Forty Sermons, Sermon 7
SERMON VII. OF THE CLEANSING POWER Of Christian HOPE.
1 John 3. 3.
Every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself as he is pure.
HOPE is of all others the most active passion, setting all the rest of them and the whole man on work; for who would ever do or desire any thing, if he did not hope for some good by it? It is this hope alone that employs all the men and all the professions of the world: it is the wings of the Desires and Actions, carrying them thro the greatest difficulties with courage and alacrity, with Confidence and an unwearied Constancy, Ad bonas spes pertinax animus est. Never will a man leave so long as he does hope, and of all hopes that of the Christian should be the most active; because it aims at the highest good, in comparison of which all other good things are but shadows. For what are the pleasures of earth to the things of God, not worthy to be the expressions, no nor the foils of them? Now we see the greater the hopes, the more active men are in the pursuit of them; for who is there that will take so much pains for a Cottage, as for a Crown? And is it not then a wonder, that of all Hopes yet this Hope of Heaven should be the least effectual in the minds of men; and of all pleasures those of God should least invite, and least imploy us? For what one is there that does not with more eager and constant industry pursue the hopes of profit or the hopes of pleasure, than he does the hopes of Immortality and of Blessedness? How few are there that do not spend more time and more endeavors, take more and longer pains in their Sports than in their Religion? which could not certainly be, if they had not surer and greater hopes of joy from their sports, than from Heaven; for the greater hope would certainly set them the more on work. No, Heaven is a thing of no tast, carries no profit, no pleasure in the meaning of it; for if it did it would employ them in the gaining of it, and every one that had this hope, would purify himself as he is pure, Matth. 5. 8.
If the inheritance of the Kingdom of God were, as some were upon earth, entail'd, so that do they what they will, they could not be put by it, there were then some reason not to wonder, wherefore we see men live in the broad way to Hell and yet then hope to come to Heaven: and certainly nothing but such a perswasion as that can possibly lull men into such a wretchless security as they are possest with, in a thing of this eternal consequence. For if we should examin them, the most sinful wretch of them all hath hopes to be sav'd, yea he would not be able to stand under the burden and the horror of his own killing thoughts, if he should but once despair of that: so that hope he will, and yet if he believe one jot of Scripture, it is impossible for him to hope it. For that bids him nota1 Cor. 6. 9, 10. be deceiv'd, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor theeves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God. So that he dares not not hope, and yet if he do but ask himself, he knows he cannot hope: and what then makes him do it? Certainly the opinion that such and such the inheritance is entail'd upon, and be they what they will, they shall have Heaven. But alas! they are mistaken in the nature of the inheritance; we may read of many that were cast off, and the Heir must be a servant as long as he is a child, if he do not obey, no hopes of his arriving at his inheritance when he is come to age. St John here will dash all those vain hopes, and will tell them as they cannot justly hope, for none such as they can be possest of that inheritance; and therefore 'tis to no purpose for them to hope it. So also that they do not indeed hope; for if they did ever expect to arrive at Heaven, they would not run on in a course, that leads a clean contrary way.
The Apostle here propounds five Arguments to exhort them to the study of Piety, to press after Holiness, and to leave off their courses of sin. I shall name them backwards. First in the tenth verse if we be Christians we not onelyonly will not, but cannot sin. Yea secondly we are indeed Children of the Devil, if we do v. 8. Neither thirdly have we any Communion with Christ possibly, or interest in his Righteousness v. 6, 7. Nay fourthly they destroy the very end of Christ's coming into the world v. 5. Lastly in the front of all these neither can they hope to enjoy any of those glorious promises, that God hath made to his Children, those of giving them glory and immortality; For he that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself as he is pure.
In the handling of these words I shall shew you what it is to purify himself. Secondly what kind of purity he is to strive after, as he is pure. Thirdly what the Hope of a Christian is, this Hope. Fourthly how that Hope does set a man on purifying, He that hath this Hope purifies himself.
For the first what it is to purify I shall onelyonly name, it is to cleanse from all mixture of pollution, and how far it is to extend, is set down by St Paul upon the very same grounds with those in the Text, *2 Cor. 7. 1.Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of the Flesh and Spirit: and St James bJames 4. 8.Cleanse your hands you sinners, and purify your hearts you double-minded: and they both mean thus much; that for external actions, Christian purity tho it will admit of slips and failings, yet it is not consistent with continuance in any known sin. And therefore David tho he were said to be a man after Gods own heart, and that he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, (the very description of pure) yet it is added save in the matter of Vriah. For first it never does admit any filthiness of Flesh, but must be universal; and it is in this true what St James saith c. 2. v. 10. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all: God had before affirm'd the same expresly Ezek. 18. 10, 11, 12, 13. If he beget a son that is a robber, and that doth the like to any one of these things, and hath defil'd his neighbours wife, hath oppressed the poor and needy &c. shall he then live? he shall not live, he hath don all these abominations, he shall surely die. So that in Gods sight he that hath don any one of these things, he hath don all these abominations: for it is plain, that those he had not don he abstain'd not from, because God had forbidden them; for then he had abstain'd from that which he had don, God had forbidden that; so that his abstinences are not innocence, but squeamishness or fear. Either he does not like them, or he dares not do them for some worldly reason; and he does not onelyonly let God see he can abstain for such considerations as these, but will not for his Promises or his autority. He values these below the mode or fashion of the world, or his respect to some other person, or any little interest or humor.
2. Neither does this purity admit any filthiness of the Spirit, we must purify our hearts; and for internal purity the rule is, that to abstain from outward actions of sin is not enough, but the heart must be cleansed also: this is proved already. And indeed to deny my flesh the pleasures of the flesh, and yet to let my mind dwell upon them and enjoy them; not to commit them, and yet suffer my soul to do it, is to transplant the sin, to make my soul act the deeds of the flesh, and my very spirit become carnal. This is at the best to give God the worst part of my services, and the Devil the best: my heart and soul the Devil enjoies; God hath nothing but a few outward abstinences. What a mixture is here, how far from purity; God and the Devil join'd together, and the Devil having the upper hand, the better portion?
Thus in general, but to tell you what kind of purity we are to strive after, I shall touch at some few Scripture wordings of it.
1. Holiness. For pure and holy are often join'd 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. Now the true notion of holiness consists in a setting apart, or discrimination from other things or persons. And therefore holiness of life is the observing that peculiar different form of life, which God hath commanded those whom he hath call'd, not being conform'd to the fashion of the world. As St James saith pure Religion, not to live after the common manner of men, common and holy being every where oppos'd: so that when God is said to call us to holiness, he requires us to consecrate our lives to his service, to look upon our selves as things sacred. Hence Christians are call'd living Sacrifices holy to God Rom. 12. 1. Temples of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 19. and all names of Holiness are set upon them to shew how strict a necessity lies upon us to separate our selves from all carnal wordly uses and defilements.
2. The Pure are exprest by Virgins 2 Cor. 11. 2. For I am jealous over you with a Godly jealousy, that is, as a strict careful Parent over his beloved maiden daughter, so that I may present you as a chast Virgin to Christ. Every gross impurity deflowers the soul, and when it sins it plays the strumpet. And if a bride, that on her wedding day should play the harlot, and give away that Virginity which she had but then promised to her Husband, would certainly not dare to stand the wrath of her furious Bridegroom that should catch her in her villany: how wilt thou meet the jealousy of thy Spouse, when as thou spread'st thy self to every temtation, committest perpetual whoredoms with the World and flesh, and doest continually act disloialty in the very eyes of his glory? Certainly the same jealous care and earnest desires that are emploi'd in seeking a wife that is not vitiated, this very expression of Virgin does direct us to make use of in watchfulness over our selves, that sin do not devirginate us, that we do not present a strumpet to Christ for his Spouse; but that he may find us Virgins at the Marriage of the Lamb. Yea that we may see what kind of ones also, St Paul expresseth their Purity Ephes. 5. 27. not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish. For as every gross Sin does deflowr the Soul, and make it no Virgin; so every lighter fault is a spot upon the cheek, a wrinkle in the forehead in Christs eyes. And if chastity shall be severely guarded out of a respect to future hopes of marriages, which there is no hopes to be successful in, if that be blasted; if to please a Suiter the glass shall be consulted with, every stain shall be adorn'd, cover'd, made a beauty-spot; and all methods (sometimes more then honest) us'd to keep the forehead smooth, the cheek full and plain, not content with the Lords workmanship upon them they will outdo their Maker, and create to themselves beauties that God and Nature never did intend them: if men do avoid wrinkles in a Bride, as they would do a Deaths-head or memento mori in their bridal bed, can we then think our selves, whom every day bespots, and stains, every hour adds such wrinkles to, whose souls have more of those furrows than our lives have minutes, who are indeed onelyonly bundles of deformities, besides our gross whoredoms; can we, I say, think our selves a fit Spouse for Christ? Is he the onelyonly Bridegroom to be thus provided for? Can we have confidence to present a Strumpet to him for a Bride, and care not that he find us Virgins at the Marriage of the Lamb? Or can we expect any thing but an eternal divorce from him, whom we have thus us'd.
I have given you some expressions by which you may judg what kind of Purity we are to aim at: I shall come a little nearer that of the Text by one or two more.
3. Purity and Holiness are exprest in Scripture by White Raiment, Revel. 3. 18. a White Robe, c. 7. 9. for thecRev. 19. 8. Fine Linnen is the Righteousness of the Saints, as it there follows. Now the reason of this compellation is, it is call'd Raiment because it is to cover our nakedness and our shame; for our sins are accounted such. In Gods eyes every wicked person is the same thing as a deform'd creature with his nakedness shamefully uncover'd and prostituted. This is clear out of those places Rev. 16. 15. least he walk naked, and they see his shame. Rev. 3. 18. Buy of me White Raiments, that thou maist be cloth'd, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. For that it is call'd Raiment, and White Linnen because of the Purity. White is the purest color, the least spot or stain is immediatly discern'd upon it: and if it be upon Fine Linnen, makes it presently cast off by them, whose glory it is to be neat and clean, it shall no more come neer them till the spots and stains be wash'd off. And Oh that we had but this pride for our souls, that we were but as ambitious to have our immortal Spirits neatly deckt when we appear in Gods sight, as our putrifying carkasses when we go in company: that when we slip or fall, and when a spot does stain this Linnen even of Righteousness, that we would instantly wash it in our tears and the bloud of Christ, the laver that is prepar'd for this Linnen, fordRev. 7. 14. they made their garments white in the bloud of the Lamb: and that for the time to come we would be but as careful of keeping it neat; of preserving it from stains, as we are of finer linnen. And God himself makes use of our pride in that kind to be our exprobation Jer. 2. 32. Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me dayes without number. And sure I am, the expression of Fine Linnen aims at a great degree of Purity, when it calls that careful conscionable duty theeEphes. 4. 1. walking worthy of the Christian calling, whereunto we are called, even the walking diligently in all the Commandments of God; calls I say, this Righteousness fine linnen clean and white: for it is the very expression of that pure clothing that we shall be drest in at our wedding with Christ, it is our spousal linnen when we go to meet our Bridegroom Rev. 19. 7, 8. The Marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made her self ready, and to her was granted that she should be arraied in fine linnen clean and white, to teach us that we should be always as careful of our ways, always drest in mind, and so prepar'd, as if we were to go and meet our Bridegroom. Yea it is the expression of that pure Clothing, which we shall be cloth'd in Heaven with, where we shall be pure as God is pure, perfectly holy: Rev. 3. 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white; to let us see that this expression by which our Righteousness is call'd white clothing, requires us to have our conversation in Heaven, even while we are here; to make our lives here but as a preparation to that Marriage-feast, to be but the time of dressing our selves before hand. For we must array our selves in fine linnen, the very same dress in which we must walk with Christ; for, they shall walk with me in white, saith he: yea 'tis his own dress also, for the garments of Christ, Moses and Elias in the Mount wasfMark 9. 3. white shining Raiment. Holiness is transfiguration upon earth: so that this compellation from our daily diligence in the cleansing and the keeping of our linnen does direct us to the same diligence in neatness of our souls, and requires of us such a Purity as with which God is pure.
4. Purity it is called light, as also sin is called darkness Rom. 13. 12. Put ye off the works of darkness and put ye on the armor of light: and Matth. 5. 16. Let your light so shine before men; and that very fitly, because nothing so pure as light, so clear as shine and noon-day, it is the most pure of all visible creatures, it is not possible so much as to sully shine or to spot the light; the foulest dung-hill that it can shine upon, does not at all defile it; you may put out the day, but you cannot stain it. And truly no expression comes near the Purity of Light, for it is so clean as it is set to express the very Holiness of God himself, 1 John 1. 5. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is Light, and in him is no darkness at all. And therefore while our Piety is called light, it teaches us that we labor to be pure as he is pure; the kind of Purity, which how it is, St James hath set down c. 1. 17. where he explains this very expression, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. They are Astronomical expressions belonging to the Lights of Heaven: God is not like them that change oft; not like the Moon that hath its tides of light, now full, and then dark; nor is he like the Sun, he hath not any foreign Tropick, who when he is come near to us and makes summer, then turns back again and goes fromward us: neither must our Light have any such, our Holiness must have no Solstice; our Devotion sometimes mounting with a bright and holy flame as it would breath up into Heaven it self, sometimes fainting and sinking as it would expire and die: now our endeavors strong and violent, we strive, pant and climb; afterwards we slacken and go backwards. Neither yet a waning Moon, Holiness ebbing and flowing, now increasing, then again decaying; which tho it be sometimes glorious with a full shine, is yet otherwhile the darkest part of the whole Firmament. It must not be so with our Piety, sometimes at a Sermon, or before a Communion, or upon some sharp rebuke of Gods in an affliction, cross, or other occasion very high and shining; but then again at another time like the New-Moon no light at all; the Devotion is sunk and extinct, and our vanities possess us wholy. No fits of Purity, Paroxysms of Piety, that come like the heats of agues now and then, but with great intervals between, will serve the turn; but it must give a constant shine. Devotion must be a fixt Light, such as is not variable and turning; and so this expression shews how we must purify as he is pure, with kind, I say, not with degree. For the Text does not mean that we should be as pure as he; to aim at such a virtue were Rebellion, and the hopes of such a Purity were Lucifers Ambition, and would throw us down to Hell. Neither yet pure as he is pure, without any mixture of spot or stain. For while we are made up of a mixt composition, we shall never be so pure, neither is any such exacted of us. All the meaning is, if we have hopes to be like God hereafter with glorious likeness, we must endeavor also to be like him here; and that is don by endeavoring after Purity, forasmuch as God is pure.
Here is then an efficacious motive for us to labor after Purity, it makes us like God. To be a Child or a Son in Scripture is the same thing as to be like, or do such works as the other does: Ye are of your Father the Devil, and his works ye do, John 8. 44. and what in one place is saidgMatt. 5. 45. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, in an other place is, that ye may be like you Father. For whatever the Children of a Natural Father be, Gods Children must be like him, or they are not his; and the way to be so is but to labor after Holiness, to be still amending by little and little, daily cleansing out some sin or other: he vouchsafes to call this purifying as he is pure, he calls such a person like him and his Child.
But secondly whose Children are they and like whom, who go on still in their courses of wickedness? and if they do not grow daily worse, as few there are that do not, yet they never think of growing better, if we should examin them by the expressions we have given.
And take them first to that of Light, by which we saw a holy Conversation was stil'd, we shall in that see the sad condition of a wicked person, his life is all darkness: that sore Plague of Egypt, which three days made intolerable, is still upon the Sinners Soul, nothing but night about him. And indeed nothing else befits his deeds of darkness, as sins are call'd; which how glorious and splendid soever they seem to him, the onelyonly modes and gallantry, yet alas the splendor of them is but like the shine of lightning, full of horror in it self, and makes the darkness of the night also more irksom. And what can these men, that have no light, whose deeds are all the deeds of night and darkness; what can they expect but to be cast at last into utter darkness, where there is onelyonly weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth?
2. If we take them to the other expression of White Raiment, how will they whose open exemplary sins do strip them and expose them naked, have reason to be asham'd, and to cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a clo…e? How wretchedly stupid is the heart of this People that glory in their shame, that count their sins the onelyonly gaudy bravery? when as poor souls they are miserable, and poor, and naked, Rev. 3. 17. There was no such disgraceful thing as to have the uncomly parts of the body laid open to publick sight: so Hanun us'd Davids Ambassadors, whom he thought Spies 2 Sam. 10. 4. which was occasion enough for a war upon them. And God expresses Isaiah 20. 4. He shall lead away the Egyptians Prisoners, naked with their buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt. And you may see what God threatens to adulterous Israel, Isaiah 3. 16, &c. and much more at large in Ezek. 16, and 23. that she might be laugh'd to scorn, and had in derision, and might be an infamous woman. And in one place he threatens to discover her by throwing her cloths over her head. Now I have shew'd you that Holiness is the onelyonly Virginity, and sin is the Souls whoredom; and the expression that I have in hand tells you that Holiness is the onelyonly garment, and the openest of sinning is the Souls nakedness; which if you put together, you will see, that a profane person, an open sinner is the same scorn'd thing, as a whore with her cloths over her head, a bare strumpet acting naked lewdness in high ways, with her unexpressible filthiness expos'd in publick to eyes and shame. And is such a thing as this fit to go to God, or to be a Spouse of Christ? No his Bride must be arrai'd in fine white linnen, that is the righteousness of the Saints, hHeb. 12. 14.and without holiness no one shall see him: For he that hath that hope, must purify himself, as he is pure.
This Hope. What Christian Hope is: it is a patient and a comfortable expectation of the performance of all Gods Promises. Patient expectation it is Rom. 8. 25. if we hope, then do we with Patience wait for it. Comfortable it must needs be, because of the excellency of its object, Gods Promises; all the comfort of the Scriptures are the very ground of it, Rom. 15. 4. That we thro patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope: and it is therefore call'd Coloss. 1. 23. The hope of the Gospel. Whatsoever mercy is included in the whole Gospel, Remission of sins, and everlasting Blessedness, all those rich and precious mercies which that does propose, and which God himself thought to be the most temting baits to allure us, even all these our Hope does fly at. You may find them every where scatter'd; the Resurrection from the dead Acts 23. 6. I am accus'd of the hope and resurrection from the dead; and c. 28. 20. For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. Secondly Eternal Life, Tit. 1. 2. In hope of Eternal Life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began. Thirdly the Glory to come, Rom. 5. 2. We rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God: and Col. 1. 27. it is call'd the Hope of Glory. Yea the being like God himself in the Text, We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, and then it follows, and he that hath this hope purifieth himself as he is pure; as also Tit. 2. 13. That blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Savior Jesus Christ. All these the Christian does with joy and confidence expect Heb. 3. 6.
And here you may see the price of your calling, whatsoever good things God hath prepar'd for them that love him; and they are such,i1 Cor. 2. 9. as neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, neither can enter into the heart of man to comprehend. Yea whatsoever good things he hath prepar'd for himself, his own glories, all these he hath set out to bait our hopes with; these are a Christians most assured expectations. Whosoever thou art, that art a careful Soul, and with strict Religion followest after Holiness, thou maist securely give the Scoffers of the world and the wicked leave to call thee miserable, to deride thy strictnesses and thy austerities, to say thy mortifications do make thy life sad and uncomfortable: alas! they do not see the Hope that is laid before thee, such a Hope as made thy SaviorkHeb 12. 2. endure the cross and despise the shame. They look upon thy strict performances, but they do not look upon thy expectations, they consider not the Crown of those performances: for if they did, they would not certainly think the present momentany pleasures of their sins could countervail that Crown. Be the hardship what it will, it is a comfortable Hope, and that sufficiently confirm'd to us; full of assurance it leans upon the whole Trinity, 1 Pet. 1. 21. That our hope might be in God. and Tim. 1. 1. Our Lord Jesus Christ our Hope. Rom. 5. 5. That we may abound in Hope thro the power of the Holy Ghost. The Power of the whole God-head ingag'd both to secure and to support our Hope. A blessed Hope Tit. 2. 13. a Hope that is enjoyment. And if it be a blessed Hope, what will the possession be; if there be happiness in the expectation, what will there be in the fruition? O purify your selves and come and see: which brings me to the last part, how this Hope does set a man on purifying; for every man that hath this Hope, purifies himself.
Now to declare and prove this to you I shall do two things. First prove that this is such a Hope, as hath in it motive enough to set a man on purifying. Secondly that he that does not purify, cannot have this Hope.
1. This Hope hath certainly motive enough to set a man on purifying: had we laid the hopes of heaven near our hearts, were our thoughts but once set and bent upon the joys above, we would easily perswade our selves to set upon the mending of our selves. What will not hope do? All the emploiments of the world do but serve this passion; They that plow, plow in hope, saith St Paul, because the heavens promise them a season of harvest; tho they do frown in seed-time and storm against their labors with inundations of tempest, or freez the earth into an untam'd hardness, till it become iron as their instruments, yet will they melt themselves or they will thaw those frosts, and toil as if they would vie drops with winter clouds, in showers of sweat as well as rain, merely because they hope to reap. And they that plow the sea are yet more slaves to Hope; for they outface death with all its terrors for the hopes of a gainful venture, they do charge thro a shower, a deluge of waves that do assail them with foaming wrath, and sustain an inundation of billows that fall like Gods swelling cataracts, as if they came from heaven out against them, and are fearless when they are but an inch remov'd from an Abyss of ruin that gapes like hell; men of confidence, hard as those rocks which they despise for hopes of a little profit. And what shall we say to the poor Soldier, who for hopes of rags and roots will charge fire, whom the promise of, God knows, a thin salary will make to run into as great a storm and tempest of flame, as the Seaman does of water, even into a shower of death? The most active of our passions either submit to Hopes, or owe their violence to an activity deriv'd from them. Do not men bridle in all their desires, and the furies of their passions to the peevish will and liking, and become perfect compliance to the otherwise intolerable humors of one whom they hope to please, or from whom they hope for some inheritance or preferment? And the Tragedies of Ambition, which useth towade thro a sea of bloud and sin, that does scorn Relations, defy God and its own Conscience, reverse States, and confound all rather than miss its aim, are but the issues of a most uncertain Hope. And then, my Brethren, would not the Hopes of Heaven be able to do somthing with us, when the Hopes of a little know not whats, will do all this? Would we not sow to the Spirit, where the harvest is Blessedness? Would we not war against the Flesh, when he that overcomes should have a Crown immortal and incorruptible? Would we not comply with Christ and please him to get his inheritance, and have some ambition for the Throne of God, if we did but hope for these, as we do for the other? Yes my Brethren. I will give an example of one, who slighted all the most glorious satisfactions of the most swelling earthly hopes, and when he had every thing brought to him that ambition could gape for, yet threw off all upon these onelyonly Hopes, Hebr. 11. 24, 25, 26, &c. When he was co… to years, when he came to the age of understanding the honors of a Court, and when his appetite was grown ripe for the delights that do attend one, and he fit for the enjoyment of them, and the opportunity of them thrown into his hands by being taken in Son of the Crown, and so Possessor of all the advantages of pleasure which such a Relation can afford: and when on the other side there was nothing in the other scale, but the sorrows of a low vassalage, and the afflictions of a hard slavery; nothing but a brickiln to be set against the Palace, and instead of the rich variety of earthly entertainments not so much aslExod. 5. 16. straw to make their brick of; that he should chuse the afflictions; and as if his will were not alone engag'd that way, but his understanding also led, that he should esteem that wanting, that contemtible condition, the reproach of Religion to be greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. And indeed the very reproach of Christ is greater riches, riches I shall carry with me to that great Tribunal at the dreadful day, that will be the great Kings Badge, his Livery upon me when I stand before his Throne, when all the spangles of your pomps shall be faln off and look as gastly to the wicked as their own sad carcasses or sadder expectations: as if there were more shine and splendor in the dirt, which scorn does throw into the face of Piety, than in the Pomps of Wealth. Now this must sure be from some strange consideration. Why all was upon this score, he had respect to the recompence of the reward, he hop'd for better things: what's the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter to the Son of God? or the succession to the Crown of Egypt in comparison with the possessing the Inheritance of Heaven? 'Tis true the treasures of that Crown may furnish me with the aims of all my appetites, what'ere my heart or what my lust can wish that will get me the opportunity of having, it will allow me all those pleasures which all the world gapes after, riches to procure for them; whatever curiosity, or emulation, or sin does long for, they will prostitute before me. But what are all those satisfactions in comparison with the joys of God? Is there delight in the full affluence of those enjoyments? Hath God indulg'd pleasure to those things which he hath allow'd to wicked Egypt? and shall I think he hath not provided greater pleasures for his own self, and for those he intends to make happy with him? Now let me have Gods delights, Heaven I do assure my self hath the more advantages, and therefore there I chuse. And so he chose rather the afflictions of this world, for he had an eye to the recompence of the reward; and by this we are sure, if we had hopes, we should make other choices than we do. If a sin come to temt me drest with all its pleasures, and cloath'd with all the bewitching arts it can put on, or fancy paint it out with, if at the same time I can but look up to my Hopes, bethink my self of the rewards of Religion, and recollect that there are no such pleasures in the sin, as there are prepar'd for me, if I abstain from it, shall I not then reject and scorn the temtation, think it impertinent and foolish, and wonder it should be so unreasonable to desire, or think me so vain as to grant upon score of pleasure in the commission, when I am sure of greater if I do not commit it? Shall I not have reason to believe the sin very unkind to me, when it allures me with some little delight, and I must part with all blessedness for it? No surely nothing can withdraw him, whom a Christians Hopes do entertain. But because temtations are apt to prevail, where there is no appearance of danger, to come a little nearer to you, that you may with terror see that none can have this Hope but they that purify, which was the last thing, I shall onelyonly ask thee, whosoever thou art that hopest to have thy sins forgiven thee and to have Eternal Life, upon what grounds thou hopest it? We have no reason to hope for any thing, but what God hath promis'd. Now hath God any where promis'd that thou particularly …alt be sav'd? Certainly no. What then? why dost thou hope? if thou canst, answer me. Because he hath promis'd to thelMatt. 5. 8. Pure in heart, that they shall see God, he hath given assurance to them that repent that they shall be forgiven; and I how sinful soever I have bin, yet I am penitent, I endeavor to purge out that old leaven, to cleanse my self, I am resolv'd not to allow my self any of my vicious inclinations or my customes, I'le strive against my petty sins, and my soul is humbled in me, and therefore have I Hope. If thou canst answer thus, thou hast indeed good grounds, thou hast prov'd that thou maiest hope: but withal thou hast prov'd also that thou dost purify, and upon that score dost hope. For if thou didst not repent, and amend, and purge thy self from thy filthy wickednesses, thou must then know, that the same God that seal'd all his promises with the bloud of his Son, did also represent and seal these threatnings in his suffering, Without holiness no man shall see God. mLuke 13. 3.Except ye repent ye shall all perish. nMatt. 3. 10.The axe is laid to the root of the tree; every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be hewn down and cast into the fire. so1 Cor. 6. 9, 10. And, Be not deceiv'd, neither fornicator, nor adulterer, nor covetous person, nor rietous, and the like, hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ or God; pRev. 22. 15.For without are dogs, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie: andqRom. 8. 13. They that live after the flesh shall die; and Christ himself pronounc'd,rMatt. 25. 41. Go ye cursed into everlasting fire. Now if thou goest on in a course of any of these sins, dost any of these deeds of the Flesh, I shall onelyonly ask thee, are not these threats as true, and as much to be believ'd as his promises? And if thou dost believe them, how is it possible that thou that liv'st in any of those courses which these threats belong to, canst have any hope? When God hath so solemnly declar'd thou shalt have nothing but everlasting ruin, how darest thou, how canst thou hope for Heaven? This is the same thing as to think to anchor on the billows, or to lay foundations in a wave and on a storm; to hope in threats at least in opposition to all Scripture and to all promise, to wage war with the Gospel, and resolve to have them both against, and in despite of God: and that certainly will very little avail thee. No he that does not amend cannot hope; for he that hopes must needs purify himself.
And now should we apply this to the careless Sinner, if we consider first not onelyonly what sad character St Paul does give of men in that condition, how it is the description he gives of the Heathen, and he joins it with other most comfortless expressions, Eph. 2. 12. without Christ, strangers from the Covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but also look upon the experience, how to be in a lost desperate condition in relation to so eternal a consequence as the world to come imports, is such a thing as none was ever able to stand under the consideration of it; one hours despair sinks them for ever: we could not bear the weight of it. Judas did chuse all the sad issues of it hereafter rather than the passion here, thought it easier to go meet Gods fury than despair of mercy; and when he saw he had no hopes of pardon, he ran to damnation. No we are resolv'd we must hope to be sav'd.
2. Consider that it is impossible for the wicked man, while he continues such, to hope: he cannot chuse but know that the promises concern him not, they are conditional, they are made onelyonly to them that repent and believe, and God knows that he hath not don yet; so that nothing but the threats belong to him. And then how shall we reconcile these considerations, if we put them both together in the Sinners mind? How shall they be at peace and not tear one another and the soul? It is impossible to endure not to hope, and yet 'tis impossible that man should hope; and if this contest happen when he goes to die, then his own thoughts will drag him down to the Abyss with more violence than the fiends. Sure 'tis a very sad consideration to think that men that know the wretchedness of being hopeless, that dare not not hope, will not yet industriously and piously set upon the performance of that condition on which they may hope, will not purify that they may have reason to expect the promises. And it is more sad to see that men, who never purge themselves from filthiness of Flesh or Spirit, but go on in their sinful courses, and consequently know, that while they are such they cannot hope, yet will in despite of that knowledge hope, and do notwithstanding all think to come to Heaven. Certainly while a man goes on to sin, to hope for mercy is presumtion in him, and so another sin added to the rest; yea 'tis a disbelieving of Gods threatning, an affronting him in his veracity, an imputing falsehood to his menaces, and a putting himself almost out of the possibility of repenting. For he that do's hope for Salvation in the condition he is in, hath no temtation at all to change his condition, but is likely to go on confidently and hopingly to eternal perdition: it were a mercy to such a person to be struck into despair, that he may be taught the wretchedness of his condition and hurried out it, in which as long as he does hope, there's no reason to expect that he should leave it, but by becoming hopeless in it may be frighted from it, and the gates of hell is the onelyonly probable means to let that man into the way of heaven. O the Christians Hope! it is the hope of righteousness Gal. 5. 5. Nothing else but holiness and righteousness can give a man ground for it. And certainly, my Brethren, it is such a Hope as would countervail the trouble and the pains of reforming our selves. What will not a man undertake, which he can but hope to go thro, and is assur'd of a large recompence for doing? and surely Heaven is worth the endeavouring after, and that blessed Hope worth purifying our selves for. For it was worth the death of the Son of God; Christ was content to be crucified to compass it, and cannot we be content to purify our selves for it? Will you see what hope can perswade a man to do? See Abraham to whom God promis'd onelyonly the Land of Canaan, and that not to be enjoied by himself nor by his Son, but onelyonly by the Posterity of Isaac his Son, and his Promises were further off than Heaven; yet after that, before Isaac had any Posterity, when he was but a child, GodsGen. 22. 2. commands him to go and sacrifice his Isaac, and go to cut off all hopes of ever enjoying it, yettRom. 4. 18. against hope he believed in hope, saith St Paul, and he that had receiv'd the promises of God, offer'd up his onelyonly begotten Son Heb. 11. 17. i. e. having entertain'd and embrac'd the promise of a numerous seed and people that should spring from him, and having no other Son but this from whom they should spring, nor possibility in nature, nor promise above nature that he should have any more children, but a plainuGen. 22. 17, 18. affirmation that this People, to whom the Promises belong'd, should come from Isaac; yet having once truly hop'd that God would perform his promise, he absolutely obei'd that command of Gods resolving to kill the Son, on whom all those Promises depended. And now my Brethren, there is no such puzles in our Hope, nor no such hard thing requir'd of us, no Sons to be sacrific'd but onelyonly a few vices, no doubtful perplext promise of a Canaan onelyonly, but plain assured Heaven: and then had we but the least degree of his hope, as we have infinitely greater reason, how would we sacrifice any thing to Christs command? how would we offer up a lust, and think a sin a good exchange for the hopes of Heaven? and he that had this hope, would certainly purify himself as he is pure.
It is but now the Church hath celebrated the Ascension of our Lord Christ, and the great Proposal of the Angels Acts 1. 11. to all those Disciples that beheld him going up to Heaven and gaz'd after him so wishly, was that they should see him come again. Now the particular comfort of that coming so again is, when he shall appear, we shall be like him 1 John 3. 2. and the hopes of being so St John thought a sufficient motive to set every man on purifying, and that himself: for this lustration cannot be perform'd by Proxy, and be remitted to another; for even our Saviors Righteousness will not be imputed unto those, who will have none besides; he redeems and saves none but them whom he has sav'd from their sins.
Reveal, O Blessed God, some of thy Glory which thou hast prepar'd for them that love thee, some of that blessed Hope of a Christian calling to our hearts, that it may stir our desires and longings, and heat them into hopes; and that we having the hopes of seeing thee, may purify, and may escape that day of fire, which shall melt the Heavens, and purge those glorious bodies which are not pure in thy sight. Behold, O God, we tremble with horror of thy dreadful Judgment. The Angels are not clean in thy sight, and the Seraphims cover their faces, what then shall become of us vile filthy Sinners, whose daily impurities have so defil'd both our souls and bodies, that we are but one mass and heap of uncleaness. Blessed God, we know that as long as we continue such, we cannot hope to see thee in mercy; we know that if we repent not, we shall all perish; we know that if we live after the Flesh, we shall die eternally; we know that neither fornicators, &c. shall have any inheritance. O let this knowledg apply it self to our hearts and consciences, that the terrors of it may fright us from the vain hopes that we do cherish of being happy, notwithstanding we go on in our sinful courses, for alas those hopes will perish with us; and that those terrors may so work on us to set upon amendment. Cleanse and wash, we pray thee, all our impurities in the bloud of thy Son, bury them in his grave, never to rise hereafter, and melt our hearts into repentant tears, that so our hearts may become purer. O thou that didst cleanse us with thy bloud, baptize us with thy Holy Spirit and with fire, that it may purge out our dross and filthiness, and be an earnest to us of that glorious Purity, which we shall have in Heaven, seeing thee as thou art, and becoming like thee, where we shall sin no more, but for ever serve and praise thee.