? Sum
mon them all in one view, and fee whether there be
not power and glory enough in a refurreaion to con
quer and filence them all, and to put thy prefent for
rows to flight ? 1
Doft thou dwell in a vexing and perfecuting world,
amongft oppreffions and reproaches ? But thofe who
reproach and opprefs are but mortal creatures, who fhall
fhortly go down to the duft, and then they fliall tyran
nize and afflia thee no more : The great rifing-day
fhall change the fcene from oppreffion and reproach to
dominion and glory. When they lie down in the grave
like beafts of flaughte'r, death fhall feed on them, and the
upright Jhall have dominion over them in the morning,
when God Jhall redeem thy foul from the power of the
grave. Thy God fliall hide thy body from their rage
in his own appointed refting-place, and he fhall receive
thy foul, and keep it fecure in his own prefence, till
that bleffed morning break upon this lower creation ;
then fhalt thou arife and fhine, for the glory of the Lord
is rifen upon thee.
Do

Difc. XT. and 'Joy at the Refurreclion. 345
Do the calamities which thou fuffer eft proceed from the
hand of God? Art thou ' difquieted with daily pain,
with fickneffes and anguifh in thy flefh ? Or art thou
surrounded with croffes and difappointments in thy
outward circurriftances ? Are thy fpirits funk with
many loads of care and prefling perplexities ? Canft
thou not forget them all iii the vifion that faith can
give thee of the great rifing-day ? Canft thou not fay
in the language of faith, the fufferings of this prefent
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that
fhall be revealed in us ? Then the head and the heart
fhall ake no more, and every circumftance around thee
fhall be pleating and joyful for ever.
Or art thou tenderly aifeaed with the lofs of pious
friends, who have been very dear and desirable ? Per
haps thy fenfibilities here are too 'great and pain
ful-: They are fuch indeed as nature is ready to in
dulge, but are they not more tha^God requires, or
the gofpel allows? Do not thy^thoughts dwell too
much oh the gloom and darknefs of the grave ? O,
think of that bright hour when every .Saint fhall rife
from the dark retreats of death with more complete
charaaers of beauty, holinefs and pleafure than ever
this world could fhew them in ! They are not perifh
ed, but fent a little before us into God's hiding-place,
where though they lie in duft and darknefs, yet they
are fafe from the dangers and vexations of life ; but
they fhall fpring up in the happy moment into immor
tality, and fhall join with thee in a mutual furprize at
each other's divine change.
Or doft thou feel the, corruptions of thy heart work
ing within thee, and the fins of thy nature reftlefs in
their endeavours to bring defilement upon thy foul,
and guilt upon thy confcience : Go on and maintain
the holy warfare agairift all thefe rifing iniquities : This
my warfare fhall not continue long : Thou fhalt find
every one of thefe fins buried with thee iri the grave,
but they fhall rife to affault thee no more.. The Saint
fhali Jeave every fin 'behind him when he breaks out
X x of

346 Safety in the Grave, Difc. XI.
of the duft at the fummons of Chrift, and thou fhalt
find no feeds of iniquity in thybody when it is raifed
from the grave1. Holinefs to the Lord fhall be infcribed
upon all thy powers for ever.
Or art thou perplexed, O my foul, at the near pro-
fpecl of death, and all the terrors and difmal appearan
ces that furround it ? Art thou afraid to lie down in
the cold and npifome grave ? Does thy nature fhudder
at it as a gloorivy place of horror ? Thefe indeed are
the prejudices of fenfej but the language of faith will
tell thee, it is- only God's hiding-place where he fecures
his Saints till all the ages of fin and forrow are over-
paft. Look forward to the glorious morning when
thou fhalt rife from the dnft among ten thoufand of
thy fellows, every one in' the image of the Son of God,
with their .bodies formed after the likenefs of his glorious
body, and rejoicing together %with divine fatisfaaion in
the pleafure of this heavenly change. Try whether
the meditation of thefe glories, and the diftant profpea
of this illuftrious day, will fcatter all the, gloom, that
hovers round the grave, and vanquifh the fiercest ap
pearances of the king of terrors.
What is there, 0 my foul, among all the miferies,
thou haft felt, or all that thou feareft, that can fink thy
courage, if the faith of a refurreaion be but alive and
wakeful ? But this leads, me to the
Obferv. V. The rSaint,s of God, who are refting in
their beds of duft, will arife joyfully at the call of their
heavenly Father. Thou fhalt call, and I will anfwer thee>
faid holy Job. The command of God creates life,,
and gives power to the dead to arife and fpeak. /
come, 0 Lord, I come, When. Jefus, the Son of God,
as with the trumpet of an archangel, fhall pronounce
the word which he fpake. to Lazarus, Arife and come
forth, duft and rottennefs fhall hear the call from hea
ven, and the clods of corruption all round the Cartb>
fhall arife into the form of man : The Saints fhall ap
pear at once and anfwer to that divine call, arrayed in
a glory like that of angels j.. an illuftrious hoft off mar tyrs

Difc* XI* and Joy at the Refurreclion. 3$
tyrs and confeffbrs for the truth ; an army of heroes
and valiant fufferers for the name and caufe of God
and his Son ;, an innumerable multitude of faithful
fervants who have finifhed their work, and lay down
at reft.
How fhall Adam, the Father of our race, together
with the holy men of his day, be furprized, when they
fhall awake out of their long fleep of five thoufand
years ? How fhall all the Saints of the intermediate
ages break from their beds of darknefs with intenfe
delight ? And thofe who lay down but yefterday in the
duft fhall start up at once with their early anceftors*
and anfwer to the call of Jefus from one end of time
to the other, and from all the ends of the earth. They
fhall arife together to meet the Lord in the air, that they
may be for ever with the Lord. .
Never was any voice obeyed with more readinefs
and joy than the voice or trumpet of the great arch
angel, fummoning all the children of God to awake
from their long flumbers, and to leave their dufty beds
behind them, with all the feeds of fin and forrow,
which are buried and loft there for ever. Never did any
army on earth march with more fpeed and pleasure,
at the found of the trumpet, to attend their general to
a new triumph, than this glorious affembly fhall arife
to meet their returning Lord, when this laft trumpet
founds, and when he fhall come the fecond time in the
full glories of his perfon and his offices, as Lord and
Judge of the- world, to bring his faithful followers into
complete falvation.
Refletlion. Whenfoever, O my foul, thou feeleft
any refoaance to obey the fummons of death, encou
rage thy faith, and fcatter thy fears, by waiting for the
Call of God to a bleffed refurreaion. Jefus himfelf
lay down in the grave at his Father's command, and
he arofe with joy at the appointed hour as the head of
the new creation, as the firft born from the dead ; and
he has orders given him by the Father to fummon
every Saint from their graves at theJ long appointed hour.

3>.8 Safety in the Grave$ , Difc. XI»
hour. Becaufe Jefus arofe and lives, they fhall arife.
and live alfo. O may my flefh lie down in the duft
with all courage and composure, and rejoice to efcape
into a place of reft and filence, far away from the
noife and tumult, the hurry and buftle of this prefent
life ; being well affured that die next found which
fhall, be heard is the voice of tiie Son of God, arife yg
dead! Make hafte then, O bleffed Jefus, and finifh thy
divine work here 6n earth : I lay down my head to
fleep in the duft, waiting for thy call to awake in the
morning. Obferv. VI- God takes delight in his works of nature*.
but much more when they are dignified and adorned by
the operations of divine grace. Thou wilt have a defire,
faith the good man in my text, to the work of thy own
hands. Thou haft moulded me and fafhioned me at
firft by thy power, thou haft new created me by thy
Spirit, and though thou hideft me for a feafon in one
of thy fecret chambers of death, thou wilt raife me
again to light and life, and in my flefh fhall I fee God. .
When the Almighty/had created this vifible world*
he surveyed his works on the feventh day, and pro
nounced them all good, and he took delight in them all
before fin entered and defiled them : And when he
has delivered the creatures of his power from the bon
dage pf corruption, and has purged oUr fouls and our
bodies from fin and from every evil principle, he will
again delight in the fons and daughters of Adam
whom he has thus cleanfed and refined by his fove
reign grace, and has qualified and adorned them for
his own prefence : He will fling and rejoice over them,
and reft in his love, Zephan. iii. 17.
He will love to fee them with his Sort Jefus at their
head, diffusing holinefs and glory through all his mem
bers, jefus the Redeemer will love to fee them round
him for he has bought them with his blood, and they are
a treafure too precious to be for ever loft. He will re
joice to behold them rifing at his call into a" fplendor
like his own, and they Jhall be fatisfied when they awake frorii

Difc. XL and Joy at the B.efurreilion. 349
from death into his likenefs, and appear in the image of
his oWn glorious bddy, fit heirs for the inheritance of
heaven* fit companions for the bleffed angels of light,
and prepared to dwell for ever with himfelf.
Refleclion. And fhall not we who are the work of
his hands have a defire to him that made us ? To him
that redeemed us ? To him that has new created and
moulded us into his own likenefs ? Do we not long to
fee him ? Have we not a defire to be with him, even
though we fhould be abfent from the body for a feafon ?
But much more fhould we delight to think of being
prefent with the Lord, when our whole natures, body
and foul, fhall appear as the new workmanfhip of Al
mighty power ; our fouls new created in the image
of God, and our bodies new born, from the dead, in
to a life of immortality.
VII. The laft obfervatien is of a very general nature,
and fpreads itfelf through all my text, and that is,
how much are we indebted to God for the revelation of
the New Teftament^ which teaches us to find out the blef
fings which are contained in the Old, and to fetch out the
-glories and treafures which are concealed there ? The
writers of the gofpel have not only pointed us to the
rich mines where thefe treafures lie, but have brought
forth many of the jewels and fet them before us. It,
is this gofpel that brings life and immortality to light by
jefus Chrift, 2 Tim. i. 1 o. It is this gofpel that feat-
ters the gloom and darknefs which was fpread over
the face of the grave, and illuminates all the cham
bers of death. Who could have found out the doc
trine of the refurreaion Contained in that word of
grace given to Abraham, I am thy God, if Jefus, the
great Prophet, had not taught us to explain it thus,
Matth. xxii. 31 ? God is not the God of the dead, but of
the living.
We who have the happinefs to live in the days- of
the Meffiah, know more than all the ancient prophets
were acquainted with, and underftand the word, of
their prophecies better than they themfelves ; for they
foarched

$5& : Safety k the Grave, Difc. XI.
fearched what or what manner of time the Spirit of Chrift \
which was in them,' did fignify ', when it teflified before
hand the fufferings of Chrift, and the glory which Jhould
follow*, i Pet. i. ii. But we read all this fairly written
in the gofpel. Do you think that good David could
have explained fome of his own Pflalms into fo divine
a fenfe, or Ifaiah given fuch a bright account of his
own words of prophecy, as St Paul has done in feveral
places of the New Teftament, where he cites and un
folds them ? Could thofe illuftrious ancients h^ve given
us fuch abundant confolation and hope through the Scrip
tures, which they themfelves wrote aforetime, as this
Apoftle has done, Rom. xv. 4. Do you think Job
could have read us fuch a feaure on his own expref
fions in this text, or in that bright prophecy in the
xixth chapter, as the very meaneft among the mini
fters of the gofpel can do by the help of the New Tefta*
ment ? For in point of clear difcoveries of divine truths
and graces, the leaft in the kingdom of the Mefftah is
greater than John the Baptift and all the Prophets, and
our bleffed Jefus has told us fo, Matth. xi. 11. 13.
And by the aid and influences of his Spirit we may
be taught yet further to fearch into thefe hidden mines
of grace, and bring forth new treafures of glory.
Refletlion. A Wake, O my foul, and blefs the Lord
with all thy powers, and give thanks with holy joy for
the gofpel of his Son Jefus. It is Jefus by his rifing
from, the dead has left a divine light upon the gates of
the grave, and feattered much of the darknefs that
surrounded it. It is the gofpel of Chrift which cafts
a glory even upon the bed of death, and fpreads a
brightnefs upon the graves of the faints irt the lively
views of a great rifing-day. O bleffed and surprizing,
profpea of faith ! O illuftrious fcenes of future vifion
and transport ! When the Son of God fhall bring forth
to public view all his redeemed ones, who had been
long hidden in night and duft, and fhall prefent them
all to God the Father in his own image, bright and
holy, and unblemifhed, in the midft of all the fplert- dors

Difc. XL and Joy at the Refurreclion. 3.51,
dors of the refurreaipn I O bleffed and joyful, voice,
when he fhall fay with divine pleafure, " Here am I,
*( and the children which thou haft given me : We have
" both paffed through the grave, and I have made them
" all conquerors of death, and veiled them with im-
" mortality according to thy divine commiflion ! Thine
" they were, O Father, and thou haft given them into
" my hands, and behold I have brought them all
" fafe to thy appointed manfions, and I prefent them
" before thee without fpot or blemifh."
And many a parent of a pious houfhold in that
day, when they fliall fee their fons and their daugh
ters around them, all arrayed with the beams of
the Son of righteoufnefs, fhall echo with holy joy to
the voice of the bleffed Jefus, " Lord, here am I anal
the children which thau haft given me. I was afraid^
as Job once might be when his friends suggested.
this fear ; I was afraid that my children had finned
againft God, and he had caft them away fir their-
tranfgreffion : But I am now convinced, when ho
feized them from my fight, he orily took them out
of the way of temptation and danger, and conceal
ed them for a feafon in his fafe hiding-place : h
mourned in the day-time for, a loft fon or a loffc
daughter, and in the night my couch was bedewed
with my tears : I was feared with midnight dreams^
on their account, and the vifions of the grave ter-,
rifled me becaufe my children were there : I gave^
up myfelf to forrow for fear of the difpleafure of
my God both againft them and againft me: But
how unreafonable were thefe forrows ? How ground-
lefs were my fears? How glorioufly am I difappointed
this bleffed morning ? I fee my dear offspring called
out of that long retreat where God had concealed*
them, and they arife to meet the divine call. I hear
them answering with joy to the happy fummons.
My eyes behold them rifen in the image of my God
and their God ; they are near me, they ftand with
me at the right hand of the Judge } now fhall we
" rejoice

3*5* A Speech over a grave.
tc rejoice together in the fentence of eternal blefled-'
" nefs from the lips of my Lprd and their Lord, my
cc Redeemer and their Redeemer." Amen.
*-f^-^*-}*-5--f-++^-f1--?-+-f+4-+^--}-+++-J--i--f++-J.'}.-}--{--J*-f--}-+'}-*+4--!--f-J^Among my papers I have found a fpeech fpoken at a
grave, which I tranfcribed almoft fifty years ago, and
which deferves- to be faved from perifhing. It was
pronounced many years before at the funeral of a
pious perfon, by a minifter there prefent, fuppofed
to1 be the Rev. Mr Peter Sterry ; and the fubjea of
it being fuited,to this difcourfe? I thought it not im-:
proper to preferve it here.
6 J^Hristian Friends, though fin be entered into
' \_>' the world, and by fin death, andfo death paffed
' upon all men, for that all have finned ; yet it feems
6 not wholly fuitable to our Chriftian hope, to ftand
' by and fee the grave with open mouth take in," and
'."¦{wallow down any part of a precious faint* and not
* bring fome teftimony againft the devourer. ' And
' yet that our witrtefs may be in righteoufnefs, we
' muft firft own, acknowledge, and accept of that,
* good and ferviceabfenefs that is in it.
' For through the death " arid refurreaion of our
c dear Redeemer, death and the grave are become
* fweetened'to Us, and fanaified for 'us : So that as
' death is but a fleep, the grave through his lying,
c down in it and rifing again, is become as a bed of
' repofe to them that are in him, and a fafe and quiet
' hiding-place for his faints till the refurreaion.
' And in this refpea we do for ourfelves, and for
c this our dearly beloved in the Lord,' accept of thee,
' O grave, and readily deliver up her body to thee ;
1 it is a body that hath been weakened and wearied
c with long affliction and anguifh, we freely give it un-
< to thee ; receive it, and let it have irt thee a quiet
( reft from all its labours ; for thus we read it written
' of thee, there the wicked ceafe from troubling, and there
' the weary be at reft. * Befides,

A Speech over a grave. 353
* Befides, it is, O grave, a body that hath been
' fweetly embalmed by a virtuous, pious, peaceable
1 converfation, by feveral inward openings and out-
* pourings of the fpirit of life, by much patience and
* meeknefs in ftrong trials and aiHiaions : Receive it,
e and let it enjoy in thee, what was once deeply im-
1 preffed on her own heart, and in a due feafon written
' out with her own hand, afabbath in the grave: For thus
* alfo we find it recorded of our Lord and her Lord,
* that he enjoyed the reft of his laft fabbath in the grave.
* But we know thee, O grave, to be alfo a devourer,
* and yet we can freely deliver up the body into thee.
1 There Was in it a contraaed corruptibility, difhonour
* and weaknefs ; take them as thy proper prey, they
* belong to thee, and we would not with-hold them
* from thee : Freely fwalloW them up for ever, that
* they may appear no more.
* Yet know, O grave, there is irt the body, confi-
* dered as once united to fuch a foul, a divine relation
' to the Lord of life ; and this thou muft not, thou
* canft rtot diffolve or deftroy. But know, and even
* before thee, and over thee be it fpoken, that there
' is a feafon haftening wherein we fhall expea it again
* from thee in incorruption, honour artd power.
' We now fow it into thee in dijloonour, but expea
* it again returned from thee irt glory ; we now fow it
* into thee in weaknefs, We expect it again in power ;
' we now fow it into thee a natural body, we look for
' it again from thee a fpiritual body.
' Artd when thou haft fulfilled that end for which
* the Prince of life, who took thee captive, made thee
' to ferve, then fhalt thou who haft devoured, be thy-
' felf alfo swallowed Up ; for thus it is written of thee*
* 0 death, I will be thy plague, 0 grave, I will be thy de-
' ftrUclion. And then fhall we fing over thee what
' alfo is written of thee, O death, where is now thy
1 fting ? 0 grave, where is now thy vitlory ? Amen.
Note, A line or two is altered in this fpeech, to fuit it more
to the underftandipg and the fenfe of the prefent age.
Y y DIS-

( 354 )
DISCOURSE XII.
The Nature of the Piiniflxments in Hell.

Mark ix. 46.
Where their Worm dieth not, and the Fire is not quenched*
INTRODUCTION.
THESE words are a fhort defcription^ot /;><?//, by
the lips of the Son of God, who cHrie. down
from heaven : And he who lay in the bofpm of his
Father, and was intimate in all the counfels of his mer*
cy and juftice, muft be fuppofed to know what the-
te'rrors and the wrath of God are, as well as -his com
paffion and his goodnefs. :7j >
It is confeffed, that a difcourfe on this dreadful fub->
jea is not a direa miniftration of grace and the glad
tidings of falvation, yet it has a great and happy ten
dency to the fame end, even the falvation of finful
men; for it aWa-kens them to a more piercing, fight*
and to a more keen fenfation of th;eir own guilt and
danger ; it poffeffes their fpirits with a more lively
fenfe of their mifery, it fills them with a holy dread of
divine punifliment, and excites the powerful paffion of
fear to make them fly from the wrath to come, and
betake themfelves to the grace of God revealed in the
gofpel. The bleffed Saviour himfelf, who was the nioft per
fea image of his Father's love, and the prime mini
fter 6f his .grace, publifhes more of thefe terrors to
the world, and preaches hell and damnation to fin
ners more than all the prophets or teachers that ever
went before him ; and feveral of the Apoftles imitate
their Lord in this praaice : They kindle the flames of
hell in their epiftles, they thunder through the very
hearts and confciences of men with the voice of dam
nation

Difc. XII. Tlje Nature of the, &c. 35$
nation and eternal mifery, to make ftupid finners feel
4s much of thefe terrors in the prefent profpea as is
poffible, in. order to efcape the aaual fenfation of them,
in time to come.
Such awful difcourfes are many times alfo of excel
lent ufe to keep the children of God, and the difciples.
of Jefus, in a holy and watchful frame, and to affright
them from returning to fin and folly, and from the in
dulgence of any temptation, by fettiiig thefe terrors of
the Lord before their eyes. O may thefe words of
his terror, from the lips of one of the meaneft of his
minifters, be attended with divine power from the con
vincing and fanaifying Spirit, that they may anfwer
thefe happy ends and, purpofes, that they may excite a,
folemn reverence of the dreadful majefty of God in
all our fouls, and awaken us to repentance for every
fin, and a more watchful courfe of holinefs !
Let us then cPnfider the expreffion in my text :
When our' Saviour mentions the word, hell, he adds,
•where their 'worm dieth not, and the fire is not. quenched ;
in which defcription we may read the nature of this,
punifhment, and the perpetuity, of it.
Firft, We fhall confider the nature of this punifhment^
as it is reprefented by the metaphors which our Savi
our ufes ;; and if I were to give the mqft natural and,
proper fenfe of this representation, I would fay that;
our Saviour might borrow this figure of fpeech from
thefe three confiderations.
1 . Worms and fire are the two moft general, ways
whereby the bodies , of the dead are. deftroyed ; for
whether they are buried or not buried, worms devour
thofe who, by the cuftom of their country, are not,
burnt with fire .- And perhaps he might refer to the
words of ifai. lxvi. 14, Where the ' prophet feems tp
foretel the punifliment of thofe who will not receive
the gofpel, when it fliall be preached to all nations :
They, fays he, (that is the true Ifrael, the faints of God,
or Chriftians,) they Jhall go forth and look upori the car-
cafes of the men who have tranfgreffed againft me, for
their

356 The Nature Df the Difc. XII.
their worm Jhall not die, neitfer fliall their fire be quench*
ed, and they Jhall be an abhorrence to dllflejh;. It is
highly probable that this is only a metaphor referring
to the punifhment of the fouls of obftinate unbeliev
ers in hell, for it would be but a very fmall punifh
ment indeed, if only their dead bodies were devoured
by worms or fire, or rather no punifhment at all be-.
fides a memorial of their fin.
2. Confider, the gnawing of worms and the burning.
of fire are fome of the moft fmart and fevere torments.
that a living man can feel in the flefh ; therefore the
vengeance of God, upon the fouls of obftinate finners,
is fet forth by it in our Saviour's difcourfe ; and it was
probably well known amongft the Jews, as appears by
fome of the apocryphal writings, Judith xvi. 17. Woe
to the nation that rifles up againft, my kindred ; the Lord
Almighty will take vengeance of them in the day of judg
ment, putting fire and worms in their flefh, and they fhall
feel them and weep for ever. And Ecclef. vii. 16. 17.
Number not thyfelf among the multitude of finners, but
remember the-, wrath wilf not tarry long^ Humble thy
foul greatly, for the vengeance of the ungodly is fire and
worms. 3. Confider, whether worms feed upon a living man
or devour his dead body, ftill they are fuch as are bred
in his ownflejh ; but fire is brought by other hands, and
applied to the flefh : Even fo this metaphor of a worm
happily reprefents the inward torments, and the teazing
and vexing paffions which fliall arife in the fouls of thofe
unhappy creatures, who are the juft objeas of this
punifhment ; and it is called their worm, that worm
that belongs to them, and is bred within them by the
foul vices and difeafes of their fouls : But the fire
which Jhall never be quenched refers rather to the pains
and anguifh which come from without, and that chiefly
from the hand of God, the righteous avenger of fin,
and from his indignation, which is compared to fire.
SECT.

Difc. XII. Punijhments of Hell. 357
SECT. I.
The worm that dieth not.
Let us begin with the firft of thefe, viz. the tor
ments which are derived from the gnawing worm, thofe
agonies and uneafy paffions which will arife and work in
the fouls of thefe wretched creatures, fo far as we can
colfea them from the word of God, from the reafon
of things, and the working powers of human nature.
When an impenitent finner is caft into hell, we have
abundant reafon to fuppofe, that the evil temper of his
foul, and the vicious principles within him, are not
abated, but, his natural powers, and the vices which
have tainted them and mingle with them, are awaken
ed and enraged into intenfe aaivity and exercife, un
der the firft fenfations of his dreadful punifhment.
Let us endeavour to conceive then what would be the
ferments, the raging paffions, and the vexing inward
torments of a wicked man, feized by the officers of
an Almighty Judge, borne away by the executioners
of vengeance, and plunged into a pit of torture and
fmarting mifery, while at the fame time he had a moft
frefh and piercing conviaion ever prefent, that he had
brought all this mifchief upon himfelf by his own
guilt and folly.
I. The firft particular piece of wretchednefs there
fore, contained in this metaphor, is the remorfe and
terrible anguifh of confcience which Jhall never fye reliev
ed. How terrible are the racks of a guilty confci
ence here on earth, which arife from a fenfe of paft
fins ? How does David cry out and roar under the
difquietude of his fpirit ? Pfal. xxxii. 3. While I kept
filence and confeffed not mine iniquity, my bones waxed
old through my roaring all the day long, day and night
thy hand was heavy upon me, and my moiflure is turned.
into the drought of flummer : And again Pfal. xxxviii.
4, Mine iniquities are gone over mine head, as an heavy
burden, they are too heavy for me. God has wifely fo
framed the nature and fpirit of man, that a reffeaion on

afi.

The .Nqture of the tftfc. XIL,

on his paft mifbehayiour fhould raife fuch keen anguifh
at his heart ; and thoufands have felt if in a dreadful
degree, even while they have continued in this world,
in the land of life and hope.
But when death has divided tiie foul from this body,
and from all the means' of grace, and cut off alt the
hopes of pardoning mercy for ever, what fmart be
yond all our thoughts and expreffions rnuft the fin
ner feel from fuch inward wounds of confidence?" And
it gives a twinging accent to every forrow when the
the finner is conftrained to cry out, " It is I, It is f who
** have brought all this upon myfelf. Life and death,
" were fet before me in the world where once I dwelt^
s' but I refufed the bleffings of eternal life, and the
" offers of faving grace. I turned my back upon the
" ways of holinefs which led to life, arid renounced
" the tenders of divine mercy: I chofe the paths of
" fin, and folly, and madnefs., though I knew they
" led to everlafting mifery and death. Wretch that I
e* was, to chufe thofe fins and thefe forrows, though I
**" knew they were neceffarily joined together ! I am
" fent into thofe regions of mifery which I chofe for
" myfelf, againft all the kind admonitions and warn-
" ings pf God and Chrift, of his gofpel and his mini-
" ftersgpf grace ! O thefe curfed eyes of mine, that
" led me into the fnares of guilt and folly ! Thefe-
" curfed hands that praaifed iniquity with greedinefs!
" Thefe curfed lips' of mine, which difhonoured my
" Maker ! O thefe curfed appetites and paffions, and
" this obftinate will, which have wrought my ruin !:
This curfed body and foul, that have procured their
own everlaftmg wretchednefs !" Thefe thoughts
will be like a gnawing worm within, which will prey
upon the fpirit for ever. The fretting fmart arifing
from this vexatious worm muft be painful in the high
eft extreme, when we know it is a worm which wilt
never die, which will for ever hang at our heart, and
fling pur vitals in the moft tender and fenfible parts of
therii without intermiffipn, as. well as without end. Here

Difc. XII. Pumjhmenfsof Hetl. 355
Here on earth the flings and fcoarges of confcience
meet with fome intervals of relief, from neceffary bu
finefs which employs the mind, from gay company
which diverts the heart, from the refrefhmerrts of :na*
ture by day, or from the fweet repofe of the returning
night : But in the world to come every hour fhall be
filled up with thefe cutting forrows* for there is no
feafon of refreshment* no diversion of mind, no fleep
ing there : All things arefor ever awake in that world?
There are no fhadows ami darknefs to hide us where
this torment fliall not .'find us, for it is bred and lives
within. There is no couch there tp. lull the confci
ence into foft repofe, and to permit the fufierer to for
get his agonies. Ancient crimes , fhall rife up and
ftand for ever before the eyes of the firmer in all their
glaring forms, and all their heinous aggravating cir
cumstances : Thefe will fit heavy.upon the fpirit with
teaz'mg and eternal -vexation. O dreadful ftate of. an
immortal creature, which muft for ever be its own tor
mentor, and fhall know np relief through all the ages
of its immortality ! Think of this bitter anguifh of
foul, O finner, to guard, thee frorri fin in an hour of
ftrqng temptation.
Iii Another fpring of this torment will be the over
whelming fenfe of an angry God, and utter defpair of his
love which is -loft for ever. It was the thought of the
difpleafure of God,, which pierced the foul of David
with fuch acute pain, when he remembered his fins*
Pfal. Ji. 3, 4V My fin is ever before me:, Againft thee*,
againft thee only have I finned, and J have, done this evil
in thy fight ¦: And again he pleads with God, Pfal. vi.
1 . 0 Lord, chaften me not in thine anger, nor vex me in
thy fore difpleafure. He could face an holt of armed
men without fear, but he could not face an angry God4
whofe loving kindnefs is life, and the lofs of whofe love
is worfe than death. Pfal. lxxvii. 3. I remembered God*,
faid he, and was. troubled, i. e. left he Jhould be favou
rable no more, andflmt up his tender mercies in ever laft-'
ing.anger. This was the terror of that good man, un der

360 The Nature of the Difc. XII*
der a deep fenfe of his crimes, and of God hiding his
face from him, arid this even while he was in the land
of the living, and was not call out beyond all hope.
But when the grave fhuts its mouth On the firmer.*
and he is thruft out into Utter darknefs, where the
light of God's countenance never fhines, nor will fhine,
how unfupportabfe muft fuch anguifh be ?
Here in this life perhaps a profane wretch has ima
gined he could live Well enough without God in the
world, and was content to have nothing to do with
him iri a way of worfhip or dependance here : He de
termined with himfelf, that the lefs he could think of
God-the better; and fo forgot his Maker days without
number : But iri thofe regions of hell, whither the
finner fhall be driven, he cart never forget an angry
God, nor fly out of the reach of his terrors.
"v " I am now convinced, faith he, but too late* that
" happinefs dwells in his prefence, arid rivers of plea-
" fures flow at his right hand ; but this happinefs I
" fhall never fee* thefe streams of pleasure 1 fhall ne-
" ver tafte ; he is gone for ever with all his love and
" with all his bleffings, God is gone with all his graces
" and pardons beyortd my reach : He ftands afar off
" from my groanings. He told me of it heretofore
" in the ministry of his word ; but, wretch that I was!-
" I would not hearken, I would not believe : I was in-
" vited by the Son of his love to receive his gofpel*
*' and to partake of forgiving, mercy ; he stretched
" out his hands with divine compaffion, and offered
" to receive my foul to his grace, and to wafh away
" my defilements with his own blood ; he befeecbed
" me to repent and return to God, and aflured me he
t£ would fecure his Father's favour to rne, and a place
" among the manfions of his glory : but curfed rebel
" that 1 was, to defpife this falvation, and refift the
" offers of fuch love, and to renounce fuch divine
" compaffion ! Thefe offers of mercy are for ever
" finifhed, I fhall never fee him more as furrpund-
" ed with the bleflings of his grace, but as- the mini-
" fter

Difc. XII. Punifhments of Hell. 361
" Iter of his Father's juftice,and the avenger of his
" abufed mercy. There is no other Saviour, no other
" Interceffor, to procure divine favour for me, and my
" hopes are overwhelmed and buried in the eternal
" despair of his love."
III. There will be found alfo among the damned, a
conftant enmity, and malice, and hatred againft the bleffed
God, which can never fatisfy nor eafe itfelf by revenge*
It feems very ftrange indeed that a creature fliould de
fign revenge againft his Makef ; but thus it is in thefe
difmal regions of hell ; Every wicked man is by nature
at enmity with God, and in a ftate of rebellion ; and
when this enmity is wrought up to malice, under a
fenfe of his punifhing hand, then arifes that curfed and
deteftible defire in the foul of revenging itfelf againft
its Maker. The fallen angels, thofe wicked spirits^
have found this difmal temper of mind reigning in
them : They hate the bleffed God with intenfe malice,
becaufe his governing juftice fees fit to punifh their
pride and other iniquities, and they would fain be re
venged of him by deftroying mankind who . were
made after his image : Their malice cannot reach him
in the heights of his glory ; but they can reach man
his creature made in his likenefs, and they began to
take their revenge there near fix thoufand years ago.
All the* fins, and all the miferies of the fons and daugh
ters' of Adam, from the beginning of. the world to this
day, are owing to this madnefs of malice, this hatred
of God in ~ the hearts of evil angels, who were cast
out from heaven and the regions of happinefs : They
began to exert this malice early, and ftill they are ever
lafting tempters of men, in order to avenge themfelves
upon a righteous God.
But alas, what a wretched fatisfaaion muft the.
damned fpirits of men propofe to themfelves in fuch a
wild and extravagant attempt ? The very name and
mention of this iniquity feems to put our fouls and
pur ears to pain, while we dwell in flefh and blood ;
but as curfed and hateful a temper as this is, it is the
Z z very

362 The Nature of the Difc. XII,
very fpirit and temper pf apoftate angels ; and this
will be thy temper and thy fpirit, O. wilful and impe
nitent finner, when thou fhalt have obftinately finned
thyfelf into damnation, and canft never deliver thy
felf from the punifhing hand of God.
Think, O my foul, at what a dreadful diftance fuch
creatures muft be from every glimpfe of peace and
happinefs, whofe hearts are filled with fuch blafphemy
and rage, and who would be attempting fuch vain and
impious efforts of mingled infolence and madnefs,
Read, O ye fpolifh and wilful tranfgreffors, read the
temper and condua of devils in their fpite and oppofi
tion to every thing of God, through all the books of
the Old Teftament and the New, and remember and
think, that fuch will your temper be when you alfo
fhall be banifhed from the prefence of God for your
wilful rebellions, as the fallen angels are, and be for
ever fhut out from all the bleffings of his love, and all
hope of his favour.
IV. A further fpring of continued torment is fuch
fixed and eternal hardnefs of heart as will never be floften-
ed, fuch impenitence and obftinacy of foul which will ne^
ver relent or fubmit. The hardeft finner here .on earth
may now and then feel a relenting moment, and the
moft daring Atheift may fometimes have a foftening,
thought come acrofs him, which may perhaps bring a
tear into his eyes, and may form a good wifh or two
in his foul, and wring a groan from his heart which
looks like repentance ; but when we are difmiffed
from this body, and this ftate of trial and of hope,
eternal hardnefs feizes upon the mind : The neck is
like an iron finew hardened more (if I may fo exprefs
it) in the fire of hell. The will is fixed in everlafting
obftinacy againft God, and againft the glories of his
holinefs, If Mofes and the Prophets, if Chrift and his
Apoftles in the ministry of the word, could not foften
the heart of bold tranfgreffors, what can be expeaed
when all the means of grace and the methods of di
vine compaffion are vanifhed and gone for ever ? It

Difc. Xlt* Punifhments of Hell. $&$
It is granted indeed there will be bitter repentance
among the damned in hell, and inward vexation of
foul and felf-curfing in abundance, for having plunged
themfelves into this riiifery, and havirig abandoned all
the offers of divine mercy : But it will be only fuch a
repentance as Judas the traitor felt, when he repented
and hanged himfelf: This is a fort of madnefs of rage
Within them for having made themfelves miferable.
But there will be found no hatred of the evil of fin,
as it is an offence againft God, no painful and relent
ing fenfe of their iniquity, as it has difhonoured God
and broken his law, no fuch forrow for fin as is attend
ed with an hearty averfion to it,, and a defire to love
God and obey him ; but rather they will feel and nou-
rilh a growing averfion to God and his holinefs.
Afk yourfelves, my young friends, did you never
feel your hearts indulging an angry and Unrelenting
mood, and stubborn in your wrath againft a fuperior
Who had fharply reproved you ? Or have you ne
ver felt an obftinate and unreconcileable hour in
yoUr younger years, even againft a parent who had
feverely correaed you ? Or have you not found,
at fome feafons, your foul rifing and kindling into
violent refentment and a revengeful temper againft
your neighbour upon fome fuppofed affront, damage,
or mifchief he had done ypu ? Call thefe unhap
py minutes to mind, and learn what hell is : Think
into what a wretched cafe you would be plunged, if
this wrath and ftubbornnefs, this enmity and hardnefs
fliould become immortal and unchangeable, though it
were but againft a neighbour : But if this obftinacy and
flubborn hardinefs of foul were bent againft God himfelf,
fo that you would never relent, never fincercly repent of
your crimes, nor bow, nor melt, nor yield either to
his majefty or his mercy, what would you think of
yourfelves and of your ftate ? Wpuld you not be
wretched and horrible creatures indeed, without the
leaft reafon to hope for favour and compaffion at his
hands ?

364 The Nature of the Difc. XII*
hands? Such is the cafe probably !of every damned
finner. Amazing fcene of complicated mifery and
rebellion! A guilty fpirit which cannot repent ! A re
bellious fpirit which cannot fuhmit, eVert to God him
felf ! A hardened foul that cannot bend nor yield to
its Maker ! Muft not fuch a wretch be for ever the
objea of its own inward torment, as well as of divine
punifhment ? O the hopelefs and dreadful ftate of eve
ry bold tranfgreffor, that is gone down to death with
out true repentance ; for sincere and true repentance
for having offended God, arid ingenuous relehtings of
heart for fin are never found in thofe regions of fu*'
ture mifery ! No kindly rrteltings of foul toward God
are ever known there.
V. There will he alfo intenfe forrow artd wild impa±
tience at the lofs of prefent comforts, without any fe'com?
pence, and witljout any relief. If this world, O finful
creature, with the riches, or the honours, or the plea
fures of it be all thy chofen happinefs, what univerfal
grief and vexation will overfpread all the powers of
thy nature, when thou fhalt be torn away from them
all, even from all thy happinefs by death, and have no
thing come in the room of them, nothing to relieve
thy piercing grief, nothing to divert or amufe this vex:-
ation, nothing to footh or eafe this eternal pain at the
heart ?
Artd yet further, when thou fhalt be as the Prophet
fpeaks, like a wild bull in a net, struggling and toiling
to and fro to free thyfelf on all fides, when thou fhalt'
be racked with inward fretfulnefs and impatience, and
full of the fury of the Lord that made thee, and the re
buke of that God that punifhes thee, Iflai. Ii. id. Thert
fhall thy heart, hard as it is in art obftinate courfe of
fin, be ready to burft and break, not with penitence,
but madnefs and over-fwelling forrows : And yet it
muft not break nor diffolve, but will remain firm and
hard for ever to fuffer thefe pangs. This is and muft
be an eternal heart-ache, for there are no broken hearts

Difc. XII. Punifhments of Hell. 3^
hearts in hell in any fenfe whatfoever. There the eyes
are weeping, and the hands are Wringing, and the
tongue almoft dried with long wailings and outcries,
and the teeth gnafhing with madnefs of thought : .
This is our Saviour's frequent reprefentation of hell,
there Jhall be weeping, and wailing, and gnafhing of teeth ;
and yet the heart ever living and ever obftinate, to
fupply frefh fprings of thefe forrows, and to feel the
anguifh of them all.
VI. There will be alfo raging defires of eafe and plea
fure which Jhall never be fatisfied, together with perpe
tual difappointment and endlefs confufion- thrown upon all
their fohemes and their efforts of hope. It is the nature
of man, while it continues in being, that it muft de
fire happinefs, and make fome efforts towards it : Arid
fome divines have fuppofed, that men of wicked fen
fuality and luxury in this world, have fo drenched
their fouls in flefhly appetite by indulging their lufts,
and placing their chief fatisfaaion and happinefs there
in, that they will carry this very temper of fenfuality
with them into the world of fpirits ; and it is poffible
their raging appetites to this fenfual happinefs, may be
increafed while there are no objeas to gratify them i
Now if this be the cafe, it muft be intenfe and con
ftant mifery to feel eternal hunger with no bread to
relieve it ; keen defire of dainties with no luxurious
difhes to pleafe their humorous tafte ; eternal thirft
without one drop of wine or water to allay or cool it ;
eternal fatigue and wearinefs without power to fleep,
and eternal lull of pleafure without any hope of gra
tification. But if we fliould fuppofe thefe fenfualities die toge
ther with the body, yet this is certain, the foul will
have everlafting appetites of its own, i. e. the general
defire of eafe and happinefs, and of fome fatisfying
good : but God, who is the only true fource of hap
pinefs to fpirits, the only fatisfying portion of fouls, is
for ever departed and gone ; and thus the natural ap
petite of felicity will be ever wakeful and violent in
damned

$66 The Nature vf the ¦ Difc. XII.
damned fpirits, while every attempt or hope to fatisfy
it will meet with perpetual difappointment.
Milton, our Englijh poet, has reprefented this part
of the mifery of devils in a beautiful manner. He
fuppofes, that ever fince they tempted man by fin by
the forbidden tree of knowledge, they are once a year
changed into the form of ferpents, and brought by
'millions into a grove of fuch trees, with the fame
golden appearance of fruit upon them : And while
with eager appetite they feize thofe fair appearances to
allay their thirft and hunger, inftead of fruit they chew
nothing but bitter afhes, and rejea the hateful tafte with
fpattering noife; and ftill they repeat their attempts with
fhameful difappointment, till they are vexed, are tor.*
mented, and torn with meagre famine, and then are
permitted to refume the fhape of devils again* And
why may we not fuppofe, that the Crimes of which the
wicked children of men have been guilty in the prefent
life, may be punifhed with fome fuch kind of pain and
confufion, both of body and foul, as is here reprefent*
ed in this poetic emblem of parable ?
VII. Another mifery of damned creatures is, that
vexing envy which arifes againft the faints in glory, and
which fhall never be appeafed or gratified. The bleffed
in heaven fhall be for ever bleffed, and the envy of
devils and damned fouls fhall never hurt their felicity*
nor fee their joys diminifhed. This vile paffion of
thofe curfed fpirits therefore againft the bleffed inhabi
tants of heaven, though it rage never fo high, is only
preying upon their own hearts, and increasing their
own inward anguifh.
, Let us imagine how many thoufand holy fouls are
arrived fafe at paradife, who were furrounded with
mean and low circumftances here upon earth, while
their haughty lords, and their rich infolent neighbours,
have finned themfelves into hell : And do you think
thofe children of pride can ever bear this fight without
envy ? How many martyrs have afcended to glory
from racks, and tortures, and fires, here upon earth, while

Difc. XII, Punijhntents of Hell. ,36*7
while their bloody and cruel perfecutors have been
working out their own damnation by thefe inhuman
aas of murder and cruelty ? And will not thefe
wretches, under their righteous fufferings and punifh
ments in hell, envy the creatures whom they have
fcorned, and oppreffed, and murdered here on earth,
when they fhall fee them placed on high feats in the
kingdom of heaven, and themfelves caft into utter
darknefs ?
And what does all this envy do but increafe their
own wretchednefs ? They are diftraaed with pride and
rage, to think of thefe high favours of the bleffed God
beftowed on creatures whom they treated once with
utmoft difdain : But their envy, like a viper, preys
upon their own entrails, and fhall never be allayed or
made eafy ; They fend a thoufand curfes up to the
heavenly world ; but the faints are for ever fecured in
happinefs, under the eye of God their heavenly Father,
and the care of Jefus their almighty friend.
O what a painful plague muft this envy be, when
with all her invenomed whips and flings fhe does but
feourge and torment the heart where fhe dwells ? What
an unfpeakable torture muft it be to feel this envy fo
violent and fo conftant, that it gives itfelf no eafe
through everlafting ages ? Who is there that dwells in
flefh and blood can conceive or exprefs the horror and
the twinging agonies that arife from fuch a hateful
paffion, fermenting and raging through all the powers
of the foul ?
VIII. The laft thing I fhall mention, as part of tho'fe
punifhments of hell which affea the fpirit, is a perpe
tual expectation and dread of new and increaflng punifh
ments without end ; and it is highly probable, that this
fhall be the portion of multitudes. When the fouls of
the faints are releafed by death, and arrive at the
bleffed regions, they are not vefted with all their
brighteft glories in a moment, nor fixed in the high
eft point of knowledge and happinefs at their firft en
trance ;

3<>5 The Nature of the Difc. XII.
trance ; but as their knowledge and their love increafcs,
fo their Capacities are enlarged to take in new fcenes
and new degrees of pleafure, and it is probable that
their felicity fhall be ever increasing. And in the fame
manner, it is not unlikely, that the increafing fins, the
growing wickednefs, and mad' rebellion of damned
fpirits* may bring upon them new judgments and more
weighty vengeance. So it was with Pharaoh the Egyp
tian tyrant, when he remained obftinate and rebellious
againft the meffages of God by MofleS, even while he
and his nation lay under fmarting feourges of the Al
mighty : How did his plagues increafe with his iniqui
ties ? And he may be fet before us as an emblem of
finners, and their fofferings, under the wrath of God
in hell, as in Rom. ix. 17, 18.
Or perhaps as the wicked of this world when they
die, have left evil and pernicious examples behind
them, or have corrupted the morals of their neigh
bours by their enticements, or their commands, or by
their wicked influence of any kind, fo their punifli
ment may be increafed in proportion to the lafting ef
feas of their vile example, or their vicious influences.
And perhaps too, there are none among all the ranks
of the damned, whofe fouls will be filled fo high with
the dread and horror of increafing woes, as lewd and
profane writers, profane and immoral princes, or cruel
perfecutprs of religion. Jeroboam, the king, not on
ly finned himfelf grievoufly, but who made ffrael to fin,
as the fcripture frequently expreffes it with an empha-
fis, by fetting up the idolatry of calves in the land,
1 Kings xiv, and xv, and xvi. His ghoft flood fair for
fuch an increafe of torment from age to age, as his
idolatry prevailed further in the land. And ?,!1 the
wanton poets and the vile perfecutors, whether of hea
then or of Chriftian name, whofe writings, whofe ex
ample, or whofe laws have conveyed and propagated
their wickednefs from age to age after their deeeafe,
will be fome of thefe wretched expeaants of new and
increafing punifhment. Have

Difc. XII* Punifhments of Hell. 369
Have a care, O ye witty and ye mighty finners !
Have a care of fctting vile .temptations and bad ex
amples before the men of your age ! Have a care of
fpreading the contagion of your vices around you, by
the foftnefs and the force of your allurements ! Have
a care of eftablifhing iniquity by a law, and propaga
ting loofe and wicked opinions, or of encouraging per
fecution for confeience-fake ! Take heed left the cur
fed influence of your crimes fliould defcend from gene
ration to generation among the living, long after you
are dead, and fhould call for new and fharper ftrokes
from the punifhing hand of the Almighty !
But, fuppofe there were nothing elfe but the long
dreadful viewof the eternity of their prefent miferies,
with an everlafting defpair of eafe or deliverance, this
would add unfpeakably to their torment : The conftant
fenfation of what they feel now, and the dread of what
they muft feel, is fufficient to make their wretchednefs
intolerable. If all thefe fprings of mifery, which I have already
mentioned, are, and will be found in the fouls of dam
ned finners* there is no need of more to make them
exquifitely miferable : And yet, fince their bodies fhall
be raifed from the duft, in order to be joined with
their fouls in punifhment, as they were united in fin,
Why may we not fuppofe, that the great God will
create bodies for them of fuch an unhappy mould and
contexture, as fhall be another perpetual fource of
pain and anguifh ? What if their bodies fhall be raifed
with all the feeds of difeafe in them, like the gout or
the ftone, or any more fmarting malady ? And what
if the fmart of thefe bodily distempers fhould mingle
with the raging paffions of the mind, as far as it is
confiftent with immortality and everlafting duration ?
Who can fay, that when God exerts his power, and
makes his wrath known, in punifhing obftinate, rebel
lious, and impenitent finners, as Rom.-\x. he will not
frame fuch bodies for them to dwell in, as fhall be a
hateful burthen, and an inceffant plague to them thro'
A a a all

370 The Nature of the Difc. XII*-
all ages of their duration ? And perhaps thefe bodily
pains may be alfo included in the metaphor of a gnaw
ing worm bred within therri, which Jhall never die^
which fhall never ceafe to fill them with grievous an
guifh. >'
Here, perhaps, it may be enquired, are there not
multitudes of men in this world, who are not finners
of the groffer kind, but have lived, in the main, in
the praaice of common focial duties, and have main-*
tained the ufual forms of religion, according to the
outward rules of the gofpel, and the cuftom of their
nation, but they have been negligent indeed of any
fincere repentance towards God, arid have been ftran-
gers to inward vital religion throughout their whole
courfe ? Shall thefe creatures, who feem to ftand in a
fort of indifferent charaaer, who are outwardly blame-
lefs, with regard to common morality, and have exer-
cifed the common virtues of juftice and benevolence
towards their fellow-creatures, perhaps- under the in
fluences of education or cuftom, or perhaps by the ef-
fea that reafon or philofophy, or other inward fears,
have had toward the reftraint pf their paffions and ap
petites ; I fay, fhall fuch fort of creatures as thefe be
filled-with thofe furies of rage and refentment againft
God., envy and malice toward their fellow-sinners, and
all the vile and unfociable paffions in thefe regions of
mifery, which they have never found working in them
here on earth, or but in a low degree ? Shall all the
torments and inward anguifh of foul that you have
been defcribing, fall upon this rank of finners, whom
the eye of the world could hardly diftinguifh from
good men, and who were very far fro'm the charaaer
of wicked?
I anfwer, ft, That however . there may feem to be
three forts of perfons in our efteem, viz. the good, the
bad, and the indifferent, yet the word of God feems
to acknowledge but two forts, viz. Thofe who fear
God and ferve him, and thofe who fear him notj Mai.
iii. 1 8. Thofe whp have aaed from principles of in
ward

Difc. XII. Punijhments of Hell. 371
ward religion, or the love of God, and thofe who had
no fuch principle within them : And therefore the
fcripture reveals and declares but two forts of states in
the future world, viz. that of rewards and punijhments,
or that of happinefs and mifery : And, as God the righ
teous Judge is intimately acquainted with all the fecret
principles and workings of every heart, he alone knows
who have praaifed virtue fincerely from pious prin
ciples, and who _have had no fuch principles within
them. He well diftinguifhes who they are that have
complied with the rules of the difpenfation under which
they have lived, or who have not complied with it :
And fuch as may have the good efteem of men may
be highly offenfive to God, who knows aft things, and
may be worthy of his final punifliment ; the Judge of
the whole earth will do right *.
And fince he has declared it to be his rule of judg- ,
ment, that he will reward every one according to their
works, and it fhall be much more tolerable for fome
of thofe creatures than it fhall be for others, by reafon
of their leffer crimes, or their nearer approaches to
virtue and piety, fo it is certain he will aa in perfea
juftice and equity towards every criminal, and none
fhall be punifhed above their demerits, though no im
penitent finner fliall go unpunifhed.
We do not, therefore, imagine, that every condem
ned criminal fhall have the fame degree of inward rag
ing paffions, the fame madnefs and fury againft God
and their fellow-creatures, nor the fame anguifh of
confcience as thofe who have been more grofsly and
obftinately wicked and vicious, and have wilfully re
fufed
* It has been the opinion of fome writers in older and, in later
times, that the vail: numbers of indifferent perfons, who have nei
ther been evidently holy or evidently wicked, Ihall be fent,tp a
new ftate of trial in the other world ; but I can find nothing of
this doctrine in the Bible, nor any hint of it, unlefs in that ob
jure text of .St Peter, i Epift. ch. iii: lo.; where Chrift is faid in
go and preach to the fpirits of thofe finners who were drowned in
the flood of Noah, which may be conftrued to another fenfe with
tfuth and juftice.

372 The Nature of the Difc. XII.
fufed and renounced the well known offers of grace
and falvation : There are innumerable degrees of in
ward punifhment and pain, according to the degrees
of fin.
Anfw, 2. It fliould be added too, that that world of
punifhment is alfo a world of increafing wickednefs,
and thofe that have, had fome natural virtues, and fome
appearances of goodnefs here, may and will renounce
it all in the world to come, where they find themfelves
punifhed for their impenitence and irreligion, and
their criminal negfea of God and godlinefs : And the
leaft and lighteft of the punifhments of damned fouls
will be terrible enough, and yet not furpafs the defert
of their offences. They have been all in greater or
lefs degrees, treafuring up fopd for this immortal
worm, and fuel for this fire, which is unquenchable.
Befides, it may be added here, that in threatenings
the Holy Scripture generally expreffes them in their
higheft degrees, arid moftf formidable appearances, on
purpofe to fecure men from coming near the peril and
border of them.
This fhall fuffke to explain the firft part of the me*
* taphor in my text, i. e. The worm that dieth not,
SECT. II.
The fire fliall not be quenched*
I proceed now to confider the fecond part of the
defcription of hell in the nature of it, as it is repre*<
fented by our Saviour,*and that is, that the fire is never
quenched. Fire fignifies the medium or inftrument of torture
from without, which God has threatened to employ in
the punifhment of guilty creatures, even as the gnaw
ing worm fignifies their inward torment. Fire applied
to the fenfible and tender parts of the flefh, gives the
fharpeft pain of any thing that comes within our com
mon notice, and it is ufed in fcripture to fignify the
punifhments, of damned finners, and the wrath of God in

Difc. XII. Punifhments of Hell. 373
in the world to come : And perhaps that text is the
foundation of it, Ifla. xxx. laft verfe, Tophet is ordained
of old, he has made it deep and large, the pile thereof is
fire and much wood, and the breath of the Lord, ifke a
flream of brimftone, doth kindle it. This Tophet was a
place in the valley of Hinnom, where children were
wont to be burnt in facrifice to the idol Moloch ; and
from thefe Hebrew words, hell in the New Teftament
is called Geenna, becaufe of the burning torture and
the terrible flirieks of dying children in this valley of
Hinnom. This defcription of hell by flre is ufed by our Savi
our and his Apoftles, in their fpeeches and writings
on this fubjea. Hell-fire is mentioned fix times in fix
verfes where my text lies ; the laft fentence of judg-
nient paffed upon finners, as it is reprefented by our
Saviour, is expreffed, in the fame language, Matth. xxv.
Depart, ye curfed, into everlafting fire. The Apoftle
Paul, fpeaking of the return of Chrift, 2 Theff. i. 8,
afferts, that he Jhall appear in flaming fire, to, take ven
geance on them that know not God, and that obey not the
gofpel: And in Rev. xiv. 10, 11. as well as in other
parts of this book, the final punifhments of finners is
reprefented by fire and brimftone, as the inftruments of
their torment.
It is true indeed, fpirits or beings which have no
body cannot feel burning by material fire, unlefs they
are united to fome fort of material vehicles ; but that
God will ufe material fire, to punifh obftinate and re
bellious finners hereafter at the refurreaion, is not
improbable, though it is very hard to fay with full af
furance ; Since the bodies of the wicked are to be
raifed again, it is not at all unlikely that their habita
tion fhall be' a place of fire, and their bodies may be
made immortal to endure the fmart and torture with
out confuming. Did not this God, by his Almighty
power and mercy, preferve the bodies of Shadrach,
Mejhech and Abednego, in the burning furnace of
Nebuchadnezzar, fo that the fire had no power to
confurae

374 The Nature of the Difc. XII,
confume or deftray them ? And cannot his power
do the" fame thing under- the influence of his juftice as
well as of his mercy ? May they hot be maintained
for ever in their exiftence to endure the appointed and
deferved vengeance? If the bleffed God has with
much ' longfuffering ¦ borne with thefe veffels of wrath,
under their repeated oppositions to his law and gofpel,
and they ftill go ori in their vice, obftinacy and impe
nitence, and have fitted themfelves for deftruclion, fure
ly he will make his' wrath and power known in their pu
nifliment, as St Paul expreffes it, Rom. ix. and when
the power and wrath of a God unite to punifh a crea
ture, how miferable muft that creature be ?
It is certain, that God has been pleafed in his word
frequently to make ufe of fire, brimftone), burning,
fmoak, darknefs, and chains, and every thing that is
painful and noifome to nature on earth, in order to
reprefent the miferies that he has prepared for finners
in hell : And: we muft fuppofe that all thefe meta
phors, if they are but mere metaphors, carry with
them a fenfe of moft intenfe pain and anguifh with
which God will affiia the bodies, as well as the fpirits
pf thofe guilty creatures, who have rebelled againft
his majefty, rejeaed his mercy, and expofed them
felves to his indignation. But what particular instru
ments and methods of punishment^ what other ele
ments or means of torture the great God will make
ufe of to execute his fentence in this tremenduous
work, is more than we can now declare, becaufe God
has not fully declared it: And I pray God none pf us
may be ever doomed to learn it by terrible experi
ence. But if there be nothing hutflre, the anguifh,
wsll be intolerable, as one of our poets expreffes it,
In liquid burnings, or on dry, tg drwell,.
Is all the fad variety of hell. • '
Or what if the Almighty, who has all nature, with
all its powers, at his command, fhould employ other
material inftruments for the execution of his deferv ed

Difc. XII* Punijhments of Hell. 375
ed wrath ? What if he fhould chufe the alternate ex
tremes of fire and froft* as fome have imagined, to
torment thofe impenitent criminals ? Or what if the
creatures which they have abufed to their impious and
brutifh purpofes, fhould be made inftruments and me
diums of their punifliment ? Wine may be rendered a
frequent means of ficknefs, agony and pain to the
drunkard, and meat and1 other dainties to the glutton,
and gold to the covetous wretches who made gold
their god, that they may all remember their crimes in
their fufferings. The wifdom of God will execute
the fentence of his juftice in the moft honourable
manner. And after all* if we call away our thoughts from
fire, and every material inftrument of pain, which the
great God may employ in punifhing obftinate rebels,
and furvey only thofe acute and dreadful impreffions
of horror and anguifh, which a juft and holy God
may make on finful fpirits in an immediate manner in
hell, this would overwhelm our fouls with'urtfupport-
able agonies : Who knows the power of thine anger ?
For according to thy fear fo is thy wrath, fays -Mofes,
Pfah xc. Our fears do not rife above thofe evils which
the wrath of God will inflia. Who knows' what are
thofe arrows of the Almighty, of which Job fpeaks, the
poifon whereof drank up his fpirits, and thofle terrors of
God which fet themfelves in array againft him ? Who
knows what our Saviour felt in the hour of his agony
and atonement for our fins, which made him fweat
drops of blood ? And what fort of terrible impreffions
G od himfelf may make of his own wrath and venge
ance, on the heart of fuch criminals as wilfully rejea
his falvation, is beyond our thoughts to conceive, or
our language to exprefs.
This much fhall fuffice concerning the metaphor of
fire, and the hand of God himfelf in kindling this
fire for the execution of his fentence againft impeni-
tents. But fince I have entered fo far into this fub
jea, I cannot think it proper intirely to finifh it, with out

376 The Nature of the . Difc. XII.
out giving notice of fome different and dreadful addi
tions to their torment which will arife from evil an
gels, and from, their companions m fin and mifery among
the children of men -„• For in the agonies of our Savi
our, men and devils Joined, together to afffia him,
when it pleafed the Father to bruife him, and to make his
foul an offering for our fins.
I. Evil angels, wicked and unclean fpirits, With all
their furious difpofitions and aclive powers, will increafe
the mifery of the damned. They paved the way to hell
for man by the firft temptation of our- parents in pa
radife, and they have been ever fince bufy in tempt
ing the children of men to fin, and they will be here
after as bufy in giving them torment. When thefe
wicked fpirits, O finner, who haVe taken thee as a
willing captive by their baits and devices in this world,
when they have led thee down through the paths of
vice to the regions of forrow, they will begin then to
infult thee with hateful reproaches, arid to triumph
over thee with infolence and fcorn. When they have
deceived thee on earth, to thy own perdition* they
will make thee the objea of their bitter ridicule and
mockery in hell.
O could we turn afide the veil of the invifible
world, and hold the bottomlefs pit open before you,
what bitter groans of ghofts would you hear, not only
oppreffed and agonizing under the wrath of a righte
ous God, but alfo under the infults of cruel devils ?
As there is joy among the angels of heaven when a fin
ner repents, or when a foul arrives fafely at thofe blef
fed manfions; fo when a rebellions and obftinate cri
minal is fent down to hell, you would hear the tri
umphs of thofe malicious fpirits over him, with the
voice of infulting pride and hellifh joy : And while
they domineer over you, and tear you as roaring lions,
who feek and tear their prey, you will curfe your
felves a thoufand times for hearkening to their deceit
ful allurements. You will vent your lage againft your
felves at the fame time that they feoff at you as eter nal

Difc XII. Punijhments of Hell* 377-
nal fools, who have loft a God, and a heaven, and
immortal happinefs, by your own madnefs and folly
in hearkening to their temptations.
II. The mutual upbraidings of follow-finners andfel-
low-fufferers among the children of men, will aggravate
your wretchednefs day and night without end. Thofe
who drew each other into foul iniquities, fhall fill the
ears of each other with loud and fharp reproaches for
their mutual influence on both their ruiri, and fliall
charge their damnation, and all their heavy forrows,
as a heavy load on each other's fouls. Some of thofe
who have been joined in the neareft ties of kindred
and friendfhip, while they dwelt in flefh and blood,
fhall be the terrible instruments of their keeneft re
morfe and vexation, and teaze their fpirits with end
lefs upbraidings*
Here the fons of pride, that moft hateful iniquity,
fhall be overwhelmed with huge mortification and
difdain : The mighty finner fliall be infulted by the
meaneft of the croud* and princes fhall be bearded
and affronted by thofe gay flaVes of the court, whom
they once employed in flattering and adoring them.
They were once vain enough to believe, they were
fomething more than mortal ; but noW they are fpurn-
ed s by thofe very flatterers with a foot of contempt,
and their eternal pride ftill fwelling, gives their own
hearts new flings and twinges at every refentment.
None but a proud and haughty creature here in this
world, who has fometimes met with feorn and infult
from his inferiors, can fpeak feelingly' of the exqui-
fite fenfibility of thefe torments of a foul irt hell.
But befides this, there are many finners Who lived
in malice, and who died with their hearts frill of re
venge againft their fellow-sinners ; and When they
fhall meet them in thofe deplorable regions, how- na
tural is it to fuppofe they will endeavour to execute
this revenge upon them without end and without
mercy? For it may be eafily fuppofed, that malice,
revenge, and cruelty, which are the proper charaaer
B b b of

378 The Nature of the Difc* Xfft
of devils, fhall not be abated among the children of
men, when they are grown fo near akin in their tem
pers to thofe evil fpirits, and are now for ever mingled
amongft them.
And yetfurther, who knows what the damned in
hell fhall endure from the endlefs brawls and bitter
quarrels among themfelves ? What new contentions
will arife perpetually in fuch a country, where it is
perhaps the praaice and cuftom of the place, and the
nature of the inhabitants, for the moft part, to make
every one of their fellows as uneafy and as miferable
as they can ? O what mad and furious pride, and ma
lice, and every hellifli paffion, will be raging almoft in
every bofom againft all thofe who are near them, and
this in a dark prifon where all are intenfely torment
ed, and where there is no fuch thing as compaffion
or sincere love, nothing to footh each other's forrows,.
but every thing that may add to the fmart and anguifh!
O that the prefent furvey of thefe horrors of foul,
thefe complicated diftreffes and miferies from within
us and without us* from every quarter of heaven and
hell, from the gnawing worm within us, and from the
fire of the wrath of God, and the mutual infults, rail
ings and injuries of men and devils, might all lie with
its due weight upon our fpirits now, while we are in
the land of hope ; that every one of us may be
awakened to a timely concern about our higheft inte
reft, and haften to make our efcape as Lot did from
Sodom, left the fentence of death be pronounced upon
us while we delay, and the fiery deluge overtake us.
But here I would tarry a little to anfwer a repeated
objetlion, viz. the terror of this outward punifhment
froni the hand of God, which is defcribed by avenging
fire, is fo fevere and intolerable, that it awakens fome
leffer criminals to raife the fame cavil againft this un
quenchable fire , or God's punifhing hand, as was raif
ed before againft the never-dying worm, or the inward
anguifh of foul arifing from its own confcience. It

Difc. XII. Punijhments of Hell. 379
It is poffible fome leffer finner, who has had more
appearances of piety or religion here on earth, may
rife and fay, you have fet the punifhments of fin in a
moft horrible and tremenduous light, from this meta
phor of fire, as well as from the deathlefs worm .- But
furely this cannot be the cafe, nor thefe the fufferings
which God will inflia on every wretched creature in
hell. Are not the punifhments there proportioned to
the offences ? What if thefe fharpeft and deepeft tor
tures and horrors fhould be the portion of the vileft
criminals, the moft impious rebels againft God, the
profane and obftinate abufers of grace, the feoffors at
Chrift and his gofpel, and the cruel perfecutors of all
the faints, yet will every foul who had not quite reli
gion and holinefs enough to reach heaven, be thus
terribly tormented in hell ? Does not Chrift himfelf
tell us, and did you not allow before, that it fhall
be more tolerable for fome finners than for others ?
And will there be no eafier abodes, no mi! fer regions,
no kinder and more favourable appointments for fuch
as have many good wifhes and* hopes, many friendly
exercifes of virtue towards men, and fome workings
of imperfea piety toward God ?
To this I anfwer, as before, it is certain that every
one Jhall be judged according to their works, by an un
erring rule of equity, and fliall be punifhed accord
ing to the aggravation of their iniquities. But doft
thou know, O finner, how great is that punifliment
which the leaft tranfgreffion againft the law of God
deferves? One fsngle fin, which thou wilt not part
with, will create unfufferable mifery. And though
there may be other criminals there of much more
heinous and aggravated guilt, prophanenefs, and re
bellion than thine is, yet if thy foul be filled with all
that torment which one fin may create and deferve,
there Will be hell enough around thee to make thy
diftrefs too terrible for thee to bear.
Befides, let it be remembered, that whatfoever ten
dencies toward piety, or appearances of goodnefs, might

380 The Nature of the Difc. XII,
might be found with thee in this world, all thefe will
vanifh and be loll, when once thy day of grace is fit
nifhed, and all the means of grace and falvation are
ended for ever. If thou haft refufed the propofals of
mercy, and continued in thy fins without repentance,
and haft never accepted the falvation of Chrift while
it was offered, all the good that thou fleemedfl to have
fhall be taken from thee, Mat. xxv. 29. or rather thy
heart itfelf will grow more hard, thy will more obfti
nate againft God, and every evil paffion will rife and
prevail, apd make thee perhaps as very a devil as thy
companions in guilt and mifery. It is for thofe who,
would not part with their beloved fins, which were as
dear as right hands, or as right eyes, that the never-
dying zvorm and the unquenchable fire are prepared, as,
the context itfelf informs us in this place.
And as the worm of confcience, ev^n for leffer fins,
will gnaw thy heart with intenfe anguifh, fo the ven
geance of divine fire will torment thee with exquifitQ
pain, though thy pain and thy anguifh fhall not be
equal to what greater criminals "endure. But it is wife
and kind in the bleffed God to denounce the terrors
and fanaions pf his law in their utmoft feverity, to
gqard his law the better againft every tranfgreffion,
and to frighten and fecure his creatures from fin and
punifliment. Trifle not, therefore, O finner, with the means of
mercy, and venture not upon little fins, in hope of
little mifery, npr dare to continue in an impenitent
ftate without God, without Chrift and his falvation,
Upon a foolifli prefornption that thy fins are but fmall,,
and thy punifhment fhall be lefs than others ; For the
leaft of thpfe forrows will be found greater than any
mortal creature can bear, and therefore thou fhalt be
made immortal to fuffer them.
It is granted, there are many manfions in hell,
as well as in heaven, but, as the loweft manfion
in heaven is happinefs, fo the eafieft place in hell \s
niifery. There

Difc. XII. Punifhments of Hell. 381
There is another objetlion arifes here, which it is
neceffary to give fome answer to ; viz. if the punifh
ments of hell are fo intenfe and terrible, between the
worm of confcience, the fire of God's anger, and the
malice of evil fpirits, furely it will work up human na
ture into extafy and madnefs ; it will take away all the
regular exercife of pur natural powers ; it will render
us perhaps mere paflive miferable beings, of keen fen
fations without reafoning. This is certain, that fuch
' and fo various tortures would have that influence upon
our natures at prefent, and why fhould it not here
after ? And will the bleffed God continue to punifh
creatures when their reafon is loft ? What can fuch
punifhments avail ?
I anfwer, furely God will not continue to punifh
madmen ; therefore none of thefe torments fhall ex-
tinguifh our reafon, or deftroy our intelfeaual powers ;
for it is as creatures of reafon and free-will that fin
ners are thus punifhed, and therefore thefe powers
muft remain in their proper exercife ; befides, the
very operations of thefe powers in felf-condemnation,
and felf-upbraiding, are part of their punifliment. But
whether God will fo fortify the natures of the damned,
which probably fhall not be made of flefh and blood,
and enable them to bear fuch intenfe pain without
diftraaion, or whether the higheft extremes of their
torment fhall only be infliaed at fome certain periods
or intervals, fo that they fhall foon return to their rea
foning powers again, with bitter remembrance of what
paffed, this matter is hard to determine ; and becaufe
it is unwritten and unrevealed, 1 am filent. But it
ftill remains, that punifliment fliall be fo intenfe and
fevere, as becomes a God of holinefs and juftice to in-
flia on rebellious and obftinate creatures, -
SECT. III.
Refletlions on the nature of thefe punifhments.
It is time now that w£ fhould proceed to form fome
fpecial refletlions on the nature of the punijhments of hell,
fuch

381 The Nature of the Difc. XII.
fuch as they have been, defcribed in the foregoing dif
courfe. The firft is this, what dreadful and unknown evil is
contained in the nature of Jin which grows up into fuch
mifery, which breeds this flinging worm in the con
fcience, which prepares the creature for fuch fiery tor
ments, and which provokes a God to inflia them ?
The veffels of wrath have prepared themfelves for it, as
the Apoftle intimates, by their own fins, Rom. ix. 22.
they are fitted for deflruclion : Nor does all the intenfe
and infinite anguifh of this punifhment. exceed the de-
fert of our fins. The great God, in a way of bounty,
may often beftow upon us vaftly beyond what our
little fervices can ever pretend fo have deferved, but
he never puniilies beyond our deferts.
What a dangerous and pernicious miftake is it in
the children of men to fport with fin, as with a harm-
lefs thing ? It is much fafer sporting with a poifonous
ferpent, or with burning.firebrands. The ferpent has
many gay and pleating colours on its fkin, and appears
a very charming creature, which tempts children and
fools to play with it : And the fame ignorance inclines
them fometimes to fport with fire, becaufe of its fhin
ing brightnefs : And till they are burnt with the fire,
or bit by the ferpent, they will not forfake their fool-
ifli choice., nor be convinced of their danger : Such is <
the cafe and temper of finful mortals : Their' fenfes in
dulge the pleating flatteries of fin, and are fond of its
tempting amufements, till they feel the fmart of the
fire raging in their bofoms, and the adder flings them
to death. Thus the wife man defcribes the flatteries
of wine in the view of the drunkard, Prov. xxiii.
31, 32. But the fame wife man pronounces every one
a fool that makes a mock atfln, or trifles with fo formi
dable a mifchief, Prov. xiv. 9.
How vain are the gay fancies of finful men in the
hour of temptation, and how fliocldng and dreadful
will be their difappointment ? They think the defcrip-
tions of fin, which are blown up and kindled into fuch
terror

Difc. XII. Punifhments of Hell. 383
terror by the lips of the preacher, are but as mock-
fire which never burns'; but the great day of Ven
geance, which makes hafte towards them, will terribly
and eternally convince them of the fatal mifchief of it
by the various plagues that fhall feize upon them.
The living werm mail gnaw their confidences, and
the fire of God will torment their fpirits, and fpread a
raging anguifh through their whole natures ; and eve
ry twinging accent of their pain fliall teach them, but
with a terrible and hopelefs conviaion, what unfpeakable
evil is contained in fin. They will then find what a fearful
thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, who
has a right, and power to, and will punifh, Heb. x. 31.
O that each of us might arrive at this holy wifdom,
to learn the dreadful evil of fin from this Bible, this-
book of the divine law and grace, and not provoke
the bleffed God to teach us fo neceffary a leffon by
the rod of his vengeance ! O that we could look upon
every urilawful aSion, and particularly every fin a-
gainit confcience, as the feed of that worm which will
gnaw our fouls in hell with intenfe pain, as part of that
fuel which is kindling into a flame to torment our
confidences for ever, and that under the powerful in
fluences of thefe reprefentations of fin we might fly to
the utmoft diftance from it with horror, and make our
fafe efcape ! /
Refletl. II. If the punifhments of hell, appointed by
the bleffed God, carry fo much terror in them, how
much miftaken are the finful children of men in the ideas
which they form of the great and bleffed God? This re-
prefentation of the vengeance of. the Lord in hell may
be of ufe to refute fuch miftaken opinions.
Some have framed a God for themfelves ; not fuch
as dwells in the heavens, not fuch as he has defcribed
himfelf in his word, but their vain imagination has
raifed up an idol made of mere goodnefs and mercy,
without holinefs and juftice : It is their ownfelf-love
which forms this idle and foolifh image of the God
that made them, becaufe they do not like to think of
falling

384 Tlie Nature of the Difc. Xlt
falling under the terror of his power. They venture
to affront him^ to his face, they dare him to ven
geance l, and, as the writer, of the book of job expref
fes it, they ftretch out their hands againft God, they
ftrengthen themfelves againft the Almighty, they run upon
him with infolencef and venture upon the thick boffes of
bis buckler, Job xv. 1 5. There are multitudes in our
day that are arrived at fuch a dreadful height of im
piety, as to call upon him for the damnation df them
felves, as well as of their friends, in fport and merri
ment : They will not believe that the blefled God will
ever be found fo fevere ,and formidable as preachers
defcribe him :- And becaufe judgment is not fpeed'ily exe
cuted againft the men of iniquity, therefore the fons of
men have their hearts fet in them to do mifchief. Mad
nefs is in their hearts, Ecclef. viii. 11. and ix. 3. Be
caufe God delays his indignation they will not believe
he has any belonging to him, notwithstanding all the
terrible words by which he is reprefented by the
prophets', the apoftles* and the Son of God himfelf:
And while they rufh boldly on thofe crirries which
God has feverely forbidden, they are ready fo think
God is juft fuch an one as themfelves, fegardlefs of vir
tue and government, Pfal. 1. 21. Arid becaufe they
make nothing of fin, they imagine God will niakd
nothing of it*
O that the fons of men would once learn fo know
God better, for there are many who have not the true
hnow(edge of God, I fpeak it to their fhame, when they
h.- cy he is all made up of gentlenefs and forbearance, '
without holinefs and juftice ! Alas, firs, thefe attri
butes are as neceffary in a God as grace and compaf-
fon : He is and he muft be a wife, a righteous gover
nor of the world ; and his wifdom requires that im
penitent finners fhould be punished, to fecure the ho-
iour of his law, and to guard his gofpel from con-
:empt *. Thefe awful perfeaions of the bleffed God are
* A governor made up of mere goodnefs and mercy,, could be
10 governor at all ; for it is abfurd to call that a government, where

Difc. XII. Punifhments of Hell*- 384
are as neceffary to vindicate his authority and his go
vernment from infult and rebellion, as his goodnefs is
needful to encourage finful creatures to repent and re
turn to their duty. The word of God exprefsly tells
us, he is a God of holinefs and a conflumingflre, Heb.
xii. 29. but there is many a finner tfiat will never
learn this leffon till the torments of hell teach it him
by difmal experience. They have trifled with his ma
jefty, and mocked at his threatenings all their life, till
at the moment of death he awakes like a lion, and
tears their fpirits with everlafting anguifh.
I might take notice alfo in this place, that there is
another miftaken notion of Ood, into which fome per
fons have unhappily fallen, as tho' God were the caufle
and author of fin, and have fpoken unadvifcdly with
their lips, in fuch language as borders too near upon
blafphemy. But it is evident, that a God, who will
punifh the fins of men with fuch intenfe pain and tor
ment, can never be fo inconfiftent with himfelf as to be ,
the author or caufe of thofe fins. It is granted, that
his univerfal providence has a concern in every thing
that is tranfaaed among men ; but fince he has in*
formed us in what a dreadful manner lie will execute
his vengeance againft finners in the world to come, it
is infolence and indignity againft the bleffed God to
reprefent him as introducing fin into our world. Let
God be true, though every man be a tyar ; let God be
pure, and righteous, and holy, though every man be
found guilty and criminal : Otherwife, how fhall God
judge the world ? How can he inflia fuch torrnents on
rebellious creatures, if he constrain or influence them
to praaife this rebellion ? All opinions therefore, that
G c c allow
where every fubject may do what iniquity and mifchief he pleafes
with impunity. The laws of fuch. a government would ceafe to
be laws, and become mere rules' and directions for living, which
every one might obfei've or nbr/juft according to his inclination*
To fay that it became the wifdom of God to threaten offenders,
but that his goodnefs will interpofe in the end and hinder the pu«
nifhment, is to fay, that God is not wife, for if he were, he would
certainly have taken care not to let thofe men into the feepet.
Bifhop Hott's fernions, p. J1.5.

386 The Nature of the Difc. XfL
allow of fuch an inference, as though God were the
author of fin, muft be pronounced falfe and pernicious
to men, as well as injurious to the juftice of God; for
thefe notions throw a vile imputation on the bleffed
God, and charge him with heinous insincerity, to for
bid the commiffion of fin by all thefe terrors, and yet
fuppofe him to influence men to the praaice of them.
, Reffea. III. How reaflonable is it for us to believe, that
fuch a hell, as I have defcribed, is prepared for impeni
tent finners, flnce there are fo many appearances of the
beginnings of it here on earth, fo many indications, and
figns, and forerunners of fuch mifery and tor/nent in-
fliaed on finful men : Survey the remarkable execu-<
tions of God's judgments on the world in feveral ages
and nations; look back to our firft parents, who were
thruft out of paradife, the garden of pleafure, and ba
nifhed from the gates of it for ever, upon the account
of the firft fin, and the entrance of it was guarded by
a flaming fword to forbid their return. Behold the
flood of watery vengeance in the days of Noah break
ing up from the vaft caverns of the earth, and pouring.
down from the windows of heaven to punifh fin : Deep
calls unto deep in the tremendous noife of thefe water-
fpouts, which fpread death and defolation over the face
of the whole earth, becaufe all flefh had 'finned 'againft
God their creator. Turn your eyes to Sodom and Go
morrah, and the cities of the plain, fuffering the ven
geance of heaven with lightning and devouring fire
burfting from the clouds to punifh the unnatural
crimes of that country. See the fiery flying ferpents,
as the meffengers of divine anger, to punifh the rebel
lion of the Ifraelites in the wildernefs : Mark what
multitudes in the camp of Iflrael received their mortal
fling, and were given up to deftruaion and death.
Call your eyes abroad over the nations, and what re
cords have we of all former ages, which do not mani
feft the vengeance of God purfuing the iniquities of
men, by wars, and famines, and peftilences, and eve
ry thing that is bitter and dreadful to hurriah nature.
See Jerufalem, the city of God, all in flames, and the
whole

Difc. XII. Punijhments of Hell. ' 387
whole land of Judea laid defolate with deepeft diftrefs,
diffufed and reigning among all the inhabitants of it :
Above a million of them were aaually flaughtered and
confumed by famine and fword, as a facrifice to the
anger of God, for their long provocations, and the
cruel barbarous murder of his Son jefus. And when
you have taken all thefe surveys, then tell me if fuch
terrors of the Lord do not give us fufficient warning
what unknown agonies and deftruaions may be expec
ted by obftinate and impenitent finners from the hand
of God, when the utmoft limits of his patience re-
ftrain his wratrf no longer, but his wifdom gives a
loofe to all his fiery indignation.
To inforce t.his yet upon your hearts, think again
of all the pains and torments of flefh and fpirit, which
arife from the diftempers of body, and from the an
guifh of foul, even in this prefent ftate of trial, this
land of hope, this feafon of divine long-fuffering. Go
to the hofpitals, where the gout and ftone, and rheu
matifm, and a thoufand maladies torture the nerves
and the joints of men with intolerable fmart ; and in-
for thence what God will inflia both on the flefh and
fpirit, or the foul and body of finners, in the day of
his compleat vengeance, when his offers of mercy and
the years of his grace are come to their laft period.
Go and furvey the fields of battle arid flaughter, where
thoufands of the dead and the dying are mingled in
confuted heaps, and groan out their fouls in fong an
guifh and extreme torture, with bruifes and wounds
and all the fmarting effeas of the inftrumehts of war.
Now if all thefe things come under the condua of di
vine providence in a finful world, which is yet in a
way of hope, what may thofe refolved and obftinate
rebels expea, when all the dpors of hope, are fliut up
for ever, and providence has nothing to do on earth
or in hell, but to execute the vengeance of a God.
Shall we take one ftep yet further, and think of the
inward pangs of confcience, which fome awakened
criminals have felt in this life on the account of fin,
when the arrows of God have been fhot into their
fouls,

388 The Nature of the Difc. XIL
fouls, and the poifon thereof lies drinking up their
fpirits ? Think what dreadful ferments of paffion, and
rage, and hatred of God have been found in the
hearts of fome finful creatures, when they have grown
mad with revenge againft God, and againft themfelves,
and envy againft all their fellow-mortals, who are not
in the fame circumftances ; think yet again how ter
ribly their mifery muft be aggravated, when the tor
ture of everlafting defpair attends all the reft of the
pains and forrows they suffer ; and then fay, if the de-
fcription of a future hell in the word of God may not
be true and real. What anguifh beyond all the power
of prefent thought and language, may feize all the
powers of wilful and impious rebels againft the author
rity and the mercy of God, when all the flores of his
vengeance that have been treasuring up for many years,;
fhall be poured out upon them without any mitigation
or mixture of mercy.
Reffea. IV. It is matter of furprize, and great qfto-
nijhment, that thoufands and ten thoufands of the finful
children of men, from day to day, and from year to year,
are walking on the borders of all this mifery, and yet are
fo thoughtlefs and unconcerned about it. They carry
peaceful and eafy minds in the midft of this dreadful
danger, and while they have all the symptoms of the
children of wrath upon them, they live without fear,
and make np effort toward their efcape. Wretched
creatures indeed ! Who have a mortal difeafe upon
them that will breed this growing worm of confcience,
that, will grow up into all this anguifh and diftrefs,
and yet are fenfelefs of their own peril, unacquainted
with their own ftate of foul, and are daily treading
their earthly rounds of bufinefs and of pleafure with a
merry heart. All the heavy artillery of divine ven
geance is ready to be difcharged upon them as foon as.
the door pf death opens arid lets them into the invi
fible world ; and yet they walk on fearlefs and joyful,
and have no guard or defence from all this mifery, be
tides their own vain prefumption. Stupid creatures,
to lie down at- night, and awake in the morning with
in an inch of hell, and yet fecure and fearlefs! They live

Difc. XII. Punifhments' of Hell. 389
live without God in the world, and that even in this land
of light and hope, where he offers to vifit them with
all his graces ; and yet they are hafting hourly to the
eternal world, where they muft meet and, behold him
in all his terrors.
Will nothing awaken you, O ye obftinate tranfgref
fors againft God, ye obftinate rejeaers of his grace
and gofpel ? Will nothing warn you to flee from the
wrath to come ? But juft thus it was in the days of
Noah; the finners of that generation would not heark
en to that preacher of righteoufnefs ; and even when
they faw the clouds of heaven grow big and black o-
ver their heads, and the rain began to be poured
down from the fkies, little did they imagine that it
would have drowned the earth, till they were over
whelmed with the rifing deftruaion. And fo fhall it
be in the days of the Son of man, when all the warn
ings of the preachers have been defpifed, and the
threatened vengeance of the book of God derided,
when they have fet up for bold and witty feoffors,
and impudently demanded, where is the promife of his
coming ? Then fliall the great and terrible day of the
Lord come, and pour out upon them the full meafure
of Wrath and indignation.
K it npt time, my friends, to bethink yourfelves,
whether this be your cafe ? Is it not time for every
one of us to examine our fouls ? Am I expofed to this'
danger ? Am I every moment on the brink of this
mifery, and yet content to continue fo one nighf or one
day longer ? Can I ever hope to efcape the fury of a
God, while I thus abufe his patience ? Or can 1 have
any expeaation of living with him as my God here
after, if I never feek after him here? The face of God,
as a stranger in the world to come, carries infinite ter
rors in it, and yet we are content to be ftrangers to
him, and to five without his acquaintance. The
wrath of God-abides upon every man who is unregene-
rate in this life, and who has not trufled in the name of
the Son of God, John iii. $6. yet they are thoughtlefs
©f it, for they feel it not: but the moment when they fliall

39® T'he Nature of the Difc. XII,
fhall awake into the world of fpirits, that wrath will
be felt With fudden and dreadful anguifh, as a moft
unfupportable burthen, and will crufh all the, powers
of the foul into torment,
Reffea. V- It deflerves, and it demands our higheft
gratitude to the great God, our bumbleft acknowledge
ments and our moft exalted praifos to his majefty and his
mercy, that we, who have long ago deflerved this mifery,
are not yet plunged into the midft of it : That we have
not been entirely cut off from the land of hope, and
fent down to this deftruaion. Bleffed be the name
and, the grace of our God for ever and ever.
While there are thoufands who have been fent
down to the place of punifliment, whence there is no
redemption, before they had continued fo long in fin
as many of us have done, what a peculiar inftance is
it of divine longfuffering and goodnefs, that we are
not aaually put under the fling of this living worm,
under this' fiery vengeance from the hand of God ?
What was there in us that fhould fecure us from this
deftruaion, while we continued in our ftate of guilt,
rebellion and impenitence ? Have we not feen many
finners on oUr right hand, and on our left, cut pff in
their fins, and to all appearance they feem to be fent
down to the place of forrows ? What is it but the
fpecial mercy and diftinguifhing favour of God that
lias dealt thus kindly with us, and fpared and faved
us, week after week, and month after month, while
we continued in our iniquities, and has given us fpace
for repentance and hope ? What fhall we render to
the Lord for all his patience and long-fuffering, even
to this day ? How often have we incurred the penalty
of the law of God, and the fiery fentence of condem
nation by our repeated iniquities, both againft the au»
thority and the grace of God ? And yet we arc alive
in his prefence, and are hearing the words of hope
and falvation. O let us look back and fhudder at the
thoughts of that dreadful , precipice, on the edge of
which we have fo long wandered. Let us fly for
efcape to the refuge that is fet before us', and give a,
thoufand

Difc. XfL Punifhments of tielt. 391
thoufand glories to the divine mercy that we are not
plunged into this perdition.
Reflecl. VI. Let us learn from this defcription of hell,
and our imminent danger of it, the infinite value and
worth of the gofpel of Chrift : This gofpel, which calls
us aloud to fly from the wrath to come, and points
out to us the only effeaual way to efcape it. What
can all the riches of the Indies do to relieve us under
the guilt and diftrefs into which fin has brought us ?
What can the favour of princes, and the flattering
honours of the world do to refcue us from this dan
ger ? What can the higheft guft of fenfuality, and the
moft exquifite delights of flefh and blood do to feeure
Us againft this over-whelming mifery ? It is only the
gofpel of the bleffed Jefus is our refuge, and our
fafety from the tremendous deftruaion.
What are the heights, and depths, and lengths of
human feience, with all the boafted acquifitiohs of the
brighteft genius of mankind ? Learning and feience
Can meafure the globe, can found the depths of the
fea, can compafs the heavens, can mete out the dif-
tances of the fun and moon, and mark out the path of
every twinkling . ftar for many ages paft, or ages to-
come ; but they cannot acquaint us with the way of
falvation from this long, this endlefs diftrefs. What
are all the fublime reafonings of philofophers Upon
the abftrufe and moft difficult fubjeas ? What is the
Whole circle of fciences which human wit and thought
can trace out and comprehend ? Can they deliver us
from the guilt of one fin ? Can they free us from one
of the terrors of the Almighty ? Can they affuage the
torment of a wounded fpirit, or guard us from the
impreffions of divine indignation ? Alas, they are all
but trifles, in comparifon of this bleffed gofpel, which
faves us from eternal anguifh and death.
It is the gofpel that teaches us the holy fkill to pre
vent this worm of confcience from gnawing the foul,
and inftruas us how to kill it in the feed and firft
fprings of it, to mortify the corruptions of the heart,
to refift the temptations of Satan,, and where to wafh
awav

394 The Nature of the Difc. Xifi
away the guilt of fin. It is this blefled. gofpel that
clearly difcovers to us how we may guard: againft the
fire of divine wrath, or rather how. to fecure our fouls
from becoming the fuel of it. It is this book that
teaches us to sprinkle the blood of Chrift on a guilty
confcience. by faith, /. e* by receiving him as fincere
penitents, and thereby defends us from the angel of
death arid deftruaion. This is that experimental phi
lofophy "of the faints in heaven, whereby they have
been releafed from the bonds of their fins, have been
refcued from the curfe of the law, and been fecured
from the gnawing worm and the devouring fire.
A. ferious meditation of hell in its exquifite pain
and forrow, Will inhanCe our value of the falvation of
Chrift, and will exalt our efteem and honour of the.
love of God, who has delivered us from eternal death.
If we will but appoint our thoughts to dwell a little
on the terrors and vengeance from which the bleffed
Jefus has refcued us by his glorious undertaking, if
we will ' ftretch • the powers of our fouls, and furvey
the lengths, and the breadths, and the depths of this
diftrefs and mifery, which ^ we have deferved* this will
difcover. to us the heights, and the depths, and the
lengths of his love, who fubmitted himfelf to the
curfes of the law of God, and was made a curfe for
us, that he might redeem us to the poffeffion of an
eternal bleffing, Gal. iii. 23. This will fhqw us what
exceeding riches of the grace of God have been laid
out upon us for our falvation. This will fpread be
fore us the unmeafurable love pf Jefus, which has
brought him down from the bofom of his Father into
fuch agonies as he fuftained in the garden, and on the'
crofs, that he might refcue us from the wrath to,
come. O what immenfe and endlefs debts of grati'
tude and love are due from every ranfomed finner,
who has been releafed from the bonds of his guilt,
and from all this wretchednefs, by the love of God
the Father, and the grace of his Son jefus Chrifl, to
whom be glory and honour, and moft exalted praife,
for ever and ever. Amen.
D I S-

C 393 )
DISCOURSE XIII*
The eternal Duration of the Punifh-
ments in Hell.

Mark. ix. 46."
Where their Worm dieth not, and the Fire is not quenched.
SECT. I.
Arguments to prove the Perpetuity . of Hell.
WrfEN the great and bleffed God had a mind
to make known his wifdom, his power, and
his goodnefs amongft creatures, he built this world -as
a theatre, in which thofe perfeaions of his nature
might be difplayed amidft the various work of his
hands : He fpread it round with the bleflings of life
and pleafure, he over-hung it with a canopy of fkies
and ftars, and placed the glorious bodies of the fun
and moon there, to appear in their alternate feafons ;
and even amidft the ruins which fin has brought
into this world, yet ftill every eye may behold the
traces of an Almighty, an All-wife, and a bountiful
God. When the fame Divine and Sovereign Being de
figned to exalt and diffufe the wonders of his grace
among the beft of his creatures, he built a heaven for
them, and furnifhed it with unknown varieties of beau
ty and bleffing : And we would hope in our appointed
feafon to be raifed to this upper world* and there to
behold the riches of divine magnificence and mercy,
and to be fharers thereof among the reft of the happy
inhabitants. D d d But

394 The eternal Duration of the Difc. XlfL
But fince fin and wickednefs has entered into his
creation, of men and angels, he faw it neceffary alfo to
difplay the terrors of his juftice, and to make his wrath
and indignation known amongft rebellious creatures,
that he might maintain a juft awe and reverence of his'
own authority, and a conftant hatred of fin through
all his dominions. For this purpofe lie has built a belly
a dreadful building indeed, in fome difmal region of
his vaft empire, where he has amaffed together all
that is grievous and formidable to fenfible beings, and
wicked fpirits carry their own inward hell thither with
them, a hell of fin and mifery ; and though he has
fent his own Son to acquaint us with the diftreffes and
agonies of that doleful world, and to warn us of the
danger of falling into it ; yet if any of us fhould be fo'
unhappy as to continue in an obftinate ftate of impe
nitence and difobedience to God, we fliall be made tp
confefs, by dreadful experience, that not one half hath
been told us.
Therefore hath God fet before us thefe terrors in
his word, that we might fly from this wrath to come,
and avoid thefe fufferings : And therefore do his mini
fters, by his commiflion, proceed to publish this ven
geance and indignation of the Lord, that finners might
be awakened to lay hold on the hope that is fet before
them, and might be affrighted from plunging them
felves into this pit of anguifh, whence there is no re
demption. We have taken a fhort furvey of thefe miferies, in-
the kind and nature of them, in fome former difcourfes,
and we, are now come to the laft thing contained in
our Saviour's defcription of hell, and that is the perpe
tuity of it : The mifery is everlafting in both the parts
of it, for their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quench
ed. The arguments which fliall, be employed to prove
it, are fuch as thefe.
I. Argument. The exprefs words of Chrift and his
Apoftles pronounce thefe punifhments eternal ; and
furely thefe words are given to be the foundation of
our

Difc. XIII. . Punijhments in Hell. ^9S
our faith and praaice, and the rules of our hope and
fear. My text feems to carry plain and unanfwerable
evidence in it. Their worm dieth not, and the fire is
not quenched. And it is many times repeated in this
chapter, and that with a fpecial accent on the eternal
duration of it,, to make that circumstance of it more
obferved, and to aggravate the terror. Such an aw
ful repetition from the lips of the Son of God fliould
make the found of the vengeance dwell longer on the
ear, and the threatening fink deeper into the foul.
Let us next obferve the final fentence which Chrift,
as Judge, pronounces againft impenitent finners among
the fons of men, as well as againft fallen fpirits, in
Matth, xxv. It is this, Depart, ye curfed, into everlaft
ing fire, prepared for the devil and his angels : And as
foon as the fentence is pronounced, it is immediately
executed, as our Saviour foretels, in the laft verfe.
Thcfle fhall go away into everlafting punifliment, and the
righteous into life eternal. What he pronounces as a
Judge, he foretels alfo as a Prophet, that it fliall be
put in execution.
The exprefs word of God, in defcribing the punifh
ment of finners by the pen of his two Apoftles Paul
and John, declares the fame thing, % Thef. i. 9. They
Jhall be punijlied with everlafting deftrutlian from the pre
fence of the Lord. And the book of the Revelation
gives us affurance, that thefe miferies fhall have no
end. Rev. xiv. 10, 11. The antichriflian Idolaters,
who worjhip the beqft, Jhall drink of the wine of the
wrath of God, which is poured out, without mixture, into
the cup of his indignation, and fhall be tormented with
fire and brimftone in the prefence of the Lamb, and the
fmoak of their torment afcendeth up for ever, and ever.
Jude the Apoftle bears his teflimony in the fame man
ner, ver. 6. the damned flpirits, who kept not their firft
ftation, are faid to be caft down into hell, and bound
in chains of everlafting darknefs. Now, fuppofe a man
plunged into a pit of thick darknefs, by the command
' , of

396 The eternal Duration of the „ Difc. Xlll.
of God, and bound there with everlafting chains ;
what hope can he ever have of deliverance ?
And if Chrift and his Apoftles, who were taught hy
him and by his bleffed Spirit, affert this punifhment
fhall be eternal, who fhall dare to contradia them ?
Who is there fo rafh and confident as to' fay, " This
*f torment fliall not be everlafting, this worm one day
" fhall die, and this fire fhall be quenched?" Does
it not approach to the crime of contradiaing the Al
mighty, and the true God ?
II. Argument. There is a fort of infinite evil in fin,
arifing from the confideration of the perfon againft
whom it is committed, i. e. the great and bleffed God;
for every crime, according to the law pf nations, and
the common fenfe of mankind, takes its aggravation
from the dignity of the perfon offended, as well as from
the heinoufnefs of the ail ; fo reproaches or affaults
againft a king, or a father, are much more criminal and
heinous than the fame affaults or reproaches caft on an
equal or an inferior ; but all fin being an offence againft
God, an infinite objetl, and a violation of his law, is
a difhonour of infinite Majefty, an affront to the divine
authority, and therefore its aggravations arife in that
proportion to a fort of infinity, and require an equal
punifhment. But becaufe the nature of a creature
cannot fuffer infinite punifhment in the intenflenefo of the
pain, therefore he muft bear it to an infinite duration,
i. e. to all everlafting.
When divine juftice pronounces a fentence againft
the finner, equal to the demerit of fin, it muft be in
finite, i. e. eternal ; and the finner fhall never be re
leafed from the prifon and the pUrtifhment, till he has
paid the utmofl farthing, Matth. ix. 25. and till he has
made fatisfaaion to God, equal to his demands, and
the demerit of the offence.
I know this argument is treated with much contempt
and derifion among thofe of the moderns, who would
diminifli the evil of fin, and fhorten the punifhment of
jt : But it is much eafier to ridicule it than to anfwer it:

Difc. XIII. Punijhments in Hell. 097
it : A jeft is no refutation. And after my beft furvey
of it, I think, without prejudice or partiality, the
force of it feems to me unanfwerable as to the defert
of fin ; and I am not afhamed to employ it in the sup
port of this truth.
It is but a very feeble oppofition can be made to it
by thofe who fay, that if fin be counted an infinite evil,
and muft have infinite punifhment, then all fins are equal,
and will require equal punifhment, for there are no dif
ferent degrees in infinity, or in things which are in
finite. But our Saviour has taught us, that there are cer
tainly various degrees of punifhment as well as of fin :
He affures us, that it Jhall be more tolerable for the in
habitants of Sodom and Gomorrha, in the day of judg
ment, than it fhall be for Capernaum and Bethfaida,
where he had preached and wrought his wonders,
Luke x. 12, &c. and the reafon is plain, viz. becaufe
the fins of Sodom were lefs than theirs.
And it is very eafy to anfwer this-ipretence or objec
tion about the equallity of all fins, for fins may have
different degrees of guilt and aggravation as to tjie atl,
where the objetl is the fame, whether this objea be
finite or infinite ; as the murder of, a father or a king,
is a much greater crime than a reproach oxflander caft
on the fame perfons. So the wilful hatred of God and
blasphemy againft hini, with continued malice and pu
blic violent oppofition to his name, or law, or gofpel,
are far greater fins than a fingle negfea of his daily
worfhip. for fear of perfecution, or a diftrufting his
providence, though both have the fame infinite Being,
/', e. God, for their objea ; and in this fenfe there is a
fort of infinity in each of the crimes.
And accordingly punijhments may be proportioned
to every crime, for they may differ greatly in the de
gree of feverity and torture, though they may be all
equal or eternal in the duration, Sodom and Gomorrha,
Capernaum and Bethfaida, may all fuffer infinite or
everlafting forrow, and yet the degrees of their pain
> may

39S The eternal Duration of the Difc. XIII.
may be exceeding different all the while. They may
have the fame infinity of duration,- though very diffe
rent as to the intenfenefs or degree of the pain.
III. Argument. If the iniquities committed in this life
were not punifhed with torment which is everlafting,
yet the damned in hell are ever finning againft God,
and therefore they provoke the vengeance of God to
continue his punifhing hand upon them for ever. The
law of God, in all its demands of duty, its prohibitions
of fin, as well as in its fanaions of punifhment, conti
nues for ever in force in heaven, and earth, and hell,
and we fee not how it can be abrogated where it
arifes from the very nature of God and a creature :
And curfed is he that continues not in all things which
the law requires, Gal. iii. Every new fin demands a
^ new curfe and a new punifliment, and there is no rea-
. fon which forbids a righteous governor to ceafe punifh
ing, while ~tiie rebellious creature will not ceafe to
offend, and efpecially while he maintains an everlaft
ing enmity and rebellion againft the law of God his
Creator. •
If therewere any humble meltings of repentance in
the guilty foul, if there were any sincere mournings in
the finful creature for having offended his Maker, if
there were any foftnefs of heart, relenting under a
fenfe of the evil of fin, and returning^to obedience and
duty, even this would not oblige a righteous and wife
governor to forgive the criminal ; repentance is no
compenfation for a wilful offence ; nor is it thought
unrighteous or unwife for a prince to punifh even a
penitent offender with death.
But let us propofe the cafe in utmoft favour to a
finner againft the bleffed God, let us imagine that di
vine wifdom and- divine mercy perhaps might be fup
pofed to contrive and to offer fome propofals to juftice
in a way of compaffion, and might enquire whether
the fentence of punifhment could not be reverfed, or
the terror of it relieved, or fome new ftate of trial pro
pofcd. Let it be added in favour of the criminal, that
we

Difc. XIII. Punijhments in Hell. 399
we do not find through all the book of God the aau
al praaice of true repentance beginning among men,
but it has been always followed with proportionable
degrees of compaffion from God : But, on the other
fide, when there is nothing found in the heart of a
finner but obftinacy, and malice, and revenge, eur-
fing and blasphemy againft the Almighty, without the
leaft moving or melting into a genuine penitence or
holy forrow, without any meek fubrrriffion to the ma
jefty and juftice of God, or humble imploring his
mercy, what reafonable hope can fuch wretches have,
that their chains of darknefs fhould be broken, and
the prifoners releafed from the vengeance? When they
fhall curfe his juftice, becaufe it punifhes their crimes,
When they fhall curfe his mercy, becaufe.it did not
fave their fouls, andvcurfe and blafpheme the blood of
the bleffed Jefus, becaufe it has not wafhed away thek
fins, what poffible excufe can be made for fuch crea
tures ? Or what poffible expeaation can there be for
fuch criminals, but an everlafting continuance of the
fiery indignation ?
Here it will be replied, but why fhould we fuppofe,
and much more, why fhould we affirm, the damned
will never repent? Are they, not free in the other ,
world from this flefh and blood, wherein there are fo
many unruly paffions and appetites ? Are they not far
remote from all the temptations of flefh and fenfe, of
intemperance, ambition, and covetoufnefs ? Have they
not understanding to fee divine truths more clearly than
in this -world? Have they not reafon to diftinguifh good
and evil, and free-will to chufe that which is good ? Will
they not hate all fin, fince they have been fo long taught
the mifchief of fin by their fufferings ? And is there
any thing -fitter than their agonies and torture by-
fire, to make men know and feel the dreadful evil of
finning againft God, and awaken them to repentance?
To this hanflwer, let us judge a little concerning the
finners in hell, by the praaice of finriers on earth.
How m*viy wretched creatures are there who have
been

4oo The eternal Duration of the Difc. XIIL
been long imprifoned, artd perhaps punifhed for crimes
againft the ftate, and yet perfift in their rebellious
temper, and are never convinced they were in the
wrong* fo far as to change their treafon into sincere
fubmiffion, repentance, and obedience? Was not Pha
raoh, king of Egypt, an. inftance of the ftubbornnefs
and impenitence of human nature, when in oppofition
to ten dreadful plagues he would' ftill pursue the flying
Iflraelitts, artd deftroy a people beloved of God? Is
not hardriefs and enmity againft the governor often
increafed by the fevere punifhments that criminals lie
urider ? Have thefe punifhments any fufficient power
to fatten their hearts into true repentance ?
What though they do not live in the midft of fenfual
temptations, yet who knows how far their fpirits, ha
ving been immerfed in flefh and blood, may carry
with them inward raging appetites to thofe finful fen-
fualities and defiling pleafures, of which they are for
ever deprived ?
Let me afk again, have the devils eVer repented in
almoft fix thoufand years? Are they not the fame ene
mies to God, and his glory, and his image through
all ages ? And though the, damned fpirits of men are
abfent from this world, and their evil companions on
earth, yet are they not in the fitteft company to teach
them. pride, and rage, refentment and malice, and the
moft unfit to teach them humility, repentance, and o-
bedience to God ? And when they have perverfely fin
ned away all the means "of grace in this life, is it rea-
fonable to imagine, that God will powerfully foften
their hearts by his fovereign grace, fince he has never
given the leaft hint or inftance of it in all the difcove
ries made in the Bible? Andxhas it not been often one
way of God's punifhing finners here in this world, by
letting them go on in their iniquity and madnefs to the
end ? And why may not the wifdom arid juftice of
God fee it fit to treat finners, who have been incorri
gible in this life, by the fame method in the world to

come ?

IV. Argument.

Difc. XIII. Punifhments in Hell. 401
IV. Argument. The natural effeas artd confequences
of fin living, in the foul* are mifery and torment fo
long as the foul lives, i.e. for ever. Sin, though it
be a moral evil, as it is committed againft God, yet it
is' fuch an enemy to the nature of man, that where it
has eftablifhed its habit and temper in the foul, it na
turally prepares conftant anguifh of confcience and
certain mifery. A wicked fpirit all over averfe to God
and goodnefs, gone from this world and all the footh-
ing or bufy amufements of it, intenfe in its defires of
happinefs, and yet a ftranger to all that can make it
truly happy, and at the fame time fhut out by God's
righteous judgment, frpm all the means and hopes of
grace, muft needs be miferable, and has prepared a
ftate of endlefs mifery for itfelf, becaufe its nature and
duration are immortal. An unholy creature who loves
not God, and cannot delight in things holy and hea
venly, but derives its chief joy from finful pleafures,
can never tafte of felicity, can never relifh the fatis
faaions that come from the knowledge, and love, and
enjoyment of God ; and when it is torn away, and
banifhed from all the fenfible amufements of this life,
it muft and will be a wretched creature in the world
of fpirits, and that by the very courfe of nature: And
God cannot be obliged to change the eftablifhed
courfe of nature to relieve this mifery which the finner
had wilfully brought on himfelf; nor can God make-
him happy without giving him- a new temper of holi
nefs, which he is not obliged to do by any perfeaion
of his nature, or any promife of grace.
If the foulsof men are immortal, fuch will their paffions
be, their defires, thexxjears, and their for rows. Now
their natural defires of happinefs, as I have faid, will be in
tenfe and ftrong, when God, the fpring of all happinefs,
who hath been renounced and abandoned by them,
hath now for ever forfaken them, and feparated himfelf
from therm. What can there remain for them but ever
lafting darknefs and defpair, without a dawn of hope
through all the ages of eternity? Their guilty confciences,
E e e with

402 The eternal Duration of the Difc. XIIL
with the views of God's unchangeable holinefs, will for
ever fill them with new fears and terrors, what fhall be
the next punifhment they are to fuffer. Such is the ftate.
of devils at this time, who expea a more dreadful pur
nifhment at the great day, as feveral places of fcrip- -
ture make evident. Their being immerfed in the guilt
pf fin, and under the conftant and tyrannical domini
on of it, will overwhelm them with prefent grief, with
cutting forrows, and horror unfpeakable, which will
fink into the centre of their fouls, and make them an
eternal terror and plague to themfelves.
Again, let us confider their immortality of foul will
be fpent in thinking : And what comfortable or hope
ful objea is there in heaven, earth, or hell, on which
they can fix or employ their thoughts for one moment,
to give a fhort releafe from their extreme mifery? So
that they are left in endlefs fucceffions of moft painful
fhoughts and paffions from the very nature of things.
Again* fuppofe this body of mine were by nature
immortal, and was defigned by my Creator in its con-
ftitution to live for ever ; and fuppofe by my own fol
ly and madnefs, my own wilful indulgence of appetite
and paffion, I had brought, fome dreadful diftemper
into my flefh which was found to be incurable, whe
ther it be the gout or the ftone, or fome more ter
rible malady of the nervous kind, muft not this gout,
by neceffity of nature, become an immortal gout ?
Mull not thefe diftempers be immortal diftempers*
and create eternal pain ? And is" the God of -nature1
bound to work a miracle to cure and heal thefe dif
eafes which I have wilfully brought upon myfelf by my
own iniquities, and that after many warnings ? Is it
unrighteous in God to let me languifh on amidft my
agonies and groans as long as my nature continues irt
being, i. e. to immortality ? And efpecially when
there are valuable ends in divine providence, and
God's government of the world to he fubferved, by
fuffering fuch wilful, rebellious, and impenitent crea
tures to become facrifices to their own iniquity and his
juftice.

Difc. XIII. Punifhments in Hell. 403
juftice, and perpetual monuments to other worlds of
their own madnefs and his holinefs. Such is the cafe
of a finful fpirit, and therefore a God of juftice may
pronounce upon it, and execute the eternal mifery.
SECT. II.
The ftrongeft and moft plaufible objeclions againft the per
petuity of heir anfwer ed.
I think thefe reafons, which have been given, are
fufficient to juftify the minifters of the gofpel in repre-
fenting the punifhments of hell as everlafting : But
man, finful man does not love to hear of this dread
ful perpetuity of hell : They would fain find' fome pe
riod to thefe forrows, they fearch on every fide if there
be no way for efcape frorti this prifon, no door of mer
cy, no cranny of hope left among the reafons of
things, or among the attributes, or the tranfaaions of
the bleffed God : And they are ever propofing fome
rnethods to cut fhort this eternity, which fcripture
afcribes to the punifhment of impenitent finners. I
fhall endeavour therefore here to give a fair and plain
anfwer to the ftrongeft objeaions againft this doctrine
Which I eVer yet have met with.
The firft objerlion is raifed front a criiicifm on the
words of fcripture. The Greek and Hebrew words, fay
they, which we tranflate eternal arid everlafting, where
the torments of hell are mentioned, aire not always
ufed for proper and complete eternity, they fometimes
fignify only a long duration : So God gave Abraham
and his feed the land of Canaan for an everlafting pof
feffion, Geri. xvii. 8. but now the Turks poffefs it. Se
veral of the ftatutes of the Levitical law were faid tb
be everlafting, Lev. xvi. 34. But they are all abolifh-
ed iri the Gospel. The fons of Aaron had an everlaft
ing priefthood coriferred upon them, Exod. xl. 15.
But this office is cancelled by the kingdom of the Mefl-
fiah, and finiflied for ever.
J * Befides,

404 The eternal Duration of the Difc. XIII.
Befides, let it be remembered, fay the objeaors,
that the Hebrew word oViy 01am, and. the Greek
Aiav and Aiwk fignify only the various ages or periods
of time which belong to the duration of creatures,
or to fome conftitutioris of God concerning his crea
tures : And they fhould be tranflated an age, or ages,
more properly than any thing elfe.: And the adjep.
tive A/a»of , when applied to creatures, can relate only
to thefe ages ; but thefe expreffions were never defign
ed to enter into God's own eternity, either before the
exiftence of this world, or after the confummation of
it : Upon which reafon it is highly improper and ab-
furd to affert, that the duration or punifhment of crea
tures in hell fhall be properly eternal and equal to the
duration of the bleffed God himfelf. Now fince
every thing in God's tranfaaions towards creatures is
fometimes limited by thefe Aianc, or ages, which are
periods of time that fhall be finifhed, why may not the
damnation and the forrows of hell be alfo finifhed
and cancelled at a certain length of years, though the
common words, which we tranflate eternal and ever
lafting, he afcribed to them in Scripture ?
Anfw. i . Thefe are the fame words both in Greek,
and Hebrew, by which God expreffes his own eternity,
which is abfolute and complete without end. He is;
the everlafting God, Gen. xxi. 7,3- The eternal God,
and his everlafting arms, Deut. xxxiii. 27. Rom. i. 20,
and xvi. 16. and feveral other places. Thefe are
the words alfo ,by which the Scripture expreffes the
duration of the felicities of heaven, and the eternal
life and happinefs of the faints, Dan. xii. 2. Rom. vi.
23. John iii. 15, &c. Now, why fhould we not fup
pofe the fame words to fignify the fame duration,
when the Old or New Teftament fpeaks of everlaft
ing burnings as the vengeance of God againft the
wicked, Ifai. xxxiii. 14. or everlafting Jhame and con
tempt ? Dan. xii. 2. And efpecially where the joys of
the faints, and the mifery of finners, are fet in oppofi
tion tp one another in the fam& text, as in Dan. xii.
and

Difc. XIII. Punijhments in Hell. 405
and Matth. xxvi. 45. The wicked Jhall go away into
everlafting punijhment, and the righteous into life eternal?
And yet further, when we find this doarine fufficient-
ly confirmed by many other places of Scripture which
fet forth the eternity of thefe torments ? 1 grant, that
the eternity of God himfelf, before this world began,
or after its confummation, has fomething in it fo im-
menfe and fo incomprehenfible, that in my moft ma
ture thoughts I do not chufe to enter into thofe infi
nite abyffes ; nor do I think we ought ufually, when
we fpeak concerning creatures, to affirm pofitively,
that their exiftence fhall be equal to that of the blef
fed God, efpecially with regard to the duration of
their punifhment : Perhaps this fort of language may
carry in it fomething beyond what we are called to
difcourfe about, at leaft in this mortal ftate, and there
fore fuch comparifons are more fafely omitted.
But I would remark here ftill, that thefe A/an? or
ages both of reward and punifhment, which are pro
nounced concerning faints or finners, do but begin in
their perfeaion at the end of this world ; and thence
it follows, that they muft enter far away into the eter
nity of God's exiftence yet to come : And the faints
will be made happy, and the finners will be punifhed
for long ages after the end of this world, and all the
A/anr or ages of it.
And though God, by his Spirit, has not been pleaf
ed to make this comparifon exprefsly, nor affert our
duration commenfurate with his own, yet he is pleaf
ed to exprefs the duration of the punifhriient of fin
ners in the fame common language and phrafes, where
by he expreffes his own duration, and the happinefs
of the faints ; and hereby he encourages us to exprefs
thefe punishments by the fame common words in our
language too, rather than venture to cut them fhort
by a Greek or Hebrew criticism, without any divine
warrant or neceffity *.
Now
, * The word aifioc perpetual, is alfo applied to the chains of
devils, Jude vi- as well as to God, Rom. i. and however the word Oiiar

*%o6 The eternal Duration of the Difc. XlHj,
Now are there any finners fo Void of underftand-
ihg, of fo daring and defperate a mind, as to venture
their eternal all upon fuch a poor criticifrh pf words ?
Even upon fuppofition thefe. terms in the Greek and
Hebrew might fignify any lortg duration fhort of eter
nity ; yet there is a terrible hazard in confining theni
to this fenfe, fince they dp not denote a proper eter
nity, when they defcribe the duration of the bleffed
God ; and I think we may add alfo, the duration of
the happinefs of the faints.
Besides, let it be remembered, that the* other ex
preflions of Scripture, which denote arid pronounce
the perpetuity or eternity of thefe punifhments, are
hot liable to the fartie criticifm or ambiguity of a word.
Their fire fhall be unquenchable, or is not quenched',
their worm dieth not. They have no reft day nor night,
they Jhall be tormented day and night for ever and «r,
Rev. xx. 10. Thfefe expreffions feem fo carry with
them a more* certain fignification of the perpetual con;
tinuance of the punifliment. Now can the tempter
and the deceiver of fouls have fo unhappy an irtflu;
ence over you, as to perfuade you to venture onward
in the paths of fin, to put off religion* and delay your
repentance, and negfea the means of falvation, iri
hopes that hereafter this weak criticifm, upon fome
of the threatnirigs, may take place before the Judge
of the whole earth, and thus excufe or fave you ? Is .
not fuch a forry refuge atid prefumptiori a dangerous
and a difmal fign upon impenitent finners, that fin
and Satan have darkened your underftanding., and
confounded your judgment, as well as hardened yoUf
hearts, in order to your everlafting deftruaion ?
Anfw,
day and aiuvte may be ufed for ages or periods in this world,
yet aiavtr twv aiuvuv or ages of ages, is never applied in all the
New Teftament to any thing but Cod or Chrift, or the bleffediiefi
of faints, or the punifhment of finners ; and therefore we may
well conclude, that all thefe four run into an eternity beyond all
the fuppofed1 periods of this world; and far beyond all our con
ceptions.

Difc. XH1. Punifhments in Hell. 4<$j?
Anfw. i. Suppofe the punifhments of hell continue
pnly for a long time, and not for an endlefs immorta
lity, yet this time would certainly be found exceeding
long for finners to bear the torment even according to
their own criticisms. Let us confider this matter un
der fome particulars. The Jewifh difpenfation, which
is fometimes called everlafting, flood near about fifteen
hundred years, from Mofes to Chrifl ; and are ye con
tent to languifh and groan under torrnents and miferies,
for fifteen hundred years, merely to fatisfy your vici
ous appetite of pleafure for a few days or a few years
of this mortal life ?
Again, The rebellious finners, who were deftroyed at
the flood, and their fpirits, which were fent into the
prifon of hades or hell, were certainly confined there
four and twenty hundred years : And if they were
releafed then, as fome imagine, by the preaching of
Chrifl to them, it is a long and dreadful time to con
tinue under the vengeance of God ; an*d is it worth
while for any man to continue in fin on earth, and to
venture this length of punifhment in hell ? '
What I build this computations upon, are fome ex
preffions of St Peter, i Epift. iii. 19, 20. where Chrift
is faid to preach unto the fpirits in prifon, which fome
time were difobedient, when once the longfuffering of
God'waited in the days of Noah ; fome have fuppofed,
that this text informs us of Christ's defcent into hell
after his death, and then preaching to thofe rebels
who were drowned in the flood, near two thoufand
four hundred years before^ in order to awaken them
tp repentance and falvation : Whereas others think
this text may be better expounded concerning the
fpirit of Christ given to Noah, which made him a
preacher of righteoufnefs, when he foretold and
threatened a flood of waters, and called men to re
pentance. But if it fhould be granted, that thofe rebellious
fpirits among the dead did all repent, and were deli
vered by this preaching of Christ, would you chufe to

408 The eternal Duration of the Difc. Xllt
to indulge the delights of fin for a fhort feafon, and
venture .twenty-four hundred years of torment and
anguifh for it ? ,
Yet further, the devils have lain under punifhment
near fix thoufand years, viz. four thoufand before
Christ came, and almoft two thoufand years fince*
which may be thus computed from what St Jude fays
of them. The angels who kept not their firft ftation,
they, were caft into chains of darknefs probably before
the creation of this our world, for they were fallen*
and tempted Adam to fin as foon as this world was
made : And they had been confined in thefe chains
from that time about four thoufand years before
Christ came, and are waiting ftill for yet fharper pu
nifhment at the judgment of the great day. judevx.
and it is evident that they are confeious of this terror
* and this future increafe of punifhment, for they ex-
poftulated with, our Saviour, Matth. viii. 29. Art thou.
come to torment us before the time ? Now it is near two
thoufand years fince Christ came, and from the time
of their finning, unto this day, it is almoft fix thou*
fand years : And when the great day of judgment
comes, their fiercer punifhment is but then to begin :
And are not the devil and his angels fentenced and
confined to dwell together with the wicked children
of Adam, when they fhall be configned at that dread
ful day td the fame" everlafting fire and torment, which
was prepared for thofe evil fpirits ? And who knows
when their torment will end ? Now what folly and
Jhardnefs of heart, or rather what madnefs is it for'
men to continue in their fins, to delay their return to
God, and abandon the grace of the gofpel under this
foolifh flattery and wild presumption, that above fix
thoufand years hence perhaps a certain day may come
when the worm of confcience will die, and the fire of
hell will be quenched ? Such presumption is madnefs
and diftraaion rather than reafoning.
The fecond objetlion is derived from the juftice and
equity of God : Surely may fome perfon fay, the juftice of

Difc* XIIL Punijhments in Hell. %§g
of God will proportion the punifhment to the offence $
but fince our fins are but the actions of mortal and
fhort-lived creatures, and are committed in a few
years of time, why fliould the punifliment be immor
tal, and the angels be lengthened out to eternity?
Can a righteous God pronounce fiich a fevere and
unjuft feutence, and execute it in its full dimensions ?
Anfw. It is not the f ength of time Which Wicked
men fpent in committing their fins, nor the nature of
the perfons who have finned, that determines the mea-
Tures of punifliment, but the dignity of that infinitely
glorious Being, againft whom fin is committed, that
gives fuch a high aggravation as to require punifh
ment withbut end. How many instances are there
'amongft men wherein offenders againft their neigh
bours, or againft a magistrate, who fpent but a few
moments in the crime, yet are doomed to imprifoh-
ment for months and years ? And a lower degree of
trefpafs againft a king, which is fliort,of high treafon,
is fometimes punifhed with cenfifeafion of goods, and
with poverty and clofe imprifonment for life : And by
the fame reafon, the fins of men being committed
againft a God of infinite majefty, require art endlefs
punifhnient,' as I have proved in the fecond argu
ment : And therefore divine juftice proriourtces or in-
flias no longer penalty than the crimes of men de-
ferve, according to their aggravations. If any finners
tarry then till they have paid the utmOft farthing to
cfvine juftice, I grant God will releafe them, but he
has given us no hope before.
The third objeclion is drawn from the fovereignty and
goodnefs of God, It is granted, fay they, that the
threatnings of eternal death are denounced againft
.finners in Scripture, yet it is not neceffary God Ihould
execute'thern to the full. When a law is made, the
threatnings of it only declare what punifhment the
offender fhall be expofed to, and fhall be obliged to
bear when it is infliaed ; but thefe expreffions in a
law do not oblige the government to inflia that fen-
' F f f tence

410 Tlie eternal Duration of the Difc. Xfff*
fence with all, its terrors. It is granted* that in the
cafe of promifes, truth and veracity bblige the promifer
to fulfil them punaually, becaufe the right of the
thing promifed paffes over to that other perfon. to
whoni the promife was made, and he hath fuch a right
to require it, that it is injuftice to with-hold it from
him ; and therefore everlafting felicity muft be given
to the righteous : but in threatnings the cafe is other-
wife ; for though the full punifliment is due to fin-
nefSj yet they will never require the execution of it;
and the goodnefs of -God will inclirie him to relieve
the fufferer, and to releafe him from the feverity of
fuch a punifhment* where his veracity or truth does
riot forbid it.
To this I anfwer two Ways :
ift, I will not debate this' point of law now, how
far a governor of fovereign and abfolute authority
can difpenfe with his own threatnings, can omit the
execution of them, relax the degree of threatned pu*
nifhment, or fhorten the duration of it : But let it be
confidered, that here is not only the threatning of a
God, the univerfal Governor, but the preditlion of
this eternal punifhment, by a God who cannot lye. God's
own truth and veracity are concerned in this cafe*
fince his Son jefus, who is the greateft of his meffen
gers, together with the Prophets and Apoftles, have
in the name of God often foretold, that thefe punifh
ments fhall be eternal : And therefore whatfoever an
abfolute governor might do, as to fhortening the pu
nifhment threatned, in a way of mercy and relaxation;
yet I cannot fee how the truth and veracity of God
himfelf, or the veracity of his Son Jefus Chrift, who
is the great Prophet, or the truth of the reft of his
prophets and meffengers can be maintained, if this
punifhment be not executed according to the many
exprefs prediclions of it. Thefe all agree to tell us,
by inspiration from heaven, in various forms of fpeech,
that the torments of hell fhall be everlafting ; and (as
I hinted before) the man Jefus who pronounces this
eternal

Difc. XIII. Punijhments in Hell. 41 1

\

eternal fentence as a Lord and a judge, foretels it alfo
as a Prophet, that the execution of it fliall he to all
everlafting. Anfw. 2. Obftinate and impenitent finners have no
reafon to expea, that the goodnefs of God fliould re
leafe them from their miferies, fince the justice and
fhe holinefs, the righteous government and authority
of God in his law require and demand their due of
honour, as well as his goodnefs. Do we not fee thefe
honours of divine juftice, and of God's hatred of fin,
have been continually demanded and executed in the
infinite and innumerable evils, forrows, miferies, dif
eafes and deaths, that have been fpread over this world
almoft fix thoufand years becaufe of fin ? Nor does his
goodnefs forbid or hinder it.
And let it be remembered too, that all this immenfe
variety and long focceffion of plagues and terrors arofe
originally from the juft indignation and refentment pf
God againft one fin, even that of the firft man. Who
Was it that burnt Sodom and Gomorrha with fire from
heaven ? Who was it that chained fallen angels in dark
nefs to a more terrible judgment ? Was it not a God
of fupreme goodnefs ? Who fent famines, and pesti
lences, and flaughters all over the earth in many di
ftina generations, whereby mankind have been made
abundantly wretched, and plunged into millions of
diftreffes? And yet the goodnefs of God, abides for
ever. And while the great God is aaing according
to the glories of his nature and government in punifh
ing rebellious creatures, his goodnefs will feel no fort
, and fenfible impreffions from all their groans and out
cries ; but if I may fo exprefs it, will be changed into
juft indignation without end. And the language of it
to thofe impenitent wretches will be this, becaufe I have
called and ye refufed, ye have fet at naught all my coun-
flel and would none of my reproof, I will laugh at your
calamity, I will mock when -your fear cometh ; when
your fear cometh as defolation, and your deflriitlion
as a whirlwind, when diftrefs and anguifh cometh upon you,

'&\% The eternal Duration of the Difc. XIII,
you, then fhall ye call upon me, but I will not anfwer ;
ye fhall feek me early, but ye Jhall not find me ; for he ¦•
bated knowledge, and- did not chufe the fear of the Lord:
Ye would none of my cottnfels, ye defpifed all my rebukes ;
therefore fhall ye eat of the fruit of your own way, and be
filled with your own devices. Take them, angels, bind
them hand and foot, and caft them into everlafting fire
and utter darknefs ; there Jhall be weeping, and wailing,
and gnafhing of teeth, Prov. i. Matth. xxii. 13.
Let us ceafe then to murmur againft the threatnings-
and the tranfaaions of the great God, till we are be*
come fitter judges of his perfeaions and their demands.
Let us cavil no more againft his condua and govern
ment, till we can teach him how far his punifhing
juftice fhall go in the execution of his threatnings, and
till we can affign to him -the point and limit where his
goodnefs fhall iriterpofe and reftrain that juftice.
The fourth objetlion is derived from the retlitude of
the nature of God, or his common equity and mercy united,
which has been reprefented in this manner. Suppofe"
one of the damned fpirits among mankind fhould ad
drefs himfelf to the great God in fuch fort of language
as this, " Lord, I was created by thy fovereign plea-?
" fure without my own will, I did not defire to be
" made, much lefs to be born in fuch a relation to
*' Adam, whereby I brought a finful nature into the
" world with me ; but I was united by thy power and
*¦' "pleafure to a body which had the feeds of fin an4
" mifery in it : There were ftrong appetites and vio-
" lent paffions mingled with my flefh, and blood, which
" I myfelf had no hand in procuring ; they fermented
" in me with much vehemence,"and i was tempted to
" many exceffes ; I made fome refiftance at firft, and
" many times tried to, fubdue them, but 1 was over*
" come : At laft I fuffered myfelf to be carried away
*' by-the flream of thefe finful affeaions and appetites
" which I could not poffibly avoid, nor eafily fubdue.
" Is it agreeable to thine equity, O bleffed God, to
" punifh fuch a poor wretch with everlafting torments? « And

Difc. XIII. Punifhments in Hell. 413
s< And can thy mercy continue to fee this my mifery
" for ever and ever, and not help me ? I intreat thee,
" O thou almighty Author of my being, to deftroy
" and annihilate me utterly foul and body ; take away
" this being which I never afked nor defired ; nay,
" which I would not have confented to accept among
" the finful race of mankind, becaufe in this track of
" generation and exiftence 1 flood much more likely
" to be miferable than to be happy."
Anfw. 1 ft. As for the reafonablenefs and equity of
the conveyance and communication of the original ef
feas of the fin of Adam through every generation of
man, it is granted there are fome difficulties attending
it ; but thefe are generally anfwered by the writers on
that fubjea ; and for me to divert from my prefent dif
courfe, in order to debate this point here, would be
£00 tedious.
The equity of this wife and awful conftitution of
God has been lately vindicated in a large treatife on
the ruin and recovery of mankind, efpecially in the fe-
Cond edition of that book. But it is enough for my
prefent argument to fay, that God himfelf will ,make
the equity of this conftitution to appear with much
more evidence and conviaion in the laft great day,
when millions of aaual criminals fhall ftand before the
judgment -feat, who owe the firft fpring of their fin and
ruin to our common parent, and yet will fall under the
righteous condemnation of the Judge.
Anfw. 1. When God decreed to give thee a being,
O finner, and defigned thee in his eternal ideas to be
a man, placed among a thoufand bleflings of nature
and providence, it was then a favour of thy Creator ;
for thou wert defighed alfo in this original divine idea
to have full fufficiency of power to become wife and
happy. It was alfo a favour from thy Creator, that
he took all thefe thy fufficiencies of power, and put
them into the hand of one man, even the father of thy
race, becaufe he was as wife, and holy, and as well
jable as any man of his posterity could be, to preferve his

414 The eternal. Duration of the Difc. XIII.
Jiis ftation in the favour of God, and to fecure thy
happinefs together with his own ; and he had much
ftronger obligations to obey his Maker, and more
powerful motives to fecure thy happinefs than thou
thyfelf, or any Angle man could poflibly have, becaufe
he was intrusted wifh the felicity of fo many millions
of his pwn dear offspring, as well as his, own. Now
though Adam, thy firft father1, being thus furnifhed
with fufficiencies of power, and with the ftrongeft obli
gations, to preferve himfelf and thee, has aaually fin
ned and ruined himfelf and his offspring ; (this is in
deed an unhappy truth ;) but the great God is not to
blame, who has not orily aaed wifely but kindly' tor
Wards his creatures in this conftitution, becaufe fo far
as we can judge, it was much _more probable that A-
dam would have maintained his innocence and his hap
pinefs, together with that of his offspring.
Again, when the race of man was ruined", and God
faw that every man would >come into the world under
unhappy circumftances of guilt and corruption of na
ture, he provided a covenant of grace, and brought
thee into fome knowledge of it : And this had been
effeaual to have recovered and faved thee from the
ruins of the fall if thou hadft exerted all thy force,
employed all thy natural powers of underftanding and
will for this purpofe, and ufed all thy diligence to fol
low the methods of his grace, and hadft fought ear-
nfcftly for divine aids : For there is no man among the
damned is able to fay, / have done every thing that was
in my power to do : No man fhall be condemned for
what was utterly impoffible for him to avoid : It is
confeffed indeed, thou art laid under fome hardfhips
and difficulties by the fin of thy firft father ; yet it is
thine own aaual and perfonal crimes for which thou
art here condemned at this judgment, wherein every
one Jhall be judged and rewarded according to his works :
It is for many wilful pffences againft the law of God,
and for finning againft the offers of divine grace ; it is
for obftinacy againft thy own confcience, and all the
outward

Difc. XIli. Punifhments in Hell* 415
outward and inward monitions of thy duty, that thou
art fallen under this fentence* and becaufe thou didft
not labour and strive againft fin, and refift it even to
the end of thy ftate of life ahd trial. Thou haft had
many an inward reproof for fin, many a fecret or pub
lic call to virtue, and perhaps loud and fair warnings
of thy danger ; but thou haft turned a deaf ear to
them all, and it is thy own folly, obftinacy, and ini
quity* that have brought thee into this mifery, and
thou muft eat the fruit of thy own works.
If there fhould be any perfon found indeed among
Jews, Gentiles or Chriftians, who can juftly complain,
I have not had a fair and full ftate of trial, and yet 1 am
condemned, I .think we may grant that the righteous
God will releafe fuch from their mifery, after they
have worn out a proper number of years iri punifli
ment proportionable to their paft crimes ; and that
there fhall be a fair, and full, and proper ftate of trial
appointed to them before they fhall be utterly and un-
retrievably miferable : But if no fuch perfon be found
there, if there be no fuch juft complaint to be made
among the millions of the damned, then they may be
ftill continued in their prifon and punifhment without-
any imputation upon divine juftice and equity.
• AnfW. 3. Whenfoever any fuch criminal in hell fliall
be found making fuch a sincere and mournful addrefs
to the righteous and merciful Judge of all, if at the
fame time he is truly humble and penitent for his paft
fins, and is grieved at his heart for having offended
his Maker, and melts into sincere repentance, I can
not think that a God of perfea equity and rich mercy
Will Continue fuch a creature under his vengeance; but
rather, that the perfeaions of God will contrive a way
for efcape, though God has not given us here any re
velation or difcovery of fuch fpecial grace as this.
But on the other hand, whatever melting and mo
ving speeches may be made by finners here on earth,
in compaffion to the finners who are gone before them
to hell ; yet if no fuch perfon be ever found in hell,
truly

4*6 The eternal Duration of the Difc* XIlL
truly and humbly repenting of his fins, nor have we
any reafon to think there ever will, why fliould a
righteous God be obliged to ceafe punifhing a rebel
Who only is vexed and raged under his own chains,
and who continues in the fpirit of obftinacy and rebel
lion againft God, arid will not repent of it ?
Objeclion the fifth is derived from the mercy and com
paffion of a God, compared with the mercy and compaffion
of man. Surely the compaffion of the ever-bleffed God*
who has defcribed himfelf rich in mercy, abundant in
goodnefs, and whofe very name is love, i John iv. 8.
muft have tranfcendent tendernefs. and pity towards
his creatures, the work of his hands, above all the
compaffions that any one fellow-creature can exprefs
towards another. Now the very thought and name
of eternal punifhments, or endlefs torment, is fuch as
feems to fhock the nature of a good-natured man ;
and though he Was never fo much injured, yet'.he
would never have a thought of wifhing his enemy any
kind of eternal punifliment for it, much lefs of con-
c mning him to everlafting mifery, and fupporting
him in being on purpofe to fuffer it ; and therefore
we Cannot fuppofe that God will do it.
This objeclion is further fttengthened by an expref
fion of our Saviour himfelf, who fays, Mark xviii. 19*
There is none good, fave one, that is God : As much as
to fay, there is none equal or, comparable in goodnefs
to God himfelf : And it is further fupported ftill by
the common notions which good men have of God ;
thofe expreflions in the apocryphal writings confirm it*
2 Efd. v. 33. Then faid the Lord unto me, thou art fore
troubled in mind for Ifrael: Loveft thou that people more
than he that made them ? And in the fame book; chap.
viii. 47. Thou comeft far Jhort, that thou Jhouldft be able to
h . - y creature moire than I. Now fince no good man
cc ' wifh fuch a curfe or mifchief to his worft and
moft wicked enemy, as torment without end, furely
w< cannot conceive the great God will ever be fo fe
vere as to inflia n> Anfwer iff.

Difc. XIII; Punijhments in Hell. %\f
Anfwer ift, It is readily allowed, that God has
more goodnefs than any creature, but God has alfo
inore wifdom and knowledge, which concur with his
goodnefs in all his aaions, and he forms a much j utt
er judgment concerning the evil and demerits of fin
and rebellion againft himfelf, than it is poffible for any
Creature to form : And I think I may boldly affertj
hone can know the complete evil of fin, or its full de-*
fert, but that fame glorious Being againft whom fin is
committed, who knows well the dignity of his own
nature arid his own law, and what unfpeakable injury
is done thereto by the fins of men. Now his good
nefs in all his tranfaaions muft be regulated and
limited by this infinite wifdom ; and if a man does
not fee and confent to the juft demerits of fin a-
gainft his Maker, it is becaufe he has lefs wifdom and
knowledge than the great God has,, and his tender
nefs and compaffion may run into very great exceffes4
and may be in fome iriftarices a fign of his Weaknefs
and folly, as well as of his goodnefs and pity, as I
jhall fhew under the next anfwer.
At prefent let us reprefent the cafe in a common in
ftance. When criminals go to execution from month
to montfi, or from year to year, in this great city j
and efpecially if fome of them have a handfome and
agreeable appearance, and if they are wringing their
-hands with outcries, and vexing their own hearts, and
are flung by their own confciences for their having
brought this mifery upon themfelves* you will find fe
veral of the fpeaators of fo tender a make as to grieve
for the execution of fuch criminals, and to wifh in
their hearts it was in their power to fave them. And
yet further, if there are numbers of thefe wicked crea
tures that are fent at once to the punifliment of the
fword or the gallows, there may be many of thefe
fpeaators grieving for them, and pitying them, and
perhaps exclaiming againft the feverity of the law,
and the cruelty of the judge, for condemning fuch
malefaaors to death. Ggg Bu*

4i 8 The eternal Duration of the Difc. XlsL
But do all thefe weepers and complainants judge
juftly of the cafe ? Do they confider how pernicious
and ruinous a thing it would be to a government to
let fuch traitors go unpunifhed ? Do they know, that it
is a piece of clemency and goodnefs to the innocent
to punifh the wicked ? Or that it is a piece of neceffa
ry honour due to the laws, to make thofe who info-
lently break them fuftain the penalty that the law has
appointed ? Do they remember that the few good
qualities, or fuppofed talents, of fine appearances
which thefe offenders are poffeffed of, fhould out
weigh the demands of the law and jufticej the peace
of the nation or kingdom* and the reftraint of others
from the fame crimes ?
Anfw. 2. The goodnefs of God, the eternal fpirit, is
a much fuperior thing to the tendernefs and compaffion
of man dwelling in flefh and blood* Man grows coin- >
paflionate by a fort of fympathy or fenfation of the mi
feries which his fellow-creatures endure ; and though
this is exceeding ufeful for many purpofes of human
life, and therefore God planted it in our natures ; yet
it has fo much mixture of animal nature with it, that
it frequently degenerates into weaknefs, fondnefs, and
folly. And indeed, if every tender creature muft be
gratified in this weaknefs, and form the rules of go
vernment, there would never a malefaaor fall under
execution, but the vileft criminals would be fpared*
though the government were ruined.
On the other hand, the goodnefs or mercy of God is
a fedate willingness or defign to do good to creatures,
and particularly to the miferable, but always accord
ing to the direaions of wifdom and holinefs. As God
cannot have fuch anger, refentment, or cruelty in his
nature, as mankind may fall into when they are pu
nifhing offenders, fo properly fpeaking, he has no fuch
fort of paflionate tendernefs and fympathy in fparing
them : Though the words of greateft affeaion are
fometimes ufed by the facred writers to figure out the
mercies of God to man ; yet God both punifhes and
fpares

Difc. XIII. Punifhments in Hell. 4Io
fpares according to the calm and righteous exercifes
of his wifdom, and not under the influence of fuch
paffions as we feel.
Since therefore the exercife of foch fort of paffions
amongft men oftentimes appears to be the weaknefs of
nature, joined with their ignorance of the rules of
equity, is it reafonable that the great and all-wife God
Jhould make fuch creatures his patterns in the limita
tion of the exercifes of his juftice? Or that he fhould
be as weak as they are, and as much moved to fwerve
from the rules of his own righteous government
by fuch a fort of tendernefs as ignorant, weak and
foolifh man may fometimes exprefs towards criminals
in their deferved mifery ?
It is readily granted, that a wife and a good man may
and ought to be forry and grieved, that any of his
fellow-creatures fhould be fo vicious as to bring them
felves under fo fevere a penalty by their own wilful
crimes ; but ftill in their calmeft and wifeft thoughts;
they acknowledge the wifdom and equity of the go
vernment, hi infliaing fuch penalties upon thofe who
heinoufly offend, and they acquiefee in the fentence
and the execution.
Our bleffed Lord Jefus himfelf, who was the wifeft
and the beft of creatures, looked upon the city of Je
rufalem with an eye of compaffion, and wept over it,
Luke xiii. 34. 0 Jerufalem, Jerufalem, thou that killeft
the prophets, and Jloneft them that are fent unto thee, how
often would I have gathered thy children as a hen doih
gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not ?
Therefore behold your houfe is left unto you de folate. Let
it be obferved here, that our Saviour had the bowels,
and compaffions, and tendernefs of the beft of men j
but he ftill maintains the vindiaive exercife of the go
vernment of God. " Your defolation muft and fhall
" come upon you, nor will I forbid or with-hold it."
And I am fure the human nature of our bleffed Savi
our was formed neareft to the image of God beyond
a-ny creature besides ; and as I have hinted before, it

42o The eternal Duration of the Difc. XIII,
is he who is the fupreme meffenger of his Father'9
love, that has pronounced thefe eternal punifhments
Upon impenitent finners in many parts of his ministry,
' Anfw. 3. How far will thefe objeclors permit they^
tice of God to go in the punifhment of impenitent-
finners ? If eternal punifliment muft neither be threat
ned npr infliaed, left divine goodnefs be injured, then
all mankind, even the worft and vileft of criminals,
muft certainly be one day delivered from their mife
ries ; and thus the great God, who is infinitely offen
ded, is bound fo finifh his wrath one day, and return
in mercy to the offenders, whether they return to him
by repentance or no. What ! May the criminal rebel
creature with impudence and fpite affront the Creator
infinitely, and muft not the Creator have a right to de
mand equal vengeance ? No, he muft not, according
to thefe writers : For if the effential goodnefs of God
do certainly forbid eternal punifhments, thefe abfurdi-
ties, as grofs as they appear, will be the neceffary con-
fequences of it : And though the creature be not re-r
ftrained from finning, yet the bleffed God will be ut
terly reftrained from punifhing: And is this a doarine
fit to be believed by Chriftians, or to be taught by
thofe who have no commiflion for it from their Bible ?
Or indeed, will the light of nature and reafon ever-
juftify and fupport this fort of pleading ?
Objeclion the fixth is drawn from the wifdom of God
in his government of the world. Surely, will the finner-
fay, it was for fome valuable end that God at firft
pronounced punifhment to attend the fins of .his crea
tures, for he does not afiftitl willingly, nor delight tp
grieve the children of men : His defign muft be therefore
one of thefe two things ; either to corretl and reform
the finners whom he punilhes, and reduce them to
their duty, in order to partake of his mercy, or elfe
it muft be to maintain a public monument and demonflra-
tion of his juftice, and to fupport the authority of his
law, and honour of his government, that he might
deter other creatures from finning againft him : But
when,

Difc XIII, Punijhments in Hell* 42 1
when this world is come to its period, and his govern
ing providence over it is finifhed, and all the means of
grace are ended, the first end, viz.. corretlion and refor
mation ceafes : There is no more hope of reforming
fuch finners as thefe. And what further need can
there be of the fecondary defign of punifhment, viz,
the demonjlration of his juftice in fo terrible a manner
to reflrain others from finning, when the ftate of our
trial is ended, and all mankind are fent either to hea
ven or hell ?
Anfw. 1 . I might here reply, by way of conceffion,
that if there were no other intelligent creatures to be
witneffes of thefe eternal demonstrations of God's ho
linefs, his juftice and his hatred of fin ; and if God
himfelf was the only Being who knew of thefe eternal
punifhments, I acknowledge I cannot fee fufficient rea
fon for this endlefs duration of them ; I cannot give
any probable account why creatures, who are never
to be correaed and reformed, fliould be tormented
for ever in fecret ; God perfeaiy knows his own holi
nefs and juftice without fuch monuments of it ; and
fince he has afferted this punifhment, I think there
muft be fome creatures to receive a moral influence
from the knowledge of it.
I anfwer 2dly, When there is a reprefentation made
pf the punifhment of the worfhippers of the beaft in
Rev. xiv. 10, 11. that they fhall drink of the wine of the
wrath of God which is poured out without mixture, and
they fhall be tormented with fire and brimeflone, and the
fmoak of their torment afoendeth for ever and ever, it is
In the prefence of the holy angels as well as in the pre
fence of the lamb. Angels and other innocent Beings
may improve fuch a fight to valuable purpofes.
Objeclion thefoventh, When we remember that Je
fus Chrifl himfelf hath affured us that but few fhall be
faved, and that the broad way is full of finners run
ning down to deftruaion and death ; if we fuppofe
thefe punifhments to be endlefs, fome will be ready
to fay. What ! fhall the greateft part of God's crea-:
tures.

422 The eternal Duration of the , Difc. XIII.
tures be made miferable for ever and ever ? Is this
confiftent with the wifdom and goodnefs of the bleffed
Gpd, to form fuch an immenfe multitude of fouls
dwelling in bodies, to make them for ever miferable ?
What will a God of goodnefs have tp prove his good
nefs to -his creatures, if far the greateft part of them
are left, in everlafting forrows ?
Anfw. The far greateft part of the creation of God
may be holy and happy , ftill; For this world of ours,
even all mankind, is a very fmall portion of God's
immenfe dominions -x and when the tranfaaions of
our earth, and God's prefent government of it fliall be
finifhed, he has a thoufand other dominions among
the planets and ftars, which has been proved by the
reafon of men to a great degree of probability ; and
thefe he governs by righteous laws, and though he
has not revealed much of them to us in this life, yet
he has difcovered fomething of this kind in his own
word : He has acquainted us with his wife hid righ
teous government over fallen angels, and what was
their fin, viz. their pride and ambition, and what was
their punifhment for their firft rebellion, Jude vi. and
this is done by the wifdom and mercy of God to af
fright men from finning, while we behold how thofe
fallen fpirits ate expofed and fet forth as terrible ex
amples for our warning. And why may not the ever
lafting punifliment of finners among the children of
men be made a ftanding monument of God's juftice,
to deter many other worlds from offending him? Other,
worlds, I fay, of unknown creatures, which perhaps
may inhabit the planetary globes rolling round the
fame fun as our earth does ; and their ftate of trial
perhaps is not yet begun, or it may be half run out,
and yet fhall not be finiflied for fome thoufands of years?
Or perhaps there are other worlds of fpirits, and
invifible, incorporeal, intelligent creatures in a ftate of
trial, may perfevere in glorious innocence and com
plete happinefs, to the eternal praife of their Maker's
goodnefs, and may yet be kept in their conftant duty and

Difc. XIII. Punijhments in Hell. 45* 3
and obedience, by having always in their view the
eternal punifhments of wicked men. See this fubjea
treated of more at large in a book called, The ftrength
and weaknefs of human reafon, 2d edition, p. 288.
The counfels of God are far above our reach, and
his dominions and governments are unknown to us.
What if the great God will have creatures in fome of
his territories, who in themfelves are weak and ready
to fall, and may be deterred from fin and apoftacy by
fuch flanding manifeflations of his hatred of it, and
his righteous vengeance againft it ? And fince others
have been monuments of warning to us, what if he
pleafe to make this wicked world of ours, when he
has taken the few righteous out of it to heaven ; I
fay, what if he pleafe to make the reft an everlafting
fpeaacle of his juftice and holinefs to a hundred or a
thoufand other worlds, which may be utterly unknown
to us ? And he may, for this end, reveal his tranfac-
tions with mankind to thofe worlds, though he lias
not revealed much of their affairs to us.
If I were to mention any other objeclion worthy of
notice, I know of none but this, viz. fome learned men
fuppofe it to have been the opinion of the primitive fa
thers, that fouls departing from this world were fent
into hades, or the ftate of the dead, where the righte
ous refted in a ftate of peace and hope till the refur-
reaiori fhould bring them to heaven : And the moft
wicked amongft mankind went alfo to hades, or this
ftate of the dead, under a long and fearful expeaa
tion of the final punifhments of hell : But that great
multitudes who were of an indifferent charaaer, and
who were not fo bad but they might be reclaimed,
had another ftate of trial in hades, whither, they fay,
our Lord Jefus Chrifl at his death defcended and
preached the gofpel fo them, and many of them were
recovered, and fhall be hereafter raifed to eternal life.
The chief Scripture whence they borrow this is 1 Pet.
iii. 19,20. of which we have fpoken before; and
that at the great day of judgment the incorrigible fin
ners

4^4 The eternal Duration of the Difc. XUf.-
ners fhould be fent with the devils into the punifiV
ment of fire, which, though it may. laft for a fliorter
or longer time, yet fhould deftroy both their bodies
and their fouls for eVer*
To this 1 anfwer firft* If this had beeri the doaririe
of many ancient Chriftians, yet unlefs they could
bring plainer proofs of it from the word of God than
one difficult and obfcure text of St Peter, there is np
great reafon for us to receive from them fuch tradi
tions. The Word of God is our only teft of truth,-
and our inftruaor in matters of the invifible world.
Anfw. 2d* Though there might be a few of the
early Writers who feemed to incline to fome of thefe
opinions ; yet this fenfe is drawn out from moft of ,
them' by learned men with much difficulty, Uncertain
ty and conjeaure : And there are "many others of
them who make the punifhrnents of hell as durable
is the writers of later ages : Nor do they mention or
allow of any fuch fort of purgatory for fouls of an in
different charaaer as this objeaion pretends. Thofe
Who look into their writings will find abundant evi
dence, that moft of them talk of eternal punijhment by
fire in the very words and language of the New Te
ftament, and in direa oppofition to this doarine of
temporal punifhments in hell. I fliall cite but two
writers, one of which is the very earliest of the fa
thers, an acquaintance of St P##/Vand that is Clemens
the Roman, who in the eighth feaion of his fecond
epiftle fays thus :
Lei us therefore repent whilft we are yet upon the
earth : For we are as clay in the hand of the artificer.
For as the potter, if he makes a veffel, and it be diftorted
in his hands, or broken, again forms it a-new ; but if
he hath gone fo far as to throw it into the furnace of fire y
he can no more bring any remedy to it : So we, whilft
we are' in this world, fhould repent with our whole heart
for whatfoever evil we have done in the flefh, while we
have yet the time of repentance, that we may be faved by
the Lord. For after we fliall have departed out of this
wor'ldf

Difc. XIII. Punijhments in Hell. 425
world, we Jhall no longer be able either to confefs our fins,
or repent in the other. The Englijh reader may find
this in Archbifhop Wake's tranflation of the moft pri
mitive fathers.
Juflin Martyr, who is alfo one of the moft early
writers, in the eighth feaion of his firft apology, tells
us, that Plato teaches that Rhadamanthus and Minos
punifhed the unrighteous who came before them; and
that we Chriftians fay the fame thing will be done, but
it is by Chrifl ; when their bodies are joined with their
fouls, and they Jhall be punifhed with eternal punifhment,
and not for the period of a thoufand years only, as Plato
faid. This fame writer alfo, in very many places of
his works, talks of eternal punifhment, and of punifh
ment for an endlefs age, and eternal fire, with eternal
fenfation or pain.
Irenaus alfo after him, as well as Ignatius and Poly-
carp before him, fpeak of this fire which is not to be
quenched, and of death and punifhment, not temporal,
but eternal. So that it is really an impofition upon un
learned readers to pretend, that the doarine which
denies the eternity of the punifhments of hell, was the
common fenfe of the primitive fathers, though it is
granted that Origen and fome others might be of this
opinion. '
To conclude ; fince the word of God has exprefsly
affured us, that thefe punifhments of finful men fhall
be eternal, it is not for us to hearken to any other
doarines, and negfea what God has faid, nor is it fit
for us to difpute the wifdom and juftice of divine con
dua, nor to impeach his goodnefs. Let God be true,
though every man be a liar ; let God be wife, though
every man be a fool ; let God be juft and righteous
in all his ways, though man vainly murmur againft
him, and raife thefe noify and feeble remonftrances
againft his judgments. The counfol of the Lord fhall
ftand, and he will do all his pleafure, in the eternal ma-
nifeftations of his juftice as well as his grace. If there
be any fuppofed inconfiftency or cloud of difficulty re-
H h h maining

426" The eternal Duration of the Difc. XIII,
maining on his cpndua, he will clear it up to the fa-,
tisfaaion of every rational mind one day, and will
bring the confcience of every condemned finner to
acknowledge the equity pf his proceedings : The whole
creation fhall then juftify the final fentence of judgment
on all the fons of men.
I cannot finifh this awful argument better than the
Apoftle finifhes the fame fort of fubjea in the ninth
and eleventh chapters to the Romans. 0 man, who
art thou that repliefi againft God? What if God, willing
to fhew his wrath, and to make his power kno-ivn, hath
endured, with much longfuffering, the veffels of wrath,
•who have fitted themklyesf or deftrutlion ? And that he
Plight make known the riches of his glory on the veffels of
mercy, which he hath afore prepared unto glory ? 0 the
depths of the riches, both of the wifdom and knowledge, the
juftice and the goodnefs of God, how unfoarchable are
his judgments, and his ways paft finding out ?¦ For of him,
and through him, and to him, are all things, to wham be
glory for ever and ever. Amen.
SECTION III.
Refletlions on the eternity of Punifhment in Hell.
As we have, before drawn various inferences from
the nature of thofe punifhments that are prepared for
finners irt the world to come, fo there are other 'infe
rences and terrfole refletlions which may be derived
from the duration or perpetuity of the torments of hell,
Reffea. I, What unfpeakable anguifh and torture doth
this one circumftance add to every pain and forrow of
damned creatures, that it is everlafting and has no end ?
What unknown twinges in the confcience doth this
thought give to the gnawing of the cruel worm, viz.
that it is a worm that never dies ? What unconceivable
force and fting pf torment does this add to the fire of
God's indignation in hell, that it is afire which fhall
never be quenched ? Wfieri one year of torment and,
fprrow

Difc. Xiii* Punijhments in Hell* 4if
forrow is ended, or one tlioufand years are come to
their period, the cafe of finners is ftill much the fame,
the vengeance remains ftill as heaVy as ever, and feems
as far off from its end. This dreadful price, which
the juftice of God demands for the reparation of our
offences againft his law and his authority, is a price
which creatures can never pay, for it is infinite ; and
therefore, when a finite creature begins to make pay
ment thereof with his own fufferings, thefe fufferings
muft be everlafting.
It is evident, that one wilful fin is fufficient to fink
creatures under the indignation of a God for fix thou
fand years : 1 call the angels who finned for witneffes
to this truth : They were formed in holinefs and in
glory before the creation of this lower world, and
probably they finned and fell before this creation too j
and they are yet imprifoned and Confined under perpe
tual chains of darknefs, as the word of God tells us,
and referved to everlafting punifhment at the judgment
of the great day. And if thou, O firmer, among the
fons of men, if thou dieft in an unregCnerate, Unholy,
and unpardoned ftate, the fins of thy whole life are
charged upon thee, and thou art daily treafuring up
wrath againft the day of wrath, and thoU fhalt not efcape
from this prifon till thou haft paid the utmoft farthing.
Rom. ii. 5. Matt. v. 26.
If one fin deferves all this mifery which has been de
fcribed, what a dreadful reckoning will the fins of thy
wfiole life come to, when every command of God
which thou haft broken fhall appear and demand re
paration for its injured honour? Remember, O finner,
obftiriate and rebellious, remember thou haft to do
with a great and dreadful God, who has all thine ini
quities ever before his eyes, Ifa. lvi. 5. Behold they are
written before me*, and I will recompence, faith the Lord,
their iniquity into their bofom. He is a God that will
never forget any one of thy crimes. Amos viii. 7.
The Lord hath fworn by the excellency of Jacob, furely I
vill never forget any of their works* Though thou haft

44 8 The eternal Duration of fhe Difc. Xllt
haft loft and forgot them, he will bring them again
into thy confcience with a terrible remembrance ; and
when this God comes forth in a way of Vengeance*
every tranflgreffion and difobedience Jhall receive a juft re
compence of reward. Vengeance belongeth unto me, faith
the Lord, Heb. ii. 2. and x. 30. He that flpared not his
own Son, when he laid on him the iniquity of us all, will
liever fpare thee who art the perfonal and criminal tranf-
greffor* Eternal recompences are due to the demands
of juftice, and he will punifh till full payment is made
equal to the evil of fin, i. e. to all eVerlafting.
Reffea* II. What infinite and eternal cbncerns of men
hang upon the jhort and flender thread of human life ?
An eternal heaven or an eternal hell depend on our
good or ill behaviour in this fhort and mortal ftate.
While life remains the tinner's hope remains; he abides'
on the ftage of aaion, and this is the ftate of trial for
eternity: But as foon as the thread of life is broken,
immediately ensues endlefs joy or endlefs forrow.
What a poor fleeting Vapour, what a thin and frail
bubble is this feeble and uncertain thing which we call
life ? And yet what matters of immenfe ittiportance
depend upon it ? This preterit life is a prize put into
our hands, for it is the only time given Us to obtain
deliverance and efcape from eternal death : Life in this
view, as mere a bubble and vapour as it is, carries in
it fomething of infinite and everlafting moment : But
alas, how wretchedly does foolifh and finful mankind
trifle and fquander it away amidft a thoufand vanities
and impertinencies, or faunter it out in floth and lazi-
nefs, with an utter disregard of the important eternity1
that depends upon it ? What multitudes are there that
wafte the golden hours of grace and the feafons of
hope, in procuring to themfelves, by their own wil
ful iniquities, a length of damnation and everlafting
defpair ?
Whilft we dwell here in the midft of the means of
mercy and falvation, there is hope that our finful fouls
may be healed of that difeafe which is breeding the
ever-

Difc. XIII* Punifhments in Hell* 429
ever-gnawing worm within us. We may prevent the
fuel of divine wrath from kindling into a flame which
cannot be quertched : But when once the clock of life
has gone through its appointed fpaces* and the laft
hour ftrikes, whether it be three or five, whether at
twelve at noort or at midnight, all hope is for ever
gone ; we are plunged into the regions of death* def-
pondency and darknefs, and nothing remains but the
aaual torture of the worm of confcience to feize on us,
and the fire of divine anger aaually breaks out, which
fliall burn to the loWeft hell.
O could We but behold ourfelves in the glafs of wif
dom, while we are yet flandihg Upon the flippery
edge of this burning precipice, and playing with paint
ed bubbles there, or in warm purfuit of a flying fhin
ing feather along the brink of this burning torrent,
what fools and madmen fhould we appear to be even
in our oWn eyes ! And yet we go on to praaife this
folly, this madnefs, day after day, in fpight Of all the
warnings of God and man, till at laft oUr foot flips in
fome dreadful moment, and We vanifh out of the fight
of our companions, and are loft for ever.
Refletl. III. If the miferies of hell are eternal, how
unreafonable a thing is it eVe'r to fuffer the lofs of any pof-
Jeffions or joys which are temporal and perijhing, to come
into competition with them ? Surely there is nothing that
belongs to time that fhould tempt Us to run the rifque
of the forrows of eternity, nor allure us to commit one
fin againft God, which is the fatal fpring of fuch for
rows ! Stand ftill, O finner, and hearken to the voice
of wifdom. Do the pleafures of fenfe, or the gaities
pf fight, or the wealth or grandeurs of this life allure
thee to make thy way boldly through any means to
ward the poffeffion of them, think with thyfelf, is it
by offending this great and dreadful God ? And wilt
thou dare to take one flep towards thefe dangerous
and deceitful vanities, and rifque thine immortal wel
fare in the purfuit ? What a foolifh bargain wilt thou
make to gain the whole world of fliort-lived perifhing trifles,

43"& The eternal t)uration of ike Difc. tltti
trifles, and to lofle thy foul in endlefs perdition ? Mark
viii. 36. Dare any of us Venture an eternal ftate of
torment to gain the flattering and delufive joy of a
fhort hoUr, or a winters day ?
What are all the gratifications of flefh and fenfe ?
What are ali the swelling titles of honour amongft
tnen ? What are all the treafures of this perifhing
World ? How fhort is their duration, and how fhort is
the poffeffion of them ? All earthly felicities perijh in
the uflng, and are no fooner enjoyed but are quickly
loft again, or expire in the enjoyment : But if the
ruin of a foul, and a loft heaven, be the price of them,
how mad is the purchafe, and how wretched is the?
purchafer ?
Reffea. IV. How patiently fhould we bear all the la
bours and fatigues, the pains and miferies of this mortal
life, when we have any hope of our deliverance from the
pains and forrows of immortality ? As for our maladies
and forroWs here on earth, bleffed be God they are
not eternal : s There are fome intervals to relieve, and
there is fome period to finifh them. When we afk a
friend who is fick and in pain, " how fare you ? I am
" in pain now* fays he, but 1 hope I fhall be eafy anon:
*' I am fick to-day, but I truft I fhall be in health to-
" morrow." This is a fweet mitigation Of the prefent
uneafinefs, and gives relief to the patient. But how
dreadful and piercing would thefe accents be, if we
fhould hear Our friend make this anfwer to us, " I am
" all over in extreme pain and anguifh, and I fhall
<c never* never be eafed of „it : I lie under exquifite,
" torment of the flefh, and horror in my foul, and 1
" fhall for ever feel this horror and this torment."
Such is the cafe of the damned finners in hell, and
therefore their agonies are intolerable.
But if you haVe any comfortable profpea of ths
pardon of fin, and a well-grounded hope of eternal fal
vation through the blood of Chrifl*. and by the rulest
and promifes of the gofpel, all the temporal toils and
plagues that can poflibly Hand between us and heaven fhould

Difc. XIII, Punijhments in Hell, 43 j
fhould be defpifed and disregarded by us, and we
fhould learn to triumph over them with the victorious
fongs of thankfulnefs and praife. Bleffed be the name
of our God, though he has fmitten us forely, yet he hat
not given us over to everlafting death.
Let our thoughts afcend to the heavenly regions,
and let us afk thofe who are arrived thither out of the
land of temptation and conflia, out of thefe taber
nacles of fin and forrow,; let us afk them what gave
them fo divine a courage, and fo firm a patience, in
the midft of all their trials ? With one voice they wiy
all make anfwer, it was the view of our deliverance
from an eternal hell, and the hopes of obtaining falva
tion by Chrifl jefus with eternal glory ; it is .this that
fupported us under every burden, and bore us on with
a fpirit of faith and viaory through every hardfhip on
earth. It was for this we laboured, and fuffered, and
counted not life, nor any of the bleffings of it, dear to us,
nor any of the forrows of it intolerable, that we might
efcape the everlafting forrows of a future ftate, and en
joy the bleffings of life eternal. And, O may every
one of us be the followers of thofe who through this faith
and patience have obtained the promifed felicity ! May
we alfo make our way, by the fame motives, through
the floods and the fires of afffiaion and diftrefs, tp
reach this everlafting heaven, and to efcape everlafting
burnings !
In order to confirrn our patience, and to animate
our zeal, let us furvey the bleffed example of St Paul,
who was reproached, who was buffeted, who was per
fecuted with ftones, and whips, and feourges, and bore
a thoufand indignities, who was affaulted with endlefs
ftrokes of injury and violence, and yet rejoiced in the
midft of all his fufferings in the view of his eternal
hope. The fpirit of faith in the midft of all his fuf
ferings taught him to fing this divine fong, our light
ajflitlions, which are but for a moment, are working for
Ms afar more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The
fufferings of this prefent time are. not worthy to be com-
pared

43« The eternal Duration of the Difc. XM*
fared with the glory that Jhall be revealed, 2 Cor. iv,
17. Rom. viii. 18, Nor are they worthy to be com
pared with that exceeding and eternal weight of ven
geance, from which we are delivered by faith and pa
tient obedience tpthe gofpel of our Lord Jefus Chrift.
Reffea. V. If the miferies of hell are eternal, we. can
never have our deliverance from them made too fecure.
If the danger of any mifchief, to which we might be
expofed, were but flight, and the duration of it fhort,
there might be poffibly fome excufe for our delay to
efcape it : But when it is total and irrevocable ruin to
which we are liable every mpment, while we continue
in a ftate of fin, we fhould fly with all the wings of
our fouls, and never be at eafe or quiet till we are got
without the reach of danger, and fettled in a place of
fafety, or on the rock of our falvation.
O could we but perceive a thoufandth part of the
horror that is contained in an eternal hell, an eternal
banifhment from the face and favour of God, and the
eternal impreffions of his anger, we fhould never give
ourfelves reft one moment, till we had returned to
God by a sincere repentance, and were reconciled to
him that made us ; till we fled for refuge to the blood
of jefus, and to his fanaifying grace, which is the
only hope that is fet before us. We fhould never
give ourfelves leave to lie down, or awake in quiet,
while we were deftitute of a faving intereft in the fal
vation of Chrifl, and had attained to fome clear evi
dence of it, and a well-grounded hope.
Have we not fometimes felt the worm of confcience
begin to gnaw within us, and to prey upon our fpirits
after the commiflion of fome fin ? And fliall we not
apply ourfelves with all holy fpeed to the divine Phy-
fician, who can kill this gnawing worm within us, and
can heal thofe finful maladies that are breeding it ?
Have we not fometimes felt the threatnings of the
1 wrath of God in his law, like a fire in our bones ?
With what infinite dpxxxe then, and what reftlefs
vehemence fhould we fly to the blood of Jefus our
great

Difc. XIII. Punijhments in Hell. 433 *
great facrifice, which alone can quench the fiery in
dignation of God, and prevent it from growing up to
an everlafting flame.
Had we upon our fpirits fuch a fenfe of the terrors
of the Lord in hell, as his threatnings reprefenf, we
fhould never be fatisfied with fuch cold doubtful hopes
of our deliverance from them, as thoufands of nomi
nal Chriftians are contented with ; but we fliould
make every needful and critical enquiry, whether our
repentance were sincere, whether our faith in Chrift
were unfeigned, whether our hopes had a folid foun
dation in the divine promife : We fliould fearch every
power of our fouls, and examine our hearts through
every corner, whether fin be mortified there, whether
the chriftian virtues are formed within us, and the di
vine image is begun to be ftamped upon our minds :
We fliould be reftlefs and impatient in pur inward
fearches, whether we are made new creatures, whe
ther we are born of God and become his children,
and are fecured by his gofpel from this everlafting
vengeance. The degree and the infinite duration of
this mifery fhould appoint the proportion of our zeal
and folicitude to efcape it.
A man who fees or feels his own houfe on fire un
der him, does not continue upon his bed of floth, or
fit amufing himfelf among the ornaments of his cham
ber, till the flames have broke through and feized
. him : But with huge outcries he feeks for help, and '
flies in hafte for his life, wherefoever he finds a way.
Such fhould be the language, and fuch the aaivity of
finful creatures, to efcape the wrath to come ; and
fuch will be the outcries of finners when they are
thoroughly awakened ; this language of every place,
and of every hour will then be awakened, what Jhall
I do to be faved ? Whither fhall I fly for refuge ? O blef
fed Jefus, receive me into thy proteaion, and be thou
my deliverer.
Give me leave to repeat this fort of expoftulation
with lingering and delaying finners, or with drowzy
Iii and

434 The eternal Duration of the Difc, XIII,
and formal Chriftians. If you would fet yourfelves
often in the blaze of thefe everlafting burnings, you
would never fatisfy yourfelves with fuch cofd faint
wifhes, fuch lazy endeavours, fuch languid efforts of
faith and repentance, to efcape this fiery indignation
that fhall never be quenched : Nor would you content
yourfelves with dark and doubtful evidences of your
intereft in the love of God, and the grace of our
Lord Jefus ; but you would be day and night bufy
with your own hearts in the moft intimate and careful
fearch after converting grace and living chriftianity :
You would never be at reft till you felt the new na
ture working with power and bright evidence within
you, that you might be able to fay, " we know there
" is no condemnation belongs to us, but that we are
*' paffed from death unto life."
Let us proceed upon this fubjea, turning the dif
courfe from ourfelves to our friends, and fay, with
what fervour of love, with what holy zeal and com
paffion fhould we labour to fave our friends and all
that are dear to us, from this eternal deftruaion ?
What words of fiery terror fhall we chufe to awaken
thofe who flumber on the edge of endlefs burnings?
What language of kind and tender paffion fliall we
chufe to reach their hearts ? What phrafes of melting
pity to haften their efcape from this precipice of burn
ing ruin, or to pluck them as brands out of the fire
before it becomes unquenchable ? Knowing thefe ter
rors of the Lord, with what vehemence of zeal fhould
we try to perfuade men, our fellow-mortals, that they
would not venture into the midft of thefe miferies,
and befeech them in the name of Chrifl to be recon
ciled to God ? This was the praaice, and thefe the
motives of the great Apoftle, as he defcribes them at
the latter end of the fifth chapter in his fecond epiftle
to the Corinthians.
O with what force of ardent and aaive compaffion
fliould minifters preach both the curfes of the law,
and the grace of the bleffed gofpel, to perifhing fin
ners,

Difc. XIII. Punifhments in Hell* 435
ners, and make hafte to refcue their fouls from this
everlafting vengeance ? With what warm and folici
tous zeal fliould they lay hold of thofe poor thought
lefs wretches who are madly indulging their lufts and
follies, and thereby preparing themfelves to become
fit fuel for this eternal fire ? They are forming them
felves by their iniquities to become Veffels of this
everlafting indignation : Let us feize them by fome
kind and conftraining words of love, fome outcries of
compaffion and fear, left they rufh into thofe flames
Which will never be quenched: Perhaps when they
are fummoned away from us by the stroke of death,
they may leave us in the moft uncomfortable forrows
for our negfea, while they are fuffi In , the long end
lefs punifhment due to their own iniquities.
Reffea. VI. How unreafonable a thing is it for us mini'
fters, who are charged and jntrufted with the whole
counfol of God for the falvation of men, to avoid fhe
mention of thefe his eternal terrors in our fermons, and
in oUr addreffes to mortal creatures ; creatures who
are daily preparing themfelves for them by their
fins, and ate ready to plunge into the midft of them!
Has not our bleffed Saviour made frequent mention of
them in his gofpel, and fet them in their dreadful array
before his hearers ? Has he not expreffed them in
their ftrongeft terms, and fpread them in their moft
frightful colours, and fet them in their full and ever
lafting extent, before the finners which attended his
ministry ? And did he ever give any hint that they
fhould be underftood in , a milder fenfe ? Have not
the Apoftles followed their Lord in the fame dreadful
difplay of the fharp and ever-during punifhments of
hell ? And have they taught us to qualify thefe ter-
. rors by gentler interpretations of them ? And have
not fuch kind of difcourfes been abundantly bleffed
in the providence of God, both in ancient and later
ages, to awaken and fave multitudes of the fouls of
men.
How

436 The eternal Duration of the Difc. XllL
How many holy and happy fpirits are now rejoicing
before God, and before the throne of his love, and
encompaffed with all the joys of immortality* who owe
the beginnings of their repentance, and the firft turn
of their fouls towards faith and falvation to fuch words
of terror as thefe ? How many of the faints on high
have been firft awakened from their deadly fleep irt fin,
by the miniflrations of this eternal vengeance of God?
How many have been frighted out of their indolence
at firft by the difcovery of thefe everlafting horrors of
confcience and agonies of foul ? The dread of the worm
that never dies has affrighted their confidences from a
courfe of fin : The fiery indignation which fhall never
be quenched has flafhed in their bofoms from the lips
of the preacher* and has fet them all over trembling,
and filled all their inward powers with difmay and an
guifh : Their tongue has broke into loud and earneft
enquiries, Who Jhall deliver me from this eternal death ?
How Jhall I efcape this everlafting wrath to come ? Artd
the Spirit of God by degrees has led them to JefuS,
and his atoning blood, his gofpel, his righteoufnefs,
and his converting grace, as the only way of delive
rance and falvation*
How unreafonable a thing is it for minifters in their
preaching to foften thefe terrors of the Lord, to cut
fhort thefe endlefs horrors and anguifh, and to mitigate
the miferies of hell and damnation, fince even all that
length and eternity in which Chrifl and his Apoftles
preached thefe terrors, have not been fufficient to re
claim mankind from their iniquities ; but multitudes
of them, in the face of all thefe threatnings, ftill per-
fift in the broad way to deftruaion and death ?
Can we poflibly do any honour to the miniftry of
our bleffed Lord, or is there any real fervice done to
the fouls of men by our fond and vain reafonings to
fhorten thefe forrows, and put a period to thefe threat
ned torments ? Will the bleffed Jeflus, when he fits oil
the throne of judgment, give us thanks for running counter

Difc. XIII. Punifhments in Hell. 437
Counter to the language of his own miniftry, and for
darirtg to contradia his denounced vengeance ?
By the Various expreffions and reprefentations of
this matter in fcripture, in fuch folemn and dreadful
language, muft I not fuppofe that the bleffed God,
and our Lord Jefus Chrift, defigned and intended that
mankind fhould believe the pains and punifhments of
hell will be eternal ? Can I then be censured for en
deavouring to eftablifh and promote the awful doarine
which both God the Father and his Son intended
fhould be believed, and by which they defigned to
guard both the law and the gofpel ? A doarine which
was left on record to deter finners from the paths of
fin and deftruaion, and to awaken the fouls and con-
fciences of men to repentance ? On the other hand,
can thofe teachers be approved of God or good men,
whofe evident defign is to lead the world to difbe-
lieve this folemn and terrible warning of the great
God ?
Let us proceed in thefe enquiries, and addrefs our
felves to thofe wicked and miferable creatures, who
are aaually fuffering this divine vengeance. Let us
afk them, how they approve of this fort of preaching
which with-holds from the eyes* and ears, and con
fidences of men, the moft dreadful circumftance of
thefe horrors ? Will any of the damned wretches of
hell thank us for hiding fo dreadful a part of thefe mi
feries from them ? Will they blefs us for leffening the
threatned curfes and indignation of a God ? " No,
*' fays the condemned wretch, thofe preachers are
" worthy of my curfes and not my thanks, who abated
" thefe terrors of the Lord, and fhortened his threat -
'* ned punifhment ; for they perfuaded me to hope
" there would be an end of my mifery, and thereby
" tempted me to venture upon thofe fins which I
" fhould have renounced with abomination, had I be-
" lieved the words of God, and thefe everlafting tor-
** ments. O curfed and cruel preachers, who, by
" foftening and curtailing the fentence of eternal mi-
" fery*

43? The eternal Duration of the Difc. Xfll*
" fery, gave a fort of licence to riiy wickednefs, arid
" broke one of the ftrongeft bars that reftrained rhe
" from firming ! It is by this fort of flattery they payed
" my Way down to he'll, and have brought fne into
" this prifon, this eternal anguifh, whence there is rio
" releafe*."
Say, ye Who preach that the gates of hell fhall one
day be opened to let out the prifoners, ye who' tell
finners there is a time of releafe for them, fay, do ye
expea to fright them out of their fins by leffenihg their
fear of God and his wrath to come ? Do ye hope to
bring obftinate and impenitent rebels tO a more fpeedy
remorfe for fin, and to begin a life of holinefs, by per
suading them that thefe terrors of God fhall have an
end ? Can ye imagine that fuch Vain tidings, fuch
foothing flattery, will ever melt theiri to repentance
and love, when all the grace of the gofpel, mingled
with the blood arid tears of the Son of God will not
do it ? Would not this manner of preaching rather
encourage them to run on ftill in their rebellions, and
rnake them more regardlefs of their higheft intereft ?
Would it not tempt them to give a loofe to their vileft
inclinations, and all the flagrant and abominable enor
mities of their own heart, wheri they fhall be told that
thefe punifhments, which the Bible calls everlafting,
fhall one day come to an end ?
Befides, I believe it has been obferved in every age,
that the fears of this worm which never dies, and this
eternal fire which jhall never be quenched, have beeri
made abundantly ufeful in the providence of God to
lay a powerful restraint on the unruly vices of fome
finners,
* Some of the ancients have called thofe preachers, who fhorten
the pains of hell, the merciful or companionate, doftors : And Dr
7. Burnet calls thofe tner'cilefs or uncompaffionate, who preaeh.the
eternity of it : But I think it will appear one day, that thofe are,
truly the compafftonate writer's and teachets> whet niofl effectually
affright and prevent men from fin and damnation'? and thofe wh'gi
have given wicked men hppe of their releafe from hell, will be inl
danger o'f being' charged with Smoothing their way to' this mifery,
by foftening the terrors of it.

Difc* XIIL. Punifhments in Hell., 435
finners, who have never been awakened and drawn
into faving penitence, or reclaimed to a life of fincere
holinefs. And, if the restraint of this terror Were,
taken away, how mqch more would all iniquity a-
bound among thpfe who have no inward principle of
goodnefs ?
Let us proceed tiien to preach the fame terror which
the bleffed Jefois thought not unworthy of his ministry ;
and may the providence and the grace of God give
fuccefs to our labours, both for the reftrainmg the ex
travagant vices of the wicked, for the faving conver-
fion of many finners, and for a guard and restraint tq
the young and wavering Chriftians *.
Notwithftanding all the exprefs language of fcripture
on, our fide of the queftion, and all our arguments,
drawn from it ; yet there are fome of the reafoners
and the difputers of this world, who will ftill fuppofe
that it is more for the honour of God, and for the
glory of our bleffed Savipur, for minifters to dwell al
ways
* The late Dr Thomas Burnet, in his Latin treatife of the flats
of the dead, and thofe -who rife again, oppofes the doctrine of tlie
eternity of future punifhments, and fhews who of the ancient fa
thers feem to be of the fame opinion with him : But he tells us,
that thefe aneient fathers, when they treated of this fubject, often
gave the fame advice to others, which he himfelf gives in thefe
words. " Whatfoever you determine within yourfelf, and in your
" own breaft, concerning thefe punifhments, whether they are
" eternal or no, yet you ought to ufe the common doclrine and
" the common language when you preach or fpeak to tlie people,
" efpecially thofe of the lower rank, who are ready to run head-
" long into vice, and are to be reftrained from evil only by the
"' fear of punifhment : And even among good chriftians there are
" infants to be nourifhed with milk ; nor is their diet to be raflily
*' changed, left through intemperance they fall into difeafes."
And he adds in the margin, " whofoever fhall tranflate thefe
" fentiments into our mother tongue, I fhall think it was done witli
"an evil defign and to bad purpofe." So that if this were a true
doctrine, yet the learned author agrees, that neither the holy
writers of the Bible, nor the fathers, think it proper that the bulk
of the people fliould know it. But if it fhoukKnot be tranflated, I
would afk, why did the author write it and leave it to be publifh-
ed • Did be fuppofe all men and boys, who underftood Latin, to
be fufpciently guarded againft the abufe of fuch an opinion .',

446 The eternal Duration of the Difc. XIII.
ways upon the promifes of the new covenant, and the
riches of the grace of Chrift, and the overflowing mea-
fures of the love of God, in order to fave finful men.
" Surely, fay they, preachers have tried long enough
" what the words of terror will do ; let us now allure
" finful men to be reconciled to God by a miniftry of
" univerfal love and grace ; and let us fee whether
" the boundlefs comparisons of a God, in putting a
" final period to the miferies of his guilty creatures
" after a certain number of years, will not draw fin-
" ners with a fweeter violence to the love and obedience
" of their Maker, than all this doarine of feverity and
" terror."
In the firft place, I anfwer, that furely Jefus himfelf,
who is the prime minifter of his Father's kingdom,
and the divineft meffenger of his love, knew better
than we do how to pay the higheft honour to his hea
venly Father, and to difplay his own grace. Surely
he was well acquainted with the beft way to begin with
finners, in order to their reconciliation to God, and
knew alfo the moft effeaual avenues to the confidences
of finful creatures, incomparably beyond what any of
us can pretend to. Had he not as tender a fenfe of
the honour of his Father's mercy, as warm a zeal for
the glory of his own grace and gofpel, and as wife and
melting a compaffion for the fouls of men as the beft
of us can boaft of ? And yet he thought it proper to
lay the foundation of his own, and his Apoftles mini
strations of grace, in this language of terror, in thefe
threatnings of eternal punifhment. And in the courfe
of his providence throughout all ages, he has, in fome
meafure, made this doarine fuccefsful to recover fouls
from the fnares of the devil, and to enlarge his own
heavenly kingdom.
But 1 anfwer further, it muft be granted that the
tempers of men are various, and it is poffible that fome
may be of fo ingenuous and refined a difpofition, that
the words of love and grace, without any terror, might
reach their hearts, and through the influences of hea ven,

Difc. XIII. Punijhments in Hell. 441
ven, touch them effeaually : But as for the bulk of
mankind, while they continue in their fins, daily ex
perience convinceth us, that they are beft awakened
by the terrors of the Lord, by a reprefentation of the
gnawing worm which never dies, and the fire which
Jhall not be quenched. I never knew but one perfon in
the whole courfe of my ministry, who acknowledged
that the firft motions of religion in their own heart
arofe from a fenfe of the goodnefs of God, and that
they were gently and fweetly led at firft to this en
quiry, What Jhall I render to the Lord who hath dealt
fo bountifully with me ? But I think all befides, who
have come within my .notice, have rather been firft
awakened, by the paffion of fear, to fly from the-wrath
to come.
If, therefore* we will praaife, according to the ex
ample of jefus, the greateft and the wifeft Prophet of
his church, and his holy Apoftles, and the beft of
preachers in all ages who have followed him, if we
Would obey the dilates of long experience, and our
beft obfervations on the methods of converting grace,
I think we muft proceed to denounce thefe eternal ter
rors of the Lord againft the tranfgreffors of his law,
and the defpifers of his gofpel. This feems to be the
appointed and moft effeaual way to rouze their con
fidences to feek a deliverance from the curfes of the
law, which carry in them everlafting punfhment. This
appears to be the firft fpring of religion in finful men,
and the firft motive to receive the glad tidings of fal
vation which are difplayed in the New Teftament.
This fpurs on their paffions to efcape the vengeance of
God, by flying to his gofpel, where there is rich and
abundant grace to encourage the hope of rebellious
creatures in their returns to God by Jefus Chrifl the
Saviour. To J ejus, who is the awful meffenger of
his Father's terrors, and the prime minifter of his love,
be glory and honour to everlafting ages. Amen.
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