/S-fA This book was digitized by Microsoft Corporation in cooperation with Yale University Library, 2008. You may not reproduce this digitized copy of the book for any purpose other than for scholarship, research, educational, or, in limited quantity, personal use. You may not distribute or provide access to this digitized copy (or modified or partial versions of it) for commercial purposes. THE WORKS OF THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN" GOD, EZEKIEL HOPKINS.D.D. SUCCESSIVELY LORD BISHOP OF RAPHOE AND DBRRY ; NOW FIRST COLLECTED. ARRANGED AND REVISED, AVITH A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, AND A COPIOUS INDEX, BY JOSIAH PRATT, B.D. F.A.S. PECTURER OF TUE UNITED PARISHES OF ST. MARY WOOLNOTH AND ST. MARY WOOLCHURCH HAW, AND LADY CAMDEN'S WEDNESDAY EVENING LECTURER AT THE CHURCH OF ST. LAWRENCE JEWRY, LONDON. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. IV. LONDON: PRINTED BY C. WHITTINGHAM, CoeweU Street; FOR L. B. SEELEY, No. 169, FLEET STREET1; J. WALKER; J. HATCHARD ; WILLIAMS AND SMITH ; W. BAYNES; SHERWOOD, NEELY, AND JONES; CRADOCK AND JOY; TfHAMlLTON; MAXWELL AND WILSON; AND GALE AND CURTIS. tsoy. CONTENTS OF VOL. IV. Page I. DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING; FROM SEVERAL CONSI DERATIONS, viz. 1. Of Patience under Afflictions: a Discourse on James i. 4. - ------ _ . - . 3 2. Of the Consideration of our Future State, as the remedy against Afflictions : a Discourse on 2 Cor1. iv. 18. - 65 3. The Christian's Triumph over Death : a Discourse on 1 Cor. xv. 55, 56. - - - - - - - - 81 4. Of the Resun-ection: a Discourse on John xx. 26,27. 103 5. Of the Last Judgment : a Discourse on 2 Cor. v. 10. 125 II. MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS : viz. 1. The Use qf the Holy Scriptures : from Col. iii. 16. 203 2. On Providence : from Mat. x. 29, 30. - - 232 3. The Omnipresence qf God: fromJ>s.cx-xx\x.'l,S,9,lo. 255 4. The Nativity of Christ: preached on Christmas Day, from Luke ii. 13, 14. - - - 273 5. Tlie Resurrection of Christ : preached on Easter 1 Day, from Acts ii. 24. - 305 6. The State and Way of Salvation : from Heb. vi. 9. - 320 7. The Beauty of Holiness : from Prov. iii. 17. - - 354 ' 8. TheVirtues which adorn Religion : from Titus ii. 10. 374 ri CONTENTS OF VOL. IV. Page 9. On withdrawing from such as walk disorderly : from 2 Thess. iii. 6. 411 10. Submission! to Rulers : preached at Christ's-Church in Dublin, Jan. 31, 1669, from 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14. 437 11. Against Rebellion : from Prov. xvii. 26. - - - - 459 12. On Brotherly Admonition : from Lev. xix. 17. - - 475 13. On Perseverance in Prayer; with Exhortations thereunto : from 1 Thess. v. 17. ----- 494 14. True Happiness : preached at St. Lawrence Jewry, June 17, 1690, from Rey. xxii. 14 513 1 5. Funeral Sermon on Algernon Greville, Esq. from Eccl. ix. 5. .-__--_._."._ 531 16. Man's Mortality : from Heb. ix."27. ----- 557 17. The Blessedness of them that die in the Lord : from "Rev. xiv. 13. 574 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING; FROM SEVERAL CONSIDERATIONS. Vol. iv. OF PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. OF PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. JAMES i. 4. BUT LET PATIENCE HAVE HER PERFECT WOKK, THAT YE MAY BE PERFECT AND ENTIRE, WANTING NOTHING. If we consider the state and condition of those Jews, to whom the Apostle directs this Epistle, we shall find, that, as they were a dispersed, so they were an afflicted and persecuted people. There was always a most implacable hatred, in other nations, against the Jews ; accounting them the most base, perverse, and infa mous people under heaven. And, doubtless, though the whole body of them, which lived in Judea, were well enough secured from their affronts and injuries; yet, such parcels of , them as were scattered into other countries sadly felt the effects of this natural aversion and antipathy. Yea, so low and despicable was their condition, that their own brethren, in scorn and con tempt, call them the dispersed among the Gentles : John vii. 35. Their ancient religion, which they had received from Moses, was so odious to the Heathen, among whom they lived, that they accounted it the most ridiculous and sordid superstition that ever was invented : and, because they firmly adhered to a way of worship, which was so contradictory to that gross idolatry which had generally obtained in the worjd, they both derided them as credulous, and hated them as stubborn and inflexible. There is no hatred so bitter and irreconcileable, as that, which ariseth from different religions : for, religion being avowedly the highest concern of mankind, those who differ in. this cannot but mutually accuse one another of folly and madness : and this begets mutual contempt, and ends in malice and violence ; whilst each seeks to take the part of his God, and to vindicate his own wisdom in choosing him, against those, who must needs be concluded to despise, because they do not worship him. 6 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. And, therefore, as these scattered Jews were hated and perse cuted upon the account of their own native religion, so much more, when divers of them were converted to the faith of Christ; because they then took up and professed a religion, more contrary to the Gentile impiety, than Judaism itself was. Yea, they were not only hated by the Gentiles, but by their own countrymen, the unbelieving Jews ; who took all occasions to stir up the people against them, and to expose them, as the maintainers of a pestilent sect, to the fury of the enraged mul titude : and we read frequently, ip the Acts, what tumults, and uproars, and persecutions, were raised against them by this means. , •To these dispersed and distressed Christians, the Apostle di rects this his Epistle, and exhorts them, ver. 2. My brethren, Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations : that is, when ye fall into divers tribulations ; for, by temptations here, he means not the * inward assaults of the Devil, but the outwar4 assaults of his instruments. A strange command, one would think, to bid them rejoice at such a time, and in such circum stances as these ! What ! to rejoice when they were buffeted, reviled, spoiled, and murdered ! appointed as sheep to the slaughter ! enjoying their lives only at the courtesy of their enemy's malice \ expecting hourly to be haled out, to suffer torments and death ! Is this a proper occasion for joy ? is it not rather, for sorrow and dejection ? No, saith the Apostle : al though your trials be great and manifold, yet account it joy ; yea, count it all joy Men ye fall into these divers temptations : V. 2. But, certainly, so strange an exhortation as this, which seems so quite contrary to the inclinations of nature, had need be Backed by some strong motive to enforce it. And that the Apostle gives them in the third verse : Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience: and, there'forej count it all joy, whin ye fall into divers temptations. Now, in this are included Two things, which should mightily further their joy. First. That all their sufferings and afflictions are for the Trial of their Faith. God, by these, tries whether your faith be well-grounded and saving, or Whether it be only temporary and flitting : he tries, whether it be weak or strong ; whether it be able to stay and support itself only upon a promise, or wants thp crutches of PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 7 sense and visible enjoyments to bear it up ; whether it be a faith that is wrought in you only by conviction, or a faith that hath wrought in you a thorough conversion ; whether it be a faith wrought in you only by evidence of the truth, or a faith that is accompanied with a sincere love of the truth. And, therefore, rejoice in your sufferings and afflictions ; for these will help you to determine this great and important question. If your faith be such as can overcome the world ; if it can per suade you to esteem the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures of the world ; if it respect more the promises of God than the threatenings of men, and future rewards more than present advantages ; if it can bear both the anvil and the furnace : this is a faith, that is true and genuine ; and, when it is thus tried, it shall be found unto praise, and honour, and glory , at the appearing of Jesus Christ ; as the Apostle speaks, 1 Pet.i.7. Such a faith as this, that can endure the fire and lose nothing of its weight and substance, is truly precious ; more precious than gold that perisheth : such a faith, that can bring you to die for Christ, will certainly bring you to live with Christ. And, have1 you not great cause, then, to rejoice in afflictions, which afford you a means to know, whether your graces be genuine or spu rious ? whether they be such as will bear his judgment and trial hereafter, by bearing afflictions and chastisements here ? Cer tainly, that Christian hath great reason to suspect himself, who cannot rejoice that he is going to heaven, though God sends a fiery chariot to fetch him. And, Secondly. This trial of their faith worketh Patience. The more a Christian bears, the more he is enabled to bear : his nerves and his sinews knit and grow strong under his bur dens. And, therefcrle also, count it all joy, when ye fall into divers temptations. For patience is, of itself, such a Christian excellency and perfection, that all trials and afflictions, which tend to increase this, are to be reckoned by us as gain and ad vantage. If thy sorrows and troubles add any degree of forti tude to thy patience, thou hast far more reason to rejoice, than to repine : for nothing in this present life is to be accounted good or evil, but only as it respects the advantage or disadvan tage which our graces receive by it. Now, if God confirm and augment thy patience under sufferings, sufferings are mercies, afflictions are favours : he blesseth thee by chastise ments ; and crowneth thee with glory, even while he seems tb crown thee with thorns. And wilt thou not triumph at this, O ft DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. Christian! especially, considering the end of thy patience, which is Hope, Peace, and Eternal Life ? See that excellent place to this purpose, Rom. v. 3, 4, 5. We glory, saith the Apostle, in tribulations : knowing that tribulation worketh patience ; and patience, experience ; and experience, hope ; and hope maketh not ashamed. Here is true cause of glory, indeed; when our patience shall cause us to ascend through these degrees, to the top and perfection of all Christian attainments. And, from this, we may observe, by the way, That it is far better to have patience under afflictions, than to be freed from them : it is more cause of joy, to suffer the hand and will of God patiently, than not to suffer at all. But, having spoken such great things concerning patience, the Apostle comes, in the text, to caution us about it : and tells us what qualifications it must have, to make even our afflictions the matter of our joy and comfort. Let patience have her perfect work ; and then you shall have cause to rejoice. Let her go on to finish and accomplish what is begun and undertaken ; and then shall ye be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. It is not enough, O'Christians ! that ye can bear some afflictions, and that only for some time : but, if you will be perfect, as you must do the whole will of God, and that with constancy and perse verance unto the end ; so you must suffer the whole will of God, and put no earlier period to your patience than to your obedience ; and to neither, till God shall be pleased to put a full period to your lives. Patience ought not to prescribe, either to the kind, measure, or degree of our sufferings. Say not, therefore, " I could easily bear such or such an affliction : but this, which I now lie under, is altogether intolerable :" or, " I could cheerfully bear it, if J could see any issue out of it : but this is endless, and remediless." Believe' it; this is but an im perfect patience, and will never perfect you in grace and glory. A perfect patience stoops to the heaviest burdens ; and carries them as long as God shall please, without murmuring or re pining : and, if that be to the grave, it knows that what is now a load, shall then be found to be a treasure. A Christian doth but carry his own wealth, his crown, and his sceptre ; which, though here they be burdensome, shall hereafter be eternally glorious. From the words, we may observe these Two Propositions : First. That a Christian's patience ought to finish and accom plish all the work that is proper for it, while he lies Under troubles and afflictions : Let patience have her perfect work. PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 9 Secondly. That the perfection of patience is the perfection of a Christian : That ye ' may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. It is the first of these, of which I shall at present speak. And, herein, I shall propound and prosecute this method. Shew what Patience is. What is the proper Work of patience. When it is that patience hath its Perfect Work. And, lastly, I shall close up all with Application. I. WHAT IS this PATIENCE, which a Christian ought to exercise and to accomplish, when he is under sufferings ? You may take this description of it. It is a grace of God's Spirit, wrought in the heart of a true Christian, whereby he is sweetly inclined, quietly and willingly to submit to whatsoever the Lord shall think fit to lay upon him ; calming all the passions, which are apt to rise up in him against God's dispensations, with the consideration and acknowledg ment of his infinite sovereignty, wisdom, justice, and mercy, in those afflictions and chastisements which he is pleased to bring upon him. This, in the general, is this excellent Grace of Patience, which so much tends to the perfection and completing of a Christian. Now, a little more to explain this, I shall lay down some. particulars both negative and positive, in which may be more fully seen what this grace of patience is. i. Negatively. I . Patience is not a stoical apathy, or a senseless stupidity, under the hand of God. It is no narcotic virtue, to stupify us, and take away the sense and feeling of afflictions. If it had any such opiate quality in it, it were not commendable, nor praiseworthy : for that is no suffering, which is not felt ; and if patience were only to de prive a man of the feeling of his sorrows and sufferings, it would only destroy its own object, and so cease to be any longer pa tience. And therefore those, who are stupified and insensible under the hand of God, and who take no notice of his judg ments when his hand is. stretched out against them, are no more £o be accounted patient, than a block is, when it is hewn and 10 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. cut : or, than the drunkard, of whom the Wise Man speaks ; who, when he was stricken, was not sick; when he was beaten, felt it not. Nay, patience is so far from taking away the sense of sufferings, that it rather quickens it : there is no man, that more feels an affliction, than a Christian doth ; for he refers his chastisements to his deserts : he looks inwardly, and sees his own guilt and sin, as that, which provokes God to afflict him ; and this adds a great deal of gall and wormwood to the bitter cup, and makes every affliction to touch his soul and his con science, as well as his outward man : he cannot but with grief of heart consider, that ever he should incense his Heavenly Father to use such severe discipline towards him. But a wicked man looks only upon what he suffers : he makes no reflections upon his demerits ; and troubles himself no farther than God is pleased to force trouble upon him : and so he bears it, cursing his ill fate ; but never complaining of his sins, that provoked the just God so to punish him. 2. Patience doth not stifle all modest complaints and moderate sorrow *. A patient Christian may be well allowed this vent for his grief to work out at. Grace never destroys, but only regulates and corrects nature. It will permit thee to shed, tears, so long as they run clear, and the course of them doth not stir up the mud of thy sinful passions and violent affections. It will per mit thee to complain of what thou sufferest, so long as it keeps thee from complaining of that God, from whom thou sufferest. Thou mayest lawfully, without any wrong done to patience, express thy grief in all the outward and natural signs of it ; only beware, lest this agitation make it exceed its due bounds and measures. We find that holy Job, who is commended to us. as the mirror and great example of patience, when he had received the sad messages of the loss of his estate and of his children, rent his mantle, and lay grovelling upon the ground : Job. i. 20 : and, that we might not think this a piece of his impatience, it is added, v. 22. In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. The primitive disciples are said to make griat la^ mentation over Stephen ; though by his death and martyrdom he highly glorified God : Acts viii. 2. Patience chiefly consists * Ou tnv aSuf*i«y, aXka tw imrao-m tn? aOu^ia; avatpu- To fctv yap uQvum, tm; , ^«h«; xai trafaQfoavtris, xai yu- vamwJss •i'VXns- Chrysost. torn. v. ?loy. fa, «rEpi xexoili. PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS, 11 jn a due tranquillity afld composure of the t.nind : and those may be very impatient persons, and fret and estuate within, who yet may express but little emotion in their outward demeanour : like those latent and lurking fevers, that prey upon the spirits, when there appears but little intemperate heat in the outward limbs. And, again, a patient Christian may make use of all the doleful signs of sorrow, which God hath allowed, and na ture exacts ; and yet his spirit not be moved beryond its due temper and consistency : like a tree, whose boughs are agitated by every gust and storm of wind, when yet the root remains fixed and unmoved in the earth. „ 3. Patience doth not oblige us to continue under afflictions, when we may lawfully ahd warrantably free and release ourselves from them. It doth not require us to court or solicit troubles. It is a sign of a vitiated and corrupted palate, if our physio taste not somewhat nauseous and unpleasing to us ; and of an obstinate and incorrigible mind, if we be not careful to shun the discipline of the rod. When God lays sore and heavy afflictions Upon us, we are bound, upon principles of self-preservation, to en deavour, what we may, to free ourselves from them ; otherwise, we sin against nature, and the God of Nature. Therefore, if God reduce thee to poverty, by some stroke depriving thee of thy estate, it is hot patience, but a lax and retchless care lessness, to sit still with thy hand in thy bosom, neglecting all honest industry to procure a comfortable subsistence, pretend ing that thou art willing to submit to the will and dispensations of God. If God bring sore, and perhaps mortal diseases upon thee, it is not patience, but presumption and impiety, to refuse the means which are proper for thy recovery, under pretence that thou art willing to bear whatsoever it pleaseth God to lay upon thee. And, generally, whatsoever calamity thou liest under, it is not patience, but obstinacy and contempt, to refuse deliverance, when thou mayest obtain it, without violating thy duty or God's honour. 4. Much less doth Patience oblige us to invite sufferings. It is fortitude enough, if we manfully stand their shock, when they assault us ; but it is temerity, to provoke and chal lenge them. This is but like the frenzy of the Circumcel- liairs. a sect of mad Christians in Africa, about St. Austin's time ; who were so fond of martyrdom, that they would, with 12 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STIN6. extremities, compel others to kill them ; or, for want of exe cutioners, dispatch themselves; that they might have the re nown of resolution and patience. Neither is it patience to bear those invented severities, which blind devotionists inflict upon themselves : they may soon enough lash themselves into 'pain, but neyer into patience : this is a virtue, which thongs and whip cord can never teach them : nor is at all tjiankswortby, to bear that pain which they themselves inflict ; or, if the smart vex them, they have their revenge in their own hands, and were best whip themselves again for their folly. ' And, thus, I have shewed you what Patience is not. ii. Positively. In Patience there must be, 1. A- quiet, willing submission to the hand of God. Which the Scripture expresseth to us, by taking up our cross : Mat. xvi. 24. Receiving evil at the hands of God : Job ii. 10. Accepting the punishment of our iniquities : Lev. xxvi. 41. Which all signify the ready and willing submission of the soul, under whatever God shall see fit to lay upon it. 2. A quieting of our unruly passions. A calming of all those impetuous storms and tempests, which are apt to arise in a man's heart, when he is under any sore' and heavy sufferings. Indeed, it is impossible, but that the affections will be stirring ; but patience takes off the eagerness and bit terness of them : it ought to keep them from excess, and to dulcorate and sweeten them ; that the soul may not be ruffled into a tempest with them, but only gently purled with the breathings of a soft wind upon them. But, for all those turbu- lencies and uproars of the passions ; all those violent and wild emotions, which distract reason and rend the soul to pieces, and make men unfit for the service of God and the employments of their lives : these patience ought to quell and suppress. And he, that doth not this, wants the principal part of patience ; how soever he may, possibly, command his outward expressions, and rule his actions better than he can his passions, and his body than his soul. 3. All this must be done upon right grounds. Indeed, there is a natural patience : a patience that may be found in natural men, devoid of true grace; which is only a moral virtue, and proceeds only upon natural and moral prin- PATIENC6 UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 13 ciples : * As, That it is folly, to strive against fate ; and That it is equally folly, to torment ourselves about what we can help, and what we cannot help; and the like. But that patience, which I am now speaking of, is a Christian Grace, and proceeds not only upon such arguments and principles : no, it looks far higher; and eyes the sovereignty of God, to which it is our duty to submit: and it eyes also his wisdom and his goodness, to which it is our interest to submit. It looks off from the absolute nature of the affliction, considered as it is in itself, to the relative nature of it, as it is dispensed to us by God; and so concludes, that though the cup. in itself be bitter, yet, in our Father's hand, it is salutary ; and knows that it shall work for our gain and advantage, and make us partakers of God's holiness here, and of his glory hereafter. And thus we see what this grace of Patience is. II. The next thing is, to shew, WHAT IS THE PROPER WORK OF PATIENCE. And that I shall endeavour to do, in these following par ticulars. i. The first work of patience is, as I have told you, the qui eting AND COMPOSING THE SPIRIT OF THE AFFLICTED. He is calm and sedate within, though his outward state and condition be full of storms and tempests ; and saith, with St. Paul, when he had spoken of the bonds and afflictions that awaited him, Acts xx. 24. None of these things move me. But an im patient man flies out against heaven and earth, blasphemes God and curses men, rages at his sufferings and gnaws the very chains that tie him up : and, instead of humbling himself under God's mighty hand, is exasperated by his punishment ; and, with that impious king, cries out, in all his extremity and anguish, This evil is of the Lord : why should I wait upon the Lord any longer ? ii. Another work of patience is, to put a stop, to all immo derate COMPLAINTS. It puts a man to silence; and lays a check upon all the in temperate eruptions of our grief and passions. / was dumb, saith David, / opened not my mouth, because thou didst it : Ps. xxxix. 9. It dares not so much as whimper against God ; * Feras, non culpes, quod vitari non potest. Pub. ap. Gel). Noct. Att 1. xvii. c. 14. 14 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. nor saucily expostulate with hds infinite sovereignty, why he should bring such afflictions upon us. It is God, that hath done it : and, what ! shall we, vile dusft and ashes* controul his pro ceedings, or take upon us to censure any of his dispensations ? See a most notable instance of this patience, in Aaron : when his two sons, Nadab and Abihu, were destroyed by a most un paralleled judgment, and Moses brings him the sad tidings ; tidings, which, one would expect, should havt5 caused him to break forth into some passionate complaint; i'tt is said, That Aaron held his peace: Lev. x. 3. he had not a word to say: it was the Lord's doing ; and, as it was wonderfu % so it was just and righteous, in his eyes. iii. Another work of patience under suffering s, is SELF re signation TO THE SOVEREIGN WILL AND DISPOSAL OF ALMIGH TY GOD. It takes a man off from his own bottom ; and rmakes him re nounce his own interests and concerns, and lay down his all ; all his designs, all his hopes, all his possessions and enjoyments ; at the feet of God :* desiring his wisdom to choose for him ; and to carve him out that portion, which he knows to be most fitting and convenient. This is the chief and most principal work of patkmce. And there be two notable ingredients, which go to> the compo sition of it ; Self-Denial, and Submission. 1 . Patience works the soul to a self-denying frame and temper. Fretfulness and impatience do always proceed from self-love. When we are deeply engaged in an eager pursuit of that which we think advantageous to us, we are presently apt to storm and tumultuate, if any cross providence interpose, to entangle our designs and defeat our expectations : for, whilst we set up ourselves as our highest and utmost end, and seek only our own temporal profit and commodity, we must; needs take it immoderately, if any thing succeed contrary to our hopes and desires. A cross lies very heavy, and is an Ujisupportable load, upon a selfish man. And he, that makes this world his all, must needs look Upon himself as utterly ruinod and undone, * ToAjuwov umGx?$>a.s wjoj tov ©eov totuv, on xfa r*0J "Xowrov eis o <*•"> .SeJWSr CLwywtyiovto o-o», o-o; UfO.' aS«v wapaiTa^ai tidv it*,tepi9e;' apjjs* jae 9s?ih;, iSimteuhv, /zevhv, (ptvym, , n T» xtikwAi tdv weswjtsw ©sf 3ias twv ofy'avm tr\% jixti;. Hierocles, pag. 122. C 2 20 death disarmed of its sting. That is a Fifth Work of Patience. vi. Another work of patience is, TO obstruct all dishonour able or unlawful ways of deliverance from those suffer ings UNDER WHICH WE LIE. Patience will not suffer a man to accept of deliverance, if he cannot free the honour of God and the purity of his own conscience from stain, as well as his outward man from trouble : he will not make such an unworthy commutation, as to leave his God or his conscience to suffer in his stead : no ; rather let bonds, reproach, afflictions, and death do their worst upon him, than that he should hazard his soul, to save his skin : if he cannot break through a sad and entangling providence but by breaking a command, let the worst come that can come, he keeps his station ; and will not move one foot without the com pass of the word, though he might thereby escape all his sorows and sufferings : he is resolved that the Devil shall never bail him ; nor will he, by any unlawful arts and methods, wrest him self out of God's hands, to put himself into Satan's. This patience it was, that made the holy martyrs, spoken of Heb. xi. generously scorn to accept of deliverance, when it was tendered to them upon unworthy and unwarrantable terms : they were not so stupid, nor so profuse and lavish of their lives, as to east them away, could they have saved both them and their religion too ; but, when the condition of their temporal safety was their eternal destruction, when they could no longer live here unless they consented to die for ever, welcome then death and tor ments, the rack and the fire, welcome the prison or the stake, to which the laws of God fastened them more straitly than even their fetters and their chains. But impatience puts a man upon any base and wicked means, to free himself from his present sufferings : thus Saul's impatience in waiting for Samuel forceth him, first, to offer sacrifice, whereby he forfeited his kingdom ; and, afterwards, his impatience to know the success of his affairs drives him to consult with a witch, whereby he lost his*' life. And, how many forlorn wretches are there, who, through im patience under the temporal evils which they suffer, desperately cut off their own lives, and thereby plunge themselves into eternal torments ! And thus* in these Six particulars, you see what is the proper Work of Patience. It is : to quiet and compose the spirits of patience under afflictions. 21 the afflicted : to put a stop to all immoderate and murmuring complaints: to make men willingly resign up themselves unto the sovereign will and disposal of God : to sweeten and endear afflictions to them : to render them placable and reconcilable to the instruments of their sufferings : and, lastly, to obstruct all dishonourable and unlawful wajjp of deliverance. And that is the Second General propounded. III. The Third General is, to shew, WHEN IT IS, that Pa. tience hath its Perfect Work. To this I answer : i. Patience hath then its perfect work, when it is proporti onable to the sufferings and afflictions under which we LIE ; and that, both in Duration and Fortitude. And therefore, 1. If thy afflictions and sorrows be qf long continuance, thy pa* tience, that it ¦may be perfect, must be prolonged. It must be lengthened out according to the affliction ; nor must we faint, till it shall please God to put a period to his chastisements and our sufferings. If thy patience wear off one day before thy trouble doth, it hath not its perfect work. Some-* times, God doth bring such afflictions and trials upon his people, as shall hold them work ail their days, and scarce afford them any intermission and breathing-time : and, if it prove so with thee, know, that thy patience ought to run parallel with thy trouble. If God will not take thy burden off, but make thee travel with it till the evening, till thou liest down to take thy rest in the.grave,thy patience must hold out till then, if thou wouldst have it perfect. And, though the Apostle speaks of our light afflictions, which are but for a moment : yet remember, that, as they are light only in comparison with the intolerable torments of hell ; so, likewise, they are many time short, only in compa rison with eternity : they are short, only because they are not endless ; but, yet, this short moment may hojd out as long as thy whole life. Now, then, O Christian ! look upon thyself as a traveller; and make account, that whatsoever burden God is pleased to lay upon thee, he may perhaps not take it off till thou comest to thy inn, to take up thy lodging in the grave. If he discharge thee of it sooner, acknowledge his mercy ; but be sure thou discharge not thy patience, before God discharged fhy burden. 22 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. 2. Sometimes our sorrows and sufferings are very deep, our burdens very heavy and pressing : and God brings upon us not only long, but sharp and severe sufferings ; such as he threatened, Deut. xxviii. 59. Great plagues, and of long continuance ; and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. He may give thee a deep draught of the bitter cup, and squeeze into it the very spirit and quintessence of gall and wormwood. Now, in this case, that thy patience may be perfect, it must be strong, as well as lasting : it must have nerves and sinews in it, to bear weighty burdens. When thou canst take up the heaviest load and go away roundly with it, when thou canst endure the sharpest methods of cauters and incisions with a manly spirit, then is thy patience perfect. But, If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is but small ; Prov. xxiv. 10. ii. That our patience may be perfect, it must be proportion able, ALSO, TO THE NEED OF THE SUFFERER. For then hath patience its perfect work, when a man bears whatsoever is necessary for him. We suffer, as a sick man takes physic : though the potion be bitter, yet he must take such a quantity as is prescribed for the cure of his disease. Truly, our afflictions are but medicines for our souls : it may be, a small quantity, or a few doses, is not sufficient to work out the malignity of our distemper; and, therefore, we must continue and submit, until our Great Physician hath perfected his cure upon us ; and then is our patience perfect. Possibly, God sees thee proud and arrogant in thy prosperity ; and, therefore, he brings some sharp affliction upon thee, that may lance the swelling tumor of thy mind, and let out thy corruption : perhaps, he sees thy disease is covetousness, and too much love of this world ; and, therefore, to cure this dropsy in thee, he deals with thee as physicians do with hydropic patients ; takes from thee that, which, though it please thy appetite, yet miserably in creaseth thy distemper : perhaps, he sees thou art falling asleep in carnal security ; and, therefore, to awaken and rouze thee out of this lethargy, he makes use of incisions and cauters. Now, both the cure and thy patience are then perfect, when of a proud and high-minded person, he hath brought thee to an- humble and meek spirit; when, of a worldly and self-seeking person, he hath made thee a public-spirited and self-denying Christian ; when, of a drowsy and secure, he hath made thee a vigilant, zealous, and active Christian. PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 23 iii. That thy patience may be perfect, it must be a joyful PATIENCE. Thou must not suffer, and repine : this is only patience ex torted, and by force : but suffer, and rejoice * ; and bless and thank that God, taking from thee; whom thou didst bless, giving to thee. And, as we have the greatest cause of joy, so we should then, especially, shew it, if at any time we may suffer for the testimony of Jesus, and the sake of a good conscience. It is said, Acts v. 41. the Apostles rejoiced, that they were counted worthy to suffer. ...for his name. And thus I have, in brief, shewed, when it is that patience hath her perfect work. IV. That, which remains, is only to ENFORCE upon you this exhortation of the Apostle : that all, who name the name of Christ, the great Example of Patience, would strive to get ; and, having got, to exercise ; and, by exercise, to strengthen and perfect, this most excellent grace. And, in prosecuting this, I shall observe the following method. Give several Motives and Inducements unto patience. Shew the several distempers of a man's spirit, which are great Hindrances of patience. Give the Cure of these ; and lay down some Means, that may be helpful to advance and strengthen patience in us. i. For the motives to patience : they are many and powerful. And such, indeed, they had need be, to persuade our fretful and froppish natures to the exercise of so hard a grace. There are none of us, who at all reflect upon the working of our own spirits, but find it a difficult matter to keep down the estuations of our unruly passions. When a cross providence intervenes, either to frustrate our expectations or deprive us of our present enjoyments, they will mutiny and rebel : so that it is almost as «asy an undertaking, to persuade the sea into a calm, when winds and storms beat boisterously .upon it; as it is to compose the minds of men into a smooth and equal temper, when they are assaulted with any tempestuous providences. Yet grace ca.n work those wonders, which nature cannot : and * MeyaXa es-*» k^hth Sciouj-Sxi x«i yixwy. Ignat. Ep. ad Polycarp. 24 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. that God, to whom all things are possible, can make our hearts calm, when our outward condition is tempestuous ; and, though he lets forth his winds upon us, can keep us from being dis composed and ruffled by them; and lay tfie same command upon our passions, as Christ did upon the waves ; Peace, be still. And there be several Considerations, that will tend mightily to hush all the disturbances of. our spirits, under all our sorrows and sufferings. As, 1. That there is nothing more necessary for a Christian, in the whole conduct of his life, than the wqrk and exercise of patience, What saith the Apostle, Heb. x. 36 ? Ye have need of patience; that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. It is a most necessary grace for a Christian ; not only as all other graces are necessary to make him such, for so we have need of them all, at least, in the root and habit, and in the proper seasons fqr the exercise of them ; but the Apostle speaks it signanter, and by way of special remark, Ye have Need of patience : need of the continual exercise, strength, and perfection of this grace. And this especial necessity of patience will appear, if we consider, ( 1 ) That our whole life is but a scene of sorrows and troubles. They spring up thick about us, and surround us in every condition : put thyself in what posture and state of life thou wilt, still thou shalt find something to mqlest and disquiet thee ; for our rest is not here. Who can recount the personal, do mestical, or more public sorrows, which he undergoes ; as if breath were only given unto us, to spend it in sighs and groans ? The truth is, we pass through the world, as men that run the gauntlet, and must receive a lash and stripe everp step we take. Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly -upward, : Job. v. 7 : he js born to it : it is his inheritance and pOrtiop, that descends to him from his father Adam ; entailed uppn hirn by the curse of the Law annexed to our first transgressiqn : and born unto it, as the sparks fly upward; that is, our troubles come uppn us naturally and spontaneously, as is the ascending motion of sparks ; and they are as thick and fiery, as those so,ns of the burning coal, as the original expression hath it. Now, if sorrow and sufferings do thus make up the greatest part of our lives, is it not absolutely necessary tp fortify our hearts with patience, quietly and meekly to bear whatsoever it shall seem good to the all- wise providence of God to inflict upon us ? Afflictions are PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 25 necessary for us. If need be, saith the Apostle, ye are in heavi ness through manifold temptations : 1 Pet. i. 6 : more necessary and more advantageous than prosperity ; to nip our luxuriancies, to rouze our sloth, and awaken our security ; to make us re member God and ourselves. And, shall afflictions be thus necessary for us, and not patience to undergo them ? while thpu livest in this world, thou sailest upon a rough sea : the waves and the billows work high : and wilt thou expose thyself to these storms, like a forlorn vessel without helm, or tackling, or ballast, to be tossed up and down upon the back of every wave, ready to be swallowed up every moment, or dashed against every rock in thy way ? Patience is the ballast of the soul, that will keep it from rolling and tumbling in the greatest storms : and he, that will venture out without this to make him sail even and steady, will certainly make shipwreck, and drown himself; first, in the cares and sorrows of this world ; and, then, in perdition. (2) Consider, that patience js necessary to alleviate and lighten the afflictions we suffer. The same burden shall not, by this means, have the same weight in it. There is a certain skill in taking up our load upon us, to make it sit handsome and easy ; whereas, others, that take it up untowardly, find it most cumbersome and oppressive : Let the very same affliction befal two persons ; the one, a patient, meek, and self-resigning soul ; the other, a proud, fretful wretch, that repines and murmurs at every cross and every disappoint ment ; and, with how much more ease shall the one bear it, than the other ! the burden is the very same, but only the one is sound and whple, and it doth not wring nor pinch him ; but tha other's impatience hath galled him, and every burden is more grievous and intolerable to him, because it lies upon a raw and §ore spirit. And, therefore, since afflictions and sufferings are unavoidable in this life, which is a vale of misery and tears, if thou wouldst make thy sufferings easy and supportable, fret not thyself at any dispensation of the Divine Providence : keep thy spirit sound ; and, whatsoever burden it shall please God to lay upon thee, add not to it by thy impatience : be not ingenipus to torment thyself, by thy own troublesome thoughts and reflections; nor to find out circumstances to aggravate thy sufferings: swallow down the bitter draught, that God puts into thy hand, without straining it through thy teeth ; for so the trouble will be sooner over and less distasteful. It is not so much the wearing, as the striving with our yoke, that wrings and galls us : and, as it is 26 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. with beasts caught in a snare, so is it with impatient men ; ,,the more they struggle, the closer and faster they draw the knot, and make their sufferings more uneasy and their escape more impossible. But patience gives the soul some kind of scope, and liberty under afflictions : they may surround him ; but at some distance : he may be troubled on every side ; but yet he is not distressed : he may be God's prisoner ; but yet he is not cast into gyves and fetters : and, though the affliction come very close to his outward man and his temporal estate, yet, so long as patience hath her perfect work, it can never ccrrode or eat into his spirit: in this sense, the iron enters not into his soul. That is, therefore, the First Motive to Patience : it is a most necessary grace, because it is necessary in this life that we should suffer; and nothing doth more alleviate and mitigate our suffer ings, than a patient bearing of them. 2. Another motive to patience may be, to consider, who is the Author and Inflicter of all the sufferings which thou under- goest. Possibly, when thou eyest only the instruments of thy suffer ings, their disingenuous, unworthy, and spiteful way of pro ceeding, thy impatience may take advantage to fret and torment thee : but, if thou wouldst look up to the principal cause, thou wouldst find abundant reason meekly to submit; for it is the hand and dispensation of God. There are many things in this reflection, that should quiet and stablish our minds, under all the afflictions and trials which we are exercised with. As, ( ) ) Consider, That God is the absolute and uncontroulable Sovereign of all the World. He doth whatspever pleaseth him, in heaven, and in earth, and with all things : and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? Dan.iv. 35. It is in vain to strive with him; for he giveth not account of any ofhis matters : Job xxxiii. 13. Con- sider, you are in God's hands, but as so much clay in the hands of the potter: and wilt thou, O arrogant man, dispute with him, why he hath so formed thee ? or, why he thus breaks thee ? Satisfy thyself, that it is fit and reasonable it should be with thee as it is : for so is the sovereign will of God ; and his will being the first and supreme cause, must needs be the highest reason in the world. Canst thou contend with the Almighty ? or wrest either his scepter or his rod out of his hand ? if not, what folly and madness is it, to vex and fret thyself at "the accomplishment PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 27 of that will upon thee, which never was, never can be frustrated ? We may impotently, in both senses of the word,, wish and desire this or that to come to pass : but, alas ! where is our power, where is our authority, to effect it ? Shall thy designs give laws to his purposes ? or, will the course pf secpnd causes stoop to thy appointment, or run according to thy arbitration ? It will only be our terture to struggle, when it is net in our power to dispose. And know, that thou dost insolently invade the prerogative of the Almighty, when thou repinest at any of his dispensations : for it shews a rebellious will in thee, to rescind his decrees, and disturb the method and order of his administra tion of affairs. (2) Consider, That God is net only our Sovereign, but he is our Proprietor. All our comforts and enjoyments, yea our very selves, are infinitely more God's, than they are ours : he hath but lent them to us, for our present use and service ; but the title and propriety are stilLhis own. And what hath busy and pragmatical man to do, to intermeddle with that, wherein he is least of all concerned ? Thy children, thy estate, thy liberty, yea thy life itself, what soever is dearest to thee and most prized by thee, is not so much thine, as it is God's. And what presumption then is it, to pre scribe unto him, or to murmur against him, for disposing as he pleaseth, what so entirely appertains unto him ! may he not do what he will with his own ? Certainly, this consideration alone, were it well wreught into our hearts, weuld be sufficient to allay all our impatience, and to silence all our repining thoughts : That, since all is God's, we ought rather to bless him, and o-ratefully to acknowledge his goodness, that he hath spared us any comforts thus long, than to complain of his rigour and severity, that he is pleased again to call for them from us, and to require again what he only lent but never alienated. (3) Consider the Relation, wherein God stands unto thee. He is net only thy Sovereign and Proprietor, which are titles of awe and majesty ; but he is thy Father, which is the most sweet and endearing title ef love and mercy : a Father, whese bpwels yearn and rell tpwards thee, while he is correcting thee : Jer. xxxi. 20. Is Ephraim my dear son ? is he a pleasant child? . for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still : therefore my bowels are troubled for him : 1 will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord : he undertakes this work of correction unwillingly; and, gs it were, by constraint; For he doth not 2S DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men: Lam. iii. 33: were it not that he sees this discipline of the rod is necessary for thee, thou shouldst never have other from him, but smiles and favours. Nay, God hath given us the highest expression of his tenderness, that ever could proceed from the heart of the most affectionate and compassionate father : Isa. lxiii. 9. In all their affliction, he was afflicted : as a tender-hearted father chastiseth his children, with as much, grief and regret as they themselves feel it ; so doth God. And, should not this, then, be a prevailing motive unto patience, to consider, That it is our Father who chastiseth us ; a Father, who is infinitely gracious aud merciful, and whose mercy and pity alone put him upon this his strange and unwelcome work ? shall I murmur and fret, because his gdodness takes this necessary way of expressing itself towards me ? because he is net so cruel, as to destroy me, by sparing me; and eternally to damn me, rather than, if need be, for a short time to cross and grieve me ? Certainly, if there be any childlike ingenuity in us, we ought rather to kiss the rod, and the hand that lays it on ; to bless and praise God, that he ex- presseth so much of a Father as to correct us. The Apostle strongly enforceth this argument ; Heb, xii. 9, 10. Our earthly fathers correct us, and we give them reverence: how much more shall we be in subjection unto the Father qf Spirits, since he never chastiseth us out of passion and humour, as earthly parents often dp, but for our profit ? When we can thus lepk off from the abselute, to the relative nature of our afflictions; from them, as they are evil in themselves, to them, as they are in the hand and dispose of our Heavenly Father ; we shall find more cause of jpy and enmfort, than of sorrow and repining. Thus, our Blessed Saviour supports himself: John xviii. 11. The cup, which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink thereof ? Theugh we loath the cup of afflictions, in itself considered, as it hath many bitter ingredients in it ; yet, when we lppk uppn it, as it is held put tp us in the hand of God, this will sweeten that bitter potion, and make us look upon every dispensation as a mercy. (4) Consider, again ; That it is an infinitely Wise God that afflicts thee ; and, therefore, theu mayest well acquiesce in his providences. Indeed, if afflictions did only befal us by blind chance ; if they sprung up only out of the dust, as occurrences merely casual and contingent, without any intelligent nature to everrule and guide them ; we might possibly give vent to our impatience, PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 29 by exclaiming against ill-hap and bad fortune ; and be, if tint more reasonable, yet, at least, less impious : but, when all events are eternally scanned and premeditated ; when infinite wisdom hath sat in council, and maturely deliberated every minute circumstance ef our lives ; when there is not the least dust that falls into our eye, net the least trip or wrench of thy foot, but Infinite Wisdom foresaw and consulted about it, whether it sheuld so fall put or rip, infinite ages before the foundations of the werld were laid ; it is very foolish, as well as very wicked, fer us, blind men, to find fault with the reselu- tipns and cpnduct of divine wisdcm and fore-knowledge. God's providence is described, by the prophet Ezekiel, chap. i. to be a great wheel, J'ull of eyes ¦ now, though he bring this wheel over thee, and crush thee by it ; yet know, O Christian ! that it sees its way. All thy sorrows and sufferings are chesen out for thee, by that God, who doth inflict them. [1] He knows the just Propertion of what thou art to un dergo. He is the Wise Physician, that kncws what ingredients, and what quantities pf each, are fittest for thee to take ; and will so temper them, both for measure and time, as shall be most proper and healthful for thee. And, if he prescribe thee a large and a bitter draught, appease thyself, and quiet the tumults of thy passions, with this consideration, That it was his infinite skill and art, that directed him so to do. [2] He knews and cpnsiders the Events and the Consequences of things, which are hid in a prpfpund pbscurity from us short sighted creatures. Possibly, he intends thee the greatest mercy, when he brings the serest trials uppn thee ; and, by pruning and lppping thee, designs only, that thou shalt grow the more stately and beautiful. His wisdom often so manageth our affairs, as to bring good out of evil, light out of darkness, and life itself out df death : and that, of which at present we cannet conceive otherwise but that it tends to our ruin, proves afterwards the only means cf pur safety and preservation. And, therefore, since we ourselves are so infinitely foelish and Gpd sp infinitely wise, we may well, with patience and thankfulness, give up the dispose and govern ment of ourselves unto him: for, believe it; undoubtedly, if God should model his providences according to our methods and ccntrivances, he need take no other way to curse and ruin us. Again, 30 DRATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. (5) Consider, Gpd is a Faithful God. And this shpuld be anpther encouragement, patiently to bear whatsoever he shall lay upon us. Thus the Apostle urgeth it, 1 Pet. iv. 19. Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping qf their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. He is faithful tp his wprd and promise, which he will certainly fulfil, in his due and appeinted seaspn. Now, as there is no condition that needs mpre, sp there is no cpnditipn that hath mpre promises made te it, than an afflicted and suffering conditipn. [l] He hath promised a Moderatien of all our afflictions. 1 Cor. x. 1 3. God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able ; but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. He will proportion our burden to our strength, and not lay heavy loads upon weak shoulders. [2] He hath promised his Presence with, and his Comforts and Assistance to, the afflicted. Isa. xliii. 2. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee : when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt ; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. ¦ And, certainly, the presence and the consolations of God are such, as can sweeten the most bitter condition, and make the waters of Marah pleasant and refreshing. [3] He hath promised to rescue thee out ef all thy Dangers, and tp deliver thee out ef all thy Spitpws and Troubles. Job v. 19. He shall deliver thee in six troubles ; yea, in seven, and there shall no evil touch thee. However, [4] He hath made thee that universal promise, which shines among all the rest, as the sun in the firmament, and were enough, if there were no other besides, to give light and comfort to a believing soul, under the saddest circumstances ; That all our sorrows and sufferings shall, in the end, evaporate to our Gain and Advantage. Rom. viii. 28. All things shall work together for good, to them that love God. He can make the tep pf the rod yield us honey and the eater meat : for he is almighty, and he will do it ; for he is faithful, who hath promised. And, what folly then is it to murmur and complain of our afflictions, when as our very afflictipns are pur grqat advantages ! and could we, with a wish PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 3 1 transform our condition, and make it such as we fancy and desire, yet it would be far worse with us than now it is. Well then, O Christiau! though theu mayst be troubled when thou lopkest to secend causes, and te the instruments and oc- casions of thy afflictions ; yet, look unto God, the great Guide and Governor of all things : consider his Sovereignty, his Pro priety, his Wisdom, his Fatherly Mercy, and his Faithfulness ; and, if impatience hath not tainted thy very reason, and fretted thee out of all use of serious theughts and reflectiens, thpu wilt find abundant cause tp bear all thy burdens, net pnly with submission, but with thankfulness. (6) To this let me add one consideration more ccncerning God ; and that is, that he is the God of Patience. So he is styled, Rom. xv. S. The God of Patience. And that, not only as he is the Ged, that requires patience frcm us ; not only as he is the God, that gives patience to us ; not only as he is the God, that doth own and crown patience in us : but as he is the God, that doth himself exercise infinite patience towards us. He bears more from us, than we can possibly bear from him. He. bears our sins, whereas we only bear his chastise ments : and sin is infinitely more contrary to God's nature, than suffering can be unto ours. And what strange disingenuity is it, when we daily offer many horrid affronts and indignities against his Divine Majesty, and yet expect that he should put them up and pass them by with patience ; yet, that we should murmur and fret, and cannot quietly bear the least ccrrection from the hand of God ! Certainly, we allow ourselves strange privilege and advantage, that we can be content, the Great Gpd of Heaven and Earth should daily suffer by our sins; and yet cannot be content, when we suffer a little by his chastisement. Thus, did we but well consider the Author and Inflicter of all our sufferings, it would much help us patiently to undergo them. That is a Second Motive. 3. Consider what thou hast deserved. And this will be a most unanswerable argument for patience under what thou feelest. If God should extract the very spirit and quintessence out of all the most bitter things in the werld, and put this potion in thy cup, and make thee drink of it all thy days ; yet, all this is nothing to what thou hast deserved. When thou liest under any pain or sickness, or whatsoever snisery and affliction it be, think with thyself, " This is nothing, 32 Death disarmed of its sting". to one gripe rjf hell-torments ; much less, to an eternity of1 them." Think with thyself, " Though this be grievous which I now suffer ; yet, how happy is it for me, that I am not now in hell !, If I now feel so much pain, when I am but a little touched with his finger ; oh ! what intolerable anguish should I have felt, had I now lain under the furious strokes of his almighty arm ! And shall I howl, and fret, and be impatient, when I have infinitely more reason to bless God, that it is no worse with me, than to complain, that it is thus r" Thus, I say, compare your sprrows and sufferings with ypur deserts ; and this will be a niest effectual means to excite you to a patient bearing of them. 4. A fourth motive to patience may be the consideration of the great Benefits and Advantages, that accrue io us by afflictions. It is true, that afflictions, in themselves considered, can have no great encomiums made of them : for, so, they are rather pernicious and destructive, than any way conducible unto the welfare of those that suffer them : that man must have worne off all impressions of natural good and evil, whoever shall think, that pains and sorrows are but delights and recreations : after all the grave dictates of philosophy, pains will be pains; and diseases, diseases, still : and, if reason should presume to teach sense to judge what is pleasant and what is grievous, it would exceed its due bounds, and grow very profoundly ridiculous : it is work enough for patience to bear them as they are ; it is not required, that we should account them pleasures and divertisements ; and those, who are of such a cynical humour, deserve enough ef such blessings. But, thcugh afflictions be in themselves evil, yet are they capable of such excellent improvements, that the good, which shall spring from them, will more than compensate the pain and grief of pur present sufferings. Te this accords that cf the Apostle, Heb. xii. 11. No chastisement for the pre sent seemeth to be joyous, but rather grievous : nevertheless, after* ward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. As the ploughing up of a field seems utterly to spoil the beauty of it, when its smoothness arid verdure are turned into rough and unsightly furrows, and all its herbs and flowers buried under deformed clods of earth ; but yet, afterwards, in the days of harvest, when the fields laugh and sing for joy, when the furrows stand thick with corn aud lopk like a boundless sea and inundatien of plenty, they yield an incomparable delight to the eyes of the beholders, and welcome sheaves into the bosom of the reapers : so, when God patience under afflictions. 33 ploughs up any of his children and makes long furrews uppn their backs, it may possibly seem semewhat a strange method of his husbandry, thus to deform the nourishing of their present condition ; but yet, afterwards, when the seed, which he casts into these furrows, is sprung up ; when it shall overspread their souls, and shake like Lebanon ; both the wisdom and gppdness of Divine Providence will be made apparent, in thus converting a barren prosperity into a more fruitful adversity ; and, thpugh they gp fprth weeping, yet tliey shall, doubtless, come again with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them; as the Psalmist speaks, Psal. cxxvi. 6. And, therefore, since afflictions may be thus improved to so great an advantage, impatience and fretfulness under them may be justly censured, not only as impiety, but folly. Now, there are Four sorts of Improvements arid Advantages, that we may make of our afflictions. ( 1 ) As they are the Exercise of our Graces, so they keep them lively and active. Exercise, you know, though it weary and tire the body for the present, yet conduceth to its health and soundness.- Now afflictions are the soul's exercise, by which God keeps our graces in breath, which else would languish and be choked up, And, though this exercise may sometimes be very violent, so as to make the soul pant and run down with sweat ; yet this tends to better its constitution, and to remove that sluggish phlegm, which otherwise would obstruct and oppress it. And, therefore, O Christian ! whatsoever thy present troubles and afflictions be, know, that God brings them upen thee, only to breathe thy graces^ and make them the mere healthful and vigorous. Pos sibly, he takes from thee all thy outward props and dependencies, tp try thy Faith ; whether it can lean firmly upen a promise, and be cenfident enough to take his word withput a pawn. Possibly, he lets leose all his winds and his waves upon thee : the whole face of heaven may be muffled with clouds ; and, for many days, thou mayest see neither sun nor star, no other light but those flashes which are more terrible and dismal than darkness itself: and all this, only to try the temper of thy Hope ; whether that anchor be strong enough to hold out in a storm. And, if ever Providence should call thee to lay down thy secular enjoyments, or thy life itself, for the profession df the name of Christ, this is only to try the ardency of thy Love and Zeal, how much thoa vol. iv. D 34 death disarmed of its sting. canst forego and undergo for his sake; whether thou canst espouse a naked Truth, a destitute and forsaken Christ, when reproaches, revilings, persecutions, and martyrdom, are the only dewry thou canst here expect. Thus, I say, God pften brings afflictions upon his people, that their graces may be exercised ; and, upon trial, be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, when their faith shall appear victerious, their hope tenacieus, and their love sincere, in the midst of troubles, dangers, distresses, yea and death itself. As spices send forth their most fragrant scents, when they are most bruised ; so are the graces of God's people more sweet and redolent, when they are crushed and bruised under the pressure of heavy afflictions. Now, as the trial and exercise of our strength is a natural means to encrease it ; so, this exercise of grace by afflictions is a proper means to get great strength and perfection of grace : all habits are confirmed in us by frequent acts: and, therefore, O Christian ! if thy afflictions put thee upon the acting of faith, and hope, and a generous unbiassed love of God, and self-denial, and humility ; knew, that thou art a great gainer by thy very lpsses, and happy in thy greatest troubles. Nay, if by suffering thou only learnest how to suffer, and growest more expert in patience, this alone is a sufficient recompense forall thy sorrows: it will be motive eneugh to any one, who knows the excellency of this divine grace, to suffer patiently,, that he may be patient : see that remarkable place of the Apostle, Rom. v. 3, 4. We glory in tribulations : we esteem them our privilege and advantage : why so ? because tribulation worketh patience : we rejoice to have our patience tried, sp lpng as the product of it is still patience : and patience worketh experience: we hereby, grow to be ex perienced Christians; and, by long custom, find, that those troubles are not so dreadful, nor insupportable, when we come to grapple with them, as we thought, when we stopd at a distance. Indeed, experience and custcm facilitate all things ; and make that very easy, which before we accounted difficult, if not impossible. All birds, when they are first caught and put -into their- cage, fly wildly up and dpwn, and beat themselves against their little prisen; but, within two or three davs sit quietly upon their perch, and sing their usual netes, with their usual meledy : so it fares with us : when God first brings us into straits, we wildly flutter up and down, and beat and tire our selves, with striving to get free; but, at length, custom and patience under afflictions. 35 texperitence will make our narrow confinement spacious enough for us; and, though our feet should be in the stocks, yet shall we, with the Apostles, be able, even there; to sing praises to our God. And experience, saith the Apostle, worketh hope; inasmuch as having formerly undergone the like afflictions, we may, with the more confidence, expect either the like support, or the like deliverance. And, lastly, hope maketh not ashamed : fpr the expectation of the righteous shall not be disappointed, but Gpd will certainly deliver them, either from or by, all their sufferings and miseries. What a prevalent argument should this be unto patience under afflictions, since a true Christian makes such great improvements of his afflictions, that he would be an infinite loser, should he part with his advantages to be rid of his afflictions ! That is the first benefit we gain by afflictions ; they exercise and strengthen our graces. (2) Another advantage of afflictions is this t that they ara Physic to the Soul, to expel and purge out its corruptions. And, therefore, though the potion be bitter ; yet j when it is administered to such an end, this should recencile our antipathy, correct our nauseating, and make us swallow it down without repining or murmuring, See that notable place, Isa. xxvii. 9* By this, therefore^ shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged ; and this is all his fruit, to take away his sin. And this afflictions do, sometimes, by cutting off those provisions, which a more pro sperous condition laid in* for the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh : when we cannot have such large supplies for those vanities and follies, which before too much alienated our hearts from God, Sometimes, they work more kindly and ingenuously, in a moral way ; as they put men upon serious reflections, and cause them to consider their ways and doings : those^ who were never pensive nor thpughtful before, will be se$ when the hand of God lies heavy upon them : then, they begin to examine and ransack their consciences ; and, as mariners, in a storm, throw overboard their freight to lighten the vessel ; so these, when they are in a tempestuous condition, cast out this and that sin to lighten their souls, that the tempest may the sooner cease, or they the better out-ride it. And this is the very reason, why there is no place sp holy as a sick-bed : have you never been conversant with those, who have been cast thereon, when their vessel hath sprung a plank, and death hath been leaking in on every side? have you never observed, how they have then p 2 36 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. whplly applied themselves to prayer, and confession, and hea venly discourses ? they are deadened te all the joys and vanities ofthe world; and detest their own folly, for ever loving and prizing them. And so is it, proportionably, in all other afflict tions, that God brings upon us : they all tend to make us sober and considerative : for it is a natural impression upon the minds of men, that all our sufferings are for sin : and this cannot but engage us against those sins, the smart of which we so sensibly feel ; and, having had such experience of the bitter effects of sin, we are, afterwards, made more capable of the counsel of our Saviour, to sin no more, lest a worse thing befal us. Now, O Christian ! if this be the fruit of thy afflictions, to purge thee from thy sins, wilt thou complain, that God deals too severely with thee, when he intends thee so great a blessing ? canst thou patiently suffer incisions, caustics, searings, amputations, and cutting-off of whole limbs, and all the merciful torture that the art of the physician puts thee to, for the recovery bf thy bodily health? and, yet, wilt thou murmur against the Great Physician, when he takes those methods, which, thotfgh they are grievous, yet are safest for the cure of thy spiritual diseases, which are infinitely more dangerous and destructive than any corporal maladies can be ? certainly, thou either distrustest his skill, or foolishly preferrest thy present ease before thy eternal safety; and wouldst rather go down to hell, having two eyes and two hands, than enter into heaven halt and maimed. Possibly, God sees, that thou hast taken a dangerous surfeit ef worldly com forts : and wilt thou vex and fret, that he gives thee a medicine to cast up what thcu canst npt digest, and to rid thee ef what was a lpad and oppression to, thy soul and conscience ? Perhaps, he sees thy mind is lifted up, and swells with the tumor of pride and vain-glory, in a cpntinued course of prosperity ; and, there^ fore, the method of his goodness constrains him to lance thee : and wilt thou complain, that he wounds thee, when it is only to let out that purulency and corruption, which else might festet and gangrene, and prove thy utter bane and ruin ? Could we but bring our untoward hearts to believe, that all our afflictions are but the prescriptions of our Great Physician ; that he designs good to us by them ; ,that, as much of our earthly enjoyments as he takes from us, as much blood as he lets, so much of our corruptipn and peccant humours run out together with it i com mon reason would easily persuade us, to bear that with patience which will so vastly redound to our benefit and advantage. PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 37 (3) A patient bearing of afflictions is a clear Evidence of our Adoption. Indeed, our sufferings only prove us to be the sons of Adam, on whom the curse is entailed through his primitive trans gression : but our patience under sufferings, is a strong proof and evidence, that we are the sons of God. All metals may be melted in the furnace ; but it is die property of gold only, to pndure the fire, and lose nothing of its weight or worth. The Apostle makes this the trial of our legitimatipn : Heb. xii. 7. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons : and, v. 8. If ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons : and, again, v. 6. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth; and scourgeth every son, whom he receiveth. It is true, we cannet argue, that we are the children of God, merely because he scourgeth us ; for God dispenseth afflictions, both as he is a Judge and as he is a Father : as he is a Judge, so he deals with wicked and ungodly men, often scourg ing them with rods, even in this life ; and, afterwards, he eter nally scourgeth them with scorpions in hell : but, then may we comfortably conclude, that he chasteneth us as a Father, when he gives us patience to bear his rebukes, and works in ns a holy submission unto his divine will and pleasure : by this, he doth hut set his mark upon thee ; and, though it doth burn thee, yet this will be thy perpetual comfort, That, by this, he will own thee, and thou mayest know thyself to be his: so the Apostle tells us, Gal. vi. 17. that he bare in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus ; that is, all the persecutiens and tribulations which he underwent, as they did conform him tp a resemblance with the Lord Jesus, so likewise they were so many characters imprinted upen him, declaring tp whom he did belong. And now, O Christian1, is there any affliction sp grieveus, as such an evidence is comfortable? will net this abundantly recom pense the pain and smart of all thy sufferings, when thy patience in bearing them shall give thee in a testimony that thou art a ehild of God, and fill thy inward sense as full of joy as thy outward can be of trouble and sorrow; yea, a joy unspeakable and glorious, that shall swallow up all the afflictions which thou feelest, and make them inconsiderable nothings ? As St. Stephen was so wholly wrapped up with his heavenly vision, that, though the Jews gnashed upon him with their teeth, and dragged him forth to stone him ; yet he was so wholly fixed and intent upon the glory of that unexampled sight, that he regarded not their 38 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. threats, nor the stones they threw at him, which, he knew", ¦would but pitch his way to heaven : so, truly, when it pleaseth God to open heaven in a man's soul and to ravish his heart with the dear sense of his eternal love, all outward sorrows and troubles are not of force sufficient to disturb his thoughts ; but he is wholly possessed with the consolations of God : he retreats inward, and enjoys himself in peace and unspeakable comfort, in that retirement where afflictions and tribulatipns cannot reach him ; and they can no more embitter his joys, than one drop of gall can embitter the whole sea, when it is let fall into it. Now God never affords such large and overflowing measures of his consolations, as in an afflicted condition : he gives his strongest cordials, when the spirits are most apt to fail and sink. And, therefore, thpu, whp hast laboured and prayed long for assurance, and wouldest esteem it a felicity next to the pessession of hea ven to know thy undoubted right unto it, set patience on work in all thy trials and afflictions : bear them quietly and sub-, missively ; and see, whether thou canst not read evidences enough for heaven, in the very print of the rod : see, whether God will not this way give thee in so much cpmfprt, as shall turn thy patience into joy and triumph. (4) Consider, that a patient suffering of afflictions will make rich Additions to the Weight and Splendour of thy Crown of Glory. And wilt thou then, O Christian! murmur and repine at the weight of thy burden, when, at last, it will be all found to be gems and diadems, and all to be thine own ? See what the Apostle saith, 2 Cor. iv. 17. Our light affliction, which is but for a mo ment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight qf glory : methinks, this consideration alone should be so effectual to teach us patience, that we should scarce have patience to hear any more : shall our glory superabound, as our sorrows have abounded ? shall our eternal refreshings be measured out unto us, by the cup of afflictions which we have here drank of? doth God beat and hammer us, only that he may make us vessels of honour? shall all sighing and sorrow fly away, and everlasting and unmeasurable joy be upen pur heads ? Where fore then, O Christian ! these impatient complaints, these fretful vexations ? dost thou do well to he angry ? to fume and estuate, because God takes the course to make thee tpp glorious ? art thou likely to be happier than thpu wpuldst be ? or, doth God do thee an injury, tp. fit thee fpr a higher place in heaven, than, PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 39 perhaps, thou carest to possess ? Believe it, thou art the greatest enemy to thyself: and, if thou wouldst have thy good things here, thou dischargest God from his obligation : thy impatience can free thee from no other weight but one ; and that is, the exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Thus, therefore, if we consider the great benefits and advan tages, that will accrue to us by a patient bearing of afflictions ; that it is exercise to our graces, physic for our souls, an evi dence cf our adpption, and an addition to our future glory ; we should sopn be convinced, that it is much mpre pur interest to be patient, than it is, not to be afflicted. That is, therefore, the Fourth Motive. 5. Another motive may be this : that a patient bearing of af flictions is a very great Honour, both to Ourselves, and lo God. (1) To Ourselves. Consult 1 Pet. iv. 14. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye ; for the Spirit qf glory and of God resteth ¦upon you. It is for the honpur of your faith, and hope, and all the rest of your graces, 1 Pet. i. 7. that the trial of your faith, which is more precious than of gold though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory. There is no thing more honourable than fortitude and magnanimity. Now, it is the heroic gallantry of a Christian spirit, not to be out- baffled by afflictions : but, when his body or estate are broken by them ; yet to keep his soul sound and entire, and, in the greatest agonies of sorrows from God, with an undaunted meek ness, to say, " Strike, Lord, for thy servant beareth :" and, in the greatest rage of persecutions from men, to scorn their weak attempts, and shew a courage able to endure far more than they are able to inflict. Thus the Primitive Christians tormented their tormentors; and, by their conquering patience, turned their despite against themselves, to gnaw and fret their own bowels. (2) It brings in a great revenue pf glory unto Gpd. Fpr what can reflect a greater hpnpur upon God, thao that, though we suffer from him pr for .him, yet we can bear it pa tiently, because it is his hand that inflicts it ? Cassian relates a story to this purpose : That a Christian, being, injured and tor mented by the Heathens and afterwards cast into prison, being asked by one, what miracles Christ had ever wrought, answered him, " The same that ypu now see, viz. that though I have been 40 DEATH DISARMED OJ ITS STING. thus ill-handled by yeu, yet I am net moved with it." When the Devil had obtained of God to afflict Job, who would be sure to do it with all the spite and malice of hell, and yet could not alter the resolution of his patience and constancy ; see, how God upbraids the Devil, and glories in his servant's fortitude : Job ii. 3. Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in all the earth, a perfect and an upright man ; one, that feareth God, and escheweth evil ? and still he holdeth fast his in tegrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. God, as it were, pawns and engages his honour upon the patience of his servants : he calls forth his champions to the combat; and sets men and devils against them: if they flinch, his honour suffers for it ; but if they keep their ground, and, whatsoever troubles and trials befal them, maintain the temper and ccnstancy pf an even sedate seul, this erects a last ing trophy tp the glory of God ; when they see so much excel lency in God and in his ways, that they can prefer piety, with all the afflictions and tribulations that attend it, before the pomp and allurements of this present world, and esteem the very re proach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. And, therefore, O Christians ! if you would glorify God, main tain your spirits in patience under all adversities : for this shews your most high esteem and veneration of him ; when you can cleave to him as your chief good, though he bring evil uppn you ; and resolve" to trust in him, though he slay you. This will shame and defeat the Devil ; when he sees himself so hated and rejected, though he bring all the baits of, pleasure and ad vantage to recommend his temptations ; and God and godliness so esteemed and loved, though they expose their followers to much distress and misery. And, indeed, this way of glorifying God, by patient suffering, is a privilege and advantage, that we have above the angels : the good angels glorify God, by doing his will ; but they cannot suffer : and the evil angels, in deed, suffer ; but they cannot suffer patiently. Herein we out strip ihem : since, by nature, we are made passive ; and, by grace, patient. 6. Consider, that patience under afflictions is the best way to be freed from afflictions. And that, whether they be immediately from Men, or from God. (1) If they be immediately from Men ; patience is of such a PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 41 sweet winning nature, that, unless they have quite divested humanity, they cannot long persevere in a causeless wronging of those, who quietly bear and pass by their former injuries. Veterem ferendo injuriam, vites novam, was the old saying * : " By putting up old wrongs, you will not so much invite, as avoid, new ones." Where no wood is, the fire goeth out, saith Selomon. Patience subtracts and withdraws fuel from wrath : it finds np new eccasion to stir up strife by epppsition. Whereas, if there happen a controversy and difference between two im patient men, it is but like clapping the burning ends cf two firebrands together : they mutually help to inflame one anether, till, it may be, bpth are consumed : and, whde the one doth the wrong and the other retaliates it, they both think they have just cause to keep up an immortal feud. Certainly, nothing sooner damps an injury, than yielding; as a woolsack will sppner damp and deaden a bullet, than a stone-wall. Resistance gives, if not a right, yet a pretence and colour to farther injuries : for those, who did the first, will think themselves as much affronted by our revenge, as we did by the first wrong ; and so both are mutually exasperated, and there can be no end of violence and outrage. Whereas, a patient, meek-spirited man, who passeth by many provocations that are given him, presently cuts off the long genealogy and succession of wrongs; and finds it much easier to endure some without revenge, than to draw upon him self a great many by revenging them. This sweet temper of spirit, which the Gospel so highly recommends, must needs, at length, win upon our adversaries tc forbear their unjust prose cutions; and to cease harming us, when they see us innocent, and followers of that which is good : this effect it will have upon them, if they be not altogether fierce and brutish ; er, if _ they be, it will prevail with God to restrain their malice, and to take us, as his clients, under his own prctectipn. (2) If our sufferings be immediately from God, a patient bearing of them will the sooner put a period to them ; because, usually, one great end why God doth afflict us, is to teach us patience. And, therefore, the sooner we learn this hard lesson, the sooner we make the affliction needless ; and Gpd will not chas tise any, unless need be. His design is not to break, but only to bow and humble thee : and, when he hath effected this, he * Publics apud Gellium Noct. Attic. 1. xvii. c. J 4, 42 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. will soon withdraw his chastisements, and cast away his rod ; it being a werk altogether as displeasing and irksome to him, as it can be untp thee. Rev. iii. 10. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience : i.e. because thou hast been patient according to my word, / also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, lo try them that dwell upon the earth. Npw, when yen are under afflictiens, what is it that you most passionately desire ? is it not, that God would take off his band ? that he would spare a little, and give some respite? that he would free you from your sorrows and sufferings ? Be lieve it, the most infallible and compendious method to obtain this, is, to bear the indignatipn pf the Lprd with a submissive patience ; fer then, commonly, the affliction is no lpnger useful, as having obtained its end : but, while theu frettest and ragest against Ged's dispensatipns, know, that it is not for his honour to let thee go out of his hands ; for such a temper will never be brought to acknowledge him in the deliverance, which will not submit to him in the affliction. 7. Consider, that all thy sufferings in this life are, in them selves, tolerable. They are but the infirmities of a man, which the spirit of a man may bear. Fpr, ( 1 ) They are only Partial. Thou art afflicted only in seme few ef thy cpneerns : never was any, in all : and yet all are alike subject te the same God, and to the same Providence. And, what! wilt thou murmur and repine, when thou sufferest only in one or two interests, when all the rest escape ; whereas, thou mightest have suffered universally in every faculty of thy spuI, and every member of thy body, and every thing that belongs unto thee ? (2) All thy afflictions and sufferings have a great mixture of Mercy in them. There is no one of us, but, if impatience did not blind him, might see much more cause of thankfulness in every estate, than of fretting and repining. The truth is, when we are under any affliction, we are generally troubled with a malicious kind of melancholy : we only dwell and pore upon the sad and dark occurrences of Providence ; but never take notice of the more benign and bright ones. Our way, in this world, is like a walk under a row of trees, checkered with light and shade: and, because we cannot all along walk in the sunshine, we therefore perversely fix only upon the darker passages, and sp Ipse all PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 43 the ccmfort of our comforts. We are like froward children, who, if you take but one of their playthings from them, throw away all the rest in spite. Now, O Christian ! recollect thyself: consider how many mercies thou enjpyest with thy afflictions: yea, consider how much mercy is in thy afflictions ; in that they are not so extreme and rigorous, as thy sins deserved, and could have prepared : they are such, as might easily enough be borne, didst not thou thyself greaten and aggravate them, by thy impa tience. The truth is, men dress up their afflictions in a black, hideous shape ; and then are frighted at what they themselves have made so formidable. Fer shame, then, never whine nor complain at God's dealings with thee ; lest God, to punish thee for thy impatience and murmuring, under more gentle and easy afflictions, prepare such for thee, whose little finger shall be heavier than their loins ; and whereas,' before, he chastised thee with rods, henceforth he chastise thee with scorpions. 8. Consider how many thousands, in the world, are in a far worse condition than yourselves; and would account themselves . happy, were tliey in your circumstances. And how unreasonable, then, is it, to complain of God's dis pensations ! Do we think, that God is more indebted unto us, than he is to them ? er, that he wrongs us, if he doth not bestow more upon us, than upon all the world beside ? Thou art, pos sibly, impatient at the loss of a child, or of some near relation : but, how many are there in the world, to whom these are given, as the greatest crosses and burdens of their lives ! Thpu liest, perhaps, under racking and tormenting pains, or languishest under lingering and consuming diseases, and frettest thyself with impatience ! though, possibly, thou mayest have all ac commodations of means and attendance to ease and solace thee : but, canst thou find none that suffer the same pains, the same diseases, and, it may be, in a far more sharp and severe mea sure, and yet are destitute of all the other comforts thou en- joyest ; and have no where to breathe out their sighs and their sorrows, but in the open air, or at the threshold bf thy door ? Certainly, were all the evils and miseries, that mankind endure, amassed together, and brought into one common stock and store, and then distributed by equal shares among all men, thy lot and thy portion of them would, perhaps, be much greater than now it is : and, therefpre, it is very unjust and unreasonable for thee to complain, since God hath been more kind and more favourable to thee, than to thousands of others. But, the mi- 44 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. sery is, that pride and self-love make us always take our mea sures from those that are above hs : and, if we see any more prosperous than ourselves, we presently murmur and quarrel at God's proceedings ; and are apt to think that he deals rigidly, with us, because he deals more favourably with some : whereas, were we humble enough to look below ourselves, we should, every where, find miserable objects ; and see abundant cause to bless and praise God, that it is not with us, as with them. Art thou Poor ? yet, even among that rank of men, are there none reduced to a more pinching and tyrannous necessity, than thy self? look about thee in the world; and, I believe, there are few or none, that will read this, but may find some whom they can relieve, and are" fit objects of their pity and charity. Art thou Diseased, or tprmented with Pains ? but canst thou find no Lazarus, no Job, in the world, in comparison with whom, thy diseases themselves are health, and thy pains pleasure? thou art not yet brought into that extremity, that a potsherd or a dog's tongue should be thy only ease and comfort. Hast thou sustained Losses in thy estate, or in thy relations? but canst thou find none, who can make thee such doleful com plaints, and tell thee such sad stories of these things, as to make thee forget thine own sorrows, and mingle thy tears, not of impatience, but compassion, with theirs ? Certainly, we have all of us abundant cause to be thankful to God, that we are not the most forlorn and wretched creatures in the world : for that very sovereignty and dominion of his, which hath made Pthers so, might have allotted us the same portion. And, yet, these miserable creatures themselves have no reasen for impatience, upon many accounts and considerations before mentioned ; and how much less hast thou, whom, perhaps, they envy as happy and prosperous, whilst thou art still complaining, that thy condition is wretched and deplorable ! 9. As anpther motive to patience, consider of how short dura tion and continuance all the troubles and afflictions qf this life are. Though your way be thorny and miry, yet it is but short. A few sighs more may bring ypu to heaven, where all sorrow and sighing shall flee away, and everlasting joy succeed these temT poral miseries. Lcng afflictions are not beypnd our sufferance. They must cf necessity be light burdens, that a man carries far. Sere and heavy troubles usually give in bail to their own arrest : they spend, together with the subject that beareth them ; and must, like fire, go out at last, for want of fuel. So that what. PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 45 sover your afflictipns are, yet still, in the very nature ef them, you may find ground enough fer patience : if they be light and ordinary, it is but effeminacy and a weakness of spirit, to com plain of what you may well support : if they be grievous and intolerable, a little time will serve to deliver you from the sense of them : and, as Antoninus said well *, ACpopvjTov B^ayst, ;gpow£o!/ (PopvjTov " That, which is intolerable, is not durable : that, which is lingering, is not intolerable :" thou mayest easily bear the one ; and the other will soon wear out thee. And, what ! can not thy patience stand out pne hard brunt ; and endure a short shock, though it be fierce and vielent ? It is but a sterm, that will quickly blow over: and thou mayest live to see serene and bright days again ; if not in this world, yet then, when thou shalt be got above these clouds and this region of tempests, into that mansion of bliss and joy, where never sorrows nor sufferings durst appear. Indeed, impatience is a great prolonger of tor ment: it is not our pain, but our impatience, that makes the time seem leng and tedious to us : both sense and reason tell us, that the sun riseth over a sick man's bed as over the healthy and vigorous, and that the hours roll away as fast over the mi serable as the prosperous ; yet, how swift are our days spent in ease and pleasure ! the hours seem to overtake, and to crowd one into another. And yet, certainly, thy sad and thy cheerful days have both one and the same measure : the shadow creeps as fast about the dial of a miserable man, as of the happy. The odds lies only within thyself. Impatience, fretfulness, repining, a raw and eager spirit, fond hopes and impotent desires, make short afflictions seem long, and long ones endless. But, were these cured, thou wouldst find it altogether unreasonable to complain of the length of thy afflictions ; when yet they are whirled away and pass with the same fleetness, which makes others complain that their pleasutes and their lives are too short. However, here consider, (1) Let thy afflictions be as grievous as thy passion can de scribe them, yet doth God afford thee no lucid intervals ? Hast thou no intermission from thy sorrows ? no breathing-space af forded thee ? This is mercy : and this time of thy ease and refreshment ought not to be reckoned into the suffering ; as, commonly, it is. Indeed, men have got an art of making their sorrows longer * Antonin. de Seipso. 1. vii. §. 23. 46 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STINGi than they are : ask one, who labours under a chronical distem per, how long he hath been troubled with it : straight he will tell you, for so many months, or for so many years: when yet, perhaps, the greater part of that time he enjoyed ease and free dom, between the returning periods pf his disease. Certainly, the affliction can be no longer than it lies upon thee ; and that, usually, is but a very inconsiderable time, compared to that, wherein God relieves and comforts thee. Job complains, that God brought his sorrows so thick and fast upon him, that he would not suffer him io take his breath : Job ix. 18 : he was like a man shipwrecked in a tempest, where the surges and billows broke so fast upon him, that he had not time so much as to lift his head above water to take breath. But hath God dealt so with thee ? hast thou not had a morning, as well as an evening, to make up thy day ? Though the clouds return again after the rain, and the same pain or disease, cr whatspever afflicticn it be, recurs; yet, it is mercy, that God hath interrupted the course of it ; that he hath given thee an interstitium of ease : and, then, thou canst no more, with truth, say, that thou hast so long had thy disease, than that thou hast had thy health, And, (2) If thou hast been long under afflictions, yet, perhaps, they have been varied. Even this is mercy, that he will not strike long uppn one place, nor scourge thee where thou art sore already. But, suppose, (3) The affliction, that God brings upon thee, were te con tinue as leng as thy life itself continues, without either change or intermission ; yet consider, that it is most unreasonable to complain of thy sorrows, as long, when thou art still complain ing of thy life, as short. If thou art not relieved sooner, yet it cannot be long ere death will put an end to thy temporal miseries ; and the last sigh and groan thou shalt give, will be that, which shall discharge thy seul from thy body, and thee from all thy present sorrows and sufferings. And, therefore, though the days of thy pil grimage be evil, yet, since they are but few, this may recom pense for the other, and persuade thee to bear patiently, what thou art net to bear long. Think with thyself, " It is but a few days or a few years more, that I shall be in a suffering, in an afflicted condition. I am travelling through a vale of mise ries, but my grave is within view : there I shall throw down all PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 47 this load of care and trouble ; and sweetly take a profound rest, where none of the vexations of this life shall ever disturb me : There the weary be at rest : and, what ! shall I faint under my burdens, when I am tp bear them but so short a time ? Take courage, O scul! that happy hpur is hastening on, as fast .as the wings of time can speed it, which shall give ease to thy pain, and rest to thy weariness. Death will shortly come in to thy relief, take off thy load, and lay thee to sleep in thy grave." But, (4) All our troubles and afflictions are infinitely shert, and npthing, in comparispn with eternity. If, at any time, the greatness, and sereness, and leng conti nuance of them tempt thee to impatience, cast but thine eye uppn eternity, and they will all sp shrink and vanish under that comparison, that they will scarce deserve the name of afflictions. This great ball of earth on which we live, if we consider it in its own dimensipns, how huge a mass and globe is it ! but, yet, if compared to the vast expansion of the heavens, it is but a small, invisible point ; and bears no more proportion to it, than one poor drop of water to the whole ocean. And, so, take all the long flux of time, from the creation of the world to this present mement, and we recken it by hundreds and thpusands pf years : it seems to us a mighty while : but, then, lay all this time, which is stretched out thus long, lay it to eternity, and it presently shrinks up to nething : it is Ipst and swallowed up in that bottpmless gulf. Yea, the smallest drop of water is in finitely more considerable to the great ocean, than thousands of years, though they should be multiplied again by thousands of thousands, are to an eternal duration. Thou, therefore, who complainest of thy long and endless troubles, consider, [l] That these take up but a very small aud inconsiderable part of thy life. Most of thy days have been crowned with mercy, and God's candle hath shone uppn thy tabernacle almost as often as the sun. [2] Consider, that thy life takes up but a very small and inconsiderable part of time. It is but like a little pattern cut thee off from the great piece. And, [3] Consider also, that time itself, though it should be 48 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. stretched out to as many ages as there have been minutes in it, yet bears no proportion to eternity. And art thou not ashamed, then, to cOmplain of the length and continuance of thy afflictions, since they are as nothing, in comparison with the rest of thy life ; and thy life itself nothing, in comparison with the rest of time ; and time itself nothing, in comparison with eternity ? And, certainly, could our meditations dwell mere upon that eternal state that awaits us, either of joy unspeakable or of unsufferable wee and tprments, the censide- ratipn of this would enable us to bear our present short afflictions < with a heroic and generous patience ; and we should scorn to think them either long or grievous. For, 1st. What is it for us to suffer a few short days, when we con sider the bitter and the eternal torments, that thousands of wretched creatures suffer in hell ? Look but into that great Shop of Woe : observe all the in struments and engines of torture that are there prepared, which God will use against them with his greatest skill and his almighty power : Their worm never dies, and their fire never goeth out : they have no rest day nor night, but the smpke of their furnace ascends up for ever and ever : and, when they have felt more exquisite and racking .tortures than you can now fancy, for millions of millions of years, yet still it is but the beginning of their sorrows ; still it is as far to the bottom of eternity, as it was the very first moment. These, indeed, are sufferings that might well make a man impatient : but, for you to vex, and fret, and be impatient, whose sufferings are but for a few days or hours, who have so many mercies and comforts mingled with all your afflictions, it shews a weak, sordid, low spirit : for you to be im patient under those little crosses that God lays upon you here, whereas . he might righteously have plunged you into hell, and there have given you cause indeed to roar, and howl, and tpss in eternal flames and never-ceasing woes, it argues a base, disin genuous, and ungrateful spirit. And; 2dly. What is it for us to suffer a few short days, when we consider that everlasting bliss and joy, which is prepared for us in heaven ? The happiness ef heaven may well cemfpit us, in respeet ef all eur miseries here upon earth. What saith the Apostle, Rom. viii. 18 ? I reckon, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be re vealed in us. Christians ! think but seriously with yourselves, PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 49 that, thoughyour way be rugged and tiresome, yet it is a way that leads unto your Father's house : and, though you come there all wet and weary, wet with your tears and wearied with your burdens; yet there you shall be surely welcome, and enjoy an eternity of rest : there, you shall sit down ; and, with ever lasting joy, recount to your brethren, a whole ring of surround ing saints, all the wonderful methods of Divine Providence, which brought you thither; and, with infinite satisfaction, see the necessity and mercy of those afflictions, which you have ' here endured: there, your garments of heaviness shall be changed into garments of praise, and your crown of thorns into a crown of glory : there, you shall for ever rest your tired souls in the bosom of Jesus Christ ; and for ever enjoy so great a fe licity, that it were infinitely worth suffering all the miseries and afflictions which this lire can bear, to .have but one mo mentary taste and relish of it. Didst thou know what the glory of heaven is, thou wouldst be content to lie upon the rack, to endure the sharpest paroxysms pf the mpst torturing and cruel pains all thy life long, and account them easy and short, if these could purchase for thee one hour's enjoyment pf the ineffable glory and happiness of. heaven. And, wilt'thou then be fretful and impatient under thy present sufferings, when these are prepared to be the inlet into thy eternal reward ? when thou shalt be for ever confirmed in the possession of all good ? when thou shalt never more be in a possibility of suffering; nor know, what a sad thought, or a sad moment, means ? And, canst thou think any affliction long, when thou thus reflectest upon the everlasting recompence that shall be made thee ? Certainly, did we . more dwell upon the thoughts and meditations of eter nity, we should not be so irrational, as to judge that long, which takes up but a very little part of that time, which, of itse.lf, is nothing, compared to an eternal duration. (5) Consider, again, what brief measures the* Scripture gives us, of our temporal afflictions. It is called a Season : 1 Pet. i. 6. Now, for a Season, if need be, ye are in heaviness : and seasons, you know, are of no long continuance, but have their periods and revolutions. Yea, to cut it shorter yet, the Scripture calls it a Day of Adversity : Prov. xxiv. 10. If thou faint in the Day of Adversity, thy strength is small : small, indeed, if it cannot weather out one bad day1 and so, likewise, a Night of Weeping : Ps. xxx. 5^ VOL. IV. E 50 ' DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. Weeping may endure for a Night, but joy cometh in the morning.' Nay, if this yet seem too long to our impatient and fretful' spirits', the Scripture still shortens it, and calls.it but the Hour of Temptation: Rev. iii. 10. / will keep thee from the Hour of Temptation: and, shall not our patience be able to endure an hour's affliction ? Or, would you desire it shorter yet ? see it then contracted into a moment: 2 Cor. iv. 17. Our light afflic tion, which is but for a Moment : and what is a moment, but an indivisible point of time, that hath no parts nor succession in it ; a mere twinkle of time ? Innumerable of them are gone, while we are speaking the word, Moment. And, yet, aUthese, afflictions, which thou so grievously cemplainest of, are light for their burden, and momentary for their duration, if that can be called a duration : These light afflictions, which are but for a moment. As one of the martyrs said, " It is but winking, and I shall be in heaven :" so, truly, these short afflictions are past and gone in the cast, in the twinkling of an eye. Let us, then, be persuaded to bear them with patience. It is much, below the spirit of a man, to murmur and complain pf that, which a little time will ease him of; and much more, of a Christian. If thou canst net bear a season, a day, .or night of affliction, an hour, a moment of affliction ; wherefore art thou a Christian ? Hast thou hope only in this life ? if so, reckon thyself among the number pf thpse, whpse portion is only in this life : but, if thou wilt own the name of a Christian, thou oughtest to enlarge thy self infinitely beyond this present time : thou oughtest to take eternity into thy life ; and npt to account that thy life, which thou leadest here upon earth ; but that, which thou livejst by faith, and expectest with a cheerful hope, the everlasting life of glory and happiness in heaven. And, what is it to this life of thine, what thou sufferest here ? do poverty, disgrace, pains?and diseases, losses, and crosses; do these reach into eter nity ? or, do they at all taint that better life, which thou livest ? This, here is not thy life. As we reckon not the age of chill dren, from the time they have been conceived in the womb, but from the time pf their birth: so, truly, this present life is but the conception of a Christian : in this world, we are but in the womb: then we begin to live, when we are brought forth into the clear light of heaven, and breathe the air of eter nity : and, therefore, the days, on which martyrs suffered, were ' called their Natalitia. And, if any sorrows and afflictionsxould, PATIENCE UNDE R AFFLICTIONS. 5 1 reach thither, thou hadst some reason to be impatient : but none at all, for these transitory troubles, which quickly pass away with our days ; and for which, thou wilt in heaven be no more con cerned, than now thou art, for the pains and inconveniences which thou feltest in the womb, before thou wert born. That is a Ninth Motive to Patience : the consideration of the Short Continuance of all the Afflictions of this Life. 10. The tenth and last motive to patience, which ought to be very effectual with all true Christians, shall be taken frem the Example of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Apestle commands us, Heb. xii. 2, 3, 4. to look unto Jesus; ; and to consider him, that endured such contradiction qf sinners against himself, lest we be wearied, and faint in our minds: and, again, 1 Pet. ii. 21. we are told, that Christ suffered for us ; leav ing us an example, that we should follow the steps of his patience and submission. And, certainly, he is so great an example of patience, that, when we consider the indignities which he en dured, and the infinite meekness with which he bore them, it may well shame us out of our fretfulness and impatience. And there be Two considerations, which do mightily enhance this, and tend to make it a most prevalent and effectual motive to arm us with meekness and patience. (l) Consider, that his sufferings were infinitely greater, than any that we can possibly undergo. From his cratch to his cross, we find his way strewed all along with miseries. Born of a poor and suspected mother; acquainted with all the hardships of a mean and laborious life ; his doctrine reproached to be blasphemy, and his miracles to be sorce^ ; having ne shelter, no sustenance, not so much as the little con veniences of birds and foxes: he conflicts with his Father's wrath, till it strained his soul into an agony ; and the apprehen sions of that bitter cup, presented to him, squeezed drops of clotted blood from him. We see him exposed to the insulting scoffs Of barbarous ruffians ; crowned with therns, scourged, buf feted, and spit upen ; and, by the drops of his blood, we may trace him to his cross : see him hanging there, a ruthful spec tacle both to men and angels ; the greatest scene of dolours and miseries, that ever was represented to the world. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted ; yet he opened not his mouth : he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. And, E 2 52 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. (2) Consider, that all his unknown sufferings were not for his own, but for our offences. It is some motive to patience, when we suffer the effects of our own deserts. So thought the Penitent Thief, when he checked the blasphemous reproaches of his fellow-offender : Luke^xxiii. 40. Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same con demnation? And we, indeed, justly ; for we receive the due re ward of our deeds"; but this manahath done nothing amiss. There was. n6 iniquity in him, neither was guile found in his mouth: yet, notwithstanding his infinite purity and innocence, notwith standing that all his actions were pleasing to God and benefi cial to man; yet, he suffers all the wrath that the one, and indig nities that the other, could load him with. And, what ! do Ave find his passions estuate ? doth he murmur against God, or me ditate revenge against men ? No ; we find him 'meekly resigning up his will to his Father's: Not mine, but thy will be done: and, under all the rage and affronts of men, he pours out his prayer, together with his blood, for them: Fat her, for give them ; for they know not what they do. Now, O Christians ! imitate this pattern of your Blessed Saviour : let it powerfully persuade yeu tp patience and submissipn, under all your sufferings. Ours are all but the least desert ef our own sins : his were only the de sert of ours. Ours are only some sprinklings pf that cup, the very bpttpm and dregs pf which he drank off : and shall we be any longer impatient against God, or revengeful against men ? shall we fret, and fume, and be exasperated, and fly out into all the extremities of passion and violence, when our Lord Christ himself, the infinitely holy and glorious God, calmly en dured such pains, such shame, such wrath, that the very utmost we can suffer in th^s life is scarce a fit shadow and resemblance of them ? And thus we see this exhortation of the Apostle pressed upon us, by these Ten Motives ; which if we would bring under the view qf our serious consideration, we shall find enough in them, to incline the most peevish arid fretful nature to a meek and quiet submission to the hand and will of God. For, it is a most Necessary Grace for a Christian, in the whole conduct of his life, which is full of troubles and afflictions ; and nothing can so alleviate them, as patience : the Author and Inflicter of all thy sufferings is God, who is absolute in his sovereignty ; our Proprietor, as our Lord ; infinitely gracious and merciful, as our PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 53 Father; infinitely faithful to his word, whereby he hath pro mised ; and infinitely wise and skilful, whereby he is able to work all things for our good knd benefit: again, if we consider what we have Deserved, this will prevail with us patiently to bear what we feel : and consider the great Benefits aud Advan- tages^ that accrue to us by afflictions;, as they are exercise' to our graces, physic to our spuls, evidences of our adoption, and additions to our future glory : consider, again, the patient beam ing of afflictions is a very great Honour, both to Ourselves and to God : it is, likewise, the best and readiest Way to be Freed from afflictions : that no affliction hefals us, but what is Tole rable, and common to men ; how many in the world are in a fajt Wpase Conditipn than ourselves ; and that all our afflictions are but Short and Momentary : and, lastly, consider the Pattern and Example of Christ's Pa>ttence, which will powerfully syvay us to patience under those sorrp\vs ,we . suffer, wfrich are both less in themselves and more deserved by us. .•-,.,. Thus I have given the Motives to Patience. ii. The next, thing, in order, is, to shew those Distempers of Spirit which are great hindrances of Patience; and give a very great advantage to every cross and trouble, to ruffle and discompose it.. And, with these, I shall also annex and pre* scribe the cures. And they are such as these. 1. An effeminate Softness and Delicacy of Spirit; when the mind is lax and fluid, and hath not its due consistency. We may observe some persons to be of such a nice complex ion, that every alteration injures them; Jet them but change their diet, or air, or set and accustomed hours, and they suffer grand inconvenience by it : whereas, others, that are more ro bust and vigorous, undergo these and greater changes, without change. And the like difference there is in the constitution of men's souls, as in their bodies: some are of .such feeble and lanr guishing. spirits, that they are utterly disordered by these acci dents, which scarce move those that are qf a more hardy temper. And these, are*, usually, men of very prone passions and affec tions, easily excited and set on work by every thing that occurs : so that it is a wonder to see, how they are agitated by every small arid trivial object which presents itself; like chaff or straw, that the least breath qf wind whirls about : sometimes, they im moderately rejoice ; sometimes, they tenderly commiserate ; 54 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. sometimes, they vex, and rage, and fly out into all extremities of chpler, at those petty circumstances that would not stir another, of a solid and masculine spirit. But these are men of too soft and tender a constitution. And; as alight stroke makes a deep wound upon a soft subject ; so every light affliction enters deep, ' and cuts these men's sbuls to the very quick. , Now, to these let me recommend that admirable exhortation of the Wise Man, Prov. iii. 11. and urged by the Apostle, Heb. xii. 5. My son, despise not thou the chastening of this' Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. Here we have a most ex cellent temper set forth to us; as a mean, between, stupidity and desponding impatience. We ought to be affected with the hand of God ; arid not to demean ourselves under afflictions, as though we felt no smart, neither valued what God doth against us, but rather defied him to do his worst. It is a sign of des perate incorrigibleness, when we are grown to adedolency; and are so far past feeling, as to.despise the smart and correction of the red. Mpderate passiens are allowed us; and God, when he afflicts us, would have us shew ourselves to be men ; ,not such brutish Leviathans, as to laugh 'at i the^shaking of his spear,-and to account his darts and arrows no. more formidable than stub ble*. But then again, on the other hand,' beware, that, as theu dost not despise^ so thou dost not Respond under the correc tions qf thy Heavenly Father. Fortify thy spirit, land arm it with all the arguments that are proper to encourage • thee, in a suf fering condition. Do not permit it to grow too tender ; and, instead ef being sensible, to be sore and fretful. Consider, (1) The Indecericy and Unbecomingness of Impatience. It sits ill upon a' man, and renders him contemptible and ridi culous. We do never so much unman ourselves, as by peevish ness and fretful humours. We degrade ourselves in the esteem of others, as a company cf weak things, who must, like chil dren, be humoured, to keep them quiet. Impatience always proceeds from weakness: and, while we toss, and tumultuate, and express the eagerness of an ulcerated mind, in all the intem perate language and actions that passion suggests, we are but a * Non sentire mala sua, non est hominis ; et non ferre, non est viri. Seneca. Cohsol. ad Polyb. cap. 36. " It ij> inhuman, not to feel our sufferings ; and unmanly, not to bear them." . PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 55 grief to some, a sport to others, and fall under the scorn and contempt of all. Let us think with ourselves, how unseemly is the wild and '"extravagant fury qf a distracted persqn ! why, an impatient man is distracted ; and, like such, he flings abroad, at aandqm, ¦ firebrands, '. arrows, and death. And, therefere, our :Savieur Christ exhorts us, Luke xxi. 19. In yqur patience, possess yeyour souls ; intimating, te us, that an impatient persqn hath lost the pqssessiqn of himself: he is a man bereft of his reason ; and, as we use .to say, besides himself. (2). Consider the Vanity and Folly of Impatience, To what purpose is it, that thou vexest and torturest thyself? Couldst theu ease er relieve thyself- by it, this might be seme plea and reasonable pretence. .But, was it ever heard, that the body was cured of a fever, by putting .the soul into one ? was it ever heard, that the disordering- of the mind composed a man's estate? or, that raising a tempest within, should lay a tempest without ? Nay, rather, impatience adds a mighty weight to our burdens, while we must bear both them and it too. (3) Consider, that Impatience is not only unseemly and foolish, but it is Unchristian too. There is nothing more directly contrary to the true spirit and genius of Christianity, than murmuring and repining : for, what is Iteligion, what is Christianity, but only a due resignation of our wills unto. the sovereign and holy {will, of God ? now, for us to vex and fret at the accomplishment of his will and purposes upqn us, what is this else, but.sorfartp reneunce Christianity, tp rebel against God,.. and to withdralw ourselves from under his dominion arid .jurisdiction ? And, therefore, I beseech you, O Christians! as you would approve . yourselves to be such, that you would earnestly strive against that fonduriiceness and ¦delicacy of spirit, which will, else, be a great snare unto you, and. tempt you to usurp, upon God's prerogative, .andcwickedly •to invade his government ; for, whosoever is not centent with 'what Gpd allots him, would willingly ravishfrom him his power and sovereignty, and set himself in the throne : he deth but tacitly upbraid God, that he wants either wisdem, nr gppdness, er both. And, therefore, confirm and harden your minds against all adversities that may befal you: fix. your resolutions, that thus it ought tOdbe,, and that 'thus it is,best for ypu: and, .what soever portion God carves out to you, receive it \Vith thankful ness :. if it be prosperous, as your food ; if adverse, as your physic. '):. ¦ . . . ¦ .o- . ¦ - : c ,¦ 56 DEATH DISARMED OT if S STING. 2. Another great hindrance of patience, is a fond Love and Admiration of these Creature-Enjoyments. Indeed, were these things' certain and durable, they would only be perpetual comforts to us : but we see, by every day's experience, that they are transitory, and mutable, and of no continuance : and, therefore, when we eagerly set our hearts and affections upon them, to be sure, we shall, either in the loss of our enjoyments or the disappointment of our hopes, find cause enough for grief, and temptations enough to impatience. Let the ccmforts we prize thus immoderately, be what they will, we shall find it a very difficult labour to keep ourselves from murmuring against God, when he is pleased to cross us in them: for all the passions of the soul take their measures from. love : that is the master and leading affection : and,' therefore, according to the intenseness of your love, snclt will, be your sorrow, and your anger, and the fretfulness of a discontented soul, when God takes away the object of your fond love from you. So it is said of Jcnah,-«hap. iv. 6. that he was exceeding glad ef the gourd; he mightily pleased himself in the shade and the shelter, that it afforded him : and^ therefore, when God had prepared a worm to smite and wither it, you presently see what a violent and- exorbitant ipassiqn he falls into: and, when God graciously condescended to expostulate with him, " Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd ? is this fit for thy reason, or religion, or profession, to be so transported, for the fading of so small a- thing, as this gourd, the mean offspring of the earth ?" we see, that discontent and passion so blinded him, that he flies in the very face of God himself, and gives the Almighty the rhest saucy peremptory answer, that certainly ever proceeded out of the mouth of a good man : v. 9. he said, / do well to be angry, even unto death .* alas, peevish man ! that so little a matter, as the withering of a pocr shrub or weed, should put him into so violent st passion! But, so it* is, when we im- mederately prize the enjoyment of any comfort qn earth, we shall likewise immoderately bear the loss of it : when God comes to touch us there, all within us is presently in au uproar. ; we estuate, and fume, and exclaim against men, and quarrel at Providence; accuse one, and revenge ourselves upon another; and, in the turbulency of our passion, can scarce abstain from God himself. . NotVj tod cure and remove this cause of impatience, let me beseech you to sit loose from the things of this world. -. Let PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 57 them not concorporate with your hearts ; for, believe it, if once the soul and affections be glued to these earthly concernments, whenever God shall take them from you, it will be a violent tearing and rending of your very hearts, to part with them. Bring yeurselves into a holy indifferency of all things here below ; and, then, whatsoever happens, nothing can fall out much amiss. If you have no vehement affections for the enjoy ment of these things, you will have no violent passions stirring in you for their loss. If thou didst truly estimate what this world is, how vain, how empty and insignificant, how vexatious and cumberspirie, thpu wouldst find abundant reascn to conclude, that it is not much material, whether thou be high or low, rich or poor, persecuted or favoured, despised or honoured : for, all these things are but dreams ; and, as dreams, they vanish and pass away. Our true interest lies not here* but in peace of conscience, serenity of mind, staid and sedate affections, a generous virtue, and a picus life ; and if these were thy care, crosses and afflictions would be less thy troubles. Think with thyself, how momentary thy life is : thou wert but of yesterday, and mayst not be to-morrow : when it is s#retched> out to the uttermost,' it is but a span long : and what needst thou, then, trouble and perplex thyself about so many concernments and ,such a multitude, of affairs, and engage all the strength and jvigour of thy affections about such vain things, that continue not, nor canst thou continue to use-them ? What need sp much provisiqn for so short a journey ? Let us take the Apostle's direction, 1 Cor. vii. 29, 30, 31. TkeVime is short : it remaineth, therefore, that both they, that have wives, be as though they had none; And they, that weep, as though they wept not1; and they, that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not ; and they, that buyt as those that purchased not ; And they, tkat use this world, as not abusing it .- for the fashion of this world passeth away. And, certainly, could we but bring ourselves to this excellent in differency, we should not be much molested, nor grow fretful and impatient, for any losses or disappointments in things which we look upon as of no great concernment. 3. Another great hindrance to patience, is Pride andSelf- Love. For; while we are fond of ourselves, we shall be shrewdly tempted to murmur at whatsoever crosses and thwarts our appetites Or Our interests. Those, that are great admirers of themselves, think that all things are due to them : and, if any 58 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. thing, fall out contrary to their expectatipns and overweening conceits, they presently judge themselves wronged ; and storm and rage, as if their bitterest passions Were but just resentments of the injury done them. Never was there a proud person in the world, -but he was also impatient : for it is the very nature of pride, npt tp endure te be crossed ; and those, who are inprdiflate Jovers and admirers of themselves, must needs take it for a mighty injury, if all things go npt according to their mind and will. • And there is a Twofold Pride, which is the cause and root of all our impatience : a Natural and a Spiritual Pride. (1) A Natural Pride. When we think ourselves eminent for some natural gifts and endowments; and, thereupon, expect, that all others should say as we say, and do as. we would have them: and, if, any iptesume to do otherwise, we loekupon ourselves as affronted, and cannct bear such a contumely ; but presently burn in choler, and seek tc wreak eur revenge and spleen upen them. A proud man is. his ewn idol, and his own idqlater: and, as. Nebuchad nezzar grew wrcth and furious, hot as his fiery furnace seven times heated, when the three heroes refused to fall down and worship the image which he had set up ; sq these preud persens grow, presently enraged, if all dq nqt bow and fall down before them. If they meet with any so stubborn, as to thwart and oppose them, presently their Diana is despised ; and all their passiqns are in an uproar and a tumult, to vindicate their honour. Only from pride, ' saith the Wise Man, cometh contention : Prov. xiii. 10. and wherever ccntention is found, impatience is first the mother of it. , . (2) There is a Spiritual Pride, which is the roet of impa tience. And this spiritual pride may be, where yet there is a great deal cf natural modesty and weakness. New, this pride ccnsists in having an unbroken and unhumbled heart fer sin ; when we have never been deeply affected with our guilt and vileness, and that most wretched and deplorable condition in which we all are. And, therefore, whensoever God afflicts' such a proud person as this, he is apt to think himself punished beyond his desert ; and tq, question and qg ariel at the equity and justice jef God, jn bringing . such heavy and sore sufferings- upon him^.whft thinks himself a very innocent and righteous person. . And , this spiritual haughtiness .and pride ; laaake.s.. him fret "against God's dispense- PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. ' 59 tions ; and makes him think that God himself turns persecutor, when he afflicts him. Thus you see, that all our Impatience is from Pride ; whether our sufferings be immediately from man, or from God himself: for, proud flesh is very tender, and cannot endure the least touch. Now, the only Cure for this distemper of soul, is Self-Denial and Humility. That man is most secure from impatience, who entertains but mean and low thoughts of himself: for, what strong temptatiqn can there be te any great excess ef impatience, so long as we suffer only in that, which we do not highly value ? Why should I vex or fret myself, that such a man speaks ill ef me ? alas ! he speaks net werse of me, than I speak and think of myself: shall I be discomposed, because he hath done me such an injury ? why I shall but gratify him by that means ; and, perhaps, he did it with that very design : and, besides, he hath far more injured himself than me, so long as I can keep my patience entire. Or, shall I murmur and repine, .because God hath brought upon me such a calamity ? alas ! this is a favour and mercy, in respect of what I have deserved pt his hands : when I consider, what I have done against him, all that he hath done against me is nothing : my sins merit no less than eternal death and eternal damnation ; and, certainly, I have no reason to complain, so lqng as I am out of hell : God were infinitely gracious and merciful to me, though he should redorible'his strokes, multiply my sorrows, and increase my sufferings; and I were the most ungrateful wretch alivey if I should repine at bearing so little, when I have deserved so fnuCh. Thus, I say, humility, a cqntrite and breken frarne of spirit, will preserve us from being fretful and impatient, whether we lie under injuries from men, or afflictions from God. 4. Reflecting too much upon the' Instruments of our Sufferings, is oftentimes a mighty hindrance to the composure and patience of our spirits. Fer this frequently puts a sting and 'aggravatien into them'/ tp think, that we suffer from such pr such. "Arid many" will tie ready te say, " This cross I could bear well enough:. the afllictiqn, though it be in itself heavy, yet is it supportable : but, when I consider the occasion of my sufferings j the unworthiness arid base disingenuity of those that have' had a hand in it, this makes it intolerable ; and, it wounds me to the vety heart, that ever such and such a person should deal thus with me." 60 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. (1) And there .are usually these Three Considerations, that grate upon our spirits, and make us impatient under sufferings. {!] The Meanness and contemptible Vileness of the Instru ment. What,! to be affronted and abused by the lees and dregs of the people ! If a lion had rent me, there had been some solace in the honour of my sufferings : but, to be eaten up with vermin,. the ignominy of it is far worse than tbe pains. Thus, I say, impatience takes occasion to exasperate itself from the baseness of the instrument. And, truly, the most patient have much ado to keep their passions from souring upon this reflection. Thus, Job at large aggravates his miseries, from this considera tion: Job. xxx. 1, 8, 9: They, that are younger than I, have me in derision : whosefathers I would have disdained to. ..set with the dogs of myflpc.k:...They were children of fools ; yea, children ef base men : they were viler than the earth. And now am I their song ¦; and their by-word. And, [2] It heightens impatience, when we reflect upon the Near ness ef those, who are the pccasions, and instruments of our sufferings. * What! to have a part of purselves, a .parcel of our own bowels,, rebel against us, and contrive our hurt and ruin ! those, who haye their beings from us, to conspire our destruction ! or those, whom we have made intimate and familiar with us; and could never have had the advantage of doing us mischief, had not our friendship and kindness put them into the capacity ! And, thus, David aggravates his sufferings: Ps. Iv. 12, 13. It was not an enemy, that reproached me ; then could I have borne it. Neither was it he, that hated me, that .magnified himself against me.,.But it was thou, a man, mine equal, my guide, and my companion. [3] It many times heightens impatience, to reflect upon the base Ingratitude and foul Disingenifity of those, from whom we suffer. Persons, perhaps, whom we have obliged, by the greatest respects imaginable; such, who, we thought, had as much reason to love us, as themselves ; and < would have been as far from doing us an injury, as their own natures. Yet, for such as these to violate all bonds of friendship, and all laws of gratitude ; for such frozen snakes to fly at us, and sting us, whom we have warmed and cherished in our own bosoms, and who, without our support, could not have had the power to mischief us : this, PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 6t saith Impatience, makes the injury altogether insufferable ; and the highest revenge, that I can take upon them, cari scarce expiate it. (2) But, to cure this fretful distemper of thy spirit, be sure that thou look off from the instruments pf thy sufferings, unto God, who is the principal inflicter of them. And, then, if thou wilt but consider the Three foregoing Reflections, thou wilt find, that thine own cannon will be turned against thee ; and those, which were provocations to impatience, when thou lookest to men, will prove strong and most forcible arguments for patience, if thcu lppkest tp Gpd. [1] Thpu growest impatient, when thou lookest' upon the Meanness and Baseness ef these that injure thee : and, wilt thou not be patient, O man ! when theu considerest thine own Vile- ness and Baseness, who yet hast infinitely wronged and injured thy God? Who, or what, art thou, but breathing dust, a lump of ani mated mire, the very sediment and dregs of nature ? and, yet, how often hast thou daringly provoked and affronted the great and glorious God of Heaven and Earth ! Every the least sin thou hast committed, the least vain and unworthy thought, the least idle and impertinent word, is a far greater injury done to God, than the most unjust and violent outrage can be against thee. It is thy fellow-creature, that wrongs thee ; one, whose; nature and being is altogether as considerable as thine; and, in this respect, differs no more from thee, than two units, in a number, from one another : but thou sinnest against the Infinite Majesty of thy Almighty Creator ; in comparison with whom, thpu, and all nations of the earth, are less than nothing and vanity ; more nothing, than nothing itself is. And, wilt not thou be patient under the petulant affronts of thy inferiors, when, as thou, who art infinitely inferior unto God, yet livest, and art yet out of hell, only throughTiis patience towards thee ? [2] Thou art impatient, when thou considerest the Nearness of the Relation, wherein those, that wrong thee, stand unto thee : but, wilt not thou rather be patient, when thou considerest, in what a Near Relation thqu standest unto God, and yet ceasest not daily to affront and injure him ? Thou art his creature ; and that is so near, as it challengeth from thee all possible respect and duty : nay, more ; thou art his son, or at least hopest and pretendest so, and yet rebellest 62 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. against thy Heavenly Father. And, is it much, that thine rebel against thee, since thou thyself rebellest against thine ? And, [3] Thou art impatient, when thou considerest the Ingratitude of those, from whom thou sufferest : but, alas, O man ! dost thou never consider thine own towards Gqd ? Is not thy whole dependence upon him ? doth not he maintain thee, at his own cost and charges ? hath he not educated, and brought thee up, as one of his family and household ? doth he not daily provide for thee ? doth he not heap his blessings upon thee, and load thee every day with his benefits ? And yet, O ungrateful man! thou art daily and hourly wronging and pro voking him. And, therefore, if he doth at last chastise and afflict thee, thou hast no reason to murmur and complain : for, it seems, it is but thine own law : it is no otherwise, than thou wouldst thyself deal with thy fellow-creature, over whom thou hast no such right ; and from whom thqu hast nqt suffered, by infinite prepqrtions, so much as thy God hath done from thee. Thus, I say, by turning qff qur eyes from the instruments, to the principal cause of our sufferings, we may cure and remove that impatience, which is apt to grate upon and exasperate our spirits. 5. Reflecting upon a former more prosperous condition, is often times a great provocation unto impatience under our present sufferings. Nothing puts a sharper edge upon our afflictions, than to compare • present miseries with past felicities. But, in this, we may see very much of the perverseness of our nature, in turning that, which ought to be an engagement to our thankfulness, into an occasion of murmuring. For, either thy former prosperity was a mercy, or not : if not, thou hast no cause to complain for the change : if it were, certainly, thou hast a reason rather to bless God, than to repine that he hath blessed thee. And thus I have finished the consideratiqn of those generals, which I propounded. I hepe, I need net press any thing mpre, than what hath already been pffered. And, if the serious review .of what arguments and motives have been mentioned, will not suffice to comppse the mind, it is much te be doubted, whether such men's spirits be not ulcerous beyond all cure. Only, let me add this for our encouragement, that this hard and difficult duty will be but for a little while incumbent upon PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 63 us. Whatsoever is irksome in religion, will shortly be over : and, when we are passed through this vale of tears and misery, as our faith shall be turned into vision, our hope into fruitiqn, sq qur patience shall be turned into jqy and triumph. This was the cqnsideration, which St. Paul himself used, under all his sufferings ; and shall be the subject of my next disccurse. OF THE CONSIDERATION OF OUR FUTURE STATE, AS THE BEST REMEDY AGAINST AFFLICTIONS. VOL. IV. OF THE CONSIDERATION OF OUR FUTURE STATS, AS THE BEST REMEDY AGAINST AFFLICTIONS. 2 COR. iv. 18. WHILE WE LOOK NOT AT THE THINGS WHICH ARE SEEN, BUT AT THE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT SEEN : FOR THE THINGS, WHICH ARE SEEN, ARE TEMPORAL ; BUT THE THINGS, WHICH ARE NOT SEEN, ARE ETERNAL. J. hese words are a strange paradox ; and are brought in by the Apostle, to confirm a position, which, to most men, may seem as much a paradox as themselves. In the precedent verses, he asserts afflictions tc be advan tageous, and losses beneficial; that we improve by our decays, and may reckon our sorrews and troubles to be our gain and interest. And this he makes good to us, whether we consider Gracg er Glory. As to Grace, he tells us, v. 16. Though our outward man de cay, yet our inwardOman is renewed daily. As sharp and nipping winters do to the earth, so do afflictions to the heart: they mellow it, and make it fruitful. These goads in cur sides, as trouble some as they are, yet serve to quicken us to our work, and ' make us mend our pace to heaven : for Christians are like clocks; the more weight is hung upon them, the faster they go. And, then, as for Glory, he tells us, in the verse immediately foregoing my text, that their afflictions do but work out this. The cross stands in the highway to the crown. It was by this, that cur Lord himself obtained it ; and he hath since ordained, that all his fellowers should pass the same way. We must, through dmany tribulations, enter into glory : Acts xiv. 22. This \s the p&thway to heaven, which is strewed all along with thorns. And, though the Scripture asks, Do men gather grapes of thorns ? r 2 68 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. yet, certainly, these thorns shall yield a plentiful and a pleasant vintage. Poverty, reproach, persecution, imprisonment, sick ness, yea death itself, take whatsoever is most stern and mpst dreadful to human nature, though they may seem to be qp- pressing tyrants, yet they are, indeed, but faithful and laborious servants : they are working out glory for us : and if, in doing their work, they break either our bodies or estates in pieces ; yet, so long as out of that, rubbish they work and mould a mass of glory, we may rest ourselves well satisfied in such an advan tageous loss. This is an abundant encourgement to bear af- flictiqns, nqt only with patience, but with joy too : for, God having promised that all things shall work together for our gqqd, it is the greatest folly in the wprld, tq cpmplain that the petipn is not pleasant, which the skill ofthe Great Physician hath tem pered for cur health ; and let us rest ccnfidently assured of it, that as much as we wish our condition qtherwise than it is,, so much we wish it should be worse with us than it is. But, yet, the frailty qf human nature being such, that it is ready to sink under every burden which God lays upen it, it cannct have tqq many supports, The Apestle, therefbre, not only assures them, that their afflictions work for their glory and happiness ; but, moreover, makes a comparison, wherein he shews them, how infinitely their reward shall surpass their suf ferings. And this comparison stands upon a Twofold Antithesis, or op position of the one to the other. The afflictions, which they here endure, are but light af flictions ; but the glory, which they shall receive hereafter, is an exceeding weight: To h«S' iveptofyv etg vnepGoXviv fiupog: an exceeding, excessive weight of glory. He labours, you see, to express it ; and he expresseth it so great, as if he must again labour to bear it. Their crown of glory shall be so massy and ponderous, that it will be as much as the soul will be able to stand under: it is a weight, a load of glory. But then, again, he compares them in duratiqn, as well as weight. Their afflicticns are but shert and mqmentary ; but the glqry, that shall be revealed, is durable and eternal : Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Nqw, it is a very difficult thing tq persuade wretched and miserable men, that their afflictiqns are but light and shert. Every little pressure is a lead, and every hour an age. We reckon our time by OF THE CONSIDERATION OF OUR FUTURE STATE. 69 quite different measures, when we are in adversity, from thqse which we use when we are happy and prosperous. In prosperity, time imps its wings, and flies away apace, before us : life, we think, glides along too fast in a smoqth and even way. But, when the way is rugged and miry, the hqurs then seem slqw- paced and loitering : and, quite contrary to the course of na ture, our summer and sun-shine days are the shertest, and qur winter are the enly lqng and tediqus qnes. What, then, makes the Apqstle here give in such a different acccunt ccncerning afflictiqns, from that of other men ? that, when they reckon the least and shortest to be longand heavy, he should here determine quite contrary, and assert the greatest to be but light and momentary ? He satisfies us in the reason of this strange and paradoxical assertion, in the werds of the text ; and tells us, that we shall account all the afflictions of this life light and short, while zve look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. But this may seem to be no better, than the resolving of a question by propounding a riddle. For, to look at things not seen, tp see things invisible, can appear ne other than a per plexing riddle to most men, who live more by sense than they do by faith. I shall, therefore, first clear the words from the doubtfulness and ambiguity of the phrase : and then collect frem them the principal subject, en which I intend tq insist at present. I. We have, IN THESE WORDS, the Apqstle's practice, and the reasen of it. His practice : We look not at things seen, but at things not seen : the reason, because things seen are tem poral, but things not seen are eternal. Here let us briefly enquire, What is meant by things seen. What, by things not seen. What, by looking both at the one and the other. As for the other two expressions, that things seen are tempo ral, but things not seen are eternal ; I suppose them known to all who have but a netipn of the difference cf time from eter nity. Briefly, the one have their original, continuance, and period, in the revplutiqn qf time, and are measured by days and years : the qther never had beginning, qr, at least, never shall have end ; and se, are exempt, either one way or botht from the jurisdiction of time and change. 10 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING, i. By things seen, may be well understood, all -db.drary occurrences, whether prosperous or adverse, good or evil. And these, not taken so restrainedly, as to be limited to our bodily sight, as if things seen should only be those qbjected to our eyes ; but, more largely, whatsoever is any way sensible or present to us, that may be here reckoned among things seen. For, because it is necessary to our corporeal sight, that objects be present; therefore, the Apostle expresseth things present by the notion of being seen. And, indeed, it bears the same latitude with that common expression of the Wise Man, All things under tke sun : all things under the sun being, as it were, illustrated by his light, may be said to be things seen. But here, accommo dating this expressipn to the drift of the Apostle in the context, we must take these things seen, for the more severe occurrences of our lives ; for the miseries, afflictions, and troubles we are exposed unto ; for the dark and gloomy side of those objects, that are presented unto us : Our light affliction worketh for us an exceeding weight qf glory, while we look not at things seen : they conduce to our happiness, while we loek not on the grim and direful aspect of our sufferings, so as to be frighted by them from our duty and obedience. . ii. Though the things which are not seen, may be of several sorts ; as things distant, things future, things spiritual, may all of them be unseen, and each of them may have several kinds under it: yet, here, according to the symmetry ef the Apostle's discourse, are meant those future things, which constitute our ¦final and everlasting estate ; and they may be referred either to heaven or hell, to our glory or condemnatipn. These are the things not seen, which a true Christian loeks at. We look not at the visible enjoyments, the honours, profits, pleasures of this world ; no, nor yet at the loss of all these : but at those things, which are of infinite and everlasting consequence; at the in sufferable pains and torments of hell, with care how we may escape that condemnation ; and at the infinite and endless joys of heaven, with tamest desires and suitable endeavours to obtain them. iii. To LOOK AT these, denotes not here any act of the sense ; but, as often elsewhere in Scripture, of the understanding and affections. There is an eye of the souT, as well as of the body ; and that is the understanding. Now, because, when we con- OF THE CONSIDERATION OF OUR FUTURE STATE. 71 sider and ponder any object presented to our bodily eyes, we usually look intently upon it; therefore, also, when the under standing seriously regards those objects which are not visible by our bodily eyes, we may be said to look upon them. So that the sense is : We regard not, we mind not the things which are seen ; the world, nor any of its frowns or favours : our thoughts are pitched upon other objects ; and fly a strain above, and beyond this world ; we regard that endless state that is to come, more than all those vain and empty things that lie before us. And, while we do so, we find a great deal of reason to account all our afflictions light and momentary, which short sighted men, who pore only upon what is present, groan under, as Jong and burdensome. And it is, indeed, but reason, that we should thus overlook what is present, and fix our regard upon what is future. For present things are but temporal; once they were not : and, if they be good things, when God hath turned over a few more days ancLyears, either they shall not be, or we shall not be here to enjoy them ; or, if they be evil things, either they must shortly perish, pr we must perish from under them : qr, as Antoninus, the emperor, speaks well, To (jlev tetpopviTov tipyet, to Se %povtgov (popyTCv : " Whatsoever befals us in this life, if it be intolerable, it cannot be lasting, and we shall soon fail under it ; or, if it be lasting, it cannot be intole rable, but we may endure it." But, the things, which are fu ture and not seen, are eternal : to that state we are all hasting, that is of perpetual duratien ; where wee and torments, or joy and bliss, shall have no end for ever. And, therefore, it is but reasonable, rather to consider, how we shall be entertained there, than how we are used here. And thus I have, as briefly as well I could, given the scope and meaning of the words. II. From them, we may COLLECT Two Propositions. U That THE SERIOUS CONSIDERATION C VQUR FUTURE ETERNAL STATE WILL MAKE US OVERLOOK, AND, ^'H A HOLY GENEROUS- NESS, DESPISE ALL THE PRESENT TROUBLES AND AFFLICTION'S, THAT WE MEET WITH IN THIS LIFE. To despise them, I say, not indeed as they are the chastenings of the Lord, for so we are forbidden it, Prov. iii. 11. but as they accidentally prove to be temptations to us, to desert the service 1% DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. ef Gqd, which exposeth us to the scorn and opppsition of the world, to embrace the more profitable or creditable service pf sin and the Devil : to despise them so, as not to make any great reckoning, whether we be afflicted or no. And, thus to despise them, is the right means not to faint, when we are corrected. We see how this wrought upon the Apostle: Rom. viii. 18. / reckon, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. As the earth, if we consider it alone, in its own proper dimensions, appears to be of a vast circumference and magnitude; but, compare it to the larger circuit of the heavens, and then, in re spect of their unmeasurable expansion, this whole globe is but a small speck and indivisible point : so the Apostle institutes the comparison between temporal afflictions and eternal glory. Afflictions, indeed, to those, who loqk no farther than upen their present sufferings, may appear great, and heavy, and endless ; but, when we ccmpare earth with heaven, the afflicticns here with the glqry hereafter, they are light, inconsiderable nothings. It is but as if a man should be troubled that he is hungry, when he is just sitting dewn tq a feast ; er, as if he should think much of it, that he must kneel to have an honour conferred upon him. Yea, our Apostle so compares present sufferings with future glory, that he plainly tells us, there is no comparison between them : "they are not worthy to be compared. But, I shall wave this, at present. ii. The second observable, that I collect from the text, is this, that THERE IS NOTHING WORTH THE REGARD OF A CHRISTIAN, BUT his eternal state. We look not at things present, for they are but temporal ; but at things future, for they are eternal. In prosecuting this, I shall, first, lay down some Demonstra tions of the proposition ; and, then, reflect upon the wretched Temper qf most men, who regard every thing but their souls and their eternal state. The Demonstrations are briefly these : 1. This is the End of our Lives, to provide for our Eternal State. There is a Twofold great end of man : one, in respect of Gcd ; and that is, the prometing qf his glory : the ether, in respect, of ourselves ; and that is, the promoting ef qur own happiness. Upon these very designs hath God sent us into the World, that we might glorify him, and save our own souls: and OF THE CONSIDERATION OF OUR FUTURE STATE. , 73 he hath been graciously pleased so to entwist these two to gether, that, in glorifying him, we do but glorify ourselves, and, in working for him, we do but work for our own interests and advantage. Yea, indeed, no man can glorify God, but he, who is careful and industrious to promote his own salvation and happiness : and, therefore, saith our Saviour, John xv. 8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit : but, to whom is this fruit beneficial ? not to God, but to ourselves : it is such fruit, as the Apostle speaks of, Phil. iv. 17. Fruit, that may abound to their account. This is that, which differenceth the great end of man, from that of beasts : they were all created, that they might, in their several kinds, honour and glorify God, as well as man ; but they have no immortal part, as man hath, for whose everlasting happiness they should be obliged to pro vide. Self-preservation is the utmost natural end of all crea tures ; and such as their self is, such will be their endeavours to preserve it : brute creatures, whose self is only temporal, seek only their temporal preservation, as best accommodated to their natures and principles ; but, in man, the self-is immor tal, eternal : and, therefore, unless our care be laid eut abqut qur eternal concerns, we fall far short of pur end ; and, in seek ing the things of this world, we seek only a temporal preserva tion ; that is, we infinitely degrade ourselves, arid act only uppn the principles and for the ends pf brute beasts. 2. We ought chiefly to regard our eternal state, our everlast ing happiness and welfare, because this is the only thing, which our care can secure to us in this world. Nothing else can here be made sure, but our future inherit ance of life and glory, We are net certain pf any worldly comforts, which we enjoy in possession : much less are we> cer tain of any in reversion. Change and vicissitude are written in capital letters upon all things under the sun. There is no stability in any condition, here on earth. He, who stands highest, stands but upon ice : his footing is but uncertain, and his fall will be but the more desperate. But things 'eternal are sure in themselves; and they maybe made sure. to us: they are sure in themselves ; and, therefore, called by the Apostle, Heb. x. 34. a better and an enduring substance : and they may be made sure to us ; as certain as the werd qf Gqd is true, and the seal ef his Spirit inviqlable. A Christian is a man wholly made up of paradoxes : he is poor, and yet maketh many rich : he hath nothing, and yet possesseth all things : he is sorrowful, yet 74 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. always rejoicing: things not seen, are the things that he looks at : and, contrary to the guise of other men, he is surest of the things, which he doth not see ; and those, which he hath in his hands and in his sight, he accounts the most uncertain and de ceitful. Again, 3. As nothing else can be made sure to us, besides our eternal state ; so, indeed, there is nothing else worth making sure, hut only that : and, therefore, a Christian's care about things eternal^ is most rational and becoming. If I could lay an arrest upon the mutability of affairs, and drive such a pin into the wheel of Providence as should keep it from turning ; if I could give laws to fate, and prescribe to myself the measures of mine own prosperity : yet, alas ! what great matter were all this, since, when we give in a true account of all these temporal things, which we call by so many names and set down so ma*ny items for, it amounts, in the sum, to no more but this, meat for the belly, and clothes for the back ! hunger and na kedness are the only necessities of life : and, certainly, he, who takes car* for more than will just supply these, than will serve to satisfy hunger and cover nakedness, he doth but take care ' for diseases or burdens. To what purpose is it, therefore, O Worldling ! that thqu amassest together such heaps ef riches ? for things that are necessary, se much needs nqt ; and, for tilings unnecessary, thou needest not them. I have read of a philosopher, who, passing through a well-stored market and casting his eyes upon the plenty and abundance of all sorts qf provisiqn that were there brought to be sold, blessed himself with this reflec tion : " Oh !" saith he, " how many things are there here, that I do not want!" Yea, those few things, which are barely ne cessary to life, yet are not worth our anxious and solicitous care : so our Saviour assures us, Mat. vi. 25. / say unto you, Take no care for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on : food and raiment themselves ought not to be carked for ; these necessa ries of life, whether we have them or no, yet we shall not long want them: if they be denied to us, we shall, in a very short time, be in a conditien, wherein we shall nq mqre need such pnor supplies ; where our life shall not be so feeble, as to need support from the staff of bread ; and where a coverlet of dust and worms will be as well as a royal robe. Of what worth are those things, over which death bath the dominion ? What wilt it be to any of us, one age hence, that we have been rich, of OF THE CONSIDERATION OF OUR FUTURE STATE. 75 great, or honourable? that we have lived a-top of the world, and enjoyed all things in it at wish ? Certainly, our dust will know nn heraldry : dead benes will keep no distance : all our prerogatives will be levelled in the grave ; and all those little differences which we put between ourselves and others, our style, our titles, and our names, will be all blotted in that dust that buries us. Why, then, shculd we be so vain, as to lay out our care, and our time, and our strength, upon those things, which can go no farther with us than to the brink of the grave, when as the soul is to live infinite ages afterwards ? Life, shquld it reach tq that which we call extreme eld age, yet is it all bat the childhoqd of man : and, it is as great a folly to busy our selves about the things which belong to this temporal life, as it were to lay up the playthings of childhood to be the comfort and solace of age. 4. Nothing in this world is truly satisfactory. Arid, therefore, there is great reason, we should look beyond temporal things which are seen, untc things eternal which are not seen. Here, when eur real wants are supplied, as indeed a very little will suffice to dp that, yet our craving desires are boundless, and will still torment us : but, in a blessed eternity, we shall neither want any thing which we should have, nor de sire any thing but what we have. But I must hasten. 5. Because eternity is an unchangeable state. There, is no repenting, nor amending of errors, nor recalling of mistakes. It will be too late then, to desire forgiveness or to iope for mercy. If these things be not npw dpne in this werld, alas ! it will be for ever too late, when ence you are entered into an unchangeable condition. It is not so in earthly cen- cemments : if, by imprudence, we have brought ourselves into any straits or difficulties, we may afterwards correct our mis carriages, and redeem ourselves from those inconveniencies. But our eternal state stands fixed and immutable, for ever. Death delivers us over to judgment, in the same condition in which it finds as ; and judgment delivers us up, either to glory or to condemnation, bpth unalterable. This life is the only time allotted us, to make provision for eternity. Every day, and hour, wears away a considerable part of our lives ; yea, we are nearer to eternity, while we are speaking this. We are all of us hastening to our last abode ; and a few days will deter mine our everlasting condition. And, therefore, it principally concerns us, ear up our hearts in a dying hour. These are things, which are as immortal as thy soul is, and will enter heaven with thee, OF THE CONSIDERATION OF OUR FUTURE STATE. T9 and abide with thee to all eternity. Oh! whom will it not comfort, to think, that death will change his bottle into a spring? that, though here our waters sometimes failed us, yet, in hea ven, whither we are going, we shall bathe in an infinite ocean of delight, and shall lie at the breast of an ever-flowing foun tain of life and sweetness ? Whosoever hath but such an assur ance as this, cannot but welcome death with embraces ; and, while his soul struggles to unclasp itself and get loose from the body, cannot but, with holy panting and longing, say, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. So naturally does the consideration of our future eternal state, not only make us despise the afflictions of this life, but set us above the fears of death itself: which js to be the subject of my next discourse. THE CHRISTIAN'S TRIUMPH DEATH. VOL. IV, THE CHRISTIAN'S TRIUMPH OVER DEATH. 1 COR. xv. 55. O DEATH, WHERE IS THY STING ? O GRAVE, WHERE IS THY VIC TORY ? J.N this chapter, the Apostle largely insists upon that Article of the Christian Faith, which is so far abqve the reach and compre hension of reason, that even these, who were the professed mas ters qf reason, the wise Athenians, among whom both learning and civility we're in their highest elevaticn, yet cquld nqt abstain from railing abuses, when St. Paul preached of the resurrection unto them : Acts xvii. 18. What will this babbler say ? and, He seemeth to be a setter forth qf strange gods : because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection. So strange and uncouth a doctrine did this appear, that, as they thqught he recem- mended Jesus to them for a new Ged ; so they thought that this tttia.qa.Git;, or Resurrection, was some new-invented Goddess, that Paul himself worshipped, and whose votaries he would persuade them to be. Which, howsoever, had certainly been ef a better rank, than many of that rabble of deities, which they owned and wershipped : for both Cicero and Clemens Alexandrinus testify of these learned Athenians, who rejected the Resurrection as a strange and novel God, that they yet erected temples to Con- ' tumely and Impudence, Diseases and Ill-Fortune: and it is pity, they should not always have the favour and presence of those deities. There was scarce any superstition sp absurdly ridicu lous, which these sages would net rather embrace, than the be lief df a Future Resurrection ; which they accounted a dewn- right affront to the principles of reason and learning. They could not comprehend a possibility in the re-union of the sepa rate squl and body ; so contrary to their celebrated maxim, & G 2 84 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. privatione ad habitum non datur regressus : nor could they con ceive, that dust, scattered to the four winds of heaven, and subjected to so many changes, and made the ingredients of so many other bodies, cquld ever be re-cqllected, and kneaded up, again into the same body to which it did originally belotffg. But I shall have no occasion presently to vindicate the possi bility of the resurrection ; and to demonstrate, that, though it may be above the reach of reason to conceive, yet it is not be yond the reach of omnipotence to effect. It is more pertinent, at present, to observe, that the Apostle draws a mpst firm and natural consequence from the belief of the resurrection, to fortify us against the dread cf death. Dpth. the husbandman fear to cpmmit his grain to the earth, because it must there die and rot, and lie buried under clods and dirt ; whereas he knows, that all these changes tend only to make it afterwards sprout up mpre flourishing and verdant, with the greater beauty and increase ? Sp it is, saith the Appstle, with our bodies : vv. 42, 43. They are sown in corruption ; but raised in incorruption : they are sown in dishonour ; but raised in glory : they are sown in weakness; but raised in power : there they lie hid under the deep furrows ofthe grave, suffering all the debase ments of stench, worms, and putrefaction ; but God, the Great Husbandman of the World, doth but sow us in the ground : we shall certainly sprout up again, and appear more beautiful and glorieus. These ruins ef our bodies shall be made a foundation for a more stately edifice : This corruptible shall put on incor ruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality : v. 53. Now, the certain hope and expectation of this blessed change quite disarms death, and leaves it without any venom or malig nity against a believer. To what purpose is all that ghastly train, which attends this king of terrors; diseases, pains, and languqrs ? when they have dene the utmost that they are able, they can but cast him te the earth, whence, Antseus like he riseth again with redeubled vigour. God deals with us, as the Chinese do with their precicus earth : he lays us leng under ground, that we way be refined ; and made fit to be" vessels of honour prepared for our master's use. What a weak and impo tent adversary is this, whose assaults are our advantage, and whose conquests prove his own overthrow ! And, upon this very consideration, the^postle do).h. in my text, insult over this contemptible enemy: 0 death, where is thy sting ? , 0 grave, where is thy victory ? TIIE CHRISTIAN'S TRIUMPH OVER DEATH. 85 Death is here represented to us as a venpmpus serpent ; but such a pne, as hath lqst his sting : sp that, thpugh it may hiss against us, yet it cannct wpund us. Where is thy sting ? that is, Where is that, which threatened to convey thy noxious and baneful poison into us ? where is that, which is thought so formidable, so destructive and perni cious, in death ? And this very question intimates to us, that there is nothing left of this venomous quality ; that now, to a faithful servant of Christ, there is nothing deadly, no not in death itself. I remember, I have somewhere read of a kind of serpent whose poison is so very virulent and of such quick dispatch, that it doth immediately dissolve the body, and reduce it to dust. This sting, and this venom in it, death doth indeed still retain, even against the best qf men ; and those, whom it smites, shall certainly crumble away into dust. This sting, therefore, still remains. And, for its victories, the grave top can boast as many, as it hath trophies erected in the monuments, inscriptions, and scat tered bones of those whom it hath slain. But, when omnipo tence shall rally every loose and dispersed dust into its former station ; when we shall become heavenly from earth, and death? less from death ; we may justly, without fear, despise the inju ries of death, and tread with triumph upon the earth that must bury us. Observe, hence, That the hope of a blessed and glorious RESURRECTION IS THE ONLY SUFFICIENT SECURITY AGAINST THE DREAD OF DEATH, AND A CHRISTIAN'S MOST GLORIOUS TRIUMPH OVER THE GRAVE. In prosecuting this, I shall- only speak to these Two things. First. I shall shew, that all other consideratiqns are too weak and feeble, to assure the soul against the rough assaults and violent terrors of death. Secondly. I shall shew you what there is in the hopes and expectation of a glorious resurrection, that may embolden us to despise death, as a conquered enemy ; and to upbraid it with this holy scorn of the Apostle, O death, where is, thy sliiig ? I. For the first, That ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS ARE TOO WEAK TO ENCOURAGE US ; let us consider those fearful and horrid notions, that nature hath Imprinted 86 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS'STING. upon us against its enemy ; how wan and dismal it represents his visage: so that, though there be nothing more certain, by the statute law of heaven, than that we must die ; yet, withal, there is nothing more difficult, than to persuade men to die willingly. The old philosophers and wise men of all ages have ransacked the whole magazine pf reason ; and have put into our hands all the weapons they could there find, which they thought might embolden us tq encounter this dreadful enemy. But yet, as the' Lord Verulam well observes, all their great preparations, instead of diminishing its dread, only served to make it appear the more fearful*: all the cost and skill, which they bestowed upon their armour, made them but the richer prey to the victor ; and only served to enhance the conquests of death, that could lay such rational and argumentative heads in the dust. And, in deed, whatsoever mere natural reason can put upon us, is rather for pomp than use ; more to embellish the mind, than to for tify the heart : for there is not any thing, which these grave moralists do, with so much ostentation and contempt, of death, offer unto the world, that, if it be rationally scanned, can prove a solid ground for peace and comfort in a dying hour. All, that they inculcate in their discourses on this sad theme, may be, I think, reduced to these Three heads : either The Necessity of Dying ; or, Our Freedom by it from the Cares and Troubles ef this Life. Or, The Hopes qf a future Reward. But nqne qf these, so far as reason alone can discover it, will be a sufficient defence against the sting of death, nor gain the victory from the grave. For, i. What relief is it, to tell us, that death is necessary ? that it is the common lot of all men ? that every compounded being hath thqse fatal principles wreathed up in it, that will certainly wcrk its dissolution ; and .that therefore it becomes the reason and the spirit of a man, to entertain that fate which is unavoid able, with a constancy which is unmoveable ? This is frequently urged by Heathen philosophers, in their preparations against the fear of death. Tlpog rv\v a.vuynviv m uypicuverai, sSf U7cpovov\rci eivcu nderca ra %pog v\ fjucig, eav ro Ai/vjtov oroflvijfl-jtv), saith Hierocles. " A wise man will not fret himself p.t necessity, nor look upqn it as sqme strange unexpected accir THE CHRISTIAN'S TRIUMPH OVER DEATH. 87 dent: if that, which is mortal, die; and that, which is com pounded of parts, fall asunder." But, alas ! what comfort is all' this ; since that, which they bring for our support, is the very thing that frights us ? It is the inevitableness of death, that makes it so exceeding terrible : it were not so dreadful', were it avoidable. And, therefore, to arm men against the fear pf death, because it is the common lot, of all, is, in my judgment, to as little purppse, as if, , to comfort some pitiful wretch, they should bid him be of gopd cheer, for that he must necessarily be miserable and wretched. And, then, ii. As fer the freedom, which they tell us death gives from THE CARES, SORROWS, AND TROUBLES OF THIS LIFE ; that it is the safest and most secure refuge ; the only port we can make, when we are beaten with the storms and tempests of the world : though they insist on it as a principal remedy against the fear of death ; yet, if this be all, that we shall no longer suffer hun ger, nor cold, nor pain, nor misery ; that death is a universal cure fer all diseases ; that it alone removes the wants which life could not supply ; all this will fall very short of being a sufficient encouragement to undergo that last arrest .with a becoming temper. For this, if there be no more, is but like the changing of a fever into a lethargy : and only brings us into a gloomy quiet ; in which, as we have no sense of torment, sp neither shall we have any of ease and comfort. And to be thus free from the burdens and pressures of life, will be no more a solace to us after death, than it was before we were borni 'And I am apt to think, that there are but very few, who would not be willing to compound fer their beings with their troubles: like the weary traveller in the apelpgue, who sinking under his burden, cried for death te come and ease him; but when he beheld him appear se very grim and meagre, asking sourly why he called for him, he meekly told him, that it was only to help him up with his load again. SO, without doubt, it would fare with most men, if they had no farther hope than merely to be eased of the cares and sorrows of this life : they would rather wish to have them con tinue upon them to eternity, than to be eased of them at such a privative rate ; since being is more dear, than sufferings are troublesome. But, "i.v c 83 DEATH DISARMED OF rJS STING. iii. What human reasen alpne. can disccver ef a future RE WARD, thpugh it be infinitely mean and sordid, in comparison with those sublime and refined joys which God hath promised to us in his word ; yet this, indeed, might be some antidote against the envenomed sting of death, and a support against the dread and terror of it, if reason could as well secure our right unto it, as make disccvery pf it. But reason, even in Heathens themselves, hath prepared a place of punishment, as well as cf bliss ; and the ccnsciences of all men do, dpubtless, discover unto them every day that guilt, fpr which their reascn alpne could never yet discover a sufficient expiation : so that, instead of arming us against the fears of death, reason, if we pursue it in its closest consequen ces, redoubles those terrors ; and, by proving us transgressors of the natural law that God hath written in every man's heart, argues us all into torments. Hence we read of such strange lustrations, and horrid methods of expiating guilt ; that, usually, they then committed the greatest crimes, when they thought to compensate for them, and their very religion was the most abominable part of their sins. If, therefore, mere reasqn can conclude, that there is a future state of happiness and misery to be prqportiqned out according tq men's demerits, and their cqnsciences tell them that their demerits are such as entitle them cnly te punishment ; when they can find qut nq likely way ef atonement for their guilt, this, instead of encouraging them against the dread of death, must needs make the fear thereof more tormenting and killing, th^n if they were not at all conscious' o|, any such future state. Besides, all, that" our natural understanding can discover to be the reward of just actions, is onIy.a(partial bliss to crown the soul of man; which, indeed, some sects of philosophers heM to be immortal, and to survive the funerals of the body ; bur none of them ever be lieved the resurrection of the flesh ; and so give up the one half of man to be lost and desperate. Now, who would not fear that dreadful stroke, that should quite cleave away qne half of him, never tp be recovered nor reunited ? Who wpuld npt fear to undergo that change, after which he must be no longer a man, but only exist a bare and naked soul ? So jthat you see, all other considerations, which reason and philosophy can afford us, without the expectaticn of a gloripus THE CHRISTIAN'S TRIUMPH OVER DEATH. 89 _ resurrectipn, cannpt be a sufficient defence nor security to us against the fears pf death ; tiipse things are rather flourishes of wit, than armour of proof : and that last encounter, in which we must all be engaged against that last enemy, will prove too rough and boisterous for the fineness of such formal arguments to make good. If men's cunsolatipns be np better than these ; That death is necessary ; That, by it, they shall be freed from the cares and miseries cf this life ; and, That their souls shall survive, but, whether in weal or woe, they are net well assured : if this be all, when they come to die, it will fare with them as with cunning fencers in the midst ef a confused battle, they will soon be put by all their artificial play, and find that their postures and their wardings are all insignificant and useless. Indeed, that, which alone can enable men to meet death with an undaunted boldness, must be something either much below human reason, as rashness and desperation ; or, else, something vastly above it, as divine grace and revelation: and this, Christian Religion only hath made known to the world : discovering a perfect expiation for sin, in the blood of the Immaculate Lamb, tfie Eternal Son of God; and, withal, giving us ample assurance, upon a pious and holy life, of attaining to a jqyful and blessed resurrecticn, where the entire man shall eternally possess a fulj and entire happiness. By the former, it takes away the sting of death, which is sin : by the latter, ft recovers the victory from the grave, and throws down all its trophies ; letting those out tq life and liberty, whom it detained as its captives and pri soners. And, thus, I have finished the First thing propounded ; anc| have shewn you, that all other considerations, besides that of a, glorious and blessed Resurrection, are too feeble to assure and encourage men against the fears of death. II. The Second is, to shew you, WHAT THERE IS IN THE HOPES AND EXPECTATION OF THIS BLESSED RESURRECTION, THAT MAY EMBOLDEN US TO DE SPISE DEATH AND TO TRIUMPH OVER THE GRAVE. And, here, I shall not speak of the glory, that shall be con ferred on tfie whole man, which is consequent to the resurrec tion : but confine myself to those advantages, which. we shall have in the body-only. • 90 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. 1. It shall be raised an entire and perfect body. Not a dust, not an atom, that is necessary to the integration of it, shall be lost : and, though they be scattered up and down the world, and confusedly mixed with other beings; yet, by the omnipotence of Gqd and the ministry of angels, every dust shall be picked up again, and set in its due place and crder. To this purpese Tertullian speaks well : Si non integros suscitat Deus, non suscitat mortuos, Kc : " If Gqd dqth not raise us up entire, he deth nqt raise the dead :" fer, if any part" of us be not raised, as to that we are still dead. ii. As it shall be raised up entire and perfect, so every MEMBER OF IT SHALL BE MADE SUCH, AS MAY BE MOST SUBSERVIENT TO THE SOUL, AND MOST CAPABLE OF THE RECEIPT OF GLORY. We shall not find our bodies so restive nor so unwieldy, as too often here we do. They now hang upon us as heavy clogs, and depress us when we should be soaring up to heaven. Then, we shall no longer need our Saviour's gracious excuse for our infirmities: Mat. xxvi. 41. The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak. No ; this flesh of ours, in that glorified estate, shall hold out in all the rapturous exercises of the soul : and, whereas now we are dull when we hear, and drowsy when we pray, and distracted when we meditate, soph tired out in any holy performances; then, when all these dregs and phlegm shall be purged from us, our bpdies themselves shall be all light and fire, brisk and sparkling, ready tp attend every the least metion of the soul, without reluctance and without weariness, Then, again, iii. Thpugh the bedy shall be thus raised entire, and perfect in all its limbs, yet shall they not perform any of those SORDID OFFICES TO WHICH NOW THEY SERVE. They shall be discharged from their offices, as the same Tertullian speaks ; but yet they shall net therefere cease tc be necessary in the body : for, jhough they lose their offices, yet must they still retain their places ; being reserved for the sentence of the Righteous Judge. THE CHRISTIAN'S TRIUMPH OVER DEATH. 91 1 COR. xv. 56. THE STING OF DEATH IS SIN. In the foregoing verse, we have a Christian's Triumph over Death and the Grave, in the expectation of a blessed and glorious Resurrection. 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where is thy vicioty ? Shall our scattered dust and ashes be rallied again into the same body ? shall that, which was infirm, dishonourable, and mortal, be raised up powerful and active, bright and glqrious, impassible as spirits and deathless as eternity ? shall we ever lastingly survive our funerals ? shall we again receive these bodies out ofthe earth, purified from all earthy, dreggy mixtures and concretions ? There can be no cqnsequence more naturally drawn from these premises, than what our Apostle infers : to contemn death, as a feeble and impotent adversary ; to trample upon this disarmed worm, without fear of hurt ; and to disdain the weakness of its malice, whose greatest spite turns only to our inconceivable advantage. In the words now before us, and in the ensuing verse, the Apostle makes use of another medium to prove the same asser tion, That, to a believer, there is nothing formidable or dreadful, even in death itself. Now, because in this argument there are many ellipses, many propositions which are silenced, and yet very necessary to be understood, before we can find out the full force of it ; I shall endeavour briefly tq unfold it, and shew wherein the strength and sinews 6f the Apostle's reasening consist. The great truth, which he would prove, is, That a Christiah may well triumph over death. And this he doth by Two heads of arguments. The one, drawn from the consideration of the exceeding great advantage and glory, which shall redound even to their very bodies, by the resurrectien. And this he, at large, pro secutes, in a great part of this chapter ; especially in verses 42, 43, 44. It is sown in corruption : it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonour : it is taised in glory. It is sown in weakness: it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body : it is raised & spiritual body. 92 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. The other head of arguments is that, which now lies before us to be considered ; which, if it be drawn out at length, contains in it many propositions. First. That all the pernicious and baneful effects ef death proceed from sin ; which, therefore, is here called, The Sting of Death: because, as venomous creatures transmit their poison by their sting; so, likewise, that, which serves to con- vey into us all the mischief and harm that death can do us, is pnly sin. And, hence, it is well represented unto us, under that metapherical expressicn of a sting : The Sting of Death is Sin. Secendly. That, tp believers, this sting is taken out of death, and the venom taken out of that sting. They may take this cold and frozen snake into their bpsems ; and, thqugh it hiss against them, yet it cannqt wqund them. And, to prove this, he asserts, Thirdly. That all the malignity, which sin contains in it, it receives from the Law : The Strength of Sin is the Law. For it js the Law only, that gives sin its being : for the Scripture gives us this definition of sin, that it is a transgression of the Law: 1 John iii. 4 : and expressly tells us, that where there is no law, there is no transgression : Rom. iv. 15. And it is the Law, that gives sin its condemning power, by virtue of that threatening of death and eternal destruction, which God hath denounced against all that shall dare to violate and transgress it : In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die: Gen. ii. 17. and the soul, -that sinneth, it shall die : Ezek. xviii. 4. And, therefore, it necessarily followeth, Fourthly. That, if the Law, which gives power and malignity to sin, be abolished, we may then confidently triumph over death, whose sting, and all whose power, consists in sin. And, "Fifthly. The Apostle cpncludes, v. 57. That God hath given lis the victory, through Christ ; for he hath abrogated the Law, so far as it gave, strength to sin to condemn us. He hath taken away the damning and the cursing power of the Law, by bearing its punishments, and being made a curse for us. Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. So that the whole sum of the argument lies in this, That Christ hath taken away the sting of death, which is sin, because. he hath abolished the Law, whence sin received all its power and virulency. THE CHRISTIAN'S TRIUMPH OVER DEATH. 93 These words offer to us these Two Proppsitions. That there is a Sting in death. That this sting is Sin. But before I can treat of either ef these, I must somewhat more fully explain what is meant by that metaphor, the sting of death. It is an allusion to venomous and noxipus creatures, whose power to do mischief lies in their stings : there, usually, lies the stock and treasure of their poison, which they diffuse into those, into whom they dart their stings ; thereby inflaming their blood, corrupting the whole mass of their humours, causing inexpressible anguish and dolours, and sometimes death and destructien itself. So that, because the sting is the instru ment, which conveys se much pain and sp much mischief; be cause it is that, which makes those creatures so formidable and dreadful unto us that are thus naturally armed : therefore the Apostle elegantly transfers this to death ; and affirms, That there is something in death, that makes it terrible, painful, and de structive to us ; and this he calls the sting of death. So that, in brief, whatsoever makes death frightful and grievous to us, that is this sting of death. I. THERE IS A STING IN DEATH. i. That there is such a sting In death, and that it is thus formidable and pernicious, appears from these following parti culars. 1. In the horrors of wicked and ungodly men, when they come to die. Indeed some, who, by long custom and continuance in sin/ have utterly spent and wasted their consciences, go out of the world in a desperate stupidity ; senseless of what they are, and careless of what they are like to be : and, with a mad rashness, daringly leap Out of life, without ever considering how infinitely deep that dismal precipice is, down which they threw them selves; and that nething is under them to receive them, but only the lake cf fire and brimstone. But, take a man, who hath his sense abqut him and his reasen awake, and whp can exercise his cqnsideraticn and ' reflection upon his present and future state ; stand by the sick-bed ef such a one, who hath worn out his life in the service of the Devil, and whose luxury, riot, drunkenaess, and uncleanness have been the onlv grand 94 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. business ofhis life, and the diseases that these have brought uppn him the causes of his death ; what a sad scene of misery will be there represented to thee ! how dreadfully doth he ex claim against himself!, what estuations, what outcries, what despair and blackness of horror then seize upon him, when death is haling and rending his soul out of his body ! how doth he pull and struggle, and cannot yield to that, which, wretched creature, he cannot avoid ! Certainly, death must needs be very terrible to those, who have so soaked and softened themselves by sensuality, that its sting enters deep into them : and, as poison operates most banefully upon them, whose blood and Spirits were before heated and inflamed ; so, when death comes to diffuse its venom into those, who are set on fire and inflamed with lust and intemperance, the rage and pain, the horror and despair, that it will work in such, will be unspeakably hideous and dreadful. 2. It appears likewise, in tke unwillingness, even of the dearest qf God's children, to undergo this last, rude, and violent shock of death. Yea, and though they have not only comfortable hopes and persuasions, but the clearest evidence and the fullest assurance, that Christ Jesus shall be unto them, both in life and death, inconceivable gain and advantage : yet, there is such an aversation in human nature itself against this last and dreadful enemy, that it startles at its approach ; and would willingly be excused from ' entering into the lists, and engaging in that sore conflict. Who ever enjoyed a greater plerophory than St. Paul; who was, even in his lifetime, caught up into the Third Heaven, and admitted as a spy into the Heavenly Canaan, the Land of Promise ; whe there saw and tasted the ineffable glory and joy, which was prepared for him ? and, though he knew the full fruition of them could not otherwise be obtained than by dying, yet he tells us, 2 Cor. v. 4. We, that are in this tabernacle, do groan ; being burdened : not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up. of life. As we find a strong antipathy working in us, and nature itself recoiling, when we are to take some bitter potion, though we be well assured the effects of it will be salutary, and that it will conduce to our health afterwards: so, even in those who are fully assured that death will be tp them an inlet into everlasting life and bliss, yet there is such a natural antipathy against it, that, theugh the consideration of that eternal happiness into which they are THE CHRISTIAN'S TRIUMPH OVER DEATH. 95 entering makes them submit to it with patience, yet they cannot; but abner and shrink from so bitter a medicine, even when it is tempered with the strong consolations of the Spirit of God. Yea, 3. To give the highest instance that can be of the dreadfulnss. of death, we find, that even our Lord Jesus Christ himself, in whom there were no disordered passions, np sinful fears, none of those weaknesses and follies which in us do too often serve only to increase and enhance the dreadfulness of death ; yet even he loaths and nauseates to drink qf that cup ; and prays, with all fervency and importunity, that it might pass from him : Matt. xxvi. 39. O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass. from me. And nqthing, but his Father's will, was nf pqwer enqugh tq reconcile him to it : nevertheless, not as I will, but as. thou wilt. Certainly, that must needs be a very direful cemppsitipn, which should make Him, who was God as well as man, so averse. from taking it : that must needs be a very formidable enemy j which should make Him loth to conflict, though he were sure to conquer it ; and not only restore life to himself, but to all the world. Indeed, that, which made this cup so exceeding bitter to our Lord Christ, was the wrath of God, and the curse ef the Law, that were tempered in it ; but, yet, the very vehicle ef these, death itself, and the separation of his body and soul, was in itself very unpleasant and irksome, even unto Him whose person was divine and whose nature was innocent. And, there-. fore, it must needs be, that death hath in it a great deal of dread and terror. Thus we see it demonstrated, that death is a very dreadful and tremendous enemy to human nature. ii. Let us next consider, what there is in death, that should make it thus dreadful; that should make its sting so sharp and poignant, and cause such a natural abhorrency aud antipathy against it in us. And this I shall shew, in Five particulars. 1. The harbingers, which go before it, to prepare its way. And these are, usually, languishing diseases, or racking pains; which, as the avant-couriers of a hostile army, commonly com mit little less spcil than the whole bqdy qf it : these spend the strength and waste the ccmfqrt of life ; and scarce leave any thing, besides a consumed carcase, fer death to prey upon 96 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. And, must it net needs be terrible and irkscme to nature, to •conflict with these sccuts pf death ? to be cast upon the bed of languishing; restlessly tossing to and fro in the night-season, watching for the morning ; and, in the day, wishing for night, and finding no ease, no refreshment in either ? when a fever shall burn us to ashes; a dropsy deluge us; and, it may be, with tlrose floods which our own intemperance hath let in, quench the vital flame arid lamp of our life ? And, while we are Struggling for life and gasping for breath, our assisting-friends, with their officious mournings, increase, but cannot help our grief, by theirs. . 2. Death is likewise dreadful, as it deprives us qf ali the com forts and enjoyments of life. If God hath blessed thee with plenty and affluence of these temporal good things ; if thou enjoyest riches, honpur, friends, and whatsoever thy heart can here desire to make thy life sweet and comfortable to thee; will it nqt grate upon thee, to think, that shortly all these must be sequestered ? Thou must be haled from the embraces of thy dearest friends, degraded of thy titles, divested of thy robes, turned out of thy possessions, and must take up thy abode in the silent chambers of darkness and cor ruption. These are the things, which make men loth to die. And, indeed, those, who have made them their treasures and their good things, will find it a very hard task, to be willing to leave all behind them at the mouth of the grave. They can wait upon thee no farther. And oh, what a sad parting hour will it be to the pobr soul, when it must be compelled to remove into anether werld, and leave all its gppd tilings behind in this ! how will it protract and linger ! how loth will it be to enter uppn so great a journey, and have nothing left to defray the charge of it ! how wistly will it look back upon all these dear vanities, that it had hoarded up together 1 " What ! cannot I carry this pos session and those riches, this estate and that treasure, out of the world with me r Must we then part for ever ? Yes, O soul, for ever. None of these things canst thou carry with thee." And oh, think, what a sad thing it will be for thy poor soul to be set on shore in a vast and dismal eternity, all naked and destitute ; having nothing of all the superfluities and abundance of com forts, which here it made its chief good, to relieve and support it! Or, if men's estate be low and mean in the world, exposed to many wants and miseries : yet, even to such, death is terrible ; THE CHRISTIAN'S TRIUMPH OVER DEATH. 97 aor can they be willingly brought to part with their share of enjoyments, though it be nothing but the common air, and dear light, and their own flattering hopes that yet they may live to possess more. For hqpe of better for the future, is a most tenacious thing : and those, who have nothing else tq live upen, yet cannot look upqn death with centent ; because, although it put an end and period to their present miseries, yet it likewise cuts off their hopes, in which, at least, they are as rich and happy as the greatest. 3. Another thing, which is dreadful and stinging in death, is that, which trulv and properly is death itself: I mean, the sepa ration of those dear companions, the soul and body. \ They are, in life, knit together by an unintelligible bend of uniqn and friendship. There is a most secret and pqwerful sympathy between them; and that, which is the very life qf friendship, a communication of passions and affections. They have spent many years together in perfect amity and concord ; and, therefore, it may well be 'dreadful to think of parting at the last. And, 4. The consideration of those dishonours and disgraces, which shall befal the body upon this separation, is likewise very stinging and irksome unto nature. There it must lie, a sad, wan, and ghastly spectacle to thy friends, and afterwards be lodged in the bed ef silence and putrefacticn. There, whole heaps of wqrms shall crawl upon thee and devour thee: and the next corpse, that wants room, may perhaps disturb thy bones, and not allow thee so much as the quiet of death, and the peaceable possession of thy grave. Thy few remains may lie scattered about the mouth of it : and thou, who art now respected and honoured, mayst have thy only visible relics rudely and irreverently dealt with. And, certainly, there is in us all such a natural love to our bodies, that we, who think all pur care and pains too little in pampering and iudulging them, cannot but look upon death as a mest dreadful enemy, that shall bring upen them so many contumelies and dishonours. And, 5. The most sharp and stinging consideration of all, is, That death delivers us over into eternity, which we have ten thousand times deserved should be infinitely wretched and miserable to us. Our consciences do misgive, and presage very dreadful things agajnst us ; and often represent to our view all the woes and VOL. IV. H 98 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. plagues which are stored up in hell, the treasury and magazine of all plagues. And, though the former considerations render death very frightful; as it is inflicted upon us by pains and diseases ; as it deprives us of all the comforts of life ; as it is the separation of soul and body ; as it leaves the bedy under the dishonours and ghastly deformities of rottenness and putrefaction: yet, had death nothing in it more dreadful than these, it might be supportable. Yea, and we knpw, that many, who have been borne up by the consolations of the Holy Spirit, have opened their arms to it and embraced it : though with natural reluctance, as it is death; yet, with joy and exultation, as it is to them an admission into eternal life. But, when death shall summon us to appear before the dreadful tribunal of God, and suggest to us horrid apprehensions of .voe arid torments that we shall by him be adjudged unto ; this is that sting, which is most sharp and piercing ; that sting, the poison of which affects the soul with most inexpressible anguish and agonies. II. And this brings me to the Second Proposition, which is the very words of the text, THE STING OF DEATH IS SIN. For, i. It was only sin, that brought death into the world. So the Apostle, expressly : Rom. v. 12. By one man sin en tered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. This serpent owes his being, as well as his sting and poison, unto man's transgression. Indeed, Adam was no more created immortal by nature, than he was impeccable : but as he had potentiam non peccandi, so he had likewise potentiam non moricndi; a power, neither to have sinned nor died ; but might have prolonged his days, either to a happy eternity 'here upqn earth, or to a blessed translation into heaven. But, as soon as sin had gqtten pqssession of his soul, death lays in claim tc his body ; and sends a numerous train of grim attend ants, fear', sadness, decays, troubles, pains, and diseases, to secure him from making' his escape : and, by these, we must all, sooner or later, fall into his hands. ii. Death receives its sting and terrors from sin. It is the consciousness of sin and guilt, which makes death so bitter and intolerable tp us : and therefore the Apostle, Heb, ii. THE CHRISTIAN'S TRIUMPH OVER DEATH, 99 15. speaks of some, who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage : and this bondage of fear and terrors, under which they were held, was from the scorching apprehen sions of that hell and everlasting wrath, which were to follow after death. And, though now, possibly, in the jollity of thy youth and health, thou puttest far from thee all such dreadful and disturbing thoughts ; though, it may be, when conscience begins to recal them, thou desperately chokest it, either by the cares of the world, or intemperance, or by wicked and, lewd company, or some such hellish artifice : yet, know for certain, that it will watch its advantages tc return upon thee ; and, it may be, represent all the horrors and dread of these things to thee, when thou art just entering into thy eternal state, to feel them. When our souls, in the very agonies of death, are just loosening themselves from those bands that tied them to the body, they will, doubtless, then make strange discoveries of those terrible things, which now, in our health, when we are any thing serious, make our hearts ache and our consciences tremble: but, then, the terrors of them will be such, as will even cramp and confound the soul ; when it shall see theni all come rolling upon him, and no possibility left to escape or defer them : now, they are upon the very borders and confines of that region, where ghosts and spirits are the only inhabitants : here, a holy and just God is summoning them to his bar, and passing an irreversible doom upon them : there, they see hell casting up black and sopty flames, and thousands of wretched sculs wallowing in them : all these dreadful things, conscience will represent to convinced sinners ; and make them infinitely more dreadful, by suggesting, that they all make against them, and are the preparations qf divine wrath and vengeance to punish them. Now, O Sinner ! how canst thou encourage thyself? how wilt thou bear up thy heart against the thoughts and fears of death ? doth it not almost kill thee, only to think, that thou must die, and then have all the wrath pf the Great God executed upon thee, to eternity ? death is still waiting for the forfeiture of your lives; and, after death, hell and eternal torments ; torments, which shall never have end or ease : under the sharpest tortures we can suffer here, we comfort ourselves, that they will shortly wear off ; but, there, yqur tortures shall be most exquisite, and yet have nq end. It is in vain to cry, as here we dq, when we are under pains er diseases, " Would to H 2 100 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. God it were day !" qr, " Would to God it were night !" for thejT have no rest day nor night, and none they can expect : but the smoke of their torments riseth up for ever and ever. Thus, it is the apprehension ef future wrath and vengeance, as the due desert cf qur sins, which makes death so exceedingly terrible and stinging to a guilty soul. III. I shall close up all with Three brief INFERENCES. i. If sin and guilt be the sting of death, let us beware, that we add not more poison TO this sting, by adding mqre sing and iniquities to our past crimes. i Remember, every sin which thou committest will make thee' more afraid to die. And, in what dreadful perplexities and agonies of soul wilt thou be, when thy guilt shall stare thee ruthfully in the face, and thy conscience exclaim against thee ! and, yet, inexerable death will wait no longer, but cut thee off in the midst of all thy fears and horrors, and thrust thee down to hell, there to undergo more than ever thou couldst fear or imagine. ii. If sin be the sting of death, then, certainly, the only WAY TO DISARM DEATH, IS, BY CLEANSING THYSELF FROM SIN. Wash thy polluted soul, in the tears of an unfeigned repent ance. Sprinkle thy guilty conscience, with that blood of sprink ling, that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel. Then . mayst thou breathe out thy soul with comfort, when all that death can do unto thee, is, to change thy hopes into full fruition and enjoyment. iii. HOW UNSPEAKABLY HAPPY ARE THOSE, TO WHOM THE STING OF DEATH IS TAKEN OUT BY THE DEATH OF CHRIST ! In his body, death struck his sting so deep, that he left and lost it there : and, like some venomous creatures, that die as soon as they have stung, animdmque in vulnere ponunt, that mortally wound themselves, whenever they do less wound others ; so, death, darting its whole sting into Jesus Christ, to wit, the sins of all the world that believe, which were all imputed unto him when he himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree, hath ever since been a harmless, disarmed thing 5 not able to hurt them, how grim spever its aspect be. Yea, this last THE CHRISTIAN'S TRIUMI'H OVF.R DEATH. 101 enemy is reccnciled untp them, and becpme one of their party ; and they may, with triumph, say, as the Apostle doth, whether life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are theirs: death shall de them the greatest and mpst real kindness which they can receive ; fer, as death was brought into the world by sin, so sin shall be abolished out of the world by death : yea, death itself shall abolish death; and bring us into that state, where our life shall be deathless and our holiness sjnless. And this brings me tp speak pf the Resurrection, by which this victory over death is completed ; which will, therefore, be the subject of the ensuing discourse. OF THE RESURRECTION. OF THE RESURRECTION. JOHN xx. 26, 27. AND, AFTER EIGHT DAYS, AGAIN HIS DISCIPLES WERE WITHIN, AND THOMAS WITH THEM. THEN CAME JESUS, THE DOORS BEING SHUT, AND STOOD IN THE MIDST, AND SAID, PEACE BE UNTO YOU. THEN SAITH HE TO THOMAS, REACH HITHER THY FINGER, AND BEHOLD MY HANDS ; AND REACH HITHER THY HAND, AND THRUST IT INTO MY SIDE: AND BE NOT FAITHLESS, BUT RE LIEVING. Among all the Articles of our Christian Faith, there is nene, that hath suffered mere persecutions from corrupt reason and seeming impossibilities, than that of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, his triumph over death, and the rescue ofhis body from the affronts and dishonours of the grave. For, because the improbability of the thing is so great ; and the arguments, drawn from nature and reason against it, are so strong to a man, who looks no higher, and believes not that miracles interpose in the series of human affairs : therefore, a dqctrine, which is so strange a paradcx, as that qf the Resurrectiqn, had need have very fercible arguments to prove it, that it may be able to overbear the dissent of the world, which else will, doubtless, cry it down, as absurd and impossible. What great prejudices and importunate objections Infidelity Wings against this doctrine, I have shewn more at large else where * ; and that the utmost they amount to, is only to prove the supernatural almighty power of the efficient cause, and not the impossibility of the effect. But, against these strong prejudices and plausible arguments, Christian Religion opposeth that, which neither prejudice can overbear ner yet arguments confute, the plain and evident;. testimony of sense. * Discourse upon Acts ii. 24p 106 - DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. This chapter, of which the text is part, gives us abundant attestation of the resurrection of Christ; relating his many appearances to his disciples, who, after his death, conversed corporally with him, and who saw him perform all the functions of life, as eating, drinking, &c. which St. Augustin well saith he did, non egestale, sed potestate : not that he needed such weak supports; for his body was then spiritual, incorruptible, and impassible : but to shew that he ' was really a man, and might do it. On the very day of his resurrection, he appeareth to Mary Magdalen, in the morning: v. 14: and, as the circumstance of the history gives us good grounds to conjecture, presently after tp Peter: that these, who had been the greatest sinners and were the most passionate mourners, might first of all receive the strongest consolations, by declaring to them his absolute conquest over Death and the Devil, who had long possessed the one as his own, and almost dispossessed the other of Christ. On the same day, about noon, he joins himself in company with two of his disciples, who. were travelling to Emmaus, about seven miles distant from Jerusalem ; and expounded unto them, in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself. Upon their discovering him, and his disappearing from them, they speed back the same evening to Jerusalem, earnest te declare tc the other disciples what had happened unto them. They find them, and divers qther believers, late and secretly assembled, fer fear of the Jews : and, as they are declaring the former passages, Jesus himself came and stood in the midst of them ; and shewed unto them his hands and his side ; and they were glad, when they saw the Lord : w. 1 9, 20. One would think, that such a sudden surprisal as this ; appearing to them unexpectedly, when they were, in all likelihood, sadly discoursing of him, and wavering between hope and doubt; might rather have affrighted and terrified, than rejoiced them. They had shut the doors, for fear of the Jews: but, whom the strong bands of death and the bars of the grave could not detain, neither could the bolts and locks of a door exclude : yet we need not here fancy any penetration of dimensions, or that Christ's body passed through the very body pf the door, as some affirm, who would rather vouch impossibilities and contradictions, than be barren in in venting miracles : it was wonderful enough, to make his passage by his word and will ; and an astonishing sight, to see him in the midst of them, whose entrance thither, and sudden opening OF THE RESURRECTION. 107 and shutting of the door, they could not perceive. Whom would it not appal, to have a person, who they knew had been dead and buried, start in upon them from the confines of the grave and the regions of darkness ; especially too, at such a time, when night and the fear of their own lives, both which circumstances here concurred, might make them more apt to receive terrifying impressions ? But a Revived Saviour is a reviving sight ; and the confirmation, which now their faith and hope received, sweetly vanquished all the troublesome sugges tions of their fear, converted their doubting into assurance, and their trembling inte joy. This is now the Feurth time, that eur Savipur shewed himself alive tp'his disciples, on the very day ef his resurrectipn : two of which appearances are reccrded in this chapter; and the other twq in Luke xxiv. From this night-assembly Themas is absent : the wisdem of Divine Providence so ordering it, that the occasion of his dif fidence should produce a stronger argument for the establish ing of our faith. He hears their story, condemns their credulity ; imputes all, either to some airy ghost or spectre, or else to the melancholy illusions of their own fancies ; and resolves not tp be imposed upon, either by their reports, or any flitting shows and unsubstantial apparitions : Except, saith he, / shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. A most obstinate and unreasonable resplutipn! as if npthing were fit to be credited by us, but what we eurselves are witnesses of; and truth must make no more converts, than it hath testifiers. Well ! this passeth with him a whole week ; and because, in the interim, our Savicur had nqt appeared either to him or them, no dqubt but his incredulity was mightily strengthened, and he pleased himself with the conceit cf being the only wise and rational man qf the whele ccmpany. But, after eight days, saith the text, that is, en that day sennight, being the Lord's Day, (for, after eight days, must not be here taken for eight days fully completed, but current: as it is said, Mark viii. 31. that, after three days, Christ should rise again ; that is, on the third day : and, so, Luke ii. 21. When eight days were fulfilled, that„ the child should be circumcised ; that is, he was to be circumcised on the eighth day ; so, here, on the eighth day, after his first appearances) when they were again met in the like assembly, and Thomas now with them, Jesus came, and stood in 108 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. the midst, and said, Peace be unto you; and, then applying himself particularly tc Thpmas, cffers to give him all the satisfaction that himself had required, to confirm the truth of his Resurrection : Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands ; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side. Wherein we may observe, First. That thpugh pur bodies shall be raised entire and perfect, yet Christ's bedy, after his resurrectien, retained those wounds and that solution of parts, which were caused by the nails and spear, and shall retain them for ever in heaven ; now no longer dolorous in an impassible body, but as the .monuments and trophies of his victory over sin and death. Fonthe body of Christ was, immediately after his resurrection, endowed with the same qualities that it shall for ever enjoy in heaven ; except it be that radiant lustre and glory, in which it there shines, and which for a time he laid aside that he might the more familiarly converse with his disciples. Think, then, what an inestimable privilege it will be, when we shall hereafter approach in our glorified bodies unto the glorious body of eur Blessed Saviqur ; and, as Thqmas was invited to do, shall put our fingers into the print of the nails, and thrust our hand into his side, and sound the depth of those fountains, whence flowed forth his precious blood and our salvation with it. Observe, Secondly. The infinite kindness and condescension of our Saviour, in offering a.convietion to his unbelieving disciple upon his own terms, though very bold and unreaspnable ones they were. Whether he did actually touch and search those sacred wounds, or satisfied his curiosity with the sight of his Redeemer, is nqt expressly reccrded. Perhaps, shame and mqdesty checked any farther trial: which, where the cbject was so plain and evident, would have tended rather to his reproach than convic- ticn ; and wpuld have as much argued his unbelief, as confirmed his faith. And this seems intimated in that mild reproof, which our Savicur gives him, v. 29. Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they, who have not seen, and yet have believed. Observe, likewise, Thirdly. How wisely and graciously cur Savipur acepmmpdates his condescensiens to the infirmities of his servants. In the mcrnipg of the resurrection, when he first appeared to OF THE RESURRECTION. 109 1\lary Magdalen, he commands her, who, in all probability, was prostrating herself to embrace his feet, not to touch him, v. 17. Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended to my Father. Her faith was sufficiently assured ; and therefore a touch had been but a needless officiousness : npt to be allpwed by a perspn, who was shortly to ascend into heaven ; and, whilst now on earth, yet no longer in the state pf mortals, nor to be conversed with accqrding to the laws and usances of human respects. Yet, the very same evening, when he appeared to those, who were less assured, yea affrighted, supposing they had seen a spirit, he bids them handle him, and see ; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have : Luke xxiv. 37, 38, 39. And, here, being to deal with one mqre curious and sceptical than the rest, he bids him make a critical scrutiny; and, to give him full satisfac tion, submits, for toe cure of his infidelity, to offer those wounds to be pierced again, which the infidelity cf the Jews had made. Observe,Fourthly. A most irrefragable prqqf, both of the Humanity and Divinity of our Blessed1 Saviour. The former, in that he yields himself te the trial and judgment of the mest infallible ef all our senses : the latter, in that, though he were bodily absent ; yet, by his Immense Spirit, he heard the discourses and understood the scruples ofhis dissatisfied disciple ; and offers him the very same conditions, verbatim, that he himself had propounded. Observe, Fifthly. That, though the matter of Christian Religion be sublime and mysterious above the comprehension of reason ; yet its evidence is so plain, and the motives of credibility so convincing, as to be resolved into the very testimony of sense. This is it, which I intend principally tq insist on : Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands ; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side : and be not faithless, but believing. The Resurrection of Christ from the dead, is the fundamental of all fundamentals in Christianity. Upon the truth and evidence of this depend the truth and evidence of all our religion : for, ¦if Christ be not raised, your faith is 'in vain, saith the Apostle, zn&ye are yet in your sins : 1 Cor. xv. 17. First. Our faith would be vain, because terminated on a deceiver, who promised this ; both as the complement of all his other miracles, and the seal of the truth and divinity of his 110 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. doctrine ; wherein, if he had failed, the one would have been justly acccunted imppstures, and the ether lies and falsehoods. Secondly. We should yet be in our sins, because the propitia tory sacrifice, which he pffered upon the cross, would have been of no avail to the acquitting of us from our guilt, had not Christ risen again from the dead, to apply unto us, by his Spirit, the virtue of that oblation, for qur rightequsness and justinca- tiqn. Sq that the whole weight and moment of Christian Religion depends upon the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, as its only basis and support. All those mysterious truths, which either he himself taught his Church in his ov, n person or inspired his Apostles to deliver to the Church in his name, are therefore to be received, therefore to be believed, because they are clearly attested to us by innumerable miracles wrought by him, and by virtue of his name and faith in it. For God, who is Truth itself, will never set the seal of his omnipotence to a lie. And the most miraculous of all those miracles, that, which gives them the firmest obsignation that they were wrought by God, is his raising himself from the dead. So that, how abstruse soever the doctrines themselves seem to be, how unaccountable soever to the disquisition, how incomprehensible soever to the sphere and extent of our reason; yet we have still the same certain grounds to believe the most mysterious articles of our faith, as we have tq believe, that he, who taught them, rose again from the dead. I. Whence it appears, that THE ULTIMATE RESOLUTION OF ALL OUR RELIGION IS MADE INTO THIS OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. And, for the truth of this, our Savieur is content to leave himself to the unerring, yea infallible, judgment qf human senses. Lo here the infinite wisdom of the economy and dispensation of the Gospel ! that those sublime truths, which far transcend the highest pitch of our reason, should yet be founded upon the certainty of our very senses ; so that we have as much reason to believe them, as we have to believe the reality and existence of what we see, and hear, and feel. They hear his salutation : they see his person : he shews to them his hands and his side : he bids them handle and feel him ; and speaks to Thomas to search his wounds : he eats, and drinks, and converses with them : and these evidences he gives, not only to single persons, but seme- OF THE RESURRECTION. 11 1 times te whole multitudes of them ; not in one single instance, but several times, and in several places, for forty days' con tinuance. This, therefore, is the first and great thing, which Thomas was to believe, even the Resurrection ofhis Saviour, confirmed to him by the infallible evidence of his sense ; and, upon the belief of which, depends the belief of all the mysteries of our religion. i. Against this report, which the Gospel gives us, of the Resurrection of our Saviour, there can lie but two doubts. The one is, Whether the relaters of it might have had no design to delude us : The ether, Whether they were not deluded themselves. For, if it can be evinced, that they were neither deceivers nor deceived, it is clear, in spite of all seeming impossibilities, that our Lord really and corporally rose again from the dead. Both these, therefore, I shall endeavour to make good. 1 . As to those Atheists, who do not so much question the infalli bility of sense, as the credit qf the relaters : not whether what thev saw or felt were truly such as their sense dictated it to be ; but whether they did, indeed, see and feel, and had the sensible trial of those things, which they give out to the world, and did not rather conspire together to revive their lost credit and their sinking religion, by reviving him, whose doctrine they embraced and whose person they admired: to persons, who may be assaulted with such doubts as these, I shail, to remove such vain surmises, offer these following considerations. (1) Let them consider, That it is not the custom or interest of liars, to appeal unto the testimony of many witnesses, fer the truth of what- they assert : since it is most likely, that^ among a great company and number of them, some one may be found, who, either out of honesty, interest, or weakness, may after wards detect the fraud and all the mystery of the combination. Had there been but one or two, tq have avouched the Resur rection of Christ and asserted his appearance to them, there might have been some more colourable pretence for the Atheist to be suspicious, that they had complotted together to delude the world with fables, and reported what they never saw. . But, the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ was npt like those apparitions of saints and angels, with which the Popish Legends 1 12 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. are se nauseously stuffed ; vouchsafed to a solitary, melancholy monk, or two : but, at several times, to several persons ; and, oftentimes, to very many of them together. St. Paul speaks of' a whole cloud of witnesses ; so many, as cannot leave the least surmise in the most scrupulous mindy that they should all attest his resurrection by confederacy : 1 Cor. xv. 6. He was seen by above five hundred brethren at once ,¦ of whom, he tells us, the greater part were then alive, when he wrote this Epistle : and this famous appearance to so numerous a company may either be that mentioned Matt, xxviii. 7. where he promiseth, to meet them in Galilee ; er, else, that at the Meunt of Olives, when he ascended gloriously into heaven. Now, had there been any forgery or falsehood in the joint testimony of so many hundered witnesses, doubtless, the unbelieving Jews and Heathens, who neglect nq occasions to discover the defects qf a hated dectrine, would have had advantage enough to detect it among some of them : for it is not reasonably tq be imagined, that so many should combine together, in an unprofitable design to delude the world; or, ifthey should, yet that they should all persist in it to their death, without ever giving the least sign of the uncertainty and vacillation of their testimony. (2) Suppose there had been no other witnesses of the Re surrection of Christ, but only the Eleven Apostles : yet, who is it, that would be so wicked, as to abuse mankind by forged stories,' in a matter of such vast moment and consequence; especially, when they could expect no reward nor advantage by it ? Fer, though human nature be most miserably depraved; yet we shall find few or none, that will be wicked gratis. And, what could they propound to themselves, that might rationally be thought sufficient to induce them to such a grand cheat? Either it must be supposed to be riches; or fame; or, lastly, a barren and unprofitable design of keeping up the credit of their religipn. [1] But the First is altogether incongruous, both to their professien and practice. For the preaching of the Gospel and a Raised Saviour, instead of enriching them, only exposed them to hunger, and thirst, and nakedness ; or, to the shame of having these necessities relieved by the charity of others. Nor could they say, with~ that profane Pope, Quantas divitias peperit nobis hac Fabula Christi I And, [2] As for Fame, their simple and homely education, free OF THE RESURRECTION. i 1 3 from the pride and ostentatien of the world, could never have permitted them to undergo so many sharp miseries, enly tq be talked of. Besides, what Grotius very well observes, (De Ver. Christ, Rei.) ttey could not be mqved to what they did, out pf a desire of fame and propagating their name and renpwn to after- posterities ; for they did not then believe their names or memory should be long lasting : for it appears, that Gpd, for wise ends, kept his purpese secret from them, concerning the censummatipn of the world ; and, that they verily thought, the dissolution of all things would immediately follow upon their preaching the GospeL It is, therefore, altogether incredible, that they should contrive to delude the world out of hope of being fampus : since they thought their names sheuld certainly die with them ; or, at farthest, soon after them, in the death and last funeral of the world itself. (3) The only supposition, therefore, that remains, is, that they feigned this story of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, only to keep up their religion, and to add a greater Confirmation and Authority to their Doctrine. But this, likewise, is utterly absurd to imagine. For, either they did believe the doctrine and religion, which they taught, to be true ; or, they did not, [1] If they did not believe it true, yea if they did not be lieve it the best and the only divine and heavenly religipn in the whole world, what should move them to embrace it, to the hazard of their lives ; and to reject other religions, which they thought to be better, and which they knew to be safer and at tended with greater worldly advantages ? Can it be conceived, that men should be so far lost to reaspn and that inbred principle pf self-preservation, as to thrust them selves upon all the injuries of an enraged world, yea upen mpst certain and cruel deaths, fer the maintenance of a doctrine, which they themselves knew to be false, and frorn 'which they could expect no, future benefit to compensate their sufferings ? Either the Atheist must suppose them to be Atheists, or not : but, if they were Atheists, it is mere madness for an Atheist, who be lieves no religion, to die for any doctrine or opinion ; and I remember, I have somewhere read a story of one condemned for Atheism, that recanted upon that very reason : and,iifthey were not Atheists, but did believe a God and future rewards and vol. rv. I 1 1 4 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. punishments, as it is most evident they did, then it were worse than madness, to die for a religion, which they knew to be false ; since they could expect nothing else, but that their dying for a lie should be punished with eternal death. It is, therefore, most clear and certain, that they did believe their religion and dectrine te be true ; yea, to be infinitely the best in the wprld. [2] Wherefore, if they did believe their religion to be true, then it follows : 1st. That they did not join together in a design to delude and cozen the world with tales, which they knew to be false and forged. And, 2dly. If they did believe their religion to be true, they must needs also believe the Master, Teacher, and Author of it, not to have been himself a dpceiver. But, unless they had been verily persuaded, that Christ did rise again frcm the dead, hew cculd they acccunt pf him other wise than as a deceiver ? for he had premised them, that, after three days, he would rise again. And, of this promise they anxiously atid solicitously expected the performance, after his death : for we find, that, when the third day was come, they began to entertain sad and misgiving thoughts concerning their hopes of his being the Messiah ; as we may see, Luke xxiv. 21. where the two disciples, who were going to Emmaus, tell Christ a very sad story of one Jesus of Nazareth, who had been lately crucified at Jerusalem ; and declare, with a seeming mixture of shame and diffidence, that they trusted, that it had been he, which should have redeemed Israel : and beside all this, say they, to-day is the third day, since these things were done. Certainly, if their faith began to stagger, before the time fpr the accom plishment ef Christ's promise was fully expired, only because he had not publicly and openly appeared to them, although they had heard, as they confess, rumours from others concern ing his resurrection ; had he not risen at all, they would quickly have renounced their ill-grounded faith, and fallen from the profession of that new religion, as soon as they had discovered the author of it to be no better than a foul deceiver and impostor. So that, I- think, I have now made it demonstratively clear, that the Apostles, in reporting the resurrection of Christ, were npt ccmbined together, in a design of deluding the easy world. But, 2. That they' were not deluded themselves, nor imposed upon OF THE RESURRECTION. 1 1 S $y false appearances, imagining, that they saw Christ raised, who, indeed, lay still under the arrest of death, and the power of the grave ; is that, which I am next to demonstrate to you. And, as to this, the text, which I have read, furnisheth me with arguments enough, to convince all those, who will not on purpose turn sceptics and reject the verdict of their very senses : He shewed u?ito them his hands and his side. Then were tke dis ciples glad, when they saw the Lord. What greater confirmation can be expected ? I have already shewn you, that they could not ccnspire together to deceive the wprld, with reports which they themselves knew to be false ; and that they were not them selves deceived, we have here the testimony of their senses: they heard his salutation, and saw his person. Mest unreasen- able are these men, who will disbelieve the reality and existence of those things, which they see and touch. And, although rea son may possibly dispute many plausible things against the re surrection : yet we ought to resign up our reason to our faith ; especially when God hath been graciously pleased to give us so great a reason for our faith, as our very sense. It is foolish and in vain, for sophistry to urge impossibilities against the joint testimony of the hand, the eye, and the ear. They heard him discourse in the same tenor, both of voice and heavenly matter, as before : they saw the same figure, lineaments, and proportion of body in him, as formerly: they observed the orifices of those wounds, which the nails and spear had made in his hands and side : they felt him breathing upon them ; which, certainly, if any thing, is the most infallible evidence of life : they touched his flesh, firm and substantial as before it was: nay, one of them, too curious and scrupulous to be imposed upon by false shews or airy fantastic shapes, would not believe, unless he plunged his hand into his sacred side. Now what greater con firmation could diffidence itself have desired, to assure them, that he was really a living man ? If, after all these evi dences, there might yet remain any place for delusion or ground for distrust; for my part, I see not how they could be well, assured, that ever there was such a man as Jesus in the world. The very same reasons, which might make them doubt whether he were the true Jesus after his resurrection, might as well .make them- doubt whether he were the true Jesus before his crucifixion ; yea, and to doubt, whether they were 12 116 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. truly one another. And, why might not we as well doubt^ whether or no we are men, and not rather spectres, and phan toms, and mere empty shapes and shades of men ? for we have no more reason to believe, that those, whom we see before us are men, than the disciples had to believe, that Christ appeared te them after his death, a true, real, and substantial man. They had the testimeny of their senses for it ; and we have no more for any thing that we see' or touch, here in the world. He shewed unto them his hands and his side : and they were glad, when they saw the Lord. So that, put all this together, and it amounts to a most cer tain and undoubted proof, That Christ is indeed risen, from the dead. For, ( 1 ) It is certain, that his disciples saw him and conversed with him, after his resurrection. For they could not feign such a story, either for riches, or fame, or the maintenance of a religion which they thought to be false ; and false it must be, if the Author of it had not risen again, as he promised. (2) It is again most certain, that, if they heard, and saw, and touched him, and conversed long with him, and had all the tesr timonies of their senses to confirm it, then it was that very Jesus, who was crucified and buried, who also was raised from the dead. For those men, who can doubt this, may as well and with as good reason doubt, whether they are men or no. So that they were neither deceivers nor deceived : and, there fore* what they affirm in this matter, is of infallible truth and certainty. ii. From the Scripture's appealing thus to the evidence of sense, for the truth of a fact, on which that of the whole Chris tian Religion depends, it is easy and natural to infer, that what ever DOCTRINES ARE CONTRARY TO THE PLAIN TESTIMONY OT OUR SENSES, ARE NOT ONLY FALSE IN THEMSELVES, BUT TEND TO OVERTHROW THE VERY FOUNDATION OF OUR RELIGION. For, if Christian Religion be established upon the Resur rection of Christ, and this Resurrection of Christ can no other wise be proved but by the evidence of sense ; they, who impose such doctrines as destroy the credit of our senses, do, by very' OF THE RESURRECTION. 117 fair and necessary consequence, destroy likewise the credibility of Christian Religion. And such is that monstrous doctrine of Transubstantiation, held by the Church of Rome : viz. ThjJ, in the consecration of the Holy Sacrament, the bread is really changed into the true and proper body of Jesus Christ, and the wine into his true and proper blood : a doctrine, which puts a gross affront, not only on our reason, because of the innumerable contradictions involved in it ; but a most intolerable affront upon our very senses, giving the lie to all the reports which they make, and flatly telling them that they are not to be believed in what they relate concerning their proper objects; And what is the fatal yet necessary issue of this, but that we are left under an utter uncertainty, as to all the mysteries of our faith ? for, if the sense of all mankind may deceive them, we have no assurance, that either Christ lived, or taught,or wrought miracles, or died, or rose again, or ascended into heaven : for I have no more reason to- believe, that the same person, who was crucified and dead, did rise again from the dead, because the disciples saw, and heard, and teuched him ; than 1 have to believe, that what he gave them at his last supper was truly bread and wine, since they saw, and touched, and tasted it as such. Their senses equally vcted fpr bpth : and, if there might be a deceptien in the ene, why net in the ether ? And, so, for the sake of a rotten superstructure, we must overturn the very ground-work of faith, yea and of all certainty, unless we will very meekly suppose, that the Apostles were blessed with that wonderful privilege of discerning a human body in the shape of a loaf; or of feeling that to~be flesh and blood, which yet they handled and tasted as bread and wine : a privilege, I dare say, never indulged to any Christians since their days ! And, if we cannot make any such strange discoveries, they ought not to be offended at us, though we still call that Bread and Wine, which approves itself so to all our senses ; since our Blessed Saviour himself could give no stronger proof that he was himself, 'than by appealing to the senses of those who saw and teuched him : Handle me, and see ; for a spirit hath not flesh. and bones, as you see me have : Luke xxiv. 39. This he thcught a sufficient prppf tp cpnvince them, that he had a human body : and shall not we think it a sufficient proof, that their Wheaten God hath not a human body, when our sight, our touch, our 119 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. smell, our taste, all give in their concurrent verdict, that it hatfo neither flesh nor bones. We do see, we do handle, that it hath. neither flesh nor bones ; and, therefore, cannot be the proper body of Christ, which was crucified and raised again. Certainly, since this doctrine of Transubstantiation baffles all those arguments, by which our Saviour himself was content that his resurrection should be tried, and the truth of all his gospel verified, we may well explode it : not only as infinitely^absurd, but most blasphemous and atheistical ; and such, as enervates the strongest proofs and the clearest evidences, which Christ himself could produce, that he was no deceiver. I know, they will betake themselves to their fortress of Hoc est corpus meum : This is my body. " There," say they, " we have express and literal Scripture for it." But how do they, cr how can we knew, that there are any such werds as these I is it net by our senses ? either our seeing them written, or hearing them read ? yea, how could the Apostles, from whose relation these words were written, know that our Saviour ever spake them ? was It not because they believed their senses ? and, what ! shall we make them so fond, as to believe their single sense of hearing ; when yet they must not, under pain ef he resy, believe their several senses, ef touching, tasting, and seeing ? I pray, what prerogative of infallibility hath the ear above the hand, the eye, or the palate ? Sure I am, that St. John, Epist. I. chap. i. vv. 1, 3. joins them equally in com mission: that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word qf life. .....that declare we unto you: and yet we must, contrary to the judgment of three or four of our senses concerning their proper objects, believe a doctrine, for which the only proof they have, refers us to the testimony of one of our senses ; for they tell us, the words are written, and we may see them, This is my body. It is true, we do see them ; and, therefore, believe that they are written : but, what ! do we like wise see with our eyes, that the sense of them is proper and literal ? We see it written, that Christ is a Rock, aVine, a Door; and, therefore, we believe it : but is it therefore true, that he is properly all these ? Certainly, if there be any miracles wrought in the Church cf Rome, the greatest of them is, that they should be able to pre vail with men in their wits to believe such gross absurdities. But the subject is too grave for satire ; else, the provocations to it Of THE RESURRECTION. 119 were very sufficient, to expcse such a stupid piece of nonsense to the utmest scorn and derision. Yet this, I think, we may very seriously assert, 1. That those, who would prove Transubstantiatien by the written word, This is my body, do miserably invalidate the force of their own argument ; since my sight can ne mpre assure me, that any such words are written, than it assures me, that that is bread and wine which I receive. 2. That we have as clear evidence qf the falsehood qf Transub stantiation, as any we have, or can possibly have, concerning the truth, either of the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, or of any other great and important Article of the Christian Faith. Neither have I, nor can any other man have, stronger grounds to believe, that Christ's natural body was raised from the grave, than we have to believe, that that is not his natural body, which we receive in the eucharist. Nay, 3. It is utterly impossible, that there can be clearer evidence for the one, than for the other. For, suppose a man should hear a voice from heaven, which should tell him, that the elements were substantially changed inte the true and proper body and blopd pf Christ ; and yet, afterwards, to his touch, his taste, his sight, his smell, they should still appear to be truly bread and wine ; I would ask, whether he might net as ratiqnally suspect his hearing cencerning that veice, as three ether of his chief senses, when they give in their reports concerning their proper objects, and that likewise consonant to the sense of all the rest of mankind : so that, in short, the issue is this, He, who believes Transubstantiation, hath no reason to believe any thing ; for he destroys all motives and grounds of credibility. But, it may be, the more absurd their faith is, the more merit is in it ; in that they will believe things contrary to all reason, and all their senses. But let them beware also, that, by such a brutish and stubborn faith as this is, they do not destroy all possibility ofthe certainty of Divine Revelations (which, sure, must be made to some of our senses) and all the Doctrines of the Christian Religion, whilst they obtrude upon the faith of their credulous disciples such a monstrous figment, as utterly overthrows the credibility of all other things. »>• And, thus much, concerning the Prime and Fundamental Ar ticle of our Faith, the Resurrectiqn qf qur Saviour, confirmed to the very senses of the Apostles. 120 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. , IIV But, when it is said to Thpmas, Be not faithless, but be lieving ; npt only this, but OTHER POINTS OF FAITH, WHICH ARE IMMEDIATELY BUILT UPON IT, AND BY CLEAR CONSEQUENCE DEDUCIBLE FROM IT, ARE INCLUDED. And, therefore, i. As, from the testimeny of sense, they had all the reason in the world to believe the Resurrection of Christ ; so, believing this, there is a like reason to believe, that he indeed is the TRUE MESSIAH. For, had he been a false prophet and an impostor, neither could he have raised up himself, being but a mere man ; neither would God have raised him up, being but a mere deceiver. And, therefore, when the Jews called for a sign from Christ, to prove him to be the true Messiah, he still gives them the sign of his resurrection ; as if a greater and more evident proof than that cculd neither be given npr demanded. There shall no sign be given them, but the sign of the prophet Jonas : For, as Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly cf the whale ; so shall the Son qf Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth : Matl xii. 38, 39, 40. And se, again, when they tempted him fer another sign, to prove himself the true Messiah, he in- stanceth in his resurrection: John ii. 18, 19. What sign shewest thou unto us? Jesus answered Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up ; speaking there of the temple of his body. So that, still, the resurrection of Christ is a most infallible sign and proof, that he is the true Messiah and Savipur of the World. Now think, O Christian ! what jpy it must needs be, to have such an irrefragable testimony, that thou hast not misplaced thy faith, thy hope, and thy worship ; but that that Jesus, whom thpu servest, was npt only shamefully lifted up upon the cross, but glorieusly raised up from the.grave. How would the mali cious Jews have insu Ited over the poor disciples' credulity, if Christ had net vindicated himself from the hand ef the grave • and, by the pqwer of his Almighty Godhead, qvercqme death within its o«n territories ; and, in triumph, brought back his own body, as a spoil rescued from that mighty destroyer ! and, therefere, the Apostle saith, Rom. i. 4. That Christ was declared to be tht Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. OF THE 'RESURRECTION. 121 ii. Be not faithless, but believe, that by this Resurrection of thy Saviour, of which we have such undoubted testimony, THE WHOLE WORK OF THY REDEMPTION IS COMPLETED. This glorious action gives the last complement and perfection unto it. The full work of our redemption consists, not only in the purchase of mercy for us, but also in the application qf that purchase to us. The purchase was, indeed, made by the death cf Christ ; in which a full price was paid down to the justice of God : but the application of this purchase to us, is made by the resurrection and life of Christ. Fer he applies to us the benefits of his passion, both by the prevalency of his Intercession, and by the missien qf the Holy Ghost : by the forBter, he powerfully mediates with God to bestow them : by the latter, he effectually fits and prepares us to receive them. And both these are the blessed fruits of his resurrection and eternal life : for he ever liveth to make intercession for us : Heb. vii. 25 : and, being at the right-hand qf God and having received of the Father the promise qf the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear : Acts ii. 33. which, though oc casionally spoken concerning his miraculous gifts, is yet equally true of his sanctifying graces : so, John xvi. 1. If I depart, I •will send the Comforter unto you. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter even the Spirit qf Truth i John xiv. 16, 17. There was no one prejudice, that so much hindered the Gospel from taking place upon the hearts qf Jews and Heathens in the primitive times, as this of the-death and Cross of Christ : for believing, that he was lifted up upon the cress, but nqt believing that he was raised up eut qf the grave ; their natural reason judged it folly, to expect life from him, who was not able to preserve or restore his own. Indeed, it were folly thus to hope, did not his life apply what his death merited ; our salvation being begun upon the cress, but perfected upen the throne. The less of his life would never have pro cured life for us, but that, as he laid it down with freedom, so he resumed it again with power : / have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again : John x. 1 8, Indeed, it was his life and resurrection, that put virtue and efficacy into his death and passion : and, hence it is, that the Apostle seems to speak ofthe Resurrection and Intercession of Christ as having a greater influence into our justification, than his death and suf ferings : Rom. viii. 34. Who is he, that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, /x«AA»v Se, yea rather, that is risen again... ..who also 122 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING, maketh intercession for us : as if this were a surer foundation for our faith and comfort, than his death and passion. Andj Rom. v. 10. We were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, woaA^ lueKXov, much more we shall be saved by his life : recon ciliation is made by the death of Christ, but the actual applica tion of this is by his life. In respect of merit, it is wrought out for us by his death : in respect of efficacy, it is only applied to us by his life. And, therefore, we find, that all the great benefits which Christ hath purchased for us by his death, are, by the Scripture, ascribed likewise to his life and resurrection. As, 1. Pardon of Sin. 1 Ccr. xv. 17. If Christ be not raised.... .ye are yet in your 'jjns; i. e. under the condemning guilt of them. 2. Justification of our Persons. Rom. iv. 25. He was delivered for our offences, and rose again for our justification. If he had net risen from the dead, he ceuld nut have justified us, because he himself had net been justified. He was, saith the Apostle, justified in the Spirit : 1 Tim. iii. 16. that is, by the Almighty power of the Spirit that quickened him ; or, else, by retaking his soul and spirit again unto him. If our Surety had still lain under arrest, the debt had not been satisfied; and, therefore, neither cpuld we have been' acquitted. But, being declared just by his resurrecticn, ahd discharged cut of the prisen of the grave, he now justifies us by the merit of his obedience and suffering. 3. Our future Inheritance of Life and Glory is, likewise,, ascribed to the Life and Resurrection of Christ. John xiv. 3. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself: that, where I am, there ye may be also : and, v. 19, Because I live, ye shall live also ; i. e. because I shall for ever live interceding for you, therefore shall ye for ever live with me in glory. Thus, you see, that all the great and spiritual benefits, which redound to believers by the death of Christ, do equally redound to them by his resurrection and life ; and, that there is no part of our redemption, but it receives its obsignation and validity, as well from the glories and triumphs ef his life, as from tfie shame and ignominy of his death. So that what the Apostle saith, Rom. xiv. 8. Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's; we may happily invert, and say, OF THE RESURRECTION. 123 Whether the Lord liveth, he liveth for us ; or, whether he dieth, he dieth for us : whether, therefore, he live or die, he is ours : for him either to live or die, is our gain and advantage, Since, then, we have such undoubted assurance, that our Lord Jesus Christ is risen again from the dead, we may be as firmlyvassured, that the great end, bpth pf his death and nf his resurrection, is fully acccmplished ; which is the Redemption of fallen and lost mankind, and the Justification of all that believe in his name. iii. Be not faithless, but believe, that the Resurrection of Christ is a MOST certain pledge of our future resurrection AND ETERNAL GLORY. Certainly, since the Head is raised, the Members shall not alway sleep in the dust. But, as Christ's natural body was raised, so shall also his mystical ; and every Member cf it shall be made for ever glorious, with a glorious and triumphant Head. He is risen before, to pluck us out of our graves : and then shall our vile bodies be made like unto his glorious bedy ; bright as the sun, impassible as angels, and quick as the mctipns nf light. And, shall this corruptible put en incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality ? shall the womb of the grave bring forth, and death itself give up the ghost ? shall the soul be immediately heightened into its happiness, and the body only lie down in its bed of earth, and there sleep away a short night of oblivion ? shall both soul and body enjoy a posthumous union, and all mankind everlastingly survive their own funerals ? Where, then, is thy sting ? 0 death / 0 grave J where is thy victory ? what is there so terrible in this king of terrors ? We may justly use the speech, without the presumption of Agag, Surely, the bitterness qf death is past. Our souls shall as cer tainly meet our bodies with vital embraces, as the soul of Christ did his ; and these eyes of ours shall behold our Blessed Re deemer, whose Resurrection is both the cause and the pattern of ours. Oh think, what a ravishing sight it will be, to see the Lord in his body : that body, which was buffeted, which was crucified, which was raised for thee ; and, through whose re- surrectien and glqry, thou also art raised and glorified. Think, what unspeakable joy it will be, when thy body and thy Sa viour's shall be alike. Think, what an infinite advancement, when thy soul shall not only be like the angels, but thy very body shall be like thy God's. And, though it must first be 1 24 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. crumbled into dust, and undergo many dishonourable changes ; y6t know, that the grave is a safe repository, and death a re sponsible debtor. They shall give account for every dust en trusted to them : and, then, that, which fell a clod, shall rise a star : our cottage shall be turned into a palace, our ruins re built into a glorious temple. And, if the hand of death take us asunder, it is but as we use to do with our watches, to make them clean, and then put them together again ; that our body may be a glorious instrument, and a glorious habitation, for a glorified soul. But, before we take possession of this glorious inheritance, we have yet ancther stage to pass through, after those of our death and resurrection: and that is, the Last Judgment ; the subject of my next discourse. OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 0FTJTR LAST JUDGMENT. 2 COR. v. 10. FOR WE MUST ALL APPEAR BEFORE THE JUDGMENT-SEAT OF CHRIST; THAT EVERY ONE MAY RECEIVE THE THINGS DONE IN HIS BODY, ACCORDING TO THAT HE HATH DONE, WHETHER IT BE GOOD OR BAD. £ DOUBT not, but, at the reading of these words, some may be struck with terror, and some affected with prejudice : some, to think how dreadful, others, how common a truth, I am now about to treat of. Common doctrines are like common mercies; the most useful, and yet the mpst slighted. What mere necessary, than the common air and light ? and, yet, because God hath made net distinction in his distribution of these, but a beggar may breathe as pure air and see as clear light as a prince ; therefore are they despised, and accounted rather a debt of nature than an effect of mercy : that alone is esteemed great, and bears a value, which but a few enjoy. Now, though this be a most absurd judgment, which we pass upon God's mercies ; yet are we altogether as absurd and irra tional, in judging of his truths. Singular notions, which but a few understand, and have not overmuch of sense and perhaps but too much of error in them, are cried up by men of itching ears and unstable minds, as the admired truths of the age. That is grown despicable, which every body knows. And, as for those stale and old-fashioned truths, of Death and Judgment, Heaven and Hell, professors, now-a-days, learnt them once in their catechisms, and perhaps never thought of them since. These are such things, which, while we reason with them of, they already know ; yea and, I believe, some, with Felix, may tremble at them too. 128 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. And, so, what from those, who despise them, because com mon; and those, who hate them, because dreadful; it is the hardest matter in the world, for such doctrines as these, to sink either into men's affections or attentions. But, whoever you are that read this, I beseech you, think with yourselves, what affections it would move, should you now hear the sqund qf thelast trump ; should you feel the dead, that lie here buried, begin tq stir and heave under yqu ; shquld you see here a temb-stone remqved and there a grave thrown open, here a head and there an arm, here qne limb and there another, thrust out of the earth; the throng and multitude of some already risen, some just rising, and all hastening to judgment : would not such a spectacle as this, fright you into more serious thoughts, than perhaps the most of you have, even when you are in God's presence ? " What security have I for, my soul ? what interest in my Saviour ? what account can T give unto my Judge? Oh! what sentence shall I hear, by and by, pronounced upon me?" Thus, would you all, with amazed and trembling hearts, expect the issue of that great and terrible day ofthe Lord, which now you put far away from yqu ; and, it may be, much farther in your own thoughts, than God hath done in his decrees. WelL Sirs, stir up the same affections new : you will not be much deceived, if ycu think ypu hear and see these things present before you this hour : there are but a few years, that make a difference between what is and what shall be : and, when they are struck off, death, and judgment, and eternity, are really present with you; as really. present, as the things you behold with your eyes. Could we but keep that sound always in our ears, which St. Jerome witnesseth, was always loud in his, Surgite, mortui, Mc. Arise, ye dead, and come away to judgment : the Judge is set, the books are opening, doom is passing : how would this nip all our carnal jollity and childish pride; and make us careful to improve that time, to employ those talents, to regulate those thoughts, those discourses, those actions, for which we must, shortly, give so narrow an account to a most strict and impartial Judge ? This apprehension, the Apostle tells us, was it, that made him both so earnest in pressing the exercise of holiness upon others, and so laborious in the practice pf it himself. Touching others, he tells us, v. 11. Knowing these terrors of the Lord, we per-, s,uade men: touching himself, v. 9. We labour,: that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of God : so to please him OF THE LAST JUDGMENT*. 129 by holiness and obedierice, that, whether in our voyage or in our haven, whether in this world or ih the next, we may be lnved by him, and accepted. And, wh}' all this care and circumspecticn ? why shculd this be the end of all his actichs, and the qnly thing in the wOrld he resolves to mind ? There is geod reason for it : shertly we must be judged b*y him ; andj therefore, it is but needful to study now to please him : We must all appear before the judg ment-seal of- Christ, to receive according to what we have done, whether it be good or bad. In handling this most awftil and tremendous point qf religion, I shall not answer thOse nice and uncertain questions ; Where is the Place? or, When shall be the Titne of this Great Judgment ? Neither of these hath God clearly revealed in his word. As for the Place, tbe Jews think, that this great and last assize1 shall be held in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, near Jerusalem ; ac-' cording as they expound Joel iii. 2 : others, on the whole sur face ofthe earth: others, in the air, from 1 Thess, iv. 17. where the Apqstle speaks ef qur being taken up to meet Christ in tht air. And this, indeed, I judge tq be the mest probable : beth be cause it is mest capacious to contain so great a multitude, as all naticns, and languages, all families, and persens, that ever lived in the werld, amqunt unto ; and, alsq, because, in the Resur- recticn, men's bodies shall become inccrruptible and spiritual : 1 Cor. xv. from v. 42. to v. 45, that is, they Shall be endowed with refined and spiritual qualities, of impassibility arid agility, whereby, possibly, they may move more freely, in the air, than now they do upen the earth. But these are erily conjec tures. And, concerning the Uncertainty of the same, Christ hath told uS, Of that day and hour (and it is as true, of that menth andx year) knoweth no man; no, not the angels of heaven, but the Eather only : Matth. xxiv. 36. Nay, our. Saviour tells them, Mark xiii. 32. that he himself knew it not; nor men, nor angels, no, nor the Son : that is, as the Son of Man he knew it not ; but, as he is the Son of God, so all things are known unto him ; being one in essence, and equal in knowledge, with the Father. Omitting, therefore, these uncertainties ; there is a Twofold VOL. iv. k 130 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. Day of Judgment : the one, particular ; the other, universal :, the one, of the soul only, presently after Death ; the other, both of soul and body united together, presently after the Resurrection. , First. There is a Particular Day of Judgment, that follows immediately after every man's Death. There is no such thing as a neutral state of the soul ; a state, wherein it is neither happy nor miserable ; a state of slumber, wherein, as some men dream, it sleeps away the time until the Resurrection, without sense either of pain or comfort. We know, saith the Apostle, that if this earthly house be dissolved, that is, as soon as it is dissolved, we have a house eternal in the heavens: 2 Cor. v. 1. and, which is a convincing and demon strative argument, the Apostle Phil. i. 23. desires to depart hence, and to be with Christ. Should his soul have been kept from Christ till the Day of Judgment, what reason was there for him to desire death ; since his very desire of death was only for this end, that his soul might the sooner enjoy Christ ? for, if his spuI must have slept with his bpdy till the Resurrection, whether he had died sooner or later, or not died at all, but lived to the very end of the world, it had been all one, as to his enjqyment of Christ. So the Wise Man also, Eccl. xii. 7. The dust, that is, the bedy, shall return to the earth and the spirit, that is, the soul, shall return unto God, who gave it : it shall return to him, that so it may receive its sentence from him ; either a sentence of absolution, according to our faith and obedience ; or of con- demnatien, acccrding to our unbelief and impenitence. We are apt to look upon the Day of Judgment as afar off; some hun dreds, or, it may be, thousands of years hence ; and think it will never overtake us : be it so : yet, certainly, thy Day of Judgment is near at hand ; and what relief is it, that the Last Day shall not be till some hundreds pf years hence, if yet thy seul must lie in hell all thpse years under insupportable tor ments ? Hew knpw we, but that death may be now striking us, the wprms may be now expecting us, our bell may be now tolling, our grave now digging ? Howsoever, doubtless these things will shortly be : shortly we shall all breathe our last, and give that gasp that will discharge our souls from our bodies ; and then is our Judgment Day. And, Oh ! what strange dis coveries will that last moment make ! we shall there see, what we have heard and believed of eternity here : sentence will be instantly prenounced, while the soul is as yet warm from the OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 1 3 1 body : and, accnrdingly, either angels will wing it away into Abraham's bpspm, to heaven, the seat ef eternal jey ; er devils, who are present about sick-beds, watching for their prey, will drag it down to eternal torments. And, according to the sen tence passed upon every soul in this particular judgment, so shall they have the foretastes and essays, either of happiness or mi sery ; in which the whole man, both soul and body, must abide for ever. This is the First Judgment-Day. Secondly. There is an Universal Judgment. And this is to begin presently after the Resurrectien. The former judgment proceeded according as death, God's grim serjeant, arrested such and such a particular soul, and brought it before him : but, here, all, who ever have been or shall be in the world, shall, together, stand before Christ's tribu nal, to receive their doom ; and that not only naked souls, but soul and body united. There is but one time, when heaven and hell shall be quite empty of spuls ; and that is, at the Resurrec tion : for, before God proceeds to judgment, he will first set the gates of heaven and hell wide open, and send out the whole multitude of souls, each to find its own body : one meets it with jpy and embraces; the other, with curses: it curseth itself: it curseth those members, into which it must now again enter ; those members, which were once instruments of sin, and must be always partners with it in torments. Both righteous and wicked, all alike, must appear in their bodies : and, though they do, befcrehand, know themselves to be either acquitted cr ccn- demned ; yet this is the time fer the selemn and ccnspicucus pronouncing of the sentence, and distribution of rewards. It is remarkable, that the Scriptures do point out that Great Day to us, as the time, wherein mercy and forgiveness, rest aud refreshing, joy and gladness, redemption and salvation, rewards and crowns, shall be bestowed upon God's children ; and, on the contrary, wrath, and destructicn, and everlasting vengeance, shall be ex ecuted upon the wicked : net to heap up places, see both of these, 2 Thess. i. 6, 7, 8. It is a righteous thing with God, to re compense tribulation to them that trouble you ; and, to you, who are troubled, rest with us : but when must this two-fold recom pence be made ? when the Lord Jesus, saith the Apostle, shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, nor obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ : so Luke xiv. 14. Thou shalt be recom- K2 132 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. pensedat the resurrection- of the just : what! not before? yes, as soon as the soul parts from the body, it receives its recom pence : but; because the great and solemn time of retribution is the Day of Judgment, when God will manifest his justice to all the world, angels and men ; therefore, the Scriptures as cribe rewards and punishments to this day. Now, in farther treating on this subject, I shall insist upon these general heads : The Certainty of a future judgment. Who it is, that is appointed then to be the Judge. Who shall be Assessors on the bench, and Assistants in the Judgment. The Apparatus, the Manner and Method, of the whole transaction. Who they are, that shall be judged^ What they shall be judged for ; and what Account they must give. According to what Law they shall be judged. The Witnesses, that shall appear against them. The Pleas and Excuses, which the accused will then make for themselves ; and the Invalidity of them. The Proportioning of the Sentence, according to what hath been here done in the body, whether goodor bad. I. I shall begin with the CERTAINTY OF A FUTURE JUDGMENT. That there shall be a judgment to come, is both certain and necessary. This great and terrible day of the Lord will come, and will not tarry. God's hand is continually turning over our days and years, like the leaves of a book : there is something written on every one of them: the last is coming; and that, like the index or table, must give account of all the rest. There must be a Last Day, as there was a First : and this Last Day will bring to public view and knowledge; whatsoever hath been done all the days which the world hath stood. This is clear, bcth from Scripture- evidence, and likewise from Rational Grounds and Arguments. The Scripture is both plentiful and express, that there shall be such a general, such a solemn and dreadful judgment. We have a full description given of it by our Saviour, Matth. xxv. 31, &c. The Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of his glory, OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 13$ attended with angels ; all nations standing before him, whom he will separate, some on his right-hand to everlasting life, and some on his left-hand to unquenchable fire. So, Luke viii. 17. There is nothing hid, which shall nqt be revealed : and when revealed, but in that day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ? As it is, Rqm. ii. 16. sq, in the 14th and 15th verses qf Jnde,Enoch,the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, To execute judgment upon all : and many other places too lcng and nume rous to be here related. And, beside Scripture, Reason also itself doth clearly shew, that there shall be a future judgment, in which God will render to every mem according to his wqrks. i. This appears from THE accusing or excusing office OF CONSCIENCE. Whence proceeds that regret, these gnawings and stingings of conscience, for sin, which sometimes the very worst of men feel ? but that every man doth, as it were, naturally presage, that there shall be a Day of Judgment, wherein those sinful actions shall be breught tq an account, and they punished for them ? Even the consciences of Heathens themselves, who never had the light of the Scripture to reveal to them the Judgment of the Last Day, would witness against them, disquiet, and trouble them, when they sinned against their natural light : their conscience would bear witness, and their thoughts accuse, or else excuse them; as the Apcstle speaks, Rem. ii. 15: now what was it that cculd trouble their consciences, but only seme secret hints and obscure notions of a judgment and wrath to come ? We find them all strongly possessed with the apprehensions of a future state, in proportion to their present actions; hence, their Rarathrum and Elysium, their Hell and Paradise : hence, their three severe and impartial judges : hence, their strange invented punishments, bearing a correspondence to the crimes of those who were said to undergo them ; which though they were but the fictions of their poets, yet the very consent of nature and of nations dictated, that there were tcrments to be suffered, ac cording to the sins here committed. The very workings of na tural conscience, therefore, strongly prove, that there shall be a judgment. il This too may be evidently proved, from THE equity and 134 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. JUSTICE OF GOD'S NATURE, COMPARED WITH THE SEEMINGLY STRANGE AND UNEQUAL DISPENSATIONS OF HIS PROVIDENCE. Justice obligeth to do good, to those, who are good ; and to inflict evil, upon those, who are evil. But, yet, Providence, in this life, seems tc dispense affairs quite qtherwise : whatsoever this world calls good, the riches, the power, the glory of it, are -usually heaped upon wicked men, who swagger and flaunt it here, and fight against God with those very weapons which he puts intc their hands; whereas, many ef those, who are truly holy and the sincere servants of God, are oftentimes pinched by pcverty, persecuted causelessly, opposed unjustly, despised and trampled upon, by every one who will but take the pains to do it. This is Ged's usual dealing and method with men, in this werld. And it seemed se unjust and unequal, that hereupen, alone, many of the ancient Heathens denied, that the world was governed by Providence. What! can I think, that a just God rules the world, when I see a wicked Dives feasting in purple, carousing on the tears of widows mingled with the blood pf orphans ? and a godly Lazarus, all naked and sore and hunger- starved, lying prostrate at his gate ; an object so miserable, as needed even the charity of the very dogs that licked him ? here a grandee, a great and potent man in the world ; and yet a drunkard, a swearer, an unclean wretch, a hater of God and goodness : another, perhaps, ' wandering about in a fprlorn and destitute cqndition ; and yet a saint, truly loving and fearing that God who afflicts him ? And can there be equity in such an administraticn qf affairs as this ? It is true, indeed, that this were a charge hardly answerable, were this werld the Only place qf dispensing eut rewards and punishments. There is, therefore, a judgment to come: and then, Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him ; for he shall eat the fruit of his doings ; but, Woe unto the wicked ! then, it shall be ill with them ; for the reward of their works shall be given them : Isa. iii. 10, 11. This shall be the day, wherein God will clear up the equity of his justice, in all the inequality of his providence. And what, then, are all the fine and gay things of this world ? believe it, a poor saint, who hath on him the robe qf Christ's righteeusness, will be feund much better clcthed than ever Dives was, with all his purple. What will it avail this and that gallant, that they have here ruffled and ranted it in this wqrld ? alas! they have already received their gqqd things. Nqw come the afflicted, the dis tressed, the derided saints, to inherit the kingdem; when poten. OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 135 tates and nobles, the great and mighty ones of the earth, shall be thrust down, screeching and howling and struggling, but all in vain, down, down to the lpwest hell. New, O Christian ! is Gpd unjust, because he suffers the wicked to flourish, and the godly to be afflicted, in this world ? Beware how thou judgest God, till God hath judged men : and then thpu shalt see, that all his dispensatiens, though npw they seem very unequal, are yet tempered with mest exact justice and equity. This is the First General, which I propounded tebe enquired into : the Certainty ef the Future Judgment, demonstrated both from Scripture and Reason. II. The JUDGE, before whom we must all appear, and by whom the sentence of life or death eternal must be pronounced upon all, is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture assigns the giving of judgment upon all, chiefly unto Him : not so, as to exclude God the Father, or God the Holy Ghpst : for it is a known rule, That whatsoever action God doth without himself, is common to all the Trinity. As the whole Trinity created the werld, yet creation is particularly as cribed unto Christ; so the whole Trinity shall judge the world, and yet this passing of judgment is peculiarly attributed unto Christ. And that, both because it is most fit, that he, who was judged by men, should himself be the judge of men ; and, also, because his authority will be then most visible and conspicuous before the whole world. Neither the Father nor the Spirit will make any visible appearance ; but the Son shall then sit upon the Throne of his Majesty ; and the whole world shall see him in that very body, that was buffeted, that was crucified, that was pierced, and, at last, glorified. Therefore, he is said to be the judge both of the quick and dead, because sentence shall proceed out of his mouth, and his presidency and authqrity shall be most remarkable. So, John v. 27 : He hath given him au thority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Acts x. 42: He hath commanded us.. ..to testify, that it was Christ, who was ordained of God to be the Judge both qf quick and dead. 2 Tim. iv. 1 : / charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead. Acts. xvii. 3 1 : God hath -appointed a day, wherein he will judge the world by the Man, whom he hath ordained. And, if Christ be ordained Judge, then, 136 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. i. What terror speaks this to wicked men ! Certainly, this must needs be a dark and glopmy day to them. It is that Christj whpse laws they have broken, whose love tbey have slighted, whose blood they .have spilt, nay whpse blopd they have trampled en, whose members they have massacred and martyred; it is that Christ, who must then judge them: whom they have contemptuously refused to be their King and Saviour, they shall not be able to refuse from being their Judge, And can you then wonder, that they should call for rocks and hills to fall upon them, and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb? Rev, vi. 15,16: belifeve it, rocks and hills, the hardest and the heaviest things in nature, would be but a light coverlet to them, in comparison with that wrath, which shall sit insup- portably heavy: on them for ever, and sink them down tq the bottom of helL • Christ, comes now to you as a Saviour, in a meek and winning manner: he uigeth you, by all the arguments that love and pity can use: but, if you refuse him, his next coming will be as a Judge ; and then the Lamb, which offered himself a sacrifice for you, will turn Lion, and sacrifice you to his wrath and justice. Now, the voice of a loving Saviour calls sinners tq come untc him ; but tfipse, whq will net ccme, the voice of a dreadful Judge will then bid to depart from him : Depart from me, ye cursed, into- everlasting fire. ii. What unspeakable comfort is this to the children of god, that Christ shall be thjeir judge ! That Christj in whom they -.shave/ believed, whom they have Ipved, en whom they have trusted : that Christ, wfio hath dearly loved them, and given his fife \qo redeem them, he shall judge them. And dost theu think, 0 believing soul ! that that Christ, who hath shed his. bloqd to save thee, will ever spend his breath to damn thee?: Will the; head execute t^xe, members >-. When the Devil brings in his accusations, when justice calls for vengeance, then the Judge hjmself will be your Advocate 2 Christ .himself will plead for yen. "The law of grace is, Whosoever believeth, shaU not perish, but have, everlasting life. Behold my blood, and their faith. The law i$ satisfied, the inheritance is due. And, therefere, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit, the kingdom prepared for you, from before the foundation ff the world.", \, III. Consider who shall he the ASSESSORS. OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 137 As in human judicatories, besides the judge, there are the justices, who, for the more solemnity, sit on the bench with him: so, in this Great and Last Assize, besides Christ, the Judge both of Quick and Dead, there are his assessors on the bench, his assistants in tlie judgment : and they are the saints ; 1 Cor. vi. 2, Knpw ye not, that the saints shall judge the world ? and if the world must be judged by you, Sfc. so, Jude, vv. 14, 15, The Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, To execute judgment upon all. i. They must, first, be judged themselves ; and, then, judge others. The blessed and joyful sentence must first be prennunced uppn them; and then they, as triumphant members, will be associated with their Glorious Head, in passing a dreadful and condemning sentence upon all the rest of the world, both men and devils. 1. They shall judge the very Devils themselves. Know ye not, that we shall judge the angels ? saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. vi. 3. that is, those angels, which kept not their first station, but are reserved in chains of darkness, unto the judgment ofthe great day : Jude ver. 6. Here is the consummate victory of the saints. They now subdue the Devil, as an enemy : then, they shall judge him, as a malefactor. They shall be revenged upon him, for all those horrid injections, violent temptatidns, and black and despairing apprehensions, with which he continually molests them. What exceeding joy will it be, when those poor weak saints, who were here, on earth, in perpetual dread of him and danger from him, shall sentence him te the same damnation, into which, by his wiles and power, he laboured to bring them. Now, he strongly tempts us to sin; and,, if he prevail, he maliciously accuses us for yielding : but this is our happiness, that our tempter, our accuser, shall never be our judge. The time of recompence is coming : and then we shall accuse this great accuser, and complain of all the wrongs and injuries that he hath done us; what blasphemous and atheistical thoughts, what foolish and hurtful lusts, he hath stirred up in us, which were our trouble and his guilt. And, not only shall we thus accuse and complain, but we shall condemn him too; condemn him to that fire and those torments, which his very tempting of us will make far more raging and intolerable for ever, 2. They shall judge all the Wicked and Ungodly of the World. Oh ! what strange amazement will seize all hearts on that day, 138 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. when a few popr, despised creatures, who were thought no better of than the dung and dregs of nature ; when these shall sit in state, and daunt all the great and gallant spirits of the world with a frown, and damn them with a word ! Believe it, Paul will then make his judge Felix tremble, once more, at him. Let wicked men serieusly consider of it : they must appear shivering before those saints, whom they hate and scorn now. Pilate himself, who once judged Christ, shall, at this day, be himself judged befcre the meanest servant of Christ. And it is sadly to be feared, that the great and honourable nobles of the world will there find but few of their peers to judge them : no; God hath chosen the mean things qf this world, to confound the.... mighty. And, before these, all persons and causes must come. And, ch ! think how dreadful it will be, that Thou, perhaps, shalt be sentenced to hell by thy poor neighbour ; and Thou, by thy acquaintance and familiar: here, children pronounced damned by their parents, and parents by their children ; husbands and wives by their yoke-fellows : and, though once so dearly loved, so nearly related, yet now sent down to hell by them, without the least yearning of compassion towards them ; yea, with shouts and triumph. Thus shall the saints judge the world, bpth Devils and Wicked Men. ii. But, yet, they shall not so judge them, as christ SHALL, BY AN AUTHORITATIVE PRONOUNCING OF THE SENTENCE UPON THEM. But, 1. They are said to judge the world, because judgment shall pass upon all men, according to the Truth qf that Doctrine, which they have taught and delivered. Now, though the instructicns and admonitions, which private Christians have given wicked men, shall rise up in judgment against them at the Last Day ; yet this sense is more peculiar to the Prophets, Apostles, and faithful Ministers of Jesus Christ, who, of all men, shall be mest especially emplqyed in this judging work. Thus Christ tells his disciples, Matt. xix. 28. Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel : that is, they shall, at last, be judged according to that dqctrine yqu have preached to them and taught among them. Yea, we must distinguish between Christ's judging as a Prophet, and his judging as a King : Christ will, both ways, judge at the Last Day; by his authority as a King, and by his ministry as a OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 139 Prophet : and therefore he tells us, John xii. 48. The word, that I have spoken, the same shall judge them at the last day : i. e. it shall rise up in judgment against them. So, St. Paul, Rom. ii. 1 6. God shall judge the hearts of men, by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel : i. e. according to those gospel truths, which I have preached. Little do secure sinners think, when they ccme tp the erdinances eut of mere fashion and custom, that they then hear that word, which must determine their eternal state and condition : believe it, that word, which they either drowze away or scoff at, the same word of truth must judge them, at the Last Day. Never will there be such a repeating of sermons, as then : sermons, heard many years a-gone and quite forgptten, shall then be called fresh to mind ; and, what the minister spake weakly, perhaps, and faintly, conscience will then repeat in a vcice more loud and dreadful than thunder. And, oh ! what a sad thing will it be for ministers to see most of their flecks standing there among the goats, and to be called forth by Christ to witness against such and such of their auditors ! Christ will bid us name the texts and repeat the sermons, which brought home ccnvicticns and terrors to their ccnsciences, for those sins, which yet we could never persuade them tp repent ef and forsake. The drunkard, the swearer, the unclean person, the sabbath-breaker, are sinners thick-set in every parish. Now, what should we do ? If we reprove them not, if we warn them not to flee from the wrath to come, we bring their blood uppn pur own heads, and destroy purselves : if we dp threaten and exhort and admonish them, and they repent net ; their damna tion will be sevenfold deeper in hell, than if they had never enjoyed means nor ministry; because they now add contempt of the Gospel to their breach of the Law. It is a very sad thing, yet so it must be, that ministers must stand forth for the con demnation of those, for whose salvation they have studied, and prayed, and labeured tq tbe very utmost. That is one way, how the saints shall judge the world, viz. by their Teaching and Dcctrine. 2. They shall judge the world, by the Example of their Lives and Conversations. Then, O Sinner ! will be seen their faith, and thy unbelief; their repentance, and thy impenitence; their cbedience, and thy rebelliqns : and the geqd in them shall judge the evil in thee ; and that is the reasen, why wicked men dp sq hate it. God will, on that day, set a saint against a sinner : and, how 140 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. glorious will the one appear! how ugly and loathsome the other ! both are alike, by nature ; both may live under the same means of grace : and yet, he, truly fearing God ; thou, a despiser of God: he, a sincere professer of holiness; thou, a bitter hater ef it : he, conscienticus in all duties, which ccncern both Gqd and man ; thqu, a swearer, a drunkard, a lewd profane wretch, that neither fearest Gcd npr regardest men : and, there- fere, he shall be tivy judge. Nay, net pnly the examples pf saints, but the examples pf those tou, who have been less vicious among wicked men themselves, shall rise up in judgment against them and condemn them : the moral virtues of Heathens shall serve for the lessening of their own, and the greatening of the condemnation of others, who have not arrived to their pitch : thou art called a Christian, and thinkest that name enough to pass thee at the day of trial ; but, what wilt thou say, when God shall produce many Heathens better than such Christians ? their temperance and sobriety shall judge thy excess and riot; their uprightness and justice, thy fraud and deceit: and all the privi lege, which thou shalt get by being a Christian, is only to lie the lower and hotter in hell: our Saviour tells us, Luke xi. 31, 32. The queen qf the south, and the men of Nineveh, who, for ought we know, were never otherwise than idolatrous Heathens, yet they shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this gene ration, and shall condemn them. 3. The saints shall judge the world, by giving their Consent and Approbation to that most righteous Sentence of Condemnation, which Christ shall pronounce against them. When Christ shall say to the gpats pn his left-hand, Go, ye \cursed, into everlasting fire ; the saints also shall shake .their hands at them, and echo it after him, Go, ye cursed : and sub scribe, that he is just and righteous, in damning all the un believers in the werld, thpugh many pf them may be their ewn parents, er children, or friends, or nearest and dearest relations. iii. And, if the saints must thus judge the world; then, 1. See here the mistaken judgment, which the world passeth upon them. It counts them a company of pqqr silly squls, who have more honesty and less wit, by half, than needs. They are jeered and abused, persecuted and wronged, on all hands ; and, if any forbear them, it is more out of scorn than love. Well, be^it so : shortly, this jolly and frolic world will find itself much OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 141 mistaken, when it shall see these despised ones advanced on the bench as assessors with Christ, and princes and potentates stand trembling at the bar as guilty malefactors. 2. Must the saints judge the world ? how much, then, doth it behove them to be careful, that they do not commit the same crimes themselves, for which they must hereafter judge others ! This consideration should be exceedingly effectual with all those, who pretend to be saints and hope to judge the world, to exercise a singular holiness, and live quite otherwise than the world doth. And yet, who, almost, is there, that doth not hope to be among the judges, at the Last Day ? Ask the drunkard or swearer, ask the profanest wretch that comes to church, " Do you hope to be saved ?" — " To be saved ! God forbid, else. It were pity I should five, if I had net hopes to be saved." And canst thou, who tearest the holy name of God with fearful oaths and curses, think thyself a fit man to judge swearers to hell ? Canst thou, who sittest swilling till wine and strong drink inflame thee, be fit to judge drunkards to hell ? Canst theu, who wallowest in thy uncleanness, be fit to sit with God as a judge upon whoremongers and adulterers ? Certainly, if such as these be the judges, who shall be the guilty ? The Apostle thought it a most absurd thing, that men should pretend to teach the LaW, and yet transgress it : Rom. ii. 21. Tk&u, which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou, tkat preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? so may I say, Thou, that hqpest tq judge others, judgest thou not thyself? Thou, that hopest to judge stealers, and liars, and adulterers, and blasphemers, and the whole rabble-rout ef sinners ; wilt thou steal, and lie, and com mit adultery, and blaspheme, and be as bad as the worst of men ? Certainly, such hopes are utterly in vain ; and, instead of being judges of others, such men shall find themselves con demned and executed as malefactors, at that day. And, thus much, concerning the Third General propounded, who shall be the Assistants in the Judgment. IV. The next general propounded, was, to give a brief de scription of the APPARATUS ; the Manner and Method pf the whole transaction. And this, indeed, shall be unspeakably glorious and majestic. Every thing in it shall be so ordered, as may make most for the terror of the wicked, and the joy and glory of the godly. ]42 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. i. Christ's coming to judgment shall be sudden and un expected. The world shall be secure ; and think of no such thing, as a Day of Judgment. Every one shall be minding other>>matters : some, their trades ; and some, their pleasures : and some, too, shall be sinning, when the last trumpet shall sound to judgment. Oh ! how fearfully will men then be surprized ! Some will be howling, and some praying; and, before they have spoken another word, be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; and then away through the air, to meet Christ in the clouds. ii. For, THERE SHALL HIS THRONE BE SET, ANDTHERE SHALL ALL EYES BEHOLD HIM, IN THAT VERY BODY WHICH HE ASSUMED TOR US. Acts i. 11. This same Jesus, which is taken from you up. ..into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have sden him go into heaven. His First Coming, to save the world, was mean and contemptible ; but his Second Coming, to judge the world, shall be with the greatest glory and splendor that heaven can make. He shall set out of heaven with a shout, given by all the hosts of heaven: 1 Thess. iv. 16. He shall come inflaming fire, attended with his mighty angels : 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. And all this, to strike terror into the hearts pf wicked men, who shall have so great a Judge to condemn them ; and to fill the hearts of his own with joy, who shall have so glorious a Redeemer to save them. iii. He shall send forth his angels, to assemble all nations and persons befere him. These are such cfficers, as ncne can resist, none can fly from. They will come into the very graves to you ; throw off your earthy covering ; drag out, and drive all the wicked of the earth, though loth and struggling, by whole herds, unto the Judgment-Seat. iv. And, there, Christ shall make a separation between them. The sheep, i. e. those who have heard his voice, and been obedient to him, the Chief Shepherd of their Souls, he will place, visibly, on his right-hand, in a select company, by them selves : the geats, thpse whp have follpwed the bent ef their own lusts and wills, shall be ppunded in together, on his left- OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 143- hand. Both companies expect the passing of the last and definitive sentence upon them: the one, with infinite joy and exultation, the sentence of their admission into eternal happiness; the other, with inconceivable horror, the sentence of eternal wrath. According to this different sentence, so shall presently follow its different execution : the reprobates shall be driven away by angels, and dragged away by devils; and, whether they will or no, shall be forced to torments: the elect shall attend upon Christ back again, who shall enter into heaven at the head of them, and, with rejoicing, shew them all to his Father, as the children, which his eternal love had given him, and his own merits purchased. I have not written these things to instruct any, in what they are ignorant of. I suppose, all know these first rudiments of truth. And it is a very fearful thing, to consider, that so many know the Day of Judgment, so certain, sc dreadful, as it is held ferth to be, and yet so few prepare for it. Let us be persuaded, therefore, to live as those, who must undoubtedly come to judgment, and give an account of all they have done in the flesh : otherwise, believe it, our knowledge of the Day of Judgment and of the great transactions which shall then be, will but make that day the more dreadful to us, and our eternal condemnation the more intolerable. V. Consider the UNIVERSALITY of this judgment. We all, saith the text, must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. i. All, without exception; and all, without distinction. 1. All must appear, without the Exception or Exemption of any from the trial of this Great Day. Rom. ii. 6, 9, 10. God will render to every man according to his works : Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil.. ..But glory and honour... upon every man that worketh good. Nor greatness, nor goodness, can privilege any man from the sentence of the Judge ; no more than here they can from the arrest of death. Nay, though death seems to be as universal as life itself: What man is there that liveth, saith the Psalmist, and shall not see death ? it mows down all before it, and lays them in the dust : yet judgment is far more certain and universal, than death is. The Apcstle tells us, 1 Cor. xv. 5i. 144 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. that we shall not all sleep ; that is, eur death-sleep : at Christ's last appearance, there shall be a werld full pf men, seme trading and some sinning, as now they are : none of these shall taste of death ; but yet they must all undergo judgment. And, therefore, we rehearse it as an Article of Our Faith, that Christ shall come to judge both the quick, or living, and the dead. All shall hear, and all must obey, the peremptory summons of the last trump : not a soul shall then hide itself in the crowd : not a body shall skulk in the grave. But all must appear. And, though our loose dust be scattered to the four winds of heaven ; yet, by the' almighty power of God and the ministry of angels, every dust shall be picked up, and rallied again into the same body. The Sea shall give up the dead, which are in it ; and Death and the Grave shall deliver up the dead, which are in them ; and every man shall be judged according to his works: as we have it described, Rev. xx. IS. And, 2. As all, without exception, so all, without distinction, must abide the trial of this Great Day. God will be no accepter of persons. Where the cause makes no difference, the Judge will not. He will as well hear what the consciences of the greatest can say against them, as what the consciences of the meanest ; and give the Devil as free liberty, to accuse, to drag away, and damn princes, as peasants. Rev. xx. 12. I saw the dead, both small and great, stand before God: they all stand : there, no one calls, " Bring a seat here, for this emperor, and that king : Make room there, for this nobleman, and that gentleman:" no; great and small, noble and con temptible, must all stand huddled, in the same common crowd, together. Indeed, there shall be no such distinction as great and small, according to worldly pre-eminence : there will appear great sinners, and less ; and great saints, and less : but, between great persons and their inferiors, that day will know no differ ence : all shall there stand upon the same level : high and low, young and old, all must alike come to judgment : no reverence shall there be shewn to the grey-hairs of an old sinner, nor any pity to the cries of a young. Thus must all appear; without Exception, and without Dis tinction. ii. And that, for these reasons : OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 145 I. All are guilty, and all are accused'; and, therefore, all must be judged. Both God's equity, and also the clamours of our great accuser, require, that not one guilty person escape judgment. Now, the whole world is guilty before God : even infants themselves, whose souls are but just dipped into their bodies, yet thereby become partakers of original sin : others grow up under innumerable actual provneations ; every day and hour adding sin to sin, and guilt to guilt. If any might escape this trial, it might seem most reasenabie, that true believers should, whose guilt is removed by free pardpn and justificatipn: but, thpugh that guilt of their sins, which exposeth and is erdained unto cendemnatipn, be remeved ; yet, because these sins, which Gpd hath pardpned them, de for ever deserve condemnation, which guilt remission and justification can never take away ; therefore the Devil will try the suit with them ; and the great Day of Hearing will be the Day of Judgment, wherein aU shall be impleaded, and, therefore, all must then appear to answer. 2. All must appear, because, on this day, God intends, most solemnly, to manifest the inches of his mercy on all the vessels of mercy, and the severity qf his wrath upon all the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. God hath, for this very end, decreed, that there shall be such a number of men in the world, and no more ; that those two royal attributes of mercy arid justice may be glorified upon them, especially in that Great Day. There is no part, in all eternity, sq fitted fqr the exalting ef mercy and justice, as this is: and, therefore, certainly, if God hath created all men to this very end, that they might be the standing menuments qf these twq attributes, they must all then appear, when these attributes may be mest glorified. There was scarce any other reasqn, why God should create 'the world and men in it, but that the whole multitude of them, assembled together at the Last Day, should there serve for the glorious declaration of his justice in cendemning them for their own sins, and of his mercy in saving his elect without their own merits : and, therefore, thou mayst as well not be a creature, as not appear at the Judgment- Seat, where the great end ef thy creation shall be most solemnly accomplished. And, hence it is, that our Saviour saith, John vi. 39. This is the Father's will, which hath sent me, That of all which he hath given me I should, lose nothing, but VOL. iv. L 1 10 DEATH DISARMED 01' ITS STING. should raise it up again at the Last Day : Christ shall raise thetn, that they may not be1 lost. Indeed, men were as good as lost, if they were not to rise again to judgment, lt were almost lost labour to create them, and more loss to redeem them, were it not, that the judgment of the Last Day shall fulfil God's ends upon them: in glnrifying his lcve and mercy, in the view and to the admiraticn qf the whqle wqrld, in the salvation of some ; and his justice and righteousness, in the damnation of others. As sure, therefere, as God hath net been at labpur in vain, in making any one man in the world ; so sure shall every man in the world come to judgment. ( 1 ) Hence it is, that believers usually pass through a Fourfold Justification, before they ecme to be perfected in glory. [ 1 ] The First is a Justification in f oro Divino, in God's own breast. Whereby he dqth, acccrding tq his secret grace, parden their sins, and accept them into favour and unte life eternal. [2] The Second is a Justification inforo Conscientia, at the bar of their own ccnsciences. And that is, when God's Spirit witnesseth with theirs, that they are the children ef Gqd. When the Hqly Ghqst opens the Book of Life, befere their eyes ; and darts in such a beam ef heavenly and supernatural light, as enables the seul clearly to read its name written therein : when they can see their election, adoption, and justi fication, in their sahctification ; and their sanctification itself, both~in the fruits of a holy life, and the testimony of God's Spirit : this is to be justified in the Court of Conscience. Now there is no absolute necessity of this : men's eternal state may be secured without it: but, yet, God doth thus sometimes- vouchsafe to set up his judgment-seat and te acquit his children in their ewn cpnsciences, that se they may glorify and adere the riches of divine mercy, in choosing, in calling, such as they are, while he passeth by the far greater part of the world ; and, thereby, as far as in them lies, they fulfil the end why he doth so. But the glory, that redounds to God by this justification, is but private and persenal. And, therefore, there is, [3] A Third Justificaticn ; and that is in foro Ecclesiar Triwmphantis, before all the angels and saints in heaven. The mercy of a king, in pardoning a malefactor, is mest OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 147 honoured, when the pardon is read in full and open court. Here is a full assembly, even the assembly of the first-born : and, therefore, presently upon the death of his servants, as soon as their souls return to him, he doth, for the glorifying of his mercy and free grace, pronounce them acquitted and blessed, in the audience of saints and angels. But, yet, neither is this an assembly full enough : there are vast numbers of sinners on earth and wretches in hell, who know npt what transactions pass abpve in heaven. And, therefore, fer the glprifying pf pardoning-mercy before them too, there shall be, [4] A Feurth Justificaticn, pro Tribunali Christi, befcre the judgment-seat ef Christ, at the Last Day. (2) Now, as there is this Fourfold Justification, so there is also proportionably a Fourfold Condemnation ; and the last is before the tribunal of Christ too. God will then assemble together angels and devils, saints and sinners, all the rational creation; that, before them, he may represent his mercy and justice, in their most conspicuous glory: his justice, in damning sinners, according to their own merits ; his mercy, in saving his elect, according tq the merits of Christ. And, therefore, all must then appear. iii. And, if all must appear, then, 1 . What shame and cm fusion will cover the faces of wicked men, when their foul and gross sins shall be laid open before all the world of men and angels I This is the day, wherein the secrets of every man's heart shall be revealed, and the actions of every man's life brought to public view. Nothing is secret, saith our Saviour, that shall not be made manifest: Luke viii. 17. It is manifest to God already: Psal. xc. 8 : Thou hast set... our secret sins in the light qf thy counte nance : but this, wicked men blush not at : thqugh God sees them, and sees that he may punish them ; yet they are neither ashamed for his knowledge, nor afraid of his justice. That, which most aWes them, is, lest the world should know how base and wicked they are : but, let them dig never so deep, to hide their sins ; let them draw night and darkness round abqut, when they commit them ; yet, foolish creatures ! the whole world must know what they think to conceal : unless thou canst find out such an pbscure and retired cprner, where neither God, nor the L2 148 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. Devil, nor thine own Conscience can follow thee; it is but childish to sin in secret : as gcod ccmmit it en the hquse-top, in the face of the sun, in the cqnecurse of pecple ; fer, if God, and the Devil, and thine own Conscience know it, the whole world must knew it. Nay, the whele werld of men, now living, are nothing, in comparison with the endless numbers of those, who must know thy greatest and vilest sins : all, who have ever lived frem the feundatipn of the world, or shall until the final disselutipn pf it, shall hear the black catalcgue pf thy sins read over, sin by sin. Yea, the very sins pf thy thpughts shall be ripped up : at such a time, blasphemy : at such a time, murder : at such a time, filthy lusts. Oh ! whither wilt thou cause thy shame tc gc ? where wilt theu hide thy head ? Think, O Sinner \ hew wilt thou be able to look up, when God shall read aloud this long scroll of thy sins, in the hearing of Patriarchs, Pro phets, and Apostles, and all the world, both of good and bad ? who shall as distinctly see thee, as tfcgugh thou wert the only person to be then judged; and as thoroughly know thee, who thou art, under what education thou wast brought up, under what ministry thpu hast lived, and what profession thou hast, made, as theugh they had always been cenversant with thee here on earth. Oh! the shame and amazement, which will then seize -sinners, when God shall thus set their iniquities befere their faces, tc the everlasting cenfusipn of their faces ! It is indeed questicned, whether the sins ef Gpd's children shall be made public, at the Day cf Judgment, to all the world : spme deny it ; because they think it unlikely, that Ged should uncover those sins in judging, which he hath already covered in justify ing : but this proves it not ; for, justification only ccvers qur sins from cendemnatien, nqt from manifestatiqn : it ccvers them from Gcd's justice ; but it dcth nntepver them from the world's netice : and, therefere, I think it mest probable, that the sin? pf God's best saints and peeple, shall, in this universal judg ment, be made known tq all, both men and angels : the text tells us, that all must give an account ef what they have done in the flesh, whether it be good or bad; and, besides, the sins of God's children and of wicked men are so entangled together. by many circumstances, that the one cannet be fully made known, witheut the other: ner yet will this expose them to shame; for that shall be fully swallowed up in the joy which, they shall then have, that God is glorified : as they shall not » OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. , 149 grieve at the damnation of their dearest friends, because God's justice is glorified, in their destruction ; so neither shall they be ashamed at the publishing pf their ewn sins tp all the wprld, because the mercy of Ged shall be thereby glprified before all the werld, in their pardon. 2. Since our appearing at the Judgment-Seat of Christ is so necessary, how much doth it concern us, to endeavour that it may be joyful! And, how may this be accomplished, but, ( 1 ) By labouring, in all things, to keep a gcpd ccnscience void of offence, both towards God and towards men ; so to walk, that our hearts may never reproach us while we live, nor our consciences condemn us when we die ? Our rejoicing is this, saith the Apostle, even the testimony qf a good conscience: 2 Cor. i. 12. And, if this be our rejoicing here on earth, this also will be our jqy and glory at the Great Day. (2) But, because there is no man living so perfect, but his own conscience may accuse him here, and will there bring in witness against him, of many sins' he hath committed; therefore, if we weuld appear with jcy at the Judgment- Seat, let us labqur to procure an interest in Christ, the Judge. Then, when thou standest at the great bar, thou mayst bcldly throw qut that challenge ef the Apcstle, Who shall lay any thing to my charge ? If the Devil, if thy ewn Conscience answer, " Yes, we can : we can lay such and such sins to thy charge :" yea, but it is Christ that justifies; who shall condemn me ? His merits, his righteousness, are mine; and, therefore, so is the glory purchased by them. This is that, which, when others shall call for rocks and hills to fall upon them and to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb, will make us lift up our heads with jo}-, knowing that our redemption is drawn nigh. Thus you have seen, Who must be judged ; and that is, All Men. Now, VI. Censider WHAT THEY MUST BE JUDGED FOR, and what acceunt they must give ; and that is, for All Things. They must receive, saith the text, according tq all they have dqne in the bedy, whether it be gppd qr bad. But, yet, neither doth this seem fully to comprehend the 150 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. ' whole scqpe and latitude cf this judgment. But they shall be judged according tq Three things : According to what they have done Out of the body. Accerding tq what they have been in the bedy. According to what they have done in the body. Npw, because mpst of the judgment will be taken up in examining this last ; therefqre, the Apostle, in the text, mentions only this ; though, indeed, we must pass under account for the other two also. i. We must be judged, for what we have done out of the BODY. I am far from O/igen's opinion, who fancied that the souls of all men were existent, and did either merit or demerit, long before their union to their bodies. Neither do I think, that we shall give account for what our souls do, when they are separate from our bodies, in the space between the day of our death and the Day qf Judgment : for the actions cf the soul, either in heaven or hell, shall not be rewardable, but shall be part of the reward,itself. As the blasphemies of the damned seuls, now in hell, shall not be farther punishable ; because they are there one part of their punishment: so neither shall the praises and halle lujahs of the blessed saints, in heaven, be farther rewarded; for these themselves are part of their reward. And, yet, thqugh our squls were not existent before they were joined to pur bqdies; and, althqugh we shall not be ac countable, for what they do when they shall be parted from it : yet we must all undergo judgment, for what we have dpne eut ef the bedy. You will ask me, " What can this be ?" Indeed, it is but one action ; and that is the very first transgression, which waS ever committed by man -against God. Though this act were done some thousands of years since, yet the guilt of it still passeth down along upon us. Other sins we are guilty of by commission ; of this, by imputation : qf others, in our persons ; of this, in our representative. And, yet, fer this, a? well as others, we must be answerable in that Great Day. As Christ's satisfaction is imputed tq all believers, whq are his spiritual offspring, as theirs ; and may be sq pleaded by them, at the Day qf Judgment : sq is Adam's first transgression imputed tq all his natural offspring, as theirs ; and it will be so charged upon them at that day. The Covenant of Grace entitles us to the righteousness of Christ, through our mystical union tp him OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 151 by faith : the Covenant of Works entails Adam's guilt upon us, through our natural union tp him, as our common parent ; which gave him power to appear for us as our Federal Head, and to oblige us to stand Or fall, accerding to the terms ef the agreement entered into with Gpd, npt only for himself, but for all his posterity. All the world, which is now spread into so many thousand persons and families, lay all wrapped up together in his loins ; and, when he lifted up his hand, in rebellion against God his Maker, he had the whole world of hands and hearts joining with him. Never was there any conspiracy against heaven, so general as that : for, in him, all sinned, saith the Apostle, Rom. v. 12 : they were sinners in him, before they were creatures in themselves. Such early rebels were we against God, that We began to sin, when we were scarce any thing besides a notion. This is that, whieh but few consider, and fewer lament ; and, yet, this is that, which we have done out qf qur bqdies, fer which we must give an apcount : Rom. v. 18. By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. And, cer tainly, if this one sin hath brought a judgment of condemnation upon all, it will likewise bring upen all a judgment qf trial and examination. At this day, Adam shall stand forth at the head of all his wretched posterity ; and God shall once more arraign him, as he did Gen. iii. 1 1. Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat ? Not he only, but the whole world with him, must then cry out, " Guilty ! Guilty !" For other sins, particular persons must make particular answers : but, when this action comes to be tried, what an qutcry will there be qf all the wqrld, at qnce cenfessing guilt and suing fer mercy ! ii. All must be judged, foIi what they have been in the BODY. This is a day, wherein men's states shall be tried, as well as their actions. There are but twe states, in which all men are : a state qf nature, or a state qf grace ; qf life, or death eternal. We are all by nature children of wrath, and heirs of perdition : that is our state: and the great question, in this judgment, will be, whether we have lived and died in this state, or not. This life is the only season allotted us for the changing of qur state : now, qr never tq eternity, mayst thqu, of a rebel, become a son ;. 152 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. of an heir of perdition, be made an heir of glory : now, or never, may we have our natures renewed, our hearts sanctified, grace implanted, lusts subdued, and heaven and happiness as certained to us. And, yet, how many of us are there, whose lives are well nigh spent, and yet whose natures are not hitherto changed ! whe have death breeding in their very bowels, and yet have not Christ formed in their hearts ! Eternal woe unto such, if God snatch them hence in a sinful, unregenerate state; fer, accerding tc the state that death finds them in, se shall judgment pass upon them. And yet, O desperate madness and foil)' of men, who, by wretched sloth and wilful neglects and endless delays, put it to the venture, whether God will not damn them the very next hour! Be persuaded to pass a judgment upon yourselves, upon your state, before God comes to dq it. What think you, whpse image and superscripticn dp ypu bear ? dp you belong te Gpd, or tp the Devil ? hath there a mighty change from an almighty grace passed upon ypu, or are you still the same yeu were ? What is ypur state ? is it a state ef spiritual blindness and spi ritual death, or are you changed from darkness to light, and raised from death to life ? Listen ! what say your hearts to this ? do they not generally suggest to you, that as yet you find no such mighty change wrought in you ; but yet you hope it may be wrought time enough for your salvation ? Speak out : is not this the very answer, which many of your hearts give you ? And, what ! will ypu hazard the sentence cf the dreadful judg ment uppn " it may be ?" It may be, Ged may change thy state and nature ; but may it net likewise be, that Ged may cut thee off, and summon thee to judgment in thy old and sinful state, and'pronounce sentence upon thee as thou shalt then be found ? Methinks, this ishould prevail with all of us, since the judg ment must proceed according to the state in which death finds and leaves us ; and, if our state be not now this moment changed, death may possibly seize us before it can be changed ; this, I say, should prevail with us to give neither God nor our^ selves any rest, till we are passed from death to life, from the power of Satan unto God. It is then teo late to seek for oil, when the bridegroom is already come : too late to call and cry, Lord, Lord, open unio us, when the door is already shut. The door of hope is for ever shut against us, as sopn as we OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 153 enter into the gates of death. If death find thee eut of a state of grace, judgment will certainly leave thee in a state of con- demnatien. iii. All must be judged, for what they have done in the body, whether it be gepd pr bad. Npthing, that hath been done in the werld, shall always lie buried in ebliviqn. As there shall be a general resurrecticn qf men, so there shall be a resurrection of their acticns top. Then shall be knewn the true and cqmplete histcry ef the world : it is a natural and strong desire which we have, to be acquainted with what hath been dene in the ages past before us : what great actions great persons have performed : at this day, we shall re ceive punctual information ; and hear every one relate himself the story of his own life. Here, all the hidden mysteries of iniquity will be brought to light : thqse secret sins, which have been ccncealed from the eyes of men, shall then be proclaimed aloud in their ears : we must give God a strict account, and the whole werld a perfect narrative, ef them all: Rom. xiv. 12. Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God ': and, 1 Cor. iii. 13. Every man's work shall be made manifest ;for that day shall declare it : all the wickednesses that men have brooded „ on and hatched in the darkest vaults of their ewn hearts, er acted in the obscurest secrecy, shall be then made as manifest, as if they were every qne ef them written en their foreheads, with the point of a sunbeam. Here, on earth, none know so much cf us, neither wpuld we that they sheuld, as pur own consciences : and, yet, those great secretaries, our own con sciences, what through ignorance or searedness, overlook many sins which we commit ; of which, at that day, they shall be informed. But our own consciences shall not know, more pf us, than all the world shall : fpr all, that hath been done, shall be brought into public notice ; and we must give a most strict and particular acccunt qf all. We must give an account for all : but this acccunt will be mqst dreadful and terrible, when Ged cpmes to recken with us uppn these fpllpwing particulars. 1 . We must give an acccunt for all the Sins which we have committed, and not repented of. There is net a sin we ccmmit, but Ged sets it dewn in his bqqk qf remembrance. There they all stand, written dqwn in prder, under every ene ef our names. Now, as we truly repent 1 54 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. of any sin, se Gpd blpts it put: Acts iii. 19. Repent ye, there fore that your sins may be blotted out, when the time cf refresh ment shall come from the presence qf the Lord : that is, Repent, that se, at the Day of Judgment, the great debt-book may be found crossed and blotted, and not one sin legible against you to your condemnation. But, oh ! what horror will seize on im penitent wretches, in that day, when God shall open the debt- book to them, and shew them so many thousand sins standing all upon account, not one of them crossed cut ; nqt a tear of their own, nor so much as a drop of blppd from Christ, tp make one blot ! It is easy and joyful to account for a crossed debt ; to see, as true believers do, hew much was once owing, and how much is now paid for : but, when wicked men shall see them selves chargeable with so many thousand talents, what else can they expect, but presently to be cast into that prison, whence they shall npt come forth, till they have paid the uttermost farthing ? 2., As we must account for sins not repented of, so for Duties slightly and hypocritically performed. Indeed, many seem to provide against this danger : how is it possible, that they shouldr give an account of their duties, who think not of what they say, nor of what they do, while they are performing them ? But, yet, believe it, God writes down your prayers, word for word, after you ; and he makes observations on them too : At such a petition, the heart ran gadding after a vain and foolish thought, that came cross it ; and left the lips to walk alone : At such a confession, while the tongue spake bitter things against sin, yet the heart embraced and cherished it. Though men pray so, as that they scarce hear themselves, nor regard what themselves utter : yet, certainly, God hears them, and God regards them ; not, indeed, so as to accept them, but so as to judge them for such slubbered and perfunctory duties. And, that holy and reverend name of God, which they mutter over without either fear or affection, he will then severely vin dicate ; when taking his name in vain in a duty, shall be as strictly accounted for, as blaspheming his name in an oath. 3. We must account/or all the Ordinances and Means of Grace, which we have sat unprofitably under. Then it will be reckoned up against us, that, at such a time, we heard the terrors qf the Law denounced, and yet were not frighted by them : at such a time, the mercy of the Gospel, the all-sufficiency and willingness of Christ to save us, and yet were OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 1 55 not affected by it. Nay, these very discourses of the Day of Judgment must, at that day, be accounted for; whether you have been persuaded by them, so to prepare your accounts, that you may be able to give them up with joy, at this great and terrible day. 4. You must reckons/or every Talent entrusted to you, whether vqu have husbanded it fer v-our Lord's advantage. God affords you means of grace to receive good, and he lends -you talents to do geqd; and yqu must give an account of the right improving of both. Is it Authority and Power as a Magistrate, that God hath given thee ? He will, at this day, call thee to account, how thou hast used it ; what vice thou hast suppressed ; what zeal thqu hast shewn in revenging God's hqnnur, upqn daring and impu dent miscreants : whether thou hast punished the wickedness, not only of poor, trembling inferiors, but of proud and pqtent sinners ; whp make it their sport to baffle authority, and, as they deny the God qf Heaven, so deride and scorn the Gods pf the Earth. God will call thee to account, whether they have been a terror to thee, or thou to them ; what reformation thou hast wrought in the place where thou livest ; what crimes, by thy cowardly connivance, thou hast made thine own, and brought upon thine own soul. Shall there a drunkard reel, home un punished ; his drunkenness is thine. Shall a blasphemous swearer rend and tear the hqly name qf the Great God, by his execrable oaths and curses, and yet escape ; his eaths are thine, and all his curses will fall heavy on thine own head. Shalt thou know of any abominable lewdness and filthiness committed within the verge of thy power, and not execute vengeance for it ; thou thyself art guilty of it. Shalt thou know any whq profane the Lqrd's Day, and those holy qrdinances which are therecn cele brated, and not vindicate the hcnqur and wqrship of that Ged from whqm thqu hast received thy authcrity ; thou art thyself the sabbath-breaker, and, by nqt reproving and punishing the wqrks qf darkness in qthers, makest thyself a partaker of them, .as the Apostle speaks Eph. v. 11. For these things, the Great Ged will bring thee tq a strict and particular acccunt; and, ac cording as men's authority and the abuse of it have been the greater, so likewise shall their punishment be in hell : and, that they may nqt lqse of their place and dignity, they shall be pre ferred to the next in torments, to Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. 156 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING, Is it Wealth and Riches, with which God hath entrusted ypu ? Knpw, that thpu art but God's steward, and the keeper of his purse fer the pppr and needy. Thpu art mistaken, if thou lookest upon what thou hast to be thine own, and at thine own dispose : no ;_ it is only given thee to employ for thy Master's advantage ; ahd he will reckon with thee for every farthing of thy estate, whether spent upon thy vain pleasures, er in refresh ing the bewels ef his poor saints and members. If either, by thy covetousness, thou hast dammed up and stopped the current of God's bpunty that hath flown in upon thee, and kept it from overflowing upon others also ; qr hast turned it aside into wrong channels, and hast profusely lavished out that plenty with which Ged hath*blessed thee, in rict, excess, and debauchery, main taining thy lusts at Gcd's charge; be assured, that every penny ef this ill-kept Or ill-spent estate, shall, in this great Day of Judgment, prove a talent, but a talent of lead, to sink thy soul deep for ever, in the lake of fire and brimstone. Or, hath God given thee Spiritual Gifts, tending more im mediately unto edification ? Assuredly, God will enquire, at this day, whose ignorance thou hast informed, whose deadness thou hast quickened, whose heart thou hast warmed by holy and heavenly discourses, whom thqu hast converted from the error of his ways, qr forwarded in the way of holiness and sal- vatiqn. And, if it shall be then found, that thqu hast been an unprofitable servant, and hid thy talent; nay, it may be not only so, but a wasteful servant, and spent it ; mayest thou not fear, lest the same doom should pass upon thee at the Day of Judgment, as did upon him, Mat. xxv. 30 ? Cast him into utter darkness : where shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth. 5. We must give an account of aU the Providences, that have befallen us in our whole life, both in a way of mercy and judg ment ; and what effect each hath had upon us. Whether mercies have made us more thankful and fruitful ; whether judgments have made us mere humble and penitent ; whether the ccrds of God's love have drawn us, or his rod hath driven us nearer to him. There is not one dispensation of Qod's Providence, but it hath some influence upon our spiritual and eternal state and condition : either it proves a help or a hindrance to a holy life : either it unites the heart nearer unto God, or else alienates it more from him. And what use we have made of every providence, will be one great enquiry of this Great Day. Thou hast been delivered from many dangers, OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 1 57 and from many deaths : God will examine, whether thou liast given up thy life to the service of .that God, who hath rescued it from the very brink of destruction ; or hast lppked upen thy self as one delivered only to commit far greater abominations than ever before. God, it may be, hath laid sore and heavy afflictions upon thee : this day must give account, whether thou hast, with a meek spirit, patiently submitted to his visitation, and, in the calmness and serenity of thy soul, satisfied thyself in the infinite wisdom and goodness of God ; his wisdom, whereby he knows what is best for us ; his goodness, whereby he will do that to us, which he knoweth tp be best : er hast galled thy sheulders, by striving with thy yeke; vexe^d and rearing like a wild bull in a net ; fretting and exasperating thy self against God and Providence, and, in the time of thy dis tress, sinning yet more against him : whether, when Ged, by his judgments, hath pleughed thee up, and made leng furrows upon thee, this ploughing hath only made thee more rough and uneven, or hath prepared thee to bring forth the fruits of righteousness, unto the praise and glory of God. This also will be brought to trial at the Great Day of Judgment. 6. We must give an account qf tke Motions ofthe Holy Ghost, and the Convictions of our own Consciences, whether we have cherished or stifled them. And, assuredly, at that day, conscience will be very mindful to inform against us, in this particular. How many good mo tions, and holy purposes and resolutions, have we murdered in their very infancy ! our hearts have been both their womb and tomb : they have been buried in the same place, where they were conceived. When conscience hath reproved us, how often have we stopped its mouth, and offered violence to it ! well ! at this day it will revenge itself, and give in dreadful ac cusations against you, for not suffering it now to give you necessary reproof. Then, it will shew the bloody wounds and deep gashes, that all your wilful sins have made in it : and de pose against you, how often you have striven against the strivings of God's Spirit ; how often you have desperately rushed into those crimes, from which it would have withheld you; and most wretchlessly omitted those duties, of the necessity of which you were fully convinced. And, sad and dreadful will that account be, which we must then give of all thpse hply mptions, which have been stifleds to death in us. And, 7. We must give an account of those numberless Sins qf our 1.55 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. Thoughts and Words, which, as slight as we reckcn them, must pass under particular examinatipn, as well as the mpre observable actions of our lives. (1) Our Thoughts claim now a privilege of being exempted from man's judgment and censure. . They lie hid in the inmost recesses and retirements of our souls, whither no created eye can reach to discover them. But, at this day, those callow and unfledged sins, those lusts which lie like beds of knotted and crawling serpents in our hearts, shall be brought forth to see the light : For there is nothing co vered, that shall not be revealed ; and hid, that shall not be known : Mat. x. 26. In that day, when God shall reveal the secrets qf men, by Jesus Christ: Rom. ii. 16. Hypocrisy, and fair pre tences, and a smoqth life and cenversatiqn, dq oftentimes put such a varnish upon a rotten heart, that we cannot now, without uncharitableness, judge ill of its thoughts and intentions : but, as it fares with painted faces, bring them to the fire, and their paint and daubing will shrivel up and fall off; so, as to these formal hypocrites, when heaven and earth shall be all on a flame about them, the sccrching fqrce qf this great fire will make all their paint fall qff, and expqse the very theughts qf their hearts, a naked and a leathsome spectacle to the whole werld. Then we must give an account to God, for all those atheistical, blas phemous, bloody, and unclean thoughts, that have bubbled up in our hearts : what entertainment we have given them : whether we have, with abhorrence and detestation, cast that filth back in the Devil's face ; or, have sat brooding on those cockatrice's eggs, and enjoyed those sins in contemplation, which, for shame or outward restraints, we durst not commit iu cutward act. Be lieve it, how fond cr favourable soever we may be towards these first-born of our hearts, looking upon our thoughts as thin aerial things, and but as shadows cast by our minds and fancies ; ' yet, certainly, in God's account, who is a spirit, these spiritual wickednesses are as substantial crimes and solid iniquities, as thqse ethers, which are branded with infamy and scandal among men. And, (2) We must give an account for every Werd which we have spcken. What a dreadful echo shall we then hear, when all our vain, rotten, unsavqury discourses shall be repeated in our ears, louder than the voice of thunder! It is. a terrible place, JMat. xii. 36. I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 159 shall give account for it in the Day of Judgment. An idle werd : that is, a wprd sppken to no ccmmendable end or purpese. Our vain, frothy, light, and wanton discourses, all our superfluous tattle, every word that might be better spared than spoken, shall be reckqned for at this Great Day. Hqw much more, then, eur filthy and rotten cemmunicatiqn ; qaths, and curses, and blasphemies ; backbitings, revilings, and malicicus slanders ; and such speeches, as leave the very scot qf hell in the mouths that utter them ! how much more severely shall these be ac counted fer! Oh ! what a just and strict God have we to deal with ! And, how deep have our own tongues set us on the score ! We have talked ourselves in debt unto divine justice; and every vain, frivolous, and impertinent werd, stands as an item to in flame the reckoning that we must then make. O Lord ! set thou a watch upon the doors of our lips, and guide thou the moving of our tongues, that they may not npw be set en fire ef hell, nor hereafter set on fire in hell. New, when we shall be reckoned with for Sins, which we have committed and not repented of; for Duties, which we haye per formed slightly and hypecritically ; fer Ordinances and Means of Grace, which we have sat under unprofitably ; for Gifts and Talents, which we have not husbanded ; for Providences, which we have not improved ; for the Convictions of our own Con sciences and the Motions qf Gqd's Spirit, which we have nqt secpnded ; for the vanity of our Thcughts, the superfluity and frothiness of our Wprds ; alas ! what account can we give of these things ? We cannot answer the demands of Gpd's justice, fer qne ef a thousand. And, therefore, as when Alcibiades * went to visit Pericles, but was refused admission, with this ex cuse, That he was then busy studying, how to give up his ac counts to the state ; " Tell him," saith he, " that it were wiser for him to study how he might give no account :" so, truly, since we can give ne good account, it will be our wisdom tq study, hqw we may give nq accqunt, nqr be eurselves answer able for what we have dene. This can nq otherwise be, than by getting an interest in Jesus Christ, that he may answer, and make up our accounts fpr us at that day ; and, at every item reckened up against us; may say, that it is discharged, blntted, and crossed out, by his own most precious blood. This is the * Plutarch Alcibiades. 160 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. only way for us, who are such desperate debtors, to appear with confidence before our great creditor. VII. Let us now, in the Seventh place, ccnsider ACCORD ING TO WHAT LAW this judgment must pass upon us. A law consists of two parts : a precept, or prohibition ; and a promise, or threatening. According to the former, it is a rule te direct the ebedience of the subject : according tq the latter, it is a rule to direct the proceedings cf the judge. The precept and prohibitien are given tq regulate eur actiqns ; and God hath added the premise and threatening, as that, accqrding tq which he will regulate his justice. New, that we may not, at this Great Day, miscarry in point of law, as being ignorant either of what we cught tq do nqw, or what our judge will dq then, I shall endeavour tp shew you what that law is, accerding tc which sentence must be pro- nqunced upen all. There is, therefere, a Twqfqld Law, by which men shall be judged; Unwritten, and Written. Or, if yqu will, bqth are written : the one, upon the heart ; the other, in the word. i. There is the unwritten law, or the law that is written ONLY UPON THE HEART. And this consists in those practical principles, which are deeply engraven upon the consciences of Heathens ; and which, neither tract of time nor custom of sinning could ever utterly raze out. This is that light in the understanding, which naturally disccvers good and evil : that voice in the conscience, which exhorts and admonishes, comforts and terrifies, accuses or excuses; being itself both law, judge, and witness, in a man's own bowels. This Unwritten or Natural Law, for the substance and matter of it, is the same with the Moral Law contained in the Scrip tures. It requires the performance of the duties of religion, towards God ; the duties of sobriety, towards ourselves ; and the duties of leve and charity, tcwards others. All these, even the Unwritten Law, and these common notions in the hearts of Heathens themselves, did strictly command and enforce. So the Apostle, Rom. ii. 14. The Gentiles, which have not the Law, do, by nature, the things contained in the Law, these, having not the Law, are a law unto themselves : that is, though they have not the Written Law promulgated among them ; yet, the Un- OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 161 written Law of Nature prompted them tq the performance ef what is contained in the Written Law. And this shews, saith he, ver. 15. the work of the Law written in their hearts: the Work ofthe Law was written in their hearts, when as the Words of the Law were not written in their books. , But, though this be the same for the sum of it, yet it is npt sp perfect and entire as the Written Law is. The ruins of the great fabric do nqt so fully represent it, as an artificial draught taken by some skilful pencil ; in which we may see the whole pro portion, and every part of it expressed exactly. This great and stately fabric is man, in his first creation. The Written Law is a perfect draught of him, taken by the hand of Ged himself; and exactly represents what he was, while he stoqd in his beauty and perfectiqn. The Unwritten' Law is the ruins qf this great fabric, upqn which there are still left some prints and fqqtsteps qf its fqrmer state and glery. Semething there is, which shews what man ence was, and directs what man should be ; yea, se much, that it is bcth a wpnder and a shame to Christians, that many Heathens, whp have had nene ether guide, have left behind them such examples cf a singular and raised virtue, as few ameng us are either able qr willing tq imitate. This Unwritten Law, qr the Law ef Nature, is that, whereby Heathens shall be judged at the Last Day. No law is obligatory, till it hath received a sufficient promulgation ; for, if it lie locked up in the magistrate's cabinet and be not made public, it binds no man either to obedience or punishment : now, it was im possible, that either the Law of Moses or the Doctrine of Christ should, in former ages, have been made known to all the remote Heathens on earth, unless it were by miracle : the greatest part of the world was not known to be, or to be inha bited, to the Jews, or to Christians that lived in fdrmer days : and, therefore, the knowledge of the Law or Gospel could not be conveyed to them, unless God should delegate some angel to such an extraordinary ministry, which, it is certain, he never did : and, therefore, this Law, which they knew not of, this Gospel, which was never preached among them, could not oblige them either to obedience unto God, or to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. When they sin, they transgress not the Law of Moses, unless it be materially only; but, formally, they transgress the law of their own natural light and reason. And, certainly, that law, which they sin not against, shall not be the VOL. IV. M 163 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. law by which they must be judged : so saith the Apo9tle, speak* iing of the Heathens, Rem. ii. 12. As many as have sinned without the law, i. e, withput the written Law ef Moses, shall also perish without the law ; and as many as have sinned in the. Law, shall be judged by the Law. And the very same may be said of the Gospel also : it will not be required of Heathens, in this Great Day, to produce their faith : though the Athenians, in their blind superstition, built an altar unto the Unknown God; yet, certainly, it is not possible, that faith should fix upon an Unknown Saviour : no ; unbelief will be but the sin of a few men, although it will be the condemnaticn of the mest Chris tians ; and that, because those, whp are called Christians, are but a few, in cemparison with those endless multitudes, whp have never heard of the name or the doctrine of Christ, and there fore shall not be judged fer rejecting either him or it. The great question, that shall be put to these men, will be, Whether they have lived and acted accordingto the dictates of right reason : Whether they have followed the conduct cf their natural light, and obeyed the commands of their natural conscience: or, Whe ther they have gone contrary to it; damping their light, stifling their convictions, and imprisoning the truth in righteousness. Thus shall Heathens, and they alene, be judged according to the light within them ; because they had no qther duty incum bent upon them, than to follqw that light : which, while some frantic peeple nqw-a-days amqng us cry up as the only rule for practice and guide to happiness, they do what in them lies, to reduce themselves back to the state and condition of Heathens ; and, for such, they may be reckoned, for they can scarce, without an abuse, be called Christians. And if Heathens shall, at last, be thus judged acccrdino- to the Law cf Nature, then may we here learn, 1. What to judge concerning their Salvation. It is net want of charity, but the evidence of truth, Which makes us believe, that not one of them can, in an ordinary manner, be saved : I say, in an ordinary manner, because, whe ther God hath not or may not, in an extraordinary way, reveal. Christ to some particular persons among them, is not for us to determine : I would, it were more probable, than it seems to be. But, if God proceed with none of them in this world, in any other than an ordinary way, certain it is, though sad, that when he ccmeste judge them, they must be all cast and cpndemned. OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 163 Acts iv. 12. There is salvation in no other, but in Christ; for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, xohereby we must be saved : and, therefore, if Christ hath not been made knqwn tq them by a miracle, (which is tcq unlikely) judgment must sadly pass against them. And, what a sad thing is it, to ccnsider, that inccmparably the greatest part of the werld, many of them endowed with gifts to be admired, many ef them adorned with virtues scarce to be imitated, grave, and wise, and learned, and temperate, and public-spirited Heathens, must, per haps, all perish, not having the Gospel, which alone can dis cover to them the way of life and salvation ! Oh ! the justice and severity of God ! Hort unsearchable are his ccunsels, and his ways past finding out t New, it appears clearly, that if God will judge them according to their own light, they will be found guilty ; from this reason, because the will of man is more cor rupted by the Fall, than his understanding and ccnscience is : sq that thqse things, which we have light enough to discover to be our duty, we have not will enough to perform. There is no mere man in the world, nor ever was, who fully lived up to hii convictions. And, therefore, though Heathens shall be tried by nothing else but the Light of, Reason and the Law of Nature j yet this is enough to condemn them, for not living answerably to the dictates thereof. So the Apostle, Rom. i. 20, 21. They are without excuse, because tkat when they knew God, they glorified him not as God : and, v. 32. Knowing the judgment qf God, tkat they, which commit such things are worthy of death, not onhj do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. 2. This may inform us what to judge, as concerning their sal vation, so concerning their Condemnation. If they shall not be judged for unbelief, fer neglecting so great salvation as Christ hath purchased and the Gospel ten dered, then, certainly, their condemnation will be much more tolerable, than the condemnation of unbelieving Christians. What saith our Saviour, John xv. 22 ? If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin. All the sins committed against the holiness of the Law, are as none in comparison with the great sin of slighting the mercy cf the Gcspel. And, therefore, we find that Spdpm and Gpmprrha, fpr whpse mon strous wickedness God rained a hell out of heaven itself, are yet said to be mere tolerably punished, than Bethsaida, and Cherazin, and Capernaum shall be, at the Day of Judgment : M 2 164 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. Mat. xi. 22. Why! what is their sin, but only that Christ preached unto them and wreught miracles among them ; and yet they repented, they believed not ? This comes to' judge, and expose them to a far more intolerable condemnation, than the vile and horrid lusts of a heathenish Sodom. Thou, Capernaum, saith our Savicur, which' art exaltedunto heaven, shall be brought down to hell : lifted up tq heaven, in privileges ; and thrown dqwn tq hell, in punishments. Believe it, whesqever goes down to hell with the load of Church-Privileges and Church-Ordi nances upon him, will neVer leave sinking and sinking, till he Comes to the very bottom. And, assure yourselves, whosoever lies uppermost, yet the bottom of hell shall be paved with Christians. That is the first particular: Heathens shall be judged, at the Last Day, by the" Unwritten Law ; the Law and Light of Na ture remaining in their conscierices : and, therefere, their ccn- demnatien is, in an qrdinary way,- mqre inevitable ; but shall alsq be mere tolerable, than the cqndemnatien qf qthers. ii. There is a written law, whereby all, who live within the seund and notice of it, must be judged. And that is twofqld : either the Law qf Wqrks : or the Law of Faith : or, if you will, both these are but one Law of Works : the one, as fulfilled by us in our own persons ; the other, as fulfilled by us in Christ. The voice of the Law of Works, is, Do this, and live. , Now, the truth is, though believers have been guilty pf num berless transgressietis ; yet they may be very well ccntent to be tried by this law : and that, because, theugh they have trans gressed this law, yet it is nq cqntradiction tp affirm, that they have fulfilled it top. In themselves, persenally cpnsidered, they have transgressed it : in Christ, mystically censidered, they have fulfilled it. And, eh ! what an unspeakable ccmfprt will it be, when the Devil shall, in that Great Day, bristle up against us and accuse us of many thousand sins, that we may, under a blessed distinction, give him the lie ! we are not transgressers, but fulfillers qf the Law : we have dbne what is required ; fqr Christ, qur Saviqur, hath dqne it ; and Christ and we are que. New, although, according to this sense, believers may stand ac quitted in judgment, even by the Law of Works; yet the Scripture doth- rather chopse tp express the transactiens ef that OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 165 Great Day, tq be accerding to the Law of Works or Faith ; that is, according to the tenor of the Law er Gospel. 1. This is the unspeakable comfort of all true believers, that, at this Great Day, they shall not be judged by the Law of Works, according to its literal sense ; but by the Gospel. The tenor of the Gospel is, Whosoever believeth, shall be saved. The reason of all that Christ hath done in the world, why he took upon him the form of a servant, why he underwent the death of a malefactor, lies couched in this, that believers might obtain eternal life. This is the depth of that mystery, which angels pry into : this is the sum of that ministry, which is com mitted unto us : this is the form of that trial, which must pass upon you, whether you have received Christ by faith, who hath been revealed and tendered to you in the Gospel. It will then be but a vain and fruitless labqur, for the Devil to heap up ac cusations against us : for, thqugh the Law saith, The soul, that sinneth, it shall die ; yet faith will then remqve the suit from Gqd's Common Bar, to his Court of Chancery, if I may so speak ; from the letter of the Law, to the more equitable con struction of it. And here it will be found, that you have already satisfied the Law : you, in Christ, have done it ; and therefore stand free from its ccndemnation. 2. Unbelievers shall, at the Last Day, be judged by both these laws ; both by the Law of Wqrks and the Law qf Faith : and, what will be to their inccnceivable hcrror, both will condemn them. The severity of the Law casts them : the mercy cf the Gospel cannct relieve them. When Ged shall ask them, how they will be tried ; by the Law, or by the Gospel : if they say, by the Law, that tells them, Cursed is every one, that continueth not in all things, written in it, to do them : tell me, are ye so well per suaded and confident of your own righteousness and innocence, that you will stand to this sentence ? will- you venture the ever lasting state of ycur squls upqn this trial, that yqu cannot be proved guilty ef any transgressicn ? and, if your own con sciences now accuse you, will they not much more, think you, accuse you then ? Will you appeal to the Gospel ? that tells you, He, that believeth not, is condemned already : John iii. 18: and, He, that believeth not the wrath of God abideth on him : John iii. 36 : nay, let me tell you, the Gospel will be so far from relieving you, that it will but add tc the condemnation of the Law : tjle Law sentenceth sinners to hell, for transgressing it ; 166 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. but, then, the Gospel lays on more load, and heats the furnace sevenfold hctter fqr thqse, whq have not only viplated the Law, but rejected pardpn. He dies deservedly, whp, being con- demned by the law ef the prince, slights his mercy too. This is the case of every unbeliever : they are all ccndemned, by law: Ged tenders them a pardon : Christ offers himself for their Saviour, his blood for their ransom : this Saviour they reject : this blood they trample on, and even dare God to do his worst. And, therefore, there is ne one sin in the world, that carries so much provocation in it, as this of unbelief doth : it is an injury done to the tenderest of God's attributes, his mercy : it is an affront upon his dearest Son, the Lord Jesus Christ ; and, there fore, shall be revenged with a most aggravated condemnatiqn. Oh ! then, what fears and terrors will encompass them round, whq, when the Law hath condemned them for transgressien, shall find themselves much mere condemned for unbelief! The blood of Christ is not shed in vain : not a drop of it is spilt upon the ground, as water that cannot be gathered up again : it will, certainly, either justify, or cendemn ; either save, qr de stroy. And look, of what efficacy it ' is, to remove guilt from the souls of true believers ; of the like efficacy it is, to bring guilt upon the souls of unbelievers : if, therefore, the blood of Christ, applied by faith, be of power to remeve the guilt of all the sins which we have committed ; the same blocd, rejected by unbelief, will bring in a greater and serer guilt uppn us, than all the sins which we have cemmitted besides. Be persuaded, therefore, never to leave praying and waiting, till the God of all grace be pleased to work this precious grace of faith in thee ; without whidh, thou canst neither please him, nor be well- pleasing to him : that so, the blood of Jesus Christ may, in that Great Day, be found upon thy heart, for thy justification ; and not upon thy head, for thy condemnation. VIII. In the Eighth place, consider, who shall then appear, .to ACCUSE and WITNESS against us. Men shall have a fairer trial before Christ's tribunal, than Christ himself had before man's. The Scripture tells us, that many false witnesses were suborned, to accuse him- And, it seems, their rage against him made them forget that principal rule of lying, viz. that it be uniform and ccngrupus : fpr it is said, that their witnesses agreed not together. But, when we come to judgment, we shall have nothing to except against the OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 1 67 undoubted truth of the witnesses : yea, and though they are of different interests and natures ; yet their depositions against us shall punctually agree. i. God's knowledge shall, at that day, give in clear and positive evidence against us. And this is such a witness, as none can suspect or challenge of falsehood. He is privy to all we dp : for all things are open and naked to his eyes : Heb. iv. 13. It is as impossible to con ceal any thing from his notice, as it is to do anything without his permission. Every action must receive a passport from him ; and, therefore, certainly, what cannot escape his prcvidence, cannct escape his knowledge. He is ccntpany tp us in solitari- ness. He is day abeut us -at midnight. He sees our spuIs, more clearly than we can see one anpther's faces: and he hears the voice of our thoughts, mere distinctly, than we can hear the scund of one another's words. And where then will ungedly sinners appear, when Omni science itself shall depqse against them ? when an all-kncw- ing Gqd shall rise up to accuse them ? Now, indeed, God forbears them so leng, till their impunity vetes against his knowledge; and persuades them, that he sees them not, nor takes any 'notice of what they do. This is, usually, all the thanks they return his patience ; that, because he winks at them, therefore they conclude him blind. But what saith God cencerning these men, Psal. 1. 21 ? These things hast thou done, and I kepi silence : thou thoughiest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: here man passeth judgment en Gqd. But, when God passeth judgment en man, he saith, But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes : and this Ged deth, to^sqme, in the judgment-day of conviction ; but, to all, in the judgment-day of condemnation. He sets their sins in order before their faces. This expression denotes unto us Two things. First. Hqw clear God's knewledge of our sins is in itself: that he will set the vast and confused heap of them in order, at that day. He will marshal" them in the same rank and order, in which they were committed. The time, the place, the per sons concerned, the occasions, the temptations, the aggravations, and all the circumstances of our sins, lie all a-row in his know ledge ; and every sin shall then be as distinctly and particularly disccvered by hinyas ever it was committed by us. 168 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. Seccndly. It denotes, how convictive this knowledge will be unto sinners. He will set their sins before their face : that is, he will so particularly represent unto them whatsoever they have done, and in what manner, that they shall, as it were, plainly see every sin befqre their eyes, and be forced to acknow ledge them fer their ewn sins. This knewledge ef God, which shall give in evidence at the Great Tribunal, carries in it Two things, which may justly make it very terrible unto sinners. 1. In that it is the knowledge of the Judge. What can be more dreadful to the prisoner at the bar, than* for the judge himself to accuse him ? he may cavil against the testimonies of other witnesses ; but what plea can he have, when the judge shall pronounce him guilty, upon his own knowledge ? This is the very case of sinners : many witnesses shall be produced against them, at the Last Day, who shall bring in »great accusations and strong evidences : but none of these shall so daunt and damp them, as when God the Judge shall, from his throne, attest, that, upon his own knowledge, all is truth. They can expect nothing, but the sentence of the judge, to pronounce them damned ; who have thus the knowledge of the judge, to pronounce them guilty. 2. It is the knowledge and testimony of Him, who is Truth itself; and, therefore, cannot be contradicted or denied. And what can save them, if truth itself shall testify against them ? unless that God, who is true in giving witness, should be unjust in giving sentence, which is impossible. It is impossible, , likewise, that those, whom his knowledge doth accuse, his justice should acquit. Think then, O Sinner ! what will become of thee, when thy sins shall be testified to thy face ; not by any false or forged witness, but by the truth of God, to whom it is impossible either to lie or err : when his truth shall aver unto his justice, that thou art guilty, and both truth and justice consent together to thy condemnation. In 2 Kings v. 25. Gehazi returns from cheating of Naaman, and stands very demurely before his master: Whence comest thou, Gehazi? Thy servant went no whither : No ! saith the Prophet : Did not my heart go with thee ? so, when men shall stand before the Great God, he will call to them by name; " Sinner, what didst thqu, such a day and hour qf thy life ?" It will be then in vain, to make any lame pxcuses; in vain to say, Thy servant did nothing. "No! was not mine eye upon thee ? was npt my heart with thee, tq qbserve OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. r€-9 thy actiens r Didst thqu nqt, at such a time,. wrong thy brother by base fraud and injustice ? at such a time, abuse thyself by riot and intemperance ? at such a time, blaspheme me, by hellish qaths and curses ?" Men may, perhaps, think me some- what. coarse and blunt witli them, to tell them of such sins as these are : but I beseech them to consider, 'hqw they will answer God, when he shall reckon up against them these and other like sins ; and accuse them qf them upen.his own knowledge. Here, men stand upqn their own reputation : tell a sqt, though he reels again, that he is drunk ; or a thief, that he steals ; er a liar, that he lies ; and straight, in a rage, they will bid yqu preve it. But, when Ged shall, at the Last Day, accuse them of these sins, it will be found proof sufficient, that he, who is Truth itself, shall depese it against them. That is, therefore, the First Witness, God's Knowledge. ii. Men's consciences also shall, in that day, bring in accu sations against them. And, indeed, conscience is not one witness, but a thousand : a whqle clcud qf witnesses ; and such witnesses, as will speak truth too. New, possibly, men's consciences may be seared so, as not to speak at all ; or bribed so, as to speak nothing but flatteries, with Ahab's prophets, Go on, and prosper. But, yet, those sins, which they seem tc take nq notice of, when com mitted, they will fearfully exaggerate, when accounted for. Though, here, conscience seems to be like the unjust steward, and sets down fifty for a hundred, and small sins for great; yet, at that day, it will mend its accpunts, and give them up faithfully and impartially. Some sinners are, even in this life, self- condemned : conscience hath sat upon them, and doomed them already. But all shall be so in the next : the process of God's justice shall be so clear, that men shall bring in evidence against themselves ; and God shall need no other course to condemn them, but out of their own mouths : when God shall read over the catalogue of every man's sins against him, they shall all be found subscribed and attested by every man's conscience : and this, certainly, will be accepted as a ccmpetent witness, as having been always with the sinner, a register in his ewn breast, and having neted dqwn every aCticn qf his life. Indeed, some men live as if they had no conscience at all : they do that, almost every day, which might set all the furies of hell about them ; and, yet, they feel no terrors, no stings, ner sccrpiqns. Well 170 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. their conscience is net dead, but sleepeth : it is in a deep sleep; but the sound, of the last trumpet will certainly awaken it. And, oh ! hew dreadful will it be, when they shall first of all hear an unknown voice, which they never heard before, accuse them aloud ; and, from within them, out of their own bowels, call for wrath and condemnaticn upon them ? hqw sad will it be, for conscience to give its first shriek arid outcry at the great bar j and never to accuse them, before it comes there for ever to condemn them ! It is not so much tq be heeded, what a partial conscience saith now unto you ; as what it will say at this great day : now, it may be like a bell while raising ; it speaks only on one side, and sounds nothing but Peace, Peace : but, then, this peaceable ccnscience will grow suddenly enraged ; and the first ill word, which ycu may hear, will be the calling fer wrath and vengeance upnn yqu. That is the Seccnd Witness, which shall be brcught in against men at the Day of Judgment ; their own Cqnsciences. iii. As God and Conscience, so the devil also will come in, to witness against sinners, and condemn them. There are, in witnesses, many times, two qualities : the ene, is a spleen and grudge against the offender ; and this makes them willing : the ether, is a personal knowledge of the offence ; and this makes them able, tc give in witness against him. In both these, the Devil abounds: he hath a most rancoured malice against all mankind ; and industriously seeks how he may, by any means, compass their destruction : and he hath a personal knowledge of their sins too; and therefore will, doubtless, come in to accuse them. You see how ready he was to calumniate Job, though he must impudently ccntradict Ged, tp dp it: hpw much more ready will he be, to accuse profane sinners, when his testimony against them shall agree with God's ! Though, now, he shews them a fair and flattering face, when he tempts ; yet, then, he will appear in all his hideousness and horror, when he shall drag them to the great bar, and there accuse them : *' Lord, here is a wretch, guilty of such and such crimes, that deserve thy damnaticn." — " Hqw knowest thpu, Satan ?" — " How know I ? He did it upon my persuasions : I tempted him to it : I presented objects : I suited him with qpportunities : I excited his inward lusts tp embrace them : it was at such a time, in such a place, with such and such circumstances." Believe it, this is tfie enly time, wherein the Devil will tell them the truth. Now, OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 171 he hides all, under false and glezing appearances : he shews the sinner ncthing but the pleasure, er the profit, pr the credit qf the sin tq which he tempts him : but, then, he will throw off this mask, and appear to him, as he is, plain Devil. Men are qften afraid, lest they shquld meet the Devil in seme terrible shape ; lest he shquld make himself visible unto them : but little do they think, that he is always with them, and at their right-hand : he gees aleng with them wherever they gq ; Observes whatever th§y dq; gathers matter fqr temptatien, out of every thing they converse with. And all this pains he takes, enly that he might satisfy his malice in accusing them, and bringing witness against them, at die Last Day; and therefore, certainly, he will then urge it heme with the greatest spite and aggravatipn that can be. That is a Third Witness, that shall appear at the Last Day. iv. OtHer men also shall then bring in witness against them. And what a world will there appear ! 1. All those, with whom they have sinned; their brethren in iniquity. These shall then, with direful exclamations, accuse one another of all the wickednesses, which they have done in partnership together. Did the drunkard or the riotous person believe, that those, whom he now calls his good companions, shall hereafter be his bitter accusers ; that, in this great Day of Judgment, they shall, with mutual curses and execrations, call fer wrath and vengeance one upen another; certainly, this would damp their mirth, break their wicked crew, and strike their excessive cups out of their trembling hands. Here, sinners shall accuse one another : the one, for enticing ; the other, for consenting. They shall witness each other's guilt ; and, with a hellish malice, rejoice in one another's damnation. Go, now, with such a thought upon thee, and hug thy sinful companion, if thou canst. 2. All those, against whom they have sinned, shall, at this day, appear, to witness against them; whether it be against their spiritual or their corporal state. Thou, who, by thy evil example, hast encouraged others to sin, shalt, at this day, have them all come in to witness against thee ; and exclaim, with fearful outcries, " Lord ! I had not been in this estate of wrath and damnation, had it not been for this man's example." Thou, who art careless and remiss, in instructing, in exhorting, in reproving those, who belong to 172 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. thy charge, "shalt have them all come in against thee : " Lord ! we had not perished, had this man been careful to perform his duty te us ; and, therefore, our blood lie heavy upon his soul for ever!" And, then, for temporal injuries, many are here wronged, who cannot right themselves against . their powerful oppressors : but, at this day, the meanest shall have audience, and right done them against the greatest ; and the oppressors themselves shall be oppressed, and sunk down to hell, by the accusations and witness of those, whom they have here wronged. 3. Those, who have reproved and exhorted sinners in vain, shall, at this day, witness against them and accuse them. Every wprd pf instructicn or admonition, that hath been given you, shall then be witnessed to your faces, and your sin and condemnation aggravated by your slighting pf them. These Fpur Sorts of Witnesses shall then appear against you to accuse you : God, and ypur own Cqnsciences ; the Devil, and ether Men. Their witness will be fpund true, and agreeing tegether. These will prove yeu guilty. And what will yqu be able to plead, why sentence should not proceed against you ? Truly, there is but one way, how, though you are accused by so many witnesses, you. may yet escape condemnation ; and that is, first of all, to accuse yourselves in an humble and penitent acknowledgment unto God. Say as much against yourselves now, as i the Devil or your Own Con sciences can be able to say against you at the Last Day. This will invalidate their accusations; when all, that they can bring against you, you have confessed unto God long before. And you have that promise, too, for your assurance : he, that judgeth himself, shall not be judged: 1 Cor. xi. 31. And sq, Le, that with true godly sorrow accuseth himself for his sins, though he shall be accused also at the great bar ; yet, all these accusations shall not condemn him. These will be the> witnesses, who will, at the Last Day, come in against us. IX. In the next place, let us consider what PLEAS and DEFENCES men will then make for themselves; and the INVALIDITY of them. Indeed, in strict propriety ef speech, I think there shall be no such thing as fendiDg or proving, as we use to phrase it. It. OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 173 will be with sinners, as it was with him, who was found at the wedding-supper without the wedding-garment : they shall be all stricken speechless; and, like guilty malefactors, hang down their heads under that heavy doom, which shall' then pass upon them, without once daring tq lift them up, in alleclging any thing in their qwn defence er excuse. Reprcve men now, and their ccnstant custom is, either to deny, or extenuate, their faults. This lessening of sin is of ast great antiquity, as the committing of it : no sooner did Adam sin, but he seeks out for fig-leaves, to cover his spiritual, as well as his corporal naked ness; and lays the blame upon his wife; and she, again, upon the serpent: sq it is still in this world: nq man will father his own guilt : the vilest sinners stand peremptorily upen their ewn justification ; and, as dogs, so they, with their own tongues, strive to lick off that dirt which sticks upon them. But, in this great day, every man's mouth shall be stopped and gagged. And there be Two things, which will then silence all the wicked of the werld, that they shall have nqthing tq produce en their own behalf; and they are, Consciousness of Guilt, and Despair of Mercy. The former will shew them, how untrue ; the latter, how fruitless, all the excuses, which they can then make, will prove : should sinners once open their mouths in their own defence, tbeir very Consciences would rise up in their throats, and choke them: and, therefore, we have it, Rom. iii. 19. That every mouth may be stopped, and all tke world may be guilty before God. Or, should conscience give way, yet Despair never makes apologies : and the certainty of their condemnation, which the mest of them shall then know, by having before felt it ; and the rest, as self-condemned men use to do, by prejudging it ; this despairing certainty, I say, will rather move them to curse and blaspheme their Judge, than to plead for or excuse themselves. Thus, if we speak properly, guilt and despair will tongue-tie every ungedly sinner at the great tribunal. And, yet, the Scripture, where it gives us the most exact and particular descriptien pf this Day pf Judgment, brings in wicked men defending themselves from the accusatiens laid in against them. So, Mat. xxv. where they are accused for not relieving Christ, when hungry, and thirsty, and naked, and imprisoned ; to this charge they return a very pert and quick answer, ver. 44. When saw we thee an hungered, or alhirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison ? Sq, Matt. vii. 22. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy J74 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. name ? and in thy name...cast out devils ? and in thy name done many wonderful works ? It seems, therefore, that there shall, really, many pleas be made by wicked men, to keep the sentence of the judgment from passing upon them. But the answer is easy. For these places are nqt to be under stood literally ; as if, indeed, they sheuld put Christ upqn proving hjs accusations, or should bring in any allegations for themselves. No, Conscience and Despair will, as I said, strike them .all dumb. But the Scripture thus expresseth it, for these Three Reasons, i. That, hereby, it might parallel and accommodate the JUDGMENT OF THE GREAT DAY, TO HUMAN COURTS OF JUDICATURE HERE BELOW. Human judges are bound to hear what both parties can say ; as well the defendant, as the plaintiff: otherwise, they must needs be unjust, in giving sentence withput due information; although, perhaps, they may decree what is just. But, at this bar, there needs no canvassing of the question to inform the judge. But, yet, because this is the usual course in Courts of Justice here beloxy ; therefore, the Scripture, speaking of the great and last judgment, in conformity to these, mentions also the pleas that wicked men shall make for themselves ; though, in strictness of speech, every mouth shall be then stopped, and every tongue cramped, but what shall be employed in judging and condemning themselves. ii. Wicked men's pleas are mentioned in Scripture, that, hereby, might be set forth the exact equity and clearness ¦OF THAT GIIEAT TRIAL. When we say, that men shall plead for themselves, the mean ing only is, that God will be sp just, that, in passing sentence upen them, he will consider, as well what may make for them, as what may make against them : their sentence shall be weighed out to them, as well according to the alleviating, as the aggra vating circumstances of their sins: arid it shall be as just and righteous, as if they had been permitted to plead all that possibly they cculd, on their ewn behalf. Thus, there are divers things spoken of this judgment, not as ifthey were really and properly to be transacted; but only to set forth the equity of God's proceedings therein. Rev. xx. 12; we have mention OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 175 made, of the opening of the books, put of which men shall be judged. Now it were very gross, hence to imagine, that there shall be any material boeks, out of which either God or his officers should read the indictment against sinners : but these bocks, here spqken qf, are God's remembrance and men's ewn consciences, which shall then as punctually represent their works unto them, as if every circumstance had been carefully written down in a boqk. So, yqu have heard how many witnesses shall come in against sinners, and accuse them : neither is this to be understood literally ; as if, indeed, all these should make a real appearance : only it denotes, that the trial of sinners shall be as just and legal, as if so many witnesses were sworn and examined against them. So, here, when we say, that wicked men shall bring in excuses for themselves at the Day of Judgment ; er, when the Scripture brings them in, pleading, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or thirsty, or naked ? Lord, Lord, we have prophesied in thy name, bXc. this doth not necessitate us to be lieve, that it shall be properly and literally thus fulfilled ; but only intimates, that the judgment shall be as fairly and equally managed, as if every man were permitted to speak whatsoever he could produce for himself. iii. The Scripture mentions their pleas, that, hereby, it might PRESCRIBE AGAINST AND CUT OFF MEN'S VAIN AND PRESUMPTUOUS HOPES. And so it speaks rather by way of supposition, than affirmation. Almost every man hopes he shall be able to plead That, at the Last Day, which may be available to procure him mercy : new, suppose men were allowed to speak for themselves, and to pro duce in judgment what they now trust will stand them instead ; alas ! how much in vain would all be, that they can alledge ! These, who have enjoyed church-privileges, and have eaten and drank in Christ's presence ; those, who have received spiritual gifts, and have prophesied and wrought miracles in his name : these rely upon this ; and think this is enough to save them, in that Great Day ; but, suppqse they shquld plead all this, yet will the Judge say, Depart from me, ye workers qf iniquity. So that the mentiqning qf wicked men's pleas and excuses dqth but shew, that what they trust tq, and hqpe will bear them eut in the Day qf Judgment, will then be qf nq avail ; but, nqtwith- standing all, sentence must pass upon them as workers of ini quity. 116 DEATH DISARMED' OF ITS STING. And, in this sense, I shall now speak of it; and shall'shew you, that what pleas and excuses wicked men do now relieve themselves with, will then be fcund vain, and of no effect. 1. Many think that their Ignorance will be a good excuse for them, at the Day of Judgment. What is mere common, in the mouths of brutish and sottish people ? God will not require more than he hath given : it is not expected from them, to do as others, who are more learned and knowing ; and, though they have net such gnpd words, yet they have as good hearts as the best : and, they hope, their good meaning will bring them to heaven as soon as others, whose heads are better stuffed, and whose tengues are better tipped, than theirs. And sp they think, that there is ne safer, nor easier, nor shorter way to get to heaven, than in the dark, hoodwinked and blindfold. It is true, it is not necessary for every private Christian to busy and beat his head about the nice and curious questions of religion; which have always been disputed, and will never be decided, till our partial knowledge give place to -perfect. We have sufficiently seen, what wild delusions arid damnable errors men of weak intellectuals have run into, while they have em ployed themselves about the disputes, rather than the practice of Christianity : when men of shallow parts will boldly adventure to fathom deep controversies, they plunge themselves into an abyss of mistakes and errors, and are in the ready way to drown themselves in perdition. And yet, withal, it were tq be wished, that Christians did nqt lqok upon all that is disputed against by men of perverse minds, as uncertain to be known, and un necessary to be practised. Some things, in Christian Religion, are fundamental and vital ; the ignorance of which excludes from all possibility qf salvation. And such are the doctrines of Repentance from dead werks ; qf Faith in qur Lord Jesus ; of the common and daily Duties of a godly life. He, who knows not, that sin is to be repented of, that Christ is to be believed in, that the duties of holiness and obedience are to be constantly performed and good works to be maintained, cannot possibly be in any capacity of salvation. The knowledge Of these things is necessary, not only necessitate Pracepti, by the necessity of Gpd's command, which requires them ; for, so, is every thing in Scripture necessary, either to be known er done : but necessitate Medii, they are necessary, as Means to the obtaining of an end, and without QF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 117 which it cannot possibly be obtained. No man can be saved, unless he repent and believe ; and no mail can repent and believe,, if he be utterly ignorant what repentance, and faith, and God, and Christ, are. Such ignorance, in whomsoever it is, is damnable. So, Ps. lxxix. 6. Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen, that have not known thee, &(c. And the Prophet Isaiah makes such ignorance to be so far from an excuse, that it is the very reason why God will not spare nor pity them : Isa. xxvii. 11. It is a people that hath no understanding-: therefore, he, that made them, will not spare them ; and he, that formed them, will shew them no mercy. And, yet, how many are there, who know not what Repentance, or Faith, or God, ;or the Gospel,' means! who know not Christ's person, nor his offices; his. merits, nor their own misery ; what he hath purchased for them, nor what he requires from them ! and, yet, if thev know that there is a heaven, hope to gq to it too ! Believe it, such are in no more capacity of salvation, than the very Heathens ; nay, in a far worse condition, inasmuch as the Heathens Revel- could',. but They might attain to the saving-knowledge of a Saviour, were it not for their own wretched and wilful sloth. Ignorance of fundamental truths and vital duties will be so far from an excuse, that it will be brought in as on^killing part of their indictment; andj certainly, most forlorn and desperate must that man's case needs be, whose best excuse is of itself a damn ing sin. Other things there are, in Christian Religion, that appertain not to the vitals, but to the vigorous; flourishing, and beautiful state of holiness, both in the heart and life. And such are, a competent knowledge and insight into the more abstruse mysteries and remote duties of the Gospel. There are many. truths revealed in Scripture, and Some duties commanded ; the ignorance of which, we dare not but say,' may be consistent with true grace. The disciples of Christ himself, before his ascension, knew not many things, which yet were of great concernment to be known, and of great influence into practice. But, do not presently conclude, that, certainly, your ignorance is of this kind: an ignorance of such things as are merely mysteriqus, and of no absolute necessity, either to be known or done, in order to salvation : and, therefore, though you fail in many things, yet that this will serve for your excuse, at the Last Day. VOL. IV i N 173 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. For this ignorance is Twofold ; either Invincible ; and that is, indeed, an excuse for sin : or else, Wilful and affected ; and that is so far from being an excuse, that it is a dreadful aggravation of it. An Invincible Ignorance is such, as is conjoined with an impossibility, in an ordinary manner, of right information ; and it ariseth only from Two things : Absolute want of necessary instruction. Or, Want of natural capacity to receive it. If you are deficient in either qf these, then, indeed, ignqrance might pass fqr a tolerable excuse for many faults, at the Day of Judgment. And, indeed, it dcth nqt qnly excuse a tanto, as is cqmmqnly held ; but a toto : for, where there can be no sufficient declaration of the law, it is all one as if there were no law ; and, where there is no law, there is no transgression. And, therefore, as I said above, no sins shall be charged upon Heathens, but such as the Law of Nature and right Reason doth condemn. But, certainly, your ignorance cannot be invincible, nor pleaded by you as an excuse : for, First. Have yqu not the means of knowledge plentifully dispensed amongst you ? When you have frequent instructions, Scriptures unfolded, truths inculcated, duties pressed and urged, it must be mere industry, that can keep you ignorant. If you see not the light, it is because you love darkness : if you know not the things qf Gqd, it is because yqu say unto him, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge qf thy ways. Secondly. Are you destitute of natural capacities of wit and understanding, to apprehend the truths of God and the mysteries of salvation, when they are delivered to yqu ?¦ Thou, who art as knowing for the wqrld, as others; what is the reason thou art not as knowing for heaven .? Dost thou not enjoy the same means ; the same instructions, advice, and ad monitions ? and why, then, so ignqrant in spiritual ccncern- ments, and yet so politicly wise in worldly affairs ? Why ! but because men wilfully close up their eyes, and stop their ears ; lest they shquld- see with their eyes, and hear with their ears' and understand with their hearts, and so sppil a gc-cd excuse against the Day pf Judgment ? But, alas ! this excuse will not hold good, af that day. Jff OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 179 Mien will not see, when the light shines round about them ; if they will net knqw, but refuse instruction, when the means of knowledge is dispensed tc them ; this blindness and ignorance is so far from lessening, that it will exceedingly heighten and greaten, both their sin and their condemnation. Drunkenness is no excuse of a fault, but art aggravation ; because, though the drunkard kuows not what he doth, yet he wilfully deprives himself of the use of his 0W11 reason : and so a sin, that is committed through wilful and affected ignorance; is ifJade two thereby. And, certainly, if that servant was to be beaten with many stripes, who knew his master's will, but did it not ; with many more shall he be beaten, who knew not his master's will, but might have known it. And, therefore, think not to plead ignorance for your excuse. Believe it, pleaded it shall be, but not by you ; but, by the Devil and your own consciences, against you. That is the First vain Excuse. 2. Many rely Upon their Civil and Reproachless Lives. They neither debauch themselves, nor wrcng others : and, if they were called before man's judgment-seat, nothing cbuld be charged upen them ; and therefore; certainly; they hope to escape at God's tribunal, which is not so severe and unmerciful as man's is. But, let them know, that this negative righteousness will nothing avail them, so long as it is baffled by their unbelief: for there is an immutable law, that fixeth an eternal doom upon every man: He, that believeth s/utll be saved; but he, that believeth not, shall be damned : Mark xvi. 16. *3. Many rely upon a Comparative Righteousness. They glory, with the bragging Pharisee, that they are not extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as othef men; and, therefore, they hope, that, as they have not lived the same lives, so they shall not partake of the same condemnation. But, alas ! God will not judge thefe, by ccmparing thee with qther men, but with his Law : thqn failest far shqrt of the holiness and perfection Of that, even in those very actions, wherein thou dqst far trans cend other men : it may be, there is no comparison between thee and others ; but then there is no comparison between thee and the Law : thy very excellencies may, at this day, be judged deficiencies ; and thyself, a surpasser of others, wilt be then judged as a transgressqr against Gqd. And, yet, if a compara tive happiness will content thee, this, possibly, thou mayest have N 2 180 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING, for thy comparative holiness : yea, but this is no relief, no comfort ; for this comparative happiness thou mayst have in hell itself: those, who have been holy, in comparison with the wickedness of the lewd and debauched werld, shall also be here after happy, in comparison with the intolerableness of their torments ; and, yet, thou mayest be a miserable damned wretch for all this. 4. Others rely upon their own Righteousness, and the Merit of their own Good Works. They doubt not, but, if God would set their good against their bad, they should stand upright in judgment; and think, that, take onetime with another, God hath been no loser by them : if, at one time, they have provoked him ; at another, they have appeased him : if they have wronged him, by sins ; they have again re compensed him, by duties. Foolish creatures ! who think to discharge debts by duties; and satisfy God's justice with that, which they owe to his sovereignty : this is but robbing qne qf God's attributes, tq pay another. Hadst thqu never offended justice ; yet all the good, which thou canst perform, is due to God's scvereignty, as he is thy Creator and Highest Lord : jus tice requires not obedience, but punishment ; nor will it be satisfied with any kind of punishment, but what is, like itself, in finite : and, therefore, though you should deal out all your estates, in alms ; thqugh yqu shquld drop tears night and day ; thqugh ypu could make rivers by weeping, and raise storms by sighing, and pray till yqur tongues cleave tc the roof of your meuths j thqugh you shquld fast yqurselves to ghosts, and macerate your bodies with the most rigid and sharp penances that ever blind devotionists practised, and, after all, give them to be burned ; yet all this cculd not be put into the balance against the least cf your sins. For, whatsoever yeu can either do or suffer, is due or not due, is required by God or not required. If it be due, it Gannot be satisfactory : the payment of one debt cannot cross out anqther. If it be not due, it cannot be acceptable : it is but will-warship ; false- and adulterate ccin, (and much of this scrt, i& among the Papists) that bears not the stamp of divine autho rization upon it, and therefqre will not be received, nor pass for, payment. Not that I would drive yqu from perfprming duties : God forbid ! but, from trusting in them. Let me ask ypu, to what purpose is it, that you keep up something of religion ? to what purpose, that you frequent public ordinances ? that you OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. I fl 1 force your ears to hear that word, which yet prophesieth nc gqqd concerning you ; and task your lips to say ever thqse prayers, in which yet ypu find no relish ? is it not the secret thought of many men's hearts, that heVeby they shall buy off guilt and escape cendemnation ? if this be your hope, let me tell you, it is no better than a spider's web ; and, when the be som of destruction ccmes, it will sweep down such cobweb-hopes as these are, and such as settle in them, into perdition. For, those very duties and works, which many trust unto to save them, may, at this day, for the slight and hypocritical per formance cf them, be reckoned up against them as so many sins : so far from being expiations, that they may rather be their faults : there, will be nq setting the gopd against the bad ; for 7 OOO the. manner of performing that, which is gcod, turns it into filth and abomination in the sight of God ; and all they do, is either sin in itself, or sinful. And, therefore, to plead your own righ teousness and your own good works, is but to plead that, the defects and hypocrisy of which will be brought in against you, to ccndCmn you. 5. Many mest presumptupusly rely upon the Merciful and Gracious Disposition of God ; and bottom their hopes of safety, in that Great Day, only upon this presumption. In spite of Scripture, and threatenings, and judgments, they will not believe, but that the world is only scared out of its wits, by representing God more terrible and severe than indeed he is. What though the Law hath threatened death to trans gressors, and the Gospel to unbelievers ; and they are both : yet they will think, that God hath still reserved in his hands a power to relax this rigorous sentence, and to dispense with and pardon whom he pleaseth ; and they hope they shall be of that number. Strange sinners these ! who are resolved upon it, that God shall shew them mercy, though he himself hath protested the con trary ; and will not be beaten from it, but that their souls are clearer to God, than his own. truth. And, therefore as it were on purpose to blast such foolish hopes, where divine rnercy is dis played in the greatest glory that ever it was, God brings in the severity of his justice tq equal it: so, Exod. xxxiv. fi, 7. The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abuAdant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for lhousands,forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin : now after all this triumph of mercy, tp dash the hopes cf wicked men, it is added, a God that will by no means acquit the guilty. Carnal reason might possibly 183 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. think it a contradiction, tfiat Ged shpuld proclaim that he wil} pardon sin ; and yet, by np means, acquit the guilty : for what else is pardon, but an acquittance of those who are guilt}' ? But here is no contradiction : the guilty, whom God will pardon, are the penitent and believing sinners, here upon earth : the guilty, whom he will by no means pardon, are the finally impe nitent; those, whq shall be found under guilt, at the Day of Judgment. Though there shall stand millions of wretched crea, tures, wringing their hands, tearing their hair, rending heaven and earth with their outcries ; enough, even to mpve those very rocks tp compassion, which they shall then call upon to hide and cover them : yet this Ged, whq is all bqwels and love, and vyhpm wicked men do preposterously fancy sc merciful ; yet this merciful Gpd will pnly mpek their fears, flout their tears, and laugh at tfieir cries, and send them all tp hell with scorn ; that Christ, who so far gratified the petition of the very devils, as to send them into the herd of swine, rather than back to hell, their plape of torments ; though all the wicked werld shpuld fall dpwn at his feet, and beg him, by his death, his blood and passion, by all that he hath either done or suffered, to shew them mercy, (powerful arguments, if now used, to prevail) yet these powerful arguments shall not then incline him, either to pardon them, or, in the least, tp mitigate their doom. No, this is the acceptable time: this is the day of solvation. As soon as this life is expired, the time of believing and repenting is expired too ; and the time of mercy and pardon, with itr When Christ shall sit as Judge, it will be then tqq late tp cry, "Mercy ! mercy !" Mercy hath been already tendered, and proudly re jected. Sinners ! why was it net embraced, while yqu lived upen the earth : while you were entreated and beseeched to accept it ? It is new in vain tp call, cr cry, pr strive : Ged hath sworn in his wrath, that not pne of them shall enter into his rest. 6. Many ignorant perens think, that they will plead to God, that they are Ms Creatures, and the Workmanship qf his own Hands. They will never believe, that the infinitely gracious God will damn, what himself hath made ; and destroy the work which bis own hands Jrath framed. But, (1) What think ypu ? Have net the Devils as good a plea as this ? Are not they God's creatures, and the work pf his hands, as OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 1 83 well as you ? Nay, are they not more costly and exquisite pieces qf the creation, as being mighty spirits, than you, who are but vile dust ? If God must, therefore, in justice save you, because you are his creatures, must he not save them too ? Cer tainly, this plea gives sinners but poor hopes, which only proves, that, if they be saved, so must the very devils. (2) Let the Scripture beat off men's hands, from grasping this reed. Doth not God expressly say, Prov. xvi. 4. he made all things for himself, and ihe wicked for the day of wrath ? In vain is it to plead, " He made me, and therefore will save me." If thou re main wicked, God made thee for the day of wrath and destruc- tipn : sp, Isai. xxvii. 11. He, that made them, will not have mercy on them ; and he, that formed them, will shew them no favour. Nay, _ (3) Wicked men are not so much to be acccunted Gqd's wqrk- manship, as the Devil's. God doth not so much ascribe the workmanship of the Man unto himself, as the workmanship of the New Man. Are yeu sanctified and renewed ? then are you, indeed, God's workman ship : Eph. ii. 10. We are his workmanship, created unto good works. But, while men continue in their sinful state, though God made them, yet they are the Devil's workmanship : he is their father, and they his offspring. God's workmanship was made like God ; but that image is defaced, and the perfect re semblance of the Devil stamped upen the souls of wicked men. And, therefore, in destroying them, God doth not so much de stroy his own image, as tbe brood of Satan. This, therefore, is no ground of hope, nor plea for mercy. 7. It will then be in vain, to plead Church-Privileges and Ordinances, or Spiritual Gifts and Endowments. Christ hath told us, that many shall come to him with open mquth, in the Last Day, " Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name. ...cast out devils? and in thy name done many mighty works ? Have we not eaten and drunk in thy presence, and hast thou npt taught in our streets? And must we be sentenced to the same hell, with those, who never lieard thee preaching ? with thpse, whom theu never heardst pray ing ?" A specious plea ! yet, if this be all, he will command them away into everlasting fire : Go, ye cursed. The kingdom of heaven here upqn earth, I mean, the Visible Church, f'qr so the Scripture often ca,lls it, admits of many wicked men and. 184 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. hypocrites into communion with it : they enjoy the same ordi nances, partake of the same sacraments; but, at this day, will be made the great separation, when the members of the Kingdom of Heaven shall themselves be shut out of the King- dom of Glory: so saith our Saviour, Matt. viii. 12. The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. . 8. Some may think to alledge, for their excuse, that they wanted Time to prepare for Eternity. Their employments in the world are such, that they have not leisure to think of their soul's welfare : providence hath set them in a most cumbersome calling ; and the cares and business of this world flow in 'so fast upon them, that they drink up all their thoughts, and sequester all their time. As the Duke DAlva, being demanded whether he observed a comet that had lately ap peared, " No," said he, " I have so much to do qn earth, that I cannot spare time to mind heaven :" so it is with many : they are overwhelmed with worldly employments, and have ne spare time tq think qf heaven ; and therefore hope, that God will not expect so much from them,1' as from others who are better at leisure. But, it were happy for these men, if, as they pretend, they cannot spare time tq be holy, sq they could net spare time to die, and to be judged. It is true, men may make their trades and callings too unwieldy for them; and thereby become, not masters, but drudges to their own affairs: they have not time for natural and necessary refreshments ; and what time, then, think you, for divine and heavenly duties ? what time1 for prayer or meditation, when the world is still crowding in upon them ? those, whp have little else to do, find it a hard task tp work their hearts to a ready performance of these ; and how much more they, who have always some pretence from their callings, to neglect them ! However, it is the greatest folly in the world, and can be no excuse at tbe Last Day, to grasp so much of earth, as to let go their hold of heaven. Men should, therefore, so model and size tbeir worldly employments, as to make daily room for religion. And, let them know, that, if these their employments be either such or so numerous, as are not consistent with a godly life ; this is not a calling, but a temptation, and as such to be avoided. It will not be an ex cuse, but an aggravation, of men's doom at the Last Day, that they, who have lived forty or threescore years in the world, could yet find no time for heaven ; as if the laying up of a vain and perishing estate here below were of more concern, than the OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 185 laying up treasures in heaven, and a good foundation against the lime to come. Thus we see how vain and frivolous those many excuses, that men may think to make at the Day of Judgment, will then prove. Let me hence only draw one Practical Inference, and so conclude. Since, then, no excuse will prevail, to keep eff the dreadful sentence of judgment, Oh ! then ! Jet no excuse prevail, to keep us from a holy life. Let no excuse keep us from coming to Christ, since no excuse can help us when we come before Christ. When our Saviour invited his guests, they all made excuses: one had bought a farm, and anqther oxen, and they could not come. Poor excuses ! but yet any thing is sufficient to reject Christ's invitations. But, though men make excuses when Christ invites them, no excuses shall serve the turn when he summons them. The ministers qf the Gospel, when they knock at men's hearts and bid them come to Christ, are turned off with very slight answers : but, pray bethink your selves, what excuse, what answer yqu will make, when an angel shall come into the grave to you, and knock at your coffins, and bid you arise, and come to judgment. It were well for many, if they could then excuse themselves from appearing; or else, at their appearing, excuse themselves from their guilt and con demnation. But nq excuse will then be taken. I beseech you, censider, that, in that day, and that day is cqming, nothing will avail you but Faith and Obedience : and, as you would plead it then, se be persuaded to practise it now. x. The Tenth and last General to be treated on, in handling this subject, is, the PRONOUNCING and EXECUTING OF THE SENTENCE, which shall be the last decisien of our eter nal state. And that isTwofold : either of absolution, or qf cendemnation : either, Come, ye blessed ; ov Go, ye cursed. These two sentences shall proceed and the executiqn of them be proportioned, ac cording to the difference of men's lives and works. All shall come forth, saith our Saviour : they, that have done good, unto the resur rection of life ; and they, thai have done evil, unto the resurrection qf damnation: John v. 29. And this, the text expresseth to be a receiving according to what we have done in the body; whether it be good or bad. So, Rev. xx. 12. The dead were judged according to their works. 1 36 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. Fqr the more distinct prcsecuticn pf this particular, there are two terms in the text, which require a more exact consideration : the one, is that proportioning term, according : the other, is that of receiving ; which, being here peculiarly spoken of the Day of Judgment, must necessarily imply the receiving, either of a blessed reward, or of a deserved punishment. If we consider the former term, According to that he hath done: this may admit of a Twofold Distinction. First Distinction. Men shall be judged according to their works : either quoad speciem operum ; or, else, quoad diversunx gradum in eadem specie : either According to the different Kind of their works ; or else, According to the different Degrees of them, in the same kind. Second Distinction. According to our Wprks, may denote, that the recompence of our works, shall be proportipned, either According to their own merit ; or else Accerding to Gpd's Cpvenant and Agreement with us. Third Distinction. And, if we consider the Reward and Punish ment, which we shall receive according to our works ; this also is either Partial and incomplete ; or, else Perfect, and entire. Out of these distinctions thus premised, I intend to form my following discourse. i. Therefore, the last definitive sentence shall pass upon all ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS ; that IS, either ACCORDING TO THE KINDS, or THE DEGREES of them. 1. Though, in a natural respect, there be various and number less Kinds of works : yet in morality, there are but two especially ; and they are, Good and Bad. Concerningindifferentacticns,thetexttakesnecognizance;ncr ' ' shall I, at present, meddle with them : for, indeed, there shall ne such actions be found at the Day cf Judgment; but these, which are different m themselves, are determined, and made goed pr bad, by their circumstances; and, as such, shall be acceunted for at the Last Day. Now, in these two great kinds, of Goed and Bad, which divide between them whatspever is dpne in the world, there are OF THE LAST JUDGMENT, 131 several degrees and advances. They are net all like Jeremiah's figs ; the geod, incomparably good ; and the evil, excessively evil : but some good actions are better, and some bad are worse, than others. And this difference proceeds ; in godly men, from the mixture of corruption with grace, whereby they cannot do the good they would ; and, in ungodly men, from conscience or some more external restraint, whereby they dare not do the evil they would. Now, that a different sentence shall proceed upen men at the last, according to the different kinds of their works ; that those, who have done good, shall receive good, and those, who have done eVil, shall accordingly receive evil; is so clear, that he must be a very atheist, and destroy the foundation, not only of the Christian, but ef all religion, .(for all religion is built upon this belief) who shall go about to deny it. 1 need not quote Scripture, though it be in nothing more abounding than in this. The very first springings of natural light, and the unpremedi tated resolves of reason, dictate this to be an unquestioned truth. For, from wheuce proceed those pale fears and grim thoughts, those heart-smitings and stinging regrets, winch sometimes pierce and rack the souls even of the most wicked wretches, butr from a sad app'rehension, that the Great God will recompense unto them evil for evil ? which apprehension they are not dis puted into, by any far-fetched arguments and long consequen ces; but it strongly masters their understandings and consciences, by its own downright and native evidence. 2. Leaving them, therefore, to the horror of that reflection, let us, in the second place, consider the proportioning ofthe last sentence, according to the several Degrees of good and evil that shall be found in men's works. Herein, something is probable, and something demonstratively certain. (1) It may very piously and profitably, and with great pro bability, be believed, that there shall be a distribution pf different degrees ef glory, according to the different exercise of grace and holiness in this life. Learned men are at some variance, in this particular. The most affirm it : and others de not indeed so much deny it, as they do, that there is any thing iii Scripture upon which we may fix a firm and sure persuasion, that it shall be so ; and among these, are Peter Martyr, and Spanhemius, and Cameron. Those^ I 88 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STINu. whe are for the affirmative, alledge, Matt. v. 19. He, that breaks the least commandment, shall be the feast in the kingdom of God. To this it is answered by others, that the Kingdom of Heaven here, may be well taken for the Kingdom of Grace in the Church on earth ; and so to be least in it, infers no inferiority in glory : or, if it be taken for the Kingdom of Glory ; yet, that to be least in it, implies here a total exclusion from it. That parable, Matt. xxv. of the different rewards accerding tp the different improvement of the talents, is produced to favour a difference in degrees of glory : those of the contrary persuasion say, that, if parables be in this case argumentative, they may well oppose that other parable, Matt. xx. against degrees of glory, where each of the labourers received a like reward, though for different labour : each man had his penny ; as well he, who came in at the eleventh hour, as they, who had borne the heat and burden of the day. Again, it is pleaded, from 1 Cor. xv. 41, 42, where the Apostle saith, that as one star, differ eth from another star in glory, so also is the resurrection qf the dead ; that, therefore, there are degrees of glory: but to this it is truly replied, that the Apostles peaks not there concerning the difference between one glorified body and another ; but of the difference that is in one and the same body, between its state of corruption before, and incorruption after, the resurrection : As one star differethfrom another star in glory, so doth the body differ when it is raised, from what it was, when it was sown. It was sown a corruptible body, it is raised incorruptible, &c. Many such arguments are alledged, and many such answers are shaped to them. Which of these two is the very truth, I shall not presume positively to determine. Only, to me, it seems ¦more according to the plain and obvious sense ofthe Scriptures, that there shall be different degrees of glory, as a correspondent reward unto men's different works of grace : not only that our good works shall receive a good recompence ; but that, accord ing to the exalted measures of goodness that is in them, such, likewise, shall be our exaltation in the heavenly kingdom; where, possibly, there shall be no parity, as there is no confusion. And, possibly, this may be intimated, 1- Cor. iii. 8. where the Apostle tells us,' that every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour. But, howsoever, whether there shall be such a difference or not, we may make a Twofold good Use of it. OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 189 [1] If there shall be different degrees of glory, how should this excite us to strive after an Eminency ill Holiness ! Certainly, it is a commendable and a worthy ambition, to covet the highest place in heaven; to desire tq sit next to che- rubims and seraphims : nay, if it were possible, to get the same place in heaven, which St. John, the beloved disciple held here on earth, to lean in the very bo?om cf Christ himself. If in crease cf grace will propcrtiqnably increase glcry, what Chris tian will be sq ill a husband, as npt to put that grace tp use, that shall at last bring him in so great interest and advantage? To be ccntinually in the exercise ef hqliness, is to be continually adorning our own crown, and setting new gems into it : it is but tq irradiate our diadem cf stars, with a lustre that shall out* shine the sun in its brightness; and to make that glqry pon derous and weighty, the least measures ef which are in them selves precious and inestimable. [2] If there shall be no different degrees of glory, but all shall be of the same pitch and stature ; think then, O Christian ! what infinite comfort it will be, that, though now thy graces are weak, thy fears perplexing, thy corruptions restless, thy tempta tions violent and impetucus ; though now theu seest thyself ex* felled by many, whom thou admirest, and fain wouldst imitate : yet, at this day, the same sentence shall absolve thee, the same heaven receive thee, the same glory crown thee, as shall absolve, receive, and crown the holy Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, the mqst eminent and singular Saints, fpr ever. Sp that, whether you are persuaded, that there shall be different degrees of glqry in heaven or nqt ; yet it yields matter of Metive, or of Comfort. But, to leave this, (2) Jt is certain, that the last sentence and the execution of it shall be proportioned, according to the different degrees of evil, of which wicked men shall be guilty. The Scripture is express for this : Luke xii. 47, 48. He, which knew his master's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes : But he, that knezv it not, that is, if his, ignorance of it be invincible, shall be beaten with few stripes : so, Mat. xi. 22, 24* It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, .for Sodom and Gomorrha, in the. Day of Judgment, than for Chorazin and Bethsaida. Every vessel of wrath shall, indeed, be brimful; but some vessels shall contain much more wrath than others : God shall, on purpose, widen and enlarge their capacities, that he may pour into them much move of bis fury and. intlignatioa, 190 bEATlTblSARMED OF ITS STING. who have deserved more at his hands. Indeed, the wrath, nay the least frown of an Almighty God, is able to sink the stoutest of his creatures into nothing. But, herein, is the dreadful se verity of God seen, that tlie more power he will put forth in punishing them, the mere pbwer he will put forth in supporting them ; and will, as it Were, hold them up in one hahd, white he scourgeth them with the other. And, if there shall be such a differerice of punishments in hell, according to the, difference of crimes here on earth, oh then! what desperate folly and triad ness are mest wicked men guilty qf, whq so gq qn, adding iniquity td iniquity, as if they Were resolved, a single damnation should not content them ! Is it, that they despair of mercy, and think that it is but in vain for them to scruple sinning, who are sure of condemnation ? why, though they had ground for such a despair, which no man hath, who will speedily repent and be converted ; though they had heard God swear aloud, in his wrath, that they, of all men living, should never enter into his rest : yet, it is a degree be yond all madness, for men therefore te aggravate their damna tion, because they cannot escape it. Believe it, the least degree of God's everlasting wrath is an intolerable hell : and what do you else, by demeriting additional degrees by your repeated sins, but heap up many hells for your torments ; and heat the infernal furnace, into which you must be cast, sevenfold hotter than else it would be ? There is not the smallest part of tormertt which the damned now suffer, but, were they for a while re prieved and let out of hell, they would do mqre to escape, than the most holy and laborious Christians do to obtain all heaven itself. All this I speak upon supposition : for, assurance of sal vation there may be, but ef damnation there cannot be, in this life : and, yet, were it supposed that men could be assured that their souls vere cut out on purpose to make firebrands for hell; yet, hereupon, desperately to harden themselves in sin, what were it else, hut to set these brands a-burning at both ends ? what were it else, but, because they must be prisoners, to strive what they can to deserve the dungeon ? Thus, then, we have seen how men must be judged according tq their wqrks : bqth as to the Kinds qf them^ which are good or evil; receiving the good of Salvation according to the good of obedience, and the evil of damnation according to the evil of sin : and, likewise, accerding tc the Degrees of their works, in each kind ; and I have shewed it to be probable, that, pf those, Of THE LAST JUDGMENT. VJi whose works have been more holy, the glory shall be rnore ex cellent ; and to be certain, that of those, whose works have been more sinful, the punishment shall, accordingly, be more in tolerable. ii. The Second Distinction premised was this : That, to be judged according to our works, may denote, that the recom pence of our works shall be made, either as they are consi dered IN THEMSELVES AND THEIR OWN 1NTR1NSICAL WORTH AND merit ; or, else, as th1ey ARE CONSIDERED in god's covenant and agreement made with us ; which coveuant premiseth a blessed reward to our good works, and threateneth a severe pu nishment to our evil works. Andj here, I shall briefly lay down these Two Positions. 1. Wicked men shall, in this Great Day, be judged according to ihe proper demerits qf their own works. And what that is, the Apostle informs us, Rom. vi. 23. The wages of sin is death. And, certainly, God will not be unjust, in withholding deserved wages from any of the workers of ini quity : but, because they have not as yet received any thing in propqrtiqn accqrding to their deserts, therefore divine justice reserves it for them in hell. The heaviest punishments which they can endure upon earth, be they outward tormenls or in ward horrors, are but small drops and foretastes of that full cup of wrath and trembling, that God will put into their hands, and force them to drink qf for ever. And, therefore, look what Christ suffered for believers, what wrath, fears, and agenies met upen him, as the desert of the sins pf thpse in whese place he stoed ; the same shall all wicked and ungodly men bear in their own persons : yea, and possibly much more, inasmuch as there is no dignity in their persons to take off from the degrees of their punishments, as there was in him : it was more satisfactory to justice, for a Divine Person, who was God as well as Man, to suffer less, than it can be for such ccntemptible creatures as men are, tq suffer more : and, therefore, if ever any wicked man was affected with a deep sense of what Christ underwent, let him know, that those sufferings do but represent, as in a map, how great and insupportable his shall be, when God shall come tp render unto him according to his doings. And, yet, let ma, add this too, that still there is more demerit in their sins, than the utmost extremity of punishment can reach : sin is an infinite evil; and doth, in itself, merit every way infinite punishment, 192 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. infinite in intention as well as extension, in degree as well as duration: yea, the least sin, in itself, deserves as much or more wrath, than the greatest is punished with ; so that the very damned themselves may, with truth, say, that they are punished less than their iniquities deserve. It is not possible for a finite creature to bear the full strokes of an infinite justice : • and, therefore, God limits his justice within the compass of their limited natures ; and brings it to a stint infinitely below their deserts, and yet infinitely above their patience to endure.' Oh; how much cursed malignity is there in sin ! those sins, which rash and foolish man plays and dallies with; that lay him under as much wrath as can be heaped upon him, and deserve infinitely more ! That, is the First Position : Wicked Men shall be judged ac cording to the Desert of their Works. 2. Believers shall be judged according to their works ; not con sidered in their own, desert, but as considered in God's gracious covenant and agreement made with them. In strict propriety of speech, merit connotes the dueness of the reward to our actions, antecedently tc any compact, or pro mise made to reward them. Now, if we consider the holiest and best works of the holiest and best Christians, they are only acceptable and rewardable with eternal life, as they are under God's gracious promise in Christ; and therefpre cannpt be, in themselves, meritorious : and, if we consider them as abstracted from this promise, they are so far from being rewardable with life, that they are punishable, for the defects of them, with eternal death. God, indeed, is become a debtor to our faith and obe dience ; but St. Augustin well resolves us hew : Deus debitorem se fecit, non aliquid accipiendo, sed liberaliter promitt-endo : " God hath made himself a debtor, not by receiving any thing from us, but by promising liberally to us :" and, so, he is a debtor rather to his own word, than to our works. This, therefore, is the unspeakable happiness of true believers : their weak and imperfect works, if done in faith and sincerity, shall, through Christ's merits and God's promise, be as fully rewarded, as if they were perfect and unspotted obedience. iii. We must distinguish of the reward and punishment,- which men shall receive according to their wqrks : fqr that is either partial and incomplete ; er, else, perfect and entire : the one is tq be received at every man's particular, the ether at OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 193' the last and universal judgment : accerding as we eurselves are, either partial pr complete, so will be our recompence. 1. Before the Resurrection and General Judgment, only one part of man is capable either of glory or torment ; and that is his soul. That, therefore, I call a partial reward, that crowns but a part of man ; and that a partial punishment, which is in flicted but on a part, viz. the separate soul. The bodies, even of thpse, whose souls shall be as far distant as heaven and hell, must lie down and sleep together in the same common bed cf earth : the saints, whqse squls now shine in heaven as the sun in the firmament, if we ransack their graves, we shall net find their dust more glittering than others ; nor are the carcases of those sinners, whose souls now burn as firebrands in hell, more black and sooty. The bodies, therefore, of men, shall not re ceive according to what hath been done in them, until the con summation of all things. Only some few exceptions the Scrip ture hath noted ; as Enoch, Elias, and (as St. Augustin in one of his Epistles supposeth) those saints whp were raised at Christ's death, whq have already received their entire happiness Indeed, as when Christ lay in the grave, there was still the cqntinuance of the hypostatical unicn between his dead bqdy and his everliving Gqdhead ; so is there a continuance of the mystical union between the dead bedies, yea between every scattered and loose dust of the saints, and the glorious persOn of Jesus Christ. Now this, though it be an exceeding great ho nour, yet we cannot sc much reckcn any part of the reward, as an assurance of the whole : for, because the bodies of the saints, while separated from their souls, are yet united by an invisible and ineffable band to their Saviour ; therefore, do they now rest in hqpe, and shall hereafter arise in glqry : Recause I live, ye shall live also : Jehn xiV. 19 : and, of all, which the Fa ther hath given me, I must lose nothing, but must raise it up again at the Last Day: John vi. 39. Christ's miraculous re surrection was performed within three days after his death ; but his mystical resurrecticn shall not be until the end cf the wqrld: when the saints of all ages shall together rise cut qf their graves, then riseth Christ's mystical bedy : and tq this very end shall it rise, that the saints, being themselves ccmplete and entire, may then receive a complete and entire happiness; that, as they have en earth glorified Gqd bqth in body and soul, so in heaven both body and soul may be glprified with God. It is worth ob- YOL. IV. o 194 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. serving, how gradually God leads his people into the possession of glory ; .as if he would inure them to bear such an exceeding and eternal weight, as the Apestle calls it, by lifting smaller parcels of it beforehand : and, therefore, in this life, they only receive the earnest of their inheritance, which are the graces and comforts of the Spirit: Eph. i. 13, 14: at death, they re ceive vast incomes of glory, as much as their souls alone can contain : yet this is but only part of payment, upon whioh they live splendidly, until the resurrection of their bodies and the process of the general judgment : and, then, as the body shall again receive its soul, so both spuI and body shall together receive their full reward ; the uttermost farthing of all that Christ hath purchased, the Gnspel promised, or-themselves expected. So is it, also, with wicked men : sin and the terrors qf a guilty con science are the earnest of hell, in this life : the torments of the separate soul are part of payment : but, still, justice is behind hand with them, till the resurrection of their bodies ; and then shall they receive the full measures of wrath, pressed down and »unning over. And, indeed, it is but meet, that these bodies should be consqrts with the squl in receiving, as they have been in deing, gqod or evil. 2. Now, what this consummate reward and punishment shall be, is altogether inconceivable. (1) The Complete Reward, which is reserved fbr believers, is inconceivably glorious. It is that, which neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard ; neither hath it, er can it, enter into the heart qf man to conceive, what God hath prepared for those that love him ; scarce thoroughly apprehended by the blessed themselves : and, therefere, fer us, whp are yet at distance, tq attempt a descriptien, were but to sully and diminish it. And, therefere, as Ged, who is infinite and incomprehensible, is better known to us by negatives than affirmatives, by what he is not than by what he is ; so also is heaven : you may best conceive it, when we tell you, there shall be nothing to fright, nothing to afflict, nothing to grieve, nothing to lessen the highest, fullest, sweetest delight and satisfaction, that the vast ancf capacious soul of man is able, either to receive or to imagine: there, we shall be freed from all the, cares and sorrows, the pains and miseries of this life: we shall be got above the reach of Satan's temptations, and out of the danger of his fiery darts : we shall be above the clouds of despondency • OF tHe Last judgment. 195 anct desertion : there, all tears shall be wiped from bur eyes ; and all sin, the cause of those tears, rooted out of our hearts :t and there, finally, we shall neither want any thing that we would have, nor desire any thing but what we have. Add to this, the infinite happiness of our vision and fruition of God : we shall there see the Father of Lights, by his own rays ; we shall see the Sun of Righteousness, lying in the bosom of the Father of Lights : we shall feel the eternal warmth and influence of the Holy Ghost, springing from both these lights: there, you shall see God no longer darkly through a glass, but face to face ; without interruption, without obscurity : and, if it now cause such joy, when God doth but sometink-s beam in a half-glance of himself into the soul, oh! then, within what bounds can our joy contain itself, when we shall fix our eyes upon God's, and lie under the free and unchecked rays of the Dt:ty beating full upon us, and be ourselves made strong enough to bear them ? there, we shall corporeally approach nigh unto Christ's glouous body, and put our fingers into the print of the nails, and thrust our hands into his side ; and search and sound those blessed fountains, from whence flowed forth his blqod and our salvation : there we shall for ever converse with innumerable hosts of holy angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect ; ' and join with the assembly ofthe first-Born Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, and holy Martyrs of all ages, since the beginning of tbe world ; and, with infinite delight, mutually rehearse the mercies of the Great God, and sing his praises : there, we shall perpetually exult" in the smiles of God, and live in eternal ec stasies and raptures ; such as we never knew what they meant, no not when we were here most spiritual. And, when God hath wound off time from its great bottom, when he shall sound the Resurrection, and summon to Judgment; then, shall our happy spuIs meet their expecting bedies, with unspeakable joy and vital embraces: these lumps of clay shall be refined and clari fied: the glories of the soul shall shine through them; and they themselves shine with a lustre, clear as the sun in its bright ness. And, then, both soul and body shall enter into the entire fruition of those joys, the greatness of which we cannot ex press, but only by saying, we know not what they are. This is the inconceivable Reward of the Godly. (2) As the reward of the godly shall be inconceivably glo- o 2 196 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. rious ; so the Doom, that shall pass upon all the Wicked and Ungodly of the world, shall be unspeakably full of terror. And this doom contains in it a Twofold Punishment : the one, privative ; the Poena Damni, or Punishment of Loss : the other, positive ; er Poena Sensus, the Punishment ef Sense. The in flicting of these twe will be the full execution of the last sen tence upon them. [ 1 ] As for the Punishment of Loss, we may consider it, either in respect of these things, which ence they had ; er in respect qf thqse things, which they might have had, had it net been through their own wilful default. 1st. If we consider their loss in regard of the things which once they had, so it is Twofold : for they have lost that, which they counted their happiness; and they have lost that, which might have made them truly happy. ( 1st) They lose that, which they accounted their happiness : that is, the world ; the pleasures, profits, and honours of the world. These are the things, which send many to bell'; but do not descend with them thither, to relieve and comfort them there. Dives riots, on earth ; but, in hell, cannot obtain one poor trem bling drop of water, to cool his flaming tongue. Tell me, what will it avail you, that you have lived in all affluence and voluptuousness ? The time is coming, when these things shall be no more, or no more yours. And, oh, then ! tell me, what sad losers will those men be, who have lost their souls to gain the world ; and yet must, at last, lose the wOrld together with their souls ! (2dly) They shall be punished with the loss of that, which might have made them truly and eternally happy, had they been wise to improve it. Here, God strives with them by his Word, by his Spirit, by his Patience, by his Providence: he follows them from day to day, from ordinance to ordinance ; with threatenings, with ex hortations, with promises, with expostulations: Why will ye die? Turn ye, and live : for, as I live, saith the Lord, I delight not in the death of him that dieth: yea, God sends his Spirit to strive with them ; sets on conscience to fright them ; and all to reduce them: and this might have proved their salvatipn, had they wisely managed it. But, in hell, all this too is lost : there, no day of mercy riseth upon them; no patience, nor long-suffer_ OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 1'9"7 irig ; no awakening providences, nor converting ordinances ; her any possibility of a better estate. And, certainly, if there be any reflection in hell, that will cut the soul to the quick, it will be this : that once it enjoyed such fair oppqrtunities and over tures fer heaven, but neglected them ; and now hath lost them •' for ever, fqr ever, without hqpe. Thus the)- shall lose what they once enjoyed. 2dly. Their greatest loss, is of those things, which they might have enjoyed: and that is, in a word, whatsoever happiness and glory the saints stand possessed of in heaven. (Ist) They lose the presence and enjoyment of God, which is the very heaven of heaven itself. Indeed, heaven is not heaven, without him ; and hell could net be hell, were God there. It is true, God is present with the damned in his essence, for, if I descend into hell, saith the Psalmist, thou art there ,- and he is present, by his power, to torment them : but the comfortable presence of God they are for ever cut off from. And, oh ! for the soul to be cut off from God, is as great a loss, as for the stream to be cut off from the fountain, or a beam to be cut off from the sun. And, yet, this is the sentence of that Great Judgment, Depart from me, ye cursed. Depart from thee, Lord, who art every where ! ph ! whither shall we flee ? happy were it for us, could we depart from thee, where thou art not; but most wretched and accursed, that we must depart from thee, and yet be where thou thyself art: withdraw the presence cf thy wrath and power, qr vouchsafe the presence of thy love and favour, and it will be no hell whither thou sendest us. It is not so much the exquisite tor ments, as the loss qf Gqd's graciqus presence, that makes hell , unsufferable : were but God's gracious presence with them, the damned could lie down in everlasting flames, as comfortably as in beds of roses : but, to be deprived qf thqse glorious com munications qf Gqd which the saints enjoy, when they see him face tq face, without obscurity ; when they enjoy him continually, without interrupticn ; when they delight in him eternally, with- qut satiety ; this is a lqss, as the joys themselves are, altogether inconceivable. (2dly) They lose all that additiqnal glory, which the saints possess: a glorious habitatiqn, the palace of the Great King: gloriqus sqciety, saints and angels, yea and Christ himself: glc- rified bodies, sparkling with the radiancy of spiritual qualities. 1 98 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. This is that loss, which wicked men must, in- the Great and Last Day, sustain. [2] As for the second part of their Punishment, which is that of Sense, our Saviour briefly sums it up in Two things : the worm, that never dieth; and the fire, that never goeth out; Mark ix. 44: within, the worm gnaws them; and, without, the fire burns them. 1st.' Conscience is this never-dying worm, which shall eternally sting and torture them. And this is their misery, that they themselves must be their own merciless tormentors. Those, who have but in this life lain under the hprrors of despair, sadly know what an inexorable tyrant conscience is : how many dpth it now force, in the ex treme anguish and horror of their souls, to cry out, They are damned, they are damned ! Oh ! then, what anguish will it cause in hell, when they shall pronpunce themselves damned, and not lie ; and have nothing of hope or possibility left to mitigate it ! Every sin, which they have committed, shall, like so many vipers, crawl about their hearts, and gnaw them through tq all eternity, And the fretting review, that censcience will take cf them, shall give them no rest night ner day : " Here I lie burning for ever, for gratifying a base lust, for pleasing my brutish part but for a moment. Ah ! fool, where are those sins, those pleasures, which I prized above heaven, and ventured hell for ? What re mains of them all, but the anguish and horror ? And have I thus sold my soul for nothing? and am I thus irrecoverably lost? O Conscience ! thou stingest too late ; too late, now, for any thing but my torment. These thoughts I should have had while I lived, while I was tempted to such and such a cursed sin : then had they been seasonable ; but now too late, Conscience, tco late for ever !" Thus the never-dying worm shall sting them. But, 2dly. The unquenchable Fire shall burn them. This shall be their doom, Depart from me, ye cursed. Whi ther ? into everlasting fire. It is a fire so elevated, as shall be able to work upon the soul itself; and so tempered, as it shall not be able to consume the body, It is a darksome, gloomy fire ; that torments by its scorching, but yields nc comfort by its light. The Scripture calls it a furnace of fire, to shew its rage and fierceness ; and a lake of fire and brimstone, to shew its vast- ness. Imagine you saw a sea of molten brimstone set on fire, OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 199 and vomiting forth black and sooty flames, and thousands of wretched creatures plunging and wallowing in it, and you have Some resemblance of what Hell is. This is the complete and final reward of all impenitent sinners, which they shall receive, according to their works. Thus I have, in a Scanty manner, opened unto the reader the Doctrine of the Last Judgment. As we must, at the Last Day, so we have, in this discourse, seeu the Judge sitting upon his throne, and all the werld arraigned before him. We have heard what course of law God will proceed by: and what sentence shall be pronounced; of infinite joy " to the good, Come, ye blessed; of inconceivable terror to the wicked, Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. And now, this great assembly breaks up. Heaven throws open its gates to entertain "Christ, marching in triumph before all his elect: and hellenlargeth itself to swallow up devils and damned wretches ; whe, lpaden with a mest heavy dqqm, shall sink dqwn into that bettomless pit for ever and ever. And new, what shall I say ? Have I yet need tq add any thing that may aggravate the terrer qf this Great Day ? Methinks, fear and astonishment sheuld shake every heart before the Lord. The very devils quake and tremble under a dreadful expectaticn of this day : and shall devils tremble, and yet sinful man be fearless? ay, and cenfident ? Be astonished, O Hell! at this; that hell itself hath net such daring and undaunted sinners, as are upon earth ! Do you think you shall live for ever ? death is insensibly stealing away your breath ; and, after death, comes judgment : and, then, believe it, you shall hear the last sentence pronounced otherwise than in books and sermons. Now, you put far from you the evil day ; but this day will come appareled - all over with horror and affrightment on every side. That day is a day of wrath ; a day of trouble and heaviness ; a day of gloominess and darkness ; a day of clouds, storms, and black ness ; a day of the trumpet and alarm. The sun shall be dark ened, the moon turned into blqqd, and the pqwers of heaven shaken : the stars shall fall as withered leaves : the graves shall vomit up their dead : the heavens shall be shriveled, and the elements mclten. And then, Sinner! bear up, and be as stout as thqu canst. But, certainly, did men but believe these things, it cculd nqt be that they sheuld harden themselves in sin, as .they do: could iniquity so abound in the world ? would there 200 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING. be such rank and rotten discourse in every mouth, such oaths and curses, such riot and excess, such filthiness, villany, in justice, rapine, and oppression ;, did men believe, that the day is coming, wherein they must give a strict account for every idle word and vain thought? for whatsoever they have done in the body, whether it be good or bad ? , For shame ! therefore, let us either for ever strike it out of our creed, and profess that we do not believe, that Christ shall come to judge both the quick and the dead, or live better. Let that exhortation of the Apostle take place with us, (with which I shall conclude) 2 Pet. iii. 11, 12, Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness ; Looking for and hasting unto the coming qf the day of God; wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ? MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS, DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE USE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. COL. iii. 16. LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN YOU RICHLY IN ALL WISDOM. 1 his Epistle, if any other, is a rich mine of heavenly treasure ; and abounds, both in the discovery of Gospel Mysteries, anrJF the injunction of Christian Duties. It is furnished throughput with that, which may either instruct us in knowledge, or direct us in practice : and the Apostle, having already laid down many excellent things in order to both these ; and seeing it wculd b© an endless task tc discnurse unto them all the truths, or exhort them to all the duties of religion in particular ; therefore speaks compendiously in the words of my text, and refers them to the perfect system in which is contained an account of what a Christian ought to know or do ; and that is the Holy Scriptures: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. I. The WORDS OF THIS EXHORTATION are very full, and laden with weighty sense. We may resolve them into Two parts. The Nature and Substance of the exhortation, which is to a diligent study and plentiful knowledge of the Hply Scriptures. The Manner how we cught to be conversant in them : so that they may dwell in us richly in all wisdom. i. In the former, we may take notice, 1. That the Scripture is called the Word qf Christ; and that, upon a dcuble account : both because he is the Author that composed it ; and, likewise, because he is the Subject Matter of which it principally treats. 204 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. Now though, in both these respects, the Scriptures of the New Testament be more especially the Word of Christ ; yet, also, may the Scriptures of the Old Testament as truly and properly go under his name. For, (1) He is the Author of them all. He may well write this title upon our Bibles, " The Works of Jesus Christ." All the Prophets, before his incarnation, were but his amanuenses; and wrote only what he, by his Spirit, dictated tp them : 2 Pet. i. 21. Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man ; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost : and, certainly, the Holy Ghost inspired them by Christ's authority and commission ; and what he de clared, he took from him, and shewed it unto them : John xvi, 14. He shall receive qf mine, and shall shew it unto you. (2) Christ also is the principal Subject and Matter of the Whole Scripture. The sending of Christ a Saviour into the world, is that great business, which hath employed the counsel of the Father, the admiration and ministration of Angels, the tongues and pens of Prophets, Apostles, and Holy Men ef all ages, befere the Scriptures were written, when revelation or tradition was yet the only positive rule for faith and practice. The Patriarchs saw him by these : Abraham. ..saw my day, and was glad : John viii. 56. Afterwards, the people of the Jews saw him by types, promises, and prophecies recorded in the Scriptures : he was that excellent theme, which hath filled up many chapters of the Old Testament. As the first draught of a picture represents the features and proportion of the person, but afterwards are added the complexion and life tc it ; so is it here : the pens of the Prophets drew the first lineaments and prcporticn pf Christ, in the Old Testament ; and the pens of the Apostles and Evangelists have added the life and sweetness to it, in the New. Yea, Christ is so truly described in the Old Testament, by his life, by his death, by all the greater remarks of either, that, in his contest with the Jews, he appeals thither for a testimony : John v. 39. Search the Scriptures ; for. ...they are they which testify of me : and St. Peter, Acts iii. 24. affirms, that all the prophets.... as many as have spoken, have. ..foretold of these days : and, Acts x. 43. To him give all the prophets witness. Christ, who is the true expositor, being himself the true auther, makes them all speak his sense : Luke xxiv. 27. Beginning at Moses and all the pro-,- THE USE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. iOS phels, he expounded unto them in all tke Scriptures, tke sayings concerning himself. Sp that St. Chryspstom's pbservatien hplds true, that the Gespel was in the werld befere Christ : sp^uton fiev sv rots fiithois twv UpoQviTtav, etXa^cs Se ev t^j nvipvy^ttrt rm AmqoXwv : " It took root in the writings of the Prophets, but flowed forth in the preaching of the Apostles." So that, in both these respects, the Holy Scripture may well -be called the Word of Christ ; of Christ, as the Author, and as the Subject of it. 2. And, in both these, lies couched a very cogent argument, that may enforce this exhortation qf the Apostle, and excite tq a diligent study of the Scriptures. For, ( 1 ) Is Christ the Author of them ; and shall we not with all care and diligence peruse these books, which he hath composed ? The writings of men are valued according to the abilities of their authors : if they be of approved integrity, profpund knowledge, and solid judgment, their works are esteemed and studied. And shall we not be much more conversant in these, which are set forth by the Author, who is Truth itself and the Essential Wisdqm of the Father ? these, that were dictated by the immediate inspiratien qf the Hqly Ghest ; and writ, as it were, with a quill qf the Heavenly Deve ? (2) Christ is the Subject cf the Scriptures : and what is all ether learning and knewledge but beggarly elements, if com pared with this ? Here, we have the cabinet of Gcd's ccunsels unlccked ; the eternal purpqses qf his grace, in sending his Sen into the werld, publicly declared: here, we have the stupendqus history qf Gqd's beceming man, qf all the miracles which this Gqd-Man did upen earth, and qf all the cruelties which he suffered : here, we have the descriptiqn qf his victory in his resurrection, cf his triumph in his ascensicn, qf his glory in his sessien at the right- hand of the Majesty on High : surely, great is the mystery of godliness : God manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen qf angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory; as the Apqstle with admiration recounts it, 1 Tim. iii. 16 : and of all these wonderful passages, the Scripture gives us a perfect narrative. And what have the great wits of the world ever treated on, like this ; either for strangeness or truth ? all their learning is but idle and ccntemptible speculatien, compared to this great mystery pf a Crucified Savipur; who &)# MiSCe'ILANEOUS SERMONS'. subdued death by dying, and, without force, converted the world to believe a doctrine above reason. It was a very odd saying Of Tertullian, De Carrie Christi, cqnt. Marc, and yet there is something in it that strikes, Natus est Dei Filius : non pudel, quia pudendum est ; " The Son cf God was born: we blush not at it, because it is shameful." Mortuus est Dei Filius : ftforsus credib'ile est, quia ineptum est : " The Son of God died : it is credible, because it is unfit and unlikely it should be so.'* Sepullus resurrexit : certum est, quia impossibile est : " He rose from the dead : it is certainly true, because it is impossible," Now these unlikely and impossible things, judged so by humari reason, these deep things of God, the Scripture declares ; and declares them in such a manner, as convinceth even reasdn itself to assent to them, though it cannot comprehend them, If, therefore, you desire to know Christ and him crucified, and those mysterious doctrines which the wit of man could not in vent, for it can hardly receive them, be conversant in the Holy Scriptures : for they are the word of Christ ; and reveal all the wonders of wisdom and knowledge, to which all the wisdom of the world is but folly. This, therefore, I suppose, lies in the expression, tke Word of Christ : viz. the Word, of which he is both the Authbr and the Subject. Ii. We may observe, in the text, the manner, how we ought to be conversant in the Scriptures : and that is set forth very significantly. 1. Let the word of- Christ dwell in you. Do not only give it the hearing, as a strange and marvellous story. Let not the memory of it vanish out of your minds, as soon as the sound of the words vanisheth out of your ears ; but lay it up and lodge it in ypur hearts: make it familiar and domestic to you ; that it may be as well knowri to you, as those that live in the same house with you. Read it, ponder and meditate upen it, till you have transcribed the Bible upon your hearts, and faithfully printed it in your memories. 2. Let it dwell in you richly pr copiously. Which may be taken, either objectively or subjectively. Objectively. And sq the sense is, that all the werd qf God shquld dwell in us. Centent nqt yeurselves with some part of it : that you read the Gospel, or New Testament, but neglect the THE USE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 5p1 Old ; as is the practice of some flush netionists : or, that you know the historical part of both, but neglect the doctrinal; which is the fond' and childish custom of some, who read the Scripture as they would romances, skipping ever tlie tncra.1 discourses as impertinentto tiie story. But the word of Christ dwells in us richly, \\ lien we receive the whole doctrine con tained in it, and are diligent in rev Vi:i^ the Prophets, Evan gelists, Apostle--, every part and parcel of the heavenly-revealed truth. Agairi, the word of Christ may dwell in us richly in the latter sense, or Subjectively. And so it doth, when nqt enly every part of it dwells in us, but when it dwells also in every part of us: in ou? memories, to retain it; in nur minds, to meditate ou it ; in our affectiens, to lqve it ; and in eur lives, tq praetiseit. Then doth the word of Christ dwell richly, or abundantly, in us. 3. Let it dwell richly in all wisdom. The highest wisdem is, truly tq knew and to serve Gnd; in order to eternal life. Now, saith the Apostle, so acquaint, yourselves with the Scriptures, that you may from thence learn true wisdom ; the saving knqwledge, bqth qf what is to be believed and what is to be done, in order to the obtaining of everlasting happiness. To be conversant in it so as only to know what it contains, is not wisdom but folly. But then it dwells in you in wisdom, when you study it, tq practise it ; when ycu endeavour tq know the rule, that you may obey it. This is wisdom, here ; and will end in happiness, hereafter. And, thus, you have the words of my text explained! II. In handling this subject, I shall only pursue the design of the Apostle, and endeavour to PRESS THOSE EXHORTA TIONS upon you. And, indeed, I need not many arguments to persuade those, who have already any acquaintance with these sacred oracles, still to be conversant in them, Have you not yourselves found such clear light, such attractive sweetness and persuasive elo quence in the words of God, that all, which the tongue of man can utter for it, falls infinitely short of what it speaks on in its own behalf? Who of us have not found direction from it in cases of difficulty, solution of doubts, support under afflictions, com fort under sadness, strength against temptation, quickenings of grace, warmth of affection ? and, in brief, whatspever we could St08 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. expect from the mercy of God, have we not found it in the Scriptures ? And shall we need further to commend it to you by arguments, since it hath commended itself by manifold expe riences ? But, so it is, that the Devil knows we are disarmed and disabled, if once he can wrest the sword of the Spirit from us, as the Apostle calls it ; and therefore labours all he can, to strike the Bible out of our hands : or, if we do read it, he strives to put on such false spectacles, as shall misrepresent every thing to us, and possess us with prejudice and ebjectipns against it. i. I shall, therefore, before I proceed any farther, encounter WITH SOME OF THOSE PREJUDICED OPINIONS, WHICH MAKE THIS A CLASPED AND SEALED BOOK TO MANY. 1 . Some may fear, lest the study and knowledge of the Scriptures should only aggravate their sin and condemnation. On the one hand, the precepts of the Law are so various, the duties so difficult, and flesh and blcod so infirm and opposite;) that they cast a despairing look at them, as impossible to be .fulfilled. On the other hand, they have been told that know ledge, without practice, will expose them to damnation withnut excuse : they have read, James iv. 17. To him, that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin ; it is an emphatical arid weighty sin : and, Luke xii. 47. He, that knew his master's will, and did it net shall be beaten with many stripes : this they have read, and this deters them from reading any farther: if they cannct practise what they know, and if to know and *iot practise be only to inflame their last reckening and to make their torments more intolerable, it is best for them to muffle up themselves in a safe ignorance. To this I answer, (1) Though the word abcunds with multitudes qf sublime precepts and difficult duties, yet this is nq discouragement from the study of it. For, consider, that this same word is not pnly a light to disepver what you eught to dq, but a help tq enable yeu tq de it. It is the very means, that God appointed to overcome your averseness, and assist your weakness. And, if ever this' be effected, it must, in an crdinary way, be, by conversing with the Scriptures. That sick man hath lost his reason, as well as his health, who shpuld refuse to take physic, because', if it dcth not work, it will but make him the worse : the way to make it THE USE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 203 work is, by taking it. So, it is a distempered kind of arguing against the Word of God, the physic of our spuls, that it is mortal and deadly, if it doth not work into practice : the way to make it work into practice, is, te take it first into pur knpwledge. It is true, it were a great discouragement, if the Scripture only shewed you how much wqrk you have to do, what temptations to resist, what corruptions tq mortify, what graces te exercise, what duties tq perferm ; and left all that upqn your own hands : but the' leaves of the Bible are the leaves of the Tree of Life, as well as of the Tree of Knowledge: they strengthen, as well as enlighten ; and have net qnly a ccmmand- ing, but an assisting office. And this the Scripture dcth Twq ways. [1] It directs where we may receive supplies of ability, for the performance of whatsoever it requires. It leads thee unto Christj who is able to furnish thee with supernatural strength, for supernatural duties : his treasury stands open for all comers ; and his almighty power stands engaged to assist those, who rely upon it. Be not discouraged, therefore : he, who finds us work, finds us strength; and the same Scripture, that enjoins us. obedience,- exhibits God's pro mise ef bestowing upon us the power of obeying : thpu, whp' workest all our works in us, and for us: Isa. xxvi. 12: and, Work out your own salvation.. .For it is God, which worketh in you both to will and to do : Phil. ii. 12, 13. Why then should we so complain of hard sayings and grievous commandments ? Have we not God's omnipotence, obliged by promise to assist, in the same words, wherein we are commanded te obey ? What saith the Apostle ? I am able to do all things through Christ strength ening wie: Phil. iv. 13. When, in reading the Scripture, thou meetest with difficult and rigcrous duties, the severity ef morti fication, the self -cruelty of plucking out right-eyes and cutting off right-hands ; commend thyself to thpse promises of aid and assistance, which the same Scripture holds forth, and lift up thy heart in that divine meditation of St. Augustin, " Lord, give what thou commandest, and command what thou pleasest." Whilst thou thus duly dependest on Christ's strength and makest use of thine own, it is as much his honour aud office to enable thee, as it is thy duty to perform what he requires. [2] The Scripture, as it directs us to rely on the strength of Christ ; so it is" a means, which God hath apppinted, tp quicken' VOL, iv. v 210 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. and excite our own strength and power, to the discharge of those duties which it discovers. Wherefore are these pressing exhortations and those dreadful threatenings, every where so dispersed up and down iii the Book of God, but that, when we are slow and dull and drowsy, the Spirit may, by these, as by so many goads, rouse us, and make us start into duty ? Such a spiritual sloth hath benumbed us, that, without this quickening, we should not be diligent in the work of the Lord : and therefore David prays, Ps. cxix. 88. Quicken me.... so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth. But yet it is also the word itself, that quickens us to the obedience of the word : Ps. cxix. 50. Thy word hath quickened me : and, indeed, if you can come from reading the word, that so abounds with promises, with threatenings, with rational arguments, with pathetic expostulations, winning insinuations, importunate in- treaties, heroic examples propounded to our imitation, with all the persuasive art and rhetoric which it becometh the Majesty of the Great God to use; if you can read this word, and yet find from it no warmth of affection, no quickening' to duty ; let me tell you, you either read it without attending to it, or else attend without believing it. It is, therefore, no discouragement from searching and stud3Ting tbe Scripture, that its commands be many and difficult; for It directs you whither to go for. pro mised strength: and, the more you converse with it, the more will you find your hearts quickened to a due pbedience pf it. That is the First Answer. But, then, (2) Whereas many think that it is better not to know, than not to practise ; we must bere distinguish of Ignorance. Which is of too kinds ; either invincible, or else affected. Invincible ignorance is such, as is conjoined with and proceeds from an utter impossibility of right information ; and it arisetb only from Two things. Absolute want of necessary instruction : or, Want of natural capacity to receive it. Affected Ignorance, is an ignorance under the means of know ledge ; and always ariseth from the neglect or contempt of them. Such is the ignorance of those, who do or may live where the Gospel is preached, and where by pains and industry they may arrive to the knowledge of the truth. Now, here, for ever to answer this objection, and to shew THE USE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 211 you how necessary knowledge is, I shall lay down these Two particulars. [l] I grant,' indeed, that Unpractised Knowledge is a far greater sin than Invincible Ignorance, and exposeth to a much sorer condemnation. Hell fire burns with rage, and meets with fuel fully prepared for it, when God dooms unto it a head full of light, and a heart full of lusts : those, who know God's will, but do it not, do but carry a torch with them to hell, to fire that pile which must for ever burn them. We have a common proverb, that Knowledge is no burden : but, believe it, if your knowledge in the Scripture be merely speculative, and overborne by the violence of unruly lusts, this whole Word will be no otherwise te you, than the burden of the Law, as the Prophets speak ; a burden, that will lie insupportably heavy upon you for ever : better far you were born under barbarism in some dark corner cf the earth, where the least gleam ef Gqspel light never shqne, and where the name qf Christ was never mentiqned, than to have this weighty book, a beqk which you have read and known, hung about ycu to sink you infinitely deeper in the burning lake, than a mill stone hung abqut yqu can do in the midst of the sea. What St. Peter speaks of Apostates, 2 Pet. ii. 21. is but too well applicable to the knowing sinner: It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn aside from the... commandment delivered unto them. How ! better not to 'have known it ? Why ! is there any possibility to escape the condemnation of hell, without the knowledge of the way of righteousness revealed in the Scriptures ? no ; damnation had been unavoidable without this knowledge ; yet it had been better they had nqt knqwn it : fqr here is the hyperbole of their misery ; better they had been damned, than to have knewn these truths and this rule of righteousness, and yet turn from the obedi ence and practice cf it. O fearful state ! O dreadful doom ! when a simple and genuine damnation shall be reckoned a gain and favour, in comparison of that exquisite one, which God will with all his wisdom prepare, and with all his power inflict, on those, who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that they, which commit such things, are worthy of death, do, notwithstand ing, persevere in them : He, that knew his master's will and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes : Luke xii. 47. and, If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin ; but v 2. 2 1 2 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. now they have no clokefor their sin, saith our Saviour, John xV. 22. The sin and punishment of those, who are invincibly ignorant, is as nothing compared to what the knowing sinners lie under. But, dp npt flatter yourselves : your ignprance is npt invincible* Are you not called to the knowledge of Christ ? do you not read or hear the Scriptures ? do you not enjoy Gespel-Ordi- nances and Ministry ? may you not, if you will be but diligent and industrious, understand what yqu are ignorant of? Certainly,- there is nothing, that can prove your igiiorance invincible, unless it be your obstinacy, that you will not be prevailed with to be instructed by all the' means of instruction. Your ignorance must, therefore, be affected: [2} Well, then, attend unte the Seccnd particular. Affected Igncrance is a greater sin, and will be mere sqrely punished at the Day ef Judgment, than Unpractised Knowledge. This kind of ignorance is so far from being pleadable as an excuse, that it is an aggravation of men's guilt, and will be sq qf their cendemnatiqn. There be but two things, that cqmplete a Christian; knowledge and practice. Beth these Gqd doth strictly require. Knowledge may be without practice ; but the practice of godliness cannot be without knqwledge. Ged, I say, requires them beth. Nqw judge ye which is the greatest sinner: he, whe labqurs after knowledge, though he neglect practice ; or he, whe neglects them bcth : he, whq- fulfils some part of God's will ; or he, who fulfils nothing of it. Certainly, in your own judgment, this latter deserves to be doubly punished; once, for .not doing his. duty ; and, again, for nqt knowing it, when he might. Truly, it is but just and rightequs, that God should, with the highest' disdain and indignation, say unto them, Depart from me, ye cursed, I know you not; since they have audaciously said unto him, Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. The Apostle, speaking of God's patience towards Heathens, who were invincibly ignorant of the truth tells us, Acts xvii. 30. that the times of this -ignorance, and yet- ah ignorance it was that put them upon no less than brutish idolatry, God winked at: ignorant persons in ignorant times, whilst as yet the world was destitute- of the means of knowledge and darkness overspread the face of it, God connived and winked at- but ignorant persons in knowing times, God doth not wink at but frown upqn. I am the mqre earnest in pressing this, because THE USE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 2lS I perceive that that vile and rotten principle, unworthy of a Christian who is a child of light and of the day, is taken up by many, That it is no matter how little we know, if we do but practise what we know : what a cheat hatjji the Devil put upon them ! hath not God commanded you to know more, as well as to practise what you know ? is it likely you should practise what you know upon God's command, who will not upon his com mand increase your knowledge ? And yet this is the usual plea of profane men : ask them why they frequent the public ordi nances so seldom, they will tell you, they know more by qne sermen, than they can practise : but how can such make con science of practising, who make ncne of knqwing, thqugh the same Gqd hath enjqined them bqth ? Yea, theugh they cannct practise what they know, yet let me tell them, that, fer thqse, whq live under the means ef grace and may be instructed if they will, it may he as great a sin to qmit a duty, nut qf neglect of knewing it, as out of neglect of doing it : yea, and much greater: we shouldoursel ves judge that servant, who, while we are speaking to him, stops his ears on purpose that he might net hear what we command him; We should, I say, judge him werthy pf mpre stripes, than he, who gives, diligent ear to our commands, although he will not obey them. So it is, in this case : thou, who stoppest thine ears, and wilt not so much as hear what the will of thy Lord and Master is, deservest much more punishment, than he, who takes pains to knqw it, although he doth it nat : jt is damnable, not to give God the service which he requires ; but, O insolence ! not to give God, thy Lord and Master, sp much as "the hearing ! hath Ged sent man into the werld, and sent the Scriptures ^ after, as letters of instruction what we should do for him here ; and will it, thinkest thou, be a sufficient excuse, when thou returnest to thy Lord, that it is true thou hadst instructions, but never openedst them, never lookedst into them ? what a fearful contempt is this cast upen the Great Gqd, never sq much as to enquire what his will is ! whether °r n° he epmmands that, which is fit and reasonable for us to perform ! And, therefore, refuse not to searqh and study the Scriptures, upon pretence that the knowledge of what you cannot fulfil will but aggravate your sin and condemnation : for, be assured pf it, greater sin and sorer condemnation can no man have, than he, who neglects the means cf knowledge, thereby to diseblige himself frem practice : and, again, the Scriptures were given to assist us in the performance of those duties, which 214 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. they require from us : they do not only inform the judgment, but quicken the will and affections, and strengthen the whcle soul to its duty. And this is in Answer to the First Objection. 2. Some will say, that the reading of the Scriptures possesseth them with strange fears, and fills them with incredible terrors. It raiseth up such dreadful apparitions of hell and the wrath of Gqd, as make them a terror to themselves. Tq this I answer, ( 1 ) It may be, thy ccnditicn is such as requires it. Pqssibly, thqu art in a state ef wrath ; and wquldst thou not be under the apprehensions of it ? Thou art under the guilt of thy sins; and, then, no wonder that the voice of God should be terrible unto thee. It is most unreasonable to hate the word, as Ahab hated Micaiah, because it prophesieth no good concern ing thee : alas ! what good can it speak, so lqng as thou thyself continuest evil ? (2) It is nqt sq much the Scripture, as thine ewn evil con science, that haunts and terrifies thee. When thou readest that dreadful threatening, Ezek. xviii. 4. The soul that sinneth, it shall die, there were nothing of terror in it, did not thy guilty conscience witness against thee, that thou art the man : it is this, that turns and levels all God's artillery against thee. Get, therefore, a conscience pacified upon good grounds ; and the very threatening of the Word will speak to thee, not so much terror from the dreadfulness of the wrath and condemnation denounced, as joy, that thou hast escaped it. (3) It may be, the Word of God, by working in thee the spirit of fear, is preparing thee for the Spirit of Adoption ; for that; usually, ushers in this. We find the gaoler trembling, before we find him rejoicing. There were mighty and rending winds, earthquakes, and fire, all terrible ; before there came the still voice, in which God was, 1 Kings xix. 12 : so God, in convictions, many times prepares the way by thunders and earthquakes, by the thundering of his word and the trembling of our own consciences, before he comes to us in the still and sweet voice of peace and comfort. And, certainly, they are much more afraid than hurt, whom God by his terrors thus frights into heaven. 3. But some may still say, their fears are so strong, that they will drive them into desperation or distraction, if they longer pore en those dreadful things, which the Scripture contains. THE USE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE?. 216 I answer, there is not qne line qr syllable in the whqle Bqok of Gqd, that gives the least ground for despair. Nay, there are the most supporting comforts, which a poor, fearful, tremb ling soul can desire : Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come unto me, and I will in no wise cast you out. Return unto the Lord.. ..and he will abundantly pardon : Isa, lv. 7. I, even I, am he, that blotteth out and forgetteth your sins ; and innumerable such like. Now, if men will only take the Sword of ihe Spirit to wound them, and nqt also the Balm ef the Spirit te heal them, they may, through their own fault, especially when they read the Scriptures with the Devil's ccmmentaries, fret themselves into despair. 4. Some may say, " Certainly, it cannot be thus necessary, that tke Word of Christ should dwell thus richly and abundantly in all Christians. It is requisite, indeed, for ministers, whose calling it is to teach and instruct others, that they should have this abundance of Scripture dwelling in them ; but, for us, who are to receive the law at their mouth, a competent knowledge in the fundamentals of religion may well be sufficient. We know, that Christ is the Son of God ; that he came into the world to save sinners ; and that, if we would be saved by him, we must believe in him : and such chief points of Christianity, which are sufficient to salvation." To this I answer, (1) God may well expect a more plentiful measure of the Word to dwell in ministers; because it is not only their general, but particular calling to peruse and study it. There is, therefore, a twofold fullness: a fullness of the private Christian ; and a fullness of the Treasurer or Steward, to whose charge the oracles of God are committed, and who is to communicate knewledge te the people. This being the minister's office, it is his duty, especially, to abound and to be enriched in the knowledge of the Scripture. But, (2) Wherefore must the Word of Christ dwell so richly in ministers ? Is it for themselves only, or is it to instruct their flock ? What ! And can it be necessary for them to teach, and yet unnecessary for you to learn ? Are they bqund tq search into the depth of Gospel-Mysteries, to inform you of them ; and is it enqugh for you, only to know the first principles and rudi ments? Certainly, whatseever Ged requires the minister to teach, that he requires you to learn. Now would you yourselves 216 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. judge the minister to have sufficiently discharged his duty, that sheuld only in the general preach, that we are all sinners ; that Christ, the Son of God, came into" the world to save us ; that the glory ef heaven and the torments of hell shall be the rewards of obedience, or disobedience ? if these few absolutely necessary and fundamental truths were all, you might well think the ministry to be a very easy or a very needless office. If, then, it is our duty to reveal to you.the whole counsel of God, and to withhold nothing from you of all those mysteries which the Scripture contains, whereof some give life, others light, some are vital, others ornamental ; you cannot with reason but con clude, that, if we are obliged te teach these things, you alsp are obliged to learn and know them. (3) It is a most destructive principle, that many have, through sloth and laziness, taken up, That a little knowledge will suffice to bring them to heaven. Certainly, God would never have revealed so many deep and profound mysteries in his Word, if it were not necessary that they should be known and believed. Shall we think all the rest of the Bible superfluous, except a few plain practical texts ? What God hath recorded in the Scripture, is written for our instruction. It is true, if we have net the means of instruction, nor are in a possibility of attaining it, a less measure of know ledge, answered by a conscientious practice, may suffice for our salvation : but, for us, whq have line upon line and pxecept upon precept, for us tq satisfy qurselves with a, few of the cemmqn principles, slighting the rest as nice and unnecessary pcints, for us to neglect knowledge, argues defect of grace ; for, where soever true grace is, there will be a most earnest endeavour tp grow daily in both : and yet multitudes every where, even of those whq abhor grosser sins, as swearing, drunkenness, and the like, yet take up with a few nqtions pf religien, that all are sinners and all must perish, unless Christ save them, &.c. This they knew, as soon as they knew any thing ; and more than this, they will net know : they will not trouble their heads with any farther discoveries, nor look deep into the mysteries qf gqdliness; contenting themselves that they have, as they think, knewledge eneugh to bring them to heaven. Let me tell them, that though, where there are riot means of knowledge, a little may suffice for salvation ; yet, where God doth afford plentiful means, the knowledge of those" very things becomes necessary to them, which others mighe safely be ignorant of. THE USE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 217 This is in Answer to the Fourth Objection. 5. Some may object, that they have found, by experience, that the study qf Scripture hath many times made them the worse : it hath alarmed their lusts, and put them in an uproar. Such and such suits were quiet, till they read in the Word a command against them : therefore, they are disceuraged, and think it best tp forbear the study of the Scripture ; since they find, that, by forbidding sin, it only rouses and awakens it. I answer, (1) This was St. Paul's very case : Rom. vii. 8. Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of con cupiscence. Now this effect is merely accidental, and is not to be imputed unto the holy Word of God, but to the wicked heart of man, which takes a hint (sc desperately corrupt is it) from God's forbidding sin, to put itself in mind of committing it. (2) Thou complainest, that the Word exciteth to ccrruptions; but it doth it no otherwise, than the sun draws smoke and stink out of a dunghill. It doth not increase, but unhappily excites them : the very same lusts lay hid in the heart before : there they lay, like so many vipers and serpents, asleep, till the light and warmth of the Word made them stir and crawl about. And this advan tage thou mayest make of it, that, when thy corruptions swarm thick about thee, upon the disturbance which the Law of God hath made among them, thou mayest thence see what a wicked heart and nature theu hast ; how much filth and mud there lieth at the bottom of it, which presently riseth upon the first stirring : this may make thee vile in thine own eyes, and deeply humbled under the sad and serious consideration of thy indwelling sin : it is the very use, which the Apostle makes, in the same case : Rom. vii. 24. O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? When humours are in mqtion, we soon perceive what is the state of our bpdy ; and when ccrrup- tipps are once stirred, we may thereby easily knpw the state and ccnditipn pf our spuIs. (3) The same Word, which deth thus pccasionally stir up sin, is the best means to beat it down. You may perceive by this, that there is semewhat in the Word, which is extremely contrary to your sins, since they dq so rise and arm against it : their great enemy is upon them ; and this alarm, that they take, is but before their overthrow. It may 2 1 S MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. be, the mud is enly stirred that it might be cast out, and yeur hearts cleansed from it. Be net disccuraged, therefore : for there is np means in the wprld, so apposite to the destruction and subduing of sin, as the Scripture ; though, at first, it may seem, instead of subduing sins, to strengthen them. 6. Many are discouraged from studying the Scriptures, because their memories are so treacherous and unfaithful, that they can retain nothing: when they have read the Scripture, and would recollect what they have read, they can give no acccunt of it, either to themselves or others. Nothing abides upon them : and there fore they thiuk it were as good give over, as thus continually to pour water into a sieve ; and inculcate truths upon such a leaky memory, where all runs out. This is, indeed^ the complaint of many. But, (1) This should rather put thee on a more frequent and diligent study of the Scripture, than discourage thee from it. More pains will supply this defect : thou must the eftetter prompt, and the oftener examine thyself, the more forgetful theu art. Memery is the soul's steward ; and, if thou findest it unfaithful, call it the oftener to account. Be still following it with line upon line and precept upon precept, and continually instil somewhat into it. A vessel, set under the tall of a spring, cannot leak faster than it is supplied : a constant dropping of this heavenly doctrine into the memory will keep it, that, though it be leaky, yet it never shall be empty. (2) Scripture truths, when they do not enrich the memory, yet may purify the heart. We must not measure the benefit we receive from the Word, according to what of it remains, but according to what effect it leaves behind. Lightning, than which nothing sooner vanisheth away, yet often breaks and melts the hardest and most firm bodies in its sudden passage. Such is the irresistible force of the Word : the Spirit often darts it through us : it seems but like a flash, and gone ; and yet it may break and melt down our hard hearts before it, when it leaves no impressiqn at all upon our memories. I have heard of qne, who, returning from an affect ing Sermcn, highly commended it to some; and, being demanded what he remembered of it, answered, " Truly, I remember nothing at all; but, only, while I heard it, it made me resolve to live better than ever I have done, and so by God's grace I will." Here was now a Sermon lest to the memory, but not to .the THE USE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 219 affections. To the same purpose, I have semewhere read a story of one, who ccmplained to an aged hely man, that he was much discouraged from reading the Scripture, because his me mory was sq slippery, that he cquld fasten ncthing upqn it which he read : the eld Hermit (for so as I remember he was de scribed) bid him take an earthen pitcher, and fill it with water : when he had done it, he bid him empty it again, and wipe it clean that nothing should remain in it; which when the ether had done, and wondered to what this tended, " Now," saith he, though there be nothing of the water remaining to it, yet the pitcher is cleaner than it was before : so, though thy memory retain nothing of the word thou readest, yet thy heart is the cleaner for its very passage through." (3) Never fear your memory ; only pray for good and pious affections. . Affection to the truths, which we read or hear, makes the memory retentive of them. Most men's memories are like jet, or electrical bodies, that attract and hold fast only straws or feathers, or such vain and light things : discourse to them of the affairs of the world, or some idle and romantic story, their memories retain this as faithfully as if it were engraven on leaves of brass ; whereas the great and important truths of the Gospel, the great mysteries of heaven and concernments of eternity, leave no more impression upon them, than words on the air in which tliey are spoken. Whence is this, but only that the one sort work themselves into the memory through the interest they have got in the affections, which the other cannct do ? had we but the same delight in heavenly objects, did we but receive the truth in the love of it, and mingle it with faith in the hear ing, this would fix that volatileness and flittiness of our memo ries, and make every truth as indelible, as it is necessary. That is in Answer to the Sixth Objection. 7. Others complain, that the Scripture is obscure, and difficult to be understood: they may as well, and with as good success, attempt to spy out what lies at the centre of the earth, as search into the deep and hidden mysteries, which no human under standing can fathom or cpmprehend. And this disceurageth them, Te this I answer, (1) It is no wpnder, if there be such profound depths in the word of God, since it is a system and compendium of his infi nite and unsearchable wisdom ; that wisdom, which, from the beginning'of the world, hath been hid in God. 220 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. Those deep truths, which your understanding cannpt reach,, require ycur humble veneratipn. (2) The Scripture is suited to every capacity. It is, as it is cemmpnly expressed, a ford, wherein a lamb may wade and an elephant swim. And, herein, is the infinite wisdnm of Gqd seen, in wreathing together plain truths with obscure, that he might gain toe more credit to his Word : by the ene, instructing the ignorance of the weakest; by'the other, puzzling and ccnfoundirig the understanding cf the wisest. This alsn adds a beauty and ornament tc, the Scripture : as the beauty cf the werld is set pff by a graceful variety ef hills and vallies, so is it in the Scripture : there are sublime truths, which the most aspiring reason of man cannot overtop ; and there are more plain and easy truths, in which the weakest capacity may converse with delight and satisfaction : no man is offended with his garden, for having a shady thicket in it; no more sfiould we be offended with the werd of God, that, among so many fair and open walks, we here and there meet with a thicket, which tiie eye of human reason cannpt look through. , (3) Those truths, which are absolutely necessary to salvation, are as plainly, without either obscurity or ambiguity, recorded in the Scripture, as if they were, as the Mahometans think con cerning thejr Alcoran, written with ink made of light. There, the necessity of faith in Jesus Christ, of repentance for dead works, of a holy and mortified life, are so clearly set down, that scarce have there any been found so impudent, as to raise centroversies abeut them : and is it npt peevish, to quarrel at the Word for being obscure in those things, which if thou hast used thy utmost diligence to understand, the ignerance of them shall not at all prejudice thy salvation? Bless Ged, rather, that he hath sq clearly revealed the necessary and practical duties of a Christian Life, that those are not involved in any mystical or obscure intimations ; but that theu mayest, without doubt or dispute, know what is pf absolute necessity, to be either believed or practised, in order to salvation. Be assured of this, that what with all thy labour and diligence thou canst net understand, theu needest not ; and that what is needful, is plain and obvipus, and thpu mayest easily understand it. (4) The Scripture is pbscure : but hath net God offered us sufficient helps for the unfolding of it ? Have you not the promise pf his Spirit to illuminate you ? ^ Cor. ii. 10. God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit : for the The use of the holy scriptures. 221 •Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God. Have we net his Minister, whpse pffice it is tp instruct us, and lead us into the inmost sense of the Scriptures ? Nay, have we net the Scripture itself, which is the best interpreter of its own meaning? usually, if it speak more darkly in one place, it speaks the same truth more clearly in another : compare Scripture with Scrip ture, and you will find it holds a light unto itself : the oftener you read and the more you ponder on those passages that are abstrusej the more you will find them clear up to your Understanding. So that neither is this any reasonable discour agement from studying the Holy Scriptures. 8. Others may say, they are doubtful, because they see many of those, who have been most conversant in the Scripture, perverted and carried aside into damnable errors, and yet still have pleaded Scripture for the defence of them. I answer, True, the Devil hath, in these our days, busied himself to bring a reproach upen Scripture, through the whimsies and giddiness ef those, who have pretended most acquaintance in it. But, let not this be any discouragement : for this ariseth not directly from the influence which the Scripture hath on them, which is the rule of truth only ; but from the pride and self- Conceit of a few notiqnists, whq wrest it te their own perdition :' and, though they boast much of Scripture to countenance their opinions ; yet Scripture, misunderstood and misapplied, is not Scripture. Indeed there is rio other way to discern truth from error, but only by the Scripture rightly understood ; and there is no way rightly to understand it, but diligently to search it. But, to say that therefore we must not read the Scripture, because some wrest it to their own destruction, is alike reason able, as to say, that therefore we must not eat nor drink, because that some eat to gluttony and others drink to giddiness and madness. The Apostle St. Peter tells us, 2 Epist. Chap. iii. v. 1 6^ that, in St. Paul's Epistles, there were some things hard to be understood, whick the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction : shall we there fore conclude, that neither his Epistle nor any other of the Scriptures should be read by us ; because that, in some, instead of nourishment, they have occasicned only wind, flatulency, and ill-humpurs ? If this had been his purppse, it had certainly been very easy for him to have said, " Because they are hard to be £22 miscellaneous sermons. understood, and many wrest them to their own destruction, therefore beware that you read them net :" but, instead of this, he draws another inference, ver. 17, 18. Ye therefore, beloved..... beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own sledfastness : But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ: he saith npt, " Beware that you read them net," but, "Beware how yeu read them." This is the true apestolical caution, which tends not to drive us from tbe Scriptures, but to make us more studiqus and inquisitive in them, lest we alsq be perverted by the cunning craftiness of men, who lie in wait to deceive. And this, the Primitive Parents thought the best and surest means, to preserve their people from error and seduction : it were almost endless tp recite to you those many passages, wherein they do most pa thetically exhort all, of all ranks and conditions, of each sex, cf all ages, to a diligent perusal of the Holy. Scriptures : and, so far were they from taking it up in a language unknown to the vulgar, or debarring the laity from reading it, that the trans- latiqns qf it intq the common tcngue of each country were numerous, and their exhortations scarce more vehement and earnest in any thing, than that the people would employ their time and thoughts in revolving them. It is therefore a most certain sign, that that Church hath false wares to put off, which is of nothing more careful than to darken the shop : and, assu redly, the wresting of the Scriptures by some who read them, cannot cccasicn the destruction of more, than that damnable idolatry and those damnable heresies have dqne, which have been brought into and are generally owned arid practised by the Church of Rqme, through the not reading of them. ii. Thus you see, as it was in Josiah's time, how much dust and rubbish this Book of the Law lies under. I have endea voured to remove it. And shall now proceed to those argu ments, WHICH MAY PERSUADE YOU TO A DILIGENT SEARCH AND PERUSAL OF THE SCRrPTURES. The Jews, indeed, were so exact, or rather superstitious, in this, that he was judged a despiser of those Sacred Oracles, who did not readily know how often every letter of the alphabet occurred in them. This preciseness God hath made use pf, tp deliver dpwn his Word to us, unvaried and' Uncorrupted. It is npt such a scrupulous search of the Scripture, to which I new THE USE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 223 exhort you : but, as God hath left it to us a rich depositum, a dear pledge ofhis love and care; so we should diligently attend to a rational and profitable study of it. There are but two things, in the general, which commend any writing to us : either that it discovers knowledge, or directs practice ; that it informs the judgment, or reforms the life. Both of these are eminently the characters-of this Book of God. And therefore David tells us, Ps. xix. 7. The Law qf Gqd con verts the squl, and makes wise the simple : it is a light, nqt qnly tq our heads, but it is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto eur path : Ps. cxix. 105. Let us consider it, as to both. 1. In point of Knowledge, as it perfects the understanding; and so it will appear, in sundry particulars, how excellent a study it is. For, ( 1 ) The Scripture discovers unto us the knowledge of those truths, which the most improved natural reason could never sift out, and which are intelligible only by Divine Revelation. * ' Gqd hath compcsed twq bqqks, by the diligent study qf which, we may ccme to the knowledge ef himself : the Book of the Creatures, and the Book of the Scriptures. The Book of the Creatures is written in those great letters of heaven and earth, the air and sea ; and, by these, we may spell out somewhat of God : he made them for qur instructing as well as our service : there is not a creature, that God hath breathed abroad upon the face of the earth, but it reads us lectures, of his infinite power and wisdom ; so that it is no absurdity' to say, that, as they are all the words of his mouth, so they are all the works of his hands : the whole world is a speaking workmanship ; Rom. i. 20. The invisible things of 'God are clearly seen by the things tkat are made, even his eternal pouter and Godhead: and, indeed, when we seriously consider how God hath poised the earth in the midst of the air, and the whole world in the midst of a vast and boundless nothing ; how he hath hung out those glorious lights pf heaven, the sun, the moon, and stars, and made paths in the sky for their several courses ; how he hath laid the sea on heaps, and so girt it in, that it may possibly overlook, but not overflow the land ; when we view the variety, harmony, and law of the creation ; our reason must needs be very short, if we cannot from these collect the infinite wisdom, power, and goodness of the Creator : so much of God as be- 224 t MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. longs to these two great attributes of Creator and Governor of' the World, the Bepk pf Nature may plainly disccver tp us. But^ then, there are other more retired and reserved notions of God j other truths, that nearly concern ourselves and our eternal sal- vatipn to know and believe, which nature could never give the least glimpse to discover : what signature is there stamped upen any qf the creatures cf a Trinity in Unity, cf the eternal gene ration or temporal carnation ofthe Son of God ? what creature could inform us of our first Fall, and guilt contracted by it ? where can we find the copy of the Covenants of Works or of Grace printed upon any of the creatures ? though the great sages of the world were Nature's Secretaries, and ransacked its abstrusest mysteries, yet all their learning and knowledge could not discover the sacred mystery of a Crucified Saviour : these are truths, which nature is so far from searching out, that it can scarce receive them when revealed ; 1 Cor. ii. 14. The natural man receiveth not the things qf the Spirit of God neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned : the light, that can reveal these, must break immediately from heaven itself : and so it did, upon the Prophets, Evangelists, and Apos tles ; the penmen of the Holy Scriptures. And, if it were their singular privilege, that the Holy Ghost should descend into their breasts; and sq possess them with divine inspirations, that what they spake or wrote became oracular : how little less is ours ; since the Scriptures reveal to us the very same truths, which the Spirit revealed to them ! God, heretofore, spake in them ;• and, now, he speaks by them unto us : their revelations are beccme eurs : the only difference is, that what God taught them by extraordinary inspiration, the very same truths he teacheth us in the Scripture, by the ordinary illumination of his Spirit. Here, therefore, whilst we diligently converse in the Bqok of God, we enjoy the privilege of prophets : the same word of God, which came unto them, comes also unto us ; and that, without those severe preparations and strong agonies, which scmetimes they underwent, before Ged wpuld inspire them with the knewledge ef his heavenly truth. That is the First Metive and Argument. (2) The knqwledge, which the Scripture teacheth, is, for the matter ef it, the most sublime and lofty in the world. All ether sciences are but poor and beggarly elements, if com pared with this. What doth the naturalist, but only busy him self in digging a little drossy knowledge, out of the entrails of THE USE- OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 225 the earth ? tiie astronomer, who ascends highest} mounts no higher than the celestial bodies, the stars and planets ; which are but the outworks of heaven. But the Scripture pierceth much farther, and lets us into heaven itself: there, it discovers the majesty and glory of God upon his throne, the Eternal Sqn of God sitting at his right-hand making a prevailing and authoritative intercession for us, the glittering train of cheru- bims and seraph ims, an innumerable company qf angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect: so that, indeed, when yon have this book laid open before you, you have heaven itself and all the inconceivable glories of it laid open to your view. What can be mere sublime, than the nature of God ? and yet, here, we have it so plainly described by all its most glorious attributes and perfections, that the Scripture doth but beam forth light to an eye of faith, whereby it may be enabled to see him who is invisible. But, if we consider those gospel-mysteries which the Scripture relates ; the hypostatical union of the divine and human nature, in Christ's incarnation ; the mystical union of our persons to his, by our believing ; that the Son of God should be substituted, in the stead of guilty sinners ; that he, who knew no sin, should be made a sacrifice for sin, and the justice of God become reconciled to man, through the blood of God : these are mysteries sq infinitely profound, as are enough tq puzzle a whele cqllege qf angels. Now these the Scripture propounds unto us, nqt only to pose, but to perfect our under standing: for that little knowledge, unto which we can attain in these things, is far more excellent than the most cemprehensive knowledge of all things else in the world : and, where our scanty apprehensions fall short of fathoming these deep mys teries, the Apqstle hath taught us to seek it out with an Q /3«flojV Rqm. xi. 33. 0 the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways' past finding out I (3) The Scripture is an inexhaustible fountain of knowledge: the more yqu draw„from it, the more still springs up. It is a deep mine, and the farther you search into it, still the richer you find it. It is tedipus to read the works and writings of men often over because we are soon at the bottom of what they deliver, and our understanding hath nothing new to refresh it j but, in reading the Scripture, it fares with us as it did with those whom Christ VOL. IV. q 226 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. miraculously fed ; the bread multiplied under their teeth, and increased in the very chewing of it : so, here, while we rumi nate and chew on the truths ofthe Scripture, they multiply and rise up thicker under our meditation. One great cause of the neglect, which many are guilty of in reading the Holy Scrip ture, is a fear that they shall but meet with the same things again, which they have already read and known ; and this they account tedious and irksome : indeed if they read it only super ficially and slightly, it will be so ; but those, who fix their minds to ponder and meditate upqn the word, find new truths arising up to their understanding, which they never before discovered. Look as it is in a starry night, if you cast your eyes upon many spaces of the heavens, at the first glance perhaps you shall dis cover no stars there » yet, if y°u continue to look earnestly and fixedly, some will emerge to your view, that were before hid and concealed : so is it with the Holy Scriptures : if we only glance curiously upon them, no wonder we discover no more stars, no more glorious truths beaming out their light to our > understanding. St. Augustin, found this so experimentally true, that he tells us, in his Third Epistle, that though he should, with better capacity and greater diligence, study all his lifetime, from the beginning of his childhood to decrepit age, nothing else but the Holy Scriptures ;' yet they are so compacted and thick set with truths, that he might daily learn something, which before he knew net, God hath, as it \vere,studied to speak com pendiously in the Scriptures : what a miracle of brevity is it, (hat the whole duty of man, relating both to GpcI and his neighbpur, should be all comprised in ten words ! not a word, but, were the sense of it drawn put, were enough tc fill whole Volumes ; and therefore the Psalmist, Ps. cxix. 96. / have seen an end of all perfection ; but thy commandments are exceeding broad. When we have attained the knowledge of those things that are absolutely necessary to salvation, there yet remain such depths of wisdom, both in the manner of Scripture-ex pression, and in the mysteriousness of the things expressed, that, after our utmost industry, still there will be left new truths to become the disccvery qf a new search. (4) The Scripture exhibits tc us that knewledge, which is necessary tc eternal salvation. This is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent : John xvii. 3. And this knowledge the Scriptures alorie can afford us : John v. 39. Sc 2 Tim. iii. 15. T11F. USE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 227 We' need, not, therefore, enquire after blind traditions, or ex pect any whimsical enthusiasms : the Written Word • contains whatsoever is necessary to be known in order to eternal salva tion ; and whosoever is wise above what is written, is wise only in impertinencies. Now hath God contracted whatever was necessary for us to know, and summed it up in one book ? and shall not we be diligent and industrious in studying that, which doth so necessarily concern Us ? Other knowledge is only for the adorning and embellishment of nature : this is for the necessity of life, of life eternal. 1 have before spoken enough concern ing the necessity of knowledge unto salvation, and therefore shall not farther enlarge. Therefore, as St. Peter said to Christ, Lord, whither shall we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life : so let us answer whatsoever may seem to call us off from- the diligent study of the Scriptures, " Whither shall we go ? to this we must cleave : with this we will converse ; for here alone are the words of eternal life." (5) The knowledge, which the Scripture disclqseth, is ef undoubted Certainty and perpetual truth: it depends not upon probabilities or conjectures, but the infallible authority of Christ himself: he hath dictated it, for whom it is impossible to lie. The rule qf qur veracity qr truth, is the cqnformity of our speech to the existence of things : but divine truth and veracity hath no other rule, besides the will of hini that speaks it. He must needs speak infallible truth, who speaks things into their beings : such is the omnipotent speech of God. Whatsoever he declares is therefore true, because he declares it. Never matter how strange and impossible Scripture-mysteries may seem to flesh and blqqd ; to the cerrupt and capticus under standings qf natural men : when the Word of God hath under taken for the truth, it is as much impiety to doubt cf them, as it is folly to question the reality of what we see with our very eyes. Nay, the information of our senses, what we see, what we hear, what we feel, is not sq certain, as the truth of these things, which Ged reveals and testifies in the Scriptures : and therefore the Apostle, 2 Pet. i. 18, 19. speaking of that mira culous voice that sounded from heaven : (Matt. xvii. 5. This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased :) saith This voice We heard, when we were with him in the holy mount : but we have also a more sure Word of prophecy ; or, as the Greek may well he rendered, We account more sure the word of prophecy ; unto a 2 22S MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. which ye do well tkat ye take heed : what ! a mere sure word than a vcice from heaven ! when God himself shall vocally bear wit ness to the truth ! yes, we have a more sure word, and that is the word of prophecy, recorded in the Old Testament. And, hence it will follqw, that, because the prophecies concerning Christ may seem somewhat obscure, in comparison with this audible voice from heaven ; therefore the testimony of obscure Scripture, is to be preferred before the testimony of clear sense. Now, therefore, if you would know things beyond all danger,- either of falsehood or hesitation, be conversant in the Scripture ; where we may take all for certain upon the word and authority of that God, who neither can deceive nor be deceived. (6) The Scripture alqne gives us the true and unerring know^ ledge of ourselves : Man, who busies himself in knowing all things else, is of no thing more ignorant than of himself. The eye, which beholds ' other things, cannot see its own shape ; and, so, the soul of man, whereby he understands other objects, is usually ignorant of its own concernments. Now, as the eye, which cannot see itself directly, may see itself reflexively in a glass : so God hath given us his Scripture, which St. James compares to a glass, James i. 23. and holds this before the soul, wherein is represented our true state and idea. There is a Fourfold state ef man, that we could never have attained to know, but by the Scriptures. His state of Integrity. His state cf Apostacy. His state of Restitution. His state of Glory. The Scripture alone can reveal to us, what we were, in our Primitive constitution : naturally holy ; bearing the image and similitude of God, and enjoying his love; free from all inward perturbations, or outward miseries ; having all the crea.ures subject to us, and, what is much more, ourselves. What we were, in our state of Apostacy or Destitution ; de spoiled of all our primitive excellencies ; dispqssessed of all the happiness which we enjoyed, and of all hopes of any for the future; liable, every moment, to the revenge pf justice, and- certain once to feel it. What we are, in our state of Restitutipn, , through grace ; be gotten again tc a lively hope; adepted into the family ef heaven; Redeemed by the blood of Christ ; sanctified and sealed by the THE USE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 229 Holy Spirit ; restored to the favour arid friendship of God ; recovering the initials of his image upon our souls here on earth, and expecting the perfectien ef it in heaven. What we shall be, in our final state of Glory; clothed with light ; crowned with stars ; inebriated with pure spiritual joys. We shall see God as he is, know him as we are known by him, love him ardently, converge with him eternally ; yea a state it will be, so infinitely happy, that it will leave us nothing to hope for. This Fourfold state of man the Scripture doth evidently ex press. Now these are such things, as it could never have entered into our hearts to have imagined, had not the Word of God described x them to us ; and, thereby, instructed us in the knowledge of ourselves, as well as of God and Christ. Now let us put these Six: particulars together. The Scrip ture instructs us in the knowledge ef such things, as are intel ligible only by Divine Revelation: it teacheth us the most sublime and lofty truths : it is a most inexhaustible fountain of know ledge; the more we draw, the more still springs up : it teaches that knowledge, which is necessary to salvation.: it is of un doubted certainty and perpetual truth : and, lastly, it informs us in the knowledge of ourselves. And, certainly, if there be any thirst in you after knowledge, there needs no more be spoken to persuade jou to the diligent study ef the Scripture, which is a rich store and treasury qf all wisdqm and knowledge. Thus we" have seen how the Scriptures inform the Judgment. 2. Let us now briefly see how they reform the Life, and what Practical Influence they have upon the souls of men. Here, the Word of God hath a mighty operation ; and that, in sundry particulars. ( 1 ) This is that Word, which convinceth and humbleth the stoutest and proudest sinners. There are two sqrts qf secure sinners : thqse, who vaunt it in the confidence ef their own righteousness ; and those, whp are secure through an insensibility cf their own wickedness. Beth these, the Wqrd, when it is set hnme with power, convinces, humbles, and brings to the dust. It despeils the self-justitiary of all that false rightequsness, which he once bqasted qf and trusted to : / was alive without the Law once, saith St. Paul : hut, when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died : Rom. vii. 9. It awakens and alarms the senseless, seared sinner : 230 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. how many have there been, who have scorned God and despised religion, whom yet one curse or threat of this Word hath made to tremble and 'fall down before the convincing majesty and authority of it! (2) This is that Word, which sweetly comforts and raises them, after their dejections.' All other applications to a wounded spirit are improper and impertinent. It is only Scripture-consolation that can ease it, The leaves of this book are like the leaves of that tree, Rev.xxii. 2. which were for the healing ofthe nations. The same weapon, that wounds, must here work the cure. (3) This is that Word, which works the mighty change upon the heart, in renovation. Take a man, who runs on in vile and desperate courses, who sells himself to do iniquity and commits all manner of wick edness with greediness ; and make use of all the arguments that reason can suggest : these seldom reclaim any from their debaucheries : or if, in some few, they do reform the life ; yet they can never change the heart. But that, which no other means can effect, the Word of God can : Ps. xix. 7, Tke Law qf God is perfect, converding the soul. " (4) This is that Word, which strengthens and arms the people of God, to endure the greatest temporal evils, only in hppe of that future reward which it promisetb. (5) This is that Word, which contains in it such a collection of rules and duties, that whosoever observes and obeys, shall in the end infallibly obtain everlasting life. Though I can but just mention these heads unto you, yet there! is enough in them to persuade you to be diligent -in the Scrip* tures. In them, saith our Saviour, ye think to have eternal life. We are all of us guilty malefactors ; but Ged hath been pleased to afford us the mercy of this book: and, what! shall we not so much as read for our lives ? This is that book, according to which we must either stand or fall, be acquitted or condemned eternally. The unalterable sentence of the Last Day will pass upon us, as it is here recorded. in this Scripture. Here we may, beforehand, know our doom ; and what will become of us to all eternity. He, tliat believeth shall be saved ; but he, that believeth not, shall be damned. It is said, Rev. xx. 12. that when the dead stopd before God to be judged, the books were opened : that is, the Beok of Conscience, jmd the Book of tfie Scripture. Be persuatkd tc ppen this book. THE USE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 231 and to judge ypurselves eut of it before the Last Day. It is not a sealed beok to you : you may there read what your pre sent state is, and foretel what your future will be. If it be a state of sin and wrath, search farther: there are directions how you may change this wretched state for a better. If it be a state of grace and favour, there are rules how to preserve you in it. It is a word suited to all persons, all occasions, all exi gencies : it informs the ignorant, strengthens the weak, com forts the disconsqlate, supports the afflicted, relieves the tempted, resolves the doubtful, directs all to those ways which lead to endless happiness; where, as the word of God hath dwelt richly in us, so we shall dwell for ever gloriously with God, DISCOURSE UPON- PROVIDENCE, MAT. x. 29, 30, ARK NOT TWO SPARROWS SOLD FOR A FARTHING ? AND ONE OP THEM SHALL NOT FALL ON THE GROUND WITHOUT YOUR FAt THER. BIT THE VERY HAIRS OF YOUR HEAD ARE ALL NUMBERED. 1 he mystery of God's Providence, next to that pf Man's Redemptien, is the mpst sublime and inscrutable, It is easy, in both, to run ourselves off our reason : for, as reason confesseth itself at a loss, when it attempts a search into thqse Eternal Decrees, qf electing sinners tq salvation, and designing Christ to save them ; sq must it, likewise, when it attempts to trace out all these entangled mazes and labyrinths, wherein the Di vine Providence walks We may sooner tire reason, in such a pursuit, than satisfy it; unless it be some kind of satisfaction, when we have driven it to a nonplus, to relieve ourselves with an Q fSuftog : 0 the depth of the., ...wisdom and knowledge qf God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out ! This knowledge, therefore, being too wonderful for us, I shall not presume to conduct you into th^t secret place, that pavilion of clouds and surrounding darkness, where God sits holding the rudder of the world, and steering it through all the floatings of casualty and contingency to his own fore-ordained ends : where he grasps and turns the great engine of n&ture in his hands ; fastening one pin, and loosing another ; moving and removing the several wheels of it; and framing the whole according to the eternal idea of his own understanding. Let it content us, to consider so much cf Gcd's Providence as may affect us with cemfort, in reflecting on that particular care which he takes of us ; rather than with wonder and astonishment, by A DISCOURSE ON PROVIDENCE. .233 too bold a prying into those hidden methods, whereby he ex- ercisetb it. Our Saviour Christ, in this chapter, giving cemmissipn to his Appstles and sending them forth tp preach the Gnspel, obviates an objection which they might make, concerning the great dan ger that wquld certainly attend such an undertaking. Tq send them upon such a hated employment, would be no other than tc thrust them upen the rage and malice of the world ; to send them forth as sheep into the midst of wolves, who would doubt less worry and devour them : " Sure we are to have our mes sage derided ; our persons injured ; and that holy name of thine, on which we summon them to believe, blasphemed and reviled: and, though our word may prove a word of life to some few of the hearers, yet to us, who are the preachers cf it, it will prove no other than death." A vile and wretched werld, the while ! when the Gqspel qf Peace and Reccnciliation shall thus stir up enmity and persecutiqn against the ambassadqrs, whq are ap pointed to proclaim it ! To this our.Savicur answers, First. By shewing what the extent qf their adversaries' pewer is ; how far it can reach, and what mischief it can do, when God permits it to rage tq the very utmest. And this he dqth, in the 23th verse ; the verse immediately foregoing the text : Fear not them, which kill the body, but are rurt able lo kill the soul: or, as St. Luke expresseth it, chap. xii. 4. They can kill the body, but after that, have no more that they can do. Alas ! are such men to be feared, whp, when they dp their wprst, can pnly destroy your worst part; which if they dq not, yet accidents er diseases wiU ? What! are your bodies but clogs' to yqur spirit, and prisqns to yqur squls ?. and, certainly, those enemies are not very formidable, whq, when they mqst think to hurt yqu, qnly knock eff yqur cleg, or break open your prison and let your souls escape to their desired liberty. Secqndly. Our Saviour answers, that though they can kill the body, when God permits them ; yet they cannpt so much as touch it, without his permissiqn. And this he dcth, in the werds pf my text, by shewing hpw punctual and particular Gcd's Providence is ; even ever the smallest, and these which seem the mest trifling occurrences ef the wqrld. A sparrow, whose price is but mean, two of them valued at a farthing, which some make to be the tenth part of a 1234 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. Rqman penny, and was certainly cne ef their least ccins ; whose life, therefore, is but contehiptible, and whose flight seems but giddy and at random : yet it falls not to the ground, neither lights any where, without your Father : his All-wise Providence hath ' before appointed, what bough it shall pitch on, what grains it shall pick up, where it shall lodge, and where it shall build, on what it shall live, and when it shall die. And, if your Father's Providence be so critical about the small concernments even of sparrows : fear not ye, for ye are of more value than many spar rows ; yea, of more value than many men. Our Saviour adds: The very hairs of your head are all num bered. God keeps an account even of that stringy excrement. He kncws how many fall off, and the precise number of those that remain ;• and no wonder, since he knows the number of our sins, which are far more. Hence we learn, that God governs the meanest, the most in considerable and contemptible occurrences in the wqrld, by an exact and particular Providence. Do you see a theusand little motes and atoms, wandering up and dpwn in a sunbeam ? it is God, that so pepples it ; and he guides their innumerable and irregular strayings. Net a dust flies in a beaten road, but Gpd raises it, conducts its uncertain mption, and by his particular care conveys it to the certain place which he had before ap pointed for it, nor shall the most fierce and tempestuous wind hurry it iny farther. And, if God's care and providence reach thus to' these minute things, which are but as it were the cir cumstances of nature, and little accessaries to the world ; cer tainly, man, who is the head and lord of it, for whose sake and service other creatures were formed, may very well be confident that God exerciseth an especial and most accurate providence over him and his affairs. By this you see what the subject is, of which it is intended to treat ; even the over-ruling and all-disposing Providence of God : not a sparrow, not a hair of your heads falls to the ground, without your Father. But, before I proceed farther, I must take notice of Two things in the words. First. That our Saviour, speaking here of the Providence of God, ascribes to him the name of our Father. God hath many names and titles attributed unto him in the Scriptures ; as Father, Lqrd, Creator, Redeemer, Judge, King, A DISCOURSE ON PROVIDENCE. 235 and God: but God is a word that denotes his essence: Lord, is a title of his dqminiqn : Creator, marks eut his pmnipptence : Redeemer, ccmmends his lnve : Judge, is a name ef fear and astonishment : and King, is a title ef royal majesty : but this endearing name of Father signifies unto us his Providence ; for, from him, as from a Father, do we expect and receive guidance and government. Secondly. Whereas nothing comes to pass without qur Hea venly Father, this may be understqqd Three Ways; withqut his permissien, withqut his qrdination arid ccncurrence, witheut his qverruling and directing it to his own ends. No Evil ccmes to pass, withqut his Permissive Providence, No gcod ccmes to pass, without his Ordaining and Con curring Providence. Nothing, whether goqd qr evil, ccmes to pass, witheut the Overruling Providence qf qur Father, guiding and directing it tq his own ends. But, concerning this distinction of permissive, concurring, and overruling Providence, I shall have occasion to speak more hereafter. My work, at present, shall be, To describe unto you What the Providence of God is, in the general notion thereof. To prove that all affairs and occurrences, in the werld, are guided and gqverned by Divine Providence. Tq answer some puzzling questiqns and doubts, con- cerning the Providence of Gqd ; and some objec, tipns, which may be made against it. I. Let us see WHAT PROVIDENCE IS. Take it in this description : Providence is an act of God, whereby, accprding to his eternal and most wise ccunsel, he preserves and geverns all things ; and directs them all tc their ends^ but chiefly tq his own glqry. This Providence censisteth in Twq things ; Preservatien and Gqverriment qf his creatures. i. One remarkable act ef the Providence ef God, is the preservation of his creatures in their beings. He preserves them, } . In their species and kind, by the constant succession of them '2 36 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. one after another: so that, though the individuals of them are mortal and perish ; yet the species or kind is immortal. There is no kind of creature that was at first made by God, but it still continueth to this very day, and shall do so tp the end of the wprld. And, truly, it is the wonderful -Providence of God, thus to perpetuate the creation : that, whereas we see an inbred enmity in some sorts of creatures against others ; yet his wisdom so sways their mutual antipathies, that none of them shall ever prevail to a total extirpation and destruction of the other. 2. He preserves them, likewise, by his Providence, in their individual and particular beings, while they have a room to fill up and an office to discharge in the universe. Each fly and worm, as well as man (who is but the greater worm of the two) hath a work to do in the world ; and, till that be finished, God sustains its being : nor shall the weakest; creature be destroyed, within the prefixed time that God hath set to its duration. There are none of us here alive this day, but have abundant cause thankfully to acknowledge the power ful and merciful Providence of God, in preserving us in and rescuing us from many dangers and deaths, to which we stood exposed. It is only his visitation, that hath hitherto preserved our spirits; and, to his never-failing Providence we owe it, that such frail and feeble creatures, who are liable to be crushed before the moth, liable to, so many diseases and accidents, have yet a name among the living, and have not yet failed from off the face of the earth. ii. As God preserves, so he governs all things, by his Pro vidence. And this government consists in Two things : Direction of the creatures' actions; and Distribution of Rewards and Pu nishments, according to the actions of his rational creatures. 1. God, by his Governing Providence, directs all the actions of his creatures ; yea, and by the secret, but efficacious illapse and penetration of the divine influence, he powerfully sways and determines them which way he pleaseth. And, from this part of his providence, brancheth forth his permission of evil actions, and, his concurrence to good; both by the assistance of his common, and likewise of his special grace : and, lastly, his general influence into all the actions of A DISCOURSE ON PROVIDENCE. 237 our lives, all which we are enabled to perform by the almighty power of the Divine Providence;^ which, as at first it bestowed upon us natural faculties, so by a constant concurrence it doth excite and assist those faculties to their respective operations. 2. God, by his Governing Providence, distributes rewards and punishments according to our actions. And this part of his providence is oftentimes remarkable, even in this present life ; when we see retributions of divine mercyr and vengeance, signally proportioned according to men's demerits : but the more especial manifestation and execution of it is commonly adjourned to the life to come ; and, then, all the seeming inequalities of God's dispensations here will be fully adjusted, in the eternal recompence of the godly, and the eternal punishment of the wicked and impenitent. Now, by this Almighty Providence, God overrules and sways all things to his own glory. There is nothing conies to pass, but God hath his ends in it, and will certainly make his own ends out of it. Though the world seem to run at random, and affairs to be huddled together in blind confusion and rude disorder : yet God sees and knows the concatenation of all causes and effectsj and so governs them, that he makes a perfect harmony put of all those seeming jarrings and discords. As you may observe in tbe wheels of a watch, though they all move with contrary mo tions one to the other, yet they are useful and necessary to make it go right : so is it, in these infericr things: the proceed ings of Divine Providence are all regular and orderly to his ewn ends, in all the thwartings and ccntrarieties ef second causes. We have this expressed in that mysterious vision, Ezek. i. 10. where the providences of God are set forth by the emblem of a wheel within a wheel, one intersecting and crossing another ; yet they are described to be full of eyes round about: what is this, but to denote unto us, that, though providences are as turning and unstable as wheels, though they are as thwart and cross as one wheel within another, yet these wheels are all nailed round with eyes : God sees and chooses his way in the most intricate and entangled providences that are; and so go verns all things, that whilst each pursues its own inclination, they are all overruled to promote his glory. This is Providence : the two great parts of which, are Pre servation and Government; and the great end of both these, 238 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. the glory of the Almighty and All-wise God. And this is it; which our Saviour speaks of when he tells the Jews, John v. n,, My Father' worketh hitherto, viz. in preserving and governing his creatures ; and I work. II. The Second General propounded, was to demonstrate to you, that ALL THINGS IN THE WORLD ARE GO VERNED BY THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. The Old Philosophersj among the Heathens, had very different notions concerning the govemmerit of the world. Some held, that all things were governed by an imperious and inevitable fate, to which God himself was subject : so, Chrysippus, and the Stoics, Others thought, that all was left to blind chance ; and whatso ever came to pass here below was only casual aud fortuitous : so^ the Epicureans. Others* that the Great God regarded only the1 more glorious affairs of heaven ; but had committed the care of earthly concernments unto inferior spirits, as his under officers and deputies : so, most of the Platonists, though their master was orthodox. Others, that God's Providence reached only to the great and important matters of this world ; but that it was too much a disparagement to his Infinite Majesty, to look after the motion of every straw and feather, and to take care of every trivial and inconsiderable occurrence in this world : so speaks Cicero, in his Book de Natura Deorurn : Magna DU curant, parva negligunt. Vide Arriani Epictet. lib. i, cap. 12. How much better is that most excellent saying of St. Austin ! Tu sic euros unumquemque nostrum, tanquam solum cures ; et sic omneSf tanquam singulos : " God takes as much care of every particular, as if each were all ; and as much care of all, as if all were but one particular." To demonstrate this all-disposing Providence cf Ged, I shall take Two ways. From the consideration of the Nature and Perfection of the Deity. From the contemplation of that Beauty and Order, which we may observe in the world. Il ii most necessary, that we should have our hearts well esta^ blished in the firm and unwavering belief of this truth, that, whatsoever comes to pass, he it good or evil, we may look up to the disposer of all, to God : and, if it be good, may acknow ledge it with praise ; if evil, bear it with patience : since he A DISCOURSE ON PROVIDENCE. 239 dispenseth both the one and the other ; the good to reward tis, and the evil to try us. Now, i. To demonstrate it from the being and nature of god. This I shall clo, in these follpwing prepositions, which I shall Jay down as sq many steps and gradations. ' 1. That there is a God, is undoubtedly clear by the light of nature. Never was there any people so barbarous and stupid, but did firmly assent to this truth, without any other proof than the deep impress upon their hearts, and the observation of visible objects, that there was a Deity. It is neither a problem of rea son, nor yet strictly an article of faith ; but the unforced dic tate of every man's natural ccnscience; where conscience is not violently perverted, and under the force cf these vices, whose interest it is that there should be no God. Never was there any nation, which worshipped none; but their great sot- tishness was, that they worshipped many. 2. As all confess that there is a God ; so, likewise, that this God must necessarily have in himself all perfections, as being the first principle and seurce of all things. All these perfections of wisdom, power, knowledge, or the like, which we see scattered up and dowp among the creatures, must all be cencentered in God : and that, in a far more emi nent degree; because whatever is found in creatures is but de rived and borrowed from him, and therefore it must needs fol low, that, because it is of more perfection to be infinite in each perfection, therefore God is infinite in them all. 3. Among all the perfections, which are dispersed among the creatures, the mqst excellent is knowledge and under standing. Fer this is a property, that agrees enly to angels and men, whq are the top and flewer pf the creation : and therefore, cer tainly, this perfection of the creatures is to be found in Ged; yea, and that infinitely. His knowledge and wisdom, therefore, are infinite. 4. His knpwledge being thus infinite; he both knows himself, and all other things in himself. (1) God perfectly knows himself: he knows the boundless extent ofhis own being; and, though he be infinite and in- 240 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS comprehensible to all others, yet is he finite and comprehended to hioself : and, hence, it follcws, (2) That he knows particularly all other things. For, if he know himself perfectly, he must needs know all things besides himself; because none can perfectly know himself, that doth not fully knqw all that his power and strength can reach unto. But there is nothing, which the power of God cannot reach; for, by his power, he created all things. And, therefore, know ing his own-essence, which is the cause of all, he knows every thing in the fecundity of his essence. Thus we have demonstrated it, from the principles of reason, that God necessarily knows all things. But Providence denotes more than knowledge : and, therefore, 5. This kuowledge, which is in <*pd, is not like that, which we acquire: it_is not a knowledge, that depends upon the ob jects known, and forms ideas from the contemplation of things already existing: but it is like the knowledge oj an artificer, which causeth and produceth the things it comprehends. God knows them, before they are; and, by knowing them, brings them to pass. " God knows all things," saith St. Austin, de Trinitat. 15. " not because they are; but, therefore they are, because God knew them." So that his eternal knowledge and understanding give being to every thing in the world. 6. It appertains to him, who gives being lo a thing, to preserve and govern it, in its being. And, therefore, God giving being to all things, he also doth maintain and provide for them. It is the very law of nature, which he hath imprinted upon all his creatures, to provide for their own offspring : we see with what solicitous affection and tenderness, even brute and irrational creatures do it : we are all the offspring of Gpd, and he our common parent ; and there fore, certainly, he, who hath inspired such parental care in all things else, doth himself much mere take «3are to give education to all to which he hath given being. Thus, you see, it is proved that God's providence reacheth unto all things. It might likewise be demonstrated from Gqd's omnipre sence. He is present every where, with and in all ^h is crea tures : and, certainly, he is not with them, as an idle and un concerned spectator ; but as the director and governor of their actions. A DISCOURSE ON PROVIDENCE. 241 ii. But I shall proceed to the Second sort of arguments, to prove the Divine Providence. And those are taken from the consideration of the frame AND COMPAGES OF THE WORLD; THE BEAUTY AND HARMONY, WHICH WE SEE IN NATURE. The world is a book, wherein we may clearly read the won derful wisdom of God. There is no creature, which doth not proclaim aloud, that God is the wise Creator and Governor of it. Who hath gilded the globe of the sun, and put on his rays ? Whq hath set its bounds, and measured out its race, that it should, without failing, without error or mistake, know how to make its daily and annual returns, and divide out times and sea- spns to the world ? Who hath given a particular motion to all the veluminqus crbs qf heaven, and beat eut a path for every , star to walk in ? Who hath swathed in the great and proud ocean, with a girdle of sand ; and restrains the waves thereof, that though they be higher than the land, yet they shall not overflow it ? Who peiseth the qppqsitiqns and ccntrarieties which are in nature, in sc even a balance, that nnne qf them shall ever prevail tq a total destructien qf the other? Who brings up the great family of brute beasts, without tumult and disorder ? Do nqt all these great and wonderful works speak forth the watchful Providence of Ged ; whq, as he makes them by his word, so still governs them by his power ? Therefore, whatscever we receive beneficial from them, what soever seems to provide fer our necessities or conveniencies ; it is Ged, whq hath so dispensed the government of the world, as to make it serviceable. If the heavens turn and move for us, if the stars as so many burning torches light us in the ob scurity of the night, if the angels protect and defend us, let us acknowledge all this from the Providence of God only. It is he, who turns the heavens round their axis : he lights up the stars : he commands the angels to be ministering spirits, guards, and centinels. about us. If the fire warm us, the air refresh us, the earth support, us, it is God, who hath kindled the fire, who hath spread forth the air, and stablished the earth upon the pillars of his own decree, that it should not be shaken. And let us know, too, t' ut, when we want; these creatures for our sustenta- tion, if the heavens, if the angels, if the earth, if the sea, if all things should fail us, yea band and set themselves against VOL. IV. R 242 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. "l us ; yet God, who provides fer us by them, can also, if h« please, provide for us withput them. Thus we have dispatched the Two General Enquiries ; and have described and demonstrated unto ypu the Divine Provi dence. III. The Third, which remains, is to ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS AND DOUBTS which may be made, and have indeed been strongly urged, against the government of the world by Providence. As, i. " If the world be governed by Providence, WHENCE COMES IT, THAT WICKED AND UNGODLY MEN FLOURISH AND PROSPER ? that God shines upon their tabernacles, and drops fatness uppn all their paths : whereas, on the contrary, the godly are often exposed to poverty, contempt, and reproaches ; persecuted by men, and afflicted by God ? Would it not be as agreeable to the divine goodness, to cast abroad the wealth, the pomp, and glory of this world with an undeciding hand ; leaving men to scramble for them as they can: as that he should, with a parti cular and studied care, advance those who contemn him, and crush those who humbly trust and depend upon him ? Can I think the world is governed by the providence of a just God, when usually unjust men govern the world under him ? when swaggering sinners, who despise him, have power likewise to cpntrol others ? Is it wisdom, to put a swcrd into that hand, which will turn the point of it against the giver? or justice, te impower them to all those acts of rapine, violence, and op pression, which they commit ? and shall we call that Providence, which is neither wise nor just ? One hath an unexhausted store to supply his dissolute luxury and riot ; another, scarce neces saries to jnaintain a poor life spent in the commands of God : here, a tricked Dives, who worshipped no other god but his own belly, feasts deliciousty every day ; whilst a godly Lazarus starves at this glutton's gate, and entertains the dogs with licking his sores : and, what ! doth God's particular care furnish the glutton's table with daily excess, who will not give the remaining scraps to God's children ? if there be Divine Providence in this, A DISCOURSE ON PROVIDENCE. 24$ what is become of the Divine Equity ? This inequality of affairs seems to persuade, that it is not the Hqly and Righteeus Gqd qf Heaven, but rather the Gqd qf this Wqrld, who governs the concerns of it; and that he spoke truth, when he told our Sa viour, Luke iv. 6. The power and glory qf this wqrld is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will give it." Nqw tq answer this, 1. This quarrel is not only, qf late, commenced against heaven; but it hath been the complaint of all ages. It raised controversies amcng the very Heathens themselves ; seme nf them upon this greund den}'ing, and qfhers again by whple treatises defending, the gevernment of the world by Pro vidence. And no wonder it should puzzle them, since the very best ef God's saints and servants have likewise stumbled at this stone of offence : thus, the Psalmist, Ps. lxxiiL 2, 3. As for me, my feet were almost gone ; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of ihe wicked: so, likewise, the Prophet Jeremiah, xii. 1. Righteous art thou, 0 Lord, when I plead with thee ; yet let me talk with thee qf thy judgments. Wherefore doth the way, of the- wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy, that deal very treacherously? This, therefore, is an old grief; which, in all ages of the world, hath been complained of. And, though at first sight it seems to con fute the Providence of God, yet, if we more narrowly consider it, k is a strong confirmation of it : for, since virtue and goodness are so despicable a thing in the world, since holy and good men have been always injured and persecuted, certainly were there not an All-wise Providence, that finds out ways and means of its Own to counterpoise these disadvantages, and to preserve them amidst the rage and hatred of their implacable enemies; long ere this there had been none of them left, either to have suffered or complained. Were there no other Argument to prove that God governs the world, this wpuld suffice, even, That his servants have been continually oppressed in it, yet never could be rooted out of it : though men and devils have combined together against them, and God (as they have complained) hath seemed to abandon them ; yet such a fenceless and forlorn generation as this, hath been hitherto and shall still be preserved to the very end of the World : doth not this spetk forth the power and care of Almighty God, thus to keep a bush uhcohsumed, si 2 ¦'-¦ 244 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. in the midst of fire ? to preserve fuel untouched, in the very embraces of flames ? 2. God doth chastise his own people and prosper the wicked, that he might thereby rectify our judgments; and teach us not to ac count adversity the greatest evil, nor yet prosperity the chief good. For, certainly, were they so, only. the righteous should enjpy the grandeur, pomp, and glory of this wprld; and only the wicked and ungcdly become miserable. Concerning this, St. Austin speaks excellently, in his LXXth Epistle : " Worldly things," saith he, " are, in themselves, but indifferent ; and good and evil, only as they are improved : but, lest they should be thought always evil, therefore God sometimes gives them to those who are good ; and, lest they should be thought the highest and the chief good, they are sometimes given to thqse whq are evil." And a like saying te this hath Seneca, in his Book de Provident. cap. 5. . There is ne such way, to traduce the riches, the ho nours, the pleasures of this life ; those vain nothings, which are so earnestly desired and eagerly pursued by the most; no such way to beat down their price in the esteem of all wise and good men, as for God to bestow those upon the vilest, which he sometimes denies to the best and holiest. 3: When God bestows, any temporal good thing upon wicked and ungodly men, he gives it as their portion : and, when he brings any calamity on his.own>children, he inflicts it for their trial. ¦ Is it not ordinary^ that a servant receives more fer wages, than a son may have for the present at his own command ? Ged is the Father and bountiful Maintainer of the whole Family, beth in heaven and earth; a Father to the Faithful, a Lord and Master over all: he may give his slaves large wages, when his qwn children possibly have, not so much, iu hand. Is he therefore hard or unjust ? no : the inheritance is theirs, and that is kept in reversion for them. What wicked men possess of this worjd, is all that ever they can hope for: why should we grudge them filled bags,; or swelling titles! it is their whole portion: they no wp receive their good things: hast thou foqd and clpthing? that is children's fare:: envy net ungodly menj whp flaunt it in the gallantry j$f .the wof\d : thfey have more than you ; but it is all, they aref jfe tp have : the Psalmist gives us an acccunt of their estatejPs, xvii.,14. They are the men of this world, who have their portifm- An. (his life, and whose bellies God filleth with his hid treasure. Whereas thoiu, O Christian, who possessest A DISCOURSE ON PROVIDENCE, 245 nothing, art heir-apparent of heaven, coheir with Jesus Christ who is the heir of all things, and hast an infinite mass of riches laid up for thee ; so great and infinite, that all the stars of hea ven are too few to account it by : you have no reason to com plain of being kept short ; for all, that God hath, is yours : whether presperity or adversity, life or death, all is yours. What Gqd gives, is for your comfort : what he denies or takes away, is for your trial : it is for the increase of those graces, which are far more gracious than any temporal enjoyment. If, by seeing wicked and ungodly men flow in wealth and ease, when thou art forced to struggle against the inconveniencies and difficulties of a poor estate, thou hast learnt a holy contempt and disdain of the world, believe it, God hath herein given thee more, than if he had given thee the world itself. 4. God doth, many times, even in this world, expound the mys tery ofhis Providence, by the fatal and dreadful overthrow of those wicked men, whom he, for a while, suffered to prosper. The triumph of the wicked, saith Job, xx. 5. is short. At longest, it is but short ; because measured out by a short life : now, is their triumph ; hereafter, their torment. But, many times, God brings them to ruin, even in this life : he turns the wheel of Providence, and makes it pass over those, who, but a while before, set vaunting - a-top of it. And then wilt thou doubt, whether God governs the world by Providence ? wilt theu doubt, whether God be just, in suffering wicked men to prosper and flourish ? God lifts them up on high, only that he may cast them down with the more terrible fall. When all the workers of iniquity prosper, saith the Psalmist Ps. xcii. 1. it is that they might be destroyed for ever. Now when God comes thus to execute judgment upon them, those, who questioned the Providence of God in their advancement, will the more glorify it in their downfal : The righteous shall see it and be glad ; and shall say, Verily, there is a reward for the righteous : verily there is a God, that judgeth in the earth : Ps. lviii. 1 1 . 5. If God doth not clear up this inequality of his Providence, in this life ; yet he will certainly do it, at the Day of Judgment, And, indeed, the strange dispensation of affairs in this world is an argument, which doth convincingly prove, that there shall be such a day, wherein all the involucra and entanglements of Providence shall be clearly unfolded. Then, shall the riddle be dissolved, why God hath given this and that profane wretch sc 346 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. much wealth, and sp much ppwer to do mischief: is it not, that they might be destroyed for ever ? Then, shall they be called to a strict account, for all that plenty and prosperity, for which they are now envied ; and the mpre they have abused, the more dreadful will their condemnation be. Then, it will appear that God gave them nqt as mercies, but as snares. It is said, Ps. xi. 6. that Ged will rain on the wicked snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest : when he scatters abroad the desirable things of this werld, riches, honours, pleasures, &c. then he rains snares upon them ; and, when he shall call them to an account for these things, then he will rain upon them^re and brimstone, and a horrible tempest of his wrath and fury. Dives, whe caroused, on earth ; yet, in hell, could not obtain so much as one poor drop of water, to ccql his scorched and flaming tongue : had nqt, his excess and intemperance been so great, in his life, his fiery thirst had nqt been sq tormenting after death : and, there fore, in that sad item that Abraham ga es him, Luke xvi. 25. he bids him remember, that thou, in thy lifetime, receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus eiil things : but now he is com forted, and thou art tormented : I look upon this as a most bitter and a most deserved sarcasm ; upbraiding him for his grcss folly, in making the trifles qf this lire his gqqd things: Thqu hast received thy good things, but now thou art tormented. Oh, never call Dives's purple and delicious fare; good things, if they thus end in torments ! was it good for him, tc be wrapt in purple,. whq is now wrapt in flames ? was it gqqd for him, to fare defi- cipusly, who was only thereby fatted up against the day of slaughter? Could you lay your ears tq hell-gates, you might hear many qf the grandees and potentates, the great and rich pnes pf this world, cursing all their pomp and bravery ; and wishing that they had been the mest despicable of all those, whom they pnee hated, oppressed, arid injured. And, as it will appear at that day, that nqne qf the enjoyments qf this world are good to wicked men ; so will it appear, that none of those afflictions and calamities, which good men suffer, are evil ; Lazarus's sores are not evil, since now every sore is turned into a star ; his lying prostrate at tbe rich miser's dopr is not evil, since now he lies in Abraham's bosom. And, at this day, all these intricacies of Providence will be made plaiir; and we shaU have other apprehensions of things, than what we have at pre sent; now we call prosperity, riches, and abundance, goo4 A DISCOURSE ON PROVIDENCE. 241 things; and want and affliction, evil; but, when we ccme to consider these with relation to eternity, the true standard to measure them by, then poverty may be a mercy, and riches a judgment : God may bless pne by afflictions, arid curse another by prosperity : he may bestow more upon us in suffering us to want, than if he should give us the store and treasures ef all the earth. And, certainly, whatever our thoughts of it are now, yet within awhile this will be the judgment of us all : when we are once lodged in our eternal state, then we shall acknowledge that nothing in this world deserved the name of good, but as it promoted our eternal happiness ; nor of evil, but as it tended to eternal 'misery. And thus you see this grand objectiqn answered; and the Providence of God cleared from that injustice, which we are apt peevishly to impute unto it. Other doubts are of less moment, and therefore shall be more briefly resolved. As, ii. " If god's ^rovidence ordains all things to come to pass according to the immutable law of his purpose, then what necessity is there of prayer ? We cannot, by our most fervent prayers, alter the least circumstance or punctilio m God's decrees. If he hath so laid the method of his Providence in his own counsels, as to prepare mercies and blessings for us, our prayers cannot hasten nor maturate them before their time : or, if he determine, by his Providence, to bring afflictions upon us, our prayers cannot prevent nor adjourn them beyond their pre fixed time." Now to this Aquinas 2. 29. 83. Art. 2. answers well, that the Divine Providence doth not only ordain what effects shall come to pass, but also by what means and causes, and in what order they shall flow. God hath appointed, as the effect itself, so the means to accomplish it. Now prayer is a means to bring to pass that, which Go] hath determined shall be. We do not pray, out of hope to alter God's eternal purposes; but we pra}', to obtain that, winch Gpd hath prdained to be obtained by our prayers : we ask, that thereby we may be fit to receive, what God hath from all eternity determined to give by prayer, and not otherwise. And, 248 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. therefore, when we lie under any affliction, if we languish under pain or sickness, if we are pinched by want or poverty, if we are oppressed by the injuries and persecutiens of others, prayer is necessary ; because, as God by his Providence hath brought these things upon us, so likewise possibly the same Providence hath determined not to remove them, till we earnestly and fervently pray fer our deliverance frcm them. And, therefore, when God hath promised great mercies to,the Jews, he tells them by the Prophet Ezek. xxxvi. 3T. I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to da it for them. Prayer, therefore, doth not incline God tp bestow that, which before he was not resolved to give ; but it capacitates us to receive that, which God will npt give otherwise. j iii. Another pbjectien may be this: '« If providence or- dereTh and dispose™ all the occurrences of the world, then there can nothing fall out casually and contin-* GENTLY," I answer : Jn respect pf God it is true, there is nothing casual nor contingent in the world. A thing may be casual, in respect of particular causes ; but, in respect of the universal and first cause, npthing is such, If a master should send a servant tq a certain place, and command him to stay there till such a time, and presently after should send another servant to the same, the meeting of these two is wholly casual in respect of themselves, but ordained and foreseen by the master that sent them. So is it, in all fortuitous events here below. They fall out unexpect edly, as to us ; but nqt so, as to Gqd : he foresees and he appoints all the vicissitudes of things, and all the surprises ef human accidents. Sc that, ypu see, there may be contingencies in the world, though God's Prcyidence be mpst particular and punctual. iv. Some may object, that this " would destroy the liberty OF MAN'S WILL ; AND SUBJECT ALL THINGS TO A FATAL NECESSITY, even human actions themselves : for, if man can do nothing, but vyhat God hath by his Providence fore-appointed shall be done, hnw then is roan free, either te do or not to dp ?" This question requires much more time tp answer it, ^t large, than I can allow it. Some, seeing it a very difficult thing to reconcile Providence aqcf Liberty, fiave presumed to deny that Providence ipter. A DISCOURSE ON PROVIDENCE. 249 meddles at all in such affairs as depend upon the free-will of man. And, of this opinion, Tully seems to have been : for which St. Austin chastiseth him as injurious to God ; when he saith, Voluntatem dumfaceret liberam, fecit sacrilegam. I shall not here stand to distinguish, of a necessity of co- actipn, and a necessity ef infallibility ; and that the Providence of God doth not bring upon the will a necessity of coaction, but only of infallibility, which very well consists with the liberty of the will. All, that I shall at present answer, is, That God doth indeed efficaciously determine the will to do what it doth: yet this determination leaves it in a perfect state of liberty ; because the liberty of the will doth not so much consist in indifferency to act or not to act, as in a rational spontaneity, When we do what we have an appetite to do upon grounds that to us seem rational, then we act freely. Now, though God doth absolutely sway the will which way he pleaseth, yet he never forceth it cpntrary to its own inclinations : for that, to which God deter mines it by his Prcvidence, seems, at that present, most rational to be done ; and, upon that representation of gpod in the object, the will embraces it, and acts acccrdingly. So that its freedom is npt viplated by any bpistereus and compulsive sway, which the First Cause hath over it; but Gpd attracts it with such a pcwerful and insinuating sweetness, that, though the will can incline to nothing but what it seems to have reasen for, yet withal it wills nothing but what Godiby Providence overrules it unto. So Austin, De Civitate Dei, lib. v. cap. 9. Nos dicimus et Deum scire omnia antequam fiant, et voluntdte nosfacere quic- quid a nobis non nisi volentibus fieri sentimus et novirnus : " Though God foresees and decrees all things before they are, yet we do that with a free will, which we do not otherwise than Willingly." v. The last doubt and query is this : '< If god govern all ACTIONS AND ALL AFFAIRS, BY AN EXACT AND CRITICAL PROVI DENCE ; HOW THEN COMES IT TO PASS, THAT THERE IS SO MUCH EVIL, VILLAINY, AND WICKEDNESS COMMITTED IN IT ?" The disquisition of this is the more obscure and intricate, becaqse it is hard to conceive how God, who is Infinite Goodness itself, should interest his Providence in what is so contrary to his nature. Now, here, we must affirm, that there is no evil whatsoever, whether it be pf sin or of suffering, that comes to pass without 250 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. the Providence of God. As for the evil of Punishment or Suffering, it is clear, Amos iii. 6. Shall there be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it ? But, for the evil of Sin, it is not effectively from God ; yet doth he, by his Providence, for mpst holy and wise ends, permit wicked men to commit those sins, ¦ which his law prohibits, and his nature abhors. Though they refuse to be subject to the written law, yet they are and must be subject tc the eternal law of his own ccunsels : and there is nqt a sin which they commit, but, as his authority condemns and his purity hates it ; so, his wisdom both suffers it to be, and overrules it when it is to his own ends. It is true, all men naturally are slaves to their lusts, but God holds their chain in his own hands : sometimes, slackening it, by his permission ; and, sometimes, straitening it, by his powerful restraint. And, therefore, to plead Providence the warrant of our actions (a boisterous argument, which, of late, hath been most used amongst 11s, until Providence itself had signally confuted it) is to plead that for the justification of our actions, without which they could not be sinful : thus Cain killed his brother, by a Providence ; and Achan stole the wedge of gold, and JudaS betrayed Christ, and the Jews crucified him, by a Providence; yea, and all the villainy, that was ever acted under the sun, was all brought forth put cf the cursed wcmb qf men's lusts, by the Providence of God, that is, by his permission to the evil, and concurrence as tc the act. Neither is this any stain at all tc the infinite heliness and purity nf his nature : for, though we sin, if we hinder not the ccmmissipn pf sin in others when it is in our power to do it, because we are cemmanded and obliged to it, both by the care we ought to have of his honpur and the charity we owe unto the sculs of Pthers ; yet np such obligatipn lies upon God, who may justly give men over to their perverted inclinations : and, though he can easily keep the most wicked man in the world, from rushing into those sins which he daily commits ; yet, not being bound to interpose his power to hinder them, he permits them holily, and at last will punish them justly. But, the question is not so much whether Ged dpth npt by his providence permit sin, as why he doth it. And St. Austin answers it excellently, in that knewn saying pf his: " God,*' saith he, " who is infinitely good, would never permit evil, were he not also infinitely wise, and knew how to bring gpod out of evil." It is the primary object of his hatred ; and that A DISCOURSE ON PROVIDENCE. 251 alone, for which he hates wicked men. As he is A holy God, so he hates it ; and, as he is a wise God, so he permits it. And there is a Twofold good, for which God doth sometimes permit evil. The Manifestation of his own Glory. The Exercise of his People's Graces. 1. God, by permitting sin, manifests the glory qf many ofhis attributes. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee ; saith the Psalmist, Ps. Ixxvi. 10. Every sin strikes at some of the Divine Attributes : one denies his justice; another, his mercy: one, his power; another, his wisdom : and all are contrary to his purity. But yet God hath, in his own counsels, such secret screws and wires; whereby he doth sp wreath and invert these pins, that eventually they advance what they seem directly to opppse. A child perhaps would think, when he sees a husbandman cast dung and soil upen his field, that it were but imprevidentiy dpne thus to spoil the flourishing verdure and gaiety ef the grass and flowers : why that very dung, which covers them, makes them afterwards sprout up more fair and fresh. So God permits wicked men to dung the earth with their filth, that those attributes of his, which seem to be buried under them, may afterwards spring up with the greater lustre and glory : from hence he will reap the richer crop of praise to himself. Sometimes, he glorifies the severity of his justice, by hardening them in their sins to their own destruction ; sometimes, the riches of his mercy, by calling the greatest and most flagitious sinners te repentance, and granting them pardon ; and, always, his infinite patience and forbearance, in not executing present vengeance upon those, who so daringly provoke him. But, although we cannot now so clearly compre hend the advantages, which God makes out of tbe sins of men : yet, when we come to stand in the general assembly at the Day of Judgment, God will then comment upon and explain the mysteries of his Providence ; and make us understand how those sins, for which he will then condemn the world, put a gloss and shine upon his attributes. % God, by permitting sin, exerciseth the graces of his people. The sins of others give us matter for the exercise of a holy Zeal for God, who is daily affronted by them ; of a holy pity and commiseration over those, who, like madmeri, wound and gash and destroy themselves ; and for the exercise of a holy caution over ourselves,, lest we be induced to sin after their 252 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. example. Our own sins give us daily occasion to renew our repentance, to humble our souls before God, tq fortify our reselutions, to double the guards- we set upon our own hearts and ways, and to watch over ourselves more circumspectly that we relapse not into the commission of them again. Thus, a true Christian may gain some advantage by his very falls : as husbandmen make use of the very thorns and briars which grow in their fields, to stop the gaps and strengthen the fences about them ; so should we improve our very sins and failings, to fence our souls, that we lie not open to the like temptations for the future. Thus, you see that God brings good out of all the evil which he permits : he glorifies his own attributes, and exercises his people's graces. And thus you see, likewise, God's Providence both proved and vindicated ; asserted to be particular and punctual over all occurrences, that happen in the world ; and cleared from all the imputations of injustice, that the folly or atheism of man can lay against it. IV. I shall conclude with two or three INFERENCES or Corollaries. , i. If the accurateness of God's Providence reach unto all the little concernments of the world, we may be well assured, THAT THOSE, WHICH ARE THE MORE CONSIDERABLE AND IMPORTANT OCCURRENCES OF IT, ARE ALL GUIDED AND GOVERNED BY A SPECIAL HAND OF PROVIDENCE. And, thus, our Saviour himself urgeth, as a strong encourage ment for our confidence and trust in God : not a sparrow falls to the ground without your Father ; fear ye not therefore ; ye are of more worth than many sparrows : yea, net a hair of ypur head falls withput a Providence, and think ye that the head itself shall ? certainly, God doth not, like Domitian, busy him self about flies, and neglect the great and weighty affairs' of his government. And this is the reason of that question, which the Apostle asks, 1 Cer. ix, 9. Doth God take care for oxen ? yes, certainly he dcth ; nor did the Apostle intend to deny it, but thereby to infer that certainly his care is much more-particular towards us. This, then, may establish our hearts under any personal sufferings, or public calamities; when evil is upon A DISCOURSE ON PROVIDENCE- 253 ourselves, or the nation ; when uproars and confusions seem to reduce the world back to its ancient chaos ; when storms and waves overwhelm the ship, and we, with the disciples, think our God asleep, and begin to cry out, with the Psalmist, Awake, O Lord, why sleepest thou ? Our God is net sleeping, but even then at the helm : he steers, he governs and guides all these disorders; and will conduct the whole tumult and hurry of affairs to his own glory and our good. ii. If Gpd's Providence hath the command and sway even over the sins of men, this then may be abundant matter of PEACE AND SATISFACTION, IN THE WORST OF TIMES, WHEN WICKED NESS DOTH MOST OF ALL RAGE AND ABOUND. Let us then consider, that, if God permits them, he also can, when he pleaseth, check and put a stop and period to their rage and madness. Their hands are fettered by the adamantine chains of a most strong decree, which they can neither reverse nor exceed : whatsoever they do, is but by permission ; a limited, and a limiting permission. Our Saviour tells Pilate, Thou cbuldest have no power ever me, except it were given thee from above.. The very pqwer, that men have te sin against Gpd, is from God ; and therefore, certainly, he will withdraw it, when it doth not work out his own ends. This was it, that satisfied David, when Shimei pelted him with stones and curses : 2 Sam. xvi. 10. Let him alone: let him curse; because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. iii. Hence see to what we ought to ascribe it, that there IS NO MORE NOTORIOUS WICKEDNESS COMMITTED IN THE WORLD. When we hear of any prodigious villainy, we are apt to wonder, that ever such abominations should be incident to the sons of men. Wonder not at the matter, as if any strange thing were happened to them ; but rather wonder at the goqdness of God, which is the sole cause that such things as these are wonders. Were his permissive providence as large, as men's lusts are outrageous, these things would soon cease to be wonders, and become the common and ordinary practice of all men. Why are not our streets continually filled with violence, rapine, murders, and outcries ? whence is it, that we enjoy our posses sions and our lives in safety ? The wickedness of men lies hard and presses upon God's restraints ; and, wheresoever there are any gaps in it, it breaks forth naturally and violently ; and, if 254 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. this dam and mound of Divine Previdence were but broken down, it would break out till it had overflowed the whole face of the earth, and covered it with a deluge of impiety and profaneness : but that God, who sets bounds to the raging of the sea, and saith Hitherto shall thy proud waves come and no farther, doth, by the sarnie Almighty Providence, set bounds to the lusts and corruptions of men, which are altogether as unruly*, and curbs in the fury of their madness, which else would drown the whole world in perdition and destruction. iv. This should teach us to ACQUiftscE and rest satisfied in EVERY PROVIDENCE OF GOD, AS THAT, WHICH WILL CERTAINLY, IN THE END, REDOUND TO HIS OWN GLORY. When we see disorders and confusions abroad in the world, we are apt to despond and to cry out, " Lord, what wilt thou do for thy great name ? thy honour, thy glory lies bleeding, and suffers through the sins of men." Commit thy care to God. He will certainly so wield their lusts, as that they shall bring about and effect his own ends. God is glorifying himself, even by these things ; and why then should we Be troubled ? This thought, kept alive on our hearts, would cause us to rest satisfied amidst all the tumults which we observe and hear of in the world : for, though we know not how to unwind these ravelled dispensations to the bqttem of his glory, yet he can and will. There is an invisible and wise hand, that moulds and fashions all : and, though the parts by themselves may appear rude and unpolished ; yet, put the whole frame and series of Providence together, and that will appear mpst admirable and gloripus. Now to the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, be honour and glory, for ever and ever ! Amen. A DISCOURSE UPON THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD, WITH THE IMPROVEMENTS THEREOF. PSAL. cxxxix. 7, 8, 9, 10. WHITHER SHALL I GO FROM THY SPIRIT ? OR WHITHER SHALL I FLEE FROM THY PRESENCE ? IF I ASCEND UP INTO HEAVEN, THOU ART THERE : IF I MAKE MY BED IN HELL, BEHOLD, THOU ART THERE. IF I TAKE THE WINGS OF THE MORNING, AND DWELL IN THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE SEA ; EVEN THERE SHALL THY HAND LEAD ME, AND THY RIGHT-HAND SHALL HOLD ME. 1 hese words declare to us the glorious attribute of God's Immensity or Omnipresence, set forth in most elegant and lofty terms ; as if the Prophet would mitigate that dread which might well seize upon us, from the consideratipn pf the terrible majesty pf Gpd being so near us, by the sweetness and flourishing of the expression, Whither shall I go from thy Spirit ? This question dqth not imply, that David was indeed contriving how te make an escape from Gqd ; nor pondering with himself in what forlorn corner of the world he might lie obscure, where the presence of God should never apprehend him : but this interrogation serveth for a vehement assertion : whither shall I go ? that is, there is no place whither I can go, or where I can imagine to gc, but thy Spirit and thy Presence will be with me. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit ? that is, either from thee, whp art a spirit, and sp canst pierce and penetrate me ; be as truly and essentially in the very bpwels and marrow of my soul, as my soul is intimately and essentially in my body : from thy Spirit ; that is, from thy knpwledge and thy ppwer ; thy knpwledge to detect and cbserve me, thy power to uphold or to crush me. In what dark corner or cavern soever I should muffle myself, yet thy presence is so universal, that it would find me out ; for it stretcheth itself from heaven to hell : If I make my bed in hell. By hell, here, may be meant the Grave, which is often so called in Scripture ; as Acts ii. 27. Ps. xvi. 10. Thou wilt not leave my 256 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption j (a prophecy cencerning the resurrection of Christ from the grave :) that is, thou wilt not leave my person in the grave : so it is interpreted v. 31. when it is said, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption : Gen. xxxvii. 35. Jacob, speaking concerning the supposed death of his son Jqseph, says, i" will go down into the grave unto my son mourning : there, and Job xvii. 13. that word which we translate the grave, we here translate hell : 'f Now," saith the Prophet, " thpugh I should go down to the grave, and be covered from the sight, and forgotten out of the mind and thoughts of men; yet thou art there, and observest every dust how it moulders and crumbles away: my body cannot be more in the grave, than thou art there." If we take hell for the Place cf the Damned, God's presence is there likewise : one would think, if from any place God would exclude himself, it should be from hell, since his presence is sufficient to make a heaven any where ; but, so infinite is his unlimited being, i that, when the body is in the grave arid the soul in hell,, yet then is Ged present, both With the soul and with the body : If I make my bed in ,hell, that is, " If I cover myself never so close and draw the curtains of the thickest darkness round about me ; if my body should lie in the deepest entrails of the earth, and my soul be wrapt about with a winding-sheet of smoke and flames ; yet thou art there, and thy presence would soon find me out :" Job xxvi. 6. Hell is naked before Mm, and destruction hath no covering : yea, the Apostle tells us, 2 Thess. i. 9. that the wicked, in hell, shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power : that is,, not only that their punishment shall be to be separated from the presence of the Lord; but, look how they are said to be punished from the glory of his power, so likewise are they to be punished from his pre sence: their destruction shall he from the glory of his power; that is, his power in inflicting most dreadful punishments upon them, and his pewer in sustaining them under these punishments, when with ene hand, the Lprd shall hold them up in hell, and lift up the other as high as heaven to give them redoubled strokes pf everlasting vengeance: se, likewise, they shall be punished from the presence of the Lord; that is, God himself will be present in hell tp torment and punish them, that, at the very same time that he shall be a cherishing God in heaven, he will be a tormenting God in hell: because, in them, he hath THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD. 257 established his two great thrones ; the one of his mercy, the other of his justice. But yet, possibly, there may be found some neglected place here below, where God hath no such concernment to be present, as he hath to be present in Heaven and in Hell. Now, saith the Psalmist, vv. 9, 10. If I take the wings ofthe morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea ; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right-hand shall hold me. Wings of the Morning is an elegant metaphor ; and, by them, we may conjecture is meant the sun-beams : called Wings, because of their swift and speedy motion ; making their passage so sudden and so instanta neous, as that they do prevent the observation of the eye; called the Wings of the Morning, because the dawn of the morning comes flying in upon these wings of the sun, and brings light along with it ; and, by beating and.fanning of these wings, scatters the darkness before it. " Now" saith the Psalmist, " if I could pluck these wings qf the morning, the sun-beams ; if I could imp my own shoulders with them ; if I should fly as far and as swift as light, even in an instant, to the uttermost parts qf the sea ; yea, if in my flight I could spy out some solitary rock, so formidable and dismal as if we might almost call in question whether ever a Providence had been there ; if I could pitch there on the top of it, where never any thing had mad* its abode, but coldness, thunders, and tempests : yet there shall thy hand lead me, and thy rigkt-hand shall hold me." Thus you see the. text declares this Ubiquity and Omnipre sence of God, both in heaven and earth and hell, and in all places and in all things. I shall, first," handle this point doctrinally; and, then, practi cally. Observing this method, I shall, Lay dewn some Positions. Demonstrate the truth of them, by some cogent and convincing Arguments. Answer some Objections, which may be made against the Omnipresence of God. Make seme Improvement of this point. I. I am to lay dpwn seme POSITIONS. Position i. God is intimately and essentially in all parts AND PLACES OF THE WORLD. VOL. IV. S 258 miscellaneous sermons. Yea, this presence, being essential, is also necessary ; so fhalt it is simply impossible, that God should not be wheresoever the creature is. By the World, I mean whatsoever was at the beginning created by the power of God; the heavens, the air, the ' earth and sea, and all things visible and invisible : God is with them and irt them all. There are Three things briefly to be touched upon here. 1. That God is intimately present with the creatures.- He passeth through their very beings and inward parts: he is in the very centre of their essence; and this flows from the spirituality of his essence. From hence it is, that it is impossible that he should be excluded out of the most close compacted being. Bodies cannot thus enter one another, because of their gross and material substances : they can only stand without, and knock for admission : they cannot enter into the substance one of another: water, when sucked up by a spunge, doth not pass into the substantial part of it ; but only fills up those caverns and hollow pores, which were before filled with air : the air we breathe in cannot enter into the substance qf qurbqdies; but only into those pores and hollew recesses, which are by nature fitted tq receive it : so pf all pther ccrppreal beings. But spirits are npt tied up te this law : the spuI pf man, because it is a spirit, resides net only in the empty void spaces cf the bedy, but also in the midst of the most solid and substantial part of it : angels, , who are a degree of spiritual beings above the soul, cannot be excluded from being present in the most condensed bodies ; and we know not how often they are in us ; we know net how often they pass through us, nor how many qf them are now present with us : we read of no less than a legion, which is six thousand, that quartered themselves together in one possessed person, Mark v. 9,: then, certainly God, between whom and the angels there is infinitely more distance than between angels and bodies,' cannot possibly be shut out of any being, but diffuseth himself to every part of his creatures. 2N God is not only intimately present with his creatures, because as he is a spirit he passeth through the most inmost part of them, but he is intimately present with all his creatures at once. And, therein, is his presence distinguished from the presence bf angels. They, indeed, pass from one to another, and be one in another : they may, possibly, stretch and dilate them- THE omnipresence 'of god. 259 selves to a great compass ; but they cannot stretch themselves to an ubiquitariness, to be in all beings at once : if an angel suddenly dart himself from one point of the heavens, through the centre of the earth, to an opposite point of the heavens, and by a metion qf insinuatiqn, withqut impelling qr driving the air before him, yet he is not in heaven and earth at once ; but, when he is in one place, he ceaseth to be in another. But it is not so with God, for he is every where and in all things at once for ever : therefore God asks us, Do not I fill heaven aiut earth ? Jer. xxiii. 24 : he is so in them, as that he doth not leave any one place.void or empty of himself; for, were there any places where God were not, then it could not be properly said to be filled with him. 3. Tkis Omnipresence qf God is simply necessary, not only for the preserving and upholding of his creatures in their beings and operations, but necessary io our very beings. For his own essence is simple ; and he cannot withdraw from nor forsake any place or any thing, with which his presence now is : God cannot contract and lessen himself, nor gather up his essence into a narrow room and CPmpass ; but, as he is here in this very place which we new take up, sq he must and will be here to all eternity. Nor is this any imperfection, as if God were not an infinite perfection and excellence ; for this flows from the immutability of his nature and essence : for, should God remove himself, he were not altogether unchangeable; but, with him, there is neither change nor shadow of turning : James i. 17. What the Heathens thought of this Immensity and Omnipresence of God is somewhat obscure. Some of them , confined him to heaven ; and were so far from affirming him present in all things, that they thought he took no care of any thing below, as being too mean and too unworthy for God to regard; this was the opinion of the Epicureans, Acts xvii. IB: others thought, indeed, that the care and providence of God reached to these ordinary things, but not his essence ; and the ground of their error was, because they thought it most befitting the Majesty of God, to sit only in heaven, a glorious and a becoming place, and not to make himself so cheap and so common, as to be present with men and the vile things of the world ; but this is a weak reason, as 1 shall shew anon. , Some others among the Heathens had righter apprehensions of this divine attribute : one of them, being to give a descriptipn what s 2 260 miscellaneous sermons. Gpd. was, tells us mest admirably^ " Gpd is a sphere, whose centre is every where, and whose circumference is no where:" a raised apprehension of the divine nature in a Heathen ! and another, being demanded what God was, made answer, that " God is an Infinite Point;" than which nothing can be said more (almost) or truer, to declare this Omnipresence of God. It is reported of Heraclitus the philosopher, when his friend came to visit him, being in an old rotten hovel, " Come in, come in," saith he, " for God is here :" God is in the meanest cottage, as well as in the stateliest palace : the poorest beggar cohabits with God, as well as the greatest princes ; for God is every where present and sees all things. Position ii. God is not only present in the world, but HE IS INFINITELY EXISTENT ALSO WITHOUT THE WORLD, AND BEYOND ALL THINGS BUT HIMSELF. He is in all that vast tract of nothing, which we can imagine, and beyond the highest heavens. What reascn can say for this, I shall anon shew. In the mean time, see that one positive place of Scripture, 1 Kings viii. 27. Rehold, the heaven, and heaven of heavens, cannot contain him : and if Gpd be net ccn- tained in them, certainly he then must be infinitely beycnd and abpve them : he surmounts the heaven of heavens, that is, the very highest and uppermost heavens, which St. Paul calls the third heaven : 2 Cor. xii. 2. that gloripus place, in which Gnd dpth most specially manifest himself, and will do to all eternity. The Scripture tells us, that, though the heaven qf the glqrified angels and saints be the place in which Ged will especially manifest his presence, yet it is net that place unto which God will or doth confine his presence : Isai. lxvi. 1 , 2. Thus saith the Lorg, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool : where is the house that ye build unto me ? and where is the place of my rest ? For all those things hath mine hand made : as if God should have said, " Do not think to cloister me up within the walls ef the Temple : nq ; I am set upen the highest heavens, as upon my throne ; and they are all under me, and I am exalted far above them." Many such glorious expressions there are of God's infiniteness and immensity scattered up and down the Scripture, which I shall not now spend time to recollect. The Scripture, you see, owns it for a truth, that God is infinite in his essence, beyond the whole world : which is one- of those THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD. 261 divine properties, the possibility whereof it poseth reason to conceive ; that since, beyond the world there is nothing, God shpuld exist there. But, though reasen cannot apprehend it, yet from reason, as well. as from Scripture, it appears it must be so. Position iii. As god exists every where, so 'all and whole god exists every wheRe. So. that all God is here, and all God is there, and all God is in every place and in every thing. This is, indeed, a great and most inconceivable mystery : but yet it must needs be so ; because God is indivisible and simple, and nqt cqmpqurided of parts : and, therefore, wherever there is any of God's essence, there is all his essence ; otherwise, part of his essence would be here, and part there, and part of it elsewhere, which would be utterly repugnant to the simple and uncompounded nature of Ged. Gqd's attributes are his essence : new there is no where, where God is, but there are all his attributes ; and, therefore, where Gqd is, there is all his essence. He is a spirit, mest wise, most powerful, most just, and the like; here, and there, as well as in heaven above. Yea, and what is more, to the astonishment of reason, than all this, God is every where omnipresent, and in every place. -And, though it be common to all spiritual beings, because they have no parts, to have a totality in the whole and a totality in every part : (indeed it is expressed in the Schools, that spirits are all in the whole, and all in every part;) yet, herein, God hath a peculiar way of subsisting from other spirits, that not only his essence alone is in every part of the world, but also his presence is in all and every part of the world ; so that God is every where present : which is beyond the reach of our apprehensions ; yet it is undoubtedly true, for God's omnipresence being that attribute which belongs to him, he is present every where and in all things. II. Now for the rational DEMONSTRATIONS, whereby it may be evinced, that God is omnipresent. i. That God is present every where in this world I shall make good by these arguments : 1. From his unchangeableness. If there be any place where God is not, then God may be there, because he is omnipotent : but if God may be there, L'62' MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. where he is not actually also, then it must be by motion to that place : but it is impossible that God should be able to move from one place to another, because he is immutable : therefore, hence it clearly follows, that there is no place, where God is not, and where he was not from all eternity. 2. It may be demonstrated, that God is omnipresentyVom his preservation- of all things in their beings. God is present with whatsoever he preserves: but he preserves every thing in its being : therefore he is present every where. There is required as great a power to preserve creatures from falling back into their first nothing, as there was to make them at first out of nothing ; for preservation, as the philosopher speaks, is nothing else but a continued and a prolpnged creation : now he cannpt create any thing at a distance from it, because no creature is fit to convey a creative action, and because also whatever virtue or power is in God it is his essence : therefore, if he create or preserve by his power, he creates and preserves immediately by his essence, and so his essence must be what soever his operations are. ii. But God exists not only in the world, but infinitely Beyond the world also. That may be demonstrated, From the Infiniteness of his Nature and Essence. From the Infiniteness of his Perfections. From his Almighty Pqwer: and From his Eternity. 1 . From the Infiniteness of God's Nature or Essence. That nature, which is infinite, cannot be bounded qr limited: but Ged's nature is infinite: therefere, it cannot be bounded. But if God were only present in the Werld, and did not exist infinitely beyond it, then his being and nature could not be infinite' as a spirit is infinite: therefore, if God should be included in the world, he would also be but infinite as the world. 2. From the Infiniteness of his Perfections, we may argue thus : , That, which is infinitely perfect, must be infinitely great: but God is infinitely perfect; so that there is no perfection, which we can imagine, but is eminently in God : therefore he must be infinitely great ; so as there can be no space which we can' imagine, but he must be present in it. But we can imagine an infinite space beyond this world : therefore Gpd is there ; THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD. 263 because there is no perfection imaginable, which God hath not. Whatever is infinitely perfect, must be infinitely great; as appears from this, because the greater a thing is, the more perfect it is of that same kind, as a great piece of gold is more excellent than a less : and, therefore, from this perfection of God, it appears, that he is every where, he being all perfection. 3. As it is demonstrated from God's infiniteness and perfection, so likewise from his Almighty Power. God can create another world greater than thisj even in that imaginary space, which we can conceive beyond this world : therefore, certainly, Ged is now existent there. 4. Gpd1s omnipresence may be argued from the Eternity of God. A God was infinitely existent before the creation of the werld ; since he is eternal, and the world but temporal : the world hath stood only but some few thousands of years,, and before the creation of the world there was nething but God, and God existed eternally in himself: therefore, thqugh beyend this wnrld there be npthing, yet Gqd will be there actually existing in that same imaginary- space beyend this werld, as he did exist in an imaginary space before this world was created. Thus I have dqne with the Propqsitiqns, and the confirmation of them by rational Arguments; those things, which relate to the philosophical part ofthe text, for informing the judgment in the notion of that stupendous attribute of God's Omnipre^ sence. III. I shall now come to answer some OBJECTIONS. Object, i. The first is taken frem tfipse Scriptures, where it seems tp be implied, that God moves from place to place : as in Gen. xviii. 21. where the Lord saith, concerning Sodom and Gomprrah, / will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me : and, in Hab. iii. 3. it is said, God came from Tpman, and the Holy One from mount Paran, Mc- " Now these places, which speak of going to and departing from places, seem to qppqse Gcd's ubiquity j because mction is incensistent with Gqd's qmnipresence." I answer; These and the like Scriptures are net to be taken \ 264 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. prpperly and literally ; but as accommodated to our capacity and conception : even as parents,' when they speak to their little children, will sometimes lisp and babble in their language ; so God oftentimes condescends te us in speaking qur language, for the declaring cf those things which are far above our reach. But you will say, " How are such places to be understood ?" I answer : When God is said tq ccme unto qr tq depart from any place or person, nothing else must be understood thereby, but a declaring or not declaring of himself to be present. As men, when they manifest themselves present, do it by moving hither or thither : so God, to accommodate himself thereunto, when he manifests his presence any where, tells us, that he gees thither ; and, when that manifestatinn ceasetb, he tells us he departs thence ; though he was always there preserit, both before and after that manifestation» # So that these expressions used in the Scripture, concerning God, though spoken after the manner of men, yet must be understood after the manner of Gpd, that is, with a suitableness and conformity to his Infinite Essence. ' Object, ii. " The Scripture tells us, that hereafter in heaven we shall see God as he is : but is not that impossible ? If God be an omnipresent Gqd, we shall not be able to comprehend him, because we shall not ourselves be infinite in heaven : and, if man be still finite, how then can he comprehend what is infinite ; since infinite is comprehended of nothing, but that which is infinite ?" I answer : Such Scriptures are not to be understoqd, as if the capacities of angels, much less of men, are or ever shall be wide and capacious enough to contain the infinite greatness ef Gqd: no; his omnipresence is not comprehended by angels them selves, nor shall be by man for ever. But they must be under stood comparatively : our vision and sight qf God, here, is but through a glass darkly ; but, in heaven, it shall be with se much more brightness and clearness, that, in comparison of the obscure and glimmering way whereby we know God here, it may be called a seeing of him face to face, and knowing him as we are known by him ; though, to speak in absolute propriety of speech, these things are uot possible to any creature. Object, iii. " It may seem no small disparagement to God to be every where present. What ! for the Gloripus Majesty pf the omnipresence of GOD. 265 Ged to be present in such vile and filthy places, as are here upen earth ?" To this I answer, l . God doth not think it arry disparagement to him, nor think it unworthy of him, to know and make all these, whick we call vile and filthy places : why then should we think it unworthy of him to' % e present there ? 2. God is a Spirit, and is not capable qf any pollution or defile ment from any vile or filthy things. The sun-beams are no more tainted by shining on a dunghill, than they are by shining on a bed of spices : no more can God be sullied by being pre sent in filthy sinks, (to speak with reverence,) than to be in the glorious heavens ; because he is a spirit, and his essence is not subject to any taints from the creature. 3. The vilest things, that are, have still a being, that is good in their own kind; and as well-pleasing to Ged, as those things, which we put a greater value and esteem upon. 4. It reflects no more dishonour upon God, to be present with the vilest creatures, than to be present with the noblest and highest; because the angels are at an infinite distance from God. There is a greater disproportion between God and the angels, than there is between the vilest worm and an angel : all are at an infinite distance to his glory and majesty. ' Thus much, for the Objections. IV. APPLICATION. Use i. Is God thus infinitely present every where, and thus in and with all his creatures ? then what an encouragement is here unto prayer ! • Thou canst not say, " Alas ! I now pray ; but how shall God hear ? He is in heaven above, and I am on earth below, many thousands of miles distant from his presence: how then shall my weak whisperings, that can scarce reach the walls ef mine own closet, ever be able* to reach his ear?" No, God's essential presence is with thee, wheresoever thou art, as he is in heaven itself; and God is all ear: he can understand the silent motions of thy lips everywhere : yea, he can understand the secret motions of thy heart. When Hannah prayed for her son Samuel, Eli, the priest of God, thought her gesture did 266 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. proceed from a distempered head, and not from a holy heart: but God was present with her lips ; and that prayer, which was thought by the priest of God to be but a dumb shew, yet to Gpd himself was ppwerful rhetoric and as loud as thunder in his ears. The Scripture generally intimates, that all our prayers shall be directed te Gpd in heaven : sp Splomon prayed, 1 Kings viii. 32. Then hear thou in heaven, Uc : and it is again expressed, in the 30th verse : so, that mest excellent composure, which Christ taught his disciples, in the beginning of it, Our Father, which art in heaven, gives our thoughts a lift to heaven. Now this doth not imply, that God doth nowhere hear our prayers, but only in heaven. But how, then ? Why is this phrase used ? For these Two reasons : 1. Because heaven is the most glorious place : there God* especially, hath established his Throne pf Grace, and sits upon it. Now, because it is most glorious and majestic, and since God is there to hear the suits and receive petitions which are tendered up by all his servants here on earth, therefore the Scripture directeth us to that rnost glorious and celestial place : Hear thou in heaven. Hence we have that expression, Acts x. 4. Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. Certainly, if our prayers should not be heard till they come to heaven, they are so weak and faint, that they would be out of breath by the way, and not be able then to speak for themselves. But, yet, God speaks in us by his Spirit, and keeps alive the sense of his majesty upon our hearts, that he would riot have us think it to be a mean and trivial thing to have our prayers heard : therefore he represents himself to us arrayed in all his glory.. 2. Our prayers are directed tc God in heaven, because, though he hears them wherever they be uttered; yet he nowhere hears them with acceptation, but in heaven only. Our prayers are accepted by Ged, because they are heard in heaven. Thy prayers are not accepted by God, because God hears them upon earth ; as they are heard in thy closet, or as they are heard in thy heart; but only as they are heard in heaven : and the reason is, because prayers are acceptable, only as they are presented before God in the mediation and intercesr sion of Jesus Christ : he must mingle them with the incense of THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD. 267 his merits, before they can ascend up before God as a sweet savour. Now Christ performs his Mediatory Office nownere but in heaven : for though, as God, he be everywhere present, as the Father is, and therefore hears your prayers wheresoever they be put up; yet, as Mediator, they are-only heard in heaven by him ; and he hears no prayers, but the prayers of his peo ple, as he is Mediator : and, therefore, it is no comfort tc you, that Christ hears your prayers, as he is God only, for so he doth and cannot but dn it ; unless he hears yqur prayers, like wise, as he is Mediator. New Christ, as he is Mediator, is God. Man ; for, as he wrought out our salvation in both natures, so he still continues to mediate for us in both natures : and, since the human nature is only in heaven, therefore it follows, he performs the mediatory office only in heaven. Now it is the mediatorship of Christ alone, that makes all our prayers and duties acceptable to Gpd himself: therefore it ccncerns us still to pray, " Lord, hear us in heaven. It is in vain, that thqu hearest me qn earth, unless thpu hearest in heaven too. My prayers cannot be heard acceptably, unless thou hearest them twice. Thou hearest my prayers on earth ; not a word of my tongue but thou hearest : but what will it avail, thy servant, unless thou hearest my prayers a second time repeated over to thee in the intercessiqn and mediatiqn qf Jesus Christ in heaven ?" And therefore, saith Selqmon, 1 Kings viii. 34. Hear thou in heaven, and forgive :' when Ged shall only hear en earth, he will be so far from forgiving, that he will be avenged ; but, when he hears our prayers in heaven, through the mediation of Christ, then he is inclined to forgive and pardon us. Hence we find, that the Jews prayed towards the temple, which was a type of heaven ; and the altar and incense and mercy-seat in this temple were types of Christ, who is now in heaven : and therefore Daniel, when in Babylon, prayed, his window being open towards Jerusalem, towards the temple ; as if no prayer were acceptable to God, but what was heard in heaven : so Jonah, when he was in the belly of the whale, Jonah ii. 7. My prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple .- Jqnah was a strong orator, when he was in the slimy paunch cf the whale ; yea, but Ged was there, and God heard him there ; but yet his prayer would have been as filthy as his person, if God had not heard him elsewhere than in the belly of the whale: My prayer* came in unto thee, into thine holy temple ; that is, God 268 MISCELLANEOUS, SERMONS. heard him in heaven : and, therefore, though the breath of Jonah could have no sweetness, yet the prayer that he breathed forth came up as incense and a sweet perfume before God as it came into the holy temple. Thus God hears the prayers of his in heaven; but the prayers of the wicked he hears only upon earth; he hears them when they speak them, but God never hears their prayers in the knediation of Christ; but the prayers of his own people he hears on earth as he is an omnipresent and omni potent God, and he hears them in heaven as he is a gracious and reconciled Fatner. If thou dost but whisper thy prayer, God will hear it: that, which is but whispered on earth, rings and echoes in the Court of Heaven ; and, if Christ speaks your prayers over to God, they becqme sq lqud, that Gqd cannot stop his ears against them. The voice of prayer is not like , other voices: the further they reach, the weaker thy grow : no ; that Voice, which is so weak that it cannot be heard -beyond the compass of thy closet, yet when it is put forth in prayer, fills all heaven with its sound. " But where is the encouragement unto prayer in all this ?" If thou dost belong to God, thou mayest have great encourage ment to prayer from the consideratipn of his Omnipresence : for, because of this, there is no prayer ef a child pf Gpd but shall be heard in heaven thcugh it be uttered in secret. For consider, that though Christ, as Man, is only in heaven ; yet Christ, as God, is everywhere present, and hears the prayers of all men in the world. Those, who are wicked, he regards no further; but gives them the hearing: hut, for his own, he regards their prayers, and presents what he hears from them to God in heaven. Christ makes his omniscience and omnipresence to be subservient to the work of his mediatorship. One pf his offices is, to be a faithful High-Priest and an Advecate tq God for us ; and Christ, being such an advecate as hears all the suits and all the causes of his clients, we may be assured, that there is not one prayer, which God hears on earth from us, but he hears it alsc in heaven, through Christ. It was a notable scoff cf Elijah tq Baal's priesjs, 1 Kings xviii. 27. Cry aloud; for he is a god, He. peradventure he sleepetk and must be awaked : as if he shquld say, " Y6u serve an unworthy God, that cannot hear those; who pray unto him ! And, indeed, how should he dq sq, that is nqt bmnipresent ? He is talking, or he is pursuing, er travelling ; Cry! Cry aloud/ and, peradventure, THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD. 269 if- he sleepetb, that will awaken him. But, thcugh ypu should cry never sq lqud, thqugh'yqur cry sheuld reach from earth to heaven, he wculd be silent : such a Ged as yours could never hear." And, therefore, when Elijah himself came to pray, v. 36, the text doth not tell us he cried aloud, but that he came near ; but, when Baal's priests roared and howled, like distracted men, and cut themselves in an idolatrous manner, Baal is nqt prevailed with to hear them. New, Elijah came near; that is, he came in a calm and sedate manner, and poured out his fervent compo sure to God ; as knowing, that that God, whom he prayed to, is present everywhere. The voice in prayer is necessary, upon a Threefold ac count : (') As it is that, which God requires should be employed in his service : for this is the great end why our tongues were given to us, that, by them, we might bless and , serve God : James iii. 9. (2) When, in , private, it may be a help and means to raise up our own affections and devotions, then the voice is requi site ; keeping it still within the bounds of decency or privacy. (3) In our joining also with others, it is a help likewise to raise and quicken their affections. Otherwise, were it not for these three reasons, the voice is no mqre necessary tc make known pur wants tp Gqd, than it is tq make them known to qur own hearts ; fer Gpd is always in us and with us, and knpws what we have need ef before we ask it. Use ii. As the consideration of Gcd's pmnipresence sheuld encourage us in prayer, as knowing that Ged certainly hears US ; SO it should AFFECT US WITH A HOLY AWE AND REVERENCE OF god, in all our prayers and duties, and in the whole course of our lives and conversations. Certainly, it is an excellent meditation, to prepare our hearts to duty, and to compose them in duty, to be much pondering the Omnipresence of God: to think that I am with God: he is present in the room with me, even in the congregation with me, and likewise in my closet, and in all my converse and deal ings in the world. How can it be possible for that man to be frothy and vain, who keeps this thought alive in his heart ? If the presence of some earthly persen strike an awe in qur hearts 310 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS; when we come before them, how much more should the consi deration of God's presence affect us with a holy fear ! suppose an angel should fly in the midst of us, who are here present, with a rushing and dazzling glory, how would it make all eur hearts beat find throb within us ! it would make us soon abandon all those vain thoughts, which new we feed upon ; thqse thnughts, which eat qut the heart and life ef duty. How much more should it affect us and fill us with holy fear, that that God is now and .always in the midst of us, whose glory stains and sullies the beauty and extinguishes the light of angels ! Oh ! that God, who is always present with us, should be worshipped and served with a holy fear, and remembered with the greatest veneration. * Now, to imprint this the more deeply, I shall suggest two or three particulars. 1. Because God is in all things, therefore he sees and knows all things. The omniscience of God is grounded upon his omnipresence : Jer. xxiii. 24. Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord. Nothing in heaven or earth can be hid or con cealed from God's eye: Heb. iv. 13. All things are naked and opened before the Lord. There is no corner so retired, so shady, so dark, no gulf sq deep, that can hide any thing from the piercing discovery of his eye. He knows our thoughts, those nimble and those spiritual things, which are so quick in their flight that they cannct be seized upqn by any creature in the werld ; Gqd knows them : the Devil cannot know them, nor can an angel know them ; yet God discerns our thpughts more clearly than we can discern the faces of one another : he sees our thoughts afar off,, as the Psalmist tells us: he sees our thoughts in their first conception, when they first begin to heave in our breasts : he knows the least windings and turnings of our souls. Now would not this compose us to a habitual and holy awe of God, to be continually thinking, that, whatsoever we do, God's eye is now upon us ? Let every one say within himself, " Wherever I am, or whatever I dc, I am in the pre sence of the Holy God, whe takes netice ef all my carriages : there is not a glance qf mine eye, but his eye ebserves it: there is not an irreverent or unseemly gesture, but he takes notice of it : not a thought of mine can escape, but he knows that thought : THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD. 271 and he knews my dpwn-lying and up-rising, &c." Let this con- sideraticn seasqn yeur lives and ccnversatiqns : be still pendering in yqur minds, that, whatsqever yqu are deing, his eye is upen you, and he is present with you. 2. Consider, that God not only sees into all you do, but ke sees it to that very end tkat ke may examine and search into it. He doth not only behold you with a common and indifferent lopk; but with a searching, watchful, and inquisitive eye : he pries into the reasons, the motives, the ends of all your actions. Psal. xi. 4, it is said, The Lord's throne is in heaven : his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children qf men. ' Rev. i. 14. where Christ is described, it is said, his eyes are as aflame of fire : you know the property ef fire is, to search and make trial of those things, which are exposed unto it, and to separate the dross from the pure metal : so, God's eye is like fire, to try and examine the actions of men : he knows and discerns how much your very purest duties have in them of mixture arid base ends of forma lity, hypocrisy, distractedness, and deadness : he sees through all your specious pretences, that which you cast as a mist before the eyes of men, when yet thou art but a juggler in religion : all your tricks and sleights of outward profession, all those things that you use to cozen and delude men withal, cannot possibly impose upon him : he is a God, that can look through all those fig-leaves of outward profession, and discern the nakedness of your duties through them. 3. God tries all your cases and actions, in order to an eternal judgment and sentence to be passed upon them. This consideration might damp the stoutest sinner's heart in the whole world. Believe it, Sirs, God doth not only see your ways, but he sees them se as to remember them against you another day : though you have forgot what you have thought, and what you have spoken, and what you have done ; yet God for ever remembers it, and at that day he will sadly recal all these things again to your remembrance. Oh ! that therefore this might prevail with you, so to do every thing, as being now already under the eye ef God, and as shortly to be under his doom and sentence ! If God should send an angel to stand at our backs, and tell us, whatever we are dqing, this action cf purs we must be judged for ; it shquld make us as fearful of sinning, as that angel himself. True, we have no such monitor; but our conscience performs to us the same office: therefore, charge 272 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. it upen yqur consciences, that they still put you in mind of God; that he sees you; that he will judge you; and that he always loqks upqn you, and writes down in these eternal leaves of his memorial-book, whatsoever proceeds from you, either in the duties of religion or in the actions of your ordinary cOurse and conversation : therefore, because he is omnipresent and sees all things, stand in awe of his omnisciency ; whereby he sees what soever we do, and whereby he will try and judge us at the Last Day, SERMON* ON THfe NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST! PREACHED ON CHRISTMAS DAY. LUKE ii. 13, 14. AND SUDDENLY THERE WAS WlTHTHE ANGEL A MULTITUDE OF "THE HEAVENLY HOST, TRAlSING GOD, AND SAYING, GLORY TO GOD IN 'THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOOD-WILL TO WARDS MEN. IN this chapter we have a most wonderful History pf the Na tivity of the Son of God: and it' is described both by the meari entertainment that earth, and the glorious attendance that hea ven afforded him. His own appearance was but despicable, but the appearance of his retinue was. most magnificent and Astonishing :¦ he, who * In a ^posthumous 8 vo. volume,- published in 1712, is " Aa Appendix, .containing some passages pniitted in that pari of ; the author's works pub; lished :m folio." Among these passages rare found one entire division, and several considerable paragraphs, intended, apparently/ for insertion or omis sion, as the discourse was to.be accomirrbdated' fo one or more times of deli very. This ipiece was first printed in' whatis called the .Third Volume of Discourses, 8 vo. ,1^94 ; and was., re-printed in the folio^of 1701. Some of the sentences of these editions are abridged in the above-mentioned Appendix^ and others are .amplified. The author seems to have preached it as Three distinct Sermons j-1 probably on so many successive Christmas Days. The editors ofthe 3d octavo and the folio, not knowing of the alterations and ^additions], printed afterwards in the Appendix, have put together the Dis course, as it .stands in their editions, entirely omitting the second division of the second head, concerning Peace on Earth. 1 have endeavoured to com bine the Appendix with the original text, so as tb form one regular Discourse ; and such parts of the Appendix as could not be so interwoven, I, have given , in tycjtes^t thebp^omofftha p^ge. Editor, ., i. , , .- VOL, JV. _,. .. . ...., ,IT., ,, ,. ._,,; _ 21* MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. was tke Ancient qf Days, became a helpless infant : he, who was the light of the sun, comes into the world in the darkness of the night: he, who came that he might lay us in the bosom of the Father, is himself laid in the manger of a stable. The inn is full, and Joseph the carpenter, and Mary, though big with God, must take up with a stable; and she must lay her blessed burden among beasts and horses, far more hospitable than their owners. But, though he be meanly welcomed on earth, yet heaven makes abundant amends for all: a company of industrious. shep herds, lying all night in the fields by their flocks, while they are watching their sheep, themselves find their own shepherd. Whilst they thought of no apparition, but of some ravenous beasts to devour their herd, an angel is winged away with so great swiftness, that he scatters light round about the place, and tells them of the birth of Christ : but then he bids them search for him in a strange place ; telling them that they should find the Lord of Life and Glory in an inn : and a strange circum stance it is, that a holy angel should call the shameful debase ment of the King of Heaven tidings of great joy, and make it the matter of his jubilee, and triumph upon the delivery pf his message. The text tells us, there was with tke angel a multitude qf tke heavenly shqst : that is, of angels, those heavenly courtiers, leaving • the glorious palace of heaven ; as well they might, when their King lay here below: and then they second him with this joyful acclamation, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good-will towards men. In these words is cpntained whatseever Ged or man can desire. What Jotham, in the parable speaks concerning the vine, Judges ix. 13, is certainly true of this text : It cheereth God and man. God knoweth no higher design. than his own glory; and Christ's coming into the wprid was for the accomplishment of that design. And man can desire no greater happiness than what fellows, Peace and Good-will: and bpth these are born into the worlds together with Christ. New, by this peace on earth, may be meant either mutually from men to men, that, upon Christ's birth, men should be at peace cne with another : sp history informs us, that, about this time, Janus's Temple was shut up, and the whole world was at peace : Florus, the Roman historian, records, that then there was either a peace or a truce in the whole world : and, indeed, it was but fit that war should cease, when the Prinee of Peace was born. Or else it may be meant of peace and good-will THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 21 5 from God to man : now peace is not so much as good-will ; for where there are not open acts pf hostility, yet there may be secret grudges and displeasure: all sinners stand in a double state pf distance to God ; the one of opposition and defiance, the other of alienation and estrangement : peace destroys the one, and good-will the ether; and, in the text, Gpd, by his •angel, proclaims both to the world ; peace to reconcile them, and good'WiU to endear them, and both in the Lor d Jesus Christ. And so, accordingly, let us take notice, By whom this heavenly anthem is sung. What are the contents of it L For the FIRST, it is said, that an innumerable ccmpany of the heavenly hest praised Gpd. And we may well wonder what should occasion such mighty expressions of joy in those blessed spirits. Is it a time of joy, when the Great God is introducing himself into our flesh ; when he is abasing himself to dust and ashes ; when the Infinite God. is retiring, and shrinking up himself into a small worm ? Is it a time of joy with them, when the brightness of the Deity, from whose reflecticns only they borrow all their shining and lustre, is new eclipsed in a frail bedy ? Strange, that they should make this day of heaven's humiliation, their festival and day of thanksgiving ! Yet, pessibly, we may give a Threefold accpunt pf it. i. The hply angels rejoiced at the Birth of Christ, because it GAVE THEM OCCASION TO TESTIFY TftEIR DEEPEST HUMILITY AND SUBJECTION. To be subject to Christ, whilst he sat upen the thrpne of his kingdom, arrayed with unapproachable light, controlling all the powers of heaven with a beck, was no more than his dreadful majesty and his infinite glory exacted from them : but, to be subject to him in a cratch, as well as on the tfirone, when he had, as it were, hid his beams, and made himself recluse in the hu man nature ; (for the angels are subject to him when as tbe Apostle speaks, Heb. ii. 8. We see not yet all things put under him ;) this was not obedience only, but in a sense it was a con descension. Some of the Schoolmen, those busy priers into all the secrets of heaven, think that the pride, which tumbled the apostate angels out of heaven, was their disdaining to serve Christ in his state of exinanition and abasement ; Which they T 2 276 MISCELLANEOUS'SERMONS. then, by revelation, knew wpuld certainly come to pass in the fulness of time : and that the rest of their fellow-angels preserved their station, by professing their cheerful willingness to be com mon servants to the Mediator, when he himself should appear in the form of a servant. Now is the time of their trial : their King, whose infinite essence gilds all the universe, doth now lie housed in a stable, cradled in a manger : there he lies, under all the dishonours of men, obscure in his birth, and shortly to be exposed to hardships, to the assaults of the Devil, to buffetings and cruel scourgings, and at last to die as a malefactor. This is that stone of stumbling, which hath long lain in the-way both of the Jews and Gentiles : this* is the scandal of the cross, which their pride would never stoop to : this is the foolishness of the Gospel, which the wisdom of the world did deride. What! for Ged to command them to believe in such a contemptible person as Jesus of Nazareth ! what were this, but to destroy their rea son, that he might save their souls ? they scorn to pwn him, in his meanness, for their Saviour ; whom yet the glpripus angels scorn not to own, even in his meanness, for their Lord and King. And, therefore,: we find how ready they are to wait upon him, in the greatest instance of his abasement : when he was in the wilderness, among howling beasts, tempted by the Devil, that roaring lion, it is said, then angels ministered unto him : Mat. iv. 1 i : when he was in an agony, and the heavy sense of Gpd's wrath squeezed from him large drops of bloody sweat, an angel, it is said, strengthened him : Luke xxii. 43. And now the time is come^ wherein they niay express their fidelity arid obedience, in the lowest estate of their Lord. And this is the first reason, why the holy angels rejoiced at the Birth of Chribt, because now they have an opportunity pf expressing their humility and subjection tc their Lord aud King. ii. The angels rejoiced at the Birth of Christ, because the CONFIRMATION OF THAT BLESSED ESTATE OF GRACE AND GLORY, WHEREIN THEY NOW STAND, DEPENDED UPON HIS INCARNATION. God, upon Christ's undertaking the great work of his Me- diatorship, made over to him the whole world, as it were, by deed of gift: Mat. xxviii. 18. All power, saith Christ, is given unto me in heaven and in earth. The government of all creatures is laid upon. his shoulders: and, therefore, if there be so o-reat a multitude of holy angels preserved in their blissful state be- THE NATIVITY .OF CHRIST. £77 yond all danger of apostasy, it must only be ascribed tc Christ as Gpd-Man. Hence he is styled, Col. ii. 10, the head qf afl principality and power : they are members of Christ, as well as we: they are united to him by love, as we are by faith : they are part of the Church of Christ, as well as we : they are glo rified saints, triumphing in heaven ; we, militant on earth, and aspiring thither. Eph. i. 10. It is said, God gathers together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him : we and they are sheltered together under the same veil of Christ's flesh : and, as the saints on earth de rive from Christ the grace of perseverance, which keeps them from drawing back to perdition ; so also do the angels in heaven, Once, when the Great God hurled the apostate spirits down into the burning lake, their own wills were then mutable, and their estate too: they might have conspired in the same rebellion, and partaken of the same destruction ; but that, it is probable, the Mediator interposed to secure and confirm them : and therefore they rejoiced at the Birth of Christ, wherein they saw the Godhead actually united to the human nature ; since the merit of this union, long before that, prevailed for their happy perseverance. iii. The holy angels rejoiced at the Birth of Christ, from THE FERVENT DESIRE THEY HAVE OF MAN'S SALVATION. Many thrones in heaven are vacant : God hath expelled thence many legions of devils : and it is the fancy of some, that the number of those, who shall be saved, is equal to the number of the fallen angels ; as if they were appointed by God, to succeed in their places and dignities. Now the an gels have an earnest desire to have these rppms filled ; and to have mpre members added to their Heavenly Corporation : hence we find, Luke xv. 10. There is joy in the presence qf the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth : the news of a sin ner's conversion is entertained with applause : it makes a festival in heaven, that now another man is made a free denizen of that holy city. And, if they thus rejoice at the conversion of a sinner, needs must they rejoice at the Incarnation of a Saviour ; since this is the root and foundation of our conversion, of our hope, and of all our happiness. Thus you see the reasons, why the holy angels rejoiced so exceedingly at the Birth of Christ. 278 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. That is the First particular propeunded : by whom this joy is preclaimed, namely, a multitude of the heavenly host. II. I might likewise have added, that the angels rejoiced at the Birth of Christ, because there is laid in it the great and wonderful design of God's glory ; but that falls into the Second General, and that is, WHAT THIS ANGELICAL SONG CONTAINS IN IT. ' It is set down in Three most amiable and excellent things, Glory, Peace, and Goed- Will, which are here applied tc their several objects; Glory to God, Peace on earth, and Good-Will towards men. i, Tc begin with the first, god's glory. • Now God's glory is of two sorts, essential and declarative. > God's Essential Glory is nothing else, but the infinite pe»- fections of his own nature : it is a constellation of all his un conceivable attributes, of wisdom, power, holiness, and the like, into his own ever blessed essence. And, thus, God was from all eternity ; before ever there was creature made to admire fiim, he was infinitely glorious in himself. The Declarative Glory of God is nothing else, but that visible splendor and lustre, which reflects from the Essential Glory, upon the notice and intimation that the creatures have of it. Thus we are said, to give glory to God ; not that we can con tribute any thing to him, and set any jewels in his crown, which did not shine there before ; but when we observe and admire tbose bright corruscations .of his attributes, which appear in several ways that God takes to express them : then we glorify God, when we admire those strictures of God's Essential Glory, which appear in his attributes. So, here, when the angels sung, Glory to God in the highest ; the meaning is, " Let heaven and earth behpld, with admiration, and acknowledge these attributes of God, which now shine forth in the Incarnation of his Son." From the words thus opened, let me observej that, THE ABASING NATIVITY OF JESUS CHRIST, IS THE HIGHEST AT*. VANCEMENT OF GQD'S GLORY. This is a strange riddle to human reason; which is apt to judge it a most preposterous course, for God tq r&ise his glory THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 279 out ol the humiliation and abasement, yea out of the very ruins, of his Son. " What if God had thrown open the gates of heaven, and given all tbe world a prospect into that heavenly and glorious palace ; there to have seen the throne of majesty and his glittering attendants, ten thousand flaming spirits ready to execute his will, cherubims and seraphims flying as swift as lightning within those boundless roofs; would not this have been more expressive of God's glory, than thus to cloister it up and immure the Deity in clay ? to expose Him, who was God,__ to the miseries of wretched man, to an ignoble and cursed death ? The Cratch in which he lay, and the cross pn which he hung, were not high places of any glorious appearance." Thus may carnal reason urge, upon this score. The Apostle, in l Tim. iii. 16, speaking of the incarnation of Christ, calls it the mystery qf godliness. It is a riddle, and a mysterious one : not only bow it should be, that the Eternal and Infinite God should unite himself in oneness of person with frail and despicable flesh ; but why it should be done. Now, to give you some account of this, I shall briefly, in a few particulars, shew you how much glory redounds to God hereby. 1. In the Birth of Christ, God glorified the riches ofhis Infinite Wisdom. j This was a contrivance, that would never have entered into the hearts either of men or angels. ! Heaven, at this very day, stands astonished at it : angels are cqntiuually locking into it, and confess their understandings infinitely too short to fathom it. 1 Cor. i. 24. Christ is called tke Wisdom qf God. He is, first, the Essential Wisdom of God, as he is the Second Person of the Ever-blessed Trinity : he is the Intellectual Word, that was in the beginning with God, and was also God himself. He was likewise the Declarative Wisdom of God, as Mediator ; God-Man united in one person. Let us a little put the difficult case concerning Man's salvation ; that, withal, we may see whe ther it was not the contrivance of Infinite Wisdom. Justice and mercy lay in their different claims for sinful man : severe justice pleads the law and the curse, by which the souls pf sin ners are forfeited to vengeance ; and therefore challengeth the malefactors, and is ready to drag them away to executien: mercy interposes, and pleads, that, if the rigorous demands of justice be heard, it must lie an obscure and an unregarded at tribute in God's essence for ever : it alone must be excluded, 280 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. when all the rest had their share and portion. The case is in finitely difficult : call a bench of angels to debate the case : when all is said, we find no way to accommodate this difference: it is beyond their reach, howto satisfy justice in the punishment ef sinners, and yet to gratify mercy in their pardon. Here now, in this gravelling case, is the wonderful wisdom of God seen : justice demands that man should die ; saith God, " My Son shall become man, and die under thy hands : seize upon him, and pursue him through all the plagues and curses that my Law threatens : only, there, satisfy thyself on the Surety : my mercy shall forgive and save the principal." Think what a shout and applause heaven gave at the decision of this great controversy. Oh the infiniteness of thy wisdom, that cPuldst contrive means to reconcile such different interests, and twist thy glory with them both ! Oh, it is delightful for reason to lose itself in such a divine meditation': for it is an unfordable deep for the soul to enter into : it utterly swallpws up all our appre hensions : we never find ourselves at such a ravishing ecstasy of loss, as when we trace out the intrigues and admirable ways of our recovery. 2. The Birth of Christ glorified the Almighty Power of God. It was his Infinite Power, that spread abroad the heavens, that poized the earth in the midst of the»air: and it would be a glorious expression of hpower, if God should draw up this glpbe of the earth to the. heavens; or if he should let dpwn the concave of heaven to earth. This God hath dpne, in the mi raculous Birth of Christ : he hath joined heaven and earth to gether : he hath made an inseparable union between them : he hath caused heaven and earth to meet in the midway : he hath raised earth to heaven, and stooped heaven to earth. It ig an effect of the Almighty Power of God, to unite himself to hu man nature, to frail flesh : this was to put forth his power, only to make himself weak. Is it not Almighty Power, that the infinite unconceivable Godhead should unite to itself dust and ashes ; and be sp closely united, that it should grow into one and the same person ? The glory of God's power is hereby ex ceedingly advanced. 3. By the Birth of Christ, God glorified the severity qf his Justice. His Son must rather take flesh and die, than that this attribute sheuld remain unsatisfied. And sp strict was Ged, that, when fie found but the imputation of sin upon his Son, justice arrests THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 28 1 : him. And, indeed, by. this course the justice of God was more fully satisfied, than if it; had seized upon the offenders them selves: for they are but finite, and cannot bear the utmost se verity and infliction of divine wrath and vengeance: this, the Son of God can and hath done ; who, by virtue of the divine nature, underwent it all, and came triumphantly from under it all. ¦ So that God glorified the attribute of his justice more, by sending Jesus Christ into the world, to undergo, the execution of that wrath that was due to sinners ; than if he had taken par ticular vengeance upon sinners, and sent away every soul pf them to hell. *No other sacrifice could avail to appease the Divine Justice, but that true and only sacrifice of the Son of God, who, through the Eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God. And therefore we find it expressed, Heb. x. 5, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou pre pared me : for, because the divine nature is altpgether im passible, and npt at all subject to grief, sorrow, or sufferings, it was therefore necessary that the Mediator between God and Man should be Man as well as God; for, by this ineffable union, the one nature suffers and the other supports, the one conflicts and the other conquers ; and, for the payment of our debt, the one brings the ore, the other stamps it and makes it valuable. And, by this means, likewise,, satisfaction is made unto justice in the same nature that sinned; for, as man of fended, so man also is punished : the same, which made the forfeiture, makes the redemption. For, as by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead : 1- Cor, xv. 21. the same, which was shamefully foiled, doth now most gloriously overcome: Heb.ii. 14. Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part qf the same^ that, through death, he might destroy him that had the power qf. death, that is, the Devil. 4. By^the Birth of Christ, the Truth and Veracity of God is eminently glorified ; by fulfilling many promises and predictions, which were made concerning the sending of Christ into the wprld. That primitive promise, Gen. iii. that the seed of the woman shpuld break the serpent's head, which lay for many ages under types and figures, at the birth of Christ broke forth into accom plishment. All those prophecies, all those ceremonial resem- * From this sentence, inclusive, totheendof this subdivision, is added from the Appendix. Editor. 382 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. blances, which, through the overshadowing of the Holy Ghpst, went big with a Saviour, when they had gone out their full time, were safely delivered, and the veracity of God gave them all their expected issue in his birth. So we have it, Gal. iv, 4. But when the fulness of lime was eome, God sent forth his Son, &c. 5 *. The Birth of Christ glorifies the Infinite Purity and Holiness qf God. When God formed the First Adam, he drew upon him the lineaments of his own image : and, because holiness is the most illustrious part of this image, his Almighty Creator impressed upon him that best resemblance, that he might be a visible type of his infinite purity to all the world. But, sin having despoiled mankind of that glory, the best having but spme few strictures and weak glimmerings pf it restered unto them in their renova- tion ; Gpd was pleased tp raise up a Secpnd Adam, who should be not only sinless but impeccable, and to exhibit him unto the world as the most perfect representation of his own holiness. And therefore his birth must be miraculous, that it might be pure : his extraordinary conception preserved him from original sin ; and the hypostatiteal union, together with the unmeasurable unction of the Holy Ghost, from all actual. And, though Jesus Christ was the greatest sinner in the world (as Luther, with no bad intent, made bold to call him) by imputation ; yet had he no sin, either of nature or of practice, inherent in him. He hath made Mm to be sin for us, who knew no sin : 2 Cor. v. 21. And he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth : l Pet. ii, 22 : and this, that he might be to us, not cnly an example of unspotted sanctity, but also a perfect idea bf the infinite purity pf God. 6 f. I might add, that, hereby, the Infinite Love and Pity qf * The whole of this sub-division is added from the Appendix. Editor. f This head stands in the Appendix, as follows. It seems to have been used, in this form, as an Application, when the Discourse was divided at this place : part of it is again found ia the Application at the end of the jyhole Discourse. " 6. The Birth of Jesus Christ most eminently glorifies the infinite Love and Mercy qf God towards sinners. " So very dear were our souls to God, that, when he saw us lie forlorn in our sin £nd rhisery, forfeited to his justice, exposed to his curses, and liable to his eternal wrath, he was pleased to commiserate our wretched condition, and to send his only-begotten Son, made qf a woman, made under pie Law, to redeem us who were undtr the. curse and malediction of the Law. O miracle of love and mercy ! that God should send his Son out of his THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 283 God are eminently glorified ; but, this falling into another part of my text, God's good-will towards men, I shall make a transition thither ; and shall leave this consideration, of the glory which bosom, to lay sinners iii it ! that he should abase him, to exalt us 1 make him the Son of Man, that we should be made the Sons of God ! Well might our Saviour himself speak admiringly of this infinite love, John iii. 16. God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but hare evertasting life. " This is that unspeakable love, which we this day celtebrate. And, certainly, if the holy angels, who are not so immediately concerted in the Birth of a Saviour, of a Redeemer, yet exult in the glorious Day of his Nativity; shall not our hearts be distended with a rapturous joy, since all our hopes and happiness are wholly founded in the Incarnation of our Blessed Lord? Shall heaven rejoice, when it stoops; and earth not rejoice, when it is exalted ? Shall the blessed spirits above be more concerned, out of charity ; than we ourselves are, out of interest ? This is a stupidity unworthy of a Christian. This either proceeds from a wretched contempt of the inestimable benefits, which Christ hath procured us by his coming into the world; or from a guilty consciousness, that we shall have no share in them. For shame, therefore, let ns with raised hearts and voices this day echo back unto the celestial quire, Glory to God in the highest. " Only let us beware, that we do not dishonour God, while we pretend to glorify him. It is very sad to consider, that, as Clirist's Birth hath been the cause of the salvation of many a soul, so Christmas hath been the occasion of the damnation of many. The rude and ignorant look upon it only as a time of mirth and looseness ; and, when they have gotten liberty from the honest labour and works of their callings, employ it only in the works of the Devil. Suffer me to speak plainly : what through rioting, and drunkenness, and revelling, and gaming, and such like excesses, the name of Christ hath been greatly dishonoured, under a preteticeof honouring his birth. What, Sirs, do you believe that Christ came into th£ world to give you a fair occasion to eat to gluttony, to drink to drunkenness, to swear up all hell ? are not these some of the sins, which he came into the world to. destroy ? And will you make him the patron Of your wickedness, who came on purpose to redeem you from it ? This is to entertain hell, and keep a feast to the Devil ; and, as those infernal spirits howled at the Birth of our Saviour, so to make them rejoice and triumph at the annual return of Jt, I have somewhere * met with a story of a Turkish Ambassador, who was sent to one of the greatest courts in Christendom : when he returned home to his master, and was by hint examined what customs the Christians observed, he made this answer, That for twelve days in the year all the Christians ran mad. His observation was but too true, and too much to the ptter disparagement of Christian Religion; and that general profaneness, which usually rages and abounds at this season, may make it questionable, ¦whether there be not more wickedness committed in those Twelve Days, than in all the TweH e Months after. I beseech you, therefore, that you. would not, to the shame of yqur religion and your reason, indulge a mad loose joy : rejoice not 'so, as to make the Devil glad too. But let your joy be spiritual and heavenly ; a joy, not of noise and laughter; but of praise and * Btistequ. Ep. iii. p. 168. 284 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. God apquires' to himself by the Incarnation of his Son Christ, under these particulars *. ¦'J.i. ,.' ¦ .' ' blessings : a joy, that may diffuse a calm and serene cheerfulness through yp!uifSouls: and let it be full of innocency, and full of peace. Thus, let us giye/gfory to Goddn the Highest : glory totheSon, who descended from the highest: glory fo the Holy Ghost, who gives us hopes of ascending to the highest : glory to the holy, blessed, and undivided Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost : and let us all, from the very bottom of our hearts, say, Amen, Amen." Editqb. * Io the Third Octavo and the Folio, it is added here, " And so I shall proceed to;the Infinite Love and Good-Will, that God hath shewn towards men,:" the second division, of Peace on Earth, being, in these editions, en tirely omitted. I have supplied the whole of this head from the Appendix : and it seems.to have been preached as a separate Discourse, with an appro priate Application, and with the following Introduction ; which Introduction will be foun,d; to, be an amplification of that placed at the beginning of the Discourse as above printed, with an allusion to a former Sermon. " All. the circumstances of Christ's birth, are well worthy our most serious consideration. " A decree issues out from Ca;sar Augustus, that all tbe world (that is, all the Roman world ; those many kingdoms and provinces, which arms and continued successes had made subject to him, who was the lord and emperor of the greatest part of the then known world) should undergo a tax. This tax in Judaea was not to be levyed upon them from house to house, as they lived dispersedly asunder ; but each family, how remote soever their abode might be, was bound to repair to that city, to which, according to their ' genealogical tables, their ancestors did appertain. " In obedience to' this command, Joseph prepares himself to undergo' thi£ double burden, of the payment and of the journey: and, because he - was descended qf the royal lineage of David, though now grown poor and fallen ,to decay, he travels with Mary, his espoused wife, to Bethle hem ; the city whence the progenitors of them both had their rise and original ; Joseph descending from.David by Solomon, and Mary by Nathan. "Mary's appointed hour draws nigh, to undergo a far more sorrowful and dolorous travail : her blessed burden had now been kept its full time, both ip her womb, and in the womh of the promise ; and when this fulrkss of time was come, that the truth and veracity of God might be safely delivered of its charge, as well as Mary, Providence wonderfully conspires with prophecy, and makes use of either the necessities oi avarice of the Boman emperor, to summon them to Bethlehem ; that so those predictions might be punctually fulfilled, which foretold that Christ the Saviour should be born there. " The great confluence of people from the adjacent country had already filled all the inns : no harbour, no reception, could be gotten for such mean and vulgar persons as they were; and, though she appears in a condition that is wont to command pity and respect from the most barbarous and uncivil natures, yet, when they are crqwded with so many gainful guests, none are found to compassionate that distress, which is unhappily joined with and increased by poverty.* A stable is the best room they can obtain ; and this thought good enough too for the wife of a carpenter : nor, in likelir hood, was this left so free tq them neither, but that, Bos et minus adprasepe THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 285 ii. The Second Part of this Angelical Song, is peace on EARTH. ' ''" This Peace may be understood Three ways : First. Either peace mutually between man and man ; that,' at the coming cf Christ, men should be at peace with one another. Or, Secondly. Peace internally, with a man's' self: peace' ifi ihe region of his own spirit and conscience1. ' ailiguti sunt: Vid. Baron. Annal. init. brute beasts must.be their inmatei, and the|r brutish keepers their companions. There, she is fojced to lay her sacred burden, amidst the disorders and impurities of the place : where there could be neither modest assistance, nor tolerable convenience ; but rudeness, noise, and confusion. - i: " It might seem strange, that God should,, so many ages ^beforehand, appoint Bethlehem to be the place .of his Eternal Son'(s bjrth : . Be^h^ehem, that would afford him no better accommodation, .than a stable, for his chamber, and a manger for his cradle ! that he should' entrust such a precious dcpositum to persons so devoid of charity and humanity '» ; Yef so;it isorrdained, that his whole life, from first to last, might be infiniteiy.fullcrfi debasements and dishonours ; that he might breathe his first under iljp lUjCjhar^blepess of men, as his last under their cruelty. , t. ¦», . .> ¦ t " But,' though he be so badly' welcomed on eai-iR,Jyel Heaven' m^kes abundant-amends for all.' ¦- A company of tfonest, industrious shepherd*' are watchingtheir flocks by flight ; and little thought of airy such thjng,.as'tlutbto . them should be revealed the Shepherd,of Israel.^ Ahe^venly light surrounds tliein, and sheds glory and lystre about the pjac^'i An angel ^ccqstsvtji.em, and tells them tidings of great joy, that that day was born to them' a'^avwur, even Christ the Lord; and bids them leave their "flocks, and'goseek'tBeirirwh pastor. Upon this message, as if, all. heaven kept festival, the text tells lis, that an innumerable multitude of the .heavenly host praised God^ $*y,ing, Glory te God in the highest, peace on earth, good-will towards men. In these words is contained whatsoever is delightful both to God and man : what Jotham, in his parable, speaks of the vine, Judges ix. 13. is1 certainly true of this'lext :. It cheereth God andman. God knoweth no higher design than his own glory; .and Christ's jCpming into. the. wof Id most illustriously promotes and displays it, Man can desire no greater happiness than what follows, Peace and Good-will : and both these were born into the world, together with Christ, All sinners Stand in a'dauble state of distance from God:, ,-.the one, of (opposition" sjnd defiance,; the other, of. alienation and estrangement : Pea^e, rerhpves £he one, and Good-p/ill the other: and.'fn ' the text, God, by his angel, proclaims both to the world : Peace, to re concile them ; and goo'd-wilt, to' endear them ; and both in our Lord Jesus Christ!.- • ¦'¦ ''-'' -¦ '¦' ¦ '•'¦' ¦ " I have at, another placed the last anniversary, shewed the reasons why the angels should so much concern themselves in the Birth, of qur Saviour, as to rejoice at so signal abasement of the Gieat. God wh'oqi, they adore and serve. I likewise then spake of the First Part of this Angelical Sqng, Land shewed how -God's glory is eminently advanceiS by rthe Incarnation ¦ofjiis f$op. It/emains now to insist upon the Second .Bart of it, which is, P-aice on Earth.'" Fditob.. 286 miscellaneous sermons. Or, Thirdly. Peace with God : that his Sovereign Majesty, whofci we have affronted and offended by pur sins, is now at peace with us and reconciled to us. In each of these three senses, may this Peace be understoed, which these heavenly heralds proclaim ; external, internal, and eternal peace : Peace on earth ; i. e. peace to the inhabitants of •the earth ; peace with one another, peace in themselves, and peace with God : and all these procured and promoted by the Birth,of Christ. For Christ was sent into the world under a twofold o^jir/j, oi" habitude : As a Minister. As a Mediator, As he is a Minister of Peace, so he promotes it betvveen men : and, as he is the Mediator pf Peace, so he procures jt betweep God and men : and, as he is both a Minister and a Mediator, so he effects it between man and himself, and fills the soul with jtiy and peace in believing. It is the First of these, that I intend to treat of: and which, indeed, I judge to he most especially meant in the text ; for the two latter, viz. Peace with God and Peace in eur own Cnn- sciences, seem to appertain to the last clause of this heaveiily anthem : the one being the same with Qpd's good-will towards us; the Pther being its effect and ccnaequent, upen the com fortable sense of it in our own breasts. Christ's coming into the world, therefore, tends to the pro moting of peace in it between man and man. We find, in the records of history, that, about the time of our Saviour's Birth, Janus's temple was shut up, and that, there was an universal peace throughout the World. And Florus, speaking of those times, relates, that Continua totius kuniani generis, aut pax erat, out pactio : that " There was either a peace, or truce, among all mankind." And, indeed, it was but fit that wars sheuld cease, when the Prince of Peace was borii. The divine wisdom so disposed of human affairs, that he, who was not to strive, nor cry.. ..nor cause his voice to be heard in the street, shpuld then ccme into the world, when it was serene, and enjoyed halcyon days ; when there were ne strifes, ner wars, nor confused noises, nor garments rolled in blood. The very name of Peace is sweet and lovely : it is the calm of the wqrld, the smile of nature, the harmony of things, a THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 281 gentle and melodious air struck from well-tuned affairs; a blessing, so excellent and amiable, that in this world there is but one preferable before it, and that is, Holiness. And, cer tainly, great glory doth dwell in that land, where these two sister-blessings, righteousness and peace, do meet and kiss each other, as the Psalmist speaks, Ps. lxxxv. 9, 10. I know, that there are hot and turbulent spirits enough abroad, who are apt to suspect whatsoever is spoken on the behalf of peace, to be to the disadvantage of holiness : and, perhaps, some men's zeal may be such a touchy and froward thing, that, though an angel from heaven, yea an innumerable multitude of them, proclaim it ; yet they cannot believe there may be glory to God in the highest, whilst there is peace on earth. Indeed, if peace and sanctity were incompatible, or if any unhappy circumstances should compel us to redeem the one at the price of the other ; we ought rather to follow righteousness through thorns and briars, than peace in its smoothest way strewed with roses. But there is no such inconsistency between them: for, certainly, that God, who hath commanded us- to follow both peace and holiness, Heb. xii. 14, supposeth that they themselves may well go together. We may well suspect that zeal to be but an unclean bird of prey, that delights to quarry upon the dove; and those erratic lights, which make the vulgar gaze and the wise fear, to be but glaring ccmets, whose bloody aspects and excentric irregular motions threaten nothing but wars, ruin, and desolations. Righteousness doth not oblige us, so soon as any thing is passed contrary tc our present judg ments and persuasieng, nay supppse it be ccntrary to the truth also, straight to furbish our weapons, to sound an alarm, and to kill others ia defence of that cause fer which we ourselves rather ought to die. This is not to part with peace for righteous ness ; l}ut to sacrifice both peace and righteousness, to injustice and violence. The cause of God, of piety and religion, may frequently engage us to fcrego our pwn peace, as sufferers and martyrs ; but never to disturb the public peace of our country, as fighters and warriors. Now this public and civil peace is mightily promoted, by Christ's coming into the world as a Minister: for, since the work and office of a minister is to teach both by doctrine and example, Christ hath both ways, as a perfect Minister of Peacfc, taught us to follow peace with all men. 288 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS'. For, ' • . i: All the Precepts of his Doctrine do directly tend to the' establishing bf peace among men. There are but Two things, which can be supposed to violate peace1:1 ' " • ¦" ¦¦ '¦¦ • ' - ;."• •¦•»' vj. ¦¦''' ' Doing of wrong unto others. • ,'¦¦ Revenging of wrongs done unto us. by others. ." •<>¦ . And'botfi these, the doctrine of' Christ doth stribtly prohibit. ' (T) Christianity teacheth us| not to offer any injury unto others. ' !|- ";" ' ' ' ¦'¦ It obligeth us to the strictest rules of justice and equity ; and, ¦whatsoever is^not-'correspondent-with the most rigid observation of these, it utterly forbids and condemns. Our SeLviojir hath fixed and sealed the great standard of all natural righteousness : Mat. vii. 12. Whatsoever ye would that men should do> to you, do ye even so to them ; and frequently presseth that brief summary of the Second Table, 'Thoii shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: 'certainly, 'there 'can, 'rib 'place be left for wrongs arid injustice, where bur love to ourselves is mad'e the measure of ourlove.tb others, and the- care of our own welfare the very modehdhd pattern of our.care for theirs. Neither dotb Christianity restrain only the outward violent acts of injustice and rapine; but.it looks inward, and lays a law-upon our verythoughts and desires,: it forbids ns to think or judge hardly of- another, to despise, him in eur hearts, or tp be angry with, our brother without a cause : so wonderfully accurate is the doctrine of Christ in this particular, that it ridt only ' prohibits us to wrong them really in" their persons, but we "must not so .much as wrong the very shadow and idea of them in our minds: and, as well those, who nourish arty secret grudge against them in their hearts, or seek by any clandestine artifices to- undermine their credit and repute, as those1, 'who are more openly and tumultuously injurious, break this peafee, -which the angels here proclaim, and which our Saviour himself came to preach to the world. "¦'{2) The doctrine of Christ forbids all private revenge, and retaliating ef wrongs and injuries done unto us. ,-. ,!;>., "•'For, indeed, there is no other difference between, him that deth a wrong, and him that requites it, but only that the one is a little sooner wicked than the other. This our Saviour frequently insists Pn ; as that, which is the very genius of the Gospelv.and the very spirit which it breathes : Mat. v. 38, S9. Ye haveJieard THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 289 that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth : But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil : but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. These and the following precepts must not, indeed, be understood literally ; as that scoffing apostate Julian impiously derided them, who, when he had commanded some Christians to be buffetted, asked them, in scorn, why they did not turn the other cheek also : for neither our Savipur himself, ner St. Paul, invited the injuries that were dene them, but rather sharply reproved thpse who unjustly smote them. But the meaning is, that we ought patiently to bear the wrongs which are done us ; and to be willing, rather to suffer a second injury, than to revenge the first. Yea, v. 44. our Saviour raiseth his doctrine a strain higher; and not only forbids us to requite wrongs with wrongs, but commands us to requite injuries with courtesy : I say unto you, Love your enemies: bless them, that curse you: do good to them, that hate you: and pray for them, which despitefully use you, and persecute you. And St. Paul, who most exactly follows both our Saviour's doctrine and example, urgeth the very same, Rom. xii. 20. If thine enemy hunger, feed him : if he thirst, give him drink. This is all the revenge, which the Gospel permits : this is that excellent doctrine, which our Saviour came to preach : this is that doctrine, which he hath given us ccmmissipn to declare and publish to the world, to guide our feet into the way of peace ; that we might all be united, as by faith and obedience unto God, so in love and charity one to another. But, alas ! may we not justly complain, that this excellent temper is rarely to be found among Christians, in these our days ? would they not be ready to wonder at it, as some strange and unheard-of doctrine, if we should expostulate with them, as the Apostle doth, 1 Cor. vi. ^ ? Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do y^ not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? is it ever likely we should prevail with those, who are apt to do wrong and defraud others, to be content quietly to pass by the wrongs and injuries that others do them ? will they part with their own right, who are so ready to invade the rights of others ? And, yet, if this hard lessen be not learnt by us, we frustrate one great and special end of Christ's coming into the world : he came to be a Minister of Peace ; and hath taught us neither to do wrong, nor to retaliate it : the first were sufficient to establish a general peace, were it but generally observed ; but, in case others will vol. rv. u 290 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. break the peace and be injurious to us, Christ hath strictly enjoined us the observation ofthe latter, that, though we cannot be quiet, yet we may be innocent. Thus you see how the Doctrine nf Christ tends te prempte peace. 2. The Examples of Christ all tend unto peace. His whple life was the very pattern pf meekness and gentle ness. When he was reviled, he reviled not again ; when he suf fered, he threatened not ; but, with infinite patience, bears the indignatipn of God and the indignities of men. Yea, we find him very careful of giving any offence, both in matters civil and ecclesiastical : when tribute was demanded cf him, thpugh he pleads his right to be exempted, as being a descendent of the royal line ; yet, Mat. xvii. g7. Lest we should offend them, kXc. what ! the Great God so cautious of giving offence to vile crea tures, whom he was able to speak, to look into nothing ! yea, he wculd rather werk a miracle, than occasion an offence ; and make the sea pay tribute to him, rather than he not pay tribute to the state : Lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cmneth up ; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money : that take, and give unto them for me and thee. Yea, and we find, likewise, that he accommcdated himself to the received custom ^of the Jewish Church ; and that, in a matter wherein there was the greatest appearance of reason that could be, to have dis sented : he sits at the passcver with his disciples ; altheugh it be plain that the first institutien pf it was tp eat it standing, with shees en their feet, and staves in their hands : nene ef which rites eur Saviour observed ; but defers so much tc the authprity and custom of the Church, and that a very corrupt one too, that he would not differ from them in a matter that was merely circumstantial, though they themselves differed from the primi tive institution. Certainty, if so much could be objected against the rites and orders of our Church, as might have been objected against this custom of the Jewish Church, those, whe now raise such great tragedies out of little matters, might, I will not say with more confidence and clamour, but doubtless with more shew pf reason, decry them as human inventiens, sinful impesi- tions, unwarranted innovations, and contrary to the word of God: and yet our Blessed Savicur, in a peaceable condescen- ' iion, conforms himself to the practice of the Church in which he lived ; and, because the Romans' manner of discumbency or THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 291 sitting was then the received custom among them, he likewise sits with his disciples. And, therefore, let me only, by the way, note to you, that this sitting of our Saviour at his supper is most imprudently and unwarily urged against our kneeling : for their argument may be forcibly retorted against them, that, because Christ sat at his supper, therefore we ought to kneel : . for, since there was so much to be said for standing at the passover, out of the express Word of God and the primitive institution, and yet pur Saviour, put of compliance to the usage of the Church, chose rather to sit; hew much more ought we, who have nothing left to determine the gesture, to conform ourselves tc the usage of the Church in which we live, and whose members we are ! for this is to conferm ourselves, net indeed to the gesture, for so neither dp our opposers themselves ; but to the intent and design of Christ, which was peace and unity. And thus you see how Christ was sent into the world to be a Minister of Peace ; tc preach it in his Doctrine, and to commend it to us by his Practice and Example. The Gospel is the Gospel of Peace : the precepts of it are all meek and peaceable : the ministers of it are ambassadors of peace : and the fruits of it, where it hath its due effect, are joy and peace. But, here, it may be objected, " How is it then that our Saviour himself tells us, Mat. x. 34, 35. Think not that I came to send peace on the earth : I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law ? and one would think this is far enough from turning the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers. And do we not find it, by obvious experience, that religion hath sowed more strifes and dissentiens/ and occasioned more tumults and uproars in the world, than ever tyranny or ambition did ?" * To this I answer, We must distinguish, between the direct end of Christ's coming into the world, and the accidental issue and event ' of it. The end of Christ's coming, was to pacify the world ; and to teach it a religien, which is pure and peaceable : but, accidentally; the event hath proved quite contrary; for, u 2 292 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. religion being avowedly the dearest and most precious of all our enjcyments, men are apt to preserve it by undue and vielent courses; arid, because we can never think it secure enough, unless others embrace it too, we are generally very ready to impose our own sentiments upon them, and to judge that we do them no wrong whilst by any means we constrain them to what, in eur own opinion, is most excellent, and the only truth which all ought to profess. And therefore those, who were zealous for their heathenish superstition and idolatry, embroiled the whole werld in persecuticns and bipod, to suppress the growing doctrine of Christianity : and, among those, who profess Christ ianity itself, what heats and animosities, what endless contro versies and perpetual contentions, are agitated ! each sect and party blowing up the ccals, till they have put both Church and State into a combustion ; and differences about small and trival matters tcp often breaking ferth into all the extremities of rage, war, and blocdshed. Yet this is not to be imputed to the religion, of Christ, but to the pride and ignorance of men : their igrio- rance, in that they know net the truth ; pr their pride, in that they will net submit unto it. The Guspel is free from all that bipod, which hath been rashly and unwarrantably shed in quarrels about it. It teacheth us the way of peace perfectly ; and, would all men be persuaded to submit their passiens and their interests to its precepts, we might scpn beat our swords into ploughshares, and our spears into pruning hooks ; fer the whple spirit ef the Gespel breathes nothing else but love and obedience, condescension and yielding : love, to one another ; obedience, to our superiors ; condescension and yielding, either to the malice of our enemies, or to the weakness of our brethren. But, alas! pride, and passien, and self-interest, and a stiff adherence to former apprehensions have, now-a-days, eaten out the meekness and patience of a Christian spirit. Each values himself by the boldness of his opposition. He, who can find most faults, and mest bitterly inveigh against them, is the best jnan ; and, whosoever hath but wit enough to make a quick and confident reply, begins now to think of setting up fer himself to head a party, and control all orders both civil and sacred : and I wish they may never again attempt to write themselves Saints in the Rubric of their brethren's blood. And yet, I prajf, consider: what are all our dissentions about? THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 293 Did we differ, in any fundamental points either of faith or practice, we were then indeed to contend earnestly for them, and to resist unto blood ; yet not the blood of others, but our own. But, when mere modes and circumstances, things al together in themselves extraneous te religipn, and by all parties acknowledged not to be necessary nor essential to it, shall yet be so eagerly contested, as if the whole weight of religion and the eternal salvation or damnation of men's souls turned upon those hinges, to the violation of charity, peace, and order ; what can we think, but that Ged may be justly provoked to try whether we will be as zealous about the necessary and vital principles of religion, as we are hot and fiery about small indifferences and unconcerning circumstances ? For my part, I shall always think that the power and savour of the Gospel hath taken most hold on those, who are willing, for the preservation of such an inestimable blessing as peace, to comply with any thing and to do any thing but sin. So long as the doctrine of faith which we preach, the duties of obedience which we press, the ordinances of Jesus Christ which we administer, are the very same ; since we profess the same Lord, the same Faith, the same Baptism, the same God and Father of all, what should hinder our coalition and union together in the bend of peace ? What ! shall we rend the coat of Christ in pieces, only because there are some loops and fringes sewed to it ? shall we separate from communion, and crumble ourselves into endless fractions ; perpetuate irreccncileable divisiens and animpsities, and run ourselves into that which is clearly sinful; to avoid what, at worst, is but dubitable ? If any can as evidently prove put pf the Word of God, that those debated forms and modes are sins ; ' as it can be certainly proved out of the Word of God, that, to join in church fellowship and the cemmunion of holy ordinances, to preserve the peace and unity of the Church, and to yield obedience to things required which are not in themselves un lawful, are duties, in comparison with which weighty matters of the law, all disputes about forms and circumstances are but mere trifles : I shall then yield ; and confess, that they ought not to purchase peace, how desirable a blessing seever it be, at the loss of truth or the price of a sin. But, till this be done, if any can dispense with the express doctrine and command of Christ, of preserving peace and unity, and joining in all his public ordinances, rather than submit to those things which can never be evinced to be contrary to the command of Christ; yea, 294 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. and which these, who most pf all dissent, cannet but judge tc b« disputable : I must needs say, that such an one strains at a gnat, and swallows a camel ; for conscience of a circumstance, neglect* the substance ; and, for fear of that which is but doubtful, doth that which is undoubtedly sinful. Let me then, by the bowels of Christ, persuade you all to mind the same things, and to walk in the same way : and, since we are agreed in all fundamentals of faith and in all the sub stantial of worship, let not other things, on which no more stress is laid than that of decency and order, be pretended as an obstacle to a happy closure. But, if men will stumble at shadows, let them beware that they do npt provoke God tp take the substance, of our religion quite from us, while we are so quarrelsome about the shape ef it ; and lest, while we strive to dress it up, each after his own garb and fashion, we lose not the body itself. Since we will needs be disputing, and opposing, and contradicting, though it be about a matter of nothing, may we not justly fear, that God will find out a full task and employ ment for our busy spirits, and put us upon the sad necessity of striving and contending about the very essentials of religion, and call us to shed our blppd and lay down our lives for them ? If ever such a time of trial should come upon us, which we have but toe much cause to fear that God will hasten, because of our wanton dissentions ; we shall then learn, to our ccsts, to put a difference between substantiate and circumstantials, and shall look back with grief and shame upon our unreasonable and uncharitable divisipns : yea, and then sheuld we be heartily glad, could we but enjoy the liberty of the Gospel and the ordinances of our Lord Christ, under any form of administration now so hptly and furiously controverted amongst us. Certainly, the stake will reconcile us all : we shall there embrace, and not cry out of superstition and will-wership, and I know not what: the fire of martyrdom will purify all our intemperate heats ; and, as our bodies, so our hearts, shall flame together in love and unipn, and together shall we ascend in that fiery charict to the same heaven : for, when the sheep scatter and separate ; and, though their appointed pastures be fair and flourishing, will yet, out pf wantonness, rather than necessity, stray into pthers ; the Great Shepherd may justly send in these degs pr wplves to worry them, which will quickly make them run together again. Since, then, the angels from heaven have proclaimed peace pn earth ; since the Lord of angels, Jesus Christ himself, came THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 295 down from heaven to establish and promcte peace pn earth ; beware that none of ypu; upon pretence of celebrating this great and joyful day, be guilty of violating either peace with men or peace with God. And, yet, what more common and ordinary, than now, in the time of this great joy, when the angels proclaim peace from heaven ; what more common, than for manjT, by rioting, and drunkenness, and revelling, and quarrels, to proclaim war against one another, against God, against Christ, against piety, religion, temperance, and all that is sacred and venerable ! Certainly, Christ came not into the world to patronize men's debaucheries ; or to give you a fair occasion to be guilty of gluttony and drunkenness, to revile, reproach, and quarrel with one ancther : ne ; these are some of the sins, which he came to destrcy ; and, if you will indulge ypurselves in these abominations, I cannot proclaim Peace or Good- Will to you, but war and wrath from the Almighty and Jealous God. iii. I shall proceed to the infinite love and good-will, that God hath she^ towards men. Now I am entering upon a theme, ennugh tp puzzle and unnplus, not only our expressions, but our apprehensions too ; not only our apprehensions, but even bur admiration itself. But, O Lerd ! we can neither keep silence, nor speak out thy love : it is so great and so infinite, that it arrests our thoughts, and cramps our tongues, and leaves us no relief, but that ex pression of the Apostle ; 0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, He. Rom. xi. 33. Oh, the boundless dimensions of the love of God, which passeth know ledge ! If the angels, who sang this song, Peace on earth, good will towards men, should themselves be questioned, hpw great good-will ; even they must falter and stammer in it : they are continually prying into it ; and there is infinitely more in it than they have seen, and yet they see infinitely more than they can relate. And what dp we here, then, this day ? What is it, that I attempt, er you expect ? Haste heme, therefore, O Christians : yield up yourselves to be swallowed up with the thpughts and meditationsof that, which we cannot comprehend. And, that I may give ycu some hints fer ypur meditatipns to fix on, I shall endeavour to illustrate the great and infinite Loyg 296 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. of God in sending Christ into the world, from these considera tions: From The Persen, that was sent. The Manner and Circumstances ef this sending* The Persons, to whom he was sent. The unspeakable Benefits, that do redound to men, by this free gift of God. In all these, God's good-will towards men is admirably glorious, as I shall demonstrate to you. 1. If ypu consider the Person sent, this will exalt the goodness, of God towards us. And who is it ? Is he an Angel ? truly, if he were* herein divine love doth infinitely advance itself, that God should spare pne of his own retinue from his attendance on him, to give such a glorious servant as an angel is, for the redemption of such a rebellious worm as man ! But who is not astonished ?. , it was not an angel, but the Lord of Angels: not a servant, but a Son, is, by the Father himself plucked from his own bosoiri, and sent with this message : " Haste, haste to the earth, for there are theusands of sinful and wretched creatures, sinning themselves to hell ; and iriust for ever fall under the strokes, of my dreadful justice : step thou between them and it : receive thou my wrath, thyself: do thou satisfy my justice; and die thou thyself, tQ save them.'' When God tried Abraham's obedience, he aggra vated his command by many piercing words, that must needs go to the heart of a tender father: Gen. xxii. 2. Take now, thy son, thine only son... .whom thou Jovest, and get thee into the, land of Moriah ; and offer him Up therefor a burnt-offering, upon one of the mountains which I will shew thee, &Cc; this heightened Abraham's obedience, that, nptwithstanding all these &ggravaT tions, yet he was willing to sacrifice his beloved son Upon God's cpmmand. Truly, in the very same manner, Gcrd heightens arid illustrates his own love towards lis : he takes his Son, his only-Son, the Son of his Eternal Love and Delights, and offers him up as a sacrifice for the sins of men. And this greatly extols the love of Ged, that, ( 1 ) He lay under np necessity ef saving us at all. As nothing accrues untn him by nur happiness, sp nothing ^ould have been diminished from * his Essential Glory by our % Hence to the end qf this head is added from the Appendix. Editor. THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 297 eternal misery. For, as God ^created men and angels, not that we might supply his indigence but partake of his ful ness ; so he redeems us and preserves them, not that he might reap our services, but that we might enjoy his mercies. What saith Eliphaz, Job xxii. 2, 3 ? Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? Is it any plea- sure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? ar is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect ? and if we cannot profit Gpd by serving him, much less certainly by receiving rewards for it. We can contribute nothing to his essential happiness ; for God is fer ever blessed in the ccntemplatipn and enjoyment of his infinite perfections. It was not to ease the solitude and tedi- ousness of eternity, that therefore God created the world ; for all the delight, which he takes in any of his creatures, is only as he views his own perfections in them ; which being eternally in himself before the world was, he then possessed the same felicity as now, without receiving any addition or variation from any thing that he hath made. As it is no advantage to the sun, that so many eyes behold its light ; but it would still be as bright and glorious in itself, although no creature were capable of receiving its rays" so is God infinitely glorious and blessed, in the excellencies of his eternal being and attributes; and Would have been so for ever, although he had never formed any creature to observe and adore the brightness of his perfections. And, if Ged gain nothing by creating us, then certainly neither doth he gain by saving us : all the tribute, that either angels ot glorified saints pay unto him, is but love and praise ; and these cannot suppose the person who receives them to be benefited, but to be beneficial : it is true, Christ was sent to seek and to save those that were lost, Mat. xviii. 1 1 ; but, if this gracious design had never been laid and all mankind had perished fot ever, the loss had been only to themselves, not to God ; whose justice would then have had that whole glory, which is now di vided between his justice and his mercy. If, therefore, it be commendation of love to be wholly disinterested, nothing can more gloriously advance the love of God, than that he should give his Own Son for the redemption of such inconsiderable creatures, whose hatred and . rebellions are but despicable, and their service and ebedience unprofitable. (2) But, as seme affirm, Gpd lay under no necessity of saying us in so chargeable a manner, by the death of his Son, but tjiat he might have freed us from death by the absolute preip- 298 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. gative of his pardening grace and mercy, without shedding the blcod of Christ. And dp you think, that in heaven,' we should ever have com plained for want of love in God to us, though he had brought us thither at a cheaper rate than now he doth ? But this, though it might have been sufficient for our salvation, yet was it net sufficient for God's design, in the manifestation of the riches and glory of his great love to us : and, therefore, God will not go the most saving way to work, in compassing cur salvation ; but that way, which shall be most for the enhancing of his love to us. Is it not greater love in God towards us to part with Christ out of heaven, to break and bruise him, to make his spul an pffering fer sin and his blppd a ransom for sinners ; than if he had only, without any further circumstances, beckoned us up to heaven ?. This, therefore, must be the method, which Divine Wisdom will take, because Divine Love dictates it to be the mest advantagepus to ccmmend his love to sinners. Oh, the supererogating mercy of Ged, , that is not pnly contented to do what is barely sufficient for our salvation ; but, over and above, adds what may be mest expressive pf his own lpve and affections to us 1 John iii. 16. God so loved the world, He. Gpd so loved the werld : hpw ? what, sp as tp save it enly ? np ; but he so loved it, as he gave his only-begetten Sen to save it. What, thy Sen, Lord, thine Only Sen ! Why, the destruction of the whole werld is riPt a thing sp ccnsiderable, as nne sigh, ene 'groan, one tear, or one drop of blppd from that Only Spn pf thine, whpm thpu gaves.t to save the world ! But, however, God is resolved notwithstanding, that not only a sigh, groan, or tear; but the life of his Son also shall go, rather as a manifestation of his love to sinners, than for any absolute antecedent necessity of such a sacrifice. And that is one thing, wherein this love and good-will of God to men appears, in that he gave them his Only Sen, put pf his own bosom, for their salvatien. 2. • Consider the manner and circumstances of Chrisfs coming into the world; and then alse it will appear further, that there is in Ged an infinite leve and gpod-will towards men. And, here, I shall treat ef theseTVo things : That Christ Was sent, as from the Father, freely. And, as to Himself, ignominiously. And both these do contribute much to the exalting of the Infinite Love of God towards fallen man.i ( 1 ) God's love is exalted, in that he sent his Only Son freely. THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. ?9# If men and devils had joined their forces, and made an as sault upon heaven ; yet they could never have plucked the Son of God's love from his eternal embraces : that world, which he had given tc Christ, which afterwards had power to assault, kill, and crucify him ; yet, before he was given, had no pcwer to bring him into the werld. But Gpd thinks it not enough, that this great gift comes from him freely and without compulsion i but he puts it a strain higher ; and he gives Christ freely to us : [1] Freely, in opposition to all Desert; not only without, but against all merit and desert in us. Certainly, man could no more merit Christ out of heaven, than he could have merited heaven without Christ : when God, out of his infinite wisdom, foresaw that we would despise and reject his Son, first spill his blopd and then trample upon it ; did he sp hate his Spn, as tp account this demeanour of ours meritorious ef him ? since we cannot merit the least good, how then could we merit sc great a gift as Christ ? Nay, which is more to the glory of God's free good-will, he bestowed Christ upon us, not only without any merit of ours, but without any merit of his also : it is free grace that endows us with any spi ritual, with any eternal blessing : free grace doth sanctify obr hearts and save our souls : yet all this Christ hath purchased for us, by the price of his own death : he is the merit of eternal salvation for us ; yet it is free grace in bestowing it upon us : God wilLhave a price paid him down for all other things of less value, that he may thereby set forth his own bounty, in parting with the greatest gift, his Own Son, without price : Christ me rited all other things for us ; but the greatest of all he never merited for us, that is, himself: God hath put heaven, and glpry, and the everlasting enjoyment of himself upon sale, as it were; that so this great gift of his Sen may appear truly esti mable, and his bpunty absolute and infinite: but though he gives all things besides Christ, uppn the acceunt pf Christ's rnerits ; yet he gives Christ freely, withput any intervening merit. [2] God's lpve is free in the gift of Christ, in that he pre vents not only our deserts, but our Desires. Begging o#"alms takes not off from the charity and bounty ofthe donpr; yet Ged is not willing to have his bounty so much forestalled, as our requesting of it. As for the good things of grace and glory, the most impprtunate suiters are usually the best speeders : Ask, and ye shall receive : seek, and ye shall find : knock, and it shall be opened. But in the giving ef Christ to the 300 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. world, he was found of them that sought him not. And, in all this^ was the design of leve laid in the heart of God, from all eternity, before ever there were either prayers or tongues to utter them. This was a design of infinite contrivance, the pos* sibility of which it could never enter into our hearts, or the hearts of angels to conceive ; and what we could not conceive in our thoughts and hearts, we could not beg with pur mouths : but God, out of his own good-will to us, prevents both our works and nur words, both the merit of our hands and the re quests of our mouths ; and freely bestows his Own Son te be our Saviuur, without either our deserving or desiring of him. (2) As Christ was given freely, in respect of God ; so very ignominiously, in respect of himself. And this enhanceth the exceeding greatness of the leve of God towards us : he was degraded in his birth, persecuted in his life, and accursed in his death. And, that he should thus deal with the Son of his Love, that he should abase and afflict him only to shew his love to us, seems, at the first blush, to intimate, that God preferred such worms as we are, before the Son of his Bosom. And, here, let us, [1] Consider Christ, in his Birth. And, here, what was it to be born pf the royal line and stock of David ? that family was now fallen to decay, when 'the heir- apparent of that royal family, was Joseph, who was forced for the sustaining cf his life to turn mechanic : yet this family he chcpseth to be a member of, not when it was victorious and triumphant, but when it was sunk low, and did expire. He also chooseth out a mean, popr virgin, to become his mother: she is thought but a fit match fer a carpenter; and when she is grown big with him too, that is not without seme suspicion; and when she was in travail, none did sp much regard the entreaties of Joseph, nor the groans and pangs of Mary, as to afford her a better room than a stable ; where she herself was both mother apd nurse, and, instead of a cradle, rocked Christ in a manger ; and, though her heart yearned, yet she had no softer pillow to lay under him, than straw or hay. . Nor, [2] Doth his Life repair the meanness of his birth. , No ; he is a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, from first to last. He becomes subject to his parents : he puts himself under the dominion of his own creatures : he follows his father's occupation; Markvi. 3. Is mt this, the carpenter? as in scorn THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 301 they said : He, that formed the heavens and the earth, learns himself to make houses ! There was nothing of outward pomp or grandeur in his life : Isa. liii. 2. He hath no form nor comeli ness ; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him, saith the Prophet. He was maintained by the alms of a few poor, well-disposed women ; tempted by the Devil, per secuted by the Jews, betrayed by his own followers. This was the course of his life. And, [3] If you consider his Death, that was shameful, bloody, and accursed. We see him on the cross, hanging on the soreness of his hands and feet : we see him pierced to the heart by a ruffian soldier : we see him crowned with thorns ; and the precious blood trick ling from the head, to meet those other rivers that were running; from his side and feet : we see him forsaken of his disciples ; and, what is more, we hear him complaining of being forsaken of Gpd tpo. O Blessed Savieur ! what eyes can refrain from weeping ? what heart from bleeding ? Is this the entertainment that the world gives to thee, the dearest pledge that God hath or can send ? Is this thy welcome to it ? Is this thy departure out of it ? Shall we mock and sceurge, crucify, pierce, and mur der thee ? And wilt thou by all these outrages committed against thyself, accomplish our salvation? O victorious love! that can pardon when abused, and exalt us by being abased, and glorify us by being despised ! Yet Gpd will have it so, that his good will may be commended by the affronts and by the indignities, which peevish mankind puts upon it. 3. The infinite goed-will pf Gpd, in sending Jesus Christ, into the world, appears to be gleripus and great, if you con sider the Persons to whom he was sent. "The fallen angels stood in as much need of a Saviour, as we j and Christ was as well able to save them, as to save us ; and they would have served God with mpre enlarged capacities^ than we can pessiblydo: but, as sppn as those gloricus spirits sinned, God threw them down to hell ; where they are shackled up in chains of massy darkness for ever, never to have any re lease. O most dreadful severity towards them ! O unspeakable love towards us ! God passeth by the angels ; and reccvereth vile mankind, and raiseth them up eut pf the dust, that they might fill up those void places of the angels, that left their first station. This is that, which makes the Devil rage; and this is that, which makes that Old Serpent tp gnaw his tongue with 302 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. anguish : that he should be cast down from heaven like lightning,' and such vile worms as men are advanced to his place and ho* nour. Truly, nothing puts a greater accent upon love, than when it is laid out upon those who are most unwprthy, with a purppse thereby to make them worthy. Thus is the love of Ged, in sending Christ, expressed : he ccmes and finds us unwerthy ; and he ccmes, that he might make us wcrthy. Npw, here, (1) Consider: This love is pitched upon Loathsome and Deformed Creatures, that so it might make them comely and beautiful. And this advanceth the free love of God, in sending Christ inte the werld. • Ypu may see an elegant cemparispn of man in the state of nature, Ezek. xvi. 5, 6. where the Prophet compares him to a poor forsaken infant, swathed in his own blopd, cast intc the open field, helpless for its weakness, and loathspme fer its de- fprmity. This is the very emblem of that condition, in which we eurselves are, in our natural and unregenerate state : we are cast out to the loathing of our persons ; and impotent, that we cannot help ourselves. Whose bcwels would not yearn to read this description, which the Prophet makes, and whieh I have briefly opened to you ? Now is there any thing of amiable- ness or loveliness in such an object as this, that God should part with his Son out of his own bosom?. yet, saith God, in the eighth verse, Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love ; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: And then washed I thee with water : yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee. Nay, further : our condition was such as the Prophet Isaiah describes it to be, Isa. \.G. From the sole of ihe foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it ; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores : sores, that deformed us ; sores, that would have destroyed us : now that Gpd should send his Blessed and Well-beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bind up and cure the sores of such deformed creatures as we are, doth not this speak his infi nite love to us ? (2) This lpve is not only' pitched upon deformed creatures, but also upon Froward, Peevish, and Rebellious Creatures. Of all things in the world, nothing sopner provpkes Gpd's wrath, than a slighting and contempt of love. Now God fore saw how men would slight his Son : yet, netwithstanding, he sends him : He came unto his own, and his own received him net. THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 303 1 might enlarge on the histery pf pur provocations, affronts, and injuries ; all which Ged foresaw put pf his own infinite wis- dpm : and yet, netwithstanding all, his gppd-will prevailed to send Jesus Christ, who he knew would be seemed and rejected by them to whpm he was sent. 4. I might be large in illustrating this gond-will pf Gpd, in sending Jesus Christ into the world, as drawn from those many great benefits, of which, by Christ's coming, we are made par takers. Should I instance in temporal things, that would be an abate ment to this leve ef Gpd to us, and the purchase cf Christ, whereby we receive pardon of sin, reconciliatiori of our persons, acceptation with God, sanctificaticn, adoption, hppe pf glpry here, and ppssessipn nf glpry hereafter : all, in and through Jesus Christ. But I shall npt insist uppn these, but proceed to make some short APPLICATION? You have heard somewhat, thpugh infinitely shert, of the good-will of God, in sending Jesus Christ into the werld : do npt ypu believe it to be true ? why else de ypu splemnize this as a day ef joy ? Well, then, beware that you do not frustrate God's good-will towards you, in giving Christ to you, by your debaucheries and profaneness on this good day, which you celebrate as a memorial of that great gift. Believe it, and it is sad to consider, as Christ's birth hath been the cause of the sal vation of many a soul ; so, it may be feared, that Christmas hath been the damnation of many a soul : what through rioting, drunkenness, revelling, gaming, and such like excesses, the Name of Christ hath been greatly dishonoured, under a pre tence of honouring his Birth. I have heard a story of a Turkish ambassador, long residing in one of the greatest courts in Christendom : when he returned home to his master, he was by him examined, what customs the Christians observe : he made this answer ; That, for Twelve Days in the year, all the Christ tians ran mad : his observation was but too true, and too much to the disparagement of the Christian Religion. And we may well question, whether there be not more wickedness committed in many places these Twelve Days, than in the other Twelve Months after. What, Sirs, do you think that Christ came into the world only to give you an occasion to eat unto gluttony, 304 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. and to drink unto drunkenness ? are not these some of the sins, which he came into the world to destroy ? and will you make his coming into the world to patronize them ? Observe, then, a day; but take the Apostle's direction: He, that observeth a day, let him observe it to, the Lord : it is his rule, to observe it with a holy heart, with spiritual meditation, with heavenly af fections. This is the only way to reap the benefit of God's good-will, in sending Christ into the world; and. this is the only way to ascribe glory to God, for his good-will towards men. TIIE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. A SERMON, PREACHED ON EASTER-DAY, FROM ACTS ii. 24. WHOM GOD HATH RAISED UP, HAVING LOOSED THE PAINS OF DEATH : BECAUSE IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE THAT HE SHOULD BE HOLDEN OF IT. V«hristian Religion is founded upon such mysterious and su pernatural truths, and the principles of it are so paradoxical to the received opinions of mankind, that the greatest persecution, which it ever found in the world, was not so much from fire and sword, racks and tortures, the evident cruelties of the first op posers of it, as from the magisterial dictates of partial and cor rupt reason. ' The philosophers, whom Tertullian calls the Patrons of He retics, have established two peremptory maxims; utterly re pugnant unto what the Scripture reveals to us, both concerning our happiness and comfort. The one is, Ex nihilo, nihil habe- tur : " Out of nothing, nothing can be made :" directly le velled against the creation of the world. And the other is, A privatione ad habitum non datur regressus : " There is no re- stpratipn pf the same being, after a total ccrruptipn and dissplu- tipnpf if." which still ccntinues a great prejudice against the resurrection of our bcdies ; and which the Oracles of Reason have so much troubled the world with, that, whatsoever seemed ip the least contradictory to it, they judged contradictory to common sense, and exploded as ridiculous and impossible. Under these great disadvantages the Christian Religion la boured : whilst it not only owned the creation of the world out VOL. IV. X 206 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS, of nothing, formerly described by Moses; but more clearly and openly attested the resurrection of the dead, which before was not either so clearly known, or so clearly proved : for these doctrines were held so absurd by the great sophisters of the world ; whose rriinds were too deeply tinctured with contrary notions, that they looked upon the Christian Religion as a de sign rather to destroy reason, than to save the soul : accounting it a very absurd thing to believe in a Crucified Saviour, as being a person weak and impotent; or the future resurrection, as being a thing utterly impossible. We find the Apostle to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. i. 23, com plaining that the Greeks, who were then the great masters of wisdom and learning, esteemed a Crucified Christ foolishness: and thought those men little befriended by reason, who would depend for life upon one that lost his own ; and who would ven ture to take off the shamefulness of the cross, or to silence those scoffs that were cast upon those, for their credulity, who affirm the wonderful resurrection of a dead Saviour, and his glorious triumph over death and the grave. For this seemed to them no Other than to solve an absurdity by an impossibility ; and to make reason more suspicious, in that they judged the funda mentals of reason must be overthrown, to make the funda mentals of Christianity any way tolerable or possible. • Where fore we find, that, even at Athens, that great concourse of wits, where all the sects of philosophers made their common retreat ; yet when St. Paul preached unto them Jesus and the Resurrection, this doctrine seemed so absurd and foolish to them, and so ccn- trary to all principles of right reason, that they forgot that ci vility which usually is found in men of inquisitive spirits, and brake out into open reproaches and revilings: What willthis^ babbler say? because he preached unto them Jesus and the Re surrection : Acts xvii. 1 8. No doubt, they wanted not very specious arguments to urge against the resurrection of the body. As, first, the impossibility of a re-collection of the dispersed particles of men, resolved into their elements, and scattered by the four winds of heaven : though it might be very well retorted on the Epicureans, who disputed with St. Paul against the Re surrection, that it was not so unlikely a thing that there' might be a re-union of the scattered parts of the same man, as that ihcre shquld be a fortuitous concourse of atoms at the first THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 307 rnakirtg of the world : yet this objection overbore and prevailed with Heathens, so that when they burnt the bedies of Christians, they cast their ashes into the rivers, to confute their hopes of ever being raised again ; from whence they should be carried ¦awqy into an unknown ocean, and there be made the sport of winds and waves. But, what our Saviour says upon the same occasion to the Sadducees, may be said unto these men : Ye do en\ not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God : Mat. xxii. 29 : for, unless their parts could be scattered beyond the reach of Omnipotency ; unless they could be ground so small, as to escape the knowledge and care of God, who ordereth and rangeth every mote that plays up and down in the sunbeams ; this dispersion "of the body proves not the impossibility of their union, because the power and providence of God will gather up every dust, and rally them together again, into the same place and order as now they are. Another argument against the resurrection of the body, may be from the various changes, which dead bodies undergo : being, first, turned into earth ; that, again, turned into grass and herbs ; that, becoming nourishment for other men or beasts; that nourishment again passing into their substance ; making a kind of transmigration of bodies, as Pythagoras would have that there was of souls : which is very evident in the case of Anthro- pemprphites, and Men-Eaters, whe have, of several parts of other men's bodies, compounded their own. And so the same question may be demanded, which the Sadducees asked our Saviour, concerning the seven brethren who married the same woman, whose wife of the seven she should be at the Resur rection : so, here, those parts, which belonged to so many men, to which of them belong they in the Resurrection, without de triment to the rest ? Here the same answer occurs, which Christ gave them, Mat. xxii. 29. Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God; who is the best judge of property ; and can resolve all those parts, by which any nourishment hath been received by any other creatures, unto their own proper bodies again. And thus it appears, that these arguments against the resur rection of the body amount not to prove the impossibility of the effect; but only the supernatural almighty power of the efficient. Wherefore, granting the Resurrection impossible, according to the original course of natural things; yet, when an X 2 308 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. omnipotent arm doth interpose, which gives laws unto it, who dares to say, that the creature may be brought to such a state of dissolution, as may outreach the deminipn pf the Almighty Creator ? Uppn these grounds it is, that the Apostle asketh, why it should be thought a strange and incredible thing, that God should raise the dead : Acts xxvi. "8 ; and, in the text, that he asserts the resurrection of Christ. And, to prevent any fallacious ca vils against it, he shews, F'irst. That God raised him from the dead ; and therefore it was not to be accounted a thing impossible, since to God no thing could imply a contradiction. Secondly. He doth not pnly assert the pessibility pf Christ's resurrection, but the impossibility of his final continuance under the power of death. The grave, which grasps and retains all other mortals; wasf not able to detain him who hath immortalitjf and life dwelling in himself : It was not possible that he should be holden of it ; there fore God hath raised hiin up, loosing the pains qf .death. ¦ Whom God raised up. Here is the efficient cause of Christ's resurrection, in the concurrent action of the whole Trinity; for all, that God doth out of himself, is ascribed to all the Three Persons. Sometimes, it is ascribed to the Father : as the Apostle speaks; Tke God qf Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus ; whom ye deli vered up, and denied the Holy One, and the Just, desiring a murderer and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead: Acts iii. 13, 14, 15. Sometimes, it is ascribed to the Son, who, by the infinite power ofhis divinity, raised' up his human nature from the grave : so our Savipur himself tells us, I lay down my life of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again : John x. 18. The same may be collected of the Holy Ghost, from the words of the Apostle : If the Spirit of him, that raised up Jesus jrom the dead, dwell m you, he, that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also, quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit : Rom. viii. 1 1 : now if the Spirit of God can quicken our bodies, the same Spirit also can quicken the body of Christ ; since it is the same Spirit that quickens both the Head and the Members. Having loosed the pains of death. In some ccpies it is, Having loosed the pains qf hell : which, possibly, gave cccasion to that fond opinion of some, that Christ descended into hell, and there . THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 309 underwent the pains and penalties of that infernal place, as full satisfacticn to the justice of God ; and that these were the pains, from which God raised or loosed him in his resurrecticn. But this conceit is erroneous and extravagant, and deserves no serious confutation ; especially because it plainly contradicts Christ's consummation est upon the cross ; for, when Christ had under- . gone his sufferings on the cross he said, It is finished, and so gave up the ghost : John xix. 30. If Christ therefore did un dergo any farther sufferings and pains, than those sufferings which he underwent on the cross, those sufferings would have been so far from being completed and finished, that they would have been but the prseludium, and beginning of his sorrows. Having hosed the pains of death implies no more, but that God raised Jesus Christ from the death, which, after many dolorous pains, he suffered. It follows : It was not possible that he should be holden qf it. This is that on which I intend principally to insist. I. And, here, I shall shew UPON WHAT ACCOUNTS IT WAS ALTOGETHER IMPOSSIBLE FOR CHRIST TO BE , DETAINED UNDER THE POWER OF DEATH i and my arguments for the proof hereof are these that follow. i. It was impossible that Christ should be held under the power of death, because of that great and ineffable mystery of THE HYPOSTATICAL UNION OF THE D1VJNE AND HUMAN NATURE IN THE PERSON OF CHRIST. There are Three Unions, the belief of which is the founda tion of the greatest part of the Christian Religion, and which are wholly beyond the reach of reason ; the mystical union of a believer unto Christ : the'union, or rather unity, ofthe Three Glorious Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in one nature : and this hyppstatical union of twp natures in one person, in the Mediator. It is' a mystery, which angels pry into and adore, with wonder and astonishment, how the eternal, only-begotten Sen pf Gpd should assume flesh to himself, in so clese and intimate a conjunction, that, though he be eternal, yet he should be born ; thcugh he be immortal, yet he shuuld truly die ; and thpugh he were truly dead, yet he sheuld raise himself to life again. These are things, which seem very in consistent one with ancther ; yet they truly come to pass through \ this miraculous iraion, which transcends the reach pf re^spn, as 310 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. far as these things do that of nature : that "the same person, who is eternal, should be young, yea be born in the fulness of time; that the same person, who hath immortality and life dwelling in himself, should alsp die a shameful and accursed death; that the same person, whe was truly and really dead, yet had a power to quicken and recover himself : John x. 18. And this ¦was it, which declared him to be the Son qf God with power, as the Apostle speaks, even by his resurrection from tke dead: Rom. i. 4. And, indeed, if he had not risen from the dead, the Deity would have suffered in the opinion of the world ; nor would they have believed him to be the Son of God, who would suffer himself to lie under the dominion of death, longer than the end of his death required it. And this I shall demonstrate to you by Two arguments : only premising this, which is a common and true maxim among di vines; That when the natural union between Christ's body and soul was dissolved, yet both soul and body did retain the hy- postalical union to the divine nature : the divine nature was united to the body of Christ, when the soul was. separated from it. 1 . If Christ could not have raised himself, it must have been either from a Want of Power, or from a Want of Will, to do it. He could not want Power to raise himself, because he was God ; equal in power, and in all other divine attributes, with the Father. As the resurrection ofthe dead is not impossible to the infinite power of God ; 'so neither can it be, that that God, who had a will to assume our flesh, should want a Will to raise it up : that that God, who so loved the human nature^ as. to associate it into oneness of person with himself, should yet suffer it to -con? tinue under the power of death ; which is, of all things, most contrary to his natural inclinations. We see Christ, in his agony, prayed most fervently that the bitter cup might pass from him, insomuch that he strained clotted blood through him : and, cer tainly, one ingredient in that cup was the separation of soul and body by death ; which is that, which even innocent nature itself abhorred, as destructive to him ; yet, having taken our nature upon him for this very end, that, by death, he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil: Heb. ii. 14, he voluntarily submitted himself to undergo it ; and, this end being fully accomplished by his death, and the truth of his deatn THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 3 1 1 likewise attested by his lying three days in the earth, it was al together impossible that that perspn, whp had an abhorrence of death and a power to raise himself, should continue longer under the arrest and dominion qf it. And this is the First demonstration of the necessity of the re surrection of Christ, upon the account of both natures in one person : as man, he abhorred the separation of soul and body ; as God, he was able to re-unite them : so that having, as man, a desire to live, and, as God, a power to live, it was impossible for him to be holden of death. 2. Recause qf the union of the divine and human nature in the person of Christ, it was impossible thai Ids Flesh should see Corr ruption ; which yet it must certainly have done, had he not been raised in a short space after his death, For, since Christ's body was npt ?. pbantastical body, as some of old held, but made of true flesh, and of the same temper and constitution with ours, it must, without a miracle, have under gone such changes after death as ours shall do : and, to imagine the contrary, is but to feign one miracle, to avoid the necessity of another; even of the Resurrection. But, it was utterly impossible that that body, which was united to bpth natures by so close and unconceivable a bond,, should ever see corruption ; that is, a putrefaction in the grave : this the- Scripture clearly asserts to us : Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption : Acts ii. 27. And, also, because all bodies, which are corrupted, turn into seme other thing and some other nature; according tc that undoubted maxim ofthe philosophers, corrupt io unius est generatio alterius : and so this horrid and blasphemous consequence would follow, that the divine nature of the Son of God might have been joined tp some other. So that it was necessary that Christ should be raised again, before any corruption or putrefaction, by ordinary course of nature, seized upon him. Thus I have proved, by these two arguments, that, because pf the hypostatical union of the divine and human nature of Christ in one person, it was altogether imppssible he could be holden of death. ii. Another argument is this : It was impossible that Christ should be holden of death, BECAUSE OF god's veracity; and THE TRUTH OF. THOSE PREDICTIONS, WHICH WERE BEFORE MADE 312 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. concerning CHRIST, in thpse many types and prophecies cf the Old Testament ; all which Gnd^s faithfulness stood engaged to fulfil. I shall only mention that famous prediction, which St. Peter here subjoins, as a proof of the subject I am now treating upon : Acts ii. 24, 25, 27. It was not possible, says he, that Christ should be holden qf death : For, saith the Apostle, David speaketh concerning him.. ..Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. And this prophecy the Apostle quotes out of the Psalmist: Psal. xvi. 10. That it did not belong to David, and that he did not speak it concerning himself when he indited that Psalm, the Apostle shews, vv. 29, 30, of this chapter : where he proves that David was dead and buried, and underwent the common lot that all other dead bodies did, putrefying and mouldering away in the earth ; and therefere he was not that Holy One that should never see corruption, because that prophecy must belong to such an one who must so taste of death: and this is clearly implied in the former expression, Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, that is, in the state of the dead ; for so is hell to be understood there, as I shall shew more at large. Neither could it belong to any of those, who, before Christ, were raised miraculously from the dead, arid brought back out of the state of death ; yet was it not in such a manner,, that they were not' to return again to it : ,so that if they did not in the first, yet in their second dying they saw corruption. This then could belong to none of them, and therefore must of necessity belong tc Christ. And since the Appstle lays sp much stress on this argument, give me leave a little to consider the meaning of it, and how it is applicable to Him. And, here, I shall not trouble you with the various opinions Cf those, who have attempted to interpret these words, Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell : some thinking, that, by this hell, intp which Christ descended, is meant the place of the damned, where he preached the Gospel to them, freeing those that would believe from their pains : others, that it was one great partition of it, called Limbus Patrum ,- " the repository of the souls of those Fathers" who died in obedience to God and in faith ofthe Messiah, before Christ came in the flesh ; and that the reason ef his descent thither was, that he might release those souls from chains, and carry them with him to. heaven ; so that, ever since. THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 31 5 that mansion in hell'hath been left veid, without any inhabitants ; but these opininns are net capable of any sufficient proof. I shall, therefore, give you that interpretation and judgment, which carries with it the strongest current, both of Scripture and Reason. The werd Hades, which we translate Hell, is very often, by the Septuagint, in the Old Testament, used tc signify the Grave, or the state of the dead : sc, in Gen. xliv. 31 , we translate it tke Grave ; but it is the same word, that is used fox Hell in the text : and thus the wprd is used in ether places of Scripture, as also in other authors, to signify the place and state of the dead and of separate souls. And, for the leaving of the soul of Christ in Hades, or in Hell, we must know, that it is a, thing not unusual in Scripture, to call a man that is dead by the name of soul : so, the Septuagint translate that place in Leviticus, ch. xxi. 11. They shall not be defiled with dead souls, meaning dead carcases : neither shall they go in to any dead souls : the word is .dead bodies. But, not to detain ypu any longer on this speculation, though of great use for the right understanding of this excellent place of Scripture : if we take Hell for tke Grave, we must take the Soul for the Body, Thou wilt not leave my body in tke grave ; but, if, by If ell, be here understood the state of death, that is, the state of separation of soul and body, the interpretation will be more easy and natural : Thou wilt not leave my soul in a state of separation from the body ; but wilt certainly unite them together again, and raise me up before I shall feet corruption. Thus I have given you the interpretation of the prophecy of David, which, upon the account of God's truth and veracity, was to take effect in the Resurrectien pf our Savipur ; and, therefore, it being fpretold that he should nut see corruption, the faithfulness of God was obliged, within that time, inviolably to raise him up. And that is the Second Reason, why it was impossible that Christ shpuld be helden ef death, because it was foretold of him, that his soul should not rest in hell; that is, either his body in the grave, or his soul in a state of separation from his body. iii. Anpther argument is this : It was imppssible that Chris^ cculd be holden by death, upon the account of god's justice. For justice, as it doth oblige to inflict punishment upon the guilty, so also to absolve and acquit the innocent. Now, thpugh Christ knew no sin, yet was he made sin for us ; that is, our sins 314 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. were imputed to and charged upon him; and, so, through a voluntary susception and undertaking of them, he became guilty of them. Hereupon, divine justice seized upon him, as being our Surety; and demanded satisfaction frcm him fpr pur pffences. Now no nther satisfaction would be acceptable unto God nor commensurate to our sins, but the bearing of an infinite load of wrath and vengeance ; which, if it had been laid upon us, must have been prolonged to an eternity of sufferings; for, because we are finite creatures, we cannot bear infinite degrees of wrath at once ; and, therefore, we must have lain under those infinite degrees of wrath to an infinite duration : butr Christ being God, he could bear the load of infinite degrees of wrath at once upon him : in that one bitter draught, the whole cup of that fury and wrath of God, which we should have been everlastingly drinking off by little drops, Christ drank off at once. Now it is the nature and constitution of all laws, that, when a , person, by undergoing the penalty which those laws require, hath made satisfaction fer the effence committed, the person satisfying ought tp be protected as innpeent : it could not therefore censist with the justice of God, that, when Christ had satisfied his utmost demands, that any of the punishment due to our sins, for which he satisfied, should have lain upon him longer ; for that would have been no other than punishing without an offence. Now nothing is clearer in Scripture, than that death is a punish ment inflicted upon us for sin : so says the Apostle ; The wages qf sin is death : Rom. vi. 23 : and, in another place ; by sin, death entered into the world, and death passed upon all, because all have sinned : ch. v. 12. From all which it follows, that, as Christ, taking uppn him our sins, became thereby liable to death; so, having satisfied for our sins, and thereby freed himself from the guilt that he lay under by imputation, he was no longer liable unto death, which is one part of the punishment he underwent: so that it could not have been agreeable to Infinite Justice, that Christ should have been holden of death, who, by his undergeing of death, hath sustained the whole load of God's infinite wrath and displeasure, and fully satisfied for all those sins that were imputed to him ; and therefore ought, jn justice, to be acquitted from all penalties, and consequently from death. iv. It was impossible that Christ should be holden of deathj IN RESPECT OF HIS OFFICE OF MEDIATORSHIP. THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 315 For, having as our Mediator undertaken the desperate service of bringing sinful and fallen man to life and happiness, he must of necessity not only die, but rise again from the dead ; without which, his death, and whatever else he did or suffered for us, would have been of no avail. There are two things requisite, before any real or eternal benefit can become ours : A meritorious Purchase, procuring the thing itself for us. An effectual Application of that benefit to us. . The purchase of mercy was made by the Death of Christ, by which a full price was paid down to the justice of God : but the effectual application of mercy is by the Life and Resurrection of Christ. Wherefore, if Christ had only died, and not risen again ; if he had not overcome death within its own empire, and triumphed over the grave in its own territories ; it would have been to his disappointment, and not at all to our srtvation. The loss of Christ's life would not have procured life for us, unless, as he laid it down with freedom, so he had again restored it with power : our hope of salvation otherwise would have been buried in the same grave with himself; but what he died to procure, he lives to confer. It was ignorance of Christ's resurrection from the dead, that so staggered the two disciples going to Emmaus ; Luke xxiv. 1 6, 19, 20, 21. They tell Christ himself a sad story of one Jesus of Nazareth, that was condemned and crucified ; " who, while he lived among us, by his word and works testified himself to be the true Messiah : we little theught pf his dying ; and, when he told us of his Death, he likewise foretold us of his Resurrection the third day ; and, behold, tke third day is already come, and yet is there no appearance of this Jesus. Verily, we trusted that it had been he, which shoidd have redeemed Israel : but now our hopes grow faint, and languish in us ; for, certainly, there can be no redemption for Israel by him, who cannpt redeem himself from death." Nothing in the world did so much prejudice the Gospel, and hinder its taking place in the hearts of Heathens in the primitive times, as the cross and death of Christ : for, believing that he was lifted up upon the cross, but not believing hat he was raised up from the dead, they assented to their natural reason, which herein taught them, that it was folly to "expect life from him, who could not either preserve or restore his own. It is true, it was folly thus to hope, but that his life applies what his death 316 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. deserved; and our salvation begun on the cross, is perfected on the throne : and therefore the Apostle tells us, that our faith in a crucified Saviour, and our obedience to him, is all vain, if he had not risen again from the dead : 1 Cor. xv. 17 : for, unless he had risen from the dead, he could not have acquitted us from the guilt of sin, because he could not have been justified himself, We are justified by the righteousness of Christ, as the Apostle speaks, in his Epistle to the Romans; Rom. iv. 25, which righteousness he wrought out for us, both by his perfect obe dience to the Law and by his submission to the punishment of the Law : but, yet, this righteousness could not have availed to our justification, had he not, after the fulfilling of it, risen again from the dead; because he himself had not been justified, much less could we have been justified by one who could not Jiave justified himself. And therefore we read, Great is the mystery of godliness : God manifested in the flesh, ' in his Incarnation ; justified in the Spirit, by his Resurrection ; seen of angels, in his Ascension : 1 Tim. iii. 16 : had he not been raised and quickened by the Spirit, that is, by the glorious power of his divine nature, he had not been declared just, nor could he have justified us : for this declaration, that Christ was just, was made upon the resurrection of his bpdy from the dead ; by which he was set free from all those penalties due to our sins, that were imputed to him. If, therefore, the justification and salvation ef sinners was a design laid by the infinite wisdom of God, it must needs follow, that it was impossible for Christ to be kept under death, because that would have obstructed their justification and salva-. tion ; and so would have brought a disappointment upon the infinite wisdom of God, which was impossible to be done : and therefore, consequently j Christ could not be holden of death. II. The APPLICATION of this great truth shall be, briefly in these following Inferences. i. If it was impossible for Christ not to have risen from the dead, IT IS EVIDENT, THEN, THAT CHRIST IS THE TRUE MESSIAH. For, had he been an impostor er false prophet, it would have been so far from an impossibility that he should not have been raised, that it would have beeri a very impossibility for him to have risen agam : for, neither could he have raised himself^ being a mere man ; neither would Gpd have raised him, being a mere impostor and cheat, When, therefere, the Jews called for? THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 3lT sign from Christ to prove him to be the true Messiah, he gives' them the sign of his resurrection ; Mat. xii. 38, 39, 40. Master, say they, we would see a sign from thee. Rut he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign ; and there shall n6 sign be given to it, but the sign qf the prophet Jonas : For, as Jonas was three days and three nights in tke whale's belly ; so shall tke Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart qf the earth. So, again, when they tempted him at another time, for a sign of his being the Messiah, he still instances in his powerful resurrection from the dead : John ii. 18, 19. The Jews answered and said unto him, What sign shew- est thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said uitto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. So that, still, he made his Death and Resurrection to be the infallible proof of his being the true Messiah. ii. If it were necessary that Christ should rise from the dead, and if he did do so, then, certainly, sin is conquered. For the sting of death, and that envenomed weapon whereby it wounds yea kills the sinner, is sin; and, so long as death had this sting in it, it could not have been conquered by any sinner. It is sin, that gives death its power to hold fast all those, who come within its reach : whieh since it could not do with Christ, it is evident sin is subdued by Christ ; who was in its arms and grasp, but yet came safe out from it, taking away the sting and weapon ef death with him. iii. If the resurrection of Christ be thus - necessary, and hath been thus effectually accomplished, we may comfortably from thence ccnclude the necessity of our own resurrection. For, the Head being raised, the Members shall net always sleep in the dust. Christ's mystical bedy shall certainly be raised, as well as his natural bedy ; and every Member of it shall be made for ever glorious, with a glorious and triumphant Head. And*, from each of these consideratiens, what abundant * From this place to the end is added from the Appendix, where it is printed, with a direction that it should " be inserted at the end of the Sermon on the Resurrection." It seems to have been added to the original Sermon for a Sacramental occasions, and is taken, for the most part, nearly word for word, from the Author's Discourse on the Two Sacraments. See pp. 435, 436. of vol ii; of this edition. Editor. 31 & miscellaneous SERMONS. cause have we of joy and exultation ! Of joy, in that his resuiv rection hath afforded us an irrefragable testimpny to convince the world, that we have not misplaced our faith, our hops^ our worship ; since that Jesus whom we serve> was not only lifted up on the cross, but gloriously raised from the grave. Of joy, in that his resurrection is an infallible evidence to us, that1 the debt is paid, when the Surety is discharged from the arrest : that now God's justice will as well acquit us from pur guilt, as his mercy ; since it is not consistent with the rules and measures of justice, to punish the same offence in the principals, for which the Surety hath fully satisfied. And, lastly, of joy, in that his resurrection is a most certain and assured pledge of ours : and that he hath risen before us, only to pluck us out of our graves; and is ascended into heaven before us, only to prepare mansions for us, and, by the virtue of his resurrection and intercession, to lift us from the dust, to sit together with him in heavenly places. And now, truly, the best way that 1 know to affect your hearts with joy for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is, first to lead you to his cross and sepulchre. Let me say unto ypu, as the angel did tp the wemeny Come, see the place where the Lord lay. Behold him, first, in his Death and Sufferings. See the Lord upon the cross, pouring out his blood and his soul for you ; and this will be a good help to heighten your joy, when you shall consider him risen again, and come triumphantly from under all his agonies and sorrows. This day exhibits Christ unto you, both bleeding and reigning, suffering and conquering, dying and reviving : all the glorious achievements of Redemption are this day to be represented lively to your faith and devotion ; and as a messenger sent to you by Christ, I do, in his name, invite you to come and see your Lord, and mourn over him in the holy institution of his Supper. I know we are apt to wish, that we had lived in the time of Christ's abode here upon earth ; that we had been conversant with him, as his disciples were, to have seen both his miraculous actions, and his no less miraculous passion. Why, truly, the disciples' sight of these things hath no advantage at all abeve our faith. If we can but act faith in this ordinance, which we are this day te partake ef, these things will be now present to us. There shall we see Christ crucified before our eyes ; yea, and crucified as truly and really to our faith, as ever he was to the sense pf others. This can carry us THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 319 into the garden, and make us do more than they, even watch with him in his agonies. This can carry us, without being befriended by acquaintance, into the judgment-hall, to hear his whole trial and arraignment. This can lead us, with the multitude and crowd of people, to his cross; and, in this ordinance, we may see his body broken and his blood poured out, and hear him crying It is finished, and see him at last give up the ghost. All this the holy sacrament doth as lively re present to the eye of faith, as if it were now doing. Consider : were there a sight to be represented, at which heaven, and earth, and hell itself, should stand amazed ; wherein God himself should suffer, not only in the form of a servant, but under the notion of a malefactor ; wherein the everlasting hap piness of all mankind, from the first creation of the world to the final dissolution of it, should be transacted ; in which you might see the venom and poisonpus strength pf all pur sins wrung into one bitter cup, and that put into the hands cf the Son of God to drink the very dregs of it ; in which you might see the gates of hell broken to pieces, devils conquered, and all the powers of darkness : were there, I say, but such a sight as this, so dreadful and yet so glorious, to be now represented, would yeu not all desire to be spectators of it ? Why, I invite you to it this day : only come, and come with faith, and you may see the Son of God slain, the blood of God poured out : you may see Him, who takes away transgressions, numbered himself among transgressors : you may see him hanging on the soreness and tenderness of his hands and feet; all our iniquities meeting upon him, and the eternity of divine wrath and ven geance contracted into a short space, and, as beams through a burning-glass, made more violent arid scorching by that con traction. Come, therefore, and see, and let your eye affect your heart with deep and bitter sorrow, that ever you should embrue your hands in the blood of your Saviour, that ever you should be his executioners and murderers, that ever your sins and guilt should squeeze so much gall and wprmwood into the bitter cup of his passion. And, when yeu have thus wept pver your dying Lord, let joy and gladness again fill your hearts, for he is risen : he is risen from death to life, from earth to heaven ; by the one^ to ccnfirm our faith ; by the ether, tp prepare our glery. A DISCOURSE on The STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION, FROM HEB. vi. 9. BUT, BELOVED, WE ARE PERSUADED BETTER THINGS OF YOU, AN& THINGS THAT ACCOMPANY SALVATION, THOUGH WE THUS SPEAK. INTRODUCTION. 'JjETTER things. Indeed, the Apnstle had, in the foregoing Verses, spoken very dreadful and fatal things, concerning some hypocritical and unsound professors. And his discourse of them may be reduced unto these Three heads : The high Attainments ef such professprs. The wretched Apestacy of such hypocrites. The fearful Perdition of such apostates. First. He discovers their Attainments ; and gives us, as it were* the ultimum quod sic, the highest strain and pitch that such can reach unto. . They may, First. Be enlightened, i. e. baptized ; and have a deep and Searching knowledge into the mysteries of the Gospel, so as clearly to understand them, and to unfold them perspicuously and demonstratively unto others. Secondly. They may have tasted of the heavenly gift. They may have some relishes upon their spirits, of the excellency, sweetness, and preciousness of Jesus Christ, the greatest gift God ever gave to the world. Thirdly. They may be made partakers of the Holy Ghost, in his gifts; those XaquTjMtTct, which were poured forth upon, the Church. And those, both extraordinary; such as were then bestowed upon the Primitive Church, as the gift of tongues, of THE STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION. 321 prophecy, of working miracles : and also ordinary, in illuinina- tion ; conviction ; partial reformation ; fluent elocution, both to God in prayer and to men in instruction ; which still remain to this day, and are dispensed in common, both to those who are savingly wrought upon, and to those who are utter strangers to the life of grace and the power of true godliness. Fourthly. They may have tasted the good word of God ; and may have found so much sweetness and* ccmfort in the doctrine and promises of it, as to hear it gladly with Hered, and to receive it joyfully with the stony ground. Fifthly. They may have tasted of the powers of the world to come ; and have had some prelibations of eternal glory, in some ecstatical raptures and transports of spirit, as if they were gotten quite above mortality : and these foretastes may entertain them with fair and flourishing hopes, that they shall for ever drink of thpse rivers ef pleasure that flew at Ged's right-hand. These, you see, are great and high attainments, which the Apostle allows to unseund professors : vv. 4, 5. For that they were never otherwise, appears, 'Secondly. In the Defection and Apostacy of these hypocrites from all these glorious attainments. And this apostacy is not only gradual and partial ; such as is too often incident tor the best saints, who decline from the spiritualness and excellency of their first ways : but total and final ; ending in a malicious renouncing of the truth, and the profession ef the name of Christ, which is the very formality of the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost. If such shall fall away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance : v.- 6. and, therefore, it is alike 'impossible that ever they should be pardoned. For this conditional proposition, if they fall away, supposeth a possibility of it ; because the Appstle gives it both as a caution against secur^, and a motive to a farther progress and perfection. They may fall, andfall away, and fall away to an utter impossibility of renewing them again unto repentance. Thirdly. He discovers the woeful Perdition of these apostates. And that he doth by an elegant similitude, taken from barren ground; to which such apostates are ccmpared, v. 8. Fer, if Gpd hath manured them, and caused the dew of heaven tc fall plentifully upen them from his ordinances, and yet they bring- forth nothing but briars and thprns, let them knew that they he under a mest tremendeus dpom. VOL. IV. Y 322 ' MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. First. ^They are rejected cf Gpd; reprobated and hated of him. If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him : Heb. x. 38. Secondly. They are nigh unto a curse. The dreadful curse of God hangs hpvering over their heads ; and, would they but lpok about them, they might see thick and black clouds gathering, and ready to break upon them and overwhelm them with a tempest of the divine wrath and fury, and they would live in a certain fearful expectation of fiery indignation to devour and consume them. For, Thirdly. Their end is io be burned. They are cut out to be firebrands for hell ; ordained of old unto this condemnation : who so long wilfully withdraw from God, that they fall into the Devil's arms ; and recede so far backward from Christ and their seeming piety and splendid profession, that they tumble into everlasting fire ; and there for ever suffer the most acute tortures, the most direful plagues, that either the infinite wisdom of God can prepare, or the infinite power of God inflict ; and lie eternally cursing and accursed, under the revenges of that God, whom they have maliciously despited. , But, lest any tender-hearted Christian should be discouraged and dejected by this terrible and startling doctrine ; a doctrine, which might have then, and hath since, caused many sad fears to seize upon the spirits of those, who are true and sincere, but yet timorous and doubting saints ; the Apostle Comforts them in the words of my text : and tells them, that, though he had spoken so sharply against apostates, yet they should not apply it to themselves, as though he suspected them for such ; that his discourse was directed unto them, npt as censure, but as caution; not as judging them to be such, but -forewarning them lest they should be such. As if he should say, " Interpret net what I have sppken, as if I thought ypu forlorn and cursed apostates from Christ : these things do npt appertain te you, otherwise than as matter that deserves your care and caution : for, though I have propounded to you the danger of apostacy ; yet I have great confidence of the sincerity of your profession, and the perseverance of your faith and obedience : We are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though zve thus speak.'1'' THE STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION. 323 From this coherence of the words with the context, we may observe, That there is great need to preach rousing and terrifying doctrines, even to true and real believers. Thunder is said to purge the air ; and to cleanse it from those impure vapours, with which it is apt to abound when it hath been long serene and stagnant. And, truly, thundering doctrine is of great use, First. Not only to convince the hypocrite : when the word shall be applied so critically, that he can no longer hide himself from the evidence of it, nor any longer lurk under the false disguise of a seeming sanctity ; but his own conscience will detect him, and deal as roundly with him, as he hath dealt dissemblingly both with God and man : nor, Secondly. To rouse and awaken the secure ; and, by alarming them with the terrors of the Lord, make them start out of their supine rechlessness, and stupid neglect of their souls and eternal concernments : but, Thirdly. It is necessary also to make those, who are true and sincere Christians, cautious and circumspect ; to stand uppn their watch, lest they also draw back unto perditien, and bring uppn themselves all the wees and curses which they hear de nounced against these wretched apostates. Let him, that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall: 1 Cor. x. 12. And, whereas he sweetens this terrible doctrine, by declaring his good hopes and opinion concerning them ; observe, That such rousing and terrifying truths require a great deal of holy prudence and caution in the delivering of them. Ministers ought not always to denounce woe and wrath ; nor at all per- adventures to fling abroad swords, arrows, and death ; nor, like a company of whifflers in a show, spit fire at every man they meet. For this indiscreet preaching of hell and damnation, not mak ing a careful distinction between persons and persons, doth but, First. Harden the wicked, while it puts them into as good a condition as any others. Secondly. Grieve the good ; and sadden the hearts of those, whom Gpd wpuld npt have made sad : while it rattles eut the terrors of the Lord, without any discrimination ; arid leaves them no means, nor advantage, of applying those comforts to them selves, which "of right belong unto them. And, Y 2 324 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. Thirdly. It prejudiceth all, inasmuch as it is apt to beget only a slavish fear ; and that fear an aversation to God, and to that religion, which is thus imprudently represented as only dreadful and frightful. But, to wave these things, that, which I shall principally consider, is that clause in the text, Things, that accompany salvation. In which I shall enquire, The Meaning of the Phrase. What those things are, which do thus accompany salvation. For the Meaning and Import of the Expression ; we must here take notice, that Salvation may be taken in a Twofold sense : either, For the full and actual Possession pf it. Or, Fpr our Right and Title to it, and some initials of it already begun in us. In the former sense, it signifies the glory and happiness of the saints in heaven, when they are no longer viatores, but compre- hensores ; no longer travellers thither, but possessors of their inheritance. And thus it is not to be understood in this place. For many things accompany this salvation, which cannot be verified of the best and holiest saints, while they are here in this life: as, the clear and immediate vision and fruition of God; our perfect immunity from all sin and corruption ; our final deliverance from all sorrows and sufferings, and the like : which the choicest believers do not enjoy, while they are here on earth ; but they are reserved for them till they arrive at heaven, to be the completion of all their hopes, and their full and eternal reward. This Salvation then, which the text mentions, is only Salvation in Right and Title : for then also are we said to be saved, when we have a right unto the eternal inheritance, and the initials and beginnings of it are wrought in our souls. This is a salvation on this side heaven: which we may well call a State of Salvation, or a certain tendency unto it ; which will, at last, infallibly end in a full and entire enjoyment of it. Now all those things, which are previous and antecedent to our eternal salvatiori in heaven, are concomitants and asscciates with this salvaticn : and therefore are said to accompany salvation, because they are to be found in all those, who have a true right unto the glory pf heaven fpr THE STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION. 325 the present, and shall be brought unto the pessessipn pf it here after. Hence observe, * That a state of salvation hath proper and peculiar THINGS BELONGING UNTO IT, WHICH ARE NOT TO BE FOUND IN ANY OTHER CONDITION. Npw, here, I. NEGATIVELY: i. These things are not only external privileges, nor the DISPENSATION OF THE ORDINANCES OF JESUS CHRIST. Indeed, these are erdinarily necessary as the means of salva tion, without which none can, according to God's ordinary way of working, come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved : for faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God : Rom. x. n. But, yet, they are net inseparable concomitants of this state : man}1 enjey the erdinances and means of grace, who yet are utter strangers to God ; and despise that grace, .which they were instituted to convey. And, therefore, as they prove great furtherances to the salvation of some, so they accidentally prove the occasion of obduration and sorer condemnation to others: as the same rain from heaven rots some trees, that makes others to sprout and grow ; so the same ordinances do accidently rot and corrupt some wretched souls, and make them the fitter fuel for hell-fire, which cause others, that are trees of righteousness and plants of renown, to flourish, and spring, and bring forth much precious fruit unto God. And therefere we find, that Gpd gives a most sad and dreadful commission to his prophet Isaiah, ch. vi. 9. Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not ; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes ; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Rest not, therefore, in ordinances : that you hear the word, and receive the sacraments ; that you have the tenor of the covenant explained, and the seals of it applied. These are, indeed, means of grace ; but they are not evidences of it : they are things, which promote salvation ; but they dp npt necessarily accompany it : and he, whp hath no better a title fer heaven, than pnly that he sits under the enjeyment pf these, will find. all his fpnd hopes miserably disappointed, when he shall hear 326 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS, Christ pronounce a dreadful doom, even upon those, who have eaten and drunk in his presence, and whom he himself had taught and instructed : Depart from me, all ye workers of ini quity. Nor, ii. Are the common gifts of the spirit of god, those things, that accompany salvation. These, indeed, are of great use and excellency ; but yet they may be found in those, who are wholly devoid of true grace and the life of God, Many hypocrites may be endowed with a great measure of these gifts; and, sometimes, much beyond those, who are true and sincere Christians. Their gifts may further the salvation of others, when they only aggravate their own damnation. As Noah made use of those to build his ark, who yet were themselves drowned in the deluge ; and as Solomon employed the Syrians, who were heathens, to prepare materials for the temple : so God doth, sometimes, make use of the gifts and abilities of wicked and ungodly men for the benefit and salvation of his Church. But, yet, those very parts and gifts, which help on the salvation of others, contribute not to the salvation of the owners ; but rather to the increase of their future torments, because their knovvledge, and gifts, and parts render them the more inexcusable before God. Nor, iii. Are the common graces of The holy ghost, those things, that accompany salvation. There are many previpus wprks wrought upon the souls of those, whp are brought near unto salvation ; but, through their quenching of tbe Spirit and resisting of his motions, they provoke him to withdraw, and so they never attain jt. Ner, iv. Are inward joys and comforts those things, that do necessarily accompany salvation. Nay, indeed, a true Christian may, many times, go mourning and heavily, when a hypocrite shall flaunt and triumph in his joys ; and boast of his evidences, and ravishments, and over powering consplations, as if he were the only favourite and minipn of heaven, whom God delighted to caress and dandle as the darling of his affections. See that proiid Pharisee, Luke THE STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION. , 327 xviii. 11 : God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are.... nor as this publican : and that hypocritical church of Thyatira : Rev. iii. 11. I am rich, and increased in goods, and stand in need of nothing. Thus, through the delusions of Satan and their own self-flattery, they may bring themselves into a golden dream, that they are rich in enjoyments, increased in graces, and stand in need of nothing which might make them either holy or happy : and so they give themselves the same applause, that the rich fool gave his soul; Soul, thou hast.... goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But, alas ! these over-weening conceits prove gross delusions ! How many have we seen, who have prided themselves in their joys, and would be still boasting what sweetness of spirit, and soul ravishments, and other such like melting things they have felt; turn utter apostates from the truth, and the profession of god liness ! These, therefore, are not the things, that accompany salvation : but a man may suffer everlasting torments, who hath tasted many delusive joys and comforts : he may drink deep of the cup of God's wrath and fury, who hath tasted of the powers of the world to come : he may go down to hell with many church- privileges and ordinances, excellent gifts and parts, with many common graces of the Spirit, many convictions, many good wishes and desires, yea and many good duties too, and there suffer the vengeance of everlasting fire, and have all these burnt about him. These things, therefore, are no firm suppcrt for ypur hope ; no good evidences for your future happiness : and, therefore, trust not your souls upon them : they will sink under you, and deceive you. They are only common things ; and may belong to any, who live under Gospel-Dispensations. Hearing, praying, professing, receiving the sacraments, though they be absolutely necessary to salvatipn, as means ; yet they are net, as evidences: they are distinguishing marks nf Christians from thpse of another religion ; but they are not distinguishing marks of saints from hypocrites. Or, if you will have them evidences, they are rather exclusive evidences, than conclusive: that is, it is an assured evidence that they are no true Christians, who do neglect, or disown, or despise these things : whosoever doth so, is certainly excluded from this number, and from all hopes and possibility of salvatipn. But they are not conclusive evidences : 32 8 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. we cannot certainly conclude, that such a man is a true Christian, or in the state of salvation, because such things may be fcund uppn him. II. And, therefore, in the next place, let us see WHAT THESE THINGS ARE, THAT DO ACCOMPANY SALVA TION. And they are of Three sorts : Certain Principles ef Faith in the Understanding. Certain Gracious Impressions upon the Heart and Will. A certain regular Obedience in the whole course of a man's Life and Conversation. And here we must, upon every one of these, discover these Two things : What those principles, habits, and obedience are. And then, ** Whether we have those principles, impressions, and obedience in a savins manner. s i. The first sort of things, that accompany salvation, are 1. Divine Principlessqf Truth in the understanding. And these are of two kinds ; either doctrinal, or practical : those, whose immediate tendency is information of the judg ment ; or those, whose immediate effect is the influencing and regulating of our lives and practice. (I) Doctrinal Principles, are absolutely necessary to salva tion, ' Such, I mean, as are the vital and fundamental articles of the Christian Faith. It is true, it is not necessary for every private Christian to busy and beat his head about the nice and curious questions of religion, which have always been disputed ; but will never be decided, until our imperfect knowledge give place to perfect. Some things in Christian Religion are ornamental ; and such are the mpre abstruse ppints, which are not sp clearly revealed te us in the Scriptures : these, indeed, those, who are of parts and have competent leisure, ought to search into, as the noblest study and science they can employ themselves about. Other things are fundamental and vital, the ignorance of which excludes men from all possibility of salvation : and these we THE STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION. 329 ought to know and believe explicitly ; as being truths, which are most clearly revealed to us. And such are, [1] The doctrine of the Ever- Blessed Trinity: that there is One Infinite Essence, in Three distinct Hypostasas or Persons. A mystery, far beyond all the comprehension of reason, aiid far deeper than the longest line of our understanding can possi bly fathom ; yet we are bound to adore and believe what we cannot comprehend: yea, and thus far reason itself teacheth us, that such a being cannot be God, which may be comprehended by man. This mystery of Three in One, the Scripture hath expressly declared to us : 1 John v. 1. There are three, that bear record in heaven, tke Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost : and these three are one : they are one, not only in their record and testimony, as some heretics would gloss the place to evade the clear fcrce ef it ; but in essence, being, pewer, nature, and all the divine attributes and perfecticns: fer, were this unity only in testimony, it might well be wondered why the Apostle should, in the very next verse, alter the phrase, and there tell us, that the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood, agree in one : here, it is evident, from the manner of expression, that these are one only in testimony ; but, when it is said, of the Father, and the Word, (that is Jesus Christ, that Word which was made flesh,) and the Spirit, not that they agree in one, but that they are one, it can bear no other signification, but that they are one infinite, eternal, ever-blessed essence, having all the same essential properties and perfections. How far the express belief of this great truth was necessary before the incarnation of our Saviour, I will not now dispute ; thpugh there want net sufficient evidences that it was knnwn to the Jews then : but, since cur pbligatipn to believe a truth is prppprtipnable to the evidence that can be produced for it ; therefere now, since the Scripture is express in this particular, an explicit belief of it is necessary to us, whatsoever it were to them : yea, so far necessary in order to eternal life, that he, who denieth and opposeth it, cannot worship the True God, who is Three in One ; cannot wcrship the Lprd Jesus Christ, whe is as truly and verily Ged as he is Man ; and therefore cannot be-in any capacity of obtaining salvation. For it is the highest idolatry in the world, to worship that for our God, which is not so : now our God is Three in One ; and therefore they, who pretend to worship him, whom yet they deny to be so, do but wprship an idol pf their own 330 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. fancying, and not the True God. Yea, our Saviour Jesus Christ makes this to be a fundamental Article of our Faith : John xvii. 3. This is life eternal, that they might know tliee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent : so that, if we know not God, as he is the True God, we cannot have eternal life ; but as he is the True God, so he is Three Persons in One Nature and Essence. But some may say, " This seems rather to make against it : fpr, if the Father be the only True God, then how can Jesus Christ be the True God too ?" To this I answer, that the particle only refers not to the Father, but to the True God : now the word God is an essential, and not a personal attribution; and so both God the Father is the only True God, and God ,the Son is the only True God, and God the Holy Ghost is the only True God, because they are all one and the same only True God : our Saviour saith not that only the father is the True God, but the father is the only True God : and so also is each person in the Ever-Blessed Trinity ; for the Godhead is not divided with the Persons, and therefore there is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, but these are all the only True God. This is the First Doctrinal Principle. [2] Ancther principle, cpnsequent upon the former, is the knowledge and belief of that great mystery ofthe Two Natures united in One Person of our Lord Christ. This is, likewise, a fundamental truth : truth, as to both parts of it ; both that he is God, and that he is man. This we find most clearly asserted by the Apostle, Rom. i. 3, 4. Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed qf David according to the flesh, And declared to be the Son qf God with power, according to the Spirit cf Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. His divinity is most irrefragably proved, past all the cunning evasions of Socinian perverseness, in many places of Scripture; but, especially, in the first to the Hebrews, v. 8. Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever : and, vv. 10, 11, 12. speaking of the same Son, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the works qf thy hands: They shall perish, but thou remainest they shall change : but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail : not to mention v. 3. Who being the ' brightness of his glory, and the express image of his Father's person, and upholding all things by the word of his power : nor v. 2. By whom also he made the worlds. Where, I think, we may challenge all the wit of hell to evade -the force of this argument. He, certainly, is the only True THE STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION. 331 God, whp is Gpd the Creator : for he, that made all things, is God, saith the Apostle, Heb. iii. 4 : but so is the Lord Jesus Christ, as these places do abundantly testify ; and therefore he is True God, a God by nature and essence, and not only by authority and donation. Again, if Jesus Christ ought to be served and worshipped by us, then certainly he is a God by nature; but none, who acknowledge the name of Christ, ex cepting that accursed Blandatra and a few of his adherents, will deny that he ought to be worshipped, whom all the angels in heaven are commanded to worship, Heb. i. 6. Let all the angels qf God worship him : therefore he must needs be God by nature, and not by office only. See, for this, Gal. iv. 8. where the Apostle tells the believing Galatians, that, heretofore, when they were Gentiles, the}' did service unto them, which by nature are no gods; implying, that they were guilty of most gross and stupid idolatry in so doing : but, if Christ be not God by nature, either the Apostle commanded these believers to worship him, or not : if not, then they ought not to worship him ; and very choice Christians they are, who sheuld be driven tp this : if he did, then he commanded them to be guilty of idolatry, like their former ; for he tells them, they were idelaters, in worship ping those, who by nature are not gods. And, that the owning of both natures in Christ is a Funda mental Article of Faith, appears, 1st. In that the denying of the Human Nature in Christ, is expressly sentenced as damnable. 1 John iv. 3. Every spirit, that confesseth not tkat Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not qf God : and this is tkat spirit of Anti christ, of which ye have heard tkat it should come ; and even now already is it in tke world. The Apostle doth not say, " Every spirit, -that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is ccme into the world ;" to prevent the evasion of those heretics, who pretended that he was revealed in the spirit, or in the conscience, or in the gospel : but he saith, come in the flesh, in the assumption of a true human nature ; those, whe "deny this, are npt pf Gpd. And, 2dly. For the denying of his Divine Nature, that also is in itself damnable. 1 John ii, 22. He is Antichrist ; that denieth the Father and the Son. And, certainly, if it be so damnable a heresy to deny the Humanity of Christ, much more then his Divinity ; for it was his divine nature, that put worth and value into all the 332 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. actions and sufferings of his human, and made them truly meritorious : and, therefore, if .there be no salvation attainable, but through faith in the merits of Jesus Christ ; they are utterly excluded from all possibility of being saved, who destroy the very belief of those merits through which alone they can be saved. That is, therefore, another Fundamental Truth of the Gospel. [3] Justification, in a free gratuitous way, in opposition to > the works of the Law, is a Fundamental Article of our Faith. In confirming this, the Apostle spends eleven whole chapters in his Epistle to the Romans. The denying of this doctrine is utterly inconsistent with a state of salvation. See, for this, Gal. v. 4. Whosoever of you are justified by tke Law, Christ is become qf no effect unto you : ye are fallen from grace. Indeed, many learned men are at variance concerning the manner of obtaining Justification by the righteousness pf Christ ; some taking nne way and some another, and it is no easy matter to recencile and accommodate them : but, so long as they hold this foundation, that none can be accepted of God, but only through the merits and righteousness of Jesus Christ ; though some may build hay or stubble upon this foundation, they may be safe, though they x suffer loss in their superstructure. Only to me, that seems the , best and safest way, which makes most for the honeur pf our Lord Christ ; for we cannot easily err in ascribing too much unto him, who is the Author pf puv Salvation : and therefore, cer tainly, to make the merits and righteousness of Jesus Christ the very matter of our Justification, and the imputation cf them to us the formal cause of it, seems mere henpurable to him, and, I think, mpre conscnant unto Scripture, than only to make it -a remote procatarctical cause, moving God to accept of our faith and pbedience, as cur righteousness, and thereupon to justify us. [4] The dpctrine of Sanctification, and of the absolute ne cessity of a thcrpugh Change and Renevatipn pf pur Natures, is a Fundamental Truth, witheut the ackncwledging ef which, we can never be saved. For our Saviour hath told us, John iii. 5. Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And, certainly, if our undergoing of such a thorough and universal change be of such absolute necessity, the knowing and believing of it must needs be ; for, if we be lieve it not necessary, we shall never be engaged heartily to en deavour it. And, therefore, THE STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION. 333 [5] The doctrine of our Fall, the knowledge of our lost estate and condition, is of indispensible necessity to eternal salvation. Our Saviour tells us, that he came to seek and to save those that are lost : Luke xix. 10 : and unless we are conscious of our sin, and misery by reason of sin ; that we stand forfeited to the divine justice, liable to his severest wrath, exposed to all the dreadful curses of the Law ; we shall never submit to the me thods of our physician, when we are not sensible of our disease. [6] The doctrines of the Resurrection, Judgment to come, Heaven and Hell, and eternal Rewards approportioned to our present works ; these are Fundamental Articles, and of absolute necessity to be believed. For he, who shall deny these, destroys all hopes and fears ; and turns himself loose to follow his own lusts, without any check or controul. He cannot be in a possibility of salvation, who believeth none ; whe expects npthing at Gpd's hands, whether rewards or punishments. For such a damnable doctrine as this, will necessarily engage him in a wicked and profligate life : in this our corrupt estate, wherein we are^ so naturally prone to sin, it is impossible that men should be holy gratis. Besides, it plucks up all religion by the very roots ; and the whole doc trine of Christ falls to the ground, if the immortality of the soul, future judgment, and eternal rewards, be once denied : for both our religion, and all religions in the werld, are founded upon these principles. - Thus you see some of those Fundamental Truths, which are necessary to salvation. And, therefore, though heresy look not so. foul and ugly, as some vile and scandalous impieties in life and practice ; and we are apt to have good opinions of men, whatsoever they hold, if so be we see them just and honest in their dealings, sober and temperate in their converse ; though we think it no great matter what their notiens and tenets be, so long as their lives are blameless and inoffensive : yet, believe it, heresy is altogether as damnable as profaneness : those poisons are as deadly, which work upon the head ; as those, which work upon the heart : and we ought as much to shun a heretic, and tc refuse converse with him, as a wicked monster ; as we ought to shun a murderer, a thief, a drunkard, an unclean sensualist, or the vilest sinner that can be named : yes, and rather more, inasmuch as there is mere danger of being corrupted by the 334 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. fair speeches of erroneous persons, than there is of being en ticed by the lewd and hateful actions of notorious and debauched wretches : and therefore St. John gives us this command, in his Second Epistle, v. 10, 1 1 . If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, nor bid him Gpd speed : For he, that biddeth him God speed, is partaker of kis evil deeds. , And, thus much, for Doctrinal Principles. But, then, (2) There are Practical Principles of Truth, whose immediate influence is only to guide the life and conversation. Many such there are, which I shall only reckon to you in tbe heap : That the word of God is the best rule of life : that godli ness is the greatest • gain : that sin is the worst of evils: that God, in Christ, is the chief good : that a holy life is the se curest and sweetest : that we ought to look only to duty, and leave successes tp God : that the best peace is peace of con science: that self-denial is the greatest self-interest: that we ought to choose the greatest affliction, rather than to commit the least sin : that whatsoever Ave lay out or lose for Christ, shall be repaid us with abundant use and advantage. These, and many other such like, are Practical Truths ; which, unless we are fully persuaded and cenvinced cf them in our own con sciences, will never be able to influence and govern our lives and actions. And, unless we live according to such rules as these, it is utterly impossible, that ever we sheuld be saved. And thus I have shewed yeu, what are the Principles of Truth which accompany salvation. 2. The Second Enquiry was, How we shall know, whether these Principles, both Doctrinal and Practical, are embraced by us in such a way, as may give us good hopes, that we are in a State qf Salvation. Indeed, it is not enough merely to know theie things, or to believe that they are great and precious truths : for there are not many, who have lived lpng under the dispensation of the Gospel, but have gotten a notion of these things, and their very reason ferceth them te subscribe to the truth of them : but THE STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION. 335 yet we see that multitudes, even of these, are profane and im pious ; and such ungodly persons, that, as the Psalmist speaks, salvation is far from them. Therefore I answer, (1) Then these principles are things accompanying salvation, when they are Leading Principles. When a man sails by this compass, and steers his course ac cording to them : when they lie not floating and swimming in the brain ; but soak and sink into the heart, and influence the life. (2) When they are Determining and Conquering Principles. When Christ and our interest come into competition, then see what thou art determined by. A carnal man may discourse by Scripture principles : but, when a time of trial and tempta tion comes, and he and Christ must part or he and the world must part, he then determines his choice by worldly principles ; and, whatever he had speculatively talked before of preferring the peace and purity of conscience before all worldly enjoy ments, yet now he chooseth sin rather than affliction. (3) When they are Quieting Principles. When they have determined your choice and then can satisfy and quiet your minds, then are they saving. It may be, that sometimes conscience hath well determined, and doth sway a man to a good choice: but yet he is angry with it; and could curse his conscience for being so tender, and forcing him to forego his earthly interests. (4) When they are Fixed Principles ; not only in the assent of the judgment, but in the ccnsent ef the will. When they become habitual to us, and grow up in us as another nature : that, as the great natural principle of all our natural actions, is self-preservation ; sp the great swaying prin ciple pf all our actions, is these hcly maxims, which naturally lead us to the preservation of that, which is our dearest self, even our precious souls and their eternal interests and concerns. Thus we have shewn you the First sort of things, that accom pany salvation : viz. the Principles of Belief, both Doctrinal and Practical : as, likewise, what is necessarily required to make, these principles Saving. ri. Let us now proceed to the Second General Head : To 336 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. consider those impressions, which must be avrought upon THE HEART, WILL, AND AFFECTIONS. And, herein, I shall, as before, make these Two enquiries : What those Impressions are, that accompany salvation. And, What are the Evidences, by which we knew them te be Saving. f . What these Impressions are. (1) To this I answer, in the general, they are those habits of true and divine grace infused into the will and affections, by the power of the Holy Spirit, whereby they are wholly renewed, and, of earthly and sensual, become heavenly and spiritual. They do, indeed, comprehend all the lineaments and features of the image of God : so that, when we speak of the graces of faith, love, hope, patience, humility, self-denial, &c. these are those impressions and habits, wrought in the heart, that accom pany salvation ; and the whole system and complexion of them taken together, is that, which the Scripture calls, the New Man, the New Creature, the Image of God, the Divine Nature, Conversion, Sanctification, Effectual Calling, and the like. And this great change must, of necessity, pass upon the soul, before it can be brought into a capacity of obtaining heaven and eternal salvation : for that God, whom the Prophet describes to be qf purer eyes than to behold iniquity, will not certainly behold it in heaven, his own throne and palace : but, as all, whp were un clean, and leprous, and ulcerated, were to be removed out of the camp of Israel, because God walked in the midst of it ; so shall all such spiritually unclean persons be excluded out of heaven, the palace of the Great King, the camp of innume rable hosts of angels, in the midst of whom the Holy- God walks, and converses only with pure and holy spirits. These holy habits of grace, which are infused intc the soul in its new birth and renovatipn, accompany salvationTwo ways : As Preparatiens unto it. As Parts pf it. [ 1 ] As Preparatipns to it. Fpr, as Gpd hath prepared an inheritance cf glpry for us, hereafter ; se, by grace, he prepares us for that inheritance. And therefore the Apostle, Col. i. 12. gives thanks to God, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance qf the saints in light. THE STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION. 337 And this meetness is Twofold : 1st. In the Nature of the thing. Holiness is naturally required unto eternal happiness. As all the goodliness of fruits and flowers must first spring frorn some seminal virtue ; se glory springs from grace, salvation from con version, as the flower from the seed. Whence the Psalmist ex pressed! it, Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in hedtt: Ps. xcvii. 11. And, as naturally as a small seed, when it is received into gopd ground and watered with the dew and refreshing shpwers pf heaven, sprouts up, and spreads itself into fhe beauties ef a flower; sp this seed of grace, when it is watered with the dew of heaven and called forth' by the quickening influences of the Spirit of God, begins to bud forth, spreads its branches, and will at last display all its glories when it is perfect and consummate in heaven. And, 2dly. By the Divine Appointment. God hath, by his promises, entailed happiness and salvation upon the graces and hbliness of his saints. It is a reward due unto them, by virtue of his promise and covenant. So that they are meet to be partakers of this' inheritance ; not only be cause grace doth' naturally tend to glory, as naturally as the dawning of the morn tends to a noon-day brightness ; but be cause also it is a meet and just thing with God, t'd recomrierise unto thern joy ahd refreshing arid everlasting peace and bliss, having obliged himself so to do by the tenor of his unalterable word of promise. And, as holihess'is thus preparatory tosalvation, so, [2] It is Part of salvation. It is happiness; in this vale of misery : it is heaven, on this side heaven. Grace arid glory differ not iu nature, but only in degrees: grace is glory begun ; and glory is but grade elevated to its acme and perfection. St. John, in his First Epistle, ch. iii. v. 2. tells us, that all we can know of the state of glory, is, that we shall be like God. It doth not yet appear what we shall be : hut we know, that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we shall sed him as lie is. And this resemblance unto God, the saints do here, in some measure, bear upon them : there are some strictures, some lineaments and proportions, of their Fa ther's image; drawn upon them : and, as the clear and imme diate vision of God in heaven is a transforming vision, where, by the bright reflections of God's purity and holiness cast upon VOL. iv. z 338 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. the blessed, they are made perfectly holy, and therefore blessed; so, here on earth, those more obscure and glimmering disco veries, which God vouchsafeth of himself, when he passeth be fore them in his ordinances, though they' see him but darkly through a glass, yet even this sight of God is also transforming, and changeth the soul into the likeness and image of God ; as the Apostle speaks, 2 Cor. iii. 18. We beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. So that, you see, there is very little difference, between our present state of grace and our future state of glory, but only in degrees and measures. St. John speaks of it as the glory of heaven, that we shall see God: St. Paul tells us, that we do now see him, though more dimly and obscurely. St. John tells us, that the glory of hea ven consists, not only in seeing God, but in being made like unto him : St. Paul, that the sight of the glory of God doth now transform us, and make us like unto him, for we are changed into the same image from glory to glory : i. e. from one degree of grace tc another. Thus I have shewn you how these impressions and habits do accompany salvation, both as they are Preparations unto it and Parts ef it. (2) And now, though this be most true, in the general, con cerning all the graces of Gpd's Spirit, that they de thus natu rally and necessarily accompany salvation ; yet give me leave to single out some few of the more choice and eminent ones, upon which the Scripture seems to set a peculiar remark. For, though all the graces of the Holy Ghost are alike necessary to salvation, yet they are not alike eminent and conspicuous. Now with divers of these, that most excellent Sermon of our Saviour upon the Mount will furnish us. Therefore, [1] Inward Heart-Holiness is a gracious disposition of soul, that doth accompany salvation. So we have it, Mat. v. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God. Now as all holiness signifies nothing else, but a separation from profane uses, to the service of God; so this holiness of the heart is the alienation and separation of it from sin, to the service of God. The Apostle, 2 Cor. vii. 1. distinguisheth sins into two sprts : there are filthinesses of the flesh ; and such are these wherein the body is engaged ; as THE STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION. 339 drunkenness, riot, uncleanness, murder, oaths, and blasphemies, &c. which require the service of the body as the instrument to perpetrate them : and there are other filthinesses of the spirit ; and those are more refined and invisible, though, not less per nicious and damnable sins ; and such are wicked thoughts, evil concupiscences and desires, atheism, unbelief, hyprocrisy, and the like : the former sort are the sins of lewd and profligate wretches ; these latter are the sins, in which formal hypocrites, and all those who are devoid of the power and life of true god liness, may indulge themselves, though they carry a fair shew and outside to the world. Now examine yourselves : of which kind is your holiness and sanctity ? Do not content yourselves that you are pure and clean from the gross and scandalous acts ' of sin ? that you are no drunkards, nor swearers, nor adulterers, nor murderers, nor thieves, nor extortieners ? it were to be wished that more could say, they have washed their hands in innocency from these wickednesses. But do you rest in this only ; and look no farther, than that your lives and outward demeanour be fair and inoffensive ; when, all the while, these and many other swarms of lusts crowd thick about your heart, and cluster there ? Though thou never embrewedst thy hands in the 'blood of thy brother; yet dost thou harbour any malicious and revengeful thoughts against him ? dost thou please and de light thyself in wishing and fancying his ruin, and rejoicest in his sufferings ? Though thou never spokest a blasphemous word against God and his truth; yet is it the employment of thy mind, to rend God's attributes from him, and to tear them off pne by one, sometimes denying his wisdom, sometimes hisi power, sometimes his goodness, sometimes his providence, and sometimes, with the fool, denying the very being atid essence of God itself? is this the sport and recreation of thy mind, thus speculatively to assassinate the Great God ? Darest thou prostitute thy soul to the embraces of any unclean and impure thoughts, and stuprate the images of thine own fancy ? Is thy heart vain, worldly, sensual ; or dost thou suffer unclean, co vetous, and revengeful thoughts to estuate there without con- troul ? Believe it, though thy life were as clear and spotless as an angel's, yet this impurity and filthiness of thy heart will keep thee for ever from the beatifical vision of God : for that God, who sees all the inward and lurking filthiness of thy heart as apparently as if every thought and motion of thy soul were z 2 340 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. written on thy forehead, hath sentenced thee that thou shalt never see him. It may be, thou darest not outwardly commit those wickednesses, which thy heart prompts thee to, for fear of punishment or shame; but God hath no interest at all in these restraints : if thou fearedst him, thou wouldst no more' harbour any abomination in thy heart, than thou wouldst visibly act it in thy life ; for God sees every flushing of thy thoughts and of th}~ desires, as clearly as he doth the most public and conspicuous actions of thy life : it is not therefore for his sake, -that thou art not notoriously and infamously wicked; but for thine own : thou compoundest between thy reputation and the temptation : to satisfy thy credit, thou darest not commit the sin ; and yet, to satisfy the Devil, thou wilt inwardly harbour and cherish it : and, believe it, he is well enough content that thou shouldst thus compromise; knowing, that such repercussives will never cure the disdase, but only drive it to the heart; and so that he may rule that, he will let thy credit or safety rule thy life. But, a true Christian rests, not contented with this external sanctification ; that he hath beaten sin within its trenchesj that he lays a close siege to it, and keeps it from foraging abroad : but he especially labours with his heart ; knowing, that it is but in vain to lade out the streams, unless he can withal dry up the fountain : and, if he sees but the least stirring of any evil thought, the least breathing of any sinful desire; he pre sently endeavours to suppress it; knowing, that if he can but keep his heart pure, his life will be pure by consequence. And this Inward "Purity is that, which is an infallible concomitant of salvation. Indeed-, he cannot altogether keep himself from the mutinies and , rebellions of his corrupt part : his thoughts and- his affections will sometimes make an insurrection, and buzz strange things to him ; and sometimes also the Devil casts in a' fiery dart, some black and hideous suggestien, and t,hat Old Serpent seems audibly to hiss within him : but, then, first, it is the. grief and anguish of his soul when it is thus within him ; he could even shake off his very beingj and run away from himself, to be freed from them : and, secondly, he labours to the very utmost of his pcwerto quell these rebellious motions; he com mands his thoughts never again to propose such matters to him, turns away in indignation from hearkening to their overtures ; and, as other commanders use to do with seditieus and mutinpus armies, presently busies them about other werk and employ- THE STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION. 341 ment. Whereas, pn the contrary, a wicked man diverts and recreates himself with all the filthy dalliances of his impure thoughts, sets up a theatre in his imagination, brings forth every lust to act its part, sports himself with them : and, when he hath done, applauds himself in the secrecy of his invention ; that he can be a spectator, where ncne can beheld him ; and enjpy both his own lusts and other men's esteem, withnut ever censidering that the all-seeing eye ef God is upon him, of that Godj who will draw the curtain, detect the scene, and openly expose all his secret sins to everlasting shame and reproach. That is the First thing. [2] Poverty of Spirit is another grace, which accompanies salvation, Mat. v. 3. filcssed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the king dom qf heaven. And what' a rich portion, what a glorious in heritance is this, for those, who are thus poor ! There is, indeed, a spiritual poverty, which is far from having a blessing annexed to it : suph was that of the Church of Laodicea, Rev. iii. 17. And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked : this spiritual poverty is always joined with ignorance and presumption; arid those, who are most indigent and necessitous, usually flatter themselves with proud conceits of their fulness and abundance. But this blessed poverty of spirit is that grace, whereby a man is convinced of his Wants, and mourns under them ; sees his own emptiness and vileness, and loaths himself for it ; and, therefore, continually renounceth himself in all that is really virtucus and commendable in him, and daily prays that his own righteousness may not damn him: be maiutains the performance, but abjures the merit of good Works: he trusts not to his duties, but dares not neglect them : he knews they are but as broken reeds ; and that, therefore, though he must walk with them in his hand to point him out the way unto heaven, yet he must not lean upon them : he is ccntinually in want, and still complaining and craving : he sees nothing in himself but wants; want of wisdom, want of grace, want of holiness, want of cornfort and assurance : ever since the strong man was cast out and his goods spoiled, he hath lived in great want and necessity ; and therefore is a most constant and im- pprtunate beggar at the Throne of Grace for supply ; and makes out to the fulness and all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ, as his only yelief ; and whatsoever he finds defective in himself, fetcheth it home by an appropriating faith from him. This poverty of spirit 342 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. is a most excellent grace, which puts the crown wholly upon God's mercy; ascribing nothing to itself, but its own failings: and is such a. sweet, ingenuous, and obliging grace, that it wins favour in the sight of God ; and he will certainly crown it, at the last, with glory : this, above all others, hath learnt the true art of ingratiating itself with God ; while those, who are spi ritually proud and haughty and self-confident, are like your great mountains, high but barren ; they are swollen up with their own arrogance, but are usually empty of every thing but only noise and tumour. [3] A Mourning Frame of Spirit is another disposition, which accompanies salvation. Mat. v. 4. Blessed are they that mourn : for they shall be com forted : a holy mourning, for our own sins, andfor the sins of others. 1st. For our own sins. And this is. one great part of repentance; without which, no remission, can be granted, and therefore no salvation be obtained. It is true, repentance is no satisfaction to the justice of God: we cannot weep ourselves out of debt : were ou r heads fountains of tears, and could our eyes pour, out rivers of water, yet all these could' net wash away the guilt or stain of ' any the least sin, that ever we cpmmitted. But yet, without this, the satis faction, which Christ Jesus hath made, can never be applied to us : for his blood comes flowing to us, only upon a stream of our own tears : and that soul, which can thus melt down before the Lord in a holy, ingenuous mourning, and godly sorrow, may, with comfortable evidence conclude, that, as he hath bathed himself in . his own tears, so God hath sprinkled him with the blood of Christ, which alone can take away sin. And, 2dly.. A spirit of mourning for the sins of others ; the sins of the times and places, in which we live. For, as our own sins lie upon us, till we humble our souls before God : so the guilt of other men's sins will likewise be imputed Unto us, and the wrath which is due to them may fall upon us; unless we lament them before God, and testify, by our sorrow for them, that we gave not our consent to them. This is another gracious impression, which accompanies sal vation. [4] Another is a Meek and a Patient Spirit. Matth. v. 5. Blessed are the meek : for they shall inherit the earth : where the promise, I suppose, doth not only refer to temporal blessings, though they only are expressed ; but is THE STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION. 343 to be carried higher, unto the heavenly inheritance. Now this meekness is a fruit of holy mourning : he, who deeply humbles himself for his sins before God, will not be much exasperated by the offences of others against him : if God hath forgiven him ten thousand talents, he will not think it any great matter to forgive his brother a few pence. Nothing makes a man so un- tractable and rugged, as sin, that lies upon the conscience un- repented, and therefore unpardoned. And therefore we find that David was never so cruel, as when he had for some time lain under the guilt of his two foul sins : then, he puts the Am monites under saws, and under harrows qf iron, and under axes of iron, and makes them pass through the brick-kiln : a fearful and sad havoc ! some he burnt, and some he sawed, and some he tore in pieces ; which was a strange execution, and possibly more than became him to inflict. But, afterward, when he had • truly repented and deeply humbled himself for his sins, though he had a far greater provocation, yet he meekly passeth it by ; and when Shimei, in the madness and distraction of his rage, pelts him with stones and curses together, repentance has so humbled and tamed his spirit, that all we now hear from him, is, Let him curse : for Gpd hath said unto him, Curse David. It is a most beautiful and excellent grace, when we can bear af fronts and injuries petulantly done against us, without any great disturbance and emotion. And this grace God hath promised to crown with salvation : Ps. cxlix. 4. He will beautify the meek with salvation. [5] A holy Hungering and Thirsting after Grace. Mat. v. 6. Blessed are they, which, do hunger and thirst after righteousness : for they shall be filled : when we do earnestly de sire, both the righteousness of Christ's Merits to justify us; and the righteousness of his Spirit to sanctify us : which vehement appetite will arise in us, if we have, but a deep sense of our want of Christ and our want pf grace. And, certainly, the in finite mercy of God will not suffer him to refuse the breathings bf a heart, that thus amorously pants after him : but he will, according to his promise, fill the hungry with good things; when, as for the rich and the full, those that are full of self and full of pride, he will send them empty away. Again, [6] A Merciful Frame of Spirit. Verse 1. Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain mercy : when we are merciful, both to the souls and bodies of others ; 344 ' M^CELLANEOUS SERMONS. shewing our prone and ready charity, both in instr.nctjng the one, and in relieving and supplying the other. Again, [7] A holy Awe ^nd Dread of G.od, is another grace tha;t accompanies salvation. This, possibly, is looked upon by soipe, now-a-days, as a mean grace ; unworthy of. that near relation in whijch we stand to Go«J, and that freedom vyhicb we m#y use towards him: but, yet, the Scripjture .doth lay go much emphasis upon this, that it often sets forth thp whole work pf grace upon the soul, by the fearing of Gpd. [8] So, also, Love tp God, Lpve tp his People, Lpve to hjs Ways and Ordinances, and whatsoever bear? the st^mp of his, holiness, printed upon it. , These, and many more, are such holy impressions upon d]e heart, that, wheresoever they are truly tp be found, they are mpst certain eyidences pf a state pf salvation, and dp alspay^ infallibly acccmpany it. Thus.much, for the First Enquiry. 2. The Secpnd Enquiry is : " If I find any such like impressions( uppn my heart, a? these, how shall I certainly know wheffier fj\ey are such as accompany salvati way, merely because it ie solitary and untrodden-, buf-wouldJ rather, if it might be, go to heaven, as: David desired to< goto the sanctuary, with a- multitude; than singlfe and alone : but, yet, because the way of salvation is so generally baulked, and! few there are who can be persuaded to decline the broad Way that seems all 9trewed'with roses, and tempts with all'the alluring charms: that may bewitch tbe senses ; therefore, rather than perish with them, he is forced to forsake their Ways : he dares not be a partaker of their sins, lest he partake of their plagues ; well knowing, that, if he lie in the same wickedness with the test of the^ worldi, he must for ever lie in the same torments with them. Now, 0 Christian! consider your ways : dost thqu' not see what an universal sway and empire vice bath gqtten in the world ? profaneness and impiety have overflowed it, and covered the whole face of it, as the waters cover the sea; so- that there is scarce room left' for innocency to rest the sole of her foot in : Through swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break forth until bloodtoucheth blood: how many swinish drunkards are there, wallowing in their own vomit ! how many goutish sensualists are become brutish in their filthy lusts ! how many earth-worms are there, crawling up and down in the muck of the worldj and loading themselves with thick clay ! Now, isyour way the way of these ungodly sinners ? can ypu drink with the drunkard, and blaspheme with the swearer, and lie and steal, and commit all manner of abemina- tions and filthiness, which you see patterns and examples of abroad ? Is this the way of salvation ? or, while you accompany 350 miscellaneous sermons. them in their wickedness, can you think you have those things in you that accompany salvation ? What ! shall all the werld then be saved ; and no distinction made, between him that feareth God, and him that feareth him not ; between him that sweareth, and him that feareth an oath ? must heaven then be laid open in common for all intruders; and nothing more be required to have right to that eternal inheritance, but only confidently and presumptuously to hppe for it ? are such wicked and impure wretches likely to be of the number of those few, who shall enter in at the strait gate ? of that little flock, for whom the kingdom is prepared ? Never deceive yourselves : salvation is not attainable upon such terms : God will maintain heaven against you, so long as there is one curse to discharge at you : and, believe it, while you live as the most live, lewdly, pro fanely, carelessly, in the practice of known impieties, and the prosecution of your sensual lusts ; you must also perish as the most dp,- eternally and irremedilessly. (4) The way pf salvatipn, is a Way pf Universal and Un- ¦ reserved Obedience. Indeed, under the first Covenant of Works, our perfect legal obedience was required as the conditien pf the continuance of that blessed and happy estate : an obedience, absolutely perfect both in parts and degrees, fully extended to the utmost latitude of God's commands, and commensurate to the farthest bounds of duty ; and wound up to the greatest intenseness of love and delight in performing it. But we are fallen from all possibility of living in this consummate obedience to the will of Ged : and therefore now, under the Covenant of Grace, Ged requires from us obedience, as a necessary cencomitant of salvation, 'not legally but evangelically perfect ; which he is pleased then to account such, when we endeavour to the utmost to fulfil the whole Law, and to please him in all things. If we unfeignedly desire to submit our souls unto the authority of God's commands in alL things, without excepting or reserving te ourselves any beloved or darling lust, this is such a course of life as doth infallibly accompany salvation : and, though it be likewise ac companied with many inevitable failings and infirmitiqs, yet these should only cause us to walk the more cautiously and mournfully, but net despondently ;" for such an universal ebe- dierice as this shall not fail of its acceptation and reward : Ps. lxix^ 6. Then shall 1 nqt be ashamed, when I have respect unto aU thy commandments. The whole Law is contained in two things : THE STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION. 351 the duties, which immediately concern God ; and those, which immediately concern men : and that obedience, which is saving, will equally respect both. Now examine what is the course of thy life. What is thy religion towards God ? is not the most, that can be said of thee, peaceableness and gqod neighbourhood ? is it not the best character, which can be given of thee, that thou art a quiet, friendly man ? Or, if thou hast taken up a splendid profession, and art frequent in the duties of God's worship, what is thy demeanour towards Men ? art thou not turbulent, proud, heady, disobedient and untractable, unjust and oppressive, self-seeking, greedy and covetous ? If thou art defective either in the one or in the other, and dost not to the utmost endeavour to keep a good conscience void of offence both toward God and toward men, let me tell thee, that all thou gloriest in, or trustest unto, is far from being that true and genuine obedience, which God requires from those whom he intends to save. If thou indulgest thyself in the neglect of any one known duty, or in the commission of any one known sin, nothing of all that thou hast done is such as doth accompany salvation, or will ever bring thee unto it: for he that thus offends in one particular, though the command be never so contrary to his humour, interest, and inclination, is guilty qf all : James ii. 10, 11. (5) The way of salvation is a Way of Truth. Psal. lxix. 30. / have chosen the way of truth. [I] Of truth, in opposition to Lying. Psal. lxix. 29. Remove from me the way of lying. For, into the New Jerusalem shall in no wise enter... whatsoever defileth.. .. or maketh a lie: Rev. xxi. 27: and, without are dogs... .and whoremongers, and murder ers.. ..and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie : Rev. xxii. 15. [2] Of truth, in opposition to Error. The Apostle speaks very dreadfully concerning some, whom God should give up to strong delusions, that they should believe a lie : That they might be damned, who believed not the truth .- 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12. And, [3] Of truth, in opposition to Rpttenness and Unsincerity. Then is your way the way of truth, when you direct the main course of all your actions, so that the glory cf Gpd may be advanced by them : when you do them, net tp be seen or applauded of men, but to be accepted of God ; and would still persevere to do your duty, though all the world sheuld decry Hot Miscellaneous sermons*. and condemn it : this is the way of truth, and of salvation. Whereas the hypocrite is only so far good, as pthers will cquntenance hhn : he is only good, in good times : and, though he accompanies them that ate going towards salvation, and his duties may seem to keep pace with theirs,' arid his life tb be as swiet and eXetfipTary as ttheir^; yet, beKeve \\., theirs shall be rewarded, whel* Ms shfell be exploded, as being performed irr the falsehood send dissimulation of his heatt* arid done rather to- men than to Go* Artdf, thus, I have sbetfii you what this Way and this Life is, that doth oxcomp&ny sit'lvafion. It is at Way of Holiness,- a Strait and Narrow Way, a Singular and Unfrequented Way, a Way of Universal amd Unreserved Obedience, and a Way of Truth and Uprightness : Whidh way, if it be ours, Will infallibly bring us to the possession and enjoyment of that happiness and glory, which are laid up* fotf us* in heaven. St. The Second Enquiry was, How we may1 know Whether we Walk in this saving Way, or no. And to thiSj all, that I have said before in describing' this1 way, may well be recollected' as an answer. And, therefore, I I shall but add a word or two more. ( I ) It is an evidence1 that this way shall he saving to tHee, when it is the way pf thy Choice^ Psal. cxix. 17$. I have ehosew tny preeepfs. When yeu take nut up ypur course pf life, only by imitation; er traditidn; or upon compulsion. For many there- are, who may walk in a right way, but not with a' right heart : and may serve Gpd, not for God?s sake, but because they see that such and such duties have been customarily performed in their families arid by their ancestcrs, time put of mind; and so they keep up the same as a relic ef antiquity, rather than a piece ef devotion; and bear the bac%e ef their Christianity, only as they do their coat ef armSj because derived deWn unto them by their ancestcrs. (2) When thou walkest Uniformly in thy obedience, .then is thy way and course of life such as accompanies salvaticn. When then art not pieus only by fits and starts ; but keepest an even and ccnstant tenor artd temper. (3) When theu walkest Forward in these ways : when thou froest from strength to strength, still gaining ground towards heaven; and' ait nearer to salvation than when thou first be- THE STATE AND WAY OF SALVATION. 353 lievedst, not only in time and years, but in fitness and disposed- ness for it. Prov. iv. 18. The path of the- just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day : while thou thus addest to thy faith, virtue ; and to virtue, knowledge ; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly-kindness; and to brotherly-kindness, charity ,- one grace unto another, and to all thy graces farther measures and degrees of perfection ; thou mayst be well assured, while these are in thee and abound, increasing with all'.the increases of God, that he will add glory to glory for thy reward, and that an abundant entrance shall be administered to thee into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ : To whom, with the Father, &c. VOL. IV. A A DISCOURSE ON THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. FROM prov. iii. 17. HER WAYS ARE WAYS OF PLEASANTNESS, AND ALL HER PATHS ARE PEACE, VV HOSOEVER would effectually plead the cause of piety and religion, must not only recommend the principles of it to the understanding, as most true and certain, but the practice of it to the will and affections, as desirable and delightful. For we find it verified by daily experience, that it is much easier to conquer the arguments of atheism, than the prejudices of pro faneness : and, when we have mastered the judgment, to yield to the reasonableness of the Christian Doctrine, and the infinite advantages of its rewards ; yet still we must encounter with a strong reserve of prejudices and mistakes, ghastly spectres and hideous apparitions, which fright the will from embracing a religion, that is represented so dismal and unpleasant. Pleasure is so sweet and potent a charm, that neither reason nor rewards can prevail against the insinuations of it. And therefore nothing would tend more to the advancement bf true godliness, than if we could clearly demonstrate, that it hath not only the advantage above sin and vice, in respect of future and eternal joys, but in respect of present pleasure and satisfaction ; and thereby convert temptation into motive, the snare of the Devil into a cord of love, and turn the most destructive engine of hell against its own gates. For, whilst men's minds are possessed with a false opinion, that the ways of virtue are all strewed with thorris and galthrops; that piety is a sour, ill-natured, tetrical thing, a sullen matron who enter- THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS* 355 tains her followers only upon sighs and tears, sad reflections and doleful regrets; that to obtain the joys of the next life, we must bid an everlasting adieu to the contents of this, and never more expect a cheerful hour, a clear day, or a bright thought to shine upon us : it will be utterly in vain to bring them tidings of the Heavenly Canaan, that Land which floweth with milk and honey; for the dread of these Anakims and fenced cities, will make them murmur against their guide, and resolve rather to die in Egypt. I thought, therefore, that the best service I could do for religion would be, to pluck off this deformed visor, and to represent true piety and holiness in its genuine beauty and sweetness : and to convince the voluptuous world, that they woefully mistake in their estimate and pursuit of pleasure ; that they seek the living among the dead ; that they neglect the fountain of living waters, and seek for refreshment at those cisterns which hold no other but the tainted waters ef Marah and Meribah, bitterness and strife. To this end, I have chosen these words of the Wise Man : Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. That relative particle, her ways, leads us back to the 13th verse : Happy is the man, that findeth wisdom ; and the man, that getteth understanding. From whence he proceeds to demonstrate the happiness of this man, in the following verses, by the excellency of wisdom: vv. 14, 15. She is more precious than rubies : and all the things that thou canst desire are not to be com pared unto her: then, by the rewards of it, in three of the choicest blessings, which human nature doth most covet, Long Life, Riches, and Honour: Length of days is in her rigbl-hand ; and, in her left-hand, riches and honour : and, lastly, by the pleasantness of it, in the words of my text, Her ways are ways. of pleasantness. So that, if life, if riches, if honour, if plea sure, if the confluence of all good, can make a man happy, he might well pronounce, Happy is the man, that finde'th wisdom; Well, but what is this wisdom, which is thus profitable, thus pleasant ? Is it a subtle management of our own concerns, or a. politic negotiating ofthe mighty affairs of states and kingdoms ? Alas! the cares, perplexities, and disquiets, which attend these things, do evidently prove, that they are not Ways of pleasant ness : but, sometimes, unsafe ; always, intricate and entangled. In a word, therefore, that wisdom, whose ways are pleasantness A A 2 356 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. and peace, is nothing else but true religion, solid piety and holiness: The fear ofthe Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil, that is understanding : Job xxviii. 23. And therefore we find, that, thoughout this whole Book of the Proverbs, wherein Solomon doth so often chastise the Fool, he means no , other person but the wicked man. Wisdom and folly are synonymous terms with holiness and impiety ; and do very well express them, both in their causes and their conse7 quents : for, as folly is the cause of sin, and the consequents of sinning do very evidently prove them fools who commit it ; so wisdom is the origin of piety, and the consequents of piety do clearly prove them wise who follow it. So then you see, that these ways of wisdom, which are re commended to us as pleasant, are the fear of God, holiness, and true piety. I know that this will seem a grievous paradox to as many as have not seen the beauty, nor tasted the sweetness of a holy life ; but have degraded themselves to a brutish state, and have nothing left to relish pleasures but tbeir senses : and yet even to such, (if their sensuality hath not quite extinguished their reason, and they have but understanding enough to name them men) I doubt not to prove, that the pleasures, of a holy life are far more considerable than the pleasures of sin ; and that the rigours and severities of it are less grievous, than the trouble and uneasiness of being wicked. — i I. To this end I must first premise, that all PLEASURE ariseth from an attempered suitableness and harmony that there is between the faculty and the object. For, where there is any disagreement, either in contrariety or excess, the result is not pleasure, but torment. Light, when it is just prepprtioned to the strength of the eye, is the pleasure and beauty, of the whole creation : It is a pleasant thing, saith Solomon, to behold the light. And sounds, when they are modelled to the capacity of the ear, cause a sweet melody and consent. And so it is, likewise, with all other objects : when they are adapted to the powers which are to receive them, pleasure and sweetness are the offspring. Now man is Ooyuvov SixoqSov, " A two-stringed instrument:" his soul is one, and his body the other ; and, as he receives smooth touches upon either, according to the varieus pbjects that are fitted to them, sc spring up suavity and delight. THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 357 Now, here, i. The pleasures, which religion brings, are not such as do immediately affect the body, the drossy and earthy part of man. It never spread the glutton's table, nor filled the drunkard's cup^ nor Was taster to either. These offices are too mean and sordid for it. And, if thou canst relish no other delights, go herd thyself' among beasts. The'dcg and the swine are fit cempany, as well as comparisons, for thee ; and thou wert made a man, a raticnal and intellectual creature, to no purpose, unless te be eternally punished : since the spul pf a brute can as well taste the pleasures of sense, as thy immortalone. But yet, if any think these such considerable delights, that they cannot easily forego them ; let me add, ii. That relkShdN and''P1ety, as it doth allow, so it adds a sweetness and relish to the lawful l comforts -of this Tresent life, which debauchery and intemperance corrupt and vitiate. Let me here boldly appeal to your experience, whether sobriety and temperance be not more true- pleasure '(I had almost said voluptuousness) than excess and riot. And, I dare say, that those, who eome to their natural refreshments, and have Moderation both for their carver and their skinker, find a much better guest in their entertainment; than those,' whose continued luxury, by seeking to please, only cloys" and stupifies their senses. Besides, a constant fear of God and a'conscientious obedience unto him, give such a seasoning to all our earthly enjoyments, that they are all received by us as expressions of his love and fatherly care towards us; which is such a pleasure, that excess and epicurism could never afford. A good conscience is a continual feast: and that poor Christian, who hath his dry morsel made savoury with the Hidden Manka, fares' more deliciously every day than Dives himself; whose guilt not only poisons his dainties to his soul, but sours them to his palate. God is the great Householder of the World : we are all enter tained as guests at his table, and his bounty provides for us : but, as the Wise Man saith, Prov. xv. 1 7. Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is ,- than a stalled ox, and hatred therewith ; so, truly, where the love of God is enjoyed, the slenderest provision is far more sweet and comfortable, than the greatest variety of 358 miscellaneous sermons. delicates where the hatred and wrath of God mingle gall and wormwood: with them. What pleasure can there be in any estate, where a man is mot Well pleased with himself .'where guilt gnaws,> and fears bode, and conscience brawls, as^certainly they must do, more or less, in every wicked man ? What more pleasure : can he take t in his possessions, than a wretched male factor carr in that prison-provision, which is allowed,-, him to maintain his life, till he be dragged forth to execution ? But, thouah Godliness doth thus sweeten our outward state and ccndition, and is profitable for {his. present life ; yet, iii. The chief joys,, which religion and piety : give us, are internal and mental ; and those,, are incomparably beyond the delights of sense. Even natural speculations have entertained inquisitive minds with such raptures, that, some have- been, as it, were, wholly abstracted from the body ; and have neither regarded pain nor pleasure of sense, whilst they have been employed about them. But, certainly, the joys of religion must needs be much more refined and spiritual, than those, which proceed only from a problem or demonstration pf science, II. Now this pure and spiritual pleasure ARISETH IN THE MIND FROM THREE THINGS : , * The Conformity of pmus actions to the Rules and prinT ciples of right Reispn. . •. The peaceable Reflections of a man's own Conscience upon them. The Hope and Expectation of an eternal Reward, , i. Therei is A congruity .and suitableness in holy a,nd,ret ligious actions, to , the rules and7principles of right REASON. , , ¦,-...;. There are Three general principles of Natural Rehgipn im printed in the mind of every man, which are the dictates of pure and untainted reason. That God is to be loved and feared above all, apd the revelations of his will to be credited and obeyed. That we ought to govern ourselves with all temperance and sobriety, in the use of the comforts of this life. THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 359 That we ought to demean ourselves towards others, with : the exactest justice and equity ; the true measure 'of which is, Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye likewise unto them. ¦ ; ¦ ,.[Tbis, indeed, is the sum of all religion: To live, as the Apostle declares it, soberly, righteously, and godly .- soberly, in respect of ourselves ; righteously, towards- others ;;,and godly, in the performance1 of those duties, which immecUately concern the divine worship. And these are the genewli and primary dictates of right reason. ¦ ; ;• i ' ; ¦ Noyy, as it , is impossible, bujt that, where a suitable object strikes and affects thei. sense, there must arise' sensual and corporeal delight, and pleasure; so is it alike j impossible, but th,at, where our actions do correspond withtheseprinciples of reason, there must arise an intellectual joy and complacency. No : man ever took true joy and dehght in doirtg that, which is unnatnral: and, truly, every sin is, in a sense, unnatural, as it contradicts those principles of natural light and understanding, which Gqd hath so deeply implanted in, us, that they can never be totally rooted out. And therefore there must needs be jarring and discord in the mind of a wicked' man, whose actions are contrary to those first principles of his reason, which he always opposeth, but can never overcome : and this, of necessity, must make his life very uneasy and uncomfortable., <, Whereas a holy man, who squares his actions according to-his principles, finds such a just proportion between them, that there is no; dissonance, no contest; but the sweet touches of them mutually, one upon the other, strike a perpetual harmony in his soul ; aud the result of this, must needs be peace and pleasure. ii. Unspeakable pleasure must needs spring up in the soul, FROM THE COMFORTABLE REFLECTIONS OF OUR OWN CONSCIENCES UPON HOLY AND RELIGIOUS ACTIONS. • Be the difficulty of performing, them never so great, yet this jpy, which diffuseth itself in the heart after we have broken through all the reluctancies and oppositions that our corruptions, our sloth, or our worldly advantages make against them, doth more than compensate the pains and trouble which we have undergone. There will, indeed, in this our imperfect state, be strivings and lustings of tbe flesh against the Spirit, even in the best ef men: but yet, certainly, the delight, which the soul enjoys after it hath conquered its sinful inclinations, is, infinitely 360 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS, beyoud all comparison,, above the delight which it could have reaped by.consenting to .them. What a calm and Sweet repose is upon- the face of the soul, after it hath performed a duty, and can reflect upon it as performed sincerely ! after it hath wrestled with a temptation, arid overcome it ! how;sweetly then dothf he enjoy himself! how^sweetly doth he enjoy his God ! his prospect into heaven is, clear ;> ahd he can discern a pleased God; a loving Father accepting 'his: service and' preparing his reward. Let Others please themselves in the bitter sweets of sin ; yet, certainly; the least relish of auch pure, such unexpressifcle joy, is infinitely to be preferred- before. all the wafchy pleasures pf vice and luxury, though conscience and condemnation were abstracted from them. Here, believe it, is true joy ;''H is ndt1 clamorous nor noisy; but a calm" sed ate joy; •' that ravisheth the heart with a. secret but powerful delight: The pleasures Of'sin are but for a moment ;.like the empty crackling of th6rnsfurlder a pot;; that make a short-lived blaze, and presently expire ih smokei but the pleasures of holiness are permanent1 and abiding; and entertain the soul with' 'i|. most delightful remembrariCte', when soever it shall look back and: revievv its actions. This is a pleasure, which 'never cloys, never tires us: neither can the frequent repetition, ner the long continuance bf it, weaty us: whereas all earthly pleasures" grOW either dull or distateful, if they are not often chahged. Bat a pious soul need not invent variety of diversions, to entertain himself comfortably : let him but look within dool^, retire into his own breast, and he shal} there find abundant joys; which, thcugh they" are still the same, are ever fresh. T But, tins' self-reflection, which is so sweet and comfortable tc a true Christian, i§ a rack and torture to wicked and, dissolute wretches : they carry a hated monitor about them in their own breast^ a witness and "a reprover Or all their lewd ness ; and, when they seek for pleasure iri sinning, it is their trouble and vexation that they 'eattnOt sin more quietly: there is a busy conscience -of their own, which dogs. them at %he heels; wherever they go, scourges' them With scorpions, and threatens. them with the1 vengeance of everlasting fire : arid this embitters their dqlights ; and, though it Cannot withhold- them from sin ning, yet makes their very sins their punishment and torment. So that, if it- were only upon the account of the reflections of conscience, a holy and pious life is infinitely more pleasant, than a lewd and wicked one. THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS, 361 iii. The hope and expectation of the eternal reward of OUR obedience, makes a holy life to be pleasant and joyful. : The Psalmist tells 'us^' 'that, in the keeping of God's com- rriandmertts there is great reward : Ps. xix. 1 1 . Our very work is1 reward for itself; and, if God should never give us other, yet we should be abundaritly recompensed in the' inward peace and, satisfaction of our consciences, which 'can no other way be enjoyed: yet our gracious God both gives us snfih work as is reward for itself, and promiseth us an infinite reward for doing that work. Were there really as many difficulties in religion as our sloth is apt to imagine ; yet, methinks, when 'such an excessive recompence as that of eternal life and glory is pro pounded to us, this should rempve all obstacles, facilitate all enterprizes, and riiake the utmost pains and labcur to attain it, pleasant and -delightful. We see with what pleasure men strive and contend for a prize : the poor pitiful reward of a mouthful of praise, qr the gain of some honorary trifle, makes them account that but a sport and recreation, which else were a toil and difficult labour. And, what! shall we, who' are riinning a race in the ways of true wisdom, ahd see the crowtt of glory and immortality hung up at the goal, 'faint and shrink at it as an uneasy and laborious task, to .intend 'bur nerved,' arid to press still on towards the mark? Certainly,-' there can be' no greater pleasure in the world than to strive in this race, to gain ground towards heaven, to make and to observe our 'progress in our holy course, to have the crown still in eur eye till we ccrrie at last to reach it with our hand. And he, whe cannot account this plfeasant, hath not a soul capable of true delight, nor a spirit brave and gallant enough to be a Christian. -v/phus I have demonstrated to you, that the pious is the Only pleasant life, both from the Suitableness ef it to the principles 6f our Reason, the comfortable Reflections of our Consciences, and the Hopes of Eternal Life. Let me add one Demonstration more. iv. That must needs be most pleasant, which calms all our perturbations and disturbances, and fits us to enjoy both god and Ourselves in a sedate composure. But this is the effect, only of religion and true piety. Our disquiets proceed chiefly from the hurries cf our mutinous passions : grief, anger, fear, and the rest, de oftentimes break 362 miscellaneous sermon^. forth upon the soul, like, so many violent winds upon the sea, and ruffle it into a tempest, so that our reason is in danger to be tossed and shipwrecked. Now it is qnly the powerful command of .-, religion,, which can say unto these winds, Peace, besfill, Certainly, that man can neither enjoy peace nor pleasure, where these unruly passions tyrannize: what a troublesome, vexatious life doth he lead, that is a slave either to envy, or fear, or wrath ! when he shall be continually fretting himself at another's prosperity^ raging and studying revenge for every petty injury, grieving and, desponding under every cross providence, frighted beyond the succours of his reason at every shadow and suspected danger \ certainly, if there can be any pleasure in such a man's soul, thjeremay be pleasure and peace where fury dwells. But, religion, and the fear of God, settles and composes all these perturbations : and, by its majesty and authority, binds them all to ( the _ peace,; so that we shall not dare immoderately to grieiye ot fear, , nor at all to envy or meditate revenge. And, altiiougfy the, curbing of our passions seems so difficult a matter; and, is one of, those thing§, which make religion uneasy and unpleasant, to those, who are wrapped away with them: yet, without doubt, ^be, who checks and restrains the exorbitancies of, his passions, .lives a much more pleasant and easy life, than be, who, |ets them fly out into all extremities. I leave it to you to judge, whether i* be not more f°r the peace and comfort of a man's hfei to forgive prongs, than to perpetuate them by revenge. Besides tb^e( intolerable torment of a malicious spirit, is it not fa#. better,. to rejoice at thy neighbour's prosperity, than to vex and fret;, at it ? for, by the one? thou enjoyest a share of his blessings ; but, by the other, thpu dpst npt enjey thine owii. And, to resign up thyself to the will of God with patience and contentjedness^ suppressing thy immoderate grief for any afflic tion tbrought; upon thee, is certainly much more for the comfort of thy lifer than to languish in sorrow, and unfruitfully tP consume thyself for what was not at thy dispose. So that, I say, religion is the best means to quiet all the tumults of your passions, and to make your minds serene and calm : than which there is scarce a greater pleasure imaginable. See here, then, the woeful mistake of the world, in point of pleasure. They all pretend to it ; but they seek it in those ways, which are the causes of all their disquiet and trouble. , True pleasure consists not in noise and laughter : that is the mirth of THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 363 fools; an.d it is a sign that all is not quiet within, when they arq so loud and clamorous to drown it. No : true pleasure ;c.pnsists in clear thoughts, sedate affections, sweet reflections ; a; mind even and stayed, true to its God, and true to ifself, There is, indeed, a little sordid brutish pleasure in sin ; but it yanishes like smoke, and, if we be not utterly hardened, like smoke it will leave us nothing but tears in our eyes: or,, if customary sinning hath made us insensible, it is but like giving drink to a hydropic person, which, though- it please his, palate, ,for ,;the prqsent, afterwards sadly encreaseth and enragetfy his thirst,.' Compare the pleasures, which,^ true pious Christian .enjoys, with the muddy delights of a swinish sensualist who gratifies all his carnal desires; and you will find so vast a difference. between them, that the very argument of pleasure, which usually lies as a main prejudice against a holy life, if it be rightly state.(jl, will prove the most advantageous motive to induce us to, embrace it. For, consider, whilst thou gratifiest all thy propensipns ; and? desires, what exquisite pleasures canst thou find, byt such as are common to the very beasts as well as thee,?, Yea,; andthpu shewest thyself more irrational than the brute creatures, ; for they keep within the compass of their nature, jjut.thou tran$r gressest the laws of thine : and either shame or conscience will give thee many a secret twitch and gird, and whisper sad things to thee, which ,wiH, in spite qf thee, make thy, heart heavy, when thy face perhaps runs over with ^ counterfeit laughter; It is impossible, if thou hast any remainders. of a man left within thee, to debauch away the natural impressions of a deity, of death, ef judgment, and pf future punishments: these celd, and shivering theughts will come in, and be like water cast upon all thy delights, when they flame highest; and, in the midst pf, thy cups and jollity and frolic extravagancies, be like a hand,, not upon the wall, but in thine own conscience, writing bitter things against thee, ,,., ,, . Well, when thou hast run through all tfoe shapes qf voluptuous ness, what remains but only a damp and dulness uppn thy (spirits, a sting and anguish in thy soul, a grating remembrance of them, and dire presages, of eternal vengeance i Dost thou nqf, when the phrenzy is over and the rage , of thy lusts somewhat, abated, dost thpu not a thousand times call thyself beast, and fool for them ? Hast thou never seen a drunkard, the next morning spewing out his shame and his repentance together ? Hast thou never observed, the glutton to sigh and groan under the foad pf 364 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. his crude surfeits, and endeavourto disburden his conscience, as well as his stomach ? These, who. do not eat ahd drink' that they may live, but live only that they may eat and drihk, Will then acknowledge, that temperance and sobriety are the only true voluptuousness ; and, whilst their breath' is still unsavoury with their undigested fumes, belch out a prayer to God to pardon them. And are these the bewitching pleasures of sin ?' for these, will arry be persuaded to provoke his God, stain and wound his own conscience; dishonour his body and fui'ri his soul ? Cer'tairily,' there is nothing wherein the sorcery of sin doth more plainly appear, tharf •Sff'p'ersuadirig men that there is any pleasure in being wicked ; whereas their own experience can abundantly attest, that it is a very hell above ground, 'and a damnatinn beforehand. Are these the men, who are frighted from religien, because pf the irkscmeness and difficulty of its duties, because it will expose them to sadness and melancholy ? whereas, I dare avow to theni, that the most melancholy and gloomy day, which a true Christian spends intthe most rigorous parts of his religion, with sighs breaking from his heart and tears running down his cheeks, 'hath a thousand times more true pleasure and more' true joy in it, than all the days of mirth, and laughter, arid excess, and riot of voluptuous sinners. Ill: But, here, commOn ' observation and experience will bfr cited, to DISPROVE ' all1 these speculations concerning the pleasrire of religion.- ' '! For, " What !" will the voluptuary say, " can we believe that there is any such exquisite pleasure in a holy life, when we see those, who are- its vdtaries, so pensive and melancholy, as if rust and soot were the Only ingredients of their complexinn ? Their looks are spur and dejected ; their discourses interrupted with sighs : still they are lamenting themselves, and the iniquities or calariiities of the times, and are fit for no other ccnverse but with tombs' ord ghosts. Whereas the- rest of the world are gay and frolic :1' mirth and laughter are the emplcyment ef their lives: nOt a thought lies heavy en their hearts, nor a day on their hands. And therefore, certainly, whatever advantages a pious life may have for the future, it cannot have that of pleasure for the present." This is a common prejudice : and it is but a prejudice. For, THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 365 though I must confess, that the morose temper of too many Christians hath brought this scandal upon religion, who, by an affected and whining sadness and a querulous humour, occasion the ways of God to be evil spoken of, and affright others from them ; yet, if we nearly examine the matter, we shall find, that abating the complexional infelicity of some, it is altogether as fallacious to judge pf men's jpys by their eutward appearances, as of their thoughts and intentions. And, therefore, i. I grant that the JOYS OF RELIGION ARE NOT LOUD AND TUMULTUOUS ; BUT GRAVE, SOLDO, AND SERIOUS. It is a true saying, Res sever a est verum gaudium : " True joy is a severe thing." It is not so light and frothy, as to flcat uppn the superficies of the face. It lies deep and recondite, jn the centre of the seul; and fills it with calm thoughts, sedate affections, an uniform peace and tranquillity ; and diffuses such a sweetness through all the powers of it, that a true Christian, who loves his God, loves likewise himself, and the entertainment that he finds at home in his own bosom : and this ravishing joy so .wholly possesseth him, that, if he seem less affected with the ludicrous follies of this world, it is but as grave and wise men are, not much pleased with the play-games of children, because they have nobler and more generous delights of their own : the mirth and jollity of slight persons is too trivial, and their laughter itself too ridiculous, to recreate him : the soft and peaceful whispers of his dear conscience are a thcusand times mpre diverting te him, than all the wit and merriment of these pleasant ccmpanions, whose whole life is but a jest and a tale: and, if at any time he seem reserved and retired in their company, it is, that he may listen to the more cheerful discourses of his own heart ; or that he is really concerned that the noise and din about him hath disturbed that secret communication; or, lastly, that he is cautious, lest he should be betrayed to any thing that might grieve a better friend, than any of them. And, now, can you really think, that such a perscn is melanchely and displeased, whp carries himself thus, only lest he should be so ? the mirth of the sensual and debauched world would violate all his delights : it would be but like a dirty torrent tumbling into a clear river, troubling its pure streams, and leaving nothing but defilement, mud, and disturbance behind it : and shall we think that man's Ufe sad and disconsolate, because he seems less merry 366 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. and jovial thah others ; whereas, in truth, he is so whplly addicted to pleasure, sp much a servant to his own cpntent, that he would much rather displease all the world than himself, and studies nothing more, than hew he may keep his jeys free from mixture and abatement ? But,ii. If, at any time, he be really sad and dejected, this is NOT TO BE IMPUTED TO RELIGION AND PIETY ; BUT TO THE WANT OF IT, EITHER IN HIMSELF OR OTHERS. 1 The irreligion and impieties pf the age in which he lives, often draw tears frcm his eyes and sighs from his heart : and, when' the flood-gates of wickedness are opened, and a deluge of sin and profaness overspreads the face of the whole earth, can you think it an unreasonable melancholy, that he should wish, with the Prophet Jeremiah, that his head were waters^ and his eyes fountains of tears, that he might weep day and night for the sldin of.. ...his people,' for sp many thousands that fall, and are slain by their vices and debaucheries ? Were but the werld more holy, there would not be so great occasion for grief and sadness as there is ; neither would the godly lament so mournfully, nor all smart so sorely as they do. But, whilst wicked1 men are inerrily sporting themselves to death and plucking vengeance upon their own heads, his charity and compassion move him to mourn for those, who do not, who will not mourn for them selves ; and to deprecate those judgments, which they are de fying. And, therefore, for them to object melancholy and pen- siveness, to abuse their gravity and turn their seriousness into ridicule, is both disingenuous and ungrateful : disingenuous it is, to upbraid them with that sorrow and sadness, of which they themselves are the cause; and itis ungrateful, to upbraid them with it, since it many times averts those plagues and judgments, which else would soon turn their rants and frolics into roarings and howlings. But, as they have too muoh cause to mourn for the sins of the times and places in which they live, so likewise for the sins of which they themselves are guilty. They often weep over the review of their own faults and follies ; and, with the hdly Apostle, cry out, O wretched men that we are! who shall de liver us from this body of death ! And, indeed, it is but fit and just, that, whilst the heart is a fountain of sin, the eyes should be fountains of tears. But, what ! shall we therefore be so un- THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 367 reasonable, as to charge their holiness with their grief and sor row ; whereas, were thay not in part unholy, they would have no cause for it-? It is not their walking in the ways of wisdom, but their deviating from them, that makes their lives unplea sant : it is their wanton straying into the world's common, and seeking the foreign delights of sin, that disturbs their peace, fills their hearts with heaviness, their eyes with tears, and their face with shame : whereas, had they kept themselves within the limits of their duty, and the boundaries which God had pre scribed them, their peace had.been as secure as their innocence. Did yeu ever hear any of them complain, that they had been too holy and strict, too circumspect and conscientious ? this is the complaint of the world against them, but it was never theirs. Whereas there are thousands and ten thousands, whp sadly lament their former ways of sin and wickedness, (for sor row and shame are the necessary consequences of guilt) either here on earth to true repentance, or else in hell to everlasting despair. Syo that, it is not holiness and piety, but the want and defects of it, which are the cause of all that sadness, which so much discourages the world, and makes them wrongfully accuse religicn for it. But, iii. Even the tears and sorrows of a true pious christian HAVE A MORE SOLID JOY IN THEM, THAN ALL THE NOISE AND EX TRAVAGANT JOLLITY OF WICKED MEN- There is a sweetness even in mourning, when it is filial and in genuous. Tears are a solace, and grief itself an entertainment. Sometimes, the very delicacy of a man's spirit will make him dissolve into weeping ; and the love of God, as a heavenly flame enkindled in the heart, will distil tears through his eyes. The tenderness of his affection will engage him to a sweet mourning over his faults and miscarriages. And, whilst the Spirit of God moves upon the face of these waters; the next thing to be created in that soul, is light, peace, and joy. Those, who have experienced it can tell you, that the most transporting consola-, tions of the Holy Ghost are then given in, when they are most retired and pensive : they can rejoice that they are sad, because such a kind and child-like sorrow is to them a most certain evi dence of the favour of God, and the remissicn pf thpse sins for which they mourn. Whereas, on tbe contrary, Solomon tells 363 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. us, Prov. xiv. 13. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful ; and the end of that mirth is heaviness : such, indeed, is the mirth of all wicked men : let them dissemble it never so artificially, yet they do but, with the Spartan bey, laugh and smile, while the fox, which he had stolen and kept concealed under his coat^ was all the while tearing out his bowels : so these put on a counter feit laughter, when yet, all the while, guilt and fear, terrors and anguish, are corroding and gnawing tbeir very bowels. So that hence you see, the sadness and mournfulness of the true pious Christians is but a conceived prejudice, no real ob jection against the ways of religion and holiness. IV. " But, what !" yeu will say, " is there then npthing un pleasant, npthing grievous and irksome in them ? Can it be possible that this strait and narrow way should have ne thorns, no rubs in it ; nothing that is rigorous, severe, and uneasy ? What then shall we think of mortification, and self-denial ; of plucking out our right-eyes, and cutting off our right-hands ; a patient enduring of injuries, and requiting them with kindnesses; forgiving our most malicious enemies, and praying for them; a willingness to sacrifice our dearest enjoyments, yea our lives themselves, for the name of Christ, and the testimony of a good conscience ? Are not these main and essential parts of our re ligion ? And is there nothing in them, that is difficult to be done, and grievous to be berne ? If not, why then are we so often commanded to strive, to watch, to fight, to wrestle, to run, to endure and hold out unto the last ? all which expressions do certainly import, that there is much pains and hardship to be undergone in a Christian Life ; especially also since it is repre sented as such a difficult and admirable thing to persevere in it unto the end. What pleasure can there be in crossing a man's own inclinations and appetites ? in the selfccruelty of cutting off what is as dear to us as the limbs of our body ? What pleasure in losing all far the sake ef our religion ? in rotting in a prison, or frying at a stake ? What pleasure in bearing affronts and contumelies, without either reply or revenge ? Certairily, he; who can find out pleasure in these things, is fit to advance what paradoxes he pleaseth to the world ; but will be much puzzled to find either reasons to maintain them, or persons to believe them." THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 369 To this answer, i. That THERE ARE MANY THINGS IN RELIGION, WHICH ARE IN DEED DIFFICULT AND LABORIOUS, BUT THIS DOTH NOT PRESENTLY ARGUE THEM TO BE UNPLEASANT AND GRIEVOUS. Some of the greatest pleasures of this life are so ; and that is scarce held to be a pleasure, which is not heightened and commended by labour. The pleasantness of ^religion and piety consists not in supine sloth and negligence: there must be earnest endeavours, strivings and stragglings to the uttermost. To a ge nerous mind, as a Christian's is, nothing can be more pleasant than victory and conquest ; which cannot be atchieved without contending- for it. The whole life of a Christian is a continual warfare. Now that, which makes the name of war so dreadful, is only tbe uncertainty of success : who is there so cowardly and faint-hearted, that, were he sure of victory and triumph, would be afraid of the encounter ? Why, victory itself is listed under a Christian's . command. Other conquerors have found it very fickle and inconstant : when they have levied armies and shaken nations, yet they could never make success take pay under them. But herein a Christian is more than a conqueror, because he is always sure of conquest, if himself will. And, whensoever we go forth to the combat, if we be net extremely base and perfidious tp pur own souls, we may be sure to return adorned with wreaths and lpaden with speils. The mortification of our lusts is confessedly the most uneasy, as it is the most necessary part, of our religion : and, yet, what are they but shadows cast upon your fancies, flitting, airy, and empty no things ? We are to conflict with our own desires, our own passions, our own wills ; and what more is required to a con quest over these, besides a firm and undaunted resolution ? That man shall certainly be master of himself, who will but dare to be so. What though it may cost pains and striving ; though it may make the heart pant, and the soul run down with sweat : yet to see yeur enemies fall by heaps before your sword, to tread upon the slain, and to dip your foot in their blood ; this certainty of conquest will make the combat pleasant, though it be laborious. And he, who cannot think this an incomparable pleasure, hath not spirit enough to be a Christian. VOL. iv. B » 370 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. ii. Since all pleasure, ariseth from the suitableness of objects and actions to pur natures, we must consider that there is a TWOFOLD NATURE IN EVERY CHRISTIAN, HIS CORRUPT AND HIS DIVINE NATURE. He is not all of a piece, but hath two contrary parties strug gling within him. There is the flesh lusting againgt the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh ; and what is pleasing«to the ene, is a vexation and torment to the other. Now all those rigorous duties of religion, which have been objected, are only so to thy corrupt and sinful inclinations ; but they are a joy and pleasure to thy renewed and sanctified nature. Thpu must therefore, of necessity, grieve and displease one part of thyself; and why then should it not be that, which is thy vile and sordid part? Give thy noble and heaven-born self the pleasure and divertise- ment of thwarting and overruling thy sensual desires. Yea, this indeed, if thou art a Christian, is thy true and proper self: the pther is but thy slave and vassal. Grace is that, which gives a Christian his individuatipn and denomination ; and the new and divine nature, of which thou partakest, ought to be the commanding principle within thee, as being a participation of God ; and therefore cannot, without the highest practical blas phemy, be subjected to thy lusts and corruptions, which are the portion of the Devil. And therefore the Apostle distinguisheth between his unrenewed part and himself : Rpm. vii. 17. It is no more I.. ...but sin that dwelleth in me. So that thpse, which are accounted the greatest rigours and severities of religion, and and which fright so many from embracing it, are really the plea sures and entertainments of a pious soul. Yea, I will be bold to say, that a true Christian more indulgeth himself by morti fication, more gratifieth himself by denying himself, enjoys more true pleasure and satisfaction in those things which are looked upon as the austerities of a holy life, than all the volup tuaries of the world can, in abandoning themselves oyer to all the profuse delights of a sinful and wicked life : for, even where there is no true grace to make a conquering resistance, yet there is a natural conscience to make a murmuring and this present world. It is the greatest reproach which can be cast upon the doctrine of Christ, that it makes men libertines, or gives them indulgence to sin. Some may possibly so argue, that, if Christ procured happiness and salvation for them, there lies no necessity upon them to exercise holiness and strictness ; hut they may live at random, for Christ hath done all : this is that cursed inference, which the Apostle, all along in his Epistles, confutes and abhcrs : Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid! and this is the greatest reproach that can be cast on this doctrine, that it should hold forth Christ as a patron of licentiousness, who was the greatest pattern and example ef holiness and purity. No, certainly, he never in tended by satisfying the justice of God, to encourage the wickedness of man ; nor, that the promises of the Gospel should be produced to invalidate the precepts of the Law : but, as the Apostle tells us, v. 14. of this chapter, He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. The proper influence, which divine mercy should have upon us, is to conform us to the divine purity: so saith the Apostle, 2 Cor. vii. I. Having these promises, the promises of heaven and glory through Christ, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness both of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God: and, 1 John iii. 3. Every man, that hath this hope in him, purifielh himself even as God is pure. Now when the grace, which is exhibited to us in the Gpspel of Jesus Christ, is suffered to have this kindly effect upon us, by a sweet and genuine attractiveness to engage us to a holy and blameless life, then is our conversaticn such as ' adprns the doctrine of God our Saviour. (2) To adorn this doctrine, is, to live conformably to the Commands of it ; requiring from us the Duties of new Obe dience,' in order to eur eternal salvation. Now these commands of the Gospel, are the whole Moral Law ; which is taken into the protection of it, and fenced about with the super-added authority of Christ's sanction. It is only through the grace ef the Gespel, that the imperfect obedience of a believer is at all available to his salvation, since the Law of Works accepts not of any obedience under the degree of most perfect and absolute : so that when we endeaveur, according to the uttermost ef pur ppwer and ability, te conform our lives to the commands of the Gospel; when, by our universal holiness and .obedience, we strive in all things te please God, then do we THE VIRTUES WHICH ADORN RELIGION. 381 adorn the dpctrine of Christ. We credit our professien, and set it eff to the esteem of others, when our practices answer our pretences: This is, in the general, to adorn the doctrine of God' our Saviour ; to live suitably to the grace revealed in it, and to the duties enjoined by it. II. Ornaments serve for two uses and intents. The one is, to cover the nakedness of those, who wear them ; the other, to beautify and set them off to the esteem and acceptance of others. Now such A HOLY GOSPEL-LIFE, ADORNS THE DOC TRINE OF CHRIST, BOTH THESE WAYS: i. It HIDES THE NAKEDNESS, and TAKES AWAY THE SHAME OF RELIGION. For nothing is a greater blemish and reproach to our pro fession, than the unsuitable lives of professors. I need not tell you, what a discredit Christians have brought upon Christianity itself, by their disorderly conversation. It were not so much to be lamented, if the shame of it lighted only upon those, who were guilty : but the name of Christ is blasphemed through their miscarriages ; and every one is ready to cast the dirt and mire into which a professor falls, into the very face of religion itself; and to upbraid Christ with the crimes of those, who pretend to be his followers, and of his retinue. 1. There is a Twofold Shame and Reproach, which befalls religion by the loose lives qf those who profess it : Wicked men are hereby induced to think, that it is but Fabulous and a mere mockery. That it is but Frivolous, and altogether unnecessary. ( 1 ) They think that religion is but Mockery ; and all, who profess it, are but a company cf dissemblers and hypocrites. Indeed, there is nothing, which can convince the world that there is any reality in religicn, but the ccnforming pf pur lives strictly according to its rules and precepts. And we may well impute the increase and growth of the atheism that is now abroad, to those strong arguments which men have drawn from the lives of Christians, to confute the dcctrine cf Christianity : for, may they not justly ccnclude, that it is impessible that such men sheuld believe what they prefess, while their lives are so dpwn-right contradictory to their creed ? did they think it true, 382 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. that there are eternal rewards and eternal punishments prepared to be dispensed to men, according to their works; did they think it true, that hell, and wrath, and flames, and chains, and intolerable torments, must be the eternal portion of those, who reject the faith and disobey the commands of the Gospel; could it be possible that they should live at such a rate of vanity, looseness, and profaneness, as they do ? Aqd, uppn this, they conclude all to be but a well-couched fable ; and give the holy and everlasting Gospel of Christ, the lie. And what shame can be greater than this ? It is a sad accusation, Rom. ii. 24. The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you : how so ? because, as in the former verses, they rested in the Law, and had a form of knowledge ; and were confident, that they were guides to the blind, and lights tp them that sit in darkness : eminent professors it seems they were, like the men of our days : well, but mark ; Thou, therefore, whick teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou, that makest thy boast of the Law, through 'breaking the Law dishonourest thou God ? Thou, tha£ professest the Gospel, dost thou transgress the Law ? Thou, that pretendest to near communion and acquaintance with God, dost thou live as without God in the wprld ? Thpu, that preachest a man should not steal, nor lie, nor swear, nor be drunk, nor commit adultery ; dost thou lie, and steal, and swear ? art thou unclean ? art thou intemperate, and as vile as the worst and vilest ? Tremble at it : the name of the Great God is blasphemed among wicked wretches, through you : those, who were before profane, yeu make atheistical, scorning and deriding the Gospel of Christ as an idle whimsey ; and, because they see sp little in their lives, ccnclude that there is no difference at all, between those who are called Saints, and those who are called Sinners ; but only, that the one have their tongues a little better hung, and their fancies a little higher screwed up, than the other. And, truly, I cannot but with shame and sadness reflect upon it, that the men of our profession are herein extremely guilty, who, by the unsuitableness of their conversation to the purity of their doctrine, make toe many in the world believe, that it is their trade only to gull and cozen men ; and persuade them to believe, what they are wiser than to believe. themselves. Let us beware, lest these their blasphemies be not at last charged upon us, who, through a worldly, loose, and carnal conversation, have made religion even to stink in their nostrils. It is only the strictness of a gospel-life, which can convince the werld, that religipn is THE VIRTUES WHICH ADORN RELIGION. 3 S3. .any thing real. And. if ever yeu would redeem its lpst credit, shew, by the strictness and holiness of your lives, that you do indeed believe the doctrine which you profess ; and that you look upon it as that doctrine, by which you expect to.be judged at the Last Day. ¦ (2) The disorderly conversation of professors, as it tempts wicked men to think religion to be a false" and cunningly devised fable ; so, at. least, it tempts them to look upon it as altogether Needless. Now what disgrace can be more foul, than to impute frivolous- ness to a doctrine, which calls itself the oracles of God, the only rule pf holiness, and the only way to happiness ? and to make that superfluous and unnecessary, whose chief excellency consists in its usefulness and tendency to our salvation ? And yet this reproach upon the Gospel, through the licentiousness of those who profess it, will be almost unavoidable: for, if we compare the strict precepts of Christianity with the loose lives of Christians, we shall be shrewdly tempted to conclude, that certainly these men have found out an easier passage to heaven, than by the strait way and the narrow gate. And, questionless, this very thing hath been a stumbling-block, at which many have fallen, and dashed themselves to pieces : for what can they think, when, on the one hand, they hear holiness and purity so much recommended, so earnestly pressed upon us by the doctrine of Christ; and, on the other, see it so generally neglected and despised, by those who pretend themselves to be most studied and versed in that doctrine ; but that, doubtless, these men do know somewhat, which perhaps they are loth to divulge, that gives them a dispensation from the practice of that godliness which they profess ? and so they think that God useth them, as some tradesmen do their customers ; that he asks high for heaven at first, but, when it comes to the issue, will fall of his price, and let them have it at a far easier rate than his first demands. And this, I am confident, is the very reason, why those very few, who walk strictly and holily, and demean themselves inoffensively both towards God and man, are yet so despised: and; hated in the world : some despise and scorn them, as a company of poor silly souls, who have less wit and more hqnesty by half than needs : ethers hate them, as a company of impertinent busy-bodies in religion, who serve only tp raise the market for heaven, and readily give Gpd all that he asks : but, generally, the world lppks upon them, as too precise; and as 384 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS; making too much ado about that salvation, which else would come at an easier rate. Look to it, lest this disrespect and villifying of the power of godliness and practical holiness, lest the contempt and obloquy that is cast upon a severe and mortified life, be not charged upon you, who, by a vain, carnal, frothy, and light conversatien, have persuaded the wprld, that Christ was a more strict preacher than he w'A be a judge, and that his laws serve rather to shew what holiness is than to exact it. And thus I have shewn you, how that, by the unsuitable lives of prpfessers, this Twofold Shame will befal religion itself; that wicked men will be ready to account it either False or Frivolous, 2. And, upon both accounts, consider what dreadful Consequences will follow, i (1). To bring this blemish upon religion, that it is either false or unnecessary, is, in a great measure, tc evacuate the death of Christ, and to frustrate one of the great ends for which he suffered. There were Two great and important Reasons of Christ's death : The one was, the Satisfaction of Divine Justice, as a Re* deemer. The other, the Attestation of the Truth of his Doctrine, as a Martyr. He hath sealed to the world, by his own blood, both the certainty and necessity of the doctrines which he taught : and therefore Christ himself tells Pilate, John xviii. 37. To this end was I born, and for this cause came 1 into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. And the greatest testimony, which he gave to the truth of the Gospel, was upon the cross ; layihg-^own his life, and shedding the last drop of his most precious blood, rather than he would disavow or recant the least article of that holy dpctrine which he had delivered. And therefere we have that expression, 1 John v. 8. There are three, that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: which, I think, may be congruously enough expounded, if we here take the first of these witnesses, the spirit, for tbe spirit or soul pf Christ, which he breathed forth when he gave up the ghost ; and the water and blood, to be that mixed stream, which flowed out of his side when the soldier's spear opened unto us that fountain of life and salvation. These three bear witness on earth to the doctrine of Christ, that it is both true in itself, and necessary also to eternal salvation. THE VIRTUES WHICH ADOtfN RELIGION. . 385? Now consider, you, who, by a lppse and wanton conversation, give occasion to the world to suspect either the one or the other, what do you less than invalidate the death of Christ ; and bring men at last to believe, that he died for that which is either false or frivolous ? which is the greatest affront and indignity, that can possibly be put upon our Lord and Saviour. Must not the world think it very strange, that Christ should willingly submit himself te so cruel and ignominious a death as that of the cross, for the confirmation of a doctrine, which few of those who profess the truth of it will yet be persuaded by ajl the rewards it proppunds to put in practice? must they not needs judge it a most absurd thing, to spread a religion, and then die for it too, the rules and precepts of which are either impossible or un necessary to be observed ? And, if they look into the lives of Christians, and take netice how vastly repugnant their actions are to the rule which they profess ; what else can they think, but that Christ lost his very death as well as his life, when he died to confirm such a religion, whose laws are sp rigorous that they cannot be kept, or whose indulgence is so large that it cannot be out-sinned ? Is this a dcctrine, worth such pain and shame, worth martyrdom and the cross, which hath so little influence upon those who embrace it, to cpnform their lives to the principles which it teacheth ? are the rewards which it promises so inconsiderable, or the punishments which it threatens so easy and gentle, or the evidence which it gives of the certainty of both so glimmering and obscure, that it cannot prevail with those who own it, to abandon their vices or their present pleasures, for future fears and hopes ? And, what ! shall we think such a religion can ever bring its followers to heaven, when as it cannot bring them to virtue ? Believe it, this reflects highly upen our Lord Jesus Christ, and lays an imputation, either upon his sincerity or his wisdom, in dying for a doctrine, which ordinarily hath no more power over those who profess and own it, than only to name them Christians. (2) Consider, that the profession of religion, without a suitable practice, tends only to harden the hearts of wicked men, and to strengthen their hands in their course of sin and , profaneness. , For such is either the weakness or corruption of human nature, that we are sooner led by examples, than by precepts; and follew the herd, rather than the guide ; accnunting npthing s. VOL. IV. C C 3S6 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. surer mark ef the right way, than the tracks cf others who go- before us. New when wicked men shall see thee, whe art a professor, live unanswerably te that religion thou makest shew of, will they not be ready to bless themselves in their ways, and to cry, Peace, Peace, to themselves ; since thou, whp thinkest well ef thyself, and whem Pthers perhaps think well pf top, art in reality ne better than they ? " Do not I see," may such an one say, " that those, who are taken for Saints, are proud, and impatient, and covetous, and revengeful ? And if such men get to heaven, as they pretend they shall, why may not I ? It is true, indeed, they talk of self-denial, and contempt of the world, and communion with God, and great spiritual enjoy ments; but lopk intp pur lives, and mine is as harmless and innocent as theirs. If .they let themselves lopse to the pleasures- of the werld, drink till wine inflames them, discourse lewdly and lasciviously by tropes and metaphors, cozen and cheat in their bargains, and overreach the simplicity of those that trust them for their profession, why may not I ; and yet be altogether as good a Christian, and in as safe a way of salvation, as they ? They talk, indeed, of experiences, and acquaintance with God, and ravishing joys, and melting desires, and a road of words- that I skill not : but, certainly, if God will not condemn them,. though they do nothing more than I, but only talk ; neither will he condemn me, for not talking as they do." And so they give themselves the reins, and boldly fly out into all manner of impieties : neither taking up the profession of religion, which they rightly judge to be of no worth without the practice of it; neither will be brought to the practice of religion, judging that needless, because they see it neglected by you whq profess it. And so you make them sevenfold worse than if you yourselves were profligate and avowed sinners, denying the form of godli ness, as well as the power of it. ' For a wicked and debauched sinner, though he may prevail upon pthers tp draw them into the same excess of riot with himself; yet his example is net so likely to harden men in sin and to seal them up under impeni- tency, as the lopse examples of a hypocritical professor : natural conscience will struggle, and tumultuate, and draw back, when we follow those, who pretend no other, but to go to hell : they cannot but with remorse reflect upon it, that ever they should suffer themselves to be led by such as they know to be in the ready way to damnation. But, when they see those, who» THE VIRTUES WHICH ADORN RELIGION. 331 pretend highly to heaven, and entertain flourishing hopes of glory and salvation ; who stand sainted in every man's calendar, and whcm all cpnclude tc be pf those few that shall be saved ; when they see such as these indulge themselves in any way" of wickedness, they presently take heart by such an example : and, if they think not, that they may do the same with a gppd cpnscience, yet they conclude, that they may do it without any . prejudice to their salvatipn ; and so sin quietly without regret, and perish and go down to hell with good company. Well, beware, lest their sins be not at "last set upon thy score: for,. though they shall die in them, as the Prophet speaks, yet certainly God will require the blood of their souls at thy hands ; who, by encouraging them through thy lpose example covered over with a dissembled holiness, hast only ma'de their crimes thy guilt ; and shalt be punished eternally in hell, both for thine own hypocrisy and their profaneness. (3) The unsuitable and unholy lives of professoi's, must needs induce wicked men tc think that their ways are better than God's. What else can they conclude, but that certainly religion and piety is some spur, mprose thing ; when they See these, who pretend most to it, steal away to refresh themselves with the pleasures of sin ? hath not holiness delights enough within itself to content you ? are not peace of conscience, calmness and serenity cf mind, the lpve of God, the performance ef duty, the consolations ofthe Holy Ghost, are not all these joy enough for you, but you must needs break the hedge, and stray into the world's common ; as if you wanted pasture, or those pastures wanted verdure and refreshment ? is not a whole Eden sufficient for you, but you must likewise taste of the forbidden fruit ? What is this, but to' give a most wretched occasipn to wicked men, to applaud their choice, and to think it much better and wiser than yours? what a disparagement- is this to religion, that thpse, who embrace it, must be behplding tp sin and wickedness, for all the pleasant hours they enjoy ! as if to sigh and weep, to be sad and melancholy, were the pnly employment pf a Christian's life; or as if, indeed, there were not more true content and pleasure to be found in tears and sighs, in sad and serious thoughts, than in all those impure and muddy delights, for which ypu forsake them. Np : if ever ypu would adorn the Gospel and win over ethers unto the profession and obedience c c 2 388 - MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. of it, live so, that the world may see a Christian can live upon the allowance that God gives him ; and that you do not belong to sp hard a Lprd and Master, as that ypu must be necessitated for ypur work, to serve Him; and, fer ypur recreation, the Devil. While you seek your divertisement in the pleasures of sin, wicked men cannot but think religion a mere drudgery, and themselves the only happy men; when they see those, who pretend much to enjoy God in the ways of holiness, forced to come over to their loose and sinful ways, that they may enjoy themselves. For shame, Christians ! cast not such a disparage ment upon religion: but let it appear, that it can maintain its servants upon its own ; and hath enough not only to employ, but to delight them too. (4) The unholy and unsuitable lives ef Christians embplden pthers te sin more deeply and desperately, than else they would have done. For always those, who are led by examples, make them lose somewhat of their rigour and, severity. So that whatsoever scope and allowance thou givest thyself, others, who observe thy course and manner of life, will be sure to enlarge it to themselves : and so, by a wretched improvement, a small sin in thee shall become a great and heinpus pne in them ; and thou too be guilty of it, who, by thy miscarriages, hast given them encouragement to imitate and exceed thee. Thou, who art an eminent and glorious professor, the eyes of the whole placeare upon thee, to pbserve and watch thy demeanour : they conclude, that thou aimest at nothing less than the highest pitch and, degree of glory ; and, therefore, if thou canst indulge thyself such a liberty, certainly they may allow themselves a larger, scope ; and, though they fall short of thee, yet they hope that they shall not fall short of heaven ; wherein, if they may shine but as stars, it is all they expect^ while thou shinest as the sun in the firmament. This is our wretched temper, that we are not ambitious for heaven and happiness, but content ourselves if we think we may have any share and portion in it : and, while we mark the failings of those, who yet we think shall be highly advanced in glery, we are apt te conclude, that though we allow ourselves a greater freedom than they take, yet we may be safe at last, although not so glorious. Thus, a foolish vain word in the mouth of a professor, may come to be an oath of another man's : an equivocation in him, may improve to be a gross lie THE VIRTUES WHICH ADORN RELIGION. 389 in ancther : if he speak but slightly ef religion and the things of God, others will be emboldened openly to scoff and deride them : if he carry on his affairs by underhand craft and cunning dealing, not shewing that downright sincerity and plainness in his affairs, which a Christian and an honest man ought to do ; others, who observe this, will be thereby encouraged to cheat and defraud. For in the following of examples, we always bate something; and those examples, which give us any kind of liberty, we shall soon turn into licentiousness. It is a sad thing tc be exemplary, unless we are also mpst strict and severe ; sp that the world can find nn flaws, np defects in our ccnversation : for, otherwise, we must answer for their sins, which pur mis carriages have embcldened them to commit. And thus I have, at large, shewed you, the great disgrace and discredit, which professors bring upon religion, by the unsuitableness of their lives to their principles and profession, They make the world believe it to be either false, or needless : and sc they dp, in a great measure, evacuate the death of Jesus Christ ; make wicked men secure and impenitent in their sins ; induce them te think that their ways are better than God's ; and encourage them tq sin more daringly and desperately, than else they would. And yet, notwithstanding these great mischiefs, mischiefs which strike at the very life of piety and religion; notwith standing these which follow upon an unholy conversation, what is the ordinary rate at which professors live, but vain, frothy, sensual, and worldly ? yea, as far removed sometimes (I speak it with shame) from the honesty of common men, as they would be thought to be from the pollutions and impieties of the world ? Now, must it not needs be a stumbling-block to many, when men shall speak at such a rate of spiritualness, as if some angel sat upon their tongues ; and yet- live at such a rate, of vanity, and it may be of profaneness too, as if legipn possessed their hearts ? What shall we judge of such men ? if we judge the tree by the leaves, what else can we think of them, but that they are trees of righteousness and plants of renown ? but » if we look to their fruits, envy, strife, variance, wrath, pride, worldliness, selfishness, what can we think of them, but that heaven and hell are now as near together, as these men's hearts and mouths ? May we not use the same speech that the Apostle doth, concerning the Corinthians, 1 Cor. iii. 3 ? Ye are yet 390 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. carnal : for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men ? If the Apostle could have laid in a charge against these Corinthians, not only of envy, strife, and divisipn, but of hatred, bitterness, and implacableqess of spirit ; of brain-sick opinions and self-seeking practices, joined with the utter neglect and contempt cf the glory of God, as justly as we can against the men pf pur times: certainly, his reproof would not have been so mild as to tell them fchey walked as men, but rather that they walked as devils. Such are a reproach to religion ; a grief and a shame to true Christians, who are jealous for the Lord God of Hosts, and cannot, but with bleeding hearts, observe the dishonpur that is cast upon the ways of Gpd, by thpse whp will be saints in spite of holiness. They are so many stumbling-blocks laid in the way of others, embittering their spirits against the prcfession _of holiness, since they account it no better than hypocrisy and gross dissimulation ; or, else, encouraging them, by their evil examples, to continue in their wickedness and profaneness. Thus I have shewn you the First Use of Ornaments, which is to hide shame and nakedness ; and that it is only a holy life and conversation, which can hide the shame of religion : fer, where the life is unsuitable to the profession, it reflects this Twofold shame upon religion, that it is either Fabulous or Frivolous, either Untrue or Unnecessary. And I have shewn you the sad Consequences that will follow upon these, ii. Another Use of "Ornaments, is, TO beautify the person, WHQ WEARS THEM ; AND TO SET HIM OFF TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND ESTEEM OF OTHERS. And, thus also, it is only a holy and strict life, which can adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour. Nothing doth make religion sq lovely and taking in the eyes of others, as the holy lives of those who profess it. And, to this, must we impute the wonderful growth of Christianity in the primitive times, when it gained more nations and countries in its persecuted state, than it can now gain persons in its flourishing. And the reason of its success was, that it had all the attractive charms, which are fitted to work upon the minds of men not altogether brutish : for, though it still retains the same innate beauty ; the sublimeness pf its mysteries, the purity ef its ccmmands, the majesty and, authprity pf its wprd, the excellency of its rewards^ and the THE VIRTUES WHICH ADORN RELIGION.- 391 dveadfulness pf its threatenings, and the clear and infallible evidence cf all these ; yet that, which added a mighty grace and lustre to it, was the holiness and innpeency cf the professers of it; their meekness, patience, love, charity, single-hearted ness; and, in every respect, a blameless demeanour, which made religion wonderfully successful, in the world ; mankind being rather affected by the eye than the ear, and more taken by what they saw than by what they were told ofthe excellency of Christianity. And therefore we find, Acts ii. 45, 46, 47. that when they charitably supplied the necessities of others, when they lived together with one accord, in singleness of heart, they had favour with all the people ; and .many were added to the Church, even as many as should be saved. This is the way to set eff religion, and to make it amiable to the wprld. It is not to dress it up in uncouth expressions, npr to speak of the things of God in a singular and affected phrase; no, nor only to discourse of them in Scripture-language, and to make it only the business of the tongue. The hcly and everlasting Gospel, which you profess, is not an art of speaking but ef living well. First. The blameless life ef a Christian gives life to religion ; adds as much beauty to religion, as natural life doth to a man. Take a dead corpse, and, though it hath the same features, the same lineaments and proportion, which it had before ; yet how ghastly and frightful a spectacle is it P'fend that very face, which was beautiful and pleasing while living, yet terrifies and scares us, when the life and soul is departed from it. So is it here : the doctrine of the Gospel, in itself considered, separate from practice, is but a dead letter ; and, though there be a great excellency in it, as there is in the frame of a dead bpdy ; yet it hath net thpse charms and allurements, which it hath when the lives of Christians put life into it. The strictness and severity of its rules and precepts would rather fright and deter men from embracing it, than invite them; until they see the beauty of holiness, in the practice and gopd example ef others. Secondly. A holy and suitable life aderns and cpirrmends the dpetrine pf Christ our Saviour, as it testifies the energy and efficacy, which it hath upon the ccnsciences and conversatiens of men. The excellency of a doctrine is chiefly seen iu the power that it hath to work upon the hearts and affections of those who profess it. Now when it shall appear to the world, that this doctrine "of Christ hath been effectual to the opening of the 392 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. eyes of the blind, the taming cf stubborn and refractory sinners that if. hath been able to rend rocks in pieces, and to draw rivers of tears out of stony hearts : when it shall appear what a mighty change it hath -wrought upon those, who seemed most boisterous and untractable ; bringing them .upon their knees to grovel in the very dust, before that God whom they have daringly offended; and that a few words of it should be able for ever after to keep them in such an awe of his Dread Majesty, that they would rather die a thousand deaths, than willingly do any thing which it forbids: when it shall calm all their passions, subjugate their very thoughts, govern all their actions ; that they shall not dare to think, but by a law and rule ; nor to speak, but under the centroul of their religion ; nor to fear, nor rejoice, nor grieve, nor be angry, but upon permission from this : how mightily will this exalt and magnify the power of Christ's doctrine, and set it forth as triumphant in the world and over the world ! It is the number, not of professors, but of converts, that is the glory of any doctrine. And this glory is peculiarly due unto the doctrine of Christ : all other doctrines of the world, though there be too many who own them, yet how few are converted by them to a sober and holy life ? all the grave and elaborate precepts of Heathen Philosophy, which taught virtue with a great deal of skill, and all possible advantages of wit and reason, yet, as Origen against Celsus observes, never cnnverted but twe *, from a vicious and debauched life : and, for all other ways of religion, it is generally and truly observed, that the most zealous in them were usually the most lewd and dissolute : it is true of them all, what Christ speaks of the Pharisees, Mat. xxiii. 15. They compass sea and land to make one proselyte ; and when he is made, they make him seven times more the child of hell than before. But, it is the peculiar glory of the doctrine of Christ, that those, whom it makes true proselytes, it makes truly pious. Envy not, I beseech you, this glory to it ; but let it appear, that it is the only divine doctrine in the world, by haying such a powerful influence into your practice, as no other doctrine hath, or can have. Raise your actipns to such a divine height, that moralists, with all their .civility, may be forced to confess, there is somewhat more in your lives, than nature or any other instruction can possibly bestow. But this is pnly, in the general. * Phaedon et Polemon. Orig. cont. Celf. lib. i, THE VIRTUES WHICH ADORN RELIGION, 393 Let me now ccmmend te ypur practice some particular duties ; wherein, methinks, the true and genuine spirit of the Gospel doth most eminently appear. And, oh ! that you would for ever remember to honour the doctrine of Christ which you have embraced, and to adorn your profession, by,the constant practice of these following graces. 1. Love, and Brotherly-Kindness one towards another. This is the very badge and distinguishing character of a Christian : John xiii. 35. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one towards another. Love is a most beautiful grace ; and that, which sets a great lustre upon religion, and makes it beautiful too. It was that, which the Heathens took most especial notice of in the Primitive Christ ians ; when they would not only communicate their estates one to another, but even expose their lives and offer their blood for their brethren : this made their very persecutors cry out, " See ' how dearly these Christians love one another !" We are all fellow-members of the same body mystical, whereof Jesus Christ is the Head : now as there is a sympathy in the body natural between the members, (for if one member suffer, all the rest suffer with it ; or one member be honoured, all the rest rejoice with it ;) so ought it to be amongst Christians ; for we are tke body of Christ, and members in particular, as the Apostle speaks, 1 Cor. xii. 26, 27. What a strange unseemly thing were it, for the members of the body to make an insurrection one against another '. for the hand to pluck out the eye ; or for one hand to cut off the other ! alike unseemly it is for those, who are united together in the same body of Christ, to be divided in their affections or practices, or to rend and tear one another. This hath been the great sin and unhappiness of our days : one limb of Christ hath torne off another, as a limb of Antichrist : some have separated, and become schismatical ; others are become unnatural, and rejoice in the sufferings of their fellows : the weak have censured the strong; and the strong despised the weak.: and, upon such petty differences in judgment and opinion, have arisen such vast breaches in love and charity ; breaches, wide as the seas, and, without a miracle, as incurable : as if it were sufficient ground for quarrel, that one limb is not just of the same make, size, and proportion with the others. For shame, Christians ! let us all, who hold the same Head, Christ Jesus, be all united together in the same Spirit, and exercise mutual love and mutual forbearance. Or else, believe it, if the .394 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. sheep divide among themselves, and separate and scatter, the Great Shepherd will send in those degs pr wplves ampng them, that will make them run together again. 2. Another duty, which adorns the doctrine of Christ, and recommends it to the acceptance and esteem of others, is, Love to our Enemies ; and a ready forgiving of the wrongs and injuries, which have been maliciously done against us. This is a duty highly pressed upon us by the Gospel. Very few of the Heathens, though they went far in many excellent points of morality, have ever attained to this height and perfec- tipn : and therefore Tully tells us *, ulcisci te lacessitus potes ; and, again f, odi hominem, et odero utinam ulcisci poteram : and Aristotle, in his Rhetoric J, To raj m&p8s riu,iaoeiiT&xt xcthov Sonet, &c : " It is good," saith he, " to revenge ourselves upon our fenemies : for it is but just to return the same measure we have received ; and it is manly not to be overcome in any thing." But the .Gospel hath taught us another way of pverccming nur enemies: Rpm. xii. 21. Be not overcome qf evil, but overcome evil with good ; by praying for them, by doing them all kind offices of humanity and respect. Whilst we thus manage all the differences which we have here with others, whosoever gets the better in this world ; yet, certainly, at the Last Day, the victory and crown -will be adjudged ours. This is that, which our Saviour Christ greatly insists en, Matth. v. 44. I say unto you, Love your enemies : bless them, that curse you : do good to them, that hate you : and pray for them, which despitefully use you and persecute you : and he adds an argument, that is very cogent and enforcing, from the example of our Father : v. 45. That ye may be the children of God : for he causeth his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust; God doth good to all, even to his enemies ; and this should be our pattern to do good also to our enemies : especially considerr- ing, that, in doing gopdto them, we indeed de good to ourselves;, for we pray for the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to our forgiving others those trespasses which they commit against us : but, while we keep and nourish any rancouring or revengeful thoughts, we do but put in a caution against our own prayers, and bind our iniquities upon our souls, yea and make our very prayers the most dreadful curses that can be uttered against us : * Cicero de Oratore. t Cicero ad Atticum. ± Aristot. Ethic. 1. iv. C. 5. Rhetoric, c. 9. THE VIRTUES WHICH ADORN RELIGION. 39$ For, if we forgive not men their trespasses, neither will our Heavenly Father forgive us eur trespasses: Matt. vi. 15. Revenge is utterly contrary to the spirit of the Gospel. As Tertullian speaks well * : There is no difference, between him that doth an injury, and him that requites it ; nisi qudd ille prior in male- ficio deprehenditur, at ille posterior ; " but only that the one is wicked a little sooner than the other." Yea, indeed, the best way of revenge, if we study that, is to requite wrongs with kindnesses and good offices : what saith the Apostle, Rem. xii. 20 ? If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink : for, in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head : by heaping coals of fire on his head, may be meant, either that thou shalt kindle in him a regret and tormenting displeasure, that he cannot vex, nor discompose thee, and so shalt make him the instrument of thy revenge upon himself; or thou shalt kindle in him such a sorrow and compunction for having cause lessly wronged thee, as shall burn him like fire, until he hath given thee abundant satisfaction ; or, else, lastly, theu shalt kindle upon him the coals of everlasting fire in hell, for persisting obstinately to hate and injure thee without cause or provocation : and that is a revenge to purpose ; a revenge, which belongs unto him, who hath said, Vengeance is mine, and I will repay it. 3. Patience under tribulations and afflictions, is a grace, which doth exceedingly adorn the doctrine qf God our Saviour : when sve are under any chastisement from the hand of God, or any persecution from the rage and wrath of man, quietly to submit without either repining or murmuring. A Christian should pass through the world, with as little noise and tumult as may be. Wicked men may roar and swagger in it : it is their country : but it is only a Christian's road, through which he is travelling to his country ; and it were a vain and endless thing, should he stop to take up a stone, and cast at every dog that will bark at him in his passage. But, because I have elsewhere treated at large concerning this grace nf patience, I shall not farther expatiate here. 4. Humility, and lowliness qf Mind, is a grace, which deth mightily adprn the dpctrine cf Christ. And, therefore, 1 Pet. iii. 4. It is called the ornament' qf a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. * Tertull. de Patieiitia. — Ultio