WE are not generally to expect any connexion, either of Sense or Sentences in this Book of the Proverbs. O­ther parts of Scripture are like a rich Mine, where the precious Ore runs along in one continued Vein: But this is like a Heap of [Page 2] Pearls; which, though they are loose and unstrung, are not therefore the less excellent or va­luable.

The Text I have now read, is one of them, an entire Pro­position in it self, without rela­tion to, or dependance upon a­ny Context.

In it,The Division of the Words. we have these things considerable.

First, I The Character or Peri­phrasis of wicked and ungodly Men; and they are said to be such as make a Mock at Sin.

Secondly, II Here is the Censure past upon them by the All-wise God, and the wisest of Men; they are Fools for so doing; Fools make a Mock at Sin.

The Words are plain and ob­vious; only the Phrase of ma­king a Mock, may seem subject to some ambiguity, and various [Page 3]acceptations; and indeed the Scripture useth it in divers Senses. Sometimes it signifies an abusing of others, by violent and lewd Actions: So we read that the Hebrew Servant, Gen. 39.17. says Potiphar's Wife, came in unto me to mock me. Sometimes it signifies an expo­sing of Men to Shame and Di­shonour: So the wise Man tells us, Wine is a mocker. Prov. 20. [...]. Sometimes it signifies an imposing upon the Credulity of others, things that seem incredible and impossible: So we read in Genesis, when Lot had declared to his Sons-in-Law the Destruction of Sodom, it is said,Gen. 19 14. He seemed unto them as one that mocked. Sometimes it is ta­ken for a failing in our Promises, and thereby defeating, and fru­strating the Expectations of o­thers: And thus Herod is said to be mocked by the wise Men, Matth. 2.16, in [Page 4]Matth. 2.16. But none of these are at all congruous to our pre­sent purpose, nor applicable to the Words of the Text.

There are therefore Two o­ther acceptations of this Expres­sion, [...] meant by M [...]cking. frequently occurring in the Holy Scriptures.

First, I This Word Mock is com­monly taken for scoffing, or bit­ter taunting at others. Thus our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ suffered the Flouts and Derisions of an insolent Rabble, who set him at nought, and mocked him, Luk [...]3 [...] as St. Luke speaks: Thus those blessed Martyrs and Confes­sors, that followed his steps, are said to have endured the trial of cruel Mockings, [...] 11.36. as the Apostle tells us. And indeed this is the dif­ference between a wise Repro­ver, and a bitter Mocker; that the Words of the one are like [Page 5] Balm, both soft and sanative; but the Words of the other are like sharp Swords, which cut deep into the Minds of Men, and com­monly make them rankle into Hatred and Malice. And doubt­less there are very many Spirits can sooner put up an Injury done them, than a cutting bitter scoff; because nothing expresseth so much Contempt, nor shews how despicable we account them, as a fleering Gibe.

Secondly, II Mocking may be taken for slighting, and making no account of, looking upon things or Persons, as trivial and inconsiderable. And thus it is used in Job, where the Horse is said to mock at fear, Job 39.2. when he ru­sheth into the Battel, and is not terrified; but rather enraged by all the Horrors of War, When the Quiver ratleth against him, the [Page 6]glittering Spear and the Shield. And so it is said of the Leviathan, He laugheth at the shaking of the Spear, Job 41.29. for he esteemeth Iron as Straw, and Brass as rotten Wood.

Now in either of these Two Senses may the Words of the Text be taken; when they tell us, they are Fools that make a Mock at Sin.

For Sin may be considered,A Twofold Consideration of Sin. either as committed by others, or as committed by our selves; and it is egregious Folly to make a Mock of either, so as to sport at the one, or to slight the other.

First, I They are Fools that make a Mock at other Men's Sins, so as to turn them into a Mat­ter of Jest and Raillery.

Secondly, II They are Fools that make a Mock at their own Sins, so as to think the Commission of them a slight and inconsidera­ble thing.

I shall very briefly speak of the First, and so pass on unto the Second Particular.

First therefore, I They are Fools that make a Mock at other Men's Sins. They are Fools that make a Mock at other Men's Sins, so as to make them a matter of Mirth and Pastime. This indeed is Sport for Devils, all whose Recreation, and Hel­lish Solace, is the Sin and Wick­edness of Men. The Damna­tion of Souls is the Sport of Hell: And Thou who canst re­joyce in their Joy, deservest like­wise to howl under their Woes and Torments. We justly con­demn it, as a most barbarous and inhumane Custom amongst the ancient Romans, who brought many selected Pairs of miserable Men into their publick Theatres, only to delight the Spectators with their Blood and Death. But this was an innocent Recrea­tion [Page 8]in comparison of thine, who takest pleasure to see thy poor Brother wounding and stabbing, yea damning his precious Soul. Go laugh at a wretched Man up­on the Rack, of upon the Wheel; Laugh at the odd distorted Po­stures of Epilepticks, or the Con­vulse Motions of Dying and Ex­piring Men; Sport thy self with their writh'd Looks, and antick Shapes of Misery: This is far more civil, more humane, more pious, than to make those Sins thy Mirth, which will be thy Brother's Eternal Woe and An­guish. What thinkest thou? Could'st thou look into Hell, that place of Torment? Could'st thou see there all the Engines of God's Justice, and the Devil's Cruelty, set on work in the eter­nal Torture of those, who per­haps once made as light of their [Page 9]own Sins, as thou dost of other Men's; wouldst thou think this a pleasant Spectacle? Wouldst thou sport and divert thy self to see how they wallow in Fire and Brimstone, or how they circle and twist themselves in un­quenchable Flames? Certainly such a Sight as this would af­fect thee with a cold Horrour, and a shivering Dread: And how then canst thou sport thy self to see thy Brother damning himself, since it would fright thee to see him damned? Be­lieve it, Sirs; The Sins that now abound in the World challenge our Tears and Pity: We ought to mourn and repent for those who do not, who will not re­pent for themselves. It is a sad, and a doleful Sight to see so many every where dishonour God, disgrace their Natures, and [Page 10]destroy their Souls; to see some come reeling home, disguis'd in all the brutish Shapes that Drun­kenness can put upon them, rea­dy to discharge their Vomit in the Face of every one they meet: Others frantick with Wrath and Rage, and, like a Company of Mad Men, flinging about Fire­brands, Prov. 26.18. Arrows, and Death: To see such woeful Transformati­ons, and the dire Effects that Sin and Wickedness have cau­sed in the World; certainly he that can entertain himself with Mirth at these things, hath not only forsworn his Religion, but his Humanity; and may, with much more Reason, make the Miseries of poor distracted Peo­ple, chain'd up in Bedlam, to become his Sport and Pastime.

I know it will be here pre­tended, that surely it can be no [Page 11]such great Crime to explode and hiss Sin off the Stage; nay, it were a proper Means to keep Men from being generally so wicked, could we but make Wickedness more ridiculous in them.

But, alas! Vice is now-a-days grown too impudent to be laughed out of Countenance; and those Methods of a scurri­lous Mockery, which some plead for, as rendring Vice ridiculous, have, I doubt, only made it the more taking and spreading, and encouraged others to be the more openly sinfull, by teaching them to be the more wittily vile and wicked. Few will be deterred from sinning, when they think they shall but gratifie others, by making Sport for them; and stir up, not their Indignation and Abhorrence, but their Mirth and [Page 12]Laughter. 'Tis true, we read that Elijah mock'd the Idolatrous Worshippers of Baal, and his Scoffs and Taunts at them were very biting and sarcastical, and cut them much deeper than they are said to cut themselves: But this he did in a serious and zea­lous reproving of their Sins, not in a jocular and sportive Merri­ment. There are two things in Sin, Impiety and Folly; we may lawfully enough scorn the one, while we are sure to hate and de­test the other: And a due Mixture of both these together, Scorn and Detestation, are very fit to enkindle our Zeal for God, and may oftentimes be a requisite Temper for him who is to re­prove confident and audacious Sinners. But to laugh and sport at others Wickedness, and to make the Guilt and Shame of o­thers [Page 13]our Mirth and Recreation, is both unchristian, and inhu­mane; and we may as well laugh at their Damnation, as at that which will lead them to it. Thus to make a Mock at Sin, is to make our very Mocks to be our Sins; and argues us, not only profane, but foolish; for this is to laugh and rejoyce at our own Stain and Dishonour, and to abuse our own Nature, that Nature which is common to us, as well as o­thers; that Nature which, were it not debased with Sin, renders us but a little lower than the Angels.

What a fair and glorious Crea­ture was Man, before Sin deba­sed and sullied him! A Friend to his God, Lord of the Crea­tion, made a little lower than the Angels, being a-kin to them, though of a younger House, and [Page 14]meaner Extract, adorn'd with all both natural and divine Per­fections, till Sin despoil'd him of his Excellency, and made him who was almost equal to the An­gels, worse than the very Brutes that perish, sottish and misera­ble. And canst thou laugh and sport thy self at that which hath ruin'd and undone thee, as well as others? Thy Nature is ble­mish'd and corrupted as much as theirs. When we look abroad in the World, and observe the abominable Wickednesses that are every where committed, the Murthers, Uncleannesses, Blas­phemies, Drunkenness, and all those Prodigies of Impiety that every where swarm amongst Men; how by Lying, Stealing, Swearing, and Committing Adultery, they break out, Hos. 4.2. until Blood toucheth Blood. What else see we now [Page 15]in all this, but the woful Effects of our own corrupt Nature: Here we see our selves unbowel­led, and discover what we our selves are, at the price of other Men's Sins; For as in Water, Prov. 27.19 Face answereth unto Face, so doth the Heart of Man to Man. We have therefore more reason to lament the Sins and Miscarriages of o­thers, than to make a Sport and Mock at their Wickedness, since we our selves are the very same, and prone enough, without the Restraining Grace of God, either to imitate, or exceed them.

Hence then, First, Use. i. Consider what an accursed,Shews the Evil of tempting o­thers to sin. horrid thing it is to tempt others to sin, only that thou mayest afterwards make Sport with them, and raise a Scene of Mirth out of the Ruins of their Souls. I wish this were not as common a Practice, as it [Page 16]is damnable. See what dread­ful Woes God denounceth against such,Habak. 2.15, 16. by the Prophet: Woe unto him that giveth his Neighbour Drink; that puttest thy Bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look upon his Nakedness; his Shame and Dishonour. Thou art filled with Shame, for Glory: Drink thou also, and let thy Fore­skin be uncovered; the Cup of the Lord's Right Hand shall be turned unto thee, and shamefull Spew­ing shall be on thy Glory. Hence have these Devils (for that Name belongs to them who do his VVork) invented all those Artifi­ces of Excess and Drunkenness, to draw on others to debauch themselves, and their Reason, that they may have Matter to laugh at their fottish Actions, and to boast how many they have made to fall under the Puis­sance [Page] [Page] [Page 17]of their Riots. But cer­tainly, if there be an Hell, as it is certain there is; or if that Hell were not made in vain, as it was not; these wretched Sinners can expect nothing else, but to have their Portion therein with those Devils, whose industrious Fa­ctors they have been: And there the Cup of God's Right Hand, a Cup of pure VVrath, and unmix'd Fury, shall be given them, and they be forced to drink it off, to the very Dregs and Bottom of it, spewing out Fire and Brimstone eternally.

Secondly, Use. ii. Shews the Wick­edness of those that sin, only to tempt others to sin. Hence think how desperately impious, wicked VVretches they are, who sin on­ly to make others Sport; that buffoon themselves into Hell, and purchase the Pleasing others with the dreadful Damnation of their own Souls: And yet, How [Page 18]frequent is this in the World? How many are there, that will neither spare God, nor Heaven, nor Scripture, nor Religion, nor common Modesty, if they come but in the way of a Jest? No­thing, how sacred, how vene­rable soever it be, can escape them, if they can but turn it into Drollery.

I need not mention what Tropes and Metaphors Men have found out to talk lasciviously by; almost every one is perfect in that piece of Rhetorick: Nor what strange, monstrous Lies some will aver openly, to raise either Mirth or Wonder in Com­pany. And that which is worst of all is, that now the Holy Bi­ble is become a mere Jest-Book with them, a Common-Place [...], and many Discourse; [...] speaks Scri­pture [Page 19]out of these Men's Mouths; they know no more of it, than what they abuse; and all their Meditations and Comments up­on it, are only how such and such Passages may be ingeniously per­verted, and turned into Bur­lesque, to heighten the Mirth of the next profane Company they meet. Impious Wretches, that dare to violate the most tremendous Mysteries of Reli­gion, and expose their God to Scorn, his Oracles to Contempt, and their own Souls to Eternal Perdition; only for a little Grin­ning and Sneering of a Compa­ny of vain, yea, mad Fools, who think they commence Wits by applauding Blasphemy! But these VVits, as they are profane and impious, so they prove themselves very Fools, thus to sport themselves to death: Their [Page 20]Laughter is rather spasmical and convulsive, than joyous; a Ri­sus Sardonicus, caused by Venom and Poyson: They go down merrily to Hell, and frolick themselves into Perdition.

And thus I have done with the first sort of Fools, namely, those that make a Sport and Mock at other Men's Sins.

The Second Particular is to shew, II They are Fools that make at Mock at their own Sins. that they are Fools who make a Mock at their own Sins, so as to think the Commission of them but a slight, inconsidera­ble Matter. And here I shall shew you,

First, I That wicked Men do generally account Sin a small, slight Matter.

Secondly, II What it is that in­duceth and persuades them to account so slight of it.

Thirdly, III Their gross and in­excusable Folly for so account­ting of it.

First, I That wicked Men do generally account Sin a small, inconsiderable Matter, may ap­pear from these three Things.

I. 1 Slight Tempta­tions make some Men sin. Slight Provocations and easie Temptations are sufficient to make them rush boldly into the Commission of Sin: Any slight inconsiderable Gain, and transitory, fading, washy Plea­sure; yea oftentimes, a meer Gallantry and Humour of Sin­ning, is enough to make them venture upon any Crime, that the Devil, or their own wicked Hearts shall suggest to them: Yea those very Things, for which they would scarce suffer a Hair of their Heads to be twitch'd off, are yet forcible enough, to persuade them to lie or swear, [Page 22]Sins that murder and destroy their precious Souls for ever! VVhat is this but a plain De­monstration, that they account Sin a mere Trifle, and look upon it as a small and slight thing to offend the most high God.

II. 2 Hard to work Sinners to a True Sorrow for Sin. It is very hard and diffi­cult to work these Men to any true Sorrow and Compunction for their Sins: Turn the Mouth of all the terrible Threatnings that God bath denounced in his Holy VVord against them, and let them thunder out all the VVoes and Curses that are in the Magazine of God's Justice a­gainst them, yet these wicked VVretches are not startled at it; but still hold fast their Confi­dence and Boldness, when they have lost their Innocency and In­tegrity, and cannot, nor will not be persuaded that God [Page 23]should be so angry and incensed for such small matters.

III. 3 If they are at all moved with these things, yet they think that a slight and formal Repen­tance will suffice to make amends for all: They pacifie their Con­sciences, and think they appease God also, by crying him Mercy; and find it as easie a matter to re­pent of their Sins, as it is to com­mit them. And therefore cer­tainly these Men must needs have very slight Thoughts of Sin, who can be so easily temp­ted to commit it, and are so hard to be brought to repent of it; or if they do, yet is it so slight­ly and superficially, as if they feared the Amends would be greater than the Injury.

I come now to the Second Thing, and that is, II Causes of Sin­ners making light of Sin. to shew what it is that induceth and per­suadeth [Page 24]wicked Men to make so light of their Sins.

Now there are these Two things that make Sinners to ac­count their Sins slight and trivi­al Matters.

I. 1 Sinners not being exempla­rily punished, causes them to make light of Sin. Because they see so few In­stances of God's dread Wrath and Vengeance executed on Sinners in this Life; and those rare Ones that are extant and visible, they impute rather to Chance, than to the Retribution of Divine Ju­stice: And therefore, upon their own Impunity, and the Impu­nity of others, they conclude, That certainly Sin is no such hei­nous thing as some sowre, tetri­cal People would fain persuade the World to believe: And so they cry Peace, Peace, to them­selves, Deut. 29.19. though they go on in the Fro­wardness of their Hearts, adding Ini­quity to Sin. Because God so long [Page 25]winks at them, they conclude him blind, or at least, that he doth not much disallow those Sins which he doth not presently punish. Indeed, it would be somewhat difficult to answer this Argument, were this present Life the appointed Time of Recom­pence. No, but God reserveth his Wrath and Vengeance to a more publick, and more dread­ful Execution of it, than any can be in this Life. Though now thou feelest no Effects of God's Wrath, yet, believe it, the Storm is but all this while gathering: But when thou launchest forth into the boundless Ocean of Eterni­ty, then, and perhaps never be­fore then, will it break upon thee in a Tempest of Fury, and drown thy Soul in Perdition and Destruction.

[Page 26]II. 2 Sinners make light of Sin, because it is no real Injury to God. Another thing that makes wicked Men think so slight of Sin, is that it cannot affect God with any real Injury; for as he is not benefited by our Services, so he is not wronged by our Ini­quities. 'Tis true, could our Sins reach God, could they de­throne him, or rend off any of his glorious Attributes from his immutable Essence, there might then be great Reason why God should so severely revenge them, and we for ever detest and ab­hor them: But since his Glory is free from any Stain, and his Being from any Wrong and Pre­judice, our Sins are nothing to him, nor is there any Reason we should judge them heinous and provoking.

'Tis true, O Sinner, thy Sins can never invade God's Essence; that is infinitely above the At­tempts [Page 27]of Men or Devils, but yet every wicked Wretch would, if he could, dethrone God: Sin­ners would not have him be so holy, nor so just as he is; not so holy in hating of their Sins, nor so just in punishing of them; that is, they would not have him to be God; for it is neces­sary that God should be as he is. Sinners do really contradict God's Purity, rebel against his Sovereignty, violate his Com­mands, defie his Justice, pro­voke his Mercy, despise his Threatnings, and hinder the Manifestations of his Glory to the World: And is all this no­thing? Every Sinner hath so much Poyson and Venom in him, that he would even spit it in the Face of God himself, if he could reach him: But be­cause God is in himself secure [Page 28]from their impotent Assaults, Sin shews its Spight against him in what it can; defaceth his Image where-ever it comes, abolisheth all Structures and Lineaments of God in the Soul, and would ba­nish his Name, his Fear, his Worship from off the Face of the whole Earth: And therefore thou who art guilty of this Re­bellion against the great Majesty of Heaven, canst thou yet think thy Sins to be slight and inconsi­derable, and not worth either the Cognizance, or the Ven­geance of the Almighty? Be­lieve it, the Day is coming, and will not tarry, when that Guilt which thou now carriest so peaceably in thy Bosom, and which, like a frozen and be­numb'd Serpent, stirrs not, nor stings not, shall, when heated with the Flames of Hell, fly in [Page 29]thy Face, and appear in all its native and genuine Deformities and Horrour, and overwhelm thy Soul with Everlasting An­guish and Torment; and then, but too late, then wilt thou ex­claim against thy self, as being worse than a Fool, or Mad-man, for thinking so slightly of, and making a Mock at that which hath eternally ruin'd and de­stroyed thee.

And having thus shew'd you briefly, that wicked Men do make light of Sin, and the In­ducements that tempt them to it. I shall now, in the

Third place, III shew you their great and inexcusable Folly in so doing.The Folly of Sinners in ma­king light of Sin, appears in that they And certainly never was any insensate Man, never any that was wholly abandon'd by his Reason and Understanding, guilty of a greater Folly than this is: For,

[Page 30]I. 1 Hope to repent of it. Is it not most egregious Fol­ly and Madness for any to do that, which yet they hope they shall live to repent that ever they did it? This is such a Folly, as all the Extravagances of Fools could never match; and yet this most wicked Men are guilty of: They boldly rush into Sin, only upon this presumptuous Confi­dence, that they may hereafter be sorry that now they did it. In which their Folly is doubly notorious, in that

1. 1 They venture upon a cer­tain Guilt, in hope of an uncer­tain Repentance. And,

2. 2 In that they take up their unprofitable Sins upon so great and burthensome an Interest.

1. 1 Sinners Folly great, in ven­turing upon a certain Guilt, in hopes of an uncertain Re­pentance. In that they venture upon a certain Guilt, in hopes of an uncertain Repentance. For ei­ther God may cut thee off, O [Page 31]Sinner, in the very Act of that Sin which thou intendest to re­pent of hereafter: Or, if he af­ford thee Time for Repentance, he may withold his Grace, and in his just and righteous, but yet fearful Judgment, seal thee up under Hardness and Impeniten­cy, that thou shalt go on, Rom. 2.5. treasu­ring up to thy self Wrath against the Day of Wrath. And if either of these, through the righteous Judgment of God, should hap­pen unto thee, what a deplora­ble Fool wilt thou prove thy self to be, that sinnest out of Hopes of Repentance, and of a Re­pentance which perhaps will ne­ver be granted? Alas? How many hath God, in his signal Vengeance, cut off, by some re­markable stroke, with an Oath, or Curse, or Blasphemy in their Mouths, scarce fully pronoun­ced? [Page 32]How many, with their drunken Vomits gogling in their very Throats: How many, while their Souls have been bur­ning with their lustful Embraces, have even then been cast into Hell, and burnt up with Ever­lasting Fire? Or, if Vengeance should spare thee for a while, O Sinner, yet thou knowest not how soon it will strike thee: It is great Folly to expect the War­ning of a sick Bed; Death often surprizes by sudden Casualties, or by some Diseases as sudden as Casualties; and there are many Ways of Dying, besides Consum­ptions, Agues, and Dropsies, the lingring Fore-runners of an ap­proaching Dissolution. But if God should cast thee down upon a sick Bed, he may justly visit thee, who hast neglected thy Soul in thy Health, with such [Page] [Page] [Page 33]Distempers as may make thee not only unfit, but such as may render thee uncapable of doing thy last kind Office for it. It is Folly to expect the Admonition of Old Age: Alas!Eccles. 12.5. the Almond-Tree doth not every where flou­rish; and it is not one, to many Thousands, that lay down an Hoary Head in the Bed of the Grave.Prov. 16.31. But grant thou couldst be assured of the Continuance of thy Life, yet is it not egregious Folly to sin in hope of repenting, when every Act of Sin will make thy Repentance the more difficult, if not impossible? The older thou growest, still the more de­sperate is thy Case; for thy Sins will be the more rooted and ha­bituated in thee, and thy Heart the more hardned to resist the Grace of God: So that, upon all Accounts, thy Repentance is [Page 34]most uncertain; and the longer thou continuest in Sin, still the more unlikely and improbable. And then judge, thou thy self, whether it be not extream Mad­ness and Folly, to make so light, or no Account of Sinning, be­cause thou makest account of Repenting. But

2. 2 Suppose it were most in­fallibly certain that thou shalt repent, Sinners great Folly to pur­chase the Plea­sures of Sin with a bitter Repentance. yet none but Fools will take up the Pleasures of Sin upon the Sorrow, Anguish, and Bit­terness of a true and hearty Re­pentance. Dost thou seriously consider what Repentance is? It is not a transitory Wish, a warm Sigh, or a languishing Lord have Mercy, in a Distress, or on a sick Bed; (and yet even these can­not be without judging and con­demning themselves for Fools, when they sinned:) No, but [Page 35] Repentance is the breaking of the Heart, a rending of the very Soul in pieces: The usual Pre­paratives to it are ghastly Fears and Terrours, sharp and dread­ful Convictions, that will even search thy very Bowels, break thy Bones, and burn up thy very Marrow within thee. More especially doth God deal thus terribly with veterane, old, con­firmed Sinners, making Repen­tance more bitter to them, than to others, that they may see and confess themselves Fools, in in­dulging themselves in their Sins, in hopes of repenting for them. Say then, when the Devil and thine own Lusts tempt thee to any Sin; say, If I commit this Sin, either I shall repent of it, or I shall not; if I never re­pent of it, as it is a hazard whe­ther I shall or no, what is there [Page 36]in Sin, that can recompence the everlasting Pain of Damnation? If I shall repent, what is there in the Sin, that can recompence the Anguish and Bitterness of Repentance? This is such an un­answerable Dilemma, that all the Craft and Subtilty of Hell can never solve. And if we would but always keep this fixed in our Minds, it were impossible that ever we should make slight of Sin. While thou thus arguest, thou arguest solidly and wisely; but to say I will sin, because per­haps I may repent, is quite be­low the meanest Capacity that ever own'd the least Glimpse of Sense and Reason.

II. 2 Is it not Folly to make a Mock at that which will be sure to pay thee home,S [...] will make Sinners a pub­ [...] Scorn to [...] whole [...] and to make a publick Mock and Scorn of thee to the whole World? How [Page 37]many have their Sins and Vices made infamous among Men? They are a Shame, and a Re­proach to all that are but of a civil and sober Converse; and as much lost to Reputation, as they are to Vertue? But how­ever, certainly all wicked and ungodly Men shall be made a publick Scorn and Derision to all the World, both God, An­gels, and Men: God will mock at them, he tells them so ex­presly, for so the Wise Man speaks;Prov. 1.25, 26. Because you have set at nought all my Counsel, and would none of my Reproof; I also will laugh at your Calamity, and mock when your Fear cometh; when your Fear cometh as a Desolation, and your Destruction cometh like a Whirl­wind. All their Sins and Deeds of Wickedness shall then be ex­posed to the open View and [Page 38]Contempt of Saints and Angels, who shall subscribe to the righ­teous Doom of their Condem­nation. Devils will then up­braid their Folly, and triumph that they have outwitted them into the same most miserable and deplorable State with them­selves. Think now, O Sinner! How wilt thou be able to hold up thy guilty Head, and thy amazed and confounded Face? Whither, Oh whither canst thou cause thy Shame to go, when Men and Angels shall point and hiss at thee, and thy Folly shall be proclaimed as loud as the last Trumpet, which Heaven and Farth, and all the World shall hear?

III. 3 Is it not the Foolishness of Folly it self,The Folly of Sinners to damn their Souls for Sin. to make light of that which will for ever damn thee? Art thou such an Idiot, as [Page 39]to account Hell a Trifle, and Damnation it self a slight Matter? What is it then that makes thee think Sin so sinall and trifling a thing? For Hell, and Death, and Eternal Wrath are certainly en­tail'd upon it. Consider what a most cutting Reflexion it will be to thee in Hell, when thou shalt for ever cry out upon, and curse thy self for a wretched Fool, that ever thou shouldst make slight of those Sins which would damn thee. What was there in them, for which thou hast forfei­ted Heaven, and Everlasting Hap­piness, but only a little impure brutish Pleasure? And now that it is past and gone, what remains of them, but only the bitter Re­membrances? Certainly thou wilt ten thousand times, and for ever call thy self an accursed Fool for so doing, when it is too [Page 40]late to help it. Be persuaded therefore now to be wise betimes for your Souls; else you also will, when there is no Redress, curse your own Folly, that hath brought upon you all those Ex­tremities of Woe and Anguish.

THese Words which I have now read, consist of these Two Parts:

First, A Proposition. And,

Secondly, A Proof of this Proposition.

First, A Proposition,Division of the Words. in these Words, that They that do God's Commandments, are blessed.

Secondly, Here is the Proof of this Proposition, in these Words, that They have a Right to the Tree of Life, and shall enter through the Gates into the City.

It is the Connection of both these together, that I intend chiefly to speak unto. Only give me leave, as a Preliminary to the ensuing Discourse, to shew you what is contained in the first and great Word in my Text; and that is, the Word Blessed.

There is therefore, a Twofold Beatitude, or Blessedness: The One is perfect and consummate; the Other initial and incompleat. The former is the Complection of all Good perfective of our Natures, and our entire and satisfying En­joyment of it. This Blessedness now is only attainable in Hea­ven; for God alone is the Cen­tre of all Good, and all the Good [Page 43]that is desirable in this World, are but so many Lines drawn from the Centre, to the utmost Circumference of the Creation. There is nothing that can supply the Wants, perform the Hopes, fulfil the Desires, without Con­finement circumscribe, without cloying satisfie the most enlar­ged Capacities of a Rational Soul, but only that God who is infi­nitely, universally, and indefe­ctively good; and therefore he alone is our objective Happiness: and our formal Happiness is our Relation to, and Union with this All-comprehensive and In­comprehensible Good. Our As­similation to him, and Partici­pation from him, of all those Perfections which our Natures are capable of enjoying, but our Understandings not now capable of knowing. But this consummate [Page 44]Blessedness, is reserved for our unknown Reward hereafter, and is not that which my Text here speaks of.

There is therefore an imperfect and initial Blessedness, which con­sists in a Preparation for, and a Tendency unto the other: As those are [...] be accursed, whose Sins [...] prepare them for Eterna [...] so those likewise are [...] bles­sed, whose Grace and Holiness prepare them for Eternal Bliss and Happiness.

Now such as these are blessed in a Fourfold Respect.Such a [...] do God's Com­mandments, are blessed in Four Respects.

First, They are blessed, in Se­mine, I in the Seed: They go forth bearing precious Seed, In the Seed. and shall doubtless rejoyce in a plentifull Harvest: So the Psalmist tells us, Psal. 97.11.Psal. 97.11. Light is sown for the Righteous, and Gladness for the Up­right [Page 45]in Heart. And though they often appear Clods of Earth ploughed up, harrowed, and bro­ken with Affliction; yet is there that blessed Seed cast into them, that will certainly sprout up to Immortality, and Eternal Life, as all the Beauties of a Flower lie couched in a small unsightly Seed: And so truly Grace is Glory in the Seed; and Glory is but Grace full blown.

Secondly, II They are blessed in primitiis, in the First-Fruits.In the First-Fruits. They have already received some part of their Eternal Felicity, in the Graces and Consolations of the Holy Ghost; which are therefore called the First-Fruits of the Spirit, Rom. 8.23. by the Apostle, Rom. 8.23. and the Earnest of the Spirit, 2 Cor. 1.22.2 Cor. 1.22. and the Earnest of our Inheritance, Ephes 1.14. Ephes. 1.14. Now, as the Ear­nest is always part of the Bar­gain, [Page 46]and the First-Fruits are al­ways of the same kind with the whole Harvest, so is it here; the Graces and Comforts of the Holy Ghost, are the very same now, that they shall be in Hea­ven it self: And therefore the Apostle blesseth God, Ephes. 1.3. who hath blessed us with spiritual Blessings in heaven­ly Things in Christ. Better indeed they shall be in Heaven, but not other. Here our Graces often lan­guish under the Load and Pres­sure of Corruption, but in Hea­ven they shall be for ever vigo­rous and triumphant: Here our Waters of Comfort often fail us, our Cistern is often dried up, and our Bottle spent; but in Heaven we shall for ever lie at the Foun­tain of Living Waters, and take in Divine Communications, as they immediately flow from the Divine Essence, without having [Page 47]them deadned or flatted in the Conveyance. But yet, both by these imperfect Graces and Com­forts, we do truly and properlyen­joy God; the Enjoyment of whom in any measure is Happiness, but in the highest measure is Heaven it self. If therefore the Mass and Lump be Blessedness, the First-Fruits must be blessed also.

Thirdly, III Blessed in Hope. Titus 2.13. They are blessed in Spe, in Hope; whence it is cal­led by the Apostle, That blessed Hope. A blessed Hope it is, be­cause that which we hope for is Eternal Blessedness. The Hope of worldly Things is commonly more tormenting, than the En­joyment of them can be satisfy­ing. It is an Hope that vitiates and deflowers its Object, and so mightily Over-rates them in the Fancy, that when they come to pass, our Hope is rather frustra­ted [Page 48]than accomplished: And were it not for that Impatience, which is the constant Attendant of this Hope, it would be a Pro­blem hard to be resolved, whe­ther Expectation or Fruition were the more eligible Estate. Vain therefore and wretched must needs be the Hopes of those things, which cannot answer what is expected from them; like a Golden Dream to a Beg­gar, or the Dream of a furnish'd Table to one that is hunger­starv'd. But now the Hopes of Heaven can never impoverish the Glories of it, for they are in­finite and inexhaustible; and God hath laid up for his, that which the Heart of Man cannot conceive.

A Christian's Hope hath Two Prerogatives above any worldly Hope.Two Properties of a Christian's Hope

One is, That it may attain to a full and final Assurance, as the Apostle speaks to the Hebrews; where he calls it,Heb. 6.11. The full Assu­rance of Hope unto the End. An Hope it is, because the Object of it is a future Good desired and expected. But yet it is an Hope that is joined with a full Assu­rance of the Event; an Hope that may flower up into such a Certainty, as to have no Mix­ture of Fear or Doubting in its Composition; but may be as sure of the Heavenly Inheritance, as if our Reversion were already in actual Possession: Whereas Worldly Hope can never be se­cure, but some Providence or other may interpose, to disap­point it.

The other Prerogative of a Christian's Hope, is, that though it be thus fully assured, yet the [Page 50]Accomplishment of it shall al­ways have the sweet Relish of Surprize and Wonder; for the Happiness will be far greater than the Hope, and the Inheri­tance larger than the Expecta­tion; whereas Earthly Hopes, if they grow to any degree of Confidence of Success, upon Fru­stration they turn into Impa­tience and Rage: Or if perhaps they do succeed, the Sweetness of the Accomplishment was long before suck'd out and devoured by our greedy Expectation; the Game is torn and eaten, before the Hunts-man can come in. And upon both these Accounts, the pious and obedient Christian is blessed in Hope: It is a blessed Hope that shall certainly be ac­complished; and a blessed Hope, the accomplishing of which shall infinitely exceed our Expecta­tions, [Page 51]and fill us, not with Shame, but Eternal Admiration and Wonder.

Fourthly, IV They are blessed in Right and Title: Blessed in Right. And upon this very Account especially my Text pronounceth those blessed that do God's Commandments, because they have a Right to the Tree of Life, and to enter in through the Gates in­to the City.

Now these Expressions, ac­cording to the Genius and Style of this whole Book, are mysti­cal and allusive; and for the ex­plaining of them I must shew,

First, What the Tree of Life is. I

Secondly, What is this City, II in­to which they have a Right to enter.

Thirdly, III What it is to enter through the Gates into the City.

Fourthly, IV What Right it is which Obedience to God's Com­mandments [Page 52]gives us to the Tree of Life, and to enter into the City.

For the First of these, I What this Tree of Life is? What the Tree of Life is.

I answer, We find Mention made of this Tree of Life in Two other places of this dark Prophe­cy; the one is in Ver. 2. of this Chapter: Rev. 22.2. On either Side of the Ri­ver was there the Tree of Life, which bare twelve manner of Fruits, and yielded her Fruit every Month; and the Leaves of the Tree were for the healing of the Nations. But this, very probably, may be only an Enigmatical Representation of the Doctrine of the Gospel; let us then consult the other place, where Mention is made of this Tree of Life, and that is in Rev. 2.7. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, that is in the midst of the Paradise of God. Now this carries a plain Allusion to that [Page 53]Description of the Earthly Para­dise of which we read, Gen. 2.9. where it is said,Gen. 2.9. God planted the Tree of Life in the midst of the Gar­den. Now this Tree of Life was so called, not that it had any natural Vertue to perpetuate Man's Life to Immortality, but only from its typical and sacra­mental Use; God having appoin­ted the Eating thereof as a Sign and Pledge of our Immortality, had we continued in our Inno­cency and Obedience. And therefore we find, that upon the Fall, God set a Guard upon this Tree, and as it were excommu­nicates sinful Adam from parta­king of this Sacrament of the Co­venant of Works, which was both a Sign and Seal of Immortality; signifying thereby, that Sinners have no Right to Eternal Life, according to the Terms of the [Page 54]first Covenant: But this Right being again restored to us by Je­sus Christ, therefore they are pronounced blessed that do God's Commandments, because they have a Right to the Tree of Life; that is, to that Eternal Life and Immor­tality which is brought to light by the Gospel, and to which the Tree of Life in Paradise was a Sacrament and Emblem.

Secondly, II Let us enquire what is this City, What is meant by City. into which those that do God's Commandments shall enter? and we have a most large and glorious Description made of it in Chap. 21. of this Book, from Ver. 10. to the end of the Chapter. and, in brief, it is nothing else but Heaven; [...] the New Jerusalem, that holy City, the City of the Living God, into which no unclean thing shall enter. [...] For without are Dogs, and Sorcerers, and Whore-mongers, [Page 55]and Idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a Lye.

Thirdly, III What is it to enter through the Gates into this City? What it is to enter through the Gates into the City.

I answer, Though in the fore­going Chapter this City is descri­bed to have twelve Gates, and in them the Names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, to signifie to us, that through the Grace of the Gospel, there is a Passage and an Inlet into Heaven for all those that are true Israelites; yet, in true propriety of Speech, there is but one Way, and but one Gate to Heaven: Yea, and our Saviour tells us, that Way is narrow, and that Gate is strait; for so we find his Words;Matth. 7.14. Strait is the Gate, and narrow is the Way, that leadeth unto Life, and few there be that find it. The Command­ments of God are this Gate to the Heavenly City, and the two [Page 56]Tables of the Law are the two Leaves of this Gate, through which every one must pass, that hopes to be admitted into the New Jerusalem. And although David seems to make this Gate very large, when he tells us, Thy Commandments are exceeding broad; Psal. 119.96. yet that is only to be un­derstood concerning the Autho­rity of its Injunctions, not of the Liberty of its Indulgence. It is exceeding broad in the Extent of its preceptive Power, for it prescribes Rules to all our Thoughts, Words, and Actions, and to every Circumstance of each; but it is exceeding narrow and strait in the Scope and Al­lowance that it gives us; that as soon may a Camel go through the Eye of a Needle, as we pass through this Gate with the Bur­then of one unmortified Lust, or one unrepented Sin.

But why is it said That those that do God's Commandments may enter through the Gates into the City? Quest. Can any enter in as a Thief, or a Robber, over the Wall? Or can any, as an Enemy, scale those Eternal Ramparts, and take it by Invasion?

I answer: This is so expressed, Answ. to denote the free Access and Admission of those into Heaven, who are careful to obey the Commandments of God upon Earth: Such as these are free­born Citizens of Heaven; their whole Estate, their whole Traf­fick, all their Treasure and Live­lihood is laid up there; they are free Denizens by the Charter of the New Covenant, they may challenge Ingress as their Right and Due; and he who hath the Keys of David,Rev. 3.7. who openeth and no Man shutteth, and shutteth and no [Page 58]Man openeth, opens the Door to these, and lets them into those Eternal Mansions, which he hath purchased and prepared for them.

The Fourth and last Query to be enquired into, IV What Right Obedience giveth to the Tree of Life, and to the Heavenly City. is concerning that Right which Obedience to God's Commands gives us unto this Tree of Life, and to this Heaven­ly City; that is, to Eternal Life and Glory. Now here I shall branch out this Query into Two; and so I shall shew you,

I. 1 What that Obedience is, which gives us a Right to Heaven.

II. 2 What that Right is,What that O­bedience is that is menti­oned in the Text. that this Obedience doth confirm.

I. What that Obedience is, which gives us a Right to Heaven.

I answer: 1 It is not a Legal Obedience, Not Legal Obe­dience. or a perfect personal Righteousness, that now gives us this Right to Heaven; this is [Page 59]very plain, because to constitute this, it is necessary that there be both Original Purity in our Na­tures, which since the Fall is miserably vitiated and corrupted; and also a Sinless Perfection in our Lives, in the constant Ob­servation of every Iota of the Law, both as to its Extention, and Intention; that we obey it in every part and tittle of it, and that our Obedience unto every part be raised to the highest de­gree of Love, Zeal, and Cha­rity. This Title was once good, but it is now lost, by the Fall, in the common Ruine and Rub­bish of Mankind; and he who hath not another Title, upon bet­ter and easier Terms, will find Cherubims, and the Flaming Sword of Divine Justice, set to guard the Tree of Life from his Approaches; as once they did from guilty Adam.

[Page 60]II. 2 There is therefore another Obedience which gives a Right un­to the Tree of Life; It is Evange­lical Obedi­ence. and that is an Evangelical Obedience; which, according to the Grace, Condescension, and Equity of the Gospel, shall be accepted unto, and rewarded with Ever­lasting Happiness. Now this Evangelical Obedience consists not indeed in Innocency and Perfection, but in sincere Desires, and proportionable Endeavours after it; when we strive to the utmost to live holily, and to walk more strictly with God, accor­ding to the Rules that he hath prescribed us in his holy Word: And it consists of Two Parts; Mortification of our corrupt and sinful Affections, whereby we die daily unto Sin: And the Spi­ritual Penovation, and Quickning of our Graces, whereby we in­crease [Page 61]daily in spiritual Strength, and make farther Progresses in Holiness and true Piety. And as it consists of these Two Parts, so hath it also these two Adjuncts.

1. The one is, 1 True Repen­tance for our past Sins, reflecting upon them with Shame and Ha­tred, confessing and bewailing them with Sorrow and Contri­tion, and endeavouring, with all Earnestness and Sincerity, to ab­stain from the Commission of the like for the future.

2. The other is, 2 A True and Lively Faith, whereby we rely on the Blood and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ, for the Remission of our Sins; and upon his per­fect Righteousness, and preva­lent Intercession for the Accep­tation and Reward of our im­perfect Obedience.

Whosoever doth thus sincerely do the Commandments of God, universally and constantly, with his whole Strength and Mind, as though he expected to be saved by the Merits of his own Works; and yet, after all, doth so entirely rely on the Merits of Jesus Christ for Salvation, as though he had never done any thing: He it is, and he alone, who hath this Right unto the Tree of Eife, and shall enter through the Gates into the Heavenly City. For he doth his Commandments out of a sincere Love; and God, who is Love, will own his Sincerity.

Secondly, II I come now to con­sider what that Right is,What Right Obedience gives to Eter­nal Life. which this Evangelical Obedience, or doing the Commands of the I aw, according to the Favour and Mercy of the Gospel, doth confer upon us, by virtue of [Page 63]which we may assuredly expect Eternal Life. And here,

I. I It cannot be a Right of Pur­chace, or Merit. Not a Right of Purchace. It is a foolish Pre­sumption, and intollerable Arro­gance, to think we can deserve any thing at the hands of God, unless it be his Wrath by our Sins. For,

1. 1 In all proper Merit there must be an Equivalence,In Merit there must be an E­quivalence. or at least a proportion of Worth be­tween the Work, and the Re­ward: Which to imagine be­tween our Obedience, and the Heavenly Glory, is to exalt the one infinitely too high, and to abase the other infinitely too low. What proportion is there be­tween a Cup of cold Water given to a Disciple of Christ, and that O­cean of Everlasting Joy and Plea­sure, which shall be the Reward of it? A Man might more rea­sonably [Page 64]expect to buy Stars with Counters, or to purchaseaKingdom with Two Mites, than think to purchase the Heavenly Kingdom by paying down his Duties, and good Works, which are no way profitable unto God,Job 22.3. (For is it a­ny Pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous; or is it any Gain unto him, that thou makest thy Way perfect?) and bear no more pro­portion to the infinite Glory of Heaven, than a single Cypher doth to the numberless Sands of the Sea.

2. 2 The very Grace that ena­bles us to do the Command­ments of God,Grace to obey is given freely. is freely bestow­ed upon us by himself; and therefore the Obedience we per­form unto him, merely by his own Assistance, cannot be said (with­out a grand Impropriety) to me­rit any Reward from him. Such [Page] [Page] [Page 65]kind of Merit is but an idle and frivolous pretence: For certainly, he who gives me Money to buy an Estate of him, doth as freely give me that Estate, as if I had never bought it of him, but he had immediately bestowed the Land upon me, and not the Summ of Moncy.

3. All our Obedience is imperfect, 3 and therefore,All our O­bedience is imper­fect. if it deserve any thing, it is only Punishment for the Defects and Failures of it. This Coin is not currant, this Metal is base and adulterated, the King's Stamp defaced and obliterated, the Edges clip'd, and the Superscription, which should be on both sides Ho­liness to the Lord, is on the Reverse at least, A Sacrifice to Hypocrisie, Formality, and Vain-Glory; and therefore this counterfeit and base Alloy will not pass for Purchase-Money; and had it what it de­serves, [Page 66]it would be melted down in the Furnace of Hell.

4. 4 Suppose it were perfect, which it is not,Obedience is due from us. yet is it no more than our bounden Duty; and Duty can ne­ver be meritorious. We are bound by the Law of Nature, and, as we are Creatures who have received our Beings, and the Continuance and Preservation of them from God, to employ our selves faithfully and assiduously in his Service; and if, for our greater Encouragement therein, he hath promised, and will bestow upon us a vast and uncon­ceivable Reward, we must attri­bute it wholly to the Supereroga­tion of his free Bounty; for with­out this, all our Services were due to him before.Luk. 17.9, 10. Thus our Saviour tells us, Doth the Master thank the Ser­vant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye; when you shall have done [Page 67]all those things that are commanded you, say, (not in a complemental way, but with Truth and Sincerity) we are unprofitable Servants, we have but done that which was our Duty to do. And therefore certainly, if we cannot deserve Thanks, much less can we deserve so ample a Reward as Eternal Life: And therefore those that think to purchase Heaven and Eternal Life by doing that which is not commanded, nor their Duty, will find a fearful Disappointment of their presumptuous Hopes, when they shall hear that sad Gree­ting, Who hath required these things at your hands?

This Right then of Merit and Purchase is excluded, and no Man can have a Right to Heaven upon the Account of the Worth and Va­lue of his Works.

There is therefore a Threefold Right which they that do the Com­mandments of God, Athreefold Right to Heaven. have to Heaven, and Eternal Happiness.

1. 1 They have a Right of Evidence.

2. 2 They have a Right of Inheritance.

3. 3 They have a Right of Promise.

1. 1 Obedience to God's Com­mandments gives us a Right of Evi­dence to Eternal Life.A Right of Evidence. He is judged to have the best Right to an Estate, who can produce the best Evidence for it. Now the best Evidence that can be shewn for Heaven, is our unfeigned Obedience: All other things that Men may rely upon to justifie their Title, will prove but forged Deeds, to which only the Spirit of Presumption or Enthusiasm hath set his Seal, and not the Spirit of God; and therefore we find how miserably the Confidence of those Wretches were dismounted, and their Hopes frustrated, who came [Page 69]with Lord, Lord, Matth. 7.22. Have we not pro­phesied in thy Name, and in thy Name cast out Devils, and in thy Name have done many wonderful Works? All this may be, and yet be no good Title, no good Evidence for Heaven; for if those who cast out Devils, have not cast out their Lusts; if those who prophesie in his Name, by their Sins dishonour and blaspheme that Name; if those who are Workers of Miracles, are yet Workers of I­niquity, he professeth against them, that he knows them not; and com­mands them to depart from him for ever, as Workers of Iniquity; Matth. 7, 22, 23. whereas on the contrary, we find a joyful and blessed Sentence pronounced upon others, according to the Evi­dence brought in for them by their good Works; so our Lord himself tells us, Come ye Blessed of my Father, Matth. 25.30. inherit the Kingdom prepared for you: for I was hungry, and ye gave me Meat; [Page 70]for I was thirsty, and yet gave me Drink; a Stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye cloathed me; sick and in Prison, and ye visited me. This Particle [For] is not a Note of Causality or Merit, but only of Evidence; for as Evi­dences prove our Right to our Pos­sessions, so likewise our Obedience and good Works do effectually prove the Right which we have to Eternal Life, through Christ's Pur­chase, and God's free Donation; and therefore the Evidence being clear, the Sentence must in Equity proceed accordingly. God, as a just and righteous Judge, instates them in the Possession of the Kingdom of Heaven, because they visited, and relieved, and cherished his Son in his Members: Not that their Love to him, or their Charity to them pur­chased any such Right; but only proves and evinceth it: It is not the Cause of their Justification, but [Page 71]a Reason why God declares them justified; as the Deeds which I pro­duce are the Reason why an Estate is adjudged mine, though the Cause of my Title to it be either my own Purchase, or another's Gift. As therefore those are said to have no Right nor Title to what they pre­tend, who can shew no Evidence for it; so those who obey not the holy Will and Commands of God, have no Right to the Tree of Life, because they have no Evidence to shew, nor no Plea to urge for it, but will certainly be cast in their Suit.

2. 2 Those that do God's Com­mandments have a Right of Heir­ship, and Inheritance unto Eternal Life; A Right of Helrship. for they are born of God, and there­fore Heaven is their Patrimony, their Paternal Estate; for so are the Words of the Apostle,1 Joh 2.29. Every one that doth Righteousness, is born of [Page 72] God: And if they are born of God, then, according to the Apostle's Argumentation,Rom. 8.17. If Children, then Heirs, Heirs of God, and Joint Heirs with Christ, who is the Heirof all things. The Trial of thy Legitimation, whether thou art a true and ge­nuine Son of God, will lie upon thy Obedience to his Commands; For in this, 1 Joh. 3.9.10. says the Apostle, the Chil­dren of God are manifest, and the Chil­dren of the Devil: Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit Sin; and whoso­ever doth not Righteousness, is not of God. Now if by our Obedience and Dutifulness it appears that we are indeed the Children of God, our Father will certainly give us a Child's Portion, and that is no less than a Kingdom. So saith our Sa­viour,Luk. 12.32. Fear not, little Flock; it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.

[Page 73]3. 3 A Right of Promise. Those that do God's Com­mandments have a Right to Eternal Life, by Promise and Stipulation; and therefore it is called Eternal Life, Tit. 1.2. which God that cannot lie hath promised. Indeed, the whole Tenour of the Gospel is nothing else but the Ex­hibition of this Promise, and a Comment upon it. This is the Summ of the Gospel, the Terms of the Covenant, the Indenture made be­tween God and Man;Matth. 19.17. If thou wilt enter into Life, says our Saviour, keep the Commandments. And in another place our Lord tells us,Matth. 7.21. Not eve­ry one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven.

And thus you see what Right it is, that Obedience to the Com­mands of God gives us to Eternal Life: A Right of Evidence, a Right of Heirship, and a Right of Promise.

But, Object. may some say, Is not this again to establish the antiquated Covenant of Works; Do this, and live? And doth not this abolish the Law of Faith, He that believeth shall be saved? Is it not the Office of Faith alone to convey unto us a Right and Title unto Eternal Life?

I answer, Answer. No, it doth no preju­dice unto Faith; for we still affirm, that our original and fundamental Right to Heaven is grounded, not upon our Obedience, but Christ's; not upon our Works, but upon his; his Merits and Purchase, which, through Faith, are imparted and imputed to us. Yet give me leave to say, that I think the Notion of Justifying and Saving Faith is very much, if not generally mistaken by us: And as the Soul is the most noble, and most vital Principle of Man, and yet is most unknown to him what it is, and how it ope­rates; [Page 75]so Faith, which is the vi­tal Principle of Christians, and by which the Just are said to live, is yet most unknown, both as to its Nature and Operations, unto the Generality of them: Some place it in Assurance, some in Affiance and Recumbence; some in one Act of Faith, and some in another; which are either the Effects of Faith as true, or the Degrees of it as strong, ra­ther than the proper and adequate Nature and Essence of it; and then they mightily puzzle themselves how to accord and reconcile Faith and Obedience in carrying on the great Work of our Salvation, which yet were never at a variance about it, but only in their mistaken Hypo­thesis: For what is Faith, but an As­sent to a Testimony? The very force and import of the Word can carry no other Sense: And he that saith he believes, must needs mean he believes some Record or Te­stimony; [Page 76]or else he speaks that which neither himself, nor any other can understand. Consequently there­fore a Divine Faith must be an As­sent to a Divine Testimony; that is, to the Word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures. But now if this Faith rest only in a bare and naked Assent to the Truth of Di­vine Revelation, it is but Historical and Dogmatical; which, though it be a Divine Faith in respect of the Objects believed, yet is it but Humane and Natural in respect of its Principle and Motives. But when this Assent to the Truths of the Scripture is joined with propor­tionable Affections to those Truths, and doth excite us to Actions con­formable to the Discoveries of the Divine Will, there this Faith is Ju­stifying and Saving. And certain­ly this is not so very distant from Obedience, as to be thought hardly [Page 77]reconcileable with it. As for In­stance, A Man may give a bare As­sent to this great Gospel-Truth, that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners, and yet this Faith may not save him, because it may be unope­rative, and pass no farther than the Act of the Understanding: This is a dead Faith, which can never bring any Man to Heaven; yea, such a Faith as the very Devils, Jam. 2.19. and Damned Spirits in Hell have, who believe and tremble. Another Man believes the same Truth, and assents to the same Proposition; but this his Assent in­fluenceth his Affections, and go­verns his Actions, in Conformity to the Nature and Consequences of such a Belief: And because he is assured that Jesus Christ came into the World to be the Saviour of it, therefore he loves him, trusts in him, relies upon him, hopes in his Promises, and obeys his Com­mands. [Page 78]And this,What Sa­ving Faith is. indeed, is a true Saving, Justifying Faith; for Sa­ving Faith is a firm Assent unto the Truths of God revealed in the holy Scriptures, working in us propor­tionable Affections and Actions. He who so believes the Glory of Hea­ven, as to have his Endeavours thereby quickned to use his utmost Diligence for the obtaining of it: He who so believes the Torments of Hell, as thereby to be terrified from doing any thing that might expose him to so great and fearful a Con­demnation: He who so believes the Attributes of God, as thereby to be excited to fear him for his Great­ness, to love him for his Goodness, to imitate him in his Bounty, Pu­rity, and Holiness: He who so be­lieves the All-sufficiency, Merits, and Mediatory Office of Jesus Christ, as thereby to be engaged with all his Soul to love him, to trust in him, [Page 79]to rely upon him alone for Salva­tion, and to yield to him all sincere Obedience, as the Law requires; such an one's Faith is Saving and Justifying. So that you see there is no such Discord between Faith and Works, as some would imagine; for that Faith that saves us, must work by Love; Gal. 5.6. and those Works which capacitate us for Salvation, must be the Obedience of Faith, Rom. 16.26. as it is called, Rom. 16.26.

Now, Use. What is the End of all this, but to press you to true practi­cal Holiness, and a strict Obedience to the Commandments of God? If I should go from one Person to another, and ask you one by one, Do you hope to be saved? Where is the Man that would not testifie the Confidence of his Hopes, by his Disdain at the Question? Yea, but remember that Salvation is a litigious Claim, and you have a [Page 80]powerful Adversary that puts in a strong Plea against you, even the Ju­stice of God, and his Eternal Wrath and Vengeance; whose Title to us, were it but better weighed and con­sidered, would wofully stagger the Hopes of most Men, and make their Faces gather Blackness, and smite their Hearts with Amazement, and their Knees with Trembling. In a Matter of such infinite Impor­tance, it highly concerns us to ex­amine our Right and Title, and to peruse and try our Evidences, lest at the Day of Trial we be cast in our Suit, and pay dreadful Dama­ges unto the Justice of God.

Only those who do God's Command­ments have this Right to the Tree of Life. Christ hath indeed purcha­sed Salvation for all,Heb 5.19. but he is the Author of Salvation only to those who obey him, as the Author to the Hebrews speaks:Heb 2.14. And, Without Holiness no Man [Page] [Page] [Page 81]shall ever see the Lord. The Inheri­tance is indeed purchased, but where are your Evidences of your Heirship? Sirs, flatter not your selves with any vain Conceits of the Mercy of the Gospel, in prejudice to the Autho­rity of the Law: The Command­ments are the Statute-Law of God's Kingdom, the Gospel is his Court of Chancery; but neither Justice nor Equity will relieve those who have not done their utmost to ob­serve his Statute-Law; and there­fore those who indulge themselves in their Sloth, and wilful Neglect, both of what they ought, and might have done, do but deceive their Souls with vain Hopes; they have no Right to the Eternal Inheri­tance, but their Portion must for ever be with Dogs and Swine, with­out the holy City into which no un­clean thing shall ever enter. And if any think this Legal Preaching, let mine ever be so.

CHristian Religion is founded upon such mysterious and supernatural Truths,Introdu­ction. and the Prin­ciples of it are so paradoxal to the received Opinions of Mankind, that the greatest Persecution it ever found in the World, was not so much from Fire and Sword, Racks [Page 83]and Tortures, the evident Cruelties of the first Opposers of it, as from the Magisterial Dictates of partial and corrupt Reason.

The Philosophers, whom Tertullian calls the Patrons of Hereticks, have established Two peremptory Max­ims, utterly repugnant unto what the Scripture reveals to us, both con­cerning our Happiness and Com­fort: The one is, Ex nihilo, nihil ha­betur: Out of nothing, nothing can be made; directly levell'd against the Creation of the World. And the other is, A privatione ad habitum non datur Regressus: There is no Restora­tion of the same Being, after a total Corruption and Dissolution of it; which still continues a great Prejudice a­gainst the Resurrection of our Bo­dies; which the Oracles of Reason have so much troubled the World with, that whatsoever seem'd in the least contradictory to it, they [Page 84]judged contradictory to common Sense, and exploded it as ridiculous and impossible. Under these great Disadvantages the Christian Religion labour'd, whilst it not only own'd the Creation of the World out 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 Minds were too deeply tinctur'd with contrary No­tions, that they look'd upon the Christian Religion as a Design 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 complaining, that the Greeks, 1 Cor 1.24. who were then the great Masters of Wisdom and Learning, esteemed a crucified Christ Foolishness, and thought those Men little befriend­ed by Reason, that would depend for Life upon one that lost his own; and venture to take off the Shame­fulness of the Cross, or to silence those Scoffs that were cast upon them 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 make Reason more suspicious, in that they judg­ed the Fundamentals of Reason must be overthrown, to make the Fundamentals of Christianity any way tolerable or possible. Wherefore we find that even at Athens, that great [Page 86]Concourse of Wits, where all the Sect of Philosophers made their common Retreat; yet when Saint Paul preached to them Jesus, and the Resurrection, this Doctrine seem'd so absurd and foolish to them, and so contrary to all Prin­ciples of right Reason, that they forgot that Civility that usually is found in Men of inquisitive Spi­rits, and brake out into open Re­proaches and Revilings;Acts 17.18 What will this Babler say? because he preached to them Jesus, and the Resurrection. No doubt they wanted not very specious Arguments to urge against the Resurrection of the Body: As first, The Impossibility of a Re­collection of the dispersed Parti­cles of Men, resolved into their Elements, and scatter'd by the Four Winds of Heaven; though it might be very well retorted on the Epi­cureans, who disputed with Saint [Page 87] Paul, against the Resurrection, that it was not so unlikely a thing, that there might be a Re-union of the scatter'd Parts of the same Man, as the fortuitous Concourse of Atoms at the first Making of the World; yet this Objection overbore and prevail'd with Heathens, that when they burnt the Bodies of Christians, they cast their Ashes into the Rivers, to confute their Hopes of ever being raised again; from whence they should be car­ried away 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 Sadduces, may be said unto these Men; You err, Matth. 22.29. not know­ing the Scriptures, nor the Power of God: For unless their Parts could be scatter'd beyond the reach of Omnipotency, unless they could be ground so small, as to scape the [Page 88] 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, Objection. may be the various Changes dead Bodies under­go; being first turn'd into Earth, that again turn'd 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 there was of Souls: which is very evident in the Case of Anthropomorphites, and Men-Eat­ers, who have, of several parts of [Page 89]other Men's Bodies, compounded their own. And so the same Que­stion may be demanded, which the Sadduces asked our Saviour, concern­ing the seven Brethren that married the same Woman, whose Wife of the seven she should be at the Resur­rection? So here, those Parts that belonged to so many Men, to which of them belong they in the Resur­rection, without detriment to the rest? Here the same Answer oc­currs, that Christ gave them;Matth. 22.29. You 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, these Argu­ments against the Resurrection of the Body, amount not to prove the Im­possibility of the Effect; but only [Page 90]the Supernatural Almighty Power of the Efficient. Wherefore, gran­ting the Resurrection impossible, ac­cording to the Original Course of Natural Things, yet when an Om­nipotent Arm doth interpose, which gives Laws unto it, who dares to say, the Creature may be brought to such a State of Dissolution, as may out-reach the Dominion of the Almighty Creator.

Upon these Grounds it is, that the Apostle urgeth,Act. 26.8. why it should be thought a strange and incredible thing, that God should raise the Dead; and in the Text, that he asserts the Re­surrection of Christ. And to pre­vent any fallacious Cavils against it, he shews,

First, I That God raised him from the Dead; Division of the Words. and therefore it was not to be accounted a thing impossible, since to God nothing could imply a Contradiction.

Secondly, II He doth not only assert the Possibility, but the Impossibili­ty of his final Continuance under the Power of Death. The Grave that grasps and retains all other Mortals, was not able to detain him who hath Immortality and Life dwelling in himself: It was not possible he should be holden of it, there­fore God hath raised him up, loosing the Pains of 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,Acts 3.13.15. The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our Fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus, whom ye delive­red up, and denied the Holy One, and the Just, desiring a Murtherer; and kil­led the Prince of Life, whom God hath [Page 92]raised from the Dead. Sometimes it is ascribed to the Son, who by the in­finite Power of his Divinity, raised up his Humane Nature from the Grave: So our Saviour himself tells us,Joh. 3.18. I lay down my Life of my self: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. The same may be collected of the Holy Ghost, from the Words of the Apostle;Rom. 8.11. If the Spi­rit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the Dead, shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit. 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 Copies it is, Having loosed the Pains of Hell; which possibly gave Occasion to that fond Opinion of some, that Christ descended in­to [Page 93]Hell, and there underwent the Pains and Penalties of that infernal Place, as full Satisfaction to the Ju­stice of God; and that these were the Pains God raised or loosed him from in his Resurrection. But this Conceit is erroneous and extrava­gant, and deserves no serious Con­futation, especially because it plain­ly contradicts Christ's Consummatum est upon the Cross; for when Christ had undergone his Sufferings on the Cross, he said, It is finished, Joh 18.13. and so gave up the Ghost. If Christ there­fore did undergo any farther Suffe­rings and Pains than those Suffe­rings he underwent on the Cross, those Suff [...]ings would have been so far from being compleated and finished that they would have been but th [...] Praeludium, and Beginning of his [...]orrows, Having loosed the [...] Death, it implies no more [...] God raised Jesus Christ [Page 94]from Death, which, after many dolorous Pains, he suffered. It fol­lows, It was not possible he should be holden of it. This is that I intend principally to insist upon; and here I shall shew upon what Accounts it was altogether impossible for Christ to be detained under the Power of Death; and my Arguments for the Proof hereof are these that follow.

First, Reasons why Christ could not be held un­der the Power of Death. It was impossible Christ should be held under the Power of Death, because of that great and ineffable Mystery of the Hyposta­tical Union of the Divine and Hu­mane Nature in the Person of Christ. I Because of the Hypo­statical Union. There are three Unions, the Belief of which are the Foundation of the greatest part of the Christian Religion, which are wholly beyond the reach of Reason: The Mystical Union of a Believer unto Christ: The Union, or rather Unity of the three Glorious Persons, the Father, the Son, and the [Page 95]Holy Ghost, in one Nature; and this Hypostatical Union of two Na­tures in one Person, in the Medi­ator. It is a Mystery Angels pry into, and adore, with Wonder and Asto­nishment, how the Eternal, only begotten Son of God should assume Flesh to himself, in so close and in­timate a Conjunction, that though he be Eternal, yet he should be born; though he be Immortal, yet he should truly die; and though he were truly dead, yet he should raise himself to Life again. These are things that seem very inconsistent one with another, yet they truly come to pass through this miracu­lous Union, which transcends the Reach of Reason, as far as these things do that of Nature. That the same Person that is Eternal, should be young; yea, be born in the Fulness of Time. That the same Person that hath Immortality [Page 96]and Life dwelling in himself, should also die a shameful and accursed Death. That the same Person that was truly and really dead, yet had a power to quicken and recover himself, Joh. 10.18. And this was it which declared him to be the Son of God with Power, Rom. 1.4. as the Apostle speaks, even by his Resurrection from the Dead. 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 Divines; That when the Natural Union between Christ's Body and Soul was dissolved, yet both Soul and Body did retain the [Page 97]Hypostatical Union to the Divine Na­ture. The Divine Nature was united to the Body of Christ, when the Soul was separated from it.

I. 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 of the 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 lov'd the Humane Nature, as to associate it into Oneness of Person with him­self, should yet suffer it to continue under the power of Death, which is, of all things, most contrary to his natural Inclinations. We see [Page 98]Christ, in his Agony, prayed most fervently that the bitter Cup might pass from him, insomuch that he strained clotted Blood through him; and certainly, one Ingredi­ent into that Cup was the Separa­tion of Soul and Body by Death; which is that which even innocent Nature it self 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, Heb. 2.14. that is, the De­vil, he voluntarily submitted him­self to undergo it; and this End be­ing fully accomplish'd by his Death, and the Truth of his Death likewise attested by his lying three Days in the Earth, it was altogether impos­sible that that Person who had an Abhorrence of Death, and a Power to raise himself, should continue longer under the Arrest and Domi­nion of it. And this is the first De­monstration [Page 99]of the Necessity of the Resurrection of Christ, upon the Account of both Natures in one Person: As Man, so he abhorred the Separation of Soul and Body; as God, so 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.

II. 2 Because of the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in the Person of Christ, it was impossible that his Flesh should see Corrup­tion; 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 not a phantastical 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 undergone such Chan­ges after Death as ours shall do; [Page 100]and to imagine the contrary, is but to feign one Miracle, to avoid the necessity of another, even of the Resurrection. But now, it was ut­terly impossible that that Body that was united to both 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;Act. 2.28. Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Ho­ly One to see Corruption. And also, because all Bodies that are corrup­ted turn into some other Thing, and some other Nature, according to that undoubted Maxim of the Philosophers, Corruptio 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 joyned to some other. So that it was necessary that Christ should be [Page 101]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 of the Hy­postatical Union of the Divine and Humane Nature of Christ in one Person, it was altogether impossi­ble he could be holden of Death.

Secondly, Another Argument is this, II It was impossible Christ should be holden of Death, because of God's Veracity, and the Truth of those Predictions which were before made concerning Christ, in those many Types and Prophecies of the Old Testament; all which God'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: It was not possible, says he,Act. 2.2 [...].27. that Christ should be holden of Death; for God, faith the [Page 102] Apostle, as David saith 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. 16 10 which, that it did not belong to David, nor did he speak it concer­ning himself, when he indicted that Psalm, Act. 2. [...]9, [...]. the Apostle proves, Ver. 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 therefore 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 o [...] the Dead, for so is Hell to be un­derstood there, as I shall shew [Page 103]more at large: Neither could it belong to any of those who, before Christ, were raised miraculously from the Dead, and 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 to Christ. And since the Apostle lays so 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 of those that have at­tempted to interpret these Words, Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell; that by this Hell, into which Christ descended, is meant the place of the Damned, where he preached the [Page 104] Gospel to them, freeing those that would believe from their Pains. Others think that this Hell, into which Christ descended, 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 to the Messias, before Christ came in the Flesh: And the Reason of his Descent thither was, that he might release those Souls from Chains, and carry them with him to Hea­ven; so that ever since, that Man­sion in Hell hath been left void, without any Inhabitants. But this Opinion is not 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 Word Hades, that we translate Hell, is very of­ten, by the Septuagint, in the Old [Page 105]Testament, used to signifie the Grave, or the State of the Dead. So in Gen. 44. Ishades, Gen. 44.31. we translate it the Grave, but it is the same Word that is used for Hell in the Text. And thus the Word is used in other places of Scripture, as also in other Authors, to signifie the Place and State of the Dead, and of se­parate Souls. And for the lea­ving the Soul of Christ in Hades, or in Hell, we must know, that it is a thing that is not unusual in Scripture, to call a Man that is dead by the Name of Soul: So the Sep­tuagint translate that place in Levi­ticus, Levit. 21.11. They shall not be defiled with dead Souls, meaning dead Carca­ses, neither shall they go into any dead Souls, the Word is dead Bodies. But not to detain you any longer on this Speculation, though of great use for the right understan­ding of this excellent place of Scrip­ture: [Page 106]If we take Hell for the Grave, we must take the Soul for the Body, Thou wilt not leave my Body in the Grave: But if by Hell be here understood the State of Death, that is, the State of Separation of Soul and Body, the Interpretation will be more easie 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 feel 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 Resurrection of our Saviour; and therefore being foretold he should not 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 Christ [Page 107]should be holden of 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.

Thirdly, Another Argument is this: III God's Ju­stice would not suffer Christ to lie in the Grave. It was impossible Christ could 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, though Christ knew no Sin, yet was he made Sin for us; that is, our Sins 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 from him for our Offences: Now no other Satisfaction would be ac­ceptable [Page 108]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: But now 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, that we should have been everla­stingly a 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 that those Laws require, hath made [Page 109]satisfaction for the Offence com­mitted, the Person satisfying ought to be protected as innocent. It could not therefore consist 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 punishment inflicted upon us for Sin: So says the Apostle;Rom. 6.23. The Wages of Sin is Death. And in ano­ther place,and 5.12. By Sin Death enter'd into the World, and Death passed upon all, because all have sinned. From all which it follows, that as Christ ta­king upon him our Sins, became thereby liable to Death; so having satisfied for our Sins, and thereby freed himself from the Guilt that [Page 110]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 undergoing 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 in justice to be acquit­ted from all Penalties, and conse­quentially from Death.

Fourthly, IV It was impossible Christ should be holden of Death, Christ could not be holden of Death, because of his Media­torship. in respect of his Ossice of Mediatorship: For having as our Mediator underta­ken the desperate Service of bring­ing sinfull and fallen Man to Life and Happiness, he must of necessity not only dye but rise again from the dead, without which his Death [Page 111]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.

First, A meritorious purchase, procuring the Thing it self for us.

Secondly, 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 dyed, and not risen again; if he had not over­come Death within its own Empire, and triumph'd over the Grave in its own Territories, it would have been to his Disappointment, and not at all to our Salvation. The Loss of Christ's Life would not have [Page 112]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, Luk. 24.16, 19, 20, 21. that so stagger'd the two Disciples going to Emaus: 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 thought of his Dy­ing; and when he told us of his Death, he likewise foretold us of his Resurrection the third Day; and behold, the third Day is already come, and yet is there no Appea­rance of this Jesus: Verily, we trusted that it had been he which should have re­deemed [Page] [Page] [Page 113]Israel; but now our Hopes grow faint, and languish in us; for certainly, there can be no Redemp­tion for Israel by him who cannot redeem himself from Death. There was 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 this of the Cross and Death of Christ; for believing that he was lifted up upon the Cross, but not believing that 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 deserv'd; and our Salvation begun on the Cross, is perfected on the Throne. And [Page 114]therefore the Apostle tells us,1 Cor. 15.17. our Faith in a crucified Saviour, and our Obedience to him is all vain, if he had not risen again from the Dead: 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,Rom. 4.25 in his Epistle to the Romans; which Righteousness he wrought out for us, both by his perfect Obedience 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 have justified himself. And therefore [Page 115]we read,1 Tim. 3.16. Great is the Mystery of Godliness, says the Apostle; God ma­nifested in the Flesh, in his Incarna­tion; justified in the Spirit, by his Resurrection; seen of Angels, in his Ascension. Had he not been rai­sed and quickned 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 Body 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 of 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 Salvation, [Page 116]and so would have brought a Dis­appointment upon the infinite Wis­dom of God, which was impossible to be done; and therefore conse­quentially Christ could not be hol­den of Death.

The Application of this great Truth shall be briefly in these fol­lowing Inferences.

First then, Use 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, or False Pro­phet, it would have been so far from an Impossibility that he should not have been raised, that it would have been a very Impossibility for him to have risen again; for nei­ther could he have raised himself, being a mere Man; neither would God have raised him, being a mere Impostor and Cheat. When there­fore the Jews call'd for a Sign from [Page 117]Christ, to prove him to be the true Messiah, he gives them the Sign of his Resurrection, in Matth. 12.38, 39. Master, say they,Matth. 12.38, 39. we would see a Sign from thee. He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous Ge­neration seeketh after a Sign, and there shall be no Sign given to it, but the Sign of the Prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three Days and three Nights in the Whale's Belly, so shall the Son of Man be three Days and three Nights in the Heart of 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, in Joh. 2.18, 19.Joh. 2.18, 19. The Jews answered and said unto him, What Sign shewest thou unto us, seeing thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this Temple, and in three Days I will raise it up. So that still he made his Death and Re­surrection [Page 118]to be the infallible Proof of his being the true Messiah.

Secondly, Use ii. If it were necessary that Christ should rise from the Dead, and that he did do so, then cer­tainly Sin is conquered; for the Sting of Death, and that enve­nom'd Weapon Death hath, where­by it wounds, yea kills the Sinner, is Sin; and as long as Death hath this Sting in it, it could not have been conquer'd by any Sinner. It is Sin that gives Death its Power to hold fast all those that come within its reach; which 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 of Death with him.

Thirdly, Use iii. If the Resurrection of Christ be thus necessary, and hath been thus effectually accomplished, [Page 119]we may comfortably from thence conclude the Necessity of our own Resurrection; for the Head being raised, the Members shall not al­ways sleep in the Dust. Christ's Mystical Body shall certainly be raised, as well as his Natural Bo­dy; and every Member of it shall be made for ever glorious, with a glorious and triumphant Head.

WAving all Prefaces and Introductions, we may observe in these Words Three Parts.Division of the Words.

First, 1 A Negative Command, Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart: which implies in it the contrary positive Precept, Thou shalt love thy Brother.

Secondly, 2 A Direction how we should preserve our selves from this rancoured Vice of Hatred, and express our more cordial Love, in the best Service we can do for him; Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour.

Thirdly, 3 A forcible Motive to excite us unto the performance of this Duty, drawn from the Consideration of the great Bene­fit which will in likelyhood re­dound to him by the conscien­tious discharge of it. By this means thou wilt not suffer Sin to lie upon him: implying, That if this charitable Duty of Fraternal Reproof be neglected, he will still continue in his Sins, his Guilt will remain upon him, and thou wilt be accessory to it.

I shall not consider any of these Particulars by themselves, but treat only of what is here [Page 122]chiefly intended, namely, the necessity of that much neglect­ed Duty of Brotherly Reproof and Admonition.

And here I shall prosecute this Method with all possible Brevity and Perspicuity.

First, 1 Shew you what Brother­ly Correption is.

Secondly, 2 The Difficulty of it.

Thirdly, 3 The Necessity of it.

Fourthly, 4 Lay down some Rules and Directions how it ought to be performed.

Fifthly, 5 Lay before you some Considerations that may be pow­erful Motives and Engagements to it.

First, 1 What Brotherly Reproof or Correption is.

To this I answer in brief,What Brotherly Reproof is. It is an Act of Love and Charity, whereby we endeavour to reduce [Page 123]our offending Brother to Repen­tance and Reformation: And there are two ways of doing it, either by Words or Actions.

First, by Words; 1 remonstrating to them the greatness of their Sin,Reproof is by Words. the Scandal they give to others, either by encouraging, or sadning them; the Reproach they bring upon Religion, and the Danger they bring upon their own Souls. But if they be deaf to all these Admonitions, and con­tinue obstinate and resolv'd in their evil Courses, we are then to reprove them.

Secondly, By Actions; 2 That where Words have proved in­effectual,Reproof may be by Actions. we may try how Deeds can prevail. Prevail, I say, ei­ther to deliver them, or at least, to deliver thine own Soul from Death. And this also must be done these two ways.

First, 1 If they be our Inferi­ours over whom we have Au­thority,Reproof of In­feriours, is to it by Authority. either as Magistrates, or Parents, or the like; we ought, when Admonition and Correption is fruitless, to reprove them by Correction and Punishment: If they will not hear, they must feel Rebuke. This Discipline if it be seasonably and prudently used, is so far from being any Act of Cruelty, that it is an Act of the greatest Kindness and Charity that can be both to them and to others.

To them:Reproof tends to restrain from Sin. As it may restrain them from the commission of those future Crimes, to which their Impunity would else em­bolden them. And thus to fall into the Hands of Men, may be a means to keep them from fal­ling into the Hands of God.

To others: As it may terri­fie them from following the Ex­amples of such an ones Vices, by seeing the Examples of his suffe­ring. Thus the Punishment of some is made to become the In­nocence of others.

Secondly, 2 If Equals con­tinue obstinate under Reproof, we must with­draw Society from them. If they be our E­quals, over whom we have no Jurisdiction, nor coercive Power, we are then to rebuke them, if they continue obstinate after Christian Admonition, by with­drawing our selves from all ne­cessary Converse with them; not so as to deny them the Offi­ces of Civility, Courtesie, and our charitable Assistance to pro­mote their temporal Good; but to break off all Familiarity and Intimacy with them: not to make such lewd and dissolute Persons our Friends and chosen Companions. Thus the Apostle [Page 126]charges us,2 Thess. 3.6. We command you, Bre­thren, in the Name of our Lord Je­sus Christ, that you withdraw your selves from every Brother that walk­eth disorderly, and not after the Tradition which he received of us. And this way of reproving them ought to be so managed by us, that it may appear it doth not proceed from any sowre, morose, surly Humour, disdaining or ha­ting of their Persons, but merely from Conscience of our Duty towards the Glory of God, and to do an Act of Love and Cha­rity, as indeed it is, both to­wards them, and towards our selves.

First, 1 Towards them: When you thus endeavour to shame them out of their Wickedness, by discountenancing them in it. So says the Apostle, 2 Thess. 3.14. If any Man obey not our Word, note that Man, [Page 127]and have no Company with him, that he may be ashamed. And indeed, if a Man be not altogether pro­fligate, if he be not utterly lost to Modesty, it must needs make him reflect upon himself with Shame and Blushing, that cer­tainly he is grown a strange vile Wretch, a loathsome and odious Monster, when all good and so­ber Men do thus carefully shun and avoid him. Now Shame is a good step to Amendment: And a Blush the first colour that Virtue takes.

Secondly, Towards your selves: 2 You are obliged to abandon them, as to reclaim them, so to secure your selves: For Vice is very contagious, and it is unsafe to converse with those, who have such Plague-Sores running upon them, lest you be also in­fected.

Thus you see what this Duty of Brotherly Reproof is, and how in the general it is to be per­formed, either in Words or Acti­ons. And to these, Two Things are necessarily previous and an­tecedent,

First, 1 Instruction and Con­viction.Conviction of the Fault. We ought to bring them to see their Fault before we rebuke them for it; other­wise while we chide and do not inform them, it will rather seem a proud design of quarrelling with them, than a conscientious Design of bettering them. And therefore we find how artificial­ly Nathan insinuates into David the hainousness and inhumani­ty of his Sin, and works in him a Hatred and Detestation of that Person who was so cruel and devoid of Compassion, be­fore he comes to deal downright [Page] [Page] [Page 129]with him, Thou art the Man. And could we but skilfully con­vince our Brother, by thus re­presenting the odiousness of such and such Sins, to which we know he is addicted, possibly we might spare our selves in that which is the most ungrate­ful and displeasing part of this Work, I mean personal Re­flection, and leave it to his own Conscience to reprove himself, and to apply it home, with, Thou art the Man. And,

Secondly, 2 We ought to watch over our Brother. It is necessary that we watch over our Brother, not so as to be insidious Spies upon him, officiously to pry into his Actions, and busily concern our selves in all he doth. This prag­matical Temper is justly hate­ful. And those who thus arro­gate to themselves to be publick Censors, and to inspect the [Page 130]Lives and Manners of others, making it their whole Imploy­ment to observe what others say or do, that they may have Mat­ter either to reprove or reproach them, are a Company of into­lerable busy Bodies. But yet,

First, 1 By Caution. We ought so to watch over our Brother as to give him timely Caution if we see him in any danger through Temptati­on or Passion, and to admonish him to stand upon his guard, to recollect himself and beware he be not surprized or injured by such an approaching Sin.

And Secondly, 2 If we have ob­served any Miscarriages in him,The best season. we are to watch the best Sea­sons, and all the fittest Circum­stances in which to remind him of it, that so our Reproof may be well accepted, and become effectual. For he that will ven­ture [Page 131]rashly to reprove without this Circumspection, may do more mischief to his Brother by rebuking him, than he had done to himself by offending: Exa­sperating and imbittering his Heart against Piety, for the Im­pertinencies, at least the In­discretions of those who profess it, and provoking him to sin the more out of mere Opposition and Contradiction. And I am verily perswaded, and have in some Cases observed it, that ve­ry many Sins owe themselves to the imprudence of those who have taken upon themselves to be Reprovers, and would never have been committed, if they had not indiscreetly gainsay'd it. Thus we see what this Duty of reproving is, and what is neces­sarily required thereunto.

But indeed, 2 which is the Se­cond Thing,Of the difficul­ty of Reproof. It is not so hard a Matter to know what it is, as it is difficult conscientiously and faithfully to practise it. How few are there in the World, I will not say skillful enough to do it well, but zealous and con­scientious enough to do it at all? Do we not every day see God fearfully dishonoured, ob­serve his Name blasphemed, his Laws violated, his Worship de­nied? Do you not daily see mul­titudes of wretched Creatures, whose Crimes not only defie and outrage God, but stab and mur­ther their own Souls; and yet who is there that hath that Zeal for God, or that Charity for his Brother, as to interpose, and by a serious and fitting Reproof, vindicate the one from Disho­nour, or rescue the other from [Page 133]Perdition? There are enow that will make up a sad Mouth, and whisper those things abroad, it may be out of very ill Ends and Designs: but where almost is the Person that will dare to maintain the Honour of God to the Face of those who bold­ly affront him; that will dare to open their Mouths before those that will dare to open them a­gainst Heaven? Certainly we can easily produce much more Reason for our Reproofs, than they can for their Wickedness, and it were very strange, if we should not be able to beat them off from their Considence, when we have God and our own Con­sciences, nay and theirs also, to side with us. Yet so it is that we are generally apt to sneak and slink away from so troublesome a Task, and to let [Page 134]Iniquity pass uncontroul'd, yea triumphant. We are well con­tent to let others sin quietly, so that we may live quietly without troubling our selves with so hard and difficult a Service. And that which makes it seem so dif­ficult, is,

First, 1 A sinful Fear; and,

Secondly, 2 A sinful Shame, that seizeth on the Spirits of Men, and takes off the edge of holy Courage and Confidence, that are so absolutely necessary to the performing of this Duty.

First, 1 Many are afraid to re­prove Sin,Fear of displea­sing should not hinder repro­ving for Sin. lest they should in­cur Displeasure, weaken their secular Interest, ruine their De­pendencies, and bring some Mischief upon themselves, by exasperating the Offenders a­gainst them. But these are poor, low, carnal Considera­tions. [Page 135]Where Matter of Duty is in question, it is very neces­sary for every Christian to be of an undaunted Courage and Re­solution, not to fear the Faces of Men, nor to be frighted with a grim Look, or a proud Huff. If he will seriously perform this Duty, he must remember, that he is pleading for God, that he is saving a Soul from Hell, and therefore ought not to value their Anger, nor his own Da­mage; but to steel himself a­gainst all such mean and sordid Considerations. Indeed it shews a most pitiful Spirit in us, that we should be more afraid of of­fending them, than they are of offending God. Shall they be bold to sin, and we not bold e­nough to tell them of it? And yet such is the Cowardize of the Generality of Christians, that [Page 136]they dare not appear for God, or for Piety and Holiness, when they see them wronged by the Impudence of boisterous Sin­ners; but those pitiful, little base carnal Respects of what they may lose, or what they may suffer by it, intervene, and make them sit mopish, and over-aw'd, like Men in whose Mouths are no Re­proofs; Psal. 38.14. whilst these wicked Wretches, who have all the Rea­son in the World to be timorous and fearful, glory in thus out­braving and baffling them.

Secondly, 2 Others again are a­shamed to reprove Sin.Shame should not hinder Re­proving for Sin. And whereas many vile and profli­gate Wretches glory in their Shame, these on the contrary are ashamed of that which would be their Glory. Either they doubt they shall be thought but troublesome and hypocritical [Page 137]Intermedlers; or else possibly being conscious to themselves of many Miscarriages, they suspect their Reproofs will be upbraidingly retorted upon them­selves, and so by reproving the Faults of others, they shall but give an occasion to have their own ript up and exposed: And so they think it the safer way to say nothing, lest by raking into other Mens Dunghills, they should but furnish them with Dirt enough to fling back in their own Faces. And thus between these Two carnal Principles of sinful Fear, and sinful Shame, which are so deeply rooted in our corrupt Natures, Reproof is commonly neglected, and it is one of the hardest things in the World, to perswade Men to be true to God, to their own Souls, and to the Souls of their Bre­thren, [Page 138]in a faithful discharge of that Duty which is usually at­tended with such Disadvantages and Difficulties.

But though it be thus diffi­cult; yet,

Thirdly, 3 It is a most necessary Duty.Reproof a very necessary Duty. The greatest good you can do in the World is to pluck up these Bryars and Thorns with which it is over-grown. Con­sider but how insolent Vice and Wickedness is apt to be where none do appear to check and controul it. If it can but once silence Vertue, it will quickly banish it. If it can but put it to the Blush, it will quickly put it to flight. And when it hath once made us either afraid or a­shamed to lay a Rebuke in its way, what else can we expect but that it should overspread the Face of the whole Earth, and [Page 139]like a general Deluge drown all Mankind, first in Sin, and then in Perdition. There is no other way to prevent this great and sad Ruine, but for every Christi­an vigorously to oppose himself to the growing Sins of the Times and Places in which he lives, and with Courage and Resolution to decry that common Profane­ness, that gains Credit only by our Silence. We know that Sin is a shameful opprobrious Thing in it self, a Thing that dishear­tens and dispirits the Guilty: They wear a Conscience about them that is still checking and upbraiding them; and if we could but look into their Souls, we should see them covered all over with Fear, Horrour, and Confusion. They are general­ly self-condemned Persons, and carry those Monitors within [Page 140]their own Breasts that are con­tinually reproving and tormen­ting them: And therefore that they may not hear the Voice of their own Consciences, they live abroad, and rather converse with any one without doors, than with themselves and their own troublesome and clamo­rous Hearts. Now let it be our Care to stop up all Passa­ges, by which they think to make their escape. Let them find, that in whatsoever Com­pany they go, they shall meet with those that will no more spare them, than their own Con­sciences; that Company is no Sanctuary for Sins and Guilt, and that they shall be as sure to be Reproved, as they dare to Offend. And when they are thus every-where beset, their Consci­ences exclaiming against them [Page 141]within, and all that they con­verse with without, they will see a Necessity for it, either to forsake their Vices, or the World, and be forced to be vertuous for their own ease and quiet. And certainly till Christians do conspire together in this Design, we may long enough complain of the abounding of Iniquity without any successful Reforma­tion. Abound it will, and grow impudent and imperious, unless we join together to beat down its Credit, expose it to Scorn and Contempt, and make that which is so really shameful in it self, to be the greatest Mark of Infamy, Shame, and Reproach to any that shall dare to commit it.

But now this Duty of Repro­ving, requires not only a great deal of Christian Fortitude and Courage, but also a great mea­sure [Page 142]of Christian Prudence and Discretion. We must not only be resolute and confident in do­ing it, but we must do it like­wise in such a fitting way as may be most likely to work a good effect upon those whom we are to reprove. And therefore,

In the Fourth Place, 4 I shall give you some brief Rules and Directions,Rules for Re­proof. when you ought to reprove, and how you ought to manage your Reproofs, so as they may be most beneficial to your Brother. And some of them shall be Negatives, and others shall be Positives.

First, I For the Negative Rules, take these that follow.

First, 1 I ought not to reprove my Brother,We must not reprove without knowledge of the Offence. if I have no certain knowledge of his Offence. And therefore those who upon a blind Rumour, or groundless Suspici­on, [Page 143]hastily conclude him guilty, and so fill their Mouths with Reproofs, shew themselves to be very much in love with this Of­fice, and are a company of im­pertinent Busie-bodies, who start their Arrow before ever they see the Mark. We must first be cer­tainly informed, either upon our Personal Knowledge, or upon the undoubted Testimonies of credi­ble Witnesses, that he is Guilty; otherwise in going about to shew him his Fault, we shall but shew our own Folly, and Credulity, our Reproofs will be but Slanders, and our Charity in offering the Cure, will not be half so great, as our uncharitableness in belie­ving the Disease.

Secondly, 2 It is not necessary for me to reprove, where I have rea­son to conclude that others of more Prudence and Interest in [Page 144]the Party, either have already, or else will more effectually per­form it: For otherwise it will appear that we do not so much seek his Emendation, as to be Ostentatious of our own Zeal and Forwardness. And besides, too many Reprovers may, instead of reforming, rather irritate and provoke: Only here, beware thou dost not retract this in­grateful Office, upon slight Pre­tences, nor think thy self excu­sed, because others are bound to do it. But consider seriously in thine own Conscience, whether thou thinkest they will be faith­ful enough in performing it, or more dextrous than thou art in managing it; or that their Re­proof will be more acceptable and more prevalent with thy Brother than thine. If not, thou art still obliged to it: And if thou [Page] [Page] [Page 145]refusest, know, that though he may die in his Sins, yet his Blood God will require at thy Hands. 3

Thirdly, Sharp Re­proof must not be for small Offen­ces. We ought not to give sharp Reproofs for small Offences. We must not particularly, and with Accent and Emphasis re­prove our Brother for every in­voluntary slip, every Infirmity and Weakness, that bewrayeth it self through some suddain Pas­sion or Temptation, unless it be a Sin of Custom, or that which carries with it some signal Ag­gravation, that renders it con­siderable, as well in the Scandal as in the Guilt. It will be suffici­ent to pass by the rest, only with a brief Animadversion upon them, enough to put him in mind that he forgot himself in such and such Passages: And so leave the farther Reproof to his own Conscience, which will better [Page 146]do it for lesser Sins, than possibly we can. To reprove small Faults with great vehemence, is always as ridiculous, and may sometimes prove as destructive a piece of Officiousness, as his who took up a huge Beetle, and struck with all his Might, only to kill a Fly he saw sticking upon his Friends Forehead. We must not thrust the Probe deep where the Wound is but shallow: Nor be passionately concern'd at our Brother's lighter Failings; but so govern our selves, as still to re­serve the more sharp and severe Reproofs for the more foul and scandalous Offences. For they that will presently upon every slender occasion fly out into Ex­clamations, Detestations; and all passionate Exaggerations of Rhetorick, will but lavishly spend the vigour of their Zeal, [Page 147]and leave themselves no Art, no Methods to express their greater abhorrence for blacker Crimes.

Fourthly, 4 Reproof not to be given where it will exasperate. We are not to Re­prove those whom we have reason to believe are such de­sperate Wretches, that our Re­proofs would but exasperate them to sin the more for a Re­proof. To these, such would be no Acts of Love and Charity, but rather a Design to destroy their Souls, and to heap more and heavy loads of Wrath and Vengeance upon their Heads. Certainly if we have any sense of God's Glory, any Tender­ness and Compassion for our Brother's Soul, we ought to be­ware that we do not inrage him the more, to dishonour the one, or to wound the other, by the mistaken Charity of our Reproofs. And therefore, St. [Page 148] Austine speaks well (De Civitate Dei, lib. 1. cap. 9.) Si propterea corripiendis male agentibus parcit, quia opportunum tempus requirit, vel iisdem ipsis metuit ne deteriores ex hoc efficiantur, videtur esse con­cilium Charitatis. It is Charity not to reprove those, who we be­lieve will be the worse for our Reproofs. Alas how many are there in the World, who when they are reproved (and that very justly) for their Sins, presently fall a blaspheming and cursing, railing at Piety, and all that profess it, violate the good Name of their Reprovers, and can hardly abstain from offering violence to their Persons. Now such as these are past Reproof, when once they turn Reproof it self into an Occasion of further sinning. The greatest exercise of Charity to these, is to let them [Page 149]alone, and not to increase their Damnation, by stirring up the virulency and rancor of their Spirits.

Reproof is spiritual Physick for the Soul. Now as it is an im­prudent Course to administer such Physick to the Body, as will irritate, and not expel the pec­cant Humours: So likewise it is very imprudent and unsafe, to administer such Reproofs as we know cannot cure the Offender, but will only irritate his Cor­ruption, and render it the more turbulent, and him much worse than he was before. And there­fore some are themselves to be reproved, who with an impru­dent Zeal reprove others, with­out ever considering what Ef­fects their Reproofs are likely to produce, who, as soon as a Sin is committed, think themselves [Page 150]obliged in Conscience, instant­ly to rebuke them for it, although not only they themselves may be reviled, but the Name of God most horribly blasphemed upon this very Occasion, It is in­deed good to be zealously affected always in a good Matter. Gal. 4.18. But yet withal know, that as Zeal and Charity ought to be the Motive, so Christian Prudence ought to be the Measure of all our Re­proofs. And if you take not the Advice of Discretion, your Zeal for God's Glory may but occa­sion his Dishonour; and your Charity to the Souls of others, occasion their sorer Ruine and Damnation, Certainly we are not obliged to reprove where we have reason to suspect we shall rather do hurt than good. It would be but a cruel Charity, to poison our Brother in his [Page 151] Physick, and to kill him in his Cure. And therefore both So­lomon, and a greater than Solo­mon, our Saviour Christ himself, have forbidden us to misplace Reproofs upon those who are desperate. Solomon tells us,Prov. 9.7. He that reproveth a Scorner, getteth to himself Shame; and he that rebuketh a wicked Man, getteth unto himself a Blot. And again, Reprove not a Scorner, lest he hate thee. And says our Saviour,Matth. 7.6. Give not that which is Holy unto Dogs, neither cast ye your Pearls before Swine, lest they trample them under their Feet, and turn again and rent you. Where it is very plain from the precedent Verses, that he dehorts us from lavishing out our Reproofs impru­dently upon Dogs and Swine. Wicked and impure Persons, on whom we have reason to think they will have no effect, but on­ly [Page 152]to inrage them, and make them fly out both against God and us, with the more Violence and Madness. To reprove such, is but to cast up Water against an high Wind, that will be sure to beat it back again into our own Faces.

And thus I have given you the Negative Rules in these four Par­ticulars. Reprove not without a certain knowledge of the Of­fence. Nor where others who are likely to be more effectual, have done it already. Nor for every involuntary slip. Nor those who are like to be the worse for it.

Let us now proceed to lay down some Positive Rules and Directions for the right managing of our Reproofs. And here,

First, 1 Time and Place must be observed in giving Re­proof. If thou wouldst re­prove with success, observe right Circumstances of Time and [Page 153]Place: And let the one be as opportune, and the other as private as thou canst. We ought to observe the mollia tempora fan­di, the soft and easy Hours of speaking. And therefore the wise Man tells us,Prov. 15.23. A Word spo­ken in season, how good is it? It is like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver, that is, very beautiful and pleasing. There are some hap­py Seasons wherein the most rugged Natures are accessible; and it is a great part of Pru­dence in all our Concerns, if we would have them prosperous, to watch such Opportunities, and to improve them.

Now usually it is no fit sea­son for Reproof,Reproof not seasonable,

First, 1 Presently as soon as the Sin is committed;As soon as the Sin is committed. for then the heat is not over, nor the uproar of the Passions and Af­fections [Page 154]appeased. In all like­lihood a Reproof as yet would but irritate. As Water falling upon a red hot Iron, doth but cause a great deal of Noise and Disturbance: So a Reproof just upon the very Act of a Sin, doth but make the Sinner fume, estu­ate and tumultuate the more. Nor yet,

Secondly, 2 Is a Time of Mirth and Joy fit for Reproof; Reproof un­seasonable in a time of Mirth. for that will look like a piece of Envy, as if we were malicious at their Prosperity, and therefore studied to cast in somewhat that might disturb them; and so they will be apt to interpret it. Nor,

Thirdly, 3 Reproof un­seasonable in a time of Sorrow. Is a Time of exceed­ing great Sadness and Sorrow, a proper Season for Reproof; for this will look like Hostility and Hatred, as if we designed utter­ly to overwhelm and dispatch them.

But the fittest opportunity for this Duty,Reproof most seasonable when Persons are most calm and sedate. is when they are most calm and sedate, their Passions husht, and their Rea­son (with which you are to deal) again reseated upon its Throne. When they are free from all inward Perturbations of Mind, and from all considerable Alte­rations in their outward Estate and Condition. Then, if ever, they will listen to Reproof, and take right Measures of the Sin for which you reprove them. But if we reprove them when their Passions are in a Tumult, and all within in an Uproar and Combustion, it is no wonder at all if either they reject or revile our Reproofs; for we then ac­cuse them before very corrupt Judges, viz. their own Passi­ons and corrupt Affections. And you may with as much [Page 156]Reason, and as good Success, chide the Sea for being Tem­pestuous, when the Winds rage and are let loose upon it. Chide a Man for being angry when he is angry, and what will you get by it, but only some of his foam cast upon you? Let God himself expostulate with an im­patient Jonah, whilst he is in his fit of Impatience:Jonah 4.9. Doest thou well to be angry? and he will tell him snappishly to his Face, That he doth well to be angry, even to the very Death. There is no dealing with Men while their Passions blind their Reason; This makes them as utterly incapable of taking good Counsel, as if they were brute Beasts. Thou wert as good thrust thy Hand into a Wasps Nest, as come with Re­proofs and Rebukes when the Swarm is up, to be sure thou [Page 157]shalt only go away with many a Sting and Wound, and thou mayest thank thy self for no bet­ter timing thy Reproofs.

Indeed in Cases of great Im­portance and absolute Necessity, we may run this Venture, and possibly succeed well in it. Thus Joab very sharply reproved Da­vid, 2 Sam. 19.5, 6, 7. when he so immoderately mourned for Absalom. And I think it is one of the roundest Checks that ever a dutiful Sub­ject gave to his Prince; but if he had not taken that very time, the Case had been desperate, and his People had all forsaken him, and therefore the necessity of Affairs would not permit him to expect a more season­able Address. Otherwise gene­rally, it is more adviseable to wait a fitting and cool time. As God is said to come down in the [Page 158]cool of the Day to reprove Adam. So likewise should we come in the cool season of a Man's Passi­ons, when all is quiet and tem­perate within, for then is there the greatest probability of Suc­cess.

Secondly, 2 If thou wouldst have thy Reproofs successful,Reproof must be with Gentleness and Meekness. reprove with all Gentleness and Meek­ness, without giving any railing or reviling Terms. He that mingles Reproach with Reproof, engages a Man's Reputation to side with his Vices: For whilst we shew any Bitterness in our Reproofs, and give them in vili­fying and ignominious Lan­guage, the Vehicle will hinder the Operation of the Physick. For they will look like the up­braidings of an Enemy; and it is a thing most abhorrent unto Nature, to follow the Counsels [Page 159]and Advice of an Enemy. And therefore the Apostle chargeth us, Brethren, Gal. 6.1. if a Man be overtaken in a fault, you that are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of Meekness, considering thy self, lest thou be also tempted. Which last Clause inti­mates to us, that we ought to deal as tenderly with a fallen Brother, as we would desire to be dealt with our selves, were we in the same condition. For having the same corrupt Nature, and being subject to the like Temptations, we may likewise, through God's dereliction of us, fall into the same Miscarriages. Now wouldst thou take it well, if any should revile and reprove thee, condemn thee for a rotten Hypocrite, as Job's Friends did him; or draw hideous black Consequences from every failing and weakness of thine? Certain­ly [Page 160]thou wouldst not interpret this to be friendly and candid deal­ing: No more do thou with others. It is a true Saying, That he who would know his own Faults, had need have either a faithful Friend, or a bitter Ene­my; they will both be sure to do it to the full. But then the difference is, that an Enemy's Reproofs are usually joined with Reproaches, and when we are fal­len, he will stand and insult over us. But a true Christian Friend will faithfully represent our condition to us, pitty us in it, and endeavour to help and raise us out of it. And such should we be to all, not railing on them for Hypocrites, or lost and desperate Apostates; for this certainly is not the way to reduce them, but rather to confirm and harden them in their Sins. We [Page 161]should not gripe nor press their Wounds, but rather gently anoint and chafe them. Our Reproofs should be as Oyl, smooth and lenitive, to soak into and supple the Part affected. And therefore the Apostle again exhorts us, in meekness to instruct those that oppose themselves. 2 Tim. 2.25. But whilst we ex­claim against them with bitter Invectives, and dip all our Re­proofs in Gall and Satyr, we may quickly make them loath the Medicine rather than the Disease, and sooner break their Heads with such Rebukes, than their Hearts for their Offences.

Thirdly, 3 Though our Re­proofs must be meek and gentle,Reproof must be quick and vivacious. yet must they be quick and vi­vacious also. For as Charity requires the one, so doth Zeal the other: And the best and most equal Temper, is rightly [Page 162]to mix these two, that at once we may shew Meekness to his Person,James 1.20. (for the Wrath of Man worketh not the Righte­ousness of God) and Sharpness against his Sin, (for a remiss Re­prover will but make a slow Pe­nitent.) We ought so to reprove, that he may not think we only jest and dally with him, and for this it is necessary that we do it with all Seriousness, Gravity and Authority, not playing a­bout the Wound, but searching into the very depth and bottom of it. And therefore we must use such words as are most sig­nificant of our meaning, most expressive of our Grief and Sor­row for him, and which we think most apt to expose the Vice that we reprove, and make it most odious and hateful, keeping still within the bounds [Page 163]of a sober and friendly Redar­gution. Hence the Apostle gives Titus this Advice,Tit. 1.13. Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the Faith. If they want Salt and Vinegar, spare them not. This possibly may cleanse those Wounds that else would fester and putrify. But here is required much spiritual Prudence to know how to suit Reproof, according to the different Conditions and Tempers of the Persons you deal with. Some must be launcht and searcht to the very Quick before they can be healed. O­thers require a gentle Hand. If they be proud and stubborn, they need Corrosives. But for those who are naturally meek and mild, a meek and mild Course will be easiest and most effectual. The Tempers and Cases of particular Christians [Page 164]are so various, that there can be no Rules given that may be applicable to every Condition. This must of necessity be left to your Prudence and Discre­tion. Only this Rule is infalli­ble, Be sure you flatter none in their Vices, extenuate not their Sins; when thou com'st to reprove them, do it not in sport: Let them see thou art in very good earnest, and tell them their Sin, as it is in it self, without min­cing the matter, or the circum­stances of it. For Men are al­ways apt to impute somewhat of the Reproof to the severity of him that gives it, rather than to the demerits of their own Offen­ces. And therefore, if thou thy self shalt speak but slightly of their Sins, they will be ready to conclude that they were none, or at least so small, that it was [Page 165]nothing but Officiousness, and the love of Censuring made thee take notice of them.

Fourthly, Reproof ought to be given pri­vately. Let all thy Reproofs be given as secretly and privately as possibly thou canst; otherwise thou wilt seem not so much to aim at thy Brother's Reformati­on, as at his Shame and Confu­sion. For if (as the Wiseman tells us) a loud and clamorous Benediction given too officious­ly,Prov. 27.14. is so far from being a Bles­sing, that it is but a Curse and a Shame to a Man's Friend. Cer­tainly then a publick clamorous Reproof must only tend to the Shame and Reproach of them that receive it. Indeed there are some who offend openly before many: These, (if there be no fear of irritating them to do worse) we ought openly to re­buke, and to give them their [Page 166] Reproof in the Company where they have given the Offence, so saith the Apostle,1 Tim. 5.20. Those that Sin rebuke before all; that is, suppo­sing that their Sins be open and publick. But for others whose Sins and Miscarriages have been private, and only known to our selves and a few others, we ought to reprove them in secret, and to be tender not only of their Souls, but of their Reputation also. So is the Counsel of our Saviour,Matth. 18.15. If thy Brother shall tres­pass against thee, go and tell him his Fault between thee and him alone. And indeed this is a necessary piece of Prudence, not only to preserve his Reputation and good Name as much as may be, but also,

First, 1 [...]o preserve the Reputation of Religion. To preserve the Repu­tation of Religion it self, which a more publick divulging of his Offences might much impair and discredit. And

Secondly, 2 To hinder the sprea­ding of an evil Example,To hinder the spreading of an evil Example. which also perhaps some or other would make use of, to encourage them in the like Transgressions. And,

Thirdly, 3 To preserve him ser­viceable for the future;That they may be serviceable for by reporting his Miscarriages, thou lessenest his Credit, and thereby rendrest him less capable of do­ing good than he was before. For though he may recover him­self out of the Snare of the De­vil, and his Wound be healed, yet if his Faults have been made publick, the Scar will still re­main: And this will be such a blemish to him, that having lost much of his repute among Men, he will likewise lose much of those Advantages he formerly had of doing good in the World; and thou by thy imprudent Reproofs be the cause of it. Upon all [Page 168]these Accounts it is necessary that thy Reproofs be managed with the greatest Secrecy and Priva­cy that may be: For as St. Austin speaks well, ‘If whilst thou alone knowest thy Brother to have offended, and yet wilt rebuke him before all, Non es corrector, sed proditor: Thou art not a Reprover, but a Betrayer.’

Fifthly, 5 Reprove not one who is greatly thy Superiour,Superiours must be reproved re­spectfully. unless it be at a respectful distance. Towards such, we must not use down-right and blunt Rebukes; but rather insinuate things into them with Address and Artifice. What says Elihu, Job 34. [...]8. Is it fit to say to a King, Thou art wicked, and to Princes, Ye are ungodly? And in­deed in this Case usually, it is most fit and decent that thy Re­pr [...]s should not carry their own [Page 169]Shape and Form, but disguise them rather into Parables or In­treaties, or into any such hum­ble and becoming Method: Yet withal, let so much appear, as that they may well enough know thy drift and intent. For it becomes the Wisdom and Sta­tion of Inferiours, so to order their Speech, that if it can but be interpreted as a Reproof, their Superiours may and will certain­ly know they meant it for such. Thus the Apostle bids us,1 Tim. 5.1. Rebuke not an Elder, but rather intreat him as a Father. For because their Place and Calling required Re­spect and Reverence, therefore the Apostle would not have them bluntly Rebuked, but that the Reproof should be clad in ano­ther dress, that they might ap­pear to be rather Intreaties than Rebukes.

We may observe likewise, that when Nathan was sent im­mediately by God to reprove King David, he doth not attack him directly, and fall rudely up­on him for his Adultery and Murder, but cloaths his Speech in a Parable, and when he had so represented the heinousness of his Sin, so as by that means to make him first reprove and condemn himself, then he tells him, Thou art the Man.

Sixthly, 6 If thou wouldst have thy Reproofs effectual,We must not be guilty of the Sins we reprove others for. especial­ly beware that thou thy self art not guilty of those Sins which thou reprovest in another. It were indeed a Temper to be wish'd and pray'd for, that we could only respect how righte­ous the Reproof were, and not how righteous the Person is who gives it. For there is no [Page 171]more reason to reject sound Admonition, because it comes from an unfound Heart, than there is to stop our Ears against good Counsel because it is de­livered perhaps by an unsavou­ry Breath. Yet so it is, that when Men of defiled Conscien­ces and Conversations reprove others, they are apt to justifie themselves by recriminating, or else to think they do but sport and jest with them: Or thirdly to hate them for gross Hypo­crites and Dissemblers; or last­ly, to think they do but envy them their Sins, and that they would ingross all to themselves. It was a true Observation of Pliny in his Epistles, Lib. 8. Epist. 22. That there are some, Qui sic aliorum visitis irascuntur, quasi in­videant: Who are so angry at o­ther Mens Vices, as if they [Page 172]envied them. It cannot be ho­ped that the Reproof of such should ever take place. But when a Man of a clear and un­spotted Name shall reprove the Sins and Vices of others, his Rebukes carry Authority with them, and if they cannot re­form; yet at least must they needs daunt and silence the Offen­ders, that they shall have nothing to reply, no Subterfuges nor E­vasions, but they must needs be convinced that their Sins are as evil, as he represents them by his own Care and Caution to be avoided.

Fifthly, 5 The only Thing that remains is to propound to you some Motives that may quicken you to the conscientious dis­charge of this much neglected Duty.Motives for re­proving our Brother. And I shall but name some few, and leave them to [Page 173]your consideration to be farther prest upon you. And here next to the express Command of Al­mighty God, whose Authority a­lone ought to prevail against all the Difficulties that we either find or fancy in the way of Obe­dience thereunto:

Consider, First, Benefit of re­proving others. the great be­nefit that may redound both to the Reprover, and Reproved.

First, Thou shalt hereby pro­vide thy self a Friend that may take the same liberty to reprove thee, when it shall be needful, and for thy great good. And it may very well be thought that the Apostle upon this Account requires us to Restore our fallen Brother, with meek Reproofs, Gal. 6.1. consi­dering our selves, lest we also be tempted: That is, that hereby we may purchase a true Friend, who will be as faithful to us, as [Page 174]we have been to him. How­ever, certainly it is the best and most generous way of procuring to our selves true Love and Re­spect from those whom we have thus reformed.Prov. 9.8. So says Solo­mon, Rebuke a wise Man, and he will love thee. And in another place,Prov. 28.23. says he, He that rebuketh a Man, afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with his Tongue.

Secondly, Thou wilt hereby intitle thy self to that great and precious Promise,Dan. 12.3. That they that be wise, shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament; and they that turn many to Righteousness, as the Stars for ever and ever. And to that other of the wise Man, To them that rebuke the Wicked, Prov. 24.25. shall be Delight, and a good Blessing shall come upon them.

Thirdly, Thou shalt increase thy own Graces and Comforts [Page 175]more than possibly thou couldst do by separating thy self from them. Thy Graces will be more confirmed, because re­proving of others will engage thee to a greater Watchfulness over thy self. Thy Comforts also will be encreased, because a conscientious discharge of this Duty, will be to thee a great E­vidence of the Integrity and sin­cerity of thy Heart.

First, 2 The practice of this Duty will be greatly profitable unto him that is reproved. How knowest thou but it may be a me [...] to turn him from his Ini­quity, and so thou shalt prevent a Multitude of Sins, Jam. 5.20. and save a [...] from Death. And hereby [...] we shall frustrate one [...] great Designs and Artifi­ [...] [...] the Devil, which is, to [...] to Sin by the Exam­ples [Page 176]of those Wickednesses that pass uncheck'd and uncontroul'd in the World.

Secondly, Tit. 3.3. Consider that we our selves also were disobedi­ent and foolish, serving divers Lusts and Pleasures; but were wrought upon either by pub­lick or private Reproof. And why then should not we use the same Charity towards others, which God hath been pleased to make effectual towards us.

Thirdly, Consider that the Text makes it an apparent sign of hating our Brother, if we forbear justly to reprove him. Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart: 1 Joh. 3.15. thou shalt in any wise reprove him. So that he who re­proves not his Brother, hates him. Now he that hates his Bro­ther is a Murderer, says St. John. And no Murderer hath Eternal Life. [Page] [Page] [Page 177]Yea, we are guilty of Soul-Mur­der, which is so much the more heinous, by how much the Soul is more precious than the Body.

Fourthly, Consider that the performance of this Duty, were it more universal, would be the aptest and readiest means to pre­vent Schism and Division. The grand pretence for Separation, is the wickedness of many who are Church-Members. Now our Saviour's Method is, That such should be first reproved and ad­monish'd, before they be cast out; but it is a most preposte­rous and headlong Course that thousands in our Days take, who cast themselves out of the Com­munion of the Church, for the Sins of those who deserve to be cast out; and rather than they will perform this ingrateful Work of Reproof, choose to se­parate; [Page 178]whereas if they would make use of our Saviour Christ's Advice,Mat. 18.15, 16. to reprove privately, and in case of Obstinacy, to convict publickly, there would be, as no need, so no Pretence left for Separation; but either their private Reproofs would prevail to reform, or their pub­lick Complaints and Accusations to remove Offenders.

Fifthly, Consider, that the neglect of this Duty, brings the Sin and Guilt of others up­on your own Souls. See for this that Scripture,Eph. 5.11. Ephesians 5.11. Have no Fellowship with the unfruit­ful Works of Darkness, but rather reprove them. If we reprove them not, we are Partakers of their evil Deeds, and deserve to be Partakers of their Torments.

THere are two principal At­tributes of God,An Intro­duction. which the Scripture propounds to us as the most powerful and effica­cious Motives to restrain us from [Page 180]Sin: And they are his Mercy, and his Justice; Mercy tho' it be a soft, yet is it a strong Argument to encourage us to Purity and Ho­liness. And therefore says the Apostle,Rom. 2.4. The Goodness of God leadeth us to Repentance. And certainly that Mercy that expres­seth it self so ready to pardon Sin, cannot but lay a mighty Ob­ligation upon the Ingenuity of a Christian Spirit to abstain from the commission of it. He that can encourage himself in Wic­kedness, upon the consideration of the infinite Free-Grace of God, doth but spurn those very Bowels that yern towards him, and strike at God with his own Golden Scepter, yea he tears abroad those Wounds which were at first o­pened for him, and casts the Blood of his Saviour back again in his Face. But because Inge­nuity [Page 181]is perisht from off the Earth, and Men are generally more apt to be wrought upon by Arguments drawn from Fear than Love, therefore the Scripture propounds to us the consideration of the dreadful Justice of God arrayed in all the terrible Circum­stances of it, that if Mercy cannot allure us, Justice at least might affright us from our Sins. And as those who are to travel thorow Wildernesses and Deserts, carry Fire with them to terrifie wild and ravenous Beasts, and to secure themselves from their Assaults: So doth the great God, who hath to deal with brutish Men, Men more savage than wild Beasts, he kindles a Fire about him, and appears to them all in Flames and Fury; that so he might fright them from their bold Attempts, who other­wise [Page 182]would be ready,Job 15.26. to run upon his Neck and the thick Bosses of his Buckler.

And therefore in the Four pre­cedent Verses, we find the Apo­stle threatning most tremendous Judgments against all that should wilfully transgress, after they had received the knowledge of the Truth. He tells us, there re­mains no more sacrifice for their Sins: Nothing to expiate their Guilt, but that they themselves must fall a Burnt-Sacrifice to the of­fended Justice of God, consu­med with that fiery Indignation that shall certainly seize and prey upon them for ever.Heb. 10.28, 29. And in v. 28, 29. he sets forth the ex­ceeding Dreadfulness of their Judgment, by a comparison be­tween those that violated the Law of Moses, and those that renounce and annul the Law of Christ. He [Page 183]that despised Moses's Law, who himself was but a Servant, and his Laws consisted of inferiour and less spiritual Ordinances, yet a Despiser and Transgres­sor of these was to die without Mercy; certainly much sorer Judgments await those, who reject the Laws of Christ, and trample him who is the Son and Lord of the House, under foot; accounting his Blood unholy and prophane, renouncing his Merits, and blaspheming the Holy Spirit by which our Sa­viour acted: Such as these, shall eternally perish with less Mercy, than those that died without Mercy. Where observe the strange Em­phasis that the Apostle lays upon this dreadful Commination; he tells us they shall be sorer punish'd, than those that are punished with­out Mercy; to let us know, that [Page 184]as there are transcendent Glories, such as Eye hath not seen, nor Ear heard, nor can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive, reserved in the Heavens for those that love God; so are there Woes and Torments, such as Eye hath not seen, Ear heard, nor can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive, how great and insupportable they are, prepared in Hell for those that hate him. They shall die with less Mercy, than those that die without Mercy.

Now that we might not wonder at such a Paradox as this, the Apostle gives the Reason of it in my Text, For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, it is the Vengeance of God, and a falling into the Hands of God, and therefore it is no wonder if their Punishments be beyond all extremity. They fall [Page 185]under the Power and Wrath of an infinite God, which when we have heaped Superlatives upon Superlatives, yet still we must express defectively, and all that we can conceive of it falls vastly short of reaching but a faint and languishing resemblance thereof. It is a State so full of perfect Misery, that Misery it self is too easy a Name to give it; yea, whatsoever we can speak most appositely of it, is but diminish­ing it; for because it is the Wrath and Vengeance of an infinite God, it can no more be known by us, than God himself. Plunge your Thoughts as deep into it as you can, yet still there remains an infinite Abysse which you can never fathom. And O that the consideration of this Wrath might cause us to tremble before this great and terrible God, that [Page 186]we Might so fear it, as never to feel it; and be perswaded to fall down at his Feet, that we may never fall into his Hands. And that we may be thus affected, I have chosen this Text to set forth the Greatness and Dreadful­ness of that Wrath and Venge­ance which the righteous God will execute upon all stubborn and disobedient Wretches.

A Text that speaks to us, as God did to the Israelites from Mount Sinai, out of the midst of the Fire and Blackness, Dark­ness and Tempest, in the Voice of a Trumpet. And truly we have all need to have such rou­sing Truths frequently inculca­ted upon us, for the best of us are Lethargical, and though some­time when our Consciences are pincht hard by a severe and search­ing Truth, we start and look a­broad, yet as soon as the present [Page 187]Impression is over, we close our Eyes, and fall asleep again in Sin and Security. There is a strange Dullness and Stupor hath seiz'd us, that we can no longer keep waking than we are shook.

And therefore as we use to apply Fire and burning Coals to Lethargick Persons to awaken them; so we have need to heap Coals of Fire upon Mens Heads, to speak with fiery Tongues, and thunder Woe and Wrath and Judgments against them, that we may rouze the secure stupid World, and scorch them into Life and Sense.

In the Words we have these two Parts observable.

First, An Appropriation of Vengeance unto God, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompence, saith the Lord.

Secondly, The Dreadfulness [Page 188]of that Vengeance inferred, from the consideration of the Author and Inflicter of it, It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the living God.

I begin with the first of these, God's appropriating and chal­lenging Vengeance unto him­self. Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompence, saith the Lord. Which Passage the Apostle cites out of Deuteronomy, Deut. 32.35. To me belong­eth Vengeance and Recompence, and the Lord shall judge his People. It is his great and royal Prerogative that he doth sometimes make use of in inflicting Judgments upon the Wicked in this World, but most especially in the World to come. And to this future Venge­ance, the Words ought particu­larly to be applyed. Now from this consideration, That Venge­ance in a peculiar Manner be­longs [Page 189]unto the great God, we may observe,

That God himself will be the im­mediate Inflicter of the Punishments of the Damned.

It is therefore here called a falling into the Hands of the living God, which denotes his immedi­ate Efficiency in their Tor­ments.

It is true, God doth use se­veral Instruments of Torture in Hell. There is the Worm that never dies, and the Fire that never goes out, which I suppose to be not only a Metaphorical, but pos­sibly a Material Fire, elevated to such a degree of Subtilty, as that it shall at once torture the Soul, and not consume the Body. And this Fire the Devils, who are their Executioners, will be officiously raking about them, using all their malicious Art to [Page 190]increase their eternal Misery. But these things are but small Appendages, and the slighter Circumstances of their Tor­ments; the most exact and in­tolerable part of their Torture shall be inflicted on them from another Fire, an intelligent E­verlasting, and therefore an un­quenchable Fire, even God him­self, for so he is said to be, Our God is a consuming Fire. Heb. 12.19.

And though we ordinarily speak only of Hell Fire, yet not only Hell, but Heaven is full of this Fire, consult that place, Who among us shall dwell with the de­vouring Fire? Isa. 33.14. who among us shall dwell with everlasting Burnings? Would not one think at the first sound of the Words, that the Prophet speaks only of such as should be damned in Hell, re­maining there in everlasting Bur­nings? [Page 191]And demands of them, who among them could endure this? No, but it appears plain­ly, that this Fire and Burning is in Heaven it self, and the Pro­phet by putting this Question, Who shall dwell with the devou­ring Fire and everlasting Burnings? asks who shall be saved, and not who shall be destroyed? And therefore in the 15th. Verse, he tells us, that he shall do it, who walketh uprightly, and speak­eth uprightly, that despiseth the gain of Oppression, that shaketh his Hands from holding of Bribes, that stop­peth his Ears from hearing of Blood, and shutteth his Eyes from seeing of Evil. Such a one shall dwell with the devouring Fire; that is, he shall for ever dwell with God in Heaven. So that we see God is a Fire both to the Wicked, and to the Godly; to the Wic­ked [Page 192]he is a penetrating torturing Fire, and they are combustible Matter for his Wrath and Vengeance to prey upon; but to the Godly he is a purifying and cherishing Fire only. And as Lightning doth not only cleanse and refine the Air, but rends Trees and Rocks in pieces; dissolves Metals, and breaks thorow whatsoever oppo­seth it: So this great and Al­mighty Fire only refresheth and comforteth the Godly, whereas it breaks and tears the Wicked in pieces, and melts them like Wax before the scorching Heat of it. And though I deny not but there may be somewhat like that which we commonly apprehend when we speak of Hell, some unquenchable Flames pre­pared by the Wisdom and Power of God for the eternal Torment of those that shall be cast there­into; [Page] [Page] [Page 193]yet withal I think that their most exquisite Torments shall be from that Fire that is God himself.

For if we observe, it is said to be everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels. Matth. 25.41. Now the Devils are spiritual Substan­ces, and flames of Fire themselves. He maketh his Angels Spirits, Psalm 104.4. and his Ministers, that is his Ministring Spirits, whether good or evil, whether Ministers of his Wrath, or Ministers of his Mercy, He makes them Flames of Fire. They are such piercing and subtile Flames, that Lightning it self is but gross and dull, compared to them: Yet here is a Fire that shall even torture Fire it self, a Fire that shall burn those Flames of Fire; and that is God, who being a Spirit, and the God of Spirits, can easily pierce into the [Page 194]very Centre of their Being. So that the Damned in Hell shall for ever find themselves burnt with a double Fire, a Material Fire, suted and adapted to im­press Pain and Torment upon the Body, yet without wasting and consuming it; And an in­visible intellectual Fire, that shall prey upon the Soul, and fill it with unspeakable Anguish and Horror, and this is no other than God himself.

And in this there is a true Pa­rallel between Heaven and Hell; for as in Heaven, though there are many created Excellencies and Glories, which contribute to the Beatitude of the Saints; yet their most substantial Hap­piness is from their immediate fruition of God: So likewise in Hell, though there be many created and invented Tortures, [Page 195]yet the most intolerable Misery of the Damned, is from the immedi­ate infliction and infusion of the Divine Wrath into them, which no Creature can convey to them in such a Manner and Measure as they there feel it; but God himself pours the full Vials of it into their Souls. And there­fore as the Saints are called Ves­sels of Mercy, Rom. 9.22. so the Wicked are called Vessels of Wrath, fitted for Destruction. Such Vessels into which God will pour in of his Vengeance, and fill brimm full with his wrath and fury for ever.

The Apostle speaking of wicked Men, tells us,1 Thes. 1.9. They shall be punished with everlasting De­struction from the Presence of the Lord, and from the Glory of his Power. Where we must not think that this Phrase [From the Presence of the Lord] denotes only [Page 196]that part of their Punishment which we call poena Damni, or the Punishment of Loss; but rather that it denotes the effici­ent Cause of their poena Sensus, or the punishment of Sense; not that their punishment shall only be, to be for ever banished from his Presence, but that this Presence shall be active in inflicting Pu­nishments upon them, and we may read it thus, They shall be punished with everlasting Destru­ction, by the Presence of the Lord, and by the Glory of his Power: For as God's glorious Power is effective of their Destruction, so also is his dread Presence of that con­suming and tormenting Fire.

And thus much briefly for the first Thing observable in the Text, namely God's appropria­ting Vengeance unto himself, Vengeance belongeth unto me, and [Page 197]it is a falling into the Hands of the Living God.

I come now to the second Thing observable in the Words, 2 the dreadfulness of this Venge­ance inferred, from the conside­ration of the Author and Infli­cter of it; for because it is Di­vine Vengeance, and a falling into the Hands of the Living God, therefore it must needs be verry terrible. And here I shall first take notice of those Expres­sions that my Text affords, to set forth the Terrour of this Wrath. And then consider o­ther Demonstrations of it. And here,

First, 1 Consider that all other Vengeance is as nothing in com­parison of that which God takes on a damned Soul. You may possibly have heard of strange and horrid Revenges that some [Page 198]cruel Men have carved out unto themselves, putting those that have offended them to such Tor­tures as were unfit for Men ei­ther to inflict or suffer. Histo­ries abound with such Barbari­ties, I am loth to offend your Ears so much as to recount them, let us only take an estimate by the dreadful Revenge that David took on the Ammonites: 2 Sam. 12. last. He put them under Saws, and Harrows of Iron, and made them pass through the Brick-Kilns. And all this Severity, (if not to say Cruelty) was to revenge the insolent Af­front done to his Embassadours. It is doubtless no small Torture to be burnt alive, for Fire is a search­ing Thing, and eats deep into the Senses; but yet this kind of Death was a merciful dispatch in comparison of the others: Think what it is to be stretcht along, [Page 199]to have the sharp spikes of an Harrow tear up your Flesh, and draw out your Bowels and Bones after them: Or what it is to be sawn asunder, and to have those small Teeth eat their way slowly thorow you, while they jarr against your Bones, and pull out your Nerves and Sinews thread by thread. How many Deaths, think you, were these mi­serable Creatures compelled to suffer before they were permitted to die. Yet these, and all the witty Tortures that ever were invented by the greatest Masters of Cruelty, are nothing in Com­parison of the Vengeance that God will take upon Sinners in Hell: And therefore he says, Vengeance is mine, I will recompence. As if he should say, Alas, all that you can do one to another signifies nothing, it is not to be [Page 200]accounted Vengeance, that is too great a Name for such poor Ef­fects. It is a Prerogative that God challengeth to himself to be the Avenger: And whatever Creatures meddle with, if they have not a Commission from him, it is their Sin; and therefore pri­vate Persons, whom he hath not invested with such Authority, ought not to take upon them to avenge their own Cause. Or if they have a Commission, yet all their execution of Vengeance is but feeble and weak. We find in Ecclesiastical History that the Holy Martyrs have often mock'd at all the cruel Tortures of their enraged Persecutors, and God hath either taken from them all sense of Pain, or else given them in such strong Consolations, that they have triumph'd in all the Extremity of them; O how [Page 201]have they hugg'd the Stake at which they were to be burnt, courted the Beasts that were to devour them, and been stretched upon the Rack with as much con­tent, as they have stretch'd them­selves upon their Beds; and not so much suffered, as enjoyed their Deaths! God hath so mer­cifully taken off the Edge and Keenness of their Torments, to shew that Vengeance is his Right, and that they are but contempti­ble things that one Man can in­flict upon another, scarce worthy to be called Vengeance. And be­sides, let it be never so sharp and cutting, yet it cannot be long durable; the more intolerable any Torments are, the sooner they work our escape from them. And though Malice may wish the Perpetuity of our Pain, yet it is not possible for mortal Men [Page 202]to prosecute an immortal Re­venge, the Death, either of them, or our selves, will put a period to our Sufferings. And what a small matter is it to undergo pain for a few days only, this is not worthy to be called Vengeance, nor is it like that which the great God will inflict, which is both insupportable and eternal. And therefore,

Secondly, The Apostle calls it a falling into the hands of the Living God. And this denotes to us the Perpetuity and Eternity of this Vengeance. God ever lives to in­flict it, and Sinners shall ever live to suffer it; for they fall into his Hands. God hath lea­sed out a Life to every wicked Man, he hath his Term of Years set him, wherein he lives to him­self, enjoying his Lusts, and the Pleasures and Profits of this [Page 203]present World; and all this while Vengeance intermedles little with him: but when his Life is expir'd, and his Years run out, he then falls into the Hands of the great Lord of all, and be­comes the Possession of his Venge­ance and Justice for ever. And then, he is the Living God, and such wicked Wretches must for ever live to endure the most dreadful execution of his Power and Wrath. Were there any Term or Period set to their Tor­ments, should they when they have endured them thousands of thousands of Years, afterwards be annihilated, the expectation of this Release would give them some support; yea, it would be some solace to them in their Suf­ferings to think that at last they should be freed from them: But this is the Accent of their Misery, [Page 204]and that which makes them al­together desperate, that it is for ever; for ever they must lie and wallow in those Flames that shall never be quenched, and shall always be bit and stung with that Worm that shall never die, they are fallen into the Hands of the living God, who will never let them go as long as he lives, that is, never to all Eternity. He is a consuming Fire, but yet spends not any part of his Few­el, he consumes without di­minishing them, and destroys, but still perpetuates their being. A wise and intelligent Fire, (as Minutius calls him) that devours the Damned, but still repairs them, and by tormenting still nourishes them for future Tor­ments. Sapiens ille ignis, urit & reficit, carpit & nutrit. And when they have lain burning in this [Page 205] Fire all Ages that Arithmetick can summ up, Millions of Thousands, and Thousands of Millions, yet still it is but the beginning of their Sorrows. O think with your selves how long and tedious a little time seems, when you are in pain, you complain then that Time hath leaden Feet, and wish the Days and Hours would roll away faster, and you never find them so slow-paced, as when they pass over a sick Bed. Oh then what will it be when you shall lie sweltring under the Wrath and Vengeance of the living God, the intolerableness of your Pain and Torment will make e­very Day seem an Age; and eve­ry Year as long as Eternity, and yet you must lie there an Eternity of those long Years. Methinks this consideration of Eternal Tor­ments should astonish the Heart, [Page 206]and sink the Spirits of wicked Wretches; for though they were not to be so excessively sharp as they are, yet the Eternity of them should make them altogether in­tolerable. There is no pain so small but it would make us des­perate, were we assured it would never wear off, that we should never obtain any ease or freedom from it. Whatever Pain we suf­fer, our encouragement unto Pa­tience is, that shortly it will be over: But now in Hell there is no period sixt to their Torments, they are all eternal, and there­fore whatsoever they are for the Measure of them, yet are they utterly intolerable for their Du­ration and Continuance. Couldst thou shove away Millions of Years with a Wish, yet all this would avail nothing; for there are as many Years in Eternity as [Page 207]there are Moments, and as many Millions of Years as there are Years; that is, it is an infinite boundless Duration, and when thou hast struck thy Thoughts as deep into it as thou canst, yet thou art but at the top of the Heap, and it is still a whole Eternity to the bottom.

Thirdly, Consider also that the Wrath and Vengeance of God is most dreadful, not only from the Eternal Duration thereof; but also from the excessive An­guish and Smart of those Tor­ments that he inflicts; nothing that we have felt, or can feel in this present Life, can come into any comparison with them; and therefore the Text calls it, A fal­ling into the Hands of God. Here on Earth God's Hand doth some­times fall upon us, and it falls very heavy too; and lays upon [Page 208]us sore and weighty Burthens; but these are nothing to our fal­ling into the Hands of God. There is as much difference be­tween his Wrath and Displea­sure falling upon us, and our falling upon it, as there is be­tween our having a few drops of a Showre falling upon us, and our falling into a River, or into the Sea, and being overwhelmed with the great Waters thereof; and yet how dreadful is it when God's Hand only falls upon us! It was a sad Complaint of the Psalmist, Psal. 32.4. That God's Hand lay heavy upon him. Psal. 38.2. And That God's Hand prest him sore. Grievous Burthens and sore Pressures may be laid upon us by this Hand of God, and that both as to out­ward Afflictions, and inward Troubles.

First, As to outward Afflicti­ons. How dreadfully doth God stretch out his Hand against some, making wide and terrible Breaches upon them; Some in their Estates, some in their Re­lations, and some in their bodi­ly Health and Strength. Have you never been about the sick Beds of those that have roared through extremity of Pain, eve­ry Limb being upon the Rack, and God filling them with a Complication of loathsom, tor­menting and incurable Diseases? and yet all this is but only a fal­ling of God's Hand upon them.

Secondly, 2 As to inward Trou­bles: We see how God cramps some Mens Consciences, breathes Fire and Flames into their very Souls, and makes deep Wounds in their Spirits, forcing them tho­row the extremity of Anguish [Page 210]to cry out, they are damn'd, they are damn'd; yea some have even wisht that they were in Hell, supposing those everlasting Tor­ments would not be more unsuf­ferable than what they here felt. And indeed these inward Trou­bles are far more grievous than any outward can be. We hear Heman crying out, that because of these Terrours of the Lord, he was ready to die from his Youth up. And whilst [...] suffered this Wrath of God, he was [...]en distracted with it. Psal. 88.15. And Job, wh [...]se Patience is celebra­ted for bearing all his outward Asslictions, loss of Estate, of Children, of Health, with an heroick Constancy, (You have heard, says St. James of the Pa­tience of Job) yet when God comes to touch his Spirit with his Wrath, then we hear of his Impatience, he curseth the Day of [Page 211]his Birth, and wishes that God would destroy him, that he would let loose his Hand and cut him off. Job 6.9. And wherefore are these passio­nate Requests? why, he tells us, The Arrows of the Almighty are within me, the Poison whereof drink­eth up my Spirit: The Terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. And therefore though he could patiently bear all that the rage of the Devil could do a­gainst him, when he toucht his Wealth, his Children; yea, when he toucht his Body: yet his Pa­tience could no longer hold out, when God came to touch his Soul and Conscience.

And yet the greatest Terrors of Conscience, whether in the Children of God to their Refor­mation, or in the Wicked to their Desperation, are but light and small touches of his Hand [Page 212]in comparison with what shall be exprest hereafter on the Dam­ned in Hell. For,

First, 1 To the Godly these Afflictions are mixed with Love and Mercy. They come not as Plagues, but as Medicaments to do them good. But in Hell all is Wrath, pure Wrath and Judg­ment without Mercy. And cer­tainly if those Sufferings which are inflicted in Love, and allay'd with Mercy, are yet so very dread­ful to the People of God; how dreadfull will the Wrath of God be in Hell, where it shall be pure and unmixed, and nothing put into that Cup which the Dam­ned are there to drink of, but the rankest Venome that can be squeezed out of all the Curses that eyer God hath denounced? And then,

Secondly, 2 To the Wicked all the Sufferings they here endure are nothing in comparison with what they must eternally suffer in Hell. They are now only sprinkled with a few drops of God's Wrath, but in Hell all his Waves shall go over them for ever. Here they do but sip a lit­tle of that Cup, and taste a little of the Froth of it, and should they drink deeper, Earth could not hold them, but they would grow drunk, and reel and stag­ger into Hell; but there they must for ever drink the very Dregs of that Cup of Trembling and Astonishment. And thou who now roarest like a wild Bull in a Net, when God's Hand is only upon thee, what wilt thou do when thou shalt eternally fall under his Mighty Hands? Thou now cryest out of the Intolerable­ness [Page 214]of thy present Pain: but, alas, hadst thou but felt one gripe of the Torments of the Damned in Hell; had God and the Devil had but one blow a­piece at thee, thou wouldst choose to live for ever here on Earth in the most exquisite Tor­ture that could be devised, the sharpest Paroxysms of the Stone or Gout, to be stretcht upon the Rack, to lye broke upon the Wheel, to have thy Flesh pluckt by fiery Pincers; thou wouldst choose to suffer all these to Eter­nity; yea and chose them as Re­creations and Divertisements, ra­ther than return to that place of Torment; where not only the Eternity, but the Anguish of them, is infinite and unconceiv­able. And as one Day in the Joys of Heaven is better than a thousand Years in all the impure [Page 215]and low Delights of Earth: So one Day in the Torments of Hell, is far worse than a thousand in the sharpest Miseries we can in­dure in this Life.

Here our Pains usually are but partial, God aimes and shoots with his Arrow but at some one part of us: If he wounds our Spirits, yet this in­visible Shaft (like Lightning) passeth thorow without making a Breach in our Bodies, or E­states; we have still our Health and Plenty left us. Or if he strike the Body, usually it is but in one, or at most but in some few Places, and we enjoy ease in the rest: But in Hell, God doth as it were wrap the whole Man up in Searcloth, and set it on fire round about them, so that they are tormented in every part, neither Soul nor Body es­caping, [Page 216]nor any Power or Faculty of the one, nor any Part or Mem­ber of the other.

When we fall into the Hands of God, we are plunged into an Ocean of Wrath, and are covered all over with his Indignation; the Understanding, Will, Con­science, Affections, are all as full of Torments as they can hold: For what can be greater Anguish to the Mind than to know our Misery, and to know it to be remediless? And what can be greater Anguish to the Will and Affections, than most ardently and vehemently to desire freedom from those Torments, but yet to despair of ever obtaining it? And what can fill the Conscience with greater Anguish, than to reflect with infinite Horrour and Regret, that it was the Sinners own Folly and Madness that brought [Page 217]them to this miserable Conditi­on? How will they be ready to rend and tear themselves in pie­ces, their Consciences curse their Wills, and their Wills curse their Affections, and their Affections the Objects that enticed them to the commission of those Sins, the Revenges of which they must now eternally suffer? And as for the Bodies of these Damned Souls, they shall after the Resurrection and dreadful Day of Judgment, be­come all Fire, like a live Coal, Fire shall be imbibed into the very Substance of them, and they not have so much as a drop of Water afforded them to cool the tip of their Tongues. Luke 16. Every Limb shall drop whole flakes of Fire and Brimstone, and they shall be so scourged with knotted and twisted Serpenrs, as to be made all over one great fiery Wound [Page 218]and Ulcer. And this is a third Consideration of the dreadfulness of everlasting Vengeance; It is a falling into God's Hands.

Fourthly, 4 Consider, it is a falling into the Hands of the Living God himself, and not of any Crea­ture.2 Sam. 24.14. Indeed we read, David chose rather to fall into the Hands of the Lord, than into the Hands of Men. It is true, when there is Re­pentance, and hopes of obtain­ing Mercy, this is far more eli­gible: for the Chastisements of the Lord are full of Mercy; but the tender Mercies of the wicked are cruel. But where all hopes of Mercy are excluded, as they are in Hell, certainly there it is infinitely more dreadful to fall into the Hands of a Sin-reven­ging-God, than into the Hands of all the Creatures in Heaven, Earth, or Hell it self. One [Page 219]would have thought it had been terrible enough, if the Apostle had said, It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of Devils; and so indeed it were, if we con­sider either their Power, or their Malice: they can easily find out such tormenting Ingredients, and apply them to such tender Parts, that it would transcend the Pati­ence of any Man, quietly to bear but what one Devil can inflict. Do we not often see in the Illu­sions of black and sooty Melan­choly, what strange Fears and Terrors they can imprint upon the Fancy, what Horror and De­spair they can work in the Con­science, so as to make Men wea­ry of their Lives, and many times perswade them to destroy them­selves, only to know the worst of what they must suffer? And all this he can do out of his own [Page 220]Kingdom; what then can he do when he hath got Sinners into his own Dominions? What ex­act Tortures can he inflict up­on them there? such indeed as we cannot tell what they are, and may it please God we never may.

And yet the Devil is but a fel­low-Creature; but wicked Men are to fall into the Hands, not of a Creature, but of the great Creatour, into the Hands of God himself, whose Power is infinitely beyond the Devil's, so that he is the Tormentor even of them.

Think then with thy self, O Sinner, that if God scourges, and torments the very Devils, who yet do so insufferably tor­ment the Damned; how infi­nitely intolerable then is that Wrath which God himself shall inflict upon them? Consider [Page 221]with thy self, if thou canst not bear those Pains and Torments which the Devils inflict, and if the Devils cannot bear those Pains and Torments which God in­flicts upon them; how wilt thou then, O Sinner, be able to bear the immediate Wrath and Vengeance of the great God him­self?

Nay, let me go yet much lower; and suppose that God should make use of common and ordinary Creatures for the punishment of wicked Men, who is there that could bear this? If God should only keep a Man living for ever in the midst of a Furnace of gross and earthly Fire, how dreadful would this be! If but a Spark of Fire fall upon any part of the Body, what an acute [...]in will it cause? much more [...] thy whole Man should [Page 222]be all over on a light Flame, and thou for ever kept alive to feel the piercing Torment of it. And yet what is our dull unactive Fire in comparison of that pure in­telligent Fire, which shall melt down the Damned like Wax, and lick up the very Spirits of their Souls? Or suppose God who knows the several Stings that are in all his Creatures, should take out of them the most sharp Ingredients, and from them all make up a tormen­ting Composition; if he should take Poison and Venome out of one, and Fire and Scorching out of another, and Smart and Sting­ing out of a third, and the Quintessence of Bitterness out of a fourth; and by his infinite Skill, heighten all these to a pre­ternatural Acrimony; and should apply this Composition thus fa­tally [Page 223]mixed and blended toge­ther, unto any of us, what an intolerable Anguish would it cause? And if Creatures can cause such Tortures, what a dreadfull thing then is it to fall into the Hands of God himself? For when God conveys his Wrath to us by Creatures, it must needs lose infinitely in the Conveyance. When God takes up one Crea­ture to strike another, it is as if a Gyant should take up a Straw to strike a Man; for though he be never so strong, yet the Blow can be but weak, because of the weakness of the Instrument; and yet alas how terrible are such weak Blows to us? What will it then be when God shall im­mediately crush us by the unre­bated strokes of his own Almigh­ty Arm, and express the Power of his Wrath, and the Glory of [Page 224]his Justice and Severity in our e­ternal Destruction? And this is the fourth Demonstration of the dreadfulness of Divine Venge­ance.

Fifthly, 5 Consider that the A­postle calls this Wrath, which the living God will inflict upon Sinners, by the Name of Ven­geance. Vengeance is mine, I will recompence it. Now Vengeance when it is what and sharpned by Wrath, will enter deep, and cut the Soul to the Quick. God acts a Two-fold part in the punish­ment of Sinners.

First, 1 of a Judge. In relation to which their Eternal Torments are sometimes called Condemna­tion; so we read of the Condem­nation of the Devil; 1 Tim. 3.6. That is, that state of Woe and Wrath, to which the Devil is for ever sen­tenced. And Damnation, How [Page] [Page] [Page 225]can you escape the Damnation of Hell? And sometimes it is termed Judgment,Heb. 10.27. A certain fearfull look­ing for of Judgment and Fiery In­dignation. And in Jude 15.Jude 15. to ex­ecute Judgment upon all the Ungodly. Which denotes that their Punish­ment shall be inflicted upon them from God, as he is a Just and Righteous Judge.

And Secondly, 2 God is an Aven­ger as well as a Judge. He is a Party concerned, as having been wronged, and injured by their Sins. And in relation to this, the Punishments that God will inflict upon them, are called Wrath and Fury, smoaking An­ger and Jealousie:Deut. 29.20. The Anger of the Lord and his Jealousie shall smoak against that Man. Also, Fiery Indignation,Heb. 10.27. all which we find amass'd and heaped together,Zeph. 3.8. My Determination (saith God) is [Page 226]to gather the Nations, to pour upon them mine Indignation, even all my fierce Anger; for all the Earth shall be devoured with the Fire of my Jealousie. Now, all these Ex­pressions signifie the terribleness of that Vengeance which God will take. For when the Wrath of Man only stirs him up to revenge an Injury, he will be sure to do it to the utmost extremity of all his Power. And if the Revenge of a poor weak Man be so dread­ful a thing; how insupportable will be the Vengeance of the great God, who assumes it to him­self as part of his Royalty? Ven­geance is mine. See that terrible place,Nah. 1.2. God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth: the Lord revengeth, and is furious, the Lord will take Ven­geance on his Adversaries, and he reserveth Wrath for his Enemies. God reserveth Wrath for Sinners, [Page 227]and keeps it in store, even that Wrath which themselves have treasured up against the Day of Wrath.

Now this Revenging-Wrath of God hath Two things in it that justly make it dreadful.

First, In that, 1 Revenge always aims at Satisfaction, and seeks to repair Injuries received, by inflicting Punishment on the Of­fender. This gives ease to the Party grieved; and if this Re­venge be commensurate to the greatness of the Offence, he rests satisfied in it. And therefore, God speaking of himself accor­ding to the Passions and Affecti­ons of Men, solaces himself in the thoughts of that Vengeance he would take upon Sinners,Isa. 1.24. Ah I will ease me of mine Adversaries, I will avenge me of mine Enemies. And, O how dreadful that Re­venge [Page 228]must be, that shall ease the Heart of God, and give him satisfaction, for the heinous Pro­vocations that Sinners have com­mitted against him. For consider,

First, 1 How great and manifold our Offences have been, and eve­ry act of Sin, yea the least that ever we committed, is an infinite Debt, and carries in it an infinite Guilt, because committed against an infinite Majesty. For all Of­fences take their Measures, not only from the Matter of the Act, but from the Person against whom they are committed: As a reviling injurious Word against our Equals, will but bear an Acti­on at Law; but against the Prince, it is High-Treason, and punish­able with Death. So here, the least Offence against the infinite Majesty of God, becomes it self infinite: The Guilt of it is far [Page 229]beyond whatsoever we can pos­sibly conceive: and yet what in­finite Numbers of these infinite Sins have we committed? The Psalmist tells us,Psal. 40.12. They are more than the Hairs of our Head. Yea, we may well take in all the Sands of the Sea-shore to cast them up by. Our Thoughts are incessantly in Motion; they keep pace with the Moments, and are continually twinkling, and yet, Every Imagination of the Thoughts of our Hearts is evil. What Mul­titudes of them have been grosly wicked and impious; Atheisti­cal, Blasphemous, Unclean, Worldly, and Malicious! and the best of them have been very defective, and far short of that Spirituality and Heavenliness that ought to give a Tincture unto them. And besides the Sins of our Thoughts, how deep [Page 230]have our Tongues set us on the score? We have talk'd our selves in debt to the Justice of God, and with our own Breath have been blowing up everlasting and unquenchable Fire. And add to these the numberless crowd and sum of our sinful Actions, where­in we have busily imployed our selves to provoke the Holy and Jealous God to Wrath, and we shall find our Sins to be doubly infinite in their own particular Guilt and Demerit. And now, O Sinner, when an angry and fu­rious God shall come to exact from thee a full satisfaction for all these Injuries, a Satisfaction in which he may eternally rest and acquiesce, such as may re­pair and recompence his wrong­ed Honour, think sadly with thy self, how infinitely dreadful this must needs be. Assure thy self God [Page 231]will not lose by thee, but will fetch his Glory out of thee, and take such a Revenge upon thee as shall as much please and content him, as his infinite Mercy doth in those whom he saves. And how great then must this Venge­ance be?

Secondly, 2 Consider how dread­ful a Revenge God took on his own dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, when he came to satis­fie his Justice upon him for our Sins. His Wrath fell infinitely heavy upon him, and the pres­sure of it was so intollerable, that it squeezed out drops of clotted Blood from him in the Garden, and that sad Cry on the Cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And yet,

First, 1 Our Lord Christ was supported under all his Sufferings by the ineffable Union of the [Page 232] Deity. He had infinite Power for him, as well as against him; infinite Power to bear him up, as well as to crush him. In Christ's Sufferings, the Power of God seem'd as it were to en­counter with, and run contrary to it self in the same Channel. And as he had the support of in­finite Power in his Sufferings, so likewise had he in the greatest of his Agonies the Ministry of An­gels to comfort him, and to re­fresh the Droopings and Fain­tings of his Humane Nature. And,

Secondly, 2 The infinite Digni­ty of Christ's Person, being God as well as Man, might well compound for the Rigour of his Punishments, and stamp such a Value upon his Humiliation, that less degrees of Suffering from him, might be fully satisfactory. [Page 233]For indeed it cannot be but an infinite Punishment, for an in­finite Person to be punished. But thou that art but a vile contempti­ble Creature, made up of Mud and Slime, hast nothing in thy Nature wherewith to satisfie the Justice of God, but only the e­ternal Destruction and Perdition of it. Thou hast no Worth nor Dignity, the consideration where­of might perswade the Almighty to mitigate the least of his Wrath towards thee: And when it falls in all its weight and force upon thee, thou hast nothing to sup­port thee. It is true, the Al­mighty Power of God shall con­tinue thee in thy Being, but thou wilt for ever curse and blaspheme that Support, that shall be given thee only to perpetuate thy Tor­ments, and ten thousand times wish that God would destroy [Page 234]thee once for all, and that thou mightest for ever shrink away in­to nothing: but that will not be granted thee; no, thou shalt not have so much as the comfort of dying, nor escape the Venge­ance of God by Annihilation: but his Power will for ever so support thee, as for ever to tor­ment thee, which is only such a Support as a Man on the Rack or on the Wheel, supported so as they cannot come off, the Engine of their Torture upholds them. And as for any help or relief the Mini­stry of Angels will afford thee, think what solace it will bring thee, when God shall set on whole Legions of infernal Ghosts, black and hideous Spirits, as the Exe­cutioners of his Wrath, who shall for ever triumph in thy Woes and add to them, hurl Fire-brands at thee, heap Fewel [Page 235]about thee, and fully satiate their Malice upon thee, as God satis­fies his Justice. And this is one Consideration of the dreadfulness of this Vengeance, in that it aims at and exacts satisfaction for Sin, which will be infinitely in­tolerable, because our Sins are infinite both in Number and Heinousness. And because Je­sus Christ, who was to satisfie not for his own, but for the Sins of others, though he were up­held by the Divine Nature, and possibly underwent not such A­crimony of Wrath as the Dam­ned do; yet his Sufferings were unspeakable and unknown Sor­rows: And how much sorer then shall wicked Men bear for their own Sins, when Justice shall come to reckon with them, and to exact from them to the very utmost Farthing, of all that they owe?

Secondly, 2 Consider that Reven­ging Wrath stirs up all that is in God against a Sinner. Wrath when it is whet and set on by Revenge, redoubles a Man's Force, and makes him perform Things that he could not do in his cold Blood, it fires all a Man's Spirits, and calls them forth to express their utmost Efforts. So this Revenging Wrath of God draws forth all the Force and Activity of his Attributes, and sets them against a Sinner, and how dread­ful then must that Execution needs be? We see what great Works God can perform when he is not stirred up thereunto by his Wrath and Indignation. He speaks a whole World into Being, and speaks it with a cold and calm Breath. Certainly it was no small piece of work, to spread out the Heavens, and lay the [Page 237]Foundations of the Earth, and to work all those Wonders of Creation and Providence which we daily behold; but yet all these Things God did, (if I may so speak) without any Emotion. But when he comes to take Venge­ance upon Sinners, he is then in­flamed, all that is in God, is as it were on fire. Jealousie, says Solomon, is the Rage of a Man. Prov. 6.34. Now when God's Jealousie shall be stirred in him, think how im­petuously it will break forth in the fearful effects of it. The Lord shall stir up Jealousie like a Man of War; he shall cry, yea, roar, Isa. 42.13. he shall prevail against his Enemies. If the calm and sedate Works of God are so great and wonderful, how great then will his Vengeance be, when Anger, Fury, and In­dignation shall excite and whet his Power to shew the very ut­most [Page 238]most of what it can do? And therefore we find that though God had inflicted dreadful Plagues upon the Israelites in the Wilderness, and had shewn mighty effects of his Power and Vengeance, yet we find the Church blesseth him,Psal. 78.38. That he turned away his Anger, and did not stir up all his Wrath. But in Hell God stirs up all his Wrath, every thing is set and bent against the Damned: And as to the Saints in Heaven, every Attribute of God concurs to make him merciful and graci­ous to them. So to the Wicked in Hell, all the Perfections of God conspire either to stir up and kin­dle his Wrath, or else to assist him in the execution of it upon them. The infinite Wisdom of God contrives their Punishments, and which way to lay them on, of that they shall be most sharp [Page 239]and poinant. The Power of God that rouses it self against them, and proffers all its Succours and Assistance unto Vengeance. The Eternity and Unchangeableness of God come in as a dreadful Addi­tion, and makes that Wrath which of it self is insupportable, to be also everlasting? Yea that sweet and mild Attribute of God, his Mercy, the only Refuge and the only comfort of miserable Man­kind, yet even this turns against them too, and because they de­spised it when it shone forth in Patience and Forbearance, will not now regard them when they stand in need of its Rescue and Deliverance: So that all that is in God, arms it self to take Ven­geance on Sinners: And O think how sore and fearful that Venge­ance will be, when God shall put forth all that is in himself for [Page 240]the executing of his Wrath up­on impenitent Sinners! And thus I have done with the Demonstrati­ons of the Dreadfulness of God's Wrath taken from the Words in the Text, Vengeance is mine, I will recompence it. 'Tis a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God.

Let us now consider some o­ther Demonstrations of the Great­ness of this Wrath. And,

First, 1 It appears to be excee­ding dreadful in that it is set forth to us in Scripture by all those things which are most terrible to Humane Nature. God ma­keth use of many Metaphorical Expressions of things most grie­vous to our Senses, that from them we may take an hint to conceive how intolerable his Wrath is in it self. It is called a Prison, the Spirits in Prison, 1 Pet. 3.19. that is, the Souls [Page] [Page] [Page 241]of those Men to whom the Spi­rit of Christ in Noah went, and preached in the Days of their Mortal Life, but for their Diso­bedience are shut up under the Wrath of God in Hell. And certainly Hell is a Prison large e­nough to hold all the World. The Wicked shall be turned into Hell, Psal. 9.17. and all the Nations that forget God. A Prison it is where the Devil and wicked Spirits are shackled with Chains of massy and substantial Darkness. They are, 2 Pet. 2.4. says the A­postle, reserved in Chains of Dark­ness unto the Judgment of the great Day. And they are there kept in everlasting Chains under Dark­ness, not one Cranny in this great Prison to let in the least ray or glimpse of Light. It is called a Place of Torment. Luke 16.28. It is a Region of Woe and Misery, wherein Horrour, Despair, and [Page 242]Torture for ever dwell, and are in their most proper Seat and Habitation. It is called, a drow­ning of Men in Destruction and Per­dition. 1 Tim. 6.9. One would think that to be drowned, might signifie Death enough of it self; but to be drowned in Perdition and Destruction, signifies moreover the fatalness and the depth of that Death into which they are plun­ged. It is called, a being cast bound Hand and Foot into utter Darkness; Mat. 22.13. A being thrown into a Furnace of Fire, Mat. 13.42, 50 to be burnt alive. It is called,Revel. 20.15. a Lake of Fire, into which wicked Men shall be plunged all over, where they shall lye wal­lowing and rowling among Mil­lions of damned Spirits, in those infernal Flames. And this Lake is continually fed with a sulphu­rous stream of Brimstone: Revel. 19 20. And this Fire and Brimstone is that [Page 243]which never shall be quen­ched.Mat. 3.12. He will burn up the Chaff with unquenchable Fire. And last­ly, to name no more, it is called everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels. Mat. 25.41. And now we are arrived at the highest pitch of what Sence can feel, or Ima­gination conceive. Or if it be possible that in your deepest Thoughts you can conceive any thing more dreadful than this, you may call it a Sea of molten Brimstone, set all on fire, and con­tinually spewing out sooty dark Flames, wherein endless Multi­tudes of sinful Wretches must lye tumbling to all Eternity, burnt up with the fierceness of a tor­menting and devouring Fire, scourged with Scorpions, stung with fiery Serpents, howling and roaring incessantly, and none to pity, much less to relieve and help [Page 244]them, grinding and gnashing their Teeth through the extremity of their Anguish and Torture. If now you can fancy any thingmore terrible and dreadful than this, Hell is that, yea and much more: For these things are Metaphorical; and though I cannot deny but some of these may be properly and li­terally true, yet the literal Sense of these Metaphors do but faintly and weakly shew us what the least part of those everlasting Torments are.

Secondly, 2 Another Demonstrati­on of the dreadfulness of this Vengeance is this, That it is a Wrath that shall come up unto, and equal all our Fears. You know what an inventive and inge­nious thing Fear is, what horrid Shapes it can fancy to it self out of every thing: Put but an active Fancy into an Affright, and pre­sently [Page 245]the whole World will be filled with strange Monsters and hideous Apparitions. The very shaking of a Leaf will sometimes rout all the Forces and Resoluti­ons of Men: And usually it is this wild Passion that doth en­hance all other Dangers, and make them seem greater and more dreadful than indeed they are. But now here it is impossible for a wicked Man to fear more than he shall certainly suffer. Let his Imaginations be hung round with all the dismal Shapes that ever frighted Men out of their Wits: let his Fancy dip its Pencil in the deepest Melancholy that ever a­ny Soul was besmeered with, and then strive to pourtray and ex­press the most terrible things that it can judge to be the Objects of Fear, or the Instruments of Tor­ment; yet the Wrath of the great [Page 246]God vastly exceeds all that Fear it self can possibly represent. See that strange Expression,Psal. 90.11. Who knows the Power of thine Anger? according to thy Fear, so is thy Wrath. That is, according to the fear Men have of thee, as dreadful and as terrible as they can possibly ap­prehend thy Wrath to be, so it is, and much more. Let the Heart of Man stretch it self to the ut­most Bounds of Imagination, and call in to its Aid all the things that ever it hath heard or seen to be dreadful; let it (as that Pain­ter, who to make a beautiful Piece, borrowed several of the best Features from several beau­tiful Persons) borrow all the dread­ful, all the direful Representati­ons that ever it met with, to make up one most terrible Idea; yet the Wrath of God shall still exceed it: He can execute more [Page 247]Wrath upon us than we can fear. Some wicked Men in this Life have had a Spark of this Wrath of God fall upon their Conscien­ces, when they lye roaring out under Despair and fearful Expe­ctations of the fiery Indignation of God to consume and devour them. But alas this is nothing to what they shall hereafter feel. God now doth but open to them a small chink and crevice into Hell, he now doth but suffer a few small drops of his Wrath to fall upon them. And if this be so sore and smart that their Fears could never think of any thing more dreadful than what they now suffer: O what will it be then when he shall overwhelm them with a whole Deluge of his Wrath, and cause all his Waves to go over them? Fear him, says our Saviour, who is able to destroy [Page 248]both Soul and Body in Hell; yea, I say unto you, Mat. 10.28. fear him. And yet when we have feared according to the utmost extent of our nar­row Hearts, yet still his infinite Power and Wrath is infinitely more fearful than we can fear it.

Thirdly, 3 Consider the princi­pal and immediate Subject of this Wrath of God, and that is the Soul, and this adds much to the dreadfulness of it. The acutest Torments that the Body is capable of, are but dull and flat things in comparison of what the Soul can feel. Now when God shall immediately with his own Hand lash the Soul, that refined and spiritual Part of Man, the Principle of all Life and Sensati­on, and shall draw Blood from it every Stripe, how intolerable may we conceive those Pains and Tortures to be? To shoot poi­son'd [Page 249]Darts into a Man's Marrow, to rip up his Bowels with a Sword red hot; all this is as no­thing to it. Think what it is to have a drop of scalding Oyl, or melted Lead, fall upon the Apple of your Eyes, that should make them boyl and burn till they fall out of your Heads; such Tor­ment, nay infinitely more than such, is it to have the burning Wrath of God to fall upon the Soul. We find that Spirits which are infinitely inferiour unto God, can make strange Impressions up­on the Souls of Men: and shall not the great God much more, who is the Father of Spirits? Yes, he can torture them by his essential Wrath. And that God, who, as the Prophet Nahum speaks,Nahum 1.6. can melt Mountains, and make Hills and Rocks flow down at his Presence, can melt the Souls of the Dam­ned, [Page 250]like lumps of Wax; for in his Displeasure he doth some­times do it to the best of Men even in this Life,Psal. 22.14. My Heart is melted like Wax in the midst of my Bowels: says David.

Fourthly, The Dreadfulness of this Wrath of God may be de­monstrated by this, That the Pu­nishment of the Damned is re­served by God as his last Work. It is a Work which he will set himself about when all the rest of his Works are done, when he hath folded up the World, and laid it aside as a Thing of no further use, then will God set himself to this great Work, and pour out all the Treasures of his Wrath upon damned Wretches, as if God would so wholly mind this Business that he would lay all other Affairs aside, that he might be intent only upon this, [Page 251]having no other thing to interrupt him. Think then how full of Dread and Terror this must needs be, when God will as it were em­ploy all his Eternity about this, and have no other thing to take him off from doing it with all his Might. God hath reserved two Works, and but two for the o­ther World; One is the Salva­tion of the Elect, and the other is the Damnation of Reprobates.

Now it is remarkable that God's last Works do always ex­ceed his former: And therefore we find in the Creation of the World, God still proceeded on from more imperfect kind of Creatures to those that were more perfect, until he had fully built and finished, yea carved, and as it were painted this great House of the Universe; and then he brings Man into it as his last [Page 252]Work, as the Crown and Perfe­ction of the rest: So God likewise acted in the manner of revealing his Will unto Mankind, first he spake to them by Dreams and Visions, but in the last Days (as the Apostle expresseth it) he hath spoken unto us by his Son. So also in the Dispensation of the Covenant of Grace, and Exhibi­tion of the Messiah, first he was made known only by Promise to the Fathers, then in Types and obscure Resemblances to the Jews, but in the latter Days, himself came and took upon him the form of a Servant, and wrought out a compleat Redemption for us. So usually the last Works of God are more compleat, perfect and excellent than the former. Now God's Punishing-Work is his last Work, and therefore it shall ex­ceed in Greatness all that ever [Page 253]went before it. In his first Work, the Creation of the World, he demonstrated his infinite Power, Wisdom, and Godhead; but in the Destruction of Sinners, which is his last Work, he will mani­fest more of Power and Wis­dom, than he did in his creating them; and how fearful a Destru­ction then must this needs be? God hath variety of Works that he is carrying on in this World, and if his Glory doth not perfe­ctly appear in one, he may ma­nifest it in another. But when he shall confine himself only to two, as he will in the World to come, the saving of the Godly, and the damning of the Wicked, and this without any variety or change, certainly then these shall be performed to the very utmost of what God can do: for as he will save the Saints to the very [Page 254]utmost; so likewise will he damn and destroy Sinners to the very utmost.

Fifthly, 5 Another Demonstra­tion of the dreadfulness of this Wrath shall be drawn from this Consideration, That God will for ever inflict it for the glorify­ing of his Power on the Damned. What if God willing to shew his Wrath, Rom. 9.22. and make his Power known: And they shall be punish'd with e­verlasting Destruction from the Pre­sence of the Lord, 2 Thes. 1.9. and from the Glo­ry of his Power. Now certain­ly, if God will inflict eternal Punishments upon them to shew forth his Power, their Punish­ments must needs be infinitely great. For,

First, 1 All those Works where­in God shews forth his Power, are great and stupendous. Con­sider what Power it was for God [Page 255]to lay the Beams of the World, and to erect so stately a Fabrick as Heaven and Earth. The A­postle therefore tells us, That by the Creation of the World, is un­derstood the eternal Power of God. Rom. 1.20. When God shewed his Power in creating, O what a great and stupendous Work did he pro­duce! And therefore certainly when God shall likewise shew his Power in destroying, the Punishments he will inflict will be wonderful and stupendous.

Secondly, 2 Consider God can easily destroy a Creature without shewing any great Power, or putting forth his Almighty Arm and Strength to do it. If he only withdraw his Power by which he upholds all things in their Beings, we should quickly fall all abroad into nothing: So easie is it for God to destroy the [Page 256]well-being of all his Creatures. But now if God will express the greatness and infiniteness of his Power in destroying Sinners, whom yet he can destroy without putting forth his Power, yea on­ly by withdrawing and withhol­ding it; O how fearful must this Destruction needs be! A­las we are crusht before the Moth, and must needs perish, if God doth but suspend the Influence of his Power from us. How dreadfully then will he destroy, when he shall lay forth his infi­nite Power to do it, who can ea­sily do it without Power?

And thus I have laid down some Demonstrations of the dread­fulness of the Wrath and Ven­geance of God, five of them drawn from the Words of the Text, and five drawn from other Considerations. I shall now shut [Page 257]up with two or three Words of Application.

First, Use. 1 Then be perswaded to believe that there is such a dread­ful Wrath to come. I know well, you all profess that you do be­lieve, that as there are uncon­ceivable Rewards of Glory re­served in Heaven for the Saints; so, that there are inexhaustible Treasures of Wrath reserved and laid up in Hell for all ungodly and impenitent Sinners. But ☉ how few are there that do re­ally and cordially believe these things: Mens own Lives may be evident Convictions to them­selves of their Atheism and Infi­delity: For the true reason of all that dissoluteness which we see abroad in the World proceeds much from hence, because Men are not perswaded that these dreadful Terrors of the Lord [Page 258]which have now been set before us, are any thing but an honest Artifice. They look upon them as things only invented to scare the World into good order, and to awe Men into some compass of Civility and Honesty: They think all those tremendous Threat­nings that God hath denounced in his Law to be things intended rather to fright Men, than to do execution upon them. And whereas one of the most effectu­al Motives to Piety and an holy Life, is to be perswaded of the Terrors of the Lord, these are not yet perswaded that there are any such Terrors: But assure your selves these are not the ex­travagant Dreams of Melancholy Fancies, nor the Politick Impo­stures of Men that design to a­muse the World with frightful Stories; but they are sad and se­rious [Page 259]Truths, such as however you may now slight and contemn, yet shall you be wofully convin­ced of by your own experience, when after a few years, or possi­bly a few days, you shall be sunk down into that Place of Torment, that Gulph and Abyss of Misery, where the great God shall for e­ver express the Art, and the Power of his Vengeance in your everlasting Destruction.

Secondly, Use. 2 This speaks abun­dance of comfort to all those whose Sins are pardon'd, and they delivered from the Wrath to come. Look what Spring­tydes of Joy would rise in the Heart of a poor condemned Ma­lefactor, who every moment ex­pects the stroke of Justice to cut him off, to have a Pardon inter­pose and rescue him from Death. Such, yea far greater should be [Page 260]thy Joy who art freed meerly by a gracious Pardon, from a Con­demnation infinitely greater and worse than Death it self. When we look into Hell, and consider the Wrath that the Damned there lye under, O to behold them there restlesly rolling to and fro in Chains and Flames, to hear them exclaim against their own Folly and Madness, and to curse Themselves and their Associates as the Causes of their heavy and doleful Torments; how should we rejoice that though we have been guilty of many great and heinous Sins, and have Ten thou­sand times deserved Hell and e­verlasting Burnings, yet our good and gracious God hath freely par­don'd us our Debts, and freed us from the same merited Punish­ments.

Thirdly, Use. 3 This also should ex­cite us to magnifie the Love of our Lord Jesus Christ towards us, who though he knew what the dreadful Wrath of God was, how sore and heavy it would lye upon his Soul, yet such was his infinite Compassion towards us, that he willingly submitted him­self to be in our stead, took upon him our Nature, that he might take upon him our Guilt; and first made himself wretched, that he might be made accursed. He drank off the whole bitter Cup of his Father's Wrath at one bit­ter Draught, received the whole sting of Death into his Body at once; falls and dies under the Revenges of Divine Justice, only that we might be delivered from the Wrath that we had deserved, but could not bear. O Chri­stian, let thy Heart be enlarged [Page 262]with great Love and Thankful­ness to thy blessed Redeemer; and as he thought nothing too much to suffer for thee, return him this Expression of thy Thank­fulness, to think nothing too much, nor too hard to do, or to suffer for him.

Fourthly, Use. 4 You that go on in Sin, consider what a God you have to deal withal; You have not to do with Creatures, but with God himself. And do you not fear that increated Fire that will wrap you up in Flames of his essential Wrath, and burn you for ever? Consider that dreadful Expostulation that God makes. Can thy Heart indure, Ezek. 22.14. or can thy Hands be strong in the Day that I shall deal with thee, saith the Lord? The very weakness of God is stronger than Man: God can breath, he can look a Man to [Page 263]Death;Job 4.9. By the Blast of God they perish, and by the Breath of his No­strils are they consumed: They perish at the Rebuke of thy Countenance. Psal. 80.16. O then tremble to think what a load of Wrath his heavy Hand can lay upon thee,Isa. 10.12. That Hand which spans the Heavens, and in the Hol­low of which he holds the Sea. What Punishment will this great Hand of God in which his great Strength lies, inflict when it shall fall upon thee in the full Power of its Might? And tell me now, O Sinner, wouldst thou willingly fall into the Hands of this God, who is thus able to crush thee to pieces, yea to no­thing? O how shall any of us then dare, who are but poor weak Potsherds of the Earth, dash our selves against this Rock of Ages? Indeed we can neither resist his Power, nor escape his [Page 264]Hand: and therefore since we must necessarily sooner or later fall into the Hands of God, let us by true Repentance and an humble Acknowledgment of our Sins and Vileness, throw our selves into his merciful Hands; and then to our unspeakable Com­fort we shall find that he will extend his Arm of Mercy to sup­port us, and not his Hand of Ju­stice to crush and break us.