The Mystery of the Gospel in Salvation, Sermon 3
SERMON III.
ACTS XVI.30.
And said, Sirs, What must I do to be saved?
I HAVE made some Entrance upon the Consideration of these Words, the last Opportunity, and from them have noted this Doctrine; L.
DOC. It is of the highest Concernment to perishing Sinners, to be very solicitous, what they shall do to be saved; or, to know, and practise, all that is necessary, in Order to their Salvation.
In speaking to this Subject, I proposed, by Divine Assistance, to shew,
I. What it is to be saved; or, what is that Salvation which perishing Sinners stand in need of.
II. That perishing Sinners may be saved; or, there is a Possibility, notwithstanding their present miserable Condition, that they may be eternally saved.
III. That perishing Sinners must know, and practise, all that is necessary, in Order to their Salvation; or, there is something to be done, by them, that they may be saved.
IV. This is a Matter of the highest Concernment to them, and therefore they ought to be most seriously solicitous about it.
I have offered something upon the first of these Heads, and said,
I. For the Sinner to be saved is, for him to be delivered from all that Evil which he is subject to.
And,
II. For the Sinner to be saved is, for him to be brought to the full Possession of all that positive Good, which he is destitute of, and wanteth.
Under the first of these, I considered Evil, as Moral, and Penal; and accordingly, the Sinner is saved,
1. When he is delivered from all moral Evil▪ As, when he is delivered from that Guilt, which he brought into the World with him, by Virtue of Adam's Transgression, and from all he has contracted by his personal Transgressions; and when he is freed from the Depravity of his Nature, and the Power of Sin over him.
I proceed now to say,
2. For the Sinner to be saved is, for him to be delivered from all that Punishment, which is due unto him for his Sin. Penal Evil comprehendeth in it all those Sufferings, of every Sort, whether in Body, or in Mind, which the humane Nature is subject to. For I know of no Sorts of Suffering that a moral Agent could be subject to, under the original Constitution, which are to be looked upon as purely natural Evils, and do not fall under the Consideration of Punishments. Who ever supposed that the perfect Spirits which attend the Throne of God, ever meet with any Sufferings? Nor could Man, in a State of perfect Innocency, be liable to suffer. All Suffering, therefore, is primarily, in the first Intention, and Design thereof, properly Penal, or a Punishment, and the Fruit, and Desert of Sin▪ Moral Evil inferreth Penal Evil; Guilt produceth Punishment, as the Cause the Effect: We are therefore told, Rom. vi.23. The Wages of Sin is Death. Death is what flows from the Nature, and is the just Desert, of Sin. Therefore when God speaks of punishing any, it is ever because of Sin. Amos iii.2. I will punish you for your Iniquities: And Iob observed, Job xxxi.3. Is not Destruction to the Wicked, and a strange Punishment to the Workers of Iniquity? Now, this seemeth to me to be the lamentable Case of every Child of Adam, that as he deriveth Guilt, and Depravity, from his first Parents, so he is justly liable to suffer Punishment, and the Sinner is, by Nature, perishing under the Sentence of Condemnation, which is out against him. This Punishment will ever actually succeed to Guilt, where the Crime is sufficiently known, and the Judge fully able to punish; unless, upon some weighty Considerations, the Sin be forgiven, and the Guilt taken away.
The Sanction of the Divine Law threatened Death, in Case of Disobedience, Gen. ii.17. Thou shalt surely die; and the infinitely wise God meant as he said, as appeareth from the subsequent confirming of the Sentence, upon the fallen Creature. So that all that is included in the Sentence of Death is the Punishment due to the Sinner; and though, what this is, in the utmost Extent thereof, may not be so clearly understood from the Terms of this short Sentence, yet, it may be fully known, by considering the farther Revelation of the Divine Mind concerning it, which is but an Explanation of the original Terms: And accordingly, we find, that the primary Sentence of Death, included in it, (as we shall see presently) not only the Harbingers, …nd compleating, of Death, upon the Body, but the Languishments, Uneasiness, and Pains of the Soul, while in Union to the Body, and its perfect Misery hereafter. Here then we may distinctly consider the Sinner's Salvation as consisting in a Deliverance, from that Death which the Body is subject to, and from that Death, and Misery, which shall take Place upon the Soul of the Sinner, and all as the Punishment of Sin.
1. The Sinner's Salvation consisteth in a Deliverance from the Death of the Body, as the Punishment of Sin. Here observe,
1. The Death of the Body is, originally, the Punishment of Sin.
No Man, that I know of, disputeth whether the real Death of Adam's Body be included in the original Sentence denounced against him, as a Punishment upon him, in Case of his Disobedience: But the Dispute is, whether Death be threatned, and now taketh Place, upon Adam's Posterity, as a Punishment upon them.
I have, I confess, under the former Head of Guilt, very much anticipated myself, and proved Death to be a Punishment to Adam's Posterity, as well as to himself; nevertheless I will a little more distinctly consider it. How far there might have been any natural Virtue in the Tree of Life, which Adam, if he had not sinned, might freely have eaten of, to have preserved the human Body from the Arrests of Death, I am not able to say; but this I think, I may venture to affirm, that if Adam had not sinned, he had not died. That almighty God, with whom it is easy, would have preserved the Body of Adam, (which, whilst in its State of Innocency, doubtless, differed very wide, in the Excellency of its Temperament, as well as external Beauty, from what it was after Sin had taken Place) so that it should never have been subject to any Death, seemeth, to me, very evident, because Death is threatned as a Punishment: And I cannot see, if the Body of Adam had continued immortal, but the Bodies of his Descendants must have been immortal also. But now we find that we inhabit mortal Bodies; that we cannot continue here always; our Days are but few, our Age but as an Hand Breadth; our Life is as a Vapour, which appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away; and we all know that God will bring us to Death, to the House appointed for all the Living. But why are we thus brought to Death? Why are our Bodies mortal? Truly, Sin is the Cause of it. The Apostle therefore said, Rom. viii.10. The Body is dead because of Sin. The Body is dead, that is, is subject to Death, because of Sin, that is, as the Punishment for Sin, which the Body is so much the Cause of, and to purify it from the Defilement of Sin. Thus, it is confessed, Death was a Punishment to Adam. But how can Death be a Punishment to Adam, and so great that the Threatning of it was supposed to be enough to deter him from sinning, and yet be no Punishment upon his Posterity? Does not the original Threatning import thus much that Death should be a Punishment upon all that descend from Adam? Dying thou shalt die, may fairly be understood to include thus much in it, thy Nature shall become mortal, and all the Branches that spring from thee shall be subject to Mortality. Though the Posterity of Adam are not expresly mentioned, so neither is the Woman mentioned, who, according to the Scripture-Account, was included in Adam, as truly as his Children, when the Sentence of Death was first denounced; and therefore if that Sentence had any Respect to her that was to be taken from his Ribs, it had an equal Respect unto them that were to proceed from his Loins; and that it truly respected, and included, all Mankind, and that as a Punishment upon them, we have an inspired Expositor assuring us, when he said, Heb. ix.27. It is appointed to Man once to die. It is evident the Apostle had his Eye upon the original Statute, by which Death was appointed as the Lot, and Portion, of Mankind; and where is this Statute to be found? But in that Transaction with Adam, in the Day of his Make, wherein the sovereign Lord threatened Death, in Case of Disobedience, and threatned it as a Punishment. And the same inspired Writer has told us, 1 Cor. xv.56. The Sting of Death is Sin, and the Strength of Sin is the Law. Where observe that the Apostle is speaking of the Descendants from the first Man, and, says he, the Sting of Death is Sin, it is Sin that wounds us unto Death, and makes Death bitter, and terrible to us; but whence has Sin this Power? Is it merely by a natural Causality, or a bare Consequence of Adam's Mortality, that Sin brings Death upon us? No such Matter, the Strength, or Power, of Sin over us, is the Law. It is the Law of God, that original Law, published to Adam, threatning Death as the Punishment of Sin, that giveth Sin its full Force, and Virtue, to bring Death upon us. So that Death is a Punishment upon all Adam's Posterity.
And to make this plainer yet, let us again consider the Apostle's arguing in the fifth Chapter to the Romans, Verse 12. As by one Man Sin entred into the World, and Death by Sin, and so Death hath passed upon all Men, for that all have sinned. By Death here, as in the first Sentence of it, I understand all Penal Evil, of every Kind, which the human Nature is subject to, or capable of; and this Death taketh Place as a Punishment upon all Men, by Virtue of the Sin of one Man; by one Man Sin entred into the World, and Death by Sin: Even so, for in this Sense the Particle (kai, and) is to be understood here, as it is rendered at the 14th Verse of this Chapter, and in many other Places, even so Death passed upon all Men; as Death passed, in the Sentence thereof, as a Punishment upon the first Man, even so it hath, in like Manner, passed upon all Men, and that for this Reason, for that, or rather, in whom all have sinned. Therefore the Apostle goes on to add, Ver. 18. Therefore by the Offence of one Iudgment came upon all Men to Condemnation. Here it is plainly asserted, that the Sentence of Condemnation taketh Place upon all Men, for the Offence of one Man. And though the Words, Iudgment came, and so the Words, the free Gift came, are not in the Original, in this Verse, yet are they no unrighteous Interpretation, with an iniquitous Design to serve a Party-Cause, as some may imagine, but are the most just, and proper, Supplement, that could be, fetched from the general Design, and from the express Words, of the Apostle, in the 16th Verse. So that the plain and evident Intention of the Apostle here, is to shew us, that as the Sin, or Lapse, of the first Man, brought Sin upon all Men, so did it Death also as the Punishment of Sin. In a Word, It is granted that all Adam's Posterity are mortal; now, had the Grace of the Gospel never appeared, would their Death have been a Punishment, or only, a Suffering to be made up to them in another State?
But I would observe a little farther upon the original Sentence, that the Form of it, which in the Hebrew is, Dying thou shalt die, includes in it all the Harbingers, Forerunners, and instrumental Causes of Death. The Sentence does not seem to intend, that even the Body of Adam should, immediately upon his Transgression, fall under the actual Power of Death, but that he should immediately become subject unto Death, and after having passed a Life in this World, for a certain Number of Years, attended with the Warnings, and Beginnings of Death, in Sickness, and Pains, and various Accidents, and Calamities, he should at length die. Though none of these are expressed in the first Threatning, yet, they are afterward, in the pronouncing of the Sentence upon the guilty Creature; which, by the Way shews us that much more is included in the Threatning than is expressed. For thus we read, Gen. iii.17, 18, 19. Cursed is the Ground, for thy Sake, in Sorrow shalt thou eat of it, all the Days of thy Life; Thorns, also, and Thistles, shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the Herb of the Field; in the Sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat Bread; till thou return unto the Ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for Dust thou art, and unto Dust shalt thou return. It all plainly speaks his Continuance in Life, for some certain Period, but in such a Condition as evidenceth, that a Punishment sitteth heavy upon him. The Curse upon the Ground, the Thorns, and Thistles, it should bring forth unto him, include the many Calamities his Life should be subject to, in his Business, and Employment; his eating of Bread in the Sweat of his Face, indicates the toilsome Labour, and Pains, and Weaknesses, that should attend him; until, at Length, he should return unto the Ground, fro… whence he was taken. And accordingly▪ we fin…, in the sacred History, that Adam lived, after this terrible Sentence was passed upon him Nine Hundred and Thirty Years, and then died. This has been the general Condition of Mankind, ever since, to live a longer, or shorter Time, here upon Earth, and more, or less, attended with the Harbingers, and Forerunners, of Death, in the many painful, and languishing, Diseases, or Accidents, they are subject to, till, anon, their Breath goeth forth, and they return to their Earth. And, doubtless, those many Pains, and Diseases, that weaken, and torment, the humane Nature, are to be accounted a Part of the Punishment of Sin, and included in the first Threatning, as well as Death itself. And however a surly Temper may refuse to own, that there is any Evil in them, yet the dolorous Sensations of Mankind, under the Exercise of them, affords us a full Conviction that they are Evil; and we are sure that they are not Moral, and therefore are Penal Evils.
2. Now our Salvation is comprehensive of a Deliverance from all of this Unhappiness, and Misery, both the Beginnings, and the Consummation of the Death of our Bodies. Nor can we be said to be saved from the Punishment which Sin has brought u…n us, if we are left wholly under the Power of th…e. For while the Creature groaneth to be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption, and we our selves groan within our selves, because of the sad Effects of the Curse, which we painfully experience in every Stage, and Condition, of Life, how are we saved? What a mighty Favour should we esteem it, if we might be totally freed from all the Perplexities, Embarrassments, Difficulties, and Uneasinesses, which we meet withal, in the various Businesses we are concerned in; and from all the painful, and grievous Maladies, and Disorders, our Bodies are liable unto, while we are in this World? But an absolute Freedom, from these miserable Circumstances, would no ways be sutable to our present State of Probation; and therefore, for the Exercise of our Virtue, and the Proof of our Submission to the divine Government, they are allotted to us, as Part of our present Portion, from which we can plead no total Exemption. However, thus far our Salvation includeth, at present, a Deliverance from them, that the Curse of them shall be taken away, and they shall be made sanctified Mercies to us; so that they shall never befall us, but if Need be, (1 Pet. i.6.) they shall be ordered for us in Measure, and proportioned to our Strength, that we may be able to bear them, 1 Cor. x.13. and they shall all be made to work together for our Good, Rom. viii.28. Till, anon, we shall wholly get out of the Reach of them, and never more meet with any Thing to vex, or grieve us. Thus the Grace of the Gospel Dispensation comes in, and sanctifies all our Sufferings to us, and converteth, those Things which were originally Penal Evils, into real Blessings to us, not only by supporting of us under them, but by rewarding of us for them; which Adam's Covenant, or the first Transactions of God with Man, would no Ways admit of. Those, indeed, that are truly under a Dispensation of Grace, are in themselves considered, chargeable with Sin enough to vind…cate the Justice, and Goodness, of God, in all the Sufferings they undergo; so that they are not Sufferings inflicted upon such as deserve no Punishment: But as for those that remain utter Strangers to the Covenant of Promise, and are, as yet, under Adam's Covenant, every Suffering they undergo is a proper Punishment upon them.
And though the original Sentence of Death is not so reversed, as that good Men are excused from the Trouble of dying, for there is no Discharge in this War, but if Christ be in you, the Body is dead because of Sin; Rom. viii.10. yet our Salvation carries in it such a Deliverance from the Power of Death, as that we shall not be always held under its Bonds, but we shall have our dead Bodies raised out of their Graves, to a more glorious Life, without being subject to any more Death. Therefore our Saviour hath assured us, John v.29. They that have done Good shall come forth, (namely out of their Graves) to the Resurrection of Life. There will, indeed, be a Resurrection of the Wicked, as well as of the Good, but to very different Ends, and Purposes; for the dead Bodies of the Wicked will be raised, that they may rec…ive the Reward of the evil Deeds done in the Body, even the just Punishment which they have deserved; and therefore our Lord said, They that have done Evil shall come forth to the Resurrection of Damnation: Whereas the dead Bodies of holy, and good Men shall be raised, to receive the Reward of all their Services in a glorious, and blessed Immortality. Thus, in our Salvation▪ Death shall be swallowed up in Victory.
2. The Sinner's Salvation consisteth in a Deliverance from all that Death which the Soul is subject to, as the Punishment of Sin.
Here,
1. There is a Death which the Soul, or Spirit of Man is subject to, as the Punishment of Sin.
The Soul, or Spirit, which I have before shewed there is in Man, is, not only an essential, but, the more noble, and excellent Part of our Nature. 'Tis this, in us, that thinketh; that is the self-moving Principle, which determines all our Motions, and Actions; that formeth a Judgment of the Agreement, or Disagreement, of our Actions with the Will▪ and Law, of our Maker, the perfect Rule of our Conduct; and it is this that is intirely free, and voluntary, in its Actings, and is subject to no Compulsions; and therefore it is this Soul which rendereth us Subjects capable of Religion, and of Rewards, and Punishments; and of Consequence, whenever Sin is chargeable upon us, we may be sure the Charge lieth at the Door of this Soul. The Body, and all the Concernments of it, can only be made Use of as Means to entice us into Sin; yea Satan himself, that subtle and foul Spirit, can go no farther than to become a Tempter to that which is Evil, and accordingly he weareth the Name of, the Tempter, Matth. iv.3. 'tis the Soul that must first hearken to, and comply with, the Temptation, must determine in Favour of the Evil she is tempted to, and put us into Motion for the doing of it, before any Sin can be committed by us: And 'tis this Soul, in its primitive State of Purity, that must first suffer itself to be biassed, and prejudiced, with a false View of Things, before it could possibly give such a wrong Determination, as to fall into any Sin. So that the Soul is every way the chief Agent in sinning. And to this agreeth the Scripture Account of the Rise of Sin; where we read of the Sinners of the old World, Gen. vi.5. that every Imagination of the Thoughts of their Heart were evil continually; and of the vile Person, Isa. xxxii.6. that his Heart will work Iniquity; and that Hos. iv.8. they set their Heart on their Iniquity; and our Saviour observeth, Matth. xv.19. out of the Heart proceedeth evil Thoughts, Murders, Adulteries, Fornications, Thefts, False Witness, Blasphemies; and the Prophet Ieremiah adviseth, Ier. iv.14. to wash the Heart from Wickedness: in all which Places, (and many more,) by the Heart, the Soul is evidently meant, and that as the chief Agent in all Sin.
From hence therefore we may fairly conclude, th… the Soul, which is the chief Agent in sinning, mu… suffer a Punishment, proportionable to it's Deserts, and suitable to it's Nature. Though there is no express Notice taken of the Soul, in the original Sentence denounced against Adam, in the Day of his Apostacy, yet it must be remembered that the Sentence was pronounced upon the Man, or the humane Nature, Thou shalt surely die; and till it be made to appear that the Soul, or Spirit, is no Part of the human Nature, that it is not the most distinguishing Part of the Man, nor the most active, and deeply guilty, in every Violation of the Divine Law, we may well conclude, that the Sentence, which was passed upon the Sinner, was levelled against his Soul, as well as against his Body. Nor can I see how either the Wisdom, or the Justice of God, can be reconciled to the inflicting a heavy Punishment upon the Body of sinning Man, and the Soul, the principal Actor, be suffered to go away free.
But to this Consideration, let us add, the fuller Discoveries of the Divine Mind, relating to this first Sentence, in the subsequent Revelation it has pleased God to favour the World withal, and this Matter will appear in a clearer, and stronger Light. I am sure, there can be no Absurdity, or Inconsistency with Reason, in our looking upon all the after Accounts, which the great Law-giver maketh known to us, of his punishing of Sinners, but as so many Explanations of what is truly included in the original Sentence; (provided, there be nothing brought into the Account that is flatly contradictory, or plainly unreconcilable, to that Sentence;) Because the infinite understanding of God comprehendeth at one entire View all that he meant as a Punishment of Sin, and admits of no future Discoveries of any new Punishment, as Men do; though he maketh new Discoveries or Revelations thereof to us. By this fair stating of things we may evidently see, that Death was originally intended as a Punishment upon the Soul, as well as upon the Body: and I need only to take Notice of a very few, of the many Texts of sacred Scripture, which speak this too plainly to be denied. Thus, in the Prophet Ezekiel we have the great God saying, Ezek. xviii.4. All Souls are mine; as the Soul of the Father, so also the Soul of the Son, is mine, the Soul that sinneth it shall die. Now, let it be granted, that the Soul here is to be understood personally, yet how unreasonable is it to suppose, that the Soul, which is the grand Characteristick of the Person, and is expresly mentioned, should be exempted from the Penalty spoken of, and be subject to no Death. Again, the Apostle James observes, Iam. v.20. He, that shall convert a Sinner from the Error of his Ways, shall save a Soul from Death. Let this, also be understood personally, yet not only is the Soul a constituent Part of the human Person, but 'tis the Soul that is the special Subject of Conversion, and it evidently is that which is converted that is saved from Death. Once more, Our blessed Saviour adviseth us, Matth. x.28. to fear him who is able to destroy both Soul, and Body, in Hell. Here is a Punishment spoken of, as appropriate to the Soul, and distinct from the Punishment to be inflicted upon the Body, in as plain Terms as Words can make it. Let none think to evade the Strength of this by saying, what God can do is one thing, and what He will do is another; for unless this Passage plainly, and fully, intend, that God designed to punish the Soul, as well as the Body, in Hell, there would be no Force in the Advice. So that this Punishment upon the Soul, spoken of in the subsequent Discoveries of the Divine Mind, to me, shews us what was intended by the original Sentence of Death: for all the after Threatnings of God, upon guilty Sinners, are built upon that, as all his after Promises are founded upon the first Promise of Salvation, or Deliverance. But here it must be observed, that the Soul is not a Subject capable of such a Death, as our Bodies are liable to; nor is there any Necessity at all, from the Threatning of Death, that it should. 'Tis enough that the Soul be subject to such a Death, as it's Nature renders it capable of, even as the Body undergoeth such a Death, as it's Nature capacitateth it for: this is all that can, in Reason, be supposed to be meant by Death. If, by Death, be intended only a Separation of Soul and Body, or the dissolving their close Union; such a Death the Soul may properly enough be said to suffer, as well as the Body, whenever that Separation between them shall be made. But if, by Death be intended the Loss of Life, and Action, and the Separation of the several Parts, or Particles, of the Body, and it's turning into Dust, and Rottenness, as the Consequent of the Soul's Separation from it; such a Death the Soul is not capable of, because it is not constituted of corporeal Parts, as the Body is, but is a spiritual Substance, whose Life is in itself, by the original Grant of it's Maker, and is no ways dependent upon it's Union to the Body. Therefore we are not to expect any such Death, as the Body is subject to, to befal the Soul, as the Punishment of Sin upon it: for the Soul, or Spirit, in Man, is, in this Sense, an immortal Being▪ and existeth for ever. Whether the Inferences our Reason may draw from the Nature of Spirit, so far as it falleth under our Conception, are fully conclusive, in Proof of the Soul's Immortality, or no, yet this we are sure of, that the sacred Pages every where treateth it as an immortal, never-dying Being; and therefore threatneth the wicked with an Eternal Punishment, and encourages the vertuous with the Promise of Eternal Life.
That Death therefore which the Soul is capable of consisteth, in the unhappy, and miserable Condition which it will be thrown into, as the just Punishment of it's having trampled upon the Divine Authority; something of which the Sinner often experiences while he is yet in the Body, in the inward Reproaches, Horror, and Anguish, of his own Mind: and the compleating of which Misery will take Place upon the Soul of the Sinner, when it passeth out of the Body, into the unseen World, in the inexpressible, and endless Torments which will then attend it: for this the whole Tenor of the Divine Writings, especially the clearer Revelations of the New-Testament, gives us to understand, will be the Punishment of finally impenitent Sinners.
Thus what Fear, what Terror, what Anguish of Soul, seised upon Cain? the first open Transgressor▪ of Adam's Descendents, when, in the Horror of his Spirit, he cried out; Gen. iv.13, 14. My Punishment is greater than I can bear; behold, thou hast driven me out this Day from the Face of the Earth, and from thy Face shall I be hid; and I shall be a Fugitive, and a Vagabond in the Earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me, shall slay me. Yea, what Anguish of Mind was Adam himself thrown into, immediately upon his Sin? when he was afraid, and hid himself. Gen. iii.10. In which, by the Way, you may observe, that his Soul, or Spirit, suffered Punishment. Was it not the Horror of his Conscience, in that he had sinned, in betraying innocent Blood, that put Iudas upon hanging himself? Matth. xxvii.5. Was it not the Anguish of his Mind, that set Felix, the Roman Governour a trembling, before his Prisoner, when he reasoned of Righteousness, Temperance and Iudgment to come? Act. xxiv.25. Are we not told? Isa. lvii.20, 21. The Wicked are like the troubled Sea, when it cannot rest; there is no Peace, saith my God, to the wicked. And do we not read, Prov. xviii.14. of a wounded Spirit, which who can bear. What a dreadful Account does the Scripture give us of the Punishment of Sinners in the future World! We are told, Ps. ix.17. The Wicked shall be turned into Hell, they shall go away into everlasting Punishment: Matth. xxv.46. They shall be punished with everlasting Destruction: 2 Thes. i.9. and that, in Hell, they are torm…nted in Flames. Luk. xvi.24. So even sinning Angels are reserved in everlasting Chains, under Darkness, unto the Iudgment of the great Day. Iud. ver. 6.
This future Punishment will fall heavy upon the Soul of the guilty Sinner, in the other World; for however the Divine Patience may bear with Sinners now, then will be the proper, determined, Season of Retribution; and God, our Judge, is Omniscient, and perfectly well acquainted with all the Sinner's Transgressions of his Holy Law, tho' their Sins may have been committed ever so secretly, and hidden from the View of Men. Ier. xxix.23. I know, and am a Witness, saith the Lord. There is not a vain Thought in our Hearts, no more than an idle Word under our Tongues, but thou, O Lord knowest them altogether. Ps. cxxxix.2, 4. The Lord is also an Omnipotent God, who has all Power in his own Hands, and can inflict the threatened Punishment, upon the greatest Sinner; He hath said, Deut. xxxii.39. See now, that I, even I, am He, and there is no God with me, I kill, and I make alive, I wound, and I heal, neither is there any that can deliver out of my Hand. The unbiased Justice of God also stands armed with it's Terrors, to pursue the guilty Sinner, and bring all that Vengeance upon him, which is the just Desert of his Crimes; for, Rom. iii.4. God is righteous, who taketh Vengeance. So that there is no possible Way of the Sinner's escaping, unless, upon proper Considerations, the infinite Mercy of God interpose, to pardon, and save him. This Punishment, in whatsoever it may particularly consist, is intirely destructive of the Comfort, and Well-being of the Soul; tho' it doth not strip her of her Existence, because of her immortal Nature, yet it necessarily filleth her with exquisite Uneasiness, Pain, and Anguish.
2. Then, therefore, is the Soul saved, when it is fully delivered from all of this Punishment, which is the just Desert of it's Crimes, and it neither feeleth, nor feareth, the Effects of it's own Guilt, which are not suffered to take Place upon it. For the very Fears of Punishment are no small Part of the Present Punishment of the Wicked, whose Distress, and Perplexity, will be in Proportion to the Degree of their Fears; and therefore the Salvation of the Sinner necessarily includes in it, not only a Deliverance from future Misery, but from the least Degree of the Fears of any. 'Tis mentioned, therefore, as one of the happy Effects of an Horn of Salvation being raised up for us, Luk. i.74. that we should serve him without Fear. The devout Soul experiences something of this, while in this World, in the Joy of Faith, tho' not in Perfection, nor always; but, in the future World, he will know no Wrath, nor fear any. The great Article of our Salvation, accomplished for us by the almighty Redeemer, is that, Rom. v.9. we shall be saved from Wrath, through Him; for He is Iesus that delivereth us from the Wrath to come. 1 Thes. i.10. By Him, we are saved from all the dismal Effects of the tremendous Wrath of a provoked, and almighty God, and that, not only from the lighter Showers thereof, in temporal Judgments, but, from the most dreadful, and amazing Flood of Vengeance, rolling, in all it's Fury, upon the condemned Sinner, in the Second Death. This is to be saved, when the Soul is not only secured, from the Sting of the first Death, that it shall have nothing to fear, after it has taken leave of the Body. but, from the least Degree of that insupportable Punishment, which is called the second Death, and which more immediately seiseth upon the Soul itself, and is everlasting, for ever falling upon it. Blessed, and holy, is he that hath Part in the first Resurrection, on such the second Death hath no Power. Rev. xx.6. And there is not a sinful Man, Woman, or Child, among us, but what stands in Need of Deliverance from this Punishment. This seemeth to be what the Iaylor was peculiarly, and in Earnest, concerned about, when he cryed out, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? viz. what he should do to be delivered from the Guilt of his Sins, from the Wrath of God, and from the Damnation of Hell. Consider what you have heard, and the Lord give you understanding in all Things.