The True Spring of Gospel Sight and Sense of Sin, Sermon 2
The Second SERMON.
1 Cor. xv. 55.
O Grave! where is thy Victory.
SOME of you may remember, that from the Words opened and explained, I raised this general Observation. That every true Believer, in the Moment of his Death, can triumph over Death and the Grave, as well in reference to his Soul as to his Body.
I divided it into two Branches; the first whereof was this: That a Believer in the Moment of his Death, can triumph over Death in respect of his Soul, which I have dispatched and now proceed to handle the Second, viz.
That a Believer in Death can triumph over the Grave, in respect of his Body.
I judge it most convenient to use the same Method in the Prosecution of this Branch, as I did in the former, viz. to illustrate it by its contrary; and therefore lay it down thus to be spoken to.
The Grave can triumph over the Unbeliever's Body; but the Believer can triumph over the Grave, in respect of his Body.
Sinners are apt to make Gods of their Bodies, honouring them excessively with Food, Rayment, Lodging, and the like; and to glory in the Health, Beauty and Strength of their Bodies; but the Grave will trample upon all these. Instead of delicious Wine, and choice Dainties, the Grave will fill their Mouths and Bellies with Dust: Their Silks, and Laces, and abominable impudent whorish Head-dresses, their proud and lofty Crests shall be exchanged for stinking Rottenness, odious Filth, and crawling Maggots. And instead of their stately Houses and Down-Beds, they must be content to take up with a dark Hole, and a cold Bed of Clay. The most vigorous Health then is vanished; a little pitiful Vermine can there deal with the stoutest Hector, and the strongest Sampson. The fairest Face will soon prove as dismal there as the foulest Monster. The most exquisite Beauty look as squallid, and as horrid as the ugliest Blackamoor; and none shall be able to see any Difference between the rotten Skull of the one and the other. But having spoken somewhat to these things already, and being desirous to hasten to other Matter, I shall here put a Conclusion to this, and only add three or four Things to be considered in. Death, wherein Death and the Grave triumphs over a Sinners Body, but the Believer triumphs over Death and the Grave, &c. I shall speak to both the Contraries together by way of Antithesis.
1. Natural Death to the Wicked is an entrance to eternal Death, Heb. ix. 27. And 'tis appointed to Men once to die, but after this, the Judgment. The Righteous Law of God has so ordered it for Sinners, that Death, as a Sergeant shall arrest and cast their Bodies to the Grave, as to a Dungeon, there to be reserved in Death's Chains to the Judgment of the Great Day. But natural Death to the Godly is a Passage to eternal Glory: And Death, like a skilful Chymist, takes their Bodies, and puts them into the Alembick of the Grave, and there distils them into pure Spiritual and Glorious Bodies against the Great Day; but more of this hereafter.
2. Natural Death to the Wicked, is a part of the penal Sentence of the Law, Gen. ii, 17. — For in the Day that thou catest thereof, thou shalt surely die. The Law threatned a threefold Death, spiritual, temporal and eternal. The Hebraism in the Original is emphatical to the Purpose, dying thou shalt die. To me having this Force, dying in thy Body, thou shalt die eternally in thy Soul. 'Tis evident, that to the Ungodly, natural Death is a part of that punishment inflicted by the righteous Law of God? and what Death is, the Grave is the same. If one be the Law's Jaylor to the Body, the other is the Law's Prison. But to the Godly 'tis far otherwise: For as Death has lost his Sting to them, so has the Grave: 'Tis not to them penal, but purely natural; the putting off the old Adam, that the second Adam may take possession of the whole Body. The Apostle in 1 Cor. 15. discoursing of the Necessity of the natural Death of Believers, argues thus, That the old Adam had first took possession of the Elect Vessels Bodies, ver. 46. That what of the old Adam is there, is earthly, and tends to Earth and Dissolution. Ver. 47. It being the proper Nature thereof. Ver. 48. Concludes thus, That the Image of the old Adam on the Body, must be wholly laid aside, and that by Death; so that the Image of the second might take sole and full Possession. Ver. 49. As we have born the Image of the Earthy, we shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly.
3 Natural Death is a separation of the Body from all Life; and thus it is to the Wicked: Their Dust dwell alone in the Grave, united to nothing, only there reserved by an Almighty Power of God, in an extraordinary way, for the Glory of his Justice hereafter. But the Dust of the Godly in their Graves, are united to the Body of Christ now in Heaven, and there is held still a secret Correspondence between their scattered Dust and the Life of Jesus, who in this sense, is the Resurrection and the Life. John xi. 25. To make this more evident, 'tis to be considered, 1. That the Person of the Believer, both Body and Soul, in the first act of Faith, is united to the Person of Christ; yea, joyned to the Body of Christ, Rom. vii. 4.2. That by vertue of this Union, the second Adam takes Possession of the Body as well as the Soul, as proved before from 1 Cor. xv. 45, to 50, especially 46. Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual; but that which is natural, and afterward spiritual. Observe that the Apostles Discourse must be here confined to the Bodies of the Saints, for it is the Resurrection of their Bodies he is a proving. 3. The Believer holds his natural Life upon another tenure than he did formerly, even from the second Adam, by vertue of his Implantation into him. The great Apostle Paul, in the 2 Cor. 4. declaring how his Body had been supported in the Work of Christ, under all Perils, Pains, Watchings, Labours, Imprisonments, &c. almost insupportable, declares the Cause, ver. 10. That it was from the Life of Jesus made manifest in his Body, repeating the same in the last Clause of the 11th Verse, only instead of Body, there he writes mortal Flesh: All which thus explained, does evidently prove, that the Bodies of the Saints derive now their natural Life in great measure from another Root. 4. As an undeniable Consequence of this, that that Life the Body holds from Christ, does not quite vanish, as that of the first Adam does; but is gathered up into Christ, and retreats back to him the Root, as the Sap of Trees in Winter Time falls down from the Branches to the Root. And I take that to be the Meaning of that Place of holy Writ; or at least I may allude to it, Col. iii. 3. Your Life is hid with Christ in God, especially because of the following Verse, when Christ who is our Life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in Glory; which Glory respects the Body as well as the Soul. 'Tis to me plain that there is a secret Commerce between the Living glorious Body of an exalted Jesus, and the Dust of a deceased Believer, which may be further proved from Mat. xxii. 31, 32. The Argument Christ himself uses to prove the Resurrection of the Dead, and the force of his Argument I apprehend to lye here: That God calls himself the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, though dead: That God is not the God of the Dead, but of the Living, therefore, that though Abraham, Isaac, &c. were dead, yet they were still united to the living God, and by Vertue of those secret Beams of Life from him (the inseparable Effects of that Union) that still corresponded with, and preserved their mouldered Bodies in the Grave, they should be raised up at the last Day. This sense of the Place seems to be confirmed from the Answer of our Lord Jesus to Martha's Objection against the present Resurrection of her Brother, John xi. 24. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the Resurrection at the Last Day. Ver. 25. Jesus saith unto her, I am the Resurrection and the Life, &c. As if he should have said, thou grantest that I can raise him up at the last Day; but how? Is it not by Vertue of that Union that is between his dead Body, and my living Body? If then, I will be his Life, and therefore his Resurrection. I am now his Life, and consequently can be now his Resurrection. I shall add that Argument, the Lord, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Life abides and dwells in a Believer for ever, in his Body as well as his Soul. 1 Cor. vi. 19. What, know ye not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, &c. If it be granted then, that he does still in-dwell in the separate Soul of the Believer, why not, in a sense, in the separate Body too? He brooded formerly over the Chaos, till it was formed into a beautiful Creation; and why not in like manner over the Dust, till the appointed time of actual Life by the Father comes? But,
4. Natural Death tends to an utter Abolition. Natural Death in it self, tends to an utter Consumption of the Body, and that by Steps retrogade to the Methods of the first Creation. First, There was a Chaos created, and then that disposed and digested into a very beautiful and lovely Frame; but Death deals thus with Man, the Epitome of the Creation, reduces the fair Structure to a Chaos, or Heap of Dust, and then commits it to the Grave to annihilate it. And so would the Bodies of Sinners be annihilated, especially in the universal Conflagration; but that, as has been afore mentioned, the God of Nature by his infinite Power preserves and fits them to be Vessels of Wrath for Destruction, and at last raises them, that they might be for ever miserable Companions to their miserable Souls, on which he might make the Power of his Vengeance known to all Eternity. That as the Body has been a Companion to the Soul in sinning, so it shall be World without end, in suffering. But as to the Bodies of the Saints, it is otherwise. Death only sows their Bodies into the Ground, that they might be quickned again into more glorious Bodies, 1 Cor. xv. 36, 37. compare with 42, 43 &c. And pulls down the old tottering House, that it may be built up a more glorious Fabrick in the Day of Resurrection, and they shall arise then from the refining Alembick of the Grave, with several wonderful Advantages; especially these five,
1 Then Corruptibility shall put on Incorruptibility, 1 Cor. xv. 53. For this Corruptible must put on Incorruption, and when thrown into the Grave corruptible Bodies then shall be raised incorruptible— Ver. 42. Sown in Corruption, raised in Incorruption. The Bodies of the Saints shall have no tendency to decay any more; no more shall the Bodies of the Wicked: but here will be the Difference; the Bodies of the Saints will be unpassible, and will not be capable of suffering Pains; but the Bodies of the Wicked, though not apt to decay, yet will be the Seat of eternal Pains and Torments.
2. Then Immortal shall put on Immortality, 1 Cor. xv. 53, 54. And the Bodies of the Saints sown mortal, shall rise immortal. There will be no dying in the new Jerusalem above, nor decaying, nor fading; but Bodies as well as the Spirits of the Just being made perfect, shall endure the same in that glorious State to all Eternity. 'Tis true, the Bodies of Unbelievers shall never die more; but their Living and Continuing will be a constant Dying. They will be dying to all Eternity, but never absolutely die; and happy would it be for them, if they could altogether cease to be. But on the Bodies of Believers, the second Death can have no Power at all. As for instance, The last Enemy that Christ will destroy for them, will be Death, 1 Cor. xv. 26. And then Death will be swallowed up in Victory, 1 Cor. xv. 54.
3. Then natural Flesh will put on Spirit, 1 Cor. xv. 44. It is sown a natural Body, it is raised a spiritual Body, There is a natural Body, and there is a spiritual Body. Not that these natural Bodies in the Saints shall be turned into the very Essence of Spirits; but they shall come as near their Natures as 'tis possible, for corporeal Substances to come. So says our Lord himself, in answer to the Sadducees Cavil, Mat. xxii. 30. For in the Resurrection, they neither marry, nor are given in Marriage; but are as the Angels of God in Heaven. i. e. They shall be as near to the Nature of Angels as is possible. They will be of a purer and more incompound Substance, than the purest Elements of Fire: They will be endued then with wonderful agility and celerity, and their motion surpassing swift; probably they will fly then as swift as Thought. We experience that our Thoughts now speed in an Instant to the farthermost Regions of the Earth, whilst the heavy Log of a Body stays behind, and can go no faster than its Legs can carry it, or some more artificial means. But doubtless then our Bodies, that believe will be fitted to keep pace with our glorified Souls, in all their Motions, for the Glory of Christ, not hindred by Sicknesses and Ails, nor made slow with any weakness, imperfection, or mutilation. The Sun is swift in his race; but what is his race compared to that of the glorified Bodies of the Saints then!
Fourthly, Dishonour then will put on Honour, and that that is sown in Dishonour will be raised in Glory, 1 Cor. xv. 43. Then they will be in part clothed with the Glory that is upon the Body of an exalted Jesus. 'Tis true, there will be difference in degrees, though not in kind: For as 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, 1 Cor xv. 41. So the Glory of the Body of Christ, will be as the Glory of the Sun; and the Glory of the Bodies of his Children, like the Glory of the Stars, all shining in Brightness, Splendor and Majesty, though not equally alike. When Christ appeared with Moses and Elias in the Transfiguration on the Mount, the Glory then on his Body is set forth, as in a Glass: His Face did shine as the Sun, and his Rayment was white as the Light, Mat. xvii. 2. So will the risen Bodies of the Saints be, shining brighter than the Sun, whiter than the purest Light. That, that is sown in Dishonour, as afore hinted, will be raised in Glory. They that are laid in the Earth, …le Infants, will be raised in full growth and perfect stature; they that be entombed decrepit, old and deformed, shall rise again well-shaped, vigorous and beautiful. They that drop to the Grave poor, tattered, Servants and Slaves, shall come out from thence rich, free and illustrious, greater than Kings and Emperors: Then indeed in a literal sense the Eyes of the Blind shall be opened, the Ears of the Deaf be unloosned, the Lame shall leap as an Hart, and the Tongue of the Dumb shall sing for Joy, Isa. xxxv. 5, 6. &c. For the Bodies of the risen Believers that are now wrapt up in Dishonour, shall be then cloathed with the highest Honour.
Fifthly, Then weakness shall put on Strength; and that that is sown in weakness, shall be raised in power, 1 Cor. xv. 43.
Then the Coward shall be valiant, and the Feeble exceeding strong; their Strength and Courage will be very near Angelick then. We read, that an Angel destroyed an hundred thousand in one Night; and how great, ineffably great, will be the Strength and Power of the spiritual Bodies of the risen Saints in that Day! But having spoke of this dispersedly afore under other Heads, I shall now add no more thereunto; nor mention several other Advantages that the Bodies of the Saints shall arise with, that I might insist on: For these are sufficient to evince, that Believers can triumph over the Grave in respect of their Bodies.
Thus having dispatch'd the Doctrinal part, I now proceed to the Application, which I briefly intend to finish in three or four Inferences: The two first will particularly relate to the last branch of the Doctrine: The two last will respect the whole Doctrine in general.
1. Infer. The first Inference is, for the Comfort of Believers against Death. If it be so that their dead Bodies can thus triumph over the Grave, what else is there in their Death that seems terrible? As for their Souls, they are then instantly lodged in the Mansions prepared for them above: But if their Bodies are thus also excellently provided for, every thing in Death is to be contemned. Nor need we shrink at the Pangs that usually attend Death; they are but the Cracks of a tattered House, blown up in order to be rebuilt a stately Edifice; or rather a Groan or two at farewel, between two parting Friends that have been long loving Companions together, but now must be separated for a great Season, that they might meet again to the greater advantage of both, and these are the Body and the Soul. And Death is no less to be scorned coming by his terrible Messengers, Fire, Sword, Gibbets, Poison, or the like: When he uses Instruments, he is generally more courteous and gentle in his Dealings, and quicker of dispatch. A torrid malignant Fever, or a Torture of several Weeks or Months by the Stone, Gout, or Strangury, have dealt more cruelly with a body in dissolving it, than the Spanish Rack, or Parisian Wheel have done. So that consider Death in all its affrighting Circumstances, it need not be at all frightful to the dying Believer.
2. Infer. The second Inference is, for the Comfort of Believers, against the tiresome fatigue of Pains, Sicknesses and Infirmities. The comfortable Consideration is this: That all Pains and Maladies prepare and hasten the Body for the place of refining; as they are Nature's Suffering, so they are the effect of Grace mellowing the whole Man for Glory: They in whom Grace shines most, are commonly most infirm in their Bodies; for the Souls that are most on the Wing for God, whose Graces are most vigorous in their Exercise, eat out sooness the Tenement of Clay. As the painful feeling of the Body of Death within, is the nailing of the old Man to the Cross by the new Creature, and Corruption painfully felt and odiously seen, is Corruption a mortifying; proved by the Apostle, Rom. vi. 5. where he calls the mortification of Sin, a being planted into the likeness of the Death of Christ; which was a painful and shameful, as well as a cursed Death: v. 6. he calls it the crucifixion of the old Man, and the destruction of the Body of Sin; that of Galat. ii. 20. being added thereunto, and compared with Rom. vii. from the 15th ver. to the end, particularly ver. 24. compared with ver. 25. From all which places, 'tis evident, that the painful feeling of Unbelief, and the Body of Death within, is Unbelief and the Body of Death crucified, and the dying Tyger roaring in the Soul. The inward Blows of that Nature we feel, are Stabs at Heart given to inbred Corruption by the second Adam: So the pains Believers feel in their Bodies are but as so many blows the second Adam gives there to the first, in order to drive him out, and take up the whole Room for himself. Comfort thy self then with these words, thou sick Believer, under thy tedious malady and and sore pains, or with such arguings as these: These Pangs indeed are sharp, but they will after yield peaceably and blessed Fruits, for 'tis in order that that which is earthly may be done away; that that which is spiritual may fill up all in all; 'tis for the refining of Flesh and Blood; for Flesh and Blood, as now circumstanced, cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither Corruption inherit Incorruption, 1 Cor. xv. 50. I will be patient under my greatest pains then, since their tendency is to eat out Corruption in my Body, so that it might inherit eternal Glory, together with my Soul in incorruption.
The other remaining Inferences relate to the whole Doctrine, as laid down in the first Sermon.
1. Infer. That the Doctrine is a cogent motive to Holiness in Life and powerful Godliness in Conversation. If so be that a Believer can triumph over Death and the Grave, in reference to his Soul and Body, then the unspeakably free, rich, glorious Grace of God in Christ manifested in him, and believed into, must needs oblige the Man or Woman to all manner of holy Conversation. When Men have said all they can, against the Doctrine of Free Grace, impiously branding it with the Names of Antinomianism and Licentiousness, yet this is undeniable from the experience of the most Godly, as well as from the Word of the Lord, that nothing constrains to all manner of holy Obedience, like the Love of Christ revealed to the Conscience, and the Love of the Father in his Love. All that are most Godly, can say what is said of the Woman in the Gospel; they weep much, and do much, as she, Luke vii. 44, 47. because they love much; and they love much, because much is frankly forgiven them. This is certain, that the inherent Holiness of the Soul, is the strength of the Soul, and the strength of the inward Sanctification of the Soul, depends upon looking to, by Faith, that Grace that is in Christ. Thou therefore, my Son, be strong within, [foreign] 2. Tim. ii. 1, 5. in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus, viz. at God's right hand. 'Tis not said, Be strong in the Grace that is in your selves, for that is to seek the living among the dead, a living Christ in our dead Frames, when he is never to be found there for he is risen, and ever lives at the Father's right Hand, to make intercession for his Children, and a constant steady looking to him there, always interceeding, and still full of Grace and Truth; 'tis that will carry on the work of Sanctification in the Soul. The spiritual Life of a Believer is from Faith, and maintained by Faith. It is written, The Just shall live by Faith, Rom. i. 17. Gal. iii. 11. Heb. x. 38. Faith is said to purify the Heart, Acts xv. 9. to sanctify, viz. the whole Man, Acts xxvi. 18. and Faith always respects Christ and his Grace. The Blood of Christ, i. e. pardoning Grace in the Blood of Christ, received into the Conscience by believing, is affirmed to purge the Conscience from dead Works to serve the living God, Heb. ix. 14. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation, and hath appeared to all Men in the Gospel, but as revealed unto the Consciences of them, that believe, teaching them, that denying ungodliness and worldly Lusts, they should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World, Tit. ii. 11, 12. And the God of all Grace in manifesting his Grace to the Soul, that he has called it to eternal Glory by Jesus Christ does go on to make perfect, establish, strengthen and settle the Soul: Which Expressions, comprehend all the Work of Sanctification, in its several parts and degrees, till it arrives to the fulness of the stature of a perfect Man in Christ Jesus. 'Tis apparent from these and several other places of the holy Scriptures, that the Grace that is in us, proportionably, rises and falls to the believing Views we have of the Grace that is in the Heart of Christ towards us, and in the Hand of Christ to give us. To draw towards a close in this matter: This is it I aim at, that our inherent Righteousness within us, is begun and carried on by Faith in the imputed Righteousness of Christ without us: These two are every way distinct, yet so as the former still flows from the latter. The All-wise God has so ordered it in the dispensation of his Grace, that his free Grace shall be magnified, and the Righteousness of his Son highly valued and advanced. Were the only use of Christ's Righteousness (and indeed that is a great use of it) to secure eternal Glory for us, we should be tempted to have little recourse to it by Faith; for that being once done, and our state secured, corrupt nature would be apt to insinuate to us there would be no great need of such frequent viewing that God-like Righteousness without us, wherein we stand, it being that that is so contrary to Flesh and Blood. But now our Holiness in every step of it depending upon the Righteousness of Christ being apprehended by the Soul in believing; it must, or it ought, to necessitate us to have constant recourse, by continued Acts of believing to this glorious Righteousness all the day long. Since it is thus, that every dram of true Gospel-Holiness flows into the Soul only this way: The Apostle affirms it three times, That now the Just shall live by Faith; which Life, 'tis evident, he means to be a Life spiritual, or Life of Holiness here. And 'tis necessary that the Work of Holiness be carried on continually and constantly; and therefore that we believe in Christ and his Righteousness always. The reason of all is this: The Lord will have the Righteousness which is of Faith, the imputed Righteousness of his Son always viewed, believed in, and admired by us. So that hence you may believe the Doctrine of Free-Grace does not tend to Licentiousness (as Satan in various Instruments clamours against it) but the quite contrary. Such undeserved super-abounding Grace to pardoned Sinners, being the main motive unto Holiness of Heart, Lip and Life. The Apostle plainly affirms, Rom. vi. 14. That the Souls being brought under Grace, breaks Sin's Dominion therein, i. e. the Soul being brought in believing under the powerful influence of that Grace that Reigns through Righteousness unto eternal Life, by Jesus Christ our Lord, Rom. v. 21.
2. Infer. The second and last use is, for the encouragement of Sinners; yea, the chiefest worst and vilest to come to Christ from the glorious Grace that is held forth in the Doctrine. The Believers, that thus have, and can triumph over Death and the Grave, were once Sinners as you; may be some of them as vile as the vilest of you. Come you, therefore, and tast and see how gracious our Lord the Redeemer is, Come you and join with us in a perpetual Covenant to serve the Lord. Accept of the peace of the Gospel, and make a venture upon an offered Jesus: Oh come you, the worst of you, and live the life of Faith like the Just, and you shall die the Death of the Righteous, to triumph over all in Death. Whatever your Objections can be, this astonishing Free-Grace can answer them all. Infinite Wisdom has permitted all along prodigious Mountains of Opposition to rise in the way of Grace, on purpose that that Grace of God may declare itself boundless by triumphing over all. Thus tho' it was designed from all Eternity, that free Grace should have all the Honour in making the Elect happy: Yet a Law for Life was set up, that through the Breaches thereof, Sin might be suffered to enter; Sin, that odious thing that was such an affront to the whole Godhead, and brought so great an eclipse on his manifest Glory, was suffered, I say, to enter, that electing Grace might be magnified in mounting above it. And the Law entered once again on Mount Sinai, that so Sin might abound, on purpose that Free Grace, might super-abound, and reign and triumph over all. Free-Grace and electing Love does not only, like Jordan, overflow all its Banks, but like the mighty Deluge, cover the tops of the highest Mountains of Opposition in the World. Therefore what Objections, O Sinners, can you have against bowing down to the Grace offered in the Gospel. O harden not your Hearts, but now hear ye his Voice? Know assuredly this, That objecting against your acceptance of the Grace of Christ (be your Objections never so specious) is no other but a gain saying of Christ. O do not rebel and gainsay against the wide opened and stretch'd forth Arms of eternal Mercy and Compassion that now is extended to you. Be thou the vilest on the face of the Earth, yet as vile as thou has obtained Mercy. There are on Record instances of Sovereign Grace, greater than any of you can be: What think you of Adam? I durst almost engage to answer all thine Objections thou vilest Sinner, from that single Precedent. You say you are the greatest of Sinners; you cannot be greater than he, who was the Arch-Rebel and Traytor, who led his whole Race into an horrid Rebellion against God, yet he found Mercy. Ay, but your Sins are great; not greater than his, who, in one Sin, was guilty of the highest Ingratitude, the most monstrous Unbelief, and the most devilish Pride and Discontent, &c. besides his breaking the whole Moral Law in that one Sin. Yet you may say, My Sins are many. I answer, That first Sin of his was a pregnant Monster, millions of Legions in it. But you'll reply, I sinned against Knowledge: So did he, against the most perfect Knowledge of God and his Will; yes, and against the most perfect enjoyment of God too; that is more than you can do. But you will object, I have sinned grievously. I reply, Adam was reeking hot in his deep-dy'd Iniquity, when Mercy stepped in. True, say you, but I have shunned Mercy: So did he, when he fled to hide himself in the Garden. But you may again object, I have extenuated mine heinous Sins, instead of abhorring myself for them. Indeed you have done ill; yet though thou hast done as evil as thou couldst, yet do not let that discourage thee from accepting of offered Mercy; which to refuse is the greatest Sin of all: So did he, and charged God with it too. The Woman thou gavest me, &c. yet he found Mercy; and why not you? Many other things of this nature might be added, but that I am now bound to the greatest brevity. What shall I add, the case of Paul, who was an injurious Person, a Persecutor and a Blaspemer, yet he obtained Mercy; or the case of Mary Magdalene, who had seven Devils; of the Woman of Canaan, and the Woman mentioned Luke 7. &c. who were all three notorious Sinners, yet Sovereign Grace was extended to them. Let me add but one instance more, and that is fresh in your Memories; the case of Mr. Bigg, whose late decease gives the occasion to this Discourse, and the present Solemnity. His Death-bed attended with the manifestation of such Sovereignty of Grace and Power from above, has alarmed the Neighbourhood. And you seem all to be in a surprize, and at a gaze about the things you have seen and heard relating thereunto: I shall therefore give as an exact account of the whole as has come into my Hands, that though he be dead, he may yet speak to you. And tho' in the Account I shall give, it will be necessary to touch upon his former Life, yet it shall be done with a favourable Hand, only so much as may tend to the advancment of that glorious Free-Grace manifested towards him: But ere I begin, I must antidote my Hearers with this Caution; because it pleased the Lord to magnifie his glorious Grace towards him on his Deathbed, that none of you dare to presume from thence to put off your coming to Christ till a Death-bed season. 'Tis not, defer Believing till a dying Time. I durst almost venture to say, That whoever encourage themselves to continue in ways of Impenitency from this example, have breaking forth upon them the black Marks and Tokens of final Rejection. It was well observed by one, one Thief on the Cross, in his dying Moments, obtained Grace, that none might despair; and but one, that none might presume: So but one Mr. Bigg perhaps in an Age, that none may think when they have lived all their Life time, to Sin, they shall with ease, and at pleasure, die to Christ. Thus having given this Caution, I now proceed to my Narrative.