Sermons Preached on Several Occasions, Sermon 11
SERMON XI. Serm. XI.ABPreached at WHITE HALL. MRRCH 27. 1672.C
II CORINTH. V. II.
Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord, we perswade men.
IF ever any Religion was in all respects accomplished Dfor so noble a design as the reformation of mankind, it was the Christian, whether we consider the Authority of those who first delivered it, or the weight of the arguments contained in it, and their agreeableness to the most prevailing Epassions of humane nature. Although the world was strangely degenerated before the coming of Christ; yet not to see great a degree, but that there were some who not only saw the necessity of a cure, but offered their assistance in order to it; whose attemps proved the more vain and fruitless, because Athey laboured under the same distempers themselves which they offered t… cure in others; or the method they prescribed was mean and trivial, doub…ful and uncertain, or else too nice and subtle to do any great good upon the world. But Ch…istianity had not only a mighty advantage by the great holiness of tho…e who preached it; but by the clearness and evidence, the strength and efficacy of those arguments which they used to perswade men. The nature of them is such, that none who understand them can deny them to be great, their clearne…s such, that none that hear them can choo…e but understand Bthem, the manner of recommending them such, as all who understood themselves could not but desire to hear them. No arguments can be more proper to mankind than those which work upon their reason and consideration, no motives can stir up mo…e to the exercise of this than their own happiness and misery; no happinoss and misery can deserve to be so much considered as that which is eternal. And this eternal state is that which above all other things the Christian Religion delivers with the greatest plainnes, confirms with the strongest evidence, and enforces upon the consciences of men with the Cmost powerful and perswasive Rhetorick. I need not go beyond my text for the proof of this, wherein we see that the Apostles sesign was to perswade men i. e. to convince their judgements to gain their affections; to reform their lives; that the argument they u…ed for this end was no less than the terrour of the Lord, not the frowns of the world nor the fear of men, nor the malice of Devils; but the terrour of the Almighty, whose Majesty makes even the Devils tremble, whose power is irresisistible, and whose wrath is insupportable. But it is not the terrour of the Lord in this world, which he Dhere speaks of, although that be great enough to make us as miserable as we can be in this State: but the terrour of the Lord which sha…l appear at the dreadful day of judgement of which he peaks in the verse before the text. aV. 10.For we must all appear before the judgement 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. This is the terrour here meant which relates to our final and eternal State in another world, wh…n we must appear before the judgement seat of Christ, &c. And of this he speaks, not out of Poetical Fables, ancient Etraditions, uncertain conjectures, or probable arguments but from full assu…ance of the truth of what he delivers, Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men. In which words we shall consider these particulars.
1. The argument which the Apostle makes choice of to perswade men, Awhich is, the terrour of the Lord.
2. The great assurance he expresseth of the truth of it, knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord.
3. The efficacy of it in order to the convincing and reforming mankind; knowing therefore &c. we perswade men.
1. The argument the Apostle makes choice of to perswade men by, viz. the terror of the Lord. In the Gospel we find a mixture of the highest clemency and the greatest severity, the richest mercy and the strictest justice, the most glorious rewards and intollerable punishments; accordingly we find God Btherein described as a tender Father, and as a terrible Judge, as a God of peace, and as a God of vengeance, as an everlasting happiness and a consuming fire; and the Son of God as coming once with great humility, and again with Majesty and great glory; once, with all the infirmities of humane nature and again with all the demonstrations of a Divine power and presence: once, as the Son of God to take away the sins of the world by his death and passion; and again, as Judge of the world with flaming fire to execute vengeance on all impenitent sinners. The intermixing of these in the doctrine Cof the Gospel was necessary in order to the benefit of mankind by it, that such whom the condescension of his first appearance could not oblige to leave off their sins, the terrour of his second may astonish when they foresee the account that will be taken of their ingratitude and disobedience; that such who are apt to despise the meanness of his birth, the poverty of his life, and the shame of his death, may be filled with horrour and amazement when they consider the Majesty of his second coming in the clouds aJud. v. 15.to execute judgement upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly, not only of their ungodly Ddeeds, but of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. And we shall easily see what great reason there is that this second coming of Christ to judgement should be called the terrour of the Lord, if we consider,
1. The terror of the preparation for it.
2. The terror of the appearance in it.
3. The terror of the proceedings upon it.
4. The terror of the sentence which shall then be passed.
1. The terror of the preparation for it; which is particularly Edescribed by St. Peter in these words, b2 Pet. 3. 10.But the day of the Lord will come as a Thies in the night, in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with servent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up. This day will come as a Thief in Athe night, by way of surprise, when it is not looked for, and that makes it so much the more dreadful. A lesser calamity coming suddenly doth astonish more, than a far greater which hath been long expected; for, surprisals confound mens thoughts, daunt their Spirits, and betray all the succours which reason offers. But when the surprise shall be one of the least astonishing circumstances of the misery men fall into, what unconceivable horrour, will possess their minds at the app…ehension of it? What confusion and amazement may we imagine the soul of that man in, whom our Saviour speaks of Bin his parable, who being pleased with the fulness of his condition aLuke 12. 19, 20.said to his soul, soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry; but God said to him, thou fool this might thy: soul shall be required of thee, then whose shall those things be that thou hast provided? Had God only said, this night shall thy burns be burnt, and thy substance consumed to ashes which thou hast laid up for so many years, that would have caused a strange consternation in him for the present, but he might have comforted himself with the hopes of living and getting more. CBut, this night shall thy soul be required of thee; O dreadful words! O the tremblings of body, the anguish of mind, the pangs and convulsions of conscience which such a one is tormented with at the hearing of them! What sad reflections doth he presently make upon his own folly? And must all the mirth and ease I promised my self for so many years; be at an end now in a very few hours? Nay, must my mirth be so suddenly turned into bitter howlings, and my ease into a bed of flames? Must my soul be thus torn away from the things it loved, and go where it will hate to live and can never dye? DO miserable creature! to be thus deceived by my own folly, to be surprised after so many warnings, to betray my self into everlasting misery? fear, horrour and despair have already taken hold on me and are carrying me, where they will never leave me.
These are the Agonies but of one single person whom death snatches away in the midst of his years, his pleasures and his hopes: but such as these the greatest part of the world will fall into when that terrible day of the Lord shall come. bLuke 17. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30.For as it was in the days of Noe; so shall it be also in the Eday of the Son of Man; they did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entred into the Ark; and the flood came and destroyed them all; Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they Abuilded, but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstome from Heaven and destroyed them all: even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. aCh. 21. 35.For as a snare shall it come on all them, that dwell on the face of the whole earth: If some of the è expressions seem to relate to the unexpected coming of Christ to judgement upon Hierusalem, we are to consider that was not only a fore-runner but a figure of Christs coming to judge the world. And that may be the great reason why our Saviour mixeth his discourses of both these so much together as he Bdoth: for not only the judgement upon that nation was a draught, as it were, in little of the great day, but the symptoms and fore-runners of the one were to bear a proportion with the other: among which the strange security of that people before their destruction was none of the least. And the surprise shall be so much the more astonishing when the day of the Lord shall come upon the whole world, as the ter…or and consequents of that univerial judgement shall exceed the overthrow of the Jewish Polity.
But supposing men were aware of its approach and prepared Cfor it; the burning of the Temple and City of Hierusalem, though so frightful a spectacle to the beholders of it, was but a mean representation of the terror that shall be at the conflagration of the whole world. When the Heavens shall pass away with a great …oise, or with a mighty force as some interpret it, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat, i. e. when all the fiery bodies in the upper regions of this world, which have been kept so long in an even and regular course within their several limits, shall then be let loose again, and by a more rapid and violent motion shall put the world into Dconfusion and a flame together. For then the present frame of things shall be dissolved, and the bounds set to the more subtile and active parts of matter shall be taken away, which mixing with the more gr…ss and earthy shall sever them from each other and by their whirling and agitation set them all on sire. And if bRev. 6. 13.the Stars falling to the earth were to be understood in a literal sense, none seems so probable as this, that those aethereal fires shall then be scattered and dispersed thoughout the universe, so that the earth and all the works that are therein shall be turned into one funeral Pile. Then Ethe foundations of the earth shall be shaken, and all the combustible matter which lies hid in the bowels of it shall break forth into prodigious flames; which while it rouls up and down within, making it self a passage out, will cause an universal quaking in all parts of the earth, and make the Sea to Aroar with a mighty noise, which will either by the violent heat spend it self in vapour and smoak, or be swallowed up in the hollow places of the deep. Neither are we to imagine that only the sulphureous matter within the earth shall by its kindling produce so general a conflagration, (although some Philosophers of old thought that sufficient for so great an effect) but as it was in the deluge of water aGen. 7. 11.the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of Heaven were opened; so shall it be in this deluge of fire, as one of the ancients calls it, not only mighty streams and rivers of Fire shall Bissue of out the bowels of the earth; but the cataracts above shall discharge such abundance of thunder and lightning, wherein God will rain down fire and brimstone from Heaven, that nothing shall be able to withstand the force of it. Then the Craters breaches made in the earth by horrible earthquakes, caused by the violent eruptions of Fire, shall be wide enough to swallow up not only Cities but whole Countries too: And what shall remain of the spoils of this devouring enemy within, shall be consumed by the merciless fury of the thunder and lightning above. What will then become of all the glories of Cthe world which are now so much admired and courted by foolish men? What will then become of the most magnificent piles, the most curious structures, the most stately palaces, the most lasting monuments, the most pleasant gardens and the most delightful countries? they shall be all buried in one common heap of ruines, when the whole face of the earth shall be like the top of mount Aetna, nothing but rubbish, and stones, and ashes, which, unskilful travellers have at a distance mistaken for Snow. What will then become of the pride and gallantry of the vain persons, the large possessions of the great, or Dthe vast treasures of the rich? the more they have had of these things only the more fuel they have made for this destroying fire, which will have no respect to the honours, the greatness, or the riches of men. Nay, what will then become of b2 Pet. 3. 3, 4.the wicked and ungodly, who have scoffed at all these things, and walked after their own lusts, saying, where is this promise of his coming, because all things yet continue as they were from the beginning of the creation? When this great day of his wrath is come, how shall they be able to stand or escape his sury? Will they flie to the tops of the mountains? that Ewere only to stand more ready to be destroyed from Heaven. Will they hide themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains? but there they fall into the burning furnaces of the earth; and the mountains may fall upon them but can never hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. Will they go down Ainto the deep and convey themselves to the uttermost parts of the Sea? but even there the storms and tempests of these shours of fire shall overtake them; and the vengeance of God shall pursue them to everlasting flames.
Consider now whether so dreadful a preparation for Christs coming to judgement be not one great reason why it should be called the terror of the Lord? For can any thing be imagined more full of horror and amazement than to see the whole world in a flame about us? We may remember (and I hope we yet do so) when the flames of one City filled the minds of Ball the beholders with astonishment and fear: but what then would it do, not only to see the earth vomit and cast forth fire every where about us; and the Sea to boyl and swell and froth like water in a seething pot, but to hear nothing but perpetual claps of thunder, and to see no light in the Heavens, but what the flashings of lightning give? Could we imagine our selves at a convenient distance to behold the eruption of a burning mountain, such as Aetna and Vesuvius are, when the earth about it trembles and groans, the Sea foams and rages, and the bowels of the mountain roar through impatience of casting forth Cits burden, and at last gives it self ease by sending up a mixture of flames, and ashes, and smoak, and a flood of fire, spreading far and destroying where ever it runs; yet even this, though it be very apt to put men in apprehensions and fears of this great day, falls very far short of the terror of it. Could we yet farther suppose that at the same time we could see fire and brimstone raining from Heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah, the earth opening to devour Corah and his company, Belshazzar trembling at the hand writing against the wall, and the Jews destroying themselves in the fire of their Temple and City, this Dmay somewhat higher advance our imaginations of the horror of the worlds conflagration, but yet we cannot reach the greatness of it: in as much as the Heavens and the earth which are now, are kept in store saith the Apostle a2 Pet. 3. 7.reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men; even those heavens whole beauty, and order, and motion, and influence we now admire; and that earth whose fruitful womb and richly adorned surface affords all the conveniencies of the life of man, must either be destroyed or at least purged and refined by this last and dreadful Fire. The expressions of which Ein Scripture being so frequent, so particular, so plain in Writers not affecting the …ofty Prophetical stile, wherein fire is often used only to express the wrath of God, make it evident, that their meaning is not barely that the world shall be destroyed by the anger of God, but that this destruction shall Abe by real fire, which adds more to the sensible terror of it, to all that shall behold it.
2. The terror of Christs appearance in that day. The design of the Scripture in setting forth the coming of Christ to judgement is to represent it in such a manner to us as is most apt to strike us with awe and terror at the apprehension of it. Now the greatest appearance of Majesty among men is, either when a mighty Prince marches triumphantly in the midst of a Royal Army, with all the splendor of a Court and the discipline of a Camp, having his greatest attendants about him, Band sending his Officers before him, who with the sound of Trumpets give notice of his approach, and is every where received with the shouts and acclamations of the people: or else, of a Prince, sitting upon his throne of Majesty set forth with all the Ornaments of State and Greatness, with all his Nobles and Courties standing about his Throne, and in his own Person calling Malefactors to account; and both these ways the appearance of Christ upon his second coming is represented to us: first aMatth. 24. 25.as coming in the clouds of Heaven, i. e. riding triumphantly (as it were upon a Chariot) on a body of Clight brighter than the Sun, having b2 Thes. 1. 7.all the Heavenly host attending upon him, and therefore he is said cMatth. 24. 31.to come with power and great glory; and sending his Angels with a great sound of a trumpet before him; d1 Thes. 4. 16after whom the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God. Not as though we were to imagine any material trumpet, as some have grossly done, whose sound could reach over the whole earth; but the sound of the last trumpet seems to be the same with eJohn 5. 25.the voice of the Son of God, which the dead are said to Dhear and live; i. e. it shall be an effectual power for raising the dead; which may be therefore called the sound of a trumpet, because it supplies the use of one in calling all people together, and doth more lively represent to our capacities the Majesty of Christs appearance with all the Heavenly host of Angels and Saints. Thus when God appeared upon Mount Sinai with his Holy Angels about him, we there read fPsal. 68. 17. Exod. 20. 18.of the noise of the trumpet: and when God shewed his glorious presence in the temple, he is said gPsal. 47. 5.to go up with a shout and the Lord with the sound of a trumpet: and when he sets himself Eagainst his enemies, God himself is said hZach 9. 14.to blow the trumpet, and to go with the whirlwinds of the South. But besides this, we find Christ upon his second coming described as iMatth. 25. 31.sitting on the throne of his glory, and all the Holy Angels about him, and all nations gathered before him to receive Atheir sentence from him. His throne is said to be great and white, i. e. most magnificent and glorious, and to make it the Rev. 20. 11.more dreadful; aChap. 4. 5.from it are said to proceed lightnings and thundrings and voices; and so terrible is the Majesty of him that sits upon the throne bRev. 20. 11.that the Heaven and earth are said to flie away from his face; but the dead small and great are to stand before him and to be judged according to their works. And if the appearance of a common Judge be so dreadful to a guilty prisoner, if the Majesty of an earthly Prince begets an awe and reverence where there is no fear of Bpunishment, what may we then imagine when Justice and Majesty both meet in the person of the Judge, and fear and guilt in the Conscience of Offenders? Therefore it is said, cRev. 1. 7.behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreas of the earth shall wail because of him. We find the best of men in Scripture seized on with a very unusual consternation at any extraordinary divine appearance: The sight upon Mount Sinai was so terrible even to Moses dHeb. 12. 21.that he did exceedingly fear and quake: the vision which Isaiah had of the glory of CGod made him cry out, eIsai, 6. 5.Wo is me for I am un…one, for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts: When Daniel saw his vision, all his strength and vigor was gone, and though an Angel raised him from the ground, yet he saith of himself fDan. 10. 8, 11.that he stood trembling. If these whom God appeared o in a way of kindness were so possessed with fear, what horror must needs seize upon the minds of the wicked when g2 Thes. 1. 7, 8.the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heaven in flaming fire on purpose to take vengeance upon them? If in the days of his flesh there appeared so much Majesty in his Countenance, Dthat when the Officers came to apprehend him, hJohn. 18. 6.they went backward and fell to the ground; how unconceivably greater must it be when his design shall be to manifest that Glory to the world which he then concealed from it? If in the short time of his transfiguration on the Holy Mount, his own Disciples were so far from being able to behold the glory of his presence, that iMatth. 17. 2. 6. Mark 9. 6.they fell on their faces and were sore afraid; how shall his enemies abide the day of his wrath, or how can they stand when he shall appear in the full glory of his Majesty and Power?E
3. The terror of the proceedings upon that day: for then we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, not for any ostentation of his greatness and power before the whole world, but that every one may receive according to the things done in his body, whether it be good or bad. How full of Aterror will the proceedings of that day be, wherein all secrets shall be disclosed, all actions examined and all persons judged? That will be (a) the day of the Revelation of the righteous (b) Rom. 2. 5.judgement of God; this is the time of darkness and therefore of disputes and quarrels; but then the wisdom and justice of divine providence shall be made manifest to all, for every one shall receive according to his works: and none will wonder at the sentence when they have seen the evidence. Then the most secret impurities, the most subtile hypocrisie, the most artificial fraud, and the most dissembled malice shall be laid Bopen to publick view. For then b1 Cor. 4. 5.God will bring to hight the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. Then all the intrigues of lust and ambition so much the talk and business of this world, will be nothing but mens shame and reproach in the next. With what horror will they then behold all the sins of their lives set in order before them, when they seemed in this life, next to the committing them, to design as much as may be to forget them? Happy men! if their Consciences were like their Table Books, that they could blot out and put in what they pleased themselves: Cthen all the black Catalogue of their sins would be presently expunged, and they would have nothing to be seen there, but the Characters of what at least seemed to be good. For though men be never so vicious they neither care that others should think so of them, nor they of themselves: of all things they do not love to dispute where they cannot answer, and that is their case in all their retorts of Conscience upon them. They know there is no drolling with so sowre a piece, as that within them is, for that makes the smartest and most cutting repartees; which are uneasie to bear, but impossible to answer. DTherefore they study their own quiet, by seeking to keep that silent; and since they never hope to make Conscience dumb, they would have it sleep as much as may be: and although the starts it sometimes makes, shew that the most sleepy sinners have some troublesom dreams, yet if it doth not throughly awake in this world, it will do it with a vengeance in another. Then there will be no Musick and Dancing which can cure the biting of this Tarantula within; no Opium of stupidity or Atheism will be able to give one minutes rest. How will men then curse themselves for their own folly in being so easily tempted; Eand all those who laid traps and snares to betray them by? what different apprehensions of sin will they have then, from what they have now, while they are beset with temptations to it? O, will a forsaken sinner then say, had I ever believed as I ought to have done, that this would have been the fruit of a Asinful life, I should have taken more care to prevent this misery than I have done! But O the solly of intemperance, the mischief of ambition, the rage of lust, the unfatiableness of covetousness, the madness of debauchery, and the dulness of Atheism, what have ye now brought me to, with all your pleasures and promises and flatteries while I lost my soul in your service! O that I had time, to grow wise, again; and once more to try whether I could withstand the cheats and witchcraft of a deceitful world! Now all my sins are as fresh before me, as if committed yesterday, and their burden is heavier than the Bweight of mountains however light I made of them then; I need no judge to condemn me but my own conscience; O that I could as easily see an end of my misery, as I do that I have deserved that there should be none. Thus shall the book of conscience be opened at that day in the heart of every impenitent sinner, wherein like Ezekiels roul he finds written within and without, aEzek. 2. 10.lamentation and mourning and Woe. Yet this will not be the only terrour in the proceedings of that day, that all the sins that ever wicked men committed will be set in order before them with their several circumstances and Caggravations, although the remembrance of them cannot be without extreme horrour and amazement; but that they must undergo a strict and severe examination of all their actions by a most powerful, holy and just Judge. And if it be so troublesom a thing to them in this world to go down into themselves, or to call to remembrance their own wicked actions which they have loved and delighted in; what will it be when they must all be brought forth before the judgement seat of Christ who hates and abhorrs them? If men can so hardly endure to have the deformity of their vices represented to Dthem though very imperfectly here, how will they bear the dissecting and laying them open in the view of the whole world? When the smallest fibres and the most subtile threads in our hearts shall be curiously examined, and the influence they have had upon our actions fully discovered. When sins that have been dispised for their littleness, or unregarded for their frequency, or laughed at as no sins at all, shall appear to have had a greater venom in them, than men would imagine. What shall they think then of their great and presumptuous sins; whereby they have not only offered violence to God and Ehis Laws, but to the dictates of their own consciences in committing them? Never think that length of time will abate the severity of the enquiry, or lessen the displeasure of God against thee for them. Remember the case of Amalek, how God dealt with that people in this world for a sin committed 400. Ayears before, and think then whether God be not in earnest, when he tells us how much he hates sin; and how severe he will be in the punishment of it? I remember saith God aSam. 15. 2, 3.what Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not; but sl…y both man and woman, infant and suckling, &c. What? a whole na…ion to be destroyed for one sin, and for a sin they thought to be none at all who committed it, and for a sin at so great a distance of time from the commission of it? But BI forbear. I know not whether there be such another instance of Gods severity in Scripture, but it is such as may justly make us cry out with the P…almist, bPsal. 103. 3.If thou Lord shouldst thus mark iniquities, O Lord who shall stand? But although God in this world so seldom shews his severity, and tempers it with so much kindness, we have no reason to expect he should do so in another. For here he hath declared that cJames 2. 13.mercy rejoyceth against judgement. This being the time dRom. 2. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 9.of Gods patience and forbearance and goodness towards sinners, being not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Crepentance; but if men will despise the riches of his goodness, if they wil still abuse his patience, if they will trample under foot the means of their own salvation, then they shall to their unspeakable sorrow find, that there is a day of wrath to come, wherein their own dreadfull experience will tell them, eHeb. 10. 31.that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. For that will be a day of Justice without mercy, a day of vengeance without pity, a day of execution without any further patience. Then no vain excuses will be taken, whereby men seek to palliate their sins and give ease to their minds now. DIt will be to no purpose to charge thy wilful sins upon the infirmity of thy nature, the power of temptation, the subtility of the Devil, the allurement of company, the common practice of the world, the corruption of the age, the badness of education, the fol…y of youth; all these and such like excuses will be too weak to be made then, when it shall appear to thy eternal confusion, that thy own vicious inclination swayed thee beyond them all. Then there will be as little place for intreaties, as for vain excuses; God shews his great pity and indulgence to mankind now, that he is so ready to hear the Eprayers and grant the desires of all penitent sinners; but for those who stop their ears to all his instructions, and will not not hearken to the reproofs of his word or the rebukes of their own consciences, but contemn all sober Counsels and scoffe at Religion; what can they expect from him, but that aProv. 1. 25, 26 27.when Athey shall call upon him he will not answer, and when they seek him earnestly they shall not find him; but he will laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh. O blessed Jesus! didst thou weep over an incorrigible people in the days of thy flesh, bLuke 19. 41.and wilt thou laugh at their miseries when thou comest to judge the world? didst thou shed thy precious blood to save them, and wilt thou mock at their destruction? didst thou woo and intreat and beseech sinners to be reconciled and wilt thou not hear them when in the anguish of their souls, they cry unto thee? See then the mighty difference between BChrists coming as a Saviour and as a Judge, between the day of our salvation and the day of his wrath, between the joy in Heaven at the conversion of penitent sinners, and at the confusion of the impenitent and unreclaimable. How terrible is the representation of Gods wrath in the style of the Prophets, when he punisheth a people in this world for their sins? It is called cIsa. 13. 9, 34, 9.the day of the Lord cruel with wrath and fierce anger: the day of the Lords vengeance dMalach. 4. 5. Joel. 2. 31.the great and dreadful day of the Lord. If it were thus, when his wrath was kindled but a little, when mercy was mixed with his severity, Cwhat will it be, when he shall stir up all his wrath, and the heavens and the earth shall shake that never did offend him, what shall they then do that shall to their sorrow know how much they have displeased him? Then neither power, nor wit, nor eloquence, nor craft shall stand men in any stead; for the great Judge of that day can neither be over-awed by power, nor over-reached by wit, nor moved by eloquence, nor betrayed by craft, but every man shall receive according to his deeds. The mighty disturbers of mankind, who have been called Conquerours, shall not then be attended with their great armies, Dbut must stand alone to receive their sentence: the greatest wits of the world will then find that a sincere honest heart will avail them more than the deepest reach or the greatest subtilty; the most eloquent persons without true goodness will be like the man in the parable without the wedding garment, speechless; the most crafty and politick, will then Mat. … 22. 12.see, that though they may deceive men and themselves too, yet God will not be mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap; and they who have spread snares for others and been hugely pleased to see them caught by them, Eshall then be convinced that they have laid the greatest of all for themselves, for ePsal. 9. 16. 1 7.God will then be fully known by the judgement which he shall execute and the wicked shall be snared in the work of their own hands: for, the wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the nations that forget AGod.
4. The terror of the sentence, which shall then be passed. The Judge himself hath told us before hand what it shall be, to make us more apprehensive of it in this State, wherein we are capable to prevent it by sincere repentance and a holy life. The tenour of it is expressed in those dreadful words, aMat. 25.depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels. It is impossible to conceive words fuller of horrour and amazement than those are, to such as duly consider the importance of them. It is true Bindeed wicked men in this world are so little apprehensive of the misery of departing from God, that they are ready to bid God depart from them, and place no mean part of their felicity in keeping themselves at a distance from him. The true reason of which is, that while they pursue their lusts, the thoughts of God are disquieting to them; as no man that robs his neighbour loves to think of the Judge while he does it, not as though his condition were securer by it, but when men are not wise enough to prevent a danger, they are so great fools to count in their wisdom not to think of it. But therein lies a Cgreat part of the misery of another world, that men shall not be able to cheat and abuse themselves with false notions, and shews of happiness. The clouds they have embraced for Deities shall then vanish into smoke; all the satisfaction they ever imagined in their lusts shall be wholly gone, and nothing but the sad remembrance of them, lest behind to torment them. All the Philosophy in the world will never make men understand their true happiness so much, as one hours experience of another State will do: all men shall know better, but some shall be more happy and others more miserable by it. The righteous shall not Donly see God, but know what the seeing of God means, and that the greatest happiness we are capable of is implyed therein; and the wicked shall not only be bid to depart from him, but shall then find that the highest misery imaginable is comprehended in it. It is a great instance of the weakness of our capacities here, that our discourses concerning the happiness and misery of a future life, are like, those of Children about affairs of State, which they represent to themselves in a way agreeable to their own Childish fancies; thence the Poctical dreams of Elysian fields, and turning wheels and rouling stones and such Elike imaginations. Nay, the Scripture it self sets forth the joys and torments of another world in a way more suited to our fancy than our understanding; thence we read of sitting down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to represent the happiness of that State, and of a gnawing worm, and a devouring fire Aand blackness of darkness to set forth the misery of it But as the happiness of heaven doth infinitely exceed the most lofty metaphors of Scripture, so doth the misery of hell the most dreadful representation that can be made of it. Although a worm gnawing our entrails, and a fi…e consuming our outward parts be very sensible and moving metaphors yet they cannot fully express the anguish and torment of the soul, which must be so much greater, as it is more active and sensible, than our bodies can be. Take a man that afflicts himself under the sense of some intolerable disgrace, or calamity befallen him; Bor that is oppressed with the guilt of some horrid wickedness, or sunk into the depth of despair; the Agonies and torments of his mind may make us apprehend the nature of that misery, although he falls short of the degrees of it. And were this misery to be of no long continuance, yet the terror of it must needs be great; but when the worm shall never dye, and the fire shall never be quenched, when insupportable misery shall be everlasting, nothing can then be added to the terrour of it: and this is as plainly contained in the sentence of wicked men, as any thing else is. But here men think they may justly Cplead with God and talk with him of his judgements; what proportion, say they, is there, between the sins of this short life and the eternal misery of another? which objection is not so great in it self as it appears to be by the weak answers▪ which have been made to it; When to assign a proportion, they have made a strange kind of infinity in sin either from the object, which unavoidably makes all sins equal, or from the wish of a sinner that he might have an eternity to sin in, which is to make the justice of Gods punishments to be not according to their works, but to their wishes; But we need not strain things Dso much beyond what they will bear to vindicate Gods justice in this matter. Is it not thought just and reasonable among men, for a man to be confined to perpetual imprisonment for a fault he was not half an hour in committing? Nay do not all the Laws of the world make death the punishment of some crimes, which may be very suddenly done? And what is death, but the eternal depriving a man of all the comforts of life? And shall a thing then so constantly practised and universally justified in the world, be thought unreasonable when it is applyed to God? It is true, may some say if annihilation were Eall that was meant by eternal death, there could be no exception against it: but I ask, whether it would be unjust for the Laws of men to take away the lives of offenders in case their souls …urvive their bodies, and they be for ever sensible of the loss of life? if not, why shall not God preserve the honour Aof his Laws, and vindicate his Authority in governing the world, by sentencing obstinate sinners to the greatest misery, though their souls live for ever in the apprehension of it? Especially since God hath declared these things so evidently before hand, and made them part of his Laws, and set everlasting life on the other side to ballance everlasting misery, and proposed them to a sinners choice in such a manner, that nothing but contempt of God and his grace, and wilful impenitency can ever betray men into this dreadful State of eternal destruction.B
2. Thus much for the argument used by the Apostle, the terrour of the Lord; I now come to the assurance he expresseth of the truth of it; Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men. We have two ways of proving Articles of faith, such as this concerning Christs coming to judgement is,
1. By shewing, that there is nothing unreasonable in the belief of them.
2. That there is sufficient evidence of the truth and certainty of them.
In the former of these it is of excellent use to produce the Ccommon apprehensions of mankind as to a future judgement, and the several arguments insisted on to that purpose; for if this were an unreasonable thing to believe, how come men without revelation to agree about it as a thing very just and reasonable? If the conflagration of the world were an impossible thing, how came it to be so anciently received by the eldest and wisest Philosophers? How came it to be maintained by those two Sects which were St. Paul's enemies, when he preached at Athens, and always enemies to each other, the aAct. 17. 18.Epicureans and the Stoicks? It is true they made these conflagrations Dto be periodical and not final: but we do not establish the belief of our doctrine upon their assertion, but from thence shew that is a most unreasonable thing to reject that as impossible to be done, which they assert hath been and may be often done. But for the truth and certainty of our doctrine, we build that upon no less a foundation than the word of God himself. We may think a judgement to come reasonable in general upon the …sideration of the goodness and wisdom and justice of God; but all that depends upon this supposition, that God doth govern the world by Laws and not by Power, Ebut since God himself hath declared it who is the Suprem Judge of the world, bEccles 12. 14.that he will bring every work into judgement whether it be good or evil, since the Son of God made this so great a part of his doctrine with all the circumstances of his own coming for again this end; since he opened the Acommission he received from the Father for this purpose when he was upon earth, by declaring that aJohn 5. 22, 28, 29.the Father had committed▪ all judgement to the Son, and that the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Since this was so great a part of the Apostles doctrine to preach of this judgement to come, and bAct. 17. 31.that God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, Bwhereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead: No wonder the Apostle speaks here with so great assurance of it, knowing therefore, &c. And no persons can have the least ground to question it, but such who wholly reject the Christian doctrine, upon the pretences of infidelity, which are so vain and trifling, that, were not their lusts stronger than their arguments men of wit would be ashamed to produce them; and did not mens passions oversway their judgements it would be too much honour to them to confute them. But every Sermon is not intended for the Cconversion of Turks and Infidels, my design is to speak to those who acknowledge themselves to be Christians and to believe the truth of this doctrine upon the Authority of those divine persons who were particularly sent by God to reveal it to the world. And so I come to the last particular, by way of application of the former, viz.
3. The efficacy of this argument for the perswading men to a reformation of heart and life; knowing the terror of the Lord we perswade men. For as another Apostle reasons from the same argument. c2 Pet. 3. 11.Seeing all these things shall be dissolved Dwhat manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness? There is great variety of arguments in the Christian Religion to perswade men to holiness, but none more sensible and moving to the generality of mankind than this. Especially considering these two things.
1. That if this argument doth not perswade men, there is no reason to expect any other should.
2. That the condition of such persons is desperate, who cannot by any arguments be perswaded to leave off their sins.
1. There is no reason to expect any other argument should Eperswade men if this of the terror of the Lord do it not. If an almighty power cannot awaken us, if infinite justice cannot affright us, if a judgement to come cannot make us tremble, and eternal misery leave no impression upon us, what other arguments or methods can we imagine would reclaim us from our Asins? We have been too sad an instance our selves, of the ineffectualness of other means of amendment by the mercies and judgements of this present life: have ever any people had a greater mixture of both these, than we have had in the compass of a few years? If the wisest persons in the world had been to have set down beforehand the method of reforming a sinful nation, they could have pitched upon none more effectual than what we have shewed not to be so. First they would have imagined, that after enduring many miseries and hardships, when they were almost quite sunk under dispair, if God should Bgive them a sudden and unexpected deliverance, meer ingenuity and thankfulness would make them afrid to displease a God of so much kindness. But if so great a flash of joy and prosperity instead of that should make them grow wanton and extravagant, what a course then so likely to reclaim them, as a series of smart and severe judgements one upon another, which might sufficiently warn yet not totally destroy. These we have had experience of, and of worse than all these, viz. that we are not amended by them. For are the Laws of God less broken, or the duties of Religion less contemned and despised Cafter all these? What vices have been forsaken, what lusts have men been reclaimed from, nay what one sort of sin hath been less in fashion than before? Nay have not their number as well as their aggravation, increased among us? Is our zeal for our established Religion greater? Is our faith more firm and setled, our devotion more constant, our Church less in danger of either of the opposite factions than ever it was? Nay is it not rather like a neck of land between two rough and boysterous seas, which rise and swell, and by the breaches they make in upon us, threaten an inundation? By all which we see what Dnecessity there is that God should govern this world by the considerations of another; that when neither judgements nor mercies can make men better in this life; judgement without mercy should be their portion in another. O the infatuating power of sin! when neither the pity of an indulgent Father, nor the frowns of a severe Judge can draw us from it: when neither the bitter passion of the Son of God for our sins, nor his threatning to come again to take vengeance upon us for them, can make us hate and abhorr them: when neither the shame nor contempt, the diseases and reproaches which follow sin in this Eworld; nor the intollerable anguish and misery of another can make men sensible of the folly of them so as to forsake them. Could we but represent to our minds that State wherein we must all shortly be, when the bustle and hurry, the pleasures and diversions, the courtships and entertainments of this world Ashall be quite at an end with us, and every one must give an account of himself to God; what another opinion of these things should we have in our minds, with what abhorrency should we look upon every temptation to sin, how should we loath the sight of those who either betrayed us into sin or flattered us when we had committed it? Could men but ask themselves that reasonable question, why they will defie God by violating his known Laws, unless they be sure he either cannot or will not punish them for it? thy would be more afraid of doing it than they are, for supposing both, to do it, is perfect madness: Bto question his power who is Almighty, or his will who hath declared it and is immutable is the height of folly.
2. The condition of such is desperate whom no arguments can perswade to leave their sins. For there can be no breaking prison in that other State, no escaping tryal, no corrupting the Judge, no reversing the sentence, no pardon after judgement, no reprieve from punishment, no abatement or end of misery. How canst thou then hope O impenitent sinner, either to fly from or to endure that wrath of God that is coming swiftly upon thee to arrest thee by death, and convey thee to Cthy tormenting prison? canst thou hope, that God will discharge thee before that dreadful day comes, when he hath confined thee thither in order to it? Canst thou hope that day will never come which the vindication of Gods justice, the honour of Christ, the happiness of the blessed, as well as the punishment of the wicked make so necessary that it should come? or canst thou hope, to defend thy self, against an all seeing eye, a most righteous Judge and an accusing conscience when that day doth come? when all the mercies thou hast abused, the judgements thou hast slighted, the motions of grace thou Dhast resisted, the checks of conscience thou hast stifled, and the sins of all kinds thou hast committed, shall rise up in judgement to condemn thee? O that we had all the wisdom to consider of these things in time, that the terror of the Lord may perswade us to break off all our sins by a sincere repentance, and to live so that we may dye with comfort, and be for ever with the Lord in his eternal Joy.E