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   Title: The Works of Dr. John Tillotson, Late Archbishop of Canterbury.
   Vol. 08.
   Creator(s): Tillotson, John, (1630-1694)
   Print Basis: London: Richard Priestley (1820)
   CCEL Subjects: All;
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    THE

                                     WORKS

    OF

                              DR. JOHN TILLOTSON,

    LATE

  ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.
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WITH THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR,

    BY

THO^S . BIRCH, M.A.

    ALSO

  A COPIOUS INDEX, AND THE TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE CAREFULLY COMPARED.
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  IN TEN VOLUMES.--VOL. VIII.
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LONDON:

    PRINTED BY J. F. DOVE, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE;

  FOR RICHARD PRIESTLEY, HIGH HOLBORN.

1820.
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CONTENTS TO VOL. VIII.

SERMONS.

   Page

   CLXXVI.--Of the Immortality of the Soul, as discovered by Nature and by
   Revelation
   1

   CLXXV1I. CLXXVIII. CLXXIX. CLXXX. CLXXXI.--Of the Certainty of a future
   Judgment, &c.
   24. 39. 55. 69. 83

   CLXXXII.--The Uncertainty of the Day of Judgment considered and
   improved
   100

   CLXXXIII.--The Certainty and the Blessedness of the Resurrection of
   true Christians
   126

   CLXXXIV. CLXXXV.--Of the Happiness of Good Men in the future State
   149. 164

   CLXXXVI.--The Wisdom of Religion justified in the different Ends of
   good and bad Men
   180

   CLXXXVII.--The Usefulness of considering our latter End
   210

   CLXXXVIII. CLXXXIX. CXC.--The Life of Jesus Christ considered as our
   Example
   231. 249. 272

   CXCI.--The Sufferings of Christ considered as a proper Means of our
   Salvation
   288

   CXCII.--The Evidence of our Saviour's Resurrection
   308

   CXCIII.--The Possibility of the Resurrection asserted and proved
   326

   CXCIV.--The Resurrection of our Saviour considered as an Argument for
   seeking Things above
   344

   CXCV.--The Circumstances and Benefits of our Saviour's Ascension
   359

   CXCVI.--Of the Gift of Tongues conferred on the Apostles
   377

   CXCVII.--Of the Coming of the Holy Ghost as an Advocate for Christ
   397

   CXCVIII.--Of the Coming of the Holy Ghost as a Guide to the Apostles
   416

   CXCIX. CC.--Of the ordinary Influence of the Holy Ghost on the Minds of
   Christians
   432. 448

   CCI.--The Fruits of the Spirit, the same with Moral Virtues
   465

   CCII.--The Necessity of supernatural Grace, in order to a Christian
   Life
   485

   CCIII.--CCIV. CCV. Of the Form and the Power of Godliness
   501. 524. 538

   CCVI.--Of the Necessity of Good Works
   551
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                                    SERMONS
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SERMON CLXXVI.

  OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, AS DISCOVERED BY NATURE AND BY REVELATION.

   But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ,
   who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to
   light through the gospel.--2 Tim. i. 10.

   HAVING in my three former discourses shewed what arguments natural
   reason doth furnish us with, for the immortality of our souls; I come
   now to the second thing I propounded, which is to shew what assurance
   the world had de facto, of this great principle of religion, the soul's
   immortality, before the revelation of the gospel.

   Before our Saviour's coming into the world, there were but two
   different religions; that of the heathens, and that of the Jews. The
   religion of the heathens was natural religion, corrupted and
   degenerated into idolatry: the religion of the Jews was revealed and
   instituted by God; but did suppose natural religion, and was superadded
   to it. Therefore I shall consider the heathens and the Jews distinctly.
   And,

   First, Shew what assurance the heathens had of this principle, of the
   soul's immortality.

   Secondly, What the Jews had of it.

   First, What assurance the heathens had of the soul's immortality.

   1. It is evident that there was a general inclination in mankind, even
   after its greatest corruption and degeneracy, to the belief of this
   principle; which appeal's, in that all people and nations of the world,
   after they were sunk into the greatest degeneracy, and all (except only
   the Jews) became idolaters, did universally agree in this apprehension,
   that their souls did remain after their bodies, and pass into a state
   of happiness or misery, according as they had demeaned themselves in
   this life. Not that they did generally reason themselves into this
   apprehension, by any convincing arguments, but did herein follow the
   bent and tendency of their natures, which did incline them thus to
   think. For no other reason can be given of the universal consent, even
   of the most rude and barbarous nations, in this principle, besides the
   inclination of human nature to this opinion; that is, either men come
   into the world with this notion imprinted upon their minds, or else
   (which comes all to one) the understanding of man is naturally of such
   a frame and make, that, left to itself, and the free exercise of its
   own thoughts, it will fall into this apprehension.

   2. The unlearned and common people among the heathen, seem to have had
   the truest and least wavering apprehensions in this matter; the reason
   of which seems to be plain, because their belief followed the bias and
   inclination of their nature, and they had not their natural notions
   embroiled and disordered by obscure and uncertain reasonings about it,
   as the philosophers had, whose under standings were perplexed with
   infinite niceties and objections, which never troubled the heads of the
   common people. By which means the vulgar had this advantage, that the
   natural dictates of their minds had their free course; and as they did
   not argue themselves into this principle, so neither were their natural
   hopes and fears checked and controlled by any objections to the
   contrary.

   But then this principle being only a kind of natural instinct in them,
   which did not awaken their minds by any deep consideration and
   reasoning about it, it had no great influence upon their lives.

   For as they were not much troubled with doubts concerning it, so
   neither did they deeply attend to the consequences of it: but as they
   followed the inclination of nature in the entertaining of this notion;
   so, because it was not entertained upon deep consideration, it had no
   great effect upon them.

   3. The learned among the heathen did not so generally agree in this
   principle, and those who did consent in it, were many of them more
   wavering and unsettled than the common people. Epicurus and his
   followers were peremptory in the denial of it: but, by their own
   acknowledgment, they did herein offer great violence to their natures,
   and had much ado to divest themselves of the contrary apprehension and
   fears. Therefore the poet, in the person of the Epicurean, represents
   it as a rare piece of happiness, and that which few attained to, to
   quit themselves of the notions of another state after this life:--


   Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,

   Atque metus omnes et inexorabile fatum

   Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari.

   The stoics were very inclinable to the belief of a future state; but
   yet they almost every where speak very doubtfully of it. Seneca and
   Antoninus often speak to this purpose--that if the soul remain after
   this life, there is no doubt but that good men shall be happy, and bad
   men miserable: but whether the soul outlive the body or not, that they
   could not positively determine. Aristotle hath some express passages
   for the soul's immortality; but it seems he was not constant to himself
   in this matter, or else they have done him a great deal of wrong, who
   have wrote so many books on both sides concerning his opinion in this
   point. Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato, and many others of the most
   eminent philosophers, as Tully tells us, were full, not of assurance,
   but of very good hopes of the soul's immortality and a future state.
   Socrates, who was one of the best and wisest of all the heathens, does,
   in his discourses before his death, (as Plato relates them) support and
   bear up himself against the terrors of death, only with this
   consideration--that he was full of hopes, that when he left this world,
   he should pass into a far happier and more perfect state; that he
   should go to God, and live with him, and keep company with the spirits
   of good men: and that he is not positive and peremptory in it, is no
   argument that he doubted of this more than any thing else; for that was
   his fashion in all his discourses, to speak modestly, and with some
   show of doubting, even concerning those things whereof he had the
   greatest assurance: but this is plain, that he was so well assured of
   it, as to die cheerfully, and to leave the world without any kind of
   disturbance, upon the hopes that he had conceived of another life; and
   surely they must be pretty confident hopes, that will bear up a man's
   spirit to such a height when he comes to die. In short, he told his
   friends the morning before he died, that he had as good assurance of
   the soul's immortality as human reason could give, and that nothing but
   a Divine revelation could give him greater satisfaction. And to mention
   no more, Tully, the chief philosopher among the Romans, expresseth
   himself with a good degree of confidence in this matter. He argues
   excellently for it in several parts of his works; but particularly in
   his book De Senectute, he declares his own opinion of it, where,
   speaking to Scipio and Laelius, he says, "I do not see why I may not
   adventure to declare freely to you, what my thoughts are concerning
   death; and perhaps I may discern better than others what it is, because
   I am now by reason of my age not far from it. I believe (says he) that
   the fathers, those eminent persons, and my particular friends, are
   still alive, and that they live the life which only deserves the name
   of life." And afterward, Nec me solum ratio ac disputatio impulit ut
   ita crederem, sed nobilitas etiam summorum philosophorum et auctoritas;
   "Nor has reason only and disputation brought me to this belief, but the
   famous judgment and authority of the chief philosophers." And having
   mentioned Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato, he breaks out into this
   rapture, Oh praeclarum diem quum in illud animorum concilium cetumque
   proficiscar, et cum hac turba et colluvione discedam! "Oh glorious day,
   when I shall go unto the great council and assembly of spirits, when I
   shall go out of this tumult and confusion, and quit the sink of this
   world, when I shall be gathered to all those brave spirits who have
   left this world, and meet with Cato, the greatest and best of mankind!"
   What could a Christian almost say with more extacy? And he concludes,
   Quod si in hoc erro, quod animos hominum immortales esse credam,
   libenter erro, nec mihi hunc errorem quo delector, dum vivo, extorqueri
   volo; sin mortuus, ut quidam minuti philosophi censent, nihil sentiam,
   non vereor ne hunc errorem meum mortui philosophi irrideant. "But if,
   after all, I am mistaken herein, I am pleased with my error, which I
   would not willingly part with whilst I live: and if after my death (as
   some little philosophers sup pose) I shall be deprived of all sense, I
   have no fear of being exposed and laughed at by them, for this my
   mistake, in the other world."

   Thus you see what assurance the heathens had of this principle, and
   that there was a general inclination and propension in them to the
   belief of it: and as it was not firmly and upon good grounds believed
   among the common people; so neither was it doubted of or called in
   question among them. Among the philosophers it was a matter of great
   uncertainty, being stiffly denied by some, doubted of by others; and
   those who were most inclinable to the entertainment of it, do rather
   express their desires and hopes of it, than their full assurance
   concerning it. I come therefore,

   Secondly, To the other inquiry, what assurance the Jews had of the
   soul's immortality and a future state. And of this, I shall give you an
   account in these following particulars:

   1. They had all the assurance which natural light, and the common
   reason of mankind, does ordinarily afford men concerning this matter;
   they had common to them with the, heathens, all the advantage that
   nature gives men to come to the knowledge of this truth. But that which
   I chiefly design to inquire into, is, what singular advantage they had
   above the heathens, by means of those special revelations which were
   made to them from God. Therefore,

   2. They had by Divine revelation a fuller assurance of those truths
   which have a nearer connexion with this principle, and which do very
   much tend to facilitate the belief of it; as, namely, concerning the
   providence of God, and his interesting himself particularly in the
   affairs of the world. In the history of Moses they had a satisfactory
   account of the original of the world; that God made it, and that he had
   eminently interposed in the government of it; and had given several
   eminent testimonies of his providence, in the general deluge which was
   brought upon the world, and in the dreadful particular judgment from
   heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbouring cities; in his
   special providence towards Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; in that
   series of miracles whereby their deliverance was wrought out of Egypt,
   and they were carried through the wilderness to the promised land; and
   in those two standing miracles of the fruitfulness of every sixth year,
   because the land was to rest the seventh; and preserving the land from
   the invasion of enemies, when they came up to Jerusalem three times a
   year; by which God did testify a very particular and immediate
   providence toward them. Now, whatever gives assurance of God's
   providence, does very much facilitate the belief of a future state.
   Epicurus was well aware of the connexion of these principles, and
   therefore, in order to the freeing of the minds of men from the fears
   of a future state, he makes way for it by removing the providence of
   God, and denying that he either made the world, or concerned himself in
   the government of it.

   And then, besides this, the Jews had assurance of the existence of
   spirits by the more immediate ministry of angels among them. And this
   does directly make way for the belief of an immaterial principle, and
   consequently of the soul's immortality. And this the Sadducees, who
   were a kind of Epicureans among the Jews, were sensible of; and,
   therefore, as they said that there was no resurrection, and no future
   state after this life, so they denied that there was either angel or
   spirit, as the apostle tells us. (Acts xxiii. 7.) From whence by the
   way we may take notice of the great mistake of those, who, from the
   opinion of the Sadducees, argue that eternal life was not at all
   believed under the Old Testament; because, if it had been so, it is not
   credible that it would have been disowned by those who acknowledged the
   authority of those books; whereas we see that they denied, to serve
   their hypo thesis, other things which were most expressly revealed in
   the Old Testament--as, the doctrine of angels and spirits.

   .3. There were some remarkable instances of the Old Testament, which
   did tend very much to persuade men to this truth: I mean the instances
   of Enoch and Elias, who did not die like other men, but were
   translated, and taken up into heaven in an extraordinary manner. From
   which instances it was obvious to considerate men, to reason, that God
   did intend by these examples to encourage good men with the hopes of
   another state after this life. And accordingly the apostle to the
   Hebrews makes the belief of future rewards, a necessary consequence
   from this instance of Enoch's translation. (Heb. xi. 5, 6.) "By faith
   Enoch was translated, that he should not see death, and was not found,
   because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this
   testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to
   please him: for he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and
   that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

   4. This was typified and shadowed forth to them by the legal
   administrations. The whole economy of their worship and temple, of
   their rites and ceremonies, and sabbaths, did shadow out some farther
   thing to them, though in a very obscure manner: the land of Canaan, and
   their coming to the possession of it, after so many years travail in
   the wilderness, did represent that heavenly inheritance which good men
   should be possessed of after the troubles of this life. And these were
   intended by God to signify those greater and better things to them, and
   so understood by those who were more devout and knowing among them;
   else the apostle, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, had gone upon a very
   ill ground, when he all along takes it for granted, that the
   dispensation of the law, and all the ceremonies of it, were of a
   farther signification: (Heb. x. 1.) "The law having a shadow of good
   things to come."

   5. This was in general, and by good consequence, though not obvious to
   all, yet sufficiently to prudent and discerning men, revealed in the
   book of the law taken precisely: I mean the five books of Moses. It is
   said of Abel, that God was pleased with his sacrifice, though with
   Cain's he was not well-pleased. (Gen. iv.) Upon this Cain was angry at
   his brother, and slew him. Now if the immortality of the soul and a
   future state, be not supposed and taken for granted in this story, this
   very passage is enough to cut the sinews, and pluck up the roots, of
   all religion. For if there were no rewards after this life, it were
   obvious for every man to argue from this story, that it was a dangerous
   thing to please God; if this were all that Abel got by it, to be
   knocked on the head by his brother, who offended God.

   But I shall chiefly insist on the general promises which we find in
   these books of Moses, of God's blessing good men, and declaring that he
   was their God, even after their death. Now I shall shew that these
   promises did involve the happiness of another life, and were intended
   by God to signify thus much, and were so understood by good men under
   that dispensation. That these general promises did contain this sense
   under them, and were intended by God to signify thus much, is evident
   from our Saviour's citation of that text, to confute the Sadducees, "I
   am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;" from
   whence he reasons thus, "Now God is not the God of the dead, but of the
   living; for all live to him:" the force of which argument was directly
   and immediately levelled against the main error of the Sadducees, which
   was the denial of a future state. This our Saviour immediately proves
   from this text, and by consequence the resurrection, which the
   Sadducees did not deny upon any other account, but because they did not
   [1] believe a future state.

   6. Toward the expiration of the legal dispensation, there was yet a
   clearer revelation of a future state. The text in Daniel seems to be
   much plainer than any in the Old Testament: (Dan. xii. 2.) "And many of
   them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some to
   everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." And to
   this text the seven brethren, who were cruelly put to death under the
   persecution of Antiochus, seem to refer when they comfort themselves
   with the hopes of another life: (2 Mac. vii. 9.) where one of them,
   ready to die, says thus to Antiochus, "Thou like a fury takest us out
   of this present life, but the King of the world shall raise us up, who
   have died for his laws, unto everlasting life." To the same purpose,
   another of them, (ver. 14.) when he was tormented, expresseth his
   confidence thus: "It is good, being put to death by men, to look for
   hope from God, to be raised up again by him; but as for thee (speaking
   of Antiochus) thou shalt have no resurrection to life." Where he seems
   to allude to the twofold resurrection mentioned by Daniel. And though
   this history of the Maccabees be not canonical, yet the apostle hath
   warranted the truth of it to us, at least in this particular, for he
   plainly refers to this story: (Heb. xi. 35.) "Others were tortured, not
   accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection."

   7. Notwithstanding this, I say, that the immortality of the soul, and a
   future state, was not expressly and clearly revealed in the Old
   Testament, at least not in Moses's law. The special and particular
   promises of that dispensation, were of temporal good things; and the
   great blessing of eternal life, was but somewhat obscurely involved and
   signified in the types and general promises: for considering that the
   particular promises were plainly of temporal things, it was very
   obvious to those who were not so prudent and discerning, to interpret
   the general promises so as to comprehend only that kind of blessings
   which were expressed in the special and particular promises, and so
   likewise to under stand the general threatenings. And upon this
   account, the apostle to the Hebrews principally advanceth the new
   covenant of the gospel above the old dispensation: because the gospel
   had clear, and express, and special promises of eternal life, which the
   law had not: (Heb. viii. 6.) "But now hath he obtained a more excellent
   ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant,
   which was established upon better promises." For the same reason Christ
   is said here in the text, "by his appearance to have abolished death,
   and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." And so I
   proceed to the

   Second thing I propounded, which is to shew, what farther evidence and
   assurance the gospel gives us of it, than the world had before: what
   clearer discoveries we have by Christ's coming, than the heathens or
   Jews had before.

   That the gospel hath brought to us a clearer discovery of this than
   they had, is here expressly said; that God's gracious purpose
   concerning our salvation, which was before the world began decreed to
   be accomplished in Christ, is now made manifest by his corning into the
   world; (ver. 9.) "Who hath saved and called us with a holy calling, not
   according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace,
   which was given us in Jesus Christ before the world began, but is now
   made manifest/ &c. Which is emphatically spoken, now, and not till now,
   importing that, before the appearing of our Saviour, it was, in great
   measure, hid from the world, and that men had very dark and obscure
   apprehensions of it, till it was "brought to light by the gospel." And
   this is not only affirmed in this place, but very frequently all over
   the New Testament. I will mention some of the most express places to
   this purpose. (John vi. 6, 8.) When many of Christ's followers left
   him, he asks the twelve, "Will ye also go away?" To whom Peter answers,
   "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." As if
   he had said, What master should we choose to follow rather than thee,
   who bringest to the world the glad tidings of eternal life? What
   discipline or institution is there in the world, that gives such
   encouragement to its followers? Others may promise great things in this
   world; but in the declarations and promises of another life, we cannot
   rely upon any one but him that comes from God, as we are fully
   persuaded thou dost: for it follows in the next verse, "And we believe,
   and are sure, that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."

   (Tit. ii. 11. &c.) "The grace of God which brings salvation hath
   appeared to all men," &c. Where the revelation of the gospel is called
   "the grace of God which brings salvation," that is, which disco vers to
   the world that eternal happiness, which was in a great measure hid from
   it before, and encourageth men by the hopes of that blessing to live a
   holy life. The apostle to the Hebrews doth all along in his Epistle use
   this as an argument to the Jews, to take them oft from the Mosaical
   institution, and to persuade them to entertain the doctrine of the
   gospel, as making clearer discoveries, and giving greater assurance of
   eternal life and salvation, than the law did. (Heb. ii. 2-5.) "For if
   the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and
   disobedience received a just recompence of reward; how shall we escape,
   if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken
   by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also
   bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers
   miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? For
   unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come,
   whereof we speak." That is, if the promises and threatenings of the
   law, which was delivered but by the ministry of angels, were made good,
   and the offenders under that dispensation were severely punished, what
   shall become of us, if we neglect the dispensation of the gospel, which
   reveals to us greater things, even eternal life and salvation, and
   which receiveth so great a confirmation, both from Christ himself, by
   whom it was first delivered, and also from his apostles, who published
   it to the world, and gave testimony to it by so many miracles? And it
   follows, (ver. 5.) "For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection
   the world to come, whereof we now speak." The meaning of which is this:
   the promises and threatenings of the law, which was delivered by
   angels, were temporal, and such as respected this world; but now God
   has sent his Son, he hath in him made promises of a greater salvation,
   he hath put into his hands the great things of another world, and hath
   given him power to promise eternal life, and to give it to as many as
   he pleases. So the danger of contemning the gospel, must needs be much
   greater than that of the law, because the happiness which the gospel
   promises is so much greater: for unto the angels Mho delivered the law,
   God gave no power and commission to make clear and express promises of
   the rewards of another world. "Unto the angels did he not put in
   subjection the world to come;" but so hath he done to his Son. "He hath
   committed all judgment to him, and hath given him power to raise up
   those who have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and those that
   have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation;" as our Saviour
   himself speaks, (John v. 22.) And thus "he hath put the world to come
   in subjection unto his Son," having empowered him to encourage and
   argue men to the obedience of his laws, by the rewards and punishments
   of another world: whereas the law delivered by angels, had only the
   sanction of temporal threatenings and promises. (Heb. vii. 16.) The
   gospel is called "the power of an eternal life," in opposition to the
   law, which is called "a carnal commandment;" not only because the
   precepts of it respected the body, but because the promises of it were
   of temporal good things which belong to this life; and at the 19th
   verse, the gospel, in opposition to the Mosaical dispensation, is
   called "the bringing in of a better hope:"--"the law made nothing
   perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did;" epeisagoee`, the
   superinduction of a better hope; by which the apostle plainly
   signifies, that this was the imperfection of the Mosaical dispensation,
   that it did not give men firm hopes and assurance of eternal life; but
   the gospel hath superinduced this hope, and thereby supplied the great
   defect of the former administration. To the same purpose he tells us,
   (chap. viii. 6.) that Christ "hath now obtained a more excellent
   ministry, forasmuch as he is the mediator of a better covenant,
   established upon better promises." How better promises? Why, instead of
   the promises of a temporal Canaan and earthly blessings, Christ hath
   given us promises of eternal life and happiness. Therefore, in the next
   chapter, he is called "a high-priest of good things to come;" and,
   (ver. 15.) "For this cause" he is said to be "the mediator of the new
   testament, that they which are called might receive the promise of the
   eternal inheritance." Once more the apostle, (chap. x. ver. 1.) makes
   this the great imperfection of the law, in opposition to the gospel,
   that it "had only a shadow of good things to come, but not the very
   image of the things;" that is, it did but darkly typify and shadow
   forth the things of another life, not give us so express an image, and
   lively representation of the rewards of another world, as the gospel
   does. Therefore St. John makes eternal life to be the great promise of
   the gospel, the great blessing which Christ hath revealed to the world:
   (1 John ii. 25.) "This is the promise which he hath promised, even
   eternal life." So that you see, that the full and clear discovery of
   eternal life, is every where in the New Testament attributed to Christ,
   and to the revelation which by him was made to the world.

   It remains now, that I shew more particularly wherein the gospel hath
   given the world greater evidence and assurance of a future state, than
   they had before.

   1. The rewards of another life are most clearly revealed in the gospel.
   That God hath made a revelation of this by Christ, is an advantage
   which the heathen wanted, who were destitute of Divine revelation.
   There are many truths which men may be well inclined to believe, and
   for the proof of which, the wiser and more knowing sort of men may be
   able to offer very fair and plausible arguments; and yet for all this
   they may have no confident assurance of them, or at least may be very
   far from a well-grounded certainty, such as will give rest and
   satisfaction to the mind of a considerate and inquisitive man. All men
   are not capable of the force of a reason; nay, there are very few who
   can truly judge of the weakness or strength of an argument. There are
   many things which admit of very plausible arguments on both sides; and
   the generality of men are very apt to be imposed upon by very slight
   arguments, to be moved any way with some little show and appearance of
   reason. So that, when this principle of the soul's immortality came to
   be disputed in the world, and the sects of the philosophers, the
   learned men of those times, came to be divided in opinion about it,
   some disputing directly against it, others doubting very much of it,
   and scarce any pretending to any great assurance of it, it was no
   wonder, if by this means many came to be in suspense about it; but now
   Divine revelation, when that comes, it takes away all doubting, and
   gives men assurance of that, concerning which they were uncertain
   before. For every man that believes a God, does firmly believe this
   principle--that whatever is revealed by him is true: but especially if
   the revelation be clear and express, then it gives full satisfaction to
   the mind of man, and removes all jealousy and suspicions of the
   contrary. And this is a great advantage which the gospel gives us in
   this matter, above what the Jews had. They had some kind of revelation
   and discovery of this under the dispensation of the law; but very
   darkly, in types and shadows: but the gospel gives us a most express
   revelation of it, is full of special promises to this purpose, made in
   clear words, free from all ambiguity, or liableness to be interpreted
   to another sense. So that, if we compare the law and the gospel
   together, we shall see a vast difference as to this matter. Under the
   law, the promise of eternal life was only comprehended in some general
   words, from which a man, that had true notions of God and religion,
   might be able to infer, that God intended some reward for good men, and
   punishment for wicked, men beyond this life: but the promises of
   temporal good things were special and express, and their law was full
   of them. Contrariwise in the New Testament, the most special and
   express promise is that of eternal life, and this the books of the New
   Testament are full of; as for temporal blessings, they are but
   sparingly and obscurely promised, in comparison of the other.

   2. The rewards of another life, as they are clearly and expressly
   revealed by the gospel, so that they may have the greater power and
   influence upon us, and we may have the greater assurance of them, they
   are revealed with very particular circumstances. And herein the gospel
   gives us a great advantage, both above the heathens and Jews. For
   though a man was satisfied in general of a state after this life, that
   men's souls should survive their bodies, and pass into another world,
   where it shall be well with them that have done well in this world, and
   ill to those that have done ill; yet no man, without a revelation,
   could conjecture the particular circumstances of that state. What wild
   descriptions do the heathen poets, who were their most ancient divines,
   make of heaven and hell, of the Elysian fields and the infernal
   regions! But now the gospel, for our greater assurance and
   satisfaction, hath revealed many particular circumstances of the future
   state to us; as, that all men at the end of the world shall be summoned
   to make a solemn appearance before the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God hath
   made judge of the world as a reward of his patience and sufferings;
   that the bodies of men shall, in order to that appearance, be raised up
   by the mighty power of God, and united to their souls, that as they
   have been instruments of the soul in acts of holiness and sin, so they
   may take part likewise in the happiness and torments of it. There are
   several other circumstances the gospel hath revealed to us concerning
   our future state, which, had they not been revealed, we could never
   have known, hardly have conjectured; in all which, besides the
   assurance that they are revealed, it is a great satisfaction to us,
   that there is nothing in them that is unworthy of God, or that savours
   of the weakness and vanity of human imagination.

   3. The gospel gives us yet farther assurance of these things, by such
   an argument as is like to be the most convincing and satisfactory to
   common capacities; and that is, by a lively instance of the thing to be
   proved, in raising Christ from the dead, (Acts xvii. 30, 31.)

   It is true, indeed, under the Old Testament, there were two instances
   somewhat of this nature; Enoch and Elias were immediately translated,
   and taken up alive into heaven; but these two instances do in many
   respects fall short of the other. For after Christ was raised from the
   dead, he conversed forty days with his disciples, and satisfied them
   that he was risen; after which he was in their sight visibly taken up
   into heaven: and as an evidence that he was possessed of his glorious
   kingdom, he sent flown, according to his promise, his Holy Spirit in
   miraculous gifts, to assure them by those testimonies of his royalty,
   that he was in heaven, and to qualify them by those miraculous powers
   to convince the world of the truth of their doctrine.

   Now, what argument more proper to convince them of another life after
   this, than to see a man raised from the dead, and restored to a new
   life? What titter to satisfy a man concerning heaven, and the happy
   estate of those there, than to see one visibly taken up into heaven?
   And what more fit to assure us, that the promises of the gospel are
   real, and shall be made good to us, than to see him who made these
   promises to us raise himself from the dead, and go up into heaven, and
   from thence to dispense miraculous gifts and powers abroad in the
   world, as evidences of the power and authority which he was invested
   withal? All the philosophical arguments that a man can bring for the
   soul's immortality and another life, will have no force upon vulgar
   apprehensions, in comparison of these sensible demonstrations, which
   give an experiment of the thing, and furnish us with an instance of
   something of the same kind, and of equal difficulty with that which is
   propounded to our belief,

   4. And lastly, The effects which the clear disco very of this truth had
   upon the world, are such, as the world never saw before, and are a
   farther inducement to persuade us of the truth and reality of it. After
   the gospel was entertained in the world, to shew that those who
   embraced it did fully believe this principle, and were abundantly
   satisfied concerning the rewards and happiness of another life; they
   did, for the sake of their religion, despise this life and all the
   enjoyments of it, from a thorough persuasion of a far greater happiness
   than this world could afford remaining in the next life. With what
   cheerfulness did they suffer persecutions, with what joy and triumph
   did they welcome torments, and embrace death, "knowing in themselves
   that they had in heaven a better and more enduring substance!" Thus,
   when "life and immortality was brought to light by the gospel, death
   was as it were quite abolished;" those of the weakest age and sex,
   women and children, did familiarly encounter it with as great a
   bravery, and bore up against the terrors of it with as much courage, as
   any of the greatest spirits among the Romans ever did: and this not in
   few instances, but in vast numbers. No emperor in the world ever had so
   numerous an army of persons resolved to light for him, as this Captain
   of our salvation, this Prince of life and glory had of persons
   courageously resolved, and cheer fully contented to die for him.

   Now this wonderful effect, the like of which the world never saw
   before, was very suitable to the nature of this doctrine. Suppose that
   God from heaven should have given men assurance of another life after
   this, in which good men should be unspeakably happy: what more
   reasonable to imagine, than that persons so assured should despise this
   life, and all the enjoyments of it, in comparison of the eternal and
   unconceivable happiness, which they were persuaded they should be made
   partakers of in another world? So that, whatever assurance an express
   and clear revelation from God of the soul's immortality and another
   life, together with the particular circumstances of that state;
   whatever assurance a lively instance and example of the thing, in the
   person of him who brings this doctrine to the world; whatever
   consequent miracles, and suitable effects upon the minds of men to such
   a principle; I say, whatever assurance and satisfaction these can give
   of this principle, all this the gospel hath given us, beyond whatever
   the heathen or Jews had before.

   The inference I shall make from this discourse, shall be only this:
   that if there be such a state after this life, then how does it concern
   every man to provide for it? Every action that we do in this life will
   have a good or bad influence upon our everlasting condition, and the
   consequences of it will extend themselves to eternity. Did men
   seriously consider this, that they carry about them immortal souls that
   shall live for ever, they would not trifle away the opportunities of
   this life, bend all their thoughts, and employ their designs, in the
   present gratification of their senses, and the satisfaction of their
   fleshly part, which shall shortly die and moulder into dust: but they
   would make provision for the state which is beyond the grave, and lay
   designs for eternity, which is infinitely the most considerable
   duration; they would not, like children, take care for the present,
   without any prospect to the future, and lay out all they have to please
   themselves for a day, without any regard to the remaining part of their
   lives. Nothing can be more unbecoming Christians, whose whole religion
   pretends to be built upon the firm belief of another world, than to be
   intent upon the things of this present life, to the neglect of their
   souls and all eternity.

   Seeing then we pretend to be assured of immortal life, and to have
   clear discoveries of everlasting happiness and glory, as we hope to be
   made partakers of this portion, let us live as it becomes the
   candidates of heaven, those that are heirs of another world, and "the
   children of the resurrection," that this grace of God, which hath
   brought salvation, may "teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts,
   and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present life,
   looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great
   God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ."
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1] See Sermon XXIII. Vol. ii. p. 312.
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CLXXVII.

  OF THE CERTAINTY OF A FUTURE JUDGMENT.

   For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every
   one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath
   done, whether it be good or bad.--2 Cor. v. 10.

   THE apostle, in the beginning of this chapter, expresseth his earnest
   desire, if God saw it fit, to quit "this earthly tabernacle, for a
   house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, to be absent from
   the body, and present with the Lord." But, however God should dispose
   of him, he tells us that he made it his constant endeavour so to behave
   himself, that both in this present state, whilst he continued in the
   body, and when he should quit it, and appear before God, he might be
   approved and accepted of him. And that which made him so careful was,
   because there was a day certainly corning, wherein every man must give
   an account of himself to the great Judge of the world, and receive the
   just recompence of his actions done in this life: (ver. 9, 10.)
   "Wherefore we labour, that whether present or absent, we may be
   accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of
   Christ, that every one may receive the things done in the body,
   according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

   Which words are so plain and powerful, so easy to be understood, and of
   such a mighty force and influence, if thoroughly believed, that the
   very repeating of them is sufficient to awaken men to a serious care of
   their lives and actions, and a powerful consideration to persuade them
   to do every thing with respect to that solemn account they must one day
   make to God of all the actions done in this life.

   But, that the truth contained in them may make the greater impression
   upon us, I shall distinctly consider the words, and handle, as briefly
   as I can, the several propositions contained in them.

   The general and principal proposition contained in these words is, the
   certainty of a future judgment.

   But, besides this principal proposition, which comprehends the general
   meaning and intention of these words, there are four other more
   particular propositions contained in them.

   First, That the administration of this judgment will be committed to
   the Lord Jesus Christ, for which reason the tribunal before which we
   must appear, is called the judgment-seat of Christ. "We must all appear
   before the judgment-seat of Christ."

   Secondly, That all men are liable to this judgment; no person, of what
   condition soever, shall be exempted from it. "We must all appear."

   Thirdly, That all the actions which men have done in this life shall
   then come to account, and they shall be judged for them. "That every
   one may receive the things done in the body."

   Fourthly, That sentence will then be passed according to the quality of
   men's actions, whether good or bad: "every one shall receive according
   to that he hath done, whether it be good or evil."

   But I shall at present only speak to the principal proposition
   contained in the words concerning the certainty of a future and general
   judgment; viz. that at the end of the world there shall be a general
   and public assize, when all persons that have lived in this world
   (except only the Judge himself, our blessed Saviour, who is "the man
   ordained by God to judge the world") shall come upon their trial, and
   all the actions which they have done shall come under a strict
   examination; and according as men have demeaned themselves in this
   world towards God and man, they shall receive sentence, and rewards
   shall be distributed to them, according to the nature and quality of
   their actions. And though all these particulars be not expressed in the
   text, yet they are virtually contained in the general expressions of
   it, and fully and clearly delivered in other texts of Scripture.

   The truth and certainty of a future and general judgment, I shall
   endeavour to confirm from these three heads of arguments:

   I. From the acknowledgments of natural light.

   II. From the notions which men generally have of God and his
   providence.

   III. From express and clear revelation of Holy Scripture.

   I. From the acknowledgments of natural light. And I might shew the
   general consent of mankind in this matter by all sorts of human
   testimonies, and from all kinds of writers in all ages: but this would
   be almost endless, and not so proper for a plain and practical
   discourse upon this subject. And, there fore, passing by testimonies, I
   shall mainly insist upon this that the consciences of men do secretly
   acknowledge a difference between good and evil. Hence it is that men
   find great peace and quiet and satisfaction of mind in the doing of
   good and virtuous actions, and have secret and comfortable hopes, that
   this kind of actions will some time or other be considered and
   rewarded; and they are apt to maintain these hopes, and to support
   themselves with them, even when they despair to meet with any reward of
   their good and honest actions in this world.

   And, on the other hand, men find a secret fear and horror, and are
   inwardly ashamed and confounded in their own minds, when they are about
   a wicked enterprise, and engaged in an ill design; their consciences
   check them and terrify them, and their own minds bode ill to them, as
   if mischief and vengeance would overtake them one time or other, and
   this when no eye sees them, and what they are a-doing does not fall
   under the cognizance of any human court or tribunal, nor is liable to
   any censure or punishment from any human authority; yet, for all that,
   they have many stings and lashes from their own minds, feel many checks
   and rebukes from their own consciences, when they do any thing which
   they ought not to do, though no man can charge them with it, or call
   them to an account for it.

   Now these hopes and fears do argue, if not the firm belief and
   persuasion of a future judgment, yet great suspicions and misgivings of
   it in bad men; and in good men, secret and comfortable apprehensions
   concerning it. From whence else can it be, that good men, though they
   find that virtue is discountenanced, and goodness many times suffers,
   and is persecuted in this world, and that the best actions and designs
   are often unsuccessful; whence, I say, is it that good men,
   notwithstanding this, bear up and persist in their course, but because
   they have this inward apprehension and persuasion, that there will be a
   time when virtue and goodness will be considered and rewarded, though
   not in this world? And whence is it that bad men, though they prosper
   in their impiety, are yet guilty, and fearful, and timorous, but
   because they stand in awe of a Being, greater, and more righteous, and
   more powerful than themselves; but because they have some secret
   apprehensions of an invisible Judge, and inward presage of a future
   vengeance, which sooner or later will overtake them; and because they
   believe there will be a time when all the wickedness they have done
   shall be accounted for? Insomuch, that when they have done what they
   can, they cannot shake off these fears, nor quit themselves of these
   apprehensions of Divine justice, threatening and pursuing them for
   their evil deeds.

   All which are plain acknowledgments of a natural apprehension and
   persuasion born with us, and riveted in our minds, concerning a future
   judgment.

   II. This will farther appear from the natural notion which men have of
   a God and his providence. This is essential to the notion of a
   God--that he is good, and holy, and just; and, consequently, that he
   loves goodness and hates iniquity; and there fore it must be agreeable
   to his nature to countenance the one, and to discountenance the other,
   in such a manner as becomes the wise Sovereign and Governor of the
   world. Now this cannot be solemnly and openly done, but by a public
   distribution of rewards and punishments; and this we see is not done in
   this world. The dispensations of God's providence in this world, toward
   good and bad men, are many times very promiscuous, and very cross, and
   contrary to what might be expected from the wise and just Sovereign of
   the world, from one whom we believe to love righteousness, and to hate
   iniquity. For virtuous and holy men are often ill treated in this
   world, grievously harassed and afflicted, and that for righteousness
   sake: and bad men many times flourish and are prosperous, "they are not
   in trouble like other men, neither are they plagued like other men."
   And this is a very great objection against the providence of God, if
   there were no other consideration had of virtue and vice, no other kind
   of retribution made to good and bad men, but what we see in this world.
   And, there fore, the justice of the Divine Providence seems to require
   that there should be a day of recompence, and a solemn and public
   distribution of rewards and punishments to the righteous and to the
   wicked. For this is plainly a state of trial and probation, of patience
   and forbearance to sinners, and of exercise to good men; and being a
   state of trial, it is not so proper a season for the distribution of
   public justice. But since the justice of God doth not appear in this
   world, it seems very reasonable to believe that there will be a time
   when it will be made manifest, and every eye shall see it; that God
   will one day fully vindicate his righteousness, and acquit the honour
   of his justice, and that there shall be a general assize held, when all
   men shall have a fair and open trial, and "God will render to every man
   according to his works."

   Now the justice of God's providence is, in a great measure, hid and
   covered, but there will come hemera apokalupseos, (as the apostle calls
   the day of judgment, Rom. ii. 5.) "A day of the revelation of the
   righteous judgment of God;" when "he will bring forth his righteousness
   as the light, and his judgment as the noon-day," and "every mouth shall
   be stopped," and every conscience and heart of man acknowledge "the
   righteous judgment of God."

   And in the mean time God contents himself to give some particular and
   remarkable instances of his rewarding and punishing justice in this
   world, which may be to us an earnest of a future and general judgment;
   he is pleased sometimes, in the dispensations of his providence,
   clearly to separate and distinguish "the precious from the vile,"
   remarkably to deliver good men, and to "snare the wicked in the works
   of their own hands." Some times he gives good men some foretastes of
   heaven, some earnest of their future happiness in this life: and, on
   the other hand, he many times gives sinners some praejudicia divini
   judicii, some intimations of a future judgment, and shadows of that
   utter darkness, where they are to dwell for ever; he drops down, now
   and then, a little of hell into the conscience of a sinner. That fire
   which is kindled in some men's consciences in this life, that
   unspeakable anguish, and those inexplicable horrors, which some sinners
   have felt in this world, may serve to give us notice of the extreme
   severity of the Divine justice towards impenitent sinners: that
   miraculous deluge that swept away the old world; those stupendous and
   terrible showers of fire and brimstone, which consumed Sodom and
   Gomorrah, and the cities about; that dreadful earthquake which
   swallowed up Corah and his company, and let them down, as it were,
   quick into hell, may serve for pledges and earnests to us of the dismal
   punishments and torments of the next world.

   But, notwithstanding all these particular and remarkable instances of
   the Divine justice, yet, considering how unequal and promiscuous the
   greatest part of God's providences are in this world, it is highly
   requisite, that there should be a general judgment, for a more clear
   and full manifestation of the justice and equity of the Divine
   Providence.

   III. But this will most evidently appear from the clear and express
   revelation of the Holy Scripture. I will not cite texts out of the Old
   Testament to this purpose, because these things were but obscurely
   revealed to the Jews in comparison; "Life and immortality being brought
   to light by the gospel." Yet St. Jude tells us, that there was an early
   revelation of this to the old world: (ver. 14, 15.) "And Enoch also,
   the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord
   cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all,
   and to convince all that are ungodly." But whether this refer to the
   flood, or the final judgment of the world, is not so clear and certain;
   how ever, this is most plainly revealed by our blessed Lord and Saviour
   in the New Testament. The process of this great day, with several of
   the particular circumstances of it, are fully described by our Saviour,
   (Matt. xxv.) and in the vision of St. John, (Rev. xx. 11-13.) And the
   apostles of our Lord and Saviour do most frequently declare and
   inculcate it. (Acts xvii. 30, 31.) "But now commandeth all men every
   where to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will
   judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom he hath ordained,
   whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised
   him from the dead." (Rom. ii. 5-9.) Where, speaking of the day of
   judgment, he calls it, "The day of wrath, and revelation of the
   righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to
   his deeds: to them who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for
   glory, honour, and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are
   contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,
   indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man
   that doeth evil." (1 Pet. i. 17.) "And if ye call on the Father, who
   without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work." (2
   Pet. iii. 10.) "But the day of the Lord will come, in which the heavens
   shall pass away with a great noise," &c.

   Thus you see the truth and certainty of a future judgment confirmed,
   from the acknowledgments of men's natural hopes and fears, from the
   natural notions which men have concerning God and his providence, and
   from plain revelation of Scripture.

   All that I shall do farther at present, shall be to make some
   reflections upon what hath been delivered, concerning the certainty of
   a future general judgment. And,

   I. If there be such a day certainly a-coming, it may justly be matter
   of wonder and astonishment to us, to see the general impiety and
   stupidity of men, how wicked they are, and how careless of their lives
   and actions, and how insensible of that "great and terrible day of the
   Lord," which is coming upon all flesh, and, for any thing we know to
   the contrary, may be very near us, and even at the door. How securely
   do the greatest part of men pass away their time, some in worldly
   business, others in worldly pleasures and vanity, and a great many in
   wickedness and vice! Surely such men have no apprehensions of a future
   judgment: surely they do not believe that there will be any memorial of
   their actions in another world, and that they shall be called to a
   strict and severe account for all the actions of this life: they do not
   think that there is a just and powerful Being above them, who now
   observes every thing that they do, and will one day judge them for it;
   that there is a pen always writing, and making a faithful record of all
   the passages of their lives; and that these volumes shall one day be
   produced and opened, "and men shall be judged out of the things that
   are written in them;" and all our thoughts, words, and actions, shall
   pass under a most severe trial and examination!

   Or, if men do believe these things, they stifle and suppress this
   belief, and "detain this great truth of God in unrighteousness;" they
   do not attend to it, and consider it, that it may have its due awe and
   influence upon their lives. For it is not imaginable, that if men were
   possessed with a firm belief and persuasion of this "great and terrible
   day of the Lord," they should be so careless and secure, as we see they
   are, and have so little regard to what they do; that they should pass
   whole days, and weeks, and years, in the gross neglect of God and
   religion, and of their immortal souls; that they should "spend their
   days in vanity, and their years in pleasure:" that they should live in
   a continued course of impiety and profaneness, of lewdness, and
   intemperance, in the cursed habits of swearing and cursing: which are
   now grown so common among us, that a man cannot walk in the street
   without having his ears grated with this hellish noise; and that they
   should go on in these courses, without any great regret and
   disturbance, as if no danger attended them, as if justice were asleep,
   and all their actions would be buried with them, and never rise up
   against them.

   What can we resolve this into, but either into habitual or actual
   atheism and infidelity? either men do not at all believe a judgment to
   come; or else they do not actually consider it, and attend to the
   natural and proper consequences of such a belief: one of these two is
   necessary. It seems very hard to charge the generality of wicked men
   with habitual atheism and unbelief, but that the Spirit of God in
   Scripture so often does it. (Psal. xiv. 1.) "The fool hath said in his
   heart, There is no God." How doth that appear? It follows, "They are
   corrupt, and have done abominable works, there is none that doeth
   good." And, (Psal. xxxvi. 1.) "The transgression of the wicked saith
   within my heart, there is no fear of God before his eyes." David speaks
   as if the wicked practices of men did convince him, that they had no
   belief and apprehension of a God.

   Nay, even after those clear discoveries which the gospel hath made of a
   future judgment, our Saviour seems to foretel a general infidelity
   among men, at least as to this particular article of a future judgment:
   (Luke xviii. 8.) "Nevertheless when the Son of man shall come, shall he
   find faith upon the earth?" and St. Peter tells us, (2 Pet. iii. 3, 4.)
   that "there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their
   own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?" that is,
   deriding the belief and expectation which the Christians had of a
   future judgment.

   But, to be sure, if the generality of men be not already sunk thus low,
   as to disbelieve these things, yet this at least is evident from the
   lives of men, that they are strangely inconsiderate, and guilty of the
   most gross and stupid inadvertency that can befal reasonable creatures.
   For I dare appeal to any man of understanding and serious
   consideration, whether a greater folly and madness can be imagined,
   than for men to profess in good earnest to believe, that there is a day
   shortly coming, wherein they shall appear before the impartial tribunal
   of the great Judge of the world, and all the actions of their lives
   shall be ransacked and laid open, and that there is not any thing that
   ever they did, that shall escape a severe censure; yea, and farther to
   be persuaded, that as it shall upon that trial appear, that they have
   demeaned themselves in this world, they shall be sentenced to an
   eternal and unchangeable state of happiness or misery in the other
   world; and yet after all this conviction, to live at such a mad and
   careless rate, as no man in reason can live, but he that is undoubtedly
   certain of the contrary of all this, and verily persuaded in his heart,
   that not one syllable of what the gospel says concerning these matters
   is true? This is so incredible a stupidity and folly, that did not
   frequent and undeniable experience make us sure of the truth of it, out
   of mere charity and respect to human nature, it were not to be
   believed. "Consider this all ye that forget God, and put far from you
   the evil day; consider and shew yourselves men, O ye transgressors!"
   who profess to believe a future judgment, and yet run the hazard of it,
   as if ye had no fear and suspicion of any such thing.

   II. Having considered, not without wonder and astonishment, what manner
   of persons the generality of men are, notwithstanding all the assurance
   we have of a future judgment, let us in the next place consider,
   "seeing these things shall be, what manner of persons we ought to be,
   in all holy conversation and godliness, waiting for and hastening unto
   the coming of the day of God," as the apostle argues, (2 Pet. iii. 11,
   12.) How should the serious belief of this great principle of religion
   work upon us, that "we must all appear before the judgment-seat of
   Christ, that every one may receive the things done in the body,
   according to that he hath done, whether it be good or evil?" St. Paul
   tells us, that the consideration of it had a mighty awe and influence
   upon him, to be careful of himself, and to be concerned for others: to
   be careful of himself, in the verse before the text, "Wherefore we
   labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him: for we
   must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ." And to be
   concerned for others, that they may prevent the terrors of that day, in
   the verse immediately after the text, "Knowing therefore the terror of
   the Lord, we persuade men."--"Knowing the terror of the Lord;" it were
   no difficult matter to make such a dreadful representation of this
   "great and terrible day of the Lord," as would affright the stoutest
   sinner, and make every joint of him to tremble: but it is much more
   desirable that men should be wrought upon by reason, and convinced and
   persuaded by a calm and sober consideration of things; because that is
   likely to have a better and more lasting effect than present terror and
   amazement; and therefore I shall content myself with the naked
   representation of the thing in the plain and powerful expressions of
   the Holy Scriptures. Imagine then thou sawest "the Son of man coming in
   great power, and great glory, and all his holy angels with him;" that
   thou heardest the great trumpet sound, and a mighty voice piercing the
   heavens and the earth, saying, "Arise ye dead, and come to judgment."
   Suppose thou sawest the thrones set, and "the great Judge sitting upon
   the throne of his glory," and "all nations gathered before him," and
   "all the dead both small and great standing before God, the books
   opened, and the dead judged out of the things written in these books;"
   and the several sentences pronounced from the mouth of Christ himself,
   "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
   before the foundation of the world;" and, "depart ye cursed into
   everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Would not
   this be a dreadful and amazing sight! Why, the gospel plainly declares
   that all this shall be, and thou professest to believe it. Why then
   dost thou not live as if thou didst believe these things? Why should
   not that which will certainly be, have to all reasonable purposes the
   same effect upon thee, as if it were already and actually present? Why
   do men suffer themselves to be diverted from the attentive
   consideration of so important a matter, by the impertinent trifles of
   this world? Why do we not make wise and speedy preparation for that
   day, which will certainly come? But we are uncertain when it will come,
   "for it will come as a thief in the night, and as a snare upon all them
   that dwell upon the face of the whole earth," Why dost thou stifle thy
   conscience, and drown the loud crys of it, with the din and noise of
   worldly business; why dost thou? at any time check and suppress the
   thoughts of a future judgment, and "put far from thee the evil day?"
   And not rather suffer the terrors of it to haunt and pursue thee, till
   they have made thee weary of thy wicked life, till they have reclaimed
   thee to thy duty, and effectually persuaded thee to break off thy sins
   by repentance; and to resolve upon such a holy and virtuous course of
   life, that thou mayest be able not only with peace and comfort, but
   with joy and triumph to entertain the thoughts of that day?

   Reason thus with thyself: If this day be so dreadful at a distance,
   that I can hardly now bear the thoughts of it, how insupportable will
   the thing itself be, when it comes to be present? And it will come
   nevertheless, nor the later, for my not thinking of it; is it not
   reasonable, instead of putting away the thoughts of it, to endeavour by
   all possible means to prevent the terrors of it?

   We especially, who profess ourselves Christians, and live in the clear
   light of the gospel, ought to consider, that we cannot plead ignorance
   for our excuse, as the heathen world might. We read and hear the gospel
   every day, "wherein the wrath of God is clearly revealed against all
   ungodliness and unrighteousness of men;" so that, if we continue
   impenitent, we have no cloak, no excuse for ourselves: woe unto us
   above all others! "It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, for
   Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than for us." "The times of
   ignorance, (saith St. Paul, speaking of the heathen world,) the times
   of this ignorance God winked at; but now he commands all men every
   where to repent, because he hath appointed a day, in which he will
   judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom he hath ordained,
   whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised
   him from the dead." Thus much concerning the general proposition the
   certainty of a future judgment.
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CLXXVIII.

  OF THE PERSON BY WHOM THE WOULD SHALL BE JUDGED.

   For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every
   one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath
   done, whether it be good or bad.--2 Cor. v. 10.

   IN these words, besides the general point mainly intended, concerning
   the certainty of a future and general judgment, there are likewise
   several particular propositions.

   First, That the administration of this judgment is committed to the
   Lord Jesus Christ.

   Secondly, That all men are liable to this judgment.

   Thirdly, That all the actions which men have done in this life shall
   then come to account, and they shall be judged for them.

   Fourthly, That this sentence shall be passed upon men, according to the
   nature and quality of their actions, whether good or evil. I have
   handled the general point--the certainty of a future judgment: I shall
   now proceed to the particular propositions contained in the text, and
   shall handle them in the order in which I have proposed them.

   First, That the administration of this judgment is committed to the
   Lord Jesus Christ, and that he is the person constituted and ordained
   of God, to be the judge of the world. The tribunal before which we must
   stand, is here in the text called "the judgment-seat of Christ." "We
   must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ." In the prosecution
   of this I shall,

   First, Endeavour to confirm and illustrate the truth of this
   proposition.

   Secondly, Draw some inferences from it, by way of application.

   First, For the confirmation of it, I shall do these two things:

   I. Prove it from clear testimony of Scripture.

   II. Endeavour to give some account of this economy and dispensation;
   why God had committed the administration of this great work to the Lord
   Jesus Christ; in all which I shall rely only upon Scripture, the thing
   being capable of no other proof or evidence. And, indeed, the whole
   mediatory undertaking of our blessed Saviour, and all the circumstances
   of it, are matter of pure revelation; this is the hidden and manifold
   wisdom of God, which none of the princes and philosophers of this world
   knew, and which we could not possibly have found out and discovered,
   had not God been pleased to reveal it to us.

   I. I shall prove this from express testimony of Scripture, that the
   Lord Jesus Christ is the person constituted and ordained by God, to
   administer the judgment of the great day: (Matt. xiii. 40-43.) "So
   shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth
   his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that
   offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace
   of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the
   righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father." Here
   our Saviour is represented as the chief minister of God's justice, in
   the distribution of rewards to the righteous and the wicked; and though
   the effect and execution of the sentence only be expressed, yet it
   supposeth a judicial process preceding. So likewise, Matt. xvi. 27.
   "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his
   holy angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his
   work."--"Shall come in the glory of his Father;" that is, with his
   authority committed to him. (Matt. xxiv. 30.) Where our Saviour
   speaking of his coming to judge the world, it is said, "Then shall
   appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the
   tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of man coming in
   the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory;" that is, in order to
   the judgment of the world. But most fully and expressly, (Matt. xxv.
   31.) where you have the manner of his coining particularly described,
   together with the solemn representation of the process of that great
   day. "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
   angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and
   before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate the one
   from the other, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he
   shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then
   shall the King say to them on his right hand," &c. You see the whole
   administration of this judgment, and the management of every part of
   it, is committed to Christ. (John v. 22.) Our Saviour there produceth
   his commission, and tells us from whence this authority was derived to
   him: The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the
   Son." And (ver. 27.) "He hath given him authority also to execute
   judgment, because he is the Son of man." (Acts x. 42.) "Anil he
   commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he
   that is ordained of God, to be the judge of the quick and dead." (Acts
   xvii. 31.) "He hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in
   righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained," that is, by Jesus
   Christ; for it follows, "Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men,
   in that he hath raised him from the dead." (Rom. ii. 16.) "In the day
   when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." (Rom. xiv.
   10.) "We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ." (2 Thess.
   i. 7-9.) The apostle there speaking of the day of judgment, describes
   it thus: "When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his
   mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on all them that know
   not God, and obey not the gospel of his Son, who shall be punished with
   everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the
   glory of his power." (2 Tim. iv. 1.) "I charge thee, (saith St. Paul
   there to Timothy,) before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
   judge the quick and the dead at his appearing, and his kingdom." (Rev.
   xxii. 12.) "Behold I come quickly, (saith our Lord,) and my reward is
   with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be." I
   proceed to the

   II. Second thing I proposed, namely, To give some account why God hath
   committed the administration of this work into the hands of the Lord
   Jesus Christ. And of this, I shall give an account in these two
   particulars:

   1. God thought fit to confer this honour upon Christ, as a suitable
   reward of his patience and sufferings.

   2. He thought fit likewise hereby to declare the righteousness and
   equity of his judgment, in that mankind is judged by one in their own
   nature, a man like themselves.

   1. God hath thought fit to confer this honour upon Christ, as a
   suitable reward of his obedience and sufferings, of his coming into the
   world by his appointment, to undertake the work of our redemption, and
   to mediate a reconciliation between God and us, of his voluntary
   submission to a condition so mean and low, to that poverty and
   contempt, and to those extreme sufferings which he did so patiently
   undergo, in the prosecution of this great design.

   That God hath committed all power to Christ, with a design to put an
   honour upon him, our Saviour himself tells us: (John v. 22, 23.) "The
   Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son; that
   all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." The
   Scripture speaks of this matter, as if, when Christ undertook the great
   work of our redemption, it were expressly covenanted between God the
   Father and him, that he should undertake this work, and submit to all
   those grievous things, which were necessary to be done and suffered, in
   order to the effecting of it; and that when he had accomplished it, God
   would confer this glory upon him, that in his human nature he should be
   "exalted to the right hand of God," and have "power given him over all
   flesh, to judge the world, and to give eternal life to as many as he
   pleased;" and when he had received this reward, that then this
   mediatory office should cease, and he should "resign up the kingdom to
   God the Father, that God might be all in all." This is the scope and
   design of the several texts of Scripture concerning this matter.

   With relation to this covenant and agreement between him and his
   Father, he prays, (John xvii. 1, 2.) that he would not be unmindful of
   the glory which he had promised to invest him withal. "Fa her, the hour
   is come; glorify thy Son; as thou hast given him power over all flesh,
   that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him."
   And, (ver. 4, 5.) "I have glorified thee on earth: I have finished the
   work that thou gavest me to do." And then he claims the reward of it:
   "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self." And the
   apostle to the Hebrews (chap. xii. 2.) tells us, that the hopes of this
   did encourage, and bear up our Lord under his sufferings, "Who for the
   joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame,
   and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." And St. Peter
   tells us, (1 Pet. i. 11.) that "the prophets of old testified
   beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow."
   And St. Paul tells us what this glory is, (Eph. i. 20, 21.) viz. that
   "God hath set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, far above
   all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name
   that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come."
   But most expressly, (Phil. ii. 7-11.) the same apostle tells us, that
   in consideration of the great humiliation and sufferings of Christ, God
   hath highly exalted him. "He made himself of no reputation, (he emptied
   himself) and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
   likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
   himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
   Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name, which
   is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
   of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth:
   and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
   glory of God the Father." And that the giving of this name and
   authority to Christ, upon account whereof all creatures shall be
   subject to him, doth principally import that power of judging the world
   which was committed to him, is evident from the explication of these
   phrases, of "bowing the knee to Christ," and of "confessing to him with
   the tongue," which the same apostle tells us elsewhere do signify our
   being judged by him. (Rom. xiv. 10, 11.) "We shall all stand before the
   judgment-seat of Christ: for it is written, As I live, saith the Lord,
   every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So
   then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God."

   So that you see that the glorious reward of Christ's self-denial and
   suffering, doth principally consist in having the judgment of the world
   committed to him, which therefore is called "his kingdom," (Matt. xvi.
   28.) where our Saviour expresseth it by "the Son of man's coming in his
   kingdom." (2 Tim. iv. 1.) "I charge thee, there fore, (saith St. Paul
   to Timothy,) before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the
   quick and the dead at his appearing, and his kingdom." And it is with
   relation to this power and authority, that the title of King was given
   to him, (Matt. xxv. 34.) "Then shall the King say unto them on his
   right hand," &c. And the Scripture almost every where, when it speaks
   of Christ's coming, calls it his glorious appearance. (Matt. xvi. 27.)
   "They shall see the Son of man coming in the glory of his Father."
   (Matt. xxiv. 30.) "They shall see the Son of man coming with power and
   great glory." (Matt. xxv. 31.) "When the Son of man shall come in his
   glory." And (Tit. ii. 13.) it is called, "The glorious appearance of
   the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ."

   And this is a very suitable reward of his great submission and
   sufferings, that he, who lived in so mean and obscure a condition,
   should come in great glory; that he, who was rejected and despised of
   men, should be attended on by mighty angels; that he, who was arraigned
   and condemned by the powers of the world, should have authority given
   him to summon all, both small and great, the kings and great men, and
   judges of the earth, to appear at his bar, and to receive sentence at
   his month.

   And this shall be the last act of his Mediatorship, to sit in judgment
   upon the world, to distribute rewards to his faithful servants, and to
   punish his obstinate and implacable enemies. And when this work is
   finished, then this authority shall expire, and the office and kingdom
   of the Mediator shall cease; for "when he shall have subdued all things
   to himself, (as the apostle expressly tells us, 1 Cor. xv. 24, 25, &c.)
   "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom of
   God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule, and all
   authority, and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies
   under his feet. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then
   shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that hath put all things
   under him, that God may be all in all."

   2 God hath committed the administration of this judgment to Christ,
   that he might hereby declare the righteousness and equity of it, in
   that mankind is judged by one in their own nature, a man like
   themselves. And therefore we find that the Scripture, when it speaks of
   Christ, as judge of the world, doth almost constantly call him "man,"
   and "the Son of man." In the places I have mentioned before; (Matt.
   xiii. 41.) "The Son of man shall send forth his angels." And, (Matt.
   xvi. 27.) "The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father."
   (Matt. xxiv. 30.) "Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in
   heaven, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of
   heaven, with power and great glory." (Matt. xxv. 3l.) "When the Son of
   man shall come in his glory." (Acts xvii. 31.) "He hath appointed a
   day, in which he will judge the world with righteousness, by that man
   whom he hath ordained." By the constant use of which expression, the
   Scripture doth give us plainly to understand, that this great honour of
   being judge of the world, was conferred upon the human nature of
   Christ. For as he is God, he is over all, and judge of the world, and
   could not derive this power from any, it being originally inherent in
   the Deity. Which likewise appears in those expressions of his being
   "ordained a judge," and having "all authority and judgment committed
   and given to him." (Acts xvii. 31.) "He will judge the world in
   righteousness, by the man whom he hath ordained." And, (John v. 22.)
   "The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son." And (ver. 27.) "He
   hath given him authority to execute judgment." Now this cannot be said
   of Christ as God, but in respect of his human nature. And this is clear
   be yond all exception, by what our Saviour adds, as a reason why this
   authority is committed to him; "He hath given him authority to execute
   judgment, because he is the Son of man:" that is, because in that
   respect, and no other, he is capable of having this authority derived
   to him; for as he is the Son of God, he hath it in himself. And,
   perhaps, for this reason likewise--because, in respect of his human
   nature, he is visible; a man being part of the visible creation of God,
   and the judgment of the great day being to be administered in a visible
   manner, and to that end the bodies of men to be raised and united to
   their souls, in order to their visible appearance at this judgment; it
   seems very congruous, that the Son of man, clothed in our nature, and
   in vested with a human body, should sit in judgment upon mankind.

   But, principally, because nothing can more effectually declare the
   equity of this judgment, and that it shall be administered in
   righteousness, than that God hath ordained a man like ourselves to sit
   in judgment upon us. In human judgments, it is reckoned a great piece
   of equity, for men to be tried by their peers, to be acquitted or
   condemned by those who are as near as may be to them, and in the same
   circumstances of rank and condition with themselves; because such are
   like to understand their cases best, and to have a fair and equitable
   consideration of all the circumstances belonging to it. Now Christ, as
   he is the Son of man, is near to us, "bone of our bone, and flesh of
   our flesh, made in all things like unto us, only without sin;" which
   was necessary to qualify him to be our judge; he dwelt among us, and
   understands all our circumstances, and whatever may have influence upon
   our case, to extenuate or aggravate our guilt. What the apostle to the
   Hebrews says of Christ as a high-priest, may be applied to him as a
   judge: (Heb. iv. 15.) "We have not a judge, which cannot be touched
   with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like
   as we are, yet without sin."

   That which now remains, is to draw some inferences from what I have
   discoursed to you upon this argument."

   1. If the Lord Jesus Christ shall judge the world, and we must "all
   appear before his judgment-seat," then it greatly concerns every one of
   us so to demean ourselves in this world, that we may be accepted of him
   in the next. If a man be to be tried for his life, how will he court
   the favour of the judge, that when he comes to stand at the bar, he may
   receive a gracious sentence from his mouth? Why, there is a day
   certainly coming, when every one of us must appear before the tribunal
   of the great Judge of the world; and therefore we should with all
   possible care and diligence endeavour to approve our consciences, and
   all the actions of our lives to him. "Wherefore we labour (saith the
   apostle immediately before my text) that whether present or absent, we
   may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment-seat
   of Christ." This is that which makes his acceptance and approbation so
   valuable and considerable, that he is to be our judge; to him we must
   stand or fall, by his sentence we shall be cast or cleared for ever.

   We are very apt to court the favour of great men, of the princes and
   judges of this world, that when we come to stand in need of it, we may
   have the benefit and comfort of it. But this is not our great interest;
   for the sentence that men can pass upon us, doth but operate for a
   little while, the effect and consequences of it do not reach beyond
   this world; it is not final and conclusive as to our eternal state. To
   allude to that saying of Solomon's, "many seek the Prince's favour; but
   every man's judgment is of the Lord." We seek the favour of the great
   men of this world; but there is a greater man than any of these, whom
   we are apt to despise and neglect, "the prince of the kings of the
   earth, the man who is ordained of God, to be judge both of quick and
   dead."

   Every man's judgment shall be from him, it is his sentence which above
   all other we have most reason to desire or dread. Therefore we should
   have regard to him, and by submitting to his sceptre, and yielding a
   willing obedience to the laws of his holy gospel, seek his favour, lest
   "he break us with a rod of iron, and dash us in pieces like a potter's
   vessel." This advice we find given to the kings and rulers of the
   earth. (Psal. ii. 10-12.) "Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; and be
   instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and
   rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish
   from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little: blessed are all
   they that put their trust in him."

   2. This is matter of great comfort to all sincere Christians, that
   Christ shall judge the world; as it likewise is of great terror to all
   that disobey the gospel, and by their wicked lives confute their
   profession, and pretended belief of it. Christ is "the author of
   eternal salvation to them that obey him," and to none else. He hath not
   only purchased this salvation for us, but, by a public, and solemn, and
   authoritative sentence, will confer it upon us.

   Indeed it is justly matter of great terror to the wicked of the world,
   who live in ungodliness and worldly lusts; and, under the name and
   title of Christians, have "trampled under foot the Son of God," and by
   their lives have openly declared, that "they would not have this man
   rule over them." Sure it cannot but be matter of great horror and
   amazement to such persons, to think of this Judge, and to consider,
   that he, whom by their lewd lives and practices they have so contemned
   in this world, will sit as judge upon them, and condemn them in the
   next. And therefore our Saviour tells us, (Luke xxi. 25, &c.) that when
   the day of judgment shall surprise the world, and "they shall see the
   Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory;"
   then the wicked of the earth shall be in great distress and perplexity,
   and "their hearts shall fail them with fear, and for looking after
   those things which are coming upon the earth;" but that to good men it
   shall be a day of great joy, and that the approach of it shall revive
   their spirits, and raise their heads: (ver. 28.) "But when these things
   shall begin to come to pass, then lift up your heads with joy, because
   your redemption draws nigh."

   And this consideration is matter of great comfort to all good men, both
   upon account of their sufferings and services for Christ.--In respect
   of their sufferings for him. In this world they are exposed to great
   trials and persecutions for him: but he, for whose name we suffer, is
   to give us our reward; he, who is of the same nature with us, and took
   part of flesh and blood, and suffered himself in the flesh, more
   grievously than any of us can suffer; he it is to whom God hath
   referred it, to consider our sufferings, and give what rewards to them
   he thinks fit. And then, in respect of our services, though the best of
   them be imperfect, and nothing that we do is able to abide the severity
   of his justice, yet, by virtue of his meritorious sacrifice and
   satisfaction, the imperfection of them is pardoned, and the sincerity
   of them is accepted. For he being our judge, who was our sacrifice, and
   is our advocate with the Father, we may rest assured that he will plead
   our cause for us, and the merit of his own sufferings, in bar of that
   sentence which strict justice would pass upon us.

   3. And lastly, This shews what reason the ministers of Christ have to
   be earnest and importunate with sinners, to repent and turn to God, to
   believe and obey the gospel of Christ, that they may have him their
   friend, who will certainly be their judge. This inference the apostle
   makes from this doctrine, in the words immediately after the text;
   "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;" we, who
   are employed by Christ, to warn sinners of the danger and terror of a
   future judgment, who are ambassadors sent from this great King and
   Judge of the world, to treat with sinners, and to offer peace to them,
   and in "Christ's stead to beseech them to be reconciled to God," as the
   apostle speaks in the latter part of this chapter. So that, if we
   ourselves believe what we preach to others, to be the word and law of
   him who shall shortly judge us, and them that hear us, can we forbear
   with all possible importunity to solicit their repentance, and to warn
   them to "flee from the wrath which is to come?" Can we let them sleep
   in their sins, when we see them neglect so great a happiness, and run
   themselves upon so intolerable a misery? If we believe that holy book
   out of which we preach, and the discoveries and revelation there made,
   we may take an easy prospect of another world, and see "the wrath of
   God revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
   of men." For the gospel hath made a more particular and clear discovery
   to us of the state of the next world, and the proceedings of the great
   day, than ever the world was acquainted with before. It tells us who is
   the person that shall sit in judgment upon us, even "Jesus Christ,
   whereof God hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised
   him from the dead." Now if we know this, and he assured of it, we
   cannot but deal plainly with sinners, and, out of tender pity and
   compassion to them, endeavour to make them sensible of the sad issue
   and event of a wicked life, and that, without repentance and amendment,
   they will not be able to stand in the judgment of the great day. When
   we see men in the highway to ruin and destruction, and the evil day
   making haste towards them, we cannot but warn them of that sad fate
   which hangs over them, and endeavour by all means to rescue them from
   that extreme and endless misery, which is ready to overtake them.

   Consider then, sinner, whom it is thou now rejectest and despisest, and
   whose laws thou castest behind thy back. It is he who, for all his mean
   appearance in the world, is the Lord of glory, into whose hand the
   "Father hath committed all judgment." And can there be a greater
   madness, than to provoke and make him thine enemy, who shall be thy
   judge? than to despise him, who can destroy thee? He appeared once as
   "a lamb, to take away the sins of the world;" but if through our
   obstinacy and impenitency we render this appearance of his ineffectual
   for our recovery, he will appear a second time in a more terrible
   manner, as "a lion to tear us in pieces." He came once as "a light into
   the world;" in a still and gentle way, to convince and convert sinners:
   but if we resist this light, he will come "in flaming fire to take
   vengeance on all them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of his
   Son."

   And this is that which will make us speechless, and fill oar faces with
   everlasting confusion, at the second coming of Christ that we have
   frustrated and made void the end of his first coining. What shall we be
   able to say to him, when he comes to judge us, who rejected him when he
   came to save us? With what reason can we hope that he will deliver us
   from hell, when we would not be saved by him "from our sins, and
   redeemed from our vain conversation?"

   I will conclude all with that merciful warning which the Judge himself
   hath given us, and left upon record: (Luke xxi. 34-36.) "Take heed to
   yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be over charged with
   surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day
   come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that
   dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore and pray
   always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that
   shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man,"
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CLXXIX.

  OF THE PERSONS WHO ARE TO BE JUDGED.

   For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every
   one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath
   done, whether it be good or bad.--2 Cor. v. 10.

   I PROCEED to the second proposition contained in the words; viz. That
   all men are liable to this judgment, and that no man that ever lived in
   the world, except our blessed Saviour, the judge himself, shall be
   exempted from it. "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of
   Christ."

   I shall first endeavour to illustrate and confirm the truth of this
   proposition; and then apply it to ourselves.

   First, For the confirmation of it. This I shall endeavour to do from
   express testimonies of Scripture: and then by arguments drawn from
   reason and Scripture together.

   I. I shall endeavour to confirm the truth of this point from express
   testimonies of Scripture. And we find that the Scripture useth words of
   the greatest latitude and extent, to express this matter more
   emphatically tons. (Gen. xviii. 25.) God is called "the judge of the
   earth."--"Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" (Matth. xxv.
   32.) It is said, "that when Christ shall sit upon the throne of his
   glory, all nations shall be gathered before him," (Acts x. 42.) He is
   said to be "ordained of God to be judge of quick and dead." And so,
   likewise, (1 Pet. iv. 5.) "Who shall give an account to him, who is
   ready to judge the quick and the dead?" This expression is purposely
   used to take in all persons that have ever lived in the world; not only
   those that shall be already dead at the coming of Christ, but those
   that shall be found alive at his corning, who, though they shall not
   die, yet they shall undergo a sudden and equivalent change, as St. Paul
   tells us from particular revelation: (I Cor. xv. 51, 52.) "Behold, I
   shew you a mystery: we shall not all sleep;" that is, we shall not all
   die, and sleep in the grave; "but we shall all be changed in a moment,
   in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump (for the trumpet shall
   sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
   changed);" that is, they that are already dead shall be then raised,
   and their corruptible bodies changed into incorruptible; and they that
   shall be found alive, though they shall not die, yet their bodies shall
   undergo the same change with those that are raised. And this is the
   reason why Christ is often in Scripture called, "the Judge of quick and
   dead."

   But to proceed to other texts. (Acts xvii. 31.) "He hath appointed a
   day in which he will judge the world in righteousness." The world; that
   is, all men that ever lived in it. "He commands all men every where to
   repent, because he will judge all men." (Rom. xiv. 10-12.) "We shall
   all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ; for it is written, As I
   live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue
   shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give an account of
   himself to God." (Heb. ix. 27.) "It is appointed for all men once to
   die, and after this the judgment." That is, as death shall pass upon
   all men, or a change equivalent to it, so after death the judgment
   shall pass upon the same persons: (Heb. xii. 23.) "And to God the judge
   of all." (1 Pet. i. 17.) "If ye call on the Father, who without respect
   of persons judgeth every man, according to his works."

   And to express this the more fully, the Scripture reckons up the
   several ranks and conditions of men, to shew that none shall be
   exempted: (Rev. vi. 15-17.) where you have a representation of the day
   of judgment, and several sorts of men in vain endeavouring to hide
   themselves from it, and escape it: "And the kings of the earth, and the
   great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty
   men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens,
   and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks,
   Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the
   throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath
   is come, and who shall be able to stand?" Which words are a lively
   representation of the universal appearance, that all persons in the
   world, of all ranks and conditions, must make before God at that great
   day. If any be exempted, they must either be secured by their power and
   interest, or overlooked for their meanness and inconsiderableness; but
   none shall either be privileged for their greatness, or neglected for
   their meanness. If any can pretend to be privileged, it must be those
   of greatest dignity and authority, the kings and great men: or of the
   greatest esteem, the rich men of the earth: or of the greatest strength
   and power, the chief captains and the mighty men: but these have no
   protection against the arrest of that judgment. Nor shall any be
   overlooked for their meanness. If any sort of men be contemptible and
   inconsiderable, it must be those who are in the lowest condition of
   debasement, bondmen and slaves: but every bondman, as well as every
   freeman, shall be brought before this tribunal. And so, likewise, (Rev.
   xx. 12, 13.) where all persons are distributed into two ranks small and
   great: "I saw the dead both small and great, standing before God, and
   the books were opened, and the dead were judged out of the things which
   were written in those books, and the sea gave up the dead which were in
   it, and death and the grave gave up the dead which were in them; and
   they were judged every man according to their works." You see the whole
   world is ransacked and searched, sea and land, that none may escape
   this judgment. For which reason it seems to be called by the apostle
   St. Jude, (ver. 6.) "the judgment of the great day;" for that will be a
   great day indeed, in which all men that ever lived in the world shall
   appear and receive their trial.

   The sum of all is this: that all persons that ever were upon the face
   of the earth, none excepted, of what sex or age, of what rank or
   quality, of what country or nation, in what times or places soever they
   were born or lived; high or low, rich or poor, knowing or ignorant,
   good or bad, young or old, the greatest princes and potentates, as well
   as the meanest subjects and slaves; the deepest statesmen and
   politicians, the learned clerks and disputers of this world, as well as
   the idiots and the simple; in short all, without any distinction or
   exception, without any privilege or respect of persons, shall at this
   great day appear before this high tribunal, and give an account of
   themselves, and all their actions, and receive the proper doom and
   sentence respectively due to them. I proceed to the

   II. Second thing I proposed; which was to confirm this yet farther by
   arguments drawn from reason and Scripture together. And this will
   appear, whether we consider the nature of man, or the nature of God.
   And,

   1. If we consider the nature of man: we are all God's creatures, who
   have received all that we have from him, and depend wholly upon him,
   and are entirely subject to him, to be governed by such laws as he hath
   prescribed to us, and to be account able to him for our observance or
   violation of them; all this is essentially included in the nature of a
   reasonable creature, and as such we all stand equally related to him.
   As we are creatures, we are not our own, but wholly another's, and
   perfectly at the disposal of him who made us, and from whom we received
   all that we have: and as we are reasonable creatures, we are all
   equally endowed with free choice and power over our actions; by the
   good or bad use whereof we are capable of doing well or ill, and
   consequently of deserving well or ill for our doings, and of receiving
   rewards and punishments accordingly: we are all capable of being
   governed by laws, and therefore under the authority of God, as our
   lawgiver, and liable and accountable to him as our judge.

   And all this is necessary and universal, because it is consequent upon
   the condition of our nature and being; and whoever pretends to be
   exempted from the judgment of God, he must exempt himself out of the
   creation of God, he must deny the God that made him, and renounce his
   relation to him as a creature; must disclaim his dependance upon him,
   and subjection to him; he must withdraw himself from the authority and
   jurisdiction of the universal King of the world, and declare that he
   hath nothing to do to rule over him, that he doth not stand obliged to
   him for his being, nor did receive from him those talents of life, and
   health, and reason, and other blessings which he enjoys, and
   consequently that he is not concerned to make any improvements of them,
   being accountable to none for the good or bad use of them.

   Now, if any man can think thus, that he is none of God's creatures and
   subjects, he may hope to decline and escape his judgments: but every
   man that owns God for his creator and sovereign, must yield himself to
   be subject to his laws, and liable to his judgment. Upon this account
   the apostle St. Paul concludes all the world, the gentiles as well as
   the Jews, to be liable to the judgment of God; because they are all
   equally subject to his laws. (Rom. iii. 19.) "Now we know (says he)
   that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them who are under
   the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world, (that is,
   both Jews and gentiles,) may become guilty before God" In the Greek it
   is upo'dikos ge'netai to theo, "that all the world may be subject (or
   liable) to the judgment of God." Now though this be immediately spoken
   of the Jews, who were under a written law; yet he had told us before in
   what sense the gentiles also, as well as the Jews, are under the law of
   God: (chap. ii. 14.) "For when the gentiles, which have not the law, do
   by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law,
   are a law to themselves, shewing the work (or effect) of the law
   written in their hearts, their consciences also bearing them witness,
   and their thoughts in the mean while accusing, or else excusing one
   another." His meaning is, that there is no person in the world, but,
   though he hath not the knowledge of Divine revelation, and that law of
   God which is written in the Scriptures; yet he hath the light of
   natural conscience, he hath a law which is born within him, enacted, as
   I may say, in his very nature, and written upon his heart, which will
   acquaint him with the material parts and great lines of his duty; and
   by virtue of this law he is obnoxious to the judgment of God, and
   stands accountable to him for all his breaches and violations of it. So
   that, from the common nature of man, and that which is essential to all
   men, it is evident that we are all equally liable to the judgment of
   God.

   2. If we consider the nature of God, who is impartially just, and no
   accepter of persons, this likewise will furnish us with an argument for
   the proof of this truth, that none shall be exempted from the judgment
   of God. Justice requires that every one should have that which of due
   belongs to him: but of due it belongs to every reasonable creature, to
   give an account of himself, and of his actions, to the great Judge of
   the world: and to exempt any from this account would be partiality, and
   that which the Scripture calls proosopolepsi'a, "respect" or
   "acceptation of persons," and which the Scripture doth every where
   remove at the greatest distance from God. (Deut. x. 17.) "The Lord your
   God is Lord of lords, and God of gods; a great God, mighty and
   terrible, he regardeth not persons." (2 Chron. xix. 7.) "There is no
   iniquity with the Lord your God, nor accepting of persons." Job,
   (xxxiv. 18, 19.) speaking of the impartial justice of God, says, "He
   accepteth not the persons of princes, nor accepteth the rich more than
   the poor: for they are all the work of his hands." (1 Pet. i. 17.) "If
   we call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth every
   man."

   Now, respect of persons is, in the distribution of justice, to have
   respect to some qualities and circumstances of persons, which do not at
   all appertain to the merits of the cause, and upon that account to deal
   unequally with those whose cases otherwise are equal. As, when two
   persons are equally guilty and obnoxious to the law, to bring one upon
   his trial and condemn him, but to exempt the other from justice; or, if
   he come upon his trial, to ab solve and acquit him upon some account of
   relation, or interest, or friendship; or, because he is rich and
   powerful, the other mean and poor; or upon any other account besides
   the pure merits of the cause. Now the impartial and inflexible justice
   of the Divine nature is such, that he is not to be moved and wrought
   upon by any consideration whatsoever, to exempt any person from
   appearing at his bar, and receiving his trial there, and having
   judgment passed upon him, according as upon trial his cause shall
   appear to be. "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ."
   No person whatever, of what condition soever, shall be exempted from
   it.

   All that now remains is to apply this to ourselves, and that in these
   following particulars:

   I. From what has been said, we learn that this doctrine of a future
   judgment equally concerns every one of us, and ought in reason to have
   the like influence upon us, because we are all of us, without
   difference or exception, equally liable to the judgment of God; not one
   of us, of what age, or quality, or condition soever, shall be exempted
   from it Whoever thon art, how great, or rich, or powerful soever,
   though never so big and considerable among men, thou shalt not escape
   the judgment of God. It may be, thou art a prince, and bearest rule
   over others: but thou also art liable to the judgment of God, and
   therefore oughtest to remember, that "they that rule over men must be
   just, ruling in the fear of God," and of that great account which they
   must one day give of that high charge committed to them. It may be now
   thou judgest others, and canst call them before thy bar, and make them
   tremble, having power and authority to absolve or condemn them: but
   remember, that for all this thou must come into judgment thyself, and
   give an account how thou hast judged others, and whether thou hast sat
   and proceeded in these inferior courts as one mindful of the high
   tribunal of God, and with a just sense of the judgment of the great
   day, when all the causes which thou hast tried here upon earth, will be
   reviewed and severely scanned in that higher court, from which there
   can be no appeal.

   It may be thou art rich and powerful, and one of those great flies that
   can break through the cobwebs of human laws, and escape the judgment of
   them: but the judgment of God will take fast hold of thee, and, in
   despite of all thy interest and might, will take a severe revenge upon
   thee. As powerful as thou art, thou art but a man, and God is
   infinitely too strong for thee, thou canst not escape out of his hands.
   "Thinkest thou, O man! that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?"
   says the apostle, looking upon it as a foolish and absurd imagination,
   for any man to think that he can by any means avoid the judgment of
   God.

   So that, so long as we are men, whatever else we are, we ought to stand
   in awe of the judgment of the great day; because, let our rank and
   condition be what it will, we are all equally obnoxious to that, and
   can upon no account whatsoever plead any privilege or exemption from
   it.

   II. The consideration of this confounds all those differences and
   distinctions of men, which make such a noise in this world; and
   whatever they may signify in this world, makes them very inconsiderable
   as to the other. Why then should men be puffed up, and look so big upon
   account of any of these things, when there is a day not far off, and
   which will certainly, and, for aught we know, shortly overtake us,
   which will level men in all these respects, and set them upon even
   ground, before an impartial bar: where none of these things will be had
   in any consideration, and where the foolish pride and arrogance of men
   shall be confounded: and those who were wont to look down with so much
   scorn upon others, as so infinitely below them, shall find themselves
   upon an equal level with the poorest and most abject part of mankind,
   and shall be ready to say, with the wise man in the Wisdom of Solomon,
   (chap. v. 8.) "What hath pride profited us, or what hath riches with
   our vaunting brought us? All these things are passed away as a shadow,
   and as a post that hasteth by." So that we ought to use well all those
   advantages which we have above others in this world: if we do not, they
   will be of no use and benefit to us in the other. "Riches profit not in
   the day of wrath."

   All these petty civil differences and discriminations of high and low,
   rich and poor, honourable and base, they only hold in this world, and
   are in vogue on this side the grave: but when we come into the other
   world, they will all cease, and signify nothing. There the powerful
   oppressor can do nothing to the injury of the poorest man that ever
   lived in this world, and as little to his own safety and security. All
   that power and interest which is now so considerable, and makes its way
   every where, and does what it pleaseth, will be of no use and
   significancy in the other world. The great and the mighty, when death
   hath once arrested them, and bound them over to the judgment of the
   great day, their glory and strength departs from them, and they are
   then but like other men. Job elegantly describes the state of men after
   death: (Job iii. 17-19.) "There the wicked cease from troubling: and
   there the weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest together, they
   hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and the great are there,
   and the servant is free from his master." While we are upon the stage
   of this world, we sustain several persons; one is a prince and a great
   man, another is a captain and a mighty man; and whilst this life lasts,
   these differences are considerable. But when we retire and go off the
   stage, we shall then be undressed, we shall be stripped of all our
   titles, and of all our glory, and go out of the world as naked as we
   came into it. Death and judgment level all mankind, and when we come to
   appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, we shall all stand upon
   equal terms. For God respects not the persons of the mighty in
   judgment, he will shew no reverence to the great ones of this world,
   but will deal impartially and alike with all. (Matt. xxv. 32.) You may
   there see how the Judge himself represents the universality and
   impartiality of his dealings with men in that day: "Before him shall be
   gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a
   shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." All mankind shall then be
   gathered into one common flock, among which there shall no other
   distinction be made, but of sheep and goats; the separation which shall
   then be made, shall not be of the high from the low, of the rich from
   the poor, of the honourable from the base, of the learned from the
   ignorant; there shall be but one distinction then made, of the good
   from the bad, and the righteous from the wicked; there shall no
   consideration be then had, but only of the moral differences of men;
   all civil difference will then vanish and be of no account in that day,
   either to exempt any man from that judgment, or to gain any favour and
   respect to him in the hearing or decision of his cause. This should
   make all men very modest and humble in this world, to consider how they
   shall be levelled in the next.

   III. How should the consideration of this dash all our sensual mirth
   and jollity, and put a damp upon our spirits, when they are too light
   and vainly transported with the pleasures and delights of this world!
   If a man be to prepare himself to be tried for his life after a few
   days, how will he look about him! With what care and seriousness will
   he provide for so solemn an occasion, and neglect nothing that may
   stand him in stead, and help to bring him off when he shall receive his
   trial! The thoughts of this will spoil all his mirth, and turn the
   lightness of his spirit into sober sadness. Much more ought the
   consideration of a judgment infinitely more terrible, and in the
   consequence of it of far greater concernment to us, to compose our
   minds into a serious frame. For if we believe a future and general
   judgment, and that none of us can by any means possibly escape it, then
   certainly it highly concerns every one of us to be serious, and to pass
   the time of this life in a perpetual awe of it. So St. Peter argues
   from this consideration: (1 Pet. i. 17.) "And if ye call on the Father,
   who without respect of persons judgeth every man, pass the time of your
   sojourning here in fear," This thought should interpose itself in all
   our mirth, that "we must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ."
   And therefore Solomon admonisheth young men, in the midst of their
   sports and pleasures, to think of a future account; (Eccles. xi. 9.)
   "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in
   the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the
   sight of thine eyes: but know, that for all these things God will bring
   thee into judgment."

   IV. And lastly, From hence we learn, that the business of religion does
   equally concern every man. For if we must all be judged, we are all
   concerned to prepare and provide for it: and a religious and virtuous
   life is the only preparation for it. How should we order our lives with
   a respect to this great and general assize, when every one of us shall
   be brought upon his trial, and stand at the bar of God to be judged by
   him! Many live as if they thought the business of religion below them,
   and not at all appertaining to them: but if the judgment of God will
   equally reach all persons, then I am sure it equally concerns all to
   mind religion, and a holy and virtuous life; for that alone will make
   us worthy, as our Saviour himself expresseth it, "to escape all these
   things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."

   And this is the result of Solomon's inquiry, and of his long discourse
   upon that argument--what is the great work and business, the great
   interest and concernment of men in this life; which we find in the
   conclusion of his sermon, called the book of the preacher: (Eccl. xii.
   13, 14.) "Let us (says he) hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
   Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of
   man." Religion is the great business and concernment of men in this
   world, because God will bring every man, and "every work into,
   judgment, whether it be good or evil."
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CLXXX.

  OF THE ACTIONS FOR WHICH MEN WILL BE ACCOUNTABLE.

   For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every
   one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath
   done, whether it be good or bad.--2 Cor. v. 10.

   I PROCEED to the third proposition contained in these words, viz. that
   all the actions which men have done in this life shall then come to
   account, and men shall be judged for them. "That every man may receive
   the things done in the body;" ta` i'dia tou so'matos, "the things
   proper and due to the body;" so some very good copies have it: and then
   the meaning will be, that every one may receive the reward due to him;
   the word body, by a frequent Hebraism, being pat for the person: as if
   he had said, the reward due to himself, according to the actions he
   hath done in this life, good or bad. But in most copies, it is, ta` dia
   tou so'matos, "the things done in, or by, the body," as our translation
   renders it; that every one may receive a reward of the actions which he
   hath done in this life; and then this phrase doth import what it is
   that shall be the matter of our account at the day of judgment, viz.
   "The things done in the body;" that is, all the actions of this life,
   while we are in this world, in this state of union of the soul and
   body.

   Whether there be any peculiar emphasis in this phrase, ta` dia tou
   so'matos, "the things done by, or in, the body," as if it did exclude
   those things which shall be done after death, in the state of
   separation of our souls from our bodies, from being accounted for at
   the resurrection in the day of judgment; I say, whether there be any
   such emphasis in those words, "the things done in the body," I cannot
   certainly affirm; though, according to the nature and reason of the
   thing, it seems very probable, as the schoolmen have generally
   determined in this case, that meritum est viatoris, "merit and demerit
   are proper to this state of trial;" and that wicked men, when they are
   in termino, and their state is finally concluded, and the trial of
   their obedience is at an end, do not demerit by their sins, nor
   increase their punishment. For, although that hatred and enmity of God
   which is in the damned spirits, be a monstrous irregularity in a
   creature, yet it cannot well in reason be otherwise, but that a
   creature, which is extremely miserable, and withal desperate, and past
   all hopes of remedy and recovery out of that dismal state; I say, it
   cannot well in reason be otherwise expected, but that a creature in
   such a condition should rage against the Author of its torment and
   punishment, and do all the despite to him that he can, and wish that he
   were not, though it be in vain to wish so; and it seems probable that
   God will not bring this to a new account, because it seems so natural
   and necessary a consequent of a miserable and desperate state: but
   though all this be probable, I am far from being peremptory in it, much
   less am I confident that it is the meaning of this phrase here in the
   text; I do not love to build an opinion upon a single and doubtful
   phrase of Scripture. I only mention it by the by, not intending to
   insist upon it, being much of his mind who said, Non amo nimis argutam
   theologiam, "1 am no lover of great subtlety and nicety in divinity."

   It is sufficient to my purpose, that this phrase of "every man's
   receiving the things done in the body," does at least import thus
   much--that we shall be accountable, at the day of judgment, for all the
   actions that we have done in this life, and receive the due recompence
   and reward of them; which is the proposition I intend as briefly as I
   can to illustrate and confirm.

   And, first, For the illustration of this point, I shall instance in the
   several heads of action, as they take their difference and variety from
   the principle, or matter, or object, or other circumstances of them. We
   must render an account to this great Judge for our inward as well as
   outward actions; for the acts of our minds, and every thought springing
   up there, especially if it be cherished and entertained by us; for all
   our secret designs, purposes, and intentions, as well as for the words
   which we speak, and the outward actions which we do; whatever we have
   thought and designed, spoken and declared, accomplished and done, will
   then be considered and examined, and we shall be judged for it. We must
   likewise give an account of all our civil as well as religious actions,
   of our behaviour toward men in all our dealing and intercourse with
   them, as well as of our demeanour toward God in the duties of his more
   immediate worship and service. The neglects and omissions of our duty
   in any kind will also come under consideration, as well as our
   commissions of evil; a strict account likewise will be exacted of all
   the talents which God hath entrusted us with, of all the abilities,
   opportunities, and advantages we ever had of doing service to God, and
   good to men; and whether we have made answerable improvements of them
   for the glory of God, and the benefit and advantage of men.

   We must be accountable likewise for words and actions of less moment
   and consequence, as well as for those of greater weight and
   concernment; for those which were done in secret, and in the greatest
   darkness and privacy, as well as for those which were done in public,
   and in the open view and light of the world; for the good and evil
   which hath been done by ourselves, and in our own persons, and for what
   hath been done by others by our command and countenance, and from the
   influence of our counsel and persuasion, or example, or which we have
   been any ways accessary to hinder or promote; and lastly, for the
   manner and circumstances of our actions, as well as for the matter and
   substance of them; all these will be surveyed and strictly searched
   into, and weighed in an exact balance, that we may receive a reward or
   punishment proportionable to them.

   Secondly, For the confirmation of this, I shall make it evident both
   from Scripture and reason.

   I. From Scripture; which in general tells us, that "God will bring
   every work into judgment;" and that, in order thereto, God strictly
   observes and takes notice of what we do; that "his eyes are upon the
   ways of man, and that he seeth all his goings; that there is no
   darkness nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide
   themselves," (Job xxxiv. 21, 22.) That "the ways of men are before the
   eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings," (Prov. v. 21.) That
   "he knoweth our paths and our lying clown, and is acquainted with all
   our ways." That "there is not a word in our tongue, but he knoweth it
   altogether," and that "he understands even our thoughts afar off;"
   (Psal. cxxxix. 2-4.) That all the actions of men are recorded in books,
   which shall be produced and opened at the great day, "and the dead,
   both small and great, shall be judged from those things, which shall be
   written in those books;" (Rev. xx. 21.)

   And more particularly the Scripture tells us, that those words and
   actions of men which seem most inconsiderable, and are most likely to
   be exempted, shall be accounted for, and severely scanned and weighed.
   (Matt. xii. 36, 37.) Says our Lord there, "I say unto you, that every
   idle word," by which, if our Saviour do not mean every unprofitable, to
   be sure every wicked word, "that men shall speak, they shall give an
   account thereof in the day of judgment, For by thy words thou shalt be
   justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." By which saying,
   our Saviour designedly confutes an opinion, too current among many,
   that men's words signify little, and that no account will be taken of
   them at the day of judgment; that God will not be so severe as to make
   them matter of charge and accusation, and to punish us for them in the
   other world; and, therefore, to obviate this mistake, he purposely
   adds, "for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou
   shalt be condemned." And therefore men must not think, that all their
   lewd and filthy talk, all their rash oaths and imprecations, all their
   atheistical discourse and profane jests upon religion and the Holy
   Scriptures, all their calumnies and slanders of good men, all their
   officious lies to serve a present turn and occasion will pass for
   nothing at the judgment of the great day. No, the Judge himself hath
   expressly told us, that of all such "words men shall give an account in
   the day of judgment." And St. Jude tells us, out of an ancient prophecy
   of Enoch, that "the Lord shall come with ten thousands of his saints,
   to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly,"
   not only "of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly
   committed," but likewise "of all their hard speeches which ungodly
   sinners have spoken against him."

   Our most secret thoughts and actions also, as well as our open and
   public deeds, shall then be brought upon the stage. (Eccles. xii. 14.)
   "For God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing,
   whether it be good, or whether it be evil." (Rom. ii. 16.) "In the day
   when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to
   my gospel." And this likewise is the meaning of that proverbial speech
   so often used by our Saviour, "there is nothing covered that shall not
   be revealed; neither hid that shall not be known." There is nothing so
   secret, which shall not be disclosed and made manifest in that great
   day of revelation, and be laid open in the face of the whole world;
   especially the cunning, dissimulation, and hypocrisy of men, with God
   and men. Men are apt to think themselves safe enough, if they can but
   escape the eye of men, and commit their sins secretly, and in the dark.
   But this is either direct atheism, or downright folly; because the eye
   of God is continually upon us, and "the darkness hideth not from him,
   but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both
   alike to him." And if we be always under the inspection of our Judge,
   if all that we think, and say, and do, be "open and naked to the eye of
   him," pros o'n emin o lo'gos, "to whom we must give an account/ what
   will it profit us to dissemble before men, and to conceal any of our
   actions from them? Nay, if we could hide them from ourselves (as we
   cannot our wilful and deliberate sins), yet that would be of no
   advantage to us, because "God is greater than our hearts, and knows all
   things."

   And then, likewise, we must be accountable to God for all the neglects
   and omissions of our duty, as well as for the positive commission of
   sin, and that in proportion to the advantages and opportunities we have
   had of doing more and greater good. So our Saviour tells us, that "unto
   whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required." (Luke xii.
   48.) Many are apt to think, that if they do but abstain from notorious
   and scandalous vices, if they do nobody harm, though they do not serve
   God so fervently and constantly as others do, though they seldom think
   of him and pray to him, though they have no manner of activity or
   concernment to do good, either to the bodies or souls of men; yet that
   this negative virtue will serve their turn at the day of judgment. But
   the matter is quite otherwise, as our Saviour hath most expressly
   declared. "A good tree (saith he) will bring forth good fruit." And by
   the parable of the foolish virgins, who for want of oil in their lamps
   were shut out of the kingdom of God, he declares to us the dangerous
   state of those who slumber away their lives in a drowsy inactivity, and
   are not careful either to keep alive grace in their hearts, or to shew
   forth the light of good works in their conversation. And in the parable
   of the talents, (Matt. xxv.) he passeth a most severe sentence upon
   that slothful servant, who hid his lord's talent in a napkin, and
   buried it in the earth, without making any manner of improvement of it;
   (ver. 30.) "Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there
   shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And in the same chapter, where
   our Saviour represents to us the proceedings of the great day, the
   charge there drawn up against them, consists of sins of omission, and
   gross neglects to do the good which they had the ability and
   opportunity to do; (ver. 42, 43, &c.) "Depart from me, ye cursed, into
   everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was
   hungry, and ye gave me no meat; thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; a
   stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick and
   in prison, and ye visited me not." Not that sins of commission shall
   then be passed by, and left out of the account; it is taken for
   granted, that they shall be reckoned for in the first place: but the
   wisdom of our Saviour chooseth to instance in those sins, which many
   hope they shall not be called to account for, the omission and neglect
   of their duty, that he might hereby root out of the minds of men
   effectually that false opinion, which they are so apt to entertain
   concerning such sins, as if they were of a very light and venial
   nature.

   II. This is evident likewise from reason; because all the actions of
   reasonable creatures, as such, are under the regulation and government
   of law, by which, as by a rule, every thing that we do is to be
   measured. And we have all the reason that can be to expect, that he who
   gave us this law, will look to the observance of it, and take an
   account of all breaches and transgressions of it, so as to reward those
   that keep it, and to punish the bold transgressors of it; and if this
   were not so, the law would want its proper sanction and enforcement,
   and had been given to no purpose.

   And this law of God reacheth all our actions, in ward and outward,
   religions and civil, secret and open, positive and negative, with all
   the circumstances of commendation or aggravation that be long to them.
   And as this law is the rule of all human actions now, and by which we
   ought to live in this world; so it will be the rule by which we and all
   our actions shall be examined and judged in the next. The judgment of
   God will be of the same extent with his law.

   And thus I have, as briefly as I could, illustrated and confirmed the
   truth of this proposition, that all the actions which men have done in
   this life shall come to account in the next, and they shall be judged
   for them.

   And if so, then certainly no consideration that can be presented to the
   mind of man, ought in reason to be more powerful to beget in us a
   strict care and conscience of all our thoughts, words, and actions,
   than this; that, after a little while, when a few days or years are
   over, all that we ever did in this world, shall be .strictly examined
   and looked into, and be approved or condemned by the impartial judgment
   of God. And therefore, if we have any grain of true wisdom in us, any
   love to ourselves, any sense of our great and everlasting interest,
   that great day of account should always be before us, and present to
   our minds, and we should govern every action of our lives with a
   serious and awful regard to it. And if we be conscious to ourselves
   that "there is any way of wickedness in us," that we have been grossly
   culpable in the violation of any known law of God, or in the neglect of
   any part of our duty, how can we without dread think of coming to so
   severe an account, and falling under so heavy a sentence, as will then
   be pronounced upon the workers of iniquity?

   Indeed, if we could do any thing now, of which we were to give no
   account hereafter, and which would not be taken into consideration at
   the great day, we then might be secure and careless as to such actions;
   but when nothing we do is exempted from the judgment of God; when we
   are assured, beyond all doubt, that he will one day take cognizance of
   every thought, word, and action; how circumspect should we be, "what
   manner of persons we are in all holy conversation and godliness!" How
   nearly does it concern us, "to take heed to our ways, lest at any time
   we offend: to keep our hearts with all diligence," and a to set a watch
   to the door of our lips!" that we may not think or speak any thing in
   the sight and hearing of our Judge, by which we may incur his censure
   and condemnation. This is the consideration which the wise man proposes
   to us, as of all other the most likely to awe men to the careful
   obedience and observance of God's laws. "Fear God, and keep his
   commandments; for God will bring every work into judgment, and every
   secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

   Can we be negligent of our lives and actions, when we consider that all
   the passages of our lives are upon record, and that there is a most
   exact register kept of them, written in indelible characters, with "a
   pen of iron., and the point of a diamond?" as the expression is, (Jer.
   xvii. 1.) "I remember all their wickedness, and their doings are before
   me," says God,(Hos. vii. 2.) and, (Amos viii. 7.) "The Lord hath sworn
   by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will not forget any of their
   works." We sin, and forget that we have sinned; but God chargeth
   himself with the remembrance of all our evil doings, and they can never
   slip out of his mind.

   Did men seriously believe these things, and were they affected with
   them as they ought, they could not but have a wonderful effect upon
   their lives, to make us more watchful over our ways, and to tread every
   step of our lives more warily. We could not commit iniquity with so
   much greediness and pleasure, and "rush into sin, as the horse rusheth
   into battle," without any fear or consideration, were we verily
   persuaded, that every evil action that we do in this life, will be
   matter of charge and accusation in the day of judgment.

   Therefore, when we are doing any thing, we should ask ourselves, will
   not this also come into judgment? When we are engaged in any wicked
   design, or vicious course, we should consider, with what face will this
   act of violence and oppression, of fraud and cozenage, of filthy
   lewdness and brutish intemperance, appear at the great day? How will it
   look when "God shall arise to judgment?" When we are careless and
   remiss, slight and superficial in the service of God, and the duties of
   his worship, we should remember that God takes notice of all this, and
   we must give an account to him for the manner, as well as the matter of
   our actions.

   If the actions of our lives were transient, and the consequence of them
   were over so soon as they are done, and no memorial of them would
   remain here after; if they would die with us, and never rise up in
   judgment against us; we needed not to take such heed to them: but we do
   all things for eternity, and every action of this life will have a good
   or bad influence upon our everlasting state.

   More particularly, the consideration of this should have an influence
   upon us, more especially, to these purposes.

   1. To make us afraid of lesser sins, as well as greater, because those
   also, as well as these, will come into judgment; and we should not
   esteem any thing little, which God shall think fit to take into
   consideration, and to bring upon the stage at the great day.

   2. The consideration of this should likewise deter us from secret sins.
   We are apt to think, that if we can but sin in secret, and hide what we
   do from the eyes of men, we are secure and safe enough: but, alas! our
   great danger is not from men, but God; not now, but hereafter. We are
   now very solicitous to conceal our wickedness, that we may avoid shame,
   and escape punishment from men: but God will one day produce all our
   secret sins, and bring them forth into the light, for all our studious
   concealment of them now. Now we are afraid of the eye of men, and
   therefore choose secrecy, that we may commit our sins privately and
   unseen. Vain man! the day is at hand, when all thy secret lewdness and
   fraud will be brought upon the public stage of the world, and be matter
   of public infamy to thee, and an everlasting reproach that can never be
   wiped off; and though thou now coverest thy transgression as Adam, and
   hidest thine iniquity in thy bosom, yet the time is coming, when all
   thy secret wickedness shall be exposed to the view of angels and men:
   and then, sinner, what wilt thou do, when thou shalt appear before this
   all-seeing Judge? none of thine arts of concealment will then stand
   thee in stead, Canst thou hide thy sins from his eye, so that he cannot
   search them out? or thyself from his wrath? If thou canst not, what
   matters it to have any secret from others, when all is known to thy
   Judge?

   3. This should likewise dispose us to great sincerity in all our words
   and actions, and make us always to speak as we think, to perform what
   we promise and profess, and in all things to be what we would seem to
   be, since there is a day coming when "the secrets of all hearts shall
   be disclosed," and every mask of hypocrisy and dissimulation shall be
   plucked off, and our most close and cunning designs shall be brought
   into the open light. In that great day of revelation, nothing will be
   matter of comfort and rejoicing to us, but "the testimony of our
   consciences, that, in all simplicity, and godly sincerity, we have had
   our conversation in the world."

   4. This should make us faithfully to improve all the talents and
   opportunities which God affords to us; because we are but stewards, and
   must give an account of them. We are apt to covet great wealth, and to
   aspire after great places and power; but do we consider what it is that
   we so eagerly desire and pursue? All this will but bring upon us the
   burden of a greater and heavier account, if we do not improve these
   talents and advantages to the end for which they were given, to relieve
   the wants of the poor and miserable, and to serve the great ends of
   religion and virtue; and if we fail herein, a dreadful account will be
   exacted of us, and we shall wish that we had been the poorest and
   meanest, the most ignorant and unlearned persons in the world.

   5. This should restrain us from uncharitable censures of others. "Thou
   art therefore inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art, that judgest
   another: for thinkest thou that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?"
   as the apostle reasons, (Rom. ii. 1.)

   6. This may help to support us under the unjust censures and reproaches
   of men. If we be innocent, God will one day "bring forth our
   righteousness as the light, and our judgment as the noon-day." "With
   me, (saith Paul, 1 Cor. iv. 3.) it is a very small thing that I should
   be judged of you, or of man's judgment. He that judgeth me is the
   Lord." It is desirable to approve ourselves and our actions to men: but
   if we cannot, it is a great satisfaction to approve them to our own
   consciences, and to God, who is "greater than our hearts, and knows all
   things."

   Lastly, This will teach us not to measure our condition by the good
   opinion which others have of us; but by the law of God, which will be
   the standard and measure of our judgment. He will consider every thing
   exactly, and weigh all the circumstances of our case, and make all the
   allowances that equity requires. Men can but judge according to
   appearance: but the judgment of God will be according to truth;
   therefore we should above all "labour to be accepted of him in that
   day,"
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CLXXXI.

  OF THE SENTENCE TO BE PASSED AT THE DAY OF JUDGMENT.

   For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every
   one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath
   done, whether it be good or bad.--2 Cor. v. 10.

   I PROCEED to the fourth and last proposition contained in the text;
   viz. That at the day of judgment, sentence shall be passed upon men
   according to the nature and quality of their actions done in this
   world, whether good or evil. The reward of happiness or misery, which
   men shall be sentenced to at that day, shall bear a proportion to the
   good or evil which they have done in this life.

   In the prosecution of this argument, I shall inquire into these two
   things:

   First, What proportion the rewards of the next world shall bear to the
   actions of men in this life.

   Secondly, The grounds and reasons of it. And then make some application
   of this truth to the consciences of men.

   First, What proportion the rewards of the next world shall bear to the
   actions of men in this life. I mean, whether the rewards of the next
   life shall only be proportioned to the kind and quality of our actions
   considered in general, as good or evil; that is, that good men shall be
   rewarded with everlasting glory and happiness, and wicked men with
   eternal punishment and torment: or whether the degrees of these rewards
   shall likewise bear a proportion to the degrees of the good or evil of
   our actions, so that a more eminent degree of piety and holiness shall
   have a proportionable share of glory and happiness; and greater and
   more heinous sins shall be loaded with greater and heavier punishments.

   I. It is clear, and out of all controversy, that men shall be rewarded
   according to the quality and kind of their actions; good shall be
   rewarded to the good, and evil to the evil. And this is the constant
   tenor of the Bible. (Psal. i. 6.) "The Lord knoweth the way of the
   righteous;" that is, doth approve it, and will reward it: "but the way
   of the ungodly shall perish;" which is of the same importance with the
   expression in the verse before, "the wicked shall not stand in the
   judgment." (Isa. iii. 10, 11.) "Say ye to the righteous, it shall be
   well with him, for they shall eat of the fruit of their doings. Woe
   unto the wicked, for it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his
   hands shall be given him;" which, if it be meant of the rewards and
   punishments of this life, is much more constantly and universally true
   of the other. (Matt. xvi. 27.) "The Son of man shall come in the glory
   of the Father, with his angels with him, and shall reward every man
   according to his works." (Rev. xxii. 12.) "Behold, I come quickly, and
   my reward is with me, to render to every man according as his work
   shall be;" that is, whether good or evil. (Rom. vi. 23.) "The wages of
   sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life:" that is, "to those
   who have their fruit unto holiness," as he had said immediately before.
   Hither likewise belong those innumerable texts, in which glory, and
   happiness, and eternal life, are promised to those who live "soberly,
   righteously, and godly in this present world;" and wickedness and
   disobedience are threatened with dreadful and eternal punishment. But I
   shall only take notice of two or three of the most remarkable of them.
   (Matt. xiii. 41 43.) "The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and
   they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them
   which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, there
   shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine
   forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." But this is most
   fully represented in that particular description, which our Lord
   himself makes of the process of that day, (Matt. xxv. 34.) where the
   sentence that shall be passed on the righteous is this: "Come ye
   blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the
   foundation of the world." And on the wicked, (ver. 41.) "Depart from
   me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
   angels." And, (ver. 46.) "These, (speaking of the wicked, (shall go
   away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal."
   (John v. 28, 29.) "The hour is coming, in which all that are in their
   graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done
   good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto
   the resurrection of damnation." (Rom. ii. 6-9.) Speaking of "the
   revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who (says the apostle)
   shall render to every man according to his works; to them, who by
   patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honour, and
   immortality, eternal life: but to them that are contentious, and obey
   not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
   tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doth evil."

   II. That the rewards and recompences of the next world shall likewise
   bear a proportion to the degrees of good or evil which we have done in
   this life, though it hath been controverted, seems also to be
   sufficiently clear from Scripture. And to this purpose, I shall,

   1. Produce such texts as will fully prove it.

   2. Answer the grounds of the contrary opinion.

   1. The Scripture doth plainly assert, that the rewards of the next life
   will bear a proportion not only to the kind and quality of our actions,
   but to the degree of them; that good men shall receive a reward
   proportionable to the degree of their holiness and obedience, of their
   service and sufferings for God; and that the torments of the wicked
   shall be greater or less, according to the degree and aggravation of
   their sins.

   (1.) As for good men: that the reward that shall be bestowed upon them
   shall bear a proportion to the degree of their service and sufferings
   for God. This seems to be intimated in those metaphorical expressions
   used by the prophet Daniel: (chap. xii. 3.) "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." Which is much the same
   with what St. Paul expressly affirms, concerning the different glory of
   the saints at the resurrection: (1 Cor. xv. 41.) "There is one glory of
   the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for
   one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the
   resurrection of the dead." (Matt. v. 10, 11.) "Blessed are ye, when men
   shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all manner of evil
   against you for my name's sake: rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for
   great is your reward in heaven." Which words, if they do not signify a
   more glorious reward to those who suffer persecution for Christ, have
   no emphasis or encouragement in them. For what cause of exceeding joy
   and gladness is it, to be persecuted and suffer for Christ, if a
   peculiar reward did not belong to those who suffer for him? If there do
   not, then those who suffer for Christ are plainly in a worse condition
   in this world, than other good men who escape these sufferings; and yet
   are in no better condition than others in the next world: and why then
   should any man be glad to suffer? (Matt. x. 41, 42.) "He that receiveth
   a prophet, in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward;
   and he that receiveth a righteous man, in the name of a righteous man,
   shall receive a righteous man's reward." Where you see a difference
   intimated between the reward of a prophet and a righteous man; namely,
   that a prophet shall have a greater reward than an ordinary good man.
   (Matt. xix. 28, 29.) Where our blessed Saviour tells us, that all that
   denied themselves for Christ, shall inherit everlasting life; but for
   his disciples, who were continually attendants upon him, and sufferers
   for him, that a more eminent degree of glory should be conferred on
   them; which is expressed by their "sitting upon twelve thrones, to
   judge the twelve tribes of Israel." But most plainly in the parable of
   the talents, where every man's reward is according to the improvement
   of his talents. "He that had gained five talents, is made ruler over
   five cities: and he that had gained ten talents, ruler over ten
   cities." (Luke xix. 15. 1 Cor. xv. 58.) "Be ye steadfast, unmoveable,
   always abounding in the work of the Lord: forasmuch as you know that
   your labour is not in vain in the Lord." But if our reward should not
   hold a proportion to the degree of our service, it would be in vain to
   be abundant in the work of the Lord. (2 Cor. iv. 17.) "Our light
   affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
   exceeding and eternal weight of glory;" that is, our affliction
   contributes to our glory, and adds to the degree of it. (2 Cor. ix. 6.)
   The apostle useth this as an argument to persuade the Corinthians to be
   very liberal and bountiful to their distressed brethren, because
   according to the degree of their charity, would be the degree of their
   reward. "This, I say, he that soweth sparingly, shall reap sparingly;
   and he that soweth plentifully, shall reap plentifully:" than which I
   cannot imagine any thing can be spoken more plainly to this purpose.
   And the same argument he useth to the Philippians, to stir them up to
   charity: (Phil. iv. 17.) "Not because I desire a gift, but I desire
   fruit that may abound to your account;" clearly implying, that the more
   good we do in this world, the more abundant shall be our reward in the
   next.

   (2.) It is likewise as plain from Scripture, that the punishment and
   torment of wicked men will be abated or increased proportionably to the
   degree and aggravation of their sins. Upon this account our Saviour
   threatens those who continue impenitent under the gospel, with more
   heavy and dreadful punish-, merits, and tells us, that in the day of
   judgment their condition shall be far worse than theirs of Tyre and
   Sidon, of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Matt. xi. 20, 21.) And (Matt. xxiv. 51.)
   he threatens that servant, who, because "his Lord delayed his coming,"
   presumed so much upon the patience of God, with a more severe
   punishment: "The lord of that servant shall cut him in sunder, and
   appoint him his portion with the hypocrites;" intimating, that the
   punishment of hypocrites will be very severe, and, as it were, the
   standard of the highest punishment. And so, likewise, (Luke xii. 47,
   48.) our Saviour tells us, that, according to the degree of light and
   knowledge which men sin against, shall be the degree of their torment.
   "The servant that knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself to do
   according to it, shall be beaten with many stripes: but he that knew it
   not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few
   stripes." And in general he tells us, that the punishment of sinners
   takes its aggravation from the advantages and opportunities which men
   have neglected. "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall
   be required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask
   the more." So likewise the apostle to the Hebrews tells us, that God
   will vindicate the contempt of the gospel more severely than of the law
   of Moses: (Heb. ii. 2-4.) "If the word spoken by angels was steadfast,
   and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of
   reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" And,
   (chap. x. 28, 29.) "He that despised Moses's law died without mercy,
   under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, think ye,
   shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God?"

   So that it seems very evident from Scripture, that the degree of
   happiness or misery which men shall be sentenced to in the next world,
   shall be correspondent to the degree of good or evil which they have
   done in this world; and I can hardly imagine any thing more clear. But
   it seems the schoolmen, and other divines, who have been at leisure to
   tie knots, and to make objections against the plainest truths, have
   called this also into question. And, therefore, I shall, in the

   Second place, briefly examine the grounds of the contrary opinion;
   which, though they do but immediately strike at the degrees of glory
   and happiness, yet, by a parity of reason and consequence, they
   likewise overthrow the degrees of punishment; and they are these two:

   I. They say, that the merits of Christ, by which eternal life and
   happiness is purchased for us, are equal to all those who have any
   interest in them, and are of value sufficient to purchase the highest
   degree of glory for them; and the meritorious cause being the same,
   there is no reason to imagine any difference of degrees in the effect.

   Answer.--The weakness of this objection, how specious soever it may
   appear, will be evident to any one that considers, that eternal life
   and happiness doth not accrue to us by way of necessary and natural
   result from the merit of Christ's obedience and sufferings, but of
   voluntary compact and agreement, and therefore is only available so far
   as it pleased God the Father and him that it should be. Now the
   Scripture hath declared, that "Christ is the author of eternal
   salvation to them that believe and obey him:" but it hath declared
   likewise, that, according to the degrees of our holiness and obedience,
   shall be the degrees of our happiness; because the happiness which
   Christ hath purchased for us, is not bestowed upon us but upon certain
   terms and conditions to be performed on our part, upon the performance
   whereof, and the degree of that performance, the degrees of our
   happiness do depend.

   II. The other objection is from the parable of the labourers in the
   vineyard, (Matt. xx.) where it is said, that "they that came in at the
   last hour received as much as they that came in at the first, and had
   borne the heat and burden of the day, every one his penny." For answer
   to this, it is a known rule among divines, that theologia parabolica
   non est argumentativa; by which they mean, that we cannot argue in
   divinity from every circumstance of a parable, but only from the main
   scope of it. Now this parable seems plainly directed against the
   envious Jews, who murmured because the gentiles were to partake of the
   blessing of the Messias, and that they who were called in the last age
   of the world, should share in this benefit, as well as the ancient
   people of God; so that, by the murmurers, the Jews are designed, who
   were offended that salvation should come to the gentiles. And then the
   scope of the parable is not that all good men shall have equal degrees
   of glory; but that the gentiles, which were called long after the Jews,
   should be saved as well as they. I proceed to the

   Second thing I proposed to inquire into, viz. The grounds and reasons
   of this, why the rewards which shall be distributed at the day of
   judgment, shall bear a proportion to the good or evil which men have
   done in this life? And,

   1. That they shall be correspondent to the nature and quality of our
   actions, the justice and equity of the Divine providence doth plainly
   require. For justice is to give to every one that which of due belongs
   to him: now of equity it belongs to them that do well, that it should
   go well with them; and to the evil, that it should be ill with them;
   that every one should "receive the fruit of his doings." Not that we
   can strictly merit any thing at the hand of God. It is goodness to
   reward an innocent creature, and it is goodness to reward the good
   actions of those who have been sinners; but justice requires that good
   and bad men should not fare alike. Thus Abraham reasons from the
   justice of God; "that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be
   far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the world do right?" And,
   considering the promises which the goodness of God hath made freely to
   good men, for their encouragement in goodness, the performance of these
   promises is founded in the righteousness and faithfulness of God.

   2. That the rewards of the next life should bear a proportion to the
   degree of the good or evil done by us in this life, is clearly founded
   in the equity and reasonableness of the thing; it being very much for
   the encouragement of holiness and goodness, to be assured, that
   whatever we do for God now will be fully considered and rewarded
   hereafter; that he will take notice of the least service that we do for
   him, and that every degree of grace and holiness shall be crowned with
   an answerable degree of glory and happiness. And so, on the other hand,
   it tends very much to discountenance sin, and to keep men from running
   to the height of impiety; to consider that every sin will aggravate
   their misery, and that every degree of wickedness will add to the
   weight of their torment; and that though they be "children of wrath"
   already, yet, by adding "iniquity to transgression, they may cause the
   "wrath of God and his jealousy to smoke against them," and bring more
   curses upon themselves, and make themselves "ten times more the
   children of wrath."--

   And, indeed, in the nature of the thing, it cannot be otherwise; but
   that the better and more holy any man is, the more capable he should be
   of happiness, and the more disposed for the enjoyment of God; and the
   more wicked any man is, the more he should exasperate his own
   conscience, and awaken those furies which rage in his breast. "He
   treasures up" more "wrath against the day of wrath," and piles up more
   fuel for everlasting burnings. The torments of hell are in Scripture
   compared to fire; now the more fuel and greater store of combustible
   matter is cast into it, the more fierce and raging it must be.

   I have done with the explication, and shall now apply what hath been
   delivered:

   I. If sentence shall be passed at the great day according to the good
   or bad actions of men, this shews us what should be the great care of
   every man in this life--to attend to the nature and quality of our
   actions, and to observe that difference between them in our practice
   now, which our Judge will certainly make in the sentence which he will
   pass upon them at the great day. And yet, so blind and mistaken is the
   greatest part of the world, that they make this the least part of their
   care and business. Men are generally very solicitous to be rich and
   great, and to be in a healthful and prosperous condition, and do with
   all possible care seek to avoid sickness, and poverty, and meanness:
   but how few are concerned to be virtuous and good, and to avoid
   wickedness and vice! And yet these moral differences of men at the day
   of judgment will only be taken into consideration; other things will
   not "profit us in the day of wrath." God in that day will not proceed
   with men according to their outward quality and condition in this life;
   their eternal estate shall not then be decided according to their
   wealth or poverty, their height and meanness in this world: it will not
   then be inquired what office a man bore, what titles of honour, what
   manors or lordships, he was owner of; but how he hath behaved himself
   in those circumstances, what use he hath made of his wealth and power,
   what good or evil he hath done, whether he hath glorified God, and
   served the great ends of his creation; whether he hath obeyed or
   disobeyed the truth; whether he hath lived in "ungodliness and worldly
   lusts," or "soberly, and righteously, and godly, in this present
   world:" in a word, whether we have been righteous or wicked. This will
   be the great inquiry at that day; and these qualities, according as
   they are found with us, will determine our condition for ever.

   II. The consideration of this, may comfort good men under the
   promiscuous dispensations of God's providence in this world. Now all
   things generally happen alike, and "there is the same event to the
   righteous and to the wicked:" but things will not be always thus. Have
   but a little patience, and the justice of God's providence, which is
   now under a cloud, will clear up; the day is coming, which will make a
   wide and vast difference between good and bad men, "between those that
   serve God, and those that serve him not; those that swear, and those
   that fear an oath;" between the lewd and the chaste, the sober and
   debauched, the meek of the earth and the murderers; between the proud
   and the humble, the just and the oppressors; between those that
   persecute, and those who are persecuted, for righteousness.

   Now the difference is frequently on the wrong side; good men suffer and
   are afflicted, the wicked flourish and are prosperous: but "go into the
   sanctuary of God, and there thou shalt see their end." Let us but look
   a little before us, beyond "the things which are seen, and are but
   temporal, unto the things which are not seen, and are eternal," and we
   shall see all things straight; that the end of the wicked, who
   flourished in this world, is to be destroyed for ever; and that the
   righteous, who were so distressed and afflicted in this world, "shall
   enter into rest and joy: when the days of refreshing shall come from
   the presence of the Lord, these shall be comforted, and the other
   tormented."

   III. If the reward of the next life shall bear a proportion to the
   degrees of good or evil, which we have done in this world, then, on the
   one hand, here is matter of great comfort and encouragement to us in
   the ways of holiness and obedience. This is a mighty argument to good
   men "to grow in grace," and to press forward toward perfection, "to be
   steadfast, and unmoveable, and abundant in the work of the Lord,
   because they know that their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord;"
   but that, according to the degree of our service and obedience, of our
   virtue and goodness, shall be the degree of our glory and happiness. We
   serve a good Master, who will consider every thing that we do for him;
   "who is not unrighteous, to forget our work and labour of love," and
   will not let the least service pass un rewarded. Let us not then
   content ourselves with any low degree of goodness; but be continually
   aspiring after the highest perfection we are capable of. Since we have
   such a prize in our view, "let us run with patience," and with all our
   might, "the race which is set before us." For by the same reason that
   any man desires happiness, he cannot but desire the highest degrees of
   it that are attainable; and will consequently endeavour to make himself
   capable of the greatest degree of glory: and though no degree of
   holiness can merit everlasting life and happiness, yet greater degrees
   of holiness will certainly be rewarded with a larger portion of
   happiness. God is not bound antecedently to his promise, to give so
   great a reward to any man for his works, yet he hath promised to reward
   every man according to them.

   So that there is no reason why a good man, when he is once come to
   this, that, by the grace and assistance of God, he can refrain from
   gross sins, and resist the temptations to them, and perform the great
   duties of religion, why he should, with Esau, sit down and say, "I have
   enough," I have so much as will carry me to heaven, and I desire no
   more. It is a sad presage of apostacy, to stand still in religion. He
   that once stops, the next thing is to look back. This is the remedy
   which St. Peter prescribes against apostasy: (2 Pet. iii. 18.) "Take
   heed, lest ye fall from your own steadfastness;" and then it follows,
   "but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
   Christ." The best remedy against apostacy, is growth in goodness. It is
   a rule in policy, that an ambitious man should never stay at any step
   of preferment, till he come at the top, because it is some security to
   be in motion. Our ascent to heaven is steep and narrow, and we are
   safest when we do not stand still: temptation cannot so well take its
   aim at us.

   Let us therefore press after the highest degree of virtue and holiness,
   and labour to be as good as we can in this world, that in the next our
   happiness may be the greater; that when the day of recompence shall
   come, we may receive an ample reward, and God the righteous judge may
   set a bright and glorious crown upon our heads.

   We ought likewise to consider, that if any man can be content only to
   be saved, and desire no more but just to get to heaven, that such a
   degree of holiness and virtue, as will save a man that can attain no
   more, will perhaps not save that man who lazily rests in the lowest
   degree, and desires no more. To be least in the kingdom of God, is next
   to being shut out of it. It is not to be expected that God should
   bestow heaven and happiness upon those who are so indifferent about it,
   as to desire heaven for no other reason, but because they would not go
   to hell. Men must not think to drive so near and hard a bargain, in so
   desirable and advantageous a purchase.

   And then, on the other hand, it is matter of great terror to great
   sinners. "The wages of" every "sin is death," eternal death; and every
   degree of hell and damnation is dreadful: but there are sins more
   heinous in themselves, and some that are attended with heavier
   aggravations in some persons; these do inflame hell, and heat that
   furnace seven times hotter. There are some moderate sinners in
   comparison; these shall have a moderate doom, and a cooler hell; but
   there are others who are extravagant and enormous sinners, that "drink
   up iniquity, as the ox drinks up water;" that "let themselves loose to
   commit all wickedness with greediness;" such as sin above the common
   rate of men, with full consent and upon deliberation, with great design
   and contrivance, in despite of the clearest convictions, of the best
   counsels and reproofs; these make haste to ruin and take hell by
   violence. Now such "mighty transgressors shall be mightily tormented;"
   they shall not be punished at the common rate of sinners, their
   consciences will breed more and sharper stings, and wilder furies to
   torment them, and they shall sink into a deeper misery. More
   particularly this concerns us Christians, who continue impenitent, and
   live in our sins, not withstanding the clear revelation of the gospel,
   and "the wrath of God revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and
   unrighteousness of men;" not withstanding "life and immortality" so
   clearly "brought to light by the gospel. How shall we escape, if we
   neglect so great salvation?" What condemnation will be heavy enough for
   those, who wilfully refuse to be saved? "This is the condemnation (says
   our Saviour), that light is come into the world, and men love darkness
   rather than light." All the sins which we now commit, are infinitely
   aggravated above the sins of thousands in the world, who never enjoyed
   that light, and those advantages and opportunities, which we have done.
   "The ignorance of these God winked at, but now" he expects, "he
   commands all men every where to repent; because he hath appointed a
   day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness." What stripes
   do we deserve, who have "known our Master's will, but have not prepared
   ourselves to do according to it?" All that light and knowledge which we
   have, all those counsels and instructions which we have read and heard
   out of God's word, will inflame our account, and heighten our
   condemnation, and the very means of our salvation will be the saddest
   aggravation of our ruin. What our Saviour said of the impenitent and
   unbelieving Jews, holds as well concerning impenitent Christians; that
   "it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, for Sodom and Gomorrah,
   in the day of judgment, than for them. But, beloved, I hope better
   things of you, and things that accompany salvation." Let us but
   remember, and seriously consider, that "we must all appear before the
   judgment-seat of Christ, to receive the things done in the body,
   according to what we have done, whether good or evil;" and this will
   certainly have a mighty awe and influence upon our lives, and all the
   actions of them. Now the God of peace, &c.
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CLXXXII.

  THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, CONSIDERED AND IMPROVED.

   But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which
   are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and
   pray; for ye know not when the time is.--Mark xiii. 32, 33.

   THESE words are spoken by our Saviour of the day of judgment; for
   though, in this chapter, as likewise in the 24th of St. Matthew, and
   the 21st of St. Luke, which are parallel to it, our Saviour discourseth
   very particularly and largely concerning the eminent appearance of his
   power and justice in the destruction of Jerusalem, which may, perhaps,
   sometimes in Scripture be called "his coming;" yet it is plain,
   likewise, that he discourseth there concerning his coming to judgment
   at the end of the world. For we find, in the 24th of St. Matthew, that,
   after our Saviour had foretold his disciples of the utter ruin of
   Jerusalem, they came afterwards to him, to inquire more particularly
   about it: (ver. 3.) "And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the
   disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us when shall these
   things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of
   the world?" Where there are two several questions, to which our Saviour
   returns a distinct answer. The first, when those things he had been
   speaking of before should be? that is, the things which related to the
   destruction of Jerusalem, for of that only he had been speaking of
   before. The other question was, concerning the sign of his coming, and
   of the end of the world.

   The reason of their joining these two questions together, seems to be
   this, (as is very probable from many texts of the New Testament) viz.
   that the apostles did think (and our Saviour permitted them for a long
   time to remain under this mistake) that the end of the world, and the
   general judgment, would be presently after the destruction of
   Jerusalem.

   Now to this second question of theirs, concerning the end of the world,
   and our Saviour's coming to judgment, he gives an answer in the latter
   part of that chapter: (ver. 29.) "But immediately after the tribulation
   of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give
   her light; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven."
   Not that the general judgment of the world was immediately to follow
   the destruction of Jerusalem; for there were many other things to
   intervene, as is manifest from St. Luke: (xxi. 24.) That the Jews
   should be led captive into all nations, and Jerusalem should be trodden
   down of the gentiles until the times of the gentiles were fulfilled.
   And though these things be expressed in a few words, yet they
   comprehend a long tract of time; for the captivity of the Jews hath
   continued for above sixteen hundred years, and is not yet at an end.
   And then after the accomplishment of these things it follows, that
   "there shall be signs in the sun and the moon, and then they shall see
   the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." And then
   he tells them in conclusion, that these things should begin to come to
   pass, that is, some of them should happen before the end of that
   generation: and so they did, for the destruction of Jerusalem was about
   forty years after. But when the end of all should be, that is, when the
   day of judgment would happen, he could not tell them the precise time:
   (ver. 36.) "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels
   of heaven, but the Father only;" and it is added in St. Mark, "neither
   the Son."

   Now by that day and hour is meant that famous and terrible time of the
   general judgment of the world, which St. Peter calls, by way of
   eminency, "the day of the Lord:" (2 Pet. iii. 10.) "The day of the Lord
   will come as a thief in the night;" that is, it will surprise men
   suddenly and unexpectedly, because no man can tell when it will be; it
   will steal upon the world, as a thief does into a house by night. "But
   of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in
   heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray;
   for ye know not when the time is."

   Having thus cleared all difficulties concerning the general meaning of
   the text, that it is to be understood of the day of judgment, and not,
   as some learned men have thought, of the destruction of Jerusalem; I
   shall now consider the words more particularly, and they contain in
   them these two things:

   First, The uncertainty of the day of judgment as to us, and all other
   creatures. "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels
   of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father."

   Secondly, That the consideration of the uncertainty of the time, should
   make us very careful to be always prepared for it. "Take ye heed, watch
   and pray, for ye know not when the time is." I shall speak as briefly
   as I can to both these.

   First, Our Saviour here declares the uncertainty of the time, as to us
   and all creatures, when the general judgment shall be. And to express
   this the more emphatically, he tells us,

   1. That God only knows it. "Of that day and hour, oudei`s oiden, ei me`
   o Pate`r, none knows, but the Father," For though we translate it, "no
   man," yet in the Greek it is more general, "none knows but the Father,
   (that is) God only." For the word Father is several times in the New
   Testament not used personally, in way of distinction from the Son and
   the Holy Ghost; but signifies the Deity, the Father being fons et
   principium Deitatis, "the fountain and principle of the Deity."

   "Of that day and hour;" the word hora is not here to be taken strictly
   for the measure of time, commonly called a hour; this were to make our
   Saviour's expression very flat, after he had denied that the day is
   known, to deny that they know the hour; for if they do not know the
   clay, much less the hour. Now in these kind of speeches, the expression
   ought to rise, and that which is most emphatical ought to be said in
   the last place; so that it should rather have been, "they know not the
   hour, no, nor the day;" but hora here does undoubtedly signify the
   appointed season or time; and so the four seasons of the year are by
   the Greeks called horai; and in this sense the word is most certainly
   used by the evangelist St. John: (chap. vii. 30.) "But no man laid
   hands upon him (speaking of Christ), because his hour was not yet
   come," that is, the time appointed for his suffering; and that which in
   the text is called hour, is in the next verse called kairo's, which
   signifies a particular season, or appointed time. "Ye know not when the
   time is;" that is, the time which God hath particularly designed and
   appointed for this great work of judging the world.

   2. He excludes from the knowledge of it, those who were most likely to
   know it, if God had not absolutely reserved it to himself. "Of that day
   and hour knows none, no, not the angels, neither the Son."

   (1.) "Not the angels, which are in heaven;" though they be creatures of
   so perfect a knowledge, though they be the ministers of God, and do
   continually attend upon him, and behold his face, and understand much
   more of the works of God, and his providence, in regard to the affairs
   of the world, than we that live here below in so much error and
   ignorance, that "dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the
   dust:" yet the particular time, when God will judge the world, he hath
   reserved as a secret to himself, and not communicated it so much as to
   the angels, who are designed to wait upon the great Judge of the world,
   and to make up his train in that solemnity. So our Saviour tells us,
   (Matt. xxv. 31.) that "the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all
   the holy angels with him." And so likewise the apostle, (2 Thess. i.
   7.) that "the Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven, with his
   mighty angels."

   But this is not only hid from "the angels," but which is yet more, from
   the Son himself. "Of that day and hour knows none, no, not the angels
   which are in heaven, neither the Son." This seems strange indeed, that
   the Son of God, who came from the bosom of his Father, and therefore is
   more likely than any to know his secrets, that he, whom God had
   ordained to be the judge of the world, into whose hands he had
   committed that great trust and authority, should not be acquainted with
   the time of this judgment: nay, that he, in whom are all the treasures
   of wisdom and knowledge, and in whom the Divinity does substantially
   reside, should not know this time; this seems incredible, but that he
   himself hath told us so. It was, indeed, a common saying among the
   Jews, that the time of the end of the world was revealed to none; but
   yet one would think, the Son was always excepted. Nay, how can it well
   be otherwise, if we believe him to be God? and indeed the fathers, in
   their disputes with the Arians, have mightily puzzled themselves about
   this text.

   Some, and those of no small account, have understood these words, as if
   our Saviour only in tended to put off his disciples from a more
   particular inquiry about this matter; not that he was ignorant of the
   day of judgment, but that he did not know it so as to reveal it to
   them: which is by no means to be admitted, not only because it looks
   too like the equivocation of the Jesuits, but likewise because the same
   may be said of the angels; since it is no otherwise denied of the
   angels, that they know this time, than it is of the Son. Others say,
   that his human nature was not ignorant of the day of judgment, but that
   it did not know this of itself, but by virtue of its union with the
   Divine nature. But our Saviour absolutely says, that the Son did not
   know it. And therefore others more reasonably have distinguished
   between his human nature and Divine; and though as God he could not be
   ignorant of any thing, yet his human understanding did not know it. And
   it is not unreasonable to suppose that the Divine wisdom which dwelt in
   our Saviour, did communicate itself to his human soul according to his
   pleasure; and so his human nature might at some times not know some
   things. And if this be not admitted, how can we understand that passage
   concerning our Saviour, (Luke ii. 52.) that "Jesus grew in wisdom and
   stature;" or, as the word helikia may more fitly be translated, "in
   age, and in favour with God and man? For if the human nature of Christ
   did necessarily know all things by virtue of its union with the
   Divinity, he could not then, as man, be said to grow in wisdom.

   And this I think may be sufficient for the clearing of this difficulty,
   concerning the Son's not knowing the particular time which God had
   appointed for judging the world: and if he did not know it, it is
   surely no reflection upon his disciples if they were ignorant of it, or
   mistaken about it. Their infallibility was only in things that were
   revealed to them, but cannot be imagined to extend to things not
   revealed.--And thus I have done with the first thing, namely, the
   uncertainty of the time of the general judgment, as to all but God
   only. "Of that day and hour knoweth none, no, not the angels which are
   in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." I proceed now to the

   Second thing, which I mainly intended, viz. That the consideration of
   the uncertainty of the time should make us very careful to be always
   prepared for it. "Take ye heed, watch and pray; for ye know not when
   the time is." In which words we have,

   First, A general caution; "Take ye heed." Look to it, that ye be not
   surprised and overtaken by that time. The time being so uncertain, they
   were always in danger.

   Secondly, More particular directions how they should demean themselves
   in this case. And our Saviour directs to two things, vigilancy and
   prayer; "Watch and pray."

   Thirdly, There is a reason added to enforce this care and diligence,
   from the uncertainty of the time as to us: "For ye know not when the
   time is,"

   From whence I shall observe, by the way, the great goodness of God to
   us, and his singular care of us. That, as he is gracious and merciful
   to us, in giving us the knowledge of those things which are necessary
   and useful for us to know; so no less in keeping us ignorant of other
   things, which are not only not necessary for us to know, but which it
   would be very much to our harm and prejudice, to have the knowledge of
   them communicated to us. God hath acquainted us with whatever is
   necessary to direct and excite us to our duty; but he hath purposely
   concealed from us those things, which might tend to make us slothful
   and careless, negligent and remiss in it. He hath not acquainted us
   with the secrets of his decrees and providence; but hath reserved these
   in his own power; because it would be really to our disadvantage to
   have the knowledge of them. If we knew all events before hand, and how
   and when all things would happen, we should be too much concerned about
   some things, and too little about others; and therefore God hath, in
   great wisdom and goodness, afforded us the knowledge of those things
   which are most proper and useful for us, whereby we may be instructed
   in our duty, and encouraged and stirred up to it. (Job xxviii. 28.)
   "Unto man he saith, The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart
   from evil, is understanding." This is the knowledge which is fit for
   us, and which no man is destitute of, but by his own fault, and gross
   neglect of himself.

   So that God is very good to us, both in revealing some things to us,
   and in hiding other things from us; particularly those things which we
   are speaking of, concerning the time of the end of the world, and the
   judgment of the great day. Which, did men certainly know to be so far
   off, as it really was in our Saviour's time, and may perhaps now be, it
   would very much abate the force and awe of it upon the minds of men;
   for then men would think themselves safe, till death should remove them
   out of the world. But when, for any thing we know, the general judgment
   of the world may overtake us the next moment; this consideration gives
   a great deal of weight to all the rest, and is apt to strike a
   particular terror into men. What man would not be afraid to offend, if
   he did not know but that the next moment he should be brought to his
   trial, be fore a severe and impartial judge? So that, for this reason,
   God hath in great kindness to us concealed this matter from us, and,
   like a wise and good father, instead of gratifying our curiosity, hath
   consulted our real benefit and advantage.

   Besides this, that it is always useful to the world to be kept in awe
   by the continual danger and terror of an approaching judgment, there
   seems to have been a more particular reason why our Saviour would have
   the disciples and first Christians ignorant of this thing; for which
   reason he discoursed so to them concerning it, as that they might
   rather apprehend, that the end of all things was at hand, and might
   probably happen in their time. And thus it seems his disciples
   understood his speech concerning St. John, as if he should not die till
   our Lord came to judgment. And the apostles, in several of their
   exhortations, seem to urge Christians from this very consideration, of
   the nearness of the general judgment. So St. Paul: (Phil. iv. 5.) "Let
   your moderation be known to all men; the Lord is at hand." And the
   author to the Hebrews, (chap. x. 25.) encourageth Christians to
   constancy in their profession upon the same account; "Not forsaking the
   assembling yourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting
   one an other, and so much the more, because the day approacheth." So
   likewise St. James: (chap. v. 9.) "Grudge not one against another,
   brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the Judge standeth at the
   door." And St. Peter tells us, that several impious men scoffed at them
   upon this account, as if the apostles had been deceivers in this
   matter, and therefore said, "Where is the promise of his coming?" as it
   were upbraiding them, for putting men in a vain expectation of it.

   And it was no inconvenience at all, that the apostles and first
   Christians had this apprehension of the nearness of that time; for no
   consideration could be more forcible to keep them steadfast in their
   profession, and to fortify them against sufferings, than a persuasion
   of the approach of that day, where in those who suffered for Christ
   should be so gloriously rewarded; and those who, for fear of suffering,
   fell off from him, should be so terribly punished. And nothing could be
   more proper and powerful, to wean their affections from the love of
   this world, and to make them willing to part with any thing in it, than
   to apprehend that there would shortly be an end of it, and then all the
   enjoyments of it would signify nothing. So that their ignorance in this
   matter was, by the providence of God, admirably fitted for the
   animating and encouraging of Christians to a great zeal and constancy
   in the profession of their faith, and in the propagating of it, as
   thinking they had but a little while to do this great work in.

   And it will be in all ages to the end of the world, a good argument to
   men to vigilance and constant preparation; because, if they be remiss
   and careless, the great Judge of the world may "come in a day that they
   think not of, and at an hour when they are not aware."--But to return
   to the particulars I propounded to speak to from the words.

   First, Here is a general caution, "Take ye heed;" look heed fully to
   it, that ye be not surprised and overtaken by that time: for, being
   uncertain when it will happen, ye are always in danger. But, because
   this general caution is only premised by our Saviour, to make way for
   the more particular directions, therefore I shall not insist upon this,
   but in the second place proceed to them. And they are these two, "Watch
   and pray."

   I. Vigilancy, which is a large duty, and comprehends under it the whole
   care of a Christian life; all that watchfulness and preparation which
   we ought to use, that we be not surprised by that terrible day; that we
   be not found in such a condition, as slothful and negligent servants
   use to be in, when their lord comes suddenly upon them, and finds all
   things in confusion and disorder. And to this our Saviour alludes
   several times in his exhortations to watchfulness: (Luke xii. 35, 36.)
   "Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye
   yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord. Blessed are those
   servants, whom the lord, when he comes, shall find watching." And,
   (ver. 40.) ".Be ye therefore ready also; for the Son of man cometh at
   an hour when ye think not." So that this watchfulness implies a
   continual care of our lives and actions, that we be always in such a
   posture as we would be willing the great Judge of the world should take
   us in; doing those things which we should not be ashamed to own, if he
   should come suddenly upon us, and summon us before his tribunal; and
   avoiding those things, which would be matter of shame and confusion to
   us at his appearance. (Luke xxi. 34-36.) Where our Saviour giveth this
   caution, he instanceth in some particular sins, which are more directly
   contrary to this vigilance: as, intemperance, and an inordinate love
   and care about earthly things: "Take heed to yourselves, lest your
   hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of
   this life, and so that day come upon you unawares: for as a snare shall
   it come on all that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye
   therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape
   all those things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son
   of man."

   It would be a large work to descend to all particulars, whereby we
   should express our care and vigilance. I shall mention but a few, but
   such as will comprehend most others under them.

   1. We should resolve, without delay, to put ourselves into that state
   and condition, in which we may not be afraid judgment should find us.
   It is to be feared, that a great part of mankind are in that loose and
   negligent posture, in the time of their health and prosperity, in
   which, if the great Judge of the world should surprise them, and bring
   them to a speedy trial, it would go ill with them; their lease would be
   sad and deplorable beyond all imagination, infinitely sadder than of a
   malefactor standing before an earthly judge, guilty of great and
   notorious crimes, and continually expecting the sentence of death to be
   passed upon him, Such is the condition of all impenitent sinners, who
   have lived careless and dissolute lives, without any serious
   consideration of their future state, or preparation for it; who have,
   in the general course of their lives, neglected God and religion, and a
   great many necessary and essential parts of their duty, and have
   indulged themselves, either in a continual course of impiety and
   wickedness, or of sensual pleasures and vanity. What shall become of
   those whom the Judge of the world shall find in this condition, either
   actually wicked, or wretchedly secure?

   Nay, those who do in some measure and degree mind religion, how few of
   them live under "the powers of the world to come," have "their loins
   girded about, and their lamps burning;" and are habitually so prepared,
   as if they were in a continual expectation of the coming of their Lord?
   So that, in the secure and negligent posture that most men live, even
   the better sort of men, if judgment should overtake them, how few could
   be saved? For this cause "God is long-suffering to men, because he is
   not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
   repentance." And if he should not by his merciful providence awaken
   many men to consideration and care of themselves, and, by some great
   affliction, or long sickness, put men upon serious thoughts, and give
   them the space and opportunity to recollect themselves, to make up
   their accounts, and so make their peace with God, and to put themselves
   into a better posture for another world, than they usually are in the
   time of their health and prosperity; it is very much to be feared, that
   the great est part of those who are tolerably good would be destroyed
   in their security.

   But this patience of God will not always last; but "the day of the Lord
   will come as a thief in the night," and will surprise the careless
   world all at once, and give them no time to trim up their lamps, and to
   get oil, if they be not provided already; but in an instant the door
   will be shut against them, and they shall never enter into the kingdom
   of God. This day hath not yet happened; but it will certainly come,
   and, as our Saviour says, "will come as a snare upon all them that
   dwell upon the face of the whole earth." And "blessed is that servant,
   whom his lord when he comes shall find ready."

   So that our first care must be, to get out of this dangerous state of
   sin and security, "to break off our sins by repentance," that we may be
   capable of the mercy of God, and at peace with him, before he comes to
   execute judgment upon the world; for, till this be done, we are every
   moment in danger; and if death or judgment should overtake us in this
   impenitent state, we are lost beyond recovery.

   2. After this great work of repentance is over, we should be very
   careful how we contract any new guilt, by returning to our former sins,
   or by the gross neglect of any part of our duty. A true and sincere
   repentance will put us into a safe condition; but then we must take
   heed, that we do not repent of our repentance, and bring ourselves into
   danger again, by starting aside from those good resolutions, which we
   had so solemnly taken up. For every deliberate and presumptuous sin
   that we are guilty of after our repentance, does endanger our state,
   and shake the foundations of our peace: but if we relapse into our
   former evil course, or after our repentance we allow ourselves in the
   habitual practice of any known sin, either our repentance was insincere
   before, or if it were true for the time, we are fallen from it, and all
   that we have done signifies nothing, and we have the whole work to
   begin again. And if the judgment of God should over take us, before we
   have renewed our repentance, and reformed our lives, we should be found
   in the number of the ungodly, "who cannot stand in judgment." So that,
   as it concerns us to make haste out of an impenitent state, so no less
   to order our conversation afterwards with great vigilancy and care:
   lest, by relapsing into our former sins, and being surprised in them by
   the judgment of God, we fall into condemnation.

   3. Let us neglect no opportunity of doing good, but always be employing
   ourselves, either in acts of religion and piety towards God, or of
   righteousness and charity towards men, or in such acts as are
   subordinate to religion; I mean the works of a lawful calling, in
   which, if we demean ourselves with diligence and good conscience, we
   may be said to serve God, and to live in his fear, because we are
   governed by the rules of religion, all the while we are about our
   worldly business, and providing for the necessities of this life in an
   honest and industrious way.

   More particularly we should strictly charge ourselves, according to our
   estate and opportunities, to be very much in the works of mercy and
   charity; remembering that our Saviour hath represented this as a
   special matter of inquiry at the judgment of the great day, how we have
   acquitted and discharged ourselves in duties of this kind, and that
   nothing does more immediately qualify us for the mercy of God, when we
   shall come to stand before his judgment-seat, than to have shewn mercy
   to our brethren; as, on the other hand, the Scripture hath terribly
   threatened, that "he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath
   shewed no mercy." By these, and all other acts of a good life, we shall
   be in a constant readiness and preparation for the coming of our Lord.
   And, oh! what a happiness and comfort will it be to us, to be found by
   him thus employed! "Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he
   cometh shall find so doing." I proceed:

   4. We should often review our lives, and call ourselves to a strict
   account of our actions, that, judging ourselves, we may not be judged
   and condemned by the Lord. This frequent examination of ourselves, will
   give us to understand our errors and miscarriages; which, if we
   seriously consider, must needs prompt us to repentance, and engage us
   in purposes and resolutions of amendment. And the practice of this is
   certainly the best way to keep our accounts clear, and to prevent that
   horrible confusion which we shall be in, if judgment should surprise us
   unawares, when we have the guilt of great and manifold sins unrepented
   of lying upon our consciences, like a heavy weight, ready to sink us
   into eternal perdition. Besides that, this strict and frequent
   examination of our actions, will be an excellent means to make us more
   careful for the future to avoid those faults and miscarriages which we
   have observed in ourselves before. We should be ashamed to fall into
   those errors again, for which we have so lately and severely censured
   and condemned ourselves.

   5. Another part of our preparation for the coming of our Lord, is, a
   humble trust and confidence in the virtue of his death and passion, as
   the only meritorious cause of the remission of our sins, and the reward
   of eternal life. Though we be regenerated and renewed by the Holy
   Ghost, and, by the assistance of God's grace, enabled to perform works
   of righteousness, and, as is said of Zachary and Elizabeth, "to live in
   all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless;" that is, in
   the general course of our lives, to yield a sincere obedience to the
   laws of God: yet, because in many things we offend, and our best
   righteousness is very imperfect, and falls extremely short of that
   exact and strict duty which the law of God requires; and if it were
   perfect, our obedience for the future could make no reparation to the
   justice of God for past sins and transgressions; therefore, we cannot
   hope for our own righteousness to be justified and accepted with God,
   and upon the merit of it to have our sins pardoned, much less to be
   rewarded with eternal life. God, indeed, of his infinite mercy is
   pleased, upon our repentance, to pardon our sins past, and upon our
   sincere obedience to give us eternal life; and without these
   qualifications we shall never be made partakers of these blessings;
   except we repent, our sins shall not be forgiven us, and "without
   holiness no man shall see the Lord." But then, it is not for the merit
   of our repentance and righteousness, that these blessings are conferred
   upon us, but for the meritorious obedience and sufferings of our
   blessed Saviour: that most acceptable sacrifice of himself, which he
   offered to God in our stead, and in our behalf, hath purchased and
   procured these benefits for us; and "we are accepted in his beloved
   Son," and "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is
   in Jesus Christ;" and therefore, "not for any works of righteousness
   which we have done, but of his mercy he saves us." And here we are to
   fix our hopes of justification and salvation, viz. upon that perfect
   propitiation and satisfaction, which Christ, by the sacrifice of
   himself once offered, hath made for the sins of the whole world. For
   the alone merit of this sacrifice, God is graciously pleased to forgive
   us all our sins, upon our true repentance, and to reward our sincere,
   though very imperfect, obedience, with eternal life. So that through
   faith in the blood of Christ, not by confidence in ourselves and our
   own righteousness, we obtain remission of sins, and eternal life. And
   it is not only in itself great arrogance, but great ingratitude to our
   blessed Redeemer, "who gave himself for us," to ascribe that to the
   merit of our own righteousness, or the merits of the saints, which
   nothing in heaven or earth, but the precious blood of Christ, who was
   "a lamb without spot or blemish," could have purchased for us. And it
   is argument and encouragement enough to holiness and obedience of life,
   that without it we cannot see God; and by it we are qualified for that
   happiness which Christ hath purchased for us, and, as the apostle
   expresseth it, are "made meet to be made partakers of the inheritance
   of the saints in light."

   6. And lastly, To awaken and maintain this vigilancy and care, we
   should often represent to our minds the judgment of the great day,
   which will certainly come, though we know not the time of it. And if
   any consideration in the world will make men watchful and diligent,
   certainly this will, that the judgment of God continually hangs over
   them, and may seize upon them at any time; nay, for aught we know, the
   judgment of God may now be standing at the door, and be ready to rush
   in upon us, whilst we are so negligent and secure. For this day,
   whenever it shall be, will come suddenly, and surprise the careless
   world, when they least think of it, and look for it. So our Lord
   himself hath foretold, that "as a snare it shall come upon all them
   that dwell on the face of the whole earth:" that is, the greatest part
   of mankind shall be taken unprepared, when they are unprovided for it;
   nay, when they are generally lulled asleep in a stupid security and
   infidelity; when the world is grown atheistical, and do hardly believe
   any such thing as a future judgment. So our Saviour seems to intimate:
   (Luke xviii. 8.) "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith upon
   the earth?" And if this be a mark and token of the general judgment, we
   have too much cause to apprehend that it is drawing on apace: for never
   was there any age since the general flood, that we know of, when
   iniquity did so abound, and the infidelity of mankind was so full, so
   great, and so general; when profaneness and atheism, the open contempt
   of God and religion, was so raging and violent; and when, as our Lord
   says, there was so little faith to be found on the earth; whether by
   faith we understand the belief of the principles of religion, or the
   fidelity of men one towards another. For was there ever any age,
   wherein false accusation, perjury, and subornation were more rife and
   impudent? wherein the reverence of an oath was so lost, and the sacred
   obligation of it in so little regard among men? So that, if the great
   Judge of the world should delay his coming, human society seems ready
   to disband and dissolve of itself, for want of mutual trust and
   confidence among men to hold it together.

   And this want of faith, in both senses, we owe in a great measure to
   popery; which, by its artificial ways of falsehood and perjury (which,
   when they have to deal with heretics, they have upon solemn occasions
   declared lawful), hath not only weakened, but even destroyed the credit
   of mankind with one another, as we find of late by sad experience. And
   as for infidelity in religion, they have not only given great occasion
   to it, by the monstrous absurdities they have brought into religion;
   and, by overstraining the faith of men in some parts of it, have
   brought them to a disbelief of the whole; as is at this day too visible
   in many of the most knowing persons of their communion, both in France
   and Italy: but besides this, they have, in their writings, to gain men
   to a dependance upon, and submission to, the infallibility of their
   church, undermined the foundations of religion, and industriously
   endeavoured to bring men to scepticism and infidelity; hoping that,
   when they have made men of no religion, they will be fit for theirs,
   which in too many respects is next to none; and in some, worse.

   But whether the judgment of the great clay be near at hand, or farther
   off, God alone knows; this is certain, that God hath in great mercy
   delayed it for a long time, because "he is not willing that any should
   perish, but that all should come to repentance." And it is no less
   certain, that it may come at any time, and will come when men least
   expect it; when the world is in great security, and very little
   apprehensive of the nearness and danger of it; which is reason and
   argument enough to continual care and vigilancy: for it may come the
   next hour, the next moment, for any thing we know to the contrary: and
   whenever it comes, if we be not prepared, it will be too late to begin
   that work; if our lamps be gone out, and we want oil, we cannot provide
   ourselves in such a hurry; we shall be full of fear and amazement, but
   we shall "find no place for repentance," and a deliberate preparation
   for our great trial. As the great Judge of the world then finds us, so
   will he deal with us; such as our state and condition then is, such
   will be our sentence and doom to all eternity. And is not this argument
   enough to us to be always upon our guard, always watchful, and always
   ready--because the Son of man may "come at an hour when we think not?"
   and if we be not then prepared, it will be too late to set about it:
   the opportunity of doing it, and wo ourselves, are lost for ever.

   This is the first direction our Saviour gives us; continual vigilancy
   and watchfulness over ourselves in general.

   The second direction is more particular, and that is, prayer; "Take ye
   heed, watch and pray." And the practice of this duty of prayer will be
   of great advantage to us upon these two accounts:

   1. As it tends to awaken and excite our care and diligence in the
   business of religion.

   2. As it is, if sincerely performed, effectual to engage the Divine
   blessing and assistance to second our care and endeavours, and to
   secure them from miscarriage.

   1. It is very apt to awaken and excite our care and diligence in the
   business of religion. For whenever we heartily beg of God to assist us
   by his grace to any thing that is good, we mind ourselves of our own
   duty; and both reason and Scripture will tell us, that we pray to God
   in vain for his help, if we will do nothing ourselves; that it is gross
   hypocrisy, and an impudent mocking of God, to implore his grace and
   assistance, if we be not resolved to put forth our own endeavours.
   Prayer, indeed, supposeth I hat we stand in need of the Divine help;
   but it implies, likewise, a resolution on our part to do what we can
   for ourselves; otherwise we ask in vain, and have no reason to hope
   that God will hear our prayers, and grant our requests, though never so
   earnestly and importunately put up to him.

   2. If we use our sincere endeavours for the effecting of what we pray
   for, prayer is the most effectual means to engage the Divine blessing
   and assistance to second our endeavours, and to secure them from
   miscarriage. And, without the aid of God's grace, and his blessing upon
   our endeavours, they will all be ineffectual, and signify nothing; we
   shall not be able so much as to "watch one hour." If God be not with
   us, "the watchman waketh but in vain:" for "the way of man is not in
   himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." It is
   necessary, therefore, that we continually implore the Divine grace, and
   that we do not rely upon our own, strength, and the fickleness and
   uncertainty of our own resolutions, according to the wise advice of
   Solomon; (Prov. iii. 5, 6.) "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart,
   and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge
   him, and he shall direct thy paths." Therefore, as ever we hope to
   persevere and continue in a good course, and to order our lives so, as
   to be in preparation for judgment, let us every day, by continual and
   fervent prayer, apply ourselves to the Fountain of grace and mercy, for
   his aid and help, to make us vigilant over ourselves, and all the
   actions of our lives; to enable us to a "patient continuance in
   well-doing, to keep us from every evil work, and to preserve us to his
   heavenly kingdom."

   And, to this purpose, we have all the encouragement which the assurance
   of the Divine goodness, and the security of his never-failing promise
   can give us. It is but asking and receiving. So St. James tells us,
   speaking of this heavenly wisdom to direct us in our Christian course,
   so as we may be "perfect and entire, wanting nothing." (Jam. i. 5.) "If
   any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men
   liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." I proceed to
   the

   Third and last part of the text, which is the reason which our Saviour
   here adds to enforce our care and diligence in a matter of so great
   concernment, viz. the uncertainty, as to us, of the particular time
   when this day of judgment will be: "ye know not when the time is."
   Therefore we should always be in expectation of it, always in a
   readiness and preparation for it. The certainty of the thing, and that
   God hath appointed and deter mined "a time, in which he will judge the
   world in righteousness," though we were sure this day were far off,
   ought, in all reason, to make us very watchful over ourselves, and very
   careful of all our actions, very strict and conscientious in the
   discharge and performance of every part of our duty. If there were no
   more but this, that we must one day be called to a strict account for
   all the actions of our lives, and receive the just recompence of them,
   and according to the nature and quality of them be sentenced to eternal
   happiness, or ever lasting misery; this alone were a mighty argument.
   So St. Peter reasons: (2 Pet. iii. 10-12.) "But the day of the Lord
   will come, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise,
   and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the
   works that are therein, shall be burnt up. Seeing then all these things
   shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy
   conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of
   the day of God?" that is, making speedy preparation for it. The very
   expectation of this "terrible day of the Lord," at how great a distance
   soever, should make us diligent, that when ever it shall be, "we may be
   found of him in peace, without spot and blameless."

   But it adds a great deal of awe and force to this argument, to
   consider, that, for aught we know to the contrary, this judgment may
   surprise us at any time; that this very night we may be awakened by the
   sound of that mighty trumpet, which shall pierce the ears of all the
   world, and summon the living and the dead to judgment. And God, who is
   the lover of souls, and desirous to save us any ways, by hope and by
   fear, by his mercies and by his corrections, by our knowledge and by
   our ignorance, hath purposely concealed from us the time of his coining
   to judgment, to the end we may always be prepared, and that we might
   continually stand in awe of it; and for fear our Lord should come upon
   us unawares, might always be in a posture to receive him.

   And whatever the secure part of mankind may think, who "put far from
   them the evil day," how careless and confident soever they may be, it
   would for all that be a terrible thing to them, all on the sudden, to
   "see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with his mighty
   angels;" to hear the great trumpet sound, summoning the dead to arise
   and come to judgment; to see the whole world in a combustion, and the
   whole frame of nature ready to dissolve and. fall in pieces; "the sun
   darkened, and the moon turned into blood, and all the powers of heaven
   shaken, the earth and all the works that are therein, flaming about
   us;" to see the dead starting out of their graves, some with great joy,
   others in a mighty amazement and fright, according to their several
   expectations of a happy or fearful doom. What a surprise would it be to
   drowsy and careless sinners, to be thus suddenly and unexpectedly
   overtaken? How will the profane infidel like to find himself so
   terribly confuted by his own eyes, and forced to believe that which
   will make him tremble? It will then be too late for men to think to
   make their peace with God, and to prepare for judgment. And if there
   were any time for it, the horror and amazement that sinners will then
   be in, will hinder them from doing any thing. Thus the Scripture
   represents the fearful case of impenitent sinners, who are thus
   surprised, as not knowing what to do with themselves, nor whither to
   fly for safety, as ready to betake themselves any whither for shelter
   and refuge, as "calling upon the mountains and rocks to fall upon them,
   and hide them from the face of Him that sits upon the throne, and from
   the wrath of the Lamb;" here by signifying to us, that sinners shall be
   in such a consternation, and so deep a despair of the mercy of God
   towards them, that instead of addressing themselves to him, they shall
   turn their supplications to the mountains and rocks, as being more
   exorable than he.

   But this possibly may not be our case; this dreadful day may not come
   in our days; and yet it is madness to run a venture in a matter of such
   moment: but if it should not, I must tell you, that the case of a dying
   sinner is not much different, who hath neglected God and religion in
   his life-time, and would never think of betaking himself to him, or
   making any submission, till his justice be ready to cut him off. And
   how secure and careless soever sinners may be now, no man knows how
   soon he may be reduced to the very last opportunity of making his peace
   with God, and may be brought into those sad and miserable straits, that
   no man that is in his wits would be in for all the world: that he may
   have nothing left that can give him the least hope of being saved from
   eternal perdition, but a sudden and confused, and, in all probability,
   an ineffectual repentance; nothing but this one plank to trust to,
   which it is ten thousand to one whether it ever bring him to shore.

   Therefore be wise, sinner, in time, and seize upon the present
   opportunities of life, and improve them with all thy might, with all
   possible care and diligence, lest judgment find thee unprepared; or in
   case God, in mercy to the world, should delay it yet longer, lest death
   seize upon thee careless and unprovided. And when that is once in view,
   it is but very little that can be done by way of preparation: for as
   "there is no counsel, nor wisdom, no work nor device in the grave,"
   whither we must go; so there is very little when we are come near to
   it; and therefore, "blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he
   cometh, shall find watching,"
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CLXXXIII.

  THE CERTAINTY AND THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE RESURRECTION OF TRUE CHRISTIANS.

   For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also
   which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.--1 Thess. iv. 14.

   THE words which I have read are an argument of the blessed resurrection
   of good men to eternal life, grounded upon the resurrection of Christ.
   In the verse before the apostle comforts Christians, concerning their
   brethren that were already departed in the faith of Christ, that there
   was no reason why they should so immoderately grieve for them. "But I
   would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are
   asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others that have no hope;" that is,
   as the heathens do, who mourn for their dead friends in so grievous a
   manner, as if they were utterly extinguished by death, and they had no
   imagination of any life beyond this. And thus we find the apostle
   elsewhere describing the state of the heathen world: (Eph. ii. 12.)
   that "they were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from
   the covenant of promise, having no hope."

   But Christians should not mourn for their deceased friends as the
   heathen were wont to do, who had no hope of a better life; because
   Christians profess to believe that Christ is risen from the dead, and
   ascended into heaven: "for if we believe that Jesus died, and rose
   again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."

   There are two things to be explained in the words before we come to
   consider the matter of them:

   First, What is meant by those that sleep in Jesus.

   Secondly, What by God's bringing them with him.

   First, What is meant by those that sleep in Jesus. Sleep is a metaphor
   used for death by all sorts of writers, profane and sacred; and by the
   ancient Christians, the place of burial was called koimete'rion, that
   is, "a sleeping-place." This metaphor is sometimes applied to the death
   of the wicked, but most frequently used of the death of the righteous,
   because to them it is truly a rest. And so the prophet, speaking of the
   death of the righteous, calls it: (Isa. lvii. 2.) "They shall enter
   into peace, they shall rest in their beds."

   And the death of the righteous is very fitly called a sleep, both as it
   is a rest from labour and pain: "Blessed are the dead which die in the
   Lord, for they rest from their labour;" (Rev. xiv. 13.) and, likewise,
   because sleep is not final, but in order to waking again. The death of
   the righteous is not an eternal sleep of the body, but that shall be
   awakened in the morning of the resurrection.

   But why is the death of good men called a sleeping in Jesus? dia`
   Iesou, "for Jesus sake;" which may seem to have some particular
   relation to those who died martyrs for Christ; as some likewise
   understand that text, (Rev. xiv. 13.) "Blessed are the dead which die
   in the Lord," that is, that suffer for his cause; "for they rest from
   their labours," that is, their sufferings are then at an end. But we
   shall best understand the meaning of this phrase by comparing it with
   those others which seem to be equivalent to it, as (1 Cor. xv. 18.)
   They also that are fallen asleep in Christ; (ver. 23.) "They that are
   Christ's at his corning;" that is, they that belong to him, that died
   in the faith of Christ. So likewise is this, (1 Thess. iv. 10.) "The
   dead in Christ shall rise first;" that is, the Christians that are dead
   before the coining of Christ, shall first be raised, be fore those that
   are alive shall be changed. (Heb. xi. 13.) "All these died in faith;"
   that is, in firm belief of God's promise of a better life. So that to
   sleep in Christ, to be Christ's, to die in Christ, to die in the faith,
   do all seem to signify the same thing; viz. to die in the state of true
   Christians. For so we understand the like expressions of being in
   Christ: (Rom. viii. 1.) "He that is in Christ," that is, every sincere
   Christian; and of abiding in Christ: (John xv. 4.) "He that abideth in
   me." So to die in Christ, is to die a true Christian, in the faith and
   obedience of the gospel.

   And it is observable, that, in the phrase and style of the New
   Testament, we are said to die all in and with Christ; to be in him, and
   to live in him, and to walk in him, by our sanctification and
   obedience; to die with him, by the mortification of our lusts; to rise
   with him, by our renovation to a new life; to ascend with him into
   heaven, and to have our life hid with Christ in God, by our heavenly
   affections and hopes; and, by death, to sleep in him.

   But before I pass over this phrase of sleeping in Jesus, there is one
   difficulty more about the sleep of the soul, which seems to be
   countenanced from this text: "Those that sleep in Jesus, shall God with
   him; as if the apostle spake here of the souls of good men which had
   been asleep, and Christ should bring with him to be united to their
   bodies, which should be raised; as, likewise, from the whole tenor of
   the apostle's discourse about the resurrection, (1 Cor. xv.) where the
   apostle says nothing of the living of the soul before the body be
   raised; as if the soul separated from the body were in a state of
   insensibility till the resurrection. But the true answer to this is,
   that neither our Saviour, in his discourse of the resurrection, nor St.
   Paul, in the 15th chapter to the Corinthians, nor here, in this text,
   do keep closely to the proving of the resurrection of the body; but of
   a blessed immortality after this life, against the Sadducees, who said,
   "there was no resurrection," neither angel nor spirit. But sometimes
   they prove that there is a life after death, and sometimes that, at the
   resurrection, the soul shall be joined to a spiritual and heavenly
   body, and that the whole man shall enjoy perfect bliss and happiness.

   But this opinion, or rather dream, concerning the sleep of the soul
   from the time of death, that is, from the time of the separation of the
   soul from the body till the general resurrection, may be effectually
   confuted these two ways:

   1. By taking away the ground of it: and,

   2. By producing several texts of Scripture, which are utterly
   inconsistent with it. And this I shall the rather do, because some men
   have taken a great deal of pains to establish and prove this opinion;
   though I confess I do not well understand to what end, because there is
   as little comfort as truth in it.

   1. By taking away the only ground that I know of, of this opinion; and
   that is, from the frequent metaphor and resemblance in Scripture of
   death to sleep. And, indeed, those which are dead are frequently in
   Scripture said to sleep, or to be fallen asleep: but then (which falls
   out very cross to this opinion) this metaphor of sleep is no where in
   Scripture applied to the soul, but to the body resting in the grave, in
   order to its being awakened and raised out of this sleep at the
   resurrection. And thus it is frequently used, with express reference to
   the body; (Dan xii. 2.) "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the
   earth shall awake;" and surely sleeping in the dust of the earth can
   only be applied to the body. And more expressly yet: (Matt. xxvii. 52.)
   "And the graves were opened, and many bodies of saints, which slept,
   arose." (Acts xiii. 36.) "David, after he had served his own generation
   by the will of God, fell asleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw
   corruption: but he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption." Now that
   of David which fell asleep, and was buried with his fathers, and saw
   corruption, was certainly his body: and that of our Saviour which was
   raised again, and saw no corruption, was likewise his body, according
   to that prediction concerning him: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in
   hell," in Hades, by which is plainly meant the state and place of souls
   separated from the body; a nor suffer thy Holy One to see corruption;"
   that is, the body of our blessed Lord to rot in the grave. (1 Cor. xv.
   20.) "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the
   first-fruits of them that slept;" that is, the resurrection of his body
   out of the grave, is an earnest and assurance that our bodies also
   shall be raised. And, (ver. 51.) "We shall not all sleep, but we shall
   all be changed;" where the apostle undoubtedly speaks both of the death
   and change of these corruptible bodies. And so, likewise, the text is
   to be understood of the resurrection of the bodies of the saints, which
   shall be raised up by the sound of the great trumpet, and reunited to
   their souls, that they may in person accompany Christ at his coming. So
   that it is the body, which is every where said in Scripture to sleep,
   and not the soul; and, if so, then the only foundation of this opinion
   is taken away.

   2. I shall shew, that this opinion of the sleep of the soul is utterly
   inconsistent with several passages of Scripture, which plainly suppose
   the contrary; as (Luke xvi. 22, 23.) where, in the parable of the rich
   man and Lazarus, the different states of good and bad men, immediately
   after their departure out of this life, are described; but they are so
   described, that it is evident that the souls of neither of them are
   asleep. It is said of Lazarus, that "he was carried by the angels into
   Abraham's bosom," and that there he was comforted; and of the rich man,
   that he was in hell, and there tormented in flames. This was not like
   to be a state of sleep and insensibility, and the rich man cries out of
   his torment; and that we may be sure he was awake, he is said to "lift
   up his eyes." And there is all the reason that can be to conclude, that
   Lazarus was every whit as sensible of the comfort and happiness that he
   was in, as the rich man was of his torment. Luke xxiii. 43. where our
   Saviour says to the penitent thief, "This day shalt thou be with me in
   paradise:" but not surely to sleep there till the resurrection. "Though
   some have endeavoured to avoid the force of this text, by referring
   this day to what goes before, and not to what follows after; as if our
   Saviour had said, I say unto thee this day; and not, "this day thou
   shalt be with me in paradise:" which is a foolish evasion, because, I
   say unto thee necessarily implies the present time, and there is no
   need to add, "this day;" besides, that there is no such phrase any
   where used, as, I say unto thee this day. (Phil. i. 23.) "I am in a
   strait between two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ,
   which is far better." But if to be with Christ, be to be in a state of
   sleep and insensibility, how is that so much better than to be in the
   body, serving God and his church? (2 Cor. v. 6.) "Therefore we are
   always confident, knowing that while we sojourn in the body we are
   absent from the Lord; we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be
   absent from the body, and present with the Lord." But certainly, to be
   "present with the Lord," which the apostle here affirms that good men
   are, so soon as they depart out of the body, must needs signify a state
   of happiness; which sleep is not, but only of insensibility. Besides
   that, the apostle's argument would be very flat, and but a cold
   encouragement to Christians against the fears of death, that as soon as
   we are dead, we shall fall asleep and become insensible. But the
   apostle useth it as an argument, why we should be willing to die as
   soon as God pleaseth, and the sooner the better; because so soon as
   ever we quit these bodies, we shall be "present with the Lord," that
   is, shall be admitted to the blissful sight and enjoyment of him; and
   that, whilst we abide "in the body," we are detained from our
   happiness. But if our souls sleep as well as our bodies till the
   general resurrection, it is all one whether we continue in the body or
   not, as to any happiness we shall enjoy in the meantime; which is
   directly contrary to the main, scope of the apostle's argument.

   Secondly, What is here meant by God's bringing with him those "that
   sleep in Jesus?" In general these words signify a blessed resurrection,
   as may be seen by the opposition: "If we believe that Jesus died, and
   rose again; even so them also that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with
   him." Whereto Christ's death is opposed our sleeping in Jesus; and, to
   his resurrection, God's bringing us with him; that is, his raising us
   out of the grave to accompany him at his coming. But the meaning of
   this expression will best appear, by considering what follows after the
   text: "for this we say by the word of the Lord," that is, by special
   revelation, "that we that are alive, and remain, at the coming of the
   Lord, shall not prevent them that are asleep;" that is, we shall not be
   taken up into heaven, before the saints who are already dead shall be
   raised; but thus it shall be: "The Lord himself shall descend from
   heaven with a shout, and the voice of an archangel, and with the trump
   of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we, which are
   alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,
   to meet the Lord in the air." The plain meaning of all which is, that
   first the dead in Christ shall be raised and taken up to him in the
   air, to accompany him at his corning, and thus he shall bring them with
   him; and then those, which are alive at his coming, shall be changed
   and taken up likewise, "to meet the Lord in the air." And the same
   account the same apostle gives us: (1 Cor. xv. 51, 52.) "Behold, (says
   he) I shew you a mystery," (which is the same he had said before in the
   former text, this we say unto you by the word of the Lord)--"I shew you
   a mystery," (so he calls that which was not revealed to all by our
   Saviour, but to himself particularly) "we shall not all sleep, but we
   shall be changed;" that is, all shall not die, but at the coining of
   Christ many shall be found alive and changed; but these shall have no
   advantage of those who were dead in Christ before: for "in a moment, in
   the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, the dead shall be raised
   incorruptible;" that is, with spiritual bodies, which will be no more
   liable to corruption; "and we," that is, those that remain then alive,
   "shall also be changed." From all which it appears, that the meaning of
   this expression, "those that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him,"
   is this: that the Lord Jesus shall come "in the clouds of heaven, in
   the glory of his Father," and by the sound of the trump of God shall
   raise the dead in Christ. And our Saviour tells us more particularly,
   that this shall be done by the ministry of angels. (Matt. xxiv. 30,
   31.) When the Son of man comes "with power and great glory," that the
   angels shall with the great sound of the trumpet gather the "elect from
   the four winds;" and, when they are thus gathered, God shall bring them
   with him.

   And here I cannot but observe, that the title of God is given to our
   Saviour, who is to be judge of the world. "Them that sleep in Jesus,
   shall God bring with him." And elsewhere our apostle, speaking of this
   glorious appearance and corning of Christ to judgment, calls him the
   great God: (Tit. ii. 13.) "Looking for the blessed hope, and glorious
   appearance, of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Which
   cannot be understood of the appearance of two persons, viz. God the
   Father, and his son Jesus Christ our Saviour; for then the article
   would have been added to distinguish them, and it would not have been
   kai` soteros emon, but kai` tou soteros emon; as if he had said, "the
   appearance of the great God and of Jesus Christ our Saviour;" when as,
   according to the propriety of the Greek, the article being wanting, it
   ought to be rendered thus: "looking for the appearing of Jesus Christ
   the great God and our Saviour." This is very much confirmed, in that
   the same apostle here in the text, speaking of Christ's coming to
   judgment, calls him God, them "shall God bring with him."

   The words, thus explained, give us this observation; that it is a firm
   principle of the Christian religion, that those, who die in the faith
   of Christ, that is, in the state of true Christianity, shall have a
   blessed resurrection. "If we believe, (saith the apostle) that Jesus
   died, and rose again; even so them also, that sleep in him, shall God
   bring with him." The apostle to the Hebrews reckons the "resurrection
   of the dead, "among the principles of the doctrine of Christ. (Heb. vi.
   2.)

   In speaking to this observation, I shall do these three things:

   First, I shall shew what it is to die in the faith of Christ, or in the
   state of a true Christian, which is here called sleeping in Jesus.

   Secondly, I shall shew how the death and resurrection of Christ are an
   argument and proof of our resurrection from the dead. And,

   Thirdly, Wherein the blessedness of the resurrection of the just doth
   consist.

   First, What it is to die in the faith of Christ, or in the state of a
   true Christian, which is here called sleeping in Jesus. And this
   imports one of these two things; either,

   1. That we die in such a belief of the doctrine of Christ, as hath been
   accompanied with a holy obedience of life, to the commands and precepts
   of the gospel; that our profession of the Christian religion hath
   evidenced itself in the virtues of a good life, in the constant course
   and tenor of a holy and unblameable conversation. This assurance the
   Christian religion gives us, that if we have our fruit unto holiness,
   our end shall be everlasting life.

   Or else, 2. That we exercise such a sincere and unfeigned repentance
   before death for the errors and miscarriages of our lives, as produceth
   a firm purpose and resolution of amending our lives, if God should be
   pleased to prolong and continue them. For only such a belief and
   profession of the Christian religion, as produceth one of these
   effects, doth put us into a state of grace, and give us hope of a
   blessed resurrection to eternal life.

   The first of these effects is much to be preferred, viz. the general
   course and tenor of a holy life; the latter being infinitely more
   hazardous, by reason of the deceitfulness of our hearts, and the
   infinite uncertainty of a death-bed repentance.

   Secondly, I shall shew how the death and resurrection of Christ are an
   argument and proof of our resurrection from the dead. "If we believe,"
   &c.

   I shall shew, by and by, how the resurrection of Christ is an argument
   and proof of our resurrection. But why is his death here mentioned, as
   part of the argument? "If we believe that Christ died." The reason is
   obvious; because the truth of the miracle of his resurrection depends
   upon the reality of his death; for if Christ was not really dead, then
   he could not rise from the dead, and the pretence of his resurrection
   was a delusion and imposture: but if he was really dead, and rose again
   from the dead, then have we a firm ground for the belief of a future
   resurrection. Now this Christians do believe, that Christ was really
   dead, and rose again from the dead, and that upon very good grounds. We
   need not doubt but that the malice of the Jews took care 1o kill him;
   and the story makes it evident, because blood and water came out of his
   side, which is a certain proof that his heart was pierced; and it could
   not be a deliquium, or a fainting fit, because, after his blood was
   exhausted, he could not naturally return to life again. But we need not
   contend much about this, since the heathens who are unconcerned confess
   this. Tacitus, in the 15th book of his Annals, tells us, that "Jesus
   was put to death by crucifixion under Pontius Pilate." And Josephus,
   who was a Jew both by his birth and religion, and lived presently after
   our Saviour's time, in the 18th book of his Jewish Antiquities, tells
   us, that "Christ was crucified, and that he appeared to his followers
   the third day, risen from the dead."

   Now this cannot, in reason, be said to be done only in appearance, and
   to be a mere illusion of men's senses, as some ancient heretics
   pretended; because that which may be an evasion in any case, is to be
   admitted in none. For what greater evidence is possible of any one's
   rising from the dead, than the circumstances of our Saviour's
   resurrection? That there was a great earthquake, and that the stone was
   rolled away from the grave, and the grave-clothes found there, and his
   body gone; and that after this he appeared and conversed so often with
   so many, to whom he was well known when alive, and entertained long
   discourses with them, and did eat and drink with them, and permit them
   to handle his body, and to put their fingers into the wound of his
   side; and all this exactly agreeing with his own prediction. So that,
   if we believe the providence of God, we cannot think it to be so little
   vigilant, as that men, after their utmost care, must necessarily be
   deluded in a matter of so great consequence.

   Now I shall shew, that the death and resurrection of Christ is a very
   good argument of our resurrection. (1 Cor. xv. 20.) Christ is said to
   be "risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that
   slept." Not that he was the first that was raised from the dead; for
   Elijah and Elisha raised some, and so did our Saviour himself in his
   life-time: but the apostle here alludes to the "first-fruits" among the
   Jews, which were a pledge and an earnest of a future harvest. In like
   manner, the resurrection of Christ is called the "first-fruits of them
   that slept," because it is an earnest of that general harvest, which
   should be at the end of the world, when "the angels, the reapers, shall
   come to gather the elect from the four winds." But the resurrection of
   others before Christ was no earnest of this, because they "were raised/
   but Christ is said to "rise from the dead by his own power." And in
   this sense he is truly said by St John (Rev. i. 5.) to be "the
   first-begot ten from the dead." And this secures our resurrection to
   eternal life; because he who hath promised to raise us up, did "raise
   himself from the dead."

   And that Christ intended to lay great stress upon this argument,
   appears in that he foretold it so often, as the great sign that he
   would give to the Jews to convince their infidelity. (John ii. 18, 19.)
   "The Jews said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us; Jesus
   answered, Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days; v
   speaking of the temple of his body. And] (Matt. xii. 39, 40.) he tells
   the Jews, that he would give them "no other sign but the sign of the
   prophet Jonah," that "as he was three days and three nights in the
   whale's belly, so should the Son of man be three days in the bowels of
   the earth."

   Now the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and, which was consequent
   upon it, his ascension into heaven, does first give us satisfaction in
   general of another life after this, and an immortality after death; and
   then of his power to raise us from the dead, because "he raised
   himself;" as the apostle argues: (Rom. viii. 11.) "If the Spirit of him
   that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in yon, he that raised up
   Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his
   Spirit which dwelleth in you." And then, lastly, it secures us of his
   truth and fidelity, that he will perform what he hath promised us. He
   could not have promised any thing more improbable than this, that he
   himself would rise again the third day; and therefore, since he kept
   his word in this, there is no reason to distrust him in any thing else
   that he hath promised. By his own resurrection from the dead, he
   wrought such a miracle, as is the most proper to confirm us in the
   belief of our resurrection to eternal life: (Rev. i. 18.) "I am he that
   liveth, and was dead; and be hold I am alive for evermore, Amen, Amen."
   What is that? we have it explained, (Rev. iii. 14.) where he says of
   himself, "I am the Amen, the faithful and true witness." This very
   thing, that Christ was dead, and lives again, makes him the "Amen, the
   true and faithful witness." I proceed to the

   Third and last thing, viz. Wherein the blessedness of the resurrection
   of the just shall consist; namely, in these two things:

   I. In the mighty change which shall be made in these vile and mortal
   bodies of ours, and the glorious qualities they shall then be invested
   withal. And,

   II. In the consequent happiness of the whole man, of the soul and body
   united and purified.

   I. In the mighty change which shall be made in these vile and mortal
   bodies of ours, and the glorious qualities which they shall then be
   invested withal. But wherein this glory shall consist, because it is
   matter of pure revelation, we must wholly rely upon Scripture for the
   particular account and explication of it. And there are three texts of
   Scripture, wherein this glorious change, which shall be made in our
   bodies at the resurrection, is more particularly mentioned and
   described. The

   First is, (Luke xx. 35, 36.) "But they, who shall be counted worthy to
   obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry,
   nor are given in marriage." This our Saviour speaks, because that,
   which occasioned this discourse concerning the resurrection, was a
   question moved by the Sadducees concerning a woman that had seven
   husbands in her life-time; upon which they captiously asked our
   Saviour, Whose wife of the seven this woman should be at the
   resurrection? To which our Saviour answers, by taking away the
   foundation of it, telling them, that in the other world "they neither
   marry, nor are given in marriage." And the reason of this is very
   obvious; because the reason why men marry now is, because they are
   mortal, and therefore to preserve and propagate the kind, which would
   otherwise fail, marriage was instituted: but in the other world this
   reason will cease; because then men shall be immortal and die no more.
   And, therefore, our Saviour, after he had said, that "at the
   resurrection of the dead, men neither marry, nor are given in
   marriage," he immediately adds, as the reason of it, "neither can they
   die any more, for they are equal unto the angels, that is, they shall
   be like them in the immortal duration of their beings; "and are the
   children of God, being the children of the resurrection." Good men are
   now "the children of God," because they resemble him in the holy
   disposition of their minds: but then they shall be like him in the
   participation of his happiness, so far as finite and created beings are
   capable; the whole man, the body as well as the soul, shall be
   partakers of immortality. And this is a glorious change for a frail and
   mortal body, liable to pains, and diseases, and death, to become
   immortal, and freed from all those troublesome accidents to which they
   are now liable. The

   Second text to this purpose is, (Phil. iii. 20.) "But our conversation
   is in heaven," says St. Paul, speaking of true and sincere Christians;
   "but our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the
   Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it
   may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working
   of that mighty power, whereby he is able even to subdue all things to
   himself." And this is a great change indeed, whether we consider what
   our bodies now are, vile and corruptible; or the pattern according to
   which they shall be changed: "they shall be fashioned like to the
   glorious body of our blessed Saviour;" that wherein he now sits in the
   highest heavens, at the right hand of the throne of God. And what glory
   can we desire beyond that, with which God thought fit to reward his own
   Son, after all his obedience and sufferings? And this will be the more
   credible, if we consider the relation which the Scripture so often
   mentions between Christ and all true Christians. He is the head, and
   they are the members; now there must be a conformity between these. A
   glorious head and vile members would make a monstrous and irregular
   body; nay, the head could not be glorious, if the members were not so
   too. Or, lastly, if we consider the mighty power which will be put
   forth for the effecting this change. The omnipotency of the Son of God
   will exert itself in this work. So the apostle here tells us, that "the
   Lord Jesus Christ will change our vile body, according to the working
   of that mighty power, whereby he is able even to subdue all things to
   himself." Omnipotency will display its whole force in bringing about
   this change. And what cannot that Almighty power do, which is able to
   conquer and subdue all things?

   The third text, and that wherein this change is most fully and
   particularly described, is, (1 Cor. xv. 35.) "But some will say, How
   are the dead raised? And with what bodies do they come!" This was the
   common objection which the infidels made against this article of the
   resurrection: either men shall rise with the same bodies which they had
   in this life; or they shall not. If with the same bodies which they had
   in this life, to what purpose will that be? Since in the other world
   men shall not eat, or drink, or propagate their kind, and consequently
   have no use of such a body as ours now is: but if it be not the same
   body, how then are men's bodies raised? To this question, the apostle
   gives a clear answer; that the bodies of men which shall be raised,
   shall in some respects be the same, and in other respects not the same;
   the matter and substance of the body may still be the same, and yet may
   under go a mighty change, be fashioned after another manner, and be
   endowed with quite other qualities than it had before. And this he
   illustrates by two instances.

   1. By the difference between the com which is sown, and that which
   grows up. And,

   2. By the difference of several sorts of bodies, which are all made of
   the same kind of matter.

   1. From the difference between the corn which is sown, and that which
   is grown up: (ver. 36-38.) "Thou fool, that which thou so west is not
   quickened except it die;" that is, unless it be first buried in the
   earth, and rot, and be corrupted there; "and that which thou sowest,
   thou sowest not that body which shall be, but bare grain, as of wheat,
   or some other kind." "But bare grain;" that is, a naked grain, without
   either stalk, or blade, or ear: "but God giveth it a body as it hath
   pleased him;" that is, the Author of nature makes it spring up in a
   blade, which grows up into a stalk, which bears an ear which contains
   many grains of corn; "and to every seed his own body;" that is, a body
   of the same kind with the seed that was sown.

   2. The other instance is from the difference of several sorts of
   bodies, which are all made of the same kind of matter, put into
   different forms, some more perfect and glorious, and others less: (ver.
   39-41.) "All flesh is not the same flesh; but there is one flesh of
   men, another of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds;" and
   yet all these are fashioned out of the same kind of matter. "There are
   also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial; but the glory of the
   celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another;" and the
   celestial bodies are of a different lustre and glory; "for there is one
   glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of
   the stars; and one star differeth from another star in glory."

   And then he applies these instances to the resurrection: (ver. 42.) "So
   also is" it in "the resurrection of the dead." This matter, which was
   vile before, when it was buried in the earth, puts on another form, and
   by the power of God is raised up a different thing, and far more
   glorious than when it was put into the earth: (ver. 42-44.) "It is sown
   in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour,
   it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
   it is sown a natural (or an animal) body, it is raised a spiritual
   body." I shall briefly explain these several expressions, which
   represent to us the difference between our bodies, as they now are, and
   as they shall be at the resurrection.

   "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption." Our bodies,
   as they are now, are unequally tempered, and in a perpetual flux and
   change, continually tending to corruption, being made of such contrary
   principles and qualities, as by their perpetual confliction do conspire
   the ruin and dissolution of it. But when they are raised again, they
   shall be so tempered and refined, as to be free from all these
   destructive qualities, which threaten a change and dissolution; "they
   shall be raised incorruptible," so as not to be liable to decay and
   death. The body, though it continues still material and consists of
   matter, shall then partake of the immortality of the soul to which it
   is united, and be of equal duration with it. So the apostle tells us:
   (ver. 52, 53.) "The dead shall be raised incorruptible; for this
   corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
   immortality."

   "It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory." Our bodies, when they
   are committed to the earth, are vile offensive carcasses, and therefore
   we hide and bury them out of sight: but they shall be raised beautiful
   and glorious, as different from what they were before, as the heavenly
   mansions, in which they are to dwell for ever, are from the dark cell
   of the grave, out of which they are raised: and they that before were
   only fit company for dust and worms, shall be admitted into the
   reviving presence of God, and the blessed society of angels.

   "It is sown in weakness, it shall be raised in power." Our bodies now
   fall to the ground through their own frailty, and drop into the grave
   through the weakness and infirmity of nature to support and bear them
   up any longer: but though they fall through weakness, they shall at the
   resurrection be endowed with such a life, and strength, and vigour, as
   to be able, without any change or decay, to abide and continue for ever
   in the same state.

   "It is sown a natural body," psuchiko`n, "an animal body," an earthly
   cottage or tabernacle fitted for the soul to lodge in for a little
   while, "but it is raised a spiritual body." And this is the sum of all
   the rest. Our bodies in this world are gross flesh and blood, liable to
   be affected with natural and sensual pleasures, and to be afflicted
   with natural pains and diseases, to be pressed with natural necessities
   of hunger and thirst, and obnoxious to all those changes and accidents
   to which natural things are subject: but it shall be "raised a
   spiritual body," pure and refined from the dregs of matter: it shall
   not hunger nor thirst, be diseased or in pain any more. These "houses
   of clay, whose foundation is in the dust," are continually decaying,
   and therefore they stand in need of perpetual reparation by food and
   physic: but "our house, which shall be from heaven," shall be of such
   lasting and durable matter, as not only time, but even eternity itself,
   shall make no impression upon it, or cause the least decay in it. "They
   who shall be accounted worthy (says our Saviour) to obtain that world,
   and the resurrection from the dead, cannot die any more; but shall be
   like the angels, and are the children of God;" that is, in some degree
   shall partake of the felicity and immortality of God himself, who is
   "always the same, and his years fail not."--"It is raised a spiritual
   body." We shall then be, as it were, all spirit, and our very bodies
   shall be then raised and refined, that they shall be no clog, no
   impediment to the operations of our souls. And surely we cannot but
   think this a glorious change, when we consider how our bodies do now
   crush our spirits, and what a melancholy and dead weight they are upon
   them, and how grievous an incumbrance, and trouble, and temptation they
   are, for the most part, to us in this mortal state. I proceed now to
   the

   II. Second thing, wherein the blessedness of the just at the
   resurrection shall consist, viz. in the consequent happiness of the
   whole man, of the soul and body united and purified; the one from sin,
   the other from frailty and corruption; and both admitted to the blessed
   sight and enjoyment of the ever-blessed God. But this is an argument
   too big for our narrow apprehensions of things, whilst we are in this
   mortal state; a subject too unwieldy for such children as the wisest of
   us all are while we are in this world; and, whenever we attempt to
   speak of it, we do but speak like children, and understand like
   children, and reason like children, about it. "That which is imperfect
   must be done away;" our souls must be raised to a greater perfection,
   and our understandings filled with a stronger and steadier light,
   before we can be fit to handle such a subject, according to the worth
   and dignity of it. We must first have been in heaven, and possessed of
   that felicity and glory which is there to be enjoyed, before we can
   think or talk of it, in any measure as it deserves. In the mean time,
   whenever we set about it, we shall find our faculties oppressed with
   the weight and splendour of so vast and glorious an argument; like St.
   Paul, who, when he was caught up into paradise, saw and heard that,
   which, when he came down into this world again, he was not able to
   express, and which is not possible for man to utter.

   So that, in discoursing of the state of the blessed, we must content
   ourselves with what the Scripture hath declared in general concerning
   it, that it is a state of perfect freedom from all those infirmities
   and imperfections, those evils and miseries, those sins and
   temptations, to which we are liable in this world; a state of
   unspeakable and endless joy and happiness in the blessed sight and
   presence of God, and in the happy society of "an innumerable company of
   an gels," and of the "spirits of just men made perfect."

   So St. John describes the felicities and glories of that state, as they
   were represented to him in a vision: (Rev. xxi. 2-4.) "And I, John, saw
   the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
   prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I. heard a great voice
   out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and
   he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself
   shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears
   from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor
   crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are
   passed away;" that is, all those evils which we saw and suffered in
   this world, will for ever vanish and disappear. (And ver. 23.) "And the
   city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for
   the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light there of."
   And, which is the greatest privilege and felicity of all, no sin shall
   be there: (ver. 27.) "And there shall in no wise enter into it any
   thing that defileth:" and consequently no misery and curse shall be
   there: (chap. xxii. 3, 4.) "And there shall be no more curse; but the
   throne of God, and of the Lamb, shall be in it, and his servants shall
   serve him, and they shall see his face." In which last words, our
   employment and our happiness are expressed; but what in particular
   these shall be, and wherein they shall consist, it is impossible for us
   now to describe: it is sufficient to know, in general, that our
   employment shall be our unspeakable pleasure, and every way suitable to
   the glory and happiness of that state, and as much above the noblest
   and most delightful employment of this world, as the perfection of our
   bodies, and the powers of our souls, shall then be above what they were
   in this world.

   In a word, our happiness shall be such as is worthy of the great King
   of the world to bestow upon his faithful servants, and infinitely
   beyond the just reward of their best services; it is "to see God, and
   to be ever with him, in whose presence is fulness of joy, and at whose
   right hand are pleasures for evermore."
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CLXXXIV.

  OF THE HAPPINESS OF GOOD MEN, IN THE FUTURE STATE.

   It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he
   shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.--1
   John iii. 2.

   THE great design of this Epistle is to persuade men to purity and
   holiness of life, without which we can lay no claim to the promises and
   privileges of the gospel. Christians are called "the children of God;"
   and this is a great privilege indeed, a mighty argument of God's love
   and favour to us, to own us for his children. "Behold what manner of
   love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
   sons of God." This is the happiness of our present condition: "now we
   are the sons of God; and if sons, then heirs; this gives a title to a
   future inheritance. "And it does not yet appear what we shall be;" the
   circumstances of our future happiness and glory are not perfectly
   revealed to us, only thus much in general is discovered to us, that we
   shall be very happy, because we shall be admitted to the immediate
   sight and enjoyment of God; and we cannot see him and enjoy him, unless
   we be like him: and to be like God is to be happy. "We know that when
   he shall appear," ean phanerothe, that is, "when it shall appear." "It
   doth not yet appear what we shall be, but when it shall appear," that
   is, when our future happiness shall be revealed to us: it is not yet
   particularly discovered to us, but thus much in general we know of it
   beforehand, that "we shall be like God, for we shall see him as he is."
   In which words there are these four things worthy of our consideration:

   First, The present security of our future state, as to the particular
   circumstances of that happiness which good men shall enjoy in another
   world: "It doth not yet appear what we shall be."

   Secondly, That thus much we certainly know of it in general, that it
   shall consist in the sight and enjoyment of God; "We know that, when it
   shall appear, we shall see him as he is."

   Thirdly, Wherein our likeness to God shall consist; "We shall be like
   him."

   Fourthly, The necessary connexion between our likeness to God, and our
   sight and enjoyment of him; "We shall be like him; for we shall see him
   as he is:" that is, because "we shall see him as he is;" therefore it
   is certain "we shall be like him;" for unless we be like God, we are
   not capable of seeing and enjoying him.

   First, The present obscurity of our future state, as to the particular
   circumstances of that happiness which good men shall enjoy in another
   world: "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." The Scripture tells
   us, that it is a glory yet to be revealed: that there shall be such a
   state of happiness for good men in another world, though it was in a
   great measure obscure to the world before, both to Jews and gentiles,
   yet it is now clearly revealed to us by "the appearance of Jesus
   Christ, who hath brought life and immortality to light by the gospel."
   But the particular circumstances of this happiness are still hid from
   us; and, as it is a needless, so it would be a faulty, curiosity in us
   to pry and inquire into them. It is enough that we certainly know there
   is such a state; the knowledge of this in general is enough to quicken
   our diligence, and excite our endeavours, for the obtaining and
   securing of it: it is enough to mortify all evil affections in us, and
   to baffle all temptations to sin, to know that it will rob us of so
   great a felicity as God hath promised to us; it is enough to support
   and comfort us under all the miseries and afflictions of this present
   time, to be fully assured that after a few days of sorrow and trouble
   are over, we shall be unspeakably and eternally happy. A firm
   persuasion of this, is argument enough to our obedience, and a
   sufficient support to our faith and patience, and we need inquire no
   farther. Thus much God hath revealed to us, for our comfort and
   encouragement, the rest he hath concealed from us; and it would be a
   bold intrusion into his secrets, to pry and search any farther; and, if
   we should, it would be to no purpose. For in things which depend upon
   Divine revelation, it is impossible for us to know any more, than God
   is pleased to reveal to us. In matters of pure revelation, we cannot go
   beyond the word of the Lord: "The things of God knoweth no man, but the
   Spirit of God, or he to whom the Spirit of God shall reveal them." If
   one should come from a strange country, never known and discovered
   before, and should only tell us, in general, that it was a most
   pleasant and delightful place, and the inhabitants a brave, and
   generous, and wealthy people, under the government of a wise and great
   king, ruling by excellent laws; and that the particular delights and
   advantages of it were not to be imagined by any thing he knew in our
   own country, and should say no more of it: if we gave credit to the
   person that brought this relation, it would create in us a great
   admiration of the country described to us, and a mighty concern to see
   it, and live in it. But it would be a vain curiosity, to reason and
   conjecture about the particular conveniences of it; because it would be
   impossible, by any discourse, to arrive at the certain knowledge of any
   more, than he, who only knew it, was pleased to tell us. This is the
   case as to our heavenly country. Our blessed Saviour, who "came down
   from heaven," from "the bosom of his Father," hath revealed to us a
   state of happiness and glory in general, that there is such "a kingdom
   prepared for us;" and when he was leaving the world, he told us, that
   he was going thither by the way of the grave; and when he was risen
   again from the dead, and was ascended into heaven, he promised to come
   again at the end of the world, and to raise us out of the grave, and to
   carry us into those celestial mansions, "where we shall be for ever
   with the Lord." And beyond this he hath made no particular discovery to
   us of the felicity of that place; he hath given us no punctual
   representation of the glory of it; he hath not declared to us, in a
   special manner, what our work and employment shall be, in what way God
   will communicate himself to us, nor what kind of conversation we shall
   have with the blessed angels, and with one another, and how far we
   shall know, or be known, to one another; or whether we shall stand
   affected in any peculiar manner to those who were our friends, and
   relations, and acquaintance in this world. These and perhaps a thousand
   things more, which may concern the glories of that state, and the
   happiness and employment of the "spirits of just men made perfect," our
   Saviour hath told us nothing of, but only in general; and it is
   impossible for us with any certainty to make out the rest, any more
   than children can make a conjecture of the designs and reasonings of a
   wise man; not only because it would be of no great use to us, but
   because the imperfection of human nature, and of our faculties in this
   state of mortality, is not able to bear a full and clear representation
   of so great a glory.

   When our Saviour was transfigured upon the mount, and a little image of
   heaven was shewn to men, the disciples were strangely amazed, and knew
   not what they said. And St. Paul tells us, that when he was "taken up
   into the third heaven," the things which he saw and heard there, "were
   not to be uttered." So that well might the apostle say here in the
   text, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." Our future state is
   very obscure to us while we are in this world, as to any distinct and
   particular knowledge of it.

   There are a sort of idle men in the world, I mean the schoolmen, who
   have been very busy and bold in their inquiries, very peremptory in
   their determinations of several things relating to it: but after all
   our search and study, it is impossible for us to advance one step
   farther in the knowledge of it, than God hath been pleased in his holy
   word to reveal it to us. And how much God hath revealed, I shall, in
   discoursing of the

   Second particular, consider; namely, That thus much we know of it in
   general, that it shall consist in the blessed vision of God: "It doth
   not yet appear what we shall be; but when he shall appear, we shall see
   him as he is." Thus much all Christians know, because our Saviour hath
   plainly revealed it to them, that the blessedness of the saints should
   consist in the vision of God. (Matt. v. 8.) "Blessed are the pure in
   heart; for they shall see God." Which the apostle expresseth with a
   little variation; (Heb. xii. 14.) "Without holiness no man shall see
   the Lord." Here is a great thing expressed to us in a few words, "We
   shall see him as he is:" for the better understanding of which, it will
   be convenient to inquire into these three things:

   I. What is meant here by seeing God.

   II. What by seeing him as he is.

   III. The fitness of this metaphor, to express to us the happiness of
   our future state.

   I. What is meant by seeing God. The school men have spun out abundance
   of fine cobwebs about this, which in their language they call "the
   beatific vision of God," and they generally describe and explain it so
   as to render it a very dry and sapless thing. They make it to consist
   in a perpetual gazing upon God, and contemplating the Divine essence
   and perfections, in which, as in a clearer mirror, they suppose men to
   see and know all other things. But this is a very jejune and insipid
   notion of happiness, but yet suitable enough to the gust and
   inclination of those that devised it. And, indeed, men are naturally
   apt to form such notions of God and heaven to themselves, as are most
   agreeable to their own appetites and inclinations. So the heathen world
   framed to themselves gods after their own image and likeness; of like
   passions, and inclinations, and lusts with themselves; and such a
   heaven as pleased themselves, and was most suitable to their own gross
   imaginations of pleasure and happiness; and therefore they described it
   by pleasant fields, and clear rivers, and shady walks. So likewise
   Mahomet framed such a paradise, as is most agreeable to our sensual
   appetites and lusts. In like manner the schoolmen, who addicted
   themselves wholly to contemplation, would have the happiness of heaven
   to consist in that which they themselves took most delight in. But
   surely the Scripture understands something more by the sight of God,
   than a bare contemplation of him. It is a known rule given by divines
   for the understanding of Scripture--"The words that signify sense and
   knowledge, are very often in Scripture to be so understood, as to
   comprehend in them those affections and effects, which sense and
   knowledge are apt to produce in us." So our knowledge of God doth in
   Scripture many times import the sum of all religion, the whole duty of
   man: "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a
   liar:" and God's knowing of us, signifies the whole happiness of man;
   "The Lord knoweth them that are his." So tasting and sight are in
   Scripture put for experience and enjoyment: (Psal. xxxiv. 8.) "Taste
   and see that the Lord is gracious." (Lament. iii. 1.) "I am the man
   that hath seen affliction;" that is, that hath suffered it. (1 Pet.
   iii. 10.) "He that will love life, and see good days," that is, enjoy
   them. And so we use the word in common speech. To see a friend, is to
   enjoy the pleasure of his company, and all the advantages of his
   conversation. So here, the sight of God doth comprehend and take in all
   the happiness of a future state. As to see the king includes the court,
   and all the glorious circumstances of his attendance; so to see God,
   does take in all that glory, and joy, and happiness, which flows from
   his presence.

   I grant, indeed, that this expression primarily and immediately denotes
   our perfect knowledge of God in the other life, in opposition to those
   obscure and more imperfect discoveries and apprehensions which we have
   of him in these earthly bodies: for I think we need make no doubt, but
   that sight is here taken in a spiritual and intellectual sense. We are
   not to dream that we shall see God with our bodily eyes; for being a
   pure spirit, he cannot be the object of any corporeal sense. But we
   shall have such a sight of him, as a pure spirit is capable of; we
   shall see him with the eyes of our minds and understanding. And in this
   sense, we do in some degree see God in this life, by faith and
   knowledge; but it is but darkly, and as it were through a glass that we
   see him, as the apostle expresseth it. But when we come to heaven, our
   understanding shall be raised and cleared to such a degree of strength
   and perfection, that we shall know God after a more perfect manner,
   than we are capable of in this state of mortality. And this perfect
   knowledge of him, together with the happy effects of it, those
   affections which it shall raise in us, and that blessed enjoyment of
   the chief good which we are not able to express, is that which is
   cabled the sight of God.

   II. What is here meant by seeing God as he is: we shall see him as he
   is. Now this cloth farther and emphatically express our perfect
   knowledge and enjoyment of God.

   1. Our perfect knowledge of him. Not that we are to imagine, that when
   we come to heaven, our understanding can, or shall be raised to such a
   pitch, as to be able perfectly to comprehend the infinite nature and
   perfections of God: for all created understanding being naturally
   finite, we cannot imagine that it can be stretched to the comprehension
   of what is infinite, as the Divine nature and perfections are. But our
   knowledge shall be advanced and raised to such degrees of perfection,
   as a finite and created understanding is capable of.

   And we may very reasonably conceive (and in deed the Scripture leads us
   to it, without and be yond which it is not safe to speak of these
   things); I say, we may reasonably conceive the perfection of this
   knowledge to. consist in these three things: in a more immediate, and
   clear, and certain knowledge of the Divine nature and perfections, than
   we are capable of in this state of mortality.

   (1.) We shall then have an immediate knowledge of God. In this world we
   see him by the means and help of his word and works; we see him as he
   hath manifested and revealed himself to us in the Holy Scriptures, as
   he hath represented himself to us in. the creatures, as the apostle
   tells us: (Rom. i. 20.) that "his eternal power and Godhead are clearly
   seen by the things that are made." But thus we do not see God
   immediately and directly; but by a reflection of his perfections from
   the works of creation and providence. We see him by faith at a great
   distance, which the apostle calls, seeing him as it were "through a
   glass," (1 Cor. xiii. 12.) Now faith in Scripture is most frequently
   opposed to sight, which is a more immediate view and nearer discovery
   of a thing. (2 Cor. v. 7.) "We walk by faith, and not by sight." But in
   heaven we shall have an immediate and direct sight of God, that which
   the Scripture calls, seeing him? face to face;" not at a distance, as
   we do now by faith; not by reflection, as we do now see him in the
   creatures; but we shall have an immediate and direct view of him. Faith
   shall then cease, as the apostle tells us, and be perfected in sight,
   because of the nearness and evidence of the object.

   (2.) We shall not only then have an immediate, but a far clearer
   knowledge of God, than we have now in this life: (1 Cor. xiii. 12.) "We
   now see him in a glass darkly," an ainigmati, "in a riddle," which is
   an obscure and involved declaration of a thing. We have now but very
   dark and confused apprehensions, and such as do not only represent him
   very imperfectly, but many times very falsely, to us. While our souls
   are muffled in these gross bodies, we are compassed about with clouds,
   which do in a great measure intercept the sight of him: but the light
   of glory will scatter all these clouds, "the veil shall then be taken
   away." The resurrection will refine our bodies to that purity, that
   they shall be fit instruments for our souls. We shall have spiritual
   bodies, as the apostle tells us, (1 Cor. xv.) so purified from all
   these dregs which now incumber them, that they shall be fit to be
   united to a spirit, and to act with it; and then "we shall with open
   face behold the glory of God," as the apostle expresseth it; (2 Cor.
   iii. 18.) or as it is here in the text, "we shall see him as he is." We
   see him now many times as he is not; that is, we are liable to false
   and mistaken conceptions of him: but then we shall see him as he is.
   The clearness of our knowledge will free us from all error and mistake
   about him. We are now many times at a loss what conceptions to have of
   God; we are hard put to it to reconcile one perfection of God with
   another, and to make them consistent and agree together. We believe his
   providence; but we are puzzled many times how to make that accord with
   his goodness and justice: but in heaven we shall see the harmony of all
   these, and that it was nothing but our ignorance and darkness which
   made us imagine any discord and disagreement in them.

   (3.) We shall then, likewise, have a certain knowledge of God, free
   from all doubts concerning him. There may be a certainty in faith; but
   not that high degree of evidence and assurance which is in sight. It is
   spoken by way of abating the certainty of faith, when it is called the
   evidence of things not seen; nay, many times the faith of good men is
   mixed with a great deal of fear and doubt of the contrary: but in the
   state of glory, we shall not be liable to any of these doublings and
   jealousies, which do so frequently possess the best of men in this
   world. Then "we shall know, as also we are known," as the apostle
   expresseth it, (1 Cor. xiii. 12.) As God now knows us, so shall we then
   know him, as to the truth and certainty of our knowledge.

   Now such an immediate, and clear, and certain knowledge of God, as hath
   been described, doth necessarily suppose a very great elevation of our
   understandings, above what this state of mortality can bear. We cannot
   now have a clear and immediate sight of God, because the weakness and
   imperfection of our present state will not admit of it. In this life,
   our understandings are easily overborne by the lustre and excellency of
   an object. Hence it was that God said to Moses, when he so earnestly
   desired to see his face, "Thou canst not see my face, and live," (Exod.
   xxxiii. 20.) So transcendent and glorious a sight would quite overwhelm
   and overcome our faculties; as the light of the sun, if we look
   steadfastly and directly upon it, will dazzle and blind the strongest
   eye. The sight of so glorious a being as God is, of so much excellency,
   and happiness, and perfection, as concentre in him, would fill us with
   joy and wonder, too great for frail mortality to bear: but in the state
   of glory, the eye of the soul, that is, our understanding faculty,
   shall be enlarged unto that capacity, and purified to that clearness,
   and elevated to that strength, as to be able to receive and bear so
   much of the lustre and glory of the Divine nature and perfection, as is
   consistent with the finiteness of a human under standing, and suitable
   to the perfection of a glorified soul; and our understandings shall
   then be raised and advanced to such a strength, that they shall be so
   far from being oppressed and burdened with the presence of God, and
   from sinking under the weight of his glory, that they shall be
   infinitely ravished and delighted with it.

   2. To see God "as he is," does imply our perfect enjoyment of him. We
   shall not only perfectly know him, but we shall take infinite pleasure
   in him, in beholding his glory, in praising and admiring his goodness,
   in doing his will with all imaginable readiness and cheerfulness. I do
   not pretend to describe to you the particularities of that state, and
   all the blessed comforts and enjoyments of it: "It doth not yet appear
   what we shall be." God hath not told us, and none but he, who is the
   author and fountain of this happiness, can discover it to us. Let it
   suffice us, that God hath assured us of it, and hath prepared it for
   us; and it can be no mean thing, which the infinite wisdom, and
   goodness, and power of God hath designed for the final reward of those
   who love him, and of those whom he loves. If we know thus much of it,
   that it is certain be yond all doubt, and vast beyond all imagination,
   we have nothing more to wish, but that God would fit us for it, and, as
   soon as he pleaseth, bring us to the enjoyment of it,

   III. We will consider the fitness of this metaphor, to express to us
   the happiness of our future state. And that the Scripture doth very
   much delight to set forth to us the blessedness of heaven, by this
   metaphor of seeing, is evident from the frequent use of it in
   Scripture. (Matt. v. 8.) "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall
   see God." (1 Cor. xiii. 12.) "We shall see him face to face." (Heb.
   xii. 14.) "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." And here in the
   text, "we shall see him as he is." And indeed God is pleased, in
   Scripture, to make sensible descriptions of the happiness and misery of
   another world, and, by way of accommodation to our understandings, and
   condescension to the weakness and imperfections of this state, to set
   forth heaven and hell to us by such things as are sensible; and that,
   not only to help our under standings to a more easy conception of
   things, but likewise to move and rouse our affections, which, while we
   are in the body, and immersed in sense, are commonly most powerfully
   wrought upon, by sensible representations of things. And therefore hell
   is described to us by such things as affect the sense of feeling,
   because that is capable of the greatest and sharpest pain; and the
   enjoyments of heaven, by the sense of sight, because that is the
   noblest of all our senses; and the primary and proper object of it is
   most delightful, and of the most spiritual nature of any corporeal
   thing.

   1. Sight is the noblest and most excellent of all our senses: and
   therefore the frame of the eye is the most curious of all other parts
   of the body, and the dearest to us, and that which we preserve with the
   greatest tenderness. When the apostle would set forth the mighty
   affection which the Galatians bore to him, he says, "they would have
   plucked out their very eyes for him." It is the most comprehensive
   sense, hath the largest sphere, takes in the most objects, and discerns
   them at the greatest distance. It can in a moment pass from earth to
   heaven, and survey innumerable objects. It is the most pure, and
   spiritual, and quickest in its operations, and approacheth nearest to
   the nature of a spiritual faculty. Of all our senses, it carries the
   greatest evidence and certainty along with it, and the reports of it
   are the most certain and unquestionable. Hence we use to say, that one
   eye-witness is more than ten ear-witnesses. When Job would express to
   us the most perfect knowledge of God, he does it by sight: (Job xlii.
   5.) "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now my eyes
   see thee:" that is, he had a more perfect and clear discovery of God
   and his perfections, than ever he had before. And to mention but one
   thing more; it is that sense which is more apt to work upon our
   affections:


   Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures,

   Quam quae sunt oculis commissa fidelibus;

   "The things which we hear reported, are not so apt to move our pity, or
   anger, or love, as the things which we see with our eyes." So that in
   all these respects, of the dignity and excellency, the largeness and
   comprehensiveness, the spirituality and quickness, the evidence and
   certainty of this sense, and the power it hath to raise our affections,
   it is the fittest to represent to us the noblest employment and
   operation of our souls in the state of glory.

   2. The primary and proper object of this sense, is the most delightful
   and of the most spiritual nature of any corporeal thing, and that is
   light. "The light of the eye rejoiceth the heart," (Prov. xv. 30.)
   "Light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eye to behold the
   sun," (Eccles. xi. 7.) It is the purest and most spiritual of all
   corporeal things, and therefore God chooseth to represent himself by
   it: "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

   And thus I have done with the second thing I propounded to speak to;
   namely, that thus much, in general, we certainly know of the happiness
   of our future state--that it shall consist in the sight of God. I
   should now proceed to the third thing, namely, wherein our likeness to
   God shall consist; but this I shall defer to another opportunity.
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CLXXXV.

  OF THE HAPPINESS OF GOOD MEN IN THE FUTURE STATE.

   It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he
   shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.--1
   John iii. 2.

   IN these words are four things worthy of our consideration.

   First, The present obscurity of our future state, as to the particular
   circumstances of that happiness which good men shall enjoy in another
   world; "It doth not yet appear what we shall be."

   Secondly, What we know of it in general; that it shall consist in the
   perfect knowledge and enjoyment of God; both which are comprehended in
   that expression: "We shall see him as he is."

   Thirdly, Wherein our likeness and conformity to God shall consist;
   "This we know, that, when, he shall appear, we shall be like him."

   Fourthly, The necessary connexion between our likeness and conformity
   to God, and our sight and enjoyment of him. The two first of these I
   have spoken to. I shall now proceed to the

   Third; namely, Wherein our likeness and conformity to God shall
   consist, "We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him:" in
   these two, things--in the immortality of our nature, and in the purity
   of our souls.

   I. In the immortality of our nature. In this mortal state, we are not
   capable of that happiness which consists in the vision of God; that is,
   in the perfect knowledge and perpetual enjoyment of him. The
   imperfection of our state, and the weakness of our faculties, cannot
   bear the sight of so glorious and resplendent an object, as the Divine
   nature and perfections are: we cannot see God and live. The frailty of
   our mortal condition is unequal to sustain so great a weight of glory;
   to be sure it is incapable of eternal felicity; nothing but an immortal
   nature can be happy for ever. And therefore the Scripture tells us,
   that, when our bodies shall be raised, the quality and condition of
   them shall be quite altered, and that our blessed Saviour shall, by his
   almighty power, make a mighty change in them, from what they were in
   this mortal state: (Phil. iii. 20, 21.) "Our conversation is in heaven,
   from whence also we look for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who
   shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his
   glorious body, according to the working where by he is able even to
   subdue all things to himself." And the apostle tells us, more
   particularly, wherein this change doth consist: (1 Cor. xv. 42.) "It is
   sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in
   dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised
   in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body."
   These corruptible, and vile, and weak, and gross bodies, which we wear
   and carry about us for a while, and at last put off, and lay down in
   the grave, shall, by the power of God at the resurrection, be refined
   and advanced into spiritual and vigorous, glorious and immortal bodies.
   Our bodies are now but a tabernacle, a temporary and moveable dwelling,
   that shall shortly be taken down; but, at the resurrection, they shall
   become a fixed and settled habitation, a house that shall never decay,
   nor come to ruin. So the apostle tells us: (2 Cor. v. 1.) "We know,
   that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a
   building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
   And when this blessed change shall be made, "mortality shall be
   swallowed up of life; for this corruptible must put on incorruption,
   and this mortal must put on immortality." And there is a necessity of
   this, in order to our perfect happiness. For that is not a perfect
   happiness, which shall expire and have an end; which it must have, if
   we were still liable to mortality. And therefore the apostle is
   peremptory, that there must be such a change, because our bodies, as
   they are now constituted and framed, are utterly incapable of the
   happiness of the next life. (Ver. 50.) "For this I say, brethren, that
   flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Where, by "flesh
   and blood," the apostle does not mean, as many have imagined, our
   sinful and impure nature; but our frail and mortal nature, consisting
   of such gross materials as flesh and blood are, for the maintenance and
   support of which, there is continual need of new recruits, and fresh
   supplies of nourishment by meat and drink. Such a nature as this, which
   is necessarily mortal, "cannot inherit the kingdom of God," which is a
   state of perpetual and endless happiness. And that the apostle means
   this, by the phrase of "flesh and blood," is evident, beyond all doubt,
   from the next words, which he adds by way of explication of what he had
   said, "This, I say, brethren, flesh and blood cannot inherit the
   kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." That
   which is liable to death and corruption, is not capable of immortal
   glory and happiness. And therefore our nature must be made immortal;
   and immortality makes us like to God, and is an evident testimony and
   declaration that we are the sons of God. "We are now the children of
   God," in respect of our title to a future inheritance; but this is hid
   from the world: but at the resurrection, when we shall bear the image
   of his immortality, this will be an evident mark of our being the sons
   of God. As our blessed Saviour was "mightily declared to be the Son of
   God, by his resurrection from the dead;" so likewise shall his members
   be declared to be "the children of God," by that glorious change that
   shall be made in them at the resurrection, when "this mortal shall put
   on immortality." Then we are the sons of God, indeed, in an eminent
   manner, when "we can die no more."

   And therefore it is worth our observation, that the Scripture gives us
   the title of "the children of God," more especially upon this account:
   (Luke xx. 35, 36.) "But they which shall be counted worthy to obtain
   that world, and the resurrection from the dead, can die no more, but
   are equal to the angels, and are the children of God, being the
   children of the resurrection." And (Rom. viii. 19.) the resurrection is
   called, "the manifestation of the sons of God." And (ver. 21.) "Our
   being delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious
   liberty of the sons of God." And (ver. 23.) it is called our "adoption
   or sonship; we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the
   adoption, viz. the redemption of our bodies." This is the first thing,
   wherein our likeness and resemblance to God in our future state of
   happiness shall consist, the immortality of our nature; without which
   we could not be capable of the blessed vision of God, and the
   everlasting enjoyment of him.

   II. It shall consist in the purity of our souls. Now purity is a
   freedom from sin, which is the great stain and defilement of the soul.
   Before we can be admitted into heaven, we must be quit of all those
   vicious and corrupt inclinations, of all those inordinate desires and
   passions, which defile our souls, and render us unlike to God. In this
   world, every good man does "mortify his earthly and corrupt
   affections," and in some measure "bring them into obedience and
   subjection to the law of God." But still there are some relics of sin,
   some spots and imperfections in the holiness of the best men. But upon
   our entrance into the other world, we shall quite "put off the old man
   with the affections and lusts thereof;" we shall be perfectly
   "delivered from this body of sin and death," and, together with this
   mortal nature, part with all the remainders of sin and corruption,
   which cleave to this mortal state. For till "our earthly house of this
   tabernacle be dissolved," we shall never be wholly cleansed from the
   leprosy of sin. While we are in this world, we must be continually
   "cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit," and
   "perfecting holiness in the fear of God." But we shall never be wholly
   cleansed, we shall never be perfectly holy, in this life: but in the
   other state, all sin and imperfection shall be done away, and we shall
   be "presented to God, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." And
   perfect holiness is the image of God, and the very nearest resemblance
   of the Divine nature, that creatures are capable of.

   But how our souls shall be purified from those remainders of sin and
   dregs of corruption, which are in the best men, while they are in this
   world, it is not necessary that we should be able perfectly to explain.
   It ought to be sufficient to us/ that he who hath promised it, is able
   to do it one way or other; only I am confident, and have great reason
   to be so, that this purification will not be wrought by the fire of
   purgatory. For if there be any such thing, as there is not the least
   spark of Divine revelation for it (and how any body should come to know
   it otherwise, is not easy to imagine), it is granted to be a material
   fire; and if it be so, it is no ways fitted, either for the punishment
   or purgation of impure souls. Indeed, if men carried their bodies into
   purgatory, the fire of it might be a cruel torment and vexation to
   them: but how a fire should scorch a spirit, is, I believe, beyond the
   subtilty of a schoolman to make out; much less is it fitted to purge
   and take away sin. And, if the truth were known, it was never seriously
   intended for this purpose, to do any good to the dead, but to drain the
   purses of the living, by deluding them with a vain hope of getting
   their friends delivered out of that imaginary torment.

   But we, who take our faith from the word of God, and not from the
   fictions of men, do believe, that the souls of good men do immediately
   pass out of this world into a state of happiness; and that he who does
   bestow this happiness upon them, does qualify them for it, before he
   admits them into it. And if we consider the matter well, we shall find,
   that a man who hath truly repented of his sins, and through the mercy
   of God, in Jesus Christ, hath obtained of God the pardon and
   forgiveness of them, and is firmly resolved against sin, and doth truly
   endeavour to mortify his lusts, and to lead a holy life, and by the
   grace of God does "deny ungodliness and worldly lusts," and "lives
   soberly, and righteously, and godly, in this present world;" I say, we
   shall find that such a man is "not far from the kingdom of God," but
   very nearly qualified and disposed for it; and that there hardly wants
   any thing to make such a man perfectly good, but only to remove out of
   his way those obstacles and impediments to virtue, and to free him from
   those circumstances of infirmity and temptation, which do unavoidably
   encompass us in this world; such as are ignorance, and the instigations
   of our bodily temper to irregular appetites and passions, that which
   the apostle calls, "the law in our members warring against the law of
   our minds;" the necessities of this life, the temptations of the devil
   and of bad company, and the like; all which do appertain to this state,
   and which we shall be quit of so soon as we leave this world, and put
   off these frail and mortal bodies: and when these are removed, we are
   free from the bondage of sin, and have nothing to hinder and divert
   that strong bent and inclination of mind, which is in every good man,
   to do the will of God. So that our very translation into another state
   does of itself assert us into this "glorious liberty of the sons of
   God." And if, besides this, any thing more be necessary to cleanse us
   from sin, and perfect the holiness and purity of our souls, we need not
   be solicitous about the way and manner of it, but may rest confident,
   that "he who hath begun a good work in us, will perfect it in the day
   of Christ;" and that what is wanting in our love to God, or charity to
   men, in goodness, and meekness, and purity, or any grace or virtue
   whatsoever, shall then be added to them, that "so an entrance may be
   administered to us abundantly in to the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
   and Saviour Jesus Christ."--"This we know, that when he shall appear,
   we shall be like him;" like him in the immortality of our nature, and
   in the purity of our souls, which are the very image of God, and the
   most express character of the Divine nature. The

   Fourth and last thing remains, which is to shew the necessary connexion
   which is between our likeness and conformity to God, and our sight and
   enjoyment of him; "We know that we shall be like him, for we shall see
   him as he is." Which implies, that, unless we be like God, we are in no
   capacity of the blessed sight and enjoyment of him.

   I. Likeness to God in the immortality of our nature, is necessary to
   make us capable of the happiness of the next life; which consists in
   the blessed and perpetual vision and enjoyment of God. If our natures
   were mortal, we were incapable of seeing God. What was said of Moses,
   is equally true of all mankind, in this state of mortality: we cannot
   see the face of God and live. Nothing that is frail and dying can
   endure the splendour of so great a glory: nothing that stands in need
   of continual reparation, as flesh and blood does, can "inherit the
   kingdom of God;" nothing but a fixed and immutable nature, which can
   never decay, is capable of everlasting happiness.

   But this part of likeness and conformity to God, though it be necessary
   to make us capable of the felicity of another world, yet it is no part
   of our duty and care: if we endeavour after the other, which consists
   in holiness and purity, God will work this in us, and for us, without
   any concurrence of ours. All that he requires of us, is, that we firmly
   believe it, and patiently expect it, and fervently pray for it, and
   aspire after it. And, indeed, our likeness to God in this respect,
   depends upon our conformity to him in purity and holiness. For as "by
   sin death entered into the world, and so death passed upon all men;" so
   nothing but holiness can restore us to immortality.

   The foundation of all our hopes of a blessed immortality, is to be laid
   in the price of our redemption, as the meritorious cause of it, and in
   our being "renewed after the image of God, in righteousness and true
   holiness," as the proper qualification and capacity for it on our
   parts. We must "have our fruit unto holiness," if we look that the end
   should be everlasting life. And to this purpose it is excellently said,
   in the Wisdom of Solomon, "the keeping of God's commandments is the
   assurance of immortality, and immortality makes us like to God." And
   therefore I shall mainly apply myself to the

   II. Second thing; namely, To shew that our likeness to God in the
   purity of our souls, is necessary to make us capable of the blessed
   sight and enjoyment of him in the next life. It is necessary as a
   condition of the thing; and it is necessary as a qualification in the
   person.

   1. It is necessary, as a condition of the thing to be performed on our
   part, before we can expect that God should make good the promise of
   eternal life and happiness to us. The express constitution and
   appointment of God hath made it necessary, who hath told us, "without
   holiness no man shall see him;" that "if we sow to the flesh, we shall
   of the flesh reap corruption; but if we sow to the Spirit, (that is, if
   we be sanctified and renewed) we shall of the Spirit reap everlasting
   life." And if this were a mere arbitrary condition, imposed upon us by
   the sovereign will of God, without any necessity from the nature of the
   thing; yet we ought to accept it, as a very easy condition; when he
   hath only said, as the prophet did to Naaman, "Wash and be clean."
   Certainly no man can refuse so great a benefit and blessing conferred
   upon such cheap and tolerable terms. God hath promised us eternal life;
   a mighty blessing indeed! for the obtaining of which, no condition that
   is possible can be thought hard and un reasonable. And what does he
   require of us for the obtaining of it? but that we "cleanse ourselves
   from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the
   fear of God;" that is, that we do with all care and diligence abstain
   from sin, and endeavour to live a holy life; to conform ourselves to
   the will of God, and to be obedient to his laws. He does not require
   perfect holiness of us in this life, but a sincere endeavour after it,
   and he hath promised to assist our endeavour; and if we go as far as we
   can, he will perfect what is wanting. So that there is nothing in all
   this but what is very possible for every man to do, by the assistance
   of that grace which he hath promised to afford us; and if it be
   possible, we cannot answer our neglect of it, when all our hopes of
   happiness depend upon it. But this is not all, there is yet,

   2. A farther necessity of it, inwardly to qualify and dispose us for
   the sight and enjoyment of God. We cannot possibly love God, nor take
   delight in him, unless we be like him in the temper and disposition of
   our minds. If we would know what will make us happy, we must look upon
   the great pattern of happiness, and that is God himself; who, as he is
   the most powerful, and wise, and every way perfect, so is he the
   happiest being in the world. So that if we would be happy, we must be
   like God. We cannot be so perfect as he is, and therefore we cannot be
   so happy; but if we would be as happy as creatures are capable of
   being, we must endeavour to be as like God as it is possible for
   creatures to be.

   We must resemble him as near as we can, in those perfections wherein he
   is imitable by us. And these are, as I may call them, the moral
   perfections of his nature, which the Scripture usually comprehends
   under the name of holiness; his goodness, and patience, and mercy, and
   justice, and truth, and faithfulness; and these, as they are the great
   glory, so the chief felicity of the Divine nature.

   Goodness is a perfection of itself, though it were without any great
   degree of knowledge or power. A poor man, and one that is ignorant in
   comparison of others, may yet be a very good man. But power and
   knowledge separated from goodness are not perfections, but may be
   applied to the worst and most mischievous purposes; as we see in the
   devil, who hath both these qualities in a high degree.

   If we could suppose an omnipotent and all-knowing being, that were
   destitute of goodness, he would not only be troublesome to others, but
   uneasy to himself. Without goodness there can be no happiness. So that
   those perfections which contribute most to the happiness of the Divine
   nature, are the easiest to be imitated by us. We may be like God in his
   holiness, that is in his goodness, and patience, and mercy, and
   righteousness, and truth. And these perfections are the very temper and
   disposition of happiness; for they are the nature of God, who is
   therefore essentially happy, because he is a being constituted of these
   perfections. And so far as we imitate God in these, we are "partakers
   of a Divine nature; we dwell in God, and God in us." So our apostle
   tells us, in the 4th chapter, verse 16. "God is love; and he that
   dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." These Divine
   qualities make us fit company for our heavenly Father, and capable of
   the joys of heaven, and the delights of that glorious place.

   And the contrary temper and disposition is the nature of the devil, and
   the very thing which makes it impossible for him to be happy. Malice,
   and envy, and revenge, are unquiet passions; and in what nature soever
   they are, they are as vexatious and tormentful to itself, as they are
   troublesome and mischievous to others. These are a hell within us, and
   are as natural causes of misery, as bodily diseases are of pain and
   restlessness; and while these furies are in us, nothing without us can
   make us happy.

   The capacity and foundation of all felicity must be laid in the inward
   frame of our minds, in a god like temper and disposition. Till the
   image of his holiness and goodness, which hath been defaced by sin, be
   renewed upon our minds, we are utterly in capable of the enjoyment of
   the first and chief good, in which all our felicity does consist.

   And thus you see what a necessary connexion there is between our
   likeness and conformity to God, and the blessed vision and enjoyment of
   him. All that now remains, is to draw some inferences from what hath
   been discoursed upon this argument, and so I shall conclude.

   I. This shews us how impossible it is to reconcile a wicked life with
   the hopes of heaven. The terms of our happiness are firmly and
   immutably fixed, like "the foundation of the earth, which can not be
   moved;" nay, sooner may "heaven and earth pass away," than a wicked man
   enter into the kingdom of heaven. If we continue in a sinful and
   impenitent state, we must necessarily "come short of the glory of God."
   And therefore, all those devices which men have found out, to excuse
   themselves from a holy life, and yet to maintain hopes of getting to
   heaven at last, are but foolish arts of security, and tricks to undo
   ourselves quietly, and without any great disturbance. Some think to be
   saved by an external profession of religion, though it have no force
   and efficacy upon their lives; some by being of the only true church,
   wherein salvation is to be had: and yet, if it were true, that there
   were any one party or community of Christians, out of which there were
   no salvation, I am sure this likewise is true, that there is no church
   wherein a wicked man can be saved.

   Others rely upon absolutions and indulgences, and hope, notwithstanding
   all the unrighteousness and ungodliness of their lives, to do their
   business at last that way. But can any man be so foolish, as to think,
   that any church or priest can forgive a man upon other terms, than
   those upon which only God hath declared he will forgive sinners?

   Others hope to be saved by the righteousness of Christ, without any of
   their own. But what a presumption is this, to think that any thing that
   Christ hath done for us, will avail us while we cherish our lusts, and
   live in the contempt of his laws? "Let no man deceive you; he that
   doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous." The
   righteousness of Christ shall never be imputed to any for their
   justification, but those who are "sanctified by the renewing of the
   Holy Ghost."

   So that nothing can be vainer than a wicked man's hopes of heaven. The
   whole design of the gospel is, to convince men that blessedness belongs
   only to the righteous, and that no man that allows himself in any
   wickedness and impiety of life, shall have any "inheritance in the
   kingdom of God and Christ."

   II. The consideration of the indispensable necessity of our likeness
   and conformity to God in holiness and purity, to make us capable of the
   happiness of the next life, calls loudly upon us, to endeavour after it
   in this life. So it follows in the words immediately after the text;
   "we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is: and every man
   that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure." It
   is true, indeed, nothing but perfect holiness makes us capable of the
   enjoyment of God, and we cannot be perfectly holy in this life. But
   then we are to consider, that if we do not purify ourselves in some
   measure in this world, if we do not begin this work here, it will never
   be perfected hereafter; such dispositions as we carry with us out of
   this world, stick by us for ever. Indeed, if they be good, the degree
   of them shall be perfected; but if they be bad, they shall never be
   altered. If the "image of God be renewed upon us" in this life, "we
   shall be changed from glory to glory" in the other, "by the Spirit of
   the Lord." But if we be utterly unlike God when we die, death will make
   no change in us for the better: we shall "go to our place, and inherit
   the portion of sinners." We did not endeavour to be like God, and
   therefore we can never be admitted to the blessed sight and enjoyment
   of him; for there is a direct and eternal op position between the holy
   nature of God, and an impure creature; and till this opposition be
   removed, we can have no communion with him. And it is too late to take
   away this opposition between God and an impure soul in the other world;
   because our condition is then concluded, and we shall remain for ever
   such as we have made ourselves, while we were in this world.

   Now is the time, "this is the day of salvation." Now we may repent and
   leave our sins, and purify ourselves; and by purity make ourselves like
   to God, and by our likeness to him render our souls capable of being
   admitted to the blessed sight of him, "in whose presence is fulness of
   joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore."

   So that we ought to resolve upon one of these two things; either to
   give over all thoughts of happiness in another world; or to qualify
   ourselves for it, by "purifying ourselves, as God is pure:" for till we
   are like God, we are not capable of enjoying him. While we live "in
   ungodliness and worldly lusts," we are as unlike God as is possible;
   and there are but two ways imaginable, whereby to bring a conformity
   and likeness between God and us either by changing God or ourselves.
   Now the nature of God is fixed and immutable, he cannot recede from his
   holy nature; therefore we must leave our sins. It is certain we cannot
   change God; therefore we must endeavour to change ourselves. Rather
   think of purifying thy corrupt nature, which may be done; than of
   making any alteration in God, "with whom is no variableness, nor shadow
   of turning."

   Once God hath condescended so far as to take our nature upon him, to
   bring us to a participation of his own Divine nature, and make us
   capable of happiness: but if this will not do, we must not expect that
   God will put off his own nature to make us happy.
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CLXXXVI.

    [Preached at Whitehall, 1686.]

  THE WISDOM OF RELIGION JUSTIFIED, IN THE DIFFERENT ENDS OF GOOD AND BAD MEN.

   The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath
   hope in his death.--Prov. xiv. 32.

   SOLOMON, all along this Book of the Proverbs, doth recommend to us
   religion and the fear of God, by the name, and under the notion of
   wisdom. (Chap. i. 7.) "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
   knowledge." (Chap. ix. 10.); "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
   wisdom; and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding." Hereby
   signifying to us, that religion is the fundamental principle of wisdom,
   by which our whole life, and all the actions of it, ought to be
   conducted rand governed; and that all wisdom which doth not begin here,
   and lay religion for a foundation, and which doth not act upon
   supposition of the truth of the principles of religion, viz. the belief
   of a Gad, and his providence, of the immortality of our souls, and the
   rewards and punishments of another life, is but wisdom falsely so
   called; because it is preposterous, and begins at the wrong end, and
   proceeds upon a false supposition, and wrong schema of things; and
   consequently our whole life, and all the actions and designs of it, do
   run upon a perpetual mistake, and false statings of our own case; and
   whatever we do pursuant to this mistake, is foolish in itself, and will
   be fatal in the issue and consequence of it.

   For he that takes it for granted that there is no God, and that the
   world is not governed by the providence of any superior being, but by
   chance; that his soul dies with his body, and that there is no life
   after this: he that proceeds upon these principles, is free from all
   fetters and obligations of conscience, and hath no reason to regard any
   rule of right and justice, of virtue and goodness, farther than they
   conduce to his own ease and pleasure, his convenience and safety in
   this world; he hath nothing to do, but to contrive his own present
   happiness, and to live as long as he can; and because he knows he must
   die, to compose himself to undergo it as contentedly, and to bear the
   pain of it as cheerfully and patiently, and to act this last part as
   decently, as he can, being secured by his own principles against all
   future misery and danger, because death makes an utter end of him.

   This is a very consistent theory, and hath but one fault--that it is
   not true at the bottom, and will fail us when we come to lay our whole
   weight upon it. It is just as the prophet describes "the staff of the
   broken reed of Egypt, whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand
   and pierce it." Such are the principles of infidelity, to all that
   trust in them; when they should stand us in most stead, and when we
   come to lean hard upon them, they will not only fail us, but go into
   our very heart, and pierce it with sharp pain and anguish. In the days
   of our health and prosperity, the spirit of a man may bear up itself by
   its own natural force and strength; and false principles are like
   antics in a building, which seem to crouch under the weight of an arch,
   as if they bore it up, when in truth they are borne up by it. But when
   these men fall into any great calamity, or death makes towards them in
   good earnest, then is the trial of these principles, of what strength
   they are, and what weight they will bear; and we commonly see, that
   they do not only fail those who trust in them, but they vanish and
   disappear like dreams and mere illusions of the imagination, when a man
   awakes out of sleep; and the man that was borne up by them before with
   so much confidence, can now feel no substance and reality in them; he
   cannot now be an atheist if he would; but God, and the other world,
   begin to be as great realities to him, as if they were present to his
   bodily eye. And now the principles of infidelity are so far from
   ministering any comfort and good hopes to him, that they fill him with
   horror, and anguish, and despair; and are so far from quieting his
   mind, that there is nothing but storm and tempest there. "The wicked is
   driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his
   death." "The wicked;" that is, the sinner, the hardened and impenitent
   sinner is driven away; which may either signify the sudden and violent
   end many times of bad men, they are carried away as it were by a
   tempest, answerable to that expression, (Prov. x. 25.) "As the
   whirlwind passeth, so the wicked is no more:" or else the word may
   signify, to be cast down and dejected; and then it imports that trouble
   and despondency of mind, that anguish and despair, which ariseth from
   the guilt of a wicked life. "Is driven away in his wickedness;" the
   word in the original is, "in his evil," which may either refer to the
   evil of sin, or of affliction and calamity, and it will come much to
   one in which sense we take it. According to the first sense of the word
   evil, the meaning will be, that the sinner, when he comes to die, is in
   great trouble and despondency of mind, because of his wicked life; hath
   no comfort, no good hopes concerning his future state, according to
   that other saying of Solomon, (Prov. xi. 23.) "The expectation of the
   wicked is wrath." If we take the word evil in the latter sense, for the
   evil of affliction and calamity, then the meaning is, that bad men,
   when they fall into any great evil and calamity, more especially upon
   the approach of death, (for that, as the last and greatest of evils, is
   probably intended, as appears by the opposition in the next words, "the
   righteous hath hope in his death;") I say, that bad men, when they fall
   into any great evil or calamity, especially upon the approach of death,
   are full of trouble and disquiet, by reason of their guilt, and
   destitute of all comfort and hope in that needful time. And this is
   most agreeable to the opposite part of this proverb or sentence, "but
   the righteous hath hope in his death;" that is, the good man, when any
   evil and calamity overtakes him, though it be the most terrible of all,
   death itself, is full of peace, and comfort, and good hopes; when there
   is nothing but storms without, all is calm within, he hath some thing
   which still supports him and bears him up.

   So that Solomon, in this sentence or proverb, seems to design to
   recommend religion and virtue to us, from the consideration of the
   different ends of good and bad men, so obvious to common observation,
   and generally speaking, and for the most part, which (as I have often
   observed) is all the truth that is to be expected in moral and
   proverbial speeches; that, for the most part, the end of good men is
   full of peace and comfort, and good hopes of their future condition:
   but the end of bad men quite contrary, full of anguish and trouble, of
   horror and despair, without peace or comfort, or hope of any good to
   befal them afterwards. The righteous man hath great peace and serenity
   in his mind at that time; is not only contented, but glad to die; does
   not only submit and yield to it, but desires it, as much better. And so
   some read the words, "the righteous desires," or "hopes to die:" but
   the wicked man and the sinner dreads the thoughts and approaches of
   death, quits life with great reluctancy, clings to it, and hangs upon
   it as long as he can, and is not without great violence parted from it.
   The good man goes out of the world willingly and contentedly: but the
   wicked is driven away, not without great force and constraint, with
   much reluctancy, and in great trouble and perplexity of mind, what will
   become of him for ever.

   You see the meaning of the words; that they contain a great truth, and
   very well worthy of our most attentive regard and consideration;
   because, if this be generally, and for the most part, true, which
   Solomon here asserts, then this is a mighty testimony on the behalf of
   piety and virtue; and plainly shews, that the principles of religion
   and virtue are proof against all assaults to which human nature is
   liable, and that the principles of infidelity and vice do shrink and
   give back when it comes to the trial. And this, to any wise and
   considerate man, is as good as a demonstration, that the religious man
   is in the right, and proceeds upon principles of sound and true wisdom,
   and hath chosen the better part: but that the infidel and the wicked
   man is in the wrong, and under a fatal mistake, which he seldom?
   discerns till it be too late to rectify it.

   Now in the handling of this argument, I shall do these three things:

   First, I shall shew that this observation of Solomon, concerning the
   different end of good and bad men, and the final issue and event of a
   virtuous and vitious course of life, is generally true, and that the
   exceptions, on either side, to the contrary, are but few, and not of
   force to infringe the truth of the observation.

   Secondly, I shall consider whence this difference proceeds, and I shall
   endeavour to shew that it is founded in the true nature and reason of
   things. And,

   Thirdly, That if this be true, it is a demonstration on the side of
   religion, and does fully justify the wisdom of it.

   First, I shall endeavour to shew, that this observation of Solomon,
   concerning the different end of good and bad men, and the final issue
   and event of a virtuous and vitious course of life, is generally found
   true, and that the exceptions, on either side, to the contrary, are but
   few in comparison, and by no means of sufficient force to infringe the
   general truth of this observation; I say, that this observation of the
   wise man is generally, and for the most part true, which (as I
   mentioned before) is all the truth that is to be expected in moral and
   proverbial sentences. And for this I appeal to the common and daily
   experience of mankind, whether we do not generally see religious and
   good men to have great ease and comfort, and sometimes great joy and
   transport in their minds, from the reflection, upon an innocent and
   useful, a holy and virtuous course of life. David was so confident of
   this, that he appeals to common observation and experience for the
   truth of it: (Psal. xxxvii. 37.) "Mark the perfect man, and behold the
   upright; for the end of that man is peace." Or, as this text is
   rendered in our old translation, "Keep innocency, take heed to the
   thing that is right; for that shall bring a man peace at the last." And
   he gives the reason of this, (ver. 39.) because God stands by them to
   support them in this needful time, with the comfortable hopes of his
   salvation; "the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord, he is their
   help in the time of trouble." As they have sincerely endeavoured to
   serve God, so they have great hopes and confidence of his mercy and
   goodness to them, that he will stand by them, and support them in their
   greatest distress, and guide and conduct them to happiness at the last;
   and in this confidence they can say with David: (Psal. xvi. 8, 9, 11.)
   "I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand,
   I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory
   rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope." For "thou wilt shew me
   the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand
   there are pleasures for evermore." And (Psal. xxxi. 5.) "Into thy hand
   I commit my spirit, O Lord God of truth." And (Psal. xlviii. 14.) "This
   God is our God for ever and ever, he will be our guide even unto
   death." And again, (Psal. lxxiii. 23-26.) "Nevertheless, I am
   continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt
   guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have
   I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire
   besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of
   my heart, and my portion for ever." Thus a good man, not only in the
   contemplation of death, and upon the approach of it, but even under the
   very pangs of it, is apt to comfort himself, in the Divine mercy and
   goodness, and to rejoice in the hopes of the glory of God.

   But the wicked, on the contrary, when death makes its approach towards
   them, the guilt of their wicked lives flies in their faces, and
   disturbs their minds, and fills them with horror and amazement, with "a
   fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation to consume
   them." "The expectation of the wicked is wrath," saith Solomon, (Prov.
   xi. 23.) "What is the hope of the hypocrite (that is, of the wicked
   man), when God shall take away his soul?" (Job xxvii. 8.) In their
   life-time they neglected God and religion, and perhaps denied him, or
   said unto him with those in the 21st chapter, ver. 14. "Depart from us,
   for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways;" and when they come to
   die, they find that God is departed from them. They have not the
   confidence to look up to him, or to expect any mercy or favour from
   him, being conscious to themselves that they have denied the God which
   is above, or at least neglected and despised him; and now "the terrors
   of the Almighty take hold of them, and his arrows stick fast in them,"
   and wound their consciences, and they cannot pluck them out, or get rid
   of them; their spirits are ready to sink with in them, and the
   principles of infidelity which they once relied upon now fail them;
   and, instead of ministering any comfort and confidence to them, they
   pierce them to the heart, and are the greatest ground of their trouble
   and despair.

   So that here is a very visible and remarkable difference between good
   and bad men when they come to die. Good men have commonly a great calm
   and serenity in their minds, are full of good hopes of the mercy and
   favour of God to them, and of the sense of "his loving-kindness, which
   is better than life itself;" and are willing to leave this world, in
   the comfortable expectation and assurance of a better condition after
   death; and not only willing, but many times heartily glad, that they
   are going out of this vale of tears, out of this sink of sin and
   sorrows; that they are quitting these drooping mansions, and exchanging
   these earthly tabernacles, for "a building of God, a house not made
   with hands, eternal in the heavens:" whereas the wicked is full of
   trouble and anguish, and his mind in greater pain and disorder than his
   body; all storm and tempest, "like the troubled sea, when it cannot
   rest:" "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." And how can
   there be peace, when his whoredoms and adulteries, his repeated acts of
   drunkenness and in temperance, his profane oaths and blasphemies, have
   been so many? When he is conscious to himself what a life he hath led,
   and is thoroughly awakened to a just sense of the evil of his doings?
   And when death makes up to him, how does he dread the sight and
   thoughts of it, and how does he hanker after life, as if all his
   happiness depended upon it and ended with it? And at last, like the
   young man in the gospel, he goes away sorrowful; because, perhaps, he
   had great possessions in this world, and hath no hopes at all in the
   other. "This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage
   appointed to him by God."

   There are, I confess, some exceptions to the contrary on both sides;
   but they are but few in comparison, and by no means sufficient to
   infringe the general truth of this observation.

   On the one hand, some good men are very melancholy and dispirited, when
   they come to die, and leave the world full of fears and jealousies
   concerning their future condition; and this may proceed from several
   causes. Perhaps they are naturally of a dark and melancholy temper,
   which is usually heightened and increased by bodily weakness and
   distemper; and in this case it is no wonder, if the considerations of
   religion be not sufficient to scatter these clouds, and to overrule and
   correct the irregularities of our bodily temper; because the principles
   and considerations of religion do not work naturally and by way of
   physic, but morally and by way of conviction and counsel. Sometimes
   this fear and dejection of mind in good men, proceeds from mere lowness
   and faintness of spirit, naturally caused by the load and continuance
   of the distemper which they labour under, and by which the mind is
   likewise, in some degree, weakened and broken; and when this happens,
   it is usually very visible, and consequently the account of it easy and
   obvious; and sometimes, perhaps, we are charitably mistaken in our good
   man, and either he is not a sincerely good man, or not so good as we
   took him to be; perhaps his life hath been very unequal, and full of
   great failings: and, in either case, it is no wonder if the man have
   not that peace and comfort, which is answerable to our good opinion of
   him; if the man be not sincerely good, there is no real foundation of
   peace and comfort; for "the hope of the hypocrite shall perish: whose
   hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be as a spider's web. He
   shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold it
   fast, but it shall not endure," as one of Job's friends speaks: (Job
   viii. 14, 15.) And (ver. 20.) "Behold, God will not cast away a perfect
   (or sincere) man; neither will he help (or support) the evil doers."
   Or, though he have been in the main a good man, yet perhaps with a
   great mixture of imperfection, and many great failings and neglects;
   and then it is no wonder, if his mind be not so cairn, and clear of
   doubts and jealousies concerning his condition: for proportionably to
   the breaches and inequalities of our obedience, and our more and
   greater failings, will our peace and comfort, living and dying, be
   naturally abated and interrupted. But these cases are not many; it is
   sufficient that it is generally other wise with good men, and that
   their end is peace. And this is so remarkable, that Balaam, when he was
   reckoning up the blessings and privileges of the people of Israel, the
   type of good men in all ages, he takes particular notice of their happy
   end, as a most signal and invaluable blessing; which made him break out
   into that wish, (Numb. xxiii. 10.) "Let me die the death of the
   righteous, and let my last end be like his."

   And, on the other hand, it cannot be denied, but that some very bad men
   (as bad as we can well imagine) have passed out of this world, not only
   quiet and? undisturbed, but with a great deal of courage and
   resolution. And this I believe in fact and experience, at least
   according to my best observation, is the more rare case of the two; for
   a notorious bad man to die in perfect peace, than for a good man to die
   in great trouble and perplexity of mind. But this, when it happens, may
   probably enough be ascribed to one or more of these causes--either to
   the mistake of the by-standers, who take silence for peace; and because
   the man is of a strong resolution, and hath a good command of himself,
   and does not think fit to trouble others, in a mutter in which he
   thinks they can give him no comfort and relief, they interpret this to
   be tranquillity of mind; because he holds his peace and says nothing,
   they think he hath peace, and that all is quiet within. But I remember
   the observation of a very wise historian, Phil. Comines, who says, that
   he knew in his time several great persons, who, in ordinary
   conversation, and to a superficial view, seemed to be very happy and
   contented; but yet to them who knew them more intimately, and in their
   private freedoms and recesses, were the most miserable and discontented
   persons in the world. This I confess is very rare, for men to conceal a
   very great trouble, and more yet for a man to dissemble when dying; and
   yet there is reason to believe it sometimes happen.

   Sometimes, the quiet death of a very bad man proceeds from stupidity,
   and want of a just sense of the danger of his condition, and this from
   want of discipline and instruction in the nature and principles of
   religion: this temper looks like courage, because it is fearless of
   danger; but this fearlessness is founded in great ignorance and want of
   apprehension; whereas a true courage discerns the danger, and yet
   thinks it fit and reasonable to venture upon it. Now this stupidity of
   dying men, who have lived very ill, is commonly the case of such as
   have been brought up in great ignorance, and have lived in great
   sensuality, by which means their spirits are immersed, and even stifled
   in carnality and sense; and no wonder, if they who live like beasts,
   die after the same manner. And thus our Saviour represents the rich
   glutton in the parable, as never coming to himself, and a sense of his
   condition, till he was awakened by the flames of hell; (Luke xvi. 22,
   23.) "The rich man also died, and Was buried; and in hell he lifted up
   his eyes, being in torment." As if he had never been awakened till
   then, his voluptuous and sensual course of life rendering him
   insensible of another world.

   Or else this false peace may be ascribed to the delusion of false
   principles, by virtue whereof it is often seen, that men die in a very
   bad cause, not only without any regret and trouble, but with
   cheerfulness and satisfaction: and this is not to be wondered at,
   because every man's conscience is a kind of god to him; and whether a
   man be in the right or wrong, so long as he thinks he does well, "and
   his heart condemns him not/ he is apt "to have confidence towards God;"
   but for all that it greatly concerns every man to take great care to in
   form his conscience. For if men will not be impartial in their inquiry
   after truth, and be not ready "to receive it in the love of it," St.
   Paul tells us, "that for this very cause, God may send them strong
   delusions, that they should believe a lie, and that they might be
   damned, because they believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
   unrighteousness;" (2 Thess. ii. 11, 12.) that is, in falsehood and
   imposture: for so the word adiki'a, which is here rendered
   "unrighteousness," is sometimes used in the New Testament.

   And this is the last cause I shall mention, to which the false peace of
   wicked men when they come to die, is to be ascribed, viz. to the just
   judgment of God, who permits great sinners to be so hardened in an evil
   course, as neither living nor dying to be awakened to a sense of their
   condition; such as the apostle speaks of, (1 Tim. iv. 2.) who said to
   have "their consciences seared, as it were, with a hot iron." This, it
   is to be hoped, is but the case of a few, that are thus utterly
   forsaken of God, and left to perish in their own hardness and
   obstinacy. This is like a gangrene in the body, which mortifies the
   part, and leaves it without sense, and thereby incapable of recovery. I
   proceed, in the

   Second place, to shew whence this difference between good and bad men,
   when they come to die, does proceed. And here I shall endeavour to
   shew, that this difference is founded in the true nature and reason of
   the things themselves; in the nature of religion and virtue, and of
   impiety and vice, in the different ways and courses of good and bad
   men, which do naturally tend to these different ends.

   And to make out this more clearly and distinctly, I shall endeavour to
   manifest these two things:

   I. That a religious and virtuous life is a real ground of peace and
   serenity of mind, of comfort and joy, under all the evils and
   calamities of life, and especially at the hour of death.

   II. That impiety and wickedness is a real foundation of guilt and fear,
   of horror and despair, in the day of adversity and affliction, and more
   especially in the approaches of death.

   I. That a religious and virtuous life is a real ground of peace and
   serenity of mind, of comfort and joy, under all the evils and
   calamities of life, and especially at the hour of death.

   Under the evils and calamities of life, innocency is a great stay and
   support to our minds under sufferings, and will bear up our spirits
   when nothing else can; especially if a man suffer for a good
   conscience, "and for righteousness sake;" because then, beside the
   comfort of innocency, we are entitled in a special manner to the favour
   of God, and the comforts of his Holy Spirit, and the hopes of a
   glorious reward from that God, for whose sake and in whose cause we
   suffer. All trouble is tolerable to him who hath no burden of guilt
   upon his mind, to him who is at peace with his own conscience, and at
   peace with God, and is assured of his favour and friendship, of his
   providence and care, of his approbation and reward; this is a firm
   ground, not only of patience, but of joy to a good man, in the saddest
   and most dismal condition he can fall into. "Unto the upright (saith
   the Psalmist) there ariseth light in darkness," (Psal. cxii. 4.) And no
   wonder, because he that fears God, and serves him faith fully, and
   suffers for him patiently, hath laid a sure foundation of comfort to
   himself, hath sown the seeds of contentment and peace, of joy and
   gladness in his own mind, which will spring up and flourish most, when
   we are in the most destitute and afflicted condition: "Light is sown
   for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart," says David,
   (Psal. xcvii. 11.) "The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the
   effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever," saith the
   prophet, (Isa. xxxii. 17.)

   And more especially at the hour of death, then the comfort of a good
   man overflows, and "he lifts up his head with joy, because his
   redemption draweth nigh:" then the reflection upon a well-spent and
   unspotted life fills his soul with abundant consolation, with "joy
   unspeakable and full of glory:" for God, and the things of another
   world, appear more real and substantial to him, as he draws near to
   them, and his faith begins to be turned into sight and fruition; he now
   stands upon the confines of both worlds, and discerns more clearly the
   vanity and emptiness of that which he is going from, and the
   substantial and durable happiness of that which he is entering into.
   Here is the trial of our faith, and the proof of religion, by the real
   fruits and effects of it, in the peace and comfort which it gives to a
   good man, when he is leaving this world; so that, "when he walks
   through the valley of death, he fears no ill," and his hopes are then
   most lively and vigorous, when he is ready to give up the ghost; the
   voice of nature, and of every man's reason and conscience, as well as
   Scripture, says to the righteous, "it shall be well with him, for he
   shall eat the fruit of his doings; but woe unto the wicked, it shall be
   ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him." Which
   brings me to the

   II. Second thing; namely, That impiety and wickedness is a real
   foundation of guilt and fear, of honor and despair, in the day of
   adversity and affliction, and especially in the approaches of death.

   And how can it be otherwise, when all inward support and comfort fail
   him, and all sorts of evil and calamity, inward and outward, assault
   him, and break in upon him at once? When the principles of infidelity
   fail him, and what he hath made out so speciously to himself, vanisheth
   into nothing, "as a dream when one awakens, and as a vision in the
   night?" For when any great calamity befals this man, God, who was not
   before in all his thoughts, then begins to appear terrible to him, and
   he cannot banish, the thoughts and fear of him out of his mind. But how
   uncomfortable is this--to be convinced there is a God, when a man hath
   most need of him, and can least hope for his favour and pity?

   But especially at the approach of death, what a sad preparation for
   that is an impious and wicked life! how does his conscience then fly in
   his face, and how bitter is the remembrance of those sins which he
   committed with so much pleasure and greediness? What a terror is the
   Almighty to him, and the apprehension of that vengeance that threatens
   him, and that eternal misery which is ready to swallow him up? And in
   the midst of all this anguish and horror, which naturally spring from
   an evil conscience, and the guilt of a wicked life, he is destitute of
   all comfort and hope; he hath denied the God that is above, and now he
   dares not look up to him: his whole life hath been a continued affront
   to the Divine Majesty and an insolent defiance of his justice; and what
   hopes can he now reasonably have of his mercy? "Of the God that formed
   him, he hath been unmindful," and hath used him with all the despite he
   could; and, there fore, he hath all the reason in the world to conclude
   that "he that made him will not save him, and he that formed him will
   have no mercy on him." And this is the natural consequence of impiety
   and wickedness, it fills the soul of a dying sinner with trouble and
   anguish, with guilt and despair, when he is leaving the world, and puts
   him into the most dismal condition that can be imagined on this side
   hell, and very like to it, without comfort and without hope. I proceed
   to the

   Third and last thing I proposed; viz. That if this be true, it is a
   demonstration on the side of religion, and doth fully justify and
   acquit the wisdom of it; and that upon these three accounts:

   I. Because the principles of religion, and the practice of them in a
   virtuous life, when they come to the last and utmost trial, do hold
   out, and are a firm and unshaken foundation of peace and comfort to us.

   II. That they minister comfort to us in the most needful and desirable
   time.

   III. That when men are commonly more serious, and sober, and impartial,
   and when their declarations and words are thought to be of greatest
   weight and credit, they give this testimony to religion and virtue, and
   against impiety and vice.

   I. That the principles of religion, and the practice of them in a
   virtuous life, when they come to the last and utmost trial, do hold
   out, and are a firm and unshaken foundation of peace and comfort to
   good men, at that time. The belief of a God, and of his providence and
   care of good men, and that "he is a rewarder of them that diligently
   seek him;" the persuasion of our own immortality, and of the eternal
   recompence of another world; that "Jesus Christ came into the world to
   save sinners," and to purchase eternal life and happiness for those
   who, "by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honour,
   and immortality:" I say, the belief of these things is commonly most
   strong and vigorous in the minds of good men when they come to die; and
   they have then a more clear apprehension, and firm persuasion of the
   truth and reality of these things, than ever they had in any time of
   their lives, and find more comfort from them, more peace and joy in the
   belief of them. And this is the great time of trial, when death
   presents itself to us, and the terrors of it compass us about, whether
   upon occasion of persecution or sickness. These are the rains, and
   storms, and winds, which will try upon what foundation our peace and
   comfort is built; and nothing but the principles of religion, sincerely
   believed and practised, will make us firm and impregnable against these
   assaults. So our Saviour assures us: (Matt. vii. 24, 25.) "Whosoever
   heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them," that is, believes and
   practiseth my doctrine, "I will liken him to a wise man, which built
   his house upon a rock; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and
   the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was
   founded upon a rock."

   And, on the contrary, the principles of infidelity and vice are most
   apt to shrink and give back at such a time: nay, for the most part,
   they vanish and disappear, and, upon the apprehension of death, a new
   light, as it were, springs up in their minds, and things appear quite
   contrary to that scheme which they had formed, and which they had taken
   so much pains to maintain and make probable to themselves; and that
   hypothesis which they had been so long a-building, appears now to have
   no foundation, and falls at once, and all their hopes together with it.
   And now the infidel believes and trembles, is sensible of his wicked
   life, and of the vengeance that hangs over him, and was never in his
   life half so well satisfied of the principles of infidelity, as he is
   now convinced of the contrary, to his infinite trouble and confusion
   that there is a God, and another life after this, and a terrible
   punishment to the workers of iniquity.

   And daily experience confirms to us the certainty and truth of this
   matter, and that there is this difference, for the most part, very
   visible in the temper and carriage of good and bad men when they come
   to die.

   II. The principles of religion and virtue do minister comfort to us in
   the most needful and desirable times; and, on the contrary, the
   principles of infidelity and vice do not only fail us in the day of
   distress, but give great trouble to us at the most un seasonable time.

   And this makes a mighty difference between the condition of these two
   sorts of persons: for when would a man desire to be at peace and quiet
   in his mind, but when his body is restless and in pain? When would a
   man wish for "strong consolation and hope," that "anchor of the soul
   sure and steadfast," as the apostle to the Hebrews calls it, but in
   that last and terrible conflict of nature, with the last of enemies,
   which is death? And when would a man dread trouble and anguish of mind,
   but at such a time, when he is hardly able to sustain his bodily pains
   and infirmities? If it be true of every day of our lives, "sufficient
   for the day is the evil thereof," much more of the day of death: it is
   enough surely to have that one enemy to encounter, at which nature
   startles, and our best reason can hardly furnish us with force enough
   for the conflict, even when the sting of death is taken away--I mean
   the guilt of an evil conscience: but when all evils assail a man at
   once, pains without, and terrors within, a weak body, and a wounded
   spirit, an in curable disease, and intolerable despair, death ready to
   assault us, and hell following it; how unseasonable is the conjuncture
   of so many and so great evils! Wise men are wont to provide with great
   care against such a time, that they may not be op pressed with too many
   troubles at once; and, there fore, in the time of their health, they
   settle their worldly concernments, and make their wills, that when
   sickness or death comes, they may have no care upon them, nothing to do
   but to die. This is a time, when all the force of our reason, and all
   the comfort and hope that religion can give, will be little enough to
   give us a quiet and undisturbed passage out of this world into the
   other: and we shall be very miserable, if the terrors and stings of a
   guilty conscience, and the pangs of death, do seize upon us at once.
   And therefore a wise man would make it the business of his whole life,
   to prevent this unhappy concurrence of evils, so insupportable to human
   nature; and to render death, which is grievous and terrible enough of
   itself, as comfortable and easy as it is possible. For if there were
   nothing beyond this life, yet it were worth the while to provide for a
   quiet death; and if men were sure to be possessed of these passions of
   hope and fear, of comfort and despair, which usually attend good and
   bad men when they come to die, there is no man, that calculates things
   wisely, would, for all the pleasures of sin, forfeit the peace and
   comfort of a righteous soul, going out of the world full of the hopes
   of a blessed immortality, and endure the anguish and torment of a
   guilty conscience, and the amazing terrors of a despairing and dying
   sinner. This is a condition so sad and fearful, that a wise man would
   avoid it upon any terms.

   III. When men are commonly more serious, and sober, and impartial, and
   their declarations and words are thought to be of greatest weight and
   credit, they give this testimony to religion and virtue, and against
   impiety and vice.

   It is generally seen, when men come to die, that the manner of their
   death is answerable to the course of their life; that the reflection
   upon a holy and virtuous life, is a great ease and comfort to men's
   minds: and, on the contrary, the guilt of a wicked life is apt to fly
   in their faces, and to disturb their minds, and fill them with horror.
   And this is a critical time, when the consciences of men are usually
   awake, and apt to pass an impartial judgment and censure upon
   themselves. And for this, the infidel may believe one of his own great
   authors, I mean Lucretius, who observes, that when men are in distress,
   and the apprehensions of death are upon them, religion does then shew
   its force:

   Acrius advertunt animos ad religionem,

   "The thoughts of it are then more pungent and powerful upon their
   minds."


   Nam verae voces turn demum pectore ab imo

   Eliciuntur, et eripitur persona, manet res:

   "Men's words then come from the bottom of their hearts, the mask is
   taken off, and things then appear to them as indeed they are."

   Now, that when men are so impartial and in good earnest, when they
   stand upon the confines of both worlds, and can view them at once, when
   they are leaving this world, and are now no longer in danger of being
   blinded or flattered, or tempted by it, and are just ready to pass into
   the other world, and so much the more likely to discern the reality of
   it, as they approach nearer to it: I say, that, in these circumstances,
   men generally declare on the side of piety and virtue, and declaim most
   vehemently against their sins and vices; that, generally speaking, and
   according to what is commonly seen in experience, the man who hath led
   a religions and virtuous life, is, when he comes to die, quiet and easy
   to himself, hath no regret at what he hath done, no severe and angry
   reflections upon the strict course of a virtuous life, his conscience
   doth not accuse, or upbraid, or terrify him, for having lived "soberly,
   and righteously, and godly in this world;" nay, so far from this, that
   if he have any trouble, it is not because he hath lived piously and
   virtuously, but because he hath not lived more so, because he hath come
   short of his duty, and hath been so imperfectly and inconstantly good:
   that generally dying men repent of their evil actions, and are troubled
   for them; but no man ever repented himself of serving God, and doing
   good. This surely is a great testimony on the side of religion and
   virtue, because it is the testimony, not only of the friends to
   religion, but of those who have been the greatest enemies to it, and at
   a time when they are most likely to declare the inward sense of their
   minds, and to speak most impartially, without design or disguise. When
   the ungodly man and the sinner comes to lie upon a death-bed, he hath
   then other apprehensions of things than he had, or would own to have,
   in the days of his health and prosperity, and his soul is full of
   sadness and trouble, of perplexity and anguish, of fear and despair,
   because of the wicked and lewd life which he hath led. But why art thou
   so dismayed, man? why so troubled and cast down, so restless and
   unquiet, so wretched and miserable in thine own thoughts?

   If thou hast not done well in renouncing the principles of religion,
   and breaking loose from all obligations of duty and conscience, in
   gratifying thine inclinations and lusts, why art thou now troubled at
   it? If thou wert in the right all the while, why dost thou not now
   stand to it, and justify thy actings, and bear up like a man? If the
   principles thou wentest upon were sound and firm, why dost thou not
   still take comfort and support from them? why does thy heart faint, and
   thy spirit sink within thee? how comes thy imagination to be so
   disturbed with such frightful appearances, and to haunt thee
   continually with such vain and groundless terrors? whence is it that
   those who have taken a contrary course, and lived a quite different
   life, have so much the advantage of thee, in the comfort, and peace,
   and tranquillity of their minds when they come to die?

   But if thou hast been in the wrong, and dost now discern real cause for
   so much trouble and fear, why didst thou not consider in time? why wast
   thou not troubled sooner, when trouble would have done thee good, and a
   great part of the anguish which thou now feelest, and all the misery
   thou art so afraid of, might effectually have been prevented?

   I think it is said, by those who are concerned to take off the force of
   this terrible objection against infidelity and a wicked life, that when
   men are in a dying condition their spirits are low, and their
   understandings weak and disturbed, and their minds thrown off the
   hinges; and therefore it is no wonder if they want that firmness and
   resolution of spirit, that consideration and courage, which they had in
   the time of their health.

   This is speciously said, and with some show and appearance of reason:
   but it does by no means answer and take off the objection. For if this
   were a true reason at the bottom, why is it not true on both sides? why
   are not both sorts of men, when they are sick and near to die, those
   who have lived piously and virtuously, as well as the loose and wicked
   livers, equally troubled? why are they not disturbed and afraid alike?
   hath not sickness the same natural effect upon them, and does it not
   equally weaken and disorder their minds? but we see generally in
   experience a plain and remarkable difference between these two sorts of
   men, when they come to die; so plain, that it is not to be denied; and
   so remarkable, that there must be some considerable cause of it; and so
   general and constant, that it cannot without great folly and
   perverseness be imputed to chance. Now what can we imagine should be
   the reason of this palpable difference between good and bad men, when
   they are under the apprehensions of death, but this: that a pious and
   virtuous life is a real ground of peace and joy, of comfort and
   confidence at that time; and that impiety and wickedness are a real
   foundation of guilt and fear, of horror and despair, in a dying hour:
   in a word, that the different ways and courses of good and bad men, do
   naturally lead to these different ends, and produce these different
   effects?

   Either this must be granted, and then the whole cause of infidelity and
   vice is yielded and given up at once; or .else men must fly to that
   which seems the most unreasonable and extravagant paradox in the world,
   and does effectually give up the cause another way; viz. That a false
   opinion of things, and a mere delusion, is more apt to support the
   fainting spirits of a dying man, and to give him more comfort and hope
   in the day of distress, than aright and well-grounded persuasion.

   But this (as I said before) does effectually give up the cause another
   way: for if this be true, then certainly they are rightest that are in
   the wrong; and religion, though it were a mistake, ought to be embraced
   and entertained by a wise man, because of this great benefit and
   comfort of it. If this be truly the case, then every wise man must say,
   Let me be so deceived; let it be my lot and portion, to live and die in
   so pleasant, and comfortable, and happy an error, as that of religion
   is.

   So that, whether religion be true or false, it must, according to this
   reasoning, be necessarily granted to be the only wise principle, and
   safe hypothesis for a man to live and die by. And this very thing, that
   it is so, is a strong evidence of the truth of religion, and even a
   demonstration of the real excellency of virtue; because no other
   supposition but that of religion, does so clearly solve all
   appearances, and so fully and exactly answer the natural desires, and
   hopes, and fears of mankind. If the being of God, and the obligations
   of religion and virtue, be admitted, this gives an easy account of the
   whole matter, and shews us, that sin and vice are the foundation of
   guilt and trouble; and that religion and virtue do naturally produce
   peace and comfort: for that is to be esteemed and reckoned the natural
   effect of any thing, which doth generally belong to the whole kind. If
   those who live religiously and virtuously, have generally peace and
   comfort when they come to die, and those who live wickedly are commonly
   full of guilt and remorse, of fear and perplexity, at that time; this
   is reason enough to believe, that these are the natural effects of
   those causes: and that men when they come to die, are, according as
   they have lived, afraid of the Divine justice, and of the vengeance of
   another world, or confident of God's goodness, and the rewards of
   another life, is a strong argument of a superior Being that governs the
   world, and will reward men according to their works; because no
   supposition but this doth answer the natural hopes and fears of men.
   And this likewise is an argument of the immortality of our souls, and
   of the rewards and punishments of another life; and as good a
   demonstration of the reality and excellency of religion and virtue,
   from these happy effects of it, as the nature of the thing is capable
   of.

   And now to make some reflections upon what has been said upon this
   argument.

   First, The consideration of the different ends of good and bad men, is
   a mighty encouragement to piety and a good life. Nothing in this world
   shews us so remarkable a difference between the righteous and the
   wicked, as a death-bed. Then a good man most sensibly enjoys the
   comfort of a good life, and "the peaceable fruits of righteousness;"
   and the sinner then begins to reap the bitter fruits of sin. What a
   difference is there then between the comfort and trouble, the composure
   and disturbance, the hopes and fears, of these two persons? And, next
   to the actual possession of blessedness, the comfortable hopes and
   expectation of it are the greatest happiness; and the next to being
   plunged into it, the fearful apprehensions of eternal misery are the
   greatest torment. "The wicked is driven away in his wickedness;" is
   violently hurried out of the world full of guilt and trouble. What
   storms and tempests are then raised in his mind, from the fear of God's
   justice, and the despair of his mercy? But "the righteous hath hope in
   his death." The reflection upon a holy and virtuous life, and the
   conscience of a man's uprightness and sincerity, are a spring of joy
   and peace to him, which refresheth his mind with unspeakable comfort
   and pleasure, under the very pangs of death. With what triumph and
   exultation of spirit cloth the blessed apostle St. Paul, upon the
   review of his labours and sufferings for God and his truth, speak of
   his dissolution? (2 Tim. iv. 6-8.) "For I am now ready to be offered
   up, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good
   fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth
   there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
   righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." He speaks with such a
   lively sense of it, as if he had his crown in his view, and were just
   ready to take hold of it. And what would not a man give, what would he
   not be contented to do and suffer to be thus affected, when he comes to
   leave the world, and to be able to bear the thoughts of his death and
   dissolution with so composed and cheerful a mind? And yet this is the
   natural and genuine effect of a holy and useful life. And that which
   the same apostle tells us was the ground of his rejoicing under
   sufferings, is likewise the comfort and support of good men at the time
   of their death: (2 Cor. i. 12.) "Our rejoicing (saith he) is this: the
   testimony of our conscience, that, in simplicity and godly sincerity,
   we have had our conversation in the world." Ail the holy and virtuous
   actions of our lives, are so many seeds of peace and comfort to us at
   the hour of our death, which we shall more sensibly enjoy when we come
   to depart this life. For then the consciences of men are apt to deal
   most freely and impartially with them: and "if our hearts do not then
   condemn us, we may have comfort and confidence towards God."

   I believe there are some very pious and good souls, who have lived very
   disconsolate and full of doubtings, and been under a cloud the greatest
   part of their lives, who yet, upon the approach of death, and just as
   they were leaving the world, have broken forth, as the sun sometimes
   doth just before his setting. I know it is not always thus; there are,
   I doubt not, some good men who go out of this world with little or no
   comfort; and yet, so soon as they step into another world, are
   encompassed with "joy unspeakable rind full of glory:" and though the
   comfort of such persons be not so early and forward, yet it cannot
   choose but be extremely welcome: and it must needs put a doubting and
   trembling soul into a strange kind of ecstasy and ravishment, to be
   thus unexpectedly surprised with happiness.

   Secondly, Since this is so great and evident a testimony of the truth
   and goodness of religion, is it not a strange thing, and to be wondered
   at, that true religion and virtue should be so little practised, and
   impiety and vice should so generally prevail in the world, against so
   many bars and obstacles, and against such invincible objections to the
   contrary? Not only against our inward judgment and conscience, but
   against the general sense and experience of men in all ages, the
   constant declarations and testimonies of dying men, both good and bad,
   when they are most serious, and their words are thought to be of
   greatest credit and weight; against the best and soberest reason of
   mankind, and their true interest and happiness; against the health of
   men's bodies, and, which is the most dear and valuable thing in the
   world, the peace and quiet of their minds; and that, not only in the
   time of life and health, but in the hour of death, when men stand most
   in need of comfort and support: in a word, against the grain of human
   nature, and in despite of men's natural fears of Divine vengeance, and
   to the defeating of all our hopes of a blessed immortality in another
   world, and against the inflexible nature and reason of things, by no
   art or endeavour of man, by no colours of wit, or subtilty of
   discourse, by no practice or custom to the contrary, by no conspiracy
   and combination of men, ever to be changed or altered? So that we may
   say with David, "Have all the workers of wickedness no knowledge," no
   consideration of themselves, no tenderness and regard to their present
   and future interest? Nay, if there were no life after this, setting
   aside the case of extreme suffering and persecution, religion and
   virtue are certainly to be chosen, not only for our contentment in
   life, but for our comfort in death: and if there be a state of
   happiness or misery remaining for men after death, as most assuredly
   there is, much more in order to the attaining of that endless
   happiness, and the avoiding of that eternal and in tolerable misery.
   "Oh that men were wise, that they understood this, and would consider
   their latter end!"
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CLXXXVII.

  THE USEFULNESS OF CONSIDERING OUR LATTER END

   So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto
   wisdom.--Psalm xc. 12.

   THE title of this Psalm tells us who was the author of it. It is
   called, "A prayer of Moses, the man of God;" or, as the Chaldee
   paraphrase more expressly, "The prayer which Moses, the prophet of the
   Lord, prayed, when the people of the house of Israel sinned in the
   wilderness." Upon which provocation of theirs, God in great displeasure
   threatened, and was immutably resolved, that they should all perish in
   the wilderness, and that none of the men that came out of Egypt, Caleb
   and Joshua only excepted, should enter into the promised land, but
   should all die in the space of forty years.

   Upon this occasion, Moses made this psalm or prayer to God, being a
   devout meditation upon the shortness and frailty of human life, which
   was now brought into a much narrower compass than in former ages. But
   the case of that people was different from that of the rest of mankind,
   being limited and confined to forty years. They might die sooner than
   that time; but that was the utmost bound of their lives, which none
   were to exceed; which seems to be the ground and reason of the
   petition, which Moses puts up to God in the text, "So teach us," &c.

   For I do not think that Moses does here beg of God to reveal to every
   one of them the precise end and term of his life; that might seem to
   savour of too much presumption or curiosity: but since they knew that,
   according to the ordinary course of nature, the life of man was then
   reduced to threescore and ten, or fourscore years; and since God, by a
   peremptory sentence, had pronounced, that, two persons only excepted,
   all that vast number which came out of Egypt, and even Moses himself,
   should die within the compass of forty years; it was a very pious and
   proper request, which Moses here puts up for himself and the rest of
   that people, that God would give them wisdom to make a right use of the
   notice which they had of their end, since it might happen at any time,
   but could not reach beyond forty years, reckoning from the time of
   their coming out of Egypt.

   To know the determinate time of our life, or to know certainly that our
   life shall not exceed such a term (which was the case of the Israelites
   in the wilderness), is a very awakening thing, and does commonly rouse
   men more than the general consideration of our own frailty and
   mortality. And yet, to a wise and considerate man, it ought in reason
   to be the same; for that which will certainly be, ought to be reckoned
   upon and provided for; and if it be un certain when it will be, whether
   at some distance, or the next moment, we ought presently to take care
   about it, and to be always in a readiness for it, lest we should be
   surprised and overtaken.

   And then this prayer is as proper for us, as it was for Moses and the
   Israelites, though we are not just under the same circumstances that
   they were. They were under a peremptory sentence of death within forty
   years, and none of them knew how much sooner they might be taken away:
   and this is not much different from our case; for we are liable to
   death at any time, every day, every moment; and how few of us in this
   congregation can reasonably either hope or expect to have our lives
   prolonged beyond the term of forty years? Nay, it is very probable,
   that not one of us in a hundred will hold out so long. And then this
   prayer may be as fit for us, as it was for Moses and the Israelites,
   that God would "teach us so to number our days," that is, to make such
   an account of the shortness and uncertainty of our lives, and so to
   consider and lay to heart our latter end, "that we may apply our hearts
   unto wisdom;" that is, that we may manage and conduct this frail, and
   short, and uncertain life, in the best manner, and to the wisest
   purposes.

   And this consideration of our latter end was always esteemed by the
   wisest men, a principal part and main point of wisdom. Socrates, who
   was, by the general consent of wise men (a more infallible oracle than
   that of Apollo), esteemed the wisest of all the philosophers, gives us
   this definition of philosophy, that "it is the meditation or study of
   death;" to intimate to us, that this is true wisdom, to be much in the
   thoughts of our latter end, and in a constant readiness and preparation
   for it. And this a greater than Socrates had long before him observed
   to be a chief point of wisdom, I mean Moses, "the man of God," that
   Divine person and prince of the ancient prophets, not only in this
   Psalm, but also in his last Divine song, a little be fore his death; in
   which he makes this the sum of all his wishes for the people of Israel,
   that God would endow them with this high point of wisdom: (Deut. xxxii.
   29.) "Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they
   would consider their latter end!" This is true wisdom and philosophy,
   to consider our latter end.

   And this, by God's assistance, shall be the argument which I intend to
   handle from these words; namely, to shew what influence and effect the
   serious consideration of our latter end, and of the shortness and
   uncertainty of this present life, ought in reason to have upon us. And
   of this I shall give you an account in these following particulars:

   I. The meditation of our latter end should make us to take into
   consideration our whole lives, and our whole duration, that we may
   resolve and act accordingly. And this is a main point of wisdom, to
   understand ourselves, and the nature of our beings, of what we consist,
   and for what duration we are designed; whether we consist only of
   matter a little better fashioned and moulded, and made up in a more
   curious and complicated engine, consisting of many secret and hidden
   springs and wheels, and fitted for greater variety of motions, and for
   more fine and subtle operations, than the bodies of those other
   creatures which we esteem below us: or whether we be endowed with a
   spiritual principle, wholly distinct from matter, and capable not only
   of sense, but of acts of reason, and of the impressions of religion,
   from the apprehension of a Deity and a superior Being that is of
   itself, and made us and all other things. In a word, whether we shall
   "die like beasts;" or whether there be an immortal spirit within us,
   which hath no dependance upon matter and the bodily and visible part of
   ourselves, but is a much "better and enduring substance," which hath no
   principle of corruption in itself, but shall survive these perishing
   bodies; and when they are mouldered into dust, shall subsist in a happy
   or miserable condition, according as we have behaved ourselves in this
   world.

   For these are two very different hypotheses and schemes of things, and
   ought to affect us very differently, and to inspire us with different
   resolutions, and to put us upon a quite contrary method and conduct of
   our lives.

   For, on the one hand, if we be well assured, that we shall be utterly
   extinguished by death, "like the beasts that perish," then we have
   nothing to take care of but our bodies, because we are nothing else;
   then we need not extend our thoughts, our hopes, or fears, beyond this
   world, and this present life; because we have nothing to do, but to
   please ourselves with present enjoyments, and to live so with other
   men, as may make most for our temporal quiet, and satisfaction, and
   security.

   But then we are to consider very well, whether these things be
   certainly so, and whether we may rely upon it, and whether it will bear
   all that weight which we lay upon it: whether these principles will not
   fail us when we come most to stand in need of the comfort and support
   of them, and, when death is in view, and making up towards us, quite
   vanish and disappear: because it is of infinite consequence to us to be
   well assured of this, since our happiness or misery to all eternity
   depends upon it. And therefore nothing less than a demonstration of the
   impossibility of the thing, of our having immortal spirits that shall
   survive our bodies, and subsist apart from them, and be extremely
   miserable or happy in another world: I say, nothing but a demonstration
   of the impossibility of this, ought to be satisfaction to us in a case
   of so great danger, and upon which so much does depend.

   For if there be a possibility, on the other side, of our having
   immortal souls, which shall live for ever in another world, nothing can
   acquit us from the greatest imprudence, if we should neglect to take
   care of that better and more lasting part of ourselves, and to provide
   for that duration which shall never have an end.

   And, therefore, if the supposition of the soul's immortality be
   infinitely more probable, as better agreeing with all the notions which
   men have of God and his providence, and with the natural desires, and
   hopes, and fears of mankind, and as most suitable to all our capacities
   and expectations, and to the general opinion and consent of wise men in
   all ages; then it is infinitely more safe, and consequently more wise,
   to proceed upon this supposition, and to provide and act accordingly.

   Thus "to number our days," that is, to make such an account of the
   shortness and uncertainty of this life, as to employ it mainly in the
   care and preparation for a better life, will engage us effectually in
   the business of religion. And this, perhaps, is the meaning of this
   phrase in the text, of "applying our hearts to wisdom," according to
   that of Job: (Job xxviii.28.) "But unto man he said, Behold the fear of
   the Lord, that is wisdom;" as if he had said, This is the true wisdom,
   the great excellency and perfection of human nature is religion, the
   lively sense and firm belief of a Deity, and a carnage and demeanour
   suitable to that belief; and that man is well taught, and rightly
   instructed in the great business and concernment of this life, and
   makes a wise reckoning and account of the shortness and un certainty of
   it, who applies himself to the business of religion: for this is the
   fundamental principle of wisdom, by which our whole life, and all the
   actions of it, ought to be governed and conducted.

   So that, if we have immortal spirits, which shall live and continue for
   ever, we cannot in reason but take our whole life, and our whole
   duration into consideration. And if we do so, we can never justify it
   to ourselves, to employ all our care and time about the worst and more
   ignoble part of ourselves, and to make provision only for the few days
   of our pilgrim age here in this world, without any regard to that
   eternal duration which we shall have in another world.

   The serious consideration of this cannot fail to make us careful of our
   souls, and concerned for eternity; and in order to the securing the
   happiness of that state, to mind us to "work out our salvation" with
   great care and diligence, that, if it be possible, we may avoid the
   misery, and obtain the happiness of another world; because there is no
   comparison between the goods and evils of this life, and those of the
   other, neither in respect of the degree, nor of the duration of them.
   And therefore it must needs be great wisdom, to forego the good things
   of this life, to obtain those of the other; and to bear the evils and
   afflictions of this life, to escape those of the other. For what man in
   his wits, for a temporal convenience and satisfaction, would forfeit an
   eternal benefit and advantage; and to escape a present evil, which
   cannot last long, would run himself upon one infinitely greater, and
   which will last for ever?

   "Consider, then, and shew yourselves men." Can there be a greater
   oversight and miscarriage in the conduct of our affairs, than to mind
   that least which concerns us most? Is it possible for men to run into a
   greater mistake, than to think that their great business in this world,
   is to mind the things of this world? And yet the greatest part of
   mankind not only run into this mistake at their first setting out, but
   persist in it all their days; as if their great, and indeed their only
   concernment were to please themselves for the present, and to provide
   for this world, as if they were to live always in it: forgetting all
   this while that they have immortal souls, which shall sur vive their
   bodies, and after a time be re-united to them, to live for ever,
   deprived of that happiness which they would take no care to secure, and
   under going that misery and punishment which they would be at no pains
   to prevent whilst they were in this world, and the opportunity of
   securing the one, and avoiding the other, was in their hands.

   II. The thoughts of our latter end should make us very serious and
   composed in our spirits. .For if we have immortal souls as well as
   dying bodies, if we shall live for ever, and if the happiness of all
   eternity depends upon the improvement of this short time of our lives,
   and our carriage and demeanour while we are here in this world; then it
   is no trifling business, it is not a matter of small concernment to us
   how we live here, and manage ourselves during our abode in this world.

   Whom do not the lively thoughts of death, and the near approach of it,
   make grave and serious? and many men much wiser and more considerate
   than ever they were in any other time of their lives, and much truer
   judges of things? They can then tell how they ought to have lived, what
   use they should have made of their time, and what use they would make
   of it, if God would be pleased to prolong it to them.

   The near view of another world is an amazing thing, and apt to inspire
   men with better thoughts and resolutions than ever they had before. And
   why should not the clear prospect of it at a distance, and the assured
   belief of it, have the same effect upon us, to make us serious and to
   mind in good earnest, "in this our day, the things which belong to our
   peace, and to wait all the days of our appointed time, till our change
   shall come?"

   And, therefore, to engage us to a continual seriousness and
   watchfulness, the great Judge of the world hath hid from us both the
   time of the general judgment, and of our particular summons out of this
   world, that we might never be unprovided for the main chance, for that
   which may happen at any time, and which will concern us for ever.

   III. The meditation of our latter end should put us upon minding the
   great business of our lives with all our might, and make us very
   vigorous and industrious in it; I mean the business of religion, and
   the salvation of our souls. And if we set up this, as in reason we
   ought, for the great end and design of our lives, and the main scope of
   all our actions, it will make our lives of a piece, and every part
   thereof agreeable to itself; because our mind will stand continually
   bent one way, and all our thoughts, and cares, and endeavours, will be
   united in one great end and design.

   And it will oblige us to great diligence and industry, and make us work
   hard, to think how great a work we have to do, and how little time to
   do it in; perhaps much less than most of us do imagine. It is not an
   easy work for a man to become good, and fit for heaven; it requires
   time and care, and great watchfulness over ourselves, great
   strugglings, and many a conflict with the evil inclinations of our
   minds, which, after we have conquered them, will often rally and make
   head again; a stout resistance of temptations, a stiff and obstinate
   resolution not to yield to them, and a "patient continuance in well
   doing." The consideration whereof should make us very careful and
   diligent to get oil into our lamps; that is, all those graces and
   virtues, all those good dispositions which may fit us for another
   world, and prepare us for eternity; it should make us very vigorous and
   industrious to do all the good we can, while the opportunity of doing
   it is in our hands, and to make ourselves as good as we can, because
   this is the time and season of laying the foundation of our future
   happiness, and increasing the degrees of it; for "as we sow, so shall
   we reap; he that sows sparingly, shall reap sparingly; and he that sows
   plentifully, shall reap plentifully." Every degree of virtue and
   goodness that we attain to in this world, will meet with a suitable
   reward, and a more resplendent degree of glory and happiness in the
   next life.

   And we shall have this advantage, by a great industry and diligence in
   "working out our own salvation," that, if we have made religion the
   great care and business of our lives, we shall have nothing to do when
   we come to die, but to renew our repentance for the errors and
   miscarriages of our lives, and to beg God's pardon and forgiveness of
   them, for the sake of the meritorious obedience and sufferings of our
   blessed Saviour; to comfort ourselves in the goodness and promises of
   God, and in the glorious hopes of the happiness which we are ready to
   enter upon; and in the mean time to exercise faith and patience for a
   very little while, till death put an end to the sorrows and miseries of
   life.

   IV. The meditation of our latter end should make us much in the
   exercise of repentance, and to renew it frequently; because we
   continually offend God, and provoke him every day, if not by sins of
   commission, yet of omission and neglect in one kind or other, and by
   the imperfection of our best actions and services; if not by
   presumptuous sins and against knowledge, yet by manifold sins of
   ignorance and infirmity; so that the best of us may say with David
   every day, "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret
   sins. If thou shouldest be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord,
   who can stand?"

   Thus, by exercising a daily, or at least a very frequent repentance, we
   may keep our accounts in a good measure even, and not be in a hurry and
   confusion when we come to die, neither knowing where to begin our
   repentance, nor how to go through with so great a work in so short a
   time, and in circumstances of so much weakness and destruction. There
   are hardly any of us, especially of us who are ministers, and have
   frequent occasion to attend upon sick-beds, but have seen several in
   these wretched circumstances, not knowing what to do, desirous to
   repent, but, what through weakness of body, and horror and confusion of
   mind, not knowing how to go about it, lamenting their neglect of it in
   the time of their health, and despairing of doing it now with any
   success and acceptance. These are sad spectacles indeed, and ought to
   be loud warnings to us who are in health, and have the opportunity of
   repentance before us, to make use of it, and to set about this
   necessary work out of hand, "to-day, whilst it is called to-day, lest
   any of us be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin," and be at last
   brought into those miserable straits which I have been describing, and
   which no man that understands himself would be in for all the world.

   V. The meditation of the shortness and uncertainty of life should make
   us great husbands of our time, as that which, next to our immortal
   souls, and for the sake of them, is the most precious and valuable
   thing in the world.

   For as, on the one hand, nothing will comfort us more when we come to
   die and leave this world, than the remembrance of a well-spent life,
   carefully employed in the service of God, and for the benefit and
   advantage of men; so, on the other hand, there is nothing for which our
   consciences will more bitterly reproach us at that time, and fly in our
   faces with greater fury and rage, than for an useless and unprofitable,
   especially if it have been likewise (as is too commonly seen) a wicked
   and vitious life.

   Our life is uncertain, and therefore we should seize the present time,
   and improve it to the best advantage, though it be but short in itself,
   and very short in respect of the great and long work which we have to
   do in it. To prevent or cure the manifold distempers of our minds, and
   to preserve our souls in a good state of health, and to keep them free
   from the disorders of our appetites and passions, requires a wise
   conduct, and a very careful management of ourselves. Evil and
   inveterate ha bits are not mastered and mortified in an instant: nor
   the contrary virtues attained in any measure of perfection, but by long
   practice and slow degrees. There must be time, and patience, and
   perseverance, for the doing of these things, and we must "give all
   diligence to add to our faith knowledge, and to our knowledge virtue,"
   and one virtue to another, and one degree of virtue to another; and
   nothing with out this can minister true comfort to us in the hour of
   death, and make us "to lift up our heads with joy in the day of
   judgment."

   The consideration of this should make us careful not to neglect any
   occasion of doing good, or of making ourselves better; and restrain us
   from al lowing too much of our time to those great wasters and
   devourers of it, diversions and visits; because they do not only hinder
   us from better work and employment, but are apt insensibly to work us
   off from that serious temper of mind, which becomes those who do in
   good earnest design for another world.

   VI. The meditation of our latter end should make us always to prefer
   the doing of our duty, and the keeping of a good conscience, to all
   temporal considerations whatsoever, whether of fame and the good
   opinion of men, or of wealth and riches, of honour and dignity, of
   authority and power. "choosing rather (with Moses) to suffer
   afflictions with the people of God, than to have the temporary
   enjoyments of sin."

   And as for pleasure, there is little in this world that is true and
   sincere, besides the pleasure of doing our duty, and of doing good; I
   am sure none that is comparable to it. A good conscience is "a
   continual feast;" and he certainly pleaseth himself best, and is most
   easy in his own mind, who is conscious to himself, that he endeavours
   as well as he can to do what he ought.

   V1I. The meditation of our mortality should teach us the true price and
   value of all temporal enjoyments, and make us duly affected towards
   them, and to sit as loose to them in our affections as we can: for
   nothing surely can be more apt to beget in us a coldness and
   indifferency towards the enjoyments of this world, than the
   consideration of the uncertainty of all these things, and of the
   shortness and uncertainty of our own lives.

   Or if we suppose, that they and we both should continue for some number
   of years, yet there will be an end of them or us; and nothing is to be
   reckoned a lasting happiness, that will have an end, though it should
   be long first: for where there can be either sorrow or an end of our
   joy, there can be no true felicity.

   Besides, that the nature of the things of this world is such, that they
   afford but little happiness to us whilst we have them; we cannot do
   well without them, and yet we can hardly do well with them. Most of the
   enjoyments of this world, as desirable as they are to us, are very
   dangerous, and are always attended with some inconvenience or other;
   and even when we have all that we can wish for in this world, we are
   apt to be still uneasy, either something troubles us, or nothing
   pleases us; we are pained with fulness, and cloyed with the long
   enjoyment of the best things this world can give us. Why then should we
   set such a high and unreasonable value upon these temporary enjoyments,
   and be so much concerned for those things of which we have so slippery
   a hold, and so slender an assurance, and which afford us so very little
   contentment and satisfaction when we have them, and yet give us so much
   grief and trouble when we lose them? Considering how soon we must, and
   how suddenly we may leave this world, and all the enjoyments of it, we
   ought in reason to set no great price upon them.

   VIII. The consideration of the shortness and un certainty of our lives,
   should make us contented with our present condition, and patient under
   all the evils and afflictions which may befal us in this world. A
   little may content us for a little while, for the short time of our
   abode here; and since we do not expect our rest and happiness in this
   world, we cannot think ourselves disappointed if we do not meet with
   it. If our condition be tolerable it is well, and we have reason to be
   contented with it, since it is as much as this world usually affords.
   If it be very mean and strait, it cannot last long; and even that
   consideration should silence our murmurings, and should restrain and
   check our discontent.

   And it should make us patient likewise under the greatest evils and
   afflictions of this present life, to consider that they will shortly
   have an end; either they will give off of themselves, or they will
   carry us off and make an end of us, and all the patience we have
   exercised will be rewarded far beyond the proportion of our sufferings.

   At the worst, the afflictions and sufferings of this present time are
   not like the troubles and miseries of the other world, they will not
   last always. The most grievous things that can befal us here are not
   like the torments of hell, neither for the degree, nor the duration of
   them, without intermission and without end.

   IX. The meditation of death, and of the consequences of it, should make
   us upright and sincere in all our words and actions. Hypocrisy and
   dissimulation, as much as they are practised, are no part of true
   wisdom, no, not as to this world; they recoil terribly upon men, and
   turn to their reproach and disadvantage so soon as they are discerned,
   and they cannot be long practised without being discovered. But if we
   regard the other world, all disguises and arts of deceit are perfect
   folly; because then "God will bring every work into judgment, and every
   secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil," as Solomon
   assures us, (Eccles. xii. 14.) And our blessed Saviour cautions us
   against hypocrisy, upon this consideration--that there is a day coming,
   when all the false pretences of men shall be exposed and laid open, and
   all those masks and vizors which men wear in this world will fall off,
   and the actions of men shall appear in their true colours: (Luke xii.
   1, 2.) "Beware (says our Saviour there first of all) of the leaven of
   the pharisees, which is hypocrisy; for there is nothing covered, that
   shall not be revealed; nor hid, that shall not be known."

   Lastly, The meditation of our latter end should put us upon a careful,
   and continual, and particular preparation for the time of our death and
   dissolution. And this is very well worth our while, and the sooner we
   set about it the better; because, when this work is in any good measure
   done, we have rescued ourselves from that bondage to which most men are
   all their life long subject, because of the continual fear of death.
   Nothing abates the terror of death like a due preparation for it. When
   this is once made, we cannot be much concerned when it comes; for, to a
   well-prepared mind, sooner or later makes no great difference; but if
   we have delayed this necessary work, the longer we have delayed it the
   more unfit we shall be for it, and the more un willing to set about it;
   and if necessity drives us to it at last, we shall find that old age
   and sickness are but bad times to make preparation for death in, to
   begin our repentance and the change of a bad life. He that prepares not
   for death before he draws near to it, and comes to lie upon a sick-bed,
   is like him that begins to study the art of navigation when he hath
   present occasion and use for the skill which he hath not yet learned,
   when his vessel is driven among rocks, and is every moment in danger of
   being dashed in pieces.

   Let this then be established for a firm principle and rule--that the
   best and surest preparation for a happy and comfortable death, is a
   holy and good life. For nothing will disarm death of its terrors like
   the conscience of our own innocency, and of a sincere desire and
   endeavour to please God in the general course and tenor of our lives,
   and of a sincere repentance for all the errors and miscarriages of our
   lives. And though our life be short and un certain, yet it is a great
   deal that we may do by way of preparation for another world, if we
   begin and set out betimes, and be good husbands of the present
   opportunities. It is a great way that we may go in a short time, if we
   be always moving and pressing forwards.

   But the mischief is, many men pass fifty or sixty years in the world,
   and, when they are just going out of it, they bethink themselves, and
   step back, as it were, to do something which they had all this while
   forgot; viz. the main business for which they came into the world, to
   repent of their sins and reform their lives, and make their peace with
   God, and in time to prepare for eternity. This, which is forgotten and
   deferred to the last, ought to have been first thought of, and to have
   been made the great business of their whole lives.

   But I proceed to give some more particular directions concerning our
   preparation for death; namely,

   1. By frequent meditation of it, which will render it more familiar to
   us, and help us to tame this monster, and to take off the dread of it;
   and therefore we should accustom ourselves to the thoughts of it, that
   we may in some measure be reconciled to it.

   2. We should endeavour to mitigate the evil and terror of death by
   thinking of something worse; I mean the evils and miseries of life. For
   when we once come to look upon death as a remedy of all the evils of
   life, we shall then begin to be reconciled to it; and if we be wise,
   shall be glad to be out of the noise, and danger, and suffering of so
   many evils as we are continually liable to in this world; and shall
   thank God heartily for dismissing us and giving us leave to die, and by
   death to put an end to this miserable life, and to begin a better and
   happier life, which shall never have an end.

   And we should likewise meditate much on the glory and happiness of
   another world. For if we be once possessed with a firm belief and
   persuasion of it, we shall think the time long that we are detained
   from it, and wish for that which we so much feared--I mean death; that
   it may bring us to the enjoyment of that which we have much more reason
   to desire.

   And, indeed, considering (as I said before) the many evils and miseries
   which we are liable to, and always in danger of, while we are in this
   world, we have cause to thank God that we were born to die, and that we
   are not condemned to live for ever in this world. So that, whenever God
   shall think fit to release us, we ought to esteem it a favour: but if
   he will have us to stay a little longer, we must with patience wait for
   another opportunity of making our escape out of an evil and troublesome
   world. But, methinks, we should not much desire to ride it out in the
   storm any longer, when the port is open, and we may safely enter in.
   And then,

   3. By way of farther preparation for death, we should endeavour to
   maintain always a lively sense of it in our minds, that we may be, to
   all good effects and purposes, as much under the power of it as if it
   were just approaching, as if the physician or the judge had passed the
   sentence of death upon us. We should always reckon upon that which may
   happen the next moment; and if we do so, we can never be extremely
   surprised; but whenever our Lord comes, shall be found watching. And,

   Lastly, We should make it our constant prayer to God, that he would fit
   us for our dissolution, and stand by us and comfort us in that needful
   time, without whose gracious support and assistance, both physicians,
   and even the ministers of God themselves, are but miserable comforters.
   It should be our daily petition to God, that he would enable us to
   perform this last act of our life with decency and constancy of mind,
   that neither our disease nor our weakness may break the firmness of our
   spirits, or leave us to be amazed with fear, or betrayed with
   peevishness, so as to render us uneasy to ourselves, or to make our
   friends willing to be rid of us.

   But, more especially, when God thinks fit, either by the nature or
   present danger of our distemper, to give us a nearer summons and
   clearer warning of our mortality, we should take the opportunity to
   impress upon our minds a deep and more lively sense of another world,
   that we may quicken our pace, and "work the work of Him that sent us
   into the world, while it is day; because the night is coming when no
   man can work."

   Nature I know is fond of life, and apt to be still longing after a
   longer continuance here, and to find many delays and excuses to tarry
   yet a while longer in this world: and yet a very long life, with the
   usual burdens and infirmities of it, is seldom in reason desirable; for
   it is the same thing over again, or worse; so many more days and
   nights, summers and winters, a repetition of the same pleasures, but
   still with less pleasure and relish; a return of the same or greater
   pains and troubles, but still with less patience and strength to bear
   them.

   Let us then be of good courage in the approaches of death, since we see
   land, and the storm which we are in will quickly be over; and then it
   will be as if it had never been, or rather the remembrance of it will
   be a great pleasure to us:


   Suave mari magno, turbantibus aequora ventis,

   E terra alterius magnum spectare periclum.

   Non quia vexari quendam est jucunda voluptas;

   Sed quibus ipse malis careas quia cernere suave est.

   "It is a pleasant thing to stand upon the shore when we see others in a
   great storm at sea. Not that it is delightful to see others in danger;
   but when others are in great difficulties and dangers, it is a pleasure
   to find ourselves safe and out of danger."

   And if it should please God to exercise us with great pains and tedious
   sickness, we should make use of all the considerations which reason and
   religion do furnish us withal, to help to mitigate and deceive our
   troubles, and to make that short way a little more smooth and easy. For
   the best of us have no privilege and exemption from the common
   accidents of humanity, no piety can certainly secure to any of us an
   easy and comfortable death; and, therefore, it is a groundless
   confidence for any man to reckon upon it; we must in this, as in all
   other things, resign up ourselves to God's good pleasure, and submit to
   him the time and manner, and all other circumstances of our departure
   out of this world; whether our sun shall set in a cloud, or shine
   brightest and look biggest when it is going down. But however it sets,
   it is the sun still, and the fountain of light, and will rise
   gloriously. There are always the seeds of joy and comfort in the
   conscience of a good man; and though they be hid and buried for a
   while, they will spring forth one time or other. "Light is sown for the
   righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart," as David assures us,
   (Psal. xcvii. 11.) I will conclude all with the words of the author of
   this psalm: (Deut. xxxii. 29.) "Oh that they were wise, that they
   understood this, that they would consider their latter end!"
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CLXXXVIII.

  THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED, AS OUR EXAMPLE.

   Leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.--1 Pet. ii. 21.

   THE apostle here propounds to Christians the example of our Saviour as
   an argument to persuade them to one particular grace and virtue;
   namely, patience under sufferings unjustly laid upon us: (ver. 19-21.)
   "For this is thank-worthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure
   grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be
   buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if, when ye
   do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently; this is acceptable
   with God. For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also
   suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his
   steps."

   But though the example of our Saviour be here propounded to us upon a
   particular occasion, and with a more especial regard to the particular
   virtue of patience under unjust sufferings, which did so eminently
   appear in our blessed Saviour, the most meek and patient endurer that
   ever was, of the greatest and most wrongful sufferings; yet the apostle
   does not limit this great pattern of all righteousness to the single
   virtue of patience, but propounds it to us, as an example of universal
   holiness and goodness; for so he extends it in the next words, "leaving
   us an example, that ye should follow his steps; who did no sin, neither
   was guile found in his mouth."

   In this latitude and extent I shall discourse of it at this time, and
   that under these following heads:

   I. That his life is a most absolute and perfect pattern.

   II. That it is a very easy and familiar example.

   III. Very encouraging to the imitation of it.

   IV. An universal pattern fitted for the imitation of all sorts of
   persons, of what rank or condition soever.

   V. In the nature of it, very powerful to engage and oblige men to the
   imitation of it.

   I. The life of our blessed Saviour is a most absolute and perfect
   pattern of holiness and goodness, complete and entire in all its parts,
   and perfect to the utmost degree, in the following whereof there is no
   danger of being misguided, no fear of miscarriage: whereas all other
   examples of mortal men are fallible and uncertain guides, which if we
   follow too closely, will some time or other mislead us. In the lives of
   the best men recorded in Scripture, we may discern some spot and
   blemish, some error and oversight, some fall or slip; so that the lives
   of the holiest men are no sure rule, no perfect measure of our duty,
   and are therefore to be imitated with great wisdom and wariness, lest,
   if we follow all their actions indifferently and implicitly, in
   confidence they are good, because they are theirs, we may fall into
   great errors and failings; and therefore, in following the lives and
   examples of the best men, we must have an eye to the rule, and by that
   judge of the example which we propose to imitate; otherwise we may
   easily be seduced by the authority of a great example.

   But the example of our Lord is a living law and rule, his precepts and
   his pattern are of equal perfection, and the imitation of his life and
   actions is the very same thing with obedience to his laws. For the life
   of our blessed Saviour here on earth, is the life of God in the nature
   and likeness of man; he was God as well as man, and the Divine nature
   is certainly the pattern of all perfection. As he was the Son of God,
   he was "the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image and
   character of his person;" and as he was the Son of man, though he had
   natural frailties and infirmities, and was subject to hunger and
   thirst, weariness and pain, like other men; yet he had all the moral
   perfections belonging to human nature, without any of the evil
   inclinations, and sinful frailties, to which it is incident; and his
   human nature was assisted in an extraordinary manner by the Spirit of
   God, which "was not communicated to him by measure, but he was anointed
   with that holy unction above his fellows," above all the sons of men,
   above all the prophets and messengers of God that ever were sent to
   mankind; "he had no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." And
   indeed it was requisite, that he that "was manifested to take away our
   sins," and to make expiation for them, should himself be "without sin,"
   as the apostle to the Hebrews reasons: (Heb. vii. 26.) "Such a
   high-priest became us, who was holy, harmless, and undefined, separate
   from sinners:" and had he not been so, he could neither have been an
   example nor an expiation.

   And this is no small advantage to mankind, to have so excellent a
   pattern of the same nature with ourselves to imitate, so perfect a copy
   to write after. For whoever would excel in any kind, must (as
   Quintilian says) optima quaeque exempla ad imitandum proponere,
   "propose to himself the highest and most perfect examples of that kind
   for his imitation;" and the example of our blessed Saviour is
   unquestionably such a perfect pattern of all goodness and virtue, to
   the perfection whereof though we can never attain, yet it is a great
   advantage to have it always before us, and in our eye, that we may
   correct the errors and deformities of our lives, by the unspotted
   purity and perfect innocency of his life, and that we may be always
   aspiring after farther degrees of goodness; for surely we can no way
   better learn how God would have men to live in this world, than by
   seeing how God himself lived, when he was pleased to become man, to
   assume our nature, and dwell among us.

   II. As the life of our blessed Saviour is a most perfect, so likewise
   it is a familiar and easy example. The Divine nature is the great
   pattern of perfection; but that is too remote from us, and above our
   sight; "no man hath seen God at any time, nor can see him;" and though
   his perfections are represented to our minds in some degree, yet they
   are so glorious and dazzling an object, that we cannot bear to be hold
   them with that steadfastness, with which we ought to eye our pattern;
   and therefore God hath been pleased to condescend so far to our
   weakness, as to give us a visible example of those virtues he requires
   of us in "his own Son, appearing in the likeness of sinful flesh:" and
   the Son of God is an example of equal perfection with God himself, but
   much more easy and familiar, and level to us, in which we may see the
   several virtues of a good life practised in such instances, and upon
   such occasions, as do frequently happen in human life.

   Nothing was ever more simple and open, more obvious and easy to common
   imitation, than the life of our blessed Saviour, in which there was
   nothing dark and mysterious, abstruse and intricate; it was all perfect
   innocency and goodness, and he carried on one plain, and intelligible,
   and uniform design, which was to do all the good he possibly could to
   all men: this he pursued with all his might, with the greatest vigour
   and industry, with an undaunted courage and resolution, with an
   unwearied diligence, with a constant cheerfulness and serenity of mind;
   this was "his meat and drink," his great business and delight, his life
   and his happiness; he was not superciliously morose, had no affected
   singularities, no peculiar austerities in habit or diet, different from
   the common usage of men; his conversation was kind and innocent, free
   and familiar, open and indifferent to all sorts of persons; for he was
   a physician, and every body had need of him, all mankind were his
   patients. He did not place religion (as some have done since) in
   retirement from the world, and shunning the conversation of men, and
   taking great care to do nobody good: not in profound mysteries and fine
   speculations, but in the plain and honest practice of the solid and
   substantial virtues of a good life; in meekness and humility, in
   kindness and charity, in contentedness in a low and mean condition, and
   a calm compo sure of mind under all accidents and events, in patience
   under the greatest reproaches and sufferings, and a perfect submission
   to the will of God in all his dispensations, how harsh and unpleasant
   soever.

   Now there is nothing in all this, but what lies open to every man's
   understanding, and is easy to our practice and imitation, requiring
   nothing but an honest mind, and due care and diligence to do what we
   may easily know, to follow our guide in a plain way, and in all the
   actions of our lives, to tread in those steps in which the Son of God,
   and the best man that ever was, hath gone before us.

   III. The life of our blessed Saviour is likewise an encouraging
   example. It cannot but give great life to all good resolutions and
   endeavours, to see all that which God requires of us performed by one
   in our nature, by a man like ourselves. Our Saviour, indeed, had many
   advantages above us, being God as well as man; and his humanity, being
   supported by the Divine nature to which it was united, being clear from
   all the ill effects of original sin, and from all kind of vicious and
   inordinate inclinations; but then it is a great encouragement to us, to
   consider that God doth not require at our hands a perfect and unsinning
   obedience, as the condition of our salvation and happiness; but only
   such an obedience to his laws as is sincere, and continually aspiring
   after greater perfection, which is very possible to us by the grace of
   Christ, even in this imperfect state; that God considers our weakness,
   and how much we stand in need of his grace and assistance, and hath
   assured us that it shall not be wanting to us, if we heartily and
   earnestly beg it of him; and that strength which we may have for
   asking, is as good as if it were our own. If Christ were the Son of
   God, so are we, in a lower degree, by grace and adoption; and "if we be
   the sons of God, the Spirit of God dwells in us," to quicken and raise
   us to newness of life. And he that hath left us such an example, on
   purpose that we might follow it, will not surely leave us destitute of
   power to enable us to do so. It is a good argument to us, that he will
   enable us to do that in some degree in our own persons, which he
   himself did for example in our nature.

   An example more suitable to our weakness, might seem to have had more
   of encouragement in it: but we are to consider, that the Son of God
   assumed our nature, as compassed with infirmities, and liable to be
   "tempted in all things as we are, only without sin;" so that his
   example could not possibly have come nearer to us than it does, without
   great disadvantage to us, without wanting that perfection which is
   necessary to a complete and absolute pattern. In short, the Spirit of
   Christ dwells in us; and the same Spirit which kept and preserved him
   from all sin, is equally able to mortify sin in us, and to enable us to
   do the will of God in such manner as he will accept to our
   justification.

   IV. It is an universal pattern. As the doctrine of our Saviour, so his
   example was of an universal nature and design, calculated for all times
   and places; and, as much as was possible, abstracted from the
   circumstances of a particular condition, that it might be the more
   equally suited to all callings, and conditions, and capacities of men,
   and fitted for general direction and imitation in all sorts of goodness
   and virtue, either in the general principle, or in the particular
   instances of them. And for this reason he would not engage himself in
   any particular calling, or way of life, that his pattern might more
   equally and indifferently regard all mankind.

   He was really a great person, the greatest that ever was in birth and
   dignity, being the only Son of God, the maker and heir of all things:
   and yet he submitted to the lowest condition, to all the degrees of
   poverty and meanness, of contempt and sufferings, to teach men of high
   degree to be humble and serviceable to the good of others: and men of
   low degree to be contented and cheerful in the meanest condition, and
   the hardest circumstances that the providence of God shall see good to
   place them in.

   He had the deepest and most comprehensive knowledge; in him, as the
   apostle expresseth it, "were hid all the treasures of wisdom and
   knowledge:" and yet he made no vain show and ostentation of it; he did
   not puzzle his hearers with abstruse speculations and sublime
   mysteries, but, in a way of plain and familiar instruction, declared to
   his hearers those things which were most useful and necessary for them
   to know. He confuted the doctors, and confounded the wisdom of the
   wise, those who were conceited of their own knowledge and skill in
   Divine things; but was always ready to condescend to the weakness and
   ignorance of the meanest capacity; giving herein an example to the wise
   and learned, not to make a show of their knowledge, but to make the
   best use of it; not to lift up themselves above others, but to
   condescend and stoop to them for their good.

   He sometimes retired from conversation and company, that he might be
   alone, and at leisure to at tend upon God, and meditate on Divine and
   heavenly things, without interruption and distraction; but most
   frequently he conversed with others, and mingled himself with all sorts
   of persons, that he might give all the advantage, and do all the good
   he could to all men. Nay, he did not decline the conversation of the
   worst of men, and it was really true which was objected to him, that
   "he was a friend of publicans and sinners," being sincerely desirous to
   do them the greatest kindness in the world, to reform their manners,
   and reclaim them to a better course; so that he was a pattern both of
   the contemplative and active life, and shews us how to mix these to the
   greatest advantage; and by his own example teacheth us, that we cannot
   serve God better than by doing good to men; and that he is as well
   pleased, when we lay out ourselves for the benefit of others, spiritual
   and temporal, as if we employed all our thoughts and meditations wholly
   upon himself and Divine things; that a perpetual retirement from the
   world, and shunning the conversation of men, is not the most religious
   life, but living among men, and doing good to them.

   More particularly, the life of our blessed Saviour is a pattern to us,

   1. Of the greatest and most substantial virtues.

   2. Of the most rare and unusual.

   3. Of the most useful and beneficial.

   4. Of the most hard and difficult: and,

   5. Of such virtues as are most needful; and for the practice of which,
   there is the greatest and most frequent occasion in human life.

   1. It is a pattern of the greatest and most substantial virtues.

   Of a fervent piety and devotion toward God. We read, that he often
   retired to pray, and sometimes spent whole nights in it: his mind was
   continually upon God, as appears by his frequent ejaculations upon all
   occasions, by his communication and discourse, which was always either
   instructive of men in Divine truths, or persuasive to a holy practice;
   from worldly objects and occurrences, he would take occasion to raise
   some spiritual meditation, and to speak of heavenly things.

   And then his ready and cheerful obedience to the will of God in all
   things: "In the volume of the book it is written of me, I come to do
   thy will, O my God." He speaks of it with pleasure; and he delighted to
   do it: he declined the will of God in no instance, how difficult and
   displeasing soever to flesh and blood.

   The perfect purity and innocency of his life; he was "a lamb without
   spot and blemish," (1 Pet. i. 19.) "He did no sin," (chap. ii. 21.)
   "Leaving us herein an example, (that though we cannot keep equal pace
   with him, yet) we should follow his steps." He was "holy, harmless,
   undefiled, separate from sinners," (Heb. vii. 26.)

   And then his universal charity, taking all opportunities to do all the
   good, temporal and spiritual, that he could to all men, of which his
   whole life is one great and continued instance: these are all great and
   substantial virtues.

   I have indeed said nothing of justice, both because there was little
   occasion for it, he having no thing to do in those matters wherein
   justice is concerned: he had no estate of his own, and he meddled not
   with those of other men: and, likewise, because his life was all
   goodness, which is a virtue of a higher pitch than justice: he that was
   so good to all, we need not doubt of his justice, if there had been
   occasion for it.

   2. He was a pattern of the most rare and unusual virtues.

   Such was his sincerity, "guile was not found in his mouth," (1 Pet. ii.
   22.) His conversation was free and open, without disguise and
   concealment; and therefore, when the high-priest asked him of his
   disciples, and of his doctrine, (John xviii. 19.) he wondered at the
   question: "Why askest thou me? Ask them that heard me. I spake openly
   to the world, I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple,
   whither the Jews always resort, and in secret have I said nothing." And
   this is no common virtue, and therefore our Saviour gave it as a
   singular commendation to Nathanael: (John i. 47.) "Behold an Israelite
   indeed, in whom there is no guile." Perfect sincerity is a great
   foundation of goodness; it is soundness at the heart, and, like perfect
   health, seldom to he seen; there is hardly any thing wherein men,
   otherwise good and virtuous, do oftener trip and falter.

   Another virtue, which is not very usual, was eminent in our Saviour--I
   mean true humility, without affectation and secret pride lurking under
   it. This appeared very remarkable, and very natural, in his whole life,
   which was all of it the greatest instance of humility that ever was;
   and, therefore, with great assurance he propounds himself to our
   imitation in this: (Matt. xi. 29.) "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of
   me; for I am meek and lowly in spirit." And St. Paul sets this virtue
   before us, as being the constant temper of our Lord, and visible in his
   whole undertaking, and in every part of it from first to last, from his
   coming into the world to his going out of it: (Phil. ii. 5-8.) "Let
   this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the
   form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made
   himself of no reputation (he emptied himself of all his majesty and
   glory), and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
   likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
   himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
   Here was humility indeed, from so great a height to stoop so low, from
   the top of glory and majesty, to the lowest pitch of meanness and
   misery! Here is a pattern for us; and how should it shame and confound
   the pride of the sons of men, to see the Son of God so humble? There is
   no virtue I am sure which we have so much reason, and yet none which we
   have so little inclination, to imitate. "Pride was not made for men,"
   says the son of Sirach; it does not become us, and yet it is the
   fashion; we know that we have no cause to be proud, and yet we know not
   how to be humble. Let the example of our Lord's humility bring down the
   haughtiness of men, and when we consider how he abased himself, let us
   be "vile in our own eyes, and abhor ourselves in dust and ashes."

   And then his contempt of the world, and the enjoyments and pleasures of
   it, to that degree, that he would have no part and share in the
   possessions of it, not so much as one of the first and almost lowest
   conveniences of life, a settled abode and habitation; so that, as he
   himself tells us, he was in a more destitute condition than the brute
   creatures: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests,
   but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Not that he
   designed to oblige us to a strict imitation of him in this particular;
   for he might, and we may lawfully possess and enjoy these things: but
   to teach us not to overprize them, not to seek them too earnestly, nor
   love them inordinately. That he despised them, should keep us from
   admiring them, and doating upon them; that he would not have them in
   his possession, should keep them out of our hearts, and make us very
   loose and indifferent in our affections to them; that he valued doing
   good above all the enjoyments of this world, should make us value them
   only in order to that end.

   And then his excessive kindness and benignity to us, such as men very
   rarely shew to their best friends, and the best men; but such as no man
   ever shewed to his enemies: "Peradventure, for a good man one would
   even dare to die, (says St. Paul, Rom. v. 7.) But herein God commended
   his love to us, in that whilst we were sinners, Christ died for us."
   And this pattern of love our Saviour propounds to our imitation: (John
   xv. 12, 13.) "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I
   have loved you. Greater love than this hath no man, that a man lay down
   his life for his friend." The highest pitch of human friendship that
   ever was, was to die for a friend: but our Lord died not for his
   friends, but for his enemies, that he might make them his friends, by
   gaining them to the obedience of his laws: "Ye are my friends, if you
   do whatsoever I command you." The same pattern the apostles of our Lord
   propound to us: (Ephes. v. 2.) "Walk in love as Christ also hath loved
   us, and given himself for us." (1 John iii. 16.) "Hereby perceive we
   the love of God, because he laid down his life for us; and we also
   ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Here is a pattern of the
   highest and most unusual kind of love proposed to our imitation; not
   that every man, by virtue of this example, is to lay down his life for
   another, because that is not practicable; for then, by the same reason
   that I am obliged to lay down my life for another, he would be as much
   obliged to lay down his life for me; and so, by my dying for him, I
   should hinder him of doing a duty to which he was equally obliged, and
   take it out of his hands: but the meaning of this precept is, that, as
   Christ died for a common good, so we ought to bear that common
   affection to mankind, and especially to our brethren, who are endeared
   to us by a nearer relation, as, in imitation of the example he hath
   given us, to be ready by our single life, if there be occasion, to
   redeem the lives of many of our brethren, and to expose ourselves to
   save them. This I conceive is all that can reasonably be collected from
   our obligation to imitate our Lord's example.

   3. The life of our blessed Saviour is likewise a pattern of such
   virtues, as are most useful and beneficial to others.

   In his readiness to do good to all persons and all kinds; by
   instructing their ignorance, and supplying their wants, spiritual and
   temporal; by resolving their doubts, and comforting them in their
   sorrows; by healing their diseases and infirmities, which he, indeed,
   did in extraordinary and miraculous ways, because he was destitute of
   ordinary means; and we are to do it by ordinary means, and such as are
   in our power, which when they are, there is no need of miracles. And
   then in his seeking occasions and opportunities for it, not content
   with those that offered themselves, but inquiring after them; and in
   his unwearied diligence in this work; for "he went about doing good,"
   spent whole days from morning to night, for the service and benefit of
   others; neglected himself, and the ordinary refreshments of nature, out
   of his great zeal to "work the work of him that sent him," to bring
   glory to God, and good to men.

   And in the delight he took in this employment; it was "his meat and
   drink" to be doing of it,: he esteemed it his happiness, yea, a greater
   felicity to confer benefits upon others, than any man finds in
   receiving the greatest benefit from others: for that, it seems, was a
   noted saying of his, a kind of motto with him, as St. Paul testifies:
   (Acts xx. 35.) "It is more blessed to give than to receive." And in all
   this, he persisted in despite of the greatest discouragements from the
   ingratitude and malice of men, who maligned him for his kindness, and
   put an ill construction upon his most charitable actions, and were
   ready "to stone him for his good works:" but this did not discourage
   him, and take him off; so he might do good, he was contented to hear
   and suffer ill.

   And then in his condescension to others, and consideration of their
   weakness, and complying with them in lawful and indifferent things, for
   their edification, and to gain them in greater matters; this St. Paul
   tells us, was our Lord's temper, and he urgeth Christians with the
   example of it: (Rom. xv. 1-3.) "We then that are strong, ought to bear
   the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one
   of us please his neighbour for his good to edification: for even Christ
   pleased not himself." Where we have liberty and can yield, we ought to
   abate of our own humour, for the good and edification of others; and
   not peevishly and stiffly to insist upon lesser things, to the
   hinderance of a greater good; "for even Christ pleased not himself." He
   who had all authority to command, and right to be obeyed, and who could
   not err in any thing; yet he condescended to the weakness and
   infirmities of others, and in all indifferent things, did not consult
   his own inclination, but their interest and edification.

   And, which greatly conduceth to the comfort and benefit of all
   societies, both civil and ecclesiastical, he gave us the example of an
   obedient and peace able temper, conforming himself and his actions not
   only to Divine, but human laws, "giving to Caesar the things which are
   Caesar's, and to God the things which are God s;" insomuch, that when
   tribute was demanded of him, though he was really free from any such
   obligation, and so poor, that he was not able to pay it, in which case
   even Caesar must lose his right; nevertheless, to avoid offence, he
   submitted to it, and chose rather to work a miracle, than to appear
   refractory and disobedient.

   And in religious rites and ceremonies, and the observance of days and
   times, he did not only conform to all Divine institutions, but to human
   appointment and usage in all things that were of an innocent and
   indifferent nature; and this without any anxious scrupulosity, and
   perverse disputing every inch of his liberty; with great peaceableness
   observing those religious festivals, which had no other appointment but
   of the civil authority, and were of mere human institution; and with
   great prudence steering a middle course, between endless superstition
   and scrupulous and petulant faction; giving all Christians herein a
   pattern, how to demean themselves in like cases with great
   peaceableness and obedience, and not to do or avoid the doing of any
   thing, out of peevishness and singularity of humour, and a spirit of
   contradiction, and not to indulge needless and endless scruples,
   especially on the wrong side, as it is too visible many men's scruples
   lie almost wholly about obedience to authority, and compliance with
   indifferent customs, but very seldom about the danger of disobedience
   and unpeaceableness, and rendering in pieces the church of Christ, by
   needless separations, and endless divisions.

   And our Lord did not only give us the example of a peaceable and
   uniting spirit, but a little before his departure out of the world, he
   bequeathes it to his disciples, as his last legacy. (John xiv. 27.)
   "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." And, to confirm it
   to them, he makes it his most earnest and particular prayer to God for
   them, that God would preserve this spirit of peace and unity among
   Christians to the end of the world, foreseeing, in his infinite wisdom,
   what mischiefs and dishonour the contrary temper would bring to his
   holy religion. (John xvii. 20-23.) "Neither pray I for these alone,"
   meaning his disciples, "but for them also which shall believe on me
   through their word;" that is, for all Christians to the end of the
   world; "that they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in
   thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that
   thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given
   them; that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in
   me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know
   that thou hast sent me." Intimating, that nothing is more apt to bring
   in question the divinity of the Christian doctrine, than contentions
   and divisions among Christians; "that the world may know that thou hast
   sent me."

   Let us often think of this pattern, and this prayer of our Saviour, and
   let the consideration of it quell those unchristian heats which are
   among us, lest, by our animosities and divisions about lesser things,
   which, whatever opinion men may have of them, do no ways touch upon the
   life and essence of religion, we first dishonour, and finally destroy
   from among us the best religion in the world. "And God grant that we
   may all know and do in this our day, the things which belong to our
   peace, before they be hid from our eyes, for his mercy's sake in Jesus
   Christ; to whom, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and
   glory now and for ever."
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CLXXXIX.

  THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED AS OUR EXAMPLE.

   Leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.--1 Pet. ii. 21.

   I HAVE considered our Saviour's example as an universal pattern,
   calculated for all persons, times and places; and this I illustrated in
   these particulars:

   1. That it was a pattern to us of the greatest and most substantial
   virtues.

   2. Of such as are most rare and unusual.

   3. Of such as are most useful and beneficial to others: I proceed to
   the particulars, which remain to be spoken to.

   4. Our Saviour is likewise a pattern to us of such virtues as are most
   hard and difficult to be practised, such as are most against the grain
   of our corrupt nature, and most contrary to flesh and blood.

   Every virtue is then hard and difficult, when it either contradicts the
   strong inclinations of nature, or meets with powerful temptations to
   the contrary.

   The virtues which thwart the inclinations of human nature, are
   comprehended under the general name of self-denial; the denial of
   ourselves in those things which are commonly dearest to men; such are
   our own life, our pleasure or ease, our reputation: in all these, our
   blessed Lord hath given us the greatest example of self-denial that
   ever was; he denied his own life, and gave up himself wholly to the
   will of God, to do and suffer whatever he thought fit to impose upon
   him. So he himself tells us: (John v. 30.) "I seek not mine own will,
   but the will of the Father which sent me:" and, (John vi. 38.) "I came
   down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
   sent me." And when he was in that great agony, on the apprehension of
   his approaching sufferings, at which nature did start, and when that
   bitter cup, that cup of astonishment was put into his hand, though he
   would have been glad to have declined it, if God had thought fit; yet,
   upon the whole matter, he submitted to it, and renounced his own will,
   the strongest inclination of nature that could be, in obedience to the
   will of God. (Matt. xxvi. 39.) "He fell on his face and prayed, saying,
   O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me;
   nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt:" and, (ver. 42.) "He
   went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if
   this cup may not pass from me, except I drink it, thy will be done."
   Here was a great conflict; nature declined those dreadful sufferings
   which were coming upon him, and would have shrunk back: but he
   considered his duty, and made his inclination yield to it.

   And he did not only deny his own will in obedience to the will of God,
   for which there is so great and invincible reason; but he denied it
   likewise in compliance and condescension to the prejudices, and
   humours, and infirmities of men, for their edification and good. So St.
   Paul tells us, and propounds our Lord herein to us for a pattern. (Rom.
   xv. 2, 3.)

   He denied himself in the lawful pleasures and satisfactions, in the
   ease and accommodations of life: he lived meanly, and fared hardly; he
   possessed and enjoyed none of the good things of this world, and
   endured all the evils of it; he despised riches, and the pomp and pride
   of life, and contented himself with a poor and destitute condition,
   "having not where to lay his head," nor wherewithal to support nature,
   and to defray the common tribute, without a miracle. And he did not
   submit to this poor and mean condition upon necessity, for "he was Lord
   of all;" he made the world, and it was all his own, upon the highest
   right and title: but he voluntarily embraced it, "being rich, for our
   sake he became poor," that he might wean us from the love of these
   things, and be an effectual example to us of the contempt of worldly
   wealth and greatness.

   And he denied himself likewise in one of the dearest and tenderest
   things in the world, to the wisest and greatest minds, I mean in point
   of reputation: "he made himself of no reputation," says St. Paul,
   (Phil. ii. 7.) heauton ekenose, "he emptied himself." To submit to
   contempt, is to empty one's self indeed: reputation being one of the
   last things a generous mind would be content to forego, and that which
   some have held in equal dearness and esteem with life itself; yet in
   this our Lord denied himself, and, that he might do good to mankind,
   was contented to be esteemed one of the worst of men; and without any
   kind of cause and desert, to undergo all manner of obloquy and
   reproach, to be accounted a magician and impostor, "a friend and
   companion of publicans and sinners;" a seducer of the people, a
   seditious person, and more worthy of the most cruel and shameful death
   than the greatest malefactor. Thus was the Son of God contented to be
   set below the worst of men, to be abased and vilified, that he might be
   a perfect pattern to us of this difficult virtue of self-denial, even
   in those things which are held in greatest esteem among the best of
   men.

   And surely in no case is example more necessary than in this, to
   animate and encourage us in the discharge of so difficult a duty, so
   contrary to the bent and inclination of our nature. A bare precept of
   self-denial in these things, and a peremptory command to sacrifice our
   own wills, our ease, our pleasure and reputation, yea, and life itself,
   to the glory of God, and the good of men, would have sounded very harsh
   and severe, had not the practice of all this been exemplified in a
   pattern of so much advantage: one who, in all these respects denied
   himself much more than is possible for us to do, who might have
   insisted upon a greater right, who abased himself, and stooped from a
   greater height and dignity, who did not submit to a condition of
   poverty and meanness when it was unavoidable, but chose it; who
   submitted to suffering, though he never deserved it, and who met with
   all the contempt and reproach imaginable, whilst he truly deserved the
   greatest esteem and reputation. Here is an example that hath all the
   argument, and all the encouragement that can be to the imitation of it.
   Was he, who had so regular a will and inclination, contented to have it
   crucified and thwarted? did he, who had an unquestionable right to all
   the riches and enjoyments of the world, renounce them all, and embrace
   poverty? did he, to whose deep wisdom and judgment all mankind ought to
   submit, condescend to the weakness of others, and not please himself?
   did he, who never did the least thing in his whole life that might
   justly stain or blemish his reputation, patiently bear all sorts of
   contumely and reproach? And shall we think much to deny ourselves in
   any of these? Such an example is of greater force and authority than
   any precept or law. Well might our Lord, thus going before us, command
   us to follow him, saying: "If any man will be my disciple, let him deny
   himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." If he thus denied
   himself, well may we, who have much less to deny, and much more reason
   and cause to do it; for, as he argues, "the disciple is not greater
   than his master, nor the servant than his lord." He did it voluntarily
   and of choice; it is our duty: he did it for our sakes; we do it for
   our own: we did not deserve it of him; but he hath merited it of us.

   Our Lord did not, like the pharisees, give strict precepts to .others,
   which they themselves did not follow. "They said, and did not; laid
   heavy bur dens upon others, and grievous to be borne, when they
   themselves would not touch them with one of their fingers:" nor like
   the philosophers, who spake fine and glorious things of goodness and
   virtue, but did much like other men; gave strict rules to others, but
   lived loosely themselves; and therefore it is no wonder that their
   discourses had so little effect upon the lives and manners of men, and
   were so unavailable to the reformation of the world. Precepts of great
   strictness and severity, are like to be obeyed very slowly and faintly,
   unless they be sweetened and made easy by the familiar practice of
   those that give them. In a way that is rugged and difficult, full of
   trouble and danger, it is not enough to bid men go on; but he that bids
   them, must go before them, and take them by the hand, and give them an
   example to follow his steps; without this, rules and precepts are very
   dry things, and give but faint and cold encouragement. Caesar's example
   prevailed much more upon his soldiers than his word of command. No man
   ever discoursed better of magnanimity and greatness of mind, in great
   dangers and calamities, than Tully does; and yet when it come to the
   trial, no man ever behaved himself more faintly, and shewed greater
   dejection of mind, than he did; so that it is hard to say, whether his
   discourses are more apt to raise, or his example to damp, a man's
   spirit. Seneca writes with wonderful wit and smartness, with great
   fineness and force of argument, about the contempt of the world and
   wealth; but then, to consider how he flowed in wealth himself, and how
   intent he was to heap up riches beyond measure, would make a man more
   apt to despise him than the world. So necessary is it that precepts,
   especially of great difficulty, should be backed and enforced by
   example, and that severe rules should be mollified, and made easy by
   the practice of those who prescribe them. And this our Lord took
   particular care to do in those precepts of his, which seem to offer the
   greatest violence to the common bent and inclination of human nature.

   And so he did likewise in those virtues which are so difficult upon the
   account of temptation from without, as well as of inclination from
   within. Not to insist upon his firm resistance of all the temptations
   to ambition, which made not the least impression upon him; the offer of
   the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, had no influence upon
   him. He was sometimes in great favour with the people, and mightily
   applauded by them, for speaking as never man spake, and doing such
   things as no man ever did: but he was as little moved by their
   applause, as he was dejected by their reproaches. When the people would
   have made him king, to qualify him the better, as they thought, to be
   the Messias, he would not take so much notice of the offer as to refuse
   it, but silently withdrew himself, that they knew not where to find
   him.

   But that which I shall particularly take notice of, under this head, is
   his great meekness; which is a very difficult virtue, if we consider
   the peevishness and infirmity of the human nature, and the frequent
   temptations to passion and anger, which occur in human life, and these
   very sudden and surprising; so that there is nothing wherein wise men
   do oftener betray their own weakness, than in the matter of sudden
   anger. Moses, the greatest of all the prophets that had been, and who
   it seems was naturally of a meek temper, having this testimony given
   him by the Spirit of God, that he was the meekest man upon earth; yet
   he miscarried in this matter, and not being able to bear the continual
   perverseness of that people, lost his temper, and fell into an
   irregular passion. But our blessed Lord, whose temper was perpetually
   assaulted with the highest provocations in all kinds, still maintained
   the evenness and meekness of his spirit.

   The dulness and slowness of his disciples, to understand and believe
   what he had so plainly taught, and so often inculcated upon them, was a
   great trial of patience; which yet provoked him no farther, than to a
   just rebuke of their fault. The hardest words he ever gave them, were:
   "O unwise and slow of heart to believe! how long shall I suffer you?"
   And when he was in the height of his sorrow and trouble, and his
   disciples were so un concerned for him, as to fall asleep, in the same
   breath that he reproves their drowsiness, he makes an excuse for it:
   "Can ye not watch with me one hour? The spirit indeed is willing; but
   the flesh is weak." This carriage from his friends and followers, when
   he stood in most need of their comfort and assistance, and "his soul
   was exceeding sorrowful, even to the death," was a great temptation to
   anger, especially falling upon a sore and afflicted mind; and yet it
   was so far from provoking his anger, that it rather moved his pity
   toward them.

   His sharp reproofs of the scribes and pharisees, were but a necessary
   severity, and a just expression of his indignation at the fulsome
   hypocrisy of such great pretenders to piety and devotion; for he knew
   their hearts. His whipping of the buyers and sellers out of the temple,
   the only action of his life in which there appears any transport of
   anger, was no other than a becoming zeal for the honour of God's house,
   which he saw so notoriously profaned; which zeal was warranted, after
   the example of Phineas, by the extraordinary occasion of it. In all his
   other actions, he was perfectly meek and lowly in spirit, void of
   pride, one of the chief causes of inordinate anger. We cannot say he
   was never angry; but whenever he was so, which was very seldom, he
   sinned not; it was upon great and just occasion, and never to any undue
   degree.

   And this is the more remarkable, because he was very apt to receive the
   impressions of other passions; of love and pity, which easily moved him
   to kindness and compassion. He could not forbear to weep, when he saw
   Lazarus's friends lamenting over his grave, though he knew the cause of
   their sorrow would soon be removed and turned into joy, by his
   resurrection to life. Nay, he had not only this tenderness towards his
   friends, but even to his greatest enemies. When he looked upon
   Jerusalem, and foresaw the terrible revenge that God would take upon
   his enemies and murderers, and beheld at a great distance the dreadful
   calamities that were coming upon them, he could not refrain from tears.
   He allowed himself in these innocent and human passions; but where
   there was danger of transgressing, as there is in no passion more than
   that of anger, he was continually upon his guard, and governed himself
   with great care, and never gave way to it, but upon evident and just
   occasion; and was never transported to any undue degree.

   And yet he lived and died almost under continual provocations to it;
   not only from his friends and followers, but from all soils of persons,
   provocations of the highest nature: if the most spiteful reproaches and
   injurious usage, and the most cruel persecutions and sufferings from
   the hands of those whom he had by all ways endeavoured to oblige; if
   the contradiction of sinners, whom he came to save; in a word, if the
   greatest malice, accompanied with the highest ingratitude; if any, if
   all of these be provocations of a high nature, he was almost
   continually, living and dying, exercised with these. And how did he
   demean himself in the midst of all these provocations? with the
   greatest meekness and mildness imaginable, answering their bitterest
   reproaches and cruellest usage either with calm reasonings or with meek
   silence; that, by the reasonableness and meekness of his answers and
   carriage, he might either convince or mollify them. When his enemies
   charged him with the profanation of the sabbath, he only reasons the
   matter fairly with them, asking them, whether it was "lawful to do good
   or to do evil on the sabbath-day?" telling them, that "the sabbath was
   made for man, and not man for the sabbath?" bidding them go and learn
   what that means, "I will have mercy and not sacrifice." When they
   accused him for being a magician, and "casting out devils by the prince
   of the devils," he convinceth them, by reason, that this was a
   malicious and groundless charge, telling them, that "a kingdom divided
   against itself cannot stand;" and that if he by Satan cast out Satan,
   his kingdom was divided against itself, and must fall. When they
   upbraided him for companying with publicans and sinners, he justifies
   the thing, by telling them, that "the whole have no need of the
   physician, but the sick;" that "he came not to call the righteous, but
   sinners to repentance." When they charged him with blasphemy, for
   saying to the man sick of the palsy, "thy sins be forgiven thee;" he
   only asks them this question, "Which is easier to say, thy sins be
   forgiven thee; or, take up thy bed and walk?" When they called him by
   the odious name of impostor, and seducer of the people, he makes no
   sharp answer, but appeals to his miracles, and the works which he had
   done among them, as an unquestionable testimony that he came from God.
   When they took up stones to throw at him, he opposeth to this hard
   usage only soft, gentle words, if by that means he might stay their
   rage: (John x. 32.) "Many good works have I shewed you from my Father;
   for which of these works do you stone me?" Thus, upon all occasions, he
   answers their malice and rage, not with boisterous passion, but by calm
   reason and argument; and, notwithstanding it had little effect, he
   continues this way to the last, and as the malice of his enemies was
   invincible, so was his meekness. In his last sufferings, when he was so
   rudely and injuriously treated at his trial, and one of the high
   priest's officers struck him in the open face of the court, he only
   says to him, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if
   well, why smitest thou me?" What could be said more meekly? What more
   reasonably? And when, in the extremity of his sufferings, the high
   priests, and the soldiers, and the people, all joined together to
   revile him, and insult over his misery in the most barbarous and cruel
   manner; instead of breaking out into passion in this anguish of his
   soul, he pours out his prayers to God on their behalf, and makes the
   most charitable excuse and apology for them that their crime was
   possibly capable of: "Father forgive them; for they know not what they
   do." While he felt the bitter effects of their malice, he imputes it to
   their ignorance. Here is an example of meekness fit for the Son of God
   to give, and much more fit for the sons of men to follow; for, as the
   wise son of Syrach says excellently, "Pride was not made for men, nor
   furious anger for him that was born of a woman."

   And having such an example left us of this great virtue, let us do
   likewise, since, as St. Peter tells us, he suffered, with all this
   meekness and patience, "to leave us an example that ye might follow his
   steps; who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered,
   he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth
   righteously." When we consider this example, can we resent so highly
   every petty injury and provocation; and upon every slighting word
   proceed to a challenge and a quarrel, and entertain fierce and
   implacable thoughts of revenge? When the Son of God with so much
   meekness endured the continual contradictions of sinners, and put up
   with such outrageous affronts and indignities from his creatures, those
   ungrateful wretches, whom he had made, and whom he came to save, and
   for whom he offered to give that very blood, which they so cruelly and
   maliciously shed, for the expiation of their guilt.

   To all which I shall add, his readiness to forgive injuries,
   considering the temptations he had to wrath and revenge, from the
   spiteful reproaches, and injurious calumnies, and continual persecution
   of his bitter and implacable enemies without a cause; who pursued him
   with incessant rage and malice, and never gave over until they had
   wrought his ruin, and by false accusations, and a most violent
   persecution, and seditious tumults and clamours, they had forced the
   Roman governor, contrary to his inclination and the convictions of his
   own mind and conscience, and against all reason and justice, to pass
   sentence upon him, when he declared he saw nothing in him worthy of
   death, and to condemn him to a most painful and ignominious death. Nor
   did their malice end here; but they aggravated his sufferings with
   scurrilous taunts and reproaches, and all the rudeness and indignities
   imaginable: and yet all this injurious and cruel usage did not provoke
   him to one revengeful thought; could not extort from him so much as one
   peevish, or misbecoming, or threatening word. "When he was reviled, he
   reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not." But,
   notwithstanding all this provocation, he was more ready to forgive the
   injuries and indignities they put upon him than they could be to offer
   them, and implored the mercy and forgiveness of God for them as
   heartily and as earnestly as they had solicited his death and
   destruction.

   It is easy to give precepts of forgiveness, to hid men "love their
   enemies, bless them that curse them, do good to them that hate them,
   and pray for them that despitefully use them, and persecute them; and
   to forgive our brother that offends us, not only to seven times, but to
   seventy times seven," without stint and limit: but the practice of this
   is exceeding difficult; for how hard do we find it to pass by a little
   provocation, and upon a very small affront and indignity offered to us
   to suppress the thought and desire of revenge, and to command our
   passion from breaking out in word or deed? But much more difficult is
   it perfectly to forgive, to love our enemies, to pray for them, and to
   be ready to do them good. Such a difficult virtue as this had need of
   ail sorts of inducements to engage us to the practice of it. And
   therefore our blessed Lord did not think it enough strictly to enjoin
   it, and to enforce it upon us by the most powerful considerations,
   teaching us in our daily prayers to beg mercy and forgiveness of God
   upon this condition--that we forgive others, and not to hope for it
   upon other terms; telling us, that as we demean ourselves toward one
   another in this case of injuries and provocations, so God will deal
   with us; "if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will
   also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither
   will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses." Nothing can be
   urged upon us with greater force than this duty is, because upon our
   practice and performance of it all our hopes of mercy and forgiveness
   from God are suspended. But yet it is difficult after all this; and,
   therefore, to allure us more powerfully to the practice of it, our Lord
   hath given us the example of it in the whole course of his life; in
   which, being continually assaulted with injuries and provocations, he
   had perpetual occasion for the practice of forgiveness; and that in
   greater instances, and upon occasion of greater injuries, than any of
   us are capable of receiving. He who could never stand in need of
   forgiveness from men, who needed none from God, who had it always in
   his power to have revenged with ease, and to the utmost, all the
   provocations and affronts that were offered to him; he who had none of
   those powerful inducements to forgiveness which we have, was thus ready
   to forgive; and did it perpetually, upon the greatest, upon innumerable
   occasions; he forgave his enemies, all their ill-will toward him, and
   all their vile and malicious usage of him throughout his whole life:
   but most remark ably at his death, when the provocations were greatest
   and most violent, when they fell thick and in storms upon him, and when
   they were most grievous and piercing, in the very agony and anguish of
   his sufferings; in these hard and pressing circumstances, he was so far
   from breathing out threatening and revenge against the authors of his.
   cruel sufferings, that with his last breath he did most effectually
   declare his free forgiveness of them, and perfect charity toward them,
   by his fervent prayer to God for them; "Father, forgive them, for they
   know not what they do."

   5. And lastly, Our Saviour is likewise a pattern to us of the most
   needful virtues, and for the practice whereof there is the greatest and
   most frequent occasion in human life.

   Several of these I have already mentioned under the former heads: as
   sincerity, which hath an universal influence upon all our actions; and
   is a principal ingredient into all the duties and services which we are
   to perform to God and men; humility and meekness, for the exercise
   whereof there is almost continual occasion in all our conversation with
   others. These have been spoken to, I shall therefore instance in some
   others, which are likewise of great and frequent use in human life.

   (1.) The great humanity of his carriage and deportment, of which he
   gave manifold instances, in his free and familiar conversation with all
   sorts of people. He did not despise the meanest. How familiarly did he
   talk with the woman of Samaria? insomuch that his disciples were
   offended at it, and "marvelled that he talked with her." He did not
   decline the conversation of the worst of men, where he had any hope of
   making them better by it; and though his companying "with publicans and
   sinners" was often objected as matter of scandal to him, yet he would
   not for that reason neglect any opportunity of doing good. He was
   affable to his inferiors, to the meanest person that had occasion to
   speak with him; yea, he rebuked his disciples, for forbidding the
   little children to come to him. They would have kept them from him,
   because they could not imagine to what purpose they should be permitted
   to come to him: but though they were not capable of his instructions,
   yet they were of his kindness and blessing. "He took them up in his
   arms, and laid his hands upon them, and blessed them;" and he proposed
   them to his disciples as emblems of that innocency and simplicity,
   without which no man shall enter into the kingdom of God.

   His humanity likewise appeared in the tenderness and compassion of his
   nature, towards all that were in want or misery of any kind. "He healed
   all manner of sicknesses and diseases among the people, and went about
   doing good." And when his followers, by their long attendance upon him
   hi desert and solitary places to hear his doctrine, were pinched with
   hunger, he could not find in his heart to dismiss them without some
   refreshment; and, having no other means, did it by a miracle. He was
   very apt to sympathize with the condition of others, to weep with them
   that wept, as he did with the friends of Lazarus over his grave: nay,
   he had a tenderness for his enemies; when he beheld Jerusalem, and the
   sad fate which hung over it for their obstinate impenitency, he could
   not refrain from tears at the thoughts of it.

   Another instance of his humanity was his easiness to be entreated, and
   readiness to yield to the request of those who desired his company, or
   implored his help and assistance. And as he was most ready to do good
   to all, so he did not disdain to receive kindness from any; complying
   cheerfully with the desires of those who invited him to their houses,
   and accepting kindly any well-intended respect. How did he resent the
   extraordinary kindness of the devout woman, who poured the box of rich
   ointment upon his head! taking care that the memory of it should be
   transmitted to all generations, and proclaimed over the whole world,
   (Matt. xxvi. 13.)

   (2.) Another very needful virtue, and for which our Lord was very
   eminent, was his neglect and disregard of the opinion of men, in
   comparison of his duty. As he was not affected, much less puffed up,
   with their applause (which is an argument of a vain and light mind), so
   was he as little moved with their censures and reproaches, by which he
   was neither disordered in his passions, nor discouraged from
   well-doing. He took heed to his duty, and made sure to do the things
   which pleased God, and was not very solicitous what men said or thought
   of him. He observed in the pharisees, how great a temptation and
   hinderance to the receiving of his doctrine an undue regard to the
   praise and censure of men was: "they loved the praise of men more than
   the praise of God," as he tells us; (John xii. 43.) and, (chap. v. 44.)
   "How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not,
   the honour which cometh from God only?" Not that we are to slight and
   neglect the opinion of others concerning our actions, that is pride and
   self-conceit; and our Lord himself was not so regardless of his
   reputation, as not to take great care to give no just occasion of
   censure, no needless handle to slander and calumny; he vindicated
   himself upon all occasions, and was ready to give a fair and reasonable
   account of his actions, to those who found fault with them, nay, even
   maliciously carped at them; he prudently avoided occasions of offence,
   and, by wise and cautious answers, many times avoided the snares that
   were laid to bring him under obloquy and reproach: but in competition
   with his plain duty, he neither regarded the applause nor censures of
   men; he complied with them in nothing that was bad, to gain their good
   opinion and esteem; nor was he hindered and discouraged from any thing
   that was good, for fear of being ill-spoken of, or of having a bad
   interpretation put upon his good actions.

   And this is a virtue very necessary to a good man, especially in bad
   times, and requires a good degree of fortitude and firmness of
   resolution to make a man master of it. And it is not more necessary
   than it is reasonable: for it is not in our power, whether men shall
   speak well or ill of us; but it is in our power, whether we will do
   well or ill. It is many times impossible to please men, they are so
   divided in their opinions about good and evil; but we may make sure to
   please God, and to gain his praise and approbation, "whose judgment is
   always according to truth." It is a vain and endless thing to live up
   to the humours and opinions of men, which are variable and uncertain;
   but if we keep steady to our duty, we live to the consciences of men,
   which first or last will come to themselves, and come over to us, and
   approve of that which is good. This is, as St. Paul speaks, "to commend
   ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God."

   (3.) Another virtue for which there is great occasion in human life,
   and for which our Lord was very remarkable, was his contentedness in a
   mean and poor condition; and such was his condition to the very lowest
   degree. He was destitute of the ordinary conveniences and necessary
   supports of life; he lived generally upon the kindness and charity of
   others, and when that failed, and he wanted ordinary supports, as he
   often did, he was maintained by miracle: and yet, in this mean and
   necessitous condition, he had a constant evenness and serenity of mind;
   he had no anxious care and solicitude upon him, "what he should eat,
   and what he should drink, or wherewithal he should be clothed;" he
   never murmured at the unequal providence of God, never uttered one
   discontented or envious word at the plenty and prosperity of others; he
   rather pitied the misfortune of rich and great men, who were exposed to
   so many temptations, that it was very hard for them, in his opinion, to
   be saved; but he enjoyed himself, and served God, and went about doing
   good, and depended upon the providence of God for his daily food; and
   if at any time that was wanting, he tells his disciples, that he had
   meat to eat which they knew not of; for it was his meat and drink to do
   the will of his Father. By all that appears in the history of his life
   (and we are sure that it is true), no man was ever poorer, and yet no
   man ever more contented than he was; which is not only an example of
   contentedness to those, whom the providence of God hath placed in the
   extremity of meanness and want, but a much stronger and more forcible
   argument of contentment in every condition. For discontent is not only
   the portion of the poor, but of those who have a competency, because
   they have not plenty; and many times of those who have plenty and
   abundance, because they are wanton and foolish, and know not what they
   would have; so that our Saviour, by giving an example of contentment to
   those of the poorest and meanest condition, hath given it much more to
   those who are in better circumstances. A narrow fortune is riches in
   comparison of none; a competency is plenty, compared with poverty, and
   the want of the ordinary accommodations of life. If the Son of God
   submitted to the lowest and poorest condition, and bore it with so much
   evenness and tranquillity of mind; well may we-, if God call us to it.
   If he that was "heir of all things," was destitute of all things, and
   well contented to be so; shall we murmur and repine, if we be in the
   same circumstances? If this example be of any force (as it is certainly
   of the greatest), should the providence of God see fit to reduce us to
   the lowest condition of want, we have no reason for discontent; but if
   he affords us a competency, we have no colour and pretence for it,
   unless we think ourselves better than the Son of God, and can claim a
   greater right to the possessions and enjoyments of this world, than he
   that made it.

   Before this example, we might have thought that poverty and meanness
   had been a sign of God's hatred and displeasure, or at least an
   argument of less love and regard: but now that we see him, whom God
   loved infinitely better than any man in the world, to have been one of
   the poorest men that ever lived; this is a demonstration, that a man
   may be entirely beloved of God, though he be in the poorest and most
   destitute condition; for in such a condition he thought fit to place
   his beloved Son, "in whom he was well-pleased." And if poverty be
   consistent with the highest degree of God's love and favour, we may
   bear it contentedly; and if there be reason for contentment even in
   poverty, to be discontented in any condition that is above it, is
   shameful and intolerable. Of such force is this example of our Lord, to
   banish discontent from any condition we are liable to in this world.
   The

   (4.) Fourth and last virtue I shall instance in, and for the exercise
   whereof there is very great and frequent occasion in human life, is
   patience under sufferings, and such a perfect resignation of ourselves
   to the will of God, that whatever pleaseth him should please us, how
   distasteful and grievous soever it be. And of this virtue our blessed
   Saviour was the greatest example that ever was; his whole life, from
   his birth to his death, was made up of persecution and patience, and
   was a continual exercise of his virtue. There had been great examples
   in all ages of the sufferings and patience of good men, which we might
   propound to ourselves with great advantage; and so St. James exhorts
   the Christians to do: (James v. 10.) "Take, my brethren, the prophets,
   who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering
   affliction, and of patience." Job, especially, was a most eminent
   example in this kind: "Ye have heard (says he) of the patience of Job."
   And all these examples are of great use, and considerable arguments to
   this virtue; but the pat tern of our Lord's sufferings and patience is
   a greater example, and a more powerful argument than all these. His
   sufferings were far greater than any man's ever were; "Never was any
   sorrow like to his sorrow, wherewith the Lord afflicted him in the day
   of his fierce anger:" and his patience was greater than any man's ever
   was, not only because he suffered more than any one of the sons of men
   ever did, but because he suffered without cause, being perfectly
   innocent, and free from the least personal fault and guilt. Well may we
   "bear the indignation of the Lord patiently," because "we have sinned
   against him." Whatever we suffer, our consciences tell us we have
   deserved it all, and much more from the hand of God, and that our
   punishment is always less than our iniquities have deserved. Sin is at
   the bottom of all our sufferings, and if we be buffeted for our faults,
   we ought to take it patiently. Upon this consideration, St. Peter
   recommends to us the example of our Lord's sufferings and patience, as
   a powerful argument to work the same temper and disposition in us: (1
   Pet. ii. 20-22.) "For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for
   your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if when you do well and
   suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For
   hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving
   us an example, that ye should follow his steps, who did no sin." Where
   the apostle insinuates a two fold difference between our Lord's
   suffering for us and ours. He suffered for us: but we upon our own
   account, and for our own faults. He was perfectly innocent, "He had no
   sin," and yet he suffered with so much patience; much more ought we:
   for by how much the more guilt, so much the greater reason for
   patience; and the more innocent the person is that suffers, so much the
   more perfect and commendable is his patience.

   So that the greatness of our Lord's sufferings, considered together
   with his perfect innocency, gives his example a peculiar force and
   advantage above all other examples whatsoever. And therefore the
   apostle to the Hebrews, after a great number of examples of the
   persecution and patience of the saints in all ages, not content with
   these, he adds that of our Lord, as the most perfect and powerful
   example of all others: (Heb. xii. 1-3.) "Wherefore, seeing we also are
   compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with
   patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author
   and finisher of our faith; who, for the joy that was set before him,
   endured the cross, despising the shame. For consider him that endured
   such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be weary and
   faint in your minds." "Such contradiction of sinners;" such as no man
   ever endured; and yet he bore all this, not with a stoical and stupid
   insensibility, but with a true patience. For no man had greater
   apprehensions of suffering, and a more quick and tender sense of it,
   than he had. He had not only the more manly virtues of wisdom, and
   resolution, and constancy; but was clothed also with the softer
   passions of human nature, meekness, and compassion, and grief, and a
   tender sense of pain and suffering. "He took our infirmities, (says the
   prophet) and bore our griefs." And this he expressed both in his agony
   in the garden, and in his behaviour upon the cross; he did not despise
   pain, but dreaded it, and yet submitted to it; he did not outbrave his
   sufferings, but bore them decently; he had a human sense of them, but
   under went them with a Divine patience, resigning himself absolutely to
   the will of God, when he saw them coming; and when they were upon him,
   expressing a great sense of pain, without the least sign of impatience.
   And hereby he was a pattern accommodated to the weakest and tenderest
   of mankind: he did not give us an extravagant example of bravery, and a
   sturdy resolution; but, which was much fitter for us, of a patient
   submission to the will of God, under a great sense of suffering.

   Before I come to the fifth and last advantage of our Lord's example, it
   will be requisite to clear what hath been said from three or four
   obvious objections. But this I shall reserve for another discourse.
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CXC.

    [Preached March 25, 1686.]

  THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED, AS OUR EXAMPLE.

   Leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.--1 Pet. ii. 21.

   THE example of Christ is an argument never un seasonable; and though it
   be somewhat foreign to the occasion of this day, yet it will afford us
   some thing not improper to be considered by us, concerning the blessed
   mother of our Lord. I have handled this argument of our Lord's example
   very largely, and, among other things, have shewn the manifold
   advantages of it, in these following respects:

   I. That the example of our Lord is a most absolute and perfect pattern,
   being the life of God, in the nature and likeness of man.

   II. A most familiar and easy example, in which we see the several
   virtues of a good life practised in such instances, and upon such
   occasions, as do frequently happen in human life.

   III. It is an encouraging example; nothing being more apt to give life
   to good resolutions and endeavours, than to see all that which God
   requires of us, performed by one in our own nature, and a man as like
   ourselves, as it is possible for a perfect pattern to be.

   IV. It is likewise an universal example, calculated as equally as it is
   possible for all conditions and capacities of men, and fitted for
   general direction and imitation of all sorts of virtue and goodness;
   such virtues as are the greatest and most substantial, the most rare
   and unusual, the most useful and beneficial to others, the most hard
   and difficult to be practised, and for the exercise whereof there is
   the greatest and most frequent occasion in human life. There remains
   now only to be spoken to, the

   V. Fifth and last advantage, which I mentioned of our Lord's example;
   that it is, in the nature of it, very powerful to engage and oblige all
   men to the imitation of it. But before I enter upon this, I proposed to
   clear what hath been already said concerning our Lord's example from
   three or four obvious objections.

   The first objection is, that a great part of our Saviour's life
   consisted of miraculous actions, wherein we cannot imitate him.

   This is very true; and for that very reason, because we cannot imitate
   him herein, we are not obliged to do it: but we may imitate the
   compassion and charity which he shewed in his miracles, by such ways,
   and in such effects, as are within the compass of our power. We are not
   anointed, as he was, "with the Holy Ghost, and with power to heal all
   manner of sickness and disease:" but we may "go about doing good," as
   he did, so far as we have ability and opportunity; we may comfort those
   in their sickness and distress, whom we are not able in a miraculous
   manner to recover and relieve; and in diseases that are curable, we may
   help the poorer at the expense of our charity, and do that by slower
   and ordinary means, which our Saviour did by a word in an instant.

   Secondly, Against the universality of our Saviour's example, it is
   objected, that he hath givenas no pattern of some conditions and
   relations of life, for which there seems to have been as great need and
   reason as for any other.

   To this I answer, that though his single state of life did hinder him
   from being formally an example as to some of the most common relations,
   as of a father and a husband; yet he was virtually so in the principle
   and practice of universal charity, which principle, if it be truly
   rooted in us, will sufficiently guide and direct us in the duties of
   particular relations.

   And whereas it is further objected, that he hath left us no example of
   that, which by many is esteemed the only religious state of life; viz.
   perfect retirement from the world, for the more devout serving of God,
   and freeing us from the temptations of the world, such as is that of
   monks and hermits; this, perhaps, may seem to some a great oversight
   and omission: but our Lord in great wisdom thought fit to give a
   pattern of a quite different sort of life, which was, not to fly the
   conversation of men, and to live in a monastery or a wilderness; but to
   do good among men, to live in the world with great freedom, and with
   great innocency. He did, indeed, sometimes retire himself, for the more
   free and private exercise of devotion, as we ought to do; but he passed
   his life chiefly in the conversation of men, that they might have all
   the benefit that was possible of his instruction and example. We read,
   that "he was carried into the wilderness to be tempted;" but not that
   he lived there, to avoid temptation. He hath given us an example of
   denying the world, without leaving it; and of renouncing, not only the
   pomp and vanity, but even the lawful enjoyments and conveniences of
   life, when it may serve to any good end, either of glory to God, or of
   advantage to men; teaching us hereby, that charity is a duty no less
   necessary than devotion; that we cannot serve God better, than by
   endeavouring the good and happiness of men. So that if our Saviour's
   example be of authority with us, that will soon decide which is the
   most perfect state of life, to go out of the world, or to live
   innocently and usefully in it. And since neither our Saviour nor his
   apostles have recommended it to us by their example, nor by one word of
   precept or counsel tending that way, it seems very plain that they did
   not esteem monkery the most perfect, much less the only religious,
   state of life. There could not have been so deep a silence throughout
   the New Testament concerning so important a piece of religion, as the
   church of Rome would bear us in hand this is: for to be professed of
   some monastical order, they call entering into religion; and they speak
   of it as the most direct and ready way to heaven; and not only so, but
   they give fair encouragement to believe, that to die, or be buried in a
   monk's habit, will go a great way (they are loath to tell us how far),
   in the carrying of a bad man towards heaven, or at least to the
   abatement of his pain in purgatory.

   Thirdly, It is objected, that some particulars of our Saviour's
   carriage towards rulers and magistrates seem liable to exception, and
   not proper for our imitation: as, his bold reproofs of the scribes and
   pharisees, many of whom were chief rulers, and of greatest authority
   among them; and his message to Herod, "Go and tell that fox." This
   opprobrious and reproachful treatment of magistrates seems directly
   contrary to an express law of God: (Exod. xxii. 28.) "Thou shalt not
   revile the gods, (or judges,) nor speak evil of the ruler of thy
   people."

   But to this the answer is plain: that our Lord used this freedom by the
   virtue and privilege of his prophetical office, and of his immediate
   commission from God; it being the office of prophets, and a part of
   their commission, to reprove kings and rulers with all freedom and
   plainness, because they were really superior to them in the execution
   of that office. In all positive laws of respect to superiors, there is
   an exception of the Divine commission; because, in that case, the
   prophet speaks in the name, and by the authority of one infinitely
   greater than the greatest upon earth; as, in the Lord's name, and by
   his commission, any man may check inferior magistrates, and that in
   such a manner, as would be rudeness and insolence for any other, not so
   war ranted, to do it. And of this there are manifold examples in the
   prophets of the Old Testament; and what the tenor of their commission
   was, t we may see in that given to the prophet Jeremiah: (chap. i. ver.
   10.) "Behold, I have set thee over the nations, and over the kingdoms,
   to root out, and to pull up, and to destroy, and to throw down, to
   build, and to plant," (that, is, to denounce judgments and calamities,
   or peace and prosperity to them;) and, (ver. 17, 18.) "Thou therefore
   gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command
   thee; be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.
   For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron
   pillar, and brazen walls .against the whole land; against the kings of
   Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and
   against the people of the land." This commission set him above them all
   in the discharge of his office: and therefore, what our Lord did in
   this kind, by virtue of an extraordinary commission, and the privilege
   of a prophet immediately sent by God, is not to be drawn into example
   in ordinary cases: for we may do that by special commission from God,
   which the ordinary rules of duty, and respect to princes and governors,
   will by no means allow to be done.

   The fourth and last objection is, that our blessed Saviour does not
   seem to bear himself with that duty and respect towards his mother,
   which that relation seems to require. And to speak according to the
   first appearance of things, this seems to be, of all other, the most
   exceptionable part of his life, and to require some particular and
   extraordinary reason, not so obvious at first sight, for the
   vindication of it

   There are, to my best remembrance and observation, but five passages in
   the history of our Saviour's life, concerning his carriage towards his
   mother, and his discourse with her, and of her; in all which he seems
   rather to treat her with some appearance of neglect, than with any
   great show of reverence and respect. Not that we are to imagine, but
   that he did pay her an entire duty; for we know that he "fulfilled all
   righteousness:" but, for reasons best known to his infinite wisdom, he
   thought fit very much to conceal it in his public behaviour, and to
   have as little notice taken of it in the history of his life.

   And the first passage is, Luke ii. 48. when his parents having lost
   him, at last found him in the temple disputing among the doctors; and
   his mother reproved him, "Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?
   behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing:" he gives them
   this short and obscure answer, which they knew not what to make of;
   "How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my
   Father's business?" This happened when he was but twelve years old. And
   that we may not think, that, during his minority, he did ordinarily
   assume this behaviour towards his parents, but only upon this first
   essay of his public appearance, the evangelist purposely adds, (ver.
   51.) that "he went down with his parents to Nazareth, and was subject
   to them."

   The second passage is, John ii. 4. when his mother desiring him to work
   a miracle, at his first appearance and entrance upon his public
   ministry, he takes occasion to declare to her, that he was discharged
   from her conduct and government, and this in terms to all appearance of
   no great respect: "Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not
   yet come." Greg. Nyssen reads both sentences with an interrogation:
   "What have I to do with thee? is not mine hour now come?" As if he had
   said, "Why dost thou interpose in these matters? is not the time come,
   that I am to enter upon my office; and in the discharge of it, to be
   directed by God, and none else?"

   The third passage is, Matt. xii. 47. when he was told, that his mother
   and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him: "Who is my
   mother (says he), and who are my brethren?" And pointing to his
   disciples, "Behold my mother, and my brethren; for whosoever shall do
   the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and
   sister, and mother." Here is but little appearance of regard; for we do
   not find that he left the business he was about, to speak with her when
   she desired it. Nor, it seems, did she understand her power so well as
   the church of Rome hath done since, when (as is to be seen in some of
   their mass-books) they address to her in these terms, Jure matris
   impera redemptori; "By the authority of a mother, command the
   Redeemer."

   The fourth passage is not much different from the former; (Luke xi. 27,
   28.) when "a certain woman said to him, Blessed is the womb that bare
   thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked: he said, Yea, rather blessed
   are they that hear the word of God, and keep it." He does not deny what
   was said in honour of her, but turns his discourse another way; and,
   foreseeing the danger of a superstitious veneration of her, he seems to
   bring her down to the same level with all sincere Christians; teaching
   us, that no external privilege or relation, how glorious so ever, no,
   not that of being the mother of the Son of God, was so valuable as
   doing the will of God: "Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word
   of God, and keep it."

   The last passage is at the time of his death: (John xix. 25-27.) "Now
   there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother: when Jesus therefore saw
   his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto
   his mother, Woman, behold thy son: then saith he to the disciple.
   Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple took her unto his
   own home." Here, indeed, he shewed his great kindness and concernment
   for her, in committing her to the care of his best-beloved friend; but
   yet without any extraordinary demonstration of respect in the manner of
   it.

   These are all the passages I know in the gospel, which concern our
   Lord's carriage towards his mother; which, upon the whole matter, is so
   strange, that we cannot imagine but there must be some special and
   extraordinary reason for it: and we who have lived to see and know what
   hath happened in the Christian world, are now able to give a better
   account of this great caution and reservedness in his behaviour towards
   her; namely, that, out of his infinite wisdom and foresight, he so
   demeaned himself towards her, that he might lay no temptation before
   men, nor give the least occasion to the idolizing of her. He always
   called her "woman:" and by the privilege of his Divinity and high
   office, hardly seems to pay her the respect due to a mother, that he
   might restrain all Christians from worshipping her as a Deity: or if
   they did, that they might have no colour or excuse for it, from any
   thing he said or did. This is so probable an account of that which
   might otherwise seem so unaccountable, that I persuade myself, that all
   unprejudiced persons will readily assent to it. And, which is farther
   remarkable in this matter, the apostles of our Lord, in all their
   writings, use the same reservedness, and, no doubt, by the direction of
   the same Spirit, concerning the blessed mother of our Lord. For,
   throughout the history of the Acts, and all the Epistles of the
   apostles, there is but one mention made of her, and that only by the
   by; (Acts i. 14.) where it is said, that the "disciples all continued
   with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary
   the mother of Jesus." So far are they from proposing her for an object
   of our worship, that they only once make mention of her, and that
   joining with others in prayer and supplication to God, without any
   special remark concerning her; much less do they speak of any devotion
   paid to her.

   And surely, if this "blessed among women," the mother of our Lord (for
   I keep to the titles which the Scripture gives her), have any sense of
   what we do here below, she cannot but look down with the greatest
   disdain upon that sacrilegious and idolatrous worship which is paid to
   her, to the high dishonour of the great God and our Saviour, and the
   infinite scandal of his religion. How can she, with out indignation,
   behold how they play the fool in the church of Rome about her? What an
   idol they make of her image? and with what sottishness they give Divine
   honour to it! How they place her in their idolatrous pictures in equal
   rank with the blessed Trinity, and turn the salutation of the angel,
   Ave Maria, "Hail Mary, full of grace," into a kind of prayer; and in
   their bead-roll of devotion repeat it ten times, for once that they say
   the Lord's Prayer, as of greater virtue and efficacy! And, indeed, they
   almost justle out the devotion due to Almighty God, and our blessed
   Saviour, by their endless idolatry to her.

   So that the greater part of their religion, both public and private, is
   made up of that which was no part at all of the religion of the
   apostles and primitive Christians; nay, which plainly contradicts it:
   for that expressly teaches us that there is but one object of our
   prayers, and one Mediator, by whom we are to make our addresses to God.
   "There is one God; and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ
   Jesus," says St. Paul, when he gives a standing rule concerning prayer
   in the Christian church. And yet, notwithstanding all the care that our
   blessed Saviour and his apostles could take to prevent the gross
   idolatry of the blessed mother of our Lord, how blindly and wilfully
   have the church of Rome run into it: and, in despite of the clearest
   evidence and conviction, do obstinately and impudently persist in it,
   and justify themselves in so abominable a practice. I come now to the

   V. Fifth and last advantage of our Lord's example, that it is in the
   nature of it very powerful, to engage and oblige all men to the
   imitation of it.

   It is almost equally calculated for persons of all capacities and
   conditions, for the wise and the weak, for those of high and low
   degree; for all men are alike concerned to be happy. And the imitation
   of this example is the most ready and direct way to it, the most
   effectual means we can use to compass this great and universal end;
   nay, it is not only the means, but the end, the best and most essential
   part of it. To be like our Lord, is to be as good as it is possible for
   men to be; and goodness is the highest perfection that any being is
   capable of; and the perfection of every being is its happiness.

   There is a kind of contagion in all examples; men are very apt to do
   what they see others do, though it be very bad: every day's experience
   furnisheth us with many and sad instances of the influence of bad
   examples; but there are peculiar charms in that which is good and
   excellent. A perfect pattern of goodness does strongly allure and
   invite to the imitation of it, and a great example of virtue to a
   well-disposed mind is a mighty temptation, and apt to inspirit us with
   good resolutions, to endeavour after that in ourselves, which we so
   much esteem and admire in others. And such is the example of our Lord,
   perfect as is possible, and yet obvious to common imitation, and as
   much fitted for the general direction of mankind in all sorts of virtue
   and goodness, as any one single example can be imagined to be.

   The virtues of his life are pure, without any mixture of infirmity and
   imperfection. He had humility without meanness of spirit; innocency
   without weakness; wisdom without cunning; and constancy and resolution
   in that which was good, without stiffness of conceit, and
   peremptoriness of humour: in a word, his virtues were shining without
   vanity, heroical without any thing of transport, and very extra
   ordinary without being in the least extravagant.

   His life was even and of one tenor, quiet, and without noise and
   tumult, always employed about the same work, in doing the things which
   pleased God, and were of greatest benefit and advantage to men. Who
   would not write after such a copy; so perfect, and yet so familiar, and
   fit for our imitation? Who would not be ambitious to live the life
   which God lived, when he was pleased to become man, and dwell among us?

   We are ambitious to imitate those whom we esteem, and are apt to have
   their example in great dearness and regard, from whom we have received
   great kindness and mighty benefits. This pattern, which our religion
   proposeth to us, is the example of one whom we ought to reverence, and
   whom we have reason to love above any person in the world; it is the
   example of our Lord and master, of our sovereign and our Saviour, of
   the founder of our religion, and of the author and finisher of our
   faith; it is an example that carries authority with it, and commands
   our imitation. "You call me Lord and Master," says he himself,
   recommending to us the example of his own humility. (John xiii. 13,
   14.) "You call me Lord and Master, and ye say well; for so I am. If I
   then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye ought also to
   wash one another's feet;" that is, stoop to the lowest and meanest
   office to serve one another; "for I have given you an example, that ye
   should do as I have done to you."

   Yet farther, it is the example of our best friend and greatest
   benefactor, of him who laid down his life for us, and sealed his love
   to us with his own blood; and, while we were bitter enemies to him, did
   and suffered more for us, than any man ever did for his dearest friend.
   How powerfully must such a pattern recommend goodness, and kindness,
   and compassion to us, who have had so much comfort and advantage from
   them? Had not the Son of God commiserated our case, and pitied and
   relieved us in our low and wretched condition, we had been extremely,
   and for ever miserable, beyond all imagination, and past all remedy.
   All the kindness and compassion, all the mercy and forgiveness he would
   have us practise towards one another, he himself first exercised upon
   us; and surely we have a much greater obligation upon us to the
   practice of these virtues than he had: for he did all this for our
   sakes, we do it for our own. We have a natural obligation, both in
   point of duty and interest; his was voluntary, and what he took upon
   himself, that he might at once be a Saviour and an example to us. He
   that commands us to do good to others, was our great benefactor; he
   that requires us to forgive our enemies, shed his own blood for the
   forgiveness of our sins; while we were enemies to him, laid down his
   life for us, making himself the example of that goodness, which he
   commands us to shew to others.

   Are any of us reduced to poverty and want? let us think of him, who,
   being Lord of all, "had not where to lay his head; who being rich, for
   our sakes became a beggar, that we through his poverty might be made
   rich: Are we persecuted for righteousness sake, and exercised with
   sufferings and reproaches? "Let us run with patience the race which is
   set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
   faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross,
   despising the shame."

   When we are ready to be discouraged in well doing, by the opposition we
   meet withal from the ingratitude of men, and the malicious
   interpretation of our good actions, perverting the best things, done
   with the best mind and to the best ends, to some ill purpose and
   design, "consider him who endured such contradiction of sinners against
   himself, lest you be weary and faint in your minds."

   Can we be proud, when the Son of God "hum bled himself, and became of
   no reputation;" emptied himself of all his glory, and was contented to
   be "despised and rejected of men?" Shall we be covetous, and thirst
   after the things of this world, when we consider how the Son of God
   despised them, and trampled upon them? Shall we contemn and despise the
   poor; nay, can we choose but esteem them for his sake, whom they
   resemble, and whose low and indigent condition in the world hath made
   poverty not only tolerable, but glorious? Can we be peevish and fro
   ward, and apt to fly out into passion upon every little occasion, when
   we consider the meekness of the Son of God, and with what serenity and
   evenness of mind he demeaned himself, under great and continual
   provocations? Shall we be discontented in any condition, when we
   consider how contented the Son of God was in the meanest and most
   destitute condition; how he welcomed all events, and was so perfectly
   resigned to the will of his heavenly Father, that whatsoever pleased
   God, pleased him? Shall we be so ready to separate from the communion
   of the church of God, upon pretence of something that we think amiss,
   or less pure and perfect (which will always be in this world); when the
   Son of God lived and died in the communion of a church guilty of great
   corruptions both in doctrine and practice, such as can with no colour
   be objected to ours?

   Shall we resent injuries, slanders, and calumnies so heinously, as to
   be out of all patience, when we consider with what meekness of temper,
   and how little disturbance of mind, the Son of God bore all these; how
   "he gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked
   off the hair, and with held not his face from shame and spitting?" How
   "he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as the sheep before the
   shearer is dumb, so he opened not his mouth; being reviled, he reviled
   not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself
   to him that judgeth righteously?" Such vile and barbarous usage the Son
   of God met withal; and yet, under all this, he possessed his soul in
   patience: and do we expect to be better treated than he was? Was
   goodness itself contented to be traduced, and evil spoken of, perfect
   innocence to be slandered and persecuted; and shall we, who are
   sinners, great sinners, think ourselves worthy to escape these things,
   and too good to have that done to us, which was done to one infinitely
   better than we are? It is our Lord's own argument, and there is great
   weight and reason in it; "if the world hate you, ye know that it hated
   me before it hated you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the
   servant is not greater than the lord. If they have persecuted me, they
   will also persecute you; it is enough for the disciple that he be as
   his master, and the servant as his lord: if they have called the Master
   of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of the
   household?"

   Can we entertain thoughts of revenge, when we have such a pattern of
   forgiving before us, who poured out his blood for the expiation of the
   guilt of them that shed it, and spent his last breath in fervent and
   charitable prayers for his betrayers and murderers? Lord endow us with
   the like temper; but do not try us with the like sufferings.

   Thus by setting the example of our Lord before us, and keeping this
   pattern always in our eye, we may continually correct all our own
   errors and defects, all the distempers of our minds, and the faults and
   irregularities of our lives; we may argue ourselves into all kind of
   virtue and goodness, and from such an example be strongly excited and
   sweetly led to the practice of it.

   Let us not be discouraged by the consideration of our own weakness; for
   he who hath given us such an example of virtue, is ready likewise to
   give us his Holy Spirit, to assist and enable us to conform ourselves
   to this pattern of our Lord and Master, and to follow the blessed steps
   of his holy life.

   "Now the God of peace," &c.
     __________________________________________________________________

SERMON CXCI.

  THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST CONSIDERED, AS A PROPER MEANS OF OUR SALVATION.

   But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and
   unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews
   and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.--1 Cor. i.
   23, 24.

   THE sufferings of the Son of God for the sins of men, as they are a
   subject never improper to be insisted on; so they are more especially
   seasonable at this time, [2] which the Christian church hath for so
   many ages set apart for the solemn commemoration of them, in order to
   our more due preparation for the receiving the sacrament at Easter;
   which next after the Lord's day (which was set apart by the apostles
   for a weekly commemoration of our Saviour's resurrection) is the first
   and most solemn festival that is taken notice of in ecclesiastical
   antiquity, to be generally observed by Christians; at which time all
   Christians that were admitted to those sacred mysteries, did receive
   the holy sacrament; and, for this reason, I have pitched upon this
   subject at this time.

   Among all the prejudices that were raised against the Christian
   religion, when it first appeared in the world, this was the greatest of
   all other, that the first author of this doctrine should come to so
   miserable and shameful an end, as to die upon the cross; that the Son
   of God should be "delivered into the hands of men," to be so cruelly
   and ignominiously handled. This both Jews and Greeks laid hold on, as
   the most popular objection against Christianity, and matter of just
   reproach to that religion, which pretended to be brought from heaven by
   the Son of God: for though he called himself the Son of God, yet he
   died like a man; and, not only so, but suffered as a malefactor.

   But, notwithstanding the odium of this objection, the apostles of our
   Lord and Saviour, who were sent by him to publish his doctrine to the
   world, did not, in the least, endeavour to hide and dissemble the
   matter; but did openly, and without disguise, declare to the world,
   that he in whom they believed, and endeavoured to persuade others to
   believe, was for speaking the truth, which he had heard from God,
   arraigned at Jerusalem, and there "by wicked hands crucified and
   slain." And though they knew that this seemed very foolish and absurd,
   both to Jews and Gentiles, whom they designed to convert to
   Christianity, and did extremely prejudice them against it; yet
   nevertheless they persisted in the course they had begun, leaving God
   to do his own work, in his own way; and they found the success of it.
   For, though it was a very plain story which they told the world, and
   appeared even ridiculous to those who thought themselves the wisest and
   ablest judges of these matters; yet being the truth of God, it had a
   mighty efficacy upon the minds of men, notwithstanding all the
   prejudice that was raised against it. "It pleased God, by the
   foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe;" by this doctrine
   which seemed so absurd to human reason, to gain many to the belief and
   entertainment of it.

   Indeed, it was not suited to the genius either of the Jews or gentiles;
   for they, according to their different ways of institution, expected
   quite another thing: (ver. 22.) "The Jews require a sign, and the
   Greeks seek after wisdom."--"The Jews require a sign:" they expected
   the apostles should have given some extraordinary testimony from
   heaven, such as was Elias's calling for fire down from heaven, to
   consume those that opposed and resisted them. Such things as these they
   read of the prophets in their law, and they expected the Messias would
   do the same, and greater things. And though in truth he did so, wrought
   more and greater miracles than Moses and all the prophets had done
   before him, yet their curiosity was not satisfied; and, not
   withstanding the great works which he did among them, they were
   continually importuning him for a sign: (Matt. xii. 38.) "Then certain
   of the scribes and pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a
   sign from thee." This seems a strange and unreasonable demand,
   considering the many and great works he had done among them, which were
   so generally known. So that, in all probability, it was some particular
   and peculiar kind of miracle which they desired, as appears from Matt
   xvi. 1. "The pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting,
   desired him, that he would shew them a sign from heaven." He had
   wrought many miracles on earth, in healing the sick, and opening the
   eyes of the blind, and the ears of the deaf, in cleansing the lepers,
   and making the lame to walk; but these they looked upon as an inferior
   sort of miracles, here was all this while no extraordinary thing
   immediately from heaven; if they could once see that, they would be
   satisfied. But when no such thing was done, and at last God permitted
   him to die upon the cross, as an impostor and seditious person; and it
   appeared plainly that he, who pretended to free others from diseases,
   could not save himself from death: this confirmed them in their
   unbelief, and upon good reason as they thought. And that this was a
   sign which they particularly expected, and thought they had cause so to
   do, appears by their upbraiding of him with the want of it in the time
   of his suffering: (Matt. xxvii. 39.) "And they that passed by reviled
   him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple,
   and buildest it up in three days, save thyself: if thou be the Son of
   God, come down from the cross." And it was not only the malice and
   ignorance of the common people that objected this to him, but even the
   priests, and scribes, and elders, insisted upon the same thing (ver.
   41-43.) "Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes
   and elders, said, He saved others, himself he cannot save: if he be the
   King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will
   believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will
   have him: for he said, I am the Son of God." By this passage you see
   what it was the Jews expected; that if our Saviour had been the Son of
   God, he should have saved himself; when they went about to crucify him,
   that God should have rescued him out of their hands, and given some
   extraordinary testimony from heaven to his innocency; and, for this
   reason, the preaching of Christ crucified was very offensive to them:
   "The Jews require a sign; but we preach Christ crucified."

   Such was the temper and disposition of the Jews: but now the gentiles,
   according to their way of institution, expected that the apostles
   should have discoursed to them upon philosophical principles, and have
   demonstrated things to them in their way. "The Greeks seek after
   wisdom;" they were great searchers after wisdom and knowledge, and they
   valued nothing but what had the appearance of it, and what was
   delivered with great sharpness of wit and reasoning, and set off with
   art and eloquence. Had the apostles pretended to some new theory of
   natural or moral philosophy, and discoursed to them about the first
   principles of all things, about the chief good, or about the nature of
   the soul, they would have heard them with great patience and delight.
   Nothing but deep and subtle speculations, about these kind of
   arguments, did relish with them, and please their palates. But the
   history of our Saviour, his life, and death, and resurrection, and the
   plain precepts of his doctrine, were dry and insipid things to them,
   and were so far from having a shew of wisdom and philosophy, that they
   appeared foolish and ridiculous to them.

   But the design of God in the Christian religion, being not to please
   the humour and gratify the curiosity of men; but really to do them
   good, and to reform the manners of mankind, he used quite another
   method; which, how offensive soever it might be to those who thought
   themselves wise, yet it was really the wisest and most powerful means
   to that end: so the apostle tells us here in the text: "But we preach
   Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks
   foolishness: but unto them that are called, (that is, to those whose
   minds are duly prepared to consider things impartially, and to receive
   the truth) the power of God, and the wisdom of God;" a most wise and
   powerful means to reform the world, an eminent instance of the Divine
   power and wisdom.

   In these words we have these two things considerable:

   First, The exception which the world took at the doctrine of the
   gospel, upon account of our Saviour's sufferings: Christ crucified was
   "to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness."

   Secondly, That notwithstanding the seeming un reasonableness and
   absurdity of it, it was a most wise and effectual contrivance for the
   end to which it was designed and appointed: "But unto them which are
   called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom
   of God." I shall speak something to each of these, as briefly and
   plainly as I can. I begin with the

   First, The exception which the world took at the doctrine of the
   gospel, upon account of our Saviour's sufferings. The world were
   generally offended at it, but not all upon the same account; the Jews
   took one kind of exception against it, and the heathen another: "We
   preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the
   Greeks foolishness." They were both offended at the same thing, the low
   and suffering condition of our Saviour; but not upon the same reason.
   The Jews thought, that this mean appearance and condition of our
   Saviour, was unsuitable to the power of God; and the heathen, that it
   was not agreeable to the wisdom of men.

   The Jews, from the tradition of their fathers, to which (just as the
   church of Rome does now-a-days) they paid a greater reverence than to
   the written word of God, were possessed with a strong persuasion, that
   the Messias whom they expected, and was foretold by the prophets, was
   to be a great temporal prince, to appear in great splendour and glory,
   to be a mighty conqueror, and not only to free them from the Roman
   yoke, which they were then under; but to subdue all nations to them,
   and so bring them under their dominion and government. And this did so
   generally prevail among them, that even the disciples of our Saviour
   were as strongly possessed with this conceit as any of the rest;
   insomuch that the mother of James and John made it her solemn request
   to our Saviour, that "her two sons might sit, one on his right-hand,
   and the other on his left, in his kingdom." And though he had told his
   disciples just before, that he "must go up to Jerusalem, and suffer
   many things of the scribes and pharisees, and be betrayed and put to
   death;" yet the other conceit of his temporal dominion and greatness
   did so possess their minds, that "they could not understand this
   saying, and it was hid from them that they perceived it not," as St.
   Luke tells us. (Luke ix. 45.) Nay, even after his death and
   resurrection, when he appeared to them, this still stuck in their
   minds, as appears by that question which they asked him immediately
   before his ascension: (Acts i. 6.) "When they were come together, they
   asked of him, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to
   Israel?" They took it for granted, the Messias would do it one time or
   other, and they inquire of him, whether that were the time.

   So that the Jews being so firmly fixed in this conceit of the temporal
   reign of the Messias, nothing could be a greater stumbling-block to
   them, than the mean and suffering condition in which our Saviour
   appeared. The meanness of his birth and life was a great objection
   against him; but when they saw him put to death so ignominiously, and
   that he did not then shew his glory and power, to save himself from
   that cruel and shameful death, they could rather believe any thing than
   that this was the Messias foretold, and whom they had so long expected.
   They made full account that the Messias, whenever he came, would live
   in great splendour and glory, and do great things for the advantage and
   honour of their nation; the least they expected from him, was their
   deliverance from the Roman yoke, and the establishing of the throne of
   David for ever; or if his beginning had been obscure, that he would at
   last break forth in great lustre and majesty; or if they could have
   supposed that the Messias should be persecuted, and condemned, and
   nailed to the cross, yet they doubted not but then God would have given
   testimony to him by some sign from heaven, and have rescued him from
   the cross in a miraculous manner: but seeing nothing of all this,
   nothing but poverty and meanness, reproach and suffering attending him,
   they concluded, whatever miracles he pretended to, this could not be
   the Son of God, the true Messias.

   On the other side, the heathen philosophers, who were not possessed
   with these conceits about the Messias, they were offended at the
   unreasonableness and folly, as they thought, of the apostles doctrine,
   who went about to persuade the world, that a man, who had lately
   suffered and was crucified at Jerusalem, was a great prophet come into
   the world; nay, the Son of God, in whom all men ought to believe, and
   by whom they ought to hope for life and salvation: as if it were
   reasonable to think, that God would have exposed the most innocent and
   virtuous person that ever was, to so great reproach and sufferings,
   that the Son of God should die, and that life and immortality were to
   be hoped for from him, who was crucified and put to death. This they
   looked upon as a story so ill-framed, that to all wise and sagacious
   men, it destroyed its own credit and belief. For though they said he
   was risen again from the dead, yet before that could be entertained by
   men of philosophical minds, there were many deep points to be
   determined, as concerning the nature of the soul, and whether it can
   subsist separately from the body, and whether a body once dead can be
   restored to life again, and re-united to the soul.

   And as for his doctrine, which the apostles pretended to deliver, it
   was a plain and rude thing, without art or eloquence, nothing of deep
   speculation, or strict demonstration in it: in short, so far from being
   worthy of "a teacher come from God," that it was below the pitch of an
   ordinary philosopher. These and such-like things were, in all
   probability, the exceptions which the heathen philosophers took as the
   apostles preaching, concerning our Saviour's death and his doctrine;
   and they had some colour in them.

   But, upon impartial examination, it will appear, that, notwithstanding
   these exceptions, the sufferings of our Saviour, considered with all
   the circumstances that belong to them, were a very wise and effectual
   method made use of by Almighty God, for the reforming and saving the
   world. Which brings me to the

   Second thing propounded to speak to from these words; namely, To
   vindicate the wisdom of this design and contrivance of Almighty God,
   for the salvation of mankind by the sufferings of his Son, from the
   seeming absurdity and unreasonableness of it. "But unto them that are
   called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom
   of God." And,

   First, The Jews had no sufficient ground to be so much offended at the
   sufferings of the Messias. For,

   I. They had no reason to expect that the Messias should be a great
   temporal prince, if they had attended to the predictions of their
   prophets concerning him, which ought to have been their rule: for they
   affirm no such thing of him. All that they say of him, plainly refers
   to a spiritual kingdom, that he should "rule in righteousness," that he
   should "preach the gospel to the poor, and open the eyes of the blind,
   and unstop the ears of the deaf, and make the lame walk;" that he
   should "finish transgression, and make an end of sin, and make
   intercession for iniquity, and bring in ever lasting righteousness." So
   that, if they had not entertained a very groundless and carnal conceit
   concerning him, they could not so widely have mistaken the ancient
   prophecies of him, which ought to have guided them in these matters,
   and which they might have seen all plainly fulfilled in the person of
   our Saviour.

   II. The predictions concerning him do most expressly foretel his death
   and sufferings, and that with very particular circumstances: David in
   the 22d Psalm: Isaiah quite throughout his 53d chapter: and Daniel does
   particularly point out the time when he should be cut off. So that they
   had all the reason in the world to expect that the Messias, when he
   came, should be "despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrow and
   acquainted with grief;" that he should be scourged and buffeted,
   oppressed and afflicted, and at last "cut off out of the land of the
   living." Nay, if it had been other wise, they had had no reason to have
   owned him for the true Messias.

   III. As for signs to evidence him to be the Son of God; though God did
   not gratify their curiosity as to the nature and manner of them, yet he
   gave the greatest testimonies that ever were given to any prophet, and
   abundantly enough to satisfy any reasonable man, that he was "a teacher
   come from God." Indeed, his miracles were not generally so prodigious
   and amazing: but they were many and public, they were useful and
   beneficial to mankind; and for that reason, more likely to come from
   God. He did not call for fire from heaven to destroy his enemies; but
   he gave sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf, and health to
   those that were sick of the most dangerous and inveterate diseases, and
   (which was always reckoned among the greatest and most undoubted kind
   of miracles) life to the dead. And when he himself was put to death by
   the malice of the Jews, though he did not "come down from the cross,"
   and was not rescued from his sufferings by an immediate hand from
   heaven, to triumph over the malice and cruelty which they were
   exercising upon him (which was the miracle they required to be shewn),
   yet God was not wanting to give testimony to him in a most remarkable
   manner, by prodigies which immediately followed his death; in the
   strange darkness which came upon the land; in the terrible earthquake
   which rent the veil of the temple, and tore the rocks asunder; in the
   opening of the graves, and the rising of the dead; and, lastly, in his
   own miraculous resurrection, the third day after he was crucified: so
   that here was no sign wanting in heaven above, or in the earth beneath,
   to convince their obstinacy and unbelief, unless it were that very sign
   which they demanded. God did enough to satisfy every man's reason; and
   he is not wont to gratify the humour and curiosity of men. If men be so
   unreasonable as to expect this from him, God lets such men continue in
   their wilful blindness and infidelity.

   Secondly, Neither had the heathen philosophers reason, upon account of
   the story of our Saviour's sufferings, to look upon the gospel as so
   absurd and unreasonable a thing; as will, I hope, evidently appear, if
   you will be pleased to consider with me these following particulars:

   I. That there is nothing more inculcated in the writings of the wisest
   and most famous of the heathen philosophers than this, that worldly
   greatness and prosperity is not to be admired, but despised by a truly
   wise man. Aristotle, in his Ethics, makes it the property of a
   magnanimous and great spirit, not to admire greatness and power, and
   victory,