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1
I
THE
WORKS
PRESIDENT EDWARDS:
WITH A
MEMOIR or HIS LIFE.
IN TEN VOLUMES.
^
VOL. VIII.
CONTAINING,
I. SEVENTEEN OCCASIONAL SERMONS.
II. MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
NEW-YORK :
PUBLISHED BY S. CONVERSE,
1830.
r
c
District of Conkecttcut, ss.
BE it remembered, That on the eleventh dny of December, in the firty-fonith year
of the Independence of the United States of America, Sereno R. Dwifiht, of the said
District, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof to the
" works" he claims as proprietor, and to the " memoir" as author, m the words fol-
lowing, to wit :
*' The Works of President Edwards, with a Memoir of his Life. In ten volumes."
In conformity to the act of ConjSfress of the United States, entitled "An act for the
encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the
autliors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned ;" and
also to an act, entitled "An act supplementary to an act, entitled An act for the en-
couragement of learning, by securing the copies ol maps, charts, and hooks, to the
authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and ex-
tending the benefits thereof tc the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical
and other prints."
CHAS. A. INGERSOUL, Clerk of the District of Connecticut.
A true copy of record, examined and sealed by me,
CHAS. A. INGERSOLL; Clerk of the District of Connecticut.
SERMOX I.
Acts xvi. 29, 30.
Then he called for a lights and sprang in, and came tremblingf
and fell down before Paul and Silas ; and brought them outf
and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved ?
We have here and in the context an account of the conversion of the
jailer, which is one of the most remarkable instances of the kind
in the scriptures. The jailer befoi'e seems not only to have been
wholly insensible to the things of religion, but to have been a per-
secutor, and to have persecuted these very men, Paul and Silas ;
though he now comes to them in so earnest a manner, asking
them what he must do to be saved. We are told in the context
that all the magistrates and multitude of the city rose up jointly
in a tumult against them, and took them, and cast them into pri-
son, charging the jailer to keep them safely. Whereupon he
thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the
stocks. And it is probable he did not act in this merely as the
servant or instrument of the magistrates, but that he joined with
the rest of the people in their rage against them, and that he did
what he did urged on by his own will, as well as the magistrates'
commands ; which made him execute their commands with such
rigour.
But when Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises at midnight,
and there was suddenly a great earthquake, and God had in so
wonderful a manner set open the prison doors, and every man's
bands were loosed, he was greatly terrified ; and in a kind of des-
peration, was about to kill himself. But Paul and Silas crying
out to him, " do thyself no harm, for we are all here," then he
called for a light, and sprang in, as we have the account in the
text. We may observe,
1. The objects of his concern. He is anxious about his salva-
tion : he is terrified by his guilt, especially by his guilt in his ill
treatment of these ministers of Christ. He is concerned to escape
from that guilty state, the miserable state, he was in by reason of
sin.
VOL. vin. 2
6 SERMON I.
2. The sense which he has of the dreadfulness of his present
state. This he manifests in several ways.
1. By his great haste to escape from that state. By his haste
to inquire what he must do. He seems to be urged by the most
pressing concern, sensible of his present necessity of deliverance,
without any delay. Before, he w as quiet and secure in his natu-
ral state ; but now his eyes are opened, lie is in the utmost haste.
If the house had been on fire over his head, he could not have
asked more earnestly, or as being in greater haste. He could soon
have come to Paul and Silas, to ask them what he must do, if he
had only walked. But he was in too great haste to walk only,
or to run; for he sprang in ; he leaped into the place where they
were. He fled from wrath. He fled from the fire of divine jus-
tice, and so hastened, as one that fled for his life.
2. By his behaviour and gesture before Paul and Silas. He
fell down. That he fell down before those whom he had perse-
cuted, and thrust into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in
the stocks, shows what was the state of his mind. It shows some
great distress, that makes such an alteration in him, that brings
him to this. He was broken down, as it were, by the distress of
his mind, in a sense of the dreadfulness of his condition.
3. His earnest manner of inquiring of them what he shall do
to escape from this miserable condition; " Sirs, what must I do
to be saved.'"' So distressed, that he is brought to be willing to
do any thing ; to have salvation on any terms, and by any means,
however difiiculr ; brought, as it vtere, to write a blank, and give
it in to God, that God may prescribe his own terms.
Doctrine. They who are in a natural condition, are in a
dreadful condition. This I shall endeavour to make appear by a
particular consideration of the state and condition of unregene-
rate persons.
I. As to their actual condition in this world.
II. As to their relations to the future world.
I. The condition of those who are in a natural state, is dreadful
in the present world.
First. On account of the depraved state of their natures. As
men come into the world, their natures are dreadfully depraved.
Man in his primitive state was a noble piece of divine workman-
ship ; but by the fall it is dreadfully defaced. It is awful to think
that so excellent a creature as man is, should be so ruined. The
dreadfuhiess of the condition, which unconverted men are in in
this respect, appears in the following things :
1. Tlie dreadfulness of their depravity appears in that they are
so sottishly blind and ignorant. God gave man a faculty of rea-
son and underslanding, which is a noble faculty. Herein he dif-
fers from all other creatures here below. He is exalted in his na-
V SERMON I. 7
tuie above ihem, and is' in this respect like the angels, and is
made capable to know God, and to know spiritual and eternal
things. And God gave him understanding for this end, that he
might know him, and know heavenly things, and made him as
capable to know these things as any others. But man has de-
based himself, and has lost liis glory in this respect. He has be-
come as ignorant of the excellency of God as the very beasts. His
understanding is full of darkness ; his mind is blind, is altogether
blind to spiritual things. Men are ignorant of God, and igno-
rant of Christ, ignorant of the way of salvation, ignorant of their
own happiness, blind in the midst of the brightest and clearest
light, ignorant under all manner of instructions. Romans iii.
17. " The way of peace they have not known." Isaiahxxvii.il.
" It is a people of no understanding." Jeremiah iv. 22. " My
people is foolish, they have not known me ; they are sottish chil-
dren, and have none understanding:" v. 21. " Hear now this, O
foolish people, and without understanding." Psalms xcv. 10, 11.
*' It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known
my ways ; unto whom I sware in my wrath, that they should not
enter into my rest." 1 Corinthians xv. 34. " Some have not the
knowledge of God ; I speak this to your shame."
There is a spirit of atheism prevailing in the hearts of men ; a
strange disposition to doubt of the very being of God, and of an-
other world, and of every thing, which cannot be seen with the
bodily eyes. Psalms xiv. 1. "The fool hath said in his heart,
there is no God." They do not realize that God sees them, when
they commit sin, and will call them to an account for it. And
therefore, if they can hide sin from the eyes of men, they are not
concerned, but are bold to commit it. Psalms xciv. 7, 8, 9. " Yet
they say, the Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob
regard it. Understand, ye brutish among the people ; and, ye
fools, when will ye be wise ? He that planted the ear, shall he not
hear.'' he that formed the eye, shall he not see.''" Psalms Ixxiii.
11. " They say, how doth God know.'' and is there knowledge
in the Most High .f*" So sottishly unbelieving are they of future
things, of heaven and hell, and will commonly run the venture
of damnation sooner than be convinced. They are stupidly
senseless to the importance of eternal things. How hard to make
them believe, and to give them a real conviction that to be happy
to all eternity is better than all other good ; and to be miserable
for ever under the wrath of God, is worse than all other evil.
Men show themselves senseless enough in temporal things ; but
in spiritual things far more so. Luke xii. 56. " Ye hypocrites,
ye can discern the face of the sky, and of the earth ; but how is it
that ye do not discern this time i'" They are very subtle in eVil
designs ; but sottish in those things which most concern them.
€
SERMON I.
Jeremiah iv. 22. " They are wise to do evil, but to do good they
have no knowledge." Wicked men show themselves more fool-
ish and senseless of what is best for them, than the very brutes.
Isaiah i. 3. " The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's
crib ; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider."
Jeremiah viii. 7. ** Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her ap-
pointed times ; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow ob-
serve the time of their coming; but my people know not the
judgment of the Lord."
2. They have no goodness in them. Romans vii. 18. " In me,
that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." They have no
principle, that disposes them to any thing that is good. Natural
men have no higher principle in their hearts than self-love. And
herein they do not excel the devils. Tiie devils love themselves,
and love their own happiness, and are afraid of their own misery.
And they go no further. And the devils would be as religious as
the best of natural men, if they were in the same circumstances.
They would be as moral, and would pray as earnestly to God,
and take as much pains for salvation, if there were the like oppor-
tunity. And as there is no good principle in the hearts of natu-
ral men, so there are never any good exercises of heart, never one
good thought, or motion of heart in them. Particularly, there
is no love to God in them. They never had the least degree of
love to the infinitely glorious Being. They never had the least
true respect to the Being that made them, and in whose hand their
breath is, and from whom are all their mercies. However they
may seem to do things at times out of respect to God, and wear a
face as though they honoured him, and highly esteemed him, it is
all in mere hypocrisy. Though there may be a fair outside, they
are like painted sepulchres ; within, there is nothing but putrefac-
tion and rottenness. They have no love to Christ, the glorious
Son of God, who is so worthy of their love, and has shown such
wonderful grace to sinners in dying for them. They never did
any thing out of any real respect to the Redeemer of the world,
since they were born. They never brought forth any fruit to that
God, who made them, and in whom they live, and move, and
have their being. They never have in any way answered the end
for which they were made. They have hitherto lived altogether in
vain, and to no purpose. They never so much as sincerely obey-
ed one command of God ; never so much as moved one finger out
of a true spirit of obedience to him, who made them to serve him.
And when they have seemed outwardly to comply with God's
commands, their hearts were not in it. They did not do it out of
any spirit of subjection to God, or any disposition to obey him, but
were merely driven to it by fear, or in some way influenced by their
worldly interest. They never gave God the honour of one of his
SERMON I. 9
attributes. They never gave him the honour of his authority by
obeying him. They never gave him the honour of his sovereign-
ty by submitting to him. They never gave him the honour of his
holiness and mercy b\ Ioviiil; him. The}' never gave him the ho-
nour of his ^:lffi<•i^•ll(•y and faiilifuhiess by trusting in him ; but have
looked upon God as one not fit to be believeil or trusted, and liave
treated him as if he were a liar: 1 John v. 10. " He that believeth
not God hath made him a liar." They never so much as heartily
thanked God for one mercy they have received in their whole lives,
though God has always maintained them, and they have always
lived upon his bounty. They never so much as once heartily
thanked Christ for coming into the world, and dying to give them
an opportunity to be saved. They never would show him so much
gratitude as to receive him, when he has knocked at their door;
but have always shut the door against him, though he has come to
knock at their door upon no other ground but only to offer him-
self to be their Saviour. They never so much as had any true de-
sires after God or Christ in their whole lives. When God has of-
fered himself to them to be their portion, and Christ to be the friend
of their souls, they did not desire it. They never desired to have
God and Christ for their portion. They had rather be without
them than with them if they could avoid going to hell without them.
They never had so much as an honourable thought of God. They
always have esteemed earthly things before him. And notwith-
standing all they have heard in the commands of God and Christ,
they have always preferred a little worldly profit or sinful pleasure
before them.
3. Unconverted men are in a dreadful condition by reason of
the dreadful wickedness which there is in them.
1. Sin is a thing of a dreadful nature, and that because it is
against an infinitely great and an infinitely holy God. There is in
the nature of man enmity against God, contempt of God, rebellion
against God. Sin rises up as an enemy against the Most High. It is
a dreadful thing for a creature to be an enemy to the Creator, or to
have any such thing in his heart as enmity against him ; as will be
very clear, if we consider the difference between God and the crea-
ture, and how all creatures, compared with him, are as the small
dust of the balance, are as nothing, less than nothing, and vanity.
There is an infinite evil in sin. If we saw the hundredth part of
the evil there is in sin, it would make us sensible that those who
have any sin, let it be ever so small, are in a dreadful condition.
2. The hearts of natural men are exceedingly full of sin. If
they had but one sin in their hearts, it would be sufficient to ren-
der their condition very dreadful. But they have not only one
sin, but all manner of sin. There is every kind of lust. The
heart is a mere sink of sin, a fountain of corruption, whence issue
10 SERMON I.
all manner of filthy streams. Mark vii. 21, 22. " From withhis
out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornica-
tions, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lascivious-
ness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness." There is no one
lust in the heart of the devil, that is not in the heart of man. Natural
men are in the image of the devil. The image of God is rased out,
and the image of the devil is stamped upon them. God is graciously
pleased to restrain the wickedness of men, principally by fear and
respect to their credit and reputation, and by education. And if
it were not for such restraints as these, there is no kind of wicked-
ness that men would not commit, whenever it came in their way.
The commission of those things, at the mention of which men are
now ready to start, and seem to be shocked when they hear them
read, would be common and general ; and earth would be a kind of
hell. What would not natural men do if they were not afraid.^
Matthew X. 17. " But beware of men." Men have not only every
kind of lust, and wicked and perverse dispositions in their hearts,
but they have them to a dreadful degree. There is not only pride,
but an amazing degree of it : pride, whereby a man is disposed to
set himself even above the throne of God itself. The hearts of na-
tural men are mere sinks of sensuality. Man is become like a beast
in placing his happiness in sensual enjoyments. The heart is full
of the most loathsome lusts. The souls of natural men are more
vile and abominable than any reptile. If God should open a win-
dow in the heart, so that we might look into it, it would be the most
loathsome spectacle that ever was set before our eyes. There
is not only malice in the hearts of natural men, but a fountain of
it. Men naturally therefore deserve the language applied to them by
Christ, Matt. iii. 7. " O generation of vipers ;" and Matt, xxiii. 33.
"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers." Men, if it were not for fear
and other such restraints, would not only commit all manner of sin,
but to what degree, to what length would they not proceed ? What
has a natural man to keep him from openly blaspheming God, as
much as any of the devils ; yea, from dethroning him, if that were pos-
sible, and fear and other such restraints were out of the way ? Yea,
would it not be thus with many of those, who now appear with a
fair face, and will speak most of God, and make many pretences of
worshipping and serving him? The exceeding wickedness of
natural men appears abundantly in the sins they commit, notwith-
standing all these restraints. Every natural man, if he reflects,
may see enough, to show him how exceedingly sinful he is. Sin
flows from the heart as constantly as water flows from a fountain.
Jeremiah vi. 7. " As a fountain castelh out her waters, so she
casteth out her wickedness." And this wickedness, that so abounds
in their hearts, has dominion over them. They are slaves to
it : Rom. vii. 14. " Sold under sin." They are so under the power
J SERMON I. 11
of sin, that they are driven on by their lusts in a course against
their own conscience, and against their own interest. They are
hurried on to their own ruin, and that at the same time their reason
tells them, it will probably be their ruin : 2 Peter ii. 14. " Cannot
cease from sin." On account of wicked men's being so under the
power of sin, the heart of man is said to be desperately/ wicked. Je-
remiah xvii. 9, and Ephesiansii. 1. "Dead in trespasses and sins. "
3. The hearts of natural men are dreadfully hard and incorrigible.
There is nothing but the mighty power of God will move them.
They will cleave, to sin, and go on in sin, let what will be done
with them. Proverbs xxvii. 22. " Though thou shouldest bray a
fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolish-
ness depart from him." There is nothing that will awe our hearts ;
and there is nothing that will draw them to obedience : let there be
mercies or afflictions, threatenings or gracious calls and invita-
tions, frowning, or patience and long sufiering, or fatherly coun-
sels and exhortations. Isaiah xxvi. 10. " Let favour be showed to
the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness ; in the land of up-
rightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of
the Lord."
Secondly. The relative state of those who are In an unconvert-
ed condition is dreadful. This will appear if we consider,
1. Their relative state with respect to God ; and that because,
1. They are without God in the world. They have no in-
terest or part in God : He is not their God : He hath declared
that he will not be their God. Hosea i. 9. God and believers have
a mutual covenant relation and right to each other. They are his
people, and he is their God. But he is not the covenant God of
those who are in an unconverted state. There is great aliena-
tion and estrangement between God and the wicked : he is not their
Father and portion : they have nothing to challenge of God, they
have no right to anyone of his attributes. The believer can chal-
lenge a right in the power of God, in his wisdom and holiness, his
grace and love. All are made over to him, to be for his benefit.
But the unconverted can claim no right In any of God's perfections.
They have no God to protect and defend them In this evil world :
to defend them from sin, or from Satan, or any evil. They have
no God to guide and direct them in any doubts or difficulties, to
comfort and support their minds under afflictions. They are with-
out God in all their affairs, in all the business they undertake, in
their family afiairs, and in their personal affairs, in their outward
concerns, and in the concerns of their souls.
How can a creature be more miserable, than to be separated from
the Creator, and to have no God, whom he can call his own God ?
He is wretched indeed, who goes up and down In the world, without
a God to take care of him, to be his guide and protector, and to
12 SERMON I.
bless him in his affairs. The very light of nature teaches that a
man's God is his all. Judges xviii. 24. " Ye have taken away my
Gods, and what have I more ?" There is but one God, and in him
they have no right. They are without that God, whose will must
determine their whole well being, both here and for ever. That
unconverted men are without God shows that they are liable
to all manner of evil. They are liable to the power of the devil,
to the power of all manner of temptation, for they are without God
to protect them. They are liable to be deceived and seduced into
erroneous opinions, and to embrace damnable doctrines. It is not
possible to deceive the saints in this way. But the unconverted
may be deceived. They may become papists, or heathens, or athe-
ists. They have nothing to secure them from it. They are lia-
ble to be given up of God to judicial hardness of heart. They de-
serve it; and since God is not their God, they have no certainty
that God will not inflict this awful judgment upon them. As they
are without God in the world, they are liable to commit all man-
ner of sin, and even the unpardonable sin itself. They cannot be
sure they shall not commit that sin. Thev are liable to build up
a false hope of heaven, and so to go hoping to hell. They are lia-
ble to die senseless and stupid, as many have died. They are lia-
ble to die in such a case as Saul and Judas did, fearless of hell.
They have no security from it. They are liable to all manner of
mischief, since they are without God. They cannot tell what shall
befal them, nor when they are secure from any thing. They are
not safe one moment. Ten thousand fatal mischiefs may befal
them, that may make them miserable for ever. They, who have
God for their God, are safe from all such evils. It is not possible
that they should befal them. God is their covenant God, and
they have his faithful promise to be their refuge. But what mischief
is there, which may not befal natural men ? Whatever hopes they
may have, may be disappointed. Whatever fair prospect there may
seem to be of their conversion and salvation, it may vanish away.
They may make great progress towards the kingdom of God,
and yet come short at last. They may seem to be in a very hope-
ful way to be converted, and yet never be converted. A natural
man is sure of nothing. He is sure of no good, nor is he sure of
escaping any evil. It is therefore a dreadful condition that a
natural man is in. They, who are in a natural state, are lost.
They have wandered from God, and they are like lost sheep, that
have wandered from their shepherd. They are poor helpless crea-
tures in a howling wilderness, and have no shepherd to protect or
to guide them. They are desolate, and exposed to innumerable
fatal mischiefs.
2. They are not only without God, but the wrath of God abides
upon them. John iii. 36. "He that believeth not the Son, shall
SERMON I. 13
■<
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." There is no
peace between God and them, but God is angry with them every
day. He is not only angry with them, but that to a dreadful de-
gree. There is a fire kindled in God's anger ; it burns like fire.
Wrath abides upon them, which, if it should be executed, would
plunge them into the lowest hell, and make them miserable there
to all eternity. They have provoked the Holy One of Israel to
anger. God has been angry with them ever since they began to
sin : he has been provoked by them every day, ever since they ex-
ercised any reason ; and he is provoked by them more and more
every hour. The flame of his wrath is continually burning. There
are many now in hell that never have provoked God more than
they, nor so much as many of them. Wherever they go, they go
about with the dreadful wrath of God abiding on them. They eat,
and drink, and sleep under wrath. How dreadful a condition,
therefore, are they in ! It is the most awful thing for the creature
to have the wrath of his Creator abiding on him. The wrath of
God is a thing infinitely dreadful. The wrath of a king is as the
roaring of a lion. But what is the wrath of a king, who is but a
worm of the dust, to the wrath of the infinitely great and dreadful
God ? How dreadful is it to be under the wrath of the first being,
the Being of beings, the great Creator and mighty possessor of hea-
ven and earth ! How dreadful is it for a person to go about un-
der the wrath of the God, who gave him being, and in whom he
lives and moves, who is every where present, and without whom he
cannot move a step, nor draw a breath ! Natural men, inasmuch
as they are under wrath, are under a curse. God's wrath and curse
are continually upon them. They can have no reasonable com-
fort, therefore, in any of their enjoyments ; for they do not know
but that they are given them in wrath, and shall be curses to them,
and not blessings. As it is said in Job xviii. 15. " Brimstone
shall be scattered upon his habitation." How can they take any
comfort in their food, or in their possessions, when they do not
know but all are given them, to fit them for the slaughter.
H. Their relative state will appear dreadful, if we consider how
they stand related to the devil.
1. They who are in a natural state are the children of the devil.
As the saints are the children of God, so the ungodly are the chil-
dren of the devil. 1 John iii. 10. " In this the children of God are
manifest, and the children of the devil." Mat. xiii. 38, 39. The
field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom:
but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that
sowed them is the devil. John viii. 44. " Ye are of 3 our father, the
devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." They are, as it were,
begotten of the devil ; they proceed from him. 1 John iii. 8. " He,
that committeth sin, is of the devil." As Adam begat a son in his
own likeness, so are vvicked men in the likeness and image of the de-
TOL. viii. 3
14 SERMON I.
vil. They acknowledge this relation, and own themselves children
of the devil, by consenting that he should be their father. They sub-
ject themselves to him, hearken to his counsels, as children hearken
to the counsels of a father. They learn of him to imitate him,
and do as he does, as children learn to imitate their parents.
John viii. 38. " 1 speak that which I have seen with my Father,
and ye do that which ye have seen with your father." How awful
a statg is this ! How dreadful is it to be a child of the devil, the
spirit of darkness, the prince of hell, that wicked, malignant and
cruel spirit! To have any thing to do with him is very dreadful.
It would be accounted a dreadful frightful thing only to meet the
devil, to have him appear to a person in a visible shape. How
dreadful then must it be to be his child ; how dreadful for any per-
son to have the devil for his father !
2. They are the devil's captives and servants. Man before his
fall was in a state of liberty ; but now he has fallen into Satan's
hands. The devil has got the victory, and carried him captive.
Natural men are in Satan's possession, and they are under his do-
minion. They are brought by him into subjection to his will to go
at his bidding, and do what he commands. 2 Timothy ii. 26. " Taken
captive by him at his will." The devil rules over ungodly men.
They are all his slaves, and do his drudging. This argues their
state to be dreadful. Men account it an unhappy state of life to be
slaves ; and especially to be slaves to a bad master, to one who is
very hard, unreasonable and cruel. How miserable do we look
upon those persons, who are taken captive by the Turks, or other
such barbarous. nations, and put by them to the meanest and most
cruel slavery, and treated no better than they treat their cattle !
But what is this to being taken captive by the devil, the prince of
hell, and made a slave to him ? Had not a man better be a slave
to any one on earth than to the devil ? The devil is, of all mas-
ters, the most cruel, and treats his servants the worst. He puts
them to the vilest service, to that which is the most dishonourable
of any in the world. No work is so dishonourable as the practice
of sin. The devil puts his servants to such work as debases them
below the dignity of human nature. They must make themselves
like beasts to do that work to serve their filthy lusts. And besides
the meanness of the work, it is a very hard service. The devil
causes them to serve him at the expense of the peace of their own
conscience, and oftentimes at the expense of their reputation, at
the expense of their estates, and shortening of their days. The de-
vil is a cruel master; for the service upon which he puts his slaves,
is to undo themselves. He keeps them hard at work day and
night, to work their own ruin. He never intends to give them any
reward for their pains, but their pains are to work out their own
everlasting destruction. It is to gather fuel and kindle the fire
for themselves to be tormented in to all eternity.
^SERMON I. 15
3. The soul of a natural man is the habitation of the devil. The
devil is not only their father, and rules over them, but he dwells
in them. It is a dreadful thing for a man to have the devil near
him, often coming to him. But it is a more dreadful thing to
have him dwell w ith a man, to take up his constant abode with him ;
and more dreadful 3et to have him dwell in him, to take up his
abode in his heart. But thus it is with every natural man. He takes
up his abode in his heart. As the soul of a godly man the ha-
bitation of the spirit of God, so is the soul of a wicked man the
habitation of unclean spirits. As the soul of a godly man is the
temple of God, so the soul of a wicked man is the synagogue
of satan. A wicked man's soul is in scripture called Satati's
house and Satan'' s palace. Matthew xii. 27. " How can one en-
ter into a strong man's house r" meaning the devil. And Luke
xi. 21. " When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods
are in peace." Satan not only lives, but reigns, in the heart of a
wicked man. He has not only taken up his abode there, but he
has set up his throne there. The heart of a wicked man, is the
place of the devil's rendezvous. The doors of a wicked man's
heart are open to devils. They have free access there, though
they are shut against God and Jesus Christ. There are many
devils, no doubt, that have to do with one wicked man, and his
heart is the place where they meet. The soul of a wicked man is,
as it was said of Babylon, the habitation of devils, and the hold of
every foul spirit, and cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Thus dreadful is the condition of a natural man by reason of the
relation in which he stands to the devil.
n. The state of unconverted men is very dreadful, if we con-
sider its relation to the future world. Our state here is not last-
ing, but transitory. We are pilgrims and strangers here, and are
principally designed for a future world. We continue in this pre-
sent Slate but a short time ; but we are to be in that future state to
all eternity. And therefore men are to be denominated either hap-
py or miserable, chiefly with regard to that future state. It matters
but little comparatively what our state is here, beccause it will con-
tinue but a short time ; it is nothing to eternit}'. But that man is a
happy man, who is entitled to happiness ; and he is miserable,
who is in danger of misery, in his eternal state. Prosperity or ad-
versity in the present state alters them but very liitle, because this
state is of so short continuance.
1. Those, who are in a natural condition, have no title to any
inheritance in another world. There are glorious things in ano-
ther world : there are unsearchable riches, an unspeakable and
inconceivable abundance ; but they have nothing to do with it.
Heaven is a world of glory and blessedness ; but they have no
right to the least portion of those blessings. If they should die
and go out of the world as they arc, they would go destitute, hav-
16 SERMON I.
ing no inheritance, no friend, no enjoyments to go to. Tliey will
have no God to whom they may go, no Redeemer to receive their
departing souls, no angel to be a ministering spirit to them, to take
care of them, to guard or defend them, no interest in that Redeem-
er, who has purchased those blessings. What is said of the Ephe-
sians is true of those who are in a natural condition. "At that
time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no
hope, and without God in the world." What a dreadful case are
they are in, who live in the world having no hope, without any ti-
tle to any benefits hereafter, and without any ground to hope for
any good in their future and eternal state !
2. Natural men are in a dreadful condition, because of the mi-
sery to which they are exposed in the future world. This will be
obvious, if we consider,
1. How great the misery is of which they are in danger;
2. How great is their danger of ihis misery.
1. How great the misery is of which they are in danger. It is
great in two respects; 1. The torment and misery are great in
themselves; and, 2. They are of endless duration.
1. The torment and misery, of which natural men are in dan-
ger, are exceedingly great in themselves. They are great beyond
any of our words or thoughts. When we speak of them, our
words are swallowed up. We say they are great, and exceeding-
ly great, and very dreadful. But when we have used all the words
we can to express them, how faint is the idea, that is raised in our
minds in comparison with the reality ! This misery will appear
very dreadful, if we consider what calamities meet together in it.
In it the wicked are deprived of all good, separated from God
and all fruits of his mercy. In this world they enjoy many of the
streams of God's goodness. But in the future world they will
have no more smiles of God, no more manifestations of his mercy
by benefits, by warnings, by calls and invitations. He will never
more manifest his mercy by the exercise of patience and long suf-
fering, by waiting to be gracious; no more use any forbearance
with them for their good ; no more exercise his mercy by striv-
ings of his spirit, by sending messengers and using means. They
will have no more testimonies of the fruits of God's goodness in
enjoying food and raiment, and comfortable dwellings and con-
venient accommodations, nor any of the comforts of this life; no
more manifestations of his mercy by suffering them to draw near
to him with their prayers, to pray for what they need. God will
exercise no pity towards them, no regard for their welfare. Cut
ofl'from all the comforts of this life, shutout of heaven, they will see
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven ; but they
shall be turned away from God and from all good into the black-
ness of darkness, into the pit of hell, into that great receptacle,
SERMON I. 17
which God has provided on purpose to cast into it the filthy,
and polluted, and abominable of the universe. They will be in
a most dreadful condition ; they will have no friends. God
will be their enemy, angels and the spirits of the just will be
their enemies, devils and damned spirits will be their enemies.
They will be hated with perfect hatred, will have none to pity
them, none to bemoan their case, or to be any comfort to them.
It appears that the state of the damned will be exceedingly dread-
ful in that they will sufler the wrath of God, executed to the full
upon them, poured out without mixture. They shall bear the
wrath of the Almighty. They shall know how dreadful the
wrath of an almighty God is. Now none knows, none can con-
ceive. Psalms xc. 11. " Who knoweth the power of thine anger?"
Thf.n they shall feel the weight of God's wrath. In this world
they have the v/rath of God abiding on them, but then ii will be
executed upon them ; now they are the objects of it, but then they
will be the subjects of it. Now it hangs over them, but then it shall
fall upon them in its full weight without any alleviation, or any mo-
deration or restraint. Their souls and their bodies shall then be fill-
ed full with the wrath of God. Wicked men shall be as full of wrath
as anything that glows in the midst of a furnace is of fire. The
wrath of God is infinitely more dreadful than fire. Fire, yea the
fiercest fire is but an image and shadow of it. The vessels of
wrath shall be filled up with wrath to the brim. Yea, they shall be
plunged into a sea of wrath. And therefore hell is compared to
a lake of fire and brimstone, because there wicked men are over-
whelmed, and swallowed up in wrath, as men, who are cast into
a lake or sea, are swallowed up in water. O who can conceive of
the dreadfulness of the wrath of an almighty God! Every thing
in God is answerable to his infinite greatness. When God shows
mercy, he shows mercy like a God. His love is infinitely desira-
ble, because it is the love of God. And so when he executes
wrath it is like a God. This, God will pour out without
mixture. Revelations xiv. 10. " The same shall drink of the
wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture
into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with
fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the
presence of the Lamb." No mixture of mercy or pity ; nothing
thrown into the cup of wrath to assuage or moderate it. " God
shall cast upon him and not spare." Job xxvii. 22. They shall
be cast into the wine-press of the wrath of God, where they shall
be pressed down with wrath, as grapes are pressed in a wine-press.
Rev. xiv. 19. " Cast into the great wine-press of the wrath of God."
God will then make appear in their misery how terrible his wrath
is, that men and angels may know how much more dreadful the
wrath of God is, than the wrath of kings, or any creatures. They
shall know what God can do towards his enemies, and how fearful
a thing it is to provoke him to anger.
18 SERMON I.
If a few drops of wrath do sometimes so distress the minds of
men in this world, so as to be more dreadful than fire, or any bo-
dily torment, how dreadful will be a deluge of wrath ; how dread-
ful will it be, when all God's mighty waves and billows of wrath
pass over them ! Every faculty of the soul shall be filled with
wrath, and every part of the body shall be filled with fire. After
the resurrection the body shall be cast into that great furnace,
which shall be so great as to burn up the whole world. These
lower heavens, this air and this earth, shall all become one great
furnace, a furnace that shall burn the earth, even to its very centre.
In this furnace shall the bodies of the wicked lie to all eternity,
and yet live, and have their sense of pain and torment not at all
diminished. O, how full will the heart, the vitals, the brain, the
eyes, the tongue, the hands and the feet be of fire ; of this fire of
such an inconceivable fierceness ! How full will every member,
and every bone, and every vein, and every sinew, be of this fire ?
Surely it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Who can bear such wrath? A little of it is enough to destroy us.
Psalms ii. 12. " Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish
from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little." But how
will men be overwhelmed, how will they sink, when God's wrath
is executed in so dreadful a degree ! The misery which the damn-
ed will endure, will be their perfect destruction. Psalms 1. 22.
" Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces,
and there be none to deliver."
In several places the wicked are compared to the stubble, and
to briers and thorns before devouring flames, and to the fat of
lambs, which consumes into smoke. Psalms xxxvii. 20. " But
the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as
the fat of lambs ; they shall consume; into smoke shall they con-
sume away." They shall be as it were ground to powder under
the weight of God's wrath. Matthew xxi. 44. Their misery shall
be perfect misery ; and because damnation is the perfect destruc-
tion of a creature, therefore it is called death. It is eternal death,
of which temporal death, with all its awful circumstances, is but
a faint shadow. The struggles, and groans, and gasps of the
body when dying, its pale awful visage when dead, its state in the
dark grave when it is eaten with worms, are but a faint shadow
of the state of the soul under the second death. How dreadful
the state of the damned is, we may argue from the desert of sin.
One sin deserves eternal death and damnation, which in the least
degree of it, is the total destruction of the creature. How dread-
ful, then, is the misery of which natural persons are in danger,
who have lived some time in the world, and have committed thou-
sands and thousands of sins, and have filled up many years with a
course of sinning, and have committed many great sins, with high
aggravations, who have sinned against the glorious gospel of
SERMON I. 19
Glirist, and against great light, whose guilt is far more dreadful
than that of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah ? How dread-
ful is the punishment, to which they are exposed, in which all their
sins shall be punished according to their desert, and the uttermost
farthing shall be exacted of them ! The punishment of one idle
word, or sinful thought, would be more than they could bear.
How then will they bear all the wrath that shall be heaped upon
them for all their multiplied and aggravated transgressions ? If
one sin deserves eternal death and damnation, how many deaths
and damnations will they have accumulated upon them at once I
Such an aggravated, multiplied death must they die every moment,
and always continue dying such a death, and yet never be dead.
Such misery as this may well be called the blackness of darkness.
Hell may well be called the bottomless pit, if the misery is so unfa-
thomably great. Men sometimes have suffered extreme torment in
this world. Dreadful have been the sufferings of some of the
martyrs ; but how little those are, in comparison of the suffer-
ings of the damned, we may learn from 1 Peter iv. 16, 17, 18.
" Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but
let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come, that
judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at
us, what shall the end be of those, that obey not the gospel of God ?
And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly
and sinner appear.^" The apostle is here speaking of the suffer-
ings of Christians ; and from thence he argues, that seeing their
sufferings are so great, how unspeakably great will be the suffer-
ings of the wicked.'* And if judgment begins with them, what
shall be the end of those who obey not the gospel ! As much as
to say, the sufferings of the righteous are nothing to what those,
who obey not the gospel, are. How dreadful, therefore, does this
argue their misery to be f Well may the sinners in Zion be afraid,.
and fearful, and surprised. Well may the kings of the earth, and
the great men, and rich men, and chief captains, and every bond
man, and every free man, hide themselves in the dens, and in the
rocks of the mountains, at Christ's second coming; and cry and
say to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face
of him, that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,
for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to
stand? Well may there be weeping and gnashing of teeth in hell,
where there is such misery. Thus the misery of those who are in
a natural condition, is, in itself, exceedingly great.
2. It is of endless duration. The misery is not only amazingly
great, and extreme, but of long continuance ; yea, of infinitely
long continuance. It never will have any end. There will be no
deliverance, no rest, no hope ; but they will last throughout all eter-
nity. Eternity is a thing, in the thought of which our minds are
swallowed up. As it is infinite in itself, so it is infinitely beyond the
20 SERMON I.
comprehension of our minds. The more we think of it, the more
amazing will it seem to us. Eternity is a duration, to which a long
period of time bears no greater proportion than a short period.
A thousand years, or a thousand ages, bear no greater proportion
to eternity than a minute ; or which is the same thing, a thousand
ages are as much less than eternity as a minute. A minute comes
as near an equality to it; or3^ou may take as many thousand ages
out of eternity, as you can minutes. If a man by the utmost skill
in arithmetic, should denote or enumerate a great number of ages,
and should rise by multiplication to ever so prodigious numbers,
should make as great figures as he could, and rise in multiplying
as fast as he could, and should spend his life in multiplying;
the product of all jWould be no nearer equal to the duration,
which the wicked must spend in the misery of hell, ,than one
minute. Eternity is that, which cannot be made less by sub-
traction. If we take from eternity a thousand years or ages, the
remainder is not the less for it. Eternity is that, which will for
ever be but beginning, and that because all the time which is past,
let it be ever so long, is but a point to what remains. The wicked,
after they have suffered millions of ages, will be, as it were, but in
the first point, only setting out in their sufi*erings. It will be no
comfort to them that so much is gone, for they will have none the
less to bear. There will never a time come, when, if what is past, is
compared to what is to come, it will not be as a point, and as no-
thing. The continuance of their torment cannot be measured out
by revolutions of the sun, or moon, or stars, by centuries or ages.
They shall continue sufiering after these heavens and this earth
shall wax old as a garment, till the whole visible universe is dis-
solved. Yea, they shall remain in their misery through millions
of such ages as are equal to the age of the sun, and moon, and
stars, and still it will be all one, as to what remains, still no nearer
the end of their misery. Matthew xxv. 41. "Depart from me,
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his an-
gels." Mark ix. 44. " Where their worm dieth not, and the fire
is not quenched." Revelation xx. 10. " They shall be tormented
day and night forever and ever." And xiv. 11. " The smoke of
their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever." The damned in
hell in their misery, will be in absolute despair. They shall know
that their misery will have no end, and therefore they will have
no hopes of it. O, who can conceive the dreadfulness of such
despair as this in the midst of such torment ! Who can express,
or think any thing how dreadful the thought of eternity is to them,
who are under so great torment! To what unfathomable depths
of wo will it sink them! With what a gloom, and blackness of
darkness will it fill them ! What a boundless gulf of sorrow and
wo is the thought of eternity to th^ damned, who shall be in abso-
lute and utter despair of any deliverance I
SERMON I. 21
How dreadful, then, is the condition of those, who are in a na-
tural state, who are in danger of such misery.
2. The dreadfulness of their condition will appear by consider-
ing how great their danger is of this misery. This will be ob-
vious from the following things :
1. Their danger is such, that continuing in their present state,
they will unavoidably sink into this misery.
1. The state, in which natural persons now are, naturally tends
to it. And this, because they are separate from God, and desti-
tute of any spiritual good. The soul, that is in a state of separation
from its Creator, must be miserable, because he is separate from
the fountain of all good. He, that is separate from God, is in
great danger of ruin, because he is without any defence. He that
is separate from God, must perish, if he continue so, because It is
from God only, that he can have those supplies which can make
him happy. It is with the soul, as it is with the body. The body
without supplies of sustenance will miserably famish, and die.
So the souls of natural men are in a famishing condition. They
are separate from God, and therefore are destitute of any spiritual
good, which can nourish the soul, or keep it alive ; like one, that
is remote in a wilderness, where he has nothing to eat or drink,
and therefore, if he continue so, will unavoidably die. So the
state of natural men naturally tends to that dreadful misery of the
damned in hell, because they are separate from God.
2. They are under the power of a mortal disease, which, if
it be not healed, will surely bring them to this death. They are
under the power and dominion of sin, and sin is a mortal disease
of the soul. If it is not cured, it will certainly bring them to
death ; viz. to that second death of which we have heard. The in-
fection of the disease has powerfully seized their vital parts. The
whole head is sick, the whole heart faint. The disease is invete-
rate. The infection is spread throughout the whole frame ; the
very nature is corrupted and ruined ; and the whole must come to
ruin, if God by his mighty power does not heal the disease. The
soul is under a mortal wound ; a wound deep and dreadfully con-
firmed. Its roots reach the most vital parts ; yea, they are prin-
cipally seated there. There is a plague upon the heart, which
corrupts and destroys the source of life, ruins the whole frame of
nature, and hastens an inevitable death. There is a most deadly
poison, which has been infused into, and spread over, the man.
He has been bitten by a fiery serpent, whose bite issues in a most
tormenting death. Sin is that, which does as naturally tend to
the misery and ruin of the soul, as the most mortal poison tends to
the death of the body. We look upon persons far gone in a con-
sumption, or with an incurable cancer, or some such malady, as
in doleful circumstances. But that mortal disease, under whose
VOL. VIII. 4
22 SERMON I.
power natural men are, makes their case a thousand times more
doleful. That mortal disease of natural men, does, as it were, ripen
them for damnation. We read of the clusters of the vine of the earth
being for the wiue-press of the wrath of God. Revelation xiv. 18,
where by the clusters of the vine are meant wicked men. The
wickedness of natural men tends to sink them down to hell, as
the weight of a stone causes it to tend towards the centre of the
earth. Natural men have, as it were, the seeds of hell within their
own hearts. Those principles of sin and corruption, which are in
them, if they remain unmorlified, will at length breed the torment
of hell in them, and that necessarily, and of their own tendency.
The soul that remains under the power of sin will at length take
fire of itself. Hell will kindle in them.
2. If they continue in their present state, this misery appears to
be unavoidable, if we consider the justice and truth of God.
1. If they continue in their present condition, so surely as God
is just, they shall suffer the eternal misery of which we have heard.
The honour of God's justice requires it, and God will not dispa-
rage his own justice. He will not deny his own honour and glory,
but will glorify himself on the wicked, as well as the godly.
He will not lose his honour of any one of his creatures, which
he has made.
It is impossible that God should be frustrated or disappointed.
And, so surely as God will not be frustrated, so surely shall they,
who continue in a natural condition, suffer that eternal misery, of
which we have heard. The avenging justice of God is one of
the perfections- of his nature, and he will glorify all his perfec-
tions. God is unalterable in this as well as his other perfections.
His justice shall and must be satisfied. He has declared that
he will by no means clear the guilty. Exodus xxxiv. 7 ; and that
he will not justify the wicked. Exodus xxiii. 7. And that he
will not at all acquit the wicked. Nahum i. 3. God is a
strictly just Judge. When men come to stand before him, he
will surely judge them according to their works. They that
have guilt lying upon them, he will surely judge according to
their guilt. The debt, they owe to justice, must be paid to the
uttermost farthing. It is impossible, that any one, who dies in
his sins, should escape everlasting condemnation and punishment
before such a judge. He will render to every man according to
his deeds ; Romans ii. 8. " Unto them, that are contentious, and
do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and
wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man, that doeth
evil." It is impossible to influence God to be otherwise than just in
judging ungodly men. There is no bribing him. He accepteth
not the person of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the
poor. Deut. x. 17. " He regardeth not persons, nor taketh re-
SERMOIV I. 23
ward." It is impossible to influence liim to be otherwise than
strictly just, by any supplications, or tears, or cries. God is inex-
orablyjust. The cries and the moans of the malefactor will have
no influence upon this Judge to pass a more favourable judgment
on them, so as in any way to acquit or release them. The eternal
cries, and groans, and lamentations of the wicked, will have no in-
fluence upon him. Though they are ever so long continued, they
will not prevail upon God.
2. So surely as God is true, if they die in the state they are now
in, they shall suffer that eternal misery. God has threatened it in
a positive and absolute manner. The threatenings of the law are
absolute; and they, who are in a natural state, are under the con-
demnation of the law. The threatening of ihe law takes hold upon
them : and if they continue under guilt, God is obliged by his
word to punish them according to that threatening. And he has
often, in the most positive and absolute manner, declared that the
wicked shall be cast into hell; that they who believe not shall be
damned ; that the}' shall have their portion in the lake that burns
with fire and brimstone ; and that their misery shall never have an
end. And therefore, if there be any truth in God, it shall surely
be so. It is as impossible that he, who dies in a natural condition,
should escape suffering that eternal misery, as that God should lie.
The word of God is stronger and firmer than mountains of brass,
and shall not fail. We shall sooner see heaven and earth pass away,
than one jot or tittle of all, that God hath said in his word, not be
fulfilled. So much for the first thing, that evinces the greatness
of the danger, that natural men are in of iiell; viz. that they will
unavoidably sink into hell, if they continue in such a condition.
2. Their danger will appear very dreadful, if we consider how
uncertain it is, whether they will ever get out of this condition. It is
very uncertain whether they will ever be converted. If they
should die in their present condition, their misery is certain and
inevitable. But it is very doubtful whether they will not die in
such a condition. There is great danger that they will ; great
danger of their never being converted. And this will appear, if
we consider two things.
1. They have nothing on which to depend for conversion.
The}' have nothing in the world, by which to persuade themselves,
thatihey shall ever be converted. Left to themselves, they never
will repent and turn to God. If they are ever converted, therefore,
it is God who must do it. But the}' have no promise of God, that
they ever shall be converted. They do not know how soon they
may die. God has not promised them long life ; and he has not
promised them that they shall be ready for death before they die.
It is but a peradventure, whether God will ever give them re-
repentance to the acknowledging of iho truth. 2 Timothy ii.
24 SERMON I.
25. Their resolutions are not to be depended on. If ihey have
convictions, they are not to be depended on ; they may lose those
convictions. Their conversion depends on innumerable uncer-
tainties. It is very uncertain then, whether they will be converted
before they die.
2. Another thing uhich shows the danger there is that they
shall never be converted, is, that there are but few comparatively,
who are ever converted. But few of those, who have been natural
persons in time past, have been converted. Most of them have
died unconverted. So it has been in all ages, and hence we have
reason to think that but few of them, who are unconverted now,
will ever be converted; that most of ihem will die unconverted;
and will go to hell. Natural persons are ready to flatter them-
selves, that they shall be converted. They think there are signs
of it. But a man would not run the venture of so much as a six-
pence in such an uncertainty as they are, about their ever being
converted, or not going to hell. This shows the doleful condi-
tion of natural men, as it is uncertain whether they shall ever be
converted.
3, They, who are in a natural condition, are in danger of go-
ing to hell every day. Those now present, who are in a natural
condition, are in danger of dropping into hell before to-morrow
morning. They have nothing to depend on, to keep them out of
hell one day, or one night. We know not what a day may bring
forth, God has not promised to spare them one day ; and he is
every day angry with them. The black clouds, that are full of the
thunder of God's wrath, hang over their heads every day, and
they know not how soon the thunder will break forth upon their
heads. Natural men are in scripture compared to those that walk
in slippery places. They know not when their feet will slip. They
are continually in danger. Psalms Ixxiii. 18. " Surely, thou didst
set them in slippery places ; thou castedst them down into destruc-
tion. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment."
Natural men hang over the pit of hell, as it were, by a thread, that
has a moth continually gnawing it. They know not when it will
snap in twain, and let them drop. They are in the utmost uncer-
tainty ; they are not secure one moment. A natural man never
goes to sleep, but that he is in danger of waking in hell. Experi-
ence abundantly teaches the matter to be so. It shows, by millions
of instances, that man is not certain of life one day. And how
common a thing is it for death to come suddenly and unexpected-
ly! And thousands, beyond all reasonable question, are going
to hell every day, and death comes upon them unexpectedly.
" When they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction
Cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child ; and they
shall not escape." It is a dreadful condition that natural persons
SERMON [. 2S
are in upon this account ; and no wise person would be in their
condilion for a quarter of an hour for the whole world, because
such is the danger that they will drop into hell before that quarter
of an hour is expired.
Thus I have shown how dreadful the condition of natural men
is, relatively considered. I shall mention two or three things more,
which yet further make it appear how doleful their condition is.
1. The longer it continues, the worse it grows. This is an
awful circumstance in the condition of a natural man. Any disease
is looked upon as the more dreadful, for its growing and increas-
ing nature. Thus a cancer and gangrene are regarded as dread-
ful calamities, because they continually grow and spread ; and the
faster they grow, the more dreadful are they accounted. It
would be dreadful to be in a natural condition, if a person could
continue as he is, and his condition grow no worse ; if he could
live in a natural condition, and never have it any more dreadful,
than when he first begins to sin. But it is yet much more dreadful,
when we consider that it every day becomes worse and worse. The
condition of natural men is worse to-day than it was yesterday,
and that on several accounts. The heart grows more and more
polluted and hardened. The longer sin continues unmortified,
the more is it strengthened and rooted. Their guilt also grows
greater, and hell everyday grows hotter; for they are every day
adding sin to sin, and so their iniquity is increasing over their
heads more and more. Every new sin adds to the guilt. Every
sin deserves eternal death for its punishment. And therefore in
every sin, that a man commits, there is so much added to the pun-
ishment, to whicli he lies exposed. There is, as it were, another
eternal death added lo augment his damnation. And how much
is added to the account in God's book every day ; how many new
sins are set down, that all may be answered for ; each one of which
sins must be punished, that by itself would be an eternal death !
How fast do wicked men heap up guilt, and treasure up wrath, so
long as they continue in a natural condition ! How is God more
and more provoked, his wrath more and more incensed ; and how
does hell-fire continually grow hotter and hotter! If a man has
lived twenty years in a natural condition, the fire has been increas-
ed every day since he has lived. It has been, as it were, blown up
to a greater and greater degree of fierceness. Yea, how dreadfully
does one day's continuance in sin, add to the heat of hell-fire !
2. All blessings are turned into curses to those, who live and
die in such a condition. Those things, which are most pleasant
and comfortable, and which men esteem the blessings of life, are
but curses unto such ; as their meat, and their drink, and their
raiment. There is a curse goes with every mouthful of meat, and
every drop of drink to such a person. There is a curse with his
26 SERMON I.
raiment which he puts on ; it all contributes to his misery. Though
it may please him, yet it does him no good, but he is the more
miserable for it. If he has any enjoyment which is sweet and
pleasant to him, the pleasure is a curse to him ; he is really the
more miserable for it. It is an occasion of death to him. His
possessions, which he values himself upon, and sets his heart up-
on, are turned into a curse to him. His house has the curse of
God upon it, and his table is a snare and a trap to him. Psalms
Ixix. 22. His bed has God's curse upon it. When he lies down
to sleep, a curse attends his rest ; and when he goes forth to labour,
he is followed with a curse on that. The curse of God is upon
his fields, on his corn, and herds, and all he has. If he has friends
and relations, who are pleasant and dear to him, they are no bless-
ings to him. He receives no comfort by them, but they prove a
curse to him. I say it is thus with those who live and die in a
natural condition. Deuteronomy xxviii. 16, he. " Cursed shalt
thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed
shall be thy basket, and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of
thy body, and the fruit of thy land, and the increase of thy kine,
and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou
comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The
Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all
that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed,
and until thou perish quickly ; because of the wickedness of thy
doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me." Man's faculties of rea-
son and understanding, and all his natural powers, are turned into
a curse. Yea, spiritual mercies and privileges shall also be turned
into a curse to those who live and die in a natural condition. A
curse goes with the worship of God, and with sabbaths and sa-
craments, with instruction, and counsels, and warnings, and with
the most precious advantages. They are all turned into a curse.
They are a savour of death unto death. They do but harden
the heart, and aggravate the guilt and misery, and inflame the
divine wrath. Isaiah vi. 9, 10. " Go, make the heart of this peo-
ple fat." 2 Cor. ii. 16. " To the one we are the savour of death
unto death." It will only be an occasion of their misery, that
God ever sent Christ into the would to save sinners. That which
is in itself so glorious a manifestation of God's mercy, so unspeaka-
ble a gift, that which is an infinite blessing to others who receive
Christ, will be a curse unto them. 1 Peter ii. S. " A stone of
stumbling, and a rock of oflence." The blood of Christ, which
is the price of eternal life and glory to some, is an occasion of
sinking them vastly the lower into eternal burnings. And that is
the case of such persons ; the more precious any mercies are in
themselves, the more of a curse are they to them. The better the
things are in themselves, the more will they contribute to their
SERMON I. 27
misery. And s{)iritual privileges, which are in themselves greater
mercies than any outward enjoyments, will above all other things,
prove a curse to them. Nothing will enhance their condemnation
so much as these. On account of these, it will be more tolerable
for Sodom and Gomorrah in tlie day of judgment, than for them.
Yea, so doleful is the condition of natural men, that if they live
and die in that condition, not only the enjoyments of life, but life
itself will be a curse to them. The longer they live, the more mi-
serable will they be ; the sooner they die, the better. If they live
long in such a condition, and die in it at last, it would have been
better for them, if they had died before. It would have been far bet-
ter for ihem to have spent the time in hell, than on earth ; yea bet-
ter for them to have spent ten thousand years in hell, instead of
one on earth. When they look back, and consider what enjoy-
ments they have had, they will wish they had never had them.
Though when on earth they set their hearts on their earthly en-
joyments, they will hereafter wish they had been without them ;
for they will see they have only fitted them for the slaughter.
They will Vt'ish they never had had their houses and lands, their
garments, their earthly friends, their earthly possessions. And
so they will wish that they had never enjoyed the light of the gos-
pel, that they had been born among the heathen in some of the
most dark and barbarous places of the earth. They will wish
that Christ had never come into the world to die for sinners, so as
to give men any opportunity to be saved. They will wish that
God had cast off fallen man, as lie did the fallen angels, and had
never made him the offer of a Saviour. They will wish that they
had died sooner, and had not had so much opportunity to increase
their guilt, and their misery. They will wish they had died in
their childhood, and been sent to hell then. They will curse the
day that ever they were born, and wish they had been made vipers
and scorpions, or any thing, rather than rational creatures.
3. They have no security from the most dismal horrors of mind
in this life. They have no security, but their stupidity. A natu-
ral man can have no comfort or peace in a natural condition, but
that of which blindness and senselessness are the foundation. And
from what has been said, that is the very evil. A natural man
can have no comfort in any thing in this world any further, than
thought, and consideration of mind are kept down in him; as you
make a condemned malefactor senseless of his misery by putting
him to sleep with opium, or make him merry just before his execu-
tion by giving him something to deprive him of the use of reason,
so that he shall not be sensible of his own circumstances. Other-
wise, there is no peace or comfort, which a natural man can have
in a natural condition. Isaiah xlviii. 22. " There is no peace,
saith my God, to the wicked." Job xv. 20. " The wicked man
28 SfiRMON I.
travaileth with pain all his days. A dreadful sound is in his ears,"
The doleful state of a natural man appears especially from the
horror and amazement, to which he is liable on a death-bed. To
have the heavy hand of God upon one in some dangerous sick-
ness, which is wasting and consuming the body, and likely to de-
stroy it, and to have a prospect of approaching death, and of soon
going into eternity, there to be in such a condition as this : to what
amazing apprehensions must the sinner be liable! How dismal
must his state be, when the disease prevails, so that there is no
hope that he shall recover, when the physician begins to give
him over, and friends to despair of his life; when death seems to
hasten on, and he is at the same lime perfectly blind to any spiri-
tual object, altogether ignorant of God, of Christ, and of the way
of salvation, having never exercised one act of love to God in his
life, or done one thing for his gloiy; having then every lust and
corruption in its full strength; having then such enmity in the
heart against God, as to be ready to dethrone him, if that were
possible ; having no right in God, or interest in Christ ; having
the terrible wrath of God abiding on him ; being yet the child of
the devil, entirely in his possession and under his power ; with no
hope to maintain him, and with the full view of never ending mise-
ry just at the door. What a dismal case must a natural man be in
under such circumstances ! How will his heart die within him at
the news of his approaching death, when he finds that he must go,
that he cannot deliver himself, that death stands with his grim
countenance looking him in llie face, and is just about to seize him,
and carry him out of the world, and that he at the same time has
nothing to depend on. How often are there instances of dismal
distress of unconverted persons on a death-bed. No one knows
the fears, the exercise and torment in their hearts, but they who
feel them. They are such that all the pleasures of sin, which they
have had in their whole lives, will not pay them for. As you may
sometimes see godly men go triumphing out of the world full of
joy, with the foretastes of heaven, so sometimes wicked men, when
dying, anticipate something of hell before they arrive there. The
flames of hell do, as it were, come up and reach them in some
measure, before they are dead. God then withdraws, and ceases
to protect them ; the tormentor begins his work, while they are
alive. Thus it was with Saul and Judas; and there have been
many other similar instances since ; and none, who are in a natu-
ral condition, have any security from it. The state of a natural
man is doleful on this account, though this is but a prelude and
foretaste of the everlasting misery which follows.
Thus I have, in some measure, shown in what a doleful condition
those are, who are in a natural condition. Still I have said but
little. It is beyond what we can speak or think. They, who say
.SERMON I- 29
most of the dreadfulness of a natural condition, say but little. And
they, who are most son^'ihle, are sensible of but a small part of the
misery of a natural state.
APPLICATION.
I. We may derive from this Doctrine much useful and practical
instruction.
1. Hence we may learn the stupidity and sottishness of many
natural persons. If we consider those things, which we have now
heard concerning their dreadful condition, and then see how the
greater part of natural men behave themselves, we may well be as-
tonished, that there should be such stupidity in the heart of man.
If we rightly considered it, we should be ready to cry out with
astonishment. Their sottishness appears in the following things.
1. That though they are in such a dreadful condition, they can
go about easy and quiet, and in little or no concern respecting it.
What might rationally be expected of such persons ? If it were a
new thing to us, and we had heard there was a person in a parti-
cular town or country, of such a name, who was in this awful con-
dition ; who had no interest in his Creator, who had the wrath of
almighty God abiding on him, that wrath which is great and ter-
rible enough to make him miserable with devils in hell to all eter-
nity ; that he was a captive in the hands of the devil, was made
his slave and was under his power and dominion ; that his sou!
was a habitation of devils ; that he was condemned to be cast into
the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, to drink of the wine
of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the
cup of his indignation, and to sufler in an inexpressible, inconceiva-
ble extremity in both body and soul for ever and ever, without
hope or end ; to be liable to sink in this misery every day, and the
longer he continued out of it, the worse his condition ; the more
dreadful the wrath, and the hotter the flames of hell ; I say, sup-
posing we had just now for the first time heard there was a person
in this awfid condition, how should we expect to see him behave
himself? If he was in the exercise of his reason, should we not
expect to see him trembling and quaking on account of his miser^^
with all the manifestations of continual terror and amazement, re-
gardless of all things else, spending his days and nights in tears,
and groans, and lamentations, crying for pity and help, crying
with an exceedingly loud and bitter cry, crying to every one to
pity him, and pray for h'lml Yea, how many are there in this
dreadful condition, are easy and quiet, and appear to have no-
thing to trouble them ! They go about the world without anxiety
or alarm as if they had no more rca&on to be disquieted, than if
VOL. VIII. 5
30 SERMON I.
they had already secured their salvation. Though they are told
how dreadful their condition is hundreds of limes, their tranquilli-
ty is wholly undisturbed. They can sit and hear of its certainty
and its nearness, of its dreadful nature, and its inconceivable degree ;
and then can go away with as quiet and easy hearts as they had before.
There is no moving them by telling them of such things. They
can sleep as quietly, and go about their business with as perfect un-
concern. They can eat and drink and enjoy the pleasures of so-
cial life with no apparent load on their minds; and without being
sensible of any thing in their circumstances, which should hinder
them from such enjoyment. And not only so, but,
2. They can go about with a merry heart. There are many of
them, who not only seem to be quiet in their minds, but they are
very cheerful, as if all were well with them, and every thing smiled
upon them ; as if they were in happy circumstances, and had every
thing as they desired; and are even disposed to be merry and
sportive about their own condition and the dreadful realities of the
future world. For their part they choose to take their ease and
pleasure, and not disturb or molest themselves with such dark
and melancholy thoughts, like the |)ersons mentioned by Isaiah.
" Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves
with strong drink; and to-morrow shall be as this day, and much
more abundant."
3. They are so senseless, that they do not think it worth their
while to make any considerable effort to escape from this dreadful
condition. They will not take half so much pains fur it, as for a
little wordly gain ; and they do not think it worth the while even
to ask God to deliver them from it. They think it too much la-
bour to withdraw once or twice each day to ask God to be merci-
ful to them, that they might not continue in their natural state.
And they foolishly neglect the precious opportunities, which they
enjoy to get into a better state. God gives them great advanta-
ges for it, and they are called upon, and warned, and exhorted to
improve them. They are told what good opportunities they have,
and the danger of letting them slip, but all is to no purpose. Thus
persons will let slip the time of youth, which is a precious season
to escape from their natural condition. So they will let slip a
time of the moving of God's spirit in the place where they live.
They act as if they had a wish to continue in the same state.
They will put themselves so little out of the way to escape from it ;
they are so backward to deny themselves a little, or to make a
little effort they seem to grudge it, and think it needless. If they
have a great advantage put into their hands, it is to no purpose.
They had as good be without it, as with it ; for they have no heart
to improve it. Proverbs xvii, 16. " Wherefore is there a price in
the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to itr"'
jSERMON I. 31
4. Instead of using means to get into a better state, they are wil-
fully doing those things, which make it worse and worse. Instead
of striving for deliverance, they are striving against it. They are
provoking God more, and increasing their guilt, and hardening
their hearts, and setting themselves farther and farther from con-
version : and this too, when they are told, that the things, which
they practise, have this tendency. They act, as if they wished to
be sure never to be converted. Thus it is with innumerable multi-
tudes. So exceedingly senseless and stupid are many natural per-
sons.
2. Hence we need not wonder, that we are directed in scripture
to strive and to be very earnest to be delivered from our natural
condition. This is the direction, which God gives us from time to
time. Luke xiii. 24. *' Strive to enter in at the strait gate." Matt,
xi. 12. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence." Eccl. ix.
10. " Whatsoever th}' hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."
2 Peter i. 10. " Give diligence to make your calling and election
sure." Hebrews vi. 18. " Fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope
set before us." The direction wKich was given to Lot, relating
to his flight out of Sodom, was designed for the direction of all,
who are in a natural condition. Gen. xix. 17. " Escape for thy
life ; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain ; es-
cape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed." This doctrine
shows us the reason, why persons should be directed in such a
way as this to seek their salvation. That it is such a dreadful con-
dition is reason enough why persons should thus vehemently strive,
and be violent to get into a belter state, and why they should haste
for their lives, and flee from the wrath to come. If the case of na-
tural men be, as we have heard, no wonder that they should have
such advice given them, and that God expects that the pains which
they take, and the endeavours they use for it, should be in some
measure answerable to its importance. No wonder, that the jailer,
when made sensible of his condition, should conduct himself as we
have the account in the text. No wonder that he should be in such
haste as not only to run in, but to spring, or leap in, to the place
where Paul and Barnabas were, and fall down before them, and ask
in such an earnest manner, " What must I do to be saved ?" If he
had not been indeed in a dreadful state, he would have acted like
one distracted. But considering that he was in a natural condi-
tion, which is so dreadful, it was not the least wonder.
3. Hence we may learn how dismal are the effects, which the
fall of man has brought upon the world. It has brought all man-
kind into this dreadful condition of which we have heard. The
far greater part of those who live in this world, are in this state,
and the greater part of those, who die in the world, die in this
state. What a miserable world, therefore, is the world in which
32 JiLRMON r.
we live ! This world lies under a curse. God has denounced
wo against it ; and what an immeasurable amount of wo is brought
upon it ! What woful devastation has sin made in the world !
II. What has been said of the dreadfulness of their condition
may well awaken and terrify the impenitent. How man}' things
are there in your circumstances, which are awful and terrible to
think of. There is no one of those things which have been men-
tioned, but that the thought of it may well be frightful to you. It
may well be a dreadful thought that you have no goodness in you,
nor have ever done any thing which has the least goodness in it ;
that you never exercised one act of love, or true thankfulness, or
obedience to God in your life; nor ever did the least thing out of
true respect to God. The consideration of the dreadful depravity
and wickedness of your heart, may well be frightful to you ; to
think what a sink of corruption it is, how full of all manner
of wickedness, how full of enmity against God ; to think that there
are the same corruptions in your heart, as in the heart of the de-
vil, and that there are the seeds of the same enmity against God,
and that you are in the very image of the devil. If you look into
your own heart, and strictly examine what it would entice you to
do, if all restraints of fear and self-interest were taken off, it might
well affright you. How awful may the thought well be to you,
when you consider that you are a creature, separated from your
Creator ; that there is an alienation between you and that great
Being, in whom you live, and move, and have your being; that
you are a poor desolate creature, that have no God to protect you,
and guide you,_ and provide for you in the world ; and that you
are secure from no manner of mischief, into which human nature
is capable of falling, either in soul or body ! How terrifying
should it be to you, to think how good, how mighty and terrible
that God is, under whose wrath you lie down and rise up, and eat
and drink, and engage in the daily business of life ! How fright-
ful should it be to you, when you consider in what relation you
stand to the devil ; that you are his child, and that he owns you ;
that you are his servant, his possession, and that your heart is his
dwelling place ; that you are without Christ, and so without hope,
and have no good thing in another world, in which you have any
inheritance ! And how amazing may it well be to you, when you
consider how great that future misery is to which you arc exposed
and condemned, wherein God shows his wrath, and makes his
power known in the destruction of the ungodly, in which they
are vessels of wrath filled to the brim; and that you are in dan-
ger of being plunged in a bottomless gulf or deluge of wrath,
where mighty waves and billows of wrath shall pass over you ;
and when you consider the torment of your body in that great
furnace of fire, where every part, every organ, every vein, ami
SEKxMON t. 35
every litnb shall be filled lull of fire, and yet full of (luick sense,
and that this torment shall remain to an endless duration, a dura-
tion which shall always be beginning, but never ending ! And
how well may it aifright you, and strike a terror upon you, when
you consider, that if you die in your present condition, it is as
impossible that you should escape this misery, as tliat God should
cease to be just and true; and that the greater part of those who
are in your condition will suffer this misery, and that you have no
security that you shall be kept from it one day, or one hour ! How
terrifying may it well be to you, when you consider how much
more dreadful your case continually grows ! How frightful may
it be to you every night, when you sit down, and consider how
much greater your guilt is, and how much deeper your condemna-
tion is than it was in the morning ! How awful and doleful may
it be to you to consider, that if you live and die in your present
state, every thing is cursed to you ; even your greatest mercies
and best enjoyments, your food, your raiment, your nearest friends,
and your earthly possessions : and not only so, but the light of
the gospel, and the means of grace, and life itself will be cursed
to you ! All will be but an occasion of your greater misery.
Such persons shall wish they had been born and brought up among
the heathen. They shall wish that Christ had never come into
the world ; they shall wish they had never been born. How awful
may it be to you when you think that death will most certainly
come upon you, and you know not how soon : and what dismal
circumstances you would be in, if you were in your present condi-
tion on a death-bed ! How many things are there in your case
which are of a terrifying, awful nature ! How can you live in
such circumstances, without living in continual terror.^ Here
consider further the following things : ■
1. There is nothing which you see, but what may justly minis-
ter torment to you, while you remain in a natural condition. If
you lift up your eyes, and behold the sun, moon, and stars, and
cast your eyes abroad on the face of the earth, and see the moun-
tains, and fields, and trees, it may justly put you in mind of the
dolefulness of your condition ; that the great God, who made all
these things, who stretched forth the heavens as a curtain, who or-
dained the sun, moon, and stars, and laid the foundations of the
earth, and causes the grass and trees to grow ; is a God in whom
you have no interest, but who is continually angry with you, and
that his wrath abides on you. So when you look on your own
body, and consider how it is formed and contrived, it may be a
frJgJitful thing to you to consider, that he who made you is not at
peace with you, and that you are the object of his displeasure.
If you have pleasures and enjoyments, and are in flourishing cir-
cumstances, if you see the faces of your near friends and dear re-
34 SERiMON I.
lations, and look upon your children and otiier dear friends, and
behold your costly possessions, these things may justly minister
torment to you, while you are in a natural state. For consider,
that you do not know but that all these things are given you in
wrath. When you sit down to eat and drink, you may do it in
torment, because you know not but this may be in wrath. When
you lie down upon your beds, it may justly be in torment, for you
do not know but you shall awake in hell. And when you awake
in the morning, it may justly be with torment in your heart, to
think you are still in that doleful condition. When you go forth
to your daily labour, you have reason to go with a terrified heart ;
for you know not but you are followed with God's curse in all that
to which you put your hands. Whatever dispensations of Provi-
dence you may have, all may justly put you in mind of the dole-
fulness of your condition. If you meet with afflictions, these may
remind you that you have no God to pity 3'ou, and that a God,
who is angry with you every day, sends these afflictions upon you.
If you meet with prosperity, you may justly receive it with a sor-
rowful sense of the dolefulness of j'our state ; for you know not
but it is to fit you for the slaughter. If you hear of the death of
others, it may justly terrify you, and put you in mind of your own
mortality, and of your danger of dying as you now are. If you
hear of others' conversion, it may justly renew in you a sense of
the dolefulness of your own state, that you still remain unconvert-
ed. If you see the bible, an awful thought may justly go with the
sight, that you have never yet received any good by that book,
and that all .the curses written in it, stand against you. Every
time you enter the house of God, it ma}' justly renew awful thoughts
of your circumstances, that you have entered there so often, and
obtained no good ; entered so often, and gone away worse than
you came. And what danger there is, that you shall be one of
those spoken of in Ecclesiastes viii. 10. "1 saw the wicked buried,
who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were
forgotten in the city where they had so done." And wheresoever
you turn yourself, whatever you meet with, and whatever you be-
hold, or hear, may justly renew a sense of the dolefulness of your
state. The thought of your condition may justly cast a darkness
upon every thing.
2. Consider that the time will soon come, when you will be sen-
sible that the dolefulness of your condition is as great as I have
represented it ; that 1 have not enlarged or magnified the matter,
but that the case is as I have declared it. You will then see that
it is so. Whether you are sensible of it now or not, yet in a little
time you will surely be sensible, and will need no argument to
convince you of it. Yea, you will be sensible that it is more dole-
ful than I have represented. After all that has been told you now,
¥
SERMON I. 35
and at other times, the time will come, when you will say, that the
one half was not told you.
3. Your condition is thus doleful, notwithstanding every thing
with which you may flatter yourself. You may be ready to flatter
yourself, that though the condition of some natural persons is
thus doleful, yet yours is not ; that you are in better circumstan-
ces than other natural men commonly are. Or particularly, you
may flatter yourself, that you are not so bad as others; you do not
find such dreadful corruptions in your heart, as you hear are in
others. Herein you deceive yourself. It is because you are ig-
norant ofyour own heart. What has been said of the depraved
state of natural men, of their blindness, their hardness, their dead-
ness, all belongs to you. You may possibly flatter yourself that
your condition is not so doleful, because you have always walked
orderly, you have been moral and religious. Here also you de-
ceive yourself. For notwithstanding your moral and religious
behaviour, and all your sobriety, you never did the least thing
from a gracious respect to God. You have a heart in the likeness
of the heart of the devil. You are without God in the world. God
is angry with you every day; his wrath is not at all appeased.
You may flatter yourselves that you are the children of godly pa-
rents, that you have many godly friends, who may put up many
prayers for j'ou, and that your case is not so doleful on that ac-
count, and that your danger is not extremely great. But in this
you miserably deceive yourself. You are children of the devil
notwithstanding all this. If you die in your present condition,
it is impossible that you shall escape eternal misery. And there is
great danger, that you will die in it. You have no security that
you shall not be in hell ijefore to-morrow morning. Do not flat-
ter yourself from such things as these, that you are not in a doleful
condition. Some of those who flatter themselves most, and think
their condition the least doleful, are indeed in the most doleful
condition. It is more dreadful than their neighbours ; more so
than that of many, whom they esteem ten times worse than them-
selves. And this is one thing, which adds to the dolefulness of
their condition, that they so flatter themselves, and think their
state so good. So it was of old with the Scribes and Pharisees.
Matthew xxi. 31. "Verily I say unto you, the publicans and har-
lots go into the kingdom of God before you."
HI. This subject may well excite joy and thankfulness in the
hearts of the truly penitent, that God has found out a way to de-
liver them from such a condition ; that God has been pleased to
send his Son into the world to die for them ; that he has given
them the gospel and the means of grace ; and that he has delivered
them from this dreadful condition. You were in the same circum-
stances. 1 Cor. vi. 11. " Such were some of you; but ye are
36 SERMON I.
washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God." It is mere grace,
which has made the diflerence. There is no cause of boasting.
God might have taken others, and left you. You deserved no
more than the}'. You had no more righteousness of your own.
Probably you have done worse than many, who have eternally
perished. Take heed, that you entertain no boasting thought,
and that your joy in this be a humble joy ; accompanied with con-
tinual praise to God, who has done such great things for you, and
from all eternity set his love upon you.
IV. This subject should lead those, who are in a natural condi-
tion, earnestly to seek for deliverance. Will you rest in such a
condition, when there is a way of salvation provided, and an op-
portunity for an escape ? Will you of choice continue still in this
state ? Though your case is very dangerous, j'et there is a pos-
sibility of rescue, if you have but a heart to improve your opportu-
nity. But besides what has been said, I would desire you further
to consider, how happy will be 3'our state, should you obtain de-
liverance. A converted state is not less happy than a natural
condition is miserable and dreadful. You will be brought out of
darkness into marvellous light. It will be like the dawning of
the morning after a long night of darkness. It will be a joyful
morning to you. The day-star will arise in your heart. Then
will be given you the morning star. You will then have a disco-
very of the glory of God, and the beauty and excellency of Jesus
Christ made to your soul ; and then will be opened to your view
the glorious fountain of divine grace. You will then look back
and see how you have dwelt in darkness throughout your lives,
and in the region and shadow of death. Matthew iv. 16. "The
people, which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them, which
sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up." You
will then be brought out of a dreadful bondage into glorious liber-
ty. You will come forth, as from a dark dungeon, to see the
glorious light of the Sun of righteousness. Your eyes will then
be opened, and you will be brought out of the prison house.
Isaiah Ixi. 1. "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because
the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ,
he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty
to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them, that are
bound." Then you who were dead, will be made alive; and you
that have been lost, will be found. What you will then obtain will
richly repay you for all the labour which you have undergone. If
you have spent ever so many years in wrestling with corruption
and temptation, in striving to enter in at the strait gate, you will
not repent it. But more particularly consider,
SERMON I. 37
1. How glorious will be the alteration, made in your nature.
Old things will be done away, and all things will become new.
Sin will be mortified in you, and the glorious image of God con-
ferred upon you. You will have holy and spiritual principles im-
parted to you, a spirit of divine love and heavenly mindedness, a
relish for spiritual enjoyments, a delight in the Lord Jesus Christ,
a truly meek, humble, charitable and benevolent spirit. You will
be changed, from being more filthy and hateful than a reptile into
the likeness of the glorious Son of God. You will be taken out
of the mire of brutal lusts and spiritual abominations, will be
washed from all your filthiness, and will be adorned with the most
glorious ornaments ; those ornaments of mind, which in the sight
of God, are of great price, ornamenis, which will render you a
thousand times more beautiful and lovely than the robes of prin-
ces. You will obtain those graces of the spirit of God which are
the ornaments of angels.
2. Consider the safety of the condition in which you will then
be. The terrible wrath of the great God, which abides on wicked
men, will then be removed from you. Christ will be to you as a
hiding place from the storm, and as a shadow from the heat of
God's wrath. You will then be safe from hell, and will be for
ever delivered from that dreadful misery, which is endured by the
damned, and to which you are now condemned. Revelation xx.
6. " On such the second death hath no power." You will be safe
from the power of Satan. Christ will be your protector, so that
you shall be out of his reach, that he will not be able to destroy
you. You shall dwell on high. Your place of defence shall be
the munition of rocks, where you may laugh at the power of the
enemy. And though you are in a world full of enemies and sin-
ners, yet God will be your Rock, and the most High God your Re-
deemer. God will carry you as on eagles' wings through the
world, aloft out of the reach of your enemies. They may see
you, and wish your ruin, and gnash their teeth, but shall not be
able to accomplish it. Satan will desire to have you, but Christ
will have prayed for you, and that will be your security. You will
be safe from death ; that will not be able to hurt you. Natural
men are in continual danger from death. They know not when
nor how death may come. But if it comes while they are in that
condition, it sinks them into hell. But you need not be afraid to
meet death, either by day or night. Whenever it comes, and in
whatever form, you are safe. While others walk in slippery places,
your feet will be established on a rock. In a time of sickness and
mortality, while others tremble, you need not fear. If you are
sick, you need not dread the issue. For though your flesh and
your heart should fail you, yet God will be the strength of your
heart, your present help, and your portion for ever. Though the
VOL. VIII. 6
38 SERMON I.
earth should be removed, you will be safe. Psalms xlvi. 1,2, 3.
♦' God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and
though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea ; though
the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains
shake with the swelling thereof." If you are once in Christ Je-
sus, none shall ever pluck you out of his hands. John x. 28.
" They shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my
hand." You will be freed from condemnation ; for who is he that
shall condemn you ? it is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen
again. Who shall separate you from the love of Christ? " Nei-
ther life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature." What a glorious foundation will there be for
your peace and quietness! Isaiah xxxii. 17. " And the work of
righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quiet-
ness and assurance for ever." Let this consideration, therefore,
prompt you earnestly to seek, that you may obtain that happy
condition. Can you consider how happy the change would be to
you, how desirable such safety is, and not be willing earnestly to
seek and do every thing which lies in your power, that you may
obtain it.''
3, Consider how exceedingly it will be for the comfort and
pleasure of your life, if you are converted. You are not only
under the greatest necessity to become converted, because a natu-
ral condition is so dreadful a condition, but you will gain by it
every way. You will not only gain eternal life by it, but you will
gain unspeakably by it while in this world. Your pains will be
richly rewarded while here, though that be but little to your future
reward. You cannot take a more direct course to make your life
pleasant. You will obtain by it the most excellent delight and
pleasure, in comparison with which the pleasures which are to be
had in worldly things are low and vile. Hereby you may obtain
the most substantial, soul-satisfying, soul-refreshing pleasures.
You may then live a life of divine love and communion with that
glorious Being, who is the object of your love. Then you will
be blest with the best company, and with heavenly society. Far
better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasures with
that trouble which wicked men have with their enjoyments. Then
you may enjoy what God in his providence bestows upon you with
peace of conscience ; and may rejoice in it, as the fruit of the love
of God. Then you may have the comfort of considering that
you have God's blessing on what you possess. Your enjoyments
will then be sweet to you, for you will enjoy God in the fruits of
his bounty. Your life will be abundantly more pleasant in all the
circumstances and concerns of it. It will make God's house a
SERMON I. S9
more delightful resort ; your own house a more pleasant residence,
for then the blessing of heaven will rest upon it; and your closet
a sweeter retirement. It will make your labour sweeter to you,
and it will sweeten your rest. You may then say with the Psalm-
ist, Psalms iv. 8. " I will both lay me down and sleep, for thou
Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." It will tend to make your
life pleasant, and to make your death-bed comfortable to you.
When all other comforts fail, this will stand you instead. It will
remain as a living spring, which will never fail. John iv. 14.
" The water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water
springing up into everlasting life." This will make time com-
fortable, and will make the thoughts of eternity comfortable to
you, when you shall have those pleasures which are at God's
right hand for ever, in more immediate prospect ; and shall have
that faithful promise of God, that hereafter you shall see God,
and shall dwell in his presence, and shall, from the hands of Christ,
receive a crown of life.
Direction 1. In general be directed to act as if you were in a
dreadful condition ; as one who looks upon his case to be dread-
ful, not merely as one looks upon his case undesirable and worse
than that of another; but as one who is sensible that his state is
inexpressibly dismal and terrible. Consider how men act when
they apprehend their circumstances to be very dreadful, though
only in temporal respects. As for instance : if they are in dan-
ger of being consumed by fire, or only having their substance con-
sumed. Or if in danger of being seized by an enemy, or other-
wise in danger of some dreadful evil. How do the thoughts of
danger awake their powers! What earnestness appears in them,
in what haste are they ! Be directed to seek for deliverance from
a natural condition, in like manner if you would be delivered.
The jailer acted as one who was sensible that his condition was
dreadful. So be you directed to act, if you would have the like
success. Particularly,
1. Be in haste. The jailer, when he was made sensible of his
dreadful condition, sprang into the presence of Paul and Silas
and cried out what must I do to be saved .'' So you cannot be in
too much haste. When ministers direct those who are seeking
salvation to wait until God's time comes, if they understand the
scriptures, they cannot mean, that they should not be in haste to
obtain a better condition, or that they should be at rest, or con-
tinue in such a condition one hour, or one moment. They can
only mean these two things : that you should wait or persevere in
opposition to giving out in discouragement: and that they should
wait in opposition to quarrelling with God for not delivering
them, and not in opposition to being uneasy in a natural condi-
tion. For persons ought to be uneasy, and it argues awful stupidity
40 SERMON I.
to be otherwise ; but in opposition to a quarrelling spirit because
God does not show mercy sooner. We should persevere in our
efforts to obtain salvation as being sensible that God is not oblig-
ed to bestow it in our time, or at all ; that he may, if he will, re-
fuse to show mercy ; and if he does show mercy, that he may do it
in his own time. Remember that the command of Christ, to you
is, " Repent and believe the Gospel." You cannot lawfully con-
tinue in your present state one day or hour. Those who defer
and put off repentance till another time are not in a likely way
to obtain deliverance. The way is, to improve the present
time ; to do now, what must be done ever. We should make se-
curing our salvation our present and immediate business. There-
fore inquire, vyhether you do not put it off. If you do not put off
the whole of the work, yet do you not put off part of it ? Do you
think you now strive as much for sajvatiou. as it will ever be need-
ful that you should? If not, delay no longer. Let it not be said
of you to-morrow, that there is any thing delayed to-day, which
you yourself thought needful to be done, or in your power to do,
in order to your salvation. If you are sensible that you are in
this dreadful condition, you certainly will make haste; you will
need no other motive to it.
2. Let nothing, which you do in seeking salvation, be done
with slackness. The direction is, " Whatsoever thy hand find-
eth to do, do it with thy might." Therefore, let nothing be done
with a slack hand. Do every thing which you do in this great
work earnestly. There are many things which you have to do;
many duties to-be performed, many means to be employed. Let
all be done with your strength. Be earnest in prayer, earnest in
hearing the word preached, diligent and faithful in watching over
your own heart, diligent in searching your heart, diligent in re-
flecting on your past life, diligent and laborious in meditation, la-
borious and earnest in striving against temptation. And do not
perform merely the duties of religion towards God earnestly, but
also its duties towards your neighbour. Be earnest that you may
do every duty required of you towards all men. Be earnest and
diligent to do justly and honestly, and to render to every man his
due. Be earnest to watch against an envious, malicious and re-
vengeful spirit. Be earnest to do all the duties of charity : la-
bour with your might, that you may behave charitably towards men,
and neglect no duty of charity required of you. Be earnest in
performing every relative duty; in rendering suitable honour to
your parents; in manifesting kindness and confidence to your
husband or your wife; in instructing and governing your chil-
dren, bringing them up in religion, and seeking their salvation in
every way pointed out in the scriptures. Do this earnestly,
SERMON I. 41
and with all your strength. You should not merely do some things
earnestly, but all.
3. Take heed lest this your earnestness be not transient ; but
that you continue in it to the end. It is the misery of many per-
sons, that they seem to be very warmly engaged for a little time,
but it does not last. It is a very rare thing, that any who are
thoroughly and perseveringly in earnest for salvation, fail of it,
unless they have put off the work until they are near death before
they began. How unstable is the heart of man, and how many
are there, who go to hell through backsliding ! It is often the
case when persons begin with much seeming earnestness, that they
do it upon a secret dependence that they shall not need to make
these efforts very long. They flatter themselves, that in a little
time they shall obtain what they seek, and tlien they may take
their ease; therefore, when they have gone on a while, and fail of
that expectation, they soon slacken their exertions. They never
consented to seek in this diligent persevering manner, always ; but
they appointed a time of their own, and sought it on terms
of their own fixing. But a man is then in a hopeful way to be
converted, when he has so great a sense of his misery, and his ne-
cessity of conversion, that he is disposed to do his utmost, to be
violent for the kingdom of heaven, and to devote his life to it.
If you are seeking salvation, inquire how it is with you as to
this matter. Do you feel a disposition in yourself to be at the
pains and difficulty of a most laborious seeking God's grace in the
denial of every lust, and in a painful performance of every duty as
long as you live ? Or does this seem to you to be too much ; more
than you can find a heart to comply with ? You may be ready to
say, that you could be willing to do all this, if you knew you should
obtain at last. But that is not sufficient. You should be willing
to run the venture of that, and seek upon what encouragement is
given you, and to wait God's sovereign will and pleasure in that
way. And if you cannot become willing for this, be sensible there
is a defect in your manner of seeking; which it behoves you to
mend. And do not think that you seek in the right way until you
come to it. If you have a right sense of the dolefulness of your
condition, it will bring you to it. Consider the great encourage-
ment there is for this way of seeking. Proverbs viii. 34. " Blessed
is the man, that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting
at the posts of my doors." Hosea vi. 3. " Then shall we know,
if we follow on to know the Lord*"
4. Seek, that you may be brought to lie at God's feet in a sense
of your own exceeding sinfulness. Seek earnestly, that you may
have such a sight of yourself ; what an exceedingly sinful creature
you are, what a wicked heart you have, and how dreadful you
have provoked God to anger ; that you may see that God would be
42 SERMON I.
most just, if he should never have any mercy upon you. Labour,
that all quarrellhig about God's dispensations towards sinners may
be wholly subdued ; that your heart may be abased and brought
down to the dust before God; that you may see yourself in the
hands of God; and that you can challenge nothing of God, but
that God and his throne are blameless in the eternal damnation of
sinners, and would be in your damnation. Seek that you may be
brought off from all high opinion of your own worth, all trust in
your own righteousness, and to see that all you do in religion is
so polluted and defiled, that it is utterly unworthy of God's ac-
ceptance ; and that you commit sin enough in your best duties to
condemn you for ever. Seek that you may come to see, that God
is sovereign, that he is the Potter and you the clay, and that his
grace is his own, and that he may bestow it on whom he will, and
that he might justly refuse to show you mercy. Seek that you may
be sensible, that God is sovereign as to the objects of his grace,
and also as to the time and manner of bestowing it, and seek to
God and wait upon him as a sovereign God. Seek that you may
be sensible that God's anger is infinitely dreadful, yet, at the same
time be sensible that it is just. Labour that when you have a
sense of the awfulness of the wrath of God in your mind, you may
fall down before an angry God, and lie in the dust. Seek that you
may see, that you are utterly undone, and that you cannot help
yourself; and yet, that you do not deserve that God should help
you, and that he would be perfectly just, if he should refuse ever
to help you. If you have come to this, then you will be prepared
for comfort. . When persons are thus humble, it is God's manner
soon to comfort them. When you are thus brought low, doubtless
God will soon lift you up. God will not bestow such a great and
infinite mercy as eternal life upon persons, who will not acknow-
ledge his sovereignty in that matter. When once there has been
that conviction upon the heart which casts down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalts itself against God, then God is wont
speedily to reveal his grace and love, and to pour the oil of com-
fort into the soul.
5. Abound in earnest prayer to God, that he would open your
eyes, that you may behold the glorious and rich provision made
for sinners in Jesus Christ. The souls of natural men are so
blinded that they see no beauty or excellency in Christ. They do
not see his sufficiency. They see no beauty in the work of salva-
tion by him ; and as long as they remain thus blind, it is impossi-
ble that they should close with Christ. The heart will never be
drawn to an unknown Saviour. It is impossible, that a man should
love that, and freely choose that, and rejoice in that, in which he
sees no excellency. But if your eyes were opened to see the ex-
cellency of Christ, the work would be done. You would imme-
SERMON I. 43
diately believe on him ; and you would find your heart going
after him. It would be impossible to keep it back. But take heed
that you do not entertain a wrong notion of what it is, spiritually
to see Christ. If you do, you may seek that, which God never
bestows. Do not think that spiritually to see Christ, is to have
a vision of him as the prophets had, to see him in some bodily shape,
to see the features of his countenance. Do not pray or seek for any
such thing as this. But what you are to seek is, that you may
have a sight of the glorious excellency of Christ, and of the way
of salvation through him, in your heart. This is a spiritual sight
of Christ. This is that for which you must cry to God day and
night. God is the fountain of spiritual light. He opens the
eyes of the blind. He commands the light to shine out of dark-
ness. It is easy with God to enlighten the soul, and fill it with
these glorious discoveries, though it is beyond the power of men
and angels.
SERMON II.
HOSEA V. 15.
I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their of-
fence, and seek my face ; in their affliction they will seek me
early.
In the preceding part of the chapter is threatened the destruc-
tion of Ephraim. Ephraim, in the prophets, generally means
the ten tribes, or the kingdom of Israel, as distinguished from
the kingdom of Judah. When we read of Ephraim and Judah
in the prophets, thereby is meant the whole people of Israel of
the twelve tribes, as in verse 12, of this chapter. " Therefore
will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as
rottenness." By Judah is meant the two tribes of Judah and
Benjamin, which were under the king of Judah ; and by Eph-
raim is meant the ten tribes under the king of Israel. Ephraim
is put for the whole kingdom of Israel, because Samaria, the
seat of the kingdom, the royal city, was in that tribe. In the
verse immediately preceding the text it is declared in what a ter-
rible manner God was about to deal with Ephraim. *' For I
will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house
of Judah ; I, even I, will tear and go away, and none shall res-
cue him." In the text God declares how he would deal with
them after he had torn as a lion, Sic. And here,
1. God declares how he would withdraw from them. " I will
go and return to my place ;" when I have torn as a lion. I will
go away; I will leave them in that condition, I will depart
from them, and they shall see no more of me.
2. What God will wait for in them before he returns to them
to show them mercy, there are three things here signified.
1. That they should be sensible of their guilt. " Till they
acknowledge their offence." It is in the original, till they be-
come guilty." That is, till they become guilty in their own
eyes, till they are sensible of their guilt ; in the same sense as
the same expression is used in Romans iii. 19. " That every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty be^
fore God : " That is, become guilty in their own eyes.
SERMON II. 45
2. That they would be sensible of tlieir iniseiy, implied in
the expression, " in their affliction they shall seek me." Their
calamity was brought upon them, before God had torn them,
and left them. But in their pride and perverseness, they were
not well sensible of their own miserable condition, as this pro-
phet observes in chapter vii. 9.
3. That they should be sensible of their need of God's
help, which is implied in their seeking God's face, and
seeking him early; that is, with great care and earnest-
ness. Before, they would not seek God ; they were not sen-
sible of their helplessness, as we learn in the verse but one pre-
ceding the text. *' When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah
his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king
Jacob." But as we are there told, he could not heal him, nor
cure his wound. And notwithstanding all the help he could af-
ford, God wounded him, tore him as a young lion ; and, as he
declares, would leave him, and he should cease going to any
other, and should be sensible that no other could heal, and
accordingly come to him for healing.
Doctrine. That it is God's manner to make men sensible of
their misery and unworthiness, before he appears in his mer-
cy and love to them.
I. That it is ordinarily thus with respect to the bestowment
of great and signal mercies.
II. That it is particularly so with respect to revealing his love
and mercy to their souls.
I. This is God's ordinary way before great and signal ex-
pressions of his mercy and favour. He very commonly so or-
ders it in his providence, and so influences men by his Spirit,
that they are brought to see their miserable condition as they
are in themselves, and to despair of help from themselves, or
from an arm of flesh, before he appears for them, and also makes
them sensible of their sin, and their unworthiness of God's help.
This appears from the account, which the scriptures give us of
God's dealings with his people. Joseph before his great ad-
vancement in Egypt must lie in the dungeon to humble him,
and prepare him for such honour and prosperity. The children
of Jacob, before Joseph reveals himself to them, and they re-
ceive that joy and honour and prosperity, which were conse-
quent thereupon, pass through a train of difliculties and anxie-
ties, till at last they are reduced to distress, and are brought
to reflect upon their guilt, and to say, that they were verily guil-
ty concerning their brother. God humbled them in his provi-
dence, and then an end was put to all their difliculties, and
their sorrow was turned into joy upon Joseph's revealing him-
self to them. Jacob, before he hears the joyful news of Joseph's
VOL. Vlll. 7
46 SERMON II.
being yet alive, must be brought into great distress at the part-
ing with Benjamin, and supposed loss of Simeon. He was re-
duced to great straits in his mind. He says in Genesis xlii. 36.
*' All these things are against me." But soon after this he had
these gladsome tidings brought to him, " Joseph is yet alive,
and he is governor over all the land of Egypt." And to con-
firm it, he sees the waggons and the noble presents, which Jo-
.seph sent to him : so that he was now brought to say, " It is
enough ; Joseph my son is yet alive. I will go and see him be-
fore I die." And so with the children of Israel in Egypt.
Their bondage must wax more and more extreme. Their
bondage had been very extreme. But yet Pharaoh gives com-
mandment that more work should be laid upon them, and the
taskmasters tell them they must get their straw where they can
find it ; and nothing of their work should be diminished. And
quickly upon this was their deliverance. So when the children
of Israel were brought to the Red Sea, the Egyptians pursued
them, and were just at their heels, and they were reduced to the
utmost distress, they see that they must assuredly perish, unless
God work a miracle for them ; for they were shut up on all
sides: the Red Sea was before them, and the army of the
Egyptians encompassing them round behind. And they cried
unto the Lord. And then God wonderfully appeared for their
help, and made them pass through the Red Sea, and put songs
of deliverance into their mouths.
So before God brought the children of Israel into Canaan,
he led them about in a great and terrible wilderness through
a train of difficulties and temptations for forty years, that
he might teach them in their dependence on him, and the
sinfulness of their own hearts. Deut. xxxii. 10. " He found
him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness ; he
led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of
his eye." God brought them into those trials and difficulties
in the wilderness to humble them, and let them see what
was in their hearts, that they might be convinced of their own
perverseness by the many discoveries of it under those tempta-
tions, and so that they might be sensible that it was not for their
righteousness that God made them his people, and gave them
Canaan, seeing it was so evident that they were a stiff-necked
people. Deut. viii. 2, 3. " And thou shall remember all the way
which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilder-
ness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in
thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or
no. And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger, and fed
thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers
know; that he mi^ht make thee know thnt man doth not Vis^o by
SERMON II. 47
bread only, but by every word tliat proceedeth out of the mouth
of the Lord, doth man live." And 15, 16, 17. " Who led thee
through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery
serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no
water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint ;
who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, wiiich thy fathers
knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove
thee, to do thee good at the latter end ; and thou say in thine
heart, my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me
this wealth." And so we have examples of this from time to
time in the history of the Judges. When Israel revolted, God
gave them into the hands of their enemies. He let them con-
tinue in their hands, till they were reduced to great distress,
and saw that they were in a helpless condition, and were brought
to reflect on themselves, and to cry unto the Lord. And then
God raised them up a deliverer. And when they cried unto
God, he would not deliver them till he had humbled them, and
brought them to own their unworthiness, and to own that they
were in God's hands. Judges x. beginning with the 10th verse.
•' And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, we
have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our
God, and also served Baalim. And the Lord said unto the
children of Israel, did not I deliver you from the Egyptians,
and from the Amorites, from the children of Amnion, and from
the Philistines ? The Zidonians also and the Amalekites, and
the Pflaonites did oppress you ; and ye cried to me, and I de-
livered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me,
and served other gods; wherefore I will deliver you no more.
Go, and cry unto the gods, which ye have chosen ; let them deli-
ver you in the time of your tribulation. And the children of Is-
rael said unto the Lord, we have sinned ; do thou unto us what-
soever seemeth good unto thee ; deliver us only, we pray thee,
this day. And they put away the strange gods from among
them, and served the Lord ; and his soul was grieved for the
misery of Israel." And this is the method in which God de-
clared from the beginning he would proceed with his people,
liev xxvi. 40, &.c. " If they shall confess their inicpiity, and the
iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed
against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me ; and
that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought
them into the land of their enemies ; if then their uncircumcised
hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of
their iniquity; then will I remember my covenant with Jacob,
and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with
Abraham will I remember ; and I will remember the land.
The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sab-
48 SERMON If.
baths, while slie lieth desolate without them ; and they shall
accept of the punishment of their iniquity; because, even be-
cause they despised my judgments, and because their soul ab-
horred my statutes. And yet for all that, when they be in the
land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will
I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my cove-
nant with them ; for I am the Lord their God. But I will for
their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom
1 brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the
heathen, that 1 might be their God." It is God's manner,
when he will bestow signal blessings in answer to prayer, to
make men seek them, and |)ray for them with a sense of their
sin and misery. As 1 Kings viii. -33, 39. " What prayer and
supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people
Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart,
and spread forth his hands toward this house ; then hear thou
in heaven, thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to
every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest ; for
thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of
men." By knowing the plague of their own hearts is meant
both their sin and misery. Being sensible of their misery is
included, as is evident from the manner of expressing the same
petition of Solomon's prayer, as it is related in 2 Chronicles
vi. 29. *' Then what prayer or supplication soever shall be made
of any man, or of all thy people Israel, when every man shall
know his own sore and his own grief." By which is probably
meant his misery and his sin, which is the foundation of it.
Paul gives us an account how God brought him to have despair
in himself before a great deliverance, which he experienced.
2 Corinthians i. 9, 10. " But we had the sentence of death in
ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God,
which raiseth the dead ; who deliver(Hl us from so great a
death." How did Christ humble the woman of Canaan, or
bring her to the exercise and expression of a sense of her own
unworthiness before he answered her, and healed her daughter!
When she continued to cry, after he answered her not a word,
and seemed to take no notice of her, and his disciples desired
him to send her away, and when she continued crying after him
he gave a very humbling answer, saying, it is not meet to take
the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And when she took
it well, as owning that being called a dog was not too bad, and
owning that she was therefore unworthy of children's bread, she
only sought the crumbs, then Christ answered her request.
And the experience of God's people in all ages corresponds with
those examples. It is God's usual method before remarkable dis-
coveries of his mercy and love to them, especially by spiritual
SERMON II. 49
mercies, in a special manner to humble them, and make them
sensible of their misery and helplessness in themselves, and of
their vileness and unworthiness, either by some remarkably
humbling dispensation of his providence or influence of his
Spirit. We are come now,
II. To show particularly th'at it is God's manner to make
men sensible of their misery and unworthiness before he re-
veals his saving love and mercy to their souls. The mercy of
God, which he shows to a sinner when he brings him home to
the Lord Jesus Christ, is the greatest and most wonderful ex-
hibition of mercy and love, of which men are ever the subjects.
There are other things, in which God greatly expresses his
mercy and goodness to men, many temporal favours. The
mercies already mentioned, which God bestowed upon his peo-
ple of old : his advancing Joseph in Egypt, his deliverance of
the children of Israel out of Egypt, his leading them through
the Red Sea on dry land, his bringing them into Canaan, and
driving out the heathen from before them, his delivering them
from time to time from the hands of their enemies, were great
mercies ; but they were not equal to this of bringing his people
from under the guilt and dominion of sin. Several of them were
typical of this ; and as God would thus prepare men for the be-
stowment of those less mercies by making them sensible of
their guilt and misery, so especially will he so do, before he
makes known to them this great love of his in Jesus Christ.
When God designs to show mercy to sinners, it is his manner
thus to begin with him.
He first brings them to reflect upon themselves, and consider
and be sensible what they are, and what condition they are in.
What has already been said proves this. There is a harmony
between God's dispensations. And as we see that this is God's
manner of dealing with men when he gives them other great
and remarkable mercies and manifestations of his favour, it is a
confirmation that it is his method of proceeding with the souls of
men, when about to reveal his mercy and love to them in Jesus
Christ.
1. God makes men consider and be sensible of what sin they
are guilty. Before, it may be, they were very regardless of
this. They went on sinning, and never reflected upon what
they did ; never considered or regarded what or how many sins
they committed. They saw no cause why they should trouble
their minds about it. But when God convinces them, he brings
them to reflect upon themselves; he sets their sins in order be-
fore their eyes. lie brings their old sins to their minds, so that
they are fresh in their memory — things which they had almost
50 SERMON II.
forgotten. And many things, which they used to regard as
light offences which were not wont to be a burden to their con-
sciences, nor to appear worthy to be taken notice of, they are
now made to reflect upon. Thus they discover of what a mul-
titude of transgressions they have been guilty, which they have
heaped up till they are grown up to heaven. There are some sins
especially, of which they have been guilty, which are ever be-
fore them, so that they cannot get them out of their minds.
Sometimes when men are under conviction, their sins follow
them, and haunt them like a spectre. God makes them sen-
sible of the sin of their hearts, how corrupt and depraved their
hearts are. And there are two ways in which he does this.
One is by setting before them the sins of their lives. They are
so set in order before them, they appear so many and so aggra-
vated, that they are convinced what a fountain of corruption
there is in their hearts. Their sinful natures appear by their
sinful lives. There is sin enough, which every man has com-
mitted, to convince him, that he is sold under sin, that his
heart is full of nothing but corruption, if God by his spirit
leads him rightly to consider it.
Another way, which God sometimes makes use of, is, to
leave men to such internal workings of corruption under the
temptations which they have in their terrors and fears of hell,
as shows them what a corrupt and wicked heart they have. God
sometimes brings this good out of this evil, to make men see
the corruption of their nature by the workings of it under temp-
tations, which they have in their terrors about damnation. God
leads them through the wilderness to prove them, and let them
know what is in their hearts, as he did the children of Israel,
as we have already observed. By means of the trials, which
the children of Israel had in the wilderness, they might be made
sensible what a murmuring, perverse, rebellious, unfaithful and
idolatrous peo])le they were. So God sometimes makes sin-
ners sensible what wicked hearts they have by their experience
of the exercises of corruption, while they are under convic-
tions. Not that this will in the least excuse men for allowinff
such workings of corruption in their hearts, because God some-
times leaves men to be wicked, that he may afterwards turn it
to their good, when he in infinite wisdom sees meet so to do.
We must not go and be wicked on purpose, that we may get
good by it. It will be very absurd, as well as horridly presump-
tuous for us so to do. Though God sometimes in his sovereign
mercy makes those workings of corruption, and a spirit of op-
position and enmity against God, a means of showing them the
vileness of their own hearts, and so to turn to their good. So
SEKMOiN II. 51
God oftentimes is provoked thereby utterly to withdraw and for-
sake them after the example of those murmurers, whose car-
cases fell in the wilderness, of whom God sware in his wrath that
they should never enter into his rest. And they, who allow
themselves therein are the most likely so to provoke God. But
it is God's manner to show men the plague of their own hearts
by some means or other, before he reveals his redeeming love
to their souls. While sinners are unconvinced sin lies hid.
They take no notice of it. But God makes the law effectual
to bring men's own sins of heart and life to be reflected on, and
observed. Romans vii. 9. " I was alive without the law once,
but when the commandment came, sin revived." Then sin ap-
peared and came to light, which was not before observed. Jo-
seph's revealing himself to his brethren is probably typical of
> Christ's revealing himself to the soul of a sinner, making known
himself in his love, and in his near relation of a brother, and
a Redeemer of his soul. But before Joseph revealed himself
to them, they were made to reflect upon themselves, and say,
*' we are verily guilty."
2. God convinces sinners of the dreadful danger they are in
by reason of their sin. Having their sins set before them,
God makes them sensible of the relation which their sin has to
misery. And here are two things of w hich they are convinced
about their danger.
1. God makes them sensible that his displeasure is very
dreadful. Before they heard often about the anger of God,
and the fierceness of his wrath ; but they were not moved by
it. But now they are made sensible that it is a dreadful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God. They are made in
some measure sensible of the dreadfulness of hell. They are
led with fixedness and impression to think what a dismal thing
it will be to have God an enraged enemy, setting to work the
misery of a soul, and how dismal it will be to dwell in such tor-
ment for ever without hope. Isaiah xxxiii. 14. " The sinners
in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire ? Who
among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings ?" Other sin-
ners are told of hell, but convinced sinners often have hell, as
it were, in their view. They being impressed with a sense of
the dreadfulness of its misery, is the cause why it works upon
their imagination oftentimes ; and it will seem as though they
saw the dismal flames of hell ; as though they saw God in im-
placable wrath exerting his fury upon them ; as though they
heard the cries and shrieks of the damned.
2. They are made in some measure sensible of the connex-
52 SERMON II.
ion there is between their sins and that wrath, or how their sin
and guilt exposes them to that wrath, of the dreadfulness of
which thoy have such lively apprehensions, and so fear takes
hold of them. They are afraid that will be their ])ortion. And
they are sensible that they are in a miserable and doleful condi-
tion by reason of sin. Many things in the scriptures make it
evident that this is God's method. The account we have of
our first parents confirms it. They had a sense of guilt and dan-
ger, before Christ was revealed to them. They were guilty, and
were afraid of God's wrath, and ran and hid themselves. They
were terribly afraid when they heard God coming. And doubtless
their sense of their guilt and fear, when they were brought before
God, and were called to an account, and God asked them what
they had done, and whether they had eaten of that tree, where-
of he commanded them that they should not eat, prepared them
for a discovery of mercy. God made them sensible of their
guilt and danger before he revealed to them the covenant of
grace. And it is probable that their reflecting upon what God
said about the Seed of the woman bruising the serpent's head,
soon wrought faith ; that it was not long before that discovery
God made of a merciful design towards them, was a means of
true consolation and hope to them. Joseph's brethren were
brought into great distress for fear of their lives before Joseph
revealed himself to them. Those who were converted by Pe-
ter's sermon, were first pricked in their hearts in a sense of their
guilt and their danger. Acts ii. 37. And Paul, before he had
his first comfort, trembled, and was astonished. Acts ix. 6.
And continued three days and three nights, and neither ate nor
drank, which expressed his great distress. The jailer, before
he was converted, was in terror. He called for a light, and
sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and
Silas. Acts xvi. 29, 30. Christ's invitation is made more espe-
cially to the weary and heavy laden ; which doubtless has re-
spect, at least partly, to labouring and being weary with a sense
of guilt and danger. We read when David was in the cave,
then every one who was in distress, was gathered unto him.
1 Samuel xxii. 1. This doubtless was written as typifying Je-
sus Christ, and the referring of those who were in fear and dis-
tress unto him. The expression of flying for refuge, by which
coming to Christ is signified, implies, that before they come,
they are in fear of some evil. They apprehend themselves in
danger, and this fear gives wings to their feet. Proverbs xviii.
10- " The name of the Lord is a strong tower." The voice
of God to a sinner, when he gives him true comfort, is a still
small voice. But this voice is })recedcd by a strong wind, and
SERMON II. 53
a terrilile earthquake, and fire, as it was in IToreb when Elijah
was there. 1 Kings xix. 11, 12. " And behold the Lord pass-
ed by, arid a groat and strong wind rent the mountains and
brake in pieces the rocks before tlic Lord ; but the Lord was
not in the wind ; and after the wind an earthquake ; but the
Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a
fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still
small voice."
Another thing in the scriptures, which seems to evince this,
is the frequent comparison made between the church spiritually
bringing forth Christ, and a\voman in travail, in pain to be de-
livered. John xvi. 21. and Revelation xii. 2. The conversion
of a sinner is represented by the same thing. It is bringing
forth Christ in the heart. I*aul sjjeaks of man's regeneration
as of Christ being brought forth in them. Galatians iv. 19.
And tlierefore Christ calls believers his mother. Matthew xii.
49, 50. " And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples,
and said. Behold my mother and my brethren ! For whosoever
shall do the will of my Father, which is in heaven, the same is
my brother, and sister, and mother."
Tlosea V. 15. " I will go and return to my place till they ac-
knowledge their offence, and seek my face ; in their affliction
they will seek me early." (Till they shall be guilty, in the ori-
ginal.)
Doctrine. That it is God's manner to make men sensible
of their misery and unworthiness, before he appears in his mer-
cy and love to them.
III. They are made sensible of the desert of their sin ; that
their sin deserves that wrath of God to which it exposes them.
They are not only sensible of the dreadfulness of God's wrath,
how fearful a thing it would be to fall into the hands of the living
God, and to sustain the eternal expressions of his fierce anger,
as well as of the connexion between their sins and this wrath,
and how their sins expose them to it ; but God is also wont,
before he comforts them, to show them that their sins deserve
this wrath. I>y a clear discovery of the connexion between
their sin and God's wrath, they are sensible of their danger of
hell ; of which many are in a measure sensible, who are wholly
insensible of their desert of hell. The threatenings of the law
make them afraid indeed, that God will punish their sins ; yet
they have no thorough apprehension of their desert of the pun-
ishment threatened; and therefore many, who are afraid, mur-
mur against God. They charge him foolishly with being hard
and cruel. But it is God's manner before he speaks peace to
VOL. VIII. 8
54 SERMON II.
them, and reveals his redeeming love and mercy in Jesus Christ,
to make them sensible that they also deserve it. Thus 31at-
thevv xviii. 24, 25, 26. " And when he had begnn to reckon, one
was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents.
But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him
to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and
payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and
worshipped him, saying, Lord have patience with me, and I will
pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with
compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt." Very
commonly when men are first made sensible of their danger^
their mouths are open against God and his dealings ; that is,
their hearts are full of murmnrings. But it is God's manner
before he comforts and reveals his mercy and love to them, to
stop their mouths, and make theiii acknowledge their guilt, or
their desert of the threatened punishment. Bomans iii. 19, 20.
*' Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stop-
ped, and all the worhi may become guilty before God. There-
fore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight ; for by the law is the knowledge of sin." God would
convince men of their guilt before he reveals a pardon to them.
Now a man cannot be said to be thoroughly sensible of his guilt,
till he is sensible that he deserves hell. A man must be sensi-
ble that he is guilty of death, or guilty of damnation, to use
the scriptural mode of expression, before God will reveal to
him his freedom from damnation. A sense of guilt consists in
two things — in a sense of sin, and in a sense of the relation
which sin has to punishment. Now the relation which sin has
to punishment, is also twofold : first, the connexion which it
has with punishment by which it exposes to it, and brings it ;
and secondly, its desert of punishment. When a man is truly
convinced of his desert of the punishment to which his sin ex-
poses him, then he may be said to be thoroughly sensible of his
guilt. Then he is become guilty, in the sense of our text, and
in the sense of Romans iii. 20.
Inquiry. How is it that a sinner is made sensible of his de-
sert of God's wrath ? A natural man may have a sense of this,
though not the same sense which a person may have after con-
version ; because a natural man cannot have a true sight of
sin, and of the evil of it. A man cannot truly know the evil
of sin against God, except if be by a discovery of his glory and
excellence ; and then he will be sensible how great an evil it is
to sin against him. Yet it cannot be denied that natural men
are capable of a conviction of their desert of hell, or that their
consciences may be convinced of it without a sight of God's
SERMON II. 55
glory. The consciences of wicked men will also be convinced
of the justice of their sentence and of their jDunishment at the
day of judgment; and doubtless will echo to the sentence of
the Judge, and condemn them to the same punishment. Here,
therefore, we would inquire how it is that a natural man may
be made sensible of this. 1. We shall show what is the prin-
ciple assisted. 2. How it is assisted. And 3. What are the
chief external means which are used in order to this.
1. What principle in man is assisted in convincing him of
his desert of eternal punishment ? No new principle is infused.
Natural men have only natural principles ; and therefore all
that is done by the spirit of God before regeneration is by as-
sisting natural principles. To observe, therefore, in answer to
this inquiry,
That the principle, which is assisted in making natural men
sensible oftheir desert of wrath, is natural conscience. Though
man has lost a principle of love to God, and all spiritual prin-
ciples by the fall, yet natural conscience remains. Now there
are two things, which are the proper work of natural conscience.
One is to give man a sense of right and wrong. A natural
man has no sense of the beauty and amiableness of virtue, or
of the turpitude and odiousness of vice. But yet every man
has that naturally within, which testifies to him that some things
are right, and others wrong. Thus if a man steals, or commits
murder, there is something within, which tells him that he has
done wrong; he knows that he has not done right. Romans
ii. 14, 15. " For when the Gentiles, which have not the law,
do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not
the law, are a law unto themselves ; which show the work of
the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing
witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing, or else
excusing one another." And the other work of natural con-
science is to suggest the relation there is between right and
wrong, and a retribution. Man has that in him, which
suggests to him, when he has done ill, a relation between
that ill and punishment. If a man has done that which
his conscience tells him is wrong, is unjust, his conscience
tells him that he deserves to be punished for it. Thus na-
tural conscience has a twofold power ; a teaching, or accus-
ing, and a condemning power. The Spirit of God, there-
fore, assists natural conscience the more thoroughly to do this,
its work, and so convinces a man of sin. Cdnscience naturally
suggests, when he has done a known evil, that he deserves pun-
ishment; and being assisted to its work thoroughly, a man is
convinced that he deserves eternal punishment. Though natu-
ral conscience does remain in man since the fall, yet it greatly
56 SERMON II.
needs assistance in order to its work. It is greatly hindered in
doing its work by sin. Every thing in man, which is part of his
perfection, is hindered and impaired by sin. A faculty of reason
remains since the fall, but it is greatly impaired and blinded. So
natural conscience remains, but sin, in a great degree, stupifies
it, and hinders it in its work. Now when God convinces a sin-
ner, he assists his conscience against the stupefaction of sin, and
helps it to do its work more freely and fully. The spirit of God
works immediately upon men's consciences. In conviction their
consciences are awakened. They are convinced in their conscien-
ces. Their consciences smite them and condemn them.
2. It may be inquired. How God assists natural conscience so
as to convince the sinner of his desert of hell ? I answer,
1. In general, it is by light. The whole work of God is carried
on in the heart of man from bis first convictions to his conversion
by light. It is by discoveries, which are made to his soul. But
by what light is it, that a sinner is made sensible, that he deserves
God's wrath ? It is some discovery, that he has, which makes him
sensible of the heinousness of disobeying and casting contempt
upon God. The light, which gives evangelical humiliation, and
which makes man sensible of the hateful and odious nature of sin,
is a discovery of God's glory and excellence and grace. But what
is it, which a natural man sees of God, which makes hiin sensi-
ble that sin against God deserves his wrath ; for he sees nothing
of the excellence and loveliness of God's glory and grace ? I
answer,
2. Particularly, it seems to be a discovery of God's awful and ter-
rible greatness. Natural men cannot see any thing of God's love-
liness, his amiable and glorious grace, or an}' thing, which should
attract their love ; but they may see his terrible greatness to ex-
cite their terror. Wicked men in another world, tliough they do
not see his loveliness and grace, yet they see his awful greatness,
and that makes them sensible of the heinousness of sin. The
damned in hell are sensible of the heinousness of their sin. Their
consciences declare it to them. And they are made sensible of
it by what they see of the awful greatness of that Being, against
whom they have sinned. And wicked men in this world are ca-
pable of being made sensible of the heinousness of sin the same
way. If a wicked soul is capable while wicked of receiving the
discoveries of God's terrible majesty in another world, it is capa-
ble of it in this. God may, if he pleases, make wicked men sen-
sible of t!ie same thing here. And in this way natural men may
be so made sensible of the heinousness of sin, as to be convinced
that they deserve hell ; as is evident in that it is by this very
means, that wicked men will be made sensible of the justice of
their punishment in another world, and at the day of judgment.
SERMON II. 57-
For tlieii llie wicked will see so much of the awful greatness of
God, the Judge, that it will convince their consciences, what a
heinous thing it was in them to disobey and contemn such a God,
and will convince them that they therefore deserve his wrath.
Which shows that wicked men are capable of being convinced in
the same way. A wicked man, while a wicked man, is capable of
hearing the thunders, and seeing the devouring fire of Mount Si-
nai ; that is, he is capable of being made sensible of that terrible
majesty and greatness of God, which was discovered at the giving
of the law. But this brings me to the
3. Thing, viz. the principal outward means, which the spirit of
God makes use of in this work of convincing men of their desert
of hell. And that is the Law. The spirit of God in all his work
upon the souls of men works by his word. And in this whole
work of conviction of sin, that part of the word is principally
made use of; viz. the Law. It is the law, which makes men sen-
sible of their sin ; and it is the law attended with its awful threaten-
ings and curses, which gives a sense of the awful greatness, the
authority, the power, the jealousy of God. Wicked men are made
sensible of the tremendous greatness of God, as it were, in the
same manner, in which the children of Israel were; viz. by the
thunders, and earthquake, and devouring fire, and sound of the
trumpet, and terrible voice at Mount Sinai. All the people, who
were in the camp trembled, and they said, Let not God speak with
us, lest we die. So that it is the law, which God makes use of in
assisting the natural conscience to do its work. Galatians iii. 24.
"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ."
It is the law which God makes use of, to make men sensible of
their guilt, and to stop their mouths. Romans iii. 19. " Now we
know that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them that
are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the
world may become guilty before God." It is the law, which kills
men as to trusting in their own righteousness. " For I was alive
without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived,
and I died." Galatians 11. 19. " Fori through the law, am dead
to the law." Conviction, which precedes conversion, is of sin
and misery. But men are not thoroughly sensible of their sin or
guilt, till they are sensible they deserve hell ; nor thoroughly sen-
sible of their misery, till they are sensible they are helpless.
4. It is God's manner to make men sensible of their helpless-
ness in their own strength. It is usual with sinners when they are
first made sensible of their danger of hell, to attempt by their own
strength, to save themselves. They in some measure see their
danger, and endeavour to work out their own deliverance. They
are striving to make themselves better. They strive to convert
themselves, to work their hearts into a believing frame, and to ex-
58 SERMON 11.
ercise a saving trust in Christ.- Having heard tha( if ever they
believe, they must put their trust in Christ, and in him alone, for
salvation, they think they will trust in Christ and cast their souls
upon him. And this they endeavour to do in their own strength.
This is very common with persons upon a sick bed, when they
are afraid that they shall die and go to hell, and are told that they
must put their trust in Christ alone for salvation. They attempt
to do it in their own strength. So sinners will be striving without
a sense of their insufficiency in themselves to bring their own
hearts to love God, and to choose him for their portion, and to re-
pent of their sins. Or they strive to make themselves better, that
so God may be more willing to convert them and give them his
grace, and enable them to believe in Christ, and love God, and
repent of their sins. But before God appears to them as their
help and deliverance, it is his manner to make them sensible, that
they are utterly helpless in themselves. They are brought to de-
spair of help from themselves. There is a death to all their hopes
from themselves. Romans vii. 9. Before God opens the prison
doors, he makes them see that they are shut up, that they are close
prisoners, and that there is no way, in which they can escape.
Christ tells us in Isaiah Ixi. 1, that he was sent to bind up the
broken-hearted, and to proclaim liberty to captives, and the open-
ing of the prison to them that are bound. Ciirist was sent to open
the prison to them that are not only reall}', but sensibly bound. Ga-
latians iii. 23. " But before faith came, we were kept under the law,
shut up unto the faith, that should afterwards be revealed." God
makes men sensible that they are in a forlorn condition ; that they
are wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked, before he
comforts them. Christ tells us in Johnix. 39. " For judgment I
am come into the world, that they, which see not, might see; and
that they, which see, might be made blind ;" meaning partly at
least, by those that see, those who think they see ; having respect to
the Pharisees, who were proud of their knowledge ; and by the
blind, those, who are sensibly blind. This is emblematically re-
presented by Saul's blindness before his first comfort. He was
blind till Ananias came to him to open his eyes ; probably de-
signed to intimate to us that before God opens the eyes of men in
conversion, he makes them sensibly blind. God brings men to
this despair in their own strength in these ways.
1. God oftentimes makes use ofmen's own experience to convince
them that they are helpless in themselves. When they first set out
in seeking salvation, it may be they thought it an easy thing to be
converted. They thought they should presently bring themselves
to repent of their sins, and believe in Christ, and accordingly they
strove in their own strength with hopes of success. Bat they
were disappointed. And so God suffers them to go on striving to
SERMON II. 59
open their own eyes, and mend tlieir own hearts. But they find
no success. They have been striving to see for a long time, yet
they are as blind as ever ; and can see nothing. It is all Egyp-
tian darkness. They have been striving to niake themselves bet-
ter. But they are as bad as ever. They have often striven to
do something which is good, to be in the exercise of good affec-
tions, which should be acceptable to God, but they have no suc-
cess. And it seems to them, that instead of growing better, they
grow worse and worse ; their hearts are fuller of wicked thoughts
than they were at first ; they see no more likelihood of their con-
version than there was at first. So God suffers them to strive in
their own strength, till they are discouraged, and despair of help-
ing themselves. The prodigal son first strove to fill his belly with
the husks which the swine did eat. But when he despaired of
being helped in that way, then he came to himself, and entertain-
ed tlioughts of returning to his father's house.
2. God sometimes, by a particular assistance of the understand-
ing, enables men to see so much of their own hearts, as at once
causes them to despair of helping themselves. He sometimes
convinces them by their own trials, suffering them to try a long
time to effect their own salvation, until they are discouraged. But
God, if he pleases, can convince men without such endeavours of
their own ; and sometimes he does so ; as must be the case in ma-
ny sudden conversions, of which the instances are not unfrequent.
By revealing to them their own hearts, he sometimes enables them
to perceive that they are so remote from the exercise of love to
God, of faith, and of every other Christian grace, as well as from
the possession of the least degree of spiritual light, that they de-
spair of ever bringing themselves to it. They perceive that with-
in their souls all is darkness as darkness itself, and as the shadow
of death, and that it is too much for them to cause light. They
find themselves dead to any thing good, and therefore despair of
bringing themselves to the performance of gracious acts. Thus
we have shown that it is God's ordinary manner, before he reveals
his redeeming mercy to the souls of men, to make them sensible
of their sinfulness and danger, of their desert of the divine wrath,
and of their utter helplessness in themselves. This vve have shown
to be most accordant with the holy scriptures, as well as with
God's method of dealing with mankind in other things. And we
have shown in an imperfect manner how, and by what means it is,
that God thus convinces men. This work is what Christ speaks
of, as one part of the work of the Holy Ghost. John xvi. 8.
" When he is come, he will convince the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment." It is God's manner to convince
men of sin, before he convinces them of righteousness.
60 SERMON II.
I come now to show the reasons of the doctrine.
The propriety of such a method of proceeding is very obvious.
How a.^rccable to the divine wisdom does it seem, that the sinner
should be brought to sncii a conviction of liis danger and misery,
as to perceive his utter incapacity to help himself by any strength
or contrivance of his own, and his entire unworlhiness of God's
help, and desert of his wrath ; and that he should be brought to
acknowledge that God, in the exercise of his holy sovereignty, may
with perfect justice do with him as before he appears in his par-
doning mercy and love, as his helper and friend. A man who is
converted is successively in two exceedingly difterent states ; first,
a very miserable, wretched state, a state of condemnation ; and
then in a blessed condition, a state of justification. How agreea-
ble, therefore, does it seem to the divine wisdom, that such a man
should be conscious of this : first, of his miserable, condemned
state, and then of his happy state ; that, as he is really first guil-
ty, and under a deep desert of hell, before he is really pardoned
and admitted to God's favour, so he should first be conscious that
he is guilty, and under such a desert of hell before he is conscious
of being the object of pardoning and redeeming mercy and grace.
But the propriety of God's thus dealing with the souls of men,
will appear perhaps better by considering the following reasons:
1. It is the will of God, that the discoveries of his terrible ma-
jesty, and awful holiness and justice, should accompany the dis-
coveries of his grace and love, in order that he may give to his
creatures worthy and just apprehensions of himself. It is the
glory of God, that these attributes are united in the divine nature,
that as he is a being of infinite mercy and love and grace, so he is
a being of infinite and tremendous majesty, and awful holiness
and justice. The perfect and harmonious union of these attributes,
in the divine nature is what constitutes the chief part of their
glory. God's awful and terrible attributes, and his mild and gen-
tle attributes, reflect glory one on the other ; and the exercise of the
one is in the perfect consistency and harmony with that of the
other. If there were the exercise of the mild and gentle attri-
butes without the other, if there were love and mercy and grace in
inconsistency with God's authority and justice and infinite hatred
of sin, it would be no glory. If God's love and grace did not
harmonize with his justice and the honour of his majesty, far from
being an honour, they would be a dishonour to God. Therefore
as God designs to glorify himself wlien he makes discoveries of
the one, he will also make discoveries of the other. When he
makes discoveries of his love and grace, it shall appear that they
harmonize with those other attributes; otherwise his true glory
would not be discovered. If men were sensible of the love of God
SERMON II. 61
ti'ithout a sense of those other attributes, they would be exposed
to have improper and unworthy apprehensions of God, as though
he were gracious to sinners in such a manner as did not become
a Being of infinite majesty and infinite hatred of sin. And as it
would expose to unworthy apprehensions of God, so it would ex-
pose the soul in some respects to behave unsuitably towards God.
There would not be a due reverence blended with love and joy.
Such discoveries of love, without answerable discoveries of awful
greatness, would dispose the soul to come with an undue boldness
to God. The very nature and design of the gospel show that this
is the will of God, that those who have the discoveries of his love,
should also have the discoveries of those other attributes. For'
this was the very end of Christ's laying down his life, and coming
into the world, to render the glory of God's authority, holiness,
and justice consistent with his grace in pardoning and justifying
sinners, that while God thus manifested his mercy, we might not
conceive any unworthy thoughts of him with respect to those other*
attributes. Seeing, therefore, that this is the very end of Christ's
coming into the world, we may conclude that those who are actu-
ally redeemed by Christ, and have a true discovery of Christ made
to tlieir souls, have a discovery of God's terribleness and justice to
prepare them for the discovery of his love and mercy. God, of
old, before the death and sufferings of Christ were so fully I'e-
vealed, was ever careful that the discoveries of both should be to-
gether, so that men might not apprehend God's mercy in pardon-
ing sin and receiving sinners, to the disparagement of his justice.
When God proclaimed his name to Moses, in answer to his desire
that he might see God's glory, he indeed proclaimed his mercy :
" The Lord, the Lord God, gracious and merciful, long-suffer-
ing, and abundant in goodness and truth ; keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquit}', and transgression, and sin." But
he did not stop here, but also proclaimed his holy justice and
vengeance ; " and that will by no means clear the guilty ; visit-
ing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the
children's children unto the third and fourth generation." Thus
they are joined together again in the fourth commandment. *' For
I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of
the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me." Thus we find them joined together in
passages too numerous to be mentioned. When God was about
to speak to Elijah in Horeb, he was first prepared for such a fa-
miliar conversing with God by awful manifestations of the divine
majesty. First there was a wind, which rent the rocks, and then
an earthquake, and then a devouring fire. 1 Kings xix. 11, 12.
God is careful even in heaven, where the discoveries of his love
and grace are given in such an exalted degree, also to provide
VOL. viir. 9 ,
ft2 SERMON II.
means for a proportional sense of his terribleness, and the dread-
fuiness of his displeasure, by their beholding it in the miseries and
torments of the damned, at the same time that they enjoy his love.
Even the man Christ Jesus was first made sensible of the wrath of
God, before his exaltation to that transcendant height of enjoy-
ment of the Father's love. And this is one reason that God gives
sinners a sense of his wrath against their sins, and of his justice,
before he gives them the discoveries of his redeeming love.
2. Unless a man be thus convinced of his sin and misery before
God makes him sensible of his redeeming love and mercy, he
cannot be sensible of tlmt love and mercy as it is ; viz. that it is
free and sovereign. When God reveals his redeeming grace to
men, and makes them truly sensible of it, he would make them
sensible of it as it is. God's grace and love towards sinners is in
itself very wonderful, as it redeems Irom dreadful wrath. But
men cannot be sensible of this until they perceive in some ade-
quate degree how dreadful the wrath of God is. God's redeem-
ing grace and love in Christ is free and sovereign, as it is altoge-
ther without any worthiness in those who are the objects of it.
But men cannot be sensible of this, until they are sensible of their
own unvvorthiness. The grace of God in Christ is glorious and
wonderful, as it is not onl}'^ as the objects of it are without worthi-
ness, but as they deserve the everlasting wrath and displeasure ot
God. But they cannot be sensible of this until they are made
sensible that they deserve God's eternal wrath. The grace of
God in Christ is wonderful, as it saves and redeems from so many
and so great sins, and from the punishment they have deserved.
But sinners cannot be sensible of this till they are in some mea-
sure sensible of their sinfulness, and brought to reflect upon the
sins of their lives, and to sec the wickedness of their hearts. It is
the glory of God's grace in Christ, that it is so free and sovereign.
And doubtless it is the will of God, that when he reveals his grace
to the soul, it should be seen in its proper glory, though not per-
fectly. When men see the glory of God's grace aright, they see
it as free and unmerited, and contrary to the demerit of their sins.
All who have a spiritual understanding of the grace of God in
Christ, have a perception of the glory of that grace. But the glory
of the divine grace appears chiefly in its being bestowed on the
sinner when he is in a condition so exceedingly miserable and ne-
cessitous. In order, therefore, that the sinner may be sensible of
this glory, he must first be sensible of the greatness of his misery,
and then of the greatness of the divine mercy. The heart of man
hi, not prepared to receive the mercy of God in Christ, as free and
unmerited, till he is sensible of his own demerit. Indeed the soul
is not capable of receiving a revelation or discovery of the re-
deeming grace of God in Christ, as redeeming grace, without be-
SERMON II. 'e%
ing convinced of sin and misery. He must see his sin and mi-
sery before 'he can see the grace of God in redeeming him from
that sin and misery.
3. Until the sinner is convinced of his sin and miser}', he is not
prepared to receive the redeeming mercy and grace of God, as
through a Mediator; because he does not see his need of a Media-
tor till he sees his sin and miserj". If there were, on the part of
God, any exercise of absolute and immediate mercy toward sin-
ners bestowed without any satisfaction or purchase, the soul might
possibly see that without a conviction of its sin and misery. But
there is not. All God's mercy to sinners is through a Saviour.
The redeeming mercy and grace of God is mercy and grace in
Christ. And when God discovers his mercy to the soul, he will
discover it as mere}' in a Saviour; and it is his will tiiat the mercy
should be received as in and through a Saviour, with a full con-
sciousness of its being through his righteousness and satisfaction.
It is the will of God, that as all the spiritual comforts which his
people receive are in and through Christ, so they should be sen-
sible that they receive them through Christ, and that they can re-
ceive them in no other way. It is the will of God, that his peo-
ple should have their eyes directed to Christ, and should depend
upon him for mercy and favour, that whenever they receive com-
forts through his purchase, they should receive them as from him.
And that because God would glorify his Son as Mediator, as the
glory of man's salvation beloiigs to Christ, so it is the will of God
that all the people of Christ, all who are saved by him, should re-
ceive their salvation as of him, and should attribute the glory of
it to him ; and that none who will not give the glory of salvation
to Christ, should have the benefit of it. Upon this account God
insists upon it, and it is absolutely necessary that a sinner's con-
viction o( his sin, and misery, and helplessness in himself, should
precede or accompany the revelation of the redeeming love and
grace of God. I shall also mention two other ends which are
hereby attained.
4. By this means the redeeming mercy and love of God are
more higlily prized and rejoiced in, when discovered. By the
previous discoveries of danger, misery, and helplessness, and de-
sert of wrath, the heart is prepared to embrace a discovery of
mercy. When the soul stands trembling at the brink of the pit,
and despairs of any help from itself, it is prepared joyfully to re-
ceive tidings of deliverance. [[ God is pleased at such at a time
to make the soul hear his still small voice, his call to himself and
to a Saviour, the soul is prepared to give it a joyful reception.
The gospel then, if it be heard spiritually, will be glad tidings in-
deed ; the most joyful, which the sinner ever heard. The love of
God and of Christ to the vvorld, and to him in particular, will be
64 SERMON II.
admired, and Christ will be most precious. To remember what
danger he was in, what seas surrounded him ; and then to reflect
how safe he now is in Christ, and how sufficient Christ is to defend
him, and to answer all iiis wants, will cause the greater exultation
of soul. God, in this method of dealing with the souls of his elect,
consults their happiness, as well as his own glory. And it in-
creases happiness, to be made sensible of their misery and unvvor-
thiness, before God comforts them ; for their comfort, when they
receive it, is so much the sweeter.
5. The heart is more prepared and disposed to praise God for
it. This follows from the reasons already mentioned ; as they
are hereby made sensible how free and sovereign the mercy of
God is towards them, and how great his grace in saving them ;
and as they more highly prize the mercy and love of-God made
known to them : All will dispose them to magnify the name of
God, to exalt the love of God the Father in giving his Son to them,
and to exalt Jesus Christ by their praise, who laid down his life
for them to redeem them from all iniquity. They are ready to
say. How miserable should I have been, had not God had pity
upon me, and provided me a Saviour! In what a miserable con-
dition should 1 have been, had not Christ loved me, and given
himself for me ! I must have endured that dreadful wrath of
God ; I must have suffered the punishment, which I had deserved
by all that great sin and wickedness, of which I have been guilty,
APPLICATION.
I. This subject admits of an application to unconverted sin-
ners. If it be so, as has been represented, then let me exhort you
to seek those convictions. Though you are at present sinners,
and have no terrifying sense of your danger of hell, yet I pre-
sume to say concerning most of you at least, that you do not in-
tend to go to hell. When you happen to think about another
world, you flatter yourself, that in some way or other, you shall
escape eternal misery ; or at least, you do not think of it with a
willingness to be damned. But if it be, that you do not suffer
eternal damnation, you have a great work to do before you die. It
ordinaril}' is a very difficult work, especially to those, who have
gone on for a considerable time in ways of wickedness under the
means of grace. If you are ever truly converted, j'ou must be
convinced of your misery and unworthiness ; you must be guilty
in your own sense. Begin your work, then, and seek to be made
sensible of your misery and unworthiness. Make haste, and set
about this work speedily. You may defer it so long, that it will be
too late. It may be too late, if you delay, in these two ways. It
la^y be too late, as you may be overtaken with death, before you
SERMON II. 65"
set about it, as thousands and millions have been before you.
And if you should not die before you begin, yet it may be too
late, as you may never have an opportunity to get through.
Some persons are a long time under convictions, before they are
converted. There are some, whom God suffers to continue a
loijg time seeking salvation in their own strength before he makes
them despair of help from themselves. They continue many years
trusting in their own righteousness, as it were, wandering from
mountain to hill, from one hold to another seeking rest and safety.
They are a long time building castles in the air. They some-
times flatter themselves from one consideration, and sometimes
from another. And if you should delay, there is danger that you
may not have time. Some are many years under fears of damna-
tion, and are seeking salvation. And there are many for whom
death is too quick. Here we will consider briefly what are the
occasions of the stupidity and senselessness of sinners ; and thence
shall take occasion to warn those, who would seek the convictions
of God's spirit.
1. Some provoke God to withhold the strivings, and convin-
cing influences of his spirit. Some provoke God to give them up
to hardness of heart. God lets them alone, and intends to let
them alone. Hosea iv. 16. *'Ephraim is joined to idols ; let him
alone." Psalms Ixxxi. 11, 12. " But my people would not heark-
en to ray voice ; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them
up to their own heart's lust ; and they walked in their own coun-
sels."
Hosea v. 15. — I will go and return to my place, till they ac-
knowledge their offence, and seek my face ; in their affliction
they will seek me early.
Doctrine. It is God's manner to make men sensible of their mis-
er}' and unworthiness, before he appears in his mercy and love
to them ; particularly before he appears in his redeeming love
and mercy to their souls.
Second use. To exhort those, who have some convictions of sin
and danger, that they do not lose them. If you have the stri-
vings of God's spirit, God has met with you, led you to reflect
upon your sins, and sensible that you are in danger of hell ; and
so made you concerned about your soul, and put you upon seek-
ing salvation. Take heed that you do not lose your convictions,
and grow senseless of eternal things, and negligent of your soul's
concern, that you do not return to your former careless way of
living, that you do not return to your former sins. Here con-
sider,
1. That there is danger of it. It is not all, who are under con-
cern for their souls, and who, by the strivings of God's spirit, are
©6 SERMON II.
put upon seeking and striving for salvation, who hold out. There
are many more, who set out at the beginning of the race, who do
not hold out to the end. Many things intervene between the be-
ginning and the end of the race, which divert, and stop, and turn
back many who commenced well. There are many, who seem
to be under strong convictions, and to be \ery earnest in seeking,
whose convictions are but short-lived. And some, who seem to be
much concerned about salvation for a considerable time, it may
be for years together, yet by degrees grow careless and negligent.
There is much in your own heart, which tends to stupify you. It
is the natural tendency of sin and lust, to stupify the conscience.
And as corruption is reigning as yet in 3'our heart, it will ever
be ready to exert itself in such acts, as will have a great tendency
to drive away your convictions. And Satan is doubtless diligently
watching over you, striving in all ways to abate, and to take off
your convictions. He joins in with the sloth and lusts of your
heart to persuade to negligence, and to turn your mind to other
things. And the world is full of objects, which tend to take off
your mind from the soul's concern, and are constantly, as it were,
endeavouring to take possession of your mind, and to drive out
the concerns of another world.
2. Consider if you lose your convictions, it will be no advan-
tage to 3'ou, that ever you had them, as to any furtherance of your
salvation. Whatever terrors you have been under about damna-
tion, to whatever reflections you have been brouejht upon your sins,
whatever strong desires you have had after deliverance, and what-
ever earnest prayers you have made, it will all be lost. What you
have suffered of fear and concern will turn to no good account;
and what you have done, the pains you have taken, will be utterly
lost. When you have strove against sin, and laboured in duty,
have stemmed the stream, and have proceeded a considerable way
up the hill, and made some progress towards the kingdom of
heaven, when once you have lost your convictions, you will be as
far from salvation, as you were before you began ; you will lose
all the ground you have gained ; you will go quite down to the
bottom of the hill; the stream will immediately carry you back.
All will be lost; you had as good never have had those convic-
tions, as to have had them, and then to lose them.
3. You do not know, that you shall ever have such an oppor-
tunity again. God is now striving with you by his spirit. If you
should lose the strivings of his spirit, it may be that God's spirit
would never return again. If you are under convictions, 3'ou have
a precious opportunity, which, if you knew the worth of it, you
would esteem as better than any temporal advantages. You have
a price in your hands to get wisdom, which is more valuable than
gold or silver. It is a great privilege to live under means of
SERMON If. 6f
grace, to enjoy the word and ordinances of God, and to know the
way of salvation. It is a greater thing still to live under a pow-
erful dispensation of the means of grace under a very instructive,
convincing ministry. But it is a much greater privilege still to be
the subject of the convincing influences of tlie spirit of God. If
you have these, you have a precious advantage in your hands.
And if you lose it, it is questionable whether you ever have the
like advantage again. We are counselled to seek the Lord while
he may be found, and to call upon him while he is near. Isaiah v.
6. A time in which God's spiritis striving with a man by convic-
tions of his sin and danger, is especially such a time, that is a sin-
ner's best opportunity. It is especially a day of salvation. God
may be said to be near, when he pours out his spirit upon many in
the place where a person dwells. It is prudence for all then to be
caUing upon God as being near at such a time. But especially is
God near, at a time when he is pouring out his spirit in immedi-
ately convincing and awakening a man's own soul. If therefore
God's spirit is now at work with you, you have a precious oppor-
tunity. Take heed that you do not by any means let it slip. It
may doubtless be said concerning many, that they have missed
their opportunity. Most men, who live under the gospel, have a
special opportunity, that there is a certain season, which God ap-
points for them, which is, above all others, a day of grace with
them, when men have a very fair opportunity for securing eternal
salvation, if they did but know it, and had hearts for it. But the
misery of man is great upon him; for man knoweth not his time.
The wise man tells us, Ecclesiastes viii. 6, 7, that " To every pur-
pose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is
great upon him. For he knoweth not that which shall be." And
again, ix. 12, "Man knoweth not his time." If the spirit of God
is now striving with you, it may be it is your time ; and it may be
your only time. Be wise, therefore, and understand the things,
which belong to your peace, before they are hid from your eyes.
You have not the influences of the spirit of God in your own pow-
er. You cannot have convictions and awakenings when you
please. God is sovereign as to the bestowment of them. If you
are ready to flatter yourself, that although you neglect now, when
you are young, yet you shall be awakened again ; that is a vain
and groundless presumption. It is a difficult thing for a man,
who has been going on in a sinful course, to reform. There are a
great many difficulties in the way of thorough reformation. If
you therefore have reformed, and returned again to your former
sin, you will have all those difficulties to overcome again.
4. If you lose your convictions, and return again to a way of
allowed sinning, there will be less probability of your salvation,
than there was before you had any convictions. Backsliding is a
68 SERMON II.
very dangerous and pernicious thing to men's souls, and is often
spoken ofassuchin God's word; which was signified in that aw-
ful dispensation of God in turning Lot's wife into a pillar of salt,
to be a standing emblem of the danger of looking back after one
has set out in a way of religion. The ill to which they are sub-
ject, who lose their convictions, is not merely the loss of their con-
victions. Their convictions are not onlj' a means of no good to
them, but they turn to much ill. It wonld have been better for
them, that they had never had them. For they are now set more
remote from salvation than they were before. For having risen
some considerable way towards heaven, and falling back, they
sink lower, and farther down towards hell, than ever they were.
The way to heaven is now blocked up with greater difficulties than
ever it was. Their hearts now are become harder for light, and
convictions being once conquered, they evermore are an occa-
sion of a greater hardness of heart than there was before. Yea,
there is no one thing whatsoever, which has so great a tendency
to it. Man's heart is hardened by losing convictions, as iron is
hardened by being heated and cooled. If you are awakened, and
afterwards lose your convictions, it will be a harder thing to awak-
en you again. If there were only that you are growing older,
there would be less probability of your being awakened again ; for
as person's grow older they grow less and less susceptible of con-
victions; evil habits grow stronger and more deeply rooted in the
heart. You greatly ofiend God by c[uenching his spirit, and re-
turning as a dog to his vomit, and as a sow that was washed to her
wallowing in the mire. And there is danger that God will say
concerning you, as he did concerning Jerusalem, Ezekiel xxiv.
13, " Because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, tijou
shalt not be purged from thy fihhiness any more, till I have caused
my fury to rest upon thee." If you return again to your wicked
course, if you should go to hell at last, you will lament that ever you
have had any convictions: you will find your punishment so much
the heavier. And if you should be hereafter awakened, and set about
striving for salvation, yet you will probably find harder work in it ;
you do but make work for yourself by your backsliding. You
will not only have all to do over again which you have done, and
which you must have done, if you had gone on, but there will be
new work for repentance. There probably must be greater and
more dreadful terrors ; and it may be a much longer time spent in
seeking and striving, a more difficult work with your own head-
strong corruptions. If you were but sensible of one half of the
disadvantages of backsliding, and the many woes and calamities
in which it will involve you, you would be careful not to lose your
convictions.
SERMON II. 69
5. Consider the encouragement there is in scripture to persevere
in seeking salvation, as in Hosea vi. 3. " Then shall we know, if
we follow on to know the Lord." Thence we may gather, that
God usually gives success to those wlio diligently, and constantly,
and perseveringly seek conversion. And that you be the better
directed in taking care not to lose your convictions, it is conve-
nient that you should be aware of those things whith are common
occasions of persons losing their convictions. 1 shall therefore
briefly mention some of them.
1. Persons falling into sin is ver}' often the occasion of their
losing their convictions. Some temptation prevails, so that they
are drawn into some sin. Some lust upon some occasion has been
stirred up, and they have been overcome by their sinful appetites,
and have provoked God to anger. It may be they have been
drawn into some criminal act of sensuality, and so have quenched
the spirit. Or they have got into some quarrel with some persons.
Their spirits are disturbed, and heated with malice and revenge,
and the}^ have acted sinfully, or have sinfully expressed themselves,
and have driven away the spirit of God. These are the most
ready ways to put an end to convictions.
2. Sometimes there happens some diverting occasion ; there is
some incident which for the present diverts their minds. Their
minds are taken off from their business for a short time. They are
flrawn into compan3^ It may be they see something which re-
vives a desire of worldly enjoyments and entertainments ; or they
are engaged in some exercise and business, which diverts their
minds. And so afterwards they are more careless than they were
before. They are not so strict in attending private duties ; and
carelessness and stupidity by degrees steal upon them, till they
wholly lose their convictions.
3. Some change in their circumstances takes off their minds
from the concerns of their souls. Their minds are diverted by the
new circumstances with which they are attended ; or are taken up
with new pleasures and enjoyments, or with new cares and busi-
ness, in which they are involved. It may be they grow richer.
They prosper in the world, and their worldly good things crowd
in, and take possession of their minds. Or worldly cares are in-
creased upon them, and they have so many things to look after,
that their minds are taken up, and they have not time to look after
their souls.
VOL. VIII. 10
SERMON III.
SEPTEMBER, 1737.
HOSEA ii. 15.
Afid 1 idll give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of
Achor for a door of hope : and she shall sing there, as in the
days of her youth, and as in the day when she came tip out of
the land of Egypt.
In the context, the church of Israel is first threatened with the
awful desolation which God was about to bring upon her for her
dealing so falsely and treacherously with God ; because though,
in the bold language of the prophet, she had been married to
God, she had yet gone after other lovers, and had committed adul-
tery with them. " For she said, I will go after my lovers, that
give me my bread, and my water, my wool and n)y flax, mine oil
and my drink." Therefore God threatened that he would strip
her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her
as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay lier with
thirst, and ihal he would discover her lewdness in the sight of her
lovers, and destroy her vines and fig-trees, and make them a forest.
So the prophet goes on terribly threatening her to the end of the
thirteenth verse. And those tilings were fulfilled in the captivity
of Israel in the land of Assyria. But in the verse preceding the
text, and in the remainder of the chapter, there follows a gracious
promise of mercy, which God would show her in the days of the
gospel. " Therefore, behold I will allure her, and bring her into
the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give
her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door
of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth,
and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt."
♦' I will allure her," that is, I will court or woo her again, as a
young man woos a virgin, whom he desires to make his wife.
God, for her committing adultery \\iih other lovers, had threaten-
ed that he would give her a bill of divorce, as verse second.
" Plead with your mother, plead ; for she is not my wife, neither
am 1 her husband." But here in the latter part of the chapter,
God promises that in gospel limes he would make her his wife
again, as in the sixteenth verse, " And it shall be at that day that
?ERMON II. 71
tilou shall call me Ishi ;" that is, " my husband." And so m
verses 19, 20. " And I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I
will betroth thee unto me for ever in righteousness, and in judg-
ment, in loving kindness, and in mercies ; I will even betroth thee
unto me in faithfulness." Here in the fourteenth verse, God pro-
mises that he will woj her, and in the latter part of the verse, he
shows in what manner he will deal with her when he is about to
woo or allure her. He would first bring her into the wilderness ;
that is, he would bring her into trouble and distress, and so humble
her, and then allure her by speaking comfortably or pleasantly to
her, as a young man does to a maid whom he woos. Then follow
the words of the text.
1. We may observe what God wotdd give to the children of
Israel ; viz. hope and comfort. He promises to give her vine-
yards ; which being spiritually interpreted as most of the pro-
phecies of gospel limes are to be interpreted, signifies spiritual
comforts. Vineyards aflord wine, which is comfort to those who
are of heavy hearts. Proverbs xxxi. 6. *' Give wine to those
that are of heavy hearts. Wine is to make glad the heart of man."
Psalms civ. 15. Gospel rest and peace are sometimes prophesied
of, under the metaphor of every man's sitting under his vine and
under his own fig-tree. God promises to give her hope, to open
a door of hope for her, and to give her songs ; that is, to give
her spiritual joy, and both cause and disposition joyfully to sing
praises to God.
2. Wc may observe after what manner God would bestow lhos€
benefits. 1. They should be given after great trouble and abase-
ment. Before she had this hope and comfort given, she should
be brought into great trouble and distress to humble her. He
promises to give her her vineyards from thence ; that is, from the
wilderness spoken of in the foregoing verse, into which it is said
that God would bring her, before he spoke comfortably to her.
God would bring her into the wilderness, and then give her vine-
yards. God's bringing her into the wilderness was to humble her,
and fit her to receive vineyards, and to make her see her depend-
ence on God for them, that she might not attribute her enjoyment
of them to her idols, as she had <lone before, for which reason
God took them away, as in ihe twelfth verse. " And I will destroy
her vines and her fig-trees, whereof she hath said, these are my
rewards that my lovers have given me ; and I will make them a
forest." There it is threatened that God will turn her vineyards
into a forest, or wilderness. Here it is promised that he would
turn the wilderness into vineyards, as Isaiah xxxii. 15. " Until the
Spirit be poured on us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruit-
ful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest." She should
first be in a wilderness, where she shall see that she cannot help
73 SERMON 11.
herself, nor any of her idols help, or give her any vineyards. And
then God will help her, that she shall see that it is God, and
not any of her idols or lovers. God would first bring her
into a wilderness, and thence give her vineyards, as God first
brought the children of Israel into a dreadful wilderness. So
God opened a door of hope to them in the valley of Achor, which
is a word that signifies trouble, and was so called from the trouble
which the children of Israel suffered by the sin of Achor. So
God is wont first to make their sin a great trouble to them, an oc-
casion of a great deal of distress, before he opens a door of hope.
God promises to make her sing there as in the days of her youth,
and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
This plainly refers to the joyful song which Moses and the chil-
dren of Israel sang when they came up out of the Red Sea. The
children of Israel there had great joy and comfort; but just be-
fore they had great trouble. They had been in extreme distress
by the oppression of their task-masters; and just before this tri-
umphant song, they were brought to extremity and almost to de-
spair, when Pharaoh and the Egyptians appeared ready to swallow
them up.
2. This hope and comfort should be bestowed on the slaying
and forsaking of sin. That is the troublerof the soul. It should
be given in the valley of Achor, which was the valley where the
troubler of Israel was slain, as j'ou may see in Joshua vii. 26 ;
and the place where the children of Israel sang, when they came
up out of the land of Egypt. The eastern shore of the Red Sea
was the place where they saw their enemies and old task-masters,
the types of men's lusts, which are sinners' taskmasters, lie dead
on the sea shore, and of whom they took their final leave. And
God had told them, that their enemies whom they had seen that
day, they siiould see no more for ever.
Doctrine. God is wont to cause hope and comfort to arise in the
soul after trouble and humblitigfor sin, and according as the trou-
bler is slain and forsaken. 1 would show,
I. That it is thus with respect to the first true hope and comfort
which is i^iven to the soul at conversion.
II. That God is wont to bestow hope and comfort on Christians
from lime to time in this way.
I. God is wont to cause hope and comfort to arise to the soul
in conversion after trouble and humbling for sin, and upon the
slaying of the troubler.
1. It is God's manner to bestow hope and comfort on a soul in
conversion after trouble and humbling for sin. Under this head
are three things to be observed. 1. The trouble itself. 2. The
cause, viz. sin. 3. The humbling.
1. Souls are wont to be brought into trouble before God bestows
true hope and comfort. The corrupt hearts of men naturally incline
SERMON 11. 73
to Stupidity and senselessness before God comes with the awaken-
ing influences of liis spirit. They are quiet and secure ; they
have no true comfort and hope, and yet they are quiet ; they are
at ease. They are in miserable slavery, and yet seek not a reme-
dy. They say, as the children of Israel did in Egypt to Moses,
" let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians." But if God
has a design of mercy to them, it is his manner before he bestows
true hope and comfort on them, to bring them into trouble, lo dis-
tress them, and spoil their ease and false quietness, and to rouse
them out of their old resting and sleeping places, and to bring
them into a wilderness- They are brought into trouble, and some-
times into exceedingly great trouble and distress, so that they can
take no comfort in tliose things in which they used to take com-
fort. Their hearts are pinched and stung, and they can find no
ease in any thing. They have, as-it were, an arrow sticking fast
in them, which causes grievous and continual pain, an arrow which
they cannot shake oft', or pull out. The pain and anguish of it
drinks up their spirit. Their worldly enjoyments were a sufficient
good before ; but they are not now. They wander about with
wounded hearts, seeking rest, and finding none ; like one wander-
ing in a dry and parched wilderness under the burning, scorching
heat of the sun, seeking for some shadow where he may sit down
and rest, but finding none. Wherever he goes the beams of the sun
scorch him : or he seeks some fountain of cool water to quench
his thirst, but finds not a drop. He is like David in his trouble,
who wandered about in the wilderness, Saul pursuing him wherever
he went, driving and hunting him from one wilderness to another,
from one mountain to another, and from one cave to another, giv-
ing him no rest. To such sinners, all things look dark, and they
know not what to do, nor whither to turn. If they look forward
or backward, to the right hand or the left, all is gloom and per-
plexit3^ If they look to heaven, behold darkness; if they look
lo the earth, behold trouble, and darkness, and dimness of an-
guish. Sometimes they hope for relief, but they are disappointed,
and so again and again they travail in pain, and a dreadful sound
is in their ears. They are terrified and afiVighted, and they seek
refuge, as a poor creature pursued by an enemy. He flies to one
refuge, and there is beset, and that fails ; then he flies to another,
and then is driven out of that. And his enemies grow thicker
and thicker about, encompassing him on every side. They are
like those of whom we read in Isaiah xxiv. 17, 18. Fear, and
the pit and the snare are upon them, and when they flee from the
noise of the fear they are taken in the pit; and if they come up
out of the pit, they are taken in the snare. So that they know
not what to do. They are like the children of Israel, while Achor
troubled them. They go forth against their enemies, and they
are smitten do'.vn and flee before them. They call on God, but
t4 SERMON 11.
he does not answer, nor seem to regard them. Sometimes they
find something in which they take pleasure for a little time, but it
soon vanishes away, and leaves them in greater distress than be-
fore. And sometimes they are brought to the very borders of de-
spair. Thus they arc brought into the wilderness, and into the
valley of Achor, or of trouble.
2. Sin is the trouble or the cause of tliis trouble. Sin is the
disease of the soul, and such a disease as will, if the soul is not be-
numbed, cause exceeding pain. Sin brings guilt, and that
brings condemnation and wrath. XW this trouble arises from con-
viction of sin. Awakened sinners are convinced that they are sin-
ful. Before the sinner thought well of himself, or was not con-
vinced tliat he was very sinful. But now he is led to reflect first
on what he has done, how wickedl}' he has spent his time, what
wicked acts or practices he has been guilty of. And afterwards
in the progress of liis awakenings he is made sensible of some-
thing of the sin and plague of his heart. 'J'hey are made sensible
of the guilt and wrath which sin brings. The threatenings of
God's law are set home, and they are made sensible that God is
angry, and that his wrath is dreadful. They are led to consi-
der of the dreadfulness of that punishment, which God has threat-
ened. The afiection or principle, which is wrought upon to
cause tliis trouble, is fear. They are afraid of the punishment of
sin, and God's wrath for it. They are commonly afraid of
many things here in this world as the fruit of sin. They are
afraid that God will not hear their prayers, that he is so an-
gry with them, that he will never give them converting
grace. They are afraid oftentimes that they have committed the
unpardonable sin, or at least that they have been guilty of such sin
as God will never pardon ; that their day is past, and that God has
given them up to judicial hardness of heart and blindness of mind.
Or if they are not already, they are afraid they shall be.
They are afraid oftentimes, that the spirit of God is not striving
widi them now, that their fears are from some other cause. Some-
times they are afraid that it is only the devil, who terrifies and af-
flicts them ; and that if the spirit of God is striving with them, he
will be taken from them, and they shall be left in a Christless state.
They are afraid that if they seek salvation, it will be to no purpose,
and that they shall only make their case worse and worse ; that
they are farther and farther from any thing which is good, and that
there is less probability now of their being converted, than when
they began to seek. Sometimes they fear, that they have but a
short time to live, and that God will soon cast them to hell ; that
none ever were as they are, who ever found mercy ; that their case
is peculiar, and that all wherein they difter from others is for the
worse. They have fears on evei^ side. Oftentimes they are
SEKMON 11. 75
afraid of every lliiiig. Every iliiiig looks dark, and lliey are
afraid thai every tiling will prove ruinous to them. But in the issue
of all they are afraid, ihej shall perish for ever. They are afraid
that when they die, they shall go down to hell, and there have
their portion appointed them in everlasting burnings. This is
the sum of all their fears. And the cause of this fear is a con-
sciousness of the guilt of sin. It is sin, which is ihe cruel task-
master, which oppresses them, and chastises them ; and sin is the
cruel Pharaoh, which pursues them. As the children of Israel,
before they came to sing with joy, after they came up out of the
land of Egypt, were under great trouble from their task-masters,
and sighed by reason of the hard bondage, and then were pursu-
ed, and put into dreadful fear at the Red Sea. It was their
task-masters who made them all this trouble. So it is sin which
makes all the trouble, wliich a sinner suffers under awakenings.
Their trouble for sin is no gracious, godly sorrow for sin ; for that
does not arise merely from fear, but from love. It is not an evan-
gelical, but legal repentance of which we are speaking, which is
not from love to God, but only self-love.
3. The end of this trouble in those to whom God designs mer-
cy is to humble them. God leads them into the wilderness before
he speaks comfortably to them, for the same cause that he led the
children of Israel into the wilderness before he brought them into
Canaan, which we are told was to humble them. Deuteronomy
viil. 2. *' And thou shall remember all the wa}', which the Lord
thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble
thee and to prove thee, and to know what was in thine heart."
Man naturally trusts in himself, and magnifies himself. And
for man to enjoy only ease and prosperity and quietness tends
to nourish and establish such a disposition. Deuteronomy xxxii.
1 5. " Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked." But by trouble and dis-
tress, and by a sense of a heavy load of guilt, God brings men
down into the dust. God brings souls thus into the wilderness to
show them their own helplessness, to let them see that they have
nothing to which they can turn for help, to make them sensible
that they are not rich and increased with goods, but wretched,
miserable, poor, blind and naked; to show them that they are ut-
terly undone and ruined, to make them sensible of their exceeding
wickedness, and to bring them to be sensible how justly God might
cast them off for ever. Those legal troubles tend to show them
their utter inability to help themselves, as their fears put them on
using- their utmost endeavours, and trying their utmost strength;
and by conliauing in that way their experience teaches them their
weakness, and they find they can do nothing. It puts them upon
repeated trials, and they have as repeated disappointments. But
repeated disappointments lend to bring a man to give up the case,
and to despair of help in that way in which he has tried for It. It
7G SERMON II.
tends to make men sensible of the utter insufficiency of their wis-
dom, and bring them to see their own exceeding blindness and ig-
norance. For fear and concern and distress necessarily put a per-
son on intensely thinking and studying and contriving for relief.
But when men have been thus trying their own wisdom and in-
vention to their utmost, and find it fails, and signifies nothing, and
is altogether to no purpose, it makes them more and more sensi-
ble of their weakness and blindness, and brings them to confess
themselves fools, and blind as to those things which concern their
relief. They are like one who is placed in the midst of a vast
hideous wilderness. At first it may be he may not be sensible
but that he knows the way home, and can directly go in the way
which leads outof the wilderness. But after he has tried and has tra-
velled awhile, and finds that he cannot find the way, and that he
spends himself in vain, and only goes round and round and comes
to the same place again at last, he is brought to confess that he
knows not where to go, nor what to do, and that he is sensible that
he is like one who is perfectly lost, and altogether in darkness,
and is brought at last to yield the case and stand still and do no-
thing but call for help, that if possible any one may hear, and lead
him in the wilderness. For this end God leads men into the wil-
derness before he speaks comfortably to them. The troubles which
they have for sin tend to bring them to be sensible how justly God
may cast them off for ever ; and this brings them to reflect on their
sins; for these are the things of which they are afraid. When a
man is terribly afraid of things with which he is surrounded, this
engages his e'yes to behold ; he looks intensely on them, and sees
more and more how frightful and terrible they are. When they
are in fear, they take much more notice of their sins than at other
times. They think more how wickedly they have lived, and ob-
serve more the corrupt and wicked working of their own hearts,
and so are more and more sensible what vile creatures they are.
This makes them more and more sensible how angry God is, and
how terrible his anger is. They try to appease and to reconcile God
by their own righteousness, but it fails. God still appears as an
angry God, refusing to hear their prayers, or appear for their
help, till they despair in their own righteousness, and yield the
case ; and by more and more of a sight of themselves are brought
to confess that tliey lie justly exposed to damnation, and have no-
thing by which to defend themselves. God appears more and
more as a terrible being to them, till tiiey have done with any ima-
ginations, that they have any thing sufficient to recommend them,
or reconcile them to such a God. Thus God is wont first to bring
the soul into trouble by reason of sin, and so to humble the soul,
before he gives true hope and comfort in conversion.
2. This hope and comfort are given upon the slaying of the
troubler. Whatever troubles there are for sin, yet if the troubler
SERMON III, 77
is not slain, it cannot be expected but that there will be trouble
still. Before there will be no true comfort. The soul may re-
turn to stupidity and carelessness, and may receive a false peace
and hope, and sin be kept alive ; but no true hope. Persons may
be exceedingly troubled for sin, and yet sin be saved alive. Persons
may seem to lament they have done thus and thus, and weep many
tears, and cry out of their sinfulness and wickedness, and yet the
life of sin be whole in them. But if so, they never shall receive
true comfort. They may refrain from sin; there may be a great
reformation, and exact life for a time; or there may be a total re-
formation of some particular ways of sin, and yet no true hope ; be-
cause sin is only restrained ; it is not slain. Many men are brought
to restrain sin, and togiveit slight wounds, who cannot be brought
to kill it. Wicked men are loth to kill sin. They have been very
goods friends to it ever since they have been in the world, and have
always treated it as one of their most familiar and best friends.
They have allowed it the best room in their hearts, and have given
it the best entertainment they could, and they are very loth to de-
stroy it. But until this be done, God never will give them true
comfort. If ever men come to have a true hope, they must do as
the children of Israel did by Achan. Joshua vii. 24, 25, 26.
"And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan, the son of Ze-
rah, and the silver and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and
his sons and his daughters, and !iis oxen, and his asses, and his
sheep, and his tent, and all that he had ; and they brought them
unto the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, why hast thou trou-
bled us.^ The Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel
stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire after they had
stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap
of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness
of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called the
valley of Achor unto this day." So if ever men come to have any
true hope, they must take sin which is the troubler, and all which
belongs to it, even that, which seems most dear and precious,
though it be as choice as Achan's silver and wedge of gold, and
utterly destroy them, and burn them with fire, to be sure to make
a thorough end of them, as it were, bury them and raise over them
a great heap of stones, to lay a great weight upon them, to make
sure of it that they shall never rise more. Yea, and thus they
must serve all his sons and daughters. They must not save some
of the accursed brood alive. All the fruits of sin must be forsa-
ken. There must not be some particular lust, some dear sinful en-
joyment, some pleasant child of sin spared ; but all must be stoned
and burned. U we do thus, we may expect to have trouble cease,
and light to arise, as it was in the camp of Israel after slaying the
troubler.
VOL. VIII. 11
78 SERMON in.
Inquiry. Here it may be inquired, What is implied in slay-
ing sin at conversion ? And it implies these several things :
1. There must be a conviction of the evil of it as against
God. All is carried on by conviction. Those legal troubles,
which are before conversion, arise from some conviction of the
being of sin, and the guilt and danger of it. And the slaying
of sin is by conviction of its evil and hateful nature. To slay
the troubler, we must find him out, as the children of Israel did
before they slew Achan. They rose early in the morning, and
searched, and brought all Israel by their tribes ; and then
searched the tribe, which was taken by families, and the family
by particular persons, and so found him.
2. It is to have the heart turned from, and turned against, it
in hatred. The troubler is never slain, but by a thorough and
saving change of heart and renovation of nature, so that, that
which before loved sin and chose it, may now hate and abhor
it, and may disrelish it, and all its ways, and especially hate
their former ways of sin.
3. Forsaking and renouncing it. Let men pretend what
they may, their hearts are not turned from sin, if they do not
forsake it. He is not converted, who is not really come to a dispo-
sition utterly to forsake all ways of sin. If ever sinners have
true hope and comfort, they must take a final leave of sin, as
tiie children of Israel did of the Egyptians at the Red Sea.
Persons may have a great deal of trouble from sin, and many
conflicts and struggles with it, and seem to forsake it for a time,
and yet not- forsake it finally ; as the children of Israel had with
the Eo-yptians. They had a long struggle with them before
they were freed from them. How many judgments did God
brin"^ unon the Egyptians, before they would let them go ? And
sometimes Pharaoh seemed as if he would let them go ; but
yet when it came to the proof he refused. And when they de-
parted from Rameses doubtless they thought then they had got
rid of them. They did not expect to see them any more. But
when they arrived at the Red Sea, and looked behind them,
they saw them pursuing them. They found it a difficult thing
wholly to get rid of them. But when they were drowned in the
Red Sea, then they took an everlasting leave of them. The
kill"- and ail the chiefs of them were dead; and therefore God
said to them. Exodus xiv. 13. " The Egyptians, whom ye have
seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever." So
pinners must not only part with sin for a little time, but they
must forsake it for ever, and be willing never to see or have any
thing to do with their old sinful ways and enjoyments. They
must forsake that which is their iniquity, the sin, which most
easily besets them, and to which by tlieir constitution or custom
SERMON III. 79
they have been most addicted, which has been, as it were, the
dearest of all, and most respected, as a king among the army of
sins ; though that must be slain too, as Pharaoh, the king of
the Egyptians, was in the Red Sea. And we must not do as
Saul did, when God sent him to kill the Amalekites ; but he
saved the king of the Amalekites alive, which cost him his king-
dom.
4. It implies embracing Christ, and trusting in him as the
Saviour from sin. We must look to him not only as a Saviour
from the punishment of sin, but we must receive and embrace
him as a Saviour from sin itself. We cannot deliver ourselves
from sin. We cannot slay this enemy of ourselves. He is too
strong an enemy for us. We can no more slay sin ourselves,
than the children of Israel who were themselves a poor feeble
company, a mixed multitude, unprepared to resist such a force,
could themselves slay Pharaoh, and all his mighty army with
chariots and horsemen. It was Christ in the pillar of cloud
and fire, who fought for them. They had nothing to do but
trust in him. Exodus xiv. 4. " The Lord shall fight for you,
and ye shall hold your peace." They could never have drowned
the Egyptians in the sea. It was Christ who did it ; for the
pillar of cloud stood between them and the Israelites, and when
they were up out of the sea, then Christ brought on them the
waters of the sea. Our enemies must be drowned in the all-
sufficient fountain, and, as it were, sea of Christ's blood, as the
Egyptians were in the Red Sea, and then we may sing, as the
children of Israel did in the day when they came up out of the
land of Egypt. When sin is thus slain, then God is wont to
open a door of hope, a door through which there flashes a sweet
light out of heaven upon the soul. Then comfort arises, and
then is three a new song in the mouth, even praise unto God.
II. God is wont to bestow hope and comfort from time to time
in the same manner on Christians.
In the consideration of this matter I would show,
1. That Christians are frequently in darkness, and their hope
is often greatly obscured.
2. That it is sin which is the occasion of this darkness.
3. Their darkness is not perpetual, but God is wont to cause
hope and comfort to arise again.
4. Their trouble is commonly much increased a little before
the renewal of light and hope.
5. That hope and comfort are renewed to them on the slay-
ing of the troubler.
1. It is often the case that Christians are under darkness,
and their hope is greatly clouded. God is wont to give his saints
hope and comfort at their first conversion, which sometimes re-
80 HBb sEUMOi\ III.
mains without any great interruption for a considerable time
And some Christians live abundantly more in the light than
others. Some for many years together have but little dark-
ness. God is pleased to distinguish them from their neighbours.
He mercifully keeps them from those occasions of darkness,
into which he suffers others to fall, and gives them of the light
of his countenance. God exercises his sovereignty in this mat-
ter, as he does in giving converting grace : as he bestows that
on wliom he pleases, so he bestows on some of those who are
converted, more light, on others, less, according as it pleases
him. But many Christians meet with a great deal of darkness
and see times, in which their hopes are much clouded. Some-
times the sweet and comfortable influences of God's spirit are
withdrawn. They were wont to have spiritual discoveries made
of God and Christ to their souls, but now they have none,
'i^heir minds seem to be darkened, and they cannot see spiritual
things, as they have done in times past. Formerly, when they
read the scriptures, they used often to have light come in, and
they seemed to have an understanding and relish for what they
read, and were filled with comfort. But now when they read,
it is all a dead letter, and they have no taste for it, and are
obliged to force themselves to read ; they seem to have no plea-
sure in it, but it is a mere task and burden. Formerly they
used to have passages of scripture come to their minds, when
they were not reading, which brought much light and sweetness
with them. But now they have none. Formerly they used to
feel the sweet exercises of grace. They could trust in God,
and could find a spirit of resignation to his will, and had love
drawn forth, and sweet longings after God and Christ, and a
sweet complacence in God ; but now they are dull and dead.
Formerly they used to meet with God in the ordinances of his
house: it was sweet to sit and hear the word preached, and it
seemed to bring light and life with it; they used to feel life and
sweetness in public prayers, and their hearts were elevated in
singing God's praises. But now it is otherwise. Formerly they
used to delight in the duty of prayer : the time, which they spent
in their closet between God and their own souls was sweet to
them. But now when they go thither, they do not meet God ;
and they take no delight in drawing near to God in their closets.
When they do pray, it seems to be a mere lifeless, heartless per-
formance. They utter such and such words, but they seem
to be nothing but words ; their hearts are not engaged. Their
minds are continually wandering and going to and fro, after
one vanity and another. With this decay of the exercise of
grace their hope greatly decays ; and the evidences of their
piety are exceedingly clouded. When they look into their hearts,
SERMON III. 81
il seems to them that they can see nothing there, from which they
should hope ; and when they consider after what manner they
live, it seems to them to argue, that'they have no grace. They
have but little of any thing which is new, to furnish comfortable
evidence to them of their good estate ; and as to their old evi-
dences, they are greatly darkened. Their former experience,
in which they took great comfort, looks dim, and a great way
off, and out of sight to them. They have almost forgotten
it, and have no pleasure in thinking or speaking of it. And
sometimes true Christians are brought into terrible distress.
They are not only deprived of their former comforts, and have
their former'hopes obscured, but they have inuard distressing
darkness. God does not only hide his face, but they have 'i.
sense of his anger. He seems to frown upon them. So it ap
pears to have been with David. Psalms xlii. 7. "Deep cui
eth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts ; all thy wave-
and thy billows are gone over me." So with Heman. PsalniS
Ixxxviii. 5, 6. "Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in dark-
ness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou
hast afflicted me with all thy waves."
2. It is sin which is the occasion of this trouble and dark-
ness. Whenever the godly meet with such darkness, there is
some Achan in their souls which is the occasion of all this; and
this is sin. This is the occasion of the darkness of the godly,
as well as the troubles which natural men have under awaken-
ings. It is not for want of love in God towards his saints, or
readiness to grant comfort to them ; neither is God's hand
shortened, that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy, that he can-
not hear. It is their sin, which hides God's face from them.
Isaiah lix. 1, 2. Sin is the occasion of this darkness of the
saints, in these three ways.
1. Sometimes it is owing to the weakness and small degree
of grace infused in conversion, and the strength of remaining
corruption. The work of God is the same in all who are con-
verted, so far that their sin is mortified, and that which reign-
ed before does not reign now. The heart is changed from
darkness to light, and from death to life, and turned from sin
to God. And yet the work is very different with respect to the
degree of mortification of sin, and the degree of grace which is
infused. Some have more spiritual light given in their first
conversion than others ; have greater discoveries, and are
brought at once to a much greater acquaintance with God, and
have their hearts more humbled, and more weaned from sin
and the world, and more filled with the love of God and Christ,
and are brought nearer to heaven than others. Some at first
conversion have a much more eminent work of grace in their
83 SERMON III.
hearts than others. Some have emphatically but little grace
infused, and consequently their corruptions are left in much
greater strength : when it is so, it is no wonder that such have
a weaker hope, and less light and comfort than others. The
natural tendency of indwelling sin in the saints, is to cloud and
darken the mind ; and therefore, the more of it remains, the
more will it have this effect. Persons can know their own good
estate in no other way than by seeking, or perceiving grace in
their hearts. But certainly the less of it there is, with the
more difficulty will it be seen or felt. As indwelling sin pre-
vails, so does it the more obscure and cloud grace, as a great
smoke clouds and hides a spark. And therefore the more there
is of this indwelling sin, the more will grace be hid. The
greater the strength in which corruption is left, the more rare
will be the good frames which the godly have, and the more fre-
quent and of longer continuance will be their times of dark-
ness. It may be, the darkness with which the saints meet, is
from some particular corruption, which has always hitherto
been in too great prevalence and strength, and has never yet
been mortified to such a degree, but that it continues a great
troubler in the soul. Grace being weak, the sin of the consti-
tution takes advantage, whether that be a proud and haughty
temper, or a covetous spirit, or an addictedness to some sen-
suality, or a peevish, fretful, discontented spirit, or ill temper,
or a quarrelsome spirit, or disposition to high resentment. Or
whether it be any other corrupt disposition, which is the sin to
which they are chiefly exposed by natural temper, or by their
education and former custom. If the grace which is infused at
conversion, be comparatively weak, this constitutional sin will
take the advantage, and will dreadfully cloud the mind, and
hinder spiritual comfort, and bring trouble and darkness. There
is a great variety in the work of grace upon men's hearts, as
to the particular discoveries which are then given, and the par-
ticular graces which are in chief exercise ; whereby it comes
to pass, that some in their conversion are more assisted against
one corruption, and others against another. Some in their
conversion, as well as in the manner of their experience from
time to time, have more of the exercise of one grace, and others
more sensible exercises of another. And whatever that grace
be of which they have the most lively exercises, they are there-
by most assisted against that particular corruption which is its
opposite. Hence some particular corruptions may be left in
much greater prevalence than others, and so be a greater
occasion of darkness. Thus some, in the particular expe-
riences which they have, may not be so especially assisted
against pride as others, whereby their pride may take occasion
to work. And when they have had spiritual discoveries and
SERMON III. 83
comfort, they may be lifted up with them. And this may bean
occasion of displeasing and grieving his Holy Spirit, and so of
their having a great deal of darkness. They may not have
seen so much of their own emptiness as some others, and so
their corruption may work much more by self-confidence than
others ; and no wonder that self-confident persons meet with
darkness. No wonder that when men trust in themselves for
light and grace, that their confidence fails, and they go without
that for which they trusted in themselves.
2. Sometimes the saints are in great darkness on occasion
of some gross transgression into which they have fallen. So it
was with David, when he foil into gross sin in the matter of
Uriah. He exceedingly quenched the influences of the spirit of
God by it, and God withdrew those influences from him, and the
comforts which they had imparted ; as appears by his earnest-
ly praying for their restoration. Psalms }i. 12. " Restore unto
me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit."
When Christians fall into gross transgression, it is commonly
the fact that an exceedingly deep darkness follows.
3. When they do not fall into any j)articular gross and scan-
dalous transgression, yet they sometimes exceedingly darken
their minds by corrupt frames and evil habits, into which they
fall. There is much remaining corruption in the hearts of
Christians, and oftentimes they get into very ill frames. Some
particular corruptions grow very prevalent. Sometimes they
grow proud and conceited of themselves, either on account of
their own godliness, and the good opinion others have of them,
or on some other account. Sonjetimes they fall into a worldly
frame, and spiritual things grow more tasteless to them, and
their hearts are desperately bent on the acquisition of worldly
good. Sometimes their minds grow light and vain, and their
aflfections are wholly fixed on the vanities of youth, on dress
and gayety, and fashion. Some, because their minds are not
occupied as once they were, with spiritual enjoyments and de-
lights, sweetly meditating on heavenly things, breathing and
longing after them, and earnestly seeking them, become the slaves
of their sensual appetites. Others grow contentious and quar-
relsome, are often angry with those around them, and cherish
habitual rancour against them in their hearts. They become
wilful and obstinate, and stir up strife, and oppose others with
vehemence; determining at all hazards to carry their own mea-
sures, and delighting to have those who oppose them defeated
and humbled. It hurts them to have others prosper. Their
minds and hearts are full of turmoil, and heat, and vehemence
against one and another. Others fall into a discontented, fret-
ful, and impatient frame at the disposals of Providence. And
84 SERMON III.
oftentimes many of these things go together. And as these
persons sink into such unhappy frames in their hearts, so they
pursue very sinful courses of conduct. They behave themselves
unsuitably, so as to dishonour God, and greatly to wound reli-
gion. They do not appear to others to savour of a good spi-
rit. They fall into the practice of allowing themselves too great
liberties in indulging their sensual appetites, in the gratifica-
tion of covetousness and pride, in strife, backbiting, and a vio-
lent pursuit after the world. They slide into those corrupt
frames and evil ways commonly by means of their first giving
way to a slothful spirit. They are not so diligent and earnest
in religion as they once were; but indulge their slothful dispo-
sition, and discontinue their watch, and so lie open to tempta-
tion. Thus ill frames imperceptibly creep upon them, and they
insensibly more and more fall into sinful practices. So it was
with David. Their sin, into which they fall in consequence of
this degenerate and sinful state of the affections and the life, is
the occasion of a great deal of darkness. God withdraws his
spirit from them, their light goes out, and the evidences of their
piety grow dim and obscure. They seem to be in a great mea-
sure as they were before they were converted, and they have no
sensible communion with God. Thus sin is the occasion of trou-
ble and darkness to the Christian.
4. When it is thus with Christians, their trouble is common-
ly greatly increased a little before the renewal of hope and
comfort. When sin prevails, as has been said in the hearts of
Christians, they are not wont to be easy and quiet like secure
sinners. There is commonly more or less of an inward strug-
gling and uneasiness. Grace in the heart, though it be dread-
fully oppressed, and, as it were, overwhelmed, yet will be re-
sisting its enemy and struggling for liberty. So that it is not
with Christians in their ill frames, and under the prevalence of
corruption, altogether as it is with carnal, wicked men, who are
secure. And there is this good reason for it, that the former have
a principle of spiritual life in their souls, which the latter have
not. Yet Christians in their ill frames may fall into a great
deal of security and senselessness ; for sin is of a stupify ing nature,
and wherever it prevails, will have more or less of that effect.
When they fall into a sinful, worldly, proud or contentious
frame, they are wont to have a great degree of senselessness
and stupidity with it. And especially when they fall into gross
sins, has it atendency greatly to stupify the soul. It obviously
had this effect on David. He seems to have been strangely
stupified, when Nathan came to him with the parable of the
rich man, who injuriously took the poor man's ewe lamb from
him. He was enraged with the man in the parable, but did
SERiMO.X III. 85
not seorii to reflect on himself, ortliink how parallel his case
was with his. And while they are thus senseless, their trouble
is not so g:reat ; and if they feel the weight of sin, it is not so
burdensome to them. But God is wont, before he renews com-
fort and hope to them, to bring them into greater trouble. As
a sinner before his first comfort in his conversion is brought into
trouble, so it is wont to be with the saints after their backslid-
ings and decays, before renewed hope and comfort is granted.
There is a work of awakening wrought upon them. AVhile
they remain in their corrupt frames, they are, as it were, asleep.
They are like the ten foohsh virgins who slumbered and slept ;
and, as persons who are asleep, they are unconscious, not sensi-
ble, where they are, nor what are their circumstances. There-
fore, when God is coming and returning to them by his Spirit,
commonly his first work uj)on them is a work of awakening, to
wake them out of sleep, and rouse them to some sensibility, to
make them sensible of the great folly of their w^ays, and how
they have displeased and offended God, and what mischief they
have done. Thus God leads them into the wilderness, and
brings them into the valley of Achor, or trouble. Then they
are in greater trouble than they were before, and have more
sensible darkness, and more distress abundantly. But yet it is
really much better with them now, than before they began to
come to themselves. Their circumstances are much more eli-
gible and more hopefid, though sometimes they are in distress
almost insupportable. And a little before God renews light and
comfort, they have a very great sense of God's anger, and his
wrath lies heavy upon them. So it seems to have been with
David a little before the restoration of spiritual comfort to him,
which made him speak of the bones which God had broken,
when he was praying for the renewal of comfort. Psalms li. 8.
" 3Iake me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou
hast broken may rejoice." And probably he has respect to the
same thing in Psalm xxxviii. which he calls his psalm to bring
to remembrance. Verses 2, 3, 4. " Thine arrows stick fast in
me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in
my flesh, because of thine anger ; neither is there any rest in
my bones, because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone
over mine head ; as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me."
And often when God is about to bring them to themselves, and
to restore comfort to them, he first brings them into some very
great and sore temporal calamity and trouble, and awakens them
by that, and in this fir=t brings them into the wilderness before
he speaks comfortably to them. Job xxxiii. 16, &,c. " Then
he opcneth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that
he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from
VOL. VIII. 12
86 SERMON 111.
man. He keejoeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from
perishing by the svvoid. He is chastened also with pain upon
his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain ; so
that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat. His
flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen ; and his bones,
that were not seen, stick out. Yea, his soul draweth near unto
the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messen-
ger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew
unto man his uprightness, then he is gracious unto him, and'
saith, deliver him from going down to the pit ; I have found a
ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's; he shall re-
turn to the days of his youth. He shall pray unto God, and
he shall be favourable unto him, and he shall see his face with
joy; for he will render unto man his righteousness. He look-
eth upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted
that which was right, and it profited me not, he will deliver his
soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo,
all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back
his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the
living." Thus those who are very weak in grace sometimes
meet with great and sore trouble, both of body and mind, which is
an occasion of a new work, as it were, of grace upon their
hearts ; so that they are more eminent saints afterwards, and
have much more comfort.
3. When the saints are in darkness, their darkness' is not per-
petual, but God will restore hope and comfort to them again.
When one of Christ's sheep wanders away, and gets into the
wilderness, Christ, the good Shepherd, will not leave him in the
wilderness, but will seek him, and will lay him on his shoulders,
and bring him home again. We cannot tell how long God may
leave his saints in the dark, but yet surely their darkness shall
not last for ever ; for light is sown to the righteous, and glad-
ness to the upright in heart. Psalms xcvii. 11. God, in the
covenant of grace in which they have an interest, has promised
them joy and comfort ; he has promised them everlasting joy.
Isaiah Ixi. 7. Satan may be suffered for a time to bring them
into darkness, but they shall be brought out again. God may
be provoked to hide his face from them for a time; and if it
seems long, yet it is indeed but a little time. Isaiah liv. 7, 8.
*' For a small moment have I forsaken thee ; but with great
mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from
thee for a moment ; but with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee." Psalms xxx. 5. " Weeping may endure for
a night, but joy cometh in the morning."
5. Hope and comfort are renewed to them on the slaying of
the troubler. All sin is truly mortified in conversion, or has its
SERMON III. 87
death-wounds then. And all the exercises of it afterwards are in
some respects, as the eflbrts and strugglings of a dying enemy.
But yet all life is not actually extinct, and therefore it needs to be
farther mortified, to receive more deadly wounds. Sin is slain in
the godly after trouble and darkness, and before the renewing of
comfort in these three ways.
1 . It is slain as to former degrees of it. All remains of corrup-
tion are not extirpated. Sin does not cease to be in the heart ;
but it ceases to be anj^ more in such strength as it has been ; it
ceases to have that prevalence.
2. It is slain as to former ways of exercise. The former ways
of sin are forsaken. They are farther afterwards from such ways
of sin than ever before. Tiie heart is fortified against them. Thus
if a godly man has been in away of contention and strife, when he
comes to himself again, he slays his contention ; he kills sin as to
that way of exercising it. Or if it be some way of sensuality,
when he comes to himself, he will slay his sensuality, and cast it
out from him.
3. It is totally and perfectly slain in his will and inclination.
There is that renewed opposition made against it, which implies
a mortal inclination and design against it. What the saint seeks
when becomes to himself after a time of great declension, is to be
the death of sin, which has been so prevalent in him, and perfectly
to extirpate it. He acts in what he does as a mortal enemy ; and
if he does not perfectly destroy it at one blow, it is not for want
of inclination, but for want of strength. The godly man does not
deal mercifully and tenderly with sin, but as far as in him lies, he
deals with it as the children of Israel dealt with Achan, as it were,
stones it with stones, and burns it with fire with all which belongs
to it. They do not at all spare it, as wicked men do ; they aim
at the very life, and nothing short of it. The saints' slaying the
troubler after great backslidings and ill frames, implies the follow-
ing things.
1. There is a conviction of the evil of their sin. They are
brought to consideration. They think on their ways before they
turn their feet. Psal. cxix. 59. They consider how they have be-
haved themselves, how unworthil^^, how unfaithful they have been
to their profession, how ungratefully, and disagreeably to the mer-
cies they have received. They consider how they have provoked
God, and have deserved his wrath. They find the troubler led
them to see a great deal more of the sinfulness and corruption of
their hearts commonly than before. In this respect the work of
God with saints after great declinings is agreeable to his work in
the heart of a natural man in order to his conversion.
2. There is a gracious humiliation of soul before God for it.
The gracious soul, when convinced of sin after great declensions.
Sa SERMON I If.
and recovered ont of them, is deeply humbled ; for it is brought to
the dust before God. There is an evangelical repentance ; the
heart is broken for sin. That sacrifice is offered to God, which
David offered rather than burntofferings after his great fall. Psalms
li. 16, 17. " For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give
it; thou delightest not in burnt-offering. The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit ; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou
wilt not despise." They are brought as Job was, after he had
sinned, in complaining of God's dealings with him, to abhor them-
selves. Job xlii. 6. And they are in a meeker frame, as the Chris-
tian Corinthians were, after they had greatly gone out of the way,
and had been reproved by the apostle Paul. 2 Cor. vii. 11. "For
behold this self-same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort,
what carefulness it wrought in you,yea what clearing of yourselves,
yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what vehement desire, yea
what zeal, yea what revenge," They were filled with sorrow, and
with a kind of indignation, zeal, and spirit of revenge against them-
selves for their folly, and so ungratefully treating God. When
Christians are convinced of their sin after remarkable miscarri-
ages and ill frames, they are commonly convinced of many of the
same things of which they were convinced under their first humi-
liation, but to a greater degree than ever before. They are brought
to a new conviction, and a greater conviction than ever before of
their own emptiness, and to be sensible what poor, feeble, helpless
creatures, and what sinful, vile, utterly unworthy creatures they
are, how undeserving they are of any mercy, and how much they
deserve God's -wrath. And this conviction works by a gracious
humbling of the soul. The grace of humility is greatly increased
by it, and very commonly they are more poor in spirit, and lowly
of heart during all their future life. They see more what cause
there is for them to lay their liands on their mouths, and to walk
humbly with God, and lie low before him.
3. There is a renewed application to Christ as a Saviour from sin.
There is a renewed act of reliance on him for justification, of
faith in his blood to cleanse them, and of trust in his righteousness
to cover their nakedness and filthiness. And Christ as a Saviour
becomes more precious to them. As they have a greater sense
of their own emptiness and vileness, so they have a more entire de-
pendence on Christ's fulness.
4. The heart is farther separated from those ways of sin,
and more confirmed against them than ever. After it they
commonly have a greater dread of it, and greater abhorrence,
look upon it more as an enemy, and remember what they have
suffered from it; and their hearts are more confirmed against
it than ever. They have stronger resolutions to avoid all
which savors of the like, and all which might lead to it.
SERMON III. 89'
Therefore this is mentioned among the effects of the repent-
ance of the Corinthians after their going astray. " What care-
fuhiess it wrought in you, yea what clearing of yourselves, yea
what fear, yea what earnest desire." There was a more than
ordinary fear and dread of the like sin for the future, and more
carefulness to shun it, and a more earnest desire of the contrary.
The work of God in the heart of a saint after declension often-
times in many respects resemhles the work of God in a sinner
at his conversion ; though it is not in all respects like it, because
of the great difference in the subject. When the troubler
comes to be thus slain after times of trouble and darkness in the
godly, then God is wont to open a door of hope. The dark-
ness, which has covered them, which was greatest a little be-
fore, is now scattered, and light arises. It may be before there
liad been a long night of clouds and darkness. But now the
clouds begin to scatter, and the sweet refreshing beams begin
to break fortli, and come down into the heart. The soul, which
has been wounded, is now healed. God pours in the oil of
comfort.; The renewed sense, which is given, of Christ's fulness
and sufficiency gives new life and hope and joy. The troubler
being slain, God now grants renewed discoveries of his glory,
and renewed manifestations of his grace; and the soul, which
was before in darkness, is now entertained with sweet views.
And now that hope, which was so weakened, and was almost
ready to fail, is revived, and greatly confirmed. Now the soul
is enabled to take comfort in the promises. Now the saint sees
evidences of his own good estate by the renewed manifesta-
tions, which God makes of himself, and renewed exercises of
grace. Before the soul was greatly exercised with doubts and
fears and dark clouds ; and much time was spent in reviewing
past experiences, and looking over and examining those things,
which were formerly regarded as evidences of piety ; and all in
vain. They pored on past experiences, but to no satisfaction.
And the reason was, the troubler was not slain, but still re-
mained alive. But now God gives them new light, and new
experiences, which in a few moments do more towards scatter-
ing their clouds, and removing their fears, than all their poring
on past experiences could do for months, and probably for
years. Before their hearts seemed in a great measure dead as
to spiritual exercises. But now there is, as it were, new life.
Now when they read the scripture, and when they hear the
word preached, it is vvith a savour and relish of it. Now they
can find God in his word and ordinances. Now Christ comes
to them, and manifests himself to them, and they are admitted
again to communion with God. When Christians have com-
fort and hope thus renewed, their comforts are commonly purer
90 SERMON III.
than ever. Their joys are more humble joys, freer from any
mixture and taint of self-righteousness than before.
Having thus shown that God is wont to cause hope and com-
fort to arise to the soul after trouble and humbling for sin, and
upon slaying the troubler, both at first conversion and after-
wards, after sad declinings, I would now give the reasons of the
doctrine.
1. I would show why God is wont to give comfort after trou-
ble and humbling for sin ; or why he is wont to bring the soul
into the wilderness before he speaks comfortably to it, and leads
it into the valley of Achor, before he opens a door of hope.
1. It is that the soul may be prepared for a confiding applica
tion of itself to Christ for comfort. It is the will of God that men
should have true hope and comfort conferred upon them in no
other way, than by Jesus Christ. It is only by him that sinners
have comfort at their conversion; and it is by him only, that
the saints have renewed hope and comfort after their declen-
sions. And therefore the way to obtain this comfort is to look
to him ; to fly for refuge to him. And in order to this, persons
have need to be brought to a sense of their necessity of him.
And that they may be so, it is needful that they should be sen-
sible of their calamity and misery, that they should be in trouble,
and be brought to see their utter helplessness in themselves.
And not only natural men, but Christians also, who are fallen
into sin, and are in a dead and senseless frame, need something
to make them more sensible of their necessity of Christ. In-
deed the best are not so sensible of their need of Christ but
that they need to be made more sensible; but especially those
who are in ill and dead frames and a declining state, need
trouble and humbling to make them sensible of their need of
Christ, and to prepare their minds for a renewed confiding ap-
plication to Christ as their only remedy. The godly in such a
case are sick with a sore disease, and Christ is the only Physi-
cian, who can heal them, and they need to be sensible of their
disease, that they may see their need of a physician. They, as
well as natural men, need to be in a storm and tempest to make
them sensible of their need to fly to him who is a hiding-place
from the wind, and a covert from the tempest. A Christian,
who wanders away from God, is like Noah's dove, which flew
from the ark. She flew about till weary and spent, seeking
rest somewhere else, but found no rest for the sole of her foot,
and then she returned to the ark. So it is needful that the
soul of a godly man, who wanders from Christ, should become
weary, and find no rest for the sole of his foot, that so he may
see his need of returning to Christ. Therefore it is said con-
cerning the children of Israel in Hosea ii. G. "Therefore be-
SERMON III. 91
hold I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall that
she shall not find her paths." And in our context, " She shall
follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them ; and
she shall seek them, but shall not find them. Then shall she
say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it
better with me, than now." When gracious souls wander from
Christ, their husband, following after other lovers, God is wont
to bring them into trouble and distress, and make them see,
that their other lovers cannot help them, that so they may see,
that it is best for them to return to their first husband.
2. Another end of God in it is, that comfort and hope may be
the more prized, when obtained. We see in temporal things,
that the worth and value of any enjoyment is learned by the
want of it. He who is sick, knows the worth of health. He,
who is in pain, knows how to prize ease. He, who is in a storm
at sea, knows how to prize safety on shore. And people, who
are subject to the grievances of war, know how to value peace.
He, who endures the hardships of captivity and slavery, is
thereby taught how to value liberty. And so it is in spiritual
things. He, who is brought to see his misery in being without
hope, is prepared to prize hope when obtained. He, who is
brought into distress through fear of hell and God's wrath, is
the more prepared to prize the comfort, which arises from the
manifestation of the favour of God, and a sense of safety from
hell. He, who is brought to see his utter emptiness and ex-
treme poverty and necessity, and his perishing condition on that
account, is thoroughly prepared to prize and rejoice in the
manifestation of a fulness in Christ. And those godly per-
sons, wlware fallen into corrupt and senseless frames, greatly
stand in need of something to make them more sensible of their
want of spiritual comfort and hope. Their living as they do
shows that they have too little sense of the worth and value of
that comfort, and those inestimable spiritual and saving bless-
ings, which God has bestowed upon them ; otherwise they never
woidd deal so ungratefully with God, who has bestowed them.
If they did nf)t greatly err in slighting spiritual comfort, as the
children of Israel did manna, their hearts would never, to such
a degree, have gone out after vanity, and earthly enjoyments
and carnal deliglits. They need to be brought into trouble and
darkness to make them sensible of the worth of hope and com-
fort, and to teach them to prize it. They need to be brought into
the wilderness, and left for a time to wander and sufler hunger
and thirst in a barren desert to teach them how to prize their
vineyards. A sense of the pardon of sin, and the favour of
God, and a hope of eternal life, do not afford comfort and joy
to the soul any farther than they are valued and prized. So
92 SERMON III.
that the trouble and daikiiess, which go before comfort, serve to
render the joy and comfort the greater when obtained, and so
are in mercy to those, for whom God intends comfort.
3. It is so ordered that divine power and grace may be acknow-
ledged in giving hope and comfort. There is naturally in men
an exceeding insensibility of their dependence on God, and a
great disposition to ascribe those things which they enjoy to
themselves, or to second causes. This disposition reigns in na-
tural men. They are wholly under the power of it. Therefore
they need to be taught their own helplessness, and utter insuffi-
ciency, and utter unworthiness. Otherwise, if hope and com-
fort should be bestowed upon them, they would surely ascribe
all to themselves, or the creature, and so would be lifted up by
it, and would not give God the glory. Therefore it is God's
manner first to humble sinners before he comforts them. And
all this self-confident disposition is not extirpated out of the
hearts of the godly, and es|>ecially when they get into ill frames
does it prevail. And it is very requisite, that before any re-
markable comfort is bestowed upon them, they should be the
subjects of renewed humbling. They need renewedly to see
what helpless creatures they are, that so, when light is bestow-
ed, they may be sensible how it is owing to God, and not to
themselves, or any other ; and that they may, by their troubles
and humblings, be prepared the more to admire God's power
and mercy and free and rich grace to them. While men are
continued in fulness in a fruitful land, they will not learn their
own helplessness ; and therefore God will cast them out of this
fulness into a wilderness. This is plainly intimated to be the
reason of God's so dealing with the children of Israel, as is
said in the text. The church of Israel, before God thus led
her into the wilderness, did not ascribe her comforts to God, as
in the eighth verse. " For she did not know that I gave her
corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold."
But they ascribed them to her idols. Verse fifth. " For she said,
I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my wa-
ter, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink." And verse
twelfth. "These are my rewards, that my lovers have given
me." For this reason it is that God takes away those things,
as in verse ninth. " Therefore will I return and take away my
corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof,
and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her naked-
ness." And verses 11, 12. *' I will also cause all her mirth to
cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and
all her solemn feasts. And I will destroy her vines and her fig-
trees, whereof she hath said, these are my rewards that my
lovers have given me ; and I will make them a forest, and the
SERMON III. 93
beasts of the field shall eat them." God took them away', and
turned her vineyards into a. forest, and made her sensible that
they were from him ; and then he restored them again. For
these reasons God is wont to bring souls into trouble, and to
humble them for sin before he comforts them. I proceed,
2. To give the reasons why hope and comfort are not obtained
till sin, which is the troubler, is slain.
1. While sin is harboured and preserved alive, it tends to provoke
God to frown and. express his anger. Sin is God's mortal enemy.
It is that which his soul infinitely hates, and to which he is an irre-
concileable enemy. And therefore if we harbour this, and suffer it
to live in our hearts, and to govern our practice, we can expect
no other than that it will provoke God's frowns. Spiritual com-
fort consists in the manifestation of God's favour, and in friendly
communion with God. But how can we expect this at the same
time that we harbour his mortal enemy? We see what God said
to Joshua, while Achan was alive. Joshua vii. 12. " Neither
will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed thing
from among you."
2. The natural tendency of sin is to darken the mind, and
trouble the conscience. There is nothing which wounds a well
informed conscience but sin. Sin is the enemy of grace, and
therefore the natural tendency of it is to oppose and keep down
the exercises of grace, and so to extinguish spiritual comfort; for
spiritual comfort comes in no other way than by the exercise of
grace. That which prevents the exercises of grace darkens the
evidences of a man's good estate. For there are no evidences of
this but the exercises of grace. Sin does as much tend to keep
out spiritual comfort, as clouds tend to hide the light of the sun.
And therefore it is necessary that this should be removed in order
to our receiving light and comfort. It is impossible in its own
nature that any should have spiritual light and comfort before sin
is mortified. If sinners had comfort while sin is in reigning power,
it could not be spiritual comfort; for spiritual comfort is the same
with gracious comfort. But how can there be gracious comfort
where grace has no place ? But if there be grace, sin will not be
in reigning power ; for the nature of grace is to mortify sin. And
as there can be no spiritual comfort without a degree of mortifica-
tion of sin in those in whom sin is mortified, spiritual comfort can-
not be any more than in proportion as sin is mortified.
3. A hope of eternal life, if given before the slaying of sin,
would be misimproved and abused. If it were possible that a
sinner could obtain a title to eternal life before sin was mortified,
and so could have his own safety and God's favour manifested to
him, he would only improve it to encourage and embolden him-
self in sin. Hope, if they had it then, would have a pernicious
VOL. VIII. 13
94 iSERMO^ III.
influence and tendency. Till sin is slain, ihey stand in need of
fear to restrain sin. If fear were once gone before sin is slain,
they would soon run into all manner of vviekedness, and without
restraint. And so Christians themselves, while they are in corrupt
frames, stand in need of fear to restrain sin ; for at such times love
is in a great degree dormant. It is of necessity that persons
should have some principle or other to restrain them from sin.
But there is no principle which can be effectual to restrain men
from sin any farther than it is in exercise. If love is not in exer-
cise it will not restrain men. So that at such times the saints need
fear. And theretbre God has wisely ordered it, that at such times
their evidences should be darkened, and their liopes clouded, that
they may have fear, when love is not awake, to restrain them.
The godly themselves, if their hope were all alive at those times
when they are in carnal and thoughtless frames, and grace is
asleep, would be in great danger to abuse their hope, and take
encouragement from it to indulge their lusts, or at least, to be the
less careful to restrain and resist them. For we see that in such
frames, though their hopes are clouded, and they have a consi-
derable degree of fear, yet they are careless and negligent. But
how much more so would they be, if they had no fear to restrain
them!
APPLICATION.
I. Use of instruction.
1. Hence we may observe the wonderful wisdom of God in his
dealings with the souls of men. When we consider what has been
said, with the reasons of it, we may see just cause to admire the
divine wisdom in his ordinary dealings with respect to those for
whom he intends comfort. His wisdom is admirable in his deal-
ings with natural men in fitting and preparing them for comfort,
in bringing them into such troubles and distress, and hedging up
their way with thorns, as it is expressed in the context, and leaving
them in their distress to follow after their lovers, their idols, with-
out being able to overtake them ; in taking away their vineyards,
and all those things in which they trusted, and making them a
forest ; and so showing them what poor destitute, helpless crea-
tures they are, before he gives them comfort. And so we may well
admire the divine wisdom in his method of dealing with his saints,
who decline and fall into sin, or get into corrupt frames and ill
ways. God knows how to order things concerning them ; and
there is a marvellous wisdom observable in his manner of dealing
with them in such cases. We may well admire how wisely God
orders things in what has been said, for his own glory, to secure
the glory due to his power and free grace, and to bring men to a
sense of their dependence on him, and to ascribe all to him. And
how he orders things for the glory of his Son, that he n)ay have
all the glory of the salration of men, who is worthy of it, in that
SERMON III. 95
he laid down his life for their salvation. And also how wisely God
orders things for tlie good of his own elect people, how he brings
good out of evil, and light out of darkness. How wisely he con-
sults their good and comfort in those things, which appear to them
to be most against them. How he wisely prepares them for good,
and makes way for their receiving comfort, and for its being the
more sweet, the more prized and delighted in, when it is obtained.
And oftentimes in bringing about this in those things, which they
think at the time to be signs of God's hatred. And how wisely
God orders things for preventing men's abusing a sense of their
own safety, to giving the reins to their lusts. It is ordered so, that
at those times when sin prevails, and there would be danger of
this, the evidences of their safety are hid from their eyes, and the
fear of hell comes on to keep them in awe ; and that hope and
comfort should be given only at such times, and in such manner
that they should have influence to draw men off from sin, and to
prompt them to diligence in duty and the service of God ; and
that when it would have most of this tendency, then they should
have most of it. When we consider these things, we may well
cry out with the apostle, " O the depth both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, and his
ways past finding out."
2. Hence we may learn, that souls, who are in darkness, and
as it were, in a wilderness, have no cause to be discouraged. For
by the doctrine we learn that this is the way often, in order to
hope and comfort. Persons are very often ready to be discourag-
ed by this. God seems to frown. They liave a sense of his an-
ger. They cry to him, and he does not seem to hear their prayers.
They have been striving for relief, but it seems to be to no pur-
pose. They are in such circumstances, that every thing looks
dark ; every thing seems to be against them. They are lost in a
wilderness ; they cannot find the way out. They have gone round
and round, and returned again to the same place. They know
not which way to turn themselves, or what to do. Their hearts
are ready to sink. But you ma}' gather encouragement from this
doctrine ; tor by it you may learn that you have no cause to de-
spair. For it is frequently God's manner to bring persons into
such circumstances, in order to prepare them for hope and com-
fort. The children of Israel were ready to be discouraged at the
Red Sea, when they saw Pharaoh and his hosts pursuing them.
But it was only to prepare them for the greater joy after their de-
liverance. Joshua and the hosts of Israel were ready to be dis-
couraged when they were smitten at Ai. as you may see in Joshua
vii. 5, &.C. So that you, who are in the wilderness, may take en-
couragement from hence, still earnestly to seek God, and hope
/or light and comfort in his time.
96 SERMON III.
H. Use of self-examination. By this persons may try their
hopes and comforts, ^whether they are of the right kind. If they
are such as have arisen after the manner, as is spoken of in the
doctrine; if it is a hope which you found in the valley of Achor,
in the sense which has been explained, it is a sign that it is a hope,
which God has given you, and so a hope which you are not to cast
away ; but which you are to retain, and rejoice in, and bless God
for it. Therefore particularly inquire concerning your hopes and
comforts, whether they have arisen in your souls when humbled
for sin, and in the slaying of sin.
1. Inquire whether your hopes and comforts have been given
you upon your soul's being humbled for sin. You may try this by
three things.
1. Whether you have seen what a miserable, helpless creature
you were. When your hopes and comforts have arisen in your
heart, has it been upon your soul's receiving such a sight of your-
self; or has your hope been accompanied with such a sense of
soul ? When hope was given at first, was it implanted in a heart
thus prepared ? And when you have had remarkable comfort
and joy from time to time, has your joy been accompanied with
such a sense and frame of mind? At the same time that you have
had a strong hope of God's favour, and that Christ was yours,
have you been nothing in your own eyes ; have you at such times
appeared to yourself to be a poor, little, helpless, unworthy creature,
deserving nothing at the hands of God ? And do not only inquire
whether in your own apprehension you had some such sight of
yourself at first, before your first comfort. If you ever bad a right
understanding of yourself, of your own heart, and your own state,
you will never wholly lose it. it will revive from lime to time. If
you had it when you received your first comfort, the same sense will
come again ; when your comforts are revived, this will revive with
them. If the first joy was granted to a heart thus prepared, there
will from time to time be a sense of your own emptiness and
worthlessness, arising with your joys and comforts. It will be with
a deep sense of what a poor, miserable, and exceedingly sinful
creature you are. True comfort is wont to come in such a man-
ner. There is usually a self-emptying, a soul-abasing, sense of
heart accompanying it. So that at the same time that God lifts
up the soul with comfort, and joy, and inward sweetness, he casts
it down with abasement. Evangelical and gracious humiliation
and spiritual comfort are companions, which go one with the
other, and keep company together. When one comes, the other
is wont to come with it. It is not wont to be so with false com-
forts and joys. But pride and self-fulness are wont to be the com-
panions of false comfort. Indeed, there may be a counterfeit
abasement going with it. But if you examine it, you will find,
SERMON III. 97
that that very seeming abasement or humiliation lifts the man up,
and fills him full of himself. The hypocrite in the times of his
greatest joy, and most confident hopes, looks large in himself.
His thoughts are very busily employed about his own excellencies,
how holy he is, how eminent a saint he is, how much better he is,
than most of his neighbours, how there are few equal to him ; and
therefore how it must be that God loves him better, than most
others ; how much God distinguishes him, how much he expe-
riences, and how good he is, and what delight he takes in them
on that account.
But true spiritual comfort works in another way. Gracious joy
and poverty of spirit go hand in hand, and rejoice, as it were, in
each other's company. The godly may at some times have com-
forts and joys, which do not accompany such abasement. They
may be lifted up with joy and conceit of, and confidence in, them-
selves at the same time. But those joys are not spiritual, they
are hypocritical, joys. Such comforts are not from the spirit of
God. A godly man may have false joys. He is liable to this ex-
ercise of corruption, as well as others. And there may be a mix-
ture of one with the other, or false joy and pride may take occa-
sion from true ones, afterwards to appear. But a gracious joy is
linked together with poverty of spirit, and never forsakes it. And
hence,
2. You may try this by examining what your hopes and com-
forts are built upon ; whether on Christ only, or on your own
righteousness. If you would know of what kind your comforts
are, follow them up to the fountain, and see what is their source
and spring. If you would know of what kind your hope is, exa-
mine the bottom of it, and see upon what foundation it stands. If
your hope is that which has been given in the valley of Achor,
your own righteousness is not the foundation of it. Inquire there-
fore what it is, which gives you ease with respect to your past
sins, what it is which quiets your conscience about them. Is it any
sense you have of the free and sovereign and infinite grace and
mercy of God in Christ? Is it what you have seen in Christ, or
the gospel of his grace, which has lightened your burden with re-
spect to your sins ? Or is it that now you think with yourself that
you have done such and such things, or have met with such things,
have such workings of aft'ection towards God, that you are be-
come lovely in his sight, so that he, seeing what holy afiections
and experiences your heart has been filled with, and what disco-
veries you have had, he is on that account reconciled to you, and
you are become lovely in hi^ eyes ? What makes you hope that
you are in favour with God ? Is it because you conceive of God
as looking down from heaven upon your heart, on your gracious
experiences, and so being as it were, taken with, and receiving
98 SERMON III.
you into his favour on account of that ? Or is your hope of God's
favour built on a sense, which you have of Christ's worthiness, and
the saving mercy of God in him, and hisfaitlifuhiess to the promi-
ses, which he has made through him ?
3. Inquire concerning the effect of your comforts, whether they
cause an ardent disposition and desire to exalt God, and to lie
low before him. True comforts and joys, which are from the spirit
of God, and are well founded, are wont to work after this manner.
They excite an inward intense desire, that God may be exalted,
and to lie in the dust. Such a one as the Psalmist seems to have
had, when he says. Psalms cxv. 1, " Not unto us, not unto us, but
unto thy name give glory." The repeating of the expression
seems to show how ardent his heart was. When God is pleased
to lift up the light of his countenance upon the soul, and to impart
inward sweetness from a manifestation of his glory, there is wont
to be an inward longing to be in the dust. At such times the
Christian sees how it becomes him to be humble, and how worthy
God and Christ are of all the glory, more than he does at other
times. He perceives and laments that he cannot bow enough;
that he is not abased as low before God as becomes such a sinner
as himself. Hence arises an intense desire after self-abasement;
and the soul breathes and pants after humiliation before God.
2. Inquire whether your hope and comfort are such as have
arisen on the slaying of sin. If your hope is that, which you ob-
tained before this, you obtained it too soon, and had better be without
it, than with it. It is not sufficient evidence of your hope, that it was
given after milch trouble and great terrors, or great relentings of
heart for sin, and bewailing that you had done so wickedly, or that
it was after reformations, and abstaining from former ways of sin,
and a total reformation of some particular evil practices. But if
it be a true hope, it was given after the slaying of sin. And in
order the better to determine this point, let the following inquiries
be made.
1. Whether your hope has been accompanied with a heart and
a life turned from sin.^ Or is there no remarkable difference in
this respect now from what there was before ^ We all own con-
version to be a great change ; and we have all been sufficiently
taught, that the change consists in this; in turning from sin to
God. Therefore there must be a great change in this respect. Is
there a great change in this respect in you? I do not inquire
whether there be a great change in you in respect to hope and
comfort; that whereas formerly you did not suppose yourself to be
in Christ, and had no hope of it, now you have hope, and a con-
fident hope, which oftentimes is an occasion of new and peculiar
joy and elevation of spirit. There may be a great change in you
in this respect, and yet you may remain in a Christless state. But
SERMON III. 99
is there a great change with respect to the turning of your heart
from sin, and against sin? You may reply to this, "I see still
abundance of corruption and wickedness in my heart; and so far
is it from being delivered from corruption, that I seem at times
to discover more than ever. But whether you see more or less
corruption in your heart, is your heart turned against that cor-
ruption which you see ? Is there a great difference in you in this
respect from what there used to be with respect to your being
turned against your own sin, and finding within yourself a nature
opposite to it, a nature to resist it, to carry it as an uneasy burden i*
And is your heart turned against yourself for it, in abhorrence of
yourself, and in indignation against yourself? And is your will
turned from sin, that though you find a great deal of corruption in
your heart, yet you do not allow it, you keep a strict watch upon it,
and will not let it walk at liberty to appear in your life and con-
versation ? Is there no lust harboured, which, is prevalent in you,
and which is neglected and suffered to range and to walk on every
side? Is there no sin wittingly tolerated? Do you aim strictly
to keep all God's commandments; and is that your actual care
and watch, that you may avoid every evil, and every false way ?
and that you may in all things, so far as in you lies, please and
honour God ? And do you find that this is the tendency of your
hope ; that your hope has a sanctifying influence upon you, that it
turns you against sin, and stirs you up to seek after purity from
sin? With respect to most who are here present, who entertain
hope, there has been much opportunity for experience in this mat-
ter, since you have had your hope, so that one would think by an
impartial and strict examination you might be able to answer these
inquiries.
2. Those of you, who have obtained your hope again after
special and remarkable departings from God, should inquire in
what manner hopehasbeen restored. Indeed hypocrites are not
so apt to have their hope abated by such things, as those who have
a true hope. An hypocrite's hopes and false comforts will subsist,
and it may be, continue as lively as ever under such great sins,
and such a course of ill practices, as if a godly man should fall into
them, would bring him into exceeding darkness. Some hypocrites
will live in very immoral ways, and yet keep up their confidence,
seem not to have their hope much shaken, and boast of as much
comfort and joy at such times as at any other. But this is not the
manner of a true comfort. A true comfort, which flows from the
exercise and the breathings of the spirit of God in the heart, must,
of necessity at such times, be exceedingly suppressed; and com-
monly great trouble and darkness is the effect. But if it has not
been altogether thus with you, but you have found that at times
when you have greatly sinned and gone on in ill practices, your hope
100 SERMON III.
has decayed, and in the time of it your conscience told you that the
way in which you lived was contrary to known rules, and so was
in doubt about your hope ; but since that you have grow n strong
again in your hope, inquire in what manner you have obtained
your hope again. Unsound professors in such cases are not
wont to obtain hope again in the same manner as the truly godly
do in a deep humbling for sin and in slaying the troubler as has
been described. But it may be only this, that now they do bet-
ter than they did, and so hope comes again. If they lived in a
way of some vile sensuality for a time, and afterwards cease to do
so, they look on their reformation as an atonement ; and so their
hope is renewed without any humbling or abasement, without any
special convictions of the evil of their ways, any special repent-
ance, or renewed sense of their own vileness, or any renewed fly-
ing to the mercy of God in Christ for refuge, or any further
alienation of their hearts from those evil ways, in which they have
walked. If your comforts and confidence have been renewed after
remarkable aberrations from the way of duty without something of
this nature, it is to be feared that you make your own righteous-
ness the ground of your hope and comfort.
3. Inquire, whether at those times, when you have most hope
and comfort, above all others, you are most disposed to be careful
to avoid sin, and to strive to live holy. Sometimes the hope of
hypocrites is very confident ; and therefore the degree of confi-
dence, which attends a hope is no certain evidence of its truth and
genuineness. But we should examine what effect this strong con-
fidence has upon us. Do we find, when our hope is strongest and
our comfort greatest, that then our hearts are most set against sin,
and that then we feel the greatest desires to live holy, and have
most of a disposition to keep a strict watch, and maintain an earn-
est warfare against sin, and are most desirous in every thing to do
our duty ? Or do we find, on the contrary, when our hope is strong
and we are most satisfied thafour condition is safe, that then we are
least careful to avoid sin, and are least disposed to lake pains to
curb our lusts, and resist temptation, or lay ourselves in the way
of duty? If it be thus, it is a very bad sign, and a black mark on
our hopes and comforts. A true hope has a tendency to prompt
him, who has it to purify himself, and watch and strive more earn-
estly against all impurity. 1 John iii. 3. " He that hath this hope
in him purifieth himself." They are condemned who, because they
think they are righteous, and so that they shall certainly haveeter- ,
nal life, will trust in that hope to give themselves the greater li-
berty in sin. Ezekiel xxxiii. 13. " When I shall say to the
righteous, that he shall surely live ; if he trust to his own righteous-
ness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be re-
SERMON III. 101
membered ; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall
die."
III. Use of direction. If it be so, that God is wont to cause
hope and comfort to arise after trouble and humbling for sin, and
upon slaying the troubler, this may be of direction to souls under
spiritual trouble and darkness, what course to pursue for hope and
comfort.
1. Thorough!}' to renounce and forsake all ways of sinful be-
haviour. For you have heard that hope and comfort are never to
be expected, till sin is slain or forsaken. He who is not thorough
in his reformation, cannot reasonably hope for comfort, how much
soever he may abound in some particular duties. Persons who
are under awakenings, and would seek a true hope of salvation,
should in the first place see, that they thoroughly renounce every
wicked practice. They should search their ways and consider
what is wrong in them : wliat duties they have omitted, which
ought to have been done ; and what practices they have allowed,
which ought to be forsaken : and should immediately reform, re-
taining no one way of sin, den^^ing all ungodliness, omitting no-
thing which is required ; and should see that they persevere in it,
that it be not merely a temporary short-lived restraint, but an ever-
lasting renunciation. This is the way to have the troubler slain.
2. Earnestly to seek humiliation. To that end they should la-
bour to be convinced of sin. They should be much engaged in
searching their own hearts, and keeping a watchful eye upon
them. They should not rest in their own efforts, but earnestly
seek to God to give them a right sight of themselves, and a right
conviction of sin, and show them that they have deserved God's
everlasting wrath. And in order to this they should carefully
watch against backsliding; for backsliding prevents humiliation.
If there has been anj' progress made by the conviction of God's
spirit towards it, it is all lost by backsliding. This again blinds
and stupifies the heart, and sets the man further than ever from a
right knowledge of himself, and sight of his own heart.
3. To search and endeavour to find out the troubler. You have
lieard that when the godly are in darkness, it is not for want of love
in God to them, or a readiness in him to give them comfort ; but that
sin is doubtless the cause of their darkness in one way, or another.
Their troubler lies at their own door. There is doubtless some
troubler in the camp, which causes God to withdraw. And
therefore if you would have light revive, and have the com-
fortable presence of God again, the first thing which you do must
be to search, and find out the troubler. Many, when they are in
darkness, proceed in a wrong wa}'. Tiiey go to examining past
experience. And that they should do ; but what is wrong in it is,
that they do that only. They spend their time in seeking for
VOL. VIII. 14
102 SERMON in.
something in themselves, which is good ; whereas they ought to
spend more of it in seeking out that which is b;ul. Wliatever
good there is, they are never likely to find it out, till they find
out the sin, which obscures and hides it. And whatever they re-
flect upon, which they formerly thought was good, is not likely to
aftbrd any satisfaction to them, till tliat bad thing be removed out
of the way, which troubled them. They wonder what the cause
is, that they are so in the dark. They verily thought in time past,
that they were right, and that they had experienced a right work
of God's spirit on their hearts, and thought that they were the
children of God. But now God hides his face from them, and
they wonder what is the matter ; as Joshua seemed to be astonish-
ed when Israel was smitten down at Ai. Sometimes they almost
conclude, that it is because they are not the children of God.
They pray to God to renew Jiiscomforts to them, and spend much
time. And they ought to pray. But they have more need to do
something else. Joshua spent a great deal of lime in prayer,
when Israel was troubled. He fell upon his face till eventide, com-
plaining to God about his wididrawing from them. But God
says to him, Joshua vii. 10, 11, " Get thee up; wherefore liest
thou thus upon thy face ?" As much as to say, you had more
iiee'd to be doing something else, than lie there. " Israel hath
sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant, which I
commanded them ; for they have even taken of the accursed
thing." And verse thirteenth. " Up, sanctify yourselves." This
teaches you, who arc under darkness, and have your hopes darken-
ed, and comforts deadened, what you should do. You must arise
and search, and find out the troubler. If you do not do this, it
will signify nothirhg to you to lie crying and complaining to God
about your darkness. You have other business which you have
more need to do, though praj^er should not be left undone. Let
me beseech you, therefore, to be thorough in this. You have need
to be thorough, for it is an exceedingly difficult thing to find out
the accursed thing in such cases. Men's hearts do like Achan,
who hid the accursed thing in the earth in the midst of his tent.
Joshua vii. 21. He hid it very closely. He did not content him-
self with hiding it in the most secret place in his tent, but he dug
in the ground and buried it in the earth under his feet, that there
might be no sign of it above ground. So are men's deceitful
hearts wont to hide the accursed thing which troubles them. When
they are put upon searching for the cause of their trouble and
darkness, they think of one thing and another, but commonly over-
look the chief cause of all their trouble. It does not so much as
enter their minds. They search the tent, but that is not
enough; they must search the very ground, or they will not
find it out. When they tell of their darkness, and are put
SERMON III. 103
upon searching to see whether some sinful way is act the
cause, they readily own that it is their fault. But yet they
mistake the true Achan, notwithstanding all they confess of
the corruption of their hearts. It is not merely corruption
in their hearts, working in their thoughts, which is the cause;
but it is some way of outward sin and wickedness, in which
they have of late in a great measure allowed themselves. That
is the principal cause of their trouble ; some way of pride, or
covetousuess, or some way of envy, or evil speaking, or ill will to
their neighbours, or self-will, or some other way of unsuitable
carriage, which is the chief cause of their darkness. In some re-
spects, it is a great deal easier to find out little sins than greater
sins, which causes many to strain at a gnat, who swallow a camel.
Sins which are common to all, and of vvhicli all complain, such as
corrupt workings of heart, they are willing to feel that it is no
disgrace to have them. And the godly commonly tell of such
things, and it does not aflVight them to see them. But such things
as malice, a proud behaviour, and many other things which might
be mentioned, are disagreeable. They are not willing to see such
things in themselves. They therefore call them by good names,
and put good constructions on them, and hide them, as Achan
did his accursed thing under ground. The sin which troubles
them most, has greatest possession of their hearts, and does most
blind and prejudice their minds, is passed over. They can soon
enough discover and see such things in others, in one of an oppo-
site party, or the like, but they cannot see them in themselves ;
and so they continue still under darkness. It is an exceedingly
difficult thing to find out the troubler. You have need, therefore,
to be exceedingly thorough in searching for this matter, and not
to spare yourself, or bribe your conscience at all, but labour to be
impartial in the search. And to Induce you to this, consider what
God said to Joshua. Joshua vli. 12. " Neither will I be with you
any more, unless you destroy the accursed thing from among you."
And, therefore,
4. When you have found out the troubler, be sure thoroughly
to destroy it. Renounce it with detestation, as a vile serpent that
has secretly lain under your head for a long time, and infected
you with his poisons time after time, and bit you, when you were
asleep, made you sick and filled you with pain, and you knew it
not. Would not a man, when he has found out the serpent in
such a case, destroy it with Indignation, and be for ever after-
wards thoroughly watchful that he is not caught with such a cala-
mity again ? You cannot be too thorough in destroying such an
enemy, and labouring to root it out, and extirpate all its race. Who-
ever of you are under darkness and trouble, 1 am bold to say, if
God help you to follow these directions, your darkness will soon
1
104 SERMON III.
be scattered, and hope and comfort will arise. And this is the
surest, and readiest, and most dii'ect course which any of you can
take in order to the renewing of comfort in your soul. And with-
out this, do not promise yourself any considerable degree of light
or comfort while you live, however many examinations of past
experiences and prayers to God for light you may make.
SERMON IV.
Romans ix. 18.
Therefore hath he mercy on ivhom he will have mercy ^ and whom he
will he hardeneth.
The apostle, in the beginning of this chapter, expresses his great
concern and sorrow of heart for the nation of the Jews, who were
rejected of God. This leads him to observe' the difference which
God made by election between some of the Jews and others, and
between the bulk of that people and the'Christian Gentiles. In
speaking of this he enters into a more minute discussion of the
sovereignty of God in electing some to eternal life, and rejecting
others, than is found in any other part of the Bible ; in the course
of which he quotes several passages from the Old Testament,
confirming and illustrating this doctrine. In the ninth verse he
refers us to what God said to Abraham, showing his election of
Isaac before Ishmael — " For this is the word of promise ; at this
time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son :" then to what God
had said to Rebecca, showing his election of Jacob before Esau ;
" The elder shall serve the younger :" in the thirteenth verse, to
a passage from Malachi, " Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated :" in the fifteenth verse, to what God said to Moses, *' I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy ; and I will have compas-
sion, on whom I will have compassion :" and the verse preceding
the text, to what God says to Pharaoh, " For the scripture saith
unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up,
that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be
declared throughout all the earth." In what the apostle says in
the text, he seems to have respect especially to the two last cited
passages : to what God said to Moses in the fifteenth verse, and to
what he said to Pharaoh in the verse immediately preceding.
God said to Moses, " I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy." To this the apostle refers in the former part of the text.
And we know how often it is said of Pharaoh, that God hardened
his heart. And to this the apostle seems to have respect in the
latter part of the text ; " and whom he will he hardeneth." We
may observe in the text,
106 SERMON IV.
1. God's different dealint; with men. He liaili mercy on some,
and hardeneth others. When God is here spoken of as harden-
ing some of the children of men, it is not to be understood that
God bv any positive efficiency hardens any man's heart. There
is no positive act in God, as though he put forth any power to
harden the heart. To suppose any such thing would be to make
God the immediate author of sin. God is said to harden men in
two ways, by withholding the powerful influences of his Spirit,
without which their hearts will remain hardened, and grow harder
and harder ; in this sense he hardens them, as he leaves them to
hardness. And again, by ordering those things in his providence
which, through the abuse of their corruption, become the occasion
of their hardening. Thus God sends his word and ordinances to
men which, by their abuse, prove an occasion of their hardening.
So the apostle said, that he was unto some " a savour of death
unto death." So God is represented as sending Isaiah on this
errand, to make the hearts of the people fat, and to make tiieir
ears heavy, and to shut their eyes ; lest they should see with their
eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart,
and convert, and be healed. Isaiah vi. 10. Isaiah's preaching
was, in itself, of a contrary tendency, to make them better. But
their abuse of it rendered it an occasion of their hardening. As
God is here said to harden men, so he is said to put a lying spirit
in the mouth of the false prophets. 2 Chronicles xviii. 22 : That
is, he suftered a lying spirit to enter into them. And thus he is
said to have bid Shimei curse David. 2 Samuel xvi. 10. Not
that he properly commanded him ; for it is contrary to God's com-
mands. God expressly forbids cursing the ruler of the people.
Exodus xxii. 28. But he suffered corruption at that time so to
work in Shimei, and ordered that occasion of stirring it up, as a
manifestation of his displeasure against David.
2. The foundation of his different dealing with mankind ; viz.
his sovereign will and pleasure. " He hath mercy on whom he
will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." This does not
imply, merely, that God never shows mercy or denies it, against
his will, or that he is always willing to do it, when he does it. A
willing subject or servant, when he obeys his Lord's commands,
may never do any thing against bis will, nothing, but what he can
do cheerfully and with delight ; and yet he cannot be said to do
what he wills in the sense of the text. But the expression implies
that it is God's mei-e will and sovereign pleasure, which supremely
orders this aflair. It is the divine will without restraint, or con-
straint, or obligation.
Doctrine. God exercises his sovereignty in the eternal salva-
tion of men.
SERMON IV. 107
lie not only is sovereign, and has a sovereign right to dispose
and order in that aftair ; and he not only might proceed in a sove-
reign way, if he would, and nobody could charge him with ex-
ceeding his right ; but he actually does so ; he exercises the right
which he has. In the following discourse, I propose to show,
I. What is God's sovereignty.
IJ. What God's sovereignty in the salvation of men implies.
III. That God actually doth exercise his sovereignty in this
matter.
IV. The reasons for this exercise.
I. I would show what is God's sovereignty.
The sovereignty of God is his absolute, independent right of
disposing of all creatures according to his own pleasure. I will
consider this definition by the parts of it.
The Will of God is called his mere pleasure,
1 . In opposition to any constraint. Men .may do things volun-
tarily, and yet there may be a degree of constraint. A man may
be said to do a thing voluntarily, that is, he himself does it; and,
all things considered, he may choose to do it: yet he may do it
out of fear, and the thing in itself considered be irksome to him,
and sorely against his inclination. When men do things thus,
they cannot be said to do them according to their mere pleasure.
2. In opposition to its being under the will of another. A ser-
vant may fulfil his master's commands, and may do it willingly,
and cheerfully, and may delight to do his master's will; yet when
he does so, he does not do it of his own mere pleasure. The
saints do the will of God freely. They choose to do it ; it is their
meat and drink. Yet they do not do it of their mere pleasure
and arbitrary will ; because their will is under the direction of a
superior will.
3. In opposition to any proper obligation. A man may do a
thing, which he is obliged to do, very freely ; but he cannot be said
to act from his own mere will and pleasure. He, who acts from
his own mere pleasure, is at full liberty : but he, who is under any
proper obligation, is not at liberty, but is bound. Now the sove-
reignty of God supposes, that he has a right to dispose of all his
creatures according to his mere pleasure in the sense explained.
And his right is absolute and independent. Men may have a right
to dispose of some things according to their pleasure. But their
right is not absolute and unlimited. Men may be said to have a
right to dispose of their own goods as they please. But their
right is not absolute ; it has limits and bounds. They have a
right to dispose of their own goods as they please, provided they
do not do it contrary to the law of the state to which they are
subject, or contrary to the law of God. Men's right to dispose
of their things as they will, is not absolute, because it is not in-
108 SERMON IV.
dependent. They have not an independent right to what they
have, but in some things depend on the community to which they
belong, for the right they have ; and in every thing depend on
God. They receive all the right they have to any thing from
God. But the sovereignty of God imports that he has an abso-
lute and unlimited and independent right of disposing of his
creatures as he will. I proposed to inquire,
II. What God's sovereignty in the salvation of men implies.
In answer to this inquiry, I observe, it implies that God can either
bestow salvation on any of the children of men, or refuse it, with-
out any prejudice to the glory of any of his attributes, except
where he has been pleased to declare, that he will, or will not be-
stow it. It cannot be said absolutely, as the case now stands, that
God can, without any prejudice to the honour of any of his attri-
butes, bestow salvation on any of the children of men, or refuse
it ; because, concerning some, God has been pleased to declare
either that he will or that he will not bestow salvation on them;
and thus to bind himself by his own promise. And concerning
some he has been pleased to declare, that he never will bestow
salvation upon them ; viz. those who have committed the sin against
the Holy Ghost. Hence, as the case now stands, he is obliged;
he cannot bestow salvation in one case, or refuse it in the other,
without prejudice to the honour of his truth. But God exercised
his sovereignty in making these declarations. God was not oblig-
ed to promise that he would save all, who believe in Christ ; nor
was he obliged to declare, that he who committed the sin against
the Holy Ghost should never be forgiven. But it pleased him so
to declare. And had it not been so that God had been pleased to
oblige himself in these cases, he might still have either bestowed
salvation, or refused it, without prejudice to any of his attributes.
If it would in itself be prejudicial to any of his attributes to be-
stow or refuse salvation, then God would not in that matter act as
absolutely sovereign. Because it then ceases to be a merely arbi-
trary thing. It ceases to be a matter of absolute liberty, and is
become a matter of necessity or obligation. For God cannot do
any thing to the prejudice of any of his attributes, or contrary to
what is in itself excellent and glorious. Therefore,
1. God can, without prejudice to the glory of any of his attributes,
bestow salvation on any of the children of men, except on those
who have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. The case
was thus when man fell, and before God revealed his eternal pur-
pose and plan for redeeming men by Jesus Christ, h was proba-
bly looked upon by the angels as a thing utterly inconsistent with
God's attributes to save any of the children of men. It was ut-
terly inconsistent with the honour of the divine attributes to save
any one of the fallen children of men, as they were in themselves.
SERMON IV. 109
It could not have been done had not God contrived a way consist-
ent with the honour of his holiness, majesty, justice, and truth. But
since God in the gospel has revealed that nothing is too hard
for him to do, nothing beyond the reach of his power and wisdom,
and sufficiency ; and since Christ has wrought out the work of
redemption, and fulfilled the law by obeying, there is none of
mankind whom he may not save without any prejudice to any of
his attributes, excepting those who have committed the sin against
the Holy Ghost. And those he might have saved without going
contrary to any of his attributes, had he not been pleased to de-
clare that he would not. It was not because he could not have
saved them consistently with his justice, and consistently with his
law, or because his attribute of mercy was not great enough, or
the blood of Christ not sufficient to cleanse from that sin. But it
has pleased him for wise reasons to declare that that sin shall ne-
ver be forgiven in this world, or in the world to come. And so
now it is contrary to God's truth to save such. But otherwise
there is no sinner, let him be ever so great, but God can save him
without prejudice to any attribute, if he has been a murderer,
adulterer, or perjurer, or idolater, or blasphemer, God may save
him if he pleases, and in no respect injure his glory. Though
persons have sinned long, have been obstinate, have committed
heinous sins a thousand times, even till they have grown old in
sin, and have sinned under great aggravations: let the aggrava-
tions be what they may, if they have sinned under ever so great
light; if they have been backsliders, and have sinned against ever
so numerous and solemn warnings and strivings of the Spirit, and
mercies of his common providence. Though the danger of such
is much greater than of other sinners, yet God can save them if
he pleases, for the sake of Christ, without any prejudice to any of
his attributes. He may have mercy on whom he will have mercy.
He may have mercy on the greatest of sinners, if he pleases, and
the glory of none of his attributes will be in the least sullied.
Such is the sufficiency of the satisfaction and righteousness of
Christ, that none of the divine attributes stand in the way of the
salvation of any of them. Thus the glory of any attribute did
not at all suffer by Christ's saving some of his crucifiers.
1. God ma}' save any of them without prejudice to the honour
of his holiness. God is an infinitely holy Being. The heavens
are not pure in his sight. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil,
and cannot look on iniquity. And if God should in any way
countenance sin, and should not give proper testimonies of his
hatred of it, and displeasure at it, it would be a prejudice to the
honour of his holiness. But God can save the greatest sinner
without giving the least countenance to sin. If he saves one, who
for a long time has stood out under the calls of the gospel, and
VOL. VIII. 15
110 SERMON IV.
has sinned under dreadful aggravations ; if he saves one who,
against light 1ms been a pirate or blasphemer, he may do it with-
out giving any countenance to their wickedness ; because his ab-
horrence of it and displeasure against it have been already suffi-
ciently manifested in the sufferings of Christ. It was a sufficient
testimony of God's abhorrence against even the greatest wicked-
ness, that Christ, the eternal Son of God, died for it. Nothing
can show God's infinite abhorrence of any wickedness more than
this. If the wicked man himself should be thrust into hell, and
should endure the most extreme torments, which are ever suffered
there, it would not be a greater manifestation of God's abhor-
rence of it, than the sufferings of the Son of God for it.
2. God may save any of the children of men without prejudice
to the honour of his majesty. If men have affronted God, and
that ever so much, if they have cast ever so much contempt on his
authority ; yet God can save them, if he pleases, and the honour
of his majesty not suffer in the least. If God should save those
who have affronted him, without satisfaction, the honour of his
majesty would suffer. For when contempt is cast upon infinite
majesty, its honour suffers and the contempt leaves an obscurity
upon the honour of the divine majesty, if the injury is not re-
paired. But the sufferings of Christ do fully repair the injury.
Let the contempt be ever so great, yet if so honourable a person
as Christ undertakes to be a Mediator for the offender, and in the
mediation suffer in his stead, it fully repairs the injury done to the
majesty of heaven by the greatest sinner.
3. God may save any sinner whatsoever consistently with his
justice. The justice of God requires the punishment of sin.
God is the supreme Judge of the world, and he is to judge the
world according: to the rules of justice. It is not the part of a
judge to show favour to the person judged ; but he is to determine
according to a rule of justice without departing to the right hand
or left. God does not show mercy as a Judge, but as a Sovereign.
And therefore when mercy sought the salvation of sinners, the
inquiry was how to make the exercise of the mercy of God as a
sovereign, and of his strict justice as a judge, agree together.
And this is done by the sufferings of Christ, in which sin is pun-
ished fully, and justice answered. Christ suffered enough for the
punishment of the sins of the greatest sinner that ever lived. So
that God, when he judges, may act according to a rule of strict
justice, and yet acquit the sinner, if he be in Christ. Justice can-
not require any more for any man's sins, than those sufferings of
one of the persons in the Trinity, which Christ suffered. Ro-
mans iii. 25, 26, " Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood ; to declare his righteousness, that he
might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Christ."
SERMON IV. Ill
4. God can save any sinner whatsoever, without any preju-
dice to the honour of his truth. God passed his word, that sin
should be punished with death, which is to be understood not
only of the first, but of the second death. God can save the
greatest sinner consistently with his truth in this threatening.
For sin is punished in the sufferings of Christ, inasmuch as he
is our surety, and so is legally the same |)erson, and sustained
our guilt, and in his sufferings bore our punishment. It may
be objected, that God said, if thou eatest, thou shalt die; as
though the same person that sinned must suffer ; and therefore
why does not God's truth oblige him to that ? I answer, that
the word then was not intended to be restrained to him, that in
liis own person sinned. Adam probably understood that his
posterity were included, whether they sinned in their own per-
son or not. If they sinned in Adam, their surety, those
words, *' if thou eatest," meant, if thou eatest in thyself, or in
thy surety. And therefore, the latter words, " thou shalt die,"
do also fairly allow of such a construction as, thou shalt die in
thyself, or in thy surety. Isaiah xlii. 21. " The Lord is well
pleased for his righteousness' sake, he will magnify the law and
make it honourable." But,
II. God may refuse salvation to any sinner whatsoever,
without prejudice to the honour of any of his attributes.
There is no person whatever in a natural condition, upon
whom God may not refuse to bestow salvation without preju-
dice to any part of his glory. Let a natural person be wise,
or unwise, of a good or ill natural temper, of mean or honoura-
ble parentage, whether born of wicked or godly parents ; let
him be a moral or immoral person, whatever good he may have
done, however religious he has been, how many j)rayers soever
he has made, and whatever pains he has taken that he may be
saved ; whatever concern and distress he may have for fear he
shall be damned; or whatever circumstances he may be in ;
God can deny him salvation without the least disparagement to
any of his perfections. His glory will not in any instance be
the least obscured by it.
1. God may deny salvation to any natural person without any
injury to the honour of his righteousness. If he does so, there is
no injustice nor unfairness in it. There is no natural man
living, let his case be what it will, but God may deny him sal-
vation, and cast him down to hell, and yet not be chargeable
with the least unrighteous or unfair dealing in any respect
whatsoever. This is evident, because they all have deserved
hell : and it is no injustice for a proper judge to inflict on any
man what he deserves. And as he has deserved condemnation,
so he has never done any thing to remove the liability, or to
112 SERMON IV.
atone for the sin. He never has done any thing whereby he
has laid any obligations on God not to punish him as he de-
served.
2. God may deny salvation to any unconverted person what-
ever without any prejudice to the honour of his goodness. Sin-
ners are sometimes ready to flatter themselves, that though it
may not be contrary to the justice of God to condemn them, yet
it will not consist with the glory of his mercy. They think it
will be dishonourable to God's mercy to cast them into hell,
and have no pity or compassion upon them. They think it will
be very hard and severe, and not becoming a God of infinite
grace and tender compassion. But God can deny salvation to
any natural person without any disparagement to his mercy and
goodness. That, which is not contrary to God's justice, is not
contrary to his mercy. If damnation be justice, then mercy
may choose its own object. They mistake the nature of the
mercy of God, who think that it is an attribute, which, in some
cases, is contrary to justice. Nay, God's mercy is illustrated by
it, as in the twenty-third verse of the context. " That he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy,
which he had afore prepared unto glory."
3. It is in no way prejudicial to the honour of God's faith-
fulness. For God has in no way obliged himself to any natural
man by his word to bestow salvation upon him. Men in a na-
tural condition are not the children of promise ; but lie open to
the curse of the law, which would not be the case if they had any
promise to lay hold of.
III. God does actually exercise his sovereignty in men's sal-
vation.
We shall show how he exercises this right in several par-
ticulars.
1. In calling one people or nation, and giving them the means
of grace, and leaving others without them. According to the di-
vine appointment, salvation is bestowed in connexion with the
means of grace. God may sometimes make use of very un-
likely means, and bestow salvation on men, who are under very
great disadvantages ; but he does not bestow grace wholly
without any means. But God exercises his sovereignty in be-
stowing those means. All mankind are by nature in like cir-
cumstances towards God. Yet God greatly distinguishes some
from others by the means and advantages, which he bestows
upon them. The savages, who live in the remote parts of this
continent, and are under the grossest heathenish darkness, as
well as the inhabitants of Africa, are naturally inexactly simi-
lar circumstances towards God with us in this land. They are
no more alienated or estranged from God in their natures than
SERMON IV. 113
we ; and God has no more to charge them with. And yet what
a vast difference has God made between us and them ! In this
he has exercised his sovereignty. He did this of old, when he
chose but one people, to make them his covenant people, and to
give them the means of grace, and left all others, and gave
them over to heathenish darkness and the tyranny of the devil,
to perish from generation to generation for many hundreds of
years. The earth in that time was peoj)led with many great
and mighty nations. There were the Egyptians, a people famed
for their wisdom. There were also the Assyrians and Chal-
deans, who were great, and wise, and powerful nations. There
were the Persians, who by their strength and policy subdued a
great part of the world. There were the renowned nations of
the Greeks and Romans, who were famed over the whole world
for their excellent civil governments, for their wisdom and skill
in the arts of peace and war, and who by. their military prow-
ess in their turns subdued and reigned over the world. Those
were rejected. God did not choose them for his people, but
left them for many ages under gross heathenish darkness, to
perish for lack of vision; and chose one only people, the pos-
terity of Jacob, to be his own people, and to give them the
means of grace. Psalms cxlvii. 19, 20. " He showeth his
word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.
He hath not dealt so with any nation ; and as for his judgments,
they have not known them." This nation were a small, incon-
siderable people in comparison with many other people. Deu-
teronomy vii. 7. "The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor
choose you, because ye were more in number than any people;
for ye were the fewest of all people." So neither was it for their
righteousness; for they had no more of that, than other peo-
ple. Deuteronomy ix. 6. " Understand therefore, that the Lord
thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy
righteousness ; for thou art a stiff-necked people." God gives
them to understand, that it was from no other cause but his
free electing love, that he chose them to be his people. That
reason is given why God loved them ; it was because he loved
them. Deuteronomy vii. 8. Which is as much as to say, it
was agreeable to his sovereign pleasure, to set his love upon
you.
God also showed his sovereignty in choosing that people,
when other nations were rejected, who came of the same pro-
genitors. Thus the children of Isaac were chosen, when the
posterity of Ishmael and other sons of Abraham were rejected.
So the children of Jacob were chosen, when the posterity of
Esau were rejected : as the apostle observes in the seventh
verse, " Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are
114 SERMON IV.
they all children ; but in Isaac shall thy seed be called:" and
again in verses 10, 11, 12, 13, "And not only this; but when
Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac ;
the children moreover being not yet born, neither having done
any good, or evil, that the promise of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth ; it was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,
"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." The apostle has
not respect merely to the election of the persons of Isaac and
Jacob before Ishmael and Esau; but of their posterity. In the
passage, already quoted from Malachi, God has respect to the
nations, which were the posterity of Esau and Jacob ; Malachi
i. 2, 3, "I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, where-
in hast thou loved us ? Was not Esau Jacob's brother ? saith
the Lord; yet I loved Jacob; and I hated Esau, and laid his
mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilder-
ness." God showed his sovereignty, when Christ came, in re-
jecting the Jews, and calling the Gentiles. God rejected that
nation who were the children of Abraham according to the flesh,
and had been his peculiar people for so many ages, and who
alone possessed the one true God, and chose idolatrous heathen
before them, and called them to be his people. When the
Messiah came, who was born of their nation, and whom they
so much expected, he rejected them. He came to his own,
and his own received him not. John i. 11. When the glorious
dispensation of the gospel came, God passed by the Jews, and
called those, who had been heathens, to enjoy the privileges of
it. They were broken off, that the Gentiles might be grafled
on. Romans xi. 17. She is now called beloved, that was not
beloved. And more are the children of the desolate, than the
children of the married wife. Isaiah liv. 1. The natural
children of Abraham are rejected, and God raises up children
to Abraham of stones. That nation, which was so honoured
of God, have now been for many ages rejected, and remain dis-
persed all over the world, a remarkable monument of divine
vengeance. And now God greatly distinguishes some Gentile
nations from others, and all according to his sovereign plea-
sure.
2. God exercises his sovereignty in the advantages he be-
stows upon particular persons. All need salvation alike, and
all are, naturally, alike undeserving of it ; but he gives some
vastly greater advantages for salvation, than others. To some
he assigns their place in pious and religious families, where they
may be well instructed and educated, and have religious parents
to dedicate them to (xod, and put up many prayers for them.
God places some under a more powerful ministry than others,
SERMON IV. llfi
and in places where there are more of the out-pourings of the
spirit of God. To some he gives much more of the strivings
and the awakening influences of the spirit, than toothers. It is
according to his mere sovereign pleasure.
3. God exercises his sovereignty in sometimes bestowing
salvation upon the low and mean, and denying it to the wise and
great. Christ in his sovereignty passes by the gates of princes
and nobles, and enters some cottage and dwells there, and has
communion with its obscure inhabitants. God in his sovereignty
withheld salvation from the rich man, who fared sumptuously
every day, and bestowed it on poor Lazarus, who sat begging
at his gate. God in this way pours contempt on princes, and
on all their glittering splendour. So God sometimes passes by
wise men, men of great understanding, learned and great scho-
lars, and bestows salvation on others of weak understanding,
who only comprehend some of the plainer parts of scripture,
and the fundamental principles of the Christian religion. Yea,
there seem to be fewer great men called, than others. And God
in ordering it thus manifests his sovereignty. 1 Corinthians
i. 26, 27, 28. "For ye see your calling brethren, how that not
many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many no-
ble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the
world to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things, which are mighty ;
and base things of the world, and things, which are despised,
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to
nought things that are."
4. In bestowing salvation on sonic, who have had few ad-
vantages. God sometimes will bless weak means for producing
astonishing effects, when more excellent means are not suc-
ceeded. God sometimes will withhold salvation from those, who
are the children of very pious parents, and bestow it on others,
who have been born and brought up in wicked families. Thus
we read of a good Abijah in the family of Jeroboam, and of a
godly Ilezekiah, the son of wicked Ahaz, and of a godly Jo-
siah, the son of a wicked Anion. But on the contrary of a
wicked Ainnon, and Absalom, the sons of holy David, and that
vile Manasseh, the son of good Ilezekiah. Sometimes some,
who have hail eminent means of graco, are rejected, and left to
j;(!rish, and others, under far less advantages, are saved. Thus
the Scribes and Pharisees, who had so nuich light and know-
ledge of the scriptures, vveie mostly rejected, and the poor ig-
norant Publicans saved. The greater part of those, among
whom Christ was much conversant, and who heard him preach,
and saw him work miracles from day to day, were left ; and the
woman of Samaria was taken, and many other Samaritans at
116 SERMON IV.
the same time, who only heard Christ preach, as he occasionally
passed through their city. So the woman of Canaan was tak-
en, who was not of the country of the Jews, and but once saw
Jesus Christ. So the Jews, who had seen and heard Christ,
and saw his miracles, and with whom the apostles laboured so
much, were not saved. But the Gentiles, many of them, who,
as it were, but transiently heard the glad tidings of salvation,
embraced them, and were converted.
5. God exercises his sovereignty in calling some to salvation,
who have been very heinously wicked, and leaving others, who
have been moral and religious persons. The Pharisees were
a very strict sect among the Jews. Their religion was extra-
ordinary. Luke xviii. 11. They were not as other men, extor-
tioners, unjust, or adulterers. There was their morality. They
fasted twice a week, and gave tithes of all that they possessed.
There was their religion. But yet they were mostly rejected,
and the Publicans, and harlots, and openly vicious sort of peo-
ple entered into the kingdom of God before them. Matthew
xxi. 31. The apostle describes his righteousness while a Pha-
risee. Philippians iii. 6. " Touching the righteousness, which
is of the law, blameless." The rich young man, who came
kneeling to Christ, saying, good Master, what shall I do, that
T may have eternal life, was a moral person. When Christ
bade him keep the commandments, he said, and in his own
view with sincerity, " All these have I kept from my youth
up." He had obviously been brought up in a good family, and
was a youth of such amiable manners and correct deportment,
that it is said, " Jesus beholding him, loved him." Still he
was left; while the thief, that was crucified with Christ, was
chosen and called, even on the cross. God sometimes shows
his sovereignty by showing mercy to the chief of sinners, on
those who have been murderers, and profaners, and blasphe-
mers. And even when they are old, some are called at the
eleventh hour. God sometimes shows the sovereignty of his
grace by showing mercy to some, who have si)ent most of their
lives in the service of Satan, and have little left to spend in the
service of God.
6. In saving some of those who seek salvation, and not
others. Some who seek salvation, as we know both from scrip-
ture and observation, are soon converted ; while others seek a
long time, and do not obtain at last. God helps some over the
mountains and difficulties which are in the way ; he subdues
Satan, and delivers them from his temptations : but others are
ruined by the temptations, with which they meet. Some are
never thoroughly awakened ; while to others God is pleased to
give thorough convictions. Some are left to backsliding hearts ;
SERMON IV. 117
Others God causes to hold out to the end. Some are brought
off from a confidence in their own righteousness ; others never
get over that obstruction in their way, as long as they live. And
some are converted and saved, who never had so great strivings
as some, who notwithstanding perish.
IV. I come now to give the reasons, why God does thus exer-
cise his sovereignty in the eternal salvation of the children of
men.
1. It is agreeable to God's design in the creation of the uni-
verse to exercise every attribute, and thus to manifest the glory
of each of them. God's design in the creation was to glorify
himself, or to make a discovery of the essential glory of his
nature. It was fit that infinite glory should shine forth ; and it
was God's original design to make a manifestation of his glory,
as it is. Not that it was his design to manifest all his glory to
the apprehension of creatures ; for it is impossible that the
minds of creatures should comprehend it.* But it was his de-
sign to make a true manifestation of his glory, such as should
represent every attribute. If God glorified one attribute, and
not another, such manifestation of his glory would be defective ;
and the representation would not be complete. If all God's
attributes are not manifested, the glory of none of them is ma-
nifested as it is ; for the divine attributes reflect glory on one
another. Thus if God's wisdom be manifested, and not his
holiness, the glory of his wisdom would Jiot be manifested as it
is ; for one part of the glory of the attribute of divine wisdom
is, that it is a holy wisdom. So if his holiness were manifest-
ed, and not his wisdom, the glory of his holiness would not be
manifested as it is ; for one thing which belongs to the glory of
God's holiness is, that it is a w ise holiness. So it is with re-
spect to the attributes of mercy and justice. The glory of
God's mercy does not appear as it is, unless it is manifested as a
justn'mercy, or as a mercy consistent with justice. And so with
respect to God's sovereignty, it reflects glory on all his other
attributes. It is part of the glory of God's mercy, that it is
sovereign mercy. So all the attributes of God reflect glory on
one another. The glory of one attribute cannot be manifest-
ed, as it is, without the manifestation of another. One attri-
bute is defective without another, and therefore the manifesta-
tion will be defective. Hence it was the will of God to manifest
all his attributes. The declarative glory of God in scripture is
often called God's Name, because it declares his nature. But
if his name does not signify his nature as it is, or does not de-
clare any attribute, it is not a true name. The sovereignty of
God is one of his attributes and a part of his glory. The glory
of God eminently aj)pears in his absolute sovereignty over all
VOL. VIll. 16
118 SERMON IV.
creatures great antl small. If the glory of a prince be his
power and dominion, then the glory of God is his absolute sove-
reignty. Herein appear God's infinite greatness and highness
above all creatures. Therefore it is the will of God to mani-
fest his sovereignty. And his sovereignty, like his other attri-
butes, is manifested in the exercise of it. He glorifies his
power in the exercise of power. He glorifies his mercy in the
exercise of mercy. So he glorifies his sovereignty in the exer-
cise of sovereignty.
2. The more excellent the creature is over whom God is
sovereign, and the greater the matter in which he so appears, the
more glorious is his sovereignty. The sovereignty of God in
his being sovereign over men, is more glorious than in his be-
ing sovereign over the inferior creatures. And his sovereignty
over angels is yet more glorious than his sovereignty over men.
For the nobler the creature is, still the greater and higher doth
God appear in his sovereignty over it. It is a greater honour
to a man to have dominion over men, than over beasts ; and
a still greater honour to have dominion over princes, nobles,
and kings, than over ordinary men. So the glory of God's
sovereignty appears in that he is sovereign over the souls of
men, who are so noble and excellent creatures. God therefore
will exercise his sovereignty over them. And the further the
dominion of any one extends over another, the greater will be
the honour. If a man has dominion over another only in some
instances, he is not therein so much exalted, as in having abso-
lute dominion over his life, and fortune, and all he has. So
God's sovereignty over men appears glorious that it extends to
every thing which concerns them. He may dispose of them
with respect to all that concerns them, according to his own
pleasure. His sovereignty appears glorious, that it reaches
their most important affairs, even the eternal state and condi-
tion of the souls of men. Herein it appears that the sovereign-
ty of God is without bounds or limits, in that it reaches to an
affair of such infinite importance. God, therefore, as it is his
design to manifest his own glory, will and does exercise his
sovereignty towards men, over their souls and bodies, even in
this most important matter of their eternal salvation. He has
mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he har-
dens.
APPLICATION.
1. Hence we learn how absolutely we are dependent on God
in this great matter of the eternal salvation of our souls. We
are dependent not only on his wisdom to contrive a way to ac-
complish it, and on his power to bring it to pass, but we arc de-
SERMON IV. 119
pendent on his mere will and pleasure in the affair. We depend
on the sovereign will of God for every thing belonging to it, from
the foundation to the top stone. It was of the sovereign pleasure
of God, that he contrived a way to save any of mankind, and
gave us Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, to be our Redeemer.
Why did he look on us, and send us a Saviour, and not the fallen
angels? It was from the sovereign pleasure of God. It was of
his sovereign pleasure what means to appoint. His giving us the
bible, and the ordinances of religion, is of his sovereign grace.
His giving those means to us rather than to others ; his giving
the awakening influences of his Spirit; and his bestowing his
saving grace, are all of his sovereign pleasure. When he says,
" Let there be light in the soul of such an one," it is a word of in-
finite power and sovereign grace.
2. Let us with the greatest humility adore the awful and abso-
lute sovereignty of God. As we have just shown, it is an eminent
attribute of the divine Being, that he is sovereign over such ex-
cellent beings as the souls of men, and that in every respect, even
in that of their eternal salvation. The infinite greatness of God,
and his exaltation above us, appears in nothing more, than in his
sovereignty. It is spoken of in scripture as a great part of his
glory. Deuteronomy xxxii. 39. " See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no God with me. I kill, and I make alive ; 1 wound,
and I heal ; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand."
Psalms cxv. 3. " Our God is in the heavens ; he hath done what-
soever he pleased." Daniel iv. 34, 35. " Whose dominion is an
everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to ge-
neration. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as no-
thing; and he doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven,
and among the inhabitants of the earth ; and none can stay his
hand, or say unto him, what doest thou ?" Our Lord Jesus Christ
praised and glorified the Father for the exercise of his sovereign-
ty in the salvation of men. Matthew xi. 25, 26. " I thank thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto
babes. Even so. Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight."
Let us therefore give God the glory of his sovereignty, as adoring
him, whose sovereign will orders all things, beholding ourselves
as nothing in comparison with him. Dominion and sovereignty
require humble reverence and honour in the subject. The abso-
lute, universal, and unlimited sovereignty of God requires, that
we should adore him with all possible humility and reverence. It
is impossible that we should go to excess in lowliness and rever-
ence of that Being who may dispose of us to all eternity, as he
pleases.
120 SERMON IV.
3. Those who are in a state of salvation are to attribute it to
sovereign grace alone, and to give all the praise to him, who
maketh them to differ from others. Godliness is no cause for
glorying, except it be in God. 1 Corinthians i. 29, 30, 31.
" That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are
ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. That, ac-
cording as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord." Such are not, by any means, in any degree to attri-
bute their godliness, their safe and happy state and condition,
to any natural difference between them and otlier men, or to
any strength or righteousness of their own. They have no
reason to exalt themselves in the least degree ; but God is the
being whom they should exalt. They should exalt God the Fa-
ther, who chose them in Christ, who set his love upon them,
and gave them salvation, before they wore born, and even be-
fore ihe world was. If they inquire, why God set his love on
them, and chose them rather than others, if they think they
can see any cause out of God, they are greatly mistaken. They
should exalt God the Son, who bore their names on his heart,
when he came into the world, and hung on the cross, and in
whom alone they have righteousness and strength. They
should exalt God the Holy Ghost, who of sovereign grace has
called them out of darkness into marvellous light ; who has by
his own immediate and free operation, led them into an under-
standing of the evil and danger of sin, and brought them off
from their own righteousness, and opened their eyes to discover
the glory of God, and the wonderful riches of God in Jesus
Christ, and has sanctified them, and made them new creatures.
When they hear of the wickedness of others, or look upon vi-
cious persons, they should think how wicked they once were,
and how much they provoked God, and how they deserved for
ever to be left by him to perish in sin, and that it is only sove-
reign grace which has made the difference. 1 Corinthians vi.
10. Many sorts of sinners are there enumerated ; fornicators,
idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with
mankind. And then in the eleventh verse, the apostle tells
ihem, " Such were some of you ; but ye are washed, but ye
are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the naine of the Lord Je-
sus, and by the Spirit of our God." The people of God have
the greater cause of thankfulness, more reason to love God,
who hath bestowed such great and unspeakable mercy upon
them of his mere sovereign pleasure.
4. Hence we learn what cause we have to admire the grace
of God, that he should condescend to become bound to us by
SERMON IV. 121
covenant; that he, who is naturally supreme in his dominion over
us, who is our absolute Proprietor, and may do with us as he
pleases, and is under no obligation to us ; that he should, as it
were, relinquish his absolute freedom, and should cease to be mere-
ly sovereign in his dispensations towards believers, when once
they have believed in Christ, and should, for their more abundant
consolation, become bound. So that they can challenge salvation
of this Sovereign ; they can demand it through Christ, as a debt.
And it would be prejudicial to the glory of God's attributes, to
deny it to them ; it would be contrary to his justice and faithful-
ness. What wonderful condescension is it in such a Being thus
to become bound to us, worms of the dust, for our consolation !
He bound himself by his word, his promise. But he was not sa-
tisfied with that; but that we might have stronger consolation
still, he hath bound himself by his oath. Hebrews vi. 13, &c.
*' For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could
swear by no greater, he sware by himself; saying, Surely blessing
I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so,
after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For
men verily swear by the greater ; and an oath for confirmation is
to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abun-
dantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his
counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things,
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before us. Which hope we have as an anchor to the soul, both
sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail ;
whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high
priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."
Let us, therefore, labour to submit to the sovereignty of God.
God insists, that his sovereignty be acknowledged by us, and that
even in this great matter, a matter which so nearly and infinitely
concerns us, as our own eternal salvation. This is the stumbling
block on which thousands fall and perish ; and if we go on con-
tending with God about his sovereignty, it will be our eternal ruin.
It is absolutely necessary that we should submit to God, as our
absolute sovereign, and the sovereign over our souls; as one who
may have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and harden whom
he will.
5. And lastly. We may make use of this doctrine to guard
those who seek salvation from two opposite extremes — presump-
tion and discouragement. Do not presume upon the mercy of
God, and so encourage yourself in sin. Many hear that God's
mercy is infinite, and therefore think, that if they delay seeking
salvation for the present, and seek it hereafter, that God will be-
stow his grace upon them. But consider, that though God's grace
122 SERMON IV.
is sufficient, yet he is sovereign, and will use his own pleasure
whether b,e will save you or not. If you put off salvation till
hereafter, salvation will not be in your power. It will be as a
sovereign God pleases, whether you shall obtain it or not. See-
ing, therefore, that in this affair you are so absolutely dependent
on God, it is best to follow his direction in seeking it, which is to
hear his voice to-day : " To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden
not your heart." Beware also of discouragement. Take heed
of despairing thoughts, because you are a great sinner, because
you have persevered so long in sin, have backslidden, and resist-
ed the Holy Ghost. Remember that, let your case be what it may,
and you ever so great a sinner, if you have not committed the sin
against the Holy Ghost, God can bestow mercy upon you without
the least prejudice to the honour of his holiness, which you have
offended, or to the honour of his majesty, which you have insult-
ed, or of his justice, which you have made your enemy, or of his
truth, or of any of his attributes. Let you be what sinner you may,
God can, if he pleases, greatly glorify himself in your salvation.
SERMON V.
FEB. 1740.
PHILIPPIANS iii. 17.
Brethren, he foUoicers together of me, and marJc them which walk
so, as ye have us for an ensample.
The apostle in the foregoing part of the chapter, had been tell-
ing how he counted all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus, and in the text he urges that his ex-
ample should be followed.
He does this in two ways.
1. He exhorts the Philippian Christians to follow his exam-
ple. "Brethren, be followers together of me." He exhorts
them to be followers of him together ; that is, that they should
all follow his example with one heart and soul, all agreeing in it
and that all, as much as in them lay, should help and assist
each other in it.
2. That they should take particular notice of others, that did
so, and put peculiar honour on them ; which is implied in the
expression in the latter part of the verse, " mark them, which
walk so as ye have us for an ensample."
Doctrine. We ought to follow the good examples of the
apostle Paul. We are to consider, that the apostle did not say
this of himself from an ambitious spirit, from a desire of being
set up as a pattern, and eyed and imitated as an example to
other Christians. His writings are not of any private inter-
pretation, but he spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Ghost directed that the good examples of the apos-
tle Paul should be noticed by other Christians, and imitated.
And we are also to consider, that tliis is not a command to
the Philippians only, to whom the epistle was more immediate-
ly directed, but to all those, for whose use this epistle was writ-
ten, for all Christians to the end of the world. For though God
so ordered it, that the epistles of the apostles were mostly writ-
ten on particular occasions and directed to particular churches,
yet they were written to be of universal use. And those occa-
sions were so ordered in the wisdom of divine providence that
they are a part of that infallible rule of faith and manners,
124 SERMON V.
which God has given to the Christian church to be their rule in
all ages. And the precepts, that we find in those epistles are
no more to be regarded as precepts intended only for those to
whom the epistle was sent, than the ten commandments, that
were spoken from Mount Sinai to the children of Israel, are to
be regarded as commands intended only for that people. And
when we are directed to follow the good examples of the apos-
tle Paul by the Holy Ghost, it is not merely as we are to imi-
tate whatever we see, that is good in any one, let him be who
he may. But there are spiritual obligations, that lie on Chris-
tians to follow the good examples of this great apostle. And it
hath pleased the Holy Ghost in an especial manner to set up
the apostle Paul, not only as a teacher of the Christian church,
but as a pattern to other Christians. The greatest example of
all, that is set before us in the scripture to imitate, is the exam-
ple of Jesus Christ, which he set us in his human nature, and
when in his state of humiliation. This is presented to us not
only as a great pattern, but as a perfect rule. And the exam-
ple of no man is set forth, as our rule, but the example
of Christ. We are commanded to follow the examples
which God himself set us, or the acts of the divine nature.
Ephesians v. 1. "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear
children." And Matthew v. 48. " Be ye therefore perfect,
even as your Father, which is in heaven is perfect." But the
example of Christ Jesus, when on earth, is more especially our
pattern. For, though the acts of the divine nature have the
highest possible perfection, and though his inimitable perfet;tion
is our best example, yet God is so much above us, his nature so
infinitely different from ours, that it is not possible that his acts
should be so accommodated to our nature and circumstances,
as to be an example of so great and general use, as the perfect
example in our nature which Christ has set us. Christ, though
a divine person, was man, as we are men ; and not only so, but
he was, in many respects, a partaker of our circumstances.
He dwelt among men. He depended on food and raiment, and
such outward supports of life, as we do. He was subject to the
changes of time, and the afflictions and calannties of this evil
world, and to abuse from men's corruptions, and to temptations
from Satan, as we are; was subject to the same law and rule
that we are, used the same ordinances, and had many of our
trials, and greater trials than we. So that Christ's example is
the example, that is chiefly offered in scripture for our imita-
tion. But yet the example of some that are fallen creatures, as
we are, may in some respects be more accommodated to our
circumstances, and more fitted for our instructions, than the ex-
ample of Jesus Christ. For though he became nian as we are,
and was like us, and was in our circumstances in so many re-
SERMON V. 125
spectP, yet in other llnnos there was a vast dirteicnoc. He was
i!ie head of the cliiirch, and we arc the memhcrs. He is Lord
of all, we are his suhjects and disci|)les. And we need an ex-
am |)le, that shall teach and direct ns how to hehave towards
Christ our Lord and head. And this we may have better ia
some, that have Christ ibr their Lord as well as we, than in
Christ himself. But the greatest difference lies in this, that
Christ had no sin, and we all are sinful creatures, all carry
about with us a body of sin and death. It is said that Christ
was made like to us in all things, sin only excepted. But this
was excepted, and therefore there were many things required
of us, of which Christ could not give us an example. Such as
repentance for sin, brok^nness of spirit for sin, mortification of
lust, warring against sin. And the excellent example of some,
that are naturally as sinful as we, has this advantage ; that we
may regard it as the example ofthose, who were naturally every
way in our circumstances, and laboured under the same natural
ditiiculties, and the same opposition of heart to that which is
good, as ourselves ; which tends to engage us to give more heed
to their example, and the more to encourage and animate us to
strive to follow it. And therefore we find that the scripture
does not only recommend the example of Christ, but does also
exhibit some mere men, that are of like passions with ourselves,
as patterns for us to follow. So it exhibits the eminent saints
of the old testament, of whom we read in the scripture, that they
inherit the promises. Hebrews vi. 12. " That ye be not sloth-
ful, but followers of them, who through faith and patience in-
herit the promises." Li the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, a
great number of eminent saints are mentioned as patterns for
us to follow. Abraham is, it) a particular manner, set forth as
an example in his faith, and as the pattern of believers. Ro-
mans iv- 12. "And the father of circumcision to them, that
are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps
of that faith of our father Abraham, rvhich he had, being yet
uncircunicised." And so the prophets of the old testament are
also recommended as patterns. .lames v. 10. " Take my bre-
thren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord,
for an example of suffering afHiction, and of patience." And
so eminently holy men under the new testament, apostles and
others, that God sent forth to preach the gospel, are also ex-
an)p!es for Christians to follow. Hebrews xiii. 7. "Remember
them, that have the rule over yon, who have spoken to you the
word of Cud ; who.^e faith follow, considering the end of their
conversation." But of till niere men, no one is so often particu-
larly set forth in the scripture, as a pattern for Christians to
follow, aa the apootle Paul. Our observing his holy conversa-
VOL. VIII. 17
126 SERMON V.
tion as our example, is not only insisted on in the text, but also
1 Corinthians iv. 16. " Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of
me." And xi. 1. '* Be ye followers of me as I also am of Christ."
And 1 Thessalonlans, i. 6. Where the apostle commends the
Christian Thessalonlans for imitating his example ; " and ye be-
came followers of us." And 2 Thessalonians iil. 7, he insists on
thisastlieir duty. "For yourselves know how ye ought to fol-
low us."
For the more full treatment of this subject I shall,
I. Particularly mention many of the p^ood examples of the apos-
tle Paul, that we ought to imitate. Which I shall treat of not
merely as a doctrine, but also in the way of application.
II. I shall show under what strict obligation we are to follow
the good examples of this apostle.
I. I shall particularly mention many of those good examples of
the apostle Paul, that we ought to imitate. And that I may be
more distinct, I shall,
1. Mention those things, that respect his watchfulness for the
good of his own soul.
2. Those virtues in him, that more immediately respected God
and Christ.
3. Those that more immediately respect men.
4. Those, that were exercised in his behaviour, both towards
God and men.
1. We ought to follow the good example, that the apostle Paul
has set us in his seeking the good of Jiis own soul.
First. We should follow him in his earnestness in seeking his
own salvation. He was not careless and indifl'erent in this mat-
ter; but the kingdom of heaven suffered violence from him. He
did not halt between two opinions, or seek with a wavering, un-
steady mind, but with the most full determination and strong re-
solution. He resolved, if it could by any means be possible, that
he would attain to the resurrection of the dead. He does not say
that be was determined to attain it, if he could, by means that
were not very costly or difficult, or by labouring for it a little
time, or only now and then, or without any great degree of suf-
fering, or without great loss in his temporal interest. But if by
any means he could doit, he would, let the means be easy or dif-
ficult. Let it be a short labour and trial, or a long one ; let the
cross be light or heavy ; it was all one to his resolution. Let the
requisite means be what they would, if it were possible, he would
obtain it. He did not hesitate at worldly losses, for he tells us
that he readily suffered the loss of all things, that he might win
Christ, and be found in him, and in his righteousness. Philip-
pians iii. 8,9. It was not with him as it was with the young man,
that came kneeling to Christ to inquire of him what he should do
SERMON V. 127
to inberit etornal life, and when Christ snid, Go and sell all that
thou hast and give to the poor, he went away sorrowful. He was
not willing to part with all. If Christ had bid him sell half, it
may be he would have complied with it. He had a great desire
to secure salvation. Bui the apostle Paul did not content him-
self with wishing. He was resolved, if it were possible, that he
would obtain it. And when it was needful that he should lose
worldly good, or when any great suffering was in his way, it was
no cause of hesitation to him. He had been in very comfortable
and honourable circumstances among the Jews. He had received
the best education, that was to be had among them, being
brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and was regarded as a very
learned young man. His own nation, the Jews, had a high es-
teem of him, and he was esteemed for his moral and religiousquali-
fications among them. But when he could not hold the outward
benefit of these things and win Christ, he despised them totally,
he parted with all his credit and honour. He made nothing of
them, that he might win Christ. And instead of being honoured
and loved and living in credit, as before among his own nation,
he made himself the object of their universal hatred. He lost all,
and the Jews hated him, and persecuted him every where. And
when great sufferings were in the way, he willingly made himself
conformable to Christ's death, that he might have a part in his re-
surrection. He parted with his honour, his ease, his former
friends and former acquaintance, his worldly goods and every
thing else, and plunged himself into a state of extreme labour,
contempt and suffering ; and in this way besought the kingdom
of heaven. He acted in this matter very much asotie, that is run-
ning a race for some great prize, who makes running his great and
only business, till he has reached the end of the race and strains
every nerve and sinew, and suffers nothing to divert him, and will
not stand to listen to what any one says to him, but presses for-
ward. Or as a man that is engaged in battle, sword in hand,
with strong and violent enemies, that seek his life, who exerts him-
self to his utmost, as for his life. 1 Corinthians ix. 26. " I there-
fore so run, not as uncertainly ; so fight I, not as one that beat-
eth the air." When fleshly appetites stood in the way, however
importunate they were, he utterly denied them and renounced
them ; they were no impediment in the way of his thorough pur-
suit of salvation. He would not be subject to the appetites of his
body, but made them subject to his soul. 1 Corinthians ix. 27.
" I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection." Proba-
bly there never was a soldier, when he bore his part in storming a
city, that acted with greater resolution and violence, as it were
forcing his way through all that opposed him, than the apostle
Paul in seeking the kingdom of heaven. We have not only his
128 SERiMON V.
own word for it ; The history we have of his life, written hy Saint
Luke, sliows the same. Now those, who seek their sajvalion,
ought to follow this example. Persons, who are concerned for
their salvation, sometiuies inquire what they shall do. Let them
do as did the apostle Paul ; seek salvation in the way he did,
with the like violence and rerohuion. Those, that make this in-
quiry, who are somewhat aiixious year after year, and con)plain
that they have not obtained any comfort, would do well to ask
themselves, whether they seek salvation in any measure in tliis
way, with that resolution and violence of which he set ihem an
example. Alas, are they not very fur indeed from it! C.'in it in
any proper sense be said, that the kingdom of heaven sufiers vio-
lence at their hands .^
Secondly. Tiie apostle did not only thus enrnestly seek salva-
tion before his conversion and hope, but afterwards also. What
he says in the third chnpter of Phil!pj)ians of his sufTcring the
loss of all things, that he might be found in Christ, and its being
the one thing thnt lie did to seek salvation ; and also whnt he says
of his so running as not in v.iin, but as resolving to win the prize
of salvation, and keeping under his body that he might not be a
castaway ; were long after his conviction, and after he had re-
nounced all hope of his own good estate by nature. If bciing a
convinced sinner excuses a man from seeking salvation any more,
or makes it reasonable that he should cease his earnest care and
labour for it, certainly the aposlle might have been excused, when
he had not only already attained true grace, but such eminent de-
grees of it. To see one of the most eminent saints that ever lived,
if not the most eminent of all, so exceedingly engaged in seekint^
his own salvation, ought for ever to put to shame those wh.o are a
thousand degrees below him, and are but mere infants to him, if
they have any grace at all ; who yet excuse tliemselves from using
any violence after the kingdom of heaven now, because tliey have
attained already, who (vee themselves from the burden of going
on earnestly to seek salvation with this, that they have finished the
work, they have obtained a hope. The apostle, as eminent as he
vi'as, did not say within himself, " T am converted, and so am sure
of salvation. Christ has promised it me ; why need I Inbour any
more to secure it.'^ Yea, I am not only converted, hut 1 have ob-
tained great degrees of grace." But still he is violent after sal-
vation. He did not keep looking back on the extraordinary dis-
coveries he enjoyed at his first conversion, and the past great ex-
perience lie had had from time to time. He did not content him-
self with the thought, that he possessed the most wonderful testi-
monies of God's favour, and of the love of Christ already that
ever any enjoyed, even to his having been caught up to the third
heavens ; but he forgot the tilings that were behind. He acted
SERMON V. 129
as though he did not consider that he had yet attained an inter-
est in Christ. Philippians iii. 11, 12, 13, 14. " If by any means
I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead ; not as though I
had already attained, either were ah'eady perfect ; but I follow
after, if that I may apprehend that for which 1 am apprehended of
Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehend-
ed ; but this one thing 1 do, forgetting those things which are be-
hind, and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus." The apostle still sought that he might win Christ and
his righteousness, and attain to his resurrection, not as though he
had attained it already, or had already obtained a title to the
crown. And this is especially the thing in which he calls on us
to imitate his example in the text. It was not because Paul was
at a loss whether he was truly converted or not, that he was still
so earnest in seeking salvation. He not only thought that he was
converted, and should go to heaven when he died, but he knew
and spake particularly about it in this very epistle, in the twenty-
first verse of the first chapter. " For me to live is Christ, but to
die is gain." And in the foregoing versp he says, "According
to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be
ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ
shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death."
The apostle knew that though he was converted, yet there remain-
ed a great work that he must do, in order to his salvation. There
was a narrow way to eternal glory, through which he must pass,
and never could come to heaven in any other way. He knew it
was absolutely necessary for him earnestly to seek salvation still ;
he knew there was no going to heaven in a slothful way. And
therefore he did not seek salvation the less earnestly, for his hav-
ing hope and assurance, but a great deal more. We nowhere
read so much of his earnestness and violence for the kingdom of
heaven before he was converted, as afterwards. The apostle's
hope was not of a nature to make him slothful ; it had a contrary
effect. The assurance he had of victory, together with the neces-
sity there was of fighting, engaged him to fight, not as one that
beat the air, but as one that wrestled with principalities and pow-
ers. Now this example the apostle does especially insist in the
text, that we ought to follow. And this should induce all present
who think themselves converted, to inquire whether they seek sal-
vation never the less earnestly, because they think it is well with
them, and that they are now sure of heaven. Most certainly if
the apostle was in the right way of acting, we in this place are
generally in the wrong. For nothing is more apparent than that
it is not thus with the generality of professors hei e, but that it is a
130 SERMON V.
common thing after they think they are safe, to be far less diligent
and earnest in religion than before.
Thirdly. The apostle did not only diligently seek heaven af-
*er he knew he wns converted, but was earnestly cautious lest he
should be damned ; as appears by the passage already cited.
" But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest by
any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a
castaway." Here you see the apostle is very careful lest he should
be a castaway, and denies his carnal appetites, and mortifies his
flesh for that reason. He did not say, " J am safe, 1 am sure I
shall never be lost ; why need I take any further care respecting
it?" Many think because they suppose themselves converted, and
so safe, that they have nothing to do with the awful threatenings
of God's word, and those terrible denunciations of damnation that
are contained in it. When they hear them, they hear them as things
which belong only to others, and not at all to themselves, as though
there were no application of what is revealed in the scripture re-
specting hell, to the godly. And therefore, when they hear awak-
ening sermons about the awful things that God has threatened to
the wicked, they do not hear them for themselves, but only for
others. But it was not thus with this holy apostle, who certainly
was as safe from hell, and as far from a damnable state as any of
us. He looked upon himself as still nearly concerned in God's
threatenings of eternal damnation, notwithstanding all his hope,
and all his eminent holiness, and therefore gave great diligence,
that he might avoid eternal damnation. For he considered that eter-
nal misery was as certainly connected with a wicked life as ever it was,
and that it was absolutely necessary that he should still keep under his
body, and bring it into subjection, in order that he might not be damn-
ed ; because indulging the lusts of the body and being damned were
most surely connected together. The apostle knew that this con-
ditional proposition was as true concerning him, as ever it was.
"If 1 live wickedly, or do not live in a way of universal obe-
dience to God's commands, I shall certainly be a castaway."
This is evident, because the apostle mentions a proposition of this
nature concerning himself in that very chapter where he says, he
kept under his body lest he should be a castaway. 1 Corin-
thians ix. 16. " For though I preach the gospel I have nothing to
glory of, for necessity is laid upon me; yea, wo is unto me if 1
preach not the gospel." What necessity was there upon the apos-
tle to preach the gospel, though God had commanded him, for he
was already converted, and was sate ; and if he had neglected to
preach the gospel, how could he have perished after he was con-
verted ? But yet this conditional proposition was still true; if he
did not live a life of obedience to God, wo would be to him ; wo
SERMON V. 131
to him, if he did not preach the gospel. The connexion still held.
It is impossible a man should go any where else than to hell in a
way of disobedience to God. And therefore he deemed it necessary
for him to preach the gospel on that account, and on the same ac-
count he deemed it necessary to keep under his body, lest he
should be a castawa}'. The connexion between a wicked life and
damnation is so certain, that if a man lives a wicked life, it proves
that all his supposed experiences are nothing. If a man at the
last day be found a worker of iniquity, nothing else will be inquir-
ed of about him. Let him pretend what he will, Christ will say
to him and all others like him, " Depart from me, I know you not,
ye that work iniquity." And God has revealed these threaten-
ings and this connexion, not only to deter wicked men, but also
godly men from sin. And though God will keep men that are
converted from damnation, yet this is the means by which he will
keep them from it; viz. he will keep them -from a wicked life.
And though he will keep them from a wicked life, yet this is one
means by which he will keep them from it, viz. by their own cau-
tion to avoid damnation, and by his threatenings of damnation if
they should live a wicked life. We have another remarkable in-
stance in Job, who was an eminently holy man, 3'et avoided sin
with the utmost care, because he would avoid destruction from
God. Job, ch. xxxi. Surely wehaveas much cause to be cautious,
that we do not expose ourselves to destruction from God, as holy
Job had. We have not a greater stock of goodness than he. The
apostle directs Christians to work out their own salvation with
fear and trembling. Philippians ii. 12. And it is spoken of as the
character of a true saint, that he trembles at God's word; Isaiah
Ixvi. 2, which is to tremble especially at the awful threatenings of
it as Job did. Whereas the manner of many now is, whenever
they think they are converted, to throw by those threatenings of
God's word, as if they had no more to do with them, because they
suppose they are converted, and out of danger. Christ gave his
disciples, even those of them, that were converted, as well as
others, directions to strive for salvation ; because broad was the
way that leads to destruction, and men are so apt to walk in that
way and be damned. Matthew vii. 13,14. "Enter ye in at the
straight gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that
leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat ;
because straigiit is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth
unto life, and few there be, that find it."
Fourthly. The apostle did not seek salvation by his own right-
eousness. Though his sufferings were so very great, his labours so
exceedingly abundant, yet he never accounted them as righteous-
ness. He trod it under his feet, as utterly insufficient to recommend
132 SERMON V.
him to God. He gave diligence that he might be found in
Christ, not having on his own righteousness, which is of God,
through faith, as in the foregoing part of the chapter from which
the text is taken, beginning with the fourth verse. " Though
I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man
thinketh he iiath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more ;
circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of
Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews ; as touching the law, a
Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching
the righteousness, which is in the law, blameless. But what
things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord ; for whom I haic
suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that
I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and
the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto
his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that
for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus."
Fifthly. In those earnest labours which he performed, he
had respect to the recompense of the reward. He did it for an
incorruptible crown. 1 (!)orinthians ix. 25. He sought a high
degree of glory, for he knew the more he laboured, the more
he should be rewarded, as appears from what he tells the Co-
rinthians. .He that sowcth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly ;
and he that soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully."
And 1 Corinthians iii. 8. " Every man shall receive his own
reward, according to his own labour." That he had respect to
that crown of glor}^ which his Master had promised, in those
great labours and sufferings, is evident from what he says to
Timothy, a little before his death, 2 Timothy iv. 7, 8. " I
have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept
the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right-
eousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me
at that day ; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love
his appearing." All Christians should follow his example in this
also ; they should not content themselves with the thougljt, that
they have goodness enough to carry them, to heaven, but should
earnestly seek high degrees of glory ; for the higher degrees of
glory are promised to extraordinary labours for God, for no other
reason, but that wc should seek ihcni.
SERMON V. 133
2. I procee;! to mention some of the virtues of Paul, that
more immediately respect God and Christ, in which we ought to
follow his example.
First. He was strong in faith. It may be truly said of him
that he lived by faith. His faith seemed to be even without the
least appearance of diffidence or doubt in his words or actions,
but all seemed to proclaim, that he had God and Christ and the
invisible world continually in view. Such a faith, that was in con-
tinual exercise in him, he professes, in 2 Corinthians v. 6, 7, 8.
*' Therefore we are always confident, knowing that while we are
at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk
by faith, not by sight ; we are confident I say, and willing rather
to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." He
always speaks of God and Christ and things invisible and future,
as if he certainly knew them, and then saw them as fully and cer-
tainly, as we see any thing that is immediately before our b( dily
eyes. He spoke as though he certainly knew, that God's promise
of eternal life should be accomplished, and gives this as the rea^
son why he laboured so abundantly, and endured all manner of
temporal sufferings and death, and was always delivered unto
death for Christ's sake. 2 Corinthians iv. 11, &,c. "For we
which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that
the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh."
He speaks of his earnest expectation and hope of the fulfilment of
God's promises. And a little before his death, when he was a
prisoner, and when he knew that he was like to bear the trial of
martyrdom, which is the greatest trial of faith, he expresses his
faith in Christ in the strongest terms. 2 Timothy i. 12. " For
the which cause 1 also suffer these things ; nevertheless I am not
ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day." Such an example may well make us ashamed \
for how weak and unsteady is the faith of most Christians ! If
now and then there seems to be a lively exercise of faith, giving
the person at that time a firm persuasion and confidence ; yet how
short are such exercises, how soon do they vanish ! How often is
faith shaken with one temptation ; how often are the exercises of
it interrupted with doubting, and how much is exhibited of a diffi-
dent, vibrating spirit ! How little does our faith accomplish in
times of trial ; how often and how easily is our confidence in God
shaken and interrupted, and how frequently does unbelief prevail,*
This is much to the dishonour of our Saviour Jesus Christ, as well
as very painful to us. What a happy and glorious lot it is to live
such a life of faith, as Paul lived ! How far did he soar on the
wings of his strong faith above those little difficulties, that contiu"?
ally molest us, and are ready to overcome uil Seeing we have
VOL. VIII. 18
134 SERMON V.
such a blessed example set before as in the scriptures, let it prompt
us earnestly to seek, that we may soar higher also.
Secondly. Another virtue in which we should follow his ex-
ample, is his great love to Christ. The Corinthians, who saw how
the apostle acted, how he laboured, and how he suffered, and could
see no worldly motive, were astonished. They wondered what it
was, that so wonderfully influenced and actuated the man. The
apostle says, that he was a spectacle to the world. But this was
the immediate principle, that moved him; his strong, his intense
love to his glorious Lord and Master. This love constrained him,
that he could do nothing else than strive and labour and seek <j»r
his salvation. Tliis account he gives of it himself. 2 Corin-
thians v. 14. "The love of Christ constraineth us." He had
such a delight in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the knowledge
and contemplation of him, that he tells us, he " counted all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus." He
speaks in very positive terms. He does not say merely, that he
hopes he loves Christ, so as to despise other things in comparison
of the knowledge of him; but "yea, doubtless, I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my
Lord." And he assigns this reason why he even gloried in his
sufferings for Christ's sake ; because the love of God was shed
abroad in his heart, by the Holy Ghost. Romans v. 5. This ex-
pression seems to imply that he sensibly felt that holy affection,
sweetly and powerfully diffused in his soul, like some precious,
fragrant ointment. And how does he triumph in his love to
Christ in the midst of his sufferings ! Romans viii. 35, 36, 37.
*' Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribula-
tion, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or j)eril,
or sword ? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day
long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay in all
these things, we are more than conquerors through him, that hath
loved us." May not this make us ashamed of our cold, dead
hearts, that we hear so often of Christ, and of his glorious excel-
lencies and his wonderful love, with so little emotion, our hearts
being very commonly frozen up like a clod of earth by worldly af-
fections. And it may be that now and then with much difficulty we
persuade ourselves to do a little, or expend a little for the ad-
vancement of Christ's kingdom ; and then are ready to boast of it,
that we have done so nobly. Such superior examples as we have
are enough to make us for ever blush for our own attainments in
the love of Christ, and rouse us earnestly to follow after those who
have gone so far beyond us.
Thirdly,. The apostle lived in a day when Christianity was great-
ly despised 5 yet he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Chris-
tians were every where despised by the great men of the world.
SERMON V. 135
Almost all those that made any figure in the world, men in ho-
nourable stations, men of learning, and men of wealth, despised
Christianity, and accounted it a mean, contemptible thing to be
a Christian, a follower and worshipper of a poor, crucified man.
To be a Christian was regarded as what ruined a man's reputa-
tion. Christians were every where looked upon as fools, and
were derided and mocked. They were the meanest of mankind,
the offscouring of the world. This was a great temptation to
Cijristians to be ashamed of the gospel. And the apostle Paul
was more especially in such circumstances, as exposed him to this
temptation. For before he was a Christian, he was in great repu-
tation among his own countrymen. He was esteemed a young
man of more than ordinary proficiency in learning, and was a
man of high distinction airiong the Pharisees, a class of men of
the first standing among the Jews. In times when religion is
much despised, great men are more ready to be ashamed of it
than others. 3Iany of the great seem to think, that to appear re-
ligious men would make them look little. They do not know
how to coniply with showing a devout spirit, a spirit of supreme
love to God, and a strict regard to God's commands. But yet the
apostle was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ any where, or
before any person. He was not ashamed of it among his own
countrymen, the Jews, before their rulers and scribes, and great
men, but ever boldly professed it, and confronted them in their
opposition. When he was at Athens, the chief seat of learning
and of learned men in the world, though the learned men and phi-
losophers there despised his doctrine, and called him a babbler
for preaching the gospel; yet he felt no shame, but boldly disput-
ed with and confounded those great philosophers, and converted
some of them. And when he came to Rome, the metropolis and
mistress of the world, where resided the Emperor, and Senators,
and the chief rulers of the world, he was not ashamed of the gos-
pel there. He tells the Romans ; " I am ready to preach the
gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth." The apostle was greatly derided and
despised for preaching a crucified Jesus. 1 Corinthians iv. 13.
" We are made as the filth of the world, and are the oflscouring
of all things unto this day." And in the tenth verse he says,
" We are fools for Christ's sake." They were every where ac-
counted and called fools. Yet the apostle was so far from being
ashamed of the crucified Jesus, that he gloried in him above all
things. Galatians vi. 14. " God forbid that I should glory, save
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Here is an example for
us to follow, if at any time we fall in among those who hold reli-
gion in contempt, and will despise U9 for our pretensions to reli-
136 SERMON V.
gion, and will be ready to deride us for being so precise, and look
upon us as fools ; that we may not be ashamed of religion, and
yield to sinful compliances with vain and loose persons, lest we
should appear singular, and be looked upon as ridiculous. Such
a meanness of spirit possesses many persons, who are not wortliy
to be called Christians; and are such as Christ will be ashamed
of when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
Fourthly. Another virtue in which we ought to follow the apos-
tle, was his contempt of the world, and his heavenly-mindedness.
He contemned all the vain enjoyments of the world. He desp.ised
its riches. Acts xx. 33. " I have coveted no man's silver, or gold,
or apparel." He despised the pleasures of the world. " I keep
under my body." The apostle's pleasures were in the sufferings
of his body, instead of the gratification of its carnal appetites.
2 Corinthians xii. 10. *' Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities,
in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for
Christ's sake." He despised the honours of the world. 1 Thes-
salonians ii. 6. '* Nor of men sought we glory ; neither of you,
nor yet of others." He declares that the world was crucified unto
him, and he unto the world. These were not the things that the
apostle sought, but the things that were above, that were out of
fight to other men. 2 Corinthians iv. 18. " While we look not
at the things, which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen." He longed greatly after heaven. 2 Corinthians v. 4.
" For we that are in this tabernacle, do groan being burdened ;
not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mor-
tality might be swallowed up in life." And he tells us, that he
knew no man after the flesh ; that is, he did not look upon the
men or things of this world, or regard them as related to the world,
or as they respected the present life; but he considered all men
and all things as they had relation to a spiritual nature, and to an-
other world. In this the apostle acted as becomes a Christian ;
for Christians, those that are indeed so, are people that belong not
to this world, and therefore, it is very unbecoming in them to have
their minds taken up about these things. The example of Paul
may make all such persons ashamed, v%ho have their minds chiefly
occupied about the things of the world, about gaining estates, or
acquiring honours ; and yet would be accounted fellow-disciples
with the apostle, partakers of the same labours, and fellow-heirs of
the same heavenly inheritance. And it should prompt us to strive
for more indifference to the world, and for more heavenly minded-
ness.
Fifthly. We ought also to follow the example of the apostle in
his abounding in prayer and praise. He was very earnest, and
j:reatly engaged in those duties, and continued in them, as ap-
pijara from many passages. Romans i. 8. '• First I thank my
SERMON V. 137
God iliiough Jesus Christ for you all, that j'our faith is spoken
of ihioughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom
1 -serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that w ithout
cea.sing I make mention of yon always in my prayers." Ephe-
sians i. 15, 16. " Wherefore I also, after 1 heard of your faiih
in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not
to give thanks for you, making menlion of you in my prayers."
Coipssians i. 3. " We give thanks to God, and the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you." 1 Thes-
salonians i. 2, 3. " We give thanks to God always for yon all,
making mention of you in our {)rayers ; remembering vvitliout
ceasing your work of fciith and labour of love, and patience of
hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Fa-
ther." And chapter iii. 9, 10. '* For what thanks can we ren-
der to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for
yonr sakes before our God ; night and day praying exceedingly,
that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is
lacking in your faith ?" 2 Timothy i. 3, " I thank God, whom
I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without
ceasing I have remembrance of thee in mv prayers, night and
day."
Sixthly. We ought to follow him in his contetitment under
the allotments of divine Providence, lie was the subject of a
vast variety of dispensations of Providence. He went through
a great many changes, and was almost continually in suffering
circumstances, sometimes in one respect, sometimes in another,
and sometimes the subject of a great many kinds of suiFeiing
together. But yet he had attained to such a degree of submis-
sion to the will of God, as to he contented in every condition,
and under all dispensations towards him. Phiiippians iv. 11,
12, 13. " Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learn-
ed in whatsoever state I am, thereuilh to be content. 1 kno\v
both how to be al)ased, and I know how to abounrl. Every
where, and in all things I am irtstructed both to be full and to
be hungry, both to abound, and to suffer need. 1 can do all
things through (Christ, which slrengtheneth me." WMiat a
blessed temper and disposition of mind was this to which Paul
had arrived ; and how happy is that man of whom it can now
be said with truth! He is, as it were, out the reach of every
evil. Nothing can touch him so as to disturb his r^st, for he
rests in every thing that God orders.
SeoenMy. We should follow the aposle in his great caution
in giving an account of his experience; not to represent more
of himself in his words, than men should see in his deeds. In
2 Coiinthians he gives somewhat of an account how ho had
been favouied wiih \isions and revelations, and had been caught
138 SERMON V.
up to the third heavens. And in the sixth verse, intimating
that he could relate more, he breaks off, and forbears to say any
thing further respecting his experience. And he gives this
reason for it ; viz. that lie would avoid, in what he relates of
himself, giving occasion for any one to be disappointed in him,
in expecting more from him, by his own account of his ex|)eri-
ence and revelations, than he should see or hear of him in his
conversation. His words are, " for though I would desire to
glory, I shall not be a fool ; for I will say the truth ; but now I
forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he
seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me." Some may wonder
at this in such a man as the apostle, and may say, why should a
man so eminent in his conversation, be so cautious in this mat-
ter.'' Why need he be afraid to declare all the extraordinary
things that he had witnessed, since his life was so agreeable, so
eminently answerable to his experience ^ But yet you see the
apostle forbore uj)on this very account. He knew there
was great need of caution in this matter. He knew that if in
giving an account of his extraordinary revelations, he should
give rise to an expectation of too great things in his conversa-
tion, and should not live answerably to that expectation, it
would greatly wound religion. He knew that its enemies would
be ready to say presently, " Who is this ^ The man that gives so
extraordinary an account of his visions and revelations, and pe-
culiar tokens of God's favour to him ; does he live no more
conformably to it .^" But if such a man as the apostle, so emi-
nent in his life, was so cautious in this respect; surely we have
need to be cautious, who fail so much more in our example
than he did, and in whose conversation the enemy may find so
much more occasion to speak reproachfully of religion. This
teaches us that it would be better to refrain wholly from boast-
ing of our experience, than to represent ourselves as better than
our deeds and conversation represent us. For men will com-
pare one with the other. And if they do not see a correspond-
ence between them, this will be much more to the dishonour of
God, than our account will be to his honour. JiCt Christians,
therefore, be warned to be ever cautious in this respect, after
the great example of the apostle.
3. I shall mention some of those virtues of the apostle, that
more immediately respected men, in which we ought to follow
his example.
First. His meekness under abuses, and his love to his ene-
mies. There were multitudes, that hated him, but there is no
appearance of his hating any. The greater part of the world
where he went, were his enemies. But he was the friend of
every one, and laboured and prayed earnestly for the good of
SERMON V. 139
all. And when he was reproached and derided and buffeted,
still it was with meekness and gentleness of spirit that he bore
all, and wished well to them none the less, and sought their
good. 1 Corinthians iv. 12, 13, "Being reviled, we bless;
being persecuted, we suffer it ; being defamed, we intreat." In
that period of his great sufferings when he went up to Jerusa-
lem, and there was such an uproar about him, and the people
were in so furious a rage against him, eagerly thirsting for his
blood ; he discovered no anger or ill will towards liis persecutors.
At that time when he was a prisoner through their malice, and
stood before king Agrippa, and Agrippa said, "Almost thou
persuadest me to be a Christian ;" and his blood-thirsty ene-
mies were standing by ; he replied, " I would to God, that not
only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost,
and altogether, such as I am, except these bonds." He wished
that his accusers, and those who had bound themselves with an
oath that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed
him, had all of them as great privileges and as much of the fa-
vour of heaven as himself; and that they were altogether as he
was except his bonds and imprisonment, and those afflictions
which they had brought upon him. He did not desire that they
should be like him in that affliction, though it was the fruit of
their own cruelty. And when some of the Corinthians, whom
he had instructed and converted from heathenism, had dealt ill by
him, had hearkened to some false teachers, that had been among
them, who hated and reproached the apostle ; he tells them, in
2 Corinthians xii. 15, notwithstanding these abuses, that still he
would very gladly spend and be spent for them, though the more
abundantly he loved them, the less he should be loved by them.
If they returned him no thanks for his love, but only ill will and
ill treatment, still he stood ready to spend and be spent for them.
And though the apostle was so hated, and had suffered so many
abuses from the unbelieving Jews, yet how does he express his
love to them f He prayed earnestly for them, liomans x. 1.
"Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is,
that they might be saved." And he went mourning for them.
He went about with an heavy heart, and with continual grief
and sorrow from compassion for them, under the calamities of
which they were the subjects; and he declares in the most
solemn manner, that he had so great desire for their salvation,
that he could find it in his heart to wish himself accursed from
Christ for them, and to be offered up a sacrifice, if that might
be a means of their salvation. Romans iz. 1, 2, 3. We are to
understand it of a temporal curse. He could be willing to die
an accursed death, and so be made a curse for a time, as Christ
was, if that might be a means of salvation to them. How are
140 SERMON V.
those reproved Uy this, who, when they are abused and suiTer
reproach or injur}'^ have thereby indulged a spirit of hatred
against their neighbour, a prejudice whereby they are always
apt to entertain a distrust, and to seek and embrace opportu-
nitif s against them, and to be sorry fur their prosperity, and
glad at their disappointments.
Secona'Ii/. He delighted in peace. \\ hen any contention hap-
pened among Christians, he was exceedingly grieved by it. As
when lie hcanl of the contentions, that broke out in the Corin-
thian church. He intimates to the Philippians, how he should
rejoice at their living in love and peace, and therefore earnestly
intreats them that they should so live. Philippians ii. 1,2. "If
there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of
love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like minded, having the same love,
being of one accord, of one mind." And he studied those
things, that should make for peace. To tiiat end he yielded
to every one as much as possible in those things that were law-
ful, and complied with the weakness and humours of others
ofteniiajes, for the sake of peace. He declares that though he
was free from all men, yet he had made himself servant of all.
To the Jews he became as a Jew ; to them that were under the
law, as under the law ; to them that were without law, as with-
out law ; to the weak he became as weak. He rather chose to
please others, than himself, for the sake of peace, and tiie good
of their souls. 1 Corinthians x. '33. " Even as I please all men
in all things, ujot seeking mine own profit, but tlie profit of ma-
ny, that they may be saved."
Thirdly. He was of a most tender compassionate spirit to-
wards any that were in affliction. He showed such a spirit es-
pecially in the case of th.e incestuous Corinthian. The criuie
was very great, and the fault of the church was great in suffer-
ing such wickedness among them, and this occasioned the apos-
tle to write with some sharpness to them respecting it. ikit
when the ajjostle perceived that his reproof was laid to heart by
the Corinthian Christians, and that they repented and their
hearts were filled with sorrow, though he rejoiced at it, yet he
was so aiiected with their sorrow, that his heart yearned to-
wards them, and he was almost ready to repent, that he had
written so severely to them. He was full of concern about it,
lest his former letter should have filled them with over much
sorrow. " Forthough I made you sorry with a letter, I do not
repent, though I did repent ; for I perceive that the same epis-
tle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season." So
he had compassion for the incestuous man, though he had been
guilty of so vile a crime, and was greatly concerned that he
SERMON V. 141
should be comfoited, Wlienever any Christian suffered or was
hurt, the apostle says he felt it and suffered himself. 2 Cor. xi. 29.
" Who is weak, and I am not weak, who is offended, and 1 burn
not."
Fourthly. He rejoiced at others' prosperity and joy. When he
s^vv the soul of any one comforted, the apostle was a sharer with
him ; bis soul was comforted also. When he saw any Christian
refreshed in his spirit, his own spirit was refreshed. 2 Cor. vii. 6, 7.
" Nevertheless, God that comforteth those that are cast down,
comforted us by the coming of Titus ; and not by his coming only,
but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when
he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind
toward me, so that I rejoiced the more." " Therefore we were
comforted in your comfort; yea, and exceedingly the more joyed
we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you
all."
Fifthly. He delighted in the fellowship of God's people. He
longed after them when absent. Philippians i. 8. " For God i$
my record how greatly I long after you in the bowels of Christ."
And also, " Therefore my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for,
my joy and crown." So Romans i. 11, 12. " For I long to see
you, that 1 ma}' impart unto 3'ou some spiritual gift, to the end ye
may be established ; that is, that I may be comforted together
with you, by the mutual faith both of you and me."
Sixthly. He was truly courteous in his behaviour towards
others. Though he was so great a man, and had so much ho-
nour put upon him of God, yet he was full of courtesy towards all
men, rendering to all suitable respect. Thus when he was called
before Jewish or heathen magistrates, he treated them with the
honour and respect dne to their places. When the Jews took him
in tlie temple, though they behaved themselves more like devils
than men, yet he addresses them in terms of high respect, ''Men,
brethren and fathers, hear ye my defence :" calling the common
Zew?,\\\?, brethren, and saluting the Elders and Scribes with the
title of fathers, though they were a body of infidels. So, when he
pleads his cause before Festus, a heathen governor, he gives him
the title that belonged to him in his station ; calling him, " Most
noble Festus." His courtesy also appears in his salutations in
his epistles. He is particularly careful to mention many per-
sons, directing that his salutations should be given to them.
Such a degree of courtesy, in so great a person as this apostle,
reproves all those professing Christians, who, though far below
him, are not courteous and respectful in their behaviour to their
neighbours, and especially to their superiors. Incivility is here
reproved, and the too coramon neglect nf Christians is reproved,
who do not take strict care, that their children are taught good
VOL. VIII, 19
142 SERMON V.
manners and f>oliteness, and brought up in a respectful and cour-
teous behaviour towards others.
4. I shall mention those virtues of the Apostle that respected
both God and men, in which we should imitate his example.
First. He was a man of a most public spirit ; he was greatly
concerned for the prosperity of Christ's kingdom, and the good
of his church. We see a great n)any men wholly engaged in
pursuit of their worldly interests : many who are earnest in the
pursuit of their carnal pleasures, many who are eager in the pur-
suit of honours, and many who are violent in the pursuit of gain;
but we probably never saw any man more engaged to advance his
estate, nor more taken up with his pleasures, nor more greed}' of
honour, than the apostle Paul was about the flourishing of Christ's
kingdom, and the good of the souls of men. The things that
grieve other men are outward crosses ; losses in estates, or falling
under contempt, or bodily suflerings. But these things grieved
not him. He made little account of tliem. The things that
grieved him, were those that hurt the interests of religion ;
and about those, his tears were shed. Thus he was exceedingly
grieved and wept greatly for the corruptions, that had crept into
the church of Corinth, which was the occasion of his writing his
first epistle to them. 2 Cor. ii. 4. " For out of much affliction and
anguish of heart, 1 wrote unto you, with many tears." The things
about which other men are jealous, are their worldly advanta-
ges and pleasures. If these are threatened, their jealousy is exci-
ted, since they are above all things dear to them. But the things
that kindled the apostle's jealousy, were those that seemed to
threaten the interests of religion, and the good of the Church :
2 Cor. xi. 2, 3. " For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy ;
for I have espoused you to one husband, that 1 may present you as
a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the
serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." The things at
which other men rejoice are their amassing earthly treasures, their
being advanced to honours, their being possessed of outward
pleasures, and delights. But these excited not the apostle's joy ;
but when he saw, or heard of any thing by which the interests of
religion were promoted, and the Church of Christ prospered, then
he rejoiced : 1 Thess. i. 3. " Remembering without ceasing your
work of faith and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father." And chapter
H. 20. " Ye are our glory and joy," He rejoiced at those things,
however dear they cost him, how much soever he lost by them in
his temporal interest, if the welfare of religion and the good of souls
were promoted; Phil. ii. 16, 17. " Holding forth the word of
life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in
SERMON V. 143
vaiti, neither laboured in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon
the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you
all." He rej6iced at the steadfastness of saints : Col. ii. 5.
'' For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with } ou in the
spirit, joying and l)eholding your order, and the steadfastness
of your faith in Christ." And he rejoiced at the conviction of
sinners, and in whatever tended to it. He rejoiced at any good,
whicli was done, though by others, and though it was done
accidentally by his enemies : Phil. i. 15, 16, 17, 18. *' Some
indeed [breach Christ, even of envy and strife, and some also of
good will. The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely,
supposing to add affliction to my bonds. But the other of love,
knowing that lam set for the defence of the gospel. What
then ? Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretence or in
truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will
rejoice." When the apostle heard any thing of this nature, it
was good news to him : 1 Thess. iii. 6, 7. " But now, when
Timotheus came from von unto u>j, and brouo^ht us ijood tidings
of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance
of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also you ; there-
fore brethren, we were comforterl over you in all our affliction
and distress by your faith." When he heard such tidings, his
heart was wont to be enlarged in the praises of God : Col. i. 3, 4.
We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in
Christ Jesus, and of the love, which ye have to all the saints."
He was not only wont to praise God when he first heard such
tidings, but as often as he thought of such things, they were so
joyful toliim, that he readily praised God. Phil. i. 3,4, 5. " I
thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in
every prayer of mine for yon all making request with joy, for
your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now." Let
us compare ourselves with such an example, and examine how
far we are of such a spirit. Let those on this occasion, reflect
upon themselves, whose hearts are chiefly engaged in their own
private temporal concerns, and are not much concerned respect-
ing the interests of religion and the Church of Christ, if they
can obtain their private aims; who are greatly grieved when
things go contrary to their worldly prosperity, who see religion
as it were, weltering in its blood, without much sorrow of heart.
It may be, that they will say ; it is greatly to be lamented that
there is such declension, and it is a sorrowful thing that sin so
much prevails. But if we could look into their hearts, how cold
and careless should we see them. Those words are words of
course. They express themselves thus chiefly, because they
think it creditable to lament the decay of religion ; but
147 SERMON V.
they are ten times as much concerned about other things as
these, about their own private interest, or some secular affairs
of the town. If any thing ^eems to threaten their being disap-
pointed in these things, how readily are they excited and alarmed ;
but how quiet and easy in their spirit, notwithstanding all the
dark clouds that appear over the cause and kingdom of Christ,
and the salvation of those around them ! How quick and how
high is their zeal against those, who they think, unjustly oppose
them in their temporal interests ; but how low is their zeal, com-
paratively, against those things, that are exceedingly pernicious
of the interests of religion ! If their own credit is touched, how
are they awakened! but they can see the credit of religion
wounded, and bleeding, and dying, with little hearty concern.
Most men are of a private, narrow spirit. They are not of the
spirit of the apostle Paul, nor of the Psalmist, who preferred
Jerusalem before his chief joy. Psalm cxxxvii. 6.
Stcondly. We ought to follow the apostle in his diligent and
laborioiis endeavours todogood. We see multitudes incessantly
labouring and striving after the world ; but not more than the
apostle laboured to advance the kingdom of his dear Master,
and the good of his fellow-creatures. His work was very great,
and attended with great difficulties and opposition ; and his la-
bour was answerably great. He laboured abundantly more
than any of the apostles: 1 Cor. xv. 10. "I laboured more
abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of (iod which
was with me." How great wore the pains he took in preach-
jTig and in travelling from place to phif-eover so great part of
the world, by sea and land, and probably for the most i)art on
foot : when he travelled by land, instructing and converting the
heathen, disputing with gainsayers, and heathen Jews, and
heretics, strenuously opposing and fighting against the enemies
of the church of Christ, wrest Img not with flesh and blood, but
against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places; acting the part of a good soldier, as one that goes a
warfare; putting on Christ and using the whole armour of God ;
labouring to establish and confirm, and build \\\) the saints, re-
claiming those, that were wandering, delivering those that were
ensnared, enlightening the dark, comforting the flisconsolate,
and succouring the tempted ; rectifying disorders that had hap-
pened in churches, exercising ecclesiastical discipline towards
offenders, and admonishing the saints of the covenant of grace;
opening and applying the scriptures, ordaining persons and
giving them directions, and assislingthose that were ordained ;
and writing epi.«;tles, and sending messengers to one, and an-
other part of the chur<h of Christ! He had the care of the
SERMON V. 145
churches lying rontliuially upon him : 2 Cor. xi. 28. "Besides
those things, that are without, that which cometh upon me dai-
ly, the care of all the churches." These things occasioned him
to be continually engaged in earnest labour. He continued in
it night and day, sometimes almost the whole night, preaching
and admonishing, as appears by Acts xx. 7. 11. "And upon the
tirst day of the week, when the disciples came together to break
bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the mor-
row, and continued his speech until midnight. When he there-
fore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and
talked along while, even till break of day, so he departed." And
he did all freely, without any view to any temporal gain. He
tells the Corinthians that he would gladly spend and be spent
for them. Besides his labouring in the work of the gospel, he
laboured very much, yea, sometimes night and day, in a handi-
craft trade to procure subsistence, that he might not be charge-
able to others, and so hinder the gospel of Christ : 1 Thess. ii.
9. " For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail, for la-
l)onring night and d^y, because we would not be chargeable
unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God."
And he continued this course of labour as long as he lived. He
never was weary in well doing; and though he met with con-
tinual opposition, and tliousands of difficulties, yet nothing dis-
couraged him. But he kept on, pressing forward in this course
of hard, constant labour to the end of his life, as appears by
what he saysjust before his death. 2 Tim. iv. 6, 7. " I am now
ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have
kept the faith." And the effects and fruits of the apostle's la-
bours witnessed for him. The world was blessed by the good he
did ; not one nation only, but multitudes of nations. The ef-
fects of his labours were so great in so many nations before he
had laboured twenty years, that the heathens called it his turn-
ing the world upside down. Acts xvii. 6. This very man was
the chief instruiiient in that great work of God, the calling of
the Gentiles, and the conversion of the Roman world. And he
seems to have done more good, far more good, than any other
man ever did from the beginning of the world to this day. He
lived after his conversion not much more than thirty years ; and
in those tijirty years he did more than a thousand men com-
monly do in an age. This example may well make us reflect
upon ourselves, and considcir how little we do for Christ, and for
our fellow-creaiures. We profess to be Christians as well as
the aposile Paul, and Christ is worthy that we should serve
him, as Paul did. But how small are our labours for God and
Christ and our fcUow-crt^atures ! Though many of us kced
146 SERMON V.
ourselves busy, how are our labour and strength spent, and
with what is our time filled up? Let us consider ourselves a
little, and the manner of spending our time. We labour to
provide for ourselves and families, to maintain ourselves in
credit, and to make our part good among men. But is that all
for which we are sent into the world? Did he who n)ade us
and gave us our powers of mind and strength of body, and who
gives us our time and our talents, give them to us chiefly to be
spent in this manner; or in serving him? Many years have
rolled over the heads of some of us, and what have we lived for ;
what have we been doing all this time ? How much is the world
the better for us? Were we here only to eat and to drink, and
to devour the good which the earth produces? Many of the
blessings of Providence have been conferred upon us; and
where is the good, that we have done in return ? If we had
never been born, or if we had died in infancy, of how much good
would the world have been deprived of? Such reflections
should be made with concern, by those who pretend to be
Christians. For certainly God does not plant vines in his
vineyard, except for the fruit, which he expects they should
bring forth. He does not hire labourers into his vineyard, but
to do service. They who live only for themselves, live in vain,
and shall at last be cut down, as cumberersof the earth. J^et
the example of Paul make us more diligent to do'good for the time
to come. Men that do but little good, are very ready to excuse
themselves, and to say, that God has not succeeded their en-
deavours. But is it any wonder that we have not been succeed-
ed, when we have been no more engaged ? When God sees
any persons thoroughly and earnestly engaged, continuing in
it, and really faithful, he is wont to succeed them in some good
measure. You see how wonderfully he succeeded the great la-
bours of the apostle.
Thirdly. He did not only encounter great labours, but he
exercised also his utmost skill and contrivance for the glory of
God, and the good of his fellow-creatures ; 2 Cor. xii. 10. " Be-
ing crafty, I caught you with guile." How do the men of the
world not only willingly labour to obtain worldly good, but how
much craft and subtilty do they use? And let us consider how
it is here among ourselves. How many are our contrivances
to secure and advance our own worldly concerns? Who can
reckon up the number of all the schemes that have been formed
among us, to gain money, and honours, and accomplish par-
ticular worldly designs? How subtle are we lo avoid those
things, that might hurt us in our worldly interest, and to bafiie
the designs of those, who may be endeavouring to hurt us! But
how little is contrived for the advancement of religion, and the
SERMON V. 147
good of our nelghbouis ! How many schemes are laid by men
to promote their worldly designs, where one is laid for the ad-
vancement of the kingdom of Christ, and the good of men !
How frequent are the meetings of neighbours to determine how
they may best advance such and such worldly affairs ? But
how seldom are there such meetings to revive sinking reli-
gion, to maintain and advance the credit of the gospel, and to
accomplish charitable designs for the advancement of Christ's
kingdom, and the comfort and well being of mankind ! May not
these considerations justly be a source of lamentation ? How
many men are wise in promoting their worldly interests ; but
what a shame is it, that so few show themselves wise as ser-
pents, and harmless as doves for Christ ! And how commonly
is it the reverse of what the apostle advises the Christian Ro-
mans, " I would have you wise unto that which is good, and
simple concerning evil." Is it not often on the contrary with
professing Christians, as it was with the people of Judah and
Jerusalem ; "They are wise to do evil, but to do good, they
have no knowledge !"
Fourthly. The apostle Paul didiwillingly forego those things that
were in themselves lawful, for the furtherance of the interests of
religion and the good of men. Thus marriage was a thing lawful
for the apostle Paul as well as for other men, as he himself as-
serts; but he did not use the liberty he had in this matter, be-
cause he thought he might be under greater advantages to
spread the gospel in a single, than a married state. So it was
lawful for the apostle to take the other course of life, as in eat-
ing and drinking, and freely using all kinds of wholesome food.
And it was in itself a lawful thing for tlie apostle to demand a
maintenance of those to whom he preached. But he forbore
those things, because he supposed that in his (ircumstances, and
in the circumstances of the Church of Christ in that day, he
could more advance the interests of religion and the good of
men without them. For the gosfjcl's sake, and for the good of
men, he was wiliiuir to forego all the outward advantages he
could derive from them. 1 Cor. viii. 13. " Wherefore if meat
make my brother to offend, I will eat no meat while the world
standeth, lest I make my brother to ofFend." He would not
only avoid those things that were useless in themselves, but
those also that gave any occasion to sin, or which led or expos-
ed either himself or others to sin. Then it follows in the next
chapter, " Am I not an apostle .? Am T not free ? Have I not
seen Jesus Christ our Lord ^ Are not ye my work in the Lord ?
If I be not^an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you ;
for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord. Mine an-
swer to them that do examine me is this. Have we not power
148 SliKMO.X V.
to eat and to drink? Have we nut power to lead about a sis-
ter, a wife, as well as other apostles, an(i as the brethren ol" the
liOrd and Cephas ? Or I only and Barnabas, have not we
power to forbear workin*^ ?" The apostle did not only forbear
sonrie little things, but he put himself to great difficulties by for-
bearing those things that were in themselves lawful. It cost
him a great deal of labour of body to maintain himself. But
yet he willingly laboured, working with his own hands, and as
he says, though he was free from all men, yet he made himself
the servant of all, that he might gain the more. Let this in-
duce such persons to consider themselves, whether they act
altogether as become Christians, who look upon it as a suffi-
cient excuse for all the liberties they take, that the things in
which they allow themselves, are in themselves lawful, that
they are nowhere forbidden, though they cannot deny but that
considered in their circumstances, they are of ill tendency, and
expose them to temptation, and really tend to wound the credit
and interest of religion, and to be a stumbling block to others,
or as the apostle expresses it, tend to cause others to oli'end.
But they uphold themselves with this, that the things which
they practise are not absolutely unlawful in themselves, and
therefore they will not hearken to any counsels to avoid them.
They think with themselves that it is unreasonable they should
be tied up so strictly ; that they may not take one and another
liberty, and must be so stiff and precise above others. But why
did not the apostle talk after their manner? Why did not ho
say within himself, it is unreasonable that 1 should deny myself
lawful meat and drink merely to comply with the consciences
of a few weak persons, that are unreasonable in their scruples?
Why should 1 deny myself the comforts of marriage ; why
should I deny myself that maintenance which Christ himself
has ordained for ministers, only to avoid the objection of un-
reasonable men ? But the apostle was of another spirit.
What he aiiijed at was by any means to promote the interest
of religion, and the good of the church. And he had rather
forego all the common comforts and enjoyments of life, than
that religion should suffer.
Fifthly. The apostle willingly endured innumerable and ex-
treme sufferings for the honour of Christ and the good of men.
His suffeiings were very great ; and that not only once or twice,
but he went through a long series of sufferings, that continued
from the time of his conversion as long as his life lasted. So
that his life was not only a life of extraordinary labour, but a
life of extreme sufferings also. Labours and sufferings were
mixed together, and atten«led ea* h other to the end of the race
which he ran. He endured sufferings: of all kmds, even those
SERMON V. 149
that cannot consist in the loss of temporal things. He tells us
he had snftered the loss of all things, Phil. iii. 8, all his former
enjoyments, which he had before his conversion. And he en-
dured many kinds of positive afflictions. 1 Cor. iv. 11, 12.
" Even unto this present hour, we both hunger and thirst, and
are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place.
And labour, working with our hands ; being reviled, we bless,
being persecuted, we suffer it." 2 Cor. vi. 4 — 11. " But in all
things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much
patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes,
in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fast-
ings ; by pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kind-
ness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of
truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on
the right hand and on the left ; by honour and dishonour, by evil
report and good report ; as deceivers, and yet true ; as un-
known, and yet well known ; as dying, and behold we live ; as
chastened, and not killed ; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing ;
as poor, yet making many rich ; as having nothing, and yet pos-
sessing all things." None of the apostles went through so great,
and such various afflictions as he : 2 Cor. xi. 23 — 28. " Are they
ministers of Christ? I am more; in labours more abundant,
in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths
oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
Thrice was 1 beaten with rods ; once was I stoned, thrice I suf-
fered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep ; in
journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in
perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in
perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea,
in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness,
in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in
cold and nakedness." His sufferings were so extreme, that he
did not go through a series of sufferings merely, but might be
said, as it were, to go through a series of deaths. He did in ef-
fect endure the pains of death over and over again almost con-
tinually, and therefore he expresses himself as he does. 2 Cor.
iv. 9 — 11. " Persecuted, but not forsaken ; cast down, but not
destroyed ; always bearing about in the body the dying of the
Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto
death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made
manifest in our mortal body." Rom. viii. 36. " As it is written
for thy sake we are killed all the day long ; we are accounted
as sheep for the slaughter." 1 Cor. xv. 31. "I protest by your
rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily."
He was so pursued and pressed by troubles, sometimes outward
VOL. VIII. 20
150 SERMON V.
and inward troubles together, that he had no rest. 2 Cor. vii. 5.
" For when we were come into Macedonia, our llesh had no
rest, but we were troubled on every side: without were fight-
ings, within were fears." Sometimes his sufferings were so ex-
treme that his nature seemed just ready to faint under them :
2 Cor. i. 8. " For we would not brethren have you ignorant of
our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out
of measure above strength, insomuch that we despaired even
of life." And at last the apostle was deprived of his life. He
suffered a violent death at Rome under the hand of that cruel
tyrant, Nero, soon after he wrote the second epistle to Timothy.
These things he endured for Christ's sake ; for the advance-
ment of his kingdom ; as he says, he was always delivered to
death for Jesus' sake. And those he endured also from love to
men, and from an earnest desire of their good : 2 Tim. ii. 10.
" Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they
may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eter-
nal glory." He knew what afflictions awaited him before-
hand ; but he would not avoid his duty, because of such afflic-
tions. He was so resolute in seeking Christ's glory, and the
good of men, that he would pursue these objects, notwithstand-
ing what might befal him : Acts XX. 22 — 24. "And now behold
I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things
that shall befal me there; save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth
in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But
none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto
myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the min-
istry, which I have received of the Jjord Jesus, to testify the
gospel of the grace of God." Yet he went through them cheer-
fully and willingly, and delighted to do God's will, and to pro-
mote others' good, though it was at this great cost : Col. i. 24.
" Who now rejoice in my sufierings for you, and fill up that
which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his
body's sake, which is the Church." And he was never weary.
He did not, after he had suffered a long time, excuse himself,
and say he thought he had done his part. Now here appears
Christianity in its proper colours. To be of such a spirit as this,
is to be of such a spirit as Christ so often requires of us, if we
would be his disciples. This is to sell all and give to the poor.
This is to take up the cross daily and follow Christ. To have
such a spirit as this, is to have good evidence of being a Chris-
tian indeed, a thorough Christian, one that has given himself to
Christ without reserve; one that hates father and mother, and
wife and children and sisters, yea and his own life also; one
thai loses his life for Christ's sake, and so shall find it. And
though it is not re(|uired of all that they should endure so great
SERMON V, 151
surteriiigs as Paul did ; yet it is required and absolutely neces-
sary, that rnatjy Christians should he in a measureof this spirit,
should he of a spirit to lose all things, and suffer all things for
Christ, rather than not obey his commands and seek his glory.
How well may our having such an example as this set before
our eyes, make us ashamed, who are so backward now and
then to lose little things, to put ourselves a little out of our
way, to deny ourselves some convenience, to deny oursinful ap-
petites, or to incur the displeasure of a neighbour. Alas ! what
thought have we of Christianity, to make much of such things
as these ; to make so many objections, to keep back, and con-
trive ways to excuse ourselves, when a little difficulty arises !
What kind of thoughts had we of being Christians, when we
first undertook to be such, or first pretended a willingness to
be Christians ? Did we never sit down and count the cost, or
did we cast it up at this rate, that we thought the whole sum
would not amount to such little sufferings as lie in our wray?
II. I now proceed to show under what special obligations we
are to follow the good example of this apostle.
Beside the obligation that rests uj)on us to follow the good
example of all, and beside the eminence of his example, there
are some special reasons why we are under greater obligations
to be influenced by the good example of this great ''apostle,
than by the very same example in others. This appears if we
consider,
I. In general, that those whom God has especially appointed
to be teachers in the Christian church, he has also set to be exam-
ples in his church. It is part of the charge that belongs to teachers
to be examples to others. It is one thing that belongs to their
work and office. So this is part of the charge, that the apostle
gives to Timothy, " Be thou an example of the believers, in word,
in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." The
same charge was given to Titus, " In all things shewing thyself a
pattern of good works." And this is part of the charge the
apostle Peter gives to the elders and teachers of the Christian
church, " The elders which are among you, I exhort; feed the
flock of God. Neither being lords over God's heritage, but be-
ing ensamples to the flock." Thus Christ, the chief Shepherd of
the sheep, whom God ordained to be the greatest teacher, he also
ordained to be the greatest example to his church. And so those
shepherds and teachers that are under him, according as they are
appointed to be teachers, are also to be examples. They are to
be guides of the flock in two ways, viz. by teaching and by exam-
ple, as shepherds lead their flocks in two ways ; partly hy their
voice by calling them, and partly by going before them, and by
leading the way. And indeed guiding by word and guiding by
152 SERMON V.
example, are but two different ways of teaching; and therefore
both alike belong to the office of teachers in the Christian church.
But if this be so, if God has especially set those to be examples
in the Christian church whom he has made its teachers, then it will
follow, that wherever they have left us good examples, those exam-
ples are especially to be regarded. For God has doubtless made
the duty of teachers towards the church, and the duty of the
ehurch towards her teachers, to answer one another. And there-
fore the charge is mutual. The charge is not only to teachers to
set good examples, but the charge is to the church to regard and
follow their good examples : Hebrews xiii. 7. " Remember them
which have the rule over you, which have spoken unto you the
word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their
conversation." It is with respect to the good examples of the
teachers of the Christian church, as it is with their words, their
instructions and exhortations. We ought to hear good instruc-
tions and good counsels of any one, let him be whom he may.
But yet we are under special obligations to hearken to the good
instructions and examples of those whom God has made our
teachers ; for that is the very office to which God has appointed
them to teach and to counsel us.
2. There are two things that are to be observed in particular of
the apostle Paul, which, from the foregoing general observation,
will show that we are under very special obligations to regard
and follow his good example.
First. God hath appointed the apostle Paul not only to be a
great teacher of the Christian church in that age in which he liv-
ed, but the priiicipal teacher of his church of any mere man in all
succeeding ages. He was set of God not oidy to teach the church
then, when he lived, but God has made him our teacher by his
inspired writings. The Christian church Is taught by the apostle
still, and has been in every age since he lived. It is not with the
penmen of the scriptures, as it Is with other teachers of the Chris-
tian church. Other teachers are made the teachers of a particu-
lar flock in the age in which they live. I?ut the penmen of the
scriptures hath God made to be teachers of the church universal In
all ages. And therefore, as particular congregations ought to
follow the good examples of their pastors, so the church universal
in all ages ought to observe and follow the good examples of the
prophets and apostles, that are the penmen of the scriptures, in all
ages. So the apostle James commands us to take the ancient pro-
phets for our example, because they have been appointed of God
to be our teachers, and have spoken to us in the name of the Lord.
James v. 10. '' Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spo-
ken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction
and patience." The prophets and apostles, hi that God has made
SERMON V. 153
tliem penmen of the scriptures, are next to Christ, the foundation
of the church of God : Eph. ii. 20. " Built on the foundation of
the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cor-
ner stone." And Paul, above all the penmen of the scriptures,
is distinguished of God as being made by him the principal teach-
er of the Christian church of any mere man. Moses taught gos-
pel truths under types and shadows, whereby he did, as it were,
put a vail over his face. But Paul used great plainness of speech.
2 Cor. iii. 12, 13. Moses was a minister of the old testament and
of the letter, that kills. But the apostle Paul is ilie principal mi-
nister of the new testament, of the spirit, and not of the letter.
2 Cor. iii. 6, 7. Christ has empowered this apostle to be the pen-
man of more of the new testament than any other man, and it is
by him chiefly that we have the great doctrines of it explained.
And God has actually made this apostle the principal founder of
the Christian church under Christ. He doubtless did more towards
it than all the other apostles ; and therefore is to be looked upon
as the principal shepherd under Christ of the whole flock of Christ,
which is a great obligation on the flock to regard and follow his
good example.
Secondly. We, who are Gentiles, are especially under obliga-
tions to regard his teaching and example, because it has been
mainly by means of this apostle that we have been brought into
the Christian church. He was the great apostle of the Gentiles :
the main instrument of that great work of God, the calling of the
Gentiles. It was chiefly by his means that all the countries of
Europe came by the gospel. And so it was through his hands
that our nation came by the gospel. They either had the gospel
from him immediately, or from those who had it from him. Had
it not been for the labours of this apostle, our nation might have
remained to this day in gross heathenism. This consideration
should especially engage us to regard him as our guide, and should
endear his good example to us. The apostle often exhorts those
churches, as the church of Corinth, Phillip!, and others which he
had converted from heathenism, and to which he had been a spi-
ritual father, to be followers of him wherein he followed Christ.
And we are some of them. We have been the more remarkably
converted from heathenism by this apostle, and we ought to ac-
knowledge him as our spiritual father. And we are obliged to
follow his good example as children should follow the good exam-
ple of their parents.
I now proceed to a general
APPLICATION
Of the whole that has been said on this subject, which may be
by way of exhortation to all earnestly to endeavour to follow the
154 SERMON V.
good example of this great apostle. We have heard what a spi-
rit the apostle manifested, and after what manner he lived in the
world ; how earnestly he sought his own salvation, and that not
only before, but also after his conversion, and how earnestly cau-
tious he was to avoid eternal damnation, long after he had obtain-
ed a saving interest in Christ. We have heard how strong he
was in faith, how great was his love to his Lord and Saviour, and
how he was not ashamed of the gospel, but gloried in the cross
of Christ; how he abounded in prayer and praise, how he con-
temned the wealth, and pleasures, and glory of the world ; how
contented he was with the allotments of Providence ; how prudent
and cautious he was in giving an account of his achievements, lest
he should represent more of himself in words than men should
see of him in deeds. We have heard how much he suffered under
abuses, how he loved his enemies, how he delighted in peace, and
rejoiced with those that rejoiced, and wept with those that wept,
and delighted in the fellowship of God's people, and how courteous
he was in his behaviour towards others. We have heard of what
a public spirit he was, how greatly concerned for the prosperity of
Christ's kingdom and the good of his church, how diligent, labo-
rious, and indefatigable in his endeavours to do good ; how he
studied for ways and means to promote this end, how he exercised
his skill and contrivance, willingly foregoing those thing that were
in themselves lawful, and willingly endured innumerable and ex-
traordinary sufferings. My exhortation now is to imitate this ex-
ample, and to enforce this, I desire that several things may be
considered.
1. Let it be considered, why it is, that we have so much written
of the good example of this apostle, unless that we might follow
it. We often read those things in the holy scriptures which have
now been set before us on this subject; and to what purpose, un-
less we apply them to ourselves ? We had as good never have
been informed how well the apostle behaved himself, if we do not
endeavour to follow him. We all profess to be Christians, and
we ought to form our notions of Christianity from what is writ-
ten in the scriptures by the prophets, and from the |)recepts and
excellent examples that are there set before us. One great reason
why many professors live no better, walk no more amiably, and
are in so many things so unlovely, is, that they have not good no-
tions of Christianity. They do not seem to have a right idea of
that religion that is taught us in the new testament. They have
not well learned Christ. The notions that some persons entertain
of Christianity, are very distorted, and ill conformed to the gos-
pel. The notions of others are very erroneous. They lay the
chief stress wrong, upon things on which it ought not to be laid.
They place religion almost altogether in some particular duties,
SERMON V. 155
leaving out others of great weight, and it may be the weightier
matters of the Jaw. And the reason why they have no better no-
tions of Christianity is, because they take tiieir notions of it chiefly
from those sources whence they ought not to take them. Some
take them from the general cry or voice of the people, among
whom they live. They see that others place religion merely, if
not almost wholly, in such and such things. And hence their no-
tions of Christianity are formed. Or they take their notions from
the example of particular individuals now living, who are in great
reputation for godliness. And their notion of Christianity is,
that it consists in being like such persons. Hence they never
have just notions of religion: 2 Cor. x. 12. " They measuring
themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among them-
selves, are not wise." If we would have right notions of Chris-
tianity, we should observe those in whom it shone, of whom we
have an account in the scriptures. For they are the examples^
that God himself has selected to set before us to that end, that
from thence we might form our notions of religion ; and espe-
cially the example of this apostle. God knows how to select exam-
ples. If tlierefore we would have right notions of Christianity,
we ought to follow the good example of the apostle Paul. He
was certainly a Christian indeed, and an eminent Christian. We
have God's abundant testimony. But Christianity is in itself an
amiable thing, and so it appeared in the example of this apostle.
And if the professors of it would form their notions of it from
such examples as those, rather than from any particular customs
and examples that we have now, it would doubtless appear much^
more amiable in their practice than it now does; it would wia
others. They would not be a stumbling block. Their light
would shine. They would command reverence and esteem, and
be of powerful influence.
2. If we follow the good example which this apostle has set us,
it will secure to us the like comfortable and sweet influence of
God, that he enjoyed through the course of his life. Let us con-
sider what a happy life the apostle lived ; what peace of con-
science, and joy in the Holy Ghost he possessed: 2 Cor. i. 12.
" For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience."
How did he abound with comfort and joy, even in the midst of
the greatest aftlictions : 2 Cor. i. 3 — 5. "Blessed be God, even
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and
the God of all comfort. Who comforteth us in all our tribula-
tion, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trou-
ble by the comforts, wherewith we ourselves are comforted of
God. For as the suflerings of Christ abound in us, so our con-
solation also aboundeth in Christ." In all his tribulation his joy
was exceedingly great. He seems to want words to express the
156 SERMON V.
greatness of llie joy which he possessed continually. He says he
was filled with comfort, and was exceedingly joyful : 2 Cor. vii. 4.
" I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribu-
lation." How does the apostle's love seem to overflow with joy !
2 Cor. vi. 10, 11. " As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor,
yet making many rich, as having nothing, yet possessing all things.
O ye Corinthians, our month is open unto yon, our heart is en-
larged." How happy is such a life ! How well is such happiness
worth pursuing ! We are ourselves the occasion of our own
wounds and troubles. We bring darkness on our own souls. Pro-
fessing Christians, by indulging their sloth, seek their own ease
and comfort ; but they defeat their own aim. The most laborious
and the most self-denying Christians are the most happy. There
are many who are complaining of their darkness, and inquir-
ing what they shall do for light, and the comfortable presence of
God.
3. This would be the way to be helped against temptation, and
to triumph over our spiritual enemies as the apostle did. Satan
assaulted him violently, and men continually persecuted him.
The powers of hell combined against him. But God was with
him, and made him more than a conqueror. He lived a life of
triumph : 2 Cor. ii. 14. " Now thanks be unto God, who always
causeth us to triumph in Christ." Let us consider what an ex-
cellent privilege it would be thus to be helped against temptation*
What a grief of mind is it to be so often overcome.
4. This would secure us honour from God, and an extraordi-
nary intimacy with him. Moses enjoyed a great intimacy with
God, but the apostle Paul in some respects a greater. Moses con-
versed with God in Mount Sinai. Paul was caught up to the
third heavens. He had abundant visions and revelations more
than he has told us, lest any should think him to boast. He was
favoured with more of the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit
than any other person. And though we cannot expect to be ho-
noured with intimacy with heaven in just the same way, yet if we
in good earnest apply ourselves, we may have greater and greater
intimacy, so that we may come with boldness, and converse with
God as a friend.
5. This would be the way to make us great blessings in the
world. The apostle, by means of such a spirit and such a beha-
viour as you have heard, was made the greatest blessing to the
world of any who ever lived on earth, except the man Christ Jesus
himself. Wherever he went, there went a blessing with him. To
have him enter a city was commonly made a greater mercy to it
than if the greatest monarch on earth had come there, scattering
his treasures around him among the inhabitants. Wherever he
went, there did, as it were, a light shine about him, seemingly to
SERMON V<. 157
enlighten the benighted children of men. Silver and gold he had
none. But what he imparted to many thousands was worth more
to them than if he had bestowed upon them the richest jewels of
which the Roman Emperor was possessed. And he was not only
a blessing to that generation, but has been so since his death by
the fruits of what he did in his life time, the foundations he then
laid, and by the writings which he has left for the good of man-
kind to the end of the world. He then was, and ever since has
been, a light to the church next in brightness to the Sun of Right-
eousness. And it was by means of his excellent spirit and excel-
lent behaviour that he became such a blessing. Those were the
things that God made useful in him for doing so much good. And
if we should imitate the apostle in such a spirit and behaviour,
the undoubted consequence would be, that we also should be
made great blessings in the world; we should not live in vain,
but should carr}' a blessing with us wherever we went. Instead
of being cumberers of the ground, multitudes would be fed with
our fruit, and would have reason to praise and bless God that he
ever gave us a being. Now, how melancholy a consideration
may it be to any persons that they have lived to no purpose ; that
the world would have been deprived of nothing, if they had never
been born ; and it may be, have been better without them than
with them. How desirable is it to be a blessing. How great was
the promise made to Abraham, "In thee shall all families of
the earth be blessed."
6. For us to follow the good example of the apostle Paul, would
be the way for us to die as he did. 2 Tim. iv. 6 — 8. " For I am
now ready to be offered, and the lime of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept
the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous-
ness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that
day."
7. This would secure us a distinguished crown of glory here-
after. It is thought by some, and not without great probability,
that the apostle Paul is the very next in glory to the man Jesus
Christ himself. This is probable from his having done more
good than any, and from his having done it through so great la-
bours and sufferings. The apostle tells us, '* Every man shall
receive his own reward, according to his own labour."
I shall conclude with mentioning some things as encourage-
ments for us to endeavour to follow the excellent example of this
great apostle. Many may be ready to saj' that it is in vain for
them to try. The apostle was a person so greatly distinguished ;
it is in vain for them to endeavour to be like him. But for 3'our
encouragement, consider,
VOL. VIII. 21
158 SERMON V
1. That the apostle was a man of like passions with us. He
had naturally the same heart, the same corruptions ; was under
the same circumstances, the same guilt, and the same condemna-
tion. There is this circumstance that attends the apostle's exam-
ple to encourage us to endeavour to imitate him, which did not at-
tend the example of Christ. And yet we are called upon to imi-
tate the example of Christ. This is probably one main reason
why not only the example of Christ, but also those of mere men
are set before us in the scriptures. Though you ma^' think you
have no great reason to hope to come up to the apostle's degree,
vet that is no reason why you should not make his good example
your pattern, and labour, as far as in you lies, to copy after him.
2. This apostle, before he was converted, was a very wicked
man, and a vile persecutor. He often speaks of it himself. He
sinned against great liglit.
3. He had njuch greater hinderances and impediments to emi-
nent holiness from without than any of us have. His circum-
stances made it more difficult for him.
4. The same God, the same Saviour, and the same head of di-
vine influence are ready to help our sincere endeavours, that helped
him. Let us therefore not excuse ourselves, but in good earnest
endeavour to follow so excellent an example. And then, however
weak we are in ourselves, we may hope to experience Christ's suf-
fering, and be able to say from our own experience, as the apostle
did before him, " w hen 1 am weak, then am 1 strong."
SKRMON VI.
LuKExxii. 44.
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat
was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the groxmd.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, in lii*; original nature, was infinitely
above all suffering, for he was " God over all blessed for ever-
more;" but, when he became man he was not only capable of
suffering, but partook of that nature that is remarkably feebi'e
and exposed to suffering. The human nature, on account o.f
its weakness, is in scripture compared to the grass of the fielc'f,
which easily withers and decays. So it is compared to a leaf;
and to the dry stubble; and to a blast of wind : and the nature
of feeble man is said to be but dust and ashes, to have its fouoi-
dation in the dust, and to be crushed before the moth. It wa s
this nature, with all its weakness and exposedness to sufferings,
which Christ, who is the Lord God omnipotent, took upon hica.
He did not take the human nature on him in its first, most per-
fect and vigorous state, but in that feeble forlorn state which it
is in since the fall ; and therefore Christ is called " a tender
plant," and " a root out of a dry ground." Isaiah liii. 2.
" For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as
a root out of a dry ground : he hath no form nor comeliness ,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should
desire him." Thus, as Christ's principal errand into the
world was suffering, so agreeably to that errand, he came with
such a nature and in such circumstances as most made way
for his suffering ; so his whole life was filled up with suffering,
he began to suffer in his infancy, but his suffering increased,
the more he drew near to the close of his life. His suffering
after his public ministry began, was probably much greater
than before ; and the latter part of the time of his public minis-
try seems to have been distinguished by suffering. The longer
Christ lived in the world, the more men saw and heard of him,
the more they hated him. His enemies were more and more
enraged by the continuance of the opposition that he made to
their lusts ; and the devil having been often baffled by him,
grew more and more enraged, and strengthened the battle
more and more against him : so that the cloud over Christ's
100 SERA10.\ VI.
head grew darker and darker, as long as lie lived in the world, till
it was in its greatest blackness when he hung upon the cross, and
cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me! Before
this, it was exceedingly dark, in the time of his agony in the garden ;
of which we have an account in the words now read ; and which I
propose to make the subject of my present discourse. The word
agony properly signifies an earnest strife, such as is witnessed in
wrestling, running, or fighting. And therefore in Luke xiii. 24.
" Strive to enter in at the strait gate : for many, 1 say unto you,
will seek to enter in, and shall not be able ;" The word in the
original, translated strive, is ay^vi^taOc. " Agonize, to enter in at
the strait gate." The word is especially used for tliatsort of strife,
which in those days was exhibited in the Olympick games, in
which men strove for the mastery in running, wrestling, and other
such kinds of exercises ; and a prize was set up that was bestowed
on the conqueror. Those, who thus contended, were, in the lan-
guage then in use, said to agonize. Thus the apostle in his epis-
tle to the Christians of Corinth, a city of Greece, where such
games were annually exhibited, says in allusion to the strivings of
tbe combatants, " And every man that striveth for the mastery,''^
h\ the original, "Every one that agonizeth, is temperate in all
things." The place where those games were held, was called
Ajiwv, or the place of agony ; and the word is particularly used in
scripture for that striving in earnest prayer wherein persons
wrestle with God : they are said to agonize, or to be in agony, in
prayer. So the word is used Rom. xv. 30. " Now 1 beseech you,
brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the
Spirit, that ye strive iogciher with me in your prayers to God for
me :" in the original (!vvayoivt!;toQai i^oi^ that ye agonize together
with me. So Colos. iv. 12. *• Always labouring fervently for you
in prayer, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of
God :" in the original ayuK^ur, agonizing for you. So that when
it is said in the text that Christ was in an agony, the meaning is
that his soul was in a great and earnest strife and conflict. It was
so in two respects :
1. As his soul was in a great and sore conflict with those terri-
ble and ama/ing views and apprehensions which he then had.
2. As he was at the same time in great labour and earnest strife
with God in prayer.
I propose therefore, in discoursing on the subject of Christ's
agony, distinctly to unfold it, under these two propositions,
I. That the soul of Christ in his agony in the garden had a sore
conflict with those terrible and amazing views, and apprehensions,
of which he was then the subject.
II. That the soul of Christ in his agony in the garden had a
great and earnest labour and struggle with God in prayer.
SERMON VI. 161
I. The soul of Christ in his agony in the garden had a sore
conflict with those terrible amazing views and apprehensions, of
which he was then the subject.
In illustrating this proposition I shall endeavour to show,
1. What those views and apprehensions were.
2. That the conflict or agony of Christ's soul was occasioned
by those views and apprehensions.
3. That this conflict was peculiarly great and distressing; and
4. What we may suppose to be the special design of God in
giving Christ those terrible views and apprehensions, and caus-
ing him to suffer that dreadful conflict, before he was crucified.
I proposed to siiow
First. What were those terrible views and amazing apprehen-
sions which Christ had in his agony. This may be explained by
considering,
1. The cause of those views and apprehensions; and
2. The manner in which they were then experienced.
I, The cause of those views and apprehensions, which Christ
had in his agony in the garden, was the bitter cup which he was
soon after to drink on the cross. The sufterings which Christ un-
derwent in his agony in the garden, were not his greatest suffer-
ings; though they were so very great. But his last sufferings
upon the cross, were his principal sufferings; and therefore they
are called " the cup that he had to drink-." The sufferings of the
cross, under which he was slain, are always in the scriptures re-
presented as the main sufferings of Christ; those in which espe-
cially "he bare our sins in his own body," and made atonement
for sin. His enduring the cross, his humbling himself, and be-
coming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, is spo-
ken of as the main thing wherein his sufi'erings appeared. This
is the cup that Christ had set before him in his agony. It is
manifest, that Christ had this in view at this time, from the pray-
ers which he then offered. According to Matthew, Christ made
three prayers that evening, while in the garden of Gethsemane,
and all on this one subject, the bitter cup that he was to drink. Of
the first, we have an account in Matt. xxvi. 39. *' And he went a
little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless,
not as I will but as thou wilt:" of the second in the 42d verse,
" He went away again the second time and prayed, saying, O
my Father, if this cup may not pass from me, except I drink it,
thy will be done:" and of the third in the 44th verse, " And he left
them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying
the same words." From this it plainly appears what it was of
which Christ had such terrible views and apprehensions at that
time. What he thus insists on in his prayers, shows on what his
mind was go deeply intent. It was his sufferings on the cross,
162 SERMON VI.
which were to be endured the next day, when there should be
darkness over all the earth, and at the same time a deeper dark-
ness over the soul of Christ, of which he had now such lively views
and distressing apprehensions.
2. The manner in which this bitter cup was now set in Christ's
view.
(1.) He had a lively apprehension of it impressed at that time
on his mind. He had an apprehension of the cup that he was to
drink before. His principal errand into the world was to drink
that cup, and he therefore was never unthoughtful of it, but al-
ways bore it in his mind, and often spoke of it to his disciples.
Thus Matthew xvi. 21. "From that time forth began Jesus to
show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and
suffer many things of the elders and chief priests, and scribes, and
be killed, and be raised again the third day." Again ch. xx, 17,
18, 19. "And Jesus going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve
disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, behold we
go up to Jerusalem ; and the Son of man shall be betrayed
unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes, and they shall
condemn him to death. And shall deliver him to the Gen-
tiles to mock and to scourge, and to crucify him : and the
third day he shall rise again." The same thing was the subject
of conversation on the Mount with Moses and Elias when he was
transfigured. So he speaks of his bloody baptism, Luke xii. 50.
" But I have a baptism to be baptized with ; and how am I strait-
ened till it be accomplished ! He speaks of it again to Zebedee's
children, Matthew xx. 22. "Are ye are able to drink of the cup
that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with? They say unto him, We are able." He spake of
his being lifted up. John viii. 28. " Then said Jesus unto them,
When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that
I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath
taught me, I speak these things." John xii. 34. "The people an-
swered him. We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth
for ever : and how sayest thou, The Son ofman must be lifted up .'*
Who is this Son of man .^" So he spake of destroying the tem-
ple of his body, John ii. 19. "Jesus answered, and said unto
them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
And he was very much in speaking of it a little before his agony
in his dying counsels to his disciples in the 12th and 13th ch. of
John. Thus this was not the first time that Christ had this bitter
cup in his view. On the contrary, he seems always to have had
it in view. But it seems that at this lime God gave him an ex-
traordinary view of it. A sense of that wrath that was to be
poured out upon him, and of those amazing sufferings that he was
to undergo, was strongly impressed on his mind by the immediate
SERMON VI. 163
power of God ; so that he had far more full and lively apprehen-
sions of the bitterness of the cup which he was to drink than he
ever had before, and these apprehensions were so terrible, that
his feeble human nature shrunk at the sight and was ready to sink.
2. The cup of bitterness was now represented as just at hand.
He had not only a more clear and lively view of it than before;
but it was now set directly before him, that he might without delay
take it up and drink it; for then, within that same hour, Judas
was to come with his band of men, and he was then to deliver up
himself into their hands to the end that he might drink this cup
the next day ; unless indeed he refused to take it, and so made his
escape from that place where Judas would come ; which he had
opportunity enough to do if he had been so minded. Having
thus shown what those terrible views and apprehensions were
which Christ had in the time of his agony ; I shall endeavour to
show,
II. That the conflict which the soul of Christ then endured was
occasioned by those views and apprehensions. The sorrow and
distress which his soul then suffered arose from that lively and full
and immediate view which he had then given him of that cup of
wrath ; by which God the Father did as it were set the cup down
before him, for him to take it and drink it. Some have inquired,
what was the occasion of that distress and agony, and many specu-
lations there have been about it, but the account which the scrip-
ture itself gives us is sufficiently full in this matter, and does not
leave room for speculation or doubt. The thing that Christ's
mind was so full of at that time was without doubt the same with
that which his mouth was so full of: it was the dread which his
feeble human nature had of that dreadful cup, which was vastly
more terrible than Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace. He had then
a near view of that furnace of wrath, into which he was to be cast ;
he was brought to the mouth of the furnace that he might look
into it, and stand, and view its raging flames, and see the glow-
ings of its heat, that he might know where he was going and what
he was about to suffer. This was the thing that filled his soul
with sorrow and darkness, this terrible sight as it were over-
whelmed him. For what was that human nature of Christ to such
mighty wrath as this ? it was in itself without the supports of God,
but a feeble worm of the dust, a thing that was crushed before the
moth, none of God's children ever had such a cup set before them,
as this first being of every creature had. But not to dwell any
longer on this, I hasten to show
III. That the conflict in Christ's soul, in this view of his last
sufferings, was dreadful, beyond all expression or conception.
This will appear
1. From what is said of its dreadfulness in the history. By one
evangelist we are told (Matthew xxvi. 37.) " He began to be sor-
164 SERMON VI.
rowful and very heavy; and by another, (Mark xiv. 33.) "And
hetaketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and began to be
sore amazed, and to be very heavy." These expressions hold forth
the intense and overwhelming- distress that his soul was in. Luke's
expression in the text of his being in an agony, according to the
signification of that word in the original, implies no common de-
gree of sorrow, but such extreme distress that his nature had a
most violent conflict with it, as a man that wrestles with all
his might with a strong man who labours and exerts his utmost
strength to gain a conquest over him.
2. From what Christ himself says of it, who was not wont to
magnify things beyond the truth. He says, " My soul is exceed-
ing sorrowful even unto death." Matth. xxvi. 38. What language
can more strongly express the most extreme degree of sorrow .''
His soul was not only " sorrowful," but " exceeding sorrow-
ful;" and not only so, but because that did not fully express the
degree of his sorrow, he adds " even unto death ;" which seems
to intimate that the very pains and sorrows of hell, of eternal
death had got hold upon him. The Hebrews were wont to ex-
press the utmost degree of sorrow that any creature could be lia-
ble to by the phrase, the shadoiv of death. Christ had now, as it
were, the shadow of death brought over his soul by the near view
which he had of that bitter cup that was now set before him.
3. From the effect which it had on his body, in causing that
bloody sweat that we read of in the text. In our translation it is
said, that " his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood, fall-
ing down to tlve ground." The word, rendered great drops, is
in the original dpciiPot, which properly signifies lumps or clots ;
for we may suppose that the blood that was pressed out through
the pores of his skin by the violence of that inward struggle and
conflict that there was, when it came to be exposed to the cool air
of the night, congealed and stiffened, as is the nature of blood,
and so fell ofl' from him, not in drops, but in clots. If the suffer-
ing of Christ had occasioned merely a violent sweat, it would have
shown that he was in great agony ; for it must be an extraordinary
grief and exercise of mind that causes the body to be all of a sweat
abroad in the open air, in a cold night as that was, as is evident
from John xviii. 18. " And the servants and oflicers stood there
who had made a fire of coals, (for it was cold) and they warmed
themselves ; and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself."
This was the same night in which Christ had his agony in the
garden. But Christ's inward distress and grief was not merely
such as caused him to be in a violent and universal sweat, but
such as caused him to sweat blood. The distress and anguish of
his mind was so unspeakably extreme as to force his blood through
SERMON VI. 165
the pores of his skin, and that so plentifully as to fall in great
clots or drops from his body to the ground. I come now to show,
IV. What may be supposed to the special end of God's giv-
ing Christ beforehand these terrible views of his last sufferings ;
in other words, why it was needful that he should have a more
full and extraordinary view of the cup that he was to drink, a
little before he drank it than ever he had before ; or why he
must have such a foretaste of the wrath of God to be endured
on the cross, before the time came that he was actually to en-
dure it.
Answer. It was needful, in order that he might take the
cup and drink it, as knowing what he did. Unless the human
nature of Christ had had an extraordinary view given him be-
forehand of what he was to suffer, he could not, as man, fully
know beforehand what he was going to suffer, and therefore
could not, as man, know what he did when he took the cup to
drink it, because he would not fully have known what the cup
was — it being a cup that he never drank before. If Christ had
plunged himself into those dreadful sufferings, without being
fully sensible beforehand of their bitterness and dreadfulness ;
he nmst have done he knew not what. As man, he would have
plunged himself into sufferings of the amount of which he was
ignorant, and so have acted blindfold ; and of course his taking
upon him these sufferings could not have been so fully his own
act. Christ, as God, perfectly knew what these sufferings
were; but it was more needful also that he should know as man ;
for he was to suffer as man, and the act of Christ in taking that
cup was the act of Christ, as God man. But the man Christ
Jesus hitherto never had had experience of any such sufferings
as he was now to endure on the cross ; and therefore he could
not fully know what they were beforehand, but by having an
extraordinary view of them set before him, and an extraordi-
nary sense of them impressed on his mind. We have heard of
tortures that others have undergone, but we do not fully know
what they were, because we never experienced them ; and it is
impossible that we should fully know what they were but in
one of these two ways, either by experiencing them, or by having
a view given of them, or a sense of them impressed in an extra-
ordinary way. Such a sense was impressed on the mind of
the man Christ Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane, of his last
sufferings, and that caused his agony. When he had a full sight
given him what that wrath of God was that he was to suffer,
the sight was overwhelming to him ; it made his soul exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death. Christ was going to be cast into a
dreadful furnace of wrath, and it was not j^roper that he should
plunge himself into it blindfold, as not knowing how dreadful
VOL. VIII. 22
166 SERMON VI.
the furnace was'. Therefore thai he might not do so, God first
brought him and set him at the mouth of tlie furnace, that he
might look in and stand and view its fierce and raging flames,
and might see where he was going, and might vohintarily enter
into it and bear it for sinners, as knowing what it was. This
view Christ had in his agony. Then God brought the cup that
he was to drink, and set it down before him, that he might have
a full view of it, and see what it was before he took it and drank
it. If Christ had not fully known what tiie dreadfulness of these
suff'erings was, before he took them upon him, his taking them
upon him could not have been fully his own act as man ; there
could have been no explicit act of his will about that which he was
ignorant of; there could have been no proper trial, whether he
would be willing to undergo such dreadful sufferings or not,
unless he had known beforehand how dreadful they were ; but
when he had seen what they were, by having an extraordinary
view given him of them, and then undertaken to endure thetn
afterwards; then he acted as knowing what he did; then his
taking that cup, and bearing such dreadful sufferings, was pro-
perly his own act by an explicit choice ; and so his love to sin-
ners, in that choice of his, was the more wonderful, as also his
obedience to God in it. And it was necessary that this extra-
ordinary view that Christ had of the cup he was to drink should
be given at that time, just before he was apprehended. This
was the most proper season for it, just before he took the cup,
and while he yet had opj^ortunity to rcfiise the cup ; for before
he was apprehended by the company led by Judas, he had op-
portunity to make his escape at pleasure. For the place where
he was, was without the city, where he was not at all confined,
and was a lonesome, solitary place ; and it was the night sea-
sou ; so that he might have gone from that place where he
would, and his enemies not have known where to liave found
him. This view that he had of the bitter cup was given him
while he was yet fully at liberty, before he was given into the
hands of his enemies. Christ's delivering himself up into the
hands of his enemies, as he did when Judas came, which was
just after his agony, was properly his act of taking the cup in
order to drink ; for Christ knew that the issue of that would be
his crucifixion the next day. These things may show us the
end of Christ's agony, and the necessity there was of such an
agony before his last sufterings,
APl'I.IUATIUN.
1. I [once wo may learn how dreadful Christ's last sufferings
were. We learn it from the dreadful effect which the bare
SERMON VI. 167
foresight of them had upon him in his agony. His last suffer-
ings were so dreadful, that the view which Christ had of them
bpfore overwhelmed him and amazed him, as it is said he began
to be sore amazed. The very sight of these last sufferings was
so very dreadful as to sink his soul down into the dark shadow
of death; j ea, so dreadful was it, that in the sore conflict which
his nature had with it, he was all in a sweat of blood, his body
all over was covered with clotted blood, and not only his body but
the very ground under him with the blood that fell from him,
which had been forced through his pores through the violence of
his agon}'. And if only the foresight of the cup was so dreadful, how
dreadful was the cup itself, how far beyond all that can be uttered
or conceived ! Many of the martyrs have endured extreme tor-
tures, but from what has been said, there is all reason to think
those all were a mere nothing to the last sufferings of Christ on
the cross. And what has been said affords a convincing argu-
ment that the sufferings, which Christ endured in his body on the
cross, though they were very dreadful, were yet the least part
of his last sufferings; and that beside those, he endured suffer-
ings in his soul which were vastly greater. For if it had been
only the sufferings which he endured in his body, though they
were very dreadful, we cannot conceive that the mere anticipa-
tion of them woidd have such an effect on Christ. 3Iany of the
martyrs, for aught we know, have endured as severe tortures in
their bodies as Christ did. Many of the martyrs have been
crucified, as Christ was; and yet their souls have not been so
overwhelmed. There has beeji no appearance of such amazing
sorrow and distress of mind either at the anticipation of their
sufferings, or in their actual enduring of them.
2. From what has been said, we may see the wonderful
strength of the love of Christ to sinners. What has been said
shows the strength of Christ's love two ways.
1. That it was so strong as to carry him through that agony
that he was then in. The suffering that he then was actually
subject to, was dreadful and amazing, as has been show^n, and
how wonderful w'as his love that lasted and was upheld still!
The love of an}'^ more man or angel would doubtless have sunk
under such a weight, and never would liave endured such a con-
flict in such a bloody sweat as that of Jesus Christ. The
anguish of Christ's soul at that time was so strong as to cause
that wonderful efV(^ct on his body. But his love to his enemies,
poor and unworthy as ihcy w^ere, was stronger still. The
heart of Christ at that time was full of distress, but it was
fuller of love to vile worms : his sorrows abounded, l>ut his lov<;
did much more abound. Christ's soul was overwhelmed with
a deluge of ijripf, but thi^ was from a dohisre of love to sinners
168 SERMON VI.
in his heart sufficient to overflow the world, and overwhelm the
highest mountains of its sins. Those great drops of blood that
fell down to the ground were a manifestation of an ocean of love
in Christ's heart.
II. The strength of Christ's love more especially appears in
this, that when he had such a full view of the dreadfulness of
the cup that he was to drink that so amazed him, he would not-
withstanding even then take it up, and drink it. Then seems
to have been the greatest and most peculiar trial of the strength
of the love of Christ, when God set down the bitter portion be-
fore him, and let him see what he had to drink, if he persisted
in his love to sinners, and brought him to the mouth of the fur-
nace that he might see its fierceness, and have a full view of it,
and have time then to consider whether he would go in and suffer
the flames of this furnace for such unworthy creatures, or not.
This was as it were proposing it to Christ's last consideration
what he would do ; as much as if it had then been said to him.
' Here is the cup that you are to drink, unless you will give up
your undertaking for sinners, and even leave them to perish as
they deserve. Will you take this cup, and drink it for them,
or not ? There is the furnace into which you are to be cast,
if they are to be saved ; either they must perish, or you must
endure this for them. There you see how terrible the heat
of the furnace is ; you see what pain and anguish you must
endure on the morrow, unless you give up the cause of sinners.
What will you do ? is your love such that you will go on ? Will
you cast yourself into this dreadfid furnace of wrath?' Christ's
soul was overwhelmed with the tliought ; his feeble human nature
shrunk at the dismal sight. It put him into this dreadful agony
which you have lieard described ; but his love to sinners held out.
Christ would not undergo these sufferings needlessly, if sinners
could be saved without. If there was not an absolute necessity
of his suffering them in order to their salvation, he desired that
the cup might pass from him. But if sinners, on whom he had
set his love, could not, agreeably to the will of God, be saved,
without his drinking it, he chose that the will of God should be
done. He chose to go on and endure the suffering, awful as it
appeared to him. And this was his final conclusion, after the dis-
mal conflict of his poor feeble human nature, after he had had
the cup in view, and for at least the space of one hour, had seen
how amazing it was. Still he finally resolved that he would
bear it, rather than those poor sinners whom he had loved from
all eternity should perish. When the dreadful cup was before
him, he did not say within himself, why should i, who am so great
and glorious a person, infinitely more honourable than all the
angels of heaven, why should I go to plunge myself into such
SERMON VI. 169
dreadful, amazing torments for worthless wretched worms that
cannot be profitable to God, or inc, and that deserve to be hat-
ed by me and not to be loved ? Why should I, who have been
living from all eternity in the enjoyment of the Father's love,
go to cast myself into such a furnace for them that never can
requite me for it? Why should I yield myself to be thus crush-
ed by the weight of divine wrath, for them who have no love
to me, and are my enemies ? they do not deserve any union with
me, and never did, and never will do any thing to recommend
themselves to me. What shall I be the richer for having sav-
ed a number of miserable haters of God and me, who deserve
to have divine justice glorified in their destruction? Such, how-
ever, was not the language of Christ's heart in these circum-
stances ; but on the contrary, his love held out, and he resolv-
ed even then, in the midst of his agony, to yield himself up to
the will of God, and to take the cup and drink it. He would
not flee to get out of the way of Judas and those that were with
him, though he knew they were coming, but that same hour de-
livered himself voluntarily into their hands. When they came
with swords and staves to apprehend him, and he could have
called upon his Father, who would immediately have sent many
legions of angels to repel his enemies, and have delivered him,
he would not do it ; and when his disciples would have made
resistance, he would not suffer them, as you may see in Matth.
xxvi. 51, and onward : " And, behold, one of them, which were
with Jesus, stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and
struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear.
Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into its place :
for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he
will presently give me more than twelve legions of angels ?
But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must
be? In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are yc
came out as against a thief, with swords and staves for to take
me ? I sat daily with you leaching in the temple, and ye laid
no hold on me. But all this was done that the scriptures of
the prophets might be fulfilled." And Christ, instead of hiding
himself from Judas and the soldiers, told them, when they
seemed to be at a loss whether he was the person whom they
sought, and when they seemed still somewhat to hesitate, being
seized with some terror in their minds, he told them so again,
and so yielded himself up into their hands, to be bound by
them, after he had shown them that he could easily resist them
if he pleased, when a single word spoken by him, threw them
backwards to the ground, as you may see in John xviii. 3,
&c. " Judas then, having received a band of men and officers
170 SERMON VI.
trotn the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns,
and torches, and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things
that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom
seek ye ."^ They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said
unto them, I am he. As soon then, as he had said unto them, I
am he, they went backward and fell to the ground." Thus pow-
erful, constant, and violent was the love of Christ ; and the spe-
cial trial of his love above all others in his whole life seems to have
been in the time of his agony. For though his sufferings were
greater afterwards, when he was on the cross, yet he saw clearly
what those sufferings were to be, in the time of his agony; and
that seems to have been the first time that ever Christ Jesus had a
clear view what these sufferings were ; and after this the trial was
not so great, because the conflict was over. His human nature
had been in a struggle with his love to sinners, but his love had
got the victory. The thing, upon a full view of his sufferings, had
been resolved on and concluded; and accordingly, when the mo-
ment arrived, he actually went through with those sufferings.
But there are two circumstances of Christ's agony that do
still make the strength and constancy of his love to sinners the
more conspicuous.
1. That at the same time that he had such a view of the dread-
fulness of his sufferings, he had also an extraordinary view of the
hatefulness of the wickedness of those for whom those sufferings
were to jnake atonement. There are two things that render
Christ's love wonderful : 1. That he should be willing to endure
sufferings that 'were so great; and 2. That he should be willing
to endure them to make atonement for wickedness that was so
great. But in order to its being properly said, Clu'ist of his own
act and choice endured sufferings that were so great, to make
atonement for wickedness that was so great; two things were ne-
cessary. 1. That he should have an extraordinary sense how
great these suflerings were to be, before he endured them. This
was given in his agony : and 2. That he should also at the same
time have an extraordinary sense how great and hateful was the
wickedness of men for which he suffered to make atonement ; or
how unworthy those were for whom he died. And both these
were given at the same time. When Christ had such an extraor-
dinary sense how bitter his cup was to be, he had much to make
him sensible how imworthy anrl hateful that wickedness of man-
kind was for which he suffered; because the hateful and malignant
nature of that corruption never appeared more fully than in the
spite and cruelty of men in these suflerings ; and yet his lo\ e was
such that he went on notwithstanding to sufler for them who were
full of such hateful corruption.
SERMON VI. 171
. It was the corruption and wickedness of men that contrived
and eflected his death ; it was the wickedness of men that agreed
with Judas, it was the wickedness of men that betrayed him, and
that apprehended him, and bound him, and led him away like a
malefactor; it was by men's corruption and wickedness that he
was arraigned, and falsely accused, and unjustly judged. It was
by men's wickedness that he was reproached, mocked, buffeted,
and spit upon. It was by men's wickedness that Barabbas was
preferred before him. It was men's wickedness that laid the cross
upon him to bear, and that nailed him to it, and put him to so
cruel and ignominious a death. This tended to give Christ an
extraordinary sense of the greatness and hatefulness of the depra-
vity of mankind.
1. Because hereby in the time of his sufierings he had that de-
l)ravity set before him as it is, without disguise. When it killed
Christ, it appeared in its proper colours. Here Christ saw it in
its true nature, wliicli is the utmost hatred and contempt of God ;
in its ultimate tendency and desire which is to kill God ; and in its
greatest aggravation and highest act, which is killing a person
that was God.
2. Because in these sufferings he felt the fruits of that wicked-
ness. It was then directly levelled against himself, and exerted
itself against him to work his reproach and torment, which tended
to impress a stronger sense of its hatefulness on the human nature
of Christ. But yet at the same time, so wonderful was the love of
Christ to those who exhibited this hateful corruption, that he en-
dured tliose very sufferings to deliver tliem from the punishment
of that very corruption. The wonderfulness of Christ's dj'ing
love appears partly in that he died for those that were so unwor-
thy in themselves, as all mankind have the same kind of corrup-
tions in their hearts, and partly in that he died for those who were
not only so wicked, but whose wickedness consists in being ene-
mies to him ; so that he did not only die for the wicked, but for
his own enemies ; and partly in that he was willing to die for his
enemies at the same time that he was feeling the fruits of their
enmity, while he felt the utmost effects and exertions of their spite
against him in the greatest possible contempt and cruelty towards
him in his own greatest ignominy, toraients, and death ; and partly
in that he was willing to atone for their being his enemies in these
very sufferings, and by that very ignominy, torment, and death
that was the fruit of it. The sin and wickedness of men, for
which Christ suffered to make atonement, was, as it were, set be-
fore Christ in his view.
1. In that this wickedness was but a sample of the wickedness
of mankind ; for the corruption of all mankind is of the same na-
ture, and the wickedness that is in one man's heart is of the same
172 SERMON VI.
nature and tendency as in another's. As in water, face answereth
to face, so the heart of man to man.
2. It is probable that Christ died to make atonement for that
individual actual wickedness that wrought his sufferings, that re-
proached, mocked, buffeted, and crucified him. Some of his cru-
cifiers, for whom he prayed that they might be forgiven, while
they were in the very act of crucifying him, were afterwards, in
answer to his prayer, converted, by the preaching of Peter ; as we
have an account of in the 2d chapter of Acts.
2. Another circumstance of Christ's agony that shows the
strength of his love, is the ungrateful carriage of his disciples at
that time. Christ's disciples were among those for whom he en-
dured this agony, and among those for whom he was going to en-
dure those last sufferings, of which he now had such dreadful ap-
prehensions. Yet Christ had already given them an interest in
the benefits of those sufferings. Their sins had already been for-
given them through that blood that he was going to shed, and
they had been infinite gainers already by that dying pity and love
which he had to them, and had through his sufferings been distin-
guished from all the world besides. Christ had put greater ho-
nour upon them than any other, by making them his disciples in
a more honourable sense than he had done any other. And yet
now, wiien he had that dreadful cup set before him which he was
going to drink for them, and was in such an agony at the sight of
it, he saw no return on their part but indifference and ingratitude.
When he only desired them to watch with him, that he might be
comforted in their company, now at this sorrowful moment they
fell asleep ; and showed that they had not concern enough about
it to induce them to keep awake with him even for one hour, though
he desired it of them once and again. But yet this ungrateful
treatment of theirs, for whom he was to drink the cup of wrath
which God had set before him, did not discourage him from taking
it, and drinking it for them. His love held out to them, having
loved his own, he loved them to the end. He did not say within
himself when this cup of trembling was before him, why should I
endure so much for those that are so ungrateful ; why should I here
wrestle with the expectation of the terrible wrath of God to be
borne by me to-morrow for them that in the mean time have not
so much concern for me as to keep awake with me when I desire
it of them even for one hour .^ But on the contrary with tender
and fatherly compassions he excuses this ingratitude of his disci-
ples, and says, Matth. xxvi. 41, " Watch and pray, that ye enter
not into temptation ; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is
weak;" and went and was apprehended, and mocked, and scourged,
and crucified, and poured out his soul unto death, under the heavy
weight of God's dreadful wrath on the cross for them.
SERMON Vi. lis
3d Inference. From what has been said, we may learn the
wonderfidness of Christ's submission to the will of God. Christy
as he was a divine person, was the absolute sovereign of hea-
ven and earth, but yet he was the most wonderful instance of
submission to God's sovereignty that ever was. When he had
such a view of the terribleness of his last sufferings, and prayed
if it were possible that that cup might pass from him, i. e. if
there was not an absolute necessity of it in order to the salva-
tion of sinners, yet it was with a perfect submission to the will
of God. He adds, " Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be
done." He chose rather that the inclination of his human na-
ture, which so much dreaded such exquisite torments, should
be crossed, than that God's will should not take place. He de-
lighted in the thought of God's will being done ; and when he
went and prayed the second time, he had nothing else to say
but, " O my Father, if this cup may not pass from me except
I drink it, thy will be done ;" and so the third time. What are
such trials of submission as any of us sometimes have in the
afflictions that we suffer in comparison of this ? If God does
but in bis providence signify it to be his will that we should
part with a child, how hardly are wc brought to yield to it, how
ready to be unsubmissive and frovvard ! Or if God lays his
hand upon us in some acute pain of body, how ready are we to
be discontented and impatient ; when the innocent Son of Grod,
who deserved no suffering, could quietly submit to sufferings in-
conceivably great, and say it over and over, God's will be dohef
When he was brought and set before that dreadful furnace of
wrath into which he was to be cast, in order that he might look
into it and have a full view of its fierceness, when his flesh shrunk
at it, and his nature was in such a conflict, that his body was alf
covered with a sweat of blood falling in great drops to the
ground, yet his soul quietly yielded that the will of God should
be done, rather than the will or inclination of his human nature.
4th Infer. What has been said on this subject also shows us
the glory of Christ's obedience. Christ was subject to the mo-
ral law as Adam was, and he was also subject to the ceremo"
nial and judicial laws of Moses ; but the principal command
that he had received of the Father was, that he should lay
down his life, that he should voluntarily yield ujj himself to those
terrible sufferings on the cross. To do this was his principal
errand into the world ; and doubtless the principal command
that he received, was about that which was the principal errand
on which he was sent. The Father, when he sent him
into the world, sent him with commands concerning what he
should do in the world; and his chief command of all wa&
about that, which was the errand he was chiefly sent ttpow,
VOL. VIII, 23
174 SERMON VI.
which was to lay down his life. And therefore this command
was the principal trial of his obedience. It was the greatest
trial of his obedience, because it was by far the most difficult
command: all the rest were easy in comparison of this. And
the main trial that Christ had, whether he would obey this
command, was in the time of his agony ; for that was within an
hour before he was apprehended in order to his sufferings,
when he must either yield himself up to them, or fly from them.
And then it was the first time that Christ had a full view of the
difficulty of this command ; which appeared so great as to cause
that bloody sweat. Then was the conflict of- weak human na-
ture with the difficulty, then was the sore struggles and wrest-
ling with the heavy trial he had, and then Christ got the victory
over the temptation, from the dread of his human nature. His
obedience held out through the conflict. Then we may sup-
pose that Satan was especially let loose to satin with the natu-
ral dread that the human nature had of such torments, and to
strive to his utmost to dissuade Christ from going on to drink
the bitter cup ; for about that time, towards the close of Christ's
life, was he especially delivered up into the hands of Satan to
be tempted of him, more than he was immediately after his
baptism ; for Christ says, speaking of that time, Luke xxii. 53,
" When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth
no hands against me ; but this is your hour, and the power of
darkness." So that Christ, in the time of his agony, was
wrestling not only with overwhelming views of his last suffer-
ings, but he also wrestled, in that bloody sweat, with principali-
ties and powers — lie contended at that time with the great le-
viathan that laboured to his utmost to tempt him to disobedi-
ence. So that then Christ had temptations every way to draw
him off from obedience to God. He had temptations from his
feeble human nature, that exceedingly dreaded such torments;
and he had temptations from men, who were his enemies ; and
he liad temptations from the ungrateful carriage of his own dis-
ciples, and he had temptations from the devil. He had also an
overwhehning trial from the manifestation of God's own wrath;
when in the words of Isaiah, it pleased the Lord to bruise him
and put him to grief. But yet he failed not, but got the victory
over all, and performed that great act of obedience at that time
to that same God that hid himself from him, and was showing
his wrath to him for men's sins, which he must presently suffer.
Nothing could move him away from his steadfast obedience to
God, but he persisted in saying, " Thy will be done :" express-
ing not only his submission, but his obedience, not only his com-
pliance with the dis|)osing will of God, but also with his pre-
ceptive will. God had given him this cup to drijik, and had
SERMON VI. 175
commanded him to drink it, and that was reason enough with
him to drink it ; hence he says, at the conchision of his agony,
when Judas came with his band, " The cup which my Father
giveth me to drink, shall 1 not drink it r" John xviii. 11. Christ,
at the time of his agony, had an inconceivably greater trial of
obedience than any man or any angel ever had. How much
was this trial of the obedience of the second Adam beyond the
trial of the obedience of the first Adam ! How light was our
first father's temptation in comparison of this ! And yet our
first surety failed, and our second failed not, but obtained a glo-
rious victory, and went and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Thus wonderful and glorious was the
obedience of Christ, by which he wrought out righteousness
for believers, and which obedience is imputed to them. No
wonder that it is a sweet penalty sown, and that God stands
ready to bestow heaven as its reward on all that believe on him.
5. What has been said shows us the sottishness of secure sin-
ners in being so fearless of the wrath of God. Ifthe wrath of God
was so dreadful, that, when Christ only expected it his human
nature was nearly overwhelmed with the fear of it, and his soul
was amazed, and his body all over in a bloody sweat ; then how
sottish are sinners, who are under the threatening of the same
wrath of God, and are condemned to it, and are every moment
exposed to it ; and yet, instead of manifesting intense appre-
hension, are quiet and easy, and unconcerned ; instead of being
sorrowful and very heavy, go about with a light and careless
heart; instead of crying out in bitter agony, are often gay and
cheerful, and eat and drink, and sleep quietly, and go on in sin,
provoking the wrath of God more and more, without any great
matter of concern ! How stupid and sottish are such persons !
Let such senseless sinners consider, that that misery, of which
they are in danger from the wrath of God, is infinitely more
terrible than that, the fear of which occasioned in Christ his
agony and bloody sweat. It is more terrible, both as it differs
both in its nature and degree, and also as it differs in its dura-
tion. It is more terrible in its nature and degree. Christ suf-
fered that which, as it upheld the honour of the divine law,
was fully equivalent to the misery of the damned ; and in some
respect it was the same suffering; for it was the wrath of the
same God ; but yet in other respects it vastly differed. The
difference does not arise from the difference in the wrath poured
out on one and the other, for it is the same wrath, but from the
difference of the subject, which may be best illustrated from
Christ's own comparison. Luke xxiii. 31. " For if they do thesis
things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry ?" Here
he calls himself the green tree, and wicked men the dry, inti-
176 SERMON VI.
mating that the misery that will come on wicked men will be
far more dreadful than those sufferings which came on him, and
the difference arises from the different nature of the subject.
The green tree and the dry are both cast into the fire ; but the
flames seize and kindle on the dry tree much more fiercely than
on the green. The sufferings that Christ endured differ from
the misery of the wicked in hell in nature and degree in the fol-
lowing respects.
1, Christ felt not the gnawings of a guilty, condemning con-
science.
2. He felt no torment from the reigning of inward corrup-
tions and lusts as the damned do. The wicked in hell are their
own tormentors, their lusts are their tormentors, and being with-
out restraint, (for there is no restraining grace in hell,) their lusts
will rage like raging flames in their hearts. They shall be tor-
mented with the unrestrained violence of a spirit of envy and ma-
lice against God, and against the angels and saints in heaven,
and against one another. Now Christ suffered nothing of this.
3, Christ had not to consider that God hated liiiii. The wick-
ed in hell have this to make their misery perfect, they know that
God perfectly hates them without the least pity or regard to them,
which will fill their souls with inexpressible misery. But it was
not so with Christ. God withdrew his comfortable presence
from Christ, and hid his face from him, and so poured out his
wrath upon him, as made him feel its terrible effects in his
soul ; hut yet he knew at the same time that God did not
bate him, but infinitely loved him. He cried out of God's
forsaking him, but yet at the same time, calls him " My God,
my God !" knowing that he was his God still, though he had for-
saken him. But the wicked in hell will know that he is not
their God, hut their judge and irreconcileable enemy.
4. Christ did not suffer despair, as the wicked do in hell.
He knew that there would be an end to his sufferings in a few
hours; and that after that he should enter into eternalglory.
But it will be far otherwise with you that are impenitent; if you
die in your present condition, you will he in perfect despair. On
these accounts, the misery of the wicked in hell will be im-
mensely more dreadful in nature and degree, than those suffer-
ings with the fears of which Christ's soul was so much over-
whelmed.
2. It will infinitely differ in duration. Christ's sufferings
lasted but a few hours, and there was an eternal end to them,
and eternal glory succeeded. But you that are a secure sense-
less sinner, are every day exposed to be cast into everlasting
mi.^cry, a fire that never shall be quenched. If then the Son of
God was in such amazement, in the expectation of what he was
to suffer for a few hours, how sottish arc you who are continu-
SERMON VL 177
ally exposed to sufterings, immensely more dreadful in nature
and degree, and that are to be without any end, but which must
be endured without any rest day or night for ever and ever ! If
you had a full sense of the greatness of that misery to which
you are exposed, and how dreadful your present condition is on
that account, it would this moment put you into as dreadful an
agony as that which Christ underwent; yea, if your nature could
endure it, one much more dreadful. We should now see you
fall down in a bloody sweat, wallowing in your gore, and cry-
ing out in terrible amazement.
Having thus endeavoured to explain and illustrate the for-
mer of the two propositions mentioned in the commencement
of this discourse, I shall now proceed to show,
II. That the soul of Christ in his agony in the garden was in
a great and earnest strife and conflict in his prayer to God. The
labour and striving of Christ's soul in prayer was a part of his
agony, and was without doubt a part of what is intended in the
text, when it is said that Christ was in an agony ; for, as we
have shown, the word is especially used in scrij)ture in other
places for striving or wrestling with God in prayer. From this
fact, and from the evangelist mentioning his being in agony,
and his praying earnestly in the same sentence, we may well
understand him as mentioning his striving in prayer as part of
his agony. The words of the text seem to hold forth as much
as that Christ wasin an agony in prayer : "Being in an agony,
he prayed more earnestly ; and his sweat was as it were, great
drops of blood falling to the ground." This language seems to
imply thus much, that the labour and earnestness of Christ's
soul was so great in his wrestling with God in prayer that he was
in a mere agony, and all over in a sweat of blood.
What I propose now, in this second proposition, is by the
help of God to explain this part of Christ's agony which con-
sisted in the agonizing and wrestling of his soul in prayer ;
which is the more worthy of a particular inquiry, being that
which probably is but little understood ; though, as may appear
in the sequel, the right understanding of it is of great use and
consequence in divinity. It is not as I conceive ordinarily well
understood what is meant when it is said in the text that Christ
prayed more earnestly ; or what was the thing that he wrestled
with God for, or what was the subject matter of this earnest
prayer, or what was the reason of his being so very earnest in
prayer at this time. And therefore, to set this whole matter in
a clear light, I would particularly inquire,
1. Of what nature this prayer was ;
2. What was the subject matter of this earnest prayer of
Christ to the Father ;
178 SERMON VI.
3. In what capacity Christ offered up this prayer to God ;
4. Why he was so earnest in his prayer ;
5. What was the success of this his earnest wrestling with
God in i)rayer ; and then make some improvement.
I. Of what nature this prayer of Christ was.
Addresses that are made to God may be of various kinds.
Some are confessions on the part of the individual, or expres-
sions of his sense of his own unworthiness before God, and are
thus penitential addresses to God. Others are doxologies
or prayers intended to express the sense which the person has
of God's greatness and glory. Such are many of the psalms of
David. Others are gratulatory addresses, or expressions of
thanksgiving and praise for mercies received. Others are sub-
missive addresses, or expressions of submission and resignation
to the will of God, whereby he that addresses the Majesty of
heaven, expresses the compliance of his will with the sovereign
will of God ; saying, " Thy will, O Lord, be done !" as David,
2 Sam. XV. 26. " I3ut if he thus say, ' I have no delight in thee ;'
behold, here am I ; let him do to me as seemeth good unto him."
Others are petitory or supplicatory ; whereby the person that
prays, begs of God and cries to him for some favour desired of
him.
Hence the inquiry is, of which of these kinds was the prayer
of Christ, that we read of in the text.
Answer. It was chiefly Supplicatory. It was not Peniten-
tial, or Confessional ; for Christ had no sin or unworthiness to
confess. Nor was it a Doxology or a Thanksgiving ; or merely
an expression of Submission ; for none of these agree with
what is said of in the text, viz. that he prayed more earnestly.
When any one is said to pray earnestly, it implies an earnest re-
quest for some benefit, or favour desired ; and not merely a
confession, or submission, or gratulation. So what the apostle
says of this prayer, in Heb. v. 7, " Who in the days of his flesh,
when he had offered up prayers and supplications, with strong
crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from
death, and was heard, in that he feared," shows that it was pe-
titory, or an earnest supplication for sonse desired benefit. They
are not confessions, or doxologies, or thanksgivings, or resig-
nations, that are called '^ supplications^^ and ^'- strong cryings,''^
but petitions for some benefit earnestly desired. And having
thus resolved the first inquiry, and shown that this earnest
prayer of Christ was of the nature of a supplication for some
benefit or favour which Christ earnestly desired, I come to in-
quire,
II. What was the subject matter of this supplication ; or what
favour and benefit that was for which Christ so earnestly sup-
plicated in this prayer of which we have an account in the text.
SERMON VI. 179
Now the words of the text are not express on this matter. It is
said that Christ, " being in an agony, prayed more earnestly ;"
but yet it is not said, what he prayed so earnestly for. And
here is the greatest difficulty attending this account : even what
that was which Christ so earnestly desired, for which he so
wrestled with God at that time. And though we are not ex-
pressly told in the text, yet the scriptures have not left us with-
out sufficient light in this matter. And the more effectually to
avoid mistakes, I would answer,
1. Negatively, the thing that Christ so earnestly prayed for
at this time, was not that the bitter cup which he had to drink
might pass from him. Christ had before prayed for this, as
in the next verse but one before the text, saying, " Father, if
thou be willing, remove this cup from me ! nevertheless, not my
will, but thine be done !" It is after this that we have an ac-
count tliat Christ being in an agony, prayed more earnestly ; but
we are not to understand that he prayed more earnestly than he
had done before, that the cup might pass from him. That
this was not the thing that he so earnestly prayed for in this
second prayer, the following things seem to prove :
1. This second prayer was after the angel had appeared to
him from heaven, strengthening him, the more cheerfully to
take the cup and drink it. The evangelists inform us that
when Christ came into the garden, he began to be sorrowful,
and very heavy, and that he said his soul was exceeding sor-
rowful, even unto death, and that then he went and prayed to
God, that if it were possible the cup might pass from him.
Luke says, in the 41st and 42d verses, " that being withdrawn
from his disciples about a stone's cast, he kneeled down and
prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from
me ; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done!" And then,
after this, it is said in the next verse,' that there appeared an
angel from heaven unto him strengthening him. Now this can
be understood no otherwise than that the angel appeared to him
strengthening and encouraging him to go through his great
and difficult work, to take the cup and drink it. Accordingly
we must suppose that now Christ was more strengthened and
encouraged to go through with his sufferings : and therefore we
cannot suppose that after this he would pray more earnestly
than before to be delivered from hia sufferings ; and of course
that it was something else that Christ more earnestly prayed
for, after that strengthening of the angel, and not that the cup
might pass from him. Though Christ seems to have a greater
sight of his sufferings given him after this strengthening of the
angel than before that caused such an agony, yet he was more
strengthened to fit him for a greater sight of them, he had
t80 SERMON Vi.
greater strength and courage to grapple with these awful appre-
hensions than before. His strength to bear sufferings is increased
with the sense of his sufferings.
2. Christ, before his second prayer, had had an intimation
from the Father, that it was not his will that the cup should pass
from him. The angel's coming from heaven to strengthen him
must be so understood. Christ first prays, that if it may be
the will of the Father, the cup might pass ; but not, if it was not
his will; and then God immediately upon this sends an angel to
strengthen, and encourage him to take the cup, which was a plain
intimation to Christ that it was the Father's will that he should
take it, and that it should not pass from him. And so Christ re-
ceived it ; as appears from the account which Matthew gives of
this second prayer. Matth. xxvi. 42. " He went away again the
second time and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not
pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done." He speaks
as one that now had had an intimation, since he prayed before,
that it was not the will of God. And Luke tells us how, viz. by
God's sending an angel.; Matthew informs us, as Luke does, that
in his first prayer, he prayed that if it were possible the cup might
pass from him ; but then God sends an angel to signify that it was
not his will, and to encourage him to take it. And then Christ
having received this plain intimation that it was not the will of God
that the cup should pass from him, yields to the message he had
received, and says, O my Father, if it be so as thou hast now signified,
thy will be done. Therefore we may surely conclude that what
Christ prayed more earnestly for after this, was not that the cup
might pass from him, but something else ; for he would not go to
pray more earnestly that the cup might pass from him after God
had signified that it was not his will that it should pass from him,-
than he did before ; that would be blasphemous to suppose. And
then,
3dly. The language of the second prayer, as recited by Mat-
thew, " O my Father, if this cup may not pass from me except I
drink it, thy will be done," shows that Christ did not then pray
that the cup might pass from him. This certainly is not praying
more earnestly that the cup might pass : it is rather a yielding
that point, and ceasing any more to urge it, and submitting to it
as a thing now determined by the will of God, made known by
the angel. And,
4. From the apostle's account of this prayer in the 5th ch. of
Hebrews, the words of the apostle are these, " Who in the days of his
flesh, when he had offered up his prayers and supplications, with
strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from
death, and was heard in that he feared." The strong crying and
tears of which the apostle speaks are doubtless the same that Luke
SERMON VI. 181
speaks of in the text, when he says, " he being in an agony, pray-
ed more earnestly ;" for this was the sharpest and most earnest
crying of Christ, of wliich we have any where any account. But
according to the apostle's account, that which Christ feared, and
that for which he so strongly cried to God in this prayer, was
something that he was heard in, somethins^ that God granted him
his request in, and therefore it was not that the cup might pass
from him. Having thus shown what it was not that Christ pray-
ed for in this earnest prayer, I proceed to show,
2d. What it was that Christ so earnestly sought of God in this
prayer.
I answer in one word, it was. That God's will miglit he done, in
tvliai related to his sufferings. Matthew gives this express account
of it, in the very language of the prayer which has been recited
several times already, " O my Father, if this cup may not pass
from me, except I drink it, thy will be done!" This is a yielding,
and an expression of submission ; but it is not merely that. Such
words, "The will of the Lord be done," as they are most com-
monly used, are not understood as a supplication or request, but
only as an expression of submission. But the words are not al-
ways to be understood in that sense in scripture, but sometimes
are to be understood as a request. So they are to be understood
in the third petition of the Lord's prayer, "Thy will be done in
earth as in heaven." There the words are to be understood both
as an expression of submission, and also a request, as they are ex-
plained in the Assembly's Catechism, and so the words are to be
understood here. The evangelist Mark says that Christ went
away again and spake the same words that he had done in his
first prayer. Mark xiv. 39. But then we must understand it as of
the same words with the latter part of his first prayer, " neverthe-
less not my will but thine be done," as Matthew's more full and
particular account shows. So that the thing mentioned in the
text, for which Christ was wrestling with God in this prayer, was,
that God's will might be done in what related to his sufferings.
♦ But then here another inquiry may arise, viz. What is implied
in Christ's praying that God's will might be done in what related
to his sufferings? To this I answer,
1. This implies a request that he might be strengthened and
supported, and enabled to do God's will, by going through with
these suflerings. The same as when he says, " Lo, 1 come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God." It
was the preceptive will of God that he should take that cup and
drink it : it was the Father's command to him. The Father had
given him the cup, and as it were set it down before him with the
command that he should drink it. This was the greatest act of
obedience that Christ was to perform. He prays for strength and
VOL. viii. 24
182 SERMON VI.
help, that his poor feeble human nature might be supported, that
he might not fail in this great trial, that he might not sink and be
swallowed up, and his strength so overcome that he should not
hold out, and finish the appointed obedience. This was the thing
that he feared, of which the apostle speaks in the 5th of Hebrews,
when he says, "he was heard in that he feared." When he had
such an extraordinary sense of the dreadfulness of his sufferings
impressed on his mind, the fearfulness of it amazed him. He was
afraid lest his poor feeble strength should be overcome, and that
he should fail in so great a trial, that he should be swallowed up
by that death that he was to die, and so should not be saved from
death'; and therefore he offered up strong crying and tears unto
him that was able to strengthen him, and support, and save him
from death, that the death he was to suffer might not overcome
his love and obedience, buttliat he might overcome death, and so
be saved from it. If Christ's courage had failed in the trial, and
he had not held out under his dying sufferings, he never would
have been saved from death, but he would have sunk in the deep
mire ; he never would have risen from the dead, for his rising from
the dead was a reward of his victory. If his courage had failed,
and he had given out, he would have ever remained from under
the power of death, and so we should all have perished, we should
have remained yet in our sins. If he had failed, all would have
failed. If he had not overcome in that sore conflict, neither he nor
we could have been freed from death, we all must have perished
together. Therefore this was the saving from death that the apos-
tle speaks of, ihat Christ feared and prayed for with strong crying
and tears. His being overcome of death was the thing that he
feared, and so he was heard in that he feared. This Christ prayed
that the will of God might be done in his sufferings, even that he
might not fail of obeying God's will in his sufferings; and there-
fore it follows in the next verse in that passage of Hebrews,
*' Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience, by the things
which he suffered." That it was in this respect that Christ in his
agony so earnestly prayed that the will of God might be done,
viz. that he might have strength to do his will, and might not sink
and fail in such great sufferings ; is confirmed from the scriptures
of the old testament, as particularly from the G9th psalm. The
Psalmist represents Christ in that psalm, as is evident from the
fact that the words of that psalm are represented as Christ^s words
in many places of the new testament. That psalm is represented
as Christ's prayer to God when his soul was overwhelmed with
sorrow and amazement, as it was in his agony ; as you may see in
the 1st and 2d verses, " Save me, O God, for the waters are come
in ur)io my soul ; I sink iu deep ujire, where there is no standing:
1 am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me." But
then the thing that is represented as being the thing that he feared
SERMON VI. 183
was falling', and being overwhelmed in this great trial: verses 14
and 15, " Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink : let me
be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.
Let not the water-flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow
me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me." So again
in the 22d psalm, which is also represented as the prayer of Christ
under his dreadful sorrow and sufferings, verses 19, 20, 21.
*'But be not thou far from me, O Lord; O my Strength, haste
thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword ; my darling
from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth." It
was meet and suitable that Christ, when about to engage in that
terrible conflict, should thus earnestly seek help from God to ena-
ble him to do his will ; for he needed God's help — the strength of
his human nature, without divine help, was not sufficient to carry
him through. This was without doubt, that in which the first
Adam failed in his first trial, that when the trial came he was not
sensible of his own weakness and dependence. If he had been,
and had leaned on God, and cried to him for his assistance and
strength against'^the temptation, in all likelihood we should have
remained innocent and happy creatures to this day.
2. It implies a request that God's will and purpose might be
obtained in the eff'ects and fruits of his sufferings, in the glory to
his name, that was his design in them ; and particularly in the glory
of his grace, in the eternal salvation and happiness of his elect.
This is confirmed by John xii. 27, 28. " Now is my soul troubled ;
and what shall I say? — 'Father, save me from this hour:' but
for this cause came I unto this hour. ' Father, glorify thy name.'
Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, 1 have both glori-
fied, and will glorify it again." There the first request is the
same with the first request of Christ here in like trouble : "Now
is ray soul troubled and what shall I say .'' ' Father, save me from
this hour.'" He first prays, as he does here, that he might be
saved from his last sufferings. Then, after he was determined
within himself that the will of God must be otherwise, that he should
not be saved from that hour, " but for this cause," says he, " came
I to this hour;" and then his second request after this is, " Father,
glorify thy name!" So this is doubtless the purport of the second
request in his agony when he prayed that God's will might be
done. It is that God's will might be done in that glory to his
own name that he intended in the effects and fruits of his suffer-
ings, that seeing that it was his will that he should suffer, he earn-
estly prays that the end of his suffering in the glory of God and
the salvation of the elect may not fail. And these things are
what Christ so earnestly wrestled with God for in his prayer, of
which we have an account in the text, and we have no reason to
think, that they were not expressed in prayer as well as implied.
184 SERMON VI.
It is not reasonable to suppose that the evangelist in his other ac-
count of things mentions all the words of Christ's prayer. He
onlj mentions the substance.
III. In what capacity did Christ ofter up those earnest prayers
to God in his agony ?
In answer to this inquiry, I observe that he offered them up not
as a private person, but as high priest. The apostle speaks of
the strong crying and tears, as what Christ offered up as high
priest. Heb. v. 6, 7. " As he says also in another place. Thou
art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedeck : Who in the
days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplica-
tions with stron<^ crying and tears," &.c. The things that Christ
prayed for in those strong cryings, were things not of a private
nature, but of common concern to the whole church of which he
was the high priest. That the will of God should be done in his
obedience unto death, that his strength and courage should not
fail, but that he should hold out, was of common concern ; for,
if he had failed, all would have failed and perished for ever. And
of course, that God's name should be glorified in the effects and
fruits of his sufferings, and in the salvation and glory of all his
elect, was a thing of common concern. Christ offered up these
strong cries with his flesh in the same manner as the priests of old
were wont to offer up prayers with their sacrifices. Christ mixed
strong crying and tears with his blood, and so offered up his blood
and his prayers together, that the effect and success of his blood
might be obtained. Such earnest agonizing prayers were offered
with his blood, and his infinitely precious and meritorious blood
was offered with his prayers.
IV. Why was Christ so earnest in those supplications ? liuke
speaks of them as very earnest ; the apostle speaks of them as
strong crying ; and his agony partly consisted in this earnestness:
and the account that Luke gives us, seems to imply that his bloody
'"^sw©^ was parity^ at least with the great labour and earnest sense
^of h«''soui'in vvi^stling with God in prayer. There were three
things that concnVred at that time, especially to cause Christ to
be thus earnest and engaged.
1. He had then an extraordinary sense how dreadful the con-
sequence would be, if God's will should fail of being done. He
had tlien an extraordinary sense of his own last suffering under
the wrath of God, and if he had failed in those sufferings, he
knew the consequence must be dreadful. He having now such
an extraordinary view of the terriblcness of the wrath of God,
his love to the elect tended to make him more than ordinarily
earnest that they might be delivered from suffering that wrath to
all eternity, which could not have been if he had failed of doing
SERMON VI. 185
God's will, or if the will of God in the effect of his suffering had
failed.
2. No wonder that that extraordinary sense that Christ then
had of the costliness of the means of sinners' salvation made him
very earnest for the success of those means, as you have already
heard.
3. Christ had an extraordinary sense of his dependence on
God, and his need of his help to enable him to do God's will in
this great trial. Though he was innocent, yet he needed divine
help. He was dependent on God, as man, and therefore we read
that he trusted in God. Matth. xxvii. 43. " He trusted in God ;
Let him deliver him now if he will save him : for he said, I am
the Son of God." And when he had such an extraordinary sight
of the dreadfulness of that wrath he was to suffer, he saw how
much it was beyond the strength of his human nature alone.
V. What was the success of this prayer of Christ ?
To this I answer. He obtained all his requests. The apostle
says, *' He was heard in that he feared ;" in all that he feared.
He obtained strength and help from God, all that he needed, and
was carried through. He was enabled to do and to suffer the
whole will of God ; and he obtained the whole of the end of his
sufferings — a full atonement for the sins of the whole world, and
the full salvation of every one of those who were given him in the
covenant of redemption, and all that glory to the name of God,
which his mediation was designed to accomplish, not one jot or
tittle hath failed. Herein Christ in his agony was above all others
Jacob's antitype, in his wrestling with God for a blessing ; which
Jacob did, not as a private person, but as the head of his posteri-
ty, the nation of Israel, and by which he obtained that commen-
dation of God, "As a prince thou hast power with God;" and
therein was a type of him who was the Prince of princes.
APPLICATION.
Great improvement may be made of the consideration of the
strong crying and tears of Christ in the days of his flesh many
ways for our benefit.
1. This may teach us after what manner we should pray to God,
not in a cold and careless manner, but with great earnestness and
engagedness of spirit, and especially when we are praying to God
for those things that are of infinite importance, such as spiritual
and eternal blessings. Such were the benefits that Christ prayed
for with s'uch strong crying and tears, that he might be enabled to
do God's will in that great and difficult work that God had ap-
pointed him, that he might not sink and fail, but might get the vic-
tory, and so finally be delivered from death, and that God's will
186 SERMON vr.
and end might be obtained as the fruit of his sufferings, in the glo-
ry of God, and the salvation of the elect.
When we go before God in prayer with a cold, dull heart, and
in a lifeless and listless manner pray to him for eternal blessings,
and those of infinite import to our souls, we should think of Christ's
earnest prayers that he poured out to God, with tears and a bloody
sweat. The consideration of it may well make us ashamed of our
dull, lifeless prayers to God, wherein, indeed, we rather ask a de-
nial than ask to be heard ; for the language of such a manner of
praying to God, is that we do not look upon the benefit that we
pray for as of any great importance, that we are indifferent whe-
ther God answers us or not. The example of Jacob in wrestling
with God for the blessing, should teach us earnestness in our
prayers, but more especially the example of Jesus Christ, who
wrestled with God in a bloody sweat. If we were sensible as
Christ was of the great importance of those benefits that are of
eternal consequence, our prayers to God for such benefits would
be after another manner than now they are. Our souls also would
with earnest labour and strife be engaged in this duty.
There are many benefits that we ask of God in our prayers,
which are every whit of as great importance to us as those benefits
which Christ asked of God in his agony were to him. It is of as
great importance to us that we should be enabled to do the will of
God, and perform a sincere, universal, and persevering obedience
to his commands, as it was to Christ that he should not fail of
doing God's will in his great work. It is of as great importance
to us to be saved from death as it was to Christ that he should get
the victory over death, and so be saved from it. It is of as great,
and infinitely greater, importance to us, that Christ's redemption
should be successful in us, as it was to him that God's will should
be done, in the fruits and success of his redemption.
Christ recommended earnest watchfulness and prayerfulness to
his disciples, by prayer and example, both at the same time.
When Christ was in his agony, and came and found his disciples
asleep, he bid them watch and pray, Matth. xxvi. 41. " Watch
and pray, that ye enter not into temptation : the spirit indeed is
willing, but the flesh is weak." At the same he set them an exam-
ple of that which he commanded them, for though they slept he
watched, and poured out his soul in those earnest prayers that you
have heard of; and Christ has elsewhere taught us to ask those
blessings of God that are'of infinite importance, as those that will
take no denial. We have another example of the great conflicts
and engagedness of Christ's spirit in this duty. Luke vi. 12.
" And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a moun-
tain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." And he
SERMON VI. 187
was often recommending earnestness in crying to God in prayers.
In the parable of the unjust judge, Luke xviii. at the beginning ;
•' And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought
always to pray, and not to faint ; saying, There was in a city a
judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man ; and there
was a widow in that city ; and she came unto him, saying. Avenge
me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while : but after-
wards he said within himself. Though I fear not God nor regard
man, yet, because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest
by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear
what the unjust judge saith." Luke xi. 5, ♦fee. " And he said
unto them, which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto
him at midnight, and say unto him. Friend, lend me three loaves ;
for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have no-
thing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and
say. Trouble me not : the door is now shut, and my children are
with me in bed ; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you,
though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet
because of his importunity', he will rise and give him as many as he
needeth." He taught it in his own way of answering prayer as
in answering the woman of Canaan, Matth. xv. 22, &c. "And
behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and
cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of
David ; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he
answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought
him, saying. Send her away ; for she crieth after us. But he an-
swered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying. Lord,
help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the
children's bread and cast it to dogs. And she said. Truth, Lord ;
yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy
faith : be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was
made whole from that very hour." And as Christ prayed in his
agony, so I have already mentioned several texts of scripture
wherein we are directed to agonize in our prayers to God.
2. These earnest prayers, and strong cries of Christ to the Fa-
ther in his agony, show the greatness of his love to sinners. For,
as has been shown, these strong cries of Jesus Christ were what
he offered up to God as a public person, in the capacity of high
priest, and in the behalf of those whose priest he was. When he of-
fered up his sacrifice for sinners whom he had loved from eternity,
he withal offered up earnest prayers. His strong cries, his tears,
and his blood were all offered up together to God, and they were
all offered up for the same end, for the glory of God in the salva-
tion of the elect. They were all offered up for the same persons,
188 SERMON VI.
viz. for his people. For them he shed his blood in that bloody
sweat, when it fell down In clotted lumps to the ground ; and for
them he so earnestly cried to God at the same time. It was that
the will of God might be done in the success of his sufferings, in
the success of that blood, in the salvation of those for whom that
blood was shed, and therefore this strong crying shows his strong
love ; it shows how greatly he desired the salvation of sinners.
He cried to God that he might not sink and fail in that great un-
dertaking, because if he did so, sinners could not be saved,
but all must perish. He prayed that he might get the vic-
tory over death, because if he did not get the victory, his
people could never obtain that victory, and they can con-
quer no otherwise than by his conquest. If the Captain of
our salvation had not conquered in this sore conflict, none of
us could have conquered, but we must have all sunk with him.
He cried to God that he might be saved from death, and if he
had not been saved from death in Hiis resurrection, none of us could
ever have been saved from death. It was a great sight to see Christ
In that great conflict that he was In In his agony, but every thing
in it was from love, that strong love that was in his heart. His tears
that flowed from his eyes were from love ; his great sweat was from
love ; his blood, his prostrating himself on the ground before the
Father was from love ; his earnest crying to God was from the
strength and ardency of his love. It is looked upon as one prin-
cipal way wherein true love and good will is shown in Christian
friends one towards another, heartily to pray one for another, and it
is one way wherein Christ directs us to show our love to our ene-
mies, even praying for them. Matth. v. 44. " But I say unto you.
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and pray for them
which despitefuUy use you, and persecute you." But was there
ever any prayer that manifested love to enemies to such *a degree
as those strong cries and tears of the Son of God for the success of
his blood in the salvation of his enemies ; the strife and conflict of
whose soul in prayer was such as to produce his agony and bis
bloody sweat ?
3. If Christ was thus earnest in prayer to God, that the end of
his sufferings might be obtained in the salvation of sinners, then
how much ouglit those sinners to be reproved that do not earnestly
seek their own salvation ! If Clu'Ist offered up such strong cries
for sinners as their high priest, that bought their salvation, who
stood in no need of sinners, who had been happy from all eternity
without them, and could not be made happier by them, then how
great Is the sottishness of those sinners that seek their own salva-
tion In a dull and lifeless manner ; that content themselves with a
formal attendance on the duties of religion, with their hearts in the
mean time much more earnestly set after other things ! They after
SERMON VI. 189
a sort allend on .the duty of social prayer, wherein they pray to
God that he would have mercy on them and save ; but after what
a poor dull way is it that they do it !, they do not apply their heart
unto wisdom, nor incline their ear to understanding ; they do not
cry after wisdom, nor lift up their voice for understanding; they do
not seek it as silver, nor search for it as for hidden treasures.
Christ's earnest cries in his agony may convince us that it was not
without reason that he insisted upon it, in Luke xiii. 24, that we
should strive to enter in at the strait gate, which as I have already
observed to you is, in the original, Aytovt^eaOc, " Agonize to enter in
at the strait gate." If sinners would be in a hopeful way to ob-
tain their salvation, they should agonize in that great concern as
men that are taking a city by violence, as Matth. xi. 12. " And
from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven
sufiereth violence, and the violent take it by force." When a body
of resolute soldiers are attempting to take a strong city in which
they meet with great opposition, what violent conflicts are there
before the city is taken ! How do the soldiers press on against the
very mouths of the enemies' cannon, and upon the points of their
swords ! When the soldiers are scaling the walls, and making
their first entrance into the city, what a violent struggle is there
between them and their enemies that strive to keep them out ! How
do they, as it were, agonize with all their strength ! So ought we
to seek our salvation, if we would be in a likely way to obtain it.
How great is the folly then of those who content themselves with
seeking with a cold and lifeless frame of spirit, and so continue
from month to month, and from year to year, and yet flatter them-
selves that they shall be successful !
How much more still are they to be reproved, who are not in a
way of seeking their salvation at all, but wholly neglect their pre-
cious souls, and attend the duties of religion no further than is
just necessary to keep up their credit among men ; and instead of
pressing into the kingdom of God, are rather violently pressing
on towards their own destruction and ruin, being hurried on by
their many headstrong lusts, as the herd of swine were hurried
on by the legion of devils, and ran violently down a steep place
into the sea, and perished in the waters ! Matth. viii. 32.
4. From what has been said under this proposition, we may
learn after what manner Christians ought to go through the work
that is before them. Christ had a great work before him when
that took place, of which we have an account in the text. Though
it was very near the close of his life, yet he then, when his agony
began, had the chief part of the work before him that he came
into the world to do; which was to offer* up that sacrifice which
he offered in his last sufferings, and therein to perform the greatest
act of his obedience to God. And so the Christians have a great
VOL. VIII. 25
190 SERMON VI.
work to do, a service they are to perform to God, that is attended
with great difficulty. They have a race set before them that they
have to run, a warfare that is appointed them. Christ was the
subject of a very great trial in the time of his agony, so God
is wont to exercise his people with great trials. Christ met with
great opposition in that work that he had to do, so believers are
like to meet with great opposition in running the race that is set
before them. Christ, as man, had a feeble nature, that was in it-
self very insufficient to sustain such a conflict, or to support such
a load as was coming upon him. So the saints have the same
weak human nature, and beside that, great sinful infirmities that
Christ had not, which lay them under great disadvantages, and
greatly enhance the difficulty of their work. Those great tribu-
lations and difficulties that were before Christ, were the way in
which he was to enter into the kingdom of heaven ; so his follow-
ers must expect, " through much tribulation, to enter into the
kingdom of heaven." Tiie cross was to Christ the way to the
crown of glory, and so it is to his disciples. The circumstances
of Christ and of his followers in those things are alike, their case,
therefore, is the same ; and therefore Christ's behaviour under
those circumstances, was a fit example for them to follow. They
should look to their Captain, and observe after what manner he
went through his great work, and the great tribulations which he
endured. They should observe after what manner he entered into
the kingdom of heaven, and obtained the crown of glory, and so
they also should run the race that is set before them. " Where-
fore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set be-
fore us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith ;
who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despis-
ing the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of
God." Particularly,
(1.) When others are asleep, they should be'awake, as it was with
Christ. The time of Christ's agony was the night season, the
time wherein persons were wont to be asleep: it was the time
wherein the disciples that were about Christ were asleep, but
Christ then had something else to do than to sleep ; he had a great
work to do ; he kept awake, with his heart engaged in this work.
So should it be with ihe believers of Christ; when the souls of
their neiglibours are asleep in their sins, and under the power of a
lethargic insensibility and sloth, they should watch and pray, and
maintain a lively sense of the infinite importance of their spiritual
concerns. 1 Thes. v. 0. " Therefore let us not sleep, as do others,
but let us watch and be sober."
SERMON VI. 191
(2.) They should go through their work with earnest labour as
Christ did. The time when others were asleep was a time when
Christ was about his great work and was engaged in it with all his
might, agonizing in it ; conflicting and wrestling, in tears, and in
blood. So should Christians with the utmost earnestness im-
prove their time with souls engaged in this work, pushing
through the opposition they meet with in it, pushing through all
difficulties and sufferings there are in the way, running with pa-
tience the race set before them, conflicting with the enemies of
their souls with all their might as those that wrestle not with flesh
and blood, but with principalities and powers, and the rulers of
the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high pla-
ces.
(3.) This labour and strife should be, that God may be glori-
fied, and their own eternal happiness obtained in away of doing
God's will. Thus it was with Christ: what he so earnestly strove
for was, that he might do the will of God, that he might keep his
command, his difficult command , without failing in it, and that in
this way God's will might be done, in that glory to his ever great
name, and that salvation to his elect that he intended by his suffer-
ings. Here is an example for the saints to follow in that holy
strife, and race, and warfare, which God has appointed them; they
should strive to do the will of their heavenly Father, that they
may, as the apostle expresses it, Rom. xii. 2, " Prove what is that
good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God," and that in this
way they may glorify God, and may come at last to be happy for
ever in the enjoyment of God.
(4.) In all the great work they have to do, their eye should be to
God for his help to enable them to overcome. Thus did the man
Christ Jesus: he strove in his work even to such an agony and
bloody sweat. But how did he strive ^ It was not in his own
strength, but his eyes were to God, he cries unto him for his help
and strength to uphold him, that he might not fail ; he watched
and prayed, as he desired his disciples to do ; he wrestled with his
enemies and with his great sufterings, but at the same time wrest-
led with God to obtain his help, to enable him to get the victory.
Thus the saints should use their strength in their Christian course,
to the utmost, but not as depending on their own strength,
but crying mightily to God for his strength to make them con-
querors.
(5.) In this way they should hold out to the end as Christ
did. Christ in this way was successful and obtained the victory
and won the prize ; he overcome, and is set down with the
Father in his throne. So Christians should persevere and hold
out in their great work to the end ; they should continue to run
their race till they have come to the end of it ; they should be
faithful unto the death as Christ was ; and then, when they
192 SERMON VI.
have overcome, they shall sit down with him in his Throne.
Rev. iii. 21. " To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with
rne in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down
with my Father in his throne."
5. Hence burdened and distressed sinners, if any such are
here present, may have abundant ground of encouragement to
come to C'hiist for salvation. Here is great encouragement to
sinners to come to this high priest that offered up such strong
crying and tears with his blood, for the success of his sufferings
in the salvation of sinners. For,
1st. Here is great ground of assurance that Christ stands
ready to accept of sinners, and bestow salvation upon them, for
those strong cries of his that he offered up in the capacity of our
high priest, show how earnestly desirous he was of it. If he
was not willing that sinners should be saved, be they ever so
unworthy of it, then why would he so wrestle with God for it
in such a bloody sweat ? Would any one so earnestly cry to God
with such costly cries, in such great labour and travail of soul
for that, that he did not desire that God should bestow? No,
sureiy ! but this shows how greatly his heart was set on the suc-
cess of his redein|)lion, and therefore since he has by such earnest
prayers, and by such a bloody sweat obtained salvation of the
Father to bestow on sinners, he will surely be ready to bestow
it upon thetn, if they come to him for it ; otherwise he will frus-
trate hii-'. own design ; and he that so earnestly cried to God that
his design might not be frustrated, will not, after all, frustrate it
himself
2. Here is the strongest ground of assurance that God stands
ready to accept of all those that come to him for mercy through
Christ, for this is what Christ |)rayed for in those earnest pray-
ers, whose prayers were always heard, as Christ says, John xi.
42. "And I knew that thou hearost me always." And espe-
cially may they conclude, that heard ihcir high priest in those
strong cries that ho offered up with liis blood, and that especially
on the following account.
(1.) They were the most earnest prayers that ever were
made. Jacob was very earnest when he wrestled with God ; and
many others have wrestled with God with many tears ; yea,
doubtless many of the saints have wrestled with God with such
inward la-bour and strife as to produce powerful effects on the
body. But so earnest was Christ, so strong was the labour and
fervency of his heart, that he cried to God in a sweat of blood ;
so that if any earnestness and importunity in prayer ever pre-
vailed with Gyd, we may conclude that that prevailed.
(2.) He who then prayed was the most worthy person that
ever put up a prayer. He had more worthiness than ever men
SERMON VI. 193
or angels had in the sight of God, according as by inheritance he
has obtained a more excellent name than they ; for he was the
only begotten Son of God, infinitely lovely in his sight, the Son
in whom he declared once and again he was well pleased. He
was infinitely near and dear to God, and had more worthiness
in his eyes ten thousand times than all men and angels put to-
gether. And can we suppose any other than that such a person
was heard when he cried to God with such earnestness f Did
Jacob, a poor sinful man, when he had wrestled with God, obtain
of God the name of Israel, and that encomium that as a prince
he had power with God, and prevailed ? and did Elijah, who was
a man of like passions, and of like corruptions with us when he
prayed, earnestly prevail on God to work such great wonders ?
and shall not the only begotten Son of God, when wrestling
with God in tears and blood, prevail, and have his request
granted him ?
Surely there is no room to suppose any such thing ; and there-
fore, there is no room to doubt whether God will bestow salva-
tion on those that believe in him, at his request.
(3.) Christ offered up these earnest prayers with the best plea
for an answer that ever was offered to God, viz. his own blood ;
which was an equivalent for the thing that he asked. He not
only offered up strong cries, but he offered them up with a price
fully sufficient to purchase the benefit he asked.
(4.) Christ offered this price, and those strong cries both to-
gether; for at the same time that he was pouring out these
earnest requests for the success of his redemption in the salva-
tion of sinners, he also shed his blood. His blood fell down to
the ground at the same instant that his cries went up to heaven.
Let burdened and distressed sinners that are ready to doubt of
the efficlacy of Christ's intercession for such unworthy creatures
as they, and to call in question God's readiness to accept them
for Christ's sake, consider these things. Go to the garden
where the Son of God was in an agony, and where he cried to
God so earnestly, and where his sweat was, as it were, great
drops of blood, and then see what a conclusion you will draw
up from such a wonderful sight.
6. The godly may take great comfort in this that Christ has
as their high priest offered up such strong cries to God. You that
have good evidence of your being believers in Christ and his
true followers, and servants, may comfort yourselves in this,
that Christ Jesus is your high priest, that that blood, which
Christ shed in his agony, fell down to the ground for you, and
that those earnest cries were sent up to God for you, for the
success of his labours and sufferings in all that good you stood in
194 SERMON VI.
need of in this world, and in your everlasting happiness in the
world to come. This may be a comfort to you in all losses, and
under all difficulties that you may encourage your faith and
strengthen your hope, and cause you greatly to rejoice. If you
were under any remarkable difficulties it would be a great com-
fort to you to have the prayers of some man that you looked
upon to be a man of eminent piety, and one that had a great in-
terest at the throne of grace, and especially if you knew that he
was very earnest and greatly engaged in prayer for you. But
how much more may you be comforted in it that you have an
interest in the prayers and cries of the only begotten and infi-
nitely worthy Son of God, and that he was so earnest in his pray-
ers for you, as you have heard !
7. Hence we may learn how earnest Christians ought to be
in their prayers and endeavours for the salvation of others.
Christians are the followers of Christ, and they should follow
him in this. We see from what we have heard, how great the
labour and travail of Christ's soul was for others' salvation, and
what earnest and strong cries to God accompanied his labours.
Here he hath set us an example. Herein he hath set an exam-
ple for ministers who should as co-workers with Christ travail
in birth with them till Christ be found in them. Gal. iv. 19.
" My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until
Christ be formed in you." They should be willing to spend and
be spent for them. They should not only labour for them, and
pray earnestly for them, but should, if occasion required, be
ready to suffer- for them, and to spend not only their strength,
but their blood for them. 2 Cor. xii. 15. "And I will very
gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly
I love you, the less I be loved." Here is an example for pa-
rents, showing how they ought to labour and cry to God for the
spiritual good of their children. You see how Christ laboured
and strove and cried to God for the salvation of his spiritual
children ; and will not you earnestly seek and cry to God for
your natural children ?
Here is an example for neighbours one towards another
how they should seek and cry for the good of one another's
souls, for this is the command of Christ that they should love
one another as Christ loved them. John xv. 12. Here is an
example for us, showing how we should earnestly seek and
pray for the spiritual and eternal good of our enemies, for
Christ did all this for his enemies, and when some of those
enemies were at that very instant plotting his death, and
busily contriving to satiate their malice and cruelty, in his
most extreme torments, and most ignominious destruction.
SKRMON VII.
Romans ii. 8, 9.
But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, hut
obey imrighteousn€S<>, indignation and wrath, tribidation and an-
guish, upon every soid of man that doeth evil, of the Jew firsty
and also of the Gentile.
It is the drift of the apostle in the three first chapters of this
epistle to show, that both Jews and Gentiles are under sin, and
therefore cannot be justified by works of law, but only by
faith in Christ. In the first chapter he had shown that the Gen-
tiles were under sin: in this he shows that the Jews also are
under sin, and that however severe they were in their censures
upon the Gentiles, yet they themselves did the same things; for
which the apostle ver}' much blames them: "Therefore, thou
art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for
wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou
that judgest, doest the same things." And he warns them not
to go on in such a way, by forewarning them of the misery to
which they will expose themselves by it, and by giving them to
understand that instead of their misery being less than that of
the Gentiles, it would be the greater, for God's distinguishing
goodness to them above the Gentiles. The Jews thought that
they should be exempted from future wrath, because God had
chosen them to be his peculiar people. But the apostle informs
them that there should be indignation and wrath, tribulation
and anguish, to every soul of man ; not only to the Gentiles,
but to every soul ; and to the Jews first and chiefly, when they
did evil, because their sins were more aggravated.
In the text we find,
1. A description of wicked men; in which maybe observed
those qualifications of wicked men which have the nature of a
cause, and those which have the nature of an eff*ect.
Those qualifications of wicked men here mentioned that have
the nature of a cause, are their being contentious, and not obey-
ing the truth, but obeying unrighteousness. By their being con-
tentious, is meant their being contentious against the truth, their
196 SERMON VII.
quarrelling with the gospel, their finding fault witli its declarations
and offers. Unbelievers find many things in the ways of God
at wliich they stumble, and by which they are offended. They
are always quarrelling and finding fault with one thing or another,
whereby they are kept from believing the truth and yielding to it.
Christ is to them a stone of stumbling, and rock of offence. They
do not obey the truth, that is, they do not yield to it, they do not
receive it with faith. That yielding to the truth and embracing
it, which there is in saving faith, is called obeying, in scripture.
Rom. vi. 17. " But God be thanked that ye were the servants of
sin ; but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine
which was delivered you." Heb. v. 9. " And being made perfect,
he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey
him." Rom. i. 5. " By whom we have received grace and apos-
tleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name :"
But they obey unrighteousness instead of yielding to the gospel,
they are under the power and dominion of sin, and are slaves to
their lusts and corruptions.
It is in those qualifications of wicked men that their wicked-
ness radically consists ; their unbelief and opposition to the truth,
and their slavish subjection to lust, are the foundation of all wick-
edness.
Those qualifications of wicked men, which have the nature of
an effect, are their doing evil. This is the least of their opposition
against the gospel, and of their slavish subjection to their lusts ;
that they do evil. Those wicked principles are the foundation,
and their wicked practice is the superstructure; those were the
root, and this is' the fruit.
2. The punishment of wicked men, in which may be also no-
ticed the cause and the eflect.
Those things mentioned in their punishment that have the na-
ture of a cause are indignation and wratli ; i. e. the indignation
and wrath of God. It is the anger of God that will render
wicked men miserable; they will be the subjects of divine wrath,
and hence will arise their whole punishment.
Those things in their punishment that have the nature of an
effect, are tribulation and anguish. Indignation and wrath in
God, will work extreme sorrow, trouble, and anguish of heart, in
them.
Doctrine. Indignation, wrath, misery, and anguish of soul,
are the portion that God has allotted to wicked men.
Every one of mankind must have the portion that belongs to
him. God allots to each one his portion; and the portion of the
wicked is nothing but wrath, and distress, and anguish of soul.
Though they may enjoy a iew empty and vain pleasures and de-
lights, for a few days while they stay in this world, yet that which
SERMON VH. 197
is allotted to them by the Possessor and Governor of all things to
be their portion, is only indignation and wrath, tribulation and
anguish. This is not the portion that wicked men choose ; the
portion that they choose is worldly happiness, yet it is the portion
that God carves out for them ; it is the portion that they in eflect
choose for themselves. For they choose those things that naturally
and necessarily lead to it, and those that they are plainly told,
times without number, will issue in it. Prov. viii. 36. "But he
that sinneih against me, wrongeth his own soul ; all they that hate
me love death." But whether they choose it or not, this will and
must be the portion to all eternity of all who live and die wicked
men. Indignation and wrath shall pursue them as long as they
live in this world, shall drive them out of the world, and shall fol-
low them into another world; and there wrath and misery shall
abide upon them tin-oughout eternity.
The method that I shall take in treating this subject, is to de-
scribe the wrath and misery of which wicked men shall be the
subjects, both here and hereafter, in the successive parts and
periods of it, according to the order of time.
I, I shall describe the wrath that often pursues wicked men in
this life. Indignation and wrath often begin with them here.
1. God oftentimes in wrath leaves them to themselves. They
are left in their sins, and left to undo themselves, and work out
their own ruin ; he lets them alone in sin. Hos. iv, 17. " Ephraim
is joined to his idols ; let him alone." He often leaves them to go
great lengths in sin, and does not afl'ord them that restraining
grace that he does to others. He leaves them to their own blind-
ness, so that they always remain ignorant of God and Christ, and
of the things that belong to their peace. They are sometimes
left to hardness of heart, to be stupid and senseless, so that nothing
will ever thoroughly awaken them. They are left to their own
hearts lusts, to continue in some wicked practices all their days.
Some are left to their covetousness, some to drunkenness, some to
uncleanness, some to a proud, contentious, and envious spirit, and
some to a spirit of finding fault and quarrelling with God. God
leaves them to their folly, to act exceedingly foolishly, to delay
and put off the concerns of their souls from time to time, never to
think the present time the best, but always to keep it at a distance,
and foolishly to continue flattering themselves with hopes of long
life, and to put far away the evil day, and to bless themselves in
their hearts, and say, " I shall have peace, though I add drunken-
■ ness to thirst." Some are so left that they are miserably hardened
and senseless, when others all around them are awakened, and
greatly concerned, and inquire what they shall do to be saved.
Sometimes God leaves men to a fatal backsliding for a misim-
provement of the strivings of his spirit. They are let alone, to
VOL VIII. 20
198 SERMON VII
backslide perpetually. Dreadful is the life and eonditioii of
those who are thus left of God. We have instances of ihe misery
of such in God's holy word, particularly of Saul and Judas. Such
are, sometimes, very much left to the power of Satan to tempt them,
to hurry them on in wicked courses, and exceedingly to aggra-
vate their own guilt and misery.
2. Indignation and wrath are sometimes exercised towards
them in this world, by their being cursed in all that concerns
them. They have this curse of God following them in every thing.
They are cursed in all their enjoyments. If they are in pros-
perity, it is cursed to them; if they possess riches, if they have
honour, if they enjoy pleasure, there is the curse of God that at-
tends it. Psalm xcii. 7. " When tlie wicked spring as the grass,
and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish ; it is that they may
be destroyed for ever."
There is a curse of God that attends their ordinary food : every
morsel of bread which they eat, and every drop of water which they
drink. Psalm Ixix. 22. " Let their table become a snare before
them; and that which should have been for their welfare let it be-
come a trap." They are cursed in all their employments, in
whatsoever they put their hands to ; when they go into the field
to labour, or are at work at their respective trades. Deut. xxviii.
IG. "Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be
in the field." The curse of God remains in the houses where they
dwell, and brimstone is scattered in their habitations. Job xviii.
15. The curse of God attends them in the afllictions which
they meet with,, whereas the afflictions that good men meet with,
are fatherly corrections, and are sent in mercy. The afflic-
tions which wicked men meet with are in wrath, and come from
God as an enemy, and are the foretaste of their everlasting pun-
ishment. The curse of God attends them also in their spiritual
enjoyments and opportunities, and it woidd have been better for
them not to have been born in a land of light. Their having the
Bible and the sabbath, is only to aggravate their guilt and misery.
The word of God when preached to them is a savour of death unto
death. Better would it be for them, if Christ had never come into
the world, if there had never been any offer of a Saviour. Life
itself is a curse to them; they live only to fill up the measure of
their sins. What they seek in all the enjoyments, and employ-
ments, and concerns of life, is their own happiness ; but they
never obtain it ; they never obtain any true comfort, all the comforts
which they have are worthless and unsatisfying. If they lived a
hundred years with never so uiueh of the world in their possession,
ihcir life is all filled up with vanity. All that they liave is vanity
of vanities, they find no true rest for their souls, they do but ft:c(.\
on the east wind, they have no real contentment, Whatever out-
SERMON VII. 199
ward pleasures they may have, their souls are starving. They
have no true peace of conscience, they have nothing of the favour
of God. Whatever they do, they live in vain, and to no pur-
pose; they are useless in the creation of God, they do not an-
swer the end of their being. They live without God, and
have not the presence of God, nor any communion with him.
But on the contrary, all tliat they have and all that they do,
does but contribute to their own misery, and render their future
and everlasting state the more dreadful. The best of wicked
men live but miserable and wretched lives, with all their pros-
perity ; their lives are most undesirable, and whatever they
have, the wrath of God abides upon them.
3. After a time they must die. Eccles. ix. 3. "This is an
evil among all things that arc done under the sun, that there
is one event unto all : yea, also the heart of the sons of men is
full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and
after that they go to the dead."
Death is a far different thing when it befals wicked men,
from what it is when it befals good men ; to the wicked it
is in execution of the curse of the law, and of the wrath of
God. When a wicked man dies, God cuts him off in wrath,
he is taken away as by a tempest of wrath, he is driven
away in his wickedness. Prov. xiv. 32. " The wicked is driven
away in his wickedness : but the righteous hath hope in his
death." Job xviii. 18. " He shall be driven from light into
darkness, and chased out of the world." Job xxvii. 21. "The
east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth, and as a storm,
hiy-leth him out of his place." Though wicked men while they
live, may live in worldly prosperity, yet they cannot live here
always, but they must die. The place that knoweth him, shall
know him no more ; and the eye that hath seen him f«hall see
him no more in the land of the living.
Their bounds are unchangeably set, and when they are come
to those bounds they must go, and must leave all their worldly
good things. If they have lived in outward glory, their glory shall
not descend after them ; they get nothing while they live that
they can carry away. Eccles. v. 15. "As he came forth of
his mother's womb, naked shall he return, to go as he came,
and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away
in his hand." He must leave all his substance unto others. Jf
they are at ease and in quietness, death will put an end to their
quietness, will spoil all their carnal mirth, and will strip them
of all their glory. As they came naked into the world, so naked
■ must they return, and go as they came. If they have laid up
much goods for many years, if they have laid in stores, as they
hope, for great comfort and pleasure, death will cut them off
200 SERMON VII,
from all. Luke xii. 10, <fec. '* And lie spake a parable unto
them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth
plentifully : and he thought within himself, saying, What shall
I do, because 1 have no room where to bestow my fruits ? and
he said, this will I do : I will pull down my barns, and build
greater ; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up
for many years ; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But
God said uislo him, thou fool! this night thy soul shall be re-
quired of thee ; then whose shall those things be which thou
hast j)rovided." If they have many designs and projects in
their breasts for promoting their outward prosperity, and world-
ly advantage ; when death comes, it cuts all oft" at one blow.
Psalms cxlvi. 4. " His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his
earth ; in that very day his thoughts perish." And so whatever
diligence they have had in seeking their salvation, death will
disapjioint all such diligence, it will not wait for them to ac-
complish tlieir designs and fulfil their schemes. If they have
pleased and pampered, and adorned their bodies, death will spoil
all their pleasure and their glory ; it will change their counte-
nances to a pale and ghastly aspect. Instead of their gay ap-
parel and beautiful ornaments, they shall have only a winding
sheet; their house must be the dark and silent grave ; and that
body which they deified, shall turn to loathsome rottenness,
shall be eaten of worms, and turn to dust. Some wicked men
die in youth, wrath pursues them, and soon overtakes them ;
they are not sufTered to live out half their days. Job. xxxvi. 14.
"They die in youth, and their life is among the uncleaji."
Psalm Iv. 23. "But thou, O God, shall bring them down into
the pit of destruction : bloody and deceitful men shall not live
out half th<;ir days." They are sometimes overtaken in the
very midst of their sin and vanity ; and death puts a sudden end
lo all their youthful pleasures. They are often stopped in the
midst of a career in sin, and then if their hearts cleave ever so
fast to those things, they must be rent from them ; they have
no other good but outward good; but then they must eternally
forsake it, they must close their eyes for ever on all that has
been dear atid pleasant to them here.
4. Wicked nien are oftentimes the subjects of much tribula-
tion and anguish of heart on their death beds. Sometimes the
pains of body are very extreme and dreadful ; and what they
endure in those agonies and struggles for life, after they arc
past speaking, and wlujn Ijody and soul are rending asunder,
■ none can know, liczekiah had an awful sense of it ; he com-
pares it to a lion's breaking all his bones. Isaiah xxxviii. 12,
13. " Mine age is dcparteil, and is removed from me as a shep-
SERMON Vll- 201
herd's tent : I have cut olf as u weaver my life ; he will cut inc
off with pining sickness ; from day even to night, wilt thou make
an end of me. I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will
he break all my bones : from day even to night, wilt thou make
an end of me." But this is but little to what is sometimes un-
dergone by wicked men in their souls when they are on their
death beds. Death appears sometimes with an exceedingly
terrible aspect to them ; when it comes and stares them in the
face, they cannot bear to behold it. It is always so, if wicked
men have notice of the approach of death, and have reason
and conscience in exercise, and are not either stupid or distract-
ed. When this king of terrors comes to show himself to them,
and they are called forth to meet him, O how do they dread the
conflict! But meet him they must : •' There is no man that
hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit ; neither hath he
power in the day of death : and there is no dischargiB in that
war ; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it."
Death comes to them with all his dreadful armour, and his sting
not taken away ; and it is enough to fill their souls with torment
that cannot be expressed. It is an awful thing for a person to
be lying on a sick bed, to be given over by physicians, to have
friends stand weeping round the bed as expecting to part with
him ; and in such circumstances as those, to have no hope, to
be without an interest in Christ, and to have the guilt of his
sins lying on his soul, to be going out of the world without his
peace being made with God, to stand before his holy judgment-
seat in all his sins, without any thing to plead, or answer. To
see the only opportunity to prepare for eternity coming imme-
diately to an end, after which there shall be no more time of
probation, but his case will be unalterably fixed, and there ne-
ver will be another ofl^Br of a Saviour ; for the soul to come just
to the very edge of the boundless gulf of eternity, and insensi-
bly to launch forth into it, without any God or Saviour to take
care of it ; to be brought to the edge of the precipice, and to see
hiniself falling down into the lake of fire and brimstone, and
to feel that he has no power to stop himself: who can tell the
shrinkings and misgivings of heart in such a case ? How does
he endeavour to hang back, but yet he must go on ; it is in
vain to wish for further opportunity ! O how happy does he
think those that stand about him, who may yet live, may have
their lives continued longer, when he must go immediately into
an endless eternity ! How does he wish it might be with him
as with those who have a longer time to prepare for their trial !
but it must not be so. Death, sent on purpose to summon him,
will give him no release nor respite ; he must go before the holy
judgment seat of God, as he is to have his everlasting state
202 SERMON VII.
determined according to his works. To such persons, how dif-
ferently do things appear from what they did in the time of
health, and when they looked at death as at a distance ! How
differently does sin look to them now ; those sins which they
used to make light of! How dreadful is it now to look back and
consider how they have spent their time, how foolish they have
been, how they have gratified and indulged their lusts, and lived
in ways of wickedness ; how careless they have been, and how
they have neglected their opportunities and advantages, how
they have refused to hearken to counsel, and have not repented
in spite of all the warnings that were given. Prov. v. 11, 12,
13. " And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body
are consumed, and say, how have I hated instruction, and
my heart despised reproof; and have not obeyed the voice of
my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed
me !"
How differently does the world appear to them now ! They
used to set much by it, and have their hearts taken up with it,
but what does it avail them now ! how insignificant are all their
riches ! Prov. xi. 4. " Riches profit not in the day of wrath :
but righteousness delivercth from death." What different
thoughts have they now of God, and of his wrath ! They used
to make light of the wrath of God, but how terrible does it now
appear I How does their heart shrink at the thoughts of appear-
ing before such a God ! How different are their thoughts of
time ! Now time appears precious; and O what would they not
give for a little, more time ! Some have in such circumstances
been brought to cry out, O, a thousand worlds for an hour, for
2l moment! And how differently does eternity now aj)pear !
now it is awful indeed. Some have been brought on a death
bed to cry out, O that word Eternity! Eternity! Eternity!
What a dismal gulf does it appear to them, when they come
to the very brink ! They often at such limes cry for mercy,
and cry in vain. God called, and they would not hear. " They
set at nought his counsels, and would none of his reproofs.
Now also he laughs at their calamity, and mocks when their fear
cometh." They beseech others to pray for them, they send for
ministers, but all often fails them. They draw nearer and nearer
to death, and eternity comes more and more immediately in
view. And who can express their horror, when they feel them-
selves clasped in the cold arms of death, when their breath fails
more and more, and their eyes begin to be fixed and grow dim !
That which is then felt by them, cannot be told nor conceived.
Some wicked men have much of the horror and despair of hell
in their last sickness. Ecclos. v. 17. " All his days also hocat-
cth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his
sickness."
SERMON VII. 203
II. I shall dcscril)C the wrath that attends wicked men here-
after.
1. The soul, when it is separated from the body, shall be cast
down into hell. There is without doubt a particular judgment
by which every man is to be tried at death, beside the general
judgment : for the soul, as soon as it departs from the body,
appears before God to be judged. Eccl. xii. " Then shall the
dust return to the earth, as it was ; and the spirit shall return
imto God, who gave it :" that is, to be judged and disposed of
by him. Heb. ix. 27. " It is appointed unto men once to die,
but after this the judgment." But this particular judgment is
j)robably no such solemn transaction, as that which will be at
the day of judgment ; the soul must appear before God, but not
in the manner that men shall appear at the end of the [world.
The souls of wicked men shall not go to heaven to appear be-
fore God, neither shall Christ descend from heaven for the soul
to appear before him ; neither is it to be supposed, that the soul
shall be carried to any place where there is some special symbol
of the divine presence, in order to be judged. But as God is eve-
ry where present, so the soul shall be made immediately sensi-
ble of his presence. Souls in a separate state shall be sensible of
the presence of God and of his operations in another manner
than wc now are. AH separate spirits may be said to be before
God : the saints arc in his glorious presence, and the wicked
in hell are in his dreadful presence; they are said to be tor-
nsented in the presence of the Lamb. Rev. xiv. 10. " The
same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is
poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation ; and
he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb." So the
soul of a wicked man, at its departure from the body, will be
made immediately sensible that it is before an infinitely holy and
dreadful God and his own final Judge ; and will then see how
terrible a God he is, he will see how holy a God he is, how infi-
nitely he hates sin; he will be sensible of the greatness of
God's anger against sin, and how dreadful is his displeasure.
Then will he be sensible of the dreadful majesty and power of
God, and how fearful a thing it is to fall into his hands. Then
the soul shall come naked with all its guilt, and in all its filthi-
ness, a vile, loathsome, abominable creature, an enemy to God,
a rebel against him, with the guilt of all its rebellion and disre-
gard of God's commands, and contempt of his authority, and
slight of the glorious gospel, before God as its Judge. This will
fill the soul with horror and amazement. It is not to be sup-
posed that this judgment will be attended with any voice or any
such outward transactions as I he judgment at the end of the
204 SERMON VII.
world ; but God shall manifest himself in his strict justice in-
wardly, to the immediate view of the soul, and to the sense and
apprehension of the conscience : This particular judgment pro-
bably will not hinder, but that the soul shall be cast into hell im-
mediately when it goes from the body ; as soon as ever the soul
departs from the body, the soul shall know what its state and con-
dition are to be to all eternity. As long as there is life, there is
hope. The man, while he lived, though his case was exceedingly
dreadful, yet had some hope ; when he lay dying, there was a pos-
sibility of salvation. But when once the union between soul and
body is broken, then that moment the case becomes desperate, and
there remains no hope, no possibility. On their death-beds, perhaps,
they had some hope that God would pity them and hear their cries,
or that he would hear the prayers of their pious friends for them ;
they were ready to lay hold on something which they had at some
time met with, some religious afiection or some change in their exter-
nal conduct, and to flatter themselves that ihey were then con-
verted ; they were able to indulge some degree of hope from the
moral lives that they had lived, that God would have respect to
them and save them ; but as soon as ever the soul parts from the
body, from that moment the case will be absolutely determined,
there will then be an end for ever to all hope, to every thing that
men hang upon in this life ; the soul then shall know certainly
that it is to be miserable to all eternity, without any remedy. It
shall see that God is its enemy ; it shall see its Judge clothed in
his wrath and vengeance. Then its misery will begin, it will that
moment be swallowed up in despair ; the great gulf will be fixed
between it and happiness, the door of mercy will be for ever shut
up, the irrevocable sentence will be passed. Then shall the wick-
ed know what is before them. Before, the soul was in distress for
fear how it would be ; but now, all its fears shall come upon it ; it
shall come upon it as a mighty flood, and there will be no escap-
ing. The soul was full of amazement before through fear ; but
now, who can conceive the amazement that fills it that moment
when all hope is cut ofi*, and it knows that there never will be any
deliverance. !
When a good man dies, his soul is conducted by holy angels to
heaven. Luke xvi. 22. " And it came to pass that the beggar died,
and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom : the rich
man also died and was buried." So we may well suppose that
when a wicked man dies, his soul is seized by wicked angels ; that
they are round his bed ready to seize the miserable soul as soon
as it is parted from the body. And with what fierceness and fury
do those cruel spirits fly u])on their prey ; and the soul shall be
left in their hands. There shall be no good angels to guard and
defend it. God will take no merciful care of it, there is nothing
SER3ION VII. 205
to help It against those cruel spirits that shall lay hold of it to
carry it to hell, there to torment it for ever. God will leave it wholly
in their hands, and w ill give it up to their possession, when it conies
to die ; and it shall be carried down into hell, to the abode of de-
vils and damned spirits. If the fear of hell on a death-bed some-
times fills the wicked with amazement, how will they be overwhehri-
ed when they feel its torments, when they shall find them not
only as great but far greater than their fears ! They shall find
them far beyond what they could conceive of before they felithem;
for none know the power of God's anger, but they that experience
it. Psalm xc. 11. " Who knovvelh the power of thine anger.? even
according to thy fear, so is thy wrath."
Departed spirits of wicked men, are doubtless carried to some
particular place in the universe, which God has prepared to be
the receptacle of his wicked, rebellious, and miserable subjects ;
a place where God's avenging justice shall be glorified; a place
built to be the prison, where devils and wicked men are reserved
till the day of judgment.
2. Here the souls of wicked men shall suffer extreme and amaz-
ing misery in a separate state, until the resurrection. This tnisery
is not indeed their full punishment; nor is the happiness of the
saints before the day of judgment their full happiness. It is with
the souls of wicked men, as it is with devils. Though the devils
suffer extreme torment now, yet they do not suffer their complete
punishment ; and therefore it is said, that they are cast down to
hell, and bound in chains. 2 Peter ii. 4. " God spared not the an*
gels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them
into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." Jude 6.
" And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their
own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains underdark-
ness, unto the judgment of the great day." They are reserved in
the state they are in ; and for what are they reserved, but for a
greater degree of punishment ? and therefore are they said to
tremble for fear. James ii. 19. " Thou believestthat there is one
God ; thou doest well : the devils also believe and tremble."
Hence when Christ was on earth, the devils were greatly afraid
that Christ was come to torment them. Matlh. viii. 29. "And,
behold, they cried out, saying, what have we to do with thee, Je-
sus, thou Son of God.'* Art thou come hither to torment us be-
fore the time.?" Mark v. 7. *' And cried with a load voice, and
said, what have 1 to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most
High God ? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not."
But 3'et they are there in extreme and inconceivable misery;
they are there deprived of all good, they have no rest nor comfort,
and they are subject to the wrath of God ; God there executes
wrath on them without mercy, and they are s\v allowed up in
VOL. viii. 27 .
206 SERMON VII.
wrath. Luke xvi. 24. " And he cried, and said, father Abra-
ham, have mercy on me ; and send Lazarus, that he may dip the
lip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue ; for I am torment-
ed in this flame." Here we are told that, when the rich man died,
he lift up his eyes being in torment, and he tells Abraham that he
is tormented in a flame ; and it seems that the flame was not only
about him, but in him; he therefore asks for a drop of water to
cool his tongue. This doubtless is to represent to us that they are
full of the wrath of God as it were with fire, and they shall there be
tormented in the midst of devils and damned spirits; and they shall
have inexpressible torment from their own consciences. God's
wrath is the fire that never shall be quenched, and conscience is
the worm that never dies. How much do men sufier from horror
of conscience sometimes in this world, but how much more in hell !
What bitter and tormenting reflections will they have concerning
the folly they have been guilty of in their lives, in so neglecting
their souls, when they had such an opportunity for repentance ;
that they went on so foolishly to treasure up wrath against the day
of wrath, to add to the record of their sins from day to day, to mak«
their misery yet greater and greater ; how they have kindled the fires
of hell for themselves, and spent their lives in gathering the fuel!
They will not be able to help revolving such thoughts in their
minds, and how tormenting will they be! And those who go to
hell, never can escape thence, there they remain imprisoned till
the day of judgment, and their torments remain continually.
Those wicked men who died many years ago, their souls went to
hell, and there they are still ; those who went to hell in former
ages of the world, have been in hell ever since, all the while suf-
fering torment. They have nothing else to spend their time in
there, but to suffer torment, they are kept in being for no other
purpose ; and though tliey have many companions in hell, yeC
they are no comfort to them, for there is no friend, no love, no
pity, no quietness, no prospect, no hope.
3. The separate souls of the wicked, besides the present mi-
sery that they suffer, shall be in amazing fear of their more full
punishment at the day of judgment. Though their punishment
in their separate state be exceedingly dreadful, and far more than^
they can bear, though it be so great as to sink and crush them,
yet this is not all ; thoy are reserved for a much greater and
more dreadful punishment at the day of judgment ; their torment
will then be vastly augmented, and continue in that augmentation
to all eternity. Their punishment will be so much greater then,
that their misery in this separate state is but as an imprisonment
before an execution ; they, as well as the devils, are bound in chains
of darkness to the judgment of the great da}'. Separate spirits
are called "spirits in prison." 1 Peter iii. 19. ^'By which also he
SERMON vir. 207
went and preached unto the spirits in prison." And if the im-
prisonment be so dreadful, how dreadful indeed will be the execu-
tion ! When we are under any great pain of body at any time,
how do we dread the least addition to it! its continuance is great-
ly dreaded, much more its increase. How much more will those
separate spirits that suffer the torments of hell dread that aug-
mentation and completing of their torment which there will be at
the day of judgment, when what they feel already, is vastly more
than they can support themselves; when they shall be as it were
begging for one drop of water to cool their tongues, when they
would give ten thousand worlds for the least abatement of their
misery ! How sinking will it be to think that instead of that, the
day is coming when God shall come forth out of heaven to sen-
tence them to a far more dreadful degree of misery, and to con-
tinue them under it for ever ! What experience they have of the
dreadfulness of God's wrath convinces them fully how terrible a
thing his wrath is ; they will therefore be exceedingly afraid of
that full wrath which he will execute at the day of judgment ; they
will have no hope of escaping it, they will know assuredly that it
will come.
The fear of this makes the devils, those mighty, proud and stub-
born spirits, to tremble : they believe what is threatened, and there-
fore tremble. If this fear overcomes them, how much more will it
overwhelm the souls of wicked men ! All hell trembles at the
thoughts of the day of judgment.
4. When the day of judgment comes they shall rise to the re-
surrection of damnation. VVhen that day comes, all mankind, that
have died from off the face of the earth shall arise ; not only the
righteous, but also the wicked. Dan. xii. 2. "And many of them
that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake; some to everlast-
ing life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Rev. xx.
13. "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death
and hell delivered up the dead which were in them : and they were
judged, every man according to his works." The damned in hell
know not the time when the day of judgment will be, but when
the time comes it will be made known, and it will be the most
dreadful news that ever was told in that world of misery. It is
always a doleful time in hell; the world of darkness is always full
of shrieks and doleful cries; but when the news is heard, that the
day appointed for the judgment is come, hell will be filled with
louder shrieks and more dreadful cries than ever before. When
Christ comes in the clouds of heaven to judgment, the news of it
will fill both earth and hell with mourning and bitter crying. We
read that all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him,
and so shall all the inhabitants of hell, and then must the souls of
the wicked come up to be united to their bodies, and stand before
208 SERMON VII.
the Judge. They shall not come willingly, but shall be dragged
forth as a malefactor is dragged out of his dungeon to execution.
They were unwilling when they died to leave the earth to go to
bell ; but now they will be much more unwilling to come out of
hell to go to the lastjudgment. It will be no deliverance to them,
it will only be a coming forth to their execution. They will hang
back, but must come; the devils and damned spirits must come
up together. The last trumpet will then be heard, this will be the
most terrible sound to wicked men and devils that ever was heard ;
and not only the wicked, that shall then be found dwelling on the
earth, shall hear it, but also those that are in their graves. John v.
28,29. "Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the which
all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth ;
they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that
have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation ;" and then must
the souls of the wicked enter their bodies again, which will be pre-
pared only to be organs of torment and misery. It will be a dread-
ful sight to them when they come to their bodies again, those bodies
which were formerly used by them as the organs and instruments of
sin and wickedness, and whose appetites and lusts ihey indulged and
gratified. The parting of soul and body was dreadful to them
when they died, but their meeting again at the resurrection will be
more dreadful. They shall receive their bodies loathsome and
hideous, agreeably to that shame and everlasting contempt to
which they shall arise. As the bodies of the saints shall arise
more glorious than when on earth, and shall be like unto Christ's
glorious body, so we may well suppose that the bodies of the wick-
ed will arise proportionably more deformed and hideous. Often-
times in this world a polluted soul is hid in a fine and comely body,
but it will not be so then when things shall appear as they are ; the
form and aspect of the body shall be answerable to the hellish de-
formity of the soul. Thus shall they rise out of their graves, and
shall lift up their eyes, and see the Son of (xod in the clouds of
heaven, in the glory of his Father, with all his holy angels with
him. Then shall they see their Judge in his awful majest}^, which
will be the most amazing sight to them that ever they saw, and
will still add new horrors. That awful and terrible majesty in
which he will appear, and the manifestation of his infinite holiness,
will pierce their souls. They shall come forth out of their graves
all trembling and astonished; fearfulness shall surprise them.
5. Then must they appear before their judge to give up their
account. They will find no mountains or rocks to fall upon
them, that can cover them, and hide them from the wrath of the
Ij.imb. Many of them will see others at that time, w ho were for-
merly their acquaintance, who shall appear with glorious bodies,
and with joyful countenances and songs of praise, and mounting
SERMON VIT. 209
Up as with wings to meet tlie Lord in tlie air, while they are left
behind. Many shall see their former neighbours and acquain-
tance, their companions, their brothers, and their wives taken and
they left. They shall be summoned to go and appear before the
judgment seat ; and go they must, however unwilling; they must
stand at Christ's left hand, in the midst of devils, and wicked men.
This shall again add still further amazement, and will cause their
horror still to be in a further degree than ever. With what hor-
ror will that company come together! and then shall they be
called to their account ; then shall be brought to light the hidden
things of darkness; then shall all the wickedness of their hearts
be made known ; then shall be declared the actual wickedness
they have been guilty of; then shall appear their secret sins that
they have kept hid from the eye of the world ; then shall be mani-
fested in their true light those sins that they used to plead for, and
to excuse and justify. And then shall all their sins be set forth in
all their dreadful aggravations, all their filthiness will be brought
to light to their everlasting shame and contempt. Then it shall
appear how heinous many of those things were, that they in their
iife-time made light of; then will it appear how dreadful their
guilt is in thus ill-treating so glorious and blessed a Saviour.
And all the world shall see it, and many shall rise up in judgment
against them and condemn them ; their companions whom they
tempted to wickedness, others \a hom they have hardened in sin by
their example, shall rise up against many of them ; and the hea-
then that have had no advantages in comparison of them, and
many of whom have yet lived better lives than they, shall rise up
against them ; and they shall be called to a special account; the
Judge will reckon with them, they shall be speechless, they shall be
struck dumb, their own consciences bearingtestimony against them,
and shall cry loud againstthem, for the}' shall then see how great and
terrible a God he is, against whom they have sinned. Then shall they
stand at the left hand, while they see others whom they knew on
earth sitting at the right hand of Christ in glory, shining forth
as the sun, accepted of Christ, and sitting with him to judge and
condemn them.
6. Then the sentence of condemnation shall be pronounced by
the Judge upon them. Matth. xxv. 41. " Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his an-
gels." Tliis sentence will be pronounced with awful majesty ;
and there shall be great indignation, and dreadful wrath shall then
appear in the Judge, and in his voice, with which he shall pro-
nounce the sentence ; and what a horror and amazement will
these words strike into the hearts of the wicked, on whom they
shall be pronounced ! Every word and syllable shall be like the
most ama/ing thunder to them, and shall pierce^ their souls like
2i0 SERMON VII.
the fiercest lightning. The Judge will bid them depart from him;
he will drive them from his presence, as exceedingly abominable
to him, and he shall give them the epithet accursed ; they shall be
an accursed company, and he will not only bid them depart from
his presence, but into everlasting fire, to dwell there as their
only fit habitation. And what shows the dreadfulness of the fire,
is, that it is prepared for the devil and his angels: they shall lie
for ever in the same fire in which the devils, those grand enemies
of God, shall be tormented. When tl)is sentence shall be pro-
nounced, there shall be in the vast company at the left hand trem-
blings, and mourning, and crying, and gnashing of teeth, in a new
manner, beyond all that ever was before. If the devils, those
proud and lofty spirits, tremble many ages beforehand at the bare
thoughts of this sentence, how will they tremble when it comes to
be pronounced ! And how, alas ! will wicked men tremble !
Their anguish will be aggravated by hearing that blessed sentence
pronounced on those who shall be at the right hand : " Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world."
7. Then the sentence shall be executed. When the Judge bids
them depart, they must go ; however loth, yet they must go. Im-
mediately upon the finishing of the judgment and the pronounc-
ing of the sentence, will come ihe end of the world. The frame
of this world shall be dissolved. The pronouncing of that sen-
tence will probably be followed with amazing thunders, that shall
rend the heavens, and shake the earth out of its place. 2 Peter
iii. 10. " But the day of the Lord will come as a ihief in the
night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also,
and the works that are therein shall be burnt up." Then shall
the sea and the waves roar, and the rocks shall be thrown down,
and the mountains shall rend asunder, and there shall be one uni-
versal wreck of this great world. Then shall the heavens be dis-
solved, and then the earth shall be set on fire. As God in wrath
once destroyed the world by a flood of water, so now shall he
cause it to be all drowned in a deluge of fire; and the heavens
being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat ; 2 Peter iii. 10 ; and that great company of devils
and wicked men must then enter into those everlasting burnings to
which they are sentenced.
S. In this condition they shall remain throughout the never-
ending ages of eternity. Their punishment shall be then com-
plete, and it shall remain in this completion for ever. Now shall
all that come upon them which they so long trembled for fear of,
while their souls were in a separate state. They will dwell in a
fire that never shall be quenched, and here they must wear out
SERMON VII. 211
eternit}'. Here they must wear out one thousand years after an-
other, and that without end. There is no reckoning up the mil-
lions of years or millions of ages ; all arithmetic here fails, no
rules of multiplication can reach the amount, for there is no end.
They shall have nothing to do to pass away their eternity, but to
conflict with those torments ; this will be their work for ever and
ever ; God shall have no other use or employment for them ; this
is the way that they must answer the end of their being. And
they never shall have any rest, nor any atonement, but their tor-
ments will hold up to their height, and shall never grow any easier
by their being accustomed to them. Time will seem long to them,
every moment shall seem long to them, but they shall never have
done with the ages of their torment.
APPLICATION.
t. Hence what need have we to take care that our foundation
for eternity be sure ? They who build on a false foundation, are
not secure from this miserv. They who build up a refuge of lies,
will find that their refuge must fail them ; their wall that they
have daubed with untempered mortar will fall. The more dread-
ful the misery is the more need have we to see that we are safe
from it ; it will be dreadful indeed to be disappointed in such a
case. To please ourselves with dreams and vain imaginations of
our being the children of God, and of going to heaven, and at last
to awake in hell, to see our refuge swept away, and our hope
eternally gone, and to find ourselves swallowed up in flames, and
to see an endless duration of it before us ; how dreadful will this
be!
There will be many that will be thus disappointed. Many shall
eome to the door and shall find it shut, who expected to find it
open ; and shall knock, but Christ will tell them that he knows
them not, and he will bid them depart, and it will be in vain for
them to tell Christ what afiections they have had, and how reli-
gious they were, and how well they were accounted of on earth.
They shall have no other answer but, " Depart from me, I know
you not, ye that work iniquit3\" Let us all consider this, and
give all diligence, to see that we build sure, if by any means we
may at last be found in Christ. Let us see to it that we are indeed
well secured from this dreadful misery. What will it avail us to
please ourselves with a notion of being converted, and being be-
loved of God, and what will it avail us to have the good opinion
of our neighbours for a few days, if we must at last be cast into
hell, and appear at the day of judgment at the left hand, and have
our eternal portion with unbelievers ? A false hope cannot profit
us, it is a thousand times worse than none. And who are more
miserable than those who think that God has pardoned their sins,
212 SERMON VII.
and wlio expect to liuve a portion with the righteous hereafter, but
are all the while going headlong down into this dreadful misery?
What case can be more awful than the case of those who are thus
led blindfold to the slaughter; promising themselves a happiness
that is never like to come, but on the contrary are sinking into
endless tribulation and anguish !
Let every one therefore, who entertains hope of his own state,
see to it, that he be well built ; and let him not rest in past attain-
ment, but reach forth towards those things that are before with all
his might.
If. Hence we derive an argument for the awakening of ungod-
ly men. This indignation and wrath, tribulatiog and anguish, is
the portion allotted to you if you continue in your present condi-
tion. Thou art the man spoken of; it is to thee that all this
misery is assigned by the threatening of God's holy word ; it is on
thee that this wrath of God abides ; thou art now in a state of
condemnation to this misery. John iii. 18. "He that believeih
not is condemned already ; because be hath not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God." It is not already exe-
cuted upon you, but you are already condemned to it, you are not
merely exposed to condemnntion, but you are under the actual
sentence of condemnation. This is the portion that is already al-
lotted to you by the law, and you are under the law and not under
grace. This misery is the misery into which you are every day
in danger of dropping, you are not safe from it one hour. How
soon it may come upon you, you know not; you hang over it by
a thread, that is continually growing more and more feeble. This
dreadful misery in all its successive parts belongs to you, and is
your due. Your friends and your neighbours, and all around you,
if they knew what your condition was, might well lift up a loud
and bitter cry over you, whenever they behold you, and say,
Here is an unhappy being condemned to be given up eternally in-
to the hands of devils to be tormented by them ; here is a miserable
man who is in danger every day of being swallowed up in the bot-
tomless gulf of wo and misery. Here is a wretched undone crea-
ture condemned to lie down forever in unquenchable fire, and to
dwell in everlasting burnings; and he has no interest in a Sa-
viour, he has nothing to defend him, he has nothing wherewith
to appease the wrath of an offended God. Here consider two
things.
1. You have no reason to question whether those future mise-
ries and torments which are threatened in God's word are reali-
ties. Do not flatter yourself with thinking that it may not be so.
Say not, how do I know, that there is any such misery to be in-
flicted in another world ; how do I know but all is a fable, and
that when I come to die there will be an end of me, and that it will
SERMON VII. 213
be with me as it is with the beasts. Do not say, how do I know,
but that all those things are only bugbears of man's inventing;
how do I know that the scriptures, that threaten those things,
are the word of God ; or if he has threatened lliose things, it
may be it is only to frighten men to keep them to their duty, it may
be he never intends to do as he threatens.
I say that there is no ground for any such suspicion, neither
is there any reason for it ; for that there should be no future pun-
ishment is not only contrary to scripture, but reason. It is a most
unreasonable thing to suppose that there should be no future pun-
ishment, to suppose that God, who had made man a rational crea-
ture able to know his duty, and sensible that he is deserving pun-
ishment w hen he does it not ; should let man alone, and let him
live as he will, and never punish him for his sins, and never make
any difference between the good and the bad ; thai he should make
the world of mankind and then let it alone, and let men live all
their days in wickedness, in adultery, murder, robbery, and perse-
cution, and the like, and suffer them to live in prosperity, and
never punish them ; that he should suff'er them to prosper in the
world far beyond many good men, and never punish them here-
after. How unreasonable is it to suppose, that he who made the
world, should leave things in such confusion, and never take any
care of the government of his creatures, and that he should never
judge his reasonable creatures ! Reason teaches that there is a
God, and reason teaches that if there be, he must be a wise and
just God, and that he must take care to order things wiselj' and
justly among his creatures ; and therefore it is unreasonable to
suppose that man dies like a beast, and that there is no future pun-
ishment. And if there be a future punishment, it is unreasona-
ble to suppose that God has not somewhere or other given men
warning of it, and revealed to them what kind of punishment they
must expect. Will a wise law-giver keep his subjects in ignorance
as to what punishment they must expect for breaking his laws.'*
And ifGod has revealed it, where is it to be found but in the scrip-
ture ; what revelation have we of a future state if it is not there re-
vealed .'' Where does God tell mankind what kind of rewards and
punishments they must expect, if not here.^ and it is abundantly
manifest by innumerable evidences, that these threatenings are
the threatenings of God, that this awful book is his revelation.
And since God has threatened, there is no room to question
whether he will fulfil ; for he hath said it, yea, he hath sworn i(,
that he will repay the wicked to his face according to threatenings,
and that he will glorify himself in their destruction, and that this
heaven and earth shall pass away. How foolish then is the thought
that God may only threaten such punishnient to frighten men,
and that he never intends to execute it I For as surely as God is
VOL. VIII. 2S
214 SERMON VII.
God, he will do as lie has said ; he will destroy the mountains
of iniquity as he has threatened, and there shall be no escap-
ing. How vain are the thoughts of those who flatter them-
selves that God will not fulfil his threatenings, and that he only
frightens and deceives men in them ; as though God could in no
other way govern the world than by making use of fallacious
tricks and deceits to delude his subjects ! Those that entertain
such thoughts, however they may harden themselves by them
for the present, will cherish them but a Httle while ; their expe-
rience will soon convince them that God is a God of truth, and
that his threatenings are no delusions. They will be convinced
that he is a God who will by no means clear the guilty, and
that his threatenings are substantial, and not niere shadows,
when it will be too late to escape them. Deut. xxi.v. 18, 19,
20, 21. *' Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or
family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the
Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations : lest
there should be among you a root that beareth gall and worm-
wood, and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this
curse, that he bless him in his heart, saying, I shall have peace,
though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunken-
ness to thirst ; the JiOrd will not spare him ; but then the anger
of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and
all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him,
and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. And
the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Is-
rael, according. to all the curses of the covenant that are written
in this book of the law." Psalm 1. 21. " These things hast
thou done, and I kept silence ; thou thoughtest that I was alto-
gether such an one as thyself, but I will reprove thee, and set
them in order before thine eyes."
2. There is no reason to suspect that possibly ministers set
forth this matter beyond what it really is, that possibly it is not
so dreadful and terrible as is pretended, and that ministers
strain the description of it beyond just bounds. Some may be
ready to think so, because it seems to them incredible that there
should be so dreadful a misery to any creature ; but there is no
reason for any such thoughts as these, if we consider,
First. How great a punishment the sins of wicked men de-
serve. The scripture teaches us that any one sin deserves
eternal death : Rom. vi. 28. " For the wages of sin is death :
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord." And that it deserves the eternal curse of God. Deut.
xxvii. 26. " Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of
this law to do them : and all the people shall say amen," Gal.
iii. 10. " For as many as are of the works of the law are under
SERMON VII. 215
tlie curse : for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them." Which things im[)ly that the least sin deserves total
and eternal destruction. Eternal death, in the least degree of
it, amounts to such a degree of misery as is the perfect destruc-
tion of the creature, the loss of all good, and perfect misery ;
and so does being accursed of God imply it. To be cursed of God,
is to be devoted to perfect and ultimate destruction. The scrip-
ture teaches that wicked men shall be punished to their full
desert, that they shall pay all the debt.
Secondly. There is no reason to think that ministers de-
scribe the misery of the wicked beyond what it is, because the
scripture teaches us that this is one end of ungodly men, to
show the dreadfulness and power of God's wrath. Rom. ix.
22. " What if God, willing to show his. wrath, and to make his
power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of
wrath fitted to destruction." It is often spoken of as part of
the glory of God, that he is a terrible and dreadful God.
Ps. Ixviii. 35. " O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places :"
that lie is a consuming fire. Ps. Ixvi. 3. " How terrible art thou
in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine
enemies submit tliemselves unto thee :" and that herein one
part of the glory of God is represented as consisting, that it is
so dreadful a thing to injure and offend God. The wrath of a
king is as the roaring of a lion, the wrath of a man is some-
times dreadful, but the future punishment of ungodly men is to
show what the wrath of God is ; it is to show to the whole uni-
verse the glory of God's power. 2 Thess. i. 9. " Who shall
be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of
the Lord, and from the glory of his power." And therefore
the punishment which we have described is not at all incredi-
ble, and there is no reason to think that it has been in the least
described beyond what it really is.
Thirdly. The scripture teaches that the wrath of God on
wicked men is dreadful beyond all that we can conceive. Ps. xc.
11. " Who knoweth the power of thine anger .'' even accord-
ing to thy fear, so is thy wrath." As it is but little that we
know of God, as we know and can conceive of but little of his
power and his greatness, so it is but a little that we know or
can conceive of the dreadfulness of his wrath ; and therefore
there is no reason to suppose that we set it forth beyond what
it is. We have rather reason to suppose that after we have
said our utmost and thought our utmost, all that we have said
or thought is but a faint shadow of the reality.
We are taught that the reward of the saints is beyond all
that can be spoken or conceived of. Eph. iii. 20. ** Now unto
216 SEllMON VII.
him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
can ask or think." 1 Cor. ii. 9. '* Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him." And so we
may rationally suppose that the punibhrnent of the wicked will
also be inconceivably dreadful.
Fourthly. There is no reason to think that we set forth the
misery of hcl! beyond the reality, because the scripture teaches
us that the wrath of God is according to his fear. Ps. xc. 11,
This passage assei ts that the wrath of God is according to his
awful attributes ; his greatness and his niight, his holiness and
power. The majesty of God is exceedingly great and awful,
but according to his awfulness, so is his wrath ; this is the mean-
ing of the words ; and therefore we must conclude that the
wrath of God is indeed beyond all expression, and signification
terrible. How great and awful indeed is his majesty, who has
made heaven and earth, and in what majesty will he come to
judge the world at the last day ! He will come to take ven-
geance on ungodly men. The sight of this majesty will strike
wicked men with apprehensions and fears of destruction.
Fifthly. The description which I have given of the tribula-
tion and wrath of ungotlly men, is not beyond the truth, for it
is the very description which the scriptures give of it. The
scriptures represent that the wicked shall be cast into a furnace
of fire ; not only a fire, but a furnace, ftlatth. xiii. 42. " And
shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing
and gnashing pf teeth." Rev. xx. 15. " And whosoever was
not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of
fire." Ps. xxi. 8, 9. " Thine hand shall find out all thine ene-
mies ; thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou
shalt make tliem as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger; the
Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall de-
vour them."
If, therefore, I have described this misery beyond the truth,
then the scriptures have done the same. It is evident then,*
that there is no reason to flatter yourselves with such iniagina-
tions. If God be true, you shall find the wrath of God, and
your future misery full as great ; and not only so, but much
greater; you will find that we know but little, and have said
but httle about it, and that all our expressions are faint in com-
parison of the reality.
111. Hence may be derived an argument to convince wicked
men of the justice of God in allotting such a portion to them.
Wicked men, when they hear it declared how awful the misery
is of which they are in danger, often have their hearts lifted up
against God for it ; it seems to them very hard for God to deal
SERMON VII. 217
SO with any of his creatures. They cannot see why God should
be so very severe with wicked men, for their sin and folly for a
little while in this world ; and when they consider that he has
threatened such punishments, they are ready to entertain blasphe-
mous thoughts against him. I would therefore endeavour to show
you how justly you lie exposed to that indignation and wrath,
tribulation and anguish of which you have heard. Particularly
1 would show,
1st. How just it would be in God for ever to leave you to your-
self: it would be most just in God to refuse to be with you, or
help you.
You have embraced and refused to let go those things which
God hates ; you have refused to forsake your lusts, and to aban-
don those ways of sin that are abominable to him. When God
has commanded you to forsake them, how have you refused, and
still have retained them, and been obstinate in it ! Neither is
your heart yet to this very day diverted from sin ; but it is dear
to you, you allow it the best place in your heart, you place it on
the throne there. Would it be any wonder therefore if God
should utterly leave 3'ou, seeing you will not leave sin ? God
has often declared his hatred of iniquity; and is it any wonder,
that he is not willing to dwell with that which is so odious to him ?
Is it not reasonable that God should insist that you should part
with your lusts in order to your enjoying his presence ; and see-
ing you have so long refused, how just would it be if God should
utterly forsake you ? You have retained and harboured God's
mortal enemies, sin and Satan; how justly therofore might God
stand at a distance ! Is God obliged to be present with any who
harbour his enemies, and refuse to forsake them? Would God
be unjust, if he should leave you utterly to yourself, so long as you
will not forsake your idols .^
Consider how just it would be in God to let you alone, since
you have let God alone. You have not sought God for his
presence and help as you ought to have done ; you have
neglected him ; and would it not therefore be just if he should
neglect you ? How long have many of you lived in neglecting
to seek him ? how long have you restrained prayer before him ?
Since therefore you refused so much as to seek the presence and
help of God, and did not think them worth praying to him for, how
justly might he for ever withhold them, and so leave you wholly
to yourself?
You have done what in you lies to drive God away from you,
and to cause him wholly to leave you. When God in times past
has not let you alone, but has been unwearied in awakening you,
have you not resisted the motions and influences of his spirit;
have you not refused to be conducted by him, or to yield to him. ?
218 .SERMON VII.
Zech. vil. 11. '* But they refused to Iiearken, and pulled away
the shoulder, and slopped their ears, that they should not hear."
How justly therefore might God refuse to move or strive any
more! When God has been knockint^ at your door, you have re-
fused to open to him ; how just is it therefore that he should go
away, and knock at your door no more ! When the spirit of God
has been striving with you, have you not been guilty of grieving
the Holy Spirit by giving way to a quarrelling temper, and by
yielding yourself a prey to lust ? And have not some of you
quenched the spirit, and been guilty of backsliding? and is God
obliged, notwithstanding all this, to continue the striving of his
spirit with you, to be resisted and grieved still, as long as you
please.'* On the contrary, would it not bejustifhis spirit should
everlastingly leave you, and let you alone ?
2. How just it would be if you should be cursed in all your
concerns in this world. It would be just if God should curse you
in every thing, and cause every thing you enjoy, or are concerned
in, to turn to your destruction.
You live here in all the concerns of life as an enemy to God ; you
have used all your enjoyments and possessions against God, and
to his dishonour ; would it not therefore be just if God should
curse you in them, and turn them all against you, and to your
destruction ? What temporal blessing has God given you, which
you have not used in the service of your lusts, in the service of
sin and Satan ? If you have been in prosperity, you have made
use of it to God's dishonour ; when yon have waxed fat, you have
forgotten the God that made you. How just therefore would it
be if God's curse should attend all your enjoyments I Whatso-
ever employments you have followed, you have not served God in
them, but God's enemies; how just therefore would it be if you
should be cursed in all your employments ! The means of grace
that you have enjoyed, you have not made use of as you ought to
have done ; you have made light of them, and have treated them
in a careless disregardful manner ; you have been the worse and
not the better for them. You have so attended and used sabbaths,
and spiritual opportunities, that you have only made them occa-
sions of manifestitjg your contempt of God and Christ, and di-
vine things, by your careless and profane manner of attending
them; would it not therefore be most just that God's curse should
attend your means of grace and the opportunities which you enjoy
for the salvation of your soul ?
You have improved your time only to heap up provocations and
add to your transgressions, in opposition to all the calls and warn-
ings that could be given you ; how just therefore would it be if
God should turn life itself into a curse to you, and suffer you to
live only to fill up the measure of your sins!
SERMON VII. 219
You have contrary to God's counsel made tise of your owrt en-
joyments to the hurt of your soul, and therefore if God should
turn them to the hurt and ruin of your soul, he would but deal
vvith you as you have dealt with yourself. God has earnestly coun-
selled you times without number to use your temporal enjoyments
for your spiritual good, but you have refused to hearken to him^
you have foolishly perverted them to treasure up wrath against
the day of wrath, you have voluntarily used what God has given
you for your spiritual hurt to increase your guilt and wound your
own soul ; and therefore if God's curse should attend them, so
that they should all turn to the ruin of your soul, you would but
be dealt with as you have dealt with yourself.
3. How just would it be in God to cut you off, and put an end
to your life!
You have greatly abused the patience and long suffering of
God which have already been exercised towards you. God with
wonderful long suffering has borne with you, when you have gone
on in rebellion against him, and refused to turn from your evil
ways. He has beheld yon going on obstinately in the ways of
provocation against him, and yet he has not let loose his wrath
against you to destroy you, but has still waited to be gracious.
He has suffered you yet to live on his earth, and breathe his air ;
he has upheld and preserved you, and continued still to feed you,
and clothe you, and maintain you, and still to give you a space to
repent ;■ but instead of being the better for his patience, you have
been the worse, instead of being melted by it, you have been har-
dened, and it has made you the more presumptuous in sin. Ec-
cles. viii. II. " Because sentence against an evil work is not exe-
cuted speedil}', therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in
them to do evil." You have been guilty of despising the riches of
his goodness, and forbearance, and long suffering, instead of being
Jed to repent by it. You cannot live one day but as God maintains
and provides for you ; you cannot draw a breath, or live a mo-
ment, unless God upholds you ; for in his hand your breath is, and
he holds your soul in life, and his visitation preserves your spirit-
But what thanks has God had for it; how have you, instead of being
turned to God, been only rendered the more fully set and dreadful-
ly hardened in the ways of sin ! How just therefore would it be if
God's patience should soon be at an end, and he should cease to
bear with you any longer !
You have not only abused his past patience, but have also
abused his thoughts of future patience. You have flattered your-
self that death was not near, and that you should live long in the
world, and this has made you abundantly the more bold in sir*.
Since therefore such has been the use you have made of your ex-
pectation cf having your life preserved, how just would it be m
220 SERMON Vll.
God to disappoint that expectation, and cut you short of that long
life with which you have flattered yourself, and in the thoughts of
which you have encouraged yourself in sin against him ! How just
would it be if your breath should soon be stopped, and that sud-
denly, when you think not of it, and you should be driven away
in your wicUedness !
3. As long as you live in sin you do but cumber the ground, you
are wholly unprofitable, and live in vain. He, that refuses to live
to the glory of God, does not answer the end of his creation, and
for what should he live.'' God made men to serve him; to this
end he gave them life ; and if they will not devote their lives to this
endj how just would it be in God if he should refuse to continue
their lives any longer! He has planted you in his vineyard, to
bear fruit ; and if you bring forth no fruit, why should he con-
tinue you any longer; how just would it be in him to cut you down !
As long as you live many of the blessings of God are spent
upon you from day to day ;you devour the fruits of the earth and
consume much of its fatness and sweetness ; and all to no purpose,
but to keep you alive to sin against God, and spend all in wicked-
nesSi The whole creation does as it were groan with you ; the
gun rises and sets to give you light, the clouds pour down rain
upon you, and the earth brings forth her fruits, and labours from
year to year to supply you ; and you in the mean time do not an-
swer the end of Him who has created all things. Howjust there-
fore would it be if God should soon cut you off, and take you
away, and deliver the earth from this burden, that the creation
may no longer groan with you, and cast you out as an abomina-
ble branch ! Luke xiii. 7. "Then said he unto the dresser of his
vineyard. Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this
fig tree, and find none : cut it down; whycumbereth it the ground?"
John XV. 2 and 6. "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he
taketh away ; and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it,
that it may bring forth more fruit — If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered ; and men gather them,
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."
4. Howjust would it be if you should die in the greatest hor-
ror and amazement!
How often have you been exhorted to improve your time, to lay
a foundation of peace and comfort on a death-bed ; and yet you have
refused to hearken ! You have been many and many a time re-
minded that you must die, that it was very uncertain when, and
that you did not know how soon, and have been told how mean
and insignificant all your earthly enjoyments would then appear,
and how unable to afford you any comfort on a death-bed. You
have been often told how dreadful it would be to lie on a death-
bed in a Christless state, having nothing to comfort you but your
SERMON VII. 221
worldly enjoyments. You have been often put in mind of the
torment and amazement which sinners, who have mis-spent their
precious time are subject to when arrested by death. You have
been told how infinitely you would then need to have God your
friend, and to have the testimony of a good conscience, and a well
grounded hope of future blessedness. And how often have you
been exhorted to take care to provide against such a day as this,
and to lay up treasure in heaven, that you might have something
to depend on when you parted from all this world, something to
hope for when all things here below fail ! But remember how re-
gardless you have been, how dull and negligent from time to time,
when you have sat under the hearing of such things, and still you
obstinately refuse to prepare for death, and take no care to lay a
good foundation against that time. And you have not only been
counselled, but you have seen others on their deatii-beds in fear
and distress, or have heard of them, and have not taken warning;
yea, some of you have been sick yourselves, and have been afraid
that you were on your death-beds, yet God was merciful to you,
and restored you, but you did not take warning to prepare for
death. How justly therefore might you be the subject of that hor-
ror and amazement, of which you have heard, when you come to
die!
And not only so, but how industriously have you spent your
time in treasuring up matter for tribulation and anguish at that
time ! You have not only been negligent of laying a foundation
for peace and comfort then, but have spent your time continually
and unweariedly in laying a foundation for distress and horror.
How have you gone on from day to day, heaping up more and
more guilt ; more and more wounding your own conscience, still
increasing the amount of folly and wickedness for you to reflect
upon ! How just therefore would it be that tribulation and anguish
should then come upon you !
5. Howjust it is that you should suffer the wrath of God In an-
other world.
Because you have wilfully provoked, and stirred up that wrath.
Ifyou are not willing to suffer the anger of God, then why did you
provoke him to anger ? why did you act as though you would contrive
to make him angry with you.'' why did you wilfully disobey God ?
You know that wilful disobedience tends to provoke him, who is
disobeyed: it is so in an earthly king, or master, or father. If
you have a servant who is wilfully disobedient, it provokes your
anger. And again, if you would not suffer God's wrath, why
have you so often casta slight on God? If any onecasts a slight
on men, it tends to provoke them : how much more may the Infi-
nite Majesty of heaven be provoked, when he is contemned ! You
have also robbed God of his properly, you have refused to give
VOL. viii. 2'.)
222 SERMON VII.
him that which is his own. It provokes men when they are de-
prived of their due and they are dealt injuriously by; how much
more may God be provoked when you rob him !
You have also slighted the kindness of God to you, and that the
greatest love and kindness of which you can conceive. You have
been supremely ungrateful and have only abused that kindness.
Nothing provokes men more than to have their kindness slighted
and abused ; how much more may God be provoked when men
requite his infinite mercy only with disobedience and ingratitude!
If therefore you go on to provoke God, and to stir up his wrath,
how can you expect any other than to suffer his wrath ? If then
you should indeed suffer the wrath of an offended God, remember
it is what you have procured for yourself, it is a fire of your own
kindling.
You would not accept of deliverance from God's wrath, when
it has been offered to you. When God had in mercy sent his
only begotten Son into the world, you refused to admit him. You
loved your sins too well to forsake them to come to Christ, and
for the sake of your sins, you have rejected all the offers of a
Saviour, so that you have chosen death rather than life. Af-
ter 3'ou had procured wrath to yourself 30U clove fast to it, and
would not part with it for mercy. "All they that bale me, love
death."
6. How just would it be that vou be delivered up into the hands
of the devil and his angels, to be tormented by them hereafter,
seeing you have voluntarily given yourself up to serve them here !
You have hearkened to them rather than to God. How just
therefore would it be if God leave you to them! You have fol-
lowed Satan and adhered to his interest in opposition to God, and
have subjected yourself to his will in this world, rather than to the
will of God; how just therefore would it be if God should give you
up to his will hereafter !
7. How justly may your bodies be made organs of torment to
you hereafter, which you have made organs and instruments of sin
in this world ! You have given up your bodies a sacrifice to sin
and Satan: how justly therefore may God give them up a sacrifice
to wrath ! You have employed your bodies as servants to your
vile and hateful lusts. How just therefore would it be for God
hereafter to raise your bodies to be organs and instrumentsof mise-
ry ; and to fill them as full of torment as they have been filled full of
sin !
8. But the greatest objection of wicked men against the justice
of the future punishment wliich God has threatened, is from the
greatness of that punishment: that God should inflict upon the
finally impenitent, torments so extreme, so amazingly dreadful, to
have their bodies cast into a furnace of fire of such immense heat
and fierceness, there to lie unconsumed, and yet full of sense and
SERMON vir. !^23
feeling, glowing within and without ; and the soul full of yet
more dreadful horror and torment; and so to remain without
any remedy or rest for ever, and ever, and ever. And, there-
fore, I would mention several things to you, to show how justly
you lie exposed to so dreadful a punishment.
1. This punishment, as dreadful as it is, is not more so than
the Being is great and glorious against whom you have sinned.
It is true this punishment is dreadful beyond all expression or
conception, and so is the greatness and gloriousness of God as
much beyond all expression or conception ; and yet you have con-
tinued to sin against him, yea, you have been bold and presump-
tuous in your sins, and have multiplied transgressions against
him without end. The wrath of God that you have heard
of, dreadful as it is, is not more dreadful than that Majesty which
you have despised and trampled on is awful. This punishment
is indeed enough to fill one with horror barely to think of it, and so
it would fill you with at least equal horror to think of sinning so
exceedingly against so great and glorious a God, if you conceiv-
ed of it aright. Jer. ii. 12, 13. " Be astonished, O ye heavens,
at this, and be horribly afraid ; be ye very desolate, saith the
Lord: For my people have committed two evils; they have
forsaken me the fountain of living waters; and hewed them
out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water !" God's
being so infinitely great and excellent, has not influenced you
not to sin against him, but you have done it boldly, and made
nothing of it thousands of times; and why should this misery,
being so infinitely great and dreadful, hinder God from inflict-
ing it on you ? 1 Sam. ii. 25. " If one man sin against an-
other, the judge shall judge him : but if a man sin against the
Lord, who shall entreat for him ?"
2. Your nature is not more averse from such misery as you
have heard of, than God's nature is averse from such sin as you
have been guilty of. The nature of man is very averse from pain
and torment, and especially it is exceedingly averse from such
dreadful and eternal torment ; but yet that does not hinder but
that it is just that it should be inflicted, for men do not hate
misery more than God hates sin. God is so holy, and is of so
pure a nature, that he has an infinite aversion to sin ; but yet
you have made light of sin, and your sins have been exceedingly
multiplied and enhanced. The consideration of God's hating
of it has not at all hindered you from committing it ; why,
therefore, should the consideration of your hating misery hin-
der God from bringing it upon you ? God represents himself in
his word as burdened and wearied with the sins of wicked men :
Isaiah i. 14. *' Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my
soul hateth : they are a trouble unto me ; I am weary to bear
224 SERMON VII.
them ;" Mai. ii. 17. " Yfe have wearied the Lord with your
words : yet ye say, Wherein have v^'e wearied him ? When ye
say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord,
and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judg-
ment f"
3. You have not cared how much God's honour suffered ;
and why should God be careful lest your misery he great ? You
have been told how much these, and those things which you
have practised, were to the dishonour of God ; yet you did not
care for that, but went on still multiplying transgressions. The
consideration that the more you sinned, the more God was dis-
honoured, did not in the least restrain you. If it had not been
for fear of God's displeasure, you would not have cared though
you had dishonoured him ten thousand times as much as you
did. As for any respect you had to God, you did not care what
became of God's honour, nor of his happiness neither, no, nor
of his being. Why then is God obliged to be careful how much
you suffer? Why should he be careful of your welfare, or use
any caiJtion lest he should lay more on you than you can bear?
4. As great as this wrath is, it is not greater than that love
of God which you have slighted and rejected. God, in infinite
mercy to lost sinners, has provided a way for them to escape fu-
ture misery, and to obtain eternal life. For that end he has
given his only begotten Son," a person infinitely glorious and
honourable in himself — being equal with God, and infinitely
near and dear to God. Tt was ten thousand times more than if
God had given all the angels in heaven, or the whole world for
sinners. Him he gave to be incarnate, to suffer death, to be
made a curse for us, and to undergo the dreadful wrath of
God in our room, and thus to juirchase for us eternal glory.
This glorious j)erson has been offered to you times without
number, and he has stood and knocked at your door, till his hairs
were wet with the dews of the night ; but all that he has done
has not won upon you ; you see no form nor comeliness in him,
no beauty that you should desire him. When he has thus of-
fered himself to you as your Saviour, you never freely and
heartily accept of him. This love which you have thus abused,
is as great as that wrath of which you are in danger. If you
would have accepted of it, you might have had the enjoyment
of this love instead of enduring this terrible wrath : so that the
misery you have heard of is not greater than the love you
have despised, and the happiness and glory which you have
rejected. How just then would it be in God to execute upon
you this dreadful wrath, which is not greater than that love
which you have despised ! Heb. ii. 3. " How shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation .'"'
SERMON VII. 225
5. If you complain of this punishment as being too great,
then why has it not been great enough to deter you from sin ?
As great as it is, you have made nothing of it. When God
threatened to inflict it on you, you did not mind his threatenings,
but were bold to disobey him, and to do those very things for
which he threatened this punishment. Great as this punishment
is, it has not been great enough to keep you from living a wilfully
wicked life, and goingon in ways that you knew were evil. When
you have been told that such and such things certainly exposed
you to this punishment you did not abstain on that account, but
went on from day to day in a most presumptuous manner, and
God's threatening such a punishment was no effectual check
upon you. Why therefore do you now complain of this punish-
ment as too great, and quarrel against it, and say that God is
unreasonable and cruel to inflict it .^ In so saying you are con-
demned out of your own mouth ; for if it be so dreadful a pun-
ishment, and more than is just, then why was it not great
enough at least to restrain you from wilful sinning? Luke xix.
21, &/C. " I feared thee, because thou art an austere man, thou
takest up that thou laidest not down, and reapest that thou didst
not sow. And he said unto him. Out of thine own mouth will
I judge thee, thou wicked servant," Sic. You complain of this
punishment as too great : but yet you have acted as if it was
not great enough, and you have made light of it. If the pun-
ishment is too great, why have you gone on to make it still
greater.'* You have gone on from day to day, to treasure up
wrath against the day of wrath, to add to your punishment, and
increase it exceedingly; and yet now you complain of it as too
great, as though God could not justly inflict so great a punish-
ment. How absurd and self-contradictory is the conduct of
such an one, who complains of God for making his punishment
too great, and yet from day to day industriously gathers and
heaps up fuel, to make the fire the greater !
6. You have no cause to complain of the punishment being
greater than is just ; for you have many and many a time pro-
voked God to do his worst. If you should forbid a servant to
do a given thing, and threaten that if he did it you would in-
flict some very dreadful punishment upon him, and he should
do it notwithstanding, and )ou should renew your command,
and warn him in the most strict manner possible not to do it,
and tell him you would surely punish him if he persisted, and
should declare that his punishment should be exceedingly
dreadful, and he should wholly disregard you, and should diso-
bey you again, and you should continue to repeat your com-
mands and warnings, still setting out the dreadfulness of the
punishment, and he shouM still, without any regard to you, go
22G ' J-ERMON vn.
on again and again to disoI»ey you to your face, and this imme-
diately on your thus forbidding and threatening him : couid jou
take it any otherwise than as daring yon to doyour worst ? l»ut
thus have you done towards God; you have had his commands
repeated, and his threatenings set before you hundreds of times,
and have been most solemidy warned; yet have you notwith-
standirjg gone on in ways which you knew were sinful, and have
done the very things which he has forbidden, directly before his
face. Job xv. 25, 26. " For he stretcheth out his hand against
God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. lie
runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his
buckler." You have thus bid defiance to the Almighty, even
when you saw the sword of his vindictive wrath uplifted, that it
might fall upon your head. Will it, therefore, be any wonder
if he shall make you know howjerrible that wrath is, in your
utter destruction ?
SERMON VIII.
DECEMBER, 1740.
Romans ii. 10.
But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that ivorketh good.
The Apostle, having in the preceding verses declared what is
the portion of wicked men; viz. indignation and wrath, tribu-
lation and anguish ; in this verse declares what is the portion
assigned to good men. In the words of the text we should
observe,
1. The description of a good man ; viz. the man that icorJceth
good. Such men are here described by the fruit which they
bring forth. Christ has taught us that the tree is known by its
fruit. Paul here describes them by that which most distin-
guishes them ; not by the external privileges which they enjoy,
or the light under which they live ; but by the fruits which
they bring forth. For as the Apostle says, in verse 13, " INot
the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of it
shall be justified." That which distinguishes good men from
bad, is not that they hear good, or that they profess good, or
that they intend good ; but that they do good. They are workers
of good.
2. The reward of such a man ; viz. ^^glory, honour, and peace;''*
in which are mentioned three sorts of good that are assigned
to them as their portion. 1. Their moral good, expressed by
the word gJory. Glory shall be given them ; i. e. they shall be
made excellent and glorious. They shall be endued with those
excellent and glorious qualifications, which will render them
beautiful and love!}'. They shall have the image of God, and
be partakers of his holiness. Thus the word glory i? used by
St. Paul, 2 Cor. iii. 18, We are changed into the same
image from glory to glory. 2. Their relative good; Honour.
They shall be in most honourable circumstances. Tiiey shall be
advanced to great dignity, receive a relation to God, and Christ,
and the heavenly inhabitants, and God shall put honour upon
them. 3. Their natural good; Peace: which, as it is used in
the scriptures, signifies happiness; and includes all comfort,
joy and pleasuie.
228 SERMON VIII.
I shall endeavour to show from the text, that glory, honour,
and peace are tiie portion which God has given to all good men.
In describing their happiness, I shall consider the successive
parts of it; both here and hereafter.
First. I propose to treat of their happiness in this world.
Those who are truly good men have been the subjects of a real,
thorough work of conversion, and have had their hearts turned
from sin to God. Of such persons it may be said, that they
are truly blessed. They are often pronounced blessed by God.
He is infinitely wise, and sees and knows all things. lie per-
fectly knows who are blessed, and who are miserable. He hath
said, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of
the ungodly." — " Blessed is he whose sins are forgiven." —
" Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust." — " Blessed
are the poor in spirit" — "the meek" — "the merciful" — "the
pure in heart."
In considering the happiness of the righteous in this world, I
shall pursue the method which the text obviously points out,
and shall consider, 1. The excellency ; 2. The honour; and,
3. The peace and pleasure which God bestows upon them in
the present life.
I. The excellency or glory. The sum of this consists in their
having the image of God upon them. When a person is con-
verted, he has the image of God instamped on him. Coloss.
iii. 10. " And have put on the new man, which is renewed in
knowledge after the image of him who created him." And
Ephes. iv. 23, 24 : " And be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness." They have their eyes opened, and are led into
such a sight of God and thorough acquaintance with him, as
changes the soul into the image of God's glory.
What can render a creature more excellent than to have the
very image of the Creator.^ and how blessed a change is that
which is wrought in conversion, which brings a man thus to be
in the image of God ! For though the image of God in Chris-
tians in this world is very imperfect, yet it is real. The real
image of God is most excellent, though it be imperfect.
Hence, " the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour,"
and " the saints are the excellent of the earth." The image
of God is their glory, and it may well be called glory, for im-
perfect as it is, it renders them glorious in the eyes of the an-
gels of heaven. The image of God is a greater beauty in their
eyes than the brightness and glory of the sun in the firma-
ment.
Indeed the saints have no excellency, as they are in and of
themselves. In them, that is, in their flesh, dwells no good
SERMON VIII. 2l29
thing. They are in themselves poor, guilty, vile creatures, and
see themselves to be so ; but they have an excellency and a glo-
ry in them, because they have Christ dwelling in them. The
excellency that is in them, though it be but as a spark, yet it is
something ten thousand times more excellent than any ruby or
the most precious pearl that ever was found on the earth ; and
that because it is something divine, something of God.
This holy heavenly spark is put into the soul in conversion,
and God maintains it there. All the powers of hell cannot put
it out, for God will keep it alive, and it shall prevail more and
more. Though it be but small, yet it is powerful; it has influ-
ence over the heart to govern it, and brings forth holy fruits in
the life, and will not cease to prevail till it has consumed all the
corruption that is left in the heart, and till it has turned the
whole soul into a pure, holy, and heavenly flame, till the soul
of man becomes like the angels, a flame of fire, and shines as
the brightness of the firmament.
ir. I would consider the honour to which Christians are ad-
vanced in this world ; and the sum of this is, that they are the
children of God. This is an excellent and glorious degree of
honour and dignity to which they are admitted, and that because
the Being to whom they are related is an infinitely glorious be-
ing, a being of incomprehensible majesty and excellency ; and
also because the relation is so near and honourable a relation.
It is a great honour to be the servant of God. John the Bap-
tist said of Christ, that he was not worthy to stoop down to
loose the latchet of Christ's shoes. But Christians are not only
admitted to be the servants of God, but his children ; and how
much more honourable in a family is the relation of children
than that of servants ! Gal. iv. 7. " Wherefore thou art no
more a servant, but a son ; and if a son, then an heir of God
through Christ." Rom. viii. 16, 17. " The Spirit itself bear-
eth witness with our spirit that we are the children of Go ;
and if children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint heirs with
Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together." 1 John iii. 1. " Behold, what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God !" The honour appears the greater if it be
considered how Christians are brought into their relation to
God ; and that is by Christ. They become the children of
God by virtue of their union with the only begotten and eternal
Son of God ; they are united to him as his spouse and mem-
bers of his body, as his flesh and his bones, and as one spirit ;
and, therefore, as Christ is the Son of God, so they arc sons ;
therefore are they joint hoirs with Christ, because they are
joint sons with him. To this end God sent forth Lis ^on^ that
VOL. viii. 30
230 SERMON VI IT.
SO they might through him also be sons. G!al. iv. 4, 5. " But
when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his ISon
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."
And therefore they, partaking of the relation of the Son, so
are they also of the spirit of the Son; as it follows in the next
verse, " and because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spi-
rit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."
Herein Christians are the children of God in a more honour-
able way than the angels themselves ; for the angels are the
sons of God by virtue of that relation which they have 'to God,
as they are in themselves singly and separately. But Christians
are the children of God, as partaking with Christ, the only be-
gotten Son, in his sonship, whose sonship is immensely more
honourable than that of the angels. And Christians, being the
children of God, are honoured of God as such. They are
sometimes owned as such by the inward testimony of the Spi-
rit of God. For, as it is found in the verse already cited fron»
Romans, " the Spirit beareth witness with our spirits that we
are the children of God." They are treated as such in the
great value God puts upon them, for they are his jewels, those
which he has set apart for himself; and he is tender of them as
of the apple of his eye. He disregards wicked men in compa-
rison of them. He will give kings for them and princes for
their life. He is jealous for them. He is very angry with those
that hurt them. If any offend them, it weve better for them
that a mill-stone were cast about their neck, and they were
drowned in the depths of the sea. He loves them with a very
great and wonderful love. He pities them as a father pities
his children. He will protect them, and defend them, and pro-
vide for them, as a father provides for his children. This ho-
nour have all they that fear and love God, and trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
HI. Peace and pleasure are also the portion of Christians in
this world. Their peace and joy in God begin in the present
life, and are no less excellent than the glory with which he in-
vests them, and the honour to which he advances them. We
ought here to consider, 1. V\ hat foundation they have for peace
and joy. 2. What peace and joy they actually have.
1st. Their foundation for peace and joy is in their safety and
their riches.
1. They have ground for peace because of their safety. They
are safe in Jesus Christ from the wrath of God and from the
power of Satan. They that are in Christ shall never perish,
for none shall [)!uck them out of his hand. They are delivered
from all their dreadful misery, that indignation and wrath, tri-
SERMON VIII. 231
bulation and anguish, which shall come on ungodly men. They
were naturally exposed to it, but they are delivered from it; their
sins are all forgiven them. The hand-writing is eternally blotted
out. Their sins are all done away ; God has cast them behind
his back, and buried their sorrows in the depths of the sea, and
they shall no more come into remembrance. They are most safe
from misery, for they are built on Christ their everlasting rock.
Who is he that condemns ? It is Christ that died, yea, rather is
risen again, who is even at the right hand of God. They have
the faithful promise of God for their security, that is established
as a sure witness in heaven. They have an interest in that cove-
nant, that is well ordered in all things and sure. "Neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate them from the love of God
which is in Christ Jesus."
2. They have a foundation of unspeakable comfort and joy, be-
cause of their riches. They have true and infinite riches. They
are the possessors and heirs of something real and substantial, and
that is worthy to be called by the name of riches. The things they
possess are excellent, more precious than gold and than rubies ;
all the desirable things of this world cannot equal them, and they
have enough of it. The riches that they have given them of God
are inexhaustible. It is sufficient for them ; there is no end of it.
They have a fountain of infinite good for their comfort, and con-
tentment, and joy ; for God has given himself to them to be their
portion, and he is a God of infinite glory. There is glory in
him to engage their contemplation for ever and ever, without ever
being satiated. And he is also an infinite fountain of love ; for
God is love, yea, an ocean of love without shore or bottom!
The glorious Son of God is theirs ; that lovely one, who was from
all eternity; God's delight, rejoicing always before him. All his
beauty is their portion, and his dying love is theirs, his very heart
is theirs, and his glory and happiness in heaven are theirs, so far
as their capacity will allow them to partake of it ; for he has pro-
mised it to them, and has taken possession of it in their name.
And the saints are also rich in the principle that is in them. They
have inward riches which they carry about with them in their own
hearts. They are rich in faith. James ii. 5. " Hearken, my be-
loved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich
in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them
that love him ?" They have the grace of God in their hearts,
which is a most excellent treasure, and a good foundation of joy;
for it is the seed of joy. Light is sown for the righteous, and glad-
ness for the upright in heart. And the seed that is sown in their
hearts, is the grace of God there. That is a seed that however it
232 SERMON VIII.
lies hid, will certainly in due time spring up, and put forth itself,
and will bud, and blossom, and will bring forth rich fruit. These
riches are the true riches. This is that good which God reserves
for his friends. God distributes silver and gold and such like
things among his enemies, because he slights them and regards
them not. They are contemptible things in his eyes, as we throw
husks to swine. But he has reserved better things for his chil-
dren, of which no ungodly man, though a prince or monarch,
shall partake. This is the ground which Christir.ns have of
peace and pleasure in this world. However, the saints cannot al-
ways take comfort, and do not always taste the sweetness that there is
in store for them, by reason of the darkness and clouds that some-
times interpose. But though they may walk in great darkness for
a long time, yet they are happy notwithstanding.
2d. They sometimes in this world have the actual enjoyment of
peace and pleasure that are most excellent. Sometimes the clouds
that are in the way are removed and Christians are enabled to be-
hold the ground they have for rejoicing. Though God's glory
and love be often hid from them, as it were with a vail, or at least,
so as to hinder a clear view of it, yet God sometimes is pleased to
remove the vail, to draw the curtain, and to give the saints sweet
visions. Sometimes there is, as it were, a window opened in hea-
ven, and Christ shows himself through the lattice; they have
sometimes a beam of sweet light breaking forth from above into
the soul; and God and the Redeemer sometimes come to them,
and make friendly visits to them, and manifest themselves to them.
Sometimes Christians have seasons of light and gladness for some
considerable period, and at other times their views are more trarjsient.
Sometimes their light and joy arise in reading of the holy scrip-
tures, sometimes in hearing the word preached, sometimes at the
Lord's table, sometimes in the duty of prayer, sometimes in Chris-
tian conference, sometimes in meditation when they are about their
occupations, as in the time of more set and solemn meditations ; and
sometimes in the watches of the night.
Those spiritual joys and pleasures which believers possess in
this world, are chielly of three sorts.
1. The joy which they have in a sense of their own good es-
tate ; in the sense they have of the pardon of their sins, and their
safety from hell ; and a sense of the favour of God, and in the
hope they have of eternal life.
2. The joy and delight which they have in the apprehension
and view of God's excellency and love. The joy of a Christian
does not consist merely in the sense of his own good estate, as na-
tural men often are ready to imagine; but there is an excellent,
transcendent, soul-satisfying sweetness that sometimes fills the
soul in the apprehension of the excellency of God. The soul
SERAION VHI. 233
dwells upon the ihonght, fixes on it, and takes complacence in
God as the greatest good, the most delightful ohject of its con-
templation. Tiiis pleasure is the sweetest pleasure that a Chris-
tian ever feels, and is the foretaste of the pleasures of heaven itself.
Herein sometimes the saints do boast of the clusters of Canaan.
This sort of joy is evidence of sincerity above any other joy, a
more sure evidence than a rejoicing in our own good estate.
From the joy which the Christian has in the view of the glory
and excellency of God; tlie consideration of the love of God
to him cannot be excluded. Vv hen he rejoices in God as a glori-
ous God, he rejoices in him the more because he is his God, and in
consideration of there being an union between him and this God;
otherwise, if there were a separation, the view of God's excellency,
though it would raise joy one uay, would proportionally excite
grief another. God is sometimes pleased to manifest his love to
the saints, and commonly at those times, when a Christian has the
greatest views of God's excellency, he has also of his love ; the
soul is spiritually sensible of God as being present with it, and as
manifesting and communicating himself; and it has sweet com-
munion withGod, and tastes the sweetness of his love, and knows
a little what is the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of
that love which passeth knowledge.
3. The third kind of joy is found in doing that wliich is to the
glorj' of God. The true love of God makes this sweet and de-
lightful to the soul. The joy of a Christian not only arises in
knowing and viewing, but also in doing; not only in tipprehend-
ing God, but also in doing for God. For he loves God not only
with a love of complacence, but a love of benevolence also ; and as
a love of complacence delights in beholding, so does a love of
benevolence delight in doing for, the object beloved. The peace
and pleasure which the Christian has in these things, is far better
and more desirable than the pleasures that this world can afford,
and especially than the pleasures of wicked men, and that on the
following accounts.
1. There is Light in this pleasure. The peace and pleasures of
wicked men have their foundation in darkness. When wicked
men have any quietness or joy, it is because they are blind and do
not see what is their real condition. If it were not for blindness
and delusion, they could have no peace nor comfort in any thing.
There needs notiiing but to open a wicked man's eyes, and let him
look about him and see where he is, and it would be enough to
destroy all the quietness and comfort of the most prosperous wick-
ed man in the world. But on the contrary, the peace of a godly
man, is a peace that arises from light; when he sees things most as
they are, then he has most peace; and the distress and trouble
which he sometimes feels, arise from clouds and darkness. When
234 SERMON VIII.
a godly man is in the greatest fear and distress, if he did not know
what a happy state he were in, he would at the same time rejoice
with unspeakable joy ; so that his pleasure is not founded, like that
of wicked men, in stupidity, but in sensibleness; not in blindness,
but in light, and sight, and knowledge.
2. There is Rest in this pleasure. He that has found this joy,
finds a sweet repose and acquiescence of the soul in it. It sweetly
calms the soul and allays its disappointments. Christ says, Matlh.
xi. 28, " Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden,
and 1 will give you rest." There is a sweet contentment in it ;
the soul that tastes it, desires no better pleasure. There is a satis-
faction in it. The soul that has been wandering before, when it
comes to taste of tliis fountain, finds in it that which satisfies its de-
sires and cravings, and discovers that in it which it needs in order
to its happiness. John iv. 14. " Whosoever drinketh of the water
that 1 shall give him, shall never thirst: but the water that I shall
give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into ever-
lasting life." It is quite otherwise with the pleasures of ungodly
men. There is no true rest in them, they are not enjoyed wiih in-
ward quietness, there is no true peace enjo^'ed within, neither do
they aff'ord contentment. But those wicked men that have the
most worldly pleasures, are yet restlessly inquiring, "Who will
show us any good ?" " The wicked are like the troubled sea,
when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirl." Wicked
men in the midst of their enjoyment of pleasure have no true rest,
neither do their reflections on it afford rest; but only remorse of
conscience, and disquietude of soul, under the guilt that is con-
tracted. But the pleasures of the godly afford rest in the enjoy-
ment, and rest and sweetness in the reflection ; it ofentimes calms
and refreshes the soul to look on past comforts.
3. There is Life in it. It is a pleasure that strengthens and
nourishes and preserves the soul, and gives it life, and does not
corrupt and destroy and bring it to death, as do sinful pleasures.
The pleasures of the wicked are poison to the soul, they tend to
enfeeble it, to consume it; and kill it. But the pleasures of the
godly feed the soul, and do not consume it; they strengthen, and
do not weaken it ; they exalt, and do not debase it; they enrich,
and do not impoverish it. Death and corruption are the natural
fruit of the pleasures of sin, but life is the fruit of spiritual plea-
sures. (Jal. vi. 8. "For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the
flesh reap corruption : but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the
spirit reap life everlasting." The life in which this joy consists
and to which it tends, is the most excellent life, and the only life
worthy of the name; it is spiritual, and the beginning of eternal
life: this pleasure is a fountain springing up to everlasting life.
John iv. 14.
SERMON VI n. 265
4. There is Substance in it. This pleasure is not a mere
shadow, an empty delight, as earthly pleasures are, but it is
substantial joy. The pleasures of sin last but a little season,
they are the crackling of thorns under a pot, or as the blazing
meteors of the night, ihat appear for a moment, and then van-
ish. But this pleasure is like the durable lig;ht of the stars or
the sun. Worldly pleasures are easily overthrown ; a little
ihing will spoil all the pleasures of a king's court. Haman, in
the midst of all his prosperity and greatness, could say, " Yet
all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew
sitting at the king's gate." But the joys of the saints are such
as the changes of time cannot overthrow. If God lifts up the
light of his countenance, this will compose and rejoice the heart
under the saddest tidings. They joy in affliction. Their ene-
mies cannot. overthrow this joy ; the devil and even death itself
cannot overthrow it ; but oftentimes it lives, and is in its great-
est height, in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death.
When in the most tormenting death, how often have the mar-
tyrs sung in the midst of the flames, and under the hands of
their cruel tormentors ! Job xxxv. 10. " But none saith, where
is God my 3Iaker, who giveth songs in the night."
5. There is Holiness in it. It is the excellency of these joys
that they are holy joys. They are not like the polluted stream
of sinful pleasures, but they are pure and holy. Rev. xxii. 1.
"And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crys-
tal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb."
These pleasures do not defile the soul, but purify it ; they do
not deform, but beautify it; they not only greatly delight the
soul, but render it more excellent ; they impart something more
of God, more of a divine disposition and temper, dispose to
holy actions, and cause the soul to shine as Moses' face did
when he had been conversing with God in the mount, and as
Stephen's face, which was as the face of an angel, when he saw
heaven opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand
of God. Thus these pleasures make the soul more excellent,
and more divine, as well as more happy.
6. There is sometimes Glory in it. God sometimes unvails
his face, and lets in light more plentifully. This is a delight
and joy, the excellency, and sweetness, and admirableness of
which cannot be expressed. It is a kind of glory that fills the
soul. So excellent is its nature, that the sweetest earthly de-
light vanishes into nothing, and appears as base and vile as
dross and dirt, or as the mere mire of the street. It is bright
above all that is earthly, as the sun is brighter than the glow-
worm. Of this, the apostle takes notice. 1 Peter i. 8. " Whom
having not seen, yc love ; in whom, though now ye see him
m
236 SERMON VIII.
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory."
Secondly. I proceed to consider the hapi)iness of the saints
in Death. It may seem a mystery to the world that men should
be happy in death, which the world looks upon as the most
terrible of all things ; but thus it is to the saints. Their hap-
piness is built upon a rock, and it will stand the shock of death:
when the storm and floods of death come with their greatest
violence, it stands firm, and neither death nor hell can over-
throw it. Here,
1. Death is rendered no death to them. It is not worthy of
the name of death. As the life of a wicked man is not worthy
of the name of life, so the death of a godly man is not worthy
of the name of death. It is not looked upon as any death at
all in the eyes of God, who sees all things as they are, nor is it
called death by him. Hence Christ promises, that those who
believe in him shall not die. John vi. 50. 51. " This is the
bread wliich cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat
thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down
from heaven ; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for
ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will
give for the life of the world." It is no death to the saints, be-
cause it is no destruction to them. The notion of death im-
plies destruction, or perishing in it; but the godly are not de-
stroyed by death, death cannot destroy them ; for as Christ
says, they shall never perish. John iii. 15. " That whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." A
godly man, when he dies, in no wise perishes. There is no end
put to his life as a Christian, for that is a spiritual life that re-
mains unquenched by death. A wicked man, when he dies,
dies indeed, because then an end is pjit to all the life which he
has; for he has no other life but temporal life; but the life of a
Christian is hid with Christ, and safely laid up with him in hea-
ven ; and therefore death cannot reach his life, because it can-
not reach heaven. Death can no more reach the believer's life
than Christ's life. No death can reach Christ our life now,
though he died once : but now he has for ever sat down at the
right hand of God. He says, for the comfort of his saints.
Rev. i. 18, " I am he that liveth and was dead : and behold I
am Jilivc for evermore, Amen ; and have the keys of hell and
death." Death not only cannot destroy a Christian, but it can-
not hurt him; Christ carries him on eagle wings aloft on high,
out of the reach of death. Death, with respect to him, is dis-
armed of his power : and every Christian may say, " O death,
where is thy sting ?" Death was once indeed a terrible enemy,
but now he has become weak. He spent all his strength on
SERMON VIII. 237
Christ; in killing him, he killed himself; he was conquered
then, and has now no power to hurt his followers. Death is
now but the shadow of what he would have been if Christ had
hot conquered him ; he was once a lion, but now he is but a
lamb. A good man may indeed be harassed with fears of death,
and may be much terrified when going through the valley of
the shadow of death, but that is no just ground of any terror,
and if the saints are terrified, it is only through their infirmity
and darkness. As a child is frightened in the dark where there
is no danger, because he is a child, so a good man may be af-
frighted at the terril)le looks of death. But he will find this
awful appearance to be only a shadow, that can look terribly,
but can do nothing terrible. Death may, through the weakness
of the saints, trouble them, and exercise them, but he cannot
destroy the ground they have for comfort and support. When
death comes to a wicked man, all those things on which he
built his comfort fail, their foundation is overfllown with a flood.
Job xxii. 16. But the foundation of the "peace and comfort of
the godly man is not shaken at such a time. Oftentimes the
saints are actually carried above all the fears and terrors of
death; they see that it is but a shadow, and are not afraid:
not only their foundation of comfort remains, but that^peace
and comfort itself is undisturbed, the light shines through the
darkness, and the lamb-like nature of death appears through
the shadow of the lion. The godly have a God to stand by
them when they come to die, in whose love and favour they
may shelter themselves, in whose favour is life, yea life in death;
and they have a blessed Saviour to be with them, to uj)hold
them with the right hand of his righteousness. These are the
friends they have with them, when they are going to take their
leave of all earthly friends. God will be with them when their
flesh and heart fails ; God will be the strength of their heart,
when they are weak and faint, and nature fails. God will put
underneath his everlasting arms to support them, and will make
all their bed for them in their sickness. Ps. xxxvii. 37. " Mark
the perfect man, and behold the upright ; for the end of that
man is peace."
2. Death is not only no death to them, but it is a translation
to a more glorious life, and is turned into a kind of resurrec-
tion from the dead. Death is a happy change to them, and a
change that is by far more like a resurrection than a death.
It is a change from a state of much sin, and sorrow, and dark-
ness, to a state of perfect light, and holiness, and joy. When a
saint dies, he awakes, as it were, out of sleep. This life is a
dull lifeless state ; there is but a little spiritual life, and a great
deal of deadness ; there is but a little light and a great deal of
VOL. VIII, 31
238 SERMON VIII.
darkness ; there is but a little sense, and a great deal of stu-
pidity and senselessness. But when a godly man dies, all this
dcadness, and darkness, and stupidity, and senselessness are
gone for ever, and he enters immediately into a state of perfect
life and perfect light, and activity and joyfulness. A man's
conversion is coni[)ared to a resurrection, because then a man
rises from spiritual death. Eph. ii. 1. " And you hath he
quickened, who were dead in tres|)asses and sins." But though
sj)iritual life is then begun, yet tiiere are great remains of spi-
ritual death after this, and but little life. But when a godly
man dies, he rises from all remains of spiritual death, and
comes into a state of perfect life. This bod}' is hke a prison
to the holy soul, it exceedingly clogs, and hinders, and cramps
it in its spiritual exercises and comforts. But when a saint dies
the soul is released from this i)rison, this grave, and comes into
a state of glorious freedom and hapj)iness. So that death is not
only deprived of his sting, but is made a servant to the saints,
to bring them to Christ in heaven, who is their life. And their
ground of comfort does not only last when they are going out
of the world, but it is in some respects increased, for then their
perfect happiness draws nigh. It is " far better" to depart
and be with Christ, than to continue here. And when the
saints are enabled to see their own happiness in death, they are
enabled exceedingly to rejoice in the midst of the valley of the
shadow of death, and to triumph joyfully over the king of ter-
rors. Death to the saints is always a jjassage or avenue, lead-
ing out of a world of vanity, and sin, and misery, into a world
of life, light, and glory; but though often a dark avenue, it is
at times full of light, the darkness all vanishes away, and the
light shines out of that glorious city into which they are enter-
ing. It shines through the darkness and fsils the soul, and the
clouds of death vanish before it. I'he awful appearance of
death is but a mask or disguise that death wears. It is not ter-
rible but joyful in reality, and this light of the new Jerusalem
sometimes so cleasly shiiies that it shines through the frightful
disguise, and shows the saints that death is but a servant. Yea,
sometimes it is so when death has on its most terrible disguise
that ever it wears, and comes in its most dreadfid forms, as
when the saints are burnt at the stake, and put to all cruel and
tormenting deaths. It is oftentimes joyful to the saints when
dying, to think that they are now going into the glorious pre-
sence of God, to enjoy God and Christ to the full. Tiie joyful
expectation sometimes makes them ready to cry out, " Even
so, come liord Jesus, come quickly !" and, " VV by is his cha-
riot so loni^ in coinin"' .^"
SERMON VIII. 239
Thirdly. Let us next consider the happiness of the saints, in
their state of Separation from t!ie Body.
1. When the soul departs from the body, it is received by the
blessed angels and conducted by them to the third heavens. On
the eve of its departure there is a guard of angels standing round
the dying bed ; and the devils, though eager to seize upon it as
their prey, shall by no means be suffered to come nigh. The holy
angels shall be a guard to the soul, to keep off all its enemies.
We are taught that this is part of the office in which God employs
them. Psahn xxxiv. 7. " The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Psalm
xci. 11. " For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep
thee in all thy ways ;" as it was with Daniel in the lion's den.
Daniel vi. 22. " My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the
lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me : forasmuch as before
him innocency was found in me ; and also before thee, O king,
have I done no hurt." And as soon as the soul is loose from the
body, it shall be kindlj' and courteously received by those bright
and blessed ones, to be conducted by them into Christ's glorious
presence ; for the angels are all ministering spirits, sent forth to mi-
nister to them that shall be the heirs of salvation. This is one way
in which they shall minister ; viz. to guard and conduct the de-
parted spirits of the saints; which we are plainly taught in the
parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Luke xvi. 22. "And it
came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels
into Abraham's bosom : the rich man also died, and was buried."
These spirits of holiness and love, when they have received the
soul, shall conduct it along through the aerial and starry heavens
to the most glorious part of the universe; the highest part of the
creation, the place of God's most holy residence, the city and
palace of the most high God, where Christ is. There are some
who say that there is no such place as heaven ; but this is evident-
ly a mistake, for the heaven, into which the man Christ Jesus en-
tered with his glorified bod}', is certainly some place. It is ab-
surd to suppose that the heaven where the body of Christ is, is
not a place. To say that the body of Christ is in no place, is
the same thing as to say he has no body. The heaven where
Christ is, is a place; for he was seen ascending, and will be seen
descending again ; and the heaven where the departed souls of
the saints are, is the same heaven where Christ has ascended. And
therefore Stephen, when he was departing this life, saw heaven
opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
And he prayed to that same Jesus whom he saw, that he would re-
ceive his spirit; i. e. that he would receive it to him, where he saw
him, at the right hand of God. And the apostle Paul signifies,
that if he should depart, he should be with Christ. Philip, i. 23.
240 SERMON Vlll.
'* For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and
to be with Christ, which is far better:" 2 Cor. v. 8. "We are
confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body,
and to be present with the Lord." Besides there are some of the
saints there already with their bodies, as Enoch and Elijah.
Therefore there is some place, where God gloriously manifests
himself, and where Christ is, and where saints and angels dwell,
and whither the angels carry the souls of the saints when they de-
part from their bodies ; and this place is called Paradise, and the
third heaven. 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4. The aerial heaven is the first
heaven; the starry heaven is the second; and the blessed abode
of Christ and saints and angels the third, because it is above the
other two ; and so Christ is said to be made higher than the hea-
vens. Heb. vii. 26. "For such an high priest became us, who is
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher
than the heavens," i. e. higher than the visible heaven. This
heaven is far above the stars. So it is said that Christ ascended
far above all heavens. Epb. iv. JO. "He that descended is the
same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might
fill all things," i. e. far above all the heaven that we see. This
is the mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jeru-
salem, and hither the angels conduct the souls of the saints
when they leave their earthly tabernacles. When they come there,
they shall be received with a joyful welcome, the doors of this
glorious city are opened to them, and they shall have entrance
given to them into heaven, as an inheritance to which they have
a right. Rev. xxii. 14. "Blessed are they that do his command-
ments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter
in through the gates into the city," And then shall open to view
that glorious world, that beautiful city, and delightful Paradise,
which they had often before heard of, and thought of, and desired :
then they shall see it, and possess it as their own. There they
shall be welcomed and joyfully received by that glorious company
that dwell there, by the angels, and by the saints thai went to
heaven before them. There was jov among them at their conver-
sion, and now also will there be joy among them when they are
brought home to glor}'. To have one that was dear to them before,
because a cliild of the same family and a disciple of the same Lord,
brought home from a strange country to come and dwell with them
forever; how will their fellow-citizens and brethren in heaven be
glad for them, and rejoice with them, and embrace them, when
they come there to join them in their praises of God and the Lamb !
And then they shall be conducted unto the Lord Jesus Christ in
his glory, and shall be presented to him perfectly free from sin,
and without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; who will also
abundantly welcome them to his glory, and to the blessed enjoy-
Sermon viii. 241
ing of his love. And then shall their good Shepherd rejoice,
when he shall not only have brought home the soul that was lost
to a saving close with him, but home to him in his heavenly fa-
ther's house. The Saviour shall then rejoice when he shall re-
ceive a soul that he loved before the foundation of the world ; and
for which he laid down his life, and endured such dreadful suf-
ferings. This was the joy that was set before him, to redeem and
make happy the souls of his elect; and he will rejoice, therefore,
when he sees this accomplished. He will bid them welcome, and
make them welcome, and they shall be received into the full enjoy-
ment of his love. The Lamb that is in the midst of the throne
shall feed them, and he shall present them also to God his father,
having redeemed them to him by his blood, who shall also abun-
dantly welcome them there. Then the soul shall behold that glory,
and taste that pleasure which it long hoped for, and thought of
with delight, and the thoughts of which were wont to be such a
support to it when on earth ; then shall it know by experience
what the joys of heaven are ; then shall the great and precious
promises of the gospel be fulfilled ; then shall faith be turned into
vision, and hope into fruition ; then shall all sin be eternally left
behind ; there sliall be no more indwelling corruption, wicked
thoughts, or sinful dispositions, to torment them. And whatever
sorrow and affliction they underwent on earth, God shall now wipe
away all tears from their eyes; and though they have lately pass-
ed through death, yet there shall be no more death, nor sorrow,
nor crying ; neither shall there be any more pain, because the
former things shall be passed away. Rev. xxi. 4. If they have
lived hardly in this world, and suffered hunger and thirst, there
shall be an end of it all ; and they that have suffered persecution,
and have had their raiment stained with their own blood, shall now
suffer no more. " And he said unto me, these are they which came
out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they
before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his tem-
ple : and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall
the sun light on them, nor any heat: for the Lamb, which is in
the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto
living fountains of water, and God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes." Rev. vii. 14, 15, 16, 17. Though they had many
enemies to conflict with while on earth, yet now shall they obtain
the victory over them ; now shall they triumph and sing, being
forever out of the reach of all Satan's temptations, and of all his
power to afflict or molest them ; now shall they appear in mount
Zion with the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palms in
their hands. Rev. vii. 9.
242 SERMON VIII.
3. They shall remain there in a state of exceeding glory and
blessedness, till the resurrection. They shall remain there in the
enjoyment of God, dwelling with Jesus Christ in a state of perfect
rest, without the least disturbance or molestation. Rev. iv, 13.
"And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Bless-
ed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth : Yea,
saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labours ; and their
works do follow them." There they shall dwell in habitations of
sweet delight and pleasure in Paradise ; there they shall drink of
those rivers of pleasures for evermore; there they shall dwell in
perfect light and perfect love ; there they shall see and converse
with God and Christ, and with angels and glorious spirits, and
shall contemplate the wonderful love of God to men in sending his
only Son ; there shall they contemplate the glorious love of God
to them, the love he had to them before the foundation of the world.
There shall they see and know what love Christ had to them, that
influenced him to lay down his life for tiiem ; and shall behold the
beauty and excellency of Christ, and see face to face, and know
even as they are known. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. There the}' shall sweetly
meditate on the wonderful dealings of God to them while in this
lower world, in preserving of them, in granting to them to live
under means of grace, when many thousands and millions of others
never had these privileges. They shall contemplate the wonderful
mercy of God to them in striving with them by his spirit, in con-
vincing them of sin, in stirring them up to seek salvation, in con-
verting them, and in bringing them out of darkness into marvel-
lous light. The mercy and grace of (lod in converting them will
then appear otherwise to them than it does now. They shall then
contemplate the manifold mercies of God to them through the
whole course of their lives ; they shall see how God has protected
them, and guided them by his counsel and led them all along;
they shall see the wonderful wisdom and mercy of God towards
them in these and those dispensations, that now appear most dark
to them, shall see the meaning of those that were matter of diffi-
culty to them, and shall see how all things wrought together for
their good. These will be sweet meditations to them, and doubt-
less will be siihjects of the saints' conversation with each other.
How sweet will it be for the saints to look back and see how God
carried them along through the wilderness, through all the storms
of this world, and all its dangers, and temptations, and enemies,
after they have come to their resting place ; and how sweet will it
be for them to converse together of these things, and what ardent
praises will it occasion ! and then also shall they seethe wisdom of
God in the government and ordering of the affairs of his church
all along, the scheme of divine providence shall be opened to
ihem, and the admirable wisdom of it shall be unfolded ; and they
SERMON VIII. 243
shall also see how God brings his purposes and promises to pass
in his providence towards his church here on earth ; they shall see
and rejoice at it when the kingdom of God flourishes in the world.
We are told, there is joy in heaven if but one sinner repenteth.
Then doubtless the saints of the old testament after their entrance
into heaven, saw and rejoiced when Christ came into the world;
and therefore two of them, Moses and Elijah, came down to con-
verse with Christ, at his transfiguration. Abraham, Moses, and
David, and the prophets Isaiah and Daniel, and all the prophets,
doubtless saw the fulfilment of the glorious things foretold in their
prophecies with exceeding rejoicing. They saw that glorious en-
largement of the church that was produced by the preaching of
the prophets. And thus also the apostles and evangelists in heaven,
and other primitive Christians and martyrs, saw the glorious flour-
ishing and prevailing of the kingdom of Christ after their death,
till the utter downfal of heathenism and the establishment of
Christianity throughout the Roman empire.
The holy martyrs with joy beheld the destruction of those pa-
gan powers that persecuted the church of God. Rev. vi. 9, 10, 11,
" And when he had opened the fifth seal, i saw under the altar the
souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the tes-
timony which they held : and they cried with a loud voice, say-
ing, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes
were given unto every one of them ; and it was said unto them
that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-ser-
vants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were,
should be fulfilled." Therefore they rejoiced when they saw it
accomplished. And so the saints that died in former ages, they
without doubt beheld and rejoiced greatly at the time of the resur-
rection from popery in the days of Luther and Calvin, and other
reformers. And so doubtless the saints that went to heaven, be-
fore this remarkable out-pouring of the spirit on this town and
other neighbouring towns, especially those that went to heaven
from hence, have seen this work and greatly rejoiced at it. And
so the saints, that die before the glorious days that are coming at
the downfal of anti-christ and the calling of the Jews, will rejoice
at the conversion of the world to Christianity. We are ready to
lament that we shall not probably live to See those times. But if
we die and go to heaven, we shall see them nevertheless, and re-
joice in them not the less for not being in this world ; but we shall
rejoice more, for we shall see and understand more of the glory of
God in such a work, and have more love to God, and therefore shall
rejoice more at the advancement of his kingdom. Thus when the
apostle John had visions of the glorious things that should be
brought to pass for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ, he
544 iJERiMON viir.
from time to time mentions the visions be also had of the hosts of
heaven rejoicing at it. Rev. xi. 15, 16, 17. "And the seventh
angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and
of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four
and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon
their faces and worshipped God, saying, we give thee thanks, O
Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come ; be-
cause thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned."
So when the spiritual Babylon, the church of Rome falls, the holy
apostles and prophets, though dead many ages before, are called
upon to rejoice. Rev. xviii. 20. " Rejoice over her, thou heavens,
and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God haih avenged you on
her." So the multitude of the heavenly hosts are described as re-
joicing, and as singing hallelujahs on that occasion ; and all heaven
is full of praise. Rev. xix. 1. ^' And after these things I heard a great
voice ofmuch people in heaven, "saying, alleluia, salvation, and glory,
and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God : For true and
righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great whore,
which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged
the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, alle-
luia. And her smoke went up for ever and ever." These things
may give us some notion how the spirits of just men made perfect
do employ themselves.
4. They remain in a joyful expectation of their more full and
complete blessedness at the resurrection. As the wicked have
not their full punishment until after the resurrection, so neither
have the saints their complete happiness. Though they have at-
tained to such exceeding glory, yet they are not yet arrived at its
highest degrees, for that is reserved for their final state. The re-
ward which the saints receive after the resurrection, is often spoken
of as their chief reward. This is the reward that Christ has pro-
mised. John vi. 40. " And this is the will of him that sent me,
that every one which seeth the Son, (and believeth on him, may
have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
This is the chief reward that the saints seek and wait for. Rom.
viii. 23. " And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the
first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan earnestly within
ourselves, waiting for'the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our
body." Philip, iii. 11. "If by any means I might attain unto the
resurrection of the dead." " Women received their dead raised
to life again : and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance,
that they might obtain a better resurrection." So the happiness,
that shall be given at Christ's second coming, is spoken of as the
principal happiness. Titus ii. 13. "Looking for that blessed
hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Sa-
viour Jesus Christ."
SERMON VIII. 245
This the saints will be in joyful expectation of in heaven ; they
shall rest in sweet repose on God's promise that it shall be so, their
desires of it bringing no uneasiness ; they rejoicing in it most in the
consideration that it will be in God's time, in the fittest and best
time.
Fourthly. T shall consider the glory, honour, and peace, which
the godly shall receive at the Resurrection and the Day of Judg-
ment.
1. When the time appointed comes, notice shall be given of it in
heaven, which will be to their exceeding joy. God has in his own
eternal counsels fixed the time, but now it is kept secret ; it is not
only not known by any on the earth, but neither is it known in
heaven by either saints or angels there, and the man Christ Jesus
himself, in his state of humiliation, did not himself know it : Matt,
xxiv. 36. " But of that daj' and hour knoweth no man ; no not the
angels of heaven, but my Father only." The saints and angels
in heaven have a joyful expectation of it, but they know not when
it is; but when the time comes, God's eternal counsels concerning
it shall be made known ; the joyful tidings shall be proclaimed
through all heaven, that all may prepare to attend the Lord Jesus
Christ in his descent to the earth.
2. They shall descend with Christ from the highest heaven to-
wards the earth. When notice is given to the heavenly host, they
shall all gather themselves togetlier to attend on this most joyful
and glorious occasion ; and then the glorious Son of God shall
descend, and the holy angels with him, and not only the angels,
but the souls of the saints shall come with Christ. 1 Thess. iv. 14.
*'For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them
also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." Christ shall
descend with the glory of his Father ; he shall appear in a glory
becoming the Supreme Lord and Judge of heaven and earth.
Now heaven will for a time be left empty of its inhabitants ; those
glorious and blessed abodes will he deserted by those that dwelt
there, to attend the Judge of the world.
3. The saints on earth shall behold this glorious sight of their
Saviour coming in the clouds of heaven, with all his holy angels
with him. The first notice that shall be given of this descent
shall be in heaven, but soon after there shall be notice of it on
earth. Christ shall be seen coming while he is yet at a great dis-
tance ; every eye shall see him, of both good and bad. And it
will be the most joyful sight to the saints that ever they saw. The
first notice of it will cause their hearts to overflow with joy and
gladness, it will fill the hearts of the godly as full of joy as it will
the wicked with terror and amazement. If the saints are then
waked out of their sleep at midnight with this sound, that Christ
appears in the clouds of heaven coming to judgment, it will be
VOL. vin. 32
246 SERMON VIII.
joyful news to them. It is probable many of the saints at that
time will be found suffering persecution, for there are several things
in scripture which seem to declare, that the time when Christ
is coming shall be a time when wickedness shall exceedingly
abound, and the saints shall be greatly persecuted. But this shall
set them at liberty, then they may lift up their heads out of prisons
and dungeons, and many out of galleys, and mines, and shall see
their Redeemer drawing nigh. I'his sight will drive away their
persecutors, it will put an end to all their cruelties, and set God's
people at liberty. And then when all the kindreds of the earth
shall wail at the sight of Christ in the clouds of heaven, and wick-
ed men every where shall be shrieking and crying with terrible
amazement, the saints shall be filled with praise and transport.
We read that, when Christ ascended into heaven, the disciples
stood steadfastly looking on as he went up. But the saints then
on earth shall view Christ with more steadfastness as he descends
in his heavenly and exceeding glory ; they shall feed and feast their
eyes with this majestic sight, beholding in what solemn and glori-
ous pomp their own blessed Redeemer descends. This sight shall
put a final end to all sorrow, and their everlasting joy and
glory will commence from it. The hope of the glorious appear-
ing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christy is said to be a
blessed hope. Titus ii. 13. "Tjooking for that blessed hope, and
the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus
Christ." But when it comes it will be a more blessed sight.
4. Tlie dead in Christ shall arise at the sound of the last trum-
pet with glorified bodies, and the living saints shall see them. The
holy and blessed souls of saints that descended from heaven with
Christ, shall then be re-united to those bodies that shall be prepar-
ed by infinite wisdom and skill to be fit organs for a holy and hap-
py soul. The body shall not rise as it was before ; there shall he
a vast difference in it. 1 Cor. xv. 42, 43, 44. "It is sown in cor-
ruption, it is raised in incorruption ; it is sown in dishonour, it is
raised in g\ory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is
sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a
natural body, and there is a spiritual body." The glory of that
body that the saints shall rise with is what we now cannot conceive
of. It shall not be such a dull and heavy moulded thing as it is
now : it shall be active and vigorous as a flame of fire fit for the
use of a glorified soul. It will be no clog or hinderance to the soul
as it is now, but an organ every way fit for the use of a glorious
spirit. It shall not be weak, infirm, and frail as it is now; for,
though it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. Now the
body is in need of food and sleep continually, to recreate it, but it
shall not be so then ; now the body is subject to weariness, and to
diseases, but it shall not be so then; now if God lets in any great
SERMON VIII. 247
matter of divine light into the soul, the body is ready to sink under
it, but it shall not be so then. The glorified body of the saints
shall not then fail or flag at all by the most powerful exercises of
mind. Now no man can see God and live, but the body would im-
mediately sink and be dissolved, but then the body shall not fail
at all by the immediate beholding of God. Now the saints can see
but little. When God a little reveals himself, as he doth at times,
the saints are forced to beseech God either to strengthen them to
see it, or to stay his hand ; but then the body shall be so vigorous
and spiritual that the constant and everlasting view of the glory of
God shall not in any wise overcome it, or cause it in the least to
fail.
The body shall not only be raised in an exceeding strength, but
in wonderful beauty, for we are told that their bodies shall be like
to Christ's glorious body. The greatest beauty that ever any
human body appeared in in this world, is vile and base in compa-
rison. The beauty of the bodies of the saints, shall not only con-
sist in the most lovely proportion of the features of their counte-
nance and parts of their bodies, but in a semblance of the excel-
lencies of their minds, which will appear exceedingly in their coun-
tenance ; their air and mien will be such as will naturally result from
the wisdom, purity, and love of the soul, and shall denote and
hold forth an inexpressible sweetness, benevolence, and compla-
cence; and if 1 may speak what appears to me probable, and
what seems to be authorized by the scriptures, their bodies shall
be as it were clothed with garments of light. The prophet Da-
niel, speaking of the resurrection, says, Dan. xii. 2, 3, " And
many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some
to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firma-
ment ; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for
ever and ever." And Christ, speaking of the end of the world,
says, Matth. xiii. 43, " Then shall the righteous shine forth as the
sun in the kingdom of their Father." And there is nothing to
hinder our understanding this literally of their bodies, and espe-
cially when this shining of the saints is spoken of from time to
time as what shall be at the resurrection, and not of their souls in
a separate state. Moses's face shone when he had been convers-
ing with God in the Mount; much more may it be expected that
the bodies of the saints shall shine, when they shall converse a
thousand times more intimately with God, not in Mount Sinai,
but in heaven. We read of Christ, that when his body was trans-
figured, to teach us what the body of Christ should be in its glo-
rified state, we are told that, when his body was transfigured, his
face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
Matth. xvii. 2. But we are told that the bodies of the saints shall
248 SERMON VI II.
be made like unto Christ's glorious body ; there therefore seems
to be much ground to think, that at the resurrection the bodies
of the saints shall shine with a glorious light, and that they
shall be as it were clothed with light. Thus the departed saints
shall arise with glorious bodies, they shall lift up their heads out
of their graves with joyful and glorious countenances: and at
the same time the I)odies of the living shall in a moment be
changed into the same strength, and activity, and incorruptibility,
and beauty, and glory, with which those that were dead shall
arise. 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52,53. " Behold, I show you a mystery, we
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; (for the trumpet
shall sound ;) and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorrup-
tion, and this mortal must put on immortality."
5. Then all the saints shall mount up, as with wings, to meet
the Lord in the air, and to be for ever with him. After the
dead in Christ are risen, and the living saints changed, then
they will be prepared to go to Christ, and to meet the bride-
groom. The world will be about to be destroyed, and the
wicked shall be in dreadful amazement, but the saints shall be
delivered. Dan. xii. 1. "And at that time shall Michael stand
up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy peo-
ple, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was
since there was a nation, even to that same time: and at that
time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found
written in the book." They shall take an everlasting farewell
of this evil world where there is so much sin, and where they
have met with so much trouble, and they shall be caught up in
the clouds, and there they shall meet their glorious Redeemer ;
and a joyful meeting it will be. They shall go to Christ, never
any more to be separated from him. 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17.
" For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God :and
the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we, which are alive and
remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to
meet the l^ord in the air : and so shall we ever be with the
Lord."
6. Then shall the good works, which the saints have done, be
declared to their peace and glory. We are often told that
every man shall be judged according to his works, and Christ
keeps a book of remembrance of the good works of the saints
as well as of the sins of the ungodly. And however mean and
polluted that which the saints do, is in itself, yet all the pollu-
tion that attends it is hid, and every thing they do for God that
has the least sincerity in it is precious in God's eyes. Through
• SERMON VIII. 249
his infinite grace it shall in no case lose its reward, neither shall
it in any wise lose its honour. At the day of judgment they shall
receive praise and glory in reward for it. Christ will declare
all the good they have done to their honour ; what they did se-
cretly and the world knew it not, and when they did not let their
left hand know what their right hand did. Then shall they re-
ceive praise and honour for all their labour, for all their self-
denial, and all their suffering in the cause of Christ ; and those
good works of theirs that were despised, and for which they
were condemned, and suffered reproach, shall now be set in
a true light ; and however they were reproached and slandered
by men, they shall receive praise of God in the sight of angels
and men. 1 Cor. iv. 5. " Therefore judge nothing before the
time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hid-
den things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of
the hearts ; and then shall every man have praise of God."
Those righteous men that have been condemned here before
unjust judges, shall be acquitted and honoured then before the
righteous judge of heaven and earth. Heb. vi. 10. " For God
is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love,
which ye have showed towards his name, in that ye have min-
istered to the saints, and do minister." Then will be the time
when their Lord and master will say unto them, "Well done,
good and faithful servants." Thus, in the description of the
day of judgment in the 25th chapter of Matthew, Christ re-
hearses the good works of the saints. " For 1 was an hungered,
and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink :
I was a stranger, and ye took me in : naked, and ye clothed
me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came
unto me." And though the saints there reply, "Lord, when
saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee.'' or thirsty, and gave
thee drink ^ When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in .'*
or naked, and clothed thee.'' Or when saw we thee sick, or in
prison, and came unto thee ?" Though they thought that no-
thing that they had done was worthy to be so accounted of as it
was by Christ, yet Christ of his grace esteemed it highly, and
highly honoured them for it, as it there follows, 40th v. " And
the king shall answer, and say unto them. Verily Isay unto you,
inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto me." And if the sins of the
saints shall be rehearsed, it shall not be for their shame, but for
the glory of divine grace, to give opportunity to them to plead
the atonement of that Saviour who will be the Judge, to give
occasion to them to produce Christ's righteousness, which will
surely be accepted by himself.
250 SERMON VIII.
7. The saints shall sit enthrones with Christ, to judge wick-
ed men and devils. Christ will put that honour upon them on
that day, he will cause them to sit on his right hand as judges
with him, and so the saints shall judge the world. Matth. xix.
28. " And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye
which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of
man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon
twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." 1 Cor. vi.
2, 3. " Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world ?
and if the world shall bejudged by you, are ye unworthy to judge
the smallest matters ? Know ye not that we shall judge angels?
how much more things that pertain to this life P^ They shall
judge kings and princes who were their persecutors, and the
devils, who were their tempters.
8. At the finishing of the judgment Christ shall pronounce
the blessed sentence upon them, " Come, ye blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the founda-
tion of the world."
This blessed sentence Christ shall pronounce on them with
inexpressible manifestations of grace and love. Every word
of it will be ravishing to them, and will cause raptures of joy
in ther hearts ; that this glorious person, though he orders with
such indignation the wicked to depart from him, yet will so
sweetly invite them to come with him, and that he should ac-
cost them after such a manner, saying, " ye blessed of my Fa-
ther." Christ will pronounce them blessed in the sight of men
and angels ; and blessed indeed, because blessed by his Father.
There will not only be a manifestation of Christ's love to I hem
in this sentence, but a declaration of the Father's love, for they
are declared to be blessed of him. Christ shall invite them to
come with him, and for no less a purpose than to inherit a king-
dom. Christ gives them a glorious kingdom ; the wealth to
which he invites them is the wealth of a kingdom ; and the honour
he gives them is the honour of kings; and what yet adds to the
blessedness is this, that it is a kingdom prepared for them from
the foundation of the world. God loved them from all eterni-
ty, and therefore he has prepared a kingdom for them. God
had respect to them in the creation of the world, and then pre-
pared this glorious kingdom for them, and out of love to them.
They have therefore a right to it, and now therefore they are
invited to come to possess it ; and not only to possess it, but to
inherit it, that is, to possess it as heirs, as those that have a right
to the kingdom by virtue of their being his children.
Thus having considered what glory, honour, and peace the
saints have in this life, at death, in a separate state, and at the
day of judgment, I now proceed.
SERMON VIII. 251
Fifthly, To consider their consummate state of hap])iness af-
ter the day of judgment. And here I would consider, 1. Their
entrance into this hapi)iness; and 2. Its nature, its degree, and
some of the circumstances which attend it.
1st. Their entrance into this state of consummate liappi-
ness.
1. When the judgment is ended they shall ascend with Christ
in a triumphant and glorious manner into heaven. Christ, when
he has passed sentence, shall then return again ; he shall pass
beyond these aerial heavens, and shall ascend towards the high-
est heaven, together with ten thousand times ten thousand, and
thousands of thousands of glorious spirits, and of the saints with
their glorified bodies. They shall leave this lower world, and
all the wicked to be burnt in everlasting fire, and as they are
ascending shall look back and see it all in one vast conflagra-
tion. Then shall be fulfilled, in the most remarkable manner,
the prophecy in Ps. xlvii. 4, 5. " He shall choose our inheri-
tance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved. God is
gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet."
And that will be the most joyful procession that ever will be
seen. And when they are come to heaven they shall enter in
with joy into that new Jerusalem where they are to dwell for
ever ; and this will be the most joyful day that ever was in hea-
ven. It is probable, that when Christ ascended into heaven
after his death and resurrection, it was the most joyful day in
heaven that ever had been seen til! then ; but this second as-
cension will be a more glorious and joyful day than that.
2. When they have come to heaven, they shall be there ac-
tually instated by God and Christ in their ultimate and consum-
mate happiness ; and now they shall have complete redemption.
To illustrate this, it may be observed,
1. They shall be perfectly happy in the whole man ; both
body and soul. Before their souls only were happy, while the
body lay in a state of putrefaction in the grave. Now they
shall be in that state which is natural to the human soul, which
is a state of union with the body. It is natural for the soul to
act by a body, and to make use of such an organ, and the soul
is not complete without the body ; and then both body and soul
shall be glorified together.
2. Then will the body of Christ be perfect and complete.
Then it shall have all its members, no one wanting. Now the
body of Christ is incomplete, there are many members want-
ing; but then it will be perfected, having every member. Now
the body of Christ is in a growing state, but then it shall have
come to its perfect state, to receive no more addition. Then the
body of Christ shall be perfect, not only as it shall have every
'252 SEUMON viir.
member, but every member shall be in its perfect state. Now as
there are many of the members of Christ's body wanting-, so there
are many that are imperfect ; many that are ingrafted into Christ
have great infirmity, and great remains of corruption, and many
of his members are now under affliction. But then every mem-
ber shall be perfectly freed from all sin and sorrow, and there ne-
ver will be any more either sin or sorrow, in any member of the
body of Christ. Then also the body of Christ will be complete,
because those that are brought to a perfect stale are wholly brought
home ; before only the soul was brought home to glory, while the
body that was also to be united to Christ, lay in the grave. The
body of Christ vvill then also be in its complete state, becansethen
all the parts will be together ; and this is one end of Christ's com-
ing into the world, viz. that he might gather together all in one.
Eph. i. 16. Before they were scattered, some in heaven and
some on earth, some mixed with wicked men, as wheat with tares,
and as lilies among thorns. The church, therefore, now being
made complete, will exceedingly rejoice ; and Christ, having his
mystical body complete, will rejoice; and all his saints will re-
joice with him. Christ will rejoice in the completeness of his
church, and the church will rejoice in Its own completeness.
3. Then vvill the Mediator have fully accomplished the work
for which he came into the world. Then will he have perfected
the work of Redemption, not only in the impetration, but also in
the application of it. Then all that God has given him will be
actually and fully redeemed, their bodies as well as souls ; then
will he have conquered all his enemies, and will triumph over them
all ; then he will have put down all authority and power. 1 Cor.
XV. 21,22. "For since by man came death, by njan came also
the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order :
Christ the first fruits ; afterwards they that are Christ's, at his
coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up
the kingdom to God, even the Father ; when he shall have put
down all rule, and all authority and power. For he must reign
till he hath put all enemies under his feet." Then Christ will
surely have obtained that joy that was set before him ; then he shall
have perfected the full design that was upon his heart from all
eternity ; and then Christ will rejoice, and all his members must
rejoice with him. Christ shall triumph over his enemies, and the
saints shall then triumph overall their enemies, and thejoysof the
triumph shall last for ever.
4. Then God will have obtained the end of all his great works
which he has been doing from the beginning of the world. Then
will be the consummation of all things : the deep designs of God
will be unfolded, his marvellous contrivances, and his hidden, in-
tricate, and inexplicable works will appear. The end being oh-
SERMON VI 11. 233
laiiied, as all things are from God, so will they then all be to him,
and will issue in his glory. His power appeared in the beginning
of them, and his glory will be manifested iu the end and consum-
mation of thein. Tlien will it be seeti that all the revolutions and
changes which have existed from the beginning of the world are
for God's glory ; then it will appear how all the wheels of his
providence ijave conspired together to bring about the glory of
God and Christ, and the happiness of his people, and this will
cause au exceeding accession of happiness to the saints who be-
hold it. Then will God have fully glorified himself, and glorified
his Son, and glorified his elect; then he will see that all is very
good, and will rejoice in his own works which will be the joy of all
heaven. Then will God rest and be refreshed, and thenceforward
will all the inhabitants of heaven keep an eternal sabbath of rest
and praise, such as never was kept before.
5. Then will be the marriage of the Lamb. When the church
is completely purified and beautified, and nothing wanting, and all
the parts of the body in their due proportion and joyful state ;
then may the Lamb's wife be said to liave made herself ready;
then will she be as a bride prepared for her husband. And when
the church is thus prepared by Christ at such great cost, at the
shedding of his own blood ; it will be brought to a more glorious
union to Christ than ever before, and to a more intimate commu-
nion with him, and to a more high enjoyment of his excellency
and love. Then will be the highest accomplishment of the joy
spoken of in Rev. xix. 7, 8, 9. "Let us be glad and rejoice, and
give honour to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come; and
his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that
she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean ?nd white : for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write,
Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And he saith unto me. These are the true sayings of
God." It will be the day of the gladness of Christ's heart ; the
feast, and pomp, and holy mirth, and joy of this marriage day will
be continued to all eternity.
6. Then will Christ present his church to his Father. The
Father sent forth Christ into the world on that errand, to redeem
a vast number of the children of men, and to bring them home to
God, n-om whom they had apostatized, to bring them back to him,
the great Creator and Father of all things, and the fountain of
all good. Christ, having accomplished this, will bring them to
God, and present them to him ; and then may Christ say, as in Heb.
ii. 13, " Here am I, aiid the children which thou hast given me;"
none of them is missing; "of those that thou hast given me, I
have lost nothing." We read that Christ, when he shall have ac-
complished the work which the Father seat him to do, shall deliver
VOL. vjii. 33
2^4 SERMOiX VI II.
up the kingdom to the Father, i. Cor. xv. 24. *' Then cometh the
end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even
the Father ; when he shall have put down all rule, and all autho-
rity and power." And as he shall deliver up the kingdom, he shall
present the subjects of the kingdom ; and what he has obtained
by ruling, he shall present as the fruits of his reign.
7. Then will God make a still more abundant manifestation and
communication of himself. God shall be all in all ; and the glory
of God and the glory of his Son shall be displayed in heaven, in
a more abundant manner than ever before ; and he will pour forth
more plentifully of his spirit, and will make answerable additions
to the glory of the saints, such as will be becoming the commence-
ment of the ultimate and most perfect state of things, and such
as will become the joyful occasion of the marriage of the Lamb.
2d. I shall now describe the Nature and Degree of the consu-
mate and eternal glory and blessedness of the saints.
1. The Nature of this glory and blessedness.
1. I would begin with the lowest part of it, viz. the glory of the
place. We have already observed that heaven is a place. They
shall dwell in the most glorious part of whole creation of God.
It is called Paradise. Luke xxiii. 43. " And Jesus said unto him.
Verily 1 say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise."
2 Cor. xii. 4. " How that he was caught up into Paradise, and
heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for man to utter."
Rev. ii. 7. " He that hath ears to hear let him hear what the Spi-
rit saith unto the churches ; To him that overcometh will I give
to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of
God." The word Paradise signifies a most pleasant and de-
iighiful gtM'den; of -.viiich the garden of Eden was a type. The
garden of Eden was without doubt a place that was delightful be-
yond what we can easily conceive ; but if this earthly paradise
was so delightful, how pleasant and glorious may we conclude the
heavenly paradise to be ; that was not made merely to be the re-
sidence of some of the innocent creatures of God during their
time of probation, as Eden was, but was prepared by infinite wis-
dom and skill for tlie everlasting dwelling place of the great King
of heaven and earth, and of his Son Jesus Christ ; the place where
they might show their glory, and wisdom, and love forever, and
which is to be the habitation of confirmed saints and angels ! When
God made the universe, he made many parts of it for inferior uses,
in which he displayed marvellous skill ; then he made the earth,
and the sun, and moon, and stars, and the visible heavens, which
appear truly glorious ; but there was one part of the creation that
God made more especially for himself, to be his own dwelling
place, the phice of his glorious rest, and we may conclude that
this is beyond all comparison more glorious than the other parts
SERMON VIII. 255
of it. If som-e parts of the visible world arc so glorious, as the
sun, moon, and stars, how glorious may we conclude the high-
est heavens to he! This is the heavenly mount Zion, the royal
city of the great God. It has been the ambition of earthly
monarchsto make the cities where they dwell exceedingly mag-
nificent. Thus the king of Babylon boasted, " Is not this
great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom,
by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?"
Dan. iv, 30. Especially will kings have their own palaces most
magnificent. But if those earthly cities and palaces are some
of them so glorious, which are for the habitation of worms, how
glorious may we think that to be which is for the glorious habi-
tation of God Almighty ! As the third heavens are higher than
the earth, so we may expect that it is proportionally more glo-
rious than any earthly garden, city, or palace. Heaven is not
only the city of God, but his palace; not only his palace, but his
throne : Isai. Ixvi. 1. " Thus saith the liord, Heaven is my
throne, and the earth is my footstool : where is the house that
ye build unto me ; and where is the place of my rest ?" We
read how magnificent was Solomon's throne. 1 Kings x. 18,
19, 20. " Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory,
and overlaid it with the best of gold. The throne had six steps,
and the top of the throne v/as round behind : and there were
stays on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood
beside the stays. And twelve lions stood there on the one side
and on the other upon the six steps : there was not the like
made in any kingdom." But what is the throne of a glow-
worm ? God does not want skill to make his palace and throne
glorious enough to become the majesty and glory of him whose
house and seat it is. The builder is God, and there is no want
of skill in the architect. How glorious and magnificent was
the temple of Solomon, that was built only to be the place of
the special symbols of God's presence on earth among his peo-
ple Israel ! How much more glorious is that heavenly temple
which God himself has built, to be the place of his glorious pre-
sence among glorified saints and angels throughout all eternity !
This is a place contrived on purpose to show the boundless riches
of God's grace and love ; and therefore, God has not spared as
to the delights and glories with which he has adorned the place.
God is rich enough to make the place transcend all created glo-
ry. Earthly kings build their houses and palaces, and make
them magnificent according to their wealth and ability ; but God
is infinitely rich, he does not spare for the cost of the treasures
to be laid out in adorning heaven, through fear of impoverish-
ing himself. The glory of his residence is what we cannot con-
ceive of; and this is one of those things spoken of in 1 Cor. ii.
256 SERMON VII t.
0. ** Eye Iiatli not seen, nor car heard, neitlicr Iiatli entered in-
fo the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for
them that love him." Therefore in the descriptions tliat are
g'iven of it in the scriptures, tlie images made use of to shadow-
it forth to us, are the most glorious with which we are conver-
sant in the world. Such is the glorious description of it hy John,
as represented to him in the apocalyptic vision. ]lev. xxi. 10,
31—18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. " And he carried me away in the
.*!pirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great
city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone
most j)recious, even like a jasper-stone, clear as crystal. And
the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was
pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the
Avail of the city were garnished with all manner of precious
stones. The first foundation w^as jasper ; the second sapphire;
the third, a chalcedony; the fourth an emerald ; the fifth, sar-
donyx ; the sixth, sardius ; the seventh, chrysolite ; tiie eighth,
beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the
eleventh, a jacinth ; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve
gates were twelve ])earls ; every several gate was of one pearl :
and the street of the city was jmregold, as it were, transparent
glass. And I saw no temple therein : for the Lord God Al-
mighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had
no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: fortlie
glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."
Heaven is here represented by a city whose ver}' walls were
made of precious stones. And the foundations were also all
precious stones, and the gates were each a single pearl, and the
very streets of the city were of pure gold ; and yet it was some-
thing so excellent, as it appeared to John, that his comparing it
to pure gold did not represent the excellency of it : it had also
the beautiful transparency of clear glass. The apostle eould
find nothing on eartli excellent enough adequately to rcjiresent
its surpassing beauty " The streets of the city were pure gold,
like unto clear glass." He goes on with the description in the
beginning of the next chapter. Rev. xxii. 1, 2 — 5. " And he
showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, pro-
ceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the
midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was
there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of frtiits, and
yielded her fruit every month : and the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations — And there shall be no night
there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for
the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever
and ever." This glorious place shall be the residence of the
.«ERMON viir. 257
ic^aints for ever. Tliey sliall dwell in this Iiouse of God, as tlicf
]iins:'s children dwell with him in their father's house; they
shall dwell in this house, for it is Christ's house. He is the
heir and owner of it, because he is the only begotten Son of
God ; and the church shall dwell in it with Christ, because she
is " the Lamb's wife." God has made heaven to be his own
peculiar dwelling-place, and the dwelling-place of his chil-
dren ; when he made the world, he niade heaven for them, and
therefore Christ says to them at the close of their trial, Matth.
XXV. 34, *' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
2. The glory of the bodies of the saints ; but this need not
he insisted on here ; as I have considered it already, when
speaking of the resurrection. I would only observe, that how-
ever great the glory of the place is, the glory of their bodies
■will doubtless be far greater; for the place is made to be a
dwelling place for their glorioiis bodies, and the inhabitants
will doubtless be more glorious than the habitation that is made
for them ; as the end is of greater value than the means.
However bright heaven itself shall shine, the bodies of the
saints themselves will shine far brighter, and appear far more
beautifid.
3. The glory and beauty whicli God will put upon their souls,
will as far exceed the beauty of their bodies, as the beauty of
their bodies will far exceed the beauty of the place. Here will
be their principal ornament, and if their bodies shall shine forth
n? the sun in the kingdom of their Father, how bright will their
souls shine in the glorious image of Gnd, made perfect in them [
When they shall be presented to Christ, perfectly free from sin,
without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; when they shall
appear holy and without blemish ; their bodies shall not only be
made like to Christ's glorious body, but their souls like to his
holy and glorified soul. They shall then shine with the glory
of Christ reflected from them, without any thing to obscure the
bright image. Their souls shall be made glorious in wisdom
and knowledge ; their faculties shall be exceedingly strengthen-
ed and enlarged, their eyes made perfectly clear, and divine
light shall fill the soul, so that there shall bono daikness with-
in, and perfect love shall reign in the heart. Divine love
shall be strong ; all the soul shall be as it were love. This
love shall be exceedingly great in the principle of it, and shall
always be in its highest exercise. Then shall humility also be
brought to perfection. INone can now express or conceive how
pure and holy will be the disposition of the soul of a glorified
saint, which shall be, as it were, all love, all sweetness, all hu-
mility. The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is said to be
258 SERMON VIII.
in the sight of God of great price, in this world ; but how pre-
cious will such spiritual ornaments he in heaven, when they
shall be thus perfected ! The souls of the saints are God's
jewels; and how bright will God make those his jewels shine
in heaven, when he has polished them and fitted thetn to be
gems in his own crown of glory! The soul of man, being spi-
ritual and rational, is susceptible of incomparably greater
beauty than the body, because the soul is capable of receiving
the image of God, of which the body is not; and the souls of
the saints, when God has perfected them, shall appear as the
very image of God himself; and in the graces in which they
shall shine shall be seen the glory of the divine workmanship
in its perfection. And so lovely will they be that there will be
more loveliness and beauty in the soul of one saint than in all
the glory and beauty of the place put together.
4. They shall have great deliglit in the society and enjoy-
ment of one another. We now do not know what enjoyment
they will have in conversing together, and in communicating
with each other ; but doubtless it will be far more perfect than
any we have now. The saints in heaven shall all be one socie-
ty, they shall be united together without any schism, there shall
be a sweet harmony, and a perfect union. There the saints
shall see and converse with Noah, and Abraham, and Moses,
and David, and Isaiah, and Paul, and all the holy martyrs; and
<Aey shall freely converse with them. It will be a most blessed
society ; there shall be no jars or contentions, nor breaking out
among them ; no manner of strife, nor envy, nor jealousy ; no
ill will, but perfect peace, and perfect love through the whole
society. Each one shall love every other with a most endear-
ed and strong affection. P^ach one will be perfectly excellent
and lovely, and will appear so in every other's eyes : they will
be delighted exceedingly in that lovely and perfect image of
God, which each one shall see in every other ; they shall mani-
fest their love to each other in the most becoming and amiable
manner, without any thing ever to disturb or interrupt the peace
of that blessed society. There shall be no mixture of wicked
men among them as it is here in this world, to defile or disho-
nour their company. Here the visible churches of Christ are
often defiled and dishonoured by one wicked man or other, but
that church above shall always be perfectly pure. Rev. xxi.
27. " And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that de-
fileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a
lie; but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."
This blessed family being all united in one body, as having
many members, shall all subserve and contribute to each other's
happiness as the members of a body that is in perfect health.
SERMON vin. 259
They shall delight to assist each other in their contemplations,
communicating their glorious contemplations one to another.
How sweetly will they converse together of the glories of God
and Christ, and of God's glorious works of power, and wis-
dom, and mercy ! and how will they convey the bright concep-
tions and the raptures of joy from one soul to another, impart-
ing to each other the sweet communications which they them-
selves receive from the glorious king of heaven ! and how will
they help one another in their praises to God and Christ, each
one bearing his part in the heavenly melody, extolling the most
High ! And what a glorious harmony of celestial voices with-
out number will that be, when the whole assembly of the upper
world shall together lift u|) the praises of God on high ! John
had this represented to him at a great distance, and tells us,
Rev. xiv. 2, " I heard a voice from heaven, as the'voice of ma-
ny waters, and as the voice of a great thunder ; and I heard
the voice of harpers, harping with their harps :" so ardent were
they, and so great a multitude. And how will they rejoice in
their numbers, to see so great a multitude all united, all per-
fectly holy, all full of mutual love, all fellow-citizens, all bre-
thren !
Here a question may arise. Whether the saints, when they
go to heaven, have any peculiar comfort in meeting with those
who have been their pious friends on earth ? I answer in the
affirmative, and I think it is evident from 1 Thess. iv. 13 — 18.
*' But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning-
them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others
which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died, and
rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the
Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of
the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : and the
dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we, which are alive and
remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to
meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the
Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.'*
Here it is evident,
1. That what the apostle mentions, as a matter of comfort
to Christians respecting their departed Christian friends, isthat
they shall meet them, and see them again. It is not only that
their departed friends, though dead are happy, but they shall
see them, and be with them again. This is here plainly as-
serted. Mourn not for them, says the apostle, as those that
have no hope ; for when Christ comes, God shall bring them
260 SERMON VIII*
again, and we which are alive shall be caught up with them,
and so shall we be ever with the Lord tof^ether. Wherefore
comfort one another with these words. Tiie apostle therefore
must be understood to mean, that they should comfort one an-
other when mourners, with the consideration that they should
hereafter be with their departed friends again in a glorious and
happy state, and never part more.
2. That there will be something else that will give comfort in
meeting them in a future state, than in seeing other saints ;
otherwise why did the apostle mention it for their comfort, that
they should see them again rather than other saints whom they
had not seen or heard of? The apostle's speaking thus to the
Thessalonians might give them just ground to expect, that the
peculiar by strong affection which they had cherished for their de-
parted friends, which was crossed by their departure, would be
again gratified by meeting them again ; for this crossing of that
affection was the ground of their mourning. If the Thessalo-
nians knew, that to see their friends again in another world
would be no gratification to the affection which tliey had for
them as their friends, and did no wa}^ think or conceive of it as
such ; then to think of seeing them would be no more comfort
to them or remedy to their sorrow, than to tliink that they should
see any other saint that lived or died in another country, or in a
past age ; and that, because it would be no remedy to theground
and foundation of their mourning, viz. the crossing their affec-
tion to them as their friends ; and if it would be no remedy to
their mourning, to think thus respecting it, it never would have
been mentioned to them by the apostle as a ground of comfort
or reason why they need not mourn. That was what they
mourned for, viz. that they should not have their affections to-
wards them satisfied by seeing them, and conversing with them
again. That for which the heathen here spoken of, that have
no hope, mourned excessively, was that they should never more
have that affection gratified again. Hence it follows that the
special affection, which the saints have in this world to other
saints who are their friends, will in some respects remain in an-
other world. There is no reason why we should suppose that saints
that have dwelt together in this world, and have showed kind-
ness to each other, have been affectionate to each other's true
happiness, should not love one another with a love of gratitude
for it in another world. There is no reason why good ministers
whom God had made the instruments of salvation to others,
should not have special joy in meeting their converts in heaven.
2 Cor. i. 14. " As also ye have acknowledged us in part that
we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours, in the day of
the Lord Jesus." 1 Thess. ii. 19, 20. " For what is our hopc;
SERMON Vlll. 261
or joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even ye in i he presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ? For ye are onr glory
and joy." I see no reason why those that love one another with
a virtuous love, and from such a love have shown kindness one
to another, should not love one another the better for it in an-
other world. There is no reason to think, that the friendship con-
tracted here on earth between saints will be rooted out in an-
other world. All natural aflections, so far as founded in animal
nature or the infirmity of the present state, will cease in another
world ; and with respect to any affection that the godly have
had to the finally reprobate, the love of God will wholly swal-
low it up, and cause it wholly to cease. But I see nothing that
argues that one saint in glory may not have a special respect to
another, because God made use of that other as an instrument
to bring him into being, and thus made him the remote occasion
of his happiness; or that, when pious parents lose pious children,
they may not comfort themselves with the thought that they
shall go to them, as probably David did when he said concern-
ing his child, 2 Sam. xii. 23, " But now he is dead, wherefore
should I fast ? can I bring him back again ? I shall go to him,
but he shall not return to me :" or that even a former acquaint-
ance with persons and their virtues may not occasion a par-
ticular respect in another world. They may go to heaven with
a desire to see them upon that very account. The impres-
sions which they have of their amiable qualifications in conse-
quence of their acquaintance with them here, may yet remain
in another world.
5. The saints in heaven shall see and converse with Christ.
They shall see Christ in a twofold sense.
1. They shall see him, as appearing in his glorified human
nature, with their bodily eyes ; and this will be a most glorious
sight. The loveliness of Christ as thus appearing will be a
most ravishing thing to them ; for though the bodies of the
saints shall appear with an exceeding beauty and glory, yet the
body of Christ will without doubt immensely surpass them, as
much as the brightness of the sun does that of the stars. The
glorified body of Christ will be the master-piece of all God's
workmanship in the whole material universe. There shall be
in his glorious countenance the manifestations of his glorious
spiritual perfections, his majesty, his holiness, his surpassing
grace and love, and meekness. The eye will never be wearied
with beholding this glorious sight. When Christ was trans-
figined in the mount, Peter was for making three tabernacles
that Christ and Moses and Elijah might remain there, and that
the heavenly vision might never come to an end.
VOL. vin. 34
262 SERMON Vlil,
Job had respect to this sight of Christ, and comforted him-
self with the thoughts of it, when he said, " For I know that my
Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon
the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God : whom I shall see for myself,
and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins
be consumed within me." This will be the most glorious ob-
ject that the saints will ever see with their bodily eyes ; and
there will be far more happiness redounding to the beholders
from this sight than from any other; yea the eyes of the glori-
fied body will be given chiefly that the saints may behold this
sight.
2. They shall see him with the eye of the soul. It is said,
" They shall see him as he is." 1 John iii. 2. " And they shall
know even as they are known." 1 Cor. xiii. 2. They shall have
a clear understanding of Christ as Mediator, how he has un-
dertaken from all eternity to accomplish their salvation. They
shall understand the glorious covenant of redemjjtion between
the Father and the Son; shall see the eternal love Christ had
to them before the foundation of the world. They shall in all
probability understand the mystery of his incarnation. They
shall know and understand the gloriousness of the way of sal-
vation by Christ, " which things the angels desire to look in-
to;" they shall have a full understanding of the infinite wisdom
of God in contriving the plan of salvation ; shall comprehend
the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of the love of
Christ to sinners, in undergoing for them the agony of the
garden, and the more overwhelming agonies of the cross.
Now the heart is dull in the confcmplalion of 3uch things.
How often are they heard of by the saints on earth with but
little afl'ection ! How often, when they see them set forth in
the Lord's supper, are they cold and lifeless ! But then it shall
not be so; then the wonderful works of God, and the love of
Christ in the work of reden!j)tion, will appear as the}^ are : then
there will constantly without any interruption be a most lively
and full sense of it, without any deadness or coldness ; every
thing in the work of redemption will appear in its true glory,
the understanding shall be wonderfully opened, and it shall be
perpetually like the clear hemisphere with the sun in the meri-
dian, and there shall never coiiie over one cloud to darken the
mind. And then the saints shall sec fully how the excellence and
loveliness of Christ appear in all that he did and sufl"ere<i : they
shall see the loveliness of those excellencies tliat appeared in
Christ's human nature when on earth ; his wonderful meekness
and humility, his patience under suflering, his perfect obedience
to the Father. And then shall they also see the beauty that ap-
SERMON VIII. 263
pears in Christ's hurnan nature in its glorified state, wherein the
excellencies of it shine without a vail. They shall also see the
excellence of the divine nature of Christ; they shall behold
clearly and immediately his divine majesty, and his divine and in-
finite holiness, and grace and love. They shall see Christ as the
perfect image of God, an image wherein all the glory of the divine
nature is fully expressed ; they shall behold him as the brightness of
his Father's glory ; and they shall see that bright and perfect im-
age of God which the Father beheld, and was infinitely happy in
beholding from all eternity. But this sight of the glory of Christ
in his divine nature belongs to that beatific vision, of which I
would speak more particularly hereafter.
2. They shall not only see this glorious person, as at a distance,
but they shall be admitted to be near him, and to converse with
him. This sight of his glory and loveliness will fill them with
the most exalted love, which love will cause them to desire con-
versation ; and they shall be admitted to it, to the full of their de-
sires, and that at all times. Two things may be observed con-
cerning this converse with Christ, to which the saints shall be ad-
mitted in heaven.
1. It shall be most free and intimate. There shall be nothing
to forbid tliem or deter them. Though Christ is so glorious a
person, in so exalted a state in heaven, being Lord of heaven and
earth, yet he will treat them as brethren, and they shall converse
with him as friends. He will also honour them and advance them
to the dignity of kings, that they may be fit to converse with so
glorious a King. Rev. i. 6. " And hath made us kings and
priests unto God and his Father ; to him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen." Christ, when on earth, treated his dis-
ciples with great familiarity and freedom, he treated them as friends.
John XV. 15. " I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth
not what his lord doeth : but I call you friends ; for all things
that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you."
So in heaven he will not keep them at a greater distance, but ad-
mit them nearer; because they shall be fitted to be nearer to him
and to converse more .intimately with him. O how happy will it
render them to have so groat and honourable a person treating
them with such grace and condescension!
Though they shall see the awful majesty of Christ, that will not
make them afraid, because they will see his love and grace, and
condescension, equal to his majesty.
2. This converse shall be most full and satisfying. This is
evident from that most emphatic expression of the church being
*' the bride, the Lamb's wife." He will open the infinite and eter-
nal fountain of his love to them, and will pour forth that foun-
tain into their hearts. This love will be as a pure river of water
264 SERMON VJII.
of life, a river of pleasures, constantly flowing into the souls of the
saints, that shall be in them as rivers of living water. And they
shall also in their converse with Christ manifest their love to him :
their hearts shall flow out in an unceasing stream, or ascend con-
tinually in a rapturous transport of love. Of those things we can
say but little now; yet sometimes when God helps us we can con-
ceive of them a little, but it is but a little at the most.
6. The saints in heaven shall see God. Tliey shall not only
see that glorious city, and the saints there, and the holy angels,
and the glorified body of Christ; but they shall see God himself.
This is promised to the saints. Matth. v. 8. "Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God." 1 Cor. xiii. 12. "For now we
see through a glass darkly ; but then face to face ; now I know in
part; but then shall 1 know even as also I am known." This is
that, which is called by divines" the beatific vision," because this
is that in which the blessedness of the saints in glory does chiefly
consist. This is the fountain, the infinite fountain of their bless-
edness. The sight of Christ, which has already been spoken of,
is not here to be excluded, for he is a divine person ; the sight of
him in his divine nature therefore belongs to the beatifical vision.
This vision of God is the chief bliss of heaven, and therefore I
would speak of it a little more particularly. And,
I. As to the Faculty that is the subject of this vision. It is no
sight of any thing with the bodily eyes ; but it is an intellectual
view. The beatific vision of God, is not a sight with the eyes
of the body, but with the eyes of the soul. There is no such
thing as seeing God properly with the bodily eyes, because he
is a spirit: one of his attributes is, that he is invisible. 1. Tim. i.
17. " Now unto the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise
God, be honour and glory for ever and ever." Colos. i. 15. " Who
is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature."
Heb. xi. 27. " By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath
of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible."
This highest blessedness of the soul, does not enter in at the door
of the bodily senses ; this would be to make the blessedness of the
soul dependent on the body, or the happiness of man's superior
part to be dependent on the inferior. The beatific vision of
God is not any sight with the bodily eyes, because the separate
souls of the saints, and the angels which are mere spirits, and
never were united to body, have this vision. Matth. xviii. 10.
" Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones : for I say
unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of
my Father which is in heaven." It is not in beholding any form
or visible representation, or shape, or colour, or shining light, in
which the highest happiness of the soul consists; but it is in see-
ing God, who is a spirit, spiritually, with the eyes of the souk
SLRMUiN VI II. 265
We have no reason lo Uiink that there is any such thing as God's
manifesting- himself by any outuard glorious appearance, that is,
the symbol of his presence in lieaveu, any otherwise than by the
glorified body of Christ. God was wont in the old testament,
oftentimes to manifest himself by an outward glory, and sometimes
in a outward shape, or the form of a man. But when God mani-
fested liimself thus, it was by Christ ; it was the Second Person of
the Trinity only that was wont thus to appear to men in an out-
ward glory and human shape. John i. 18. "No man hath seen
God at any time; the only begotton Son, which is in the bosom of
the Father, he hath declared him." But since Christ has actually
assumed a human body, there is no need of his assuming any aerial
form or shape any more. The Deity now became visible to the
bodily eyes in a more perfect manner by his having a real body.
The saints that shall see Christ in lieaven in his glorified bod}',
much more properly see Christ than if they only saw an assumed
shape, or some outward glorious appearance, as the symbol of his
presence; for now, that which they see is not only a glorious ap-
pearance by w hich Christ is represented, but the real Christ ; it is
his own body. The seeing God in the glorified body of Christ
is the most perfect way of seeing God with the bodily eyes that can
be; for in seeing a real body, which one of the persons of the
Trinity has assumed to be his body, and in which he dwells for
ever as his own, the divine majesty and excellency appear as much
as it is possible for them to appear in outward form or shape.
The saints do actually see a divine person with bodily eyes, and
in the same manner as we see one another. But when God showed
himself under outward appearances and symbols of his presence
only, that was not so proper a sight of a divine person, and it was a
more imperfect way of God's manifesting himself, suitably to the
more imperfect state of the church under the old testament.
But now Christ really subsists in a glorified body; those outward
symbols and appearances are done away, as being needless and
imperfect. This more imperfect way therefore is altogether need-
less, seeing Christ there appears as a glorified body.
This seems to be one end of God's assuming a human body,
viz. that the saints might see God with bodily eyes ; that they may
see him, not only in the understanding, but in every way of seeing
of which the human nature is capable ; that we might see God
as a divine person as we see one another. And there is no need
of God the Father's manifesting himself in any other glorious
form ; for he that sees the Son, sees the Father, John xiv. 9 ; and
that because he is the image of the invisible God. Coloss. i. 15. —
Heb. i. 3. "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the ex-
press image of his person, and upholding all things by the word
of his power when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on
266 SERMON VIII.
the right hand of the Majesty on high." But if there be any out-
ward symbol by which God the Father represents himself in hea-
ven ; seeing that is not the beatific vision, for that is a far more
imperfect way of seeing God than seeing him with the eye of the
soul; the soul is capable of apprehending God in a thousand times
more perfect and glorious manner than the eye of the body is ;
the soul has in itself those powers whereby it is sufficiently capa-
ble of apprehending spiritual objects without looking through the
windows of the outward senses. The soul is capable of seeing
God more immediately, and more certainly, and more fully and
gloriously than the eye of the body is.
2. The act of vision. And,
1. It will be an Immediate sight, it will be no apprehension of
God's excellency by acquiring it from his works ; neither will it
be such a spiritual sight of God as the saints have in this world,
seeing him in his word and making use of his ordinances, which
is called seeing " through a glass darkly." Then they shall see
him "face to face." 1 Cor. xiii. 12. They shall not only see the
glory of God as reflected from other things, but they shall see him
as we see the sun, by his own light in a clear hemisphere. It will
be an intuitive view of God. What knowledge the saints have of
God in this world is like the twilight before sun-rising ; it is not
the direct light of the sun, but the light of the sun reflected, and
it is comparatively a dim light; but hereafter the saints shall enjoy
the perfect day, they shall see God as we immediately behold the
sun after it is risen above the horizon, and no cloud or vapour in
the heavens to hinder its sight.
2. It shall be, according to men's capacity, a perfect sight. It
shall not be a perfectly comprehensive sight, because it is impossi-
ble that a saint's mind should comprehend God ; but yet it shall
be perfect in its kind, it shall be perfectly certain, without any
doubt or possibility of doubt. There shall be a view of God in
his being, and in his power, and wisdom, and holiness, and good-
ness, and love, and all-sufficiency, that shall be attended with intui-
tive certainty, without any mixture of unbelief, and with much
greater certainly than any sight with the bodily eye. And then it
shall be perfectly clear without any view of darkness. Now, how
much darkness is there mingled with that spiritual sight, which
the saints have of God's glory in this world ! But then, there shall
be no obscurity, nothing to cloud the understanding, or to hinder
the clearness of the view. God shall be hid with no vail, neither
shall there be any vail in the heavens. And this sight shall be
most enlarged ; lliey shall see vastly more of the glory of God
than any of the saints do in this world ; the souls of the saints
shall be like the angels in extensiveness of understanding.
SERMON Vlll. 267
3. The Object of this vision : concerning whicli I observe,
1. They shall see every thing in God that tends to excite and
inflame love, i. e. every thing that is lovely, every thing that tends
to exalt their esteem and admiration, to warm and endear the heart.
They shall behold the infinite excellency and glory of God, shall
have a blessed -making sight of his glorious Majesty and of his
infinite holiness ; shall see as those angels do, of whom we read in
Isai. vi. 3. "That, standing before the throne, they cry " Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts," and shall behold the infinite grace and
goodness of God. Then shall that glorious fountain and ocean
be opened fully to their view ; then shall they behold all its excel-
lency and loveliness, they shall have a clear sight of his immense
glory and excellency.
2. They shall see every thing in God that gratifies love. They
shall see in him all that love desires. Love desires the love of the
beloved. So the saints in glory shall see God's transcendent love
to them ; God will nmke ineffable manifestations of his love to
ihem. They shall see as much love in God towards them as they
desire ; they neither will nor can crave any more. This very
manifestation that God will make of himself that will cause the
beatific vision, will be an act of love in God : it will be from the
exceeding love of God to them that he will give them this vision,
which will add an immense sweetness to it. When they see God
so glorious, and at the same time see how greatly this God loves
them, what delight will it not cause in the soul ! Love desires
union. They shall therefore see this glorious God united to them,
and see themselves united to him. They shall see that he is their
Father, and that they are his children. They shall see God glori-
ously present with them ; God with them ; and God in them ; and
they in God. Love desires the possession of its object. There-
fore they shall see God, even their own God ; when they behold
this transcendent glory of God, they shall see him as their own.
When they shall see that glory, power, and wisdom of God, they
shall see it as altogether engaged for them ; when they shall see
the beauty of God's holiness, they shall see it as their own, for
them to enjoy forever ; when they see the boundless ocean of God's
goodness and grace, they shall see it to be all theirs.
4. The Manner in which they shall see and enjoy God ; and
that is as having communion with Christ therein. The saints shall
enjoy God, as partaking with Christ of his enjoyment of God ;
for they are united to him, and are glorified and made happy in
the enjoyment of God as his members. As the members of the
body partake of the life and health of the head, so the saints in
glory shall be happy as partaking of the blessedness of the Son
of God ; they being in Christ, shall partake of the love of God
the Father to Christ. And as the Son knows the Father, so they
263 SEKMON VUI.
shall partake with him in his si'^ht of God, as being as it were
parts of him. As he is in the bosom of the Father, so are they
in the bosom of the Father; as he has immense joy in the love of
the Father, so have they, every one of them in their measure, the
same joy in the Father's love.
Herein they shall enjoy God in a more exalted and excellent
manner than man would have done if he had never fallen ; for
doubtless that happiness, that Christ himself partakes of in his
Father's bosom, is transcendently sweet and excellent; and how
happy therefore are they who are admitted to partake of that por-
tion of delight with him !
5. The Agent by whom this vision of God shall be communica-
ted ; viz. the Holy Spirit. As it is by the Holy Spirit that a
spiritual sight of God is given in this world, so it is the same Holy
Spirit by whom the beatific vision is given of God in heaven. The
saints in heaven are as dependent on God for all their happiness,
and all their holiness, and all their light, as those on earth ; there
all is from God by his Holy Spirit, just as it is here. They shall
have the beatific vision of God because they will be full of God,
filled with the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Ghost is the pure
river of water of life that proceeds from the throne of God and the
Lamb, spoken of in Rev. xxii. 1.
6. The Effects of this vision. And these are, that the soul shall
be inflamed with love, and satisfied with pleasure.
1. It shall be inflamed with love. The soul shall not be an
inactive spectator, but shall be most active, and in the most ardent
exercise oflove towards the object seen. The soul shall be as it
were all eyes to behold, and yet all act to love. The soul shall be
as full of love as it shall be of^ light, and of both it shall be as full
as it can hold. The understanding will be in its most perfect act
in beholding, and the will will be in its most perfect act in loving.
This love will be perfectly such as it ought to be. It shall be per-
fectly humble, the soul shall be in its place at all times, adoring at
God's feet, and yet embraced in the arms of his love. This love
shall excite them to praise. And therefore, singing praises and
hallelujahs shall be that in which they shall unweariedly be em-
ployed.
2. This sight of God shall satisfy the soul with pleasure. So
great will the joy be that the soul will desire no greater. It shall
be as full of grace, as the large desires of the soul can receive. So
sweet shall it be, that the soul will desire nothing sweeter. So
pure and excellent will it be, that the soul will desire nothing bet-
ter. Ps. xvii. 15. " As for me I shall behold thy face in righteous-
ness, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." When
the soul beholds the glory and love of God, it shall be at the same
time filled with the glory and love of God ; it shall receive satis-
SERaiON viir. 269
fy'ing pleasure, for it shall receive God. God will commuiilcate,
and as it were pour forth himself into the soul. And with what
inexpressible sweetness and complacency will the soul open itself
to be thus filled, as the flowers open before the sun to be filled
with his light and pleasant influences !
Having thus considered wherein the eternal happiness of the
saints consists, I proceed next to consider some circumstances of
it.
1. It will add sweetness to the happiness of heaven, that it is
all the fruit of free grace, and the dying love of Christ. The
saints in this world are of that spirit that they choose the way of
salvation, by free and sovereign grace; and salvation in this way
seems better and sweeter by far, than if they could have it by their
own works. Much more will this exceedingly heighten the sweet-
ness of their happiness when they are in heaven, when their love,
and their humility will be perfect, when they will be abundantly
more sensible than they are now, what vile creatures they were in
this world ; and when they consider to what exceeding glory God
has advanced them, what a sweet admiration will it excite in them
of the free and boundless grace of God! And what a sweetness
will it add that all this glorious blessedness which they possess, is
not of themselves, but is the fruit of the love of that glorious per-
son whom they shall then see in his glory, the fruit of his dying love,
that it was bought by his own precious blood ! It adds greatly to
the value of a gift, if we receive it from a dear friend as a token of
his love; but how greatly then will heaven be the more prized by
the saints, when they consider it as the fruit of his love who is so
glorious and excellent, and who is so exceedingly beloved by
them !
2. It will give them the greater sense of their own blessedness,
when they contemplate the misery of those who are finally lost,
and consider how exceedingly different is their own state. The
saints will witness the misery of the wicked, they shall see their
state at the day of judgment, they shall see them at the left hand
with devils, shall hear the sentence pronounced, and see it executed.
This shall greatly heighten the sense of their own happy state,
when they consider how different their own state is, how different-
ly God has dealt with themselves from what he has done with the
wicked ; when they see how dreadful the misery is from which they
are delivered and which they must have unavoidably suffered, had
not God graciously redeemed them; when they consider that they
deserved this misery as well as those that suffer it, but that Christ has
of his free grace redeemed them. This will give exalted thoughts of
the free grace of God, and cause them exceedingly to admire it,
and will greatly heighten their exercises of love to him who has
been so gracious to them, and consequenlly will heighten iheir joy
vor.. VI IT. 3.7
270 SERMON Vlll.
in his love. As tlie damned when they contemplate the happiness
of the saints in heaven will find their own misery aggravated, so
the saints in heaven when they contemplate the misery of the
damned in hell, will feel a greater sense of their own happiness.
3. There are difierent degrees of happiness and glory in heaven.
As there are degrees among the angels, viz. thrones, dominions,
principalities, and powers; so there are degrees among the saints.
In heaven are many mansions, and of different degrees of dig-
nity. The glory of the saints above will be in some proportion to
their eminency in holiness and good works here. Christ will re-
ward all according to their works. He that gained ten pounds
was made ruler over ten cities, and he that gained five pounds
over five cities. Luke xix. 17. 2 Cor. ix. 6. "He that soweth
sparingly, shall reap sparingly, and he that soweth bountifully
shall reap also bountifully." And the apostle Paul tells us that,
as one star differs from another star in glory, so also it shall be in
the resurrection of the dead. 1 Cor. xv. 41. Christ tells us that
he who gives a cup of cold water unto a disciple in the name of a
disciple shall in no wise lose his reward. But this could not be
true, if a person should have no greater reward for doing many
good works than if he did but few. It will be no damp to the
happiness of those who have lower degrees of happiness and glory,
that there are others advanced in glory above them : for all shall
be perfectly happy, every one shall be perfectly satisfied. Every
vessel that is cast into this ocean of happiness is full, though there
are some vessels far larger than others ; and there shall be no such
thing as envy in heaven, but perfect love shall reign through the
whole society. Those who are not so high in glory as others, will
not envy those that are higher, but they will [)ave so great, and
strong, and pure love to them, that they will rejoice in their superior
happiness ; their love to them will be such that they will rejoice
that they are happier than themselves; so that instead of hav-
ing a damp to their own happiness, it will add to it. They will
see it to be fit that they that have been most eminent in works of
righteousness should be most highly exalted in glory ; and they
will rejoice in having thatd one, that is fittest to be done. There
will be a perfect harmony in that society : those that are most happy
will also be most holy, and all will be both perfectly holy, and perfect-
ly happy. But yet there will be different degrees of both holiness and
happiness according to the measure of each one's capacity, and
therefore those that are lowest in glory will have the greatest love to
those that are highest in happiness, because they will see most of the
image of God in them; and having the greatest love to them,
they will rejoice to see them the most happy and the highest in
glory. And so, on the other hand, those that are highest in glory,
as they will be the most lovely, so they will be fullest of love : as they
SERMON VIII. 271
will excel in happiness, they will proportionally excel in divine be-
nevolence and love to others, and will have more love to God and
to the saints than those that are lower in holiness and happiness.
And besides, those that will excel in glory will also excel in hu-
mility. Here in this world, those that are above others are the ob-
jects of envy, because that others conceive of them as being lifted
up with it; but in heaven it will not be so, but those saints in hea-
ven who excel in happiness will also in holiness, and consequently
in humility. The saints in heaven are more humble than the saints
on earth, and still the higher we go among them the greater hu-
mility there is; the highest orders of saints, who know most of
God, see most of the distinction between God and them, and con-
sequently are comparatively least in their own eyes, and so are
most humble. The exaltation of some in heaven above the rest
will be so far from diminishing the perfect happiness and joy of
the rest who are inferior, that they will be the happier for it; such
will be the union in their society that they will be partakers of each
other's happiness. Then will be fulfilled in its perfection that
which is declared in 1 Cor. xli. 22, " If one of the members be
honoured all the members rejoice with it."
This happiness of the saiiits shall never have any interruption.
There will never be any alloy to it; there never will come any
cloud to obscure their light : there never will be any thing to cool
their love. The rivers of pleasure will not fail, the glory and
love of God and of Christ will for ever be the same, and the mani-
festation of it will have no interruption. No sin or corruption
shall ever enter there, no temptation to disturb their blessedness :
the divine love in the saints shall never cool, there shall be no in-
consistency in any of them, the faculties of the saints shall never
flag from exercise ; and they will never be cloyed, their relish for
those delights will for ever be kept up to its height, that glorious
society shall not grow weary of their hallelujahs. Their exercises,
though they are so active and vigorous, will be performed with per-
fect ease ; the saints shall not be weary of loving, and praising,
and fearing, as the sun is never weary of shining.
5. And to sum up this whole description, there shall never be
any end to their glory and blessedness. Therefore is it so often
called eternal life, and everlasting life. We are told that at the
day of judgment, when the wicked shall go away into everlasting
punishment, the righteous shall enter into life eternal. Matth. xxv.
46. The pleasures which there are at God's right hand, are said
to be for evermore ; Psalm xvi. 1 1 : And that this is not merely
a long duration, but an absolute eternity, is evident from that
which Christ has said, that those who believe on him shall not die.
John vi. 50. Rev. xxii. 5. In the description of the New Jerusa-
lem it is said, " And they shall reign for ever and ever." The
272 SERMON VIII.
eternity of this blessedness shall crown all. If the saints knew that
there would be an end to their happiness, though at never so
great a distance, yet it would be a great damp to their joy. The
greater the happiness is, so much the more uncomfortable would
the thoughts of an end be, and so much the more joyful will it be
to think that there will be no end. The saints will surely know
that there uill be no more danger of their happiness coming to an
end, than there will be that the being of God will come to an end.
As God is eternal, so their happiness is eternal ; as long as the
fountain lasts, they need not fear but they shall be supplied.
APPLICATION.
1. Hence we learn how great a mercy conversion is, because it
confers upon him who is exposed to eternal misery a right to all
this blessedness. Man, as he is naturally, is very far from this bless-
edness; we came into the world wretched, miserable, undone crea-
tures, in cruel bondage to sin and Satan, under guilt and under
wrath, and at enmity against God, the fountain of blessedness,
and in a state of condemnation to everlasting destruction. But
when a man is converted there is a great change made in his state;
he is that day passed from death to life, he is brought out of that
state of wo and misery into a sure title to glory, honour, and
peace for ever. When once a man is converted all this blessedness
that we have heard of is his, he has an absolute right to it, God's
word is passed for it, his faithful promise is given. Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but that promise of God shall not fail, but
shall be fulfilled: their witness is in heaven, and their record on
high. On that day in which a man is converted he enters into
a blessed state, he is sure to be a blessed person as long as he lives ;
and he has a right to all that blessedness we have heard of, at
death, and in a state of separation, and at the day of judgment,
and to that glory which the saints have in their state of consunnnate
glory and blessedness. This teaches how great and how blessed
a change conversion is in its consequences, and what cause have
they who have good ground to think that tiiey have been the sub-
jects of it to bless and praise, and extol the name of God, when
they consider what a situation they were once in, and what a hap-
py state they are now in ; for the bringing them out of that misera-
ble state into so glorious a state is owing only to free and sove-
reign grace. 1 Cor. iv. 7. " Who maketh thee to difler from
another.'' and what hast thou that thou didst not receive .^ now,
if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not
received it .^"
2. Hence we may learn the folly of those that are cold and
slack in seeking salvation, seeing that the glory and happi-
ness of those who are saved is so exceedingly great. How ua-
SIiR'M(J.\ VI If. 273
reasonable is it to ex|)ect to obtain that which is so great with-
out effort ! Men will seek worldly riches and honours that are
worth so little, and cannot make thein happy, and will soon van-
ish away, with great and indefatigable labour and diligence ;
and shall men expect to obtain such eternal glory and blessed-
ness in a slack and cold way of seeking it ? How unlike the
nature and importance of this blessedness do men treat it that
seek it in a cold and careless maimer ! and can it be expected
that God will also treat it so unlike its value, as to bestow it upon
such seekers ?
3. Hence we may solve the difficulty of some Christians
meeting with so much affliction and darkness in the world.
Some godly persons are the subjects of very great outward af-
flictions, and some are the subjects of great spiiitual darkness ;
some truly godly persons spend great j)art of their lives in the
dark, in exercising doubts, and anxious thoughts, and distress-
ing fears. And oftentimes God's people make this an argument
against themselves. Tl^ey argue that if God loved them, and
had made them his children, he would never leave them in such
darkness and distress, he would give them more of the light of.
his countenance. They are rcaiiy to say with themselves, if
God loves me, why does he not give me more comfort, why
does he see me in such darkness, and does not comfort me .^
But what we have heard may solve all the difficulty. If their
happiness throughout all eternity be so great, of how little con-
sequence is it what n)ay be their condition for that short mo-
ment they continue in this world ! What if they are in the
dark, what if they walk in darkness and are exercised with great
trouble ! how little difference will it n)ake, though it be cast into
the scales, when weighed against that far moi"e exceeding and
eternal weight of glory ! It will prove lighter than vanity. If
God gives eternal happiness to them, that is evident proof of
his love, and all the darkness and sorrow they can meet with
in this world are not worthy to be mentioned. All this dark-
ness, how long soever continued, if we compare it with future
glory, vanishes into nothing.
4. This subject furnishes solid ground of consolation to the
righteous. What can be matter of greater joy and comfort to
any person than to consider that he is entitled to such eternal
blessedness .'* Here is sufficient consolation under all adversity ;
whatever changes we meet with in the world, this may be mat-
ter of abundant comfort under the greatest and heaviest trials.
In these things a Christian may well rejoice, though the fig-tree
should not blossom, and there should be no fruit in the vine.
Having this firm support and consolation, a Christian will not
274 SERMON VI II.
fear though the earth be removed, and the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea.
Let these things, therefore, comfort thee, who fearest and
lovest God and tiiistest in Christ. What a glorious hope, and
incorruptible and undefiled, and never-fading inheritance, are
reserved in licaven for thee! Hence I would answer an objec-
tion or two, that unbelief in the saint may be ready to malce
against what has been said.
1. Some may be ready to say, this glory and blessedness are
so great and wonderful that it seems too great to be given to
such creatures as men are ; it seems almost incredible that God
should so exalt and advance worms of the dust.
Answer. The death and sufferings of Christ make every
thing credible that belongs to this blessedness. If God has not
thought his own Son too much for us, what will he think too
much for us? If God did not spare hinj, but gave him even to
be (nadea reproach, and a curse, and a victim to death for us,
no blessedness, however great, can be incredible which is the
fruit of this. Kom. viii. 32. " lie that spared not his own
Son, but deliveied him up fur ns all, how shall he not with him
also freely give us all things:" If God would so contrive to
show his love in the manner and means of procuring our hap-
piness, nothing can be incredible in the degree of the happiness
itself: if nothing be too much to be given to man, and to be
done for man in the manner of procuring his happiness, nothing
will be too much to be given to him as the happiness procured,
and no degree of happiness too great for him to enjoy. If all
that God does about it be consistent, his infinite wisdom will also
work to make their happiness and glory great in the degree
of it.
2. Some Christians may still be ready to object. It is not
too great to be bestowed on others, yet it seems to me too great
to be bestowed on such an unworthy creature as I; it seems
incredible that God should ever give such glory to such an one
as I am, that am so mean, and so worthless, and vile. I not
only was once unworthy, but 1 am so unworthy still, I am so
blind, I have so much sin, and so little goodness, I commit so
much sin, and do so little good, that it appears incredible that I
should have a title to such blessedness. I can far more easily
think that others will possess it than myself.
Answer. It is no way incredible that infinite grace should
bestow it on the meanest and unworthiest. God's design is to
glorify his frde grace, and this is one way by which free grace
is glorified, viz. by bestowing such great blessedness on the
most unworthy. This is of a piece with the rest. Every thing
SERMON VIII. 275
in the work of redemption is wonderful, and therefore one of
the names by which Christ is called, is Wonderful. As grace
is wonderful in the means of procurement, viz. giving Christ to
die, and wonderful in the degree of happiness procured ; so it
is wonderful with respect to the subjects of it, that they are in
themselves so mean and unworthy.
5. This subject furnishes ground of solemn exhortation to
natural men, earnestly to seek this blessedness. And here you
may well consider,
1. How poor you are who have no heaven but this world !
In this exceeding and eternal glory of which you have heard,
you have no lot or portion ; you have nothing but a little part
of this clod of earth ; and what is all that you have worth f If
you have a little more land than some of your neighbours, or
if you are in a way to make more money than others, if your
accommodations are better than others', and you have more
worldly conveniences and pleasures than others, or if you are
promoted a little higher among^ men than some others are,
what a poor portion is this ; and how miserable are you who have
no better happiness that you can call your own ! How happy
do these things make you, what great satisfaction do they yield
to you ! Are such things as these the rivers of pleasure that
you choose for your portion ? O, how miserable are you that
have your portion in this life ! When a few days are passed
you must go to the grave and into eternity, and then your glory
shall not descend after you ; and how wretched are they of
whom it may be said, when they have done with worldly enjoy-
ments, that they have received their consolation ! Luke vi. 24.
2. To what misery are you exposed ! You not only have no
lot in this happiness and glory, but you are hanging over end-
less misery, and are in danger every day of being irrecoverably
lost.
3. You have now an opportunity to obtain this blessedness.
It is true that now you are exposed to this misery, but yet this
glory is offered to you ; the time is not past wherein the offer is
made ; you have yet an opportunity to be made happy for ever.
The opportunity you now have to obtain the happiness of an-
other world is worth ten thousands of this world.
But here I would say something by way of direction in an-
swer to this.
Inquiry. What must I be brought to, in order to get to hea-
ven ?
Answer. 1. You must be brought entirely to renounce all
hope of obtaining heaven by any thing that you can do by your
own strength, — that you cannot do it either directly or indi-
rectly. Many are sensible that they cannot get to heaven by
276 SERMON VIII.
their own strength directly, but yet they hope to do it indirect-
ly ; they hope by their own strength to bring themselves to a
disposition to close with Christ, and accept of him for a Sa-
viour ; they are hoping to bring themselves to a compliance
with the terms of salvation. You must be brought off from all
confiding in your own strength ; and you must also be brought
to renounce your own righteousness as the price of h.eaven.
The consideration of what has been said of the glory and hap-
piness of the saints, may show us the exceeding folly of those
that think to purchase so great happiness by their own right-
eousness. What a vain thought have men of their perform-
ances to think them a sufficient price to offer to God to pur-
chase such glory of him ! How would God dishonour himself,
and dishonour such riches of his own goodness, if he should
bestow them on men for their righteousness, and should ac-
cept their miserable performances as the price of them !
2. Your heart must be brought to close with him who has
purchased heaven. Renouncing all other ways, your heart
must entirely close with him, and adhere to him, as the way,
the truth, and the life. Your heart must be drawn to him,
and it must be pleasing and sweet to you to have heaven as a
free gift, as the fruit of mercy and saving grace, and you must
assuredly believe that Christ is a sufficient Saviour, and your
soul must acquiesce in the way of salvation by him, by his
blood and his righteousness, as a wise, holy, sufficient, and ex-
cellent way. Your heart must incline to Jesus Christ as a Sa-
viour above your own righteousness and all other ways. Your
delight must be in this holy way of salvation.
3. You must choose the God of heaven for your Portion.
You must be of the same temper and disposition with the
psalmist, who says, Ps. Ixxiii. 25, " Whom have I in heaven
but thee? and there is none on the earth whom I desire beside
thee." You must esteem and relish the enjoyment of him far
above all other things. You must be brought to see that there
is that in the enjoyment of God and communion with him that
is far better than all the i)rofits or pleasures of the world. It
must be so with you, that if you could have your choice of all
kinds of happiness you could devise, and have which you would,
and in what degree you would, to all eternity, this would be
what you would far prefer.
4. Your heart must be brought sincerely to close with the
employments of heaven. In heaven they are not idle, but they
are continually employed, and their employments are holy em-
ployments ; they spend their time wholly in holy exercises: in
contemplating on God, in praising and serving him. Rev. xxii.
3. " And there shall be no more curse : but the throne of God
SERMON viir. 277
and of the Lamb shall be in it ; and his servants shall serre
him." If ever you go to heaven, your heart must be brought
beforehand to such a temper as freely to choose such employ-
ments, you must have a relish of them, and must account them
excellent and delightful employments.
5. You must be pure in heart, and clean in hands. The pure in
heart alone shall see God. Matt. v. 8. They that shall ascend into
God's holy hill, are those that are of pure hearts and clean
hands. Ps. xxiv. 4. You must hate and abhor all sin, and allow
none in your life. Sin must become to you a great burden.
You must loathe yourself for it, and fight and strive against it, to
purge yourself more and more from it ; striving more and more
to mortify sin, earnestly desiring and seeking to be more holy,
more conformed to the will of God, and to walk more becoming
a Christian.
6. You must be brought to sell all for heaven. Matth. xiii. 44,
45, 46. Heaven must be to you like the treasure hid in a field ; or
like the pearl of great price. If you would have heaven, you
must take it as your whole portion ; you must in your heart part
with all other things for it, audit must be your manner actually
to part with them whenever they stand in the way of your get-
ting forward towards heaven. If you would have heaven, you
must sell your worldly profit and your credit, and the good will
of your neighbours, and your worldly pleasures and conve-
niences, and whatever stands in your way. Many flatter them-
selves that they shall obtain heaven without this, and think they
have aright to heaven, though they were never brought to this,
but they are sure to find themselves disappointed.
7. You must never expect to go to heaven in any other than
a strait and narrow way. Some expect to get heaven who are
not walking in a narrow way. The way they are walking in is
a way of indulging their ease and of shifting off the hard and
difficult parts of religion. It is not the way of self-denial, and
toil, and labouriousness, but they walk in a broad way, a way
wherein they are not pinched, but can go on without labour, or
watchfulness, or bearing the cross. But such as these, let their
hopes be what they may, and their profession what it may, and
their pretences to experiences what they may, are not like to
get to heaven. To some, the way that the scripture has laid out
is |too narrow and strait ; therefore they are endeavouring to
get to heaven, in a broad way, but it is in vain for you to contrive
this. If you can find out any way of getting to heaven that is
not a strait and narrow way, it will be a way that you are the
first inventor of. If you go thither, you must go in the way of
the footsteps of the flock. If you would go to heaven,^ou must
be content to go there in the way of self-denial and •ufferjiig»,
VOL. VIII. 36
273 SERMON VIII.
you must be willing to take up the cross daily and follow Christ,
and through much tribulation to enter into the kingdom of hea-
ven.
6. This subject furnishes ground of solemn exhortation to
the godly, to strive earnestly after holiness of life. What man-
ner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and god-
liness, who have received such infinite mercy of God, and enter-
tain such glorious hopes ; seeing God has admitted you to such
happiness, earnestly to labour that you may walk in some mea-
sure answerably ; seeing God has admitted you to the happiness
of children, walk as children. Eph. v. 1. Be ye therefore follow-
ers of God as dear children ; imitate your heavenly Father; bo
ye holy, for he is holy. Seeing that you are admitted to the bles-
sedness of disciples and friends of Jesus, and walk as the friends
of Christ, imitate your glorious Lord and head. Here consider
several things: particularly,
1. What great love God hath bestowed upon you in choosing
you to such unspeakable blessedness before the foundation of
the world. How wonderful was the love of God in giving his
Son to purchase this blessedness for you, and how wonderful was
the love of the Son of God in shedding his own blood to pur-
chase such glory for you ! how ought you therefore to live to God's
glory! Let me therefore beseech, by those great mercies of
God, that yougiveyourself up a living sacrifice, holy and accepta-
ble to God, which is your reasonable service. And be not slothful
in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Give the ut-
most diligence that you may keep all the commandments of
God : study that you may prove what is that good, and accepta-
ble, and perfect will of God ; study that in all things 3'ou may
be found approved, seeing God hath so loved you; strive ear-
nestly that you may bring forth the fruits of the love of God,
and seeing Christ hath so loved you, see that you love one an-
other ; let love be without dissimulation ; be ye kindly affectioned
one with another with brotherly love ; be of the same mind one
towards another, in honour preferring one another; have fer-
vent charity among yourselves. Seeing God hath mercy on
you, be ye merciful as your Father which is in heaven is mer-
ciful. Look not every one on his own things ; be pitiful, be
courteous ; be ready to distribute, willing to communicate ; be
kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another.
Christ hath thus loved you while an enemy ; therefore recom-
pense to no man evil for evil, but contrariwise blessing ; do
good to them that do evil to you. Such things as these become
those that are the heirs of the glory that we have heard of.
2. Consider how much above the world that blessedness is
which God has given ; how therefore ought you to live above
""**»<«^
SERMON VIII. 279
tlie world. God has redeemed you out of the world, and there-
fore do not live as though you had your portion in this life.
Live as pilgrims and strangers; as those that are not at home;
as fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God.
Be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by
the renewing of your mind. How dishonourable will it be to
you that God had so advanced and entitled you to such glory,
to set your heart upon the dust of the earth ; how you dishonour
the grace of God in giving you such blessedness ; and how will
you dishonour the blessedness that God has given, no more to
set your hearten it, and to set it so much on the world !
3. Consider what a vast difference has God made between
you and other men, how vastly different is your relative state
from theirs, how much more has God done for you than for
them. Seek therefore those things which are above, where
God is. Will it not be a shame if one that is entitled to such
glory conducts no better than a child of the devil ? Consider
it seriously ; and let it not be asked with reference to you,
Matth. V. 47, What do ye more than others ? Other men love
those that love them ; other men do good to those that do good
to them : walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called ;
and let it appear that you are of a spirit more excellent than
your neighbour ; n^anifest more love, and more meekness, and
more humility, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suf-
fering, forbearing one another in love ; walk worthy of the
Lord to all pleasing, strengthened with all might according to
his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering. Put ye
on as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,
kindness, gentleness of mind, meekness, long suffering, for-
bearing one another, forgiving one another; and let your light
so shine before men, that they, seeing your good works, njay
glorify your Father who is in heaven. Seeing God has given
you so much, God and men may well expect of you, that you
should be greatly distinguished in your life from other men.
SEBMOJV IX.
Matthew v. 8.
Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God.
God formerly delivered his law from mount Sinai, by an audible
voice, with the sound of a trumpet, with the appearance of devour-
ing fire, with thunders, and lightnings, and earthquakes. But the
principal discoveries of God's word and will to mankind were re-
served to be given by Jesus Christ, his own Son, and the Re-
deemer of men, who is the light of the world.
In this sermon of Christ, of which the text is a part, we hear
him delivering the mind of God also from a mountain. Here is
God speaking, as well as from mount Sinai, and as immediatel}',
but after a very diflerent manner. There God spake by a preter-
natural formation of sounds in the air; here he becomes incarnate,
takes on him our nature, and speaks, and converses with us, not
in a preternatural, awful, and terrible manner, but familiarly as
one of us. His face was beheld freely by all that were about him ;
his voice was human without those terrors which made the child-
ren of Israel desire that God might speak to them immediately
no more; and the revelation which he makes of God's word is
more clear and perfect, and fuller of the discoveries of spiritual
duties, of the spiritual nature of the command of God, of
our spiritual and true happiness, and of mercy and grace to
mankind. John i. 17. "For the law was given by 3Ioses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
This discourse of Christ on the mount seems principally levelled
against the false notions, and carnal prejudices that were at that
day embraced by the nation of the Jews ; and those benedictions,
which we have in the beginning of his sermon, were sayings that
were mere parodoxes totiiem, wholly contrary to the notions which
they had received. That he, who was poor in spirit, was blessed,
was a doctrine contrary to the received opinion of the world, and
especially of that nation, who were exceedingly ambitious of the
praise of men, and highly conceited of their own righteousness.
And that he was a blessed and happy man, who mourned for sin,
and live mortified to the pleasures and vanities of the world, was
contrary to their notions, who placed their highest happiness in
SERMON IX. 281
worldly and carnal things. So also that they who were meek,
were blessed, was another doctrine very contrary to their notions,
who were a very haughty, proud nation, and very revengeful, and
maintained the lawfulness of private revenge, as may be seen in
the 38th verse. Equally strange to them was the declaration
that they who hungered and thirsted after righteousness were happy ;
for they placed their happiness, not in possessing a high degree of
righteousness, but in having a great share of worldly good. They
were wont to labour for the meat that perisheth, they had no no-
tion of any such thing as spiritual riches, or of happiness in satis-
fying a spiritual appetite. The Jews were dreadfully in the dark
at that day about spiritual things. The happiness which they
expected by the Messiah was a temporal and carnal, and not a
spiritual happiness. Christ also tells them that they were blessed
who were merciful, and who were peace-makers; which was also a
doctrine that the Jews especially stood in need of at that day, for
they were generally of a cruel, unmerciful, persecuting spirit.
The truth which Christ teaches them in the text, that they were
blessed who were pure in heart, was a thing wholly beyond their
conceptions. The Jews at this time placed almost the whole of re-
ligion in external things, in a conformity to the rites and ceremo-
nies of the law of Moses. They laid great stress on tithing mint,
and anise, and cumin, and on their traditions, as in washing hands
before meat, and the like; but they neglected the weightier mat-
ters of the law, and especially such as respected holiness of heart.
They took much more care to have clean hands, and a clean out-
side, than a clean heart, as Christ tells them, Matth. xxiii. 25, 27.
*' Wo unto you, scribes, and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make
clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within ye are full
of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee ! cleanse first that
which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may
be clean also."
We may observe concerning the words of the text,
1. That Christ pronounces the pure in heart, blessed. Christ
here accommodates his instructions to the human nature. He
knew that all mankind were in the pursuit of happiness, he has di-
rected them in the true way to it, and he tells them what they must
become in order to be blessed and happy.
2. He gives the reason why such are blessed, or wherein the
blessedness of such consists ; that they shall see God. It is pro-
bable the Jews supposed that it was a great privilege to see God,
from those passages in the law, where there is an account of Moses'
earnestly desiring to see God's glory ; and from the account that
is given of the seventy elders, Exod. xxiv. 9, 10, 11, "Then
went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the
elders of Israel ; and they saw the God of Israel ; and there was
232 SERMON IX.
under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as
it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles
of the children of Israel he laid not his hand : also they saw
God, and did eat and drink."
It is also probable that they had very imperfect notions of what
the vision of God was, and of the happiness that consisted in it,
and that their notion of this matter, agreeably to the rest of their
carnal, childish notions, was of some outwardly splendid and glo-
rious sight, to please the eye and to entertain the fancy. From
these words I shall derive two propositions.
I. It is a truly blessed thing to the soul of man to see God.
II. To be pure in heart, is the certain and only way to attain
to this blessedness.
I. It is a truly blessed thing to the soul of man to see God.
Here I shall attempt to show,
1. What is meant by seeing God.
First. It is not any sight with the bodily eyes : the blessed-
ness of the soul does not enter in at that door. This would make
the blessedness of the soul dependent on the body, or the happi-
ness of man's superior part dependent on the inferior ; and this
would have confirmed the carnal and childish notions of the Jews.
God is a spirit, and is not to be seen with the bodily eyes. We
find it attributed to God, that he is invisible. Heb. xi. 27. " As
seeing him, who is invisible." Col. i. 15. "Who is the image of
the invisible God." It is mentioned as a part of God's glory, 1
Tim. i. 17, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the
only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen."
That it is not any sight with the bodily eyes, is evident, because
the unembodied, souls of the saints see God, and the angels also,
Vi'ho are spirits and were never united to bodies. Matth. xviii. 10.
" Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones : fori say
unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of
my Father which is in heaven."
It is not any form nor visible representation, nor shape, nor
colour, nor shining light, that is seen, wherein this great happi-
ness of the soul consists. Indeed God was wont to manifest him-
self of old in outward glorious appearances. There was a shining
light that was called the glory of the Lord. Thus the glory of
the Lord was said to descend on mount Sinai, and in the taber-
nacle of the congregation. There was an outward visible token
of God's presence, and the seventy elders, when they saw God in
the mount, saw a visible shape. It seems also that when Moses
desired to see God's glory, and when God passed by and covered
him with his hand in the cleft of the rock, that Moses saw some
visible glory. Exod. xxxiii. 18 — 23. "And he said, I beseech
thee show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my
goodness to pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name
SERMON IX. 283
of the Lord before thee ; and will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And
he said, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see
me and live." But it seems that God then condescended to the
infant state of the church, and to the childish notions that were
entertained in those days of lesser light ; and Moses' request
seems to have been answered, by God making his goodness to pass
before him, and proclaiming his name and giving him a strong ap-
prehension of the things contained in that name, rather than by
showing him any outward glory.
The saints in heaven will behold an outward glory as they are
in the human nature of Christ, which is united to the godhead, as it
is the body of that person who is God ; and there will doubtless
be appearances of a divine, and inimitable glory and beauty in
Christ's glorified body, which it will indeed be a refreshing and
blessed sight to see.
But the beauty of Christ's body as seen by the bodily eyes,
will be ravishing and delightful, chiefly as it will express his spiri-
tual glory. The majesty that will appear in Christ's body, will ex-
press and show forth the spiritual greatness and majesty of the di-
vine nature ; the pureness, and beauty of that light and glory
will express the perfection of the divine holiness ; the sweetness
and ravishing mildness of his countenance, will express his divine
and spiritual love and grace.
Thus it was when the three disciples beheld Christ at his trans-
figuration upon the mount. They beheld a wonderful outward
glory in Christ's body, an inexpressible beauty in his counte-
nance ; but that outward glory and beauty delighted them princi-
pally as an expression of the divine excellencies of his mind, as
we may see from their manner of speaking of it. It was the sweet
mixture of majesty and grace in his countenance, by which they
were ravished. 2 Peter i. 16, 17, IS. "We were eye witnesses
of his majesty. For he received from God the Father, honour
and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent
glory. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And
this voice which came from heaven we lieard, when we were with
him in the holy mount." But especially from the account which
John gives of it. John i. 14. "And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth;" where
John very probably had in his mind what he had seen in the mount
at the transfiguration. Grace and truth are not outward, but
spiritual, glories.
Secondly. It is an intellectual view by which God is seen. God
is a spiritual being, and he is beheld with the understanding.
The soul has in itself those powers which are capable of appre-
284 SERMON IX.
bending objects, and especially spiritual objects, without look-
ing through the windows of the outward senses. This is a
more perfect way of perception than by the eyes of the body.
We are so accustomed and habituated to depend upon our
•senses, and our intellectual powers are so neglected and disused,
that we are ready to conceive that seeing things with the bodily
eyes is the most perfect way of apprehending them. But it is
not so ; the eye of the soul is vastly more perfect than the eye
of the bod}^, yet it is not every apprehension of God by the un-
derstanding that may be called the seeing of him. As,
1st. The having an ap.prehension of God merely by hearsay.
If we hear of such a being as God, are educated in the belief
that there is such a being, are told what sort of being he is,
and what he has done, and are rightly told, and we give credit
to what we hear ; yet if we have no apprehension of God in
any other way, we cannot be said to see God in the sense of the
text. This is not the beatific sight of God.
2d. If we have an apprehension of God merely by specula-
tive reasoning. If we come to some apprehension of God's
being, and of his being Almighty, all-wise and good, by ratioci-
nation, that is not what the scripture calls seeing God. It is
some more immediate way of understanding and viewing that
is called sight ; nor will such an apprehension as this merely
ever make the soul truly blessed. Nor,
3d. Is every more immediate and sensible apprehension of
God, that seeing of him mentioned in the text, and that which
is truly beatific. The wicked spirits in the other world have
doubtless more immediate apprehensions of the being of God,
and of his power and wrath, than the wicked in this world.
They stand before God to be judged, they receive the sentence
from him, they have a dreadful apprehension of his wrath and
displeasure. But yet they are exceedingly remote from seeing
God, in the sense of the text.
But to see God, is this. It is to have an immediate, sensi-
ble, and certain understanding of God's glorious excellency and
love.
1st. There must be a direct and immediate sense of God's
glory and excellency. I say direct and immediate, to distin-
guish it from a mere perception that God is glorious and excel-
lent by means of speculative and distant argumentatioii, which
is a more indirect way of apprehending things. A true sense
of the glory of God is that which can never be obtained by
speculative ratiocination ; and if men convince themselves by
argument that God is holy, that never will give a sense of his
amiable and glorious holiness. If they argue that he is very
merciful, that will not give a sense of his glorious grace and
SERMON IX. 235
uiercy. It must be a more immediate, sensible discovery that
must give the mind a real sense of the excellency and beauty
of God. He that sees God, has a direct and immediate view
of God's great and awful majesty, of his pure and beauteous
holiness, of his wonderful and endearing grace and mercy.
2d. There is a certain understanding of his love, there is a
certain apprehension of his presence. He that beholds God, does
not merely see him as present by his essence, for so he is pre-
sent with all, both godly and ungodly. But he is more espe-
cially present with those whom he loves, he is graciously pre-
sent with them ; and when they see him, they see him, and
know him to be so; they have an understanding of his love t&
them ; they see him from love manifesting himself to them. He
that has a blessed-making sight of God, not only has a view of
God's glory and excellency, but he views it as having a pro-
perty in it ; he sees God's love to him ; he receives the testimo-
nies and manifestations of that love.
God's favour is sometimes in scripture called his face : Ps.^
cxix. 58, where it is translated, " 1 entreated thy favour with
my whole heart ;" it is in the original '■'■ thy face, ;''^ and God's
hiding his face, is a very common expression to signify his with-
holding the testimonies of his favour.
To see God, as in the text, implies the sight of him as glori-
ous and as gracious; a vision of the light of his countenance,
both as it is understood of the effulgence of his glory^ and the
manifestations of his favour and love.
The discoveries which the saints have in this world of the
glory and love of God, are often in scripture called the sight of
God. Thus it is said of Abraham, that he saw him who is in-
visible. Heb. xi. 27. So the saints are said to see as in a glass
the glory of the Lord. 2 Cor. iii. IS. " But we all with open
face, beholding, as in a glass, the glory of tlie Lord, are chang-
ed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spi-
rit of the Lord." Christ speaks of the spiritual knowledge of
God. John xiv. 7. " If ye had known me, ye would have known
my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have
seen him." The saints in this world have an earnest of whal
is future, they have the dawnings of future light.
But the more perfect view which the saints have of God's
glory and love in another world, is what is especially called the
seeing of God. Then they shall see him as he is. That light
which now is but a glimmering, v.ill be brought to clear sun-
shine ; that which is here but the davi'ning, will become per-
fect day.
Those intellectual views which will be granted in another werld,
are called seeing God.
VOL. VIII. 37 *
286 SERMON IX,
1st. Because the view will be very direct; as when we see things
with the bodily eyes. God, will, as it were, immediately discover
himself to their minds, so that the understanding shall behold the
glory and love of God, as a man beholds the countenance of his
friend. The discoveries which the saints here have of God's ex-
cellency and grace, are immediate in a sense ; that is, they do not
mainly consist in ratiocination ; but yet in another sense they are
indirect, that is, they are by means of the gospel, as through a
glass ; but in heaven God will immediately excite apprehensions
of himself, without the use of any such means.
2d. It is called seeing, because it will be most certain. When
persons see a thing with their own eyes, it gives them the greatest
certainty they can have of it, greater than they can have by any
information of others. So the sight that they will have in hea-
ven will exclude all doubting. The knowledge of God which the
saints have in this world, has certainty in it, but yet the certainty
is liable to be interrupted with temptations, and some degree of
doubtings, but there is no such thing in heaven. The looking at
the sun does not give a greater nor fuller certainty that it shines.
3d. It is called seeing, because the apprehension of God's glo-
ry and love is as clear and lively as when any thing is seen with
bodily eyes. When we are actually beholding any thing with our
eyes in the meridian light of the sun, it does not give a more lively
idea and apprehension of it than the saints in heaven have of the
divine excellency and love of God. When we are looking upon
things our idea is much more clear and perfect, and the impression
stronger on the soul, than when we only think of a thing absent.
But the intellectual views that the saints in heaven will have of
God, will have far the advantage of bodily sight, it will be a much
more perfect way of apprehending. The saints in heaven will
see the glory of the body of Christ after the resurrection with bo-
dily eyes, but they will have no more immediate and perfect way
of seeing that visible glory than they will of beholding Christ's
divine and spiritual glory. They will not want eyes to see that
which is spiritual, as well as we can see any thing that is corpo-
real; they will behold God in an ineffable, and to us now incon-
ceivable manner.
4th. The intellectual sight which the saints will have of God
will make them as sensible of his presence, and give them as great
advantages for conversing with liim, as the sight of the bodily
eyes doth an earthly friend ; yea, and more too ; for when we see
our earthly friends with bodily eyes, we have not the most full and
direct sight of their principal part, even their souls. We see the
qualities, and dispositions, and acts of their minds no otherwise
than by outward signs of speech and behaviour ; strictly speaking,
SERMON IX. 287
we do not see the man, the soul, at all, but only its tabernacle or
dtt'elling-.
But their souls will have the most clear sight of the spiritual
nature of God itself. They shall behold his attributes and dis-
position towards them more immediatel\', and therefore with great-
er certainty, than it is possible to see any thing in the soul of an
earthly friend by his speech and behaviour ; and therefore their
spiritual sight will give them greater advantage for conversing
with God, than the sight of earthly friends with bodily eyes, or
hearing them with our ears gives us for conversing with them.
2. 1 shall now give the reasons why the tlius seeing God is that
which will make the soul truly happy.
First. It yields a delight suitable to the nature of an intelli-
gent creature. God hath made man, and man only, of all the
creatures here below, an intelligent creature ; and his reason and
understanding are that by which he is distinguished from all infe-
rior ranks of beings. Man's reason is, as it were, an heavenly
ray, or, in the language of the wise man, it is " the candle of the
Lord." It is that wherein mainly consists the natural image of
God, it is the noblest faculty of man, it is that which ought to bear
rule over the other powers ; being given for that end, that it might
govern the soul.
Therefore those delights are most suitable to the nature of man,
that are intellectual, which result from the exercises of this noblest,
this distinguishing faculty. God, by giving man understanding,
made him capable of such delights, and fitted him for them, and
designed that such pleasures as those should be his happiness.
Intellectual pleasures consist in the beholding of spiritual ex-
cellencies and beauties, but the glorious excellency and beauty of
God are far the greatest. God's excellence is the supreme excel-
lence. When the understanding of the reasonable creature dwells
here, it dwells at the fountain, and swims in a boundless, bottom-
less ocean. The love of God is also the most suitable entertain-
ment of the soul of man, which naturally desires the happiness of
society, or of union with some other being. The love of so glo-
rious a being is infinitely valuable, and the discoveries of it are
capable of ravishing the soul above all other love. It is suitable
to the nature of an intelligent being also, as it is that kind of de-
light that reason approves of. There are many other delights in
which men indulge themselves, which, although they are pleasing
to the senses and inferior powers, yet are contrary to reason ;
reason opposes the enjoyment of them, so that unless reason be
suppressed and stifled, they cannot be enjoyed without a war in
the soul. Reason, the noblest faculty, resists the inferior rebel-
lious powers ; and the more reason is in exercise, the more will it
resist, and the greater will be the inward war and oppositiont
288 SERMON IX.
But ibis delight of seeing God the understanding approves of;
it is a thing most agreeable to reason that the soul should delight
itself in this, and the more reason is in exercise, the more it ap-
proves of it. So that when it is enjoyed, it is with inward peace,
.and a sweet tranquillity of soul ; there is nothin^^ in human nature
that is opposite to it, but every thing agrees and conforms to it.
Secondly. The pleasure which the soul has in seeing God, is
not only its delight, but it is at the same time its highest perfec-
tion and excellency. Man's true happiness is his perfection and
true excellency. When any reasonable creature finds that his ex-
cellency and his joy are the same thing, then he is come to right
and real happiness, and not before. If a man enjoys any kind of
pleasure and lives in it, how much soever he may be taken with
what he enjoys, yet if he be not the more excellent for his plea-
sures, it is a certain sign that he is not a truly happy man. There
are man}' pleasures that men are wont violently to pursue, which
are no part of tlieir dignity or perfection, but which, on the con-
trary, debase iIjc man and make him vile. Instead of rendering
the mind beautiful and lovely, they only serve to pollute it ; in-
stead of exalting its nature, they make it more a-kin to that of
beasts.
But it is quite the contrary with the pleasure that is to be en-
joyed in seeing God. To see God is the highest honour and dig-
nity to which the human nature can attain ; that intellectual be-
holding of him is itself the highest excellency of the understand-
ing, 'j^he great part of the excellency of man is his knowledge
and understanding; but the knowledge of God is the most excel-
lent and noble kind of knowledge.
The delight and joy of the soul in that sight are the highest ex-
cellenc}' of the other faculty, viz. the will. The heart of man
cannot be brought to a higher excellency than to have delight in
God, and complacency in the divine excellency and glory. The
soul, while it remains under the power of corruption and depra-
vity, cannot have any delight in God's glory; and when its moral
relish is so far changed that it is disposed to delight in it, it is
most excellently disposed ; and when it actually exercises delight
in God, it is the most noble and exalted exercise of which it is
capable. So that the soul's seeing of God, and having pleasure
and joy in the sight, is the greatest excellency of both the facul-
ties.
Thirdly. The happiness of seeing God is a blessing without
any mixture. That pleasure has the best claim to be called man's
true happiness, which comes unmixed, and without alloy. Butso
doth the joy of seeing God ; it neither brings any bitterness, nor
will it suffer any.
SERMON IX. 289
1. This pleasure brings no bitterness with it. That is not the
case with other delights, in which natural men are wont to place
their happiness; they are bitter sweets, yielding a kind of mo-
mentaiy pleasure in gratifying an appetite, but wormwood and
gall are mingled in the cup. He who plucks these roses, finds
that they grow on thorns; he who tastes of this honey is sure to
find in it a sting. ^ If men place their happiness in them, reason
and conscience will certainly give them inward disturbance in their
enjoyment. There will be the sting of continual disappointments,
for carnal delights are of such a nature that they keep the soul,
that places its happiness in them, always big with expectation and
in eager pursuit ; while they are evermore like shadows, and ne-
ver yield what is hoped for. They who give themselves up to
them, unavoidably bring upon themselves many heavy inconve-
niences. If they promote their pleasure in one way, they destroy
their comforts in many other ways; ahd this sting ever accompa-
nies them, that they are but siiort-lived, they will soon vanish, and
be no more.
And as to the pleasure found in the enjoyment of earthly friends,
there is a bitterness goes also with that. An intense love to any
earthly object, though it may afford high enjoyment, yet greatly
multiplies our cares and anxieties through the defects and blem-
ishes, the instability and changeableness of the object, the calami-
ties to which it is exposed, and the short duration of all such
friendships, and of the pleasures thence arising.
Some men take a great deal of pleasure in study, in the in-
crease of knowledge ; but Solomon, who had great experience,
long ago observed that this also is vanity, because he that increas-
eth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Eccles. i. 17, 18. " And I
gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly:
I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wis-
dom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth
sorrow." But the delight which the sight of God affords to the
soul, brings no bitterness with it, there is no disappointment accom-
panies it, it promises not more than it yields, but on the contrary
the pleasure is greater than could be imagined before God was
seen. It brings no sting of conscience along with it, it brings no
vexing care nor anxiety, it leaves no loathing nor disrelish be-
hind it.
There is nothing in God which gives uneasiness to him, who
beholds him. The view of one attribute adds to the joy that is
raised by another. A sight of the holiness of God, gives unspeak-
able pleasure to the mind, the idea of it is a perception beyond
measure the most delightful that can exist in a created mind. And
then the beholding of God's grace adds to this joy, for the soul
then considers that the Being who is so amiable in himself, is so
290 SERMON IX.
communicative, so disposed to love and benevolence. The view
of the majesty of God greatly heightens this joy : to behold such
grace and goodness, and such goodness and majesty united to-
gether. Especially will the sight of God's love to himself, the per-
son beholding, increase the pleasure, when he considers that so
great and glorious a being loves him, and is his God and friend.
Again, the beholding of God's infinite power will still add to the
pleasure, for he reflects that he, who is his friend, and loves him
with so great a love, can do all things for him. So the beholding
of his wisdom, because he thereby knows what is best for him,
and knows how so to order things, as shall make him most blessed.
So the consideration of his eternity and immutability; it will re-
joice him to think that his friend and his portion is an eternal, and
unchangeable friend and portion. The beholding of God's happi-
ness will increase the joy, to consider that he is so happy, who is
«o much the object of his love. That love of God, in those who
5hall see God, will cause them exceedingly to rejoice in the hap-
piness of God. Even the sight of God's vindictive justice will
add to their joy. This justice of God will appear glorious to
them, and will make them prize his love.
2d. This joy is without mixture, ^not only as it brings not bitter-
ness with it, but also as it will not suffer any. The sight of God
excludes every thing that is of a nature different from delight.
This light is such, as wholly excludes darkness.
It is not in the power of any earthly enjoyment, to drive and
shut out all trouble from the heart. If a man has some things in
which he takes comfort and pleasure, there are others that yield
him uneasiness and sorrow; if he has some things in the world
that are sweet there are others that are bitter, against which it is
not in the power of his pleasures to help him. We never can find
any thing here below that shall make us so happy, but that we
shall have grief and pleasure mixed together. This world, let us
make the best of it, will be spotted with black and white, varied
with clouds and sunshine, and to them who yield their hearts to it,
it will yield pain as well as pleasure. But this pleasure of seeing
God can suffer no mixture; for this pleasure of seeing God is so
great and strong that it takes the full possession of the heart, it fills
it perfectly full, so that there shall be no room for any sorrow, no
room in any corner for any thing of an adverse nature from joy.
There is no darkness that can bear such powerful light. It is impossi-
ble that they who see God face to face, who behold his glory and love
so immediately as they do in heaven, should have any such thing
as grief or pain in their hearts. When once the saints are come
into God's presence, tears shall be wiped from their eyes, and sorrow
and sighing shall flee away. The pleasure will be &o great, as fully
and perfectly to employ every faculty ; the sight of God's glory and
SERMON IX. 201
love will be so wonderful, so engaging to the mind, and it shall
keep all the powers of it in such strong attention, tliat the soul will
be wholly possessed and taken up.
Again. There will be in what they shall see, a sufficient an-
tidote against every thing that would afford uneasiness, or that can
have any tendency thereto. If there were sin in the heart before,
that used by its exercise to disturb its peace and quiet, and was a
seed and spring of trouble, the immediate and full sight of God's
glory will at once drive it all away. Sin cannot remain in the
heart which thus beholds God, for sin is a principle of enmity
against God ; but there can no enmity remain in one, who after
this manner sees God's glory. It must and will wholly drive away
any such principle, and change it into love. The imperfect sight
that the saints have of God's glory here, transforms them in part
into the same image ; but this perfect sight will transform them
perfectly. If there be the hatred of enemies, the vision of the
Jove and power of God will be a sufficient antidote against it ; so
that it can give no uneasiness. If the saint is removed by death
from all his earthly friends, and earthly enjoyments, that will give
no uneasiness to him, when he sees what a fulness there is in God.
He will see that there is all in him, so that he who possesses hint
can lo^e nothing : whatever is taken from him he sustains no loss.
And whatever else there may be, that would otherwise afford grief
and uneasiness to the soul, it cannot affect him who is in the pre-
sence of God and sees his face.
Fourthly. This joy of seeing God is the true blessedness of
man, because the fountain that supplies it is equal to man's desire
and capacity.
When God gave man his capacity of happiness, he doubt-
less made provision for the filling of it. There was some good
which God had in his eye, when he made the vessel, and made it
of such dimensions, which he knew to be sufficient to fill it ; and
doubtless that whatever it be, is man's true blessedness ; and
that good which is found not to be commensurate to man's capa-
city and natural desires, and never can equal it, is certainly not
that wherein man's happiness consists. Man's desires and capa-
cities are commensurate one with another. When once the capa-
city is filled, the soul desires no more.
Now in order to judge how great man's capacity is, we must
consider the capacity of his principal and leading faculty, viz. his
understanding. So great as is the capacity of that faculty, so
great is man's capacity of enjoyment ; so great a good as the soul
is capable of understanding, so great a good it is capable of en-
joying. As great a good as the soul is capable of comprehend-
ing in its perception and idea, so great a good is it capable of re-
292 SERMON IX.
ceiving with the other faculty, the will, which keeps pace with the
understanding ; and that good which the soul can receive with
both faculties, of that is it capable of being made the possessor and
enjoyer.
But it is easy to perceive that there is nothing here below that
can give men such delight as shall be equal to this faculty. Let
a man enjoy as great an affluence of earthly comforts as he will,
still there is room ; man's nature is capable of a great deal more,
there are certain things wanting to which the understanding can
extend itself, which he could wish were added.
But the fountain that supplies that joy and delight, which the
soul has in seeing God, is sufficient to fill the vessel, because it is
infinite. He that sees the glory of God, in his measure beholds
that of which there is no end. The understanding ma}' extend it-
self as far as it will ; it doth but take its flight into an endless ex-
panse, and dive into a bottomless ocean. It may discover more
and more of the beauty and loveliness of God, but it never will ex-
haust the fountain. The body of man may as well swallow up the
ocean, or his soul embrace immensity, as he can extend his facul-
ties to the utmost of God's excellency.
So in like manner it may be said of the love of God. We can
never by soaring and ascending, come to the height of it ; we
can never by descending come to the depth of it ; or by mea-
suring, know the length and breadth of it. Eph. iii. 18, 19.
"That ye maybe able to comprehend with all saints, what is the
breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; and to know the
love of Christ, which passeth knowledge; that ye might be filled
with all the fulness of God." So that let the thoughts and desires
extend themselves as they will, here is space enough for them, in
which they may expand for ever. How blessed therefore are they
that do see God, who are come to this exhaustless fountain ! They
have obtained that delight which gives full satisfaction; having
come to this pleasure, they neither do nor can desire any more.
They can sit down fully contented, and take up with this enjoy-
ment for ever and ever, and desire no change. After they have
had the pleasure of beholding the face of God millions of ages, it
will not grow a dull story; the relish of this delight will be as ex-
quisite as ever, there is enough still for the utmost employment of
every faculty.
Fifthhj. This delight in the vision of God hath an unfailing
foundation. God made man to endure for ever, and therefore
that which is man's true blessedness, we may conclude has a sure
and lasting foundation. As to worldly enjoyments, their founda-
tion is a sandy one that is continually wearing away, and certainly
will at last let the building fall. If we take pleasure in riches,
riches in a little while will be gone; if we take pleasure in gratify-
SERMON IX. 293
ing- our senses, those objects whence v\e draw our gratifications
will perish with the using ; and our senses themselves also will be
gone, the organs will be worn out, and our whole outward form
will turn to dust. If we take pleasure in union with our earthly
friends, that union must be broken ; the bonds are not durable,
but will soon wear asunder.
But he who has the immediate intellectual vision of God's glo-
ry and love, and rejoices in that, has his happiness built upon an
everlasting rock. Isaiah xxvi. 4. " Trust ye in the Lord for
ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." In the
Hebrew it is, " in the Lord Jehovah is the Rock of ages."
The glory of God is subject to no changes nor vicissitudes, it
will never cease to shine forth. History gives us an account of
the sun's light failing, and becoming more faint and dim for many
months together; but the glory of God will never be subject to
fade. Of the light of that Sun there never will be any eclipse or
dimness, but it will shine eternally in its strength. Isaiah Ix. 19.
" The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for bright-
ness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be
unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." So the
love of God, to those who see his face, will never fail, or be subject
to any abatement: he loves his saints with an everlasting love.
Jer. xxxi. 3. "The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying,
yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love : therefore with
loving kindness have I drawn thee." Those streams of pleasure
which are at God's right hand, are never dry, but ever flowing,
and ever full.
How much doth the sense of the sureness of this foundation
confirm and heighten the joy ! The soul enjoys its delight in a
sense of this, free from all fears and jealousies, and witli an un-
speakable quietness and assurance. Isaiah xxxii. 17. " And the
work of righteousness shall be peace ; and the eflect of righteous-
ness, quietness and assurance for ever."
From this part of the subject we may derive several important
and useful reflections.
1. Here we may see one instance wherein the revelation of Jesus
Christ excels all human wisdom. It was a thing that had been
beyond the wisdom of the world, to tell wherein man's true hap-
piness consisted ; there was a vast variety of opinions about it
among the wise men and philosophers of the heathen ; indeed on
no other subject was there so great difl'erence among them. If 1
remember right, there were several hundred difierent opinions
reckoned up respecting it, which shows that they were wofully in
the dark. Though there were many very wise men among them,
men famed through all succeeding ages for their knowledge and
VOL. VIII. 38
2:94 SERMON IX.
wisdom ; yet their reason was not sufficient to find out man's true
happiness.
We can give reasons for it now that it is revealed, and it seems
so rational, that one would think the light of nature sufficient to
discover it ; but we, having always lived in the enjoyment of gos-
pel light, and being accustomed to it, are hardly sensible how de-
pendent we are upon it, and how much we should be in tli€ dark
about things that now seem plain to us, if we never had had our
reason assisted by revelation.
God hath made foolish the wisdom of this world by the gospel.
1 Cor. i. 20. " Where is the wise .^ where is the scribe? where is
the disputer of this world .'' hath not God made foolish the wisdom
of this world ?" i. e. he hath shown the foolishness oftheir wisdom
by this brighter light of his revelation. For all that philosophy
and human wisdom could do, it was the gospel that first taught
the world wherein mankind's true blessedness consisted, and that
taught them the way to attain to it.
2. Hence v.^e learn the great privilege we have, who possess
such advantages to come to the blessedness of seeing God. We
have the true God revealed to us in the word of God, who is the
Being in the sight of whom this happiness is to be enjoyed. We
have the glorious attributes and perfections of God declared to
us. The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is discovered in
the gospel which we enjoy, his beauties and glories are ihere as it
were pointed forth by God's own hand to our view ; so that we
have those means which God hath provided for our obtaining those
beginnings of this sight of him which the saints have in this world,
in that spiritual 'knowledge which they have of God, which is ab-
solutely necessary in order to our having it perfectly in another
world.
The knowledge which believers have of God and his glory, as
appearing in the face of Christ, is the imperfect beginning of
this heavenly sight, it is an earnest of it, it is the dawning of the
heavenly light ; and this beginning must evermore precede, or
a perfect vision of God in heaven cannot be obtained ; and all
those that have this beginning, shall obtain that perfection also.
Great therefore is our privilege, that we have the means of this
spiritual knowledge. We may in this world see God as in a glass
darkly, in order to our seeing him hereafter face to face ; and
surely our privilege is very great, that he has given us that glass
from whence God's glory is reflected. We have not only the dis-
coveries of God's glory in the doctrines of his word, but we have
abundant directions how to act, so that we may obtain a perfect
and beatific sight of God ; of one of which we have in our text, and
of which I ghall speak particularly hereafter.
SERMON IX. 295
3. This Doctrine may lead us to a sense of the blessedness of
the heavenly state, and justly cause us to long after it. In heaven
the saints do see God, they enjoy that vision of him of which we
have been speaking in its perfection. All clouds and darkness
are there removed, the}' there behold the glory and love of God
more immediately, and with greater certainty, and a more strong
aiid lively apprehension, than a man beholds his friend when he is
with him and sees his face by the noon day sun, and with far
greater advantages for conversation and enjoyment.
Well may this make the heavenly state appear a blessed state to
us, and make us to breathe after it ; well may the consideration of
these things make the saints wait for and desire their happy
change; well may it make them long for the appearing of Christ.
This they know, that when he shall appear, they shall " see him
as he is." 1 John iii. 2. " Beloved, now are we the sons of God ;
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that
when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see him
as he is."
This may well be comforting to the saints under the apprehen-
sions of death, and it is a consideration sufficient to take away the
sting of it, and uphold them while walking through the midst of
that valley. This also ma}' well comfort and uphold them in all
troubles and difficulties they meet with here, that after a little
while they shall see God ; which will immediately dry up all tears,
and drive away all sorrow and sighing, and expel for ever every
darksome thought from the heart.
4. Hence we learn that a life of holiness is the pleasantest life in
this world, because in such a life we have the imperfect begin-
nings of a blessed and endless sight of God ; and so they have
somewhat of true happiness while here, they have the seeds of
blessedness sown in their souls, and they begin to shoot forth.
As for all others, those who do not live a holy life, they have
nothing at all of true happiness, because they have nothing of the
knowledge of God.
If. To be pure in heart, is the certain and only way to attain to
this blessedness.
We have shown what this seeing of God is, and have repre-
sented in some measure how great is the blessedness of so seeing
him ; and if what we have heard is believed and cordially received
by us, it will be sufficient to awaken our attention to any instruc-
tions from the word of God that are to point out the way to us
wherein we may attain to this blessedness.
If men should hear of some vast estate, or some rich hidden trea-
sure, and at the same time should hear of some very feasible way
in which they might make it all their own ; liovv ready would they be
to hear, with what eagerness would they listen to those who should
^
296 SERMON IX.
bring such news and give them such directions, provided they
had reason to believe that what was told them was true! We are
here told of a much truer and greater blessedness, than any trea-
sure of silver, and gold, and pearls can yield ; arid we are also told
of the way whereby we may assuredly become the possessors of it,
by him who certainly knows. 1 shall show,
1. What it is to be pure in heart.
2. That to be pure in heart, is the sure way to gain this bles-
sedness.
3. That it is the only way.
1. I shall /mquire, what it is to be pure in heart. Purity of
heart is here to be understood in distinction from a mere external
purity, or a purity of the outward actions and behaviour in those
things that appear to men in an external morality, and an out-
ward attendance on ordinances, and a profession of the true reli-
gion and pure doctrines, and a making an outward show and ap-
pearance of godliness.
Christ had very probably in our text an eye to the formality and
hypocrisy of the scribes, and Pharisees, and other great saints, as
they accounted themselves, and were accounted among the Jews.
These were exceedingly exact in their observance of the ordinan-
ces of the ceremonial lavr, they were careful not to deviate from it
in the least punctilio. For instance, how exact were they in observ-
ing the law of tithes ; they were careful to bring the tenth of the herbs
in their gardens as mint, anise, and cimiin. They were very careful
to keep themselves fron) all ceremonial uncleanness, and they even
added to the law in this particular; they were for being stricter and
purer than the- law required, and therefore made conscience of
washing their hands before every meal. They were very strict to
avoid conversing with the Samaritans ; they would not eat with
them, nor have any dealings with them,lest they should be defiled.
They used to say to other nations, " Stand by thyself, come not
nigh, for lam holier than thou." Tiiey looked upon themselves
only as pure, because they were the children of Abraham, and be-
cause they were circumcised, and attended the ceremonial law;
because they made clean the outside of the cup and the platter,
and because of their external purity, they looked upon themselves
as the peculiar favourites of heaven, and expected to be admitted
to see God when all the uncircumcised, and those that were notthe
children of Abraham, should be excluded.
But Christ corrects this their mistake, and teaches that such an
eternal purity will never give a man a title to this blessedness, for
it is purity of heart that is requisite in order to attain to it. Matt,
v. 20. " For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in
BO case enter into the kingdom of heaven."
SERMON IX. 297
However exact any man may be in the external observance of
moral, instituted duties, if he be careful to wrong no man, and can
say, as the young Pharisee did, " All these have I kept from my
youth," i. e. as to an external observance, if he be very strict in
keeping the Sabbath and in coming to the house of God, in at-
tending family and secret prayer, yet if he has not holiness of
heart, he is never like to see God. It is no reformation of man-
ners that is sufficient, but there must be a new heart, and a right
spirit. It is the heart that God requires. Prov. xxiii. 26. *' My
son, give me thine heart." It is the heart that God looks at.
However fair and pure an outside there may be, that may be very
pleasing to men, yet if there be not purity of heart, the man is
not at all the more acceptable to God. 1 Sam. xvi. 7. " But the
Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the
height of his stature ; because I have refused him ; for the Lord
seeth not as man seeth ; for man looketh on the outward appear-
ance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." If men outwardly be-
have well and speak well, yet it is not accepted without trying and
weighing the heart. Prov. xvi. 2. " All the ways of man are
clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the spirits." It is
the spirit which is the subject of this blessedness of seeing God,
and therefore the qualities of the spirit, and not so much those of
the outward man, are regarded.
Now the heart is said to be pure in the sense of the text.
First. With respect to the spiritual defilement from which it is
pure ;
Secondly. With respect to certain positive qualities that it is en-
dowed with.
The word pure, in its common acceptation, merely signifies
something negative, viz. the absence of all mixture or defilement ;
but in pureness of heart, as it is used in scripture, seems to be
implied both something negative and positive, not only the ab-
sence or removal of defilement, but also positive qualities, that
are called pure.
First. The heart is said to be pure with respect to the filthiness
from which it is pure. Sin is the greatest filthiness. There is
nothing that can so defile and render so abominable. It is that
which has an infinite abominableness in it; and indeed it is the
only spiritual defilement ; there is nothing else that can defile the
soul. Now there are none in this life who are pure from sin in
such a sense that there is no remainder, no mixture of sin. Prov.
XX. 9. " Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure
from my sin ?" So that if ihis were the requisite qualification,
none of the children of men would ever come to see God.
But the purity of heart with respect to sin, that may be obtain-
ed in this life, consists in the following things :
298 SERMON IX.
1st. Itimplies that the soulseesthe filthiness that there is in sin,
and accordingly abhors it. Sin, that is so filthy in itself, is be-
come so sensibly to the man whose heart is pure; he sees its odi-
ousness and deformity, and it is become nauseous to him.
To those animals which are of a filthy and impure nature, as
swine and dogs, ravens and vermin, those things that are filthy
and nauseous to mankind, do not seem at all disgusting ; but on
the contrary they love them, it is food that suits their appetites. It
is because they are of an impure and filthy nature ; the nature of
the animal is agreeable to such things. So it is with men of im-
pure hearts. They see no filthiness in sin, they do not nauseate
it, it is in no way uncomfortable to them to have it hanging about
them, they can wallow in it without any reluctance ; yea, they take
pleasure in it, it is their meat and their drink, because they are of
an impure nature. But he who has become pure in heart hates
sin ; he has an antipathy to it ; he does not love to be near it ; if
he sees any of it hanging about him, he abhors himself for it ; he
seems filthy to himself, he is a burden to himself, he abhors the
very sight of it, and shuns the appearance of it. If he sees sin
in others, it is a very unpleasant sight to him; as sin, and as
committed against God, it is grievous and uncomfortable to him
wherever he discovers it. It is because his heart is changed, and
God has given him a pure nature.
2d. It implies godly sorrowlfor sin. The pure heart has not
only respect to that spiritual filthiness that is present to abhor it
and shun it, but it has also respect to past sin. The consideration
of that grieves it ; it causes shame and sorrow to think that it
ever rejoiced in such defilement, that it ever was so abominable as
to love it and feed upon it. Every transgression leaves a filth be-
hind it upon the soul, and this remaining filth occasions pain to
the renewed and purified heart. By godly sorrow the heart ex-
erts itself against the filthiness of past sins, and does, as it were,
endeavour to cast it oft', and purge itself from it.
3d. It implies that sin is mortified in the heart, so that it is free
from the reigning power and dominion of it. Though the heart
is not perfectly free from all sin, yet a freedom is begun. Before,
spiritual filth had the possession of the heart, corruption had the
entire government of the soul, every faculty was so wholly defiled
by it, that all its acts were filthy, and only filthy, the heart was en-
tirely enslaved to sin.
But now the power of sin is broken, the strong bands by
which it was tied and fastened to the heart are in a great measure
loosed, so that corruption has no longer the possession and govern-
ment of the heart as before. The principal seat, the throne of the
heart, that was formerly possessed by corruption, is now purged,
and filthiness does now as it were only possess the inferior and
SERMON IX. 299
exterior parts of the soul. John xiii. 10. " He that Is washed
needeth not, save to wash his feet."
4th. The heart that is pure will be continually endeavouring to
cleanse itself from all remaining fdthiness. Though there be re-
mains of impurity, yet the new nature is so contrary to it that it
will never rest or be quiet, but will always be cleansing itself; like
a vessel of fermenting liquor, it will continue working, till it has
worked itself clear, and cast off all the fdih, and sediment. Or
like a stream of good water, if the water be in itself sweet and
good, however it may be defiled from the muddy banks, it will
refine as it runs, and will run itself clear again, but the fountain
that yields impure water will never cleanse itself So he who is
pure in heart will never suffer himself to live in any sin. If he
be overtaken in a fault he will return and cleanse himself again by
repentance, and reformation, and a more earnest care that he may
avoid that sin for the future.
The remaining corruption that is in his heart will be his great
and continual burden, and he will be endeavouring to cleanse him-
self more and more ; he will not rest in any supposed degree of
purit^', so long as he sees any degree of impurity remaining, but
he will be striving after progress in the mortification of sin and in
the increase of holiness.
5th. The heart is said to be pure, especially with respect to its
cleanness from, and opposition to, the lust of uncleanness. This
kind of wickedness we find to be more especially called unclean-
ness and filthiness in scripture ; it brings a peculiar turpitude upon
the soul, and defiles the temple of God. 1 Cor. iii. 17. " If any
man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy : for the
temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." Pureness in scrip-
ture is sometimes used only in this restrained sense, with respect
to freedom from fleshly impurities. So it seems to be, Philip, iv.
8. " Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things
are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of
good report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,
think on these things."
Now this sort of purity of heart is absolutely necessary in or-
der to our coming to see God. There must be a renunciation of
all impure and lascivious practices and conversation. They who
live in the indulgence of such a lust in one kind of practice or
another, or though it be only with their eyes or in their thoughts,
are of impure hearts, and shall never come to see God unless they
have new hearts given them.
They that have pure hearts, abhor and are afraid of such things.
Jude 23. They take heed that they do not prostitute their souls to
300 SERMOxN IX.
SO much as mental and imaginary, much less to practical, impuri-
ties, and works of darkness.
Secondly. The heart is said to be pure, in respect to its being
endowed with positive qualities, that are of a contrary nature to
spiritual filthiness.
Though purity in strictness be only a freedom from filth, yet
there are positive qualities of mind that seem to be implied in pu-
rity of heart; which may be reckoned a part of it, because of
their contrariety to filthiness. The heart by reason of them is
still more remote from defilement, as a greater light may be said
to be purer than a lesser ; for although the lesser light has no mix-
ture of darkness, yet the greater light is still more remote from
darkness.
1st. He is pure in heart, who delights in holy exercises. Those
exercises that are holy are natural and pleasant to him, he sees the
beauty there is in holiness, and that beauty has such strong influ-
ence upon his heart that he is captivated thereby. He delights in
the pure and holy exercise of love to God, in the fear of God, in
praising and glorifying God, and in pure and holy love to men.
He delights in holy thoughts and meditations. Those exercises of
the understanding that are holy, are most agreeable to him, and
those exercises of the will. Such inclinations, desires, and affec-
tions, are most delightful, which are spiritual and holy.
2d. He is pure in heart, who chooses and takes the greatest de-
light in spiritual enjoyment. A spiritual appetite is that which
governs in his soul, and carries him above the mean lust and defiled
enjoyments of this world, towards spiritual and heavenly objects.
The enjoyments. which he chooses and chiefly desires, such as see-
ing God and enjoying communion with him, are enjoyments of the
most refined and pure nature. He hungers and thirsts after the
pure light of the New Jerusalem.
2. To be pure in heart is the sure way to obtain the blessedness
of seeing God. This is the divine road to the blissful and glori-
ous presence of God, which, if we take it, will infallibly lead us
thither.
God is the giver of the pure heart, and he gives itfor this very end;
that it may be prepared for the blessedness of seeing him. Thus we
are taught in the scriptures. The people of God are sanctified, and
their hearts are made pure, that they may be prepared for glory,
as vessels are prepared by the potter for the use he designs. They
are elected from all eternity to eternal life, and have purity of
heart given them, on purpose to fit them for that to which they are
chosen. Rom. ix. 23. " And that he might make known the
riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore
prepared to glory."
SERMON IX. 301
We read of the church being arrayed in fine linen, clean and
white, by which is signified the church's purity; and it was to fit
it for the enjoyment of Christ. Rev. xix. 7, 8. " Lot us be glad
and rejoice, and give honour to him; for the marriage of the
Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready ; and to her
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and
white : for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints." And
in the xxi. chap. 2 verse, the church thus pui ified, is said to be as
a bride adorned for her husband. " And I, John, saw the holy
city, New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, pre-
pared as a bride adorned for her husband." Therefore if God
gives the pure heart to fit and prepare us for the vision of himselt',
he will obtain his own end; for who can prevent him from doing
what he purposes .''
God also hath promised it. He hath given his faithful word
for it in our text ; and totliesame purpose is Ps. xxiv. 3, 4. " Who
shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ^ and who shall stand in his
holy place .'^ He that halli clean hands, and a pure heart; who
hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. "
And again, Isaiah xxxiii. 15, 16, 17. " He that walketli righteous-
ly, and speaketh uprightly : he that despiseth the gain of oppres-
sion, thatshaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth
his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteih his eyes from seeing
evil; he shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall he the mu-
nition of rocks : bread shall be given him ; his water shall be sure.
Thine eyes shall seethe king in his beauty; they shall behold the
land that is very far ofl'."
3. Tliis is the only wa}' to come to this blessedness.
First. It is no way fit or suitable that those who have not pure
hearts, should be admitted to this privilege. It would be most un-
suitable for those who are all over defiled with the most loathsome
filth, to be admitted into the glorious presence of the King of hea-
ven and earth. It would not become the majesty of God, to allow
those who are so abominable to come into his blessed presence;
nor is it at all becoming his holiness, whereby he is of purer eyes
than to behold such pollution.
It becomes persons when they come into the presence of a king,
so to attire themselves, that they may not appear in a sordid habit,
and it would be much more unsuitable still, for any to come all de-
filed with filth ; but sin'is that which renders the soul much more
loathsome in the sight of God. This spiritual filth is of a nature
most disagreeable to that pure, heavenly light; it would be most
unsuitable to have the pollution of sin and wickedness, and the
light of glory, mixed together ; and it is what God never will suf-
fer. It would be a most unbecoming thing for such to be the ob-
jects of God's favour, and to see the love of God, and to receive
VOL. VI II. 39
302 SERMON IX.
the tesiimonies of that love. It would be most unsuitable for the
glorious and most blessed God to embrace in the arms of his love,
that that is infinitely more filthy than a reptile.
Secondly. It is naturally injpossible that the soul which is im-
pure, should see God. The sight of God's glory, and impurity
of heart, are not compatible in the same subject. Where spiritual
defilement holds possession of the heart, it is impossible that the
divine light which discovers God's glory, should enter. How can he,
who is under the power of enmity against God, and who only hates
God, see his beauty and loveliness at the same time ? Sin, so long
as it has the government and possession of the soul, will blind the
mind and maintain darkness. As long as sin keeps possession,
the heart will be blinded through its deceitfulness.
Thirdly. If it were possible for them to see God. they could
not find any blessedness in it. What pleasure would it give to
the soul that hates holiness, to see the holiness of God ; what
pleasure to them who are God's enemies, to see his greatness and
glory ! Wicked men have no relish for such intellectual, pure,
and hloy delights and enjoyments. As we have observed al-
ready, to have a relish for spiritual enjoyments, is one part of the
purity of heart spoken of in the text.
Fourthly. It is impossible that such should be the objects of
God's favour and complacence, and therefore they cannot have
this part of the blessed-making vision of God, viz. the seeing of
his love. It is impossible that God should take pleasure in wick-
edness, or should have complacence in the wicked, and therefore
they cannot have the blessed-making vision of God, for seeing the
love of God is an essential part of it. If a man sees how glori-
ous God is, and. has not this consideration with it, that he has a
property in this glory of God ; if he cannot consider this glori-
ous being as his friend ; if he takes no pleasure in him, but, on
the contrary, loathes and abhors him, the sight of God will be to
him no blessedness.
APPLICATION.
1. Hence we learn how great a thing it is to be an upright and
sincere Christian ; for all such are pure in heart, and stand enti-
tled to the blessedness of seeing the most high God. The time is
coining when they shall assuredly see him ; they shall see him who
is infinitely greater than all the kings of the earth ; they shall see
him face to face, shall see as much of his glory and beauty as the
eyes of their souls are capable of beholding. They shall not only
see him for a few moments, or an hour, but they shall dwell in his
presence, and shall sit down for ever to drink in the rays of his
glory. They shall see him invested in all this majesty, with smiles
SERMON IX. 303
and love in his countenance ; they shall see him, and converse
with him, as their nearest and best friend.
Thus shall they see him soon. The intervening moments fly
swiftly, the time is even at the door, when they shall be admitted
to this blessedness.
2. Let the consideration of this subject put us all upon inquir-
ing, whether we ourselves are pure in heart. Is our religion of
that kind which has its seat chiefly in ihe heart, or doth it chiefly
consist in what is outward in morality and formality ? Have we
ever experienced a change of heart ; have we a right spirit re-
newed within us ; have we ever seen the odiousness and filthiness
that there is in sin; is it what we hate, wherever we see it; and
do we especially hate it in ourselves, and loath ourselves for it;
is it the object of our hatred as sin, and as it is against God ?
And are there any that now hear me, who think themselves to
be Christians, who do yet, either in their imaginations and thoughts,
or in any secret practice, allow and indulge the lust of unclean-
ness, and live in such away ? If it be so, they had great need to
bethink themselves whether or no they are not of that generation
that are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not cleansed from their
filthiness. If they imagine that they are pure in heart, and live
in such wickedness, their confidence is vain presumption. In-
quire whether holy exercises and holy employments are the delight
of your soul, and what you take pleasure in above all other things
in vvlrich you can be engaged. Are the enjoyments that you
choose, and take the greatest delight in, spiritual and heavenly en-
jo3'ments ? Is the seeing of God, and conversing with him, and
dwelling in his presence for ever, what you should of your own
accord choose above all other things ?"
3. I would earnestly exhort those who hear me, to make to
themselves a pure heart. Though it be God's work to give it,
yet it is as truly your work to obtain it; though it be God's work
to purify the heart, yet the actual, or rather the active procuring
of it is your act. All pure and holy exercises are man's acts, and
they are his duty. Therefore we are commanded to make us a
new heart, and a right spirit. Ezek. xviii. 31. " Cast away from
you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed, and
make you a new heart and a new spirit ; for why will ye die .'"'
We must not think to excuse ourselves by saying that it is
God's work, that we cannot purify our own hearts; for though it
be God's work in one sense, yet it is equally our work in another.
James iv. 8. " Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-
minded." If you do not engage in this work yourselves, and
purify your own hearts, they n^ver will be pure. If you do not
304 SERMON IX.
get a pure heart, the blame of it will be laid to your own back-
wardness. The unclean soul hates to be |)urified ; it is oppo-
site to its nature; there is a ^reat deal of self-denial in it. But
be content to contradict the nature and bent of your own heart,
that it may be purified; however grating it may be to you at
first, yet consider how blessed the issue will be. Though the
road be a little rough in the beginning, yet it will grow plea-
santer and |)leasanter, till at last it will infallibly lead to that
lightsome and glorious country, the inhabitants of which do see
and converse with God. Prov. iv. 18. " But the path of the
just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the
perfect day." If you would be in the way to have a pure heart,
1. Purify your hands : cleanse yourself from every external
impurity of speech and behaviour ; take heed that you never
defile your hands in known wickedness ; break off all your sins
by righteousness ; and take heed that you do not give way to
impure lusts that would entice to sinful actions. If you set
about the work of cleansing yourself, but when a temptation
comes then plunge yourself into the mire again, you never will
be likely to become pure; but you must be steady in your
reformation and the amendment of your ways and doings.
2. Take heed you do not rest in external purity, but seek
purity of heart in the ways of God's appointment; seek it in a
constant and diligent attendance on all God's ordinances.
3. Be often searching your own heart, and seek and pray
that you may see the filthiness of it. If ever you are made
pure you must be brought to see that you are filthy ; you must
see the plague and pollution of your own heart.
4. Beg of God that he would give you his holy Spirit. It is
the Spirit of God that purifies the soul, 'i'herefore the Spirit
of God is often compared to fire, and is said to baptize with fire.
He cleanses the heart, as fire cleanses the metals ; and burns
up the filth and ))ollution of the mind, and is therefore called
the spirit of burning. Isai. iv. 4. *' When the Lord shall have
washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have
purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the
spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning."
SERMOX X.
THANKSGIVING SERMON, Nov. 7, 1734.
Rev. xiv. 2.
And Iheard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, and as
the voice of a great thunder, and I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps.
We may observe in these words, (1.) What it was that John
heard, viz. the voice and melody of a company praising God.
It is said in the next verse that they sung a new song before
the throne. (2.) Whence he heard this voice, "Iheard," says he,
" a voice from heaven." This company that he heard praising
God was in heaven. It is said in the following verse, " They
sung this song before the throne, and before the four living crea-
tures, and the elders: but the throne of God, and the four living
creatures, and the four and twenty elders, are all represented
in these visions of John, as being in heaven. So that this voice
was the voice of the heavenly inhabitants, thevoice of the bless-
ed and glorious company that is in heaven, before the throne of
God there. (3.) The kind of voice, which is here set forth in
a very lively and elegant manner; it is said to be as the voice
of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, and as
thevoice of harpers harping with their harps. Hereby several
things are represented in a very striking manner. 1. The dis-
tance of the voice. 2. That it was the voice of a vast and in-
numerable multitude : so that it was as the voice of many wa-
ters. How naturally does this represent the joint, continual,
and loud voice of a vast multitude at a distance, that it resem-
bled the voice of many waters. 3. The loudness of the voice.
It was as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great
thunder; which describes the extraordinary fervency of their
praises, and how lively and vigorous they were therein, and how
that every one praised God with all his might. They all, join-
ing together, sung with such fervency, that heaven did as it were
ring with their praises. The noise of thunder, and the roaring
of many waters, are the most great and majestic sounds ever
heard upon earth, and are often spoken of in the scriptures as
306 SERMON X.
the mightiest sounds. John could not distinctly hear what they
sang, but they being in heaven, at a great distance, he knew
not what better to compare it to, than to the roaring of the
sea, or a great thunder. Yet, 4. It was a melodious sound,
signified by this expression, I heard the voice of harpers harp-
ing with their harps. The harp was a stringed instrument,
that David made much use of, in praising God. John repre-
sents the matter thus to us. That the voice which he heard, be-
ing at a great distance, it was indistinct; and being of such a
vast multitude, and such a mighty fervent voice, that it seemed
in some measure like distant thunder, or the roaring of water,
and yet he could perceive the music of the voice at the same
time: though it was in some respects as thunder and the noise
of water, yet there was a sweet and excellent melody in it. In
short, though these comparisons of which John makes use, to
signify to us what kind of a voice and sound it was that he
heard, are exceedingly lively and elegant ; yet this seems to be
evident from them, that what he heard was inexpressible, and
that he could find nothing that could perfectly represent it.
That a voice should be as the voice of many waters, and as the
voice of a great thunder, and yet like the voice of harpers, is
to us not easily to be conceived of. But the case was, that John
could find no earthly sound that was sufficient to represent it;
and therefore such various and different similitudes are aggre-
gated and cast together to represent it. But thus much seems
to be signified by it, that it seemed to be the voice of an innu-
merable multitude, and that they were exceedingly fervent and
mighty in their praises : that the voice of this multitude was very
great, and exceedingly full of majesty, and yet a most sweet and
melodious voice at the same time.
Doctrine. The work of the saints in heaven doth very much
consist in praising God.
I. Proposition. The saints in heaven are employed ; they are
not idle ; they have there nmch to do : they have a work before
them that will fill up eternity.
We are not to suppose, when the saints have finished their
course and done the work appointed them here in this world,
and are got to their journey's end, to their Father's house, that
they will have nothing to do. It is true, the saints when they
get to heaven, rest from their labours and their works follow
them. Heaven is not a place of labour and travail, but a place
of rest. Heb. iv. 9. There remaineth a rest for the people of
God ; and it is a place of the reward of labour. But yet the
rest of heaven does not consist in idleness, and a cessation of
all action, but only a cessation from all the trouble and toil and
tediousncss of action. The most perfect rest is consistent with
SERMON X. 307
being continually employed. So it is in heaven. Though the
saints are exceedingly full of action, yet their activity is perfect-
ly free from all labour, or weariness, or unpleasantness. They
shall rest from their work, that is from all work of labour and
self-denial and grief, care and watchfulness, but they will not
cease from action. The saints in glory are represented as em-
ployed in serving God, as well as the saints on earth, though it
be without any difficulty or opposition. Rev. xxii. 3. "And
there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of
the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him." Yea,
weare told, that they shall serve God day and night, that is, con-
tinually or without ceasing; Rev. vii. 15. "Therefore are
they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in
his temple." And yet this shall be without any manner of
trouble, as it follows in the next verse. " They shall hunger no
more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on
them nor any heat." In this world saints labour as it were, in
the wearisome heat of the sun, but there, though they shall still
serve God, yet shall the sun not light on them nor any heat.
In one sense, the saints and angels in heaven rest not day nor
night. Rev. iv. S ; that is, they never cease from their blessed
employment. Perfection of happiness does not consist in idle-
ness, but on the contrary, it very much consists in action. The
angels are blessed spirits, and yet they are exceedingly active
in serving God. They are as a flame of fire, which is the most
active thing that wc see in this world. God himself enjoys in-
finite happiness and perfect bliss, and yet he is not inactive, but
is himself in his own nature a perfect act, and is continually at
work in bringing to pass his own purposes and ends. That
principle of holiness that is in its perfection in the saints in hea-
ven, is a most active principle ; so that though they enjoy per-
fect rest, yet they are a great deal more active than they were
when in this world. In this world they were exceedingly dull
and heavy, and inactive, but now they are a flame of fire. The
saints in heaven are not merely passive in their happiness.
They do not merely enjoy God passively, but in an active man-
ner. They are not only acted upon by God, but they mutually
act towards him, and in this action and re-action consists the
heavenly happiness.
II. Propoi,ition. Their employment consists very much in
praising God.
John the beloved disciple had often visions of heaven, and in
almost every instance had a vision of the inhabitants as praising
God. So in the fourth chapter he tells us that he looked, and
behold a door was opened in heaven, and he was called up
thither, and that he saw the throne of God and him that sat on
308 SERMON X.
the throne, and there he gives us an account how those that were
round about the throne were praising God ; the four living creatures
rest not day nor night, saying. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Al-
mighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those living
creatures give glory and honour and thanks to him, the four and
twenty elders fall down before him and worship him, &-c. &.c.
Again in the fifth chapter, we have an account how they sing
praises to Christ, 8, 9, &lc. And so in the seventh chapter, 9, 10,
11,12, vs. And in the eleventh chapter, 16, 17, vs. And in
the twelfth chapter, 10th, v. And in the fifteenth chapter, 2, 3,
4, vs. And in the beginning of the nineteenth chapter we have
an account how the hosts of heaven sing hallelujahs to God. By
all which it most evidently appears, that their work very much
consists in praising God and Christ. We have but a very imper-
fect knowledge of the future state of blessedness, and of their em-
ployment: without doubt they have various employments there.
We cannotreasonably question butthayareemployed in contributing
to each other's delight. They shall dwell together in societ\'. They
shall also probably be employed in Contemplating on God, his glo-
rious perfections, and glorious works, and so gaining knowledge
in these things. And doubtless they will be employed many
ways, that we now know nothing of: but this we may determine,
that much of their employment consists in praising God, and that
for the following reasons.
1. Because they there see God. This is a blessedness promi-
sed to the saints that they shall see God. Matth. v. 8. That they
see God, sufficiently shows the reason why they praise him. They
that see God cannot but praise him. He is a Being of such glory
and excellency, -that the sight of this excellency of his will neces-
sarily influence them that behold it to praise him. Such a glorious
sight will awaken and rouse all the powers of the soul, and will
irresistibly impel them, "and draw them into acts of praise. Such
a sight enlarges their souls, and fills them with admiration, and
with an unspeakable exultation of spirit.
'Tis from the little that the saints have seen of God, and know
of him in this world, that they are excited to praise him in the de-
gree they do here. But here they see but as in a glass darkly ;
they have only now and then a little glimpse of God's excellency ;
but then they shall have the transcendent glory and divine excel-
lency of God set in their immediate and full view. They shall
dwell in his immediate glorious presence, and shall see face to
face. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. Now the saints see the glory of God but by
a reflected light, as we in the night see the light of the sun reflect-
ed from the moon, but in heaven they shall directly behold the
Sun of Righteousness, and shall look full upon him when shining
in all his glory. This being the case, it can be no otherwise, but
SERMON X. 30g
that they should very much employ themselves in praising God.
When they behold the glorious power of God, they cannot but
praise that power : when they see God's wisdom that is so won-
derful and infinitely beyond all created wisdom, they cannot but
continually praise that wisdom ; when they view the infinitely
pure and lovely holiness of God, whereby the heavens themselves
are not pure in comparison with Him, how can they avoid with
an exalted heart to praise that beauty of the divine nature ! When
they see the infinite grace of God, and see what a boundless ocean
of mercy and love he is, how can they but celebrate that grace
with the highest praise !
2. They will have another sense of the greatness of the fruits
of God's mercy than we have here in this world. They will not
only have a sight of the glorious attributes of God's goodness and
mercy in their beatific vision of God, but they will be sensible of
the exceeding greatness of the fruits of it ; the greatness of the be-
nefits that he has bestowed. They will have another sense of the
greatness and manifoldness of the communications of his goodness
to his creation in general. They will be more sensible how that
God is the fountain of all good, the Father of Lights, from whom
proceeds every good and perfect gift. We do now but little con-
sider, in comparison with what we should do, how full the world is
of God's goodness, and how it appears in the sun, moon, and
stars, and in the earth and seas, with all their fulness, and where-
soever we turn our eyes, and how all ranks and orders of being,
from the highest angel to the lowest insect, are dependent upon,
and maintained by, the goodness of God. These the saints in
heaven clearly see ; they see how the universe is replenished with
his goodness, and how the communications of his goodness are in-
cessantly issuing from God as from an everflowing fountain, and
are poured forth all around in vast profusion into every part of
heaven and earth, as light is every moment diffused from the sun.
We have but faint imperfect notions of these things, but the saints
in heaven see them with perfect clearness. They have another
sense of the greatness of God's goodness to mankind, and to the
Church, and to them in particular, than any of us have. They
have another sense of the greatness of God's goodness in the tem-
poral mercies which God bestowed upon them while they were
here in this world, though they know that spiritual mercies are in-
finitely greater. But especially they have an immensely greater
sense of the exceeding greatness of the fruits of God's grace and
mercy bestowed in redemption. They have another sense how great
a gift the gift of God's only begotten Son is. They have another
sense of the greatness and dignity of the person of Christ, and
how great a thing it was for him to become man, and how great a
thing it was for him to lay down his lite, and to endure the shame-
VOL. VIII. 40
310 SERMON X.
ful and accursed death of the cross. They have another sense
how great the benefits are that Christ has purchased for men, how
great a mercy it is to have sin pardoned, and to be delivered from
the misery of hell. They have another sense how dreadful that
misery is, for the damned are tormented in the presence of the
holy angels and saints, and they see the smoke of their torment ;
and have another sense what eternity is, and so are proportionably
more sensible how great a mercy it is to be delivered from that
torment. They have another sense how great a fruit of God's
grace it is to be the children of God, and to have a right and ti-
tle to eternal glory. They are sensible of the greatness of the
benefits that Christ has purchased, by their experience ; for they
are in possession of that blessedness and glory that he has pur-
chased; they taste the sweetness of it : and therefore they are
more sensible what cause they have to praise God for these things.
The grace and goodness of God in the work of redemption, ap-
pears so wonderful to them, that their thoughts of it do excite
them to the most ardent praise. When they take a view of the
grace of God and of the love of Christ in redemption, they
see that there is cause that they should exert the utmost of their
capacities, and spend an eternity in praising God and the Lamb.
It is but a very little that we at best can conceive of the greatness
of the benefits of redemption, and therefore we are but little aifect-
ed by it, and our praises for it are low and dull things.
3. Another reason is, they will be perfect in humility. In order
to a person's being rightly disposed to the work of praise, he
must be a humble person. A proud person is for assuming all
praise to himself, and is not disposed to ascribe it to God, It is
humility only that will enable us to say from the heart, " Not
unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name be the glory."
The humble person admires the goodness and grace of God to
him. He sees more how wonderful it is that God should take
such notice of him, and show such kindness to him, that is so
much below his notice. Now the saints in heaven have this grace
of humility perfected in them. They do as much excel the saints
on earth in humility as in other graces. Though they are so
much above the saints on earth in holiness and in their exalted
state, yet they are vastly more humble than the saints on earth be.
They are as much lower in humility as they are higher in honour
and happiness. And the reason of it is that they know more of
God; they see more of his greatness and infinite highness, and
therefore are so much the more sensible of their own comparative
nothingness. They are the more sensible of the infinite difier-
ence there is between God and them ; and therefore are more sen-
sible how wonderful it is that God should take so much notice of
them, to have such communion with them, and give them such a
SERMON X. $11
full enjoyment of him. They are far more sensible what un-
worthy creatures they have been, that God should bestow such
mercies upon them, than the saints on earth. They have a
greater sight of the evil of sin. They sec more what filthy
vile creatures they were by nature, and how dreadfully they
provoked God by actual sin, and iiow they have deserved God's
hatred and wrath. The saints in heaven have as much greater
a sense of their unworthiness in their natural state than the
saints on earth, as they have a greater sense of God's glorious
excellency, for it is the sight of God's excellency which gives
them a sight of their own unworthiness. And therefore they
do proportionally admire the love of God to them in giving
Christ to die for them, and the love of Christ in being willing
to offer himself for their sins; and of the wonderful mercy of
God in their conversion, and bestowing eternal life upon them.
The humble sense the saints have of their own unworthiness
doth greatly engage and enlarge their hearts in praise to him
for his infinite Uicrcy and grace.
4. Their love to God and Christ will he perfect. Love is a
principal ingredient in the grace of thankfulness. There is a
counterfeit thankfidness in which there is no love. But there
is love in exercise in all sincere thankfulness. And the greater
any person's love is, the more will he be disposed to praise.
Love will cause him to delight in the work. He tliat loves
God, proportionably seeks the glory of God, and loves to give
him glory. Now the hearts of the saints in heaven are all, as
it were, a pure flame of love. Love is the grace that never
faileth ; whether there be prophesies, they shall fail, whether
there be knowledge it shall vanish away. Faith shall cease in
vision, and hope in fruition, but love never faileth. The grace
of love will be exalted to its greatest height and highest perfec-
tion in heaven ; and love will vent itself in praise. Heaven
will ring with praise, because it is full of love to God. This is
the reason that great assembly, that innumerable host, praise
God with Fuch ardency, that tlieir praise is as the voice of ma-
ny waters, and as the mighty thunderings, because they are
animated by so ardent, vigorous, and powerful a principle of
divine love.
APPLICATION.
L This subject may be applied in the way of INSTRUCTION.
1. Hence we may learn the excellency of this work of prais-
ing God. That it is a most excellent employment, appears,
because it is a heavenly employment. It is that work wherein
the saints and angels are continually employed.
312 SERMON X.
If we sincerely and frequently praise God, we shall therein
be like the heavenly inhabitants, and join with them.
That it is the work of heaven shows it to be the most hon-
ourable work. No employment can be a greater honour to a
man, than to praise God. It is the peculiar dignity of the na-
ture of man, and the very thing wlierein his nature is exalted
above things without reason, and things without life; that he
is made capable of actively glorifying his Creator. Other crea-
tures do glorify God ; the sun, moon, and stars, and the earth
and waters, and all the trees of the field, and grass and herbs,
and fishes and insects, do glorify God. Psa. xix. 1 — 6. Job
xii. 7, 8. But herein is the peculiar dignity of the nature of
man, that he is capable of glorifying him as a cause, by coun-
sel, understandingiy and voluntarily, which is a heavenly work.
2. This doctrine may give us an idea of the glorious and hap-
py state of the saints in heaven. It shows how joyfully and
gloriously they spend their time. Joy is a great ingredient in
praise. There is an exultation of spirit in fervent praise.
Praise is the most joyful work in the world. And how joyful a
society are they that join together, so many thousands and mil-
lions of them, with one heart and one soul, to sing a new song
before the throne, that fill heaven with their glorious melody !
How joyful they are in their work, appears in the text, by their
fervency in it, so that their voices resounded as the voice of ma-
ny waters, and as the voice of a great thunder. What ineffa-
ble joy was there in those harpers whom John heard harping
with their harps !
This shows how different a state the saints are in in heaven,
from what they are in this world. Here much of the work to
which the saints are called, consists in labouring, in fighting,
in toilsome travelling in a waste howling wilderness, in mourn-
ing and suffering, and in offering up strong crying and tears.
But there in heaven, their work continually is to lift up their
joyful songs of praise.
This world is a valley of tears, a world filled with sighs and
groans. One is groaning under some bodily pain, another is
mourning and lamenting over a dear departed friend ; another
is crying out by reason of the arm of the oppressor. But in
heaven there is no mixture of such sounds as these : there is
nothing to be heard amongst them but the sweet and glorious
melody of God's praises. There is an holy cheerfulness to be
seen throughout that blessed society. Kev. xxi. 4. " And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no
more death, neither sorrow nor crying." They shall never
have any thing more to do with sighing and crying ; but their
eternal work henceforward shall be praise.
SERMON X. 313
This should make us long for heaven, where they spend their
time so joyfully and gloriously. The saints especially have
reason to be earnestly breatiiing after that happy state, wliere
they may in so joyful a manner praise God.
3. This may put natural persons upon reflecting on their own
state, that they have no part nor lot in this matter. You are an
ahen from the commonwealth of Israel. You are not one of
the people of God. You do not belong to their society, that are
to spend their eternity after that joyful manner, which you have
now heard. You ha\e no right nor portion in heaven. If you
hereafter come and offer yourself to be admitted into this bless-
ed society, in your present state ; if you come and try to be ad-
mitted you will be thrust out ; you will be driven away. If you
come and knock, and cry to be admitted to the wedding, saying,
IjO}-(/, Lord open unto its, all will be to no purpose ! You
will hear no other word except Depart! You shall be shut
out into outer darkness. You shall not be permitted to
sing among the children, but shall be driven out, to howl
among dogs. Rev. xxii. 14, 15. "Blessed are they that do his
commandments, that they uiay have a right to the tree of life,
and may enter in through the gates into the city; for without
are dogs," he. You are in danger of spending eternity, not
in joyfully singing praises, but in a quite contrary manner; in
weeping, in wailing, and gnashing of teeth; and blaspheming
God, because of your pains, and because of your plagues. You
shall see others coming from the east, and the west, and sitting
down, with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of
God: taking their places among that blessed, happy society,
and joining their voices in their heavenly music. But you see
your lot ; you shall have other v/ork to do. Isa. Ixv. 14. " Be-
hold my servants shall sing for joy of heart; but ye shall cry
for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit."
II. In the way of Exhortation. — If it be so that praising
God is very much the employment of heaven, hence let all be
exhorted to the work and duty of praising God. The following
considerations will show why we should be stirred up by this
doctrine to this work.
1. Let it be considered that the church on earth is the same
society with those saints who are praising God in heaven.
There is not one church of Christ in heaven, and another here
upon earth. Though the one be sometimes called the church
triumphant, and the other the church militant, yet they are not
indeed two churches. By the church triumphant, is meant the
triumphant part of the church ; and by the church militant, the
militant part of it : for there is but one universal or Catholic
ehurch. Cant. vi. 9. '* My dove, my undefilcd, is but one."
814 SERMON X.
Christ has not two mystical bodies. 1 Cor. xii. 12. "The body
is one, and hath many members." The glorious assembly and
the saints on earth make but one family. Eph. iii. 15. *' Of
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." Though
some are in heaven, and some on earth, in very different cir-
cumstances, yet they are all united : for there is but one body,
and one spirit, and one Lord Jesus Christ. One God and Father
of all, who is above all and through all, and in all. God hath in
Christ united the inhabitants of heaven, and the holy inhabi-
tants of this earth, and hath made them one. Eph. i. 10. " That
in the dispensation of the fulness of time, he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven,
and which are on earth, even in him." Heaven is at a great
distance from the earth : it is called a. far country. Matth. xxv.
14. Yet the distance of place does not separate them so as to
make two societies. For though the saints on earth, at pre-
sent, are at a distace from heaven, yet they belong there ; that
is their proper home. The saints that are 'in this world are
strangers here; and therefore the Apostle reproved the Chris-
tians in his day, for acting as though they belonged to this
world. Col. ii. 20. " Why as though living in the world, are
ye subject to ordinances .^"
Some of a people may be in their own land, and some in a
strange land ; and yet be but one people. Some of a family
may be at home, and some sojourning abroad ; and yet be but
one family. The saints on earth, though they be not actually
in heaven, yet have their inheritance in heaven, and are tra-
velling towards heaven, and will arrive there in a little time.
They are nearly related to the saints in heaven ; they are their
brethren, being children of the same Father, and fellow heirs
with Jesus Christ. In Ephes. ii. 19, the saints on earth are
said to he felloiv-citizens with the saints, and. of the household of
God. And the Apostle tells the Christian Hebrews, Heb. xii.
22 — 24, that they were " come to Mount Zion, and to the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the
first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge
of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect." But how
were they come to this heavenly city, and this glorious assembly,
when they were yet here on earth ? They were cctme to them,
ere they were brought and united to them in the same family.
But this is what I would inculcate by all this, that the church of
God on earth ought to be employed in the same work with the
saints in heaven, because they are the same society : as they
are but one family, have but one Father, one inheritance ; so
they should have but one work. The church on earth ought
SERMON X. 315
to join with the saints in heaven in their employment, as God
hath joined them in one society by his grace.
We profess to be of the visible people of Christ, to be Chris-
tians and not heathens, and so to belong to the universal church.
We profess therefore to be of the same society, and shall not
walk answerably to our profession, unless we employ ourselves
in the same work.
2. Let it be considered, that we all of us hope to spend an
eternity with the saints in heaven, and in the same work of
praising God. There is, it may be, not one of us but who hopes
to be a saint in heaven, and there continually to sing praises to
God and the Lamb ; but how disagreeable will it be, with such
a hope, to live in the neglect of praising God now! We ought
now to begin that work which we intend shall be the work of
another world ; for this life is given us on purpose that therein
we might prepare for a future life. The present state is a state
of probation and preparation : a state of ])reparation for the
enjoyments and employment of another, future, and eter-
nal state ; and no one is ever admitted to those enjoyments and
employments, but those who are prepared for them here. If
ever we would go to heaven, we must be fitted for heaven in this
world; we must here have our souls moulded and fashioned for
that work and that happiness. They must be formed for praise,
and they must begin their work here. The beginnings of fu-
ture things are in this world. The seed must be sown here ;
the foundation must be laid in this world. Here is laid the
foundation of future misery, and of future happiness. If it be
not begun here, it never will be begun. If our hearts be not
in some measure tuned to praise in this world, we shall never
do any thing at the work hereafter. The light must dawn in
this world, or the sun will never rise in the next. As we there-
fore all of us would be, and hope to be, of that blessed compa-
ny which praise God in heaven, we should now inure ourselves
to the work.
3. Those works of God's mercy for which the saints in hea-
ven will chiefly praise him, have been wrought amongst us in
this world.
The mercy and grace of God for which the saints in heaven
will chiefly praise him, is his mercy exercised in the work of
redemption, which work has been wrought out in this world.
This love of God is the chief object of their admiration, and
what they chiefly contemplate, and that employs their most ar-
dent praises.
The grace of Christ, about which their praises will be prin-
cipally employed, is that he should so love sinful man as to un-
dertake for him, to take upon him man's nature, and lay down
316 SERMON X.
his life for him. We find that is the subject of their praises, in
Rev. V. 8, 9. " And when he had taken the book, the four Hv-
ing creatures, and the four and twenty elders, fell down before
the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials
full of odours, which are the prayers of saints; and they sang
a new song, " Thou art Avorthy, for thou hast redeemed us to
God by thy blood."
They will chiefly praise God for these fruits of his mercy, be-
cause these are the greatest fruits of it that ever have been ; far
greater than the glorifying of saints. The saints in heaven will
praise God for bestowing glory upon them ; but the actual be-
stowment of glory upon them, after it has been purchased by the
blood of Christ, is in no measure so great a thing as the pur-
chasing of it by his blood. For Christ, the eternal Son of God,
to become man, and to lay d(;wn his life, was a far greater
thing than the glorifying of all the saints that ever have been,
or ever will be glorified, from the beginning of the world to the
end of it. The giving Christ to die, comprehends all other mer-
cies : for all other mercies arc through this. The giving of
Christ is a greater thing than the giving of all things else for
the sake of Christ. This evidently appears, from Rom. viii.
32. " He who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for
us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ?"
So that the work of redemption is that for which the saints in
heaven do chiefly praise God. But this work has been wrought
here, among us in this world. " The word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us." The Incarnation of Christ was a thing that
was brought to pass in this world, and the sufferings and death
of Christ werealso accomplished on earth. Shall heaven be
filled with praises for what was done on earth, and shall there
be no praises on earth where it was done?
4. If you praise God sincerely in this world, it will be a sign
that you are really to be one of those that shall praise him in
heaven. If any man be found sincerely glorifying God, he will
in due time be brought to them, as one who is fit to be of their
company. Heaven is the appointed place of all sincere prais-
ers of God ; they are all to be gathered together there. And
no man can sincerely praise God, unless he be one of those who
are redeemed from among men, one that God has separated
from the rest of the world, and set apart for himself.
5. If we begin now to exercise ourselves in the work of hea-
ven, it will be the way to have foretastes of the enjoyments of
heaven. The business and the happiness go together. This
will be the way to have your heart filled with spiritual joy and
comfort. If you heartily praise God, you shall rejoice in him,
and he will show you more of himself, of his glory and love,
that you may still have greater cause of praise.
SERMON X. 317
I proceed to give some Directions for the performance of
this work.
1. Be directed, in order to your acceptably performing this
duty, to repent of your sins, and turn to God. If you have not
a work of conversion wrought in you, you will do nothing to any
purpose, in this work of praise. An unconverted person never
once sincerely or acceptably praises God. If you would do the
work of the saints in heaven, you must be, not only in profes-
sion, but really, one of their society ; for there are none else can
do their work. As in the verse following the text : " And they
sung as it were a new song, before the throne, and before the
four living creatures, and the elders ; and no man could learn
that song, but the hundred and forty-four thousand, which
were redeemed from the earth." A hundred and forty-four
thousand is a mystical number for the church of God, or the
assembly of the saints, or those that are redeemed from the
earth. There is no man can learn the song that they sing in
heaven, but those of that number. It is beyond the reach of
all natural men, let them be persons of ever so great abilities
and sagacity. They never can learn that heavenly song, if
they be not of that number. For it is only the sanctifying,
saving instruction of the Spirit of God, that can teach us that
song.
2. Labour after more and more of those principles from
whence the praise of the saints in heaven doth arise. You have
already heard that the saints in heaven do praise the Lord so
fervently, because they see him ; labour therefore that you,
though you have not an immediate vision of God, as they have,
may yet have a clear spiritual sight of him, and that you may
know more of God, and have frequent discoveries of him made
to you.
You have heard that the saints in heaven make praise so
much their work, because of the great sense they have of the
greatness and wonderfidness of the fruits of the Lord's good-
ness. Labour therefore to get your minds more deej)ly impress-
ed with such a sense.
The saints in glory are so much employed in praise, because
they are perfect in humi/iti/, and have so great a sense of the in-
finite distance between God and them. They have a great sense
of their own unwoithiness, that the}' are b}' nature unworthy of
any of the mercy of God. Labour therefore that you may ob-
tain more of a sense of your own littleness, and vileness ; that
you may see more what you are, how ill you have deserved at
the hands of God, and how you are less than the least of all his
mercies.
VOL. VIII. 41
318 SERMON X.
The hearts of the saints in heaven are all inflanjed with divine
love, which continually influences them to jiraise God. Seek that
this principle may abound in you, and then you likewise will de-
light in praising God. It will be a most sweet and pleasant em-
ployment to you.
3. Labour, in your praises, to praise God. so far as may be,
in the same manner that the saints do in heaven. They praise him
fervently, with their whole heart, and with all their strength, as
was represented in vision to John by the exceeding loudness of
their praise. Labour therefore that you may not be cold and dull
in your praises, but that you also may praise God fervently.
The saints in heaven praise God humbly. Let it also be your
delight to abase yourselves, to exalt God, and set him upon the
throne, and to lie at his footstool.
The saints in heaven praise God unitedly. They praise him
with one heart and one soul, in a most firm union. Endeavour
that you may thus praise God in union with his people; having
your hearts knit to them in fervent love and charity ; which will
be a great help to your praising and glorifying God unitedly with
them.
III. In the way of Reproof to those who neglect the singing
of God's praises. Certainly, such a neglect is not consonant to
the hope and expectation of spending an eternity in that work.
It is an appointment of God, that we should not only praise in our
prayers, but that we should sing his praises. It was a part of di-
vine worship, not only under the old testament, but the new.
Thus we read that Christ and his disciples sung praises together.
Matth. xxvi. 30. So it is commanded, Ephes. v. 19. " Be ye
filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns,
and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to
the Lord." And Col. iii. 16. " Let the word of Christ dwell in
you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another
in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in
your hearts to the Lord." 1 Cor. xiv. 15. "I will sing with the
spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also." So also the
saints in heaven are represented as singing God's praises. And is
that their happy and glorious employment; and yet shall it be so
neglected by us, who hope for heaven ? If there be any of the
godly that do neglect this duty, I would desire them to consider
how discordant such a neglect is with their profession, with their
state, and with the mercies which God has bestowed. How much
cause has God given you to sing his praise ! You have received
more to prompt you to praise God than all the natural men in the
world ; and can you content yourself to live in the world without
singing the praises of your heavenly Father, and your glorious
Redeemer ?
SERMON X. 319
Parents oiiglit to be careful that their children are Instructed in
singing, that they mnj' he capable of performing that part of di-
vine worship. This we should do, as we would have our children
trained up for heaven ; for we all of us would have our cliildren
go to heaven.
IV. In the way of Consolation to the godly! It may be
matter of great comfort to you, that you are to spend your eter-
nity with the saints in heaven, where it is so much their work to
praise God. The saints are sensible what cause they have to
praise God, and oftentimes are ready to sa}', they long to praise
him more, and that they never can praise him enough. This may
be a consolation to you, that you shall have a whole eternity in
which to praise him. They earnestly desire to praise God better.
This, therefore, may be your consolation, that in heaven your
heart shall be enlarged, you shall be enabled to praise him in an
immensely more perfect and exalted manner than you can do in
this world. You shall not be troubled with such a dead, dull
heart, with so much coldness, so many clogs and burdens from
corruption, and from an earthly mind ; with a wandering, un-
steady heart; with so much darkness and so much hypocrisy.
You shall be one of that vast assembly that praise God so fer-
vently, that their voice is " as the voice of many waters, and as
the voice of mighty thunderings."
You long to have others praise God, to have every one praise
him. There, there will be enough to help you, and join you in
praising him, and those that are capable of doing it ten thousand
times better than saints on earth. Thousands and thousands of
angels and glorified saints will be around you, all united to you in
the dearest love, all disposed to praise God, not only for them-
selves, but for his mercy to you.
SERMON XI.
Matthew xi. 16, 17, 18, 19.
But tvheretmto shall I liken this generation ? It is like unto chil-
dren sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and
saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced ; we have
mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came
neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The
Son of man came eating and clrinking, and they say, Behold, a
man gliUtonous, and a idne-hibher, a friend of publicans and
sinners : hut Wisdom is justified of her children.
The occasion of this discourse was John's sending to Christ two
of his disciples, saying, " Art thou he that should come, or look
we for another?" When the messengers had gone back, Christ
enters into a discourse with the multitude concerning John, of
which the verses read are a part, in which Christ reproves the un-
reasonableness of the Jews in rejecting God's messengers. We
may observe in the words the following things:
1. The messengers of God thai are here instanced in that they
had been rejected, viz. John the Baptist and Christ. The former
is spoken of in the context as being on some accounts the great-
est of all the prophets that ever came before Christ, as you may
see verses 9, 10, 11. *' But what went ye out for to see ^ A pro-
phet.'' yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is
he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before
thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily, I say
unto you, Among them that are born of women, there hath not
risen a greater than John the Baptist : notwithstanding he that is
least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." The latter,
even Christ, was the great prophet of God, the head and Lord of
the prophets, God's only begotten Son.
2. In what the unreasonableness of their rejecting these mes-
sengers of God, appears, viz. in tlieir inconsistency with them-
selves in those objections which they made against them. And
here we may observe,
SERMON XI. 321
1st. The nature of their objections against these two messen-
gers of God ; they objected against their manner of living with
respect to their meat and drink.
2d. The different manner of living of those two messengers of
God. Christ came eating and drinking, but John came neither
eating nor drinking, i. e. John lived on a very coarse and spare
diet, as we read, Matth. iii. 4. " And the same John had his rai-
ment of camels' hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins ; and
his meat was locusts and wild honey. He carefully abstained
from that free use of pleasant meats and drinks that others allow-
ed themselves in. But Christ came eating and drinking, i. e.
freely using the comforts and enjoyments of life, taking indiffer-
ently all kinds of food or drink that were wholesome, comforta-
ble, and lawful. This diverse manner of living of John the Bap^
tist and Christ, was agreeable to the diverse errands that they
came upon. John's errand was to call men to repentance, to
awaken them to a sense of their sin and misery, to bring them to
mourn for their sins, and humble themselves before God for them,
that they might be prepared for the comforts and blessings of the
kingdom of heaven that were to be introduced by Jesns Christ.
A life of abstinence from the pleasant things of this world was
agreeable to the purpose of awakening the soul, and of leading it
to mourning and humiliation for sin, which it was especially John's
business to preach and set an example of.
But after John had thus prepared the way with awakenings and
repentance, then Christ came to administer comfort to those that
were thus prepared for it, to preach good tidings to the meek, to
bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, to comfort those that mourn ; to
appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty
for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for
the spirit of heaviness ; that they might be called trees of right-
eousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
Isai. Ixi. 1, 2, 3. And freely eating, and drinking, and enjoying
the comforts and pleasant things of life, was agreeable to such an
errand as this, and therefore Christ, in his first beginning of his
public ministry which succeeded John's, declares this to be the
business he was come upon. Luke iv. 16, 17, 18, 19. "And he
came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up ; and, as his
custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath-day, and
stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book
of the prophet Esaias : and when he had opened the book he
found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord
God is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gos-
pel to the poor ; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to
322 SERMON Xr.
preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the
bHnd ; to set at liberty them that are bruised ; to preach the ac-
ceptable year of the Lord."
3d. Their unreasonableness appears in the fact, that though
the way of living of these two persons was in this respect so di-
verse, yet they objected against both. John came neither eating
nor drinking ; and for that they objected against him, and reviled
him, as though he was one that was very odd and strange, and
beside himself, and under the influence of a diabolical spirit.
This objection seemed to manifest a dislike of such a way of liv-
ing, as though it was their opinion that a man ought not to live
thus abstemiously, but should eat and drink freely as other people
did. But yet when Christ came and did that, then they objected
against that too, and bitterly reproached him for that, and called
him a glutton, and wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and of sinners.
So that there was no escaping their reproaches. If a man of God
lived a life of trial and abstinence, they spoke of it as matter of
great reproach, and yet if he did not so, they made that a matter of
no less reproach. It was a crime with them for a prophet to eat
and drink, and it was also a crime to let it alone. So inconsistent
were they with themselves, that there was no such thing as a pro-
phet's suiting them ; they condemned the doing of that which at the
same time they condemned the not doing of, and both they con-
demned with great bitterness, and virulent and contemptuous re-
proaches. This plainly showed that their objections against John
the Baptist and Christ, were but vain pretences, and that the true
reason why they disliked them, was, not the manner of living of
either of them with respect to eating and drinking, but because
they hated their persons and the business they came upon. When
men have a prejudice against other persons they will be ready to
find fault with every thing in them, they will find out bad names
for their virtues, and will reproach those things in them which
they will approve of and commend in others to whose persons they
have a liking.
3. The thing to which Christ compares their inconsistency with
themselves, to wit, to children who meet their companions in the
streets or market places, and endeavour to aid them in their play,
in things of a diverse and contrary nature ; for if they pipe unto
them with notes manifesting cheerfulness and mirth, that does not
suit them ; they refuse to fall in with this, as though they did not like
such cheerfulness, and as though mourning would suit them better ;
and then, when they see that they took a contrary course, they
mourned with them, but yet neither do they fall in with that, they
do not lament with them ; so that they comfort them with nothing,
neither mirth nor mourning.
SERMON XI. 323
So John the baptist preaching repentance came with tokens of
sorrow and mourning, and mean apparel, with a garment of ca-
mel's hair, and with a leathern girdle about his loins, and with
great abstinence. But Christ when he comes, comes eating and
drinking with tokens of comfort and joy ; but neither of them
suited them. From the text thus explained we shall derive the
following
Doctrine. Wicked men are very inconsistent with themselves.
They are so in the following respects :
I. The dictates of their darkened understandings are inconsis-
tent with themselves.
II. Their wills are inconsistent with their reason.
III. Their wills are inconsistent with themselves.
IV. Their outward show is inconsistent with their hearts.
V. Their profession is inconsistent with their practice.
VI. Their practice is inconsistent with their hopes.
VII. Their practice is inconsistent with itself.
I. Their understandings are inconsistent with tiiemselves. I do not
mean, that the faculty of reason and understanding is inconsistent
with itself; for the faculty of understanding with which God has
endowed man is wholly good and right. It is that wherein the
natural image of God consists, and is the excellency of man's na-
ture ; and if the faculty of reason be duly improved, it will lead
men right. Light is never inconsistent with itself. But the under-
standings of natural men are perverted and blinded by sin, and
are inconsistent with themselves in two ways :
1. Their practical judgment is inconsistent with their own rea-
son. By their practical judgment, I mean that judgment which
they make of things that prevail, so as to determine their actions
and govern their practice. This in wicked men is in innumera-
ble things contrary to their own reason ; for, in forming their judg-
ment of things by which they govern themselves, they do not in-
quire at the mouth of reason, but at the mouth of their inclina-
tions. Their lusts have a far greater hand in the judgments that
they make of things, and by which they govern themselves, than
their reason. As for instance; their practical judgment is that
the things of this fading world, the enjoyments of this short life,
are things of greater importance than the things of the eternal
world ; and yet if they inquire at the mouth of their ovvn reason,
that tells them the contrary. Their reason tells them that it is
most plain and evident that eternal things, things that are to last
for ever, are of vastly greater importance than the things of time.
So their reason tells them that it must needs be the part of wis-
dom and prudence to improve the present time with the utmost dili-
gence and earnestness, and to make ready for death ; and yet
they are not convinced of it, but their governing opinion is that
324 SERMON XI.
it is best to neglect the business of religion for the present, and to
enjoy their ease, and sloth, and lusts awhile longer.
Their reason tells them, that it is well worth the while for every
man to deny himself outward pleasure for the good of his soul.
But their governing opinion or judgment is contrary, viz. that it is
not best; and that pleasures, and the gratification of their lusts
are worth more than any benefit they would obtain by seeking
their salvation.
The reason of young people tells them that it is their true wis-
dom to improve the lime of youth. Reason tells them that life is
very uncertain. But when such persons hear ministers preach
concerning the infinite importance of eternal things; the uncertain-
ty of life, the peace and comfort that will be found in a state of
happier existence with God, are told how light a thing the difficulty
and sufferings of a holy life are in comparison ; their reason as-
sents to all this, but their practical judgments are the contrarj^
When a person lias lately died, either in extreme terror and
amazement, under a sense of the guilt of a mis-spent life, or full
of joy and comfort, in consequence of a life of holy walking with
God ; their reason tells them that it v.ould be well worth their
while to labour and deny themselves all their life time, to be ready
for death, and to have a solid foundation of peace and comfort
laid up against such an hour. But yet their practice is directly the
reverse.
2. Some of their judgments of things are inconsistent with
others. For instance, in temporal things, they judge that the
good which is of long continuance is to be preferred before that
which is of short continuance, and that a long continued calamity
is more to be dreaded and avoided than a short one. Their go-
verning judgment is thus in these things, but yet it is the reverse
in spiritual things.
Again. Such arguments as they judge to furnish good and
clear evidence with them in those things that are agreeable to their
sinful inclination, they think not to have any evidence in those
things that are contrary to them. In temporal things they think
it to be their wisdom to improve times of special advantage, and
to watch against that which might ensnare them, or endanger their
welfare, but in other things they think the reverse. In these things,
and many more that might be mentioned, their judgments are in-
consistent with themselves.
II. Their wills are inconsistent with their reason. This incon-
sistence is a consequence of the foregoing; for if their practical
judgment be contrary to their own reason, it will follow that their
wills are contrary to their reason; for the will ever follows the
dictate of the practical judgment.
Their wills are contrary to their reason in two respects.
SERMON XI. 325
1. They will those things which their reason tells them are in-
consistent with their duty; and so they are inconsistent with
themselves, as their wills are inconsistent with their consciences.
Conscience is a principle implanted in the heart of every man,
and is as essential to his nature as the faculty of reason, for it is a
natural and necessary attendant of that faculty. But the wills of
wicked men are contrary to it, and inconsistent with it. They
choose those things which they know to be evil, and ought not to be
chosen ; they choose that which their own reason tells them is un-
reasonable and vile, and unbecoming men, and justly provoking
to their Maker, and contrary to the end for which they are made.
Hence arises an inward war in their own minds : their wills and
their consciences warring one against another. There is no true
peace in their hearts, for they are acj; war with themselves, and
therefore they are like the troubled sea that cannot rest, unless by
a course of horrible violations of the dictates of their own con-
science, they have proceeded so far in their war against their own
consciences as to stupify conscience, and lay it as it were dead,
which is the case of some persons.
2. They will those things which their reason tells them are con-
trary to their own interest, yea, those things which their own
reason tells them are the way to their ruin and misery. At the
very same time that wicked men are tempted to commit some sin,
and their reason then tells them that it will expose them to the
eternal wrath of God, and that it will therefore be a dreadful folly
for them to do it, yet they will do it. Or when their reason tells
them that the course in which they are going leads to destruction,
and represents to them that it is the greatest folly, yet they will go
on in it, and run the venture of being everlastingly undone.
So inconsistent, are they with themselves, that they do and allow
that of which they hope to repent, they choose that now for choos-
ing which at the same time they expect and hope hereafter to
charge themselves with great folly, and to be convinced that it is
folly, and to lament and bewail it; nay, they would not do it, if
they did not expect hereafter to see that it. is very foolish in them
so to do, and heartily to mourn for it.
In this respect they are so inconsistent with themselves that they
are their own worst enemies. They are inconsistent with themselves,
as two mortal enemies cannot consist together, or walk together. By
choosing those things which their own reason tells them is contra-
ry to their own interest, and tends to their own undoing, they
may be said to hate their own souls, and to love their own ruin.
Prov. viii. 36. *' He that sinneth against me, wrongeth his own
soul ; all they that hate me, love death."
in. Their wills and dispositions are inconsistent with their
wills. The Jews would neither have a prophet to come eating,
VOL. VIII. 42
326 SERMON XI.
and drinking, nor would ihey have him otherwise. They knew
not what they would have themselves, there was no pleasing them.
To eat and drink did not please them ; that they reproached as
drunkenness, and gluttony: nor did It please them any more not
to eat nor drink ; this they reproached no less virulently, as though
it were an argument that a man was out of his wits, and possessed
by the devil. The inconsistency of wicked men's wills with them-
selves appears in the following things :
1st. They do, in some respects, choose and refuse the same
things.
I shall mention some instances.
First. In some respects, many of them wish to be converted
from sin to God. They think that they should be ready to give
almost all that they have in the world to be converted, and they
pray to God to convert them, and seek for conversion, and take
advice to that end, and use a great deal of labour for it. But yet
if it be considered what conversion is, or what is meant by con-
version, viz. the being turned from all their sins to God; they
have no desire to be converted, they will not have conversion
when it is offered them, when it comes to them they are not willing
to be saved from sin, for they are not willing to part with their
sins. When they think of the thing in the general, they wish that
they were turned from sin ; but when it comes to particulars they
cannot comply with it, they love their sins too well. When a par-
ticular lust comes, and pleads to be indulged and gratified, then
in this instance they have no wish to be converted, they are not
willing to be turned from their sin altogether, they cannot bear en-
tirely and for ever to renounce and reject it. They have a wish to
be converted, but not from enjoying their right hands, and right
eyes. They pray that they may be thoroughly and savingly con-
verted, and seem to wish and pray for it; but yet when it comes
to them, they are not willing for any more than a partial conver-
sion. They cannot comply with a thorough conversion, for a
thorough conversion is a turning from everyone of their sins; and
that proves that they would be willing to be converted from their
sins for a little while, but to part vvith them finally is what they can-
not find it in their hearts to comply with.
Secondly. Some wicked men do in certain respects desire that
a work of humiliation may be wrought in them, and yet are ut-
terly opposed to humiliation. They do many things that they
may be humbled, and pray that they may be brought off from
their own righteousness, and yet would by no means let it go, but
are indeed building up their own righteousness all the time.
They seem in some respects to wish that they might submit to
the justice and sovereignty of God in their condemnation, but yet
arff utterly averse to any such thing as owning God's justice.
SERMON XI. 987
They are averse to this submission, as appears from their showing
such a spirit of strife with God. They do not believe that God is
just and sovereign, and how therefore is it possible that they
should desire really to submit to God's justice and sovereignty?
They cannot heartily and fervently desire to submit to God as
just and sovereign, when they do not believe that he possesses
those attributes, but think him unjust and tyrannical.
Thirdly. They in some respects wish that they might come to
Christ, but indeed are utterly averse to come to him, so that
their will is in this also inconsistent with itself. They pray that
they may come to Christ, they are ready to say that they would
give all the world for an interest in Christ; and yet they will not
have an interest in him, for that is what is oflered them, and what
Christ is continually inviting and urging them to accept, but they
refuse it. It is true they like some things in Christ, tliey like sal-
vation from the pains of hell, they like that safety from everlast-
ing misery which they hear is to be had in him ; but there are
other things in him which they do not like, his holiness, his salva-
tion from sin, his kingly office, and therefore they will not accept
him as he is. If they could have a part of Christ without the rest
they would, but they ^vill not accept of the whole of Christ. In-
deed they are not willing to come to Christ and cordially accept
of him as a Saviour from hell, for they do not see that he is suffi-
cient to save ; and besides they are not convinced that they have
deserved it. There is no such thing as being cordially willing to
accept of a Saviour, who offi?red to deliver us from an unjust and
undeserved punishment; for the hearty accepting of him as a Sa-
viour from the punishment would be allowing the punishment to
be just; and God's oft'ering a Saviour from undeserved punish-
raent, is an imposition upon them ; a man therefore can never
heartily and sincerely accept such an offer. At the same time that
natural men seem to wish and pra}', and strive to come to Christ,
they are in their hearts bitter enemies to him ; and there is no such
thing as a sincere willingness to accept of one towards whom at
the same lime we are bitter enemies.
Fourthly. Natural men in some respects are desirous to go to
heaven, and yet are averse to heaven. They are full of designs as
to what they will do hereafter that they may go to heaven, but yet
have no inclination to that wherein heaven really consists. The
employments of heaven, which consist altogether in holy acts and
holy contemplation, in holy exercises, and holy praises, are that
for which they have no desires nor inclination. And for the hap-
piness of heaven, they have no relish, but on the contrar\% a dislike
and an aversion ; for the happiness of heaven consists in holy
communion with God and Christ, to which their natures are op-
posite. Nor have the}' any desire for the company of heaven, and
528 SERMON XI.
when it is observed what heaven, really is, they choose this world
before heaven.
Fifthly. They wish to have salvation from misery, but yet are
averse to those things wherein salvation consists ; and at the same
time that they pray to Christ to serve them, they undo themselves
as fast as they can, they spend their time daily in working out
their own ruin. They pray that they maybe delivered from hell,
and yet are all the while piling up fuel, and kindling and blow-
ing the fire. Thus their wills are inconsistent with themselves, as
they do in some respects choose and refuse the same things.
2. They dislike and refuse spiritual things as they are, and yet
refuse to have them otherwise. This was the very case with the
Jews in the text, they would not have a prophet come eating and
drinking, if he did so, they looked on him very reproachfully ;
nor yet would they have him not come eating and drinking, for if
he did so they called him a mad man, and possessed with a devil,
which is a lively specimen of the inconsistency of wicked men, of
which we are speaking.
I will mention several instances of this inconsistency on the
part of wicked men.
First. They do not like God as he is, and yet they would not
like him if he were otherwise. They would not like him if he
were otherwise than he is in those very things for which they most
dislike him.
1st. They dislike God because he is an holy God. This is the
main foundation of the enmity that wicked men have against
God. His perfect purity and holiness make them enemies to him,
because from this perfection of his nature he necessarily hates sin,
and so hates their sins, which they love, and he will not and can-
not allow of any sin in them. They are utter enemies to such a
holy God. And yet they would not like him if they supposed
him to be an unholy being, or if they supposed him to be at all
wanting in perfect holiness, for then he could not be depended
upon. If he were unholy, they know that if he promised them
any thing they could have no certain dependence upon it, for an
unholy being is liable to break his promises ; if he were unholy
they could have no dependence on his faithfulness, and tlierefore
they would never be willing to give up themselves to him as their
God, for they would not know how he would dispose of them,
what he would do with them. If he were to obligate himself by
covenant, yet they could have no dependence upon it ; and there-
fore they would by no means accept of such a God to be their
God, to rule over them, and dispose of them.
2d. They do not like God, because he is a God of justice. This
indeed is a branch of his holiness for being strictly and perfectly j ust,
he is disposed to execute just punishment on all iniquity. There-
SERMON XI. 329
fore they are exceeding enemies to him, for they are the persons
who are obnoxious, being those that have committed iniquity, and
exposed themselves to just punishment ; and yet they would not
like God if he were an unjust God. If he were an unjust being,
that would be an insuperable objection with them against accept-
ing him as their God, for then they would think with themselves,
" how do I know, how unjustly he may deal with me ;" and wick-
ed men, however unjust tliey are, never like injustice against them-
selves. And they never would be persuaded to accept of such a
God as their Lord and King, for they should then expect to be
wronged and abused by him. They would dread committing
themselves into the hands of a God that is infinite in power, and
can do what he will with them, and has no principle of holiness or
justice to keep him from using that power in the most unjust and
abusive manner towards them.
Though ihey are enemies to God because of his justice, yet
whenever at any time they think God deals unjustly, they quarrel
with him for it. How frequent is it for natural men, when there
are any of God's methods of providence, the justice of which they
cannot see through, to have their hearts swell with enmity, and to
be full of blasphemous malignant thoughts against God, if they
do not even manifest it outwardly by a fretful, discontented be-
haviour, and murmuring speeches ?
3d. They do not like God, because he is an Almighty God, and
is able to destroy them when he pleases ; nor yet would they like
him if he were a weak being and of but little power. They would
on thi? account refuse to close with him as their God, for they
would have a God able to do great things for them ; they wish to
have many things done for them, and they would have a God that
can do them.
4th. They do not like God because he is an omniscient God, for
hereby he sees all their wickedness. But yet neither would they
like him if he did not know all things, for then in many cases he
would not know what their case is, and what it requires, and what
is best for them. He might ruin them in the disposal of them
through mistake, he might not know how to extricate them out of
difficulties in which they are or may be involved.
5th. Natural men oftentimes dislike God in the exercises of his
infinite sovereign mercy, when it is exercised towards others.
They are greatly displeased at God's being so gracious to others ;
they dislike it much that God bestows converting grace upon them
and pardoning mercy, and a title to eternal life upon them. When
they hear of their conversion it is unpleasant news, and they find
fault with it the more when the persons who seem to have received
such mercy are very unworthy, and have been very great sinners';
they think of the sins of which they have been guilty, and reckon
330 SERMON XI.
up all the instances of wickedness tbey can think of, so that the
mercy exercised towards them is the more displeasing because it
appears so great in being bestowed on one so unworthy, like the
elder brother, Luke xv. 30. "But as soon as this thy son was
come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast kill-
ed for him the fatted calf." And yet the}^ would not like God if
he were not infinitely merciful, for then they would have less hopes
of obtaining mercy themselves. The}' are angry because God
appears so merciful in the exercises of his grace to others ; but yet
they would have God merciful, and are at the same time afraid
that he is not merciful enough to be willing to pardon their sins,
and bestow his blessing on them. Thus natural men do not like
God as he is, nor 3'et would they like him if he were otherwise.
Secondly. They do not like men that are holy, nor yet do they
like men that are wicked. They do not like holy men, for they
know that such do not approve of that which themselves love, and
the lives of the godly are a condemnation of the wickedness of
their own hearts and lives. Hence there is an enmity between the
seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Gen. iii. 15.
*' And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between
thy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise th}' head and thou shalt
bruise his heel." But although they do not like men if they are
godly, so neither do they like them if they are ungodly ; they are
more forward than the godly are to reprove others for their vice
and wickedness, and bitterly to reflect on others for their pride,
their covetousness and their idleness. None are more apt to find
fault with wickedness in others than those who are wicked them-
selves, and one great reason is that other men's lusts clash with
theirs. Thus one man's pride crosses the pride of another, for
it is the nature of pride to desire to be alone in advancement, to
make the person in whom it is, affect to be a God, to appropriate
all power and all honour to himself as his own prerogative. But
such an aim in one man clashes with such an aim in another.
Hence there are none that can bear pride in others so ill, as those
that are very proud themselves, and there never are such strife and
enmity as between proud, haughty men. Proud men love to have
others walk humbly before them, and nothing enrages them so
much as to have others carry themselves proudly. For the same
reason covetous men dishke covetous men, for this lust clashes
with the same lust in another. Every covetous man strives to get
all into his own hands, to get and keep all that he can to himself
from his neighbour. So the lusts of envy, and malice, and revenge,
are hated in others by envious and malicious men ; because none
are so obnoxious to malice, and envy, and revenge, as those that
have the most of these qualities. Hence the wicked world on
earth, who are at enmity with the church of God for its holiness,
SERMON XI. 331
do not at all agree together. Though they agree in being alike
under the power of wickedness, yet how full is the world of wick-
ed men of strife and contention, of perpetual jars, animosities, and
confusion! Rom. i. 29, 30, 31,32. "Being filled with all un-
righteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, malicious-
ness ; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity ; whisperers,
backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, inventors of evil
things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant
breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful : who,
knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such
things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have plea-
sure in them that do them." So Titus iii. 3. " For we ourselves
also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers
lusts, and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating
one another." And hence also it comes to pass that devils and
wicked men in hell, though they hate angels and saints in heaven
for their holiness, have yet no love one to another ; though they all
agree in being perfectly wicked, yet they hate one another with
implacable hatred, and are continually mortifying and tormenting
one another; so that hell is a world of pex'fect malice and con-
tention.
Thirdly. They refuse to accept of heaven as it is ; yet they
would not like it if it were otherwise. As has been observed be-
fore, they have no relish for the holy enjoyments and employments
of heaven. They dislike heaven for its holiness, and yet they
would not like it if it were unholy ; for then they would be liable
to the same troubles and vexations in heaven that they meet with
in this world. If it were not that heaven diflers from this world
in holiness, it would be as full of pride and malice, envy, revenge,
contention, injustice, violence and cruelty, as this world is, and so
would be as vexatious a world as this is. Wicked men are as lia-
ble to the trouble and vexation of the world, which arise from
those things, as godly men, and in some respects more so, for they
have no divine supports against those things, no safer portion to
which their hearts betake themselves.
3. The things that wicked men choose, imply an inconsistency
in their own nature. The things which they would have are im-
possibilities and self-contradictions.
First. They would a sufficient Saviour, and not a holy one.
They would not have a holy Saviour, bec-ause such a Saviour does
not at all agree with their lusts; but yet they would have a suffi-
cient Saviour, one that is sufJicient to save them from hell, and so
one that is sufficient to make a proper atonement for all their sins,
to make full satisfaction to the justice of God, that they may
escape the penalty of that justice. But these things prove a great
iaconsistencv, for how is it possible that a Saviour, who is not
332 SERMON xr.
perfectly holy himself, should make satisfaction for the unholiness
of others ? How is it possible that one who deserves to suffer the
eternal wrath of God himself for his own sin, should by his suf-
ferings appease God's wrath for the sins of others ?
They would have a wortliy Saviour, as appears in this ; when
they are awakened, and in some measure sensible of their guilt,
they dare not come to Christ, because they cannot see that he has
worthiness enough to commend them to God ; they are afraid that
he is not worthy enough ; and yet they dislike Christ because he
is a holy Saviour! And what an inconsistency is this ! How
can he be a worthy Saviour, and not a holy one ? So that their
choice does in effect contain this inconsistency in it, that they
would have a Saviour who is infinitely worthy, without worthi-
ness.
Secondly. They wish for salvation from misery without salva-
tion from sin. They do not love misery any better than others,
and hope to be saved from it; and some of them are in distress
for fear of misery ; but yet they would have it without being part-
ed from their sins : which is in its own nature impossible, for the
creature that is sinful, must be miserable. For misery consists in
separation from the fountain of happiness, and an enmity between
the creature and the chief good. But sin implies in its own na-
ture such a separation : it is a separation from tliat God who is
the fountain of good, and is enmity against him, and therefore
necessarily brings enmity from that being against the sinner, if it
be continued. Sin is the seed of misery; misery is the necessary
fruit of it. It is necessary from the nature of God, who, being
infinitely holy, necessarily hates it, and so necessarily arraj's him-
self against that being who remains under the pollution and guilt
of it. And it is necessary from the nature of man, and the na-
ture of sin : misery is the natural fruit of sin, as the bud and
blossom are the natural fruit of that on which they grow, and is
so spoken of, Ezek. vii. 9, 10. *' And mine eye shall not spare,
neither will I have pity : I will recompense thee according to thy
ways, and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee ; and
ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth. Behold the day,
behold it is come ; the morning is gone forth ; the rod hath blos-
somed ; pride hath budded."
Natural men would be freed from hell without being saved from
sin, which is an inconsistency and impossibility ; for where sin re-
mains the reigning power, it will necessarily kindle up the flames
of hell, and will bring on the torments of hell. Indeed, while
men remain in the body, in the midst of the carnal objects of this
world to engross the mind, to please the carnal appetites, to stu-
pify the conscience, and lull the soul asleep ; they may avoid the
torments of hell for a little while, but when the body comes to be
SERMON XI. 333
dissolvefl, and all worldly objects, diversions, and entertainments
come to an end, and the po luted and guilty soul comes to be strip-
ped and turned out naked ^ infernal horror and misery will na-
turally and necessarily arise in such a soul. So that there is
no such thing as being saved from hell, without being saved from
sin.
Thirdly. They desire happiness without holiness. Wicked
men have as earnest a desire of happiness as others. They are
restlessly saying, " Who will show us any good?" And yet they
are enf;mies to holiness. Here also they are inconsistent with
ihemseFves, for there is no such thing as happiness without holi-
ness ; the happiness of the creature consists in holiness. It is as
great an inconsistency to suppose that a creature should be happy
without being holy, as that a man should enjoy all the strength,
and ease, and activity, and other comforts of health in sore sick-
ness ; or that the notes of a tune should be harmonious that are
disproportionate and discordant. So that they would be happy,
and yet would not be happy : the thing they choose contains as
great an inconsistency as if they should choose light or bright-
ness, consisting in the blackness of darkness.
4. In things that do most nearly concern them they will neither
choose nor refuse. The things of religion are things that con-
cern them in the highest degree. It is no matter of indiflerence
to them, whether they will betake themselves in good earnest to
the business of religion or not, wiiether they will obtain heaven,
or be content with a portion in this life. But yet many natural
men seem to remain in suspense about these things all the days of
their lives ; they are always at a loss, always halting between two
opinions, which Elijah reproves, 1 Kings xviii. 21. " And Elijah
came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two
opinions ? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then fol-
low him. And the people answered him not a word." No won-
der that they had nothing to answer, for their unreasonableness
and inconsistency too manifestly appeared in it. Many, who
hear of these subjects from their infancy never come to a tho-
rough conclusion in their own minds, whether they will continue
to go on in the way to hell, or whether they will do what must be
done to escape it ; they neither resolve that they will forsake all
their sins, nor yet that they will retain them ; they do not deter-
mine to hearken to the warnings and counsels given to them, nor
yet do they fully reject them. They have life and death set be-
fore them, one or the other, but they never come to a determina-
tion which they will choose.
5. In pursuing the objects which they desire, their lusts are in-
consistent with each other. It has before been shown that the
lusts of one wicked man clash with those of another; but not only
VOL. VIII. 43
334 SERMON XI.
is it thus; some of the lusls ol" the same person disagree with
other lusts of his. Often, wicked men's covetousness clashes
with their pride; their pride prompts them to many things tliat
their covetousness forbids. It would be agreeable to men's pride to
make a splendid show in their houses and apparel, and manner of
living, who yet are not willing, through their covetousness, to be
at the cost of it. So their covetousness often thwarts their sen-
suality. Their sensual disposition inclines them to feast their ap-
petites, but their covetousness will not allow it.
Sometimes men's sloth and idleness clasii with their other lusts,
with their pride, their covetousness, and sensuality. These lusts
draw them one wav to obtain much of the world, in order to pam-
per and gratify them ; but their slolhfulness draws another, or
ratiier holds them and binds their hands from obtaining these
things.
IV. The outward show of wicked men disagrees with their
hearts. They very often make an appearance that is exceedingly
different and contrary to what they really are inwardly. They
have the clothing of sheep, but the nature of wolves. Matth. vii.
15. They are like whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beau-
tiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all
uncleanness. They make a sliow as though they believed the
truth of the gospel, and believed that God was an infinitely great,
and an infinitely excellent being; they make a show of great re-
spect to God, a sliow of reverence and lo\e, when indeed they
have no such thing in their hearts, but the contrary. The out-
ward show they make, which is at war with their hearts, consists
either in their words, or in their behaviour.
The show they make in words is inconsistent with their hearts.
Many of them profess to believe that God is an infinitely excellent
being, when indeed they think that the meanest of their carnal en-
joyments is more excellent than he. Tkey profess to believe that
there is another world, a heaven and a hell, when indeed they
realize no such thing. They profess to believe that Christ is the
only Saviour, and that they can be saved in no other; and yet
they all the while believe in their hearts that there are other sa-
viours, and particularly that they can be saviours for themselves
by their own strength and righteousness.
They do abominably dissemble in the profession they make of
the favour of God, and of love to him, and willingness to obey
liitn, and desire to glorify him. They have not a jot of these
tilings in their hearts, but all the while wholly under the influence
of vile carnal principles in all that they do, and are only aiming at
selfish ends and serving their lusts in all.
So did those Jews dissemble that came to Jeremiah, and desired
him to inquire of the Lord. Jer. xlii. 20. " For ye dissembled
SERMON xr. 335
in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the Lord your Gor], saying,
Pray for us unto the Lord our God ; and according- unto all that
the Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it."
So did the Jews of whom we read in the text, dissemble. Tiiry
pretended to be enemies of gluttony, and drunkenness, and to dis-
like any such thing as associating with sinners; and so made a
pretence of zeal against wickedness, in their opposition to Christ;
when indeed they were actuated by a love to wickedness, and were
enemies to Christ, for the sake of his holiness. So they pretend-
ed to be influenced by enmity against the devil in their opposition
to John the Baptist, who they pretended had a devil ; when indeed
it was not enmity against the devil, but against God. Many pre-
tend a great deal of love to God, in what they do, when it is only
love to the world at bottom. Ezek. xxxiii. 31. "And they come
unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my
people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them, for
with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after
their covetousness."
The show which they make in their prayers, is quite inconsistent
with their hearts. Their very approach to God in this duty has a
show of religion in it without the reality. And those things they
say in their prayers are hypocritical dissembling pretences. They
profess honour, reverence, trust, humility, a sense of unworthiness,
repentance towards God, trust in Christ as a Mediator, a willing-
ness to forsake sin, from which they pray to be delivered, and thank-
fulness for the divine mercies. Li this manner they resemble the
Jews spoken of in Isaiah xxix. 13, " Wherefore the Lord said.
Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth; and
with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far
from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of
men;" and in Psalm Ixxviii. 36, 37, " Nevertheless they did flat-
ter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.
For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast
in his covenant." And many of them make a show in words, in
conversation with their neighbour, that is quite inconsistent with
their hearts. They are forward in religious conversation, in giving
an account of their experience in a show of zeal, merely to be
seen of men, their God is themselves, their own honour, and the
esteem of men. It is themselves whom they love and honour in
every thing, and not God.
2. The}' often make that show in their external behaviour that
is inconsistent with their hearts. Many who are destitute of the
least spark of love to God. and are at utter enmity with him, will
make a great show of respect to him in many things in their beha-
viour. They may put on a religious saint-like visage, may seem
devout in keeping the sabbath, and in their attendance on religious
336 SERMON XI.
duties and the ordinances of worship, may in some things be
very strict, and may appear to do all from a holy respect to
God. So it was of old with the Israelites. Isai. Iviii. 1, 2, 3.
** Cry aloud, spare not ; lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and
show my people their transnrression and the house of Jacob
their sins. Yei they seek me daily, and dt.li^ht to know my
ways, as a nation that did i ightcousness, and fmsook not the
ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of jus-
tice ; they take delight in approachini^ to God. Wherefore
have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have
we afflicted our soul, and tliou tak<\st no knowledge? Behold
in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exai;t all your
labours."
So did the Pharisees of old. Tliey made a great show of
love and holy regard to God in their behaviour; they abounded
in religious duties, they fasted twice a week, and they were
very strict in many things. They were so in many duties of
the moral law, they were not extortioners, nor unjust, nor adul-
terers, and they were exceedingly exact in duties of the cere-
monial law. They gave tithes of ail that they possessed,
and so exact were they in jiaying tithes, that they tithed all the
herbs of their gardens, as mint, anise, and the like, and put on
an exceedingly religious countenance, and wore a righteous
garment for a show of great humility ; and yet had no love to
God in their hearts, but were a generation of vipers, and most
bitter enemies to God and Christ, and cruel persecutors of good
men.
The practice of wicked men is often very inconsistent with
their profession.
It is so, whether we look at the profession which they make in
comtnon with others v/ho are brought up uudcr the light of tlie
gospel, or at the distinguishing and extraordinaiy profession
which some of them make.
1. If we look at the professions which they make in com-
mon with the generality of thote who are brought up under the
gospel. These do in general piofess tliat there is a God, an
infinitely great and holy God, who hates sin and who is every
where present, who always sees them, has his eye continually
upon them, sees what they do in secret as well as what is done
openly ; a God, who not only kn«nvs all their words and actions,
but sees all their thoughts, and who is ahle to do what he pleases
with them, and can save or destroy them as he will.
But how does the practice of the greater part of them consist
with their profession, when they live in direct opposition to his
commands ; when they live as though there were no God that
had the care and government of the world ; and as though he
SERMON XI. 33t
were not an holy God, but altogether such an one as themselves,
liking ways of sin as well as they, or as though they thought
him a weak heing, and not able to do them any great matter of
hurt, or as though they thought they were stronger than he, and
should be able to make their part good with him another day ?
1 Cor. X. 22. " Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we
stranger tlian he ?"
How does that wickedness, which many persons who are
brought up under gospel light commit in secret, those abomina-
ble secret practices of which many young people are guilty,
agree with their professing that God is every where present ?
These things they do not commit openly for fear of human
punishment, or for fear of shame and disgrace among men ; and'
yet they commit them boldly and live on them in the sight of
God, upon whose favour they profess that their happiness infi-
nitely more depends than on the esteem of men.
They profess to believe that there is another world, and a
future judgment, and that they must in a little time stand be-
fore the judgment-seat of God, to give an account of themselves
to him, and that then the hidden things of darkness shall be
brought to light, and the counsels of the heart made manifest ;
and that then God will call them to a strict account of their ini-
provement of their time, and all their talents, and that for every
idle word, men must give account in the day of judgment, and
that then every man shall have his state everlastingly, and un-
alterably fixed by the sentence of the great Judge, according to
the things done in the body; that they who have done well
shall be invited into heaven, where they shall enjoy honour and
glory, and pleasure unspeakable for evermore, and that they
who have done evil, shall be sentenced and sent down to hell,
into everlasting fire, with the devil and his angels, where they
shall endure unspeakable torments, as in a furnace of fire with-
out any end, or any hojie, and that they sliall have no rest day
nor night; and that their souls shall be fixed in one or other of
those states in a little time, as soon as ever the body dies.
Now how does their practice consist with such a profession,
while they live idle, careless lives, little troubling themselves!
about the good of their souls, and have their hearts and pursuits
after the vanities of the world, just as if they never expected
any other world but this, going on in sins against the plainest
commands, and loudest warnings, and fullest light, and convic-
tion of their own conscience ? How does this consist with the pro-
fession of a belief, that they nuist in a little time be called to
give account of themselves to God ? Would any spectator who
should judge only by their practice, in the least imagine that
these men expected within a few years to burn in everlastings
336 SERMON XI.
duties and the ordinances of worship, may in some things be
very strict, and may appear to do all from a holy respect to
God. So it was of old with the Israelites. Jsai, Iviii. 1, 2, 3.
*' Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and
show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob
their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my
ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the
ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of jus-
tice ; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore
have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have
we afflicted our soul, and thou tnkrst no knowledge? Cehold
in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your
labours."
So did the Pharisees of old. They jiiade a great show of
love and holy regard to God in their behaviour; they abounded
in religious duties, they fasted twice a week, and they were
very strict in many things. They were so in many duties of
the moral law, they were not extortioners, nor unjust, nor adul-
terers, and they were exceedingly exact in duties of the cere-
monial law. They gave tithes of ail that they possessed,
and so exact were they in jiaying tithes, that they tithed all the
herbs of their gardens, as mint, anise, and the like, and put on
an exceedingly religious countenance, and wore a righteous
garment for a show of great humility ; and yet had no love to
God in their hearts, but were a generation of vipers, and most
bitter enemies to God and Christ, and cruel persecutors of good
men.
The practice of wicked men is often very inconsistent with
their profession.
It is so, whether we look at the profession which they make in
common with others who are brought up under the light of the
gospel, or at the distinguishing and extraordinary profession
which some of them make.
1. If we look at the professiojis which they make in com-
mon with the generality of thote who are brought up under the
gospel. These do in general |)iofess that there is a God, an
infinitely great and holy God, who hates t^in and who is every
where present, who always sees then), has his eye continually
upon them, sees what they do in secret as well as what is done
openly ; a God, who not only knows all their words and actions,
but sees all their thoughts, and wlio is able toilo wliat he pleases
with them, and can save or destroy them as he will.
But how does the practice of the greater part of them consist
with their profession, when they live in direct opposition to his
commands ; when they live as though there were no God that
had the care and government of the world ; and as though he
SERMON XI. 337
were not an holy God, but altogether such an one as themselves,
liking ways of sin as well as they, or as though they thought
him a weak heing, and not able to do them any great matter of
hurt, or as though they thought they were stronger than he, and
should be able to make their part good with him another day ?
1 Cor. X. 22. " Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we
stranger than he ?"
How does that wickedness, which many persons who are
brought up under gospel light cornmit in secret, those abomina-
ble secret practices of which many young people are guilty,
agree with their professing that God is every where present ?
These things they do not commit openly for fear of human
punishment, or for fear of shame and disgrace among men ; and'
yet they commit them boldly and live on them in the sight of
God, upon whose favour they profess that their happiness infi-
nitely more depends than on the esteem of men.
They profess to believe that there is another world, and a
future judgment, and that they must in a little time stand be-
fore the judgment-seat of God, to give an account of themselves
to him, and that then the hidden things of darkness shall be
brought to light, and the counsels of the heart made manifest;
and that then God will call them to a strict account of their im-
provenjent of their time, and all their talents, and that for every
idle word, men must give account in the day of judgment, and
that then every man shall have his state everlastingly, and un-
alterably fixed by the sentence of the great Judge, according to
the things done in the hody ; that they wht) have done well
shall be invited into heaven, where they shall enjoy honour and
glory, and pleasure uns|)eakable for evermore, and that they
who have done evil, shall he sentenced and sent down to hell,
into everlasting fire, with the devil and his angels, where they
shall endure unspeakable torments, as in a furnace of fire with-
out any end, or any hope, and that they shall have no rest day
nor night; and that their souls shall be fixed in one or other of
those states in a little time, as soon as ever the body dies.
Now how does their practice consist with such a profession,
while they live idle, careless lives, little troubling themselves
about the good of their souls, and have their hearts and pursuits
after the vanities of the world, just as if they never expected
any other world but this, going on in sins against the plainest
commands, and loudest warnings, and fullest light, and convic-
tion of their own conscience ? How does this consist with the pro-
fession of a belief, that they mu.et in a little time be called to
give account of themselves to God ? Would any spectator who
should judge only by their practice, in the least imagine that
these men expected within a few years to burn in everlasting
340 SERMON XI.
with whom they hope to spend their eternity in heaven. Though
they live wickedly, yet they hope in a little time to go to be with an
infinitely holy God, to be received by him with perfect approbation
and delight, to be near to him, and to dwell in the courts of his
love. They hope to enter into that same holy of holies, into
which Christ the forerunner of saints has entered, and there to
dwell, there to be as a pillar in the temple of God, to go no more
out. Yea, they hope there to sit in that heavenly holy of holies,
to be admitted to a higher privilege than the high priests were of
old in the earthly holy of holies, who were admitted only to ap-
pear in the holy of holies once a year. What holiness was expect-
ed of the high priests of old who were admitted to this privilege!
What holiness then may well be expected of those who hope to be
admitted to a so much greater privilege! Their wicked life is
very unsuitable to that state of heaven. Those who are in lieaven
are all perfectly holy, and so must they become if ever they go to
heaven; they will perfectly hate all wickedness, and perfectly de-
light in the contrary. How disagreeable therefore is the hope of
spending eternity in such a heaven, to their wallowing like svvine
in the fdth and mire of sin, and feeding with such eagerness and
delight on the loathsome objects of their lusts, as worms feed with
pleasure on the loathsome carcass !
Their wicked life is very unfit for the company of heaven, with
which they must spend an eternity, if ever they arrive there, even
with the holy angels and saints. Heb. xii. 22, 23. "But ye are
come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to au innumerable company of angels ;
to the general assembly and church of the first born, which are
written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits
ofjust men made perfect." How disagreeable is a carnal, world-
ly, sensual, impure life, to a hope of being one of such an assembly
as this to all eternity !
Their wicked life is very disagreeable to the eternal business of
heaven, which consists in employing their faculties altogether on
holy objects, in employing their understandings in viewing and
contemplating the holy perfections of God, and his wonderful
works, and their wills and affections in loving God, and delight-
ing themselves in him, and their whole souls in praising and serv-
ing him. Rev. xxii. 3, 4. '• And there shall be no more curse : but
the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it ; and his servants
shall serve him: and they shall see his face; and liisname shall be
in their foreheads." How inconsistent is a life spent in this world
in the service of lust and of the devil, lo a hope of spending eter-
nity in such a holy manner as this !
Their wicked life is unfitted for the pleasure and entertainment
of heaven, which consist in delighting and rejoicing in God, in
loving him, and in holy communion with him. How unsuited to
SERxMON XI. 341
a hope of enjoying such an happiness as this throughout eternity,
is it to place all one's delight and happiness here in hoarding up
worldly pelf, in gratifying the bodily appetites, and sensitive de-
sires, and in those pleasures that are common to the cattle and
the swine ?
Wicked men hope to spend their eternity in that world, which is
a world of perfect peace and love, and to dwell there for ever,
where are no jars nor strife, but perfect agreement, liarmony, and
love for ever. Yet many of them live a life of malice and conten-
tion in this world, are very often in one strife or other, and always
carry about in their breasts a malice and hatred towards some of
their neighbours, and towards some of those same persons with
whom they pretend to hope to spend their eternity in such perfect
love and amity. If we in our thoughts compare the life that many
men actually live in this world, with that life which they hope to
live in another world, liowill do they consist together; how disa-
greeable and shocking is the comparison, or the union of them in
our thoughts! How many are there who now are drunkards or
unclean persons, or who live in the neglect of secret prayer, and
who cast off fear and restrain prayer before God ; and how many
that are mere earth worms in covetousness and eagerness after the
world; how many proud men whose God is their earthly honour;
how many wrathful men who spend their da^^s in hatred of their
neighbour; how many such are there who hope in a little time to
be with an infinitely holy God, in his glorious presence, in his holy
of holies, and w ith Jesus Christ, and in the arms of his love, and
to be of the assembly of holy angels and saints in perfect purity,
holiness and love, loving, contemplating, and admiring God's
glory, and enjoying unspeakable blessedness in communion with
God! Tlius wicked men's practice disagrees with their hopes.
VII. Tlie practice of wicked men is inconsistent with itself.
1. Their practice at one time is inconsistent with their practice
at another. They arc not of a piece with themselves at different
times, but are such as the apostle James compares to " a wave of
the sea, driven of the wind and tossed ;" and such as he called
" double-minded." At one time they are of one mind, with re-
spect to the tilings of religion ; and at another, of another; and
so have one mind against another. It is so with false professors
of religion ; they are not steadfast in God's covenant, nor in the
practice of religion. At one time they may seem to be much af-
fected with the things of religion, and greatly engaged in their
spirits about it, as though they could even pluck out their own
eyes for God and Christ's sake, may be full of religious conversa-
tion, and may seem forward in religious deeds. But, if we ob-
serve them, all their goodness is as the morning cloud, all their
religiousness is over, and they appear as carnal, and senseless,
VOL. viii. 44
342 SERMON XI.
and as irreligious as ever ; their religious aflections are all gone,
their religious practice is gone, and " it is happened unto them ac-
cording to the true proverb. The dog is turned to his own vomit
again ; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the
mire."
So it is with the hearers, that hear the word of God, and anon
with joy receive it, but in time of temptation fall away. So it was
with many of Christ's followers ; they followed him for a while,
and by and by left him.
There were some who seemed to believe in Christ and followed
him for a while; but Christ did not commit himself to them, he
knew they were of an unstable mind, and would not be consistent
with themselves. Some of them were for a while greatly affected
with his preaching and with the miracles that he wrought, and it is
said of them that they glorified God who had given such power to
men, and said, *' Never man spake like this man." John vii. 46.
And it seems as though some of the same Jews who had their af-
fections so raised when Christ was coming into Jerusalem, and
who cried, "Hosannah to the son of David, blessed is he that
Cometh in the name of the Lord;" did presently after cry, " Cru-
cify him, crucify him !" There are many professors like those,
and like the Israelites, that sang God's praise, and soon forgat
his works, and waited not for his counsel, that " turned back, and
dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a
deceitful bow ;" that is, a bow that missed the mark to which it
seemed to direct the arrow. The arrow seems to be pointed right,
as though it would hit the mark, but yet the bow unexpectedly
tends quite another way.
There are many disciples like Judas, who was at one time a
disciple, and a traitor at another. It is commonly so that when
false professors come to be tried by any remarkable allurements
of the world, or by special difficulties which they meet with in
the way of duty, that their practice at such times is quite incon-
sistent with their practice at other times. While times are smooth,
and the way plain, and the external practice of religion seems to
be consistent with their worldly interests, they are very religious ;
but when times are changed, and they cannot be religious v/ithout
seeing them crossed, they appear quite another sort of men.
Thus their practice at one time is inconsistent with their prac-
tice at another.
2. Their practice in some things is inconsistent with their prac-
tice in others at the same time.
Fii'st. Their moral and religious practice in some things does
not consist with their irreligious and impure practice in others.
False professors are very commonly widely different in this respect
Irom those who are sincere and upright. Sincere Christians are
universally holy ; they have regard to all God's commands ; it is
SERMON XI. d45
their sincere desire, aim, and endeavour to do their duty in eve-
ry respect. But it is generally far otherwise with hypocrites;
in some things they are like Christians, in others like heathens.
Sometimes they appear earnestly religious in duties that imme-
diately respect God, as in attending ordinances, and in appear-
ing devout in external dr.ties of the first table ; but in duties that
respect their neighbour, there is but little appearance of Chris-
tianity. Some behave theinselvcs like saints in God's house,
and like devils at home. Some seem to be very religious abroad,
in the house of God, and pIso at the houses of their neighbours,
at private meetings, and in religious conferences ; but if you
follow them into their own families, and observe their carriage
there towards those who dwell under the same roof, towards
their wives, or husbands, or children, or servants, their beha-
viour there does not at all consist with the other. So some may
carry themselves well in their families, and yet are wretchedly
negligent of the religion of the closet. Some seem to be reli-
gious men, who are not honest men ; some are honest men, and
are not religious. They are willing to pay their debts, to speak
the truth, and to avoid all knavish actions, all low and under-
ground management ; but as to religion, or to seeking God in
the religious use of his ordinances, and in reading his holy word,
in meditation and prayer, there is but little of this to be seen in
them.
Some are honest men with respect to strict commutative jus-
tice, but they are not charitable men; they are selfish, covetous,
close, and unmerciful. Some seem to be generous and liberal,
and yet are very proud and haughty ; their honour is their God.
Some are very strict and exemplary as to all that can be seen of
men, but secretly they live in some abominable practice. So
their j)ractice does not consist with itself; it is not of a piece.
God complains of this self-inconsistence in Israel of old. Ro-
sea vii. 8. " Ephraim hath mixed himself among the people;
Ephraim is a cake not turned." " He hath mixed himself
among the people ;" that is, he was conversant with the heathen
nations, and mingled the religion and customs of an Israelite
with those of the heathen ; so that he was inconsistent with him-
self, he was partly an Israelite and partly a heathen. " He is
a cake not turned," alluding to their custom of baking cakes
on the hearth, or in the sun ; where, if they were not turned,
one side would be baked, and the other raw. So they on one
side seemed to appear religious, and like saints, but on the other,
wicked and impure. So it was with the Pharisees; in some
things they appeared eminently religious, but in others they be-
haved themselves as some of the vilest of men. Matth. xxiii.
14. 23. "Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites'.
344 SERMON XI.
for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence, make long
prayers ; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Wo unto yon, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye pay
tithe of mint, and anise, and cumin, and iiave omitted the
weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith :
these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other un-
done." A true saint is sanctified throughout, in soul, body,
and spirit ; he has put off the old man with his deeds, and has
put on the new man ; he is all over a new creature. He has
not only a new hand and head, but ho is a new man, all the
members are new. But hypocrites are monsters; they have a
saint's tongue, and a devil's heart. The members do not well
consist together. They are inconsistent with themselves as they
go about to serve two masters, God and Mammon, which Christ
has taught us to be a great inconsistence. They are alike in-
consistent as the Samaritans were, who would serve the God of
Israel, and their own god too. 2 Kings xvii. 28, &-c. *' Then
one of the priests, whom they had carried away from Samaria,
came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should
fear the Lord. Howbeit every nation made gods of their own,
and put them in the houses of the high places which the Sa-
maritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they
dwelt."
There is the like inconsistence in them as was in Judas, who
betrayed Christ witii a kiss. How ill tiid those two things in
Judas consist together, his coming to him, and kissing him ; his
seeming to show himself his friend, and at the same time betray-
ing him to death ! But it was no greater inconsistency than
is commonly found with hypocritical professors, who carry them-
selves as Christ's friends, and as though he were very dear to
them in some things, and yet act the part of mortal enemies in
others, and by their wicked behaviour do indeed betray his cause
and interest.
Secondly. Their wicked practice in one thing is inconsistent
with their wicked practice in others. It is a common thing
for wicked men to quarrel with God for permitting those things
which they allow themselves, and practice with delight. It is
common for wicked men to ascribe the blame of their wicked-
ness to God, therein following their first father, Adam. So men
will often lay the blame of their being unconverted, and having
lived so wicked a life, so carnal, careless, and evil a life, to God,
and especially under conviction, to quarrel with God for it ; and
yet they approved of those things which they did themselves,
with full consent and approbation.
And, again. It is common for wicked men to contend with
men, and hate their neighbour for doing the same thinor that
SERMON XI. 34l>
they do themselves, and allow in themselves. So an unjust
man, a backbiter and reviler, a revengeful man, will condemn
in others the sin which he allows in himself. And so, many
other instances might be mentioned. And thus I have showed
through all the instances proposed, how wicked men are incon-
sistent with themselves.
APPLICATION.
1. Hence we may see the woful ruin which sin has brought
on the nature of man. Man was not thus in his first estate. If
we had nothing but the light of nature, or the light of our own
reason to guide us, that would be sufficient to lead us to con-
clude that man in his first estate was not made thus by his
Creator, who has made other things in such excellent order and
harmony. We see that God hath so made the world, that one
thing sweetly harmonizes with another, all things are adapted to
each other, the nature of one thing to the nature of another ;
one thing to be subservient to another ; and all things subject
to the laws that the Creator has fixed.
We therefore, without the scripture, should have all reason to
conclude that man, the most noble of all the creatures in the
visible world, was not made in this state of woful inconsisten-
cy with himself; so that all the faculties of his nature are at
war with each other, and at war with themselves; so that now
there is nothing but the most dreadful confusion to be seen.
But the scripture teaches us plainly that God saw all things
that he had created aiul made, and behold, they were very
good ; and particularly that God made man upright, and that it
is himself that has brought ruin on his own nature. In man's
first estate all things were in perfect order in his nature. There
shone such a light in his understanding as led him to right
judgments of things, all the dictates of his understanding were
consistent one with another. And then his reason, the supe-
rior facidty, kej)t its place, and bare rule in him over the
other faculties, and there was no principle or faculty of his na-
ture but what was subject to its dictates, nothing rose up in re-
bellion against it. His will then was agreeable to his reason,
and agreeable with itself; there was a perfect harmony between
his outward appearance and his inward character ; his mouth
and his heart, and his mouth and practice then agreed together,
and his practice then was of a piece ; until he ate of the for-
bidden fruit, all was in perfect order, and peace, and decorum,
both within and without.
But what was the consequence when man hearkened to the
devil, and rebelled against his Maker.'' We learn, by Avhat has
been said under this doctrine, that then the Spirit of God de-
346 SERMON XI.
parted from him, and with his influence, God's holy image also,
the life, the crown, and glory of his nature left him, and all
light, and regularity, and order were gone, and a worse dark-
ness and confusion succeeded than was in the primitive chaos
when it was without form and void, and darkness was upon the
face of the deep. And such is the woful confusion of the na-
ture of all men now in their fallen state. Now their reason
determines one thing, and their governing practical judgment
the reverse of it ; and their judgment in some things is utterly
inconsistent with their judgment in others. Now the will is in
no consistency with the reason, but commonly determines di-
rectly contrary to its dictates. Men's wills are in such bondage
and slavery to their lusts, that they are not only determined con-
trary to their own consciences to choose those things which their
reason tells them are unjust, and vile, and unbecoming their
nature, but also those things which their reason at the same
time declares to be exceedingly against their own highest inter-
est, even so as to tend to their everlasting perdition. Yea,
their dispositions are not only contrary to tiieir own reason and
consciences, but contrary to themselves; there is not only war
between faculty and faculty, but the very same faculty is at war
with itself, so that they do in some respects choose and refuse
the same things at the same time. There are some things that
they seem earnestly to wish for, and yet indeed are at the same
time utterly averse to, and refuse, and will by no means accept
of when offered; yea, they will not have them though they are
urged and entreated, and pleaded with for years together to
accept of them. So inconsistent are their dispositions with
themselves, that they will not have spiritual and divine things
as they are, nor yet will they have them otherwise. They do
not like God as he is, they find abundance of fault with him,
they are urged to accept of him as their God, but they will by
no means comply with it. They reject him, and have an en-
mity against him; they love to keep at a distance from him,
and to have as little as possible to do with him, and will not
hearken to him, or submit to him, but are ever maintaining a
kind of warfare against him, because they do not like him as
he is. And yet they would not like him if he were any other-
wise. If it were possible that he could be altered from what
he is in any respect whatsoever, they would refuse to accept of
him as their God then. They are enemies to him because he
is so holy and just a God, and yet they would not like him if he
were unholy and unjust; they do not like his Almighty power,
and yet they would not like him if he were weak. They also
dislike his knowing all things, and yet they would dislike him
if he were ignorant. They quarrel with God for the exercise
SERMON XI. 347
of his infinite mercy and grace to others, and the more for its
being so great in some instances, in being exercised towards those
who are so unworthy ;.and yet they would not like him if he
were not infinitely merciful ; they would wish him to be merciful
enough to pardon the most unworthy, and yet sometimes quar-
rel with him because he is no more merciful.
Now there is a similar inconsistency in them with themselves
in that they do not like men for being godly ; they have an en-
mity against such sort of men : and at the same time, they
do not like those who are godly, they hate men for being wick-
ed, and will have a bitter spirit against them for it. The world in
its fallen state cannot agree with the church of God ; it has al-
ways had a spite against it, and has almost always from the
beginning of the world hitherto been persecuting it ; and yet
neither can they agree among themselves, but are at the same
time contending and quarrelling with one another. And as there
is no suiting them in this world, so neither is there any suiting
them in another; they would neither go to heaven, nor to hell.
They do not like heaven because it is holy ; and yet they would
not like it, if it were a world of wickedness. And such is the
jarring and confusion that is in their disposition, that those
things that they do choose are impossibilities, and self-contra-
dictions, and self-inconsistences. They would have a sufficient
Saviour and not a holy one ; they would have one good, and ex-
cellent, and holy enough to save them, and yet would not have
one with any holiness at all. They have a mind to have salvation
from misery, without salvation from sin ; when sin is their misery.
They have a mind to have light, and yet to keep darkness with-
out light ; they would have a light, consisting in darkness ; and
sweet, consisting in bitterness; and good, consisting in evil.
They would have such a sort of happiness as is impossible in
its own nature ; for they would have happiness with unholiness,
which is as much as to say they would be happy men, and yet
remain destroyed and ruined. And when life and death are set
before them to choose, and they are urged to make their choice,
and told that they must certainly have one or the other, that there
is no possibility of avoiding it ; yet they will come to a deliberate
determinate choice to have neither one nor the other. They are
always halting between two ojjinions, they are always choosing
and yet never come to a choice. Instead of those holy princi-
ples that man had in his heart at first, that sweetly consented
one with another, he has now introduced into his soul a num-
ber of vile and hateful lusts, that clash one with another : pride
clashing with covetousness, and covetousness thwarting sensu-
ality, and sloth crushing all these ; and instead of the purity
in body and mind, which man had at first, he is now, if he has
348 SERMON XI.
any show of purity, become like a whited sepulchre, that is
beautifully adorned outside, and within full of dead men's
bones, and all uncleanness. Their hearts disagree with theif
hearts, and their mouths disagree with their hearts ; they have
the visage and show of saints, and the hearts of devils. Their
prayers are filled up with thanksgiving, adoration, great honour
to God, praise and glory to him, a show of humility before him,
a show of repentance for sin, trust, thankfulness, desire of
obedience, and trust in Christ alone; when within is nothing
but a slight and contempt of God, enmity against God, distrust
of God, pride, self-righteousness, obstinacy and disobedience,
without one jot or tittle of honour, or love, or trust, or humility,
or repentance, or obedience, or any of those things that there
is a show of in their prayers. And now they say and profess
one thing, and practice another; they will show one thing
to God, and do another, and will live all their days in this
world carnally, contentious, and alienated from God, in the
indulgence of brutish lusts and filthiness; and yet hope when
they die to go to be with him, and in eternal communion with
him in perfect holiness, and with holy angels, spending an eter-
nity in holy contemplation and praise, and to have these things
for their everlasting happiness. And when they seem to ))rac-
tice well for a time it lasts but a little while, but their practice
at one time is utterly inconsistent with that at another. Yea, if
they were narrowly observed, their practice at the same time is
inconsistent with itself: saints at church, and heathen at home;
saints before the world, heathen in secret ; with the tongues
and faces of the children of God, and with the hearts of the
children of the devil.
Such work has the fall made in the nature of man, such a
creature as this is man become, instead of shining as at first,
in the holy and lovely image of God. Thus has the fall of man .
ruined God's workmanship. And if the fall has thus ruined
man, what can be more effectually ruined ? Does not this show
that it is indeed so, that man is in a lost and undone condition ;
and can it be expected that any other can ever restore to him
the divine image, but only that same God that made him at
first.'' And how vain are the attempts of natural men to rec-
tify their natures in their own strength, wherein is such woful
ruin and confusion ! And is there not need of a mighty Saviour
in order to this ?
2. This subject may be applied in the way of conviction to
natural men, in several particulars.
1. Hence you may see your Folly. Wisdom is ever con-
sistent with itself, and wise men are not wont to act inconsist-
ently. Self-inconsistency in temporal things is ever looked
SERMON XI. 349
upon as a note of folly. Those men, that talk very inconsist-
ently, arc accounted to talk very foolishly ; and so those men
that act inconsistcnly with themselves in temporal matters, are
looked upon as acting- very ahsurdly and ridiculously, and it is
common with men to treat such with derision. Certainly, then,
to be so exceedingly self-inconsistent in such great concerns as
we have spoken of, is the highest degree of folly.
The inconsistency of the judgment of wicked men shows
their folly. It shows the foolishness of those practical judg-
ments they govern themselves by, that they make them contrary
to the plain dictates of their own reason. Men oftentimes count
the judgments of others very foolish, because they are very in-
consistent with other men's reason, though tl-ieir judgments are
formed acccording to the best light of their own reason ; but
how much more foolish is it for men, in such things as infinitely
concern them, to make such practical judgments of things as are
plainly contrary not only to other men's reason, but to their own ;
so as to determine their will and their practice by those judg-
ments ! as for instance, when men's practical judgment and
conclusion within themselves, by v/hich they determine their
choice and practice, is, that it is best for them for the present,
to neglect their souls and seek the vanities of this world, which
are but for a moment, more than their eternal welfare.
And how does it show the folly of men's judgment when some
of their judgments are inconsistent with others ; as when in
one thing tliey will judge that a long continued eternity is of
less importance than this short and iiecting life ! So it shows
the great folly of men's wills and dispositions, that they are so
inconsistent, that in some respects they will both choose and
refuse the same things, will wish and pray for them, and take
pains for them, and yet will not have them when offered. How
madly would a man be looked upon to act, that should so act
in temporal concerns, if he was sick and like to perish for
want of a certain medicine, and should wish and long for that
medicine, and ask others to seek it for him, and yet when
it was bought and offered, he should utterly refuse it!
What folly does it argue that men's dispositions are so in-
consistent with each other, that there is no suiting them with
any thing ! they are pleased neither with piping nor mourning,
with eating nor fasting ; they will not have God, or Christ,
or heaven as they arc, and yet will not have either any other-
wise. How would men, if they manifested such a disposition
in temporal things, often be hissed at, as most ridiculous, child-
ish, and foolish ; yea, and be accounted to act like madmen !
and what folly does it discover, that they will choose, and ac-
cept of nothing but that which is impossible in its own nature,
VOL. viii. 45
350 SERMON XI.
and a self-contradiction, as when they will have happiness without
holiness. If any man should act thus in temporal things ; if he
would have no house, because he could not build one in the air ;
if he refused to go, because he could not go without feet ; or to
see, because he could not see without eyes, what words would be
thought adequate to describe his folly ! Yet this is the very folly
of sinners with regard to their salvation.
How would men be looked upon if they acted thus in their
temporal affairs ! If they must inevitably perish in the winter, if
they did not labour in the summer, and yet spend all the summer
in halting between two opinions ; or if they were sick with some
deadly disease, and were told that they must inevitably die if they
did not send for a physician, yet were undetermined, and when
the distemper increased upon them, still continued undetermined,
and when it was come to extremity, and seemed very near death,
still could not come to a conclusion ; or if an house should be on
fire over their heads, and they could not make up their minds to
flee from under it.
And what folly does it argue for men, that their practices are
so inconsistent with their hearts, and that they say one thing and
do another, and so are unsteady in their practice, and inconsistent
with themselves at different times ! It is looked upon as great
folly, and what persons are much to be ashamed of, to be so un-
steady in temporal matters, to undo one day what they did another ;
and so, in their practice in some things to be inconsistent with
their practice in others; in one thing to act like a friend, and in
another like an enemy. Persons that do so in temporals are ab-
horred of men, and looked upon as not fit for human society.
2. You may hereby be convinced of your Misery. A man
cannot be happy, and cannot but be miserable, with whom it is
thus. It shows a man to be undone. He, whose nature is brought
into such violation, is evidently brought into a state of ruin.
Where there is such self-inconsistency and self-opposition, a man
is at war with himself, and therefore must be miserable. It is a
calamity for a man not to be at peace with his neighbour ; and to
live in contention with those that are about him, but certainly it is
a much greater calamity for him to be at war with himself; to
have his judgment at war with his judgment, and his will at war
with his reason and conscience, and his will at war with itself, and
one lust thwarting another, and his outward man at war with his
inward man ; his mouth contradicting his heart, his practice con-
tradicting his profession, and contradicting itself. It is impossi-
ble that such a man should enjoy any happiness as long as things
are thus within him. Do what you will here, you cannot make
him happy; if you take him and place him in a palace, and set
him on a throne, and clothe him in the robes of nrln. , _. i nut
SERMON XI. 351
a crown of gold on his head, and set before liim the richest dain-
ties, feed him and feast him as much as you will, still he that so
disagrees wiih himself, is a miserable wretch. Though he may
be stupid, yet it is impossible he should enjoy any true peace or
rest. How should he, in whom all things are in such utter confu-
sion and uproar within, and in whom there is so much self-oppo-
sition ?
This may convince us of the truth, and show us the reason of
Isai. Ivii. 20, 21, " Btit the wicked are like the troubled sea,
when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There
is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."
How should he have an}' peace, who is his own enemy, who
chooses and practices these things which his own conscience con-
demns, and which his own reason tells hiui tend to his own ruin ?
How should he have any peace, that hates his own soul and loves
his own death, and that has one lust holding him one way, and
another the contrary, so as in some respects to choose and refuse
the same thing, to wish for a thing that at the same time he hates
and refuses, and so goes on from day to day in warring against
himself?
3. This shows your Inexcusableness, By this Inconsistency
with yourself, you are condemned out of your own mouth in that
you act contrary to your own conscience. Your own conscience
condemns you in j^our will, and practice being contrary to your
own reason ; your own reason condemns you in acting contrary
to your profession ; your own profession condemns you in the
sense in which the apostle speaks of an heretic as being condemn-
ed of himself. Titus iii. 10, 11. " A man that is an heretic, after
the first and second admonition, reject; knowing that he that is
such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself:" i. e.
he in departing from his' former profession, is inconsistent with
himself: his present heretical tenets are contrary to his former
solemn profession, and therefore that former profession condemns
him.
Consider how inexcusable you, who are thus inconsistent with
yourself in your wickedness, will appear at the last day; when
you come to stand before the judgment-seat of God, when you
are by him called to an account for your wicked life, how will
your mouth be stopped. When you are called to an account why
you have preferred things of such short and uncertain continuance
as the things of this vain world, to the great things of the eternal
world, what will you have to say for yourself, when it shall appear
that herein you acted in direct opposition to the plain dictates of
your own reason, and that this choice is inconsistent with the
judgment and choice you were wont to make in temporal things ?
And what will you say for yourself when you are called to give
352 SERMON XI.
an account why you rejected God, and Christ, and heaven for
their holiness ; when it so plainly appears that you would not like
them, and would not have accepted them if they had been any
other way than holy ?
It will then appear that you have voluntarily rejected Christ
and his great salvation, and refused to accept of heaven, and that
you are condemned of yourself in it, in that at the same time you
evinced the great necessity of those things in praying for them,
and doing many things in order to the obtaining of them.
When it shall then appear how you iiad a mind to have impos-
sibilities : as a sufficieniiy worthy Saviour, and not an holy one ;
salvation from misery, and not salvation from sin, the source of
all misery ; and liapplness without holiness ; it shall from hence .
most plainly appear that you did in effect utterly refuse to accept
of any Saviour or any salvation at all, and would not be saved
from misery at all, and refused to accept of any happiness at all,
because you would have no salvation, no happiness, but such as
was impossible in the nature of things, such a salvation as was not,
and could not be ; and then how just will it appear to your own
conscience, and to the world that you should e'en go without sal-
vation !
And when it shall appear how you had life and death set before
you, and were told the necessity of coming to a choice, and were
so often urged to it, and had so much opportunity for it, and yet
refused; how just will it appear that divine justice should make
your choice for you, when you refused to make ^ny for yourself!
And how will you appear condemned out of your own mouth,
when you shall be called to an account by the Judge, why you so
often professed to God in your prayers that he was an infinitely
great and holy God, and yet never feared him : and why you so
often said to God that he was a sovereign and righteous God, and
yet never submitted to him ; and why you so often said to him
that he was an all-sullicient and faithful God, and yet never would
put your trust in him ; and why you so often said to him that he
was an infinitely glorious, and excellent, and good God, and yet
never loved him; and why you so often owned that he was an in-
finitely gracious and bountiful God, and that you had received
abundance of kindness from him, and owned him to be the author
of all those good things of your life that you enjoy, and yet never
were truly thankful to him, but improved those things that you
owned were the gifts of God, against himself who was the giver
of them ; why you so often owned in your prayers before God
that you were a poor sinful, vile creature for your sins, and yet ne-
ver would forsake your sins, and begged of God to keep you from
sin, and yet carelessly and wilfully went on in the commission of
sin ? What will you say to such interrogations of the Judge of
SERMON XI. 353
heaven and earth ? Will not your mouth be stopped, when it
shall appear that what has already so often proceeded out of your
own mouth, ^does so much condemn you ? And what will hypo-
crites and self-pretenders to experiences say, who have told what
discoveries they had of the glory of God, of Christ, and of hea-
ven ; when the Judge inquires of them, why they set so light by
this God, and did so prefer the dust of the earth and the filth of
sin, before him ? When those who have often told what love they
have felt to the Lord Jesus Christ, are asked why they took no
more care to please and honour him, and why they rather chose
from time to time to reject him than sacrifice their worldly inter-
est.
So when wicked men are inquired of why, when they pro-
fessed to believe a future state, they took no more pains to pre-
pare for it; why, when they professed to be the followers of Christ
the Lamb of God, they were no more like him; why, when they
owned him for their head, and expressed such wonderful love to
him, they could turn and become his enemies; why, when they
lived in hope of a life of such unspeakable glory in heaven, they
set their affections wholly on this world ; why, seeing they made
such a show of regard to God and their duty at one time, they
discovered such a total disregard at another ; why, when they
made such pretences to religion, and had such appearances of it
in some things, they were so irreligious and wicked in others ;
what will they answer ? Wicked men will appear self-condemn-
ed every way : their own reason and their own consciences, their
own mouths and their own actions have condemned them : their
reason and consciences will still condemn them, and God will con-
demn them, and men and angels will and must condemn them : so
that they will appear universally condemned ; they will have no-
thing to say for themselves, nor will any one have any thing to say
for tliem.
4. If you are so inconsistent with yourself, you need not won-
der that God will enter into no Friendship with you, or that he
does not receive you into his Favour. Many natural men are rea-
dy to wonder that God will not receive them into favour — they do
so much in religion.
But if you consider what has been said, you need not wonder
at it. A wise man will make no friendship with another who is
very inconsistent with himself in ihose things wherein men are
concerned with him. He will not associate himself with him, nor
care to have much to communicate with him ; for men know that
such persons are not to be depended on. One does not know
where to find them, nor how to suit them, and if they will be so
inconsistent with themselves, certainly they will not be very con-
sistent with others that trust them. God therefore justly refuses
354 SERMON XI.
to receive such persons into union with him. It is not consistent
with his divine wisdom to give himself to them in a covenant re-
lation.
No wonder that Christ will not commit himself to such persons
as these ; John ii. 23, 24, 25. " Now, when he was in Jerusalem
at the passover, in the feast day, m^ny believed in his name, when
they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit
himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that
any should testify of man ; for he knew what was in man." Christ
knew that there was no dependence to be had upon them ; he
knew they would not prove consistent with themselves.
5. How vain and inconsistent is the Dependence of wicked men
on themselves ! If this be the case with natural men, if all natu-
ral men are as we have heard, so absurdly inconsistent with them-
selves, how unreasonable is their high thought of themselves, and
their trusting to their own goodness, to their own prayers, and
their other performances !
And that they do so, is an evident sign of their vvoful ignorance
of themselves. If such persons saw themselves as they are, and
to be such as we have described them, certainly they would be far
from trusting in their own excellency and goodness, but would see
themselves to be polluted, wretched, miserable lost creatures, and
would no more say in their hearts, *' I am rich, and increased with
goods ;" but would rather condemn themselves, and cry out with
self-abhorrence and amazement, •' Unclean, unclean, undone,
undone !"
SERMON XII.
Isaiah xxxii. 2.
And a man shall he as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert
from the tempest: as rivers of ivater in a dry place; as the
shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
In these words we may observe,
1. The person who is here prophesied of and commended,
viz. : the Lord .Tesus Christ, the King spoken of in the preced-
ing verse, who shall reign in righteousness. This king is abun-
dantly prophesied of in the Old Testament, and especially in
this prophecy of Isaiah. Glorious predictions were from time
to time uttered by the prophets concerning that great King
who was to come: there is no subject which is spoken of in so
magnificent and exalted a style by the prophets of the Old Tes-
tament, as the Messiah. They saw his day and rejoiced, and
searched diligently, together with the angels, into those things.
1 Peter i. 11, 12. " Searching what, or what manner of time,
the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it tes-
tified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that
should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto them-
selves, but unto us, they did minister the things which are now
reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto
you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven ; which things
the angels desire to look into."
We are told here that " a man shall be a hiding place from
the wind," Sec. There is an emphasis in the words, that ** a
man'^ should be this. If these things had been said of God, it
would not be strange under the Old Testament ; for God is fre-
quently called a hiding place for his people, a refuge in time of
trouble, a strong rock, and a high tower. But what is so re-
markable is, that they are said of " a man.'" But this is a
prophecy of the Son of God incarnate.
2. The Things here foretold of him, and the Commendations
given him.
356 SERMON XII.
" He shall be a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from
the tempest :" That is, he shall be the safety and defence of
his people, to which they shall flee for protection in the time of
their danger and trouble. To him they shall flee as one who
is abroad, and sees a terrible storm arising, makes haste to
some shelter to secure himself; so that however furious is the
tempest, yet he is safe within, and the wind and rain, though
they beat never so impetuously upon the roof and walls, are no
annoyance unto him.
He shall be as " rivers of water in a dry place." This is
an allusion to the deserts of Arabia, which was an exceedingly
hot and dry country. One may travel there many days, and
see no sign of a river, brook, or spring, nothing but a dry and
parched wilderness; so that travellers are ready to be consum-
ed with thirst, as the children of Israel were when they were
in this wilderness, when they were faint because there was no
water. Now when a man finds Jesus Christ, he is like one
that has been travelling in those deserts till he is almost con-
sumed with thirst, and who at last finds a river of cool and clear
water. And Christ was typified by the river of water that is-
sued out of the rock for the children of Israel in this desert :
he is compared to a river, because there is such a plenty and
fulness in him.
He is the " shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Al-
lusion is still made to the desert of Arabia. It is not said as
the shadow of a tree, because in some places of that country,
there is nothing but dry sand and rocks for a vast space together,
not a tree to be seen ; and the sun beats exceedingly hot upon
the sands, and all the shade to be found there^ where travellers
can rest and shelter themselves from the scorching sun, is un-
der some great rock. They who come to Christ find such rest
and refreshment as the weary traveller in that hot and desolate
country finds under the shadow of a great rock.
We propose to speak to three propositions that are explica-
tory of the several parts of the text.
I. There is in Christ Jesus abundant foundation of peace and
safety for those who are in fear and danger. "A man shall
be an hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tem-
pest."
II. There is in Christ provision for the satisfaction, and full
contentment, of the needy and thirsty soul. He shall be " as
rivers of water in a dry place."
III. There are quiet rest, and sweet refreshment in Christ
Jesus for him who is weary. He shall be *'as the shadow of a
great rock in a weary land."
SERMON XII. 357
I. There is in Christ Jesus abundant foundation of peace and
safety for those who are in fear and danger.
The fears and danc^ers to which men are subject, are of two
kinds ; temporal and eternal. Men are frequently in distress from
fear of temporal evils. We live in an evil world, where we are
liable to an abundance of sorrows and calamities. A great part
of our lives is spent in sorrowing for present or past evils, and in
fearing those which are future. What poor, distressed creatures
are we, when God is pleased to send his judgments among us ! If
be visits a place with mortal and prevailing sickness, what terr,or
seizes our hearts ! If any person is taken sick, and trembles for
his life, or if our near friends are at the point of death, or in many
other dangers, how fearful is our condition ! Now there is suffi-
cient foundation for peace and safety to those exercised with such
fears, and brought into such dangers. But Christ is a refuge in
all trouble ; there is a foundation for rational support and peace
in him, whatever threatens us. He, whose heart is fixed, trusting
in Christ, need not be afraid of any evil tidings. " As the moun-
tains are round about Jerusalem, so Christ is round about them
that fear him."
But it is the other kind of fear and danger to which we have a
principal respect ; the fear and danger of God's wrath. The
fears of a terrified conscience, the fearful expectation of the dire
fruits of sin, and the resentment of an angry God, these are infi-
nitely the most dreadful. If men are in danger of those things,
and are not asleep, they will be more terrified than with the fears
of any outward evil. ]Men are in a most deplorable condition, as
they are by nature exposed to God's wrath; and if they are sen-
sible how dismal their case is, will be in dreadful fears and dismal
expectations.
God is pleased to make some sensible of their true condition.
He lets them see the storm that threatens them, how black the
clouds are, and how impregnated with thunder, that it is a burn-
ing tempest, that they are in danger of being speedily overtaken
by it, that they have nothing to shelter themselves from it, and
that they are in danger of being taken away by the fierceness of
his auger.
It is a fearftd condition when one is smitten with a sense of the
dreadfuliiess of God's wrath, when he has his heart impressed with
the conviction that the great God is not reconciled to him, that he
holds him guilty of these and those sins, and that he is angry
enough with him to condemn him for ever. It is dreadful to lie
down and rise up, it is dreadful to eat and drink, and to walk
about in God's anger from day to day. One, in such a case, is rea-
dy to be afraid of every thing ; he is afraid of meeting God's wrath
wherever he goes. He has no peace in his mind, but there is a
VOL. VIII. 46
358 SERMON XII.
dreadful sound in his ears; his mind is afflicted and tossed with
tempest, and not comforted, and courage is ready to fail, and the
spirit ready to sink with fear; for how can a poor worm bear the
wrath of the great God, and what would not he give for peace
of conscience, what would not he give if he could find safety !
When such fears exist to a great degree, or are continued a
long time, they greatly enfeeble the heart, and bring it to a trem-
bling posture and disposition.
Now for such as these there is abundant foundation for peace
and safety in Jesus Christ, and this will appear from the following
things :
1. Christ has undertaken to save all such from what they fear,
if they come to him. It is his professional business ; the work in
which he engaged before the foundation of the world. It is what
he always had in his thoughts and intentions; he undertook from
everlasting to be the refuge of those that are afraid of God's wrath.
His wisdom is such, that he would never undertake a work for
which he is not sufficient. If there were some in so dreadful a
case that he was not able to defend them, or so guilty that it was
not fit that he should save them, then he never would have under-
taken for ihem. Those who are in trouble and distressing fear,
if they come to Jesus Christ, have this to ease them of their fears,
that Christ has promised them that he will protect them ; that they
come upon his invitation ; that Christ has plighted his faith for
their security if they will close with him ; and that he is engaged
by covenant to God the Father that he will save those afflicted
and distressed souls that come to him.
Christ, by his own free act, has made himself the surety of such,
he has voluntarily put himself in their stead ; and if justice has
any thing against them, he has undertaken to answer for them.
By his own act, he has engaged to be responsible for them ; so
that if they have exposed themselves to God's wrath, and to the
stroke of justice, it is not their concern, but his, how to answer
or satisfy for what they have done. Let there be never so much
wrath that they have deserved, they are as safe as if they never
had deserved any ; because he has undertaken to stand for them,
let it be more or less. If they are in Christ Jesus, the storm does
of course light on him, and not on them ; as when we are under
a good shelter, the storm, that would otherwise come upon our
heads, lights upon the shelter.
2. He is chosen and appointed of the Father to this work.
There needs be no fear nor jealousy, whether the Father will ap-
prove of this undertaking of Christ Jesus, whether he will accept
of him as a surety, or whether he will be willing that his wrath
should be poured upon his own dear Son, instead of us miserable
sinners. For there was an agreement with him concerning it be-
SERMON XII. 359
fore the world was ; it was a thing much upon God's heart, that
his Son Jesus Christ should undertake this work, and it was the
Faiher that sent him into the world. It is as much the act of God
the Father as it is of the Son. Therefore, when Christ was near
the time of his death, he tells the Father that he had finished the
work which he gave him to do. Christ is often called God's elect,
or his chosen, because he was chosen by the Father for this work ;
and God's anointed, for the words Messiah and Christ signify
anointed, because he is by God appointed and fitted for this work.
3. If we are in Christ Jesus, justice and the law have its course
with respect to our sins, without our hurt. The foundation of the
sinner's fear and distress is the justice and the law of God ; they
are against him, and they are unalterable, they must have their
course. Every jot and little of the law must be fulfilled, heaven
and earth shall be destroyed, rather than justice should not take
place; there is no possibility of sin's escaping justice.
But yet if the distressed trembling soul who is afraid of justice,
would fly to Christ, he would be a safe hiding place. Justice and
the threatening of the law will have their course as fully, while he
is safe and untouched, as if he were to be eternally destroyed.
Christ bears the stroke of justice, and the curse of tlie law falls
fully upon him ; Christ bears all that vengeance that belongs to
the sin that has been committed by him, and there is no need of its
being borne twice over. His temporal sufferings, by reason of the
infinite dignity of his person, are fully equivalent to the eternal
suflerings of a mere creature. And then his sufferings answer for
him who flees to him as well as if they were his own, for indeed
they are his own by virtue of the union between Christ and him.
Christ has made himself one with them ; he is the head, and they
are the members. Therefore, if Christ suflers for the believer,
there is no need of his suffering ; and what needs he to be afraid ^
His safety is not only consistent with absolute justice, but it is con-
sistent with the tenor of the law. The law leaves fair room for
such a thing as the answering of a surety. If the end of punish-
ment in maintaining the authority of the law and the majesty of the
government is fully secured by the sufferings of Christ as his
surety, then the law of God, according to the true and fair inter-
pretation of it, has its course as much in the suflerings of Christ,
as it would have in his own sufferings. The threatening, " thou
shall surely die," is properly fulfilled in the death of Christ, as it
is fairly to be understood. Therefore if those who are afraid will
go to Jesus Christ, they need to fear nothing from the threatening
of the law. The threatening of the law has nothing to do with
them.
4. Those who come to Christ, need not be afraid of God's wrath
for their sins ; for God's honour will not suflfer by their escaping
360 SERMON XII.
punishment and being made happy. The wounded soul is sen-
sible that he has affronted the majesty of God, and looks upon
God as a vindicator of his honour; as a jealous God that will
not be mocked, an infinitely great God that will not bear to be
affronted, that will not suffer his authority and majesty to be
trampled on, tliat will not bear that his kindness should be
ahus(M]. A view of God in this light terrifies awakened souls.
They think how exceedingly they have sinned, how they have
sinned against light, against frequent and long continued calls
and warnings; and how they have slighted mercy, and been
guilty of turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, taking
encouragement from God's mercy to go on in sin against him ;
and they fear that God is so affronted at the contempt and
slight which they have cast upon him, that he, being careful of
his honour, will never forgive them, but will punish them. But
if they go to Christ, the honour of God's majesty and authority
will not be in the least hurt by their being freed and made
happy. For what Christ has done has repaired God's honour
to the full. It is a greater honour to God's authority and ma-
jesty, that, rather than it should be wronged, so glorious a per-
son would suffer what the law required. It is surely a wonder-
ful display of the honour of God's majesty, to see an infinite
and eternal person dying for its being wronged. And then
Christ by his obedience, by that obedience which he undertook
for our sakes, has honoured God abundantly more than the sins
of any of us have dishonoured him, how n)any soever, and how
great soever. How great an honour is it to God's law that so
great a person is willing to submit to it, and to obey it! God
hates our sins, but not more than he delights in Clirist's obe-
dience which he performed on our account- Tliis is a sweet
savour to him, a savour of rest. God is abundantly compensat-
ed, he desires no more; Christ's righteousness is of infinite
worthiness and merit.
5. Christ is a person so dear to the Father, that those who
are in Christ need not be at all jealous of being accepted upon
his account. If Christ is accepted they must of consequence be
accepted, for they are in Christ, as meml)ers, as parts, as the
same. They are the body of Christ, his flesh and his bones.
They that are in Christ Jesus, are one spirit ; and therefore, if
God loves Christ Jesus, he must of necessity accept of those
that are in him, and that are of him. But Christ is a person ex-
ceedingly dear to the Father, the Father's love to the Son is
really infinite. God necessarily loves the Son; God could as
soon cease to be, as cease to love the Son. He is God's elect,
in whom his soul delighteth ; he is his beloved Son in whom he
SERMON Xli. 361
is well pleased ; he loved liim before the foundation of the
world, and had infinite delight in him from all eternity.
A terrified conscience, therefore, may have rest here, and
abundant satisfaction that he is safe in Christ, f^iid tliat thero is
not the least danger but that he shall be accepteil, and that God
will be at peace with him in Christ.
6. God has given an open testimony that Christ has done and
suftered enough, and that he is satisfied with »t, by his raising
him from the dead. Christ, when he was in his passion, was
in the hands of justice, he was God's prisoner for believers, and
it pleased God to bruise him, and put him to grief, and to bring
him into a low state; and when he raised him from the dead,
he set him at liberty, whereby he declared that it was enough.
If God was not satisfied, why did he set Christ at liberty so
soon ? he was in the hands of justice, why did not God pour
out more wrath upon him, and hold him in the chains of dark-
ness longer? God raised him up and opened the prison doors
to him, because he desired no more. And now surely there is
free admittance for all sinners into God's favour through this
risen Saviour, there is enough done, and God is satisfied ; as he
has declared and sealed to it by the resurrection of Christ, who
is alive, and lives for evermore, and is making intercession for
poor, distressed souls that come unto him.
7. Christ has the dispensation of safety and deliverance in his
own hands, so that we need not fear but that, if we are united
to him, we may be safe. God has given him all power in hea-
ven and in earth, to give eternal life to whomsoever comes to
him. He is made head over all things to the church, and the
work of salvation is left with himself, he may save whom he
pleases, and defend those that are in him by his own power.
What greater ground of confidence could God have given us
than that the Mediator, who died for us and intercedes for us,
should have committed to him the dispensation of the very
thing which he died to purchase and for which he intercedes.''
8. Christ's love and compassion and gracious disposition are
such that we may be sure he is inclined to receive all who come
to him. If he should not do it, he v<ould fail of his own undertak-
ing, and also of his promise to the Father, and to us ; and his wis-
dom and faithfulness will not allow of that. But he is so full of
love and kindness that he is dispose«l to nothing but to re-
ceive and defend us, if we come to him. Christ is exceedingly
ready to |)ity us, his arms are open to receive us, he delights to
receive distressed souls that come to him, and to protect them;
he would gather them as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings; it is a work that he exceedingly rejoices in, because
he delights in acts of love, and pity, and mercy.
362 SERMON XII.
I shall take occasion from what now has been said to invite
those who are afraid of God's wrath, to come to Christ Jesus.
You are indeed in a dreadful condition. It is dismal to have
God's wrath impending over our lieads, and not to know how
soon it will fall upon us. And you are in some measure sensi-
ble that it is a dreadful condition, you are full of fear and trou-
ble, and you know not where to flee for help; your mind is as
it were tossed with a tempest. But how lanjentable is it, that
you should spend your life in such a condition, when Christ
would shelter you, as a hen shelters her chickens under her
wings, if you were but willing ; and that you should live such a
fearful, distressed life, when there is so much provision made for
your safety in Christ Jesus !
How happy would you be if your hearts were but persuaded
to close with Jesus Christ! Then you would be out of all dan-
ger: whatever storms and tempests were without, you might
rest securely within ; you might hear the rushing of the wind,
and the thunder roar abroad, while you are safe in this hiding-
place. O be persuaded to hide yourself in Christ Jesus ! What
greater assurance of safety can you desire .'^ He has under-
taken to defend and save you, if you will come to him : he
looks upon it as his work ; he engaged in it before the world
was, and he has given his faithful promise which he will not
break; and if you will but make your flight there, his life shall
be for yours ; he will answer for you, you shall have nothing to
do but rest quietly in him ; you may stand still and see what the
Lord will do for you. If there be any thing to sutFer, the suf-
fering is Christ's, you will have nothing to suffer ; if there be
any thing to be done, the doing of it is Christ's, you will have
nothing to do but to stand still and behold it.
You will certainly be accepted of the Father if your soul
lays hold of Jesus Christ. Christ is chosen and anointed of the
Father, and sent forth for this very end, to save those that are
in danger and fear ; and he is greatly beloved of God, even in-
finitely, and he will accept of those that are in him. Justice
and the law will not be against you, if you are in Christ ; that
threatening, " in the day that thou eatest thou shalt die," in
the proper sense of it, will not touch you. The majesty and
honour of God are not against you. You need not be afraid
but that you shall be justified, if you come to him ; there is an
act of justification already past and declared for all who come
to Christ by the resurrection of Christ, and as soon as ever you
come, you are by that declared free. If you come to Christ it
will be a sure sign that Christ loved you from all eternity, and
that he died for you ; and you may be sure if he died for you, he
SERMON XII. 363
will not lose the end of his death, for the dispensation of life is
committed unto him.
You need not, therefore, coniinue in so dang^erous a condition ;
there is help for yon. You need not stand out in the storm so
long, as there is so good a shelter near you, whose doors are open
to receive you. O make haste, therefore, unto that man who is
an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest !
Let this truth also cause believers more to prize the Lord Jesus
Christ. Consider that it is he, and he only, who defends you from
wrath, and that he is a safe defence ; your defence is a high tow-
er; your city of refuge is impregnable. There is no rock like
your rock. There is none like Christ, " the God of Jeshurun,
who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on
the sky ; the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are ever-
lasting arms." He in whom you trust is a buckler to all that trust
in him. O prize that Saviour, who keeps your soul in safety,
while thousands of others are carried away by the fury of God's
anger, and are tossed with raging and burning tempests in hell !
O, how much better is your case than theirs ! and to whom is it
owing but to the Lord Jesus Christ! Remember what was once
your case, and what it is now, and prize Jesus Christ.
And let those Christians who are in doubts and fears concern-
ing their condition, renewedly fly to Jesus Christ, who is a hiding
place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest. Most Chris-
tians are at times afraid whether they shall not miscarry at last.
Such doubtings are always through some want of the exercise of
faith, and the best remedy for them is a renewed resort of the soul
to this hiding place ; the same act which at first gave comfort and
peace, will give peace again. They that clearly see the sufficien-
cy of Christ, and the safety of committing themselves to him to
save them from what they fear, will rest in it that Christ will de-
fend them ; be directed therefore at such times to do as the Psalm-
ist. Ps. Ivi. 3, 4. " What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
In God I will praise his word ; in God I have put my trust: I
will not fear what flesh can do unto me."
IL There is provision in Christ for the satisfaction and full con-
tentment of the needy and thirsty soul. This is the sense of those
words in the text, " as rivers of water in a dry place," in a dry
and parched wilderness, where there is a great want of water,
and where travellers are ready to be destroyed with thirst, such as
was that wilderness in which the children of Israel wandered. This
comparison is used elsewhere in the scriptures. Psalm Ixiii. 1.
" O God, thou art my God ; early will 1 seek thee ; my soul
thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty
land, where no water is." Ps. cxliii. 6. " I stretch forth my
hands unto thee ; my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land."
364 SEKMON XII.
Those who traveJ in such a land, who wander in such a wilder-
ness, are in extreme need of water ; they are ready to perish for
the want of it ; and thus they have a great thirst and longing for it.
It is said that Clirist is a river of water, because there is such a
fulness in him, so plentiful a provision for the satisfaction of the
needy and longing soul. When one is extremely thirsty, though
it is not a small draught of water will satisfy him, yet when he
comes to a river, he finds a fuhiess, there he may drink full draughts.
Christ is like a river, in that he has a sufficiency not only for one
thirsty soul, but by supplying him the fountain is not lessened ;
there is not the less afforded to those who come afterwards. A
thirsty man does not sensibly lessen a river by quenching his
thirst.
Christ is like a river in another respect. A river is continually
flowing, there are fresh supplies of water coming from the foun-
tain head continually, so that a man may live by it, and be sup-
plied with water all his life. So Christ is an ever-floA'ing fountain;
he is continually supplying his people, and the fountain is not
spent. They who live upon Christ, may have fresh supplies from
him to all eternity ; they may have an increase of blessedness that
is new, and new still, and which never will come to an end.
In illustrating this second proposition, I shall inquire,
1. What it is that the soul of every man naturally and neces-
sarily craves.
First. The soul of every man necessarily craves happiness.
This is an universal appetite of human nature, that is alike in the
good and the bad; it is as universal as the very essence of the
soul, because it necessarily and immediately flows from that es-
sence. It is not only natural to all mankind, but to the angels ;
it is universal among all reasonable, intelligent beings, in heaven,
earth, or hell, because it flows necessarily from an intelligent na-
ture. There is no rational being, nor can there be any without
a love and desire of happiness. It is impossible that there should
be any creature made that should love misery, or not love happi-
ness, since it implies a manifest contradiction ; for the very notion
of misery is to be in a state that nature abhors, and the notion of
happiness, is to be in such a state as is most agreeable to nature.
Therefore, this craving of happiness must be insuperable, and
what never can be changed ; it never can be overcome, or in any
way abated. Young and old love happiness alike, and good and
bad, wise and unwise ; though there is a great variety as to men's
ideas of happiness. Some tbink it is to be found in one thing,
and some in another ; yet, as to the desire of happiness in gene-
ral, there is no variety. There are particular appetites that may
be restrained, and kept under, and conquered, but this general ap-
petite for happiness never can be.
SERMON XII. S65
Secondly. The soul of every man craves a happiness that is
equal to the capacity of his nature. The soul of man is like a
vessel ; the capacity of the soul is as the largeness or contents of
the vessel. And therefore, if man has much pleasure and happi-
ness, yet if the vessel is not full, the craving will not cease. Every
creature is restless till it enjoys what is equal to the capacity of its
nature. Thus we may observe in the brutes ; when they have
that which is suitable to their nature, and proportional to their
capacity, they are contented. Man is of such a nature, that he
is capable of an exceedingly great degree of happiness ; he is
made of a vastly higher nature than the brutes, and therefore he
must have vastly higher happiness to satisfy. The pleasures of
the outward senses which content the beasts, will not content man.
He has other faculties of a higher nature that stand in need of
something to fill them ; if the sense be satiated, yet if the facul-
ties of the soul are not filled, man will be in a craving restless
state.
It is more especially by reason of the faculty of understanding
that the soul is capable of so great a happiness, and desires so
much. The understanding is an exceedingly extensive faculty;
it extends itself beyond the limits of earth, beyond the limits
of the creation. As we are capable of understanding immensely
more than we do understand, who can tell how far the understand-
ing of men is capable of stretching itself? and as the understand-
ing enlarges, the desire will enlarge with it. It must therefore be
an incomprehensible object that must satisfy the soul ; it will ne-
ver be contented with that, and that only, to which it can see an
end, it will never be satisfied with that happiness to which it can
find a bottom.
A man may seem to take contentment for a little while in a
finite object, but after he has had a little experience, he finds that
he wants something besides. This is very apparent from the ex-
perience of this restless craving world. Every one is inquiring,
Who will show us any good?
2. Men in their fallen state, are in very great want of this hap-
piness. They v/ere once in the enjoyment of it, but mankind are
sunk to a very low estate ; we are naturally poor, destitute crea-
tures. We came naked into the world, and our souls as well as
our bodies are in a wretched, miserable condition ; we are so far
from having food to eat suitable to our nature, that we are greedy
after the husks which the swine do eat.
The poverty of man ia a natural condition, appears in his dis-
contented, craving spirit; it shows that the soul is very empty,
when, like the horse-leech, it cries, " give, give, and saith not, it
is enough." We are naturally like the Prodigal, for we once
were rich, but we departed from our father's house, and have
VOL. VIII. 47
366 SERMON XII.
squandered away our wealth, and are become poor, hungry, fam-
ishing wretches.
Men in a natural condition may find something to gratify their
senses, but there is nothing to feed the soul ; that more noble and
more essential part perishes for lack of food. They may fare
sumptuously every day, they may pamper their bodies, but the soul
cannot be fed from a sumptuous table ; they may drink wine in
bowls, yet the spiritual part is not refreshed. The superior facul-
ties want to be sup[;lied as well as the inferior. True poverty and
true misery consist in the want of those things of which our spiri-
tual part stands in need.
3. Those sinners who are thoroughly awakened, are sensible of
their great want. Multitudes of men are not sensible of their
miserable, needy condition. There are many who are thus poor,
and think themselves rich, and increased in goods. Indeed there
are no natural men that have true contentment : they are all rest-
less, and crying, " who will show us any good .^" but multitudes
are not sensible how exceedingly necessitous is their condition.
But the thoroughly awakened soul sees that he is very far from
true happiness, that those things which he possesses will never
make him happy ; that for all his outward possessions he is wretch-
ed, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. He becomes
sensible of the short continuance and uncertainty of those things,
and their insufficiency to satisfy a troubled conscience. He wants
something else to give him peace and ease. If you would tell
him that he might have a kingdom, it would not quiet him ; he
desires to have his sins pardoned, and to be at peace with his Judge.
He is poor, and he becomes as a beggar ; he comes and cries for
help. He does hot thirst, because he as yet sees where true hap-
piness is to be found, but because be sees that he has it not, and
cannot find it. He is without comfort, and does not know wiiere
to find it, but he longs for it. O, what would he not give, if he
could find some satisfying peace and comfort !
Such are those hungry, thirsty souls that Christ so often invites
to come to him. Isai. Iv. 1,2. " Ho, every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy
and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without
price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and
your labour for that which satisfieth not ? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in
fatness." " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink;
and he that is athirst, let him come and take of the water of
life freely."
4. There is in Christ Jesus provision for the full satisfaction
and contentment of such as these.
SERMON XII. 367
First. The excellency of Christ is such, that the discovery of
it is exceedingly contenting and satisfying to the soul. The in-
quiry of the soul is after that which is most excellent. The car-
nal soul imagines that earthly things are excellent; one thinks
riches most excellent, another has the highest esteem of honour,
and to anolhercarnal pleasure appears the most excellent; but the
soul cannot find contentment in any of these things, because it
soon finds an end to their excellency.
Worldly men imagine, that there is true excellency and true
happiness in those things which they are pursuing. They think
that if they could but obtain them, they should be happy ; and
when they obtain them, and cannot find happiness, they look for
happiness in something else, and are still upon the pursuit.
But Christ Jesus has true excellency, and so great excellency,
that when they come to see it they look no further, but the mind
rests there. It sees a transcendent glory and an ineflable sweet-
ness in him; it sees that till now it has been pursuing shadows,
but that now it has found the substance; ihat before it had been
seeking happiness in the stream, but that now it has found the ocean.
The excellency of Christ is an object adequate to the natural crav-
ings of the soul, and is sufficient to fill the capacity. It is an infi-
nite excellency, such an one as the mind desires, in which it can
find no bounds ; and the more the mind is used to it, the more ex-
cellent it appears. Every new discovery makes this beauty appear
more ravishing, and the mind sees no end ; here is room enough
for the mind to go deeper and deeper, and never come to the bot-
tom. The soul is exceedingly ravished when it first looks on this
beauty, and it is never weary of it. The mind never has any sa-
tiety, but Christ's excellency is alwa3's fresh and new, and tends as
much to delight, after it has been seen a thousand or ten thousand
years, as when it was seen the first moment. The excellency of
Christ is an object suited to the superior faculties of man, it is
suited to entertain the faculty of reason and understanding, and
there is nothing so worthy about which the understanding can be
employed as this excellency ; no other object is so great, noble,
and exalted.
This excellency of Jesus Christ is the suitable food of the ra-
tional soul. The soul that comes to Christ, feeds upon this, and
lives upon it; it is that bread which came down from heaven, of
which he that eats shall not die ; it is angels' food ; it is that wine
and milk that is given without money, and without price. This is
that fatness in which the believing soul delights itself; here the
longing soul may be satified, and the hungry soul may be filled
with goodness. The delight and contentment that is to be found
here, passeth understanding, and is unspeakable and full of glory.
It is impossible for those who have tasted of this fountain, and
368 SERMON XII.
know the sweetness of it, ever to forsake it. The soul has
found ihe river of water of life, and it desires no other drink;
it has found the tree of life, and it desires no other fruit.
Secondly. The manifestation of the love of Christ gives the
soul abundant contentment. This love of Christ is exceedingly
sweet and satisfying, it is better than life, because it is the love
of a person of such dignity and excellency. The sweetness of
his love depends very much upon the greatness of his excel-
lency ; so much the more lovely the person, so much the
more desirable is his love. How sweet must the love of
that person be, who is the eternal Son of God, who is of
equal dignity with the Father! How great a happiness
must it be to be the object of the love of him who is the Creator
of the world, and by whom all things consist, and who is exalt-
ed at God's right hand, and made head over principalities and
powers in heavenly places, who has all things put under his feet,
and is King of kings and Lord of lords, and is the bright-
ness of the Father's glory ! Surely to be beloved by him, is
enough to satisfy the soul of a worm of the dust.
This love of Christ is also exceedingly sweet and satisfying
from the greatness of it ; it is a dying love ; such love as never
was before seen, and such as no other can parallel. There have
been instances of very great love between one earthly friend
and another : there was a surpassing love between David and
Jonathan. But there never was any such love as Christ has
towards believers. The satisfying nature of this love arises also
from the sweet fruits of it. Those precious benefits that Christ
bestows upon his people, and those precious promises which he
has given them, are the fruit of this love ; joy and hope are the
constant streams that flow from this fountain, from the love of
Christ.
Thirdly. There is provision for the satisfaction and content-
ment of the thirsty longing soul in Christ, as he is the way to
the Father ; not only from the fulness of excellency and grace
which he has in his own person, but as by him we may come
to God, may be reconciled to him, and may be made happy in
his favour and love.
The poverty and want of the soul in its natural state consist
in its being separated from God, for God is the riches and the
happiness of the creature. But we naturally are alienated from
God ; and God is alienated from us, our Maker is not at peace
with us. But in Christ there is a way for a free communication
between God and us ; for us to come to God, and for God to
communicate himself to us by his Spirit. John xiv. 6. "Jesus
saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father but by me." Ephes. ii. 13.
18, 19. ** But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far
SERMON XII. 369
off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For through him
we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now,
therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-
citizens with the saints, and of the household of God."
Christ by being thus the way to the Father, is the way to true
happiness and contentment. John x. 9. " I am the door : by
nie, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and
out, and find pasture."
Hence I would take occasion to invite needy, thirty soids to
come to Jesus. " In the last day, that great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink." You that have not yet come to Christ,
are in a j)oor necessitous condition ; you are in a parched wil-
derness, in a dry and thirsty land. And if you are thoroughly
awakened, you are sensible that you are in distress and ready
to faint for want of something to satisfy your souls. Come to
him who is "as rivers of water in a dry place." There aro
plenty and fulness in him ; he is like a river that is always
flowing, you may live by it for ever, and never be in want.
Come to him who has such excellency as is sufficient to give
full contentment to your soul, who is a person of transcendent
glory, and ineffable beauty, where you may entertain the view
of your soul for ever without weariness, and without being cloy-
ed. Accept of the offered love of him who is the only begot-
ten Son of God, and his elect, is whom his soul delighteth.
Through Christ, come to God the Father, from whom you have
departed by sin. He is the way, the truth, and the life ; he is
the door by which, if any man enters, he shall be saved.
in. There are quiet rest and sweet refreshment in Christ
Jesus, for those that are weary. He is "as the shadow of a
great rock in a weary land."
The comparison that is used in the text is very beautiful and
very significative. The dry, barren, and scorched wilderness
of Arabia is a very lively representation of the misery, that
men have brought upon themselves by sin. It is destitute of
any inhabitants but lions and tigers and fiery serpents ; it is bar-
ren and parched, and without any river or spring ; it is a land
of drought, wherein there is seldom any rain, a land exceed-
ingly hot and uncomfortable. The scorching sunbeams that
are ready to consume the spirits of travellers, are a fit repre-
sentation of terror of conscience, and the inward sense of God's
displeasure.
And there being no other shade in which travellers may rest,
but only here and there that of a great rock, it is a fit repre-
sentation of Jesus Christ, who came to redeem us from our
misery. Christ is often compared to a rock, because he is a
370 SERMON XII.
sure foundation to builders, and because he is a sure bulwark
and defence. They who dwell upon the top of a rock, dwell in
a most defensible place; we read of those whose habitation is
the munitions of rocks. He may also be compared to a rock,
as he is everlasting and unchangeable. A great rock remains
steadfast, unmoved, and unbroken by winds and storms from age
to age; and therefore God chose a rock to be an emblem of
Christ in the wilderness, when he caused water to issue forth
for the children of Israel ; and the shadow of a great rock is a
most fit re'presentation of the refreshment given to weary souls
by Jesus Christ.
1. There is quiet rest and full refreshment in Christ for sin-
ners that are weary and heavy laden with sin. Sin is the most
evil and odious thing, as well as the most mischievous and fatal ;
it is the most mortal poison ; it, above all things, hazards life,
and endangers the soul, exposes to the loss of all happiness, and
to the suffering of all misery, and brings the wrath of God.
All men have this dreadful evil hanging about them, and cleav-
ing fast to the soul, and ruling over it, and keeping it in pos-
session, and under absolute command : it hangs like a viper to
the heart, or ratlier holds it as a lion does his |)rey.
But yet there are multitudes, who are not sensible of their
misery. They are in such a sleep that they are not very un-
quiet in this condition, it is not very burthensome to them, they
are so sottish that they do not know what is their state, and
what is like to become of them. But there are others who have
their sense so far restored to them that they feel the pain, and
see the approaching destruction, and sin lies like a heavy load
upon their hearts ; it is a load that lies upon them day and night,
they cannot lay it down to rest themselves, but it continually
oppresses them. It is bound fast unto them, and is ready to
sink them down ; it is a continual labour of heart, to support
itself under this burden. Thus we read of them " that labour,
and are heavy laden."
Or rather, it is like the scorching heat in a dry wilderness,
where the sun beats and burns all tlie day long; where they
have nothing to defend them ; wh.cre they can find no shade to
refresh themselves. If they lay themselves down to rest, it is
like lying down in the hot sands, where there is nothing to keep
off the heat.
Here it may be proper to inquire who are weary and heavy
laden with sin ; and in what sense a sinner may be weary and
burdened with sin. Sinners are not wearied with sin from
any dislike to it, or dislike of it. There is no sinner that is
burdened with sin in the sense in which a godly man carries
his indwelling sin, as his daily and greatest burden, because
SERMON XII. 371
he loathes it, and longs to get rid of it ; he would fain be at a great
distance from it, and have nothing more to do with it ; he is ready-
to cry out as Paul did, " O wretched man that I am ! who shall
deliver me from the body of this death ?" The unregenerate man
has nothing of this nature, for sin is yet his delight, he dearly
loves it. If he be under convictions, his love to sin in general is
not mortified, he loves it as well as ever, he hides it still as a sweet
morsel under his tongue.
But there is a difierence between being weary and burdened
with sin, and being weary of sin. Awakened sinners are weary
with sin, but not properly weary of it.
Therefore, they are only weary of the guilt of sin, the guilt
that cleaves to their consciences is that great burden. God has
put the sense of feeling into their consciences, that were before as
seared flesh, and it is guilt that pains them. The filthiness of sin
and its evil nature, as it is an offence to a holy, gracious, and glo-
rious God, is not a burden to them. But it is the connection be-
tween sin and punishment, between sin and God's wrath, that
makes it a burden. Their consciences are heavy laden with guilt,
which is an obligation to punishment ; they see the threatening
and curse of t!ie law joined to their sins, and see that the justice
of God and his vengeance are against them. They are burdened
with their sins, not because there is any odiousness in them, but
because there is hell in them. This is the sting of sin, whereby it
stings the conscience, and distresses and wearies the soul.
Tlie guilt of such and such great sins is upon the soul, and the
man sees no way to get rid of it, but he has wearisome days and
wearisome nights ; it makes him ready sometimes to say as the
Psalmist did, " O that I had wings like a dove ! for then would I
fly away and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off", and re-
main in the wilderness. I would hasten my escape from the windy
storm and tempest."
But when sinners come to Christ, he lakes away that which was
their burden, or their sin and guilt, that which was so heavy upon
their hearts, that so distressed their minds.
First. He takes away the guilt of sin, from which the soul be-
fore saw no way how it was possible to be freed, and which, if it
was not removed, led to eternal destruction. When the sinner
comes to Christ, it is all at once taken away, and the soul is left
free, it is lightened of its burden, it is delivered from its bondage,
and is like a bird escaped from the snare of the fowler. The soul
sees in Christ a way to peace with God, and a way by which the
law may be answered, and justice satisfied, and yet he may escape;
a wonderful way indeed, but yet a ciertain and a glorious one.
And what rest does it give to the weary soul to see itself thus de-
livered, that the foundation of its anxieties and fears is wholly re-
372 SERMON XII.
moved, and that God's wrath ceases, that it is brought into a state
of peace with God, and that there is no more occasion to fear hell,
but that it is for ever safe !
How refreshing is it to the soul to be at once thus delivered of
that which was so much its trouble and terror, and to be eased of
that which was so much its burden ! This is like coming to a
cool shade after one has been travelling in a dry and hot wilder-
ness, and almost fainting under the scorching heat.
And then Christ also takes away sin itself, and mortifies that
root of bitterness which is the cause of all the inward tumults and
disquietudes that are in the mind, that make it like the troubled
sea that cannot rest, and leave it all calm. When guilt is taken
away and sin is mortified, then the foundation of fear, and trou-
ble, and pain is removed, and the soul is left in peace and serenity.
Secondly. Christ puts strength and a principle of new lite into
the weary soul that comes to him. The sinner, before he comes
to Christ, is as a sick man that is weakened and brought low, and
whose nature is consumed by some strong distemper; he is full of
pain, and so weak that he cannot walk nor stand. Therefore,
Christ is compared to a physician. " But when Jesus heard
that, he said unto them. They that be whole, need not a pliysi-
cian, but they that are sick." When he comes and speaks the
word, he puts a principle of life into him that was before as dead ;
he gives a principle of spiritual life and the beginning of eternal
life ; he invigorates the mind with a communication of his own
life and strength, and renews the nature and creates it again, and
makes the man to be a new creature.
So that the fainting, sinking spirits are now revived, and this
principle of spiritual life is a continual spring of refreshment, like
a well of living water. " Whosoever drinketh of the water that
1 shall give him, shall never tliirst; but the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life." Christ gives his Spirit that cahns the mind, and is like a
refreshing breeze of wind. He gives that strength whereby he
lifts up the hands that hang down, and strengthens the feeble
knees.
Thirdly. Christ gives to those who come to him such comfort
and pleasure as are enough to make them forget all their former la-
bour and travail. A little of true peace, a little of the joys of the ma-
nifested love of Christ, and a little of the true and holy hope of
eternal life, are enough to compensate for all that toil and weari-
ness, and to erase the remembrance of it from the mind. That
peace which results from true faith, passes understanding, and that
joy is joy unspeakable. There is something peculiarly sweet and
refreshing in this joy, that is not in other joys ; and what can
SERMON XII. STJI
more effectually support the mind, or give a moi-e rational ground
of rejoicing, than a prospect of eternal glory in the enjoyment of
God from God's own promise in Christ ? If we come to Christ,
we may not only be refreshed by resting in his shadow, but by
eating his fruit : these things are the fruits of this tree. " I sat
down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet
to my taste."
Before proceeding to the next particular of this proposition, I
would apply myself to those that are weary ; to move them, to
repose themselves under Christ's shadow.
The great trouble of such a stale, one would think, should be
a motive to you to accept of an offer of relief, and remedy. You are
wear}', and doubtless would be glad to be at rest ; but here you
are to consider,
1st. That there is no remedy but in Jesus Christ; there is no-
thing else will give you true quietness. If you could fly into hea-
ven, you would not find it there ; if you should take the wings of
the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth, in some
solitary place in the wilderness, j'ou could not fly from your bur-
den. So that if you do not come to Christ, you must either con-
tinue still weary and burdened, or which is worse, you must return
to 3'our old dead sleep, to a state of stupiditj'; and not only so,
but you must be everlastingly wearied with God's wrath.
2d. Consider that Christ is a remedy at hand. You need not
wish for the wings of a dove that you may fly afar oft', and be at
rest, but Christ is nigh at hand, if you were but sensible of it.
Romans x. 6, 7, 8. " But the righteousness which is of faith
speaketh on this wise. Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend
into heaven (that is, to bring Christ down from above,) or who
shall descend into tlie deep: (that is, to bring up Christ again
from the dead.) [But what saith it f The word is nigh thee, even
in thy mouth, and in thy heart ; that is, the word of faith which
we preach." There is no need of doing any great work to come
at this rest ; the way is plain to it ; it is but going to it, it is but
sitting down under Christ's shadow. Christ requires no money to
purchase rest of him, he calls to us to come freely, and for no-
thing. If we are poor and have no money, we may come. Christ
sent out his servants to invite the poor, the maimed, the halt, and
the blind. Christ does not want to be hired to accept of you,
and to give you rest. It is his work as Mediator to give rest to
the weary, it is the work that he was anointed for, and in which
he delights. " The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me ; because
the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ;
he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty
to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are
bound."
VOL. VIII. 48
374 SERMON XII.
3d. Christ is not only a remedy for your weariness and trouble,
but he will give you an abundance of the contrary, joy and de-
light. They who come to Christ, do not only come to a resting
place after they have been wandering in a wilderness, but they
come to a banqueting-house where they may rest, and where they
may feast. They may cease from their former troubles and toils,
and they may enter upon a course of delights and spiritual joys.
Christ not only delivers from fears of hell and of wrath, but he
gives hopes of heaven, and the enjoyment of God's love. He de-
livers from inward tumults and inward pain, from that guilt of
conscience, which is as a worm gnawing within, and he gives de-
light and inward glory. He brings us out of a wilderness of pits,
and drought, and fiery flying serpents ; and he brings us into a plea-
sant land, a land flowing with milk and honey. He delivers us
out of prison, and lifts us off from the dunghill, and he sets us
among princes, and causes us to inherit the throne of glory.
Wherefore, if any one is weary, if any is in prison, if any one is
in captivity, if any one is in the wilderness, let him come to the
blessed Jesus, who is as the shadow of a great rock in a weary
land. Delay not, arise and come away.
2. There are quiet rest and sweet refreshment in Christ for
God's people that are weary.
The saints themselves, while the}' remain in this imperfect state,
and have so much remains of sin in their hearts, are liable still to
many troubles and sorrows, and much weariness, and have often
need to resort anew unto Jesus Christ for rest. I shall mention
three cases wherein Christ is a sufiicient remedy.
First. There is rest and sweet refreshment in Christ for those
that are wearied with persecutions. It has been the lot of God's
church in this world for the most part to be persecuted. It has
had now and then some lucid intervals of peace and outward
prosperity, but generally it has been otherwise. This has accord-
ed with the first prophecy concerning Christ ; " I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed."
Those two seeds have been at enmity ever since the time of Abel.
Satan has borne great malice against the church of God, and so
have those that are his seed. And oftentimes God's people have
been persecuted to an extreme degree, have been put to the most
exquisite torments that wit or art could devise, and thousands of
them have been tormented to death.
But even in such a case there are rest and refreshment to be
found in Christ Jesus. When their cruel enemies have given
them no rest in this world ; when, as oftentimes, has been the case,
they could not flee, nor in any way avoid the rage of their adver-
saries, but many of them have been tormented gradually from day
SERMON XII. 37S
to day, that their torments might be lengthened ; still rest has been
found even then in Christ. It has been often found by expe-
rience ; tiie martyrs have often showed plainly that the peace
and calm of their minds were undisturbed in the midst of the
greatest bodily torment, and have sometimes rejoiced and sung
j)raises upon the rack and in the fire. If Christ is pleased to
send forth his Spirit to manifest his love, and speaks friendly to
the soul, it will support it even in the greatest outward torment
that man can inflict. Christ is the joy of the soul, and if the
soul be but rejoiced and filled with divine light, such joy no man
can take away ; whatever outward misery there be, the spirit
will sustain it.
Secondly. There is in Christ rest for God's people, when ex-
ercised with afliictions. If a person labour under great bodily
weakness, or under some disease that causes frequent and strong
j)ains, such things will tire out so feeble a creature as man.
It may to such an one be a comfort and an eff*ectual support to
think, that he has a Mediator, who knows by experience what
pain is; who by his pain has purchased eternal ease and plea-
sure for him ; and who will make his brief sufferings to work out
a far more exceeding delight, to be bestowed when he shall
rest from his labours and sorrows.
If a person be brought into great straits as to outward sub-
sistence, and poverty brings abundance of difficulties and ex-
tremities; yet it may be a supporting, refreshing consideration
to such an one to think, that he has a compassionate Saviour,
who when upon earth, was so poor that he had not where to lay
his head, and who became poor to make him rich, and purchas-
ed for him durable riches, and will make his poverty work out
an exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
If God in his providence calls his people to mourn over lost
relations, and if he repeats his stroke and takes away one after
another of those that were dear to him ; it is a supporting, re-
freshing consideration to think, that Christ has declared that
he will be in stead of all relations unto those who trust in him.
They are as his mother, and sister and brother ; he has taken
them into a very near relation to himself : and in every other
afflictive providence, it is a great comfort to a believing soul to
think that he has an intercessor with God, that by him he can have
access with confidence to the throne of Grace, and that in Christ
we have so many great and precious promises, that all things
shall work together for good, and shall issue in eternal blessed-
ness. God's people, whenever they are scorched by afflictions as
by hot sun-beams, may resort to him, who is as a shadow of a
great rock, and be effectually sheltered, and sweetly refreshed.
376 SERMON XII.
Thirdly. There is in Christ quiet rest and sweet refreshment
for God's people, "when wearied with the buffetings of Satan.
The devil, that malicious enemy of God and man, does what-
ever lies in his power to darken and hinder, and tempt God's
people, and render their lives uncomfortable. Often he raises
needless and groundless scruples, and casts in doubts, and fills
the mind with such fear as is tormenting, and tends to hinder
them exceedingly in the Christian course; and he often raises
mists and clouds of darkness, and stirs up corruption, and there-
by fills the mind with concern and anguish, and sometimes
wearies out the soul. So that they may say as the Psalmist ;
" Many bulls have compassed me : strong bulls of Bashan have
beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a
ravening and roaring a lion."
In such a case if the soul flies to Jesus Christ, they may find
rest in him, for he came into the world to destroy Satan, and to
rescue souls out of his hands. And he has all things put under
his feet, whether they be things in heaven or things on earth,
or things in hell, and therefore he can restrain Satan when he
pleases. And that he is doubtless ready enough to pity us un-
der such temptations, we may be assured, for he has been
tempted and buffeted by Satan as well as we. He is able to
succour those that are tempted, and he has promised that he
will subdue Satan under his people's feet. Let God's people
therefore, when they are exercised with any of those kinds of
weariness, make their resort unto Jesus Christ for refuge and
rest.
REFLECTIONS.
1. We may here see great reason to admire the goodness and
grace of God to us in our low estate, that he has so provided
for our help and relief. We are by our own sin against God,
plunged into all sort of evil, and God has provided a remedy
for us against every sort of evil, he has left us helpless in no
calamity. We by our sin have exposed ourselves to wrath, to a
vindictive justice; but God has done very great things that we
might be saved from that wrath ; he has been at infinite cost
that the law might be answered without our suffering. We by
our sins have exposed ourselves to terror of conscience, in ex-
pectation of the dreadful storm of God's wrath ; but God has
provided for us an hiding place from the storm, he bids us enter
into his chambers, and hide ourselves from indignation. We
by sin have made ourselves poor, needy creatures ; but God
has provided for us gold tried in the fire. We by sin, have
made ourselves naked ; and when he passed by, he took notice
of our want, and has provided us white raiment that we may be
SERMON XII. 377
clothed. We have made ourselves blind, and God in mercy to us
has provided eye-salve, that we may see. We have deprived our-
selves of all spiritual food ; we are like the Prodigal son that pe-
rished with hunger, and would gladly have fdled his belly with
husks. God has taken notice of this our condition, and has pro-
vided for us a feast of fat things, and has sent forth his servants to
invite the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind. We, by sin,
have brought ourselves into a dry and thirsty wilderness ; but God
was merciful, and took notice of our condition, and has provided
for us rivers of water, water out of the rock. We, by sin. have
brought upon ourselves a miserable slavery and bondage ; God
has made provision for our liberty. We have exposed ourselves
to weariness ; God has provided a resting place for us. We, by
sin, have exposed ourselves to many outward troubles and afflic-
tions ; God has pitied us, and in Clu'ist has provided true comfort
for us. We have exposed ourselves to our grand enemy, even Sa-
tan, to be tempted and buffeted by him ; God has pitied and has
provided for us a Saviour and captain of salvation, who has over-
come Satan, and is able to deliver us. Thus God has in Christ
provided sufficiently for our help in all kinds of evils.
How ought we to bless God for this abundant provision he
has made for us, poor and sinful as we were, who were so un-
deserving and so ungrateful. He made no such provision for the
fallen angels, who are left without remedy in all the vk^oes and mi-
series into which they are plunged.
2. We should admire the love of Christ to men, that he has
thus given himself to be the remedy for all their evil, and a foun-
tain of all good. Christ has given himself to us, to be all things
to us that we need. We want clothing, and Christ does not only
give us clothing, but he gives himself to be our clothing, that we
might put him on. Gal. iii. 27. "For as many of you as have
been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Rom. xiii. 14.
" But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision
for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."
We want food, and Christ has given himself to be our food ;
he has given his own flesh to be our meat, and his blood to be our
drink, to nourish our soul. Thus Christ tells us that he is the
bread which came down from heaven, and the bread of life. " I
am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilder-
ness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from
heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living
bread which came down from heaven : if any man eat of this
bread, he shall live for ever ; and the bread that I will give is my
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." In order to our
eating of his flesh, it was necessary that he should be slain, as the
sacrifices must be slain before they could be eaten ; and such was
378 SERMON XII.
Christ's love to us, that he consented to be slain, he went as a
sheep to the slaughter, that he might give us his flesh to be food
for our poor, famishing souls.
We are in need of a habitation ; we by sin have, as it were,
turned ourselves out of house and home ; Christ has given himself
to be the habitation of his people. Ps. xc. 1. " Lord, thou hast
been our dwelling-place in all generations." It is promised to
God's people that they should dwell in the temple of God for
ever, and should go no more out; and we are told that Christ is
the temple of the new Jerusalem.
Christ gives himself to his people to be all things to them that
they need, and all things that make for their happiness. Colos.
iii. 11. " Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor
uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free ; but Christ
is all, and in all." And that he might be so, he has refused no-
thing that is needful to prepare him to be so. When it was need-
ful that he should be incarnate, he refused it not, but became man,
and appeared in the form of a servant. When it was needful that
he should be slain, he refused it not, but gave himself for us, and
gave himself to us upon the cross.
Here is love for us to admire, for us to praise, and for us to
rejoice in, with joy that is full of glory for ever.
SERMON XIII-
1 Peter ii. 9.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy na-
tion, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises
of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous
light.
The apostle in the preceding verses speaks of the great dif-
ference between Christians and unbeHevers, on acconnt of their
diverse and opposite relations to Jesus Christ. The former
have Christ for their foundation, they come to him as to a
living stone, a stone chosen of God, and precious ; and they also
as living stones are built up a spiritual house. The Christian
church is the temple of God, and particular believers are the
stones of which that temple is built. The stones of Solomon's
temple, which were so curiously polished and well fitted for
their places in that building, were a type of believers. And
Christ is the foundation of this building, or the chief corner
stone. On the contrary, to the latter, to unbelievers, Christ in-
stead of being a foundation on which they rest and depend, is a
stone of stumbling", and a rock of offence ; instead of being a
foundation to support them and keep them from falling, he is
an occasion of their stumbling and falling.
And again, to believers Christ is a precious stone : " Unto
you therefore which believe, he is precious." But to unbelievers
he is a stone that is disallowed, and rejected, and set at nought.
They set light by him, as by the stones of the street, they make
no account of him, they disallow him ; when they come to build,
they cast this stone away as being of no use, not fit for a founda-
tion, not fit for a place in their building. In the eighth verse
the apostle tells the Christians to whom he writes, that those
unbelievers who thus reject Christ, and to whom he is a stone
of stumbling, and rock of offence, were appointed to this.
" And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them
which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also
they were appointed." It was appointed that they should
stumble at the word, that Christ should be an occasion not of
their salvation, but of their deeper damnation. And then in our
380 SERMON XIII.
text, he puis the Christians in mind how far otherwise God had
dealt with them, than with those reprobates. They were a chosen
generation. God had rejected the others in his eternal counsels ;
but themselves he had chosen from eternit}'. They were a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.
As God distinguished the people of Israel of old from all other
nations, so he distinguishes true Christians. It is probable, the
apostle had in his mind some expressions that are used in the old
testament, concerning the people of Israel. Christians are said
here to be a chosen generation, according to what was said of Is-
rael of old. Deut. X. 15. "Only the Lord thy God had a de-
light in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after
them, even you above all people, as it is this day." Christians
are here said to be a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
people, agreeably to what was said of old of Israel. Exod. xix.
5, 6. " Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep
ray covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above
all people, for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a
kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words
which thou shall speak unto the children of Israel."
But there is something further said here of Christians tlian
there of Israel. There, it is promised to Israel that, if ihey obey,
they shaU he a kingdom of priests ; but here. Christians are said
to be a priesthood of kings, or a royal priesthood. They are a
priesthood, and they are also kings.
I propose to insist distinctly upon the several propositions con-
tained in the words of tlie text.
I. True Christians are a Chosen Generation. Two things are
here implied.
1. Tliat true Christians are chosen by God from the rest of the
world, to be his.
2. That God's people are of a peculiar descent and pedigree,
different from all the world besides.
1. True Christians are chosen by God from the rest of the
world.
God does not utterly cast off the world of mankind. Though
they are fallen and corrupted, and there is a curse brought upon
the world, yet God entertained a design of appropriating a cer-
tain number to himself. Indeed all men and all creatures are his,
as well since as before the fall; whether they are elected or not,
they are his. God does not lose his right to them by the fiill, nei-
ther does he lose his power to dispose of ihem ; they are still in
his hands. Neither does he lose his end in creating them. God
hath made all things for himself, even the wicked for the day of
evil. It possibly was Satan's design, in endeavouring the fall of
man, to cause that God should lose the creature that he had made,
SERMON XIII. 331
by getting him away from God into liis own possession, and to frus-
trate God of his end in creating man ; but this Satan has not ob-
tained.
But yet in a sense the wicked may be said not to belong to God.
God doth not own them ; he hath rejected them and cast thetn
away; they are not God's portion, ihey are Satan's portion; God
hatli left them, and they are lost. When man fell, Gofl left and
cast ofl' the bulk of mankind ; but he was pleased, notwithstand-
ing the universal fall, to choose out a number of them to be his,
whom he would still appropriate to himself. Though the world
is a fallen world, yet it was the will of God still to have a portion
in it, and therefore he chose out some and set them apart for him-
self. Ps. iv. 3. " But know that the Lord hath set apart him that
is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him."
God's portion is his people, and Jacob is the lot of his inherit-
ance. Deut. xxxii. 9. Those who are God's enemies, and to
whom he is an enemy, are still his. But those who are his friends,
his children, his jewels, that compose his treasure, are his in a very
different manner. God has chosen the godly out of the rest of
the world to be nearly related to him, to stand in the relation of
children, to have a propert}' in him, that they might not only be
his people, but that he might be their God ; he has cliosen these
to bestow himself upon them. He hath chosen them from among
others to be gracious to them, to show them his favour; he has
chosen them to enjoy him, to see his glory, and to dwell with him
forever. He hath chosen them as his treasure, as a man chooses
out gems from a heap of stones, with this difference, the man finds
gems very different from other stones, and therefore chooses. But
God chooses them, and therefore they become gems, and very dif-
ferent from others. 3Ial. iii. 17. "And they shall be mine, saith
the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels ; and I
will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him."
Ps. cxxxv. 4. " For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself,
and Israel for his peculiar treasure." God hath chosen them for a
most noble and excellent use, and therefore they are called vessels
unto honour, and elect vessels. God has different uses for differ-
ent men. Some are destined to a baser use, and are vessels unto
dishonour ; others are chosen for the most noble use, for serving
and glorifying God, and that God may show the glory of divine
grace upon them.
Several things may here be observed concerning this election
of God, whereby he chooses truly godly persons.
First. This election supposes that the persons chosen are found
among others. The word election denotes this, it signifies a choos-
ing out. The elect are favoured by electing grace among the rest
of mankind, with whom they are found mixed together as the tares
VOL. VIII. 49
382 SERMON XIII.
and the wheat. Tliey are found among them in the same sinful-
ness, and in the same misery, and are ahke partakers of original
corruption. They are among them in being destitute of any
thing in them that is good in enmity against God, in being in
bondage to Satan, in condemnation to eternal destruction, and
in being witiiout righteousness. So that there is no distinction
between them prior to that which the election makes, there is
no respect wherein the elect are not among the common multi-
tude of mankind. 1 Cor. iv. 7. " For who maketh thee to dif-
fer from another ? and what hast thou that thou didst not re-
ceive.'' now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if
thou hadst not received it .^" 1 Cor. vi. 11. "And such were
some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye
are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit
of our God." And, therefore.
Secondly. No foreseen excellency in the elected is the motive
that influences God to choose them. Election is only from his
good pleasure. God's election being the first thing that causes
any distinction, there can l)e no distinction already existing, the
foresight of which influences God to choose them. It is not
the seeing of any amiableness in them above others, that causes
God to choose them rather than the rest. God does not choose
men, because they are excellent ; but he makes them excellent,
and because he has chosen them. It is not because God con-
siders them as holy, that he chooses them ; but he chooses them,
that they might be holy. Eph. i. 4, 5. *' According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we
should be hoi}', and without blame before him in love; having
predestinated us' unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." God does
not choose them, from the foresight of any respect they will
have towards him more than others. God does not choose men
and set his care upon them because they love hiin, for he hath
first loved us. 1 John. iv. 10. " Herein is love, not that we
loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the pro-
pitiation for our sins;" verse 19. "We love him, because he
first loved us."
It is not from any foresight of good works, that men do be-
fore or after conversion ; but on the contrary, men do good
works, because God hath chosen them. John xv. 16. "Ye
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you,
that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should
remain ; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my
name, he may give it you." Nor did God choose men, because
he foresaw that they would believe and come to Christ. Faith
is the consequence of election, and not the cause of it. Acts
SERMON XIII. 383
xiii. 48. "And wlion the Gentiles hen rd this they were glad, and
glorified tlie word of the Lord : and as many as were ordained
to eternal life, believed." It is because Cod hath chosen men,
that he calls theai to Christ, and causes them to come to him.
To suppose that election is from the foresight of faith, is to
place calling before election, which is contrary to the order in
which the scripture represents things. Kom. viii. 30. "More-
over, whom he did predestinate, them he also called ; and whom
he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them
he also glorified." It is not from the foresight of any, either
moral or natural qualifications, that God chooses men, nor be-
cause he sees that some men are of a more amiable make, and
better natural temper, or genius, nor because he foresees that
some nien will have better abilities, and will have more wisdom
than others, and so will be able to do more service for God than
others; nor because he foresees that they will be great and
rich, and so possessed of greater advantages to serve him.
1 Cor. i. 27, 28. " But God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world, to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are
mighty; and the base things of the world, and things despis-
ed, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to
nought things that are." INor is it from any foresight of men's
endeavours after conversion, because he sees that some whom
he chooses will do much more than others to obtain heaven;
but God chooses them, and therefore awakens them, and prompts
them to strive for conversion. Rom. ix. 16. " So then it is
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy." Election in scri|)ture is every where re-
ferred to God's own good pleasure. Matth. xi. 26. "Even so
Father ; for so it seemed good in thy sight." 2 Tim. i. 9. " Who
hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."
Thirdly. True Christians are chosen of God from all eternity ;
not only before they were born, but before the world was creat-
ed. They were foreknown of God, and chosen by him out of
the world. Eph. i. 4. "According as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and
without blame before him in love." 2 Tim. i. 9. "According
to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus, before the world began."
Fourthly. God in election set his love upon those whom he
elected. Rom. ix. 13. "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have
I hated." Jer. xxxi. 3. "The Lord hath appeared of old unto
me, saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love ;
384 SERMON XIII.
therefore with loving kindness have I rlrawji thee." 1 John
iv. 19. " We love him, because he first loved us." A God of
infinite goodness and benevolence loves those that have no ex-
cellency to move or attract it: the love of men is consequent
upon some loveliness in the object, but the love of God is ante-
cedent tf>, ;»nd the cause of it. Believers were from all eternity
beloved l)uth by the Father and the Son. The eternal love of
the Father appears in lliat he from all eternity contrived a way
for their salvation, and chose Jesus Christ to be their Redeenier,
and laid help upon him. It is a fruit of this electing love that
God sent his Son into the world to die, it was to redeem those
whom he so loved. 1 .John iv. 10. " Herein is love, not that we
loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the pro-
pitiation for our sins." It is a fruit of the eternal, electing
love of Jesus Christ, that he was willing to come into the world,
and die for sinners, and that he actually came and died. Gal.
ii. 20. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave himself for me." And so conversion, and glorifica-
tion, and all that is done for a believer from the first to the last,
is a fruit of electing love.
Fifthly. This electing love of God is singly of every particu-
lar person. Some deny a particular election, and say that there
is no other election than a general determination, that all that
believe and obey shall be saved. Some also own no more than
an absolute election of nations. But God did from all eternity,
singly and distinctly choose, and set his love upon every particu-
lar person, that ever believes, as is evident by Gal. ii. 20. " Who
loved me and gave himself for me." God set his love from
eternity upon this and that person, as particularly as if there
were no other chosen than he ; and therefore it is rej)resented,
as though they were mentioned by name, that their names are
written in the book of life. Luke x. 20. "Notwithstanding, ia
this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you ; but rather
rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." Rev. xiii.
8. "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose
names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world."
Sixthly. In election, believers were from all eternity given to
Jesus Christ. As believers were chosen from all eternity, so
Christ was from eternity chosen and appointed to be their Re-
deemer, and he undertook the work of redeeming them. There
was a covenant respecting it between the Father and Son. Christ,
as we have already observed, loved them before the creation of the
worlds and then he had their names, as it were, written in a book,
SERMON XIII. 335
and therefore the book of life is called the Lamb's book. Rev.
xxi. 27. " And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that
defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a
lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." And
he bears their names upon his heart as the high priest of old did the
names of the tribes of the children of Israel on his breast-plate.
Christ often calls the elect those whom God had given him. John
xvii. 2. *' As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." In
the 9th verse, " I pray for them ; I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine." In the
llih verse, " And now I am no more in the world, but these are
in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through
thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be
one, as we are."
This part of the subject may suggest to us the following Re-
flections.
First. God's thus electing a certain, definite number from among
fallen men from all eternity, is a manifestation of his glory. It
shows the glorj^ of the divine sovereignty. God hereby declares
himself the absolute disposer of the creature ; he shows us how
far his sovereignty and dominion extend, in eternally choosing
some and passing by others, and leaving them to perish. God
here ap[)ears in a majesty that is unparalleled. Those who can
see no glory of dominion in this act, have not attained to right
apprehensions of God, and never have been made sensible of his
glorious greatness. And here is especially shown the glory of
divine grace, in God's having chosen his people to blessedness
and glory long before they are born ; in his choosing them out of
the mass of mankind, from whom they were not distinguished, and
in his love to them being prior to all that they have or do, being
uninfluenced by any excellency of theirs, by the light of any la-
bours or endeavours of theirs, or any respect of theirs towards
him.
The Doctrine of election shows, that if those who are converted
have earnestly sought grace and holiness, and in that .way have
obtained it, their obtaining it is not owing to their endeavours,
but that it was the grace and mercy of God that caused them ear-
nestly to seek conversion, that they might obtain it. It shows
also that faith itself is the gift of God, and that the saints' perse-
vering in a way of holiness unto glory, is also the fruit of electing
love. Believers' love to God is the fruit of God's love to them,
and the giving of Christ, the preaching of the gospel, the ap-
pointing of ordinances, are all fruits of the grace of election.
All the grace that is shown to any of mankind, either in this
386 SER3ION xiir.
world, or in the world to come, is comprised in the electing love
of God.
Secondly. If believers are the chosen of God, here is a great
argument for their love and gratitude towards him. The consi-
deration of the miserable condition in which God found you, and
in which he left others, should move 3'our hearts. How wonderful
that God should take such thought of a poor worm from all
eternity ! God might have left you as well as many others, but it
pleased the Lord to set his love upon yon. What cause have you
for love and thankfulness, that God should make choice of you,
and set you apart for himself, rather than so many thousands of
others !
God hath chosen you not merely to be his subjects and servants,
but to be his children, to be his peculiar treasure ; he has chosen
you to be blessed for ever in the enjoyment of himself, and to
dwell with him in his glory. He has given you from all eternity
to his Son, to be united unto him, to become the spouse of Christ.
He has chosen you that you might be holy and without blame,
that you might have your fdth taken away, and that yon migiit
have the image of God put upon you, and that your soul might
be adorned, to be the bride of his glorious and dear Son. What
cause for love is here !
Thirdly. If believers are a chosen generation, let all labour
earnestly to make their election sure. If true Ciiristians are chosen
of God, this should induce all earnestly to inquire whether they
are true Christians. 2 Peter i. 5, G. 7. " And besides this, giv-
ing all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, know-
ledge ; and to knowledge, temperance ; and to temperance, pa-
tience ; and to patience, godliness ; and to godliness, brotherly
kindness ; and to brotherly kindness, charity."
2. True Christians are a distinct race of men; they are of a
peculiar descent or pedigree, different from the rest of the world.
This is implied in their being called a generation. There are
three significations of the word generation in the scriptures.
Sometimes it means, as is its meaning in common use, a class of
persons among a j^eople, or in the ivorld, that are born together, or
so nearly together, that the time of their being in the different stages
of the age of man is the same. They shall be young persons,
middle aged, and old together; or they shall be together upon
the stage of action. All that are together upon the face of the
earth, or the stage of action, are very often accounted as one ge-
neration. Thus when God threatened that not one of the Israel-
ites of that generation should see the good land, it is meant, all
from twenty years old and upwards.
A second meaning is, those who are born of a common progenitor.
SERMON XIII. 38T
A third meaning of the word in scripture, is, a certain race of
mankind^ ivJiose generation and birth agree, not as to time, but as
to descent and pedigree, or as to those persons from ivhom they
originally ^proceeded. So it is to be understood, Matth. i. 1.
" This is the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of
David, the son of Abraham ;" that is, this is the book that gives
an account of his pedigree. And this meaning, viz. those who
are of the same race and descent, must be given to the word in
the text. The righteous are often spoken of in scripture, as being
a distinct generation. Ps. xiv. 5. " There were they in great
fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous." Ps. xxlv. 6.
" This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face,
0 Jacob." Ps. Ixxlli. 15. " If I say, I will speak thus : behold,
1 should offend against the generation of thy children."
That the godly are a distinct race appears evident, since they
are descended from God, they are a heavenly race, they are de-
rived from above. The heathen were wont to feign that their he-
roes and great men were descended from the gods, but God's peo-
ple are descended from the true and living God, without any fic-
tion. Ps. xxll. 30. "A seed shall serve him ; it shall be account-
ed to the Lord for a generation." That is, a seed, a posterity,
shall serve him, and it shall be accounted to the Lord for his pos-
terity or offspring.
Now the people of God may be considered as descending from
God, and as being his posterity, either remotely or immediately.
First. They ave remotely descended from God. The church is
a distinct race, that originally came from God. Other men are
of the earth, they are of earthly derivation, they are the posterity
of men ; but the church is the posterity of God. Thus it is said,
Gen. vi. 2, "That the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that
they were f lir ; and they took them wives of all which they chose."
The sons of God were the children ofthe church, of the posterity
of Seth ; the daughters of men were those that were born out of
the church, and of the posterity of Cain, and those that adhered
to him.
It was God that set up the church in the world, and those, who
were the first founders ofthe church, were of God, and were called
specially the sons of God. Seth was the seed that God appoint-
ed. Gen. iv. 25. " And Adam knew his wife again ; and she
bare a son, and called his name Seth. For God, said she, hath
appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew."
Adam, in Luke's genealogy of Christ, (Luke iii. 38, "Which
was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the
son of Adam, which was the son of God,) is called the son of God;
possibly, not only because he was immediately created by God,
but also because he was from God, and was begotten by him. As
3S3 SERMON XIII.
he was a good man, and was the founder of the church, of which
Christ himself became a son, lie was the first in the line of the
church, and as such he was from God. When the church was al-
most extinct God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, and
afterwards out of Haran. Abraham was one immediately from
God, and all God's people in all succeeding ages are accounted
as the children of Abraham. God promised Abraham that his
seed should be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand on the sea
shore, meaning primarily not his posterity according to the flesh.
John the baptist said, God is able of the stones to raise up children
unto Abraham. Those are the seed of Abraham, as we are taught
in the New Testament, that are of the faith of Abraham ; Chris-
tians, as well as Jews, are the seed of Abraham. Gal. iii. 29.
" And ifye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs ac-
cording to the promise." So the church is the seed of Jacob, who
is called God's son. Hosea xi. 1. " When Israel was a child, then
I loved him, and called my Son out of Egypt." All God's peo-
ple are called Israel ; not only his posterity according to the flesh,
but proselytes' of old, and gentile Christians now under the gos-
pel. The sincerely godly, and they only, are the true Israel.
So the people of God are descended from God the Father
originally, as they are descended from Christ the Son of God.
Christians are called the seed of Christ. Gal. iii. 29. "And ifye
be Christ's," &c. They are, as it were, his posterity; Christ
calls them bis children. Heb. ii. 13. "Behold 1 and the children
which thou hast given me." So that if we trace the pedigree of
God's people up to their original, they will be found to be de-
scended from God : they are of heaven, they are not of this world.
Other men are of the earth, and are earthly, but these are heaven-
ly, and are of heaven. The wicked are called the men of this
world. Ps. xvii. 14. "From men which are thy hand, O Lord,
from men of the world which have their portion in this life, and
whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of
children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes." The
.first beginnings of the church were from God, the great founder
of the church. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and those men,
who under him have been founders, were of God, were of him.
God chose them, called them, and created them for this purpose.
Since which, God's people are descended one from another; the
church is continued and propagated, as it were, by generation. If
there were no ordinary and stated means made use of for the con-
tinuing and propagating the church, it would not be so ; but
God's people are made the instruments of one another's conversion,
by begetting one another's souls. The church is continued by it-
self instrumentally through all generations, the people of God are
begotten through the education, instruction, and endeavours of
SfiRMON XIII. 389
those who were God's people before. Therefore the church is
represented in scripture, as being the motherof its members. Gal,
iv. 26. " But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mo-
ther of us all." Believers are the children of the church, as they
are often called. Isaiah xlix. 20. "The children which thou shalt
have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say aiijain in thine ears,
the place is too strait for me; give place to me, that I may dwell."
Isaiah liv. 1. " Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear ; break
forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with
child : for more are the cliildren of the desolate than the children
of the married wife, saith the Lord." And many other places.
God's people are often, through their education and instruction,
the spiritual parents of those of whom they are the natural pa-
rents. The ministers of the w(ird and ordinances are spiritual
fathers. '^I'he apostle tells the Christian Corinthians, that he had
begotten them through the gospel.
Secondly. God's people are immediately begotten of God»
When they become saints, they are bnrn again, th^y have a new
nature given them, they have a new life begun, they are renewed
in the whole man by a new generation and birth wherein they are
born of God. John i. 12, 13. " But as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name : which were horn., not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." They are
born of the Spirit of God. John iii. 8. " The wind bloweth where
it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell
whence it cometh nor whither it goeth : so is every one that is
horn of the Spirit." God is said to have formed the church from
the womb. Isai. xliv. 2. " Thus saith the Lord that made thee,
and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee ; Fear not,
O Jacob my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen."
This truth also n)ay suggest to us a kw profitable reflections.
First. Christians ought to bear with one another. It appears
from what has been said, that they are all of one kindred, that they
have a relation to other Christians which they have not to the rest
of the world ; being of a distinct race from them, but of the same
race one with another. They are descended all along from the
same progenitors; they are the children of the same universal
church of God ; they are all the children of Abraham; they are
the seed of Jesus Christ ; they are the ofi'>pring of God. And they
are yet much more alike, than their being of the same race origi-
nally argues them to be: they are also immediaiely the children
of the same Father. God hath begotten all by the same Word
and Spirit ; they are all of one family, and should therefore love
as brethren. 1 Peter iii. 8. " Finally be ye all of one mind,
VOL. VIII. 50
390 SERMON XIII.
having compassion one of another ; love as brethren, be pitiful,
be courteous."
It is very unbecoming those who are God's oflspring, to enter-
tain a spirit of hatred and ill will one towards another. It is very
unbecoming to be backward in helping and assisting one another,
and supplying each other's wants; much more, to contrive and
seek one another's hurt, to be revengeful one towards another.
Secondly. Let Christians take heed so to walk, that they may
not dishonour their pedigree. You are of a very honourable
race, more honourable by far than if you were the offspring of
kings, and had royal blood in your veins; you are a heavenly
offspring, the seed of Jesus Christ, the children of God. They
that are of noble race are wont to value themselves highly upon
the honour of their families, to dwell on their titles, their coats of
arms, and their ensigns of honour, and to recount the exploits of
their illustrious forefathers. How much more careful should you
be of the honour of your descent, that you in nothing behave
yourself unworthy of the great God, the eternal and omnipotent
King of heaven and earth, whose offspring you are!
There are many things that are very base and too mean for such
as you ; such are a giving way to earthly mindedness, a grovel-
ling like moles in the earth, a suffering your soul to cleave to those
earthly things, which ought to be neglected and despised by those
who are of heavenly descent; an indulgence of the lusts of the
flesh, suffering the soul to be immersed in filth, being taken up
with mean and unworthy delights common to the beasts, being in-
temperate in the gratification of any carnal appetite whatsoever,
or a being much concerned about earthly honour. It is surely a
disgrace to them, who are accounted to God for a generation, much
to care whether they are accounted great upon this dunghill. So
it is unworthy of your noble descent to be governed by your pas-
sions : you should be guided by higher principles of reason and
virtue, and an universal respect to the glory and honour of God.
But Christians should seek after those things which will be to
the honour of their birth, after spiritual wisdom and knowledge
of the most worthy and noble truths. They should seek more
and more an acquaintance with God, and to be assimilated to him,
their great progenitor, and their immediate Father, thatthej^ may
have the image of his excellent and divine perfections. They
should endeavour to act like God, wherein they are capable of
imitation of him. They should seek heavenlj' mindedness, those
noble appetites after heavenly and spiritual enjoyments, a noble
ambition after heavenly glory, a contempt of the trifles and mean
things of this world. They should seek after those delights and
satisfactions that can be enjoyed by none but heavenly minds.
They should exercise a spirit of true, universal, and disinterested
SERMON xni. 391
love and confidence, and Christian charity. They should be
much in devotion, and divine contemjDJation.
Thirdly. We see here a reason why Christians are of so dif-
ferent a nature and teuiper from the rest of the world. The
truly godly are very different in their disposition from others.
They hate those things that the rest of the world love, and love
those tilings for which the rest of the world have no relish; in-
somuch that others are ready to wonder that they should phice
any happiness in a strict observance of the self-denying duties
of religion ; they wonder what delight they can take in spend-
ing so much time in meditation and prayer, and that they
do not place happiness in those things which themselves do.
1 Peter iv. 4. " VVherein they think it strange that ye run not
with them to the same excess of riot ; speaking evil of you."
But the reason is, they are of a different race, and so derive
different dispositions.
It is ordinary to see those who are of different families, of a
different temper. The natural temper of parents is commonly
in some degree transmitted to their posterity. Indeed, all
agree in many things, for all are of the same blood originally ;
all are descended from the same Adam, and the same Noah.
But Christians are born again of another stock, different from
all the rest of the world ; and therefore they are of a temper
by themselves, wherein none of the rest of the world agree
with them. Rev. i. 6. " And hath made us kings and piiests
unto God, and his Father: to him be glory arid dominion, for
ever and ever."
If. True Christians are a Royal Priesthood.
The two offices of King and Priest were accounted very
honourable both among Jews and heathens ; but it was a thing
not known under the law of Moses, that the same person
should sustain both those offices in a stated maimer ; and
while Moses himself is said to have been king in Jeshurun,
yet his brother Aaron was the high priest. Those who were
kings by divine appointment in Israel, were of another tribe
from the priesthood, viz: the tribe of Judah. Before the
giving the law we have an instance of one who was both king
and priest, viz : Melchizedeck. Gen. xiv. 18. *' And Melchi-
zedeck, king of Salein, brought forth bread and wine j and he
was the priest of the most high God."
Therefore, in some of the prophecies of Christ, it is spoken
of as a remarkable thing of him, that he should be a Priest
after the order of Melchizedeck. Ps. ex. 4. " The Lord hath
sworn and will not repent ; thou art a priest for ever, after the
order of Melchizedeck." The same again is prophesied of aa
a Wonderful thing by Zechariah, that he should be a priest
39e SERMON XIII.
upon a throne. Zec.h. vi. 13. *' Even he shall build the tem-
ple of the Lord ; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and
rule u(>ou his throne ; and he shall be a priest upon his
throne ; and the counsel of peace shall be between them
both." In this respect the gospel dispensation differs from
the legal, that it reveals the compatibleness of the two offices.
One person, Jesus Christ, is Antitype of both kings and
priests, under the law ; and as it is the will of Christ, who
becan)e in all things like unto us, that his disciples should in
many things become like unto him, so it is in this among
others. As Christ is the Son of God, so those that are
Christ's, are the children of God ; as Christ is the heir of
God, so as Christ liveth, it is his will that they should live
also. As Christ rose from the dead, so it is the will of Christ
that his saints should rise also. As Christ is in heaven in
glory, so it is the will of Christ that they should be with him
where he is. So, as Christ is both King and Priest, so shall
believers be made kings and priests. What is said in the
text, is either with respect to what they now are, or what they
shall be hereafter. The apostle says, " ye are a royal priest-
hood ;" that is, ye have those honours in reversion. Chris-
tians are kings here, as a king who is in his minority ; who,
though the crown is his right, has not yet come actually to
reign. They are indeed in an exalted state while here, but
not as they will be hereafter. Christians while here are in-
deed priests, but not as they will be. Christians are called
kings and priests here, in this world. Rev. i. 6. " And hath
made us kings- and priests unto God and his Father." But
in Rev. v. the saints in heaven speak of this as the conse-
quence of their glory and exaltation. Rev. v. 9, 10. " And
they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the
book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and
hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred,
and tongue, and peo|)le, and nation ; and hast made us unto
our God kings and priests; that we should reign on the earth."
1. Christians are Kings.
When Christians are called kings, the scriptures include
both what they actually have in this world, and what they
have in a future state. The reward which our I^ord Jesus
promised to his disciples, was a kingdom. l^uke xxii. 29.
" And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath ap-
pointed unto me." Christians, having this promise, are there-
fore heirs of a kingdom here, which they are hereafter to re-
ceive. James ii. 5. " Hearken, my beloved brethren ; hath
not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs
of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that Jove
kim ?"
SERMON XIII. 339
T!»e reward of the saints is represented as a kingdom, be-
cause the possession of a kingdom is the height of human
advancement in this world, and as it is the common opinion
that those who have a kingdom have the greatest possible
happiness. The happiness of a kingdom, or royal state, for
which it is so much admired by mankind, consists in these
things:
I'irst. The honour of a kingdom.
Secondly. The possessions of kings.
Thirdly/. The government, or authority of kings.
Now with respect to each of these, the happiness of the
saints is far greater than that of the kings, and greatest poten-
tates in the world.
First. True Christians will be advanced to honours far above
those of earthly kings, they will have a vastly higher dignity
than any princes. If these are nobly descended, it is not so great
an honour as to be the sons of God ; if they are nobly educa-
ted, and have their minds formed for government, and have
princely qualifications; these qualifications are not so honour-
able as those with which Grod endows his saints, whose minds
he fills with divine knowledge, and gives them true and perfect
holiness. Princes appear honourable from their outward enjoy-
ment of honour and dignity, their royal robes, their stately
palaces, and their sj^lendid equipage. But these are not so
honourable as those white robes, those inherent ornaments, with
which the saints shall appear in heaven, with which they " shall
shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." What is a
king's palace to those mansions in heaven, that Christ prepares
for his saints.'' The honour of the creature consists in likeness
and nearness to the Creator in heaven. The saints shall be
like him, for they shall see him as he is; they shall be most
near to him, shall be admitted to a most intimate fellowship.
Secondly. The saints shall have greater and more extensive
possessions than any earthly monarch. One reason for which
the state of kings is admired, is their wealth ; they have the most
precious things laid up in their treasures. We read of the pe-
culiar treasure of kings. Eccles. ii. 8. " 1 gathered me also
silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the
provinces : I gat me men singers and women singers, and the
delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of
all sorts ;" that is, the peculiar treasure of other kings. David
conquered and sul)dued many kings, and spoiled their peculiar
treasure, which fell to his son Solomon.
But the precious treasures of kings are not to be compared to
those precious things, which Christ will give his saints in another
world ; the gold tried in the fire that Christ has purchased with
394 SERMON XIII.
his own blood, those precious jewels, those graces and joys of
his Spirit, and that beauty of mind with which he will endow
them. Kings' possessions are very extensive, especially were
they thus, when kings were generally absolute, and their whole
dominions, their subjects and their fortunes, were looked upon
as their possessions. But these fall short of the extensive pos-
sessions of the saints, who possess all things ; they are the heirs
of God, and all that is God's is theirs, so far as it can contri-
bute to their happiness. Rev. xxi. 7. " He that overcometh
shall inherit all things ; and I will be his God, and he shall be
my son." 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22. " Therefore let no man glory in
men, for all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or
things to come ; all are yours."
Thirdly. The saints shall also be advanced to the authority
of kings. Christ has appointed to them a kingdom, and in that
kingdom they shall reign. It is promised concerning the saints
that they shall reign. Rev. v. 10. "And hath made us unto
our God, kings and priests : and we shall reign on the earth."
Rev. xxii. 5. "And there shall be no night there: and they
need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth
them light : and they shall reign for ever and ever." It is evi-
dent that they shall have a kingdom with respect to rule and
government, as appears. Rev. ii. 26, 27. " And he that over-
cometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will 1 give
power over all nations : and he shall rule them with a rod of
iron : as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers ;
even as I received of my Father." But we must see that we
rightly understand this. They shall not be appointed by God
as sovereigns of the world, without any superior to direct
them ; neither shall they be properly deputies or viceroys, as
king Agrippa and some other kings were the deputies of the
Roman emperors ; but they shall reign in fellowship with Christ
as joint heirs; they shall reign in the same kingdom with him,
and shall have the happiness of having things done according
to their will as much as if their own wills were paramount.
Christ wills their will. All things will be disposed in the best
manner for them, and to promote their happiness. " To him
that overcometh will I grant to sit with me jn my throne ; even
as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his
throne."
The reigning of the saints will consist partly in judging ;
for the saints shall judge the world, angels and men with Christ.
Matth. xix. 28. " And Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto
you. That ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when
the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall
SERMON XIII. 395
sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. '* Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the
world ? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy
to judge the smallest matters ? Know ye not that we shall judge
angels? how much more things that pertain to this life!" How
earnestly do men seek a kingdom ! What fatigues, what dangers,
what bloodshed, will they not encounter! In seeking conversion,
you seek a kingdom. You who are poor, you who are children,
have opportunity to obtain a kingdom; to advance yourselves to
higher dignity, to more substantial honours, to greater posses-
sions, to more precious treasures, to be clothed in robes of richer
splendour, and to fill a loftier throne than those enjoyed by the
greatest earthly monarchs. It is a Crown that you are to run for,
an incorruptible crown, to be given you by the Great King of
heaven, and to be worn by you as long as his throne shall endure.
What encouragement is here afforded to the saints under afflictions
and reproaches ; what are they, to the worth and honour of a
heavenly kingdom f When you shall have a crown of glory placed
on your head, and be seated on Christ's throne, and shine forth as
the light, and are seated at his royal banquet, then you will suffer
no more for ever ; all trouble, all reproach, shall be driven away ;
you will be too high to be reached by the malice of men and
devils, and shall soon forget all your sorrows.
2. True Christians are Priests of God. The priesthood under
the law was a very honourable and sacred office. Heb. v. 4.
" And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is call-
ed of God, as was Aaron." It was on account of this honour
that those proud men, Korah and his company, envied Aaron ;
and God asserted and vindicated Aaron's right to it, by causing
his rod to bud.
It was an honour which, before the giving of the law, when
every particular family was wont to offer sacrifices for themselves,
that the first-born used to claim, and therefore the birthright was
so much esteemed and valued. Therefore Jacob had such a der
sire of having the birthright of his brother Esau, and Esau's de-?
spising of it is spoken of as a great instance of his profaneness.
A priest is said to be a chief man among his people. Lev. xxi. 4o
" But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his
people, to profane himself." Because the ofiice of ihe priesthood
was so honourable, it is noticed as a wicked contempt of it in several
wicked kings, that they made of the meanest of the people priests.
The office was so honourable, that a king, Uzziah, coveted the
honour of it, and it is mentioned as an instance of his pride that he
did so. 2 Chron. xxvi. 16. " But when he was strong, his heart
was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the
Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn in-
396 SERMON XIII.
cense upon the altar of incense." And it was a very sacred of-
fice, and that above all other offices, and therefore those things
were forbidden the priest that were lawful for all others; such as
to be defiled for the dead, or to take to wife one that is put away
from her husband, and the reason is given, Levit. xxi. 6. " They
shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of thsir
God, for the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the bread of
their God, they do offer ; therefore they shall be holy. They shall
not take a wife that is a whore, or profane, neither simll they take
a woman put away from her husband ; for he is holy unto liis God.
Thou shalt sanctify him therefore, for he offereth the bread of thy
God, he shall be holy unto thee: for I, the Lord, which sanctify
you, am holy,"
Jesus Christ is the only proper priest that is to offer sacrifices,
and make atonement for sin under the New Testament. He was
the priest, of whom all the priests of old were typical. But yet
all believers are herein in a measure conformed to their head, and
assimilated to him. The priesthood now is no longer confined to
one family, to Aaron and his sons, but all the true Israel are
priests. Every true Christian hath a work and office that is as
sacred as that of the priests was under the law, and every one is
advanced to a like honour, and indeed to a greater. But how
every true Christian is a priest of God will appear in the following
things.
First. Every true Christian is allowed as near an access to God
and as free a use of the sacred things as the priests were of old.
God under the law dwelt in the tabernacle and temple, that
were the symbol of his presence, and those places were holy. The
seed of Aaron might go into the holy place to minister before the
Lord, but if any other came nigh, he was to be put to death. Numb,
iii. 10. " And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they
shall wait on their priest's office: and the stranger tl)at cometh
nigh, shall be put to death."
But now all are allowed to come nigh, we are all allowed a free
access to God, to come with boldness and confidence. God's
people are not kept at such a distance now as they were under the
law. The church then was in its minority, and the heir while a
child, differs nothing from a servant. The servant is not allowed
the free access of a child, he is kept more at a distance with fear
and dread. Agreeably to the nature of that dispensation, there
were not those special discoveries of the grace and love of God
that are now made, and which invite rather than forbid near ac-
cess.
When God was wont to appear to the children of Israel, it was
more with terror and manifestations of awful majesty, and not so
much with the discoveries of grace as now. When God appeared
SERMON XIII. 397
on mount Sinai, it was in llaminc; fire, and with thnnder, and light-
ning, and earthquakes; but in how different a manner did he ap-
pear, when he appeared in the person of Christ, with niiUhioss,
and gentleness, and love ! There is much the same difference be-
tween us and tlicm with respect to the liberty of access to God,
as there was between the liberty of access of the children of Is-
rael at mount Sinai, and the liberty which Christ's disciples had
of approach to him when he was upon earth. At mount Sinai,
only Moses and Aaron, and Nadab and Abihu, were allowed to
come up into the mount, and none but Moses was to approach
nigh. Exod. xxiv. 1. " And he said unto Moses, Come up unto
the Lord, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and Seventy
of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off." But if any
other presumed to touch the mount, God v^ould break forth upon
him. But Christ's disciples used daily to converse with him, as
an intimate friend. Heb. xii. IS. " For ye are not come unto
the mount that might not be touched, and that burneth with fire,
nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest." Yea, Cliris-
tians are now allowed as near an approach unto God, as the high
priest himself, who was allowed a much nearer approach than any
of the other priests. God's dwelling place was the temple, but
more especially was it in the holy of holies, in the mercy-seat be-
tween the cherubim. There was a veil which separated that part
of the temple from the rest, and no one might ever enter that veil
but the high priest, and that but once a year; not oftener, upon
pain ofdeath. Levit. xvi. 2. " And the Lord said unto Moses,
speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into
the holy place, within the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon
the ark, that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the
mercy-seat." The way into the holiest of all, was not as yet
made manifest, but now it is. Heb. ix. 7, 8. " But into the se-
cond, went the high priest alone once every year, not without
blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the peo-
ple. Tlie Holy Ghost thus signifying, that the way into the ho-
liest of all was not yet made manifest, while as yet the first taber-
nacle was standing."
But now we are all allowed as near an access to God as the
high priest only was under the law, and with more freedom, for he
might approach but once a year ; but Christians my approach
boldly at all limes, through the blood of Christ, without any dan-
ger of dying. Heb. iv. 16. " Let us, therefore, come boldly unto
tlie throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to
help in time of need." The throne of grace and the mercy-scat
are the same thing. " Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living
way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to
VOL. VIII. 51
393 SERMON XIII.
sa}% his flesh ; and hkving an high priest over the house of God,
I^et us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, hav-
ing our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies
washed wiih pure water." That access into the holiest of all was
allowed to all under the gospel, and at any time : it was signified
by liie rending of the veil upon the death of Christ, for then was
that blood shed by which we have access. Matth. xxvii. 50, 51.
?' Jesus when he had cried again with aloud voice, yielded up the
ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from
the top to the bottom ; and the earth did quake, and the rocks
rent."
But especially will the access of saints in another world be much
more near and familiar than that of the high priest. They shall
not only enter into the holy of holies, but shall dwell with God in
it, for heaven is the holiest of all, They shall then dwell in God's
presence, they shall see his face, which no man can see and live.
In this world, though there is greater liberty of access than there
was of old, yet still Christians are kept at a great distance from
God in comparison of what they will be in heaven, where they
shall be admitted even to higher privileges than Moses in te
mount, when he besought God to show him his glory. They shall
then see with open face, and shall know as they are known.
Secondly. Christians are a priesthood with respect to their offer^
ings to God. The principal part of the work of the priests of
old was to offer sacrifice, and to burn incense. As the priests of
old offered sacrifice, so the work of Christians is to offer up spirit
tual sacrifices to God, 1 Peter ii. 5. ■' Ye also, as lively stones,
are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiri-^
tual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." And here,
1st. Christians offer up their own hearts to God in sacrifice:-
they dedicate themselves to God. Rom. vi. 13. " Neither yield ye
your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin : but
yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."
The Christian gives himself to God freely as of mere choice; he
does it heartily ; he desires to be God's, and to belong to no other;
he gives all the faculties of his soul to God. He gives God his
heart, and it is offered to God as a sacrifice in two ways.
Of these, the first is, when the heart is broken for sin. A sacri-^
fice, before it can be oflered, must be wounded and slain. The
h^art of a true Christian is first wounded by a sense of sin, of the
great evil and danger of it, and is slain with godly sorrow and
true repentance, When the heart truly repents, it dies unto sin.
Repentance is compared unto a death in the word of God. Rom.
vi, B, 7, 8, ^' Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with
\\\Ki, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth w^
SERMON XIII. 899
should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. No\V
if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with
him. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed untd
sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Gal.-
ii. 20. " I am crucified wiih Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not
1, but Christ liveth in me ; and tlie life which I now live in the
flesh, 1 live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave himself for me;" As Christ, when he was ofl'ered, was offer-
ed broken upon the cross : so there is some likeness to this, when
a soul is converted ; the heart is offered to God slain and broken
Ps. li. 17. " The sacrifices of God area broken sp"rit: a broken
and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not <lespise."
The second way is, when a Christian offers his heart to God^
flaming with love. The sacrifice of old was not only to be slain,
but to be burnt upon the altar ; it was to ascend in flame and smoke^
and so to be a sweet savour to God.
That fire upon the altar was a type of two things ; it was a
type of the fire of the wrath of God, and it was also a type of thd
fire of the Spirit of God, or of divine love. The Holy Ghost is
often compared to fire. With respect to the former, Christ alone
is the sacrifice oflered in the flame of God's wrath^ but with re-
gard to the latter, the hearts of the children of men are offered
in the flame of divine love, and ascend up to God in that flame;
This divine love is fire from heaven, as the fire upon the altar of
old was. When a soul is drawn to God in true conversion, fire
comes down from God out of heaven, in which the heart is of-
fered in sacrifice, and the soul is baptized with the Holy Ghost
and with fire^
In many of the sacrifices that were offered, only the fat about
the inwards was burnt upon the altar; which fat of the inwards
thus rising in flame, represented the oftering of the soul. It is
that which God looks at ; it is that which must be oflered in sacri-
fice to God. Especially hereafter, when the saints will be made
priests in a more glorious manner than at present, will they ofler
up their hearts wholly to God in the flame of love; They shall^
as it v/ere, all be transformed into love, as burning oil is trans-
formed into flame ; and soj in that flamej shall they ascend up to
God. Their souls will be as the angelsj who are as a flame of*
fire not only for activity in God's service, but for love too. They
shall be a flame ever burning, which shall burn longer than the
fire upon the altar in Israel, that never went out, from the time
that fire came down out of heaven in the wilderness^ till the car-
rying away into Babylon;
2d. This spiritual priesthood offers to God the sacrifice of*
Praise. Many of their sacrifices under the law tvere sacrifices of
peace oflerings^ which were mostly for thanksgiving and prais^j
400 SERMON XIII.
But the spiritual sacrifice of the hearty and sincere praises of a
saint, are more acceptable to God than all the bulls, and rams, and
he-goats that they offered. The iieartfeltpraises of one true Chris-
tian are of more account with God than ail those two and twenty
thousand oxen, and an hundred and tweniy tiiousand sheep which
Solomon offt red to God at the dedication of the temple, as a sa-
crifice of peace offerings. Praise is called a sacrifice. Heb. xiii.
15. " i{y him, tiierefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God
continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his
name." Ps. 1. 13, 14, " Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the
blood of goats.'' Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows
unto the Most High ;" ver. 23, " Whoso oflereth praise, glorifi-
eth me : and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I
show the salvation of God;" Ps. Ixix, 30, 31, " 1 will praise the
name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiv-
iiig. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock
that hath horns and hoofs." Praises are therefore in Hosea call-
ed calves of our l/'ps, because they are like cakes offered in sacri-
Jice ; Hosea xiv. 2, " Take with you words, and turn to the
Lord : say unto him, take away all iniquity, and receive us gra-
ciously' ; so will we render the calves of our lips." Only true
Christians ofier those sacrifices. However hypocrites pretend to
praise God, and to offer thanksgiving to him, yet they, being in-
sincere, offer not sacrifices with which God is well pleased; they
offer not spiritual sacrifices, and therefore they are not of the spi-
ritual priesthood. In heaven especially are the saints a holy
priesthood upon this account ; whose work it is for ever to offer
these sacrifices to God, who cease not day nor night to praise
God and sing forth their ardent joyful hallelujahs. They sing
a new song, a song that never will end, and never will grow old,
3d. The next sacrifice which is oflered by this spiritual priest-
hood, is Obedience, sincere obedience. The sacrifices under the
law did not only represent Christ's satisfying fur sin by suffering,
but they also represented Christ's obeying in suflering ; for the
sacrifices under the law were not only for propitiation, but they
were for purchasing benefits, and so typified not only the satisfac-
tion, but merit which was by obedience. Ps. xl, 6, 7, S. " Sacri-
fice and oflering thou didst not desire : mine ears hast thou open-
ed ; burnt offering, and sin offering hast thou not required. Then
said I, Lo, 1 come : in the volume of the book it is written of me.
1 delight to do iky ivi/l, O niy God ; yea, thy law is within my
heart," And though the obedience of saints has no merit, yet it
is pleasing and acceptable to God ; it is as a sweet smelling sa-
vour, and is compared to sacrifices, and preferred before them.
1 Sam. XV, 22. " And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great de-
light in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of
SERMON XIII. 401
the Lord ? Beliold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken,
than the fat of rams." Christians, by oflering obedience to God
in their lives and conversation, do wliat the apostle calls offering
their bodies to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,
as their reasonable service. They offer their bodies, that is, they
dedicate their bodies to holy uses and purposes; they yield their
members as instruments of righteou?ness unto holiness. The soul,
while here, acts externally by the body. And in this Christians
serve God ; they yield tiieir eyes, their ears, their tongues, their
hands, and feet, as servants to God, to be obedient to the dictates
of his word, and of his Holy Spirit in the soul.
4th. Another sacrifice which we shall mention as offered by this
spiritual priesthood, is Charity, or expressions of Christian Love
in gifts to others. Jf the gift flows from a spirit of Christian love,
although it be but a cup of cold water, it is an acceptable sacrifice
to God. And indeed whatsoever is given for a pious use, if it be
to promote religion, and uphold the public worship of God, or to
benefit a particular person, if it be done from a good spirit, it is a
Christian sacrifice. Heb. xiii. 16. "But to do good, and to
communicate, forget not ; for with such sacrifices God is well
pleased."
But sacrifices of this kind may principally be ranked under
two heads ; of which the first is.
Liberality to ministers of the gospel. The priests of old lived
upon the sacrifices that were ofiered to God, and what is now offer-
ed to ministers for their comfortable and honourable support Christ
looks upon as offered to himself. " He that receiveth you, re-
ceiveth me." Matth. x. 40. Thus Paul says of those things that
were sent him by his hearers, that it was a sacrifice acceptable and
well pleasing to God. Philip, iv. 14, &.c. " Notwithstanding
ye have well done that ye did communicate with my affliction.
Now, ye Philippians, know also, that in the beginning of the gos-
pel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated
with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For
even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity.
Not because that I desire a gift : but I desire fruit that ma}' abound
to your account. But I have all, and abound: I am full, having
received of Epaphroditus ihe things which were sent from you,
an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to
God."
The second is Bounty to the poor. Christ accepts what is done to
them as being done to himself. Matth. xxv. 40. " And the King
shall answer, and sa}' unto them, Veril}' I say unto you, inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one the of least of these my brethren, ye
have done it uuto me." Tins God prefers before the legal sacrifices.
403 SERMON XI n.
llosea vi. 6. '* I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the know-
ledge of God more than burnt offerings."
5lh. Another offering of this spiritual priesthood to God, is the
Prayer of faiths Though this is rather compared to incense in
scripture than to a sacrifice, yet it is equally an evidence of their
priesthood. Incense was that sweet confection which we read of.
Exod. XXX. 34. " And tlie J^ord said unto JNIoses, Take unto thee
sweet ^spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum ; these sweet
spices, with pure frankincense ; of each shall there be a like
weight." These they were wont to burn upon the censer as they
offered it, which made a most fragrant smell. That incense is a
type of the merits of Jesus Christ, and seems also to be a type of
the prayers of God's people in faith of the former. It was the
custom, when the priest in the temple was burning incense, for the
people to be praying without. Luke i. 10* " And the whole mul-
titude of the people were praying without at the time of incense."
And gracious prayer is compared to incense. Ps. cxli. 2. " Let
my prayer be set forth before thee as incense ; and the lifting up
of my hands as the evening sacrifice." The prayer of faith is as
a fragrant savour to God, through the merits of him towards whom
that faith is exercised*
REFLECTIONS.
i. Here are great motives for all earnestly to seek that they
tnay become true Christians. It is a great honour to be priests
of God. It was a great honour of old to be a priest under the
law; it was a greater in some respects than to be a king; because
they were nearer to God, and they in their work were more im-
mediately concerned with him ; it was a more holy and divine of-
fice. But more honourable is it to be of the spiritual priesthood.
The access to God is nearer, and an infinitely greater privilege.
JEspecially is the access to God which they will have in another
world, where they shall see God, and shall converse with Christ
as a man with his friend. If ever a king was ambitious of the
honour of the legal priesthood, surely you may well desire the
spiritual, which is an eternal priesthood.
Consider that you are capable of receiving this priesthood. Of
old, those who were not of the posterity of Aaron, were incapa-
ble of the priesthood ; it was in vain for them to seek it; but it is
not in vain for you to seek this spiritual priesthood. Consider
also that you have a call to itj you have warrant sufficient. It
would be a dreadful presumption for you to seek this honour if
you had not a call to it. HcId. v. 4. " No man takeththis honour
unto himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron." But
you are called ; and now it would be presumption and profane
contempt in you to refuse it ; to refuse such an honour as God of-^
SERMON XIII. 403
fers you. Take heed, therefore, that there be not among you
any profane person as Esau, who for a morsel of meat sold his
birthright, and sold the priesthood that belonged to it. Take
heed that you do not sell this spiritual priesthood for a morsel of
meat, or for the trifles of this world, that you are not more con^
cerned about a little worldly pelf or vain glory, than about that
which is so sacred and honourable.
For direction, that you may be one of this spiritual priesthood,
seek of God his holy anointing; that is, that God would pour
out his spirit in his sanctifying influences upon you. The
priests of old were consecrated by the holy anointiug oil. Exod,
xxix. 7. "Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour
it upon his head, and anoint him." Exod. xxx. 30. " And thou
shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them that they
may minister unto me in the priest's office." If you are here
separated for this holy station and service, you must have that
holy anointing of the spirit of God, typified by the oil that was
poured upon Aaron's head j the holy anointing oil of God must
be upon you.
Let all who profess themselves Christians, take heed that
they do not defile themselves and profane their sacred charac-
ter. There was great strictness required ofoldof the priests,
lest they should defile themselves, and profane their oflice, and it
was regarded as a dreadful thing to profane it. So holy a God
hath threatened in the New Testament, that <' if any man de-
file the temple of God, him will God destroy." 1 Cor. iii. 17,
" As Christians are here called the temple of God, so it is said,
in the fifth verse, "Ye are a sjyiritual house, a holy priesthood.*'
Avoid the commission of all immoralities, or things that have a
horrid filthiness in them, things that will dreadfully profane the
sacred name by which you are called, and the sacred station
wherein you are set.
Take heed especially of lascivious impurities. Such things
were looked upon as defiling the holy office of the priesthood of
old, insomuch, that if but a daughter of a priest was guilty of
whoredom, she was to be burnt. Remember Ilophni and Phi-
neas, how sorely God dealt with them for their profaning their
office by their impurities ; and with good Eli, that he was no
more thorough to restrain them. God brought a curse upon the
whole fiimily which never was removed. God took away the
priesthood fiom him, and took away the ark of the covenant
from him and from Israel, and delivered it into captivity, and
fulfilled his threatening, that there should not be an old man of
his house for ever.
Take heed of every sin : an allowing any sin whatever is a
i^readful presumption of your holy character.
404 SERMON XIII.
3. See that you well execute your office. Offer up your
heart in sacrifice. Get and keep a near access to God. Come
with boldness; offer up a heart broken for sin ; offer up flam-
ing with love to God; offer praise to God ; praise God for his
glorious excellency; for his love and mercy. Consider what
great things you have to praise God for; the redemption of
Jesus Christ, his sufferings, his obedience, and the gift of that
holiness, which makes you like unto God.
Be ready to distribute, willing to communicate, and do good ;
consider it as part of your office thus to do, to which you are
called and anointed, and as a sacrifice well-pleasing to God ;
pity others in distress; be ready to help one another ; God will
have mercy and not sacrifice.
And be much in offering up your prayers to God; and see
that all your offerings are offered upon the right altar, otherwise
they will be abominable to God. Offer your hearts to God
through Jesus Christ. In his name present the sacrifice of
praise, obedience, charity: of prayer on the golden altar per-
fumed with the incense of Christ's merits. Your reward will
be to have this honour in heaven, to be exalted to that glorious
priesthood, to be made a priest unto God for ever and ever.
III. True Christians are a Holy Nation. And here I shall
briefly show,
1. How they are a distinct nation.
2. How they are holy.
1. Christians are a distinct nation.
First. The saints are all of the same native country. Hea-
ven is the native country of the Church. They are born from
above; their Father, of whom they are begotten, is in heaven.
The principles that govern their hearts are drawn from heaven,
since the Holy Ghost, whose immediate fruits those principles
are, is from heaven. The word of God, which is the seed by
which they are begotten, is from heaven. The bible is a book,
as it were, sent down from heaven. The saints in this world
are not in their native country, but are pilgrims and strangers
on the earth, they are near akin to the inhabitants of the hea-
venly world, and are properly of that society. Heb. xii. 22,
23. " But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels : to the general assembly and church of the
first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge
of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect." Heaven
is a country that much better suits their natures than this earth,
because it is their native climate. When they are in heaven,
they breathe their native air; in heaven is their inheritance.
Heaven is the proper country of the church, where the greater
SERMON xiir. 405
part of the church is, and where they all will be, and where
is their settled abode; from thence all that are now upon
earth are derived, and thither they will return again. Though
they are for a little while dwelling at a distance from their na-
tive country, yet they are of the same nation with those who
now dwell there.
Seconclli/. All Christians speak the same language. They
all profess the same fundamental doctrines; they hold fast the
form of sound words that was once delivered to the saints. 2
Tim. i. 13. "Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou
hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."
They all use the same language to God in prayer and praise ;
they express the same humility and rcipentance in confessing
their sins, the same adoration and admiring sense of God's
glory and excellency, the same humble submission and resig-
nation, and the same thankfulness. In like manner do they
show forth God's praises, expressing the same faith and hum-
ble dependence in the mercy of God, and the same love and
longing desires after God. The saints in all ages speak the
same language with David and the saints of old. The spirit
of God teaches the saints the same language in their prayers ;
their prayers are the breathings of the same spirit.
Indeed the saints while in this world are but learning the
heavenly language, and therefore speak it but imperfectly, and
with a stammering tongue, and with a pronunciation that in
many things resembles their old language. The tongues of
the saints are renewed in their conversion. Thus the conver-
sion of the Gentiles is rejjrescnted by their having a new lan-
guage. Zeph. iii. 9. " For then will I turn to the people of
a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the
Lord, to serve him with one consent." And in this sense is
that also to be understood. Isaiah xix. 18. " In that day shall
five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan,
and swear to the Lord of hosts : one shall be called. The city
of destruction." As it is said of the new song which the saints
sing, that no man could learn that song but those that are re-
deemed from the earth, so no man can learn that language but
those who are of this holy nation.
Thirdly. They are under the same government. The Chris-
tians are one society, one body j)olitic ; and therefore, as here
the church is represented by a nation, so oftentimes is it called
a city. They are subject to the same King, Jesus Christ. He
is the head of the church, he is the head of this body politic.
Indeed all men are subject to the power and providence of this
King ; but those who are in his kingdom of grace, all acknow-
ledge the same King, own his rightful sovereignty over them,
VOL. viii. 52
406 SERMON XIII.
are willing to be subject to him, to submit to his will, and yield
obedience to his commands. Ps. ex. 3. ** Thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness, from
the womb of the morning : thou hast the dew of thy youth."
They are all governed by the same laws, and all subject them-
selves to the same rules. The commands of God that are obeyed
by the saints, are the same all over the world. There is the same
method of government, there are the same means of government,
the same outward and visible means, the same officers, gospel, and
gospel ministers, in like manner appointed and sent forth by the
head of the church, the same visible order and discipline appointed
for all. And there are the same inward and special means of go-
vernment. Christ governs his people in a peculiar manner. He
immediately influences their wills and inclinations, and power-
fully brings them to a comphance with God's commands and rules.
They are a society united in the same public interest and con-
cerns. It is by the same covenant and promises that they have
their inheritance, and that they hold their title to their enjoyments,
as a people of the same nation hold their temporal rights by the
same rule, and citizens hold their rights by the same municipal
laws. The prosperity of this society tends to the advantage of the
interests of the particular parts. A Christian has the same reason
to be concerned for the flourishing of the church, and the advance-
ment of religion, as a particular subject has for the flourishing
of the nation or kingdom. When the church is in flourishing
circumstances, the souls of particular saints are like to be flou-
rishing; and when the church is in low languishing circumstan-
ces, particular souls are generally the same. When iniquity
abounds, the love of many waxes cold. As it is the interest of
every subject to have the nation flourish, so it is the interest of
every Christian to have the church flourish. So Christians have
the same common enemies that seek their hurt, and overthrow.
He that is an enemy to one saint as a saint, is an enemy to all.
They are jointly called to resist the same powers of darkness ; the
church here upon earth is as an army that goes forth under Jesus
Christ, the captain of their salvation, to resist the commmon adver-
sary.
REFLECTIONS.
Be exhorted to join yourself to this nation. As it was of old,
those, who were of other nations, if they were brought to the ac-
knowledgment of the God of Israel, and to the true religion, and
were circumcised, were received as being of the nation of Israel,
and were accounted as those that were descended from Abraham
and Jacob; so now is there free liberty to any to come and join
themselves to this nation, and they shall be received and admitted
SERMON XIII. 407
to the same rights and privileges, and be in all respects treated as
the same people. And especially those nowunderihe gospel, are
invited to come. Let them be who they will, they may come and
join this people and be welcome. There is no wall of partition
to separate this people from others, to exclude those of other na-
tions. The gates of the new Jerusalem are always open, to re-
ceive all whose hearts incline them to come. And here consider,
First. There is no nation under so happy a government as
this. The Lord Jesus Christ is their King, and he is a most glo-
rious King. He is the eternal, and infinitely glorious Son of God.
He is a most wise prince, he knows how to govern, he perfectly
understands how best to promote the interest of his people. He
is a most merciful and gracious King, who greatly loves his peo-
ple, and most earnestly and faithfully seeks their interest. His
people are redeemed with his own blood, and he will surely seek
their welfare. And he is a most powerful prince. He is able to de-
fend his people against all their enemies.
This nation is governed by most wise and righteous laws. As
it was said of Israel of old, Deut. iv. 8. " What nation is there so
great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this
law which I set before yon this day ?" so and more eminent is it true
of the spiritual Israel, since the law of God has been set forth to
us in a far more clear and lovely light, by the rules and precepts
of the gospel. The manner of Christ's government in the king-
dom of his grace is most excellent, and different from that of all
other kings ; for he governs by the powerful influence of liis Spirit
upon the heart, whereby he sweetly inclines them to a willing and
chosen subjection to him.
This nation is a free people. The happy government under
which they live, is most consistent with freedom ; it does not in
the least infringe upon the liberty of the subject, there is nothing
like slavery in the kingdom of God. The law of this nation is a
law of liberty. Those that are sinners, are slaves ; they are slaves
to their lusts, slaves to Satan, slaves to the cruellest of masters.
But they whom the Son makes free, are free indeed. The subjects
of the heavenly King are all as free under his government as a
man's children are in their father's house. The government is a
paternal government; the King looks upon all his subjects as
children.
Under so happy a government are this nation. Be persuaded
therefore tojoin yourself to them, and be of them. Ps. cxiiv. 15.
" Happy is that people that is in such a case. Yea, happy is that
people whose God is the Lord." Ps. xxxiii. 12. "Blessed is the
nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath
chosen for his own inheritance."
Secondly. There is no nation that dwell in such love and peace
as this holy nation enjoys. The happiness of a people very much
408 SERMON XIII.
consists in its peace : a nation is never more miserable than when
it is rent by civil wars, or disturbed by intestine broils. Nothing
tends more to the happiness of the people than when they are all
united as brethren, and with one heart seek the good of one an-
other, and the community.
But no nation enjoys so much happiness of this kind as this
holy nation. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the King of this peo-
ple, is the Prince of peace; his kingdom is a kingdom of peace.
Every member of this society has in his heart a principle of peace
and love. Love is the bond of perfectness that unites the members
of this society togetlier. They all have a disposition heartily to
seek and promote each other's good.
Thirdly. This nation have for their settled abode a most glori-
ous land. The heavenly Canaan is their land, it is a land that God
hath desired, and that he hath blessed above all lands. There is
no land so fertile of excellent fruits, so full of delights. There
grows the tree of life in plenty, there flows the river of the water
of life. There is no curse, nothing that hurts or offends. This
is a delightful garden, this is the Paradise of God. Hearken,
therefore, consider of the blessedness of this people; is it not well
to be oneof fhem? I would now invite you in ihe name of
Christ, as Moses invited his father-in-law to join himself to that
nation. Numb. x. 29. " And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of
Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law. We are journeying
unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you : come
thou with us, and we will do thee good : for the Lord hath spoken
good concerning Israel."
2. Christians, as a nation, are Holy. Their holiness is rela-
tive, and it is also inherent.
First. Christians are a holy nation by a relative holiness, as
they are set apart by God for a divine and holy use. So things
are often called holy in scripture. The utensils of the tabernacle
and temple are in this sense called holy ; the priests' garments are
called holy, the places of worship appointed of God in the old
testament are called holy, because they were set apart by him for
a holy use and service.
Things thus set apart are said to be sanctified. Thus Jeremiah
is said lo have been sanctified, before he came forth out of the
womb. Jer. i. 5. " Before I formed thee in the belly I knew
thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified
thee; and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." God
sanctified, that is, God set him apart for this holy use and service,
to be a prophet to the nations, as Paul says of himself. Gal. i.
15. " But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mo-
ther's womb, and called me by his grace." So the people of Is-
rael of old seem to be called an holy nation. Deut. vii. 6. *' For
SERMON XIII. 409
thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God : the Lord thy
God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above
all people that are upon the face of the earth." Not that they
were a holy people by inherent holiness, for God often tells them
that they are a stiff-necked people. But God had called and se-
parated them from other nations to be the keepers of the sacred
oracles, and for other purposes.
So the saints are a nation that God has set apart for a sacred
use. He hath set them apart to serve and glorify him, and to
show forth his praise ; to be vessels for their Master's use, to see
the manifestations of God's glory, and eternally to ascribe the
glory due to his name.
Secondly. They are holy by inherent holiness.
1. By holiness of heart.*
2. By holiness of life.*
IV. True Christians are God's peculiar people.
1. True Christians are God's peculiar people with respect to
the value which he sets upon them. He values one true Christian
more than all the wicked in the world. God puts a high value
upon his saints; they are his jewels. God's high value of them
appears in all the ways wherein persons are wont to show the great
regard which they have for any possession. God keeps them as
the apple of his eye, he will by no means lose one of his saints,
not one of all the number shall fail, he will suffer no one to do
them harm, his almighty power is thoroughly engaged for them
to defend them.
The life, the happiness, and the welfare of the saints are pre-
cious in God's sight. He shows the higher value that he sets
upon the godly than others, by giving the wicked for them, mak-
ing them subservient to them, and destroying them when they
stand in the way of the welfare of the godly. Prov. xxi. 18.
" The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the trans-
gressor for the upright."
\^ henever the life or welfare of the wicked stands in the way
of the welfare of the righteous, God is wont to procure the wel-
fare of his people, though it be at the expense of the lives and wel-
fare of never so many. Prov. xi. 8. " The righteous is delivered
out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead." Thus God
manifested how much he valued the patriarchs. Though there
were but very (aw of them, yet even kings were rebuked for their
sakes. Psalm cv. 12, 13, 14, 15. " When they were but a few
men in number : yea, very few, and strangers in it. When they
went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another
people. He suffered no man to do them wrong ; yea, he reproved
* These two heads are not filled up.
410 SERMON XIII.
kings for their sakes ; saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do
my prophets no harm." So he showed how he valued the chil-
dren of Israel, in that he gave nations for them. Isai. xliii. 3, 4.
" For I am the Lord thy God, the holy one of Israel, thy Saviour ;
I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since
thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I
have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people
for thy life."
When the Egyptians stood in the way of the welfare of the
church, God brought plagues upon them one after another, wherein
he sorely distressed them. When their lives stood in the way,
God destroyed all the first born of Egypt; and when Pharaoh
and his host sought their destruction, he drowned them in the Red
sea, and when the nations of Canaan stood in their way, God de-
stroyed them ; he destroyed many of them miraculously, by send-
ing hail-stones from heaven upon them. God will sooner at one
blow destroy all the wicked of the world than that one of his saints
should be lost. There are many great men of the world, kings
and princes, men of great power and policy, men of noble blood
and honourable descent, men of great wealth, men of vast learn-
ing and knowledge in the world, that are honoured, and make a
great figure, and great account is made of them in the world, who
are wicked men and reprobates, and they all are not of so great
value in God's sight as one true Christian, however humble his
birth and low his standing ; however poor, or ignorant, or un-
known.
God has shown how highly he values his saints by several re-
markable providences. He has often changed and intercepted the
course of nature for their sakes. Nothing except God himself is
more constant and unchangeable than the course and laws of na-
ture ; but yet so much dolh God value his saints, that he did not
think the procuring of their welfare too slight an occasion for stop-
ping the sun in his course.
But above all hath God shown how great a value he sets upon
his saints, by the great piice which he has paid for them, the
blood of his own Son. God values every saint so highly that he
bought him with the blood of his own dear Son. There is no
price of gold or silver that can be compared with the price of the
blood of Christ.
2. They are his peculiar people with respect to the mercy that he
bestows upon them. God bestows many mercies upon ungodly
men ; he is kind to the evil and the good, to the just and the unjust.
He is good to wicked men in preserving their lives, in providing
for their subsistence, and in giving them many comforts. Wicked
men receive a great deal of goodness from God which they have
cause to admire, and be thankful for every day, and but few live
SERMON XIII. 411
any considerable time who are not the subjects of special influ-
ences of God's goodness to them in deliverance from trouble and
danger. He heaps temporal good things upon them, he gives
them wealth, and ease, and honour, and great prosperity. He
distributes the world among them, and they show their great in-
gratitude in that, notwithstanding all God's bounty to them, they
will not learn righteousness. Isaiah xxvi. 10. " liet favour be
showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness : in the land
of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the ma-
jesty of the Lord." Thus Samuel reproves Saul for his great in-
gratitude, that he took no more notice of the great kindness of
God to him. 1 Sam. xv. 17. " And Samuel said, when thou wast
little in thine own sight, wast not thou made the head of the
tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel.^" So
there are many other wicked men that are advanced to the state
of princes and nobles.
But God bestows more goodness upon one godly man than upon
all the ungodly in the world. Put all their preservations, all
their deliverances, all their wealth, all their comforts that have
been heaped upon them by providence together, those things are
but trifles that God bestows on ungodly men ; but they are peculiar
blessings which he bestows on the righteous, they are precious
things that God has in reserve for his own favourites, in compari-
son of which all earthly treasure is but dirt and dross. As for the
saints, Christ has died for them, they have all their sins pardoned,
they are delivered from a hell of eternal misery, they have a title
to eternal life bestowed upon them, they have God's own image
conferred on them, they are received into favour, and will enjoy
God's everlasting love.
3. They are God's peculiar people with respect to the interest
which he has in them. God has a peculiar interest in godly men;
they are his peculiar property, they are his as they are redeemed
by him, and as they have given themselves to him. God has an in-
terest in godly men's hearts, they have a true love and respect to
him; they have true honour to him. God has a greater interest
in their hearts than any thing else, greater than the dearest friend
on earth, greater than the world or any earthly enjoyment. They
prefer God before all other things, they preserve the throne of
their hearts for God, they are of a spirit to exalt him as the great-
est and highest, to love him as the most excellent, to praise him as
the most gracious and merciful.
God has no interest in the hearts of natural men. Many of them
seem to show respect to him outwardly. The Pharisees of old
pretended to an extraordinary devotion, to a great love to God.
And many hypocrites in these times come before God as his peo-
ple come, they seem as though they delighted to draw near to
412 SERMON xin.
God, and make a high profession of religion; but God has in
deed no interest in their hearts. They give him the outward ap-
pearance, they give him tlie words of their lips, but their hearts
are far from him. It is from respect to something else, and not to
him ; they have not the least love to God.
But God has an interest in the hearts of true Christians: how-
ever small and inconsiderable it is in comparison of what it ought
to be, yet they are of a spirit to prefer God above all. He has
an interest in them, and they offer up their bodies a living sacrifice
to him ; they serve and actively glorify him, with their bodies and
with their spirits. God is glorified in wicked men, as they are occa-
sions of the manifestations of his glory, or as he glorifies himself
in them ; but Christians devote themselves to serve and glorify
God. Though it is but a small interest that God has in the
hearts of Christians in this world in comparison of what ought to
be, yet he hath a greater interest in one godly man than in all the
ungodly and hypocrites that are in the world.
4. They are God's peculiar people, with respect to the compla-
cence which he hath in them. God takes delight in his saints.
Psalm xi. 7. " For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness : his
countenance doth heboid the upright." God doth as it were re-
joice over a convert, he delights in beholding that beauty and
those ornaments of mind which he hath given him ; God takes de-
light in the graces of a godly man's heart, and he delights in the
good works and religion of the Christian. Psalm xxxvii. 23. " The
steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighted in
his way." God takes delight in the godly man's prayers. Prov.
XV. 8. " The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord :
but the prayer of the upright is his delight." He takes more de-
light in the sincere humble devotion of one true saint, than in all
the moral virtue and outward religion of all the natural men in the .
world. If the wicked that are rich should offer to God ten thou-
sand sacrifices, or if they should devote ever so much of their sub-
stance to religious uses, if they should give all their goods to feed
the poor; it would not be so acceptable to God, as one cup of
cold water given by a saint with a spirit of true charity. Ungodly
kings may do much in many respects for religion ; they may build
stately churches for the worship of God, they may encourage re-
ligion in their dominions by their power and influence. Cyrus, a
a heathen prince, restored the people of God from captivity, and
restored the state of the Jews. But God has a greater delight in
the sincere worship and love of one poor, obscure. Christian, than
in all that is done throughout the globe by irreligious kings and
princes.
SERMON Xlir. 41$
REFLECTIONS.
Hence it may well be expected of such as profess hopes of their
being true Ciiristians, that they should live after a peculiar man-
ner, and be devoted to God for his use. There should be a great
difference between their way of living and that of other men.
Godly men should not be hurried away by the general example.
If any evil practice is become a common custom, it may well ba
expected of those who profess themselves godly, that they should
stem the stream of common custom and example, though they are
despised for it.
Men are read}' often to plead for their neglect of such and such
duties, and the commission of such evils, that^it is a common cus-
tom. " Who is there," say they, " but what does so ^ I should be
singular if I did otherwise." But if evil things are common, God
may well expect of them that their way should be singular and pe-
culiar, for Christians are a peculiar people. There should be a
difference and a great difference between them and the generality
of the world; if their neighbours, and relations and companions,
fall in with the common custom, that is evil, yet they should be pe-
culiar, and stand alone.
It may well be expected that they should go further than other
men in doing their duty, and practising the Christian religion.
For instance, it is a common thing for men when they are affront-
ed, or injured by their neigiibours, to entertain a spirit of revenge,
to drink in a spirit of ill will against their neighbour, and to wish
him hurt. But Christians should be peculiar; they should forgive
those that injure them, and not entertain any spirit of ill will to
them upon that account.
It is common for men when injured, to endeavour to retaliate
upon those that injure them in some way or other, either by acting
or talking against them ; but those who call themselves godly,
should choose no kind of revenge, Matth. v. 38, 39. " Ye have
heard, that it hath been said. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a
tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil : but whosoever
shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."
The generality of men will love their friends, and hate their ene-
mies ; it is very rare that it is otherwise. Men pretend that they
do not hate their enemies, but they really do in their hearts. But
Christians should be peculiar in this matter, their way should be
different from the way of the world ; for they are a peculiar peo-
ple, and they should love their enemies from their hearts, and do
good to them that hate them. However rare it is that there is any
such thing, yet such a rare thing very well becomes God's peculiar
people. Matth. v. 43, 44, 45. •' Ye have heard that it hath been
said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But
VOL. VIII. 53
414 SERMON XIII.
I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you, and persecute you : That ye may be the children of your
Father which is in heaven : for he maketh his sun to rise on the
evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the un-
just."
It is a rare thing for persons to accustom themselves to great
self-denial. Many will indeed deny themselves something for the
sake of their duty, but if it very much crosses their interest, there
are Cew that will be steadfast in their duty. But it may well be
expected, that you should greatly deny yourself for the sake of
God and Christ, and so be peculiar in this matter.
Self-interest governs the generality of men ; they will mind
their own interest rather than any thing else. But it may well be
expected of those who profess godliness, that they should show
themselves peculiar in this matter, and that they should sacrifice
their private, separate interest to the glory and honour of God, and
to the public good. Most men will content themselves and quiet
their consciences by avoiding the more gross acts of sin, by avoid-
ing an outward gratification of lusts ; but it becomes Christians to
distinguish themselves here, and avoid sinning so much as in their
thoughts, not to indulge any lust so much as in their imagination.
It is a shame to professors of godliness that their light shines no
brighter before men, that there is no more appearing in them of
an amiable Christian spirit, that they do not seem to shine any
brighter in their outward conversation than many other men that
do not make the profession that they do. Many such men seem
to be as exact, 'and as careful to avoid sin, and to deny themselves
as they ; yea, many, perhaps, that, for the outward practice of
some particular virtues, shine brighter than they, are more liberal,
and kind, more courteous and obliging in their behaviour.
It is expected of those that are of this peculiar people that they
should do more than others. Matth. v. 4G, 47. "For if ye love
them which love you, what reward have ye ? Do not even the pub-
licans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do
ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so?" Let me
then apply this subject immediately to those who are present.
1. Here is a powerful argument to persuade those of you who
are impenitent to become godly, that if you will forsake your sins,
and with all your heart turn to God, you shall become of the num-
ber of God's peculiar people. You shall have the same privileges
with those that have been mentioned, you will immediately upon
your conversion become one of those that God sets such an high
value upon. If you are assured of your conversion, you may withal
be assured that God the Supreme Lord of heaven and earth sets a
higher value on you than upon all the reprobates in the world,
SERMON XIII. 415
that God has set so high a value upon you that he has given the
blood of his own Son for your ransom.
If you do savingly turn to God, you will receive from God
mercies and blessings greater in value than all the wealth and out-
ward prosperity of all the ungodly men in the world. Put all
the honour and all the wealth of the great men of the world to-
gether; put all that the kings of the earth possess, their treasures
and revenues, their dominions and power, their stately seats and
palaces, their costly robes and dainties, together, and they will
not amount to so great things as God will bestow upon you.
If you will turn from your sins and come to Christ, the great
God will accept of you, and delight in you : you then will have
those spiritual ornaments that will be more amiable in the sight
of God, than all the learning, and knowledge, and morality of
all the ungodly men in the world.
If you continue in a natural condition, God will make no ac-
count of you ; instead of being as his jewels, you will be esteem-
ed as vile and refuse, and fit for nothing but to be trampled under
foot ; instead of being gold, yon will be esteemed as dross, Jer.
vi. 30. " Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord
hath rejected them." Hereafter you will be thrown away as be-
ing good for nothing, you will be esteemed nothing worth, as is
represented in that parable, Matth. xiii. 47, Sec. '* Again the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea,
and gathered of every kind : which, when it was full, they drew
to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but
cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world : the
angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among thejust,
and shall cast them into the furnace of fire ; there shall be wailing
and gnashing of teeth." Yea, you shall not only be castaway as
good for nothing, but shall be cast out as filth into the great re-
ceptacle of the filth of the world; you will be cast into a furnace
of fire as barren branches are gathered up and burnt. John xv.
6. " If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and
is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire,
and they are burned ; or as barren trees are cut down and cast
into the fire. Matth. iii. 10. " And now also the axe is laid unto
the root of the trees ; therefore every tree which bringeth not
forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." As the tares
were gathered together in bundles and burnt, you will be looked
upon as fit for nothing else but to be destroyed. 2 Peter ii. 12.
" But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and de-
stroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not, and
shall utterly perish in their own corruption."
Instead of bestowing such peculiar mercies upon 3'ou, you in a
little lime will be stripped of all mercy. God will not have mercy
416 SERMON XIII.
on you, but your miseries will be as dreadful as those mercies that
God bestows on his saints are valuable. They are but trifles that
wicked men have bestowed upon them while in this world, in com-
parison of what the righteous shall have. The blessings of one
righteous are more in value than the enjoyments of all the wicked.
But hereafter wicked men will not have those ; they will have
nothing but the fiery wrath and indignation of God for their por-
tion.
While you are in a natural condition, instead of your being
God's peculiar ones with respect to the interest which God hath
in your heart, the devil has the greatest interest in your heart. He
has the government and possession there, and therefore you are,
and will be the devil's people, those that he claims, and those that
will certainly fall to his share, at least if you continue in such a
condition. Instead of being one in whom God has peculiar com-
placence, he has no pleasure in you ; when you pretend to worship
him, he has no delight in your hypocritical prayers and services,
but they are an abomination to him.
II. If you are true Christians, then let God be peculiar with
you.
1. Let God be your peculiar portion. If you are one of his
peculiar people, he is so. All who are God's people have chosen
him for their God and portion. Do this more, and more, and
more. Let all other things be lightly set by, and treated by you
with neglect, in comparison of God.
Let God be the object of your peculiar value and esteem. If
God has made you one of those on whom he sets a peculiar value,
you who are a poor worthless worm, if he has set such a value
upon you, as to purchase you with the price of the blood of his
Son, who are in yourself a filthy despicable creature, how much
more reason is there that you should peculiarly value God, who is
so great and glorious ! It is fitting that this value should be
mutual ; and it is fitting that it should be in answerable degree.
It will be but a little thing for you to esteem God above all in
comparison of what it is for God so to prize his saints. See to it
therefore, that there be nothing that stands in any competition
with God in your esteem; value him more than all riches;
value his honour and glory more than all the world ; be ready at
all times to part with all things else, and cleave to God. Let God
be your peculiar friend, and value his friendship more than the
respect and love of all the world. When you lose other enjoy-
ments, when you lose earthly friends, let this be a supporting, sa-
tisfying comfort to you, that you have not lost God.
2. Let God be your peculiar confidence. There is great en-
couragement in this Doctrine for you to make him so, and reason
to enforce it ai your duty. God expects that those who are his
SERMON XIII. 417
peculiar people should put iheir trust in him, and well they may
do so, for God has a peculiar favour for them, and is peculiarly
careful and tender of them. Be sensible, therefore, that it is un-
becoming any, but especially those who are so near to God, and
so favoured by him, to trust in their own righteousness, or in any
arm of flesh. The peculiar people of God should not trust in
themselves, they should not trust in friends, they should not trust
in great men, they should not trust in their estates, or in any
worldly enjoyment as expecting happiness from it, but alone in the
Lord God. He oughtto be their refuge and hiding-place: in
time of trouble they should hide themselves under the shadow of
his wings.
3. Make God the peculiar object of your praises. The doc-
trine shows what great reason you have so to do. If God so
values you, sets so much by you, has bestowed greater mercies
upon you than on all the ungodly in the world ; is it too little a
requital for you to make God the peculiar object of your praise
and thankfulness ? If God so distinguishes you with his mercy,
you ought to distinguish yourself in his praises; you should make
it your great care and study how to glorify that God who has
been so peculiarly merciful to you. And the rather because there
was nothing peculiar in you, distinguishing you from any other
person, that moved God to deal thus peculiarly by you. You
were as unworthy to be set by as thousands of others that are not
regarded of God, and are cast away by him for ever.
SERMOX XIT.
APRIL, 173S.
Hebrews xiii. 8.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
The exhortation, which the Apostle gives the Christian He-
brews in the verse preceding this, is to remember and follow
the good instructions, and examples of their ministers, "Re-
member them who have the rule over you, who have spoken
unto you the word of God; whose faith follow, considering the
end of their conversation." The last part of this exhortation is
to follow their faith. By following their faith, the Apostle
seems to intend adhering to the Christian faith, and those vvhol-
some doctrines which their pastors taught them, and not depart
from them, as many in that day had done, to heretical tenets.
And the enforcement of the doctrine is in these words, " Con-
sidering the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday, to-day and for ever." Christ is the end of their conver-
sation, he is the end of their conversation in their office, the end
of the doctrines which they taught, and the end of all their ad-
ministrations, and all their labours in all their work. And as
he was so, they ought to follow their faith, or cleave steadfastly
to the doctrines they had taught them, and not depart to other
doctrines; for Jesus Christ was the same, yesterday, to-day, and
for ever.
If they still professed to be Christians or the followers of
Jesus Christ, then they should still cleave to the same doctrines
that they were taught in their first conversion; they should
still follow the faith of them, who had first indoctrinated them
in Christianity ; for Jesus Christ was the same now that he was
then, and therefore, Christianity was obviously the same thing.
It was not one thing now and another when they were first con-
verted, or even like to any other thing than it always had been.
Surely therefore, when Christ and Christianity were thus un-
changeable, he would therefore have them not fickle and
changeable in their faith, not depart from their former faith, nor
SERMON XIV. 419
be carried about with divers and strange doctrines, as it follows
in the next verse.
When it is said that Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and
for ever, by yesterday is meant all time past ; by to-day, the time
present; and by for ever, all that is future, from the present
time to eternity.
Doctrine. Jesus Christ is the same now that he ever has
been and ever will be.
Christ is thus unchangeable in two respects.
I. In his divine nature. As Christ is one of the persons of
the Trinity, he is God, and so hath the divine nature, or the
Godhead dwelling in him, and all the divine attributes belong
to him, of which immutability or unchangeableness is one.
Christ in his human nature was not absolutely unchangeable,
though his human nature, by reason of its union with the di-
vine, was not liable to those changes to which it was liable, as
a meriJ creature; as for instance, it was indestructible and im-
perishable. Having the divine nature to uphold it, it was not
liable to fall and commit sin, as Adam and the fallen angels did,
but yet the human nature of Christ, when he was upon earth,
was subject to many changes. It had a beginning; it was
conceived in the womb of the Virgin ; it was in a state of in-
fancy, and afterwards changed from that state to a state of man
hood, and this was attended not only with a change on his body,
by his increasing in stature, but also on his mind ; for we read that
he not only increased in stature but also in wisdom. Luke ii.
52. And the human nature of Christ was subject to sorrow-
ful changes, though not to sinful ones. He suffered hunger,
and thirst, and cold ; and at last he suffered dreadful changes
by having his body tortured and destroyed, and his soul poured
out unto death ; and afterwards became subject to a glorious
change at his resurrection and ascension. And that his human
nature was not liable to sinful changes, as Adam's or the angels',
was not owing to any thing in his human nature, but to its re-
lation to the divine nature which upheld it. But the divine na-
ture of Christ is absolutely unchangeable, and not liable to the
least alteration or variation in any respect. It is the san)e now
as it was before the world was created. It was the same after
Christ's incarnation^as before, when Christ was born in a stable,
and laid in a manger, and underwent many changes on earth,
and at last suffered that dreadful agony in the garden, and suf-
fered on the cross ; it made no real alteration in the divine na-
ture ; and afterwards when Christ was glorified, and sat on the
right hand of the majesty on high, it made no alteration in his
divine nature.
II. Christ is unchangeable in his office. He is unchangeable
420 SERMON XIV.
as the Mediator and Saviour of his church and people. That
unchangeableness of Christ in his office of Mediator, appears in
several things.
1. This office never ceases to give place to any other to come
in his room : Christ is the only Mediator between God and man,
that ever has been or ever shall be. He is an everlasting Sa-
viour. There have been typical mediators many, .that have
continued but a little while, and then have passed away, and
others have come in their room ; but the great antitype conti-
nues for ever. There have been prophets, that have been raised
up, and these have died, and others have succeeded them. Mo-
ses was not suffered to continue by reason of death; and the
dispensation which he introduced was abolished, to give place
to another which Christ should introduce. Moses gives place
to Christ, but Christ never gives place to any other. John the
Baptist^ was a great prophet. He was Christ's forerunner ;
like the morning star, the forerunner of the sun, he. shone
bright a little while, but his ministry by degrees ceased, and
gave way to the ministry of Christ, as the morning star by little
and little goes out as the sun rises. John iii. 30. John the l^ap-
tist says, " He must increase, but I must decrease." But Christ's
ministry never ceases. So the ancient legal priests, they had
but a changeable and short-lived priesthood. Aaron died, and his
son Eleazar succeeded in his room ; and so there were many
priests, one after another ; but Christ continues a priest for ever.
Heb. vii. 23, 24. And they truly were many priests ; and they
were not suffered to continue by reason of death ; but Christ,
because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood."
These legal priests succeeded one another by inheritance ; the
father died and the son succeeded him, and then he died and
his son succeeded him ; but it is observed that Christ, in his
priesthood, "is without father and without mother, without
descent." He had no ancestor that went before him in his
priesthood, or any posterity that should succeed him in it. In
that respect, Melchizedeck is a type of Christ, of whom the
scri[)tures give us an account, that he was a priest, but seems
not to have been a priest by inheritance, as the sons of Aaron
were: as Heb. vii. 3 : "without father, and without mother, and
without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of
life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest con-
tinually :" and therefore it is said of Christ, Psalm ex. 4, " The
Lord hath sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest for
ever after the order of Melchizedeck." Those things that ap-
pertain to Christ's priesthood are everlasting. The taberna-
cle at which the priests of old officiated, was a tabernacle that
men pitched, and therefore a tabernacle that was taken down.
SERMON XIV. 421
It was the holy of holies of old ; but Christ is a minister of the
true tabernacle and the true sanctuary which the Lord hath built,
and not man. Heb. v. 2. The holy of holies he entered into was
heaven; he is priest in a tabernacle, which shall never be taken
down, and in a temple that shall never be demolished. So the al-
tar on which he ofiers incense, the priesil}^ garments or robes in
which he officiates, are not of a corruptible nature. And so
Christ is everlasting with reference to his kingly office. David
and Solomon were great kings, and eminent types of Christ : but
death put an end to their kingdom and greatness. Eartlil}' mon-
archies that ever have been, those that have ruled over the bigger
part of the known world, as particularly the Grecian and Roman
monarchies, they have come to an end, but Christ's is an everlast-
ing kingdom, his throne is for ever and ever. Heb. i. 8. " Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever ; a sceptre of righteousness
is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Though all other kingdoms shall
be demolished, Christ's kingdom shall stand for ever." Dan. vii.
13, 14.
2, Christ is at all times equally sufficient for the office he hath
undertaken. He undertook the office from eternity, and he was
sufficient for it from eternity. He has been in the exercise of his
office from the fall of man, and remains equally sufficient through-
out all ages. His power and his wisdom, his love, his excellency,
and worthiness, is at all times equally sufficient for the salvation
of sinners, and for the upholding and glorifying of believers. He
is for ever able to save, because he lives for ever. His life is an
endless and unchangeable life. He is made not after the law of a
carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. Heb.
vii. 16. He is at all times equally accepted as a Mediator in the
sight of the Father, who is ever well pleased in him. He is, al-
ways equally worthy and lovely in his eyes. He is daily his de-
light, rejoicing always before him. The sacrifice that he has of-
fered, and the righteousness that he has performed, is at all times
equally sufficient. His blood is as sufficient to cleanse away sin
now, as when it was warm from his wounds.
3. He is now, and ever will be, the same that he ever has been,
in the Disposition and Will which he exercises in his office. He
is not changeable in his disposition, as ujen are that are called to
any office or business, which causes them to appear and act very
differently in their offices at some times, from what they do at
others. But Jesus Christ is, in this respect, the same yesterday,
to-day, and for ever. He is ever disposed to execute his office in
a holy manner. He ever has been, still is, and ever will be, dis-
posed to execute it so as to glorify his Father, to discountenanfre
sin, and to encourage holiness. He ever exercised the same grace
VOL. VIII. 54
422 SERMON XIV.
and mercy in his office. He undertook the office of a Mediator
from eternity with delight. He then delighted in the thoughts of
saving sinners, and he still delights in it ; he never has altered
from the disposition to accomplish it. When man actually fell
and became a rebel and an enemy, an enemy to his Father and
himself; still it was his delight to do tlie part of a Mediator for
him. And when he came into the world, and came to his last
agony ; when the bitter cup that he was to drink was set before
him, and lie had an extraordinary view of it, so that the sight of
it made " his soul exceeding sorrowful even unto death," and
caii<;ed him to " sweat as it were great drops of blood ;" still he
retained his disposition to do tlie part of a Mediator for sinners,
and delighted in the thoughts of it; so, even when he was endur-
ing the cross, the salvation of sinners was a joy set before him.
Heb. xii. 2. And he never alters from his readiness to receive and
embrace all that do in faith come to him ; he is always equally
willing to receive such. His love is unchangeable ; he loved from
eternity: Jer. xxxi. 3: he loved with an everlasting love; and it
will be to eternity. John xiii. 1. " Having loved his own he
loved them unto tlie end."
4. Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, as to the
End which he aims at in his office. His supreme end in it is the
glory of God ; as particularly in vindicating the honour of his
majesty, justice, and holiness, and the honour of his holy law.
For this end did he undertake to stand as a Mediator between God
and man, and to suffer for men, viz. that the honour of God'sjus-
tice, majesty, and law may be vindicated in his suffi^^rings. And
he also undertook the office to glorify the free grace of God ; and
his special end in his undertaking was the salvation and happiness
of the elect. These two ends he has in his eye in all parts of the
work of his office ; and these two ends 'he unchangeably aims at.
These he sought on entering into covenant with the Father from
eternity. These he has sought from the beginning of the world
to this time, and these he ever will seek. He does not sometimes
pursue one end, and then alter his mind and pursue another ; but
he ever pursues the same ends.
5. Christ ever acts by the same Rules in the execution of his
mediatorial office.'
The rules that Christ acts by, in the execution of his office, are
contained in a two-fold covenant.
(1.) The Covenant of Redemption, or the eternal covenant
that was between the Father and the Son, wherein Christ under-
took to stand as Mediator with fallen man, and was appointed
thereto of the Father. In that covenant, all things concerning
Christ's execution of his mediatorial office, were agreed between
SERMON XIV. 423
Christ and his Father, and established by them. And this cove-
nant or eternal agreement, is the highest rule that Christ acts by
in his office ; and it is a rule that he never in (he least departs from.
He never does any thing, more or less, than is contained in that
eternal covenant. Christ does the work that God gave him to do
in that covenant, and no other: he saves those, and those onlv,
that the Father gave him in that covenant to save; and he brings
them to such a degree of happiness as was therein agreed. To
this rule Christ is unchangeable in his regard; it stands good
with Christ in every article of it, yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
(2.) Another covenant that Christ has regard to in the execu-
tion of his Mediatorial office, is that Covenant of Grace which
God established witli man. Thougii indeed this be less properly
the rule by which Ciu'ist acts as Slediator, than the Covenant of
Redemption, yet it may be called a rule, God does, as it were,
make his promises wiiich he makes to his creatures, his rule to act
by: i. e. all his actions are in an exact conformity to his pro-
mises, and he never departs in the least degree from them, as is
the case with man with regard to what ihey make the rule of their
actions. Yet it is not a rule to God in the same sense as a rule is
to a created agent, which must be considered as something ante-
cedent to the purposes of the agent, and that by which his pur-
poses are regulated. But God's promises are consequent on his
purposes, and are no other than the expressions of them. And
the covenant of grace is not essentially different from the cove-
nant of redemption : it is but an expression of it : it is only that
covenant of redemption partly revealed to mankind for their en-
couragement, faith, and comfort. And therefore the fact that
Christ never departs from the covenant of redemption, infers that
he will never depart from the covenant of grace ; for all that was
promised to men in the covenant of grace, was agreed on between
the Father and the Son in the covenant of redemption. How-
ever, there is one thing wherein Christ's unchangeableness in his
office appears : that he never departs from the promises that he
hath made to man. There is the same covenant of grace in all
ages of the world. The covenant is not essentially different now
from what it was under the old testament, and even before the
flood ; and it always will remain the same. It is therefore called
an everlasting covenant, Isaiah. Iv. 3.
And as Christ does not alter his covenant, so he unchangeably
fulfils it: he never departs in the least jot or tittle. Ihough he
has given exceedingly great and precious promises to those that
believe in him, he ever fulfils them all. Heaven and earth shall
sooner pass away, than one jot or one tittle of iiis promises shall
fail, till all be fulfilled. It is especially on account of his un-
424 SERMON XIV.
cliangeableness with respect to liis promises, that he styles him-
self, " lam that I am,^^ and is called *' Jehovah," Exod. iii. 14,
and vi. 3. Christ revealed liimself to the children of Israel, in
their E^^yptian bondage, by this name, to encourage the people
that he would fulfil his promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob.
5. He is in many respects unchangeable in the Acts which he
exercises in his office. He is unchangeable in his acceptance of
those that believe in him, and never will reject them ; and he is
unchangeable in his complacency and delight in then). He is
unchangeable in his intercession for his church and people. He
ever lives to make intercession. Heb. vii. 25. His intercession
before God in heaven is a continual intercession. It is a constant
presentation of his will before the Father for the salvation and
happiness of those that are his in the virtue of his blood. And as
Christ is unchangeable in his intercession, so he is unchangeable
in upholding and preserving those that are his, and ordering all
things for their good, until they are brought to his heavenly glo-
ry. He is constant and unchangeable in taking care of them in
all respects, and will hereafter receive them to a constant and un-
changeable enjoyment of himself.
APPLICATION.
I. We learn from the truth taught in the text, how fit Christ
was to be appointed as the surety of fallen man. Adam, the first
surety of mankind, failed in his work, because he was a mere
creature, and so a mutable being. Though he had so great a
trust committed to him, as the care of the eternal welfare of all
his posterity', yet, not being unchangeable, he failed, and trans-
gressed God's holy covenant. He was led aside, and drawn away
by the subtle temptation of the devil. He being a changeable
being, his subtle adversary found means to turn him aside, and so
he fell, and all his posterity fell with him. It appeared, therefore,
that we stood in need of a surety that was unchangeable, and
could not fail in his work. Christ, whom God appointed to this
work, to be to us a second Adam, is such an one that is the same
yesterday, to-day, and for ever, and therefore was not liable to
fail in his undertaking. He was suflicient to be depended on as
one that would certainly stand all trials, and go through all difii-
culties, until he had finished the work that he had undertaken,
and actually wrought out eternal redemption for us.
II. This truth maybe well applied to tlie awakeningof those who
profess to be Christians, and this on several accounts. You may
be hence assured that Christ will fulfil feis threatenings, that he has
denounced against unbelievers. There are many awful threaten-
SERMON XIV. 425
ings, which Christ has denounced against wicked men. Christ
has threatened wo to this wicked workl ; Matth. xviii. 17 ; and
has declared concerning all, that do not believe, that they shall be
damned. This is that, which Christ gave in charge to his disci-
ples before his ascension, when he sent them forth to preach, and
teach all nations. Markxvi. 15, 16. " Go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth shall
be saved, and he that believeth net shall be damned." So Christ
declares that every tree, that bringeth not forth good fruit, sliall
be hewn down, and cast into the fire. Matth. vii. 18. And he has
especially threatened an awful punishment to gospel sinners. He
has declared that every branch in him that beareth not fruit shall
be cut off and cast forth and gathered up and burnt; and that,
however wicked men and false Christians may dwell among the
godl}', as tares grow among wheat, yet when the harvest comes,
and the wheat is gathered into the barn, the tares shall be gathered
into bundles, anclburnt. Matth. xiii. 30. And in the explication
of the parable, he says, that, at the day of judgment, "the Son of
man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his
kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity, and
shall cast them into a furnace of fire, where shall bewailing and
gnashingof teeth," ver. 41, 42. So he declares in Matthew viii. 21,
concerning those visible Christians tliat say to him, " Lord,
Lord," and that do not do the will of his Father which is in hea-
ven, that he will hereafter profess unto them, that he never knew
them, and that he will say unto them, " Depart from me, ye that
work iniquity;" and that those that build their house on the sand
shall fall, and that great shall be their fall ; and that such as these
shall see man}' coming from the east, and from the west, and from the
north, and from the south, and sitting down with Abraham, and Isaac,
and Jacob, in the kingdom of God, and themselves thrust out ; and
he teaches in his parables that unprofitable servants, and those that
as professing Christians come to the gospel feast without the wed-
ding garment, shall be bound hand and foot, and cast into outer
darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He often
denounces wo on hypocrites; and threatens concerning such as
begin a life of religion and do not finish, and are not thorough
and persevering in it, that they shall come to shame; that those
who are foolish virgins, that take their lamps and take no oil with
them, shall at last be shut from the marriage when others enter
in with the bridegroom, and that when they come to the door they
shall find it shut, and shall cry, " Lord, Lord, open to us," in
vain ; and that, at the day ofjudgment, Christ shall separate the
righteous from the wicked, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from
the goats, setting the righteous on the right hand, and the wicked
426 SERMON XIV.
on the left; and that he shall say to the wicked, "Depart, ac-
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels ;"
and that the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment.
And particularly he has threatened concerning them that have not
a spirit of self-denial, that do not cut off a right hand or a right
foot, nor pluck out a right eye, that they shall go with two hands,
or two feet, or two eyes, into hell-fire, into the fire that never
shall be quenched, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched. And that ihose, that have not a spirit to sell all for his
sake, and that do not in comparison of him hate father, and mo-
ther, and wife, and every earthly relative and earthly possession,
shall not be acknowledged of him as his disciples. And concern-
ing those, that are ashamed of religion before men, that of them
will he be ashamed, before his Father and before the angels :
and concerning those that are of a revengeful spirit, and not of a
spirit of forgiveness, that they shall not be forgiven ; and con-
cerning all that are of a malicious spirit, and not of a spirit of
Christian love and meekness, that are of an angry, wrathful and
scornful disposition, that say to their brother, " Raca," or " Thou
fool ;" that they shall be in danger of everlasting punishment pro-
portioned to the heinousness of their crimes. And co\icerning
wordly-rninded men he has declared, that 'tis impossible for those
that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God. Concerning
such he has said, " Wo unto you that are rich, for ye have received
your consolation ; and wo unto you that are full, for ye shall
hunger ;" and concerning such as are addicted to carnal mirth
and jollity, he says, " Wo unto you that laugh now, for ye shall
mourn and weep." And he has abundantly declared concern-
ing gospel sinners, that their punishment shall be far more dread-
ful than that of the worst of the heathen; that it shall be more tole-
rable even for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than
for them; and he has declared that those, that are once cast into
hell, shall in no wise come out thence, until they have paid the ut-
termost farthing.
Such things as these did Christ threaten against the ungodl}',
when he was here upon earth. And by the doctrine of the text
you learn, that he now is, and ever will be, the same that he was
then. He has not at all altered, no, nor ever will ; but these dread-
ful things, that he has threatened, he will surely fulfil. Christ was
no more disposed to threaten, than to fulfil his threatenings.
Christ is as holy, and his nature and will is as averse to sin now as
ever it was ; and he is as strictly just now as he was then.
Therefore, let no Christless person flatter himself, that, con-
tinuing such, he shall by any means escape punishment. Christ's
threatenings are the threatenings of one, that is the same yester-
SERMON XIV. 427
day, to-day, and for ever ; and what he has threatened with his
mouth, he will fulfil with his hands. When Christ appears at the
day of judgment, and you shall stand at his bar to be judged, you
will find him in judging, just what he was, and just what you find
him in your bibles, in threatening.
III. The truth in the text may be applied by way of Reproof.
1. To those that have been heretofore under awakenings, but
have now become senseless and careless. This doctrine shows
your folly. You act as if Christ were altered, as though he were
not now so dreadful a Judge, and his displeasure not so much to
be feared, as heretofore. Time was, when you were afraid of the
displeasure and wrath of Christ. You were afraid of the dreadful
sentence from his mouth, " Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire." And why is it so much otherwise with you now ? Is not
the wrath of this Judge as much to be dreaded now, as ever it was ?
Time was, when those threatenings, that Christ has denounced
against sinners, were terrible things to you ; and why do you make
so light of them now? Is this your great Judge grown weaker
than he was, and less able to fulfil his threatenings ? Are you less
in his hands than you were ; or do you imagine that Christ is be-
come more reconciled to sin, and has not such a disposition to
execute vengeance for it as he had ?
Time was, that you seemed to feel yourself to be in lamentable
circumstances that you had not an interest in Christ, and to have
a great mind to get an interest in him. You sought it, and prayed
to God daily for it, and took considerable pains, and went and
asked others, what you should do to obtain an interest in Christ.
Why is it that you are so much more careless about it now ? Is
Christ altered ; is an interest in him less valuable, or less neces-
sary, now, ihan it was then ? Was acceptance with him worth
earnestly seeking, and praying, and striving for then, and is it
good for nothing now ? Did you stand in great need of it then,
and can you do well enough without it now .'*
Time was when you seemed to be much concerned about
your having been guilty of so much sin against God and Christ,
and, it may be, wept about it in your prayers. But now, you
are not concerned about it. The thought of your havins so
often and so greatly offended him, does not so much trouble
you, but that you can be easy and quiet, and have your heart
taken up about one vanity or another, without being very much
disturbed with the thoughts of your sins. Then you used to be
careful to avoid sin ; you were watchful to avoid those things
that were forbidden in God's holy word ; you were careful that
you did not sin by profaning the sabbath, or by unsuitably
spending the time in God's house, or by neglecting the duties of
423 SERMON XIV.
reading and prayer. You were careful of your beliavlour among
men, lest you should transgress. If you suspected anything
to be sinful then, you dared not do it. But now there is no
such care upon your spirit, there is no such watch maintained,
you hav^e no such guard uj)on yon. But when you are tempted
to do or omit any thing, it is not a thought coming with weight
upon your heart, *' Is this sinful or not ?" " Is this contrary
to the mind and will of God, or not ?" You do not dwell long
on such kind of thoughts as these; you are grown very bold,
and live in neglects and practices that are sinfid, and that you
have light enough to know to be so : just as if you thought that
Christ's disposition, with respect to sin was altered ; and that he
was less an enemy to sin now than he was then. Instead of being
less an enemy to sin than you then thought he was, and instead of
being a less dreadful .fudge of ungodly men, than you then im-
agined, or had a sense of in your heart, he is a thousand times
more so : for then, when you was most awakened and convinced,
you conceived but very little of what is in reality ; you appre-
hended very imperfectly the enmity of Christ's nature against
sin and the dreadfulness of his wrath against the ungodly. It
was but a little sense you had of it. His wrath is infinitely more
dreadful, than ever you have yet had any conception of.
And though Christ be unchangeable, yet you are not. ° You
are changed for the worse, since the time when you were
awakened. Christ is equally an enemy of sin, and you are be-
come more sinful than you then were. Christ's wrath is in it-
self equally dreadful, as it then was ; but you have far more
reason to dread it, than you had then, for you are in much great-
er danger of it ;' and if you do not repent are much nearer to
the execution of it. And not only so, but you are now exposed
to much more of that wrath. Christ's wrath hung over your
head then, and so it does now, but with this difference, that now
much more of that wrath hangs over you than did then. You
hung over the pit of hell then, and so you do now ; but with this
difference, that you have ever since been kindling and enraging
the flames of that fiery gulf over which you hang, so that they
are vastly fiercer than they were then ; and the moth of time
has been nibbling at that slender thread ever since, and has
much nearer gnawed it off than it had then. And your heart
is far more hardened than it was ; and the devil has faster
hold of you, and the way to escape is more blocked up ; and
your case upon many accounts is inexpressibly more doleful,
however much more careless and unconcerned you are about your
own circumstances.
SERMON XIV. 429
2. This doctrine reproves all, that have entered into the
bonds of the (/hristian covenant, and have prov<'d fulsc to ir. Tf
Christ be the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, and is always
the same towards us in fuIfilHng, as hejs in promising, then sure-
ly we ought to be so towards him. If he never breaks cove-
nant with his people, then they are greatly to be reproved, who
are false and treacherous in their dealings with him. There-
fore this reproves a covenant people that depart from Christ,
and break covenant with him ; as we in this land have done,
having greatly revolted and degenerated both from the pure
profession and religious practice of the first times of the coun-
try. Though Christ and his doctrine, and the religion that he
taught, are always the same, yet this country has great multi-
tudes in it that are driven to and fro by every wind of doctrine,
and has now for a long time been exceedingly corrupted by the
prevalency of many evil customs and practices.
And by this doctrine is every particular person reproved, that
does not take care to keep covenant with Christ. We are in
general under the solemn bonds of our baptismal covenant ;
and that covenant, that was sealed in our baptism, most of us
have explicitly owned, and expressly and solemnly promised to
walk in, in a way of obedience to all the commands of God as
long as we live ; and have, time after time, in the most solemn
manner, sealed this covenant anew, by taking the body and
blood of Christ upon it at the Lord's supper. They bring
dreadful guilt on themselves who are not careful to fulfil such
vows; they that have solemnly vowed to obey Christ in all his
commandments as long as they live, and have sealed these vows
by eating and drinking at the Lord's supper with far greater
solemnity than if they sealed it with as many solemn oaths, yet
live in ways of sin, live in the neglect of several commanded
duties, and in the commission of forbidden sin ; or at least do
not make it the care of their lives strictly to keep Christ's com-
mands; surely such persons render themselves very guilty.
3. This doctrine reproves those that have been seemingly pi-
ous, and have fallen away to ways of sin. Who these persons
are, their own consciences are better able to judge than those
that are about them. There are many here present, that in
times past have been seemingly pious ; and let every one inquire
at the mouth of his own conscience, whether his seeming piety
holds on ; whether it be not come to an end. If you find rea-
son, by a serious and strict examination, to conclude that you
are one of them, consider how vile is your treatment of Him,
who is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, and who never
is false to any to whom he once manifests his favour. How
VOL. VIII. 55
450 SERMON XIV.
greatly doth God complain of such short-lived religion in the
scriptures ! Hos. vi. 4. " O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee ?
O Judah, what shall I do unto thee ? for your goodness is as a
morning cloud, and as the early dew, it goeth away." Ps.
Ixxviii. 57. " They tempted and provoked the most high God,
and kept not his testimonies, but turned back and dealt unfaith-
fully like their fathers ; they were turned aside like a deceitful
bow."
4. He*'eby the truly godly are greatly to be reproved for their
declension. There are many such here, as I charitably hope,
and many of them I fear have been guilty of great declension in
religion. Formerly they were lively and animated in religion,
now they are dull and indifferent ; formerly their hearts went
up on high after God, but now after the world ; they carried
themselves for a while very exemplarily, but have since behaved
in such a manner as to wound religion. Why will you be guilty
of such a departure from your Redeemer, who changes not
with regard to you? His love he formerly manifested towards
you, but it does not change ; it has ever held up to the same
height ; his faithfulness never has failed to you ; why then does
your love so languish towards him, and why are you so unfaith-
fid to him ? He keeps up the same care and watchfulness to-
wards you, to preserve you, to provide for you, to defend you
from your enemies, and why will you suffer your care and strict-
ness to serve and please Christ, and honour him, to fail in any
measure ?
When you were first converted, your heart seemed to be wrapt
up in love to Christ, and delight in him and his praises. You
were then continually meditating on Christ and the things of
Christ, and your meditations on him were sweet ; and you were
then much in speaking of those things, and you delighted to
speak of them. And v.hy is it so much otherwise with you now ?
Is Christ less excellent than he was then ? is he less worthy of
your love ?
5. This doctrine affords matter of reproof to us of this town,
for our declining is much from what we have lately been. That
we have exceedingly declined in religion, is most manifest, and
what all confess. A little while ago Christ was the great ob-
ject of regard among us. The hearts of the people in general
were greatly engaged about Christ ; as though Christ had been
all, and the world nothing. There was then a great deal of
conversation, among all sorts of persons, and in all companies,
of Christ. They who thought they had no interest in Christ,
were full of concern how to obtain an interest in him ; and they
were almost ready to neglect their worldly concerns, as though
SERMON XIV. 431
Christ was all they needed. And with regard to those that thono-ht
they had obtained an interest in Christ, their thoughts and their
conversation seemed also to be very much taken up about Christ.
They were much engaged in talking of the excellency of Christ,
and seemed to be full of the grace and dying love of Christ.
And one and another of you expressed the strong sense you
had of one perfection and excellency and another of Christ,
and of the glory of the works that he has done, and of the
sweetness of the words that he speaks. The town seemed to
be full of the praises of Christ. You expressed to one another
how you earnestly longed to priase him and bless his name for
ever and ever, and how you desired that others should help you
praise him. The benefits procured by Christ were then greatly
valued in the town, and both Christ and his benefits were then
precious among us. And multitudes seemed to be concerned,
what they should do for the honour of Chirst, how the^' should
live to his glory and do something for the advancement of his
kingdom in the world. But now, how much otherwise is it;
how little is Christ set by, in comparison of what he has been;
how much is he neglected, how much is he dropped out of peo-
ple's common discourse and conversation ! How have many of
you left off earnestly following after Christ, to pursue after the
world ; one to pursue after riches, another to be engrossed by
amusement and diversion ; another by fine clothes and gay ap-
parel ; and all sorts, young and old, have gone their way wan-
dering in a great measure from Christ : as though Christ was
not as excellent now as he was then ; as though his grace and
dying love were not as wonderful now as they were then ; as
though Christ were not now as much preferable to the world,
as worthy to be loved, and to be praised, to be thought of, and
talked of; and as though he was not as worthy that we should be
concerned to honour him, and live to his praise, as ever he was.
If Christ be as much altered, as the town is altered, he is alter-
ed very much indeed. Are we so foolish as to think that he,
that is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, is so much al-
tered/rom what he was three years ago?
IV. The truth taught in the text may be applied by way of
Encouragement.
1. To sinners, whose minds are burdened and exercised with
concern about the state of their souls, to cotne to Christ, and
put their trust in him for salvation. If Christ is now and ever
will be the same that he ever was, then here is great encou-
ragement for you to come to him, as will appear by considering
two things.
432 SERMON XIV.
First. How Christ has invited you to come to him, with pro-
mises that he will accept of you, if you tlo so. Christ in his
word often invites those that are in your circumstances; whe-
ther we consid«^r your circumstances as a lost sinner, or as a sin-
ner under anxiety and concern about your condition. If we con-
sider your circumstanres merely as a lost sinner, Christ invites
you ; for he is often inviting and calling on sinners to come to
him. Prov. viii. 4. " Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is
to the sons of men." And chapter ix. 4, 5 ; " Whoso is simple,
let him turn in hither, and ye that want understanding, come,
eat of my breari, and drink of the wine that 1 have mingled."
Rev. iii. 20. " Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Rev.
xxii. 17. " The Spirit and the Bride say, Come." Or if we con-
sider your fiicumstances as a sinner burdened in your soul with
cnnoern about your condition; such are especially invited by
Christ. Matth. xi. 28. " Come unto me, all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And Isaiah Iv. 1.
•'Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ;" and
John vii. 37, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and
drink." 1 hat Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever, shows what n joint encouragement these invitations are
for von to rotne to Ciirist in two ways :
(I.) It shows that as Christ invited such sinners, when these
invitations were spoken and penned, so he does now, for he is
the same now tliat he was then ; so that you are to look on the
invitations th:»t yon find in your bible not only as invitations that
were made then when they were first spoken or written, but
thar are made now. Christ makes them now as much as he
mafle them then. Those invitations which proceeded out of
Christ's month when he was on earth are made to you now as
mnithasif thoy now this moment proceeded from Christ's mouth ;
for tliere is no alteration in Christ; he is the same as ever he
has been ; so that when you read or hear any of the invitations
of Christ, you may look upon them as if they now came from
his blessed li|)S.
(2.) It shows that if you come to Christ, he will surely prove
to be the same in accepting that he is in inviting. Christ will
be consistent with himself. He will not appear one way in call-
ing and inviting you, and then another way in his treatment of
you when you coriie to accept of his invitation. Christ will not
appear with two faces, with a pleasant winning face in inviting,
and with a frowning countenance in his treatment of persons
that come at his call ; for he is ever the same. You see that
Christ is exceedingly gracious and sweet in his invitations ;
and he surely will be as gracious and sweet in his acceptance of
you; if you close with his call. And then Christ does not
SERMON XIV. 433
merely invite, he also promises, that if you accept of his invita-
tion, he will not reject you. John vi. 37. " Him that cometh
unto me I will in no wise cast out." He that is the same yes-
terday, to-day, and for ever, will be found the same in fulfilling,
that he is in promising.
Secondly. How Christ has treated those that have come to
him heretofore. Christ in times past has graciously received
those that have come to him ; he has made them welcome ; he
has embraced them in the arms of his love ; he has admitted
them to a blessed and eternal union with himself, and has given
them a right to all the privileges of the sons of God ; and he
is the same still, that he has been heretofore. We have an
account in scripture of many that came to him ; we have an
account in the history of Christ's life of many that accepted his
calls, and we have an account in the book of the Acts of the
Apostles, of multitudes that believed in him ; but we read of
none that ever were rejected by him. And we ourselves have
seen many timt we have reason to think Christ has accepted on
their coming to him, many that have been great sinners, many
that have been old hardened sinners, many that had been back-
sliders, and many that had been guilty of quenching the spirit
of God. And he is the same still ; he is as ready to receive
such sinners now as he was then. Christ never yet rejected any
that came to him : he has always been the same in this respect;
he is so now ; and so he surely will be still.
2. There is in this doctrine great encourag^ement to all per-
sons to look to Christ under all manner of difficulties and afflic-
tions ; and that especially from what appeared in Christ when
he was here. We have an account, in the history of Christ, of
great numbers under a great variety of afflictions and difficul-
ties, resorting to him for help ; and we have no account of his
rejecting one person who came to him in a friendly manner for
help, under any difficulty whatever. But on the contrary, the
history of his life is principally filled up with miracles that he
wrought for the relief of such. When they came to him, he
presently relieved them, and always did it freely without money
or price. We never read of his doing any thing for any per-
son as hired to it, by any reward that was offered him. And he
helped persons fully, he comjiletely delivered them from those
difficulties under which they laboured. And by the doctrine of
the text we learn that though he is not now upon earth, but in
heaven, yet he is the same that he was then. He is as able to
help, and he is as ready to help under every kind of difficulty.
Here is great encouragement for persons who are sick to look
to Christ for healing, and for their near friends to carry their
434 SERMON XIV.
case to Christ; for how ready was Christ, when on earth, to
help those that looked to him under such difficulties! and how
sufficient did he appear to be for it ; commonly healini^ by lay-
ing on his hand, or by speaking a word ! And we read of his
healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among
the people. Persons under the most terrible and inveterate dis-
eases were often healed. And Christ is the same still. And
here is great encouragement for mourners to look to Christ for
comfort; for we read of Christ's pitying such; as in the case
of the widow of Nain, Luke vii. 12, 13, &c. " And so he wept
with those that wept, and groaned in spirit, and wept with com-
passion for Martha and Mary, when he saw their sorrow for the
loss of their brother Lazarus, John xi. 32, &:,c. And he is the
same still ; he is as ready to pity those that are in aflliction now
as he was then.
And here is great encouragement for those that are exercised
with the temptations of Satan ; for how often do we read of
Christ casting out Satan from those of whom he had the strong-
est possession ! and Christ is the same still. And whoever are
under spiritual darkness, from the consideration of their own
sinfulness, have encouragement hence to look to Christ for com-
fort; for if they do so, he will be ready to say to them, as he
did to the paralytic, *' Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are for-
given thee ;" for he is still the same that he was then.
V. The truth taught in the text may be applied by way of
Consolation to the Godly. You may consider that you have in
him an imchangeable Saviour, who, as he has loved you and
undertaken for you from eternity, and in time has died for
you before you were born, and has since converted you by his
grace, and brought you out of a blind, guilty, and undone con-
dition, savingly home to himself; so he will carry on his work in
your heart; he will perfect what is yet lacking in you, in order
to your complete deliverance from sin, and death, and all evil,
and to your establishment in complete and unalterable bless-
edness. From the unchangeableness of your Saviour, you may
see how he thinks of that chain in Rom. viii. 29, 30. " For
whom he did foreknow them he also did predestinate, and whom
he did predestinate them he also called, and whom he called
them he also justified, and whom he justified them he also glo-
rified." The Saviour has promised you very great and pre-
cious blessings in this world ; and things which eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, in the
world to come ; and from his unchangeableness you may be
assured that the things which he has promised he will also per-
form.
SERMON XIV. 435
You may from this doctrine see the uncliangcablcncss of his
love ; and therefore, when you consider how great love he
seemed to manifest, when he yielded himself up to God a sa-
crifice for you, in his agony and bloody sweat in the garden,
and when he went out to the place of his crucifixion beating his
own cross, you may rejoice that his love now is the same that it
was then.
And so when you think of past discoveries which Christ has
made of himself in his glory, and in his love to your soul, you
may comfort yourself that he is as glorious, and his love to you
is as great, as it was in the time of these discoveries.
You may greatly comfort yourself that you have an unchange-
able friend in Christ Jesus. Constancy is justly looked upon as
a most necessary and most desirable qualification in a friend ;
that he be not fickle, and so that his friendship cannot be depended
on as that of a steady sure friend. How excellent his friendship
is, you may learn from his manner of treating his disciples on
earth, whom he graciously treated as a tender father his children ;
meekly instructing them, most friendlily conversing with them, and
being ready to pity them, and help them, and forgive their infirmi-
ties. And then you may consider this doctrine, and how it thence
appears that he is the same still that he was then, and ever will be
the same.
From the unchangeableness of your Saviour, you may be as-
sured of your continuance in a state of grace. As to yourself,
you are so changeable, that, if left to yourself, you would soon
fall utterly away ; there is no dependence on your unchangeable-
ness ; but Christ is the same, and therefore, when he has begun a
good work in you he will finish it ; as he has been the author, he
will be the finisher of your faith. Your love to Christ is in itself
changeable; but his to you is unchangeable, and therefore he will
never sufler your love to him utterly to fail. The apostle gives
this reason why the saints' love to Christ cannot fail, viz. that his
love to them never can fail.
From the unchangeableness of Christ you may learn the un-
changeableness of his intercession, how he will never cease to in-
tercede for you. And from this you may learn the unalterable-
ness of your heavenly happiness. When once you have entered
on the happiness of heaven, it never shall be taken from you, be-
cause Christ, your Saviour and friend, who bestows it on you,
and in whom you have it, is unchangeable. He will be the same
forever and ever, and therefore so will be your happiness in hea-
ven. As Christ is an unchangeable Saviour, so he is your un-
changeable portion. That may be your rejoicing, that however
your earthly enjoyments may be removed, Christ can never fail.
436 SERMON XIV,
Your dear friends may be taken away and you suffer many losses;
and at last you must part with all those things. Yet you have a
portion, a precious treasure, more worth, ten thousand times, than
all these things. That portion cannot fail you, for you have it in
him, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
SEMMON XV.*
THE TRUE EXCELLENCY OF A GOSPEL MINISTER.
John v. 35.
He ivas a hurning and a shining light.
That discourse of our blessed Saviour we have an account of
in this chapter from the 17th verse to the end, was occasioned
by the Jews' murmuringagainst hini,and persecuting him for his
healing the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, and bidding
him to take up his bed and walk on the sabbath day. Christ
largely vindicates himself in this discourse, by asserting his fel-
lowship with God the Father in nature and operations, and there-
by implicitly showing himself to be Lord of the sabbath, and by
declaring to the Jews that God the Father, and he with him, did
loork hitherto, or even to this time ; i. e. although it be said that
God rested on the seventh day from all his works, yet indeed God
continues to work hitherto, even to this very day, with respect
to his greatest work, the work of redemption, or new creation
which he carries on by Jesus Christ, his Son. Pursuant to the
designs of which work was his showing mercy to fallen men by
healing their diseases, and delivering them from the calamities
they brought on themselves by sin. This great work of redemp-
tion God carries on from the beginning of the world to this time;
and his rest from it will not come till the resurrection, which
Christ speaks of in the 21st and following verses : The finishing
of this redemption as to its procurement, being in his own re-
surrection ; and as to the application, in the general resurrection
and eternal judgment, spoken of from ver. 20 to ver. 30. So
that notwithstanding both the rest on the seventh day, and also
the rest that Joshua gave the children of Israel in Canaan; yet
the great rest of the Redeemer from his work, and so of his
people with him and in him, yet remains, as the apostle observes,
* Preached at Pelham, August 30, 1744, at the ordination of the Rev. Mr. Robert
Abercrombie, to the work of the gospel ministry iu that place.
VOL. VI n. 56
438 SERMON XV.
Heb. chap. iv. This will be at the resurrection and general judg-
ment ; which Christ here teaches the Jews was to be brought
to pass by the Son of God by the Father's appointment, and
so the works of God to be finished by him.
And inasmuch as this vindication was so far from satisfying
the Jews, that it did but further enrage them, because hereby he
made himself equal with God, Christ therefore refers them to
the witness of John the Baptist ; whose testimony they must ac-
quiesce in, or else be inconsistent with themselves ; because they
had generally acknowledged John to be a great prophet, and
seemed for a while mightily affected and taken with it, that God
after so long a withholding the spirit of prophecy, had raised up
so great a prophet among them — and it is concerning him that
Christ speaks in this verse wherein is the text : " He was a bur-
ning and a shining light ; and ye were willing for a season to re-
joice in his light."
In order to a right understanding and improvement of the
words of the text, we may observe,
]. What Christ here takes notice of in John, and declares con-
cerning him, viz. that he ivas a hurning and a shining light.
He was a light to the church of Israel, to reveal the mind and
will of God to them, after along continued dark season, and after
they had been destitute of any prophet to instruct them for some
ages ; he arose on Israel, as the morning star, the forerunner of
the Sun of Righteousness, to introduce the day spring, or dawn-
ing of the gospel day, to give light to them that till then had sat
in the darkness of perfect night, which was the shadow of death ;
to give them the knowledge of salvation ; as Zacharias his fa-
ther declares at his circumcision, Luke i. 76 — 79. "And thou,
child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest; for thou shall
go before the face of the Lord, to prepare his ways; to give
knowledge of salvation unto his people, by the remission of their
sins, through the tender mercy of our God ; whereby the day
spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that
sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in-
to the way of peace."
And he was a burning light, as he was full of a spirit of fer-
vent piety and holiness, being filled with the Holy Ghost from
his mother's womb, having his heart warmed and inflamed with
a great love to Christ, being Xhai friend of the bridegroom, that
stood and heard him, and rejoiced greatly because of the bridegroom'' s
voice ; and was glad that Christ increased, though he decreased,
John iii. 29, 30 ; and was animated with a holy zeal in the work of
the ministry : He came in this respect, in the spirit and power of
Elias ; as Elias was zealous in bearing testimony against the cor-
ruption, apostacies, and idolatries of Israel in his day, so was John
SERMON XV. 439
the Baptist in testifying against the wickedness of the Jews in his
day : as Elias zealously reproved the sins of all sorts of persons in
Israel, not only the sins of the common people, but of their great
ones, Ahab, Ahaziah, and Jezebel, and their false prophets;
with what zeal did John the Baptist reprove all sorts of persons,
not only the publicans and soldiers, but the Pharisees and Sa-
ducees, telling them plainly that they were a generation of vipers,
and rebuked the wickedness of Herod in his most beloved lust,
though Herod sought his life for it, as Ahab and Ahaziah did
Elijah's! As Elias was much in warning the people of God's
approaching judgments, denouncing God's awful wrath against
Ahab, Jezebel, and Ahaziah, and the prophets of Baal, and the
people in general ; So was John the Baptist much in warning
the people to fly from the wrath to come, telling them in the
most awakening manner, that the " axe was laid at the root of
the tree, and that every tree that brought not forth good fruit
should be hewn down and cast into the fire, and that he that
came after him had his fan in his hand, and that he would
thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the gar-
ner, and burn up the chafl^ with unquenchable fire."
John the Baptist was not only a burning but a shining light:
He was so in his doctrine, having more of the gospel in his
preaching than the former prophets, or at least the gospel ex-
hibited with greater light and clearness, more plainly pointing
forth the person that was to be the great Redeemer, and decla-
ring his errand into the world, to take away the sin of the world,
as a lamb ofl*ered in sacrifice to God, and the necessity that all,
even the most strictly moral and religious, stood in of him, be-
ing by nature a generation of vipers; and the spiritual nature
of his kingdom, consisting not in circumcision, or outward bap-
tism, or any other external performance or privileges, but in
the powerful influences of the Holy Ghost in their hearts, a be-
ing baptized with the Holy Ghost, and ivithjire.
In this clearness with which he gave knowledge of salvation
to God's people, John was a bright light, and among them that had
been born of women there had not arisen a greater than he. In this
brightness this harbinger of the gospel day excelled all the other
prophets as the morning star reflects more of the light of the sun
than any other star, and is the brightest of all the stars.
He also shone bright in his conversation, and his eminent
mortification and renunciation of the enjoyments of the world;
his great diligence and laboriousness in his work, his impartiality
in it, declaring the mind and will of God to all sorts without dis-
tinction ; his great humility, rejoicing in the increase of the ho-
nour of Christ, though his honour was diminished, as the bright-
ness of the nioming star diminishes as the light of the sun in-
440 SERMON XV.
creases ; and in his faithfulness and courage, still declaring the
mind and will of God, though it cost him his own life. Thus
his light shone before men.
2. We may observe to what purpose Christ declares these
things of John in the text, viz. to show how great and excellent a
person he was, and worthy that the Jews should regard his tes-
timony : Great are the things which Ciirist elsewhere says of
John the Baptist, as in Matth. xi. 7 — 14. He speaks of him
as a prophet ; and more, than a prophet ; and one, than tvhom, there
had not ruen a greater among them that had been horn of ^v omen.
He observes how great and excellent a light he was in the text,
to show the Jews how inexcusable they were in not receiving the
testimony he had given of him ; as you may soever. 31,32,33.
Therefore that which I would observe from the text to be
the subject of my present discourse is this :
It is the excellency of a minister of the gospel to be both a
burning and a shining light.
Thus we see it is in Christ's esteem, the great Prophet of
God, and Light of the world. Head of the church, and Lord of
the harvest, and the great Lord and Master, whose messengers
all ministers of the gospel are.
John the Baptist was a minister of the gospel ; and he was so
more eminently than the ancient prophets ; for though God at
sundry times, and in divers manners, spake the gospel by them ;
yet John the Baptist was a great minister of the gosj)el in a
manner distinguished from them. He is reckoned in scripture
the first that introduced the gospel day, after the law and the
prophets, Luke vi. 16. "The law and the prophets were until
John ; since that time the kingdom of God is preached." And
his preaching is called the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, Mark i. 1. He came on that errand, to give
knowledge of salvation to God's people, through the remission
of their sins, (as his father Zacharias observes, Luke i. 77,)
and to preach these glad tidings that the kingdom of heaven
was at hand.
John being thus eminently a minister of the gospel, and a
burning and shining light, being taken notice of by Christ as
his great excellency, we may justly hence observe, that herein
consists the proper excellency of ministers of the gospel.
I would by divine assistance, handle the subject in the fol-
lowing method.
I. 1 would show that Christ's design, in the appointment of
the order and oflice of ministers of the gospel is, that they may
be lights to the souls of men.
H. I would show what is implied in their being burning
lights.
SERMON XV. 441
III. I would show what is implied in their being shining
hghts.
IV. I would show that it is the proper excellency of ministers
ofthe gospel to have these things united in them, to be both
burning and shining lights.
V. I would apply these things to all that Christ has called to
the work ofthe gospel ministry, showing how much it concerns
them earnestly to endeavour that they may be burning and
shining lights.
VI. Show what ministers of the gospel ought to do that they
may be so.
VII. Say something briefly concerning the duty ofa people that
are under the care ofa gospel minister, correspondent to those
things that Christ has taught us concerning the end and excel-
lency ofa gospel minister.
I. I would observe that Christ's design in the appointment of
the order and office of ministers ofthe gospel was that they might
be lights to the souls of men.
Satan's kingdom is a kingdom of darkness ; the devils are
the rulers ofthe darkness of this world. But Christ's kingdom
is a kingdom of light ; the designs of his kingdom are carried on
by light ; his people art not ofthe night, 7ior of darkness, but are
the children of the light, as they are the children of God, who is
the Father of lights, and as it were a boundless fountain of infi-
nitely pure and bright light. 1 John i. 5. James i. 17.
Man by the fall extinguished that divine light that shone in
this world in its first estate. The scripture represents the wick-
edness of man as reducing the world to that state wherein it was
when it was yet without form and void, and darkness filled it.
Jer. iv. 22, 23. '* For my people is foolish, they have not known
me: they are sottish children ; and they have none understand-
ing : they are wise to do evil ; but to do good they have no
knowledge. I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form and
void ; and the heavens, and they had no light." But God in in-
finite mercy has made glorious provision for the restoration of
light to this fallen dark world ; he has sent him who is the bright-
ness of his own glory, into the world to be the light of the
world. '• He is the true light that lighteth every man that co-
meth into the world," i. e. every man in the world that ever has
any true light. But in his wisdom and mercy, he is pleased
to convey his light to men by means and instruments ; and has
sent forth his messengers, and a|)pointcd ministers in his church
to be subordinate lights, and to shine with the communications of
his light, and to reficct the beams of his glory on the souls of
men.
442 SERMON XV.
There is an atiaKigy between the divine constitution and dis-
position of things in the natural and in the spiritual world. The
wise Creator has not left the natural world without light ; but in
this our solar system has set one great light, immensely ex-
ceeding all the rest, shining perpetually with a transcendent
fulness and strength, to enlighten the whole ; and he hath ap-
pointed other lesser, subordinate, or dependent lights, that
shine with the communications and reflections of something of
his brightness. So it is in the spiritual world ; there God hath
appointed Jesus Christ as a Sun of Righteousness : the church
of God has not the sun to be her light by day ; nor for bright-
ness does the moon give light to her, but the Lord is her ever-
lasting light, and her God her glory. The new Jerusalem has no
need of the sun, nor the moon ; for the Lamb is the light thereof.
And the ministers of Christ are, as it were, the stars that encom-
pass this glorious fountain of light, to receive and reflect his
beams, and give light to the souls of men. As Christ therefore is in
scripture called the Sun, so are his ministers called stars. So are
the twelve apostles, the chief ministers of the Christian church,
called, Rev. xii. 1. "And there appeared a great wonder in
heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the the moon under
her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." And so
are the ordinary ministers of the gospel called, Rev. i. 16,
" And he had in his right hand seven stars." And ver. 20, '' The
mystery of the seven stars which thou savvest in my right hand,
and the seven golden candlesticks ; the seven stars are the angels
of the seven churches." Here also ministers of the gospel are
implicity compared to those lamps that enlightened the tem-
ple at Jerusalem, upon the tops of the golden candlesticks : And
more expressly in Zech. iv. 2. "I have looked, and behold a
candlestick, all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his
seven lamps thereon."
These lamps have all their oil from Christ, and are enkindled
by his flame, and shine by his beams ; and being thus dependent
on him, they are near to him, and held in his right hand, that
they may receive light from him, to communicate toothers.
The use of a light is threefold ; to discover, to refresh, and to
direct.
The first use of a light is to discover things, or make them
manifest. Without light nothing is to be seen. Eph. v. 13.
" Whatsoever doth make manifest is light." Ministers are set to
be lights to the souls of men in this respect, as they are to be the
means of imparting divine truth to them, and bringing into their
view the most glorious and excellent objects, and of leading
them to, and assisting them in the contemplation of those things
that angels desire to look into : the means of their obtaining that
SEKMOJN XV. 443
knowledge is infinitely more important and more excellent and
useful, than that of the greatest statesmen or philosophers, even
that which is spiritual and divine : They are set to be the means
of bringing men out of darkness into God's marvellous light, and
of bringing them to the infinite fountain of light, that in his light
they may see light : They are set to instruct men, and impart to
them that knowledge by which they may know God and Jesus
Christ, whom to know is life eternal.
Another use of light is to refresh and delight the beholders.
Darkness is dismal : the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it
is to behold the sun. Light is refreshing to those who have long
sat in darkness : They therefore that watch and keep awake
through a dark night, long and wait for the light of the morning ;
and the wise man observes, Prov. xv. 30, " That the light of the
eyes rejoiceth the heart." Spiritual light is especially refreshing
and joyful. Psalm xcvii. 11. " Light is sown for the righteous,
and gladness for the upright in heart." They that see the light
of Christ, the star that hath arisen out of .Jacob, are refreshed
and do rejoice, as the wise men that saw the star that showed
them where Christ was, Matth. ii. 10. " And when they saw
the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."
Ministers are set in the church of God to be the instruments
of this comfort and refreshment to the souls of men, to be the
instruments of leading souls to the God of all consolation, and
fountain of their happiness : they are sent as Christ was, and
as co-workers with him, to preach good tidings to the meek, to
bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, and to
comfort all that mourn : They are to lead those that " labour
and are heavy laden" to their true rest, and to speak a word in
season to him that is weary: They are set to be ministers of
the consolation and joy of the saints. 2 Cor. i^ 24. " We have
not dominion over your faith ; but are heljiers of your joy."
The third use of light is to direct. 'Tis by light that we see
where to go : " He that walks in darkness knows not whither
he goes," and is in danger of stumbling and falling into mischief.
'Tis by light that men see what to do, and are enabled to
work ; in the night Christ tells us no man can work. Minis-
ters are set to be lights to men's souls in this respect also;
as Zacharias observes of John the Baptist, I^uke i. 79, " To
guide our feet in the way of peace." Ministers have the record
of God committed to them that they may hold that forth, which
God has given to be to man as a light shining in a dark place,
to guide them in the way through this dark world, to regions of
eternal light. Ministers are set to be instruments of conveying
to men that true wisdom spoken of Job xxviii. " Which cannot
444 SERMON XV.
begotten for golJ, nor shall silver be weighed for the price
thereof; which cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with
the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
I proceed now to the
II. Thing proposed, viz. to show what is implied in a minis-
ter of the gospel's being a burning light.
There arc these two things that seem naturally to be under-
stood by this expression, viz. that his heart be filled with much
of the holy ardour of a spirit of true piety ; and that he be fer-
vent and zealous in his administrations.
1. That his heart he full of much of the holy ardour of a spi-
rit of true piety. We read of the power of godliness. True
grace is no dull, inactive, ineffectual principle; it is a powerful
thing ; there is an exceeding energy in it; and the reason is,
that God is in it ; it is a divine principle, a participation of the
divine nature, and a communication of divine life, of the life of
a risen Saviour, who exerts himself in the hearts of the saints,
after the power of an endless life. They that have true grace in
them, f.hcy live ; but not by their own life ; but Christ lives in them :
his Holy Spirit becomes in them a living principle and spring of
divine life : the energy and power of which is in scripture com-
pared to fire. Matth. iii 11. " I indeed baptize you with
water ; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose
shoes I am not worthy to bear ; he shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost, and with fire." True piety is not a thing remaining
only in the head, or consisting in any speculative knowledge or
opinions, or outward morality, or forms of religion; it reaches
the heart, is ciiiefly seated there, and burns there. There is a
holy ardour in every thing that belongs to true grace : true faith
is an ardent thing, and so is true repentance; there is a holy
power and ardour in true spiritual comfort and joy ; yea, even in
true Christian humility, submission and meekness. The reason
is, that divine love or charity is the sum of all true grace, which
is a holy flame enkindled in the soul : It is by this therefore es-
pecially, that a minister of the gospel is a burning light; a minis-
isler that is so has his soul enkindled with the heavenly' flame ;
his heart burns with love to Christ, and fervent desires of the
advancement of his kingdom and glory : and also with ardent
love to the souls of men, and desires for their salvation.
2. The inward holy ardour of his soul is exercised and mani-
fested in his being zealous and fervent in his administrations :
for, he is a burning light : which implies that his spiritual heat
and holy ardour is not for himself only, but is communicative and
for the benefit of others : he is ardent, as he is a light, or in the
j)erformance of the duties of that office wherein he is set to be
alight in the church of Christ. His fervent zeal, which has its
SERMON xr, 445
foundation and spring in that holy and powerful flame of love to
God and man, that is in his heart, appears in the fervancv of
his prayers to God, for and with his people ; and in the earnest-
ness and power with which he preaches the word of God, der
clares to sinners their misery, and warns them to fly from the
wrath to come, and reproves, and testifies against all ungodli-
ness; and the unfeigned earnestness and compassion with which
he invites the weary and heavy laden to their Saviour; and the
fervent love with which he counsels and comforts the saints; and
the holy zeal, courage, and steadfastness, with which he main-
tains the exercise of discipline in the house of God, notwith-
standing all the opposition he meets with in that difticult part
of the ministerial work; and in the diligence and earnestness
with which he attends every duty of his ministerial function,
whether public or ()rivate.
But I hasten to the
HI. Thing proposed in the handling of this subject, viz. To
show what is implied in a minister's being a shining light.
There are three things that seem'to be naturally signified by it.
1. Tliat he be pure, clear, and full in his doctrine. A minis-
ter is set to be a light to men's souls, by teaching, or doctrine :
and if he be a shining light in this respect, the light of his doc-
trine must be bright and full ; it must be pure without mixtures
of darkness, and therefore he must be sound in the faith, not
one that is of a reprobate mind ; in doctrine he must show
uncorruptness ; otherwise his light will be darkness: He must
not lead his people into errors, but teach them the truth only,
guiding their feet into the way of peace, and leading them in
the right ways of the Lord.
He must be one that is able to teach; not one that is raw,
ignorant, or unlearned, and but little versed in the things that
he is to teach others; 710;! a novice or one that is unsliilful m the
word of righteousness ; he must be one that is well studied in
divinity, well acquainted with the written word of God, mighty
in the scriptures, and able to instruct and convince gainsayers.
And in order to be a shining Horht he must be one that re-
ally knows what religion is; one that is truly acquainted with
that Saviour and way of salvation, tliat he is to teach to others,
that he may speak the things that he knoivs, and testify the
things that he has seen, and not be a blind leader of the blind :
He must be one that is acquainted with experimental religion,
and not ignorant ef the inward operations of the Spirit of God,
nor of Satan's devices ; able to guide souls under their par-
ticular difticulties. Thus he must be a scribe well instructed in
things that pertain to the kingdom of God ; one that brings forth
out of his freastires, things new and old.
VOL. vni. 57
446 SERMON XV,
And in order to his being a shining light, his doctrine must
he full, he must not only be able to teach, but apt to teach, ready
to instruct the ignorant, and them that are out of the way, and
diligent in teaching, in public and private ; and careful and
faithful to declare the whole counsel of God, and not keep back
any thing that may be profitable to his hearers.
Also his being a shining light implies that his instructions are
clear and plain, accommodated to the capacity of his hearers,
and tending to convey light to their understandings.
2. Another thing requisite in order to a minister's being a
shning light, is that he be discreet in all his administrations.
The fervent zeal that thus should animate and actuate him in
his administrations should be regulated by discretion : He
should not only be knowing, and able to communicate know-
ledge and formed to do it ; but also wise, and know how to con-
duct himself in the house of God, as a wise builder, and a wise
steward. And as he is one that God hath sent forth to labour in
his field, and committed the care of his vineyard to, so he should
conduct himself there as one ivhom his God doth instruct to dis-
cretion: He should not only be as harmless as a dove, but as wise
as a serpent; showing himself a ivorhman that needs not to he
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth ; and one that
Tcnows hoiv to govern the church of God, and to tvalk in tvisdom
toivards those that are without.
3. Another thing implied in a minister's being a shining light,
is that he shines in his conversation : If he shines never so much
in his doctrine and administrations in the house of God, yet if
there be not an answerable brightness in his conversation, it
will have a tendency to render all ineffectual. Christ, in Matth.
V. 14, 15, 16, says to his disciples (having undoubtedly a spe-
cial respect to those of them that were to be sent forth to preach
the gospel) " Ye are the light of the world : — Men do not light
a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it
giveth light unto all that are in the house." And how does
Christ direct them to give light to others ? " Let your light,"
says he, " so shine before men, that others seeing yowv good
works, may glorify your Father which is in heaven." And he
tells the same disciples again, John xv. 8, " Herein is my Father
glorified, that ye bear much fruit." And how should they bring
forth fruit? Christ tells them, verse 10, "If ye keep my com-
mandments, ye shall abide in my love," and verse 14, " Ye are
my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you."
God sent his Son into the world to be the light of the world
these two ways, viz. By revealing his mind and will to the
world, and also by setting the world a perfect example. So
SERMON XV. 447
ministers are set to be lights, not only as teachers, but as en-
samples to the flock, 1 Peter v. 3.
The same things that ministers recommend to their hearers
in their doctrine, they should also show them an example of in
their practice. Thus the apostle says to Timothy, 1 Tim. iv. 11,
" These things command and teach ;" and then adds in the
next verse, " Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." So he
directs Titus, in his teaching, to recommend sobriety, gravity,
temperance, patience, and other virtues, in the beginning of
the 2d chapter of Titus. But then adds in the 7th verse, " In
all things showing thyself a pattern of good works."
We see in natural bodies, that when heat is raised in them to
a high degree, at length they begin to shine : And, as I ob-
served before, a principle of true grace in the soul is like an in-
ward heat, an holy ardour of an heavenly fire enkindled in the
soul : This in ministers of the gospel ought to be to that de-
gree, as to shine forth brightly in all their conversation; and
there should as it were be a light about them wherever they go,
exhibiting to all that behold them, the amiable, delightful image
of the beauty and brightness of their glorious master.
I proceed to the
IV. Thing proposed, which is to show that the excellency of
a minister of the gospel consists in his being thus both a burning
and a shining light.
This is manifest in two things:
1. Herein his ministry is acceptable and amiable in the sight
of God and men.
When light and heat are thus united in a minister of the gos-
pel, it shows that each is genuine, and of a right kind, and that
both are divine. Divine light is attended with heat; and so,
on the other hand, a truly divine and holy heat and ardour is
ever accompanied with light.
It is the glory of the sun that such a bright and glorious light,
and such a powerful, refreshing, vivifying heat, are both to-
gether diffused from that luminary. When there is light in a
minister, consisting in human learning, great speculative
knowledge and the wisdom of this world, without a spiritual
warmth and ardour in his heart, and a holy zeal in his minis-
trations, his light is like the light of an ignui fatuus, and some
kinds of putrifying carcases that shine in the dark, though they
are of a stinking savour. And if on the other hand a minister
has warmth and zeal, without light, his heat has nothing excel-
lent in it, but is rather to be abhorred ; being like the heat of
the bottomless pit ; where, though the fire be great, yet there
is no light. To be hoi in this manner, and not lightsome, is to
448 SERMON XV.
be like an angel of darkness. But ministers by baving light
and heat united in them, will be like the angels of light ; which
for their light and brightness are called n)orning stars. Job
xxviii. 7. " When the morning stars sang together, and all the
sons of God shouted for jo)'." And because of that holy ardour
of divine love and zeal with whicli they burn, they are com-
pared to a flaming fire. Psal, civ. 4. " Who maketh his angels
spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire," and are therefore
called seraphims, which is a word that is derived from a root
that signifies to hum. So that by ministers of the gospel being
bwnins; and shining lights, the 07igf:ls of the churches will be-
come like the angels of heaven, and those stars held in the right
hand of Christ here below, will be like those morning stars
above, and which is much more, hereby ministers will be like
their glorious Lord and Master; who is not only the Master of
ministers of the gospel, but is the head and Lord of the glorious
angels, whom they adore, and who communicates to them the
brightness in which they shine, and the flame with which they
burn, and is the glorious luminary and sun of the heavenly
world, from whence all the inhabitants of that world have their
light and life, and all their glory. In this Sun of Righteous-
ness is that light, whose brightness is such that the light of the
sun in the firmament in comparison of it is as darkness, yea,
black as sackcloth of hair: For he is the infinite brightness of
God's glory ; and of him it is said, Isai. xxiv. 23, " Then the
moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord
of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, before
his ancients, gloriously." And accompanying this bright light
in him, is the infinitely intense flame of love. There is no love
to be compared to his ; nor ever was love both to God and man
so manifested, as has been in what Christ has done and suf-
fered ; for herein was love! Ministers, by being burning and
shining lights, become the sons of God, of whom we read that
he is light, and that he is love. 1 John i. 5. " This then is the
message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you,
that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." And chap.
iv. 16. "And we have known and believed the love that God
hath to us : God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth
in God, and God in him.
Therefore it must needs be that ministers, by being burning
and shining lights, are acceptable and amiable in the sight of
God, as he delights in his own image and in the image of his
Son: And hereby also they will be honourable and amiable in
the sight of men, all such as have any sense of that which is
truly excellent and beautiful ; and it is the way to have their
SERMON XV. 449
ministry pleasant and delightful to those of this character that
sit under it.
2. Herein a minister of the gospel will be likely to answer
the ends of his ministry : By this means his ministry will not
only be amiable, but profitable. If a minister has light with-
out heat, and entertains his auditory with learned discourses,
without a savour of the power of godliness, or any appearance of
fervency of spirit, and zeal for God and the good of souls, he
may gratify itching ears, and fill the heads of his people with
empty notions ; but it will not be very likely to reach their
hearts, or save their souls. And if, on the other hand, he be
driven on with a fierce and intemperate zeal, and vehement
heat, without light, he will be likely to kindle the like unhallowed
flame in his people, and to fire their corrupt passions and aflJec-
tions ; but will make them never the better, nor lead them a
step towards heaven, but drive them apace the other way.
I3ut if he ap])roves himself in his ministry, as both a burning
and a shining light, this will be the way to promote true Chris-
tianity amongst his people, and to make them both wise, good,
and cause religion to flourish among them in the purity and
beauty of it.
When divine light and heat attend each other in ministers of
the gospel, their light will be like the beams of the sun, that
do not only convey light, but give life ; and converts will be
likely to spring up under their ministry, as the grass and the
plants of the field under the influences of the sun ; and the
souls of the saints will be likely to grow, and appear beautiful
as the lily, and to revive as the corn, and groiv as the vine, and
their scent to he as the wine of Lebanon ; and their light will be
like the light of Christ, which is the light of life, John viii. 12.
If the sun should shine upon the earth, with the same bright-
ness that it doth now, yet if it were without any heat, it would
give life to nothing ; the world be a desolate wilderness, with
nothing growing in it; the death of every living thing must be
the consequence ; and the sun's light could be of no service to
us, but to cause us to see our own and others' misery, without
being able to help ourselves or them. On the other hand, if
the sun difl'used the same heat that now it docs, but the world
was destitute at the same time of any light, it would be equally
unserviceable : Mankind having no light to guide them in their
business, in tilling the field, or gathering the produce of the
earth, we should be like the Egyptians in the three days' dark-
ness, who saw not one another, nor rose from their place : And
thus also death would be the unavoidable consequence. But
by light and heat accompanying one another, the whole face of
the earth becomes fruitfid, and is adorned, and all things arc
450
SERMON XV,
quickened and flourish, and mankind enjoy both life and com-
fort.
I proceed to the
V. Thino; proposed in handling the doctrine, to apply these
things to all here present, that Christ has called to the work of
the gospel ministry, observing how much it concerns such to en-
deavour to be burning and shining lights.
Our office and work is most honourable, in that we are set
by Christ to be lights or luminaries in the spiritual world.
Light is the most glorious things in the material world, and
there are, it may be, no parts of the natural world that have
so great an image of the goodness of God, as the lights or lu-
minaries of heaven; and especially the sun, who is constantly
communicating his benign influence to enlighten, quicken, and
refresh the world by his beams ; which is probably the reason
that the worship of the sun was (as is supposed) the first idolatry
that mankind fell into. But so are ministers honoured by their
great Lord and master, tiiat they are set to be that to men's
souls, that the lights of heaven are to their bodies ; and that they
might be the instruments and vehicles of God's greatest good-
ness, and the most precious fruits of his eternal love to them,
and means of that life, and refreshment and joy, that are spiri-
tual and eternal, and infinitely more precious than any benefit
received by the benign beams of the sun in the firmament. And
we shall be likely indeed to be the instruments of those un-
speakable benefits to the souls of our fellow-creatures, if we
have those qualifications, which have been shown to be the true
and proper excellency of ministers of the gospel. Herein our
glory will answer the honourable station^C.hrist has set us in.
And hereby our ministry will be likely to be as beneficial as our
office is honourable : We shall be like Christ, and shall shine
with his beams ; Christ will live in us, and be seen in his life
and beauty in our ministry, and in our conversation, and we
shall be most likely to be the means of bringing others to him,
and of their receiving of his light, and being made partakers of
his life, and having his joy fulfilled in them. And this will be
the way for us hereafter to be as much advanced and distin-
guished in our reward, as we are honoured in the office and
business we are called to here. In this way, those whom Christ
has set to be lights in his church, and to be stars in the spiri-
tual world here, shall be lights also in the church triumphant,
and shine as stars for ever in heaven. Daniel xii. 3. " And they
that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and
they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and
ever."
SERMON XV. 451
But if we fail of the proper excellency of ministers of the
gospel, we shall not be in the sight of God the more worthy or
honourable for our high office, but the more abominable and
inexcusable; our wickedness being aggravated by God's great
goodness and condescension to us, and the peculiar obligations
that he laid upon us ; and instead of being eminently beneficial
and great blessings, as lights to reflect the beams of Christ's
glory and love, we shall be so much the more hurtful and per-
nicious, for our being in such a station ; and so shall be likely
hereafter to suffer a so much more dreadful punishment. The
devils in hell are so much the more odious to God, and more
the objects of his wrath, because he set them in the dignity and
glory of angels, the excellency of which state they are fallen
from. And it is likely that those in hell that will be nearest to
the fallen angels, in their state of misery, will be those that
Christ once set to be angels of the churches, but through their
unfaithfulness, failed of their proper excellency and end.
Here I would apply myself in a few words to the person whose
intended ordination, this day, to the great work of the gospel
ministry, is the occasion of this discourse.
You have now, dear sir, heard something of the nature and de-
sign of that office to whichyou are this day, in the name of Christ,
to be solemnly set apart. You are therein called to bo a light to
the souls of men, a lamp in God's temple, and a star in the
spiritual world. And you have heard wherein, in Christ's es-
teem, consists the proper excellency of one in that office, and
how in this a minister of the gospel becomes, like his glorious
master, and glorifies him, and is likely to be the instrument of
the salvation and happiness of the souls of men, and to receive
a glorious reward from the hands of God.
These, sir, are the motives that you are to be influenced by,
to endeavour to be a burning and a shining light in the work of
the ministry. As to the things of this world, you are not to ex-
pect outward ease, pleasure and plenty: Nor are 5'ou to depend
on the friendship and respect of men; but should prepare to
endure hardness, as one that is going forth as a soldier to war.
But they are higher things than these, inore excellent benefits
than the world can afford, that Christ offers to those that ap-
prove themselves to him in this work.
God in his providence has brought you far from your native
land, and from your friends and acquaintance there ; but you will
have reason notwithstanding, to acknowledge the good hand of
his providence towards you, if he is pleased to make you a burn-
ing and shining light in this part of his church, and by the in-
fluence of your light and heat (or rather by his divine influence
with your ministry) to cause this wilderness to bud and blossom
452 SERMON XV.
as the rose, and give it the excellency of Carmel and Sharon,
and to cause you to shine in the midst of this people with warm
and lightsome, quickening and comforting beams, causing their
souls to flourish, rejoice and bear fruit like a garden of pleasant
fruits, under the beams of the sun.
By this means you will be to their souls the vehicle of the in-
fluences and blessings of the heavenly world, which is a world of
light and love, shall be ever held in Christ's right hand, and
shall be terrible to the powers of darkness; and shall see
more and more of the light of Christ's glory and grace in this
place, with you and this people, and shall hereafter not only
shine yourself, as the brightness of the firmament, but shall
meet with them in glory also, who shall shine there around you,
as a bright constellation in the highest heaven ; where they shall
be your everlasting crown of rejoicing.
But I hasten to the
VI. Thing proposed, which was to show what course minis-
ters of the gospel ought to take, or what things they should do,
that they maybe burning and shining lights.
And here I shall but just mention things, without enlarging.
And in order to this, ministers should be diligent in their
studies, and in the work of the ministry to which they are
called; giving themselves wholly to it ; taking heed to them-
selves, that their hearts be not engaged, and their minds swal-
lowed up, and their time consumed, in pursuits after the profits
and vain glory of the world.
And particularly, ministers should be very conversant with
the holy scriptures ; making it very much their business, with
the utmost diligence and strictness, to search those holy wri-
tings : For they are as it were the beams of the light of the sun
of righteousness; they are the light by which ministers must
be enlightened, and the light they are to hold forth to their
hearers ; and they are the fire whence their hearts and the hearts
of their hearers must be enkindled.
They should earnestly seek after much of the spiritual know-
ledge of Christ, and that they may live in the clear views of his
glory. For by this means they will be changed into the image
of the same glory and brightness, and will come to their people
as Moses came down to the congregation of Israel, after he had
seen God's back parts in the mount, with his face shining. If
the light of Christ's glory shines upon them, it will be the way
for them to shine with the same kind of light on their hearers,
and to reflect the same beams, which have heat, as well as
brightness. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ, is the treasure the apostle speaks of,
that ministers have, as in earthen vessels : 2 Cor. iv. 6, 7. " For
SERMON XV. 453
God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath
shined into your hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. But we liave this
treasure in earthen vessels." This was probably ty[)itied of
old, by the burning lights and lamps which Gideon's soldiers
had in one hand in earthen pitchers, while they held a trumpet
in the other, with which they sounded, (typifying the preaching
of the gospel.) And thus with the sound of these trumpets, and
these burning lights or earthen vessels, they overcame the ene-
mies of God and his people.
Ministers, in order to their being burning and shining lights,
should walk closely with God, and keep near to Christ ; that
they may ever be enlightened and enkindled by him. And they
should be much in seeking God, and conversing with him by
prayer, who is the fountain of light and love: And knowing
their own emptiness and helplessness should be ever dependent
on Christ; being sensible with Jeremiah that they are children,
should sit as children at Christ's feet to hear his word, and be
instructed by him ; and being sensible with Isaiah that they are
men of unclean lips, should seek that their lips may be, as it
were, touched with a live coal from the altar, as it were by the
bright and burning seraphim.
I come now to the
VII. And last thing proposed, to say something very briefly
concerning the duties of a peo[)Ie that are under the care of a
minister corresponding with these things that (/hrist has taught
us concerning the nature and end of this sacred otfice. And
here I would have a special respect to the people of God in this
place, who are about to have the care of their souls, committed
to him, that is now solemnly to be set apart to the work of the
ministry.
If it be, as you have heard, the proper excellency of a minis-
ter of the gospel to be a burning and a shining light, then it is
your duty earnestly to pray for your minister, that he may be
filled with divine light, and with the power of the Holy Ghost, to
make him so. For herein you will but pray for the greatest
benefit to yourselves; for if your minister burns and shines, it
will be for your light and life. That which has been spoken of,
as it is the chief excellency of a minister, so it renders a minister
the greatest blessing of any thing in the world that ever God
bestows on a |)eople.
Arid as it is your duty, to pray that your minister may by this
mean become such a blessing to you, so you should do your part
to make him so, by supporting him, and putting him under the
best advantage, with a mind free from worldly cares, and the
pressure of outward wants and difficulties, to give himself
VOL. VIII. 58
454
SERMON XV.
wholly to his work ; and by all proper acts of respect, and kind-
ness and assistance, to encourage his heart, and strengthen his
hands: And to take heed that instead of this you do not take a
course to obscure and extinguish the light that would shine
among you, and to smother and suppress the flame, by casting
dirt upon it; by necessitating your minister by your penurious-
ness towards him, to be invojved in worldly care ; and by dis-
couraging his heart by disrespect and unkindness. And par-
ticularly when your minister shows himself to be a burning light
by burning with aproper zeal against any wickedness that may be
breaking out amongst his people, and manifests it by bearing a
proper testimony against it in the preaching of the word, or by
a faithful exercise of the discipline of God's house, instead of
taking it thankfully, and yielding to him in it, as you ought,
does not raise another fire of a contrary nature against it, viz.
the fire of your unhallowed passions, reflecting upon and re-
proaching him for his faithfulness. Herein you will act very un-
becoming a Christian people, and show yourselves very un-
grateful to your minister, and to Christ who has bestowed upon
you so faithful a minister, and will also, while you fight against
him, and against Christ, fight most effectually against your own
souls. If Christ gives you a minister that is a burning and
shining light, take heed tiiat you do not hate the light, because
j^our deeds are reproved by it ; but love and rejoice in his light ;
and that not only for a season, like John the Baptist's aposta-
tizing hearers : And come to the light. Let your frequent re-
sort be to your minister for instruction in soul cases, and under
all spiritual difficulties ; and be open to the light and willing to
receive it; and be obedient to it. And thus walk as the chil-
dren of light, and follow your minister wherein he is a follower
of Christ, i. e. wherein he is as a burning and shining light. If
you continue so to do your path will be the path of the just,
which shines more and more to the perfect day, and the end of
your course shall be in those blissful regions of everlasting light
above, where you shall shine forth with your minister, and both
with Christ, as the su7i, in thehlngdom of the heavenly Father.
CHRIST THE EXAMPLE OF MINISTERS.
John xiii. 15, IG.
For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done
to you. Verity, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not
greater than his lord, neither Ice that is sent, greater than he that
sent him.
We have in the context, an account of one of the many very re-
markable things that passed that night wherein Christ was be-
trayed (which was on many accounts the most remarkable night
that ever was) vi/. Christ's washing his disciples' feet ; which
action, as it was exceeding wonderful in itself, so it manifestly
was symbolical, and represented something else far more impor-
tant and more wonderfid, even that greatest and most wonder-
ful of all things that ever came to pass, which was accomplished
the next day in his last sufferings. There were three symboli-
cal representations given of that great event this evening; one
in the passover, which Christ now partook of with his disciples ;
another in the Lord's supper, which he instituted at this time;
and another in this remarkable action of his washing his disci-
ples' feet. Washing the feet of guests was the office of servants,
and one of their meanest offices : And therefore was fitly chosen
by our Saviour to represent that great abasement which he was
to be the subject of in the form of a servant, in becoming obe-
dient unto death, even that ignominious and accursed death of the
cross, that he might cleanse tiie souls of his disciples from their
guilt and spiritual pollution.
This spiritual washing and cleansing of believers was the
end for which Christ so abased himself for them. Tit. ii. 14.
" Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all
♦Preached at Pnrtsmonth, at the ordination of the Rev. Mr. Job Strong, June 28^
1749.
456 SERMON XVI.
iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people." Eph. v.
25, 26. " Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it,
that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water."
That Christ's washing his disciples' feet signified this spiritual
washino: of the soul, is manifest by his own words in the 8th
verse of the context. " Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never
wash my feet. .Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou
hast no part with me." Christ, in being obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross, not only did the part of a servant
unto God, but in some respects also of a servant unto us. And
this is not the only place where his so abasing himself for our
sakes is compared to the doing of the part of a servant to
guests. We have the like representation made in Luke xxii. 27»
"For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that
serveth f Is not he that sitteth at meat? But I am among you
as he that serveth." And wherein Christ was among the disci-
ples as he that did serve, is explained in Matth. xx. 28, namely,
in his giving his life aran&omfor them.
When Christ had finished washing his disciples' feet, he so-
lemnly requires their attention to what he had done, and com-
mands them to follow his example therein. Verses ]2 — 17.
" So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his gar-
ments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye
what I have done unto you ? Ye call me Master and Lord, and
ye say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have
washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's fi^et : For
I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done
to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you. The servant is not greater
than his Lord, neither he that is sent, greater than he that sent
him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."
When ear Saviour calls on his disciples to imitate the exam-
ple he had given them in what he had done, we are to under-
stand hin), not merely by the example he gave in the emble-
matical action, in washing his disciples' feet, in itself-consi-
dered ; but more especially, of that much greater act of his that
was signified by it, in abasing himself so low, and sufl^ering so
much, for the spiritual cleansing and salvation of his people.
This is what is chiefly insisted on as the great example Christ
has given us to follow: So it is once and again afterwards, in
the discourse Christ had with his disciples, this same night,
verse 34, of the chapter wherein is the text: '* A new command-
ment I give unto you, that ye love one another ; as I have loved
you, that ye also love one another." Chap. xv. 12, 13. " This
is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved
you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friends." And so in 1 John iii. 16. " Herebv
SERMON Xri. 457
perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his hfe for
us ; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."
Christ, in the words of the text, does not only intend to re-
commend this example of his to the disciples as Christians, or
some of his professing people, but especially as his ministers.
This is evident by those words he uses to enforce this counsel,
" Neither he that is sent, is greater than he that sent him." In
which words he manifestly has respect to that great errand on
which he bad sent them, when he bid them go and preach the
gosyel to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. Matth. x. 5, 6,
and on which they were to be sent after his resurrection, when
he said to them, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gos-
pel to every creature." The same errand that Christ has res-
pect to John XX. 21. "As my father hath sent me, even so send
lyou."
And what confirms this is, that Christ elsewhere recommends
to officers in his church, that are in that respect chief among
his followers, the example which he set in his abasing himself to
be as a servant that ministers to guests at a table, in his giving
his life for us; Matth. xx. 27, 2S. "Whosoever will be chief
among you, let him be your servant : Even as the Son of man
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his
life a ransom for many." Compare Luke xxii. 25 — 28.
The work and business of ministers of the gospel is as it
were that of servants, to wash and cleanse the souls of men :
For this is done by the preaching of the word, which is their main
business, Eph. v. 26. " That ho might sanctify and cleanse it
with the washing of water by the word."
The words of the text thus considt-rod, do undoubtedly lead
us to this conclusion, and teach us this doctrine, viz.
That it is the duty of ministers of the gospel, in the work of
their ministry, to follow the example of their great Lord and
Master.
And this is what I would by divine assistance make the sub-
ject of my present discourse.
And I propose to handle this subject in the following method.
I. I would observe wherein ministers of the gospel ought to
follow the example of Christ.
IL Give some reasons why they should follow his example.
IIL I would endeavour to makea proper application of those
things to myself, and others that are called to this work of the
ministry.
IV. Show what improvement should be made of them by the
people of this church and congregation.
I. Then, I would show wherein ministers of the gospel
ought in the work of their ministry, to follow the example of
their great Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.
458 SERMON XVI.
And here,
1. In general, ministers should follow their Lord and Master
in all those excellent virtues, and in that universal and eminent
holiness of life, which he set an exami)le of in his human na-
ture.
The ministers of Christ should be persons of the same spirit
that their Lord was of: The same spirit of humility and low-
liness of heart; for the servant is not greater than his Lord.
They should be of the same spirit of heavenly mindedness and
contempt of the giory, wealth, and pleasures of this world :
Tiiey should be of the same spirit of devotion and fervent love
to God : They should follow the example of his prayerfulness ;
of whom we read from time to time of his retiring from the
world, away from the noise and applauses of the multitudes,
into mountains and solitary places for secret prayer, and holy
converse with his Father ; and once of his rising up in the
morning a great while before day, and going and departing into
a solitary place to pray, Mark i. 35— and another time, of his
going out into a mountain to pray, and continuing all night in
prayer to God, Luke vi. 12. Ministers should follow Christ's
example, in his strict, constant, and inflexible observance of
the commands which God had given him, touching what he
should do and what he should say ; he spake nothing of himself,
but those things which the Father had commanded him, those
he spake, and always did those things that pleased him, and con-
tinued in thorough obedience and the greatest trials, and
through the greatest opposition that ever there was any in-
stance of. Miiiisters shoidd be persons of the same quiet, lamb-
like spirit that Christ was of, the same spirit of submission to
God's will, and patience under afflictions, and meekness to-
wards men, of the same calmness and composure of spirit under
reproaches and sufferings from the malignity of evil men ; of
the same s[)irit of forgiveness of injuries ; of the same spirit of
charity, of fervent love and extensive benevolence ; the same
disposition to pity the miserable, to weep with those that weep,
to help men under their calamities of both soul and body, to
hear and grant the requests of the needy, and relieve the af-
flicted ; the same spirit of condescension to the poor and mean,
tenderness and gentleness towards the weak, and great and ef-
fectual love to enemies. They should also be of the same spirit
of zeal, diligence, and self-denial for the glory of God, and ad-
vancement of his kingdom, and for the good of mankind ; for
which things' sake Christ went through the greatest labours,
and endured the most extreme sufferings.
2. More particularly shoidd ministers of the gospel follow the
example of their great Master, in the manner in which they
SERMON XVf. 459
seek the salvation and happiness of the souls of men. They
should follow his example of love to souls: Though it be im-
possible that they should love them to so great a degree, yet
they should have the same spirit of love to them, and concern for
their salvation, according to their capacity. Love to men's
souls in Christ was far above any regard he had to his temporal
interest, his ease, his honour, his meat and drink ; and so it
should be with his ministers. They should have the same spirit
of compassion to men under their spiritual calamities and mise-
ries, that he had of whom we read, Mark vi. 34, " That when
he came out and saw much people, he was moved with compas-
sion towards them, because they were as sheep not having a
shepherd ; and he began to teach them many things." The
word translated moved ivith compassion, signifies, that he was
most sensibly affected, and his inmost bowels moved with pity.
And again we read, LuUe xix. that when Christ was riding to
Jerusalem, that wicked city, but a few days before his crucifix-
ion, and was come to the descent of the mount of Olives, where
he had a fair view of the city, when he beheld it, he wept over
it, on account of the misery and ruin they had brought them-
selves into danger of by their sin ; although the sin by which es-
pecially they had made themselves thus miserable, was their vile
treatment of him ; (for Jerusalem was a city that had been pe-
culiarly injurious to him ;) and though Christ knew how cruelly
he should be treated in that city before that week was past,
how he there should be set at nought, and with great malignity
bound, falsely accused and condemned, reviled, spit upon,
scourged and crucified : Yet all does not prevent his most af-
fectionate tears of compassion towards them. " When he was
come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying. If thou
hadst known, even thou, (thou as wicked as thou art, and as
vile as thou hast been in thy treatment of me; even thou,) the
things which belong unto thy peace ! But now they are hid from
thine eyes." (Compare Matth. xxiii. 37, and Luke xiii. 34.)
One would have thought he would have been more concerned
for himself than Jerusalem, who had such a dreadful cup to
drink, and was to suflfer such extreme things by the cruelty of
Jerusalem that week. But he as it were, forgets his own sorrow
and death, and weeps over the misery of his cruel enemies.
Ministers should imitate their great Master in his fervent
prayers for the good of the souls of men. We find it to be
Christ's manner whenever he undertook any thing of special
importance in the work of his ministry, first to retire and pour
out his soul in extraordinary prayer to his Father. Thus when
he was about to enter on a journey, and go a circuit throughout
all Galilee, to i)reach in their synagogues, " he rose up a great
460 SERMON XVI.
while before day, and went out, and departed into a solitary
place, and there prayed." iMarki. 35 — 3U. And when he was about
to choose his twelve apostles, and send them out to preach the
gospel, he first went out into a mountain to pray, and continued
all night in prayer to God. Luke vi. 12, &,c. And the night be-
fore his crucifixion, wherein he oflTered up himself a sacrifice for
the souls of men, he pours out his soul in extraordinary prayer,
for those he was about to die for, as we have an account in John
xvii. That wonderful and most afi'ecting prayer of his, was
not so much for himself as for his people. Although he knew
what amazing suflferings he was to undergo the next day, yet
he seems as it were to be unmindful of himself, and to have his
lieart all taken up with concern about his disciples; which he
manifests in his spending so much time in comforting and coun-
selling them, and praying for them with great affection, com-
passion, earnest care and fatherly tenderness. And the prayers
that he made in the garden of Gethsemane, under the amazing
view of the cup he was to drink the next day, seem to be inter-
cessory ; especially the last of the three prayers which he there
made, when being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly ; and
his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the
ground: When he did not pray that the cup might pass from
him, as he had done before, but that God''s will might be done.
(Compare Luke xxii. 44, with Matth. xxvi. 42.) That prayer,
as the apostle teaches us, Heb. v. 6, 7, was a prayer that he
put up as our High Priest ; and therefore must be a prayer of
intercession for us, a prayer offered up with his blood which he
sweat in his agony ; as prayers were wont to be offered up with
the blood of the sacrifices in the temple. His prayer at that
time. Thy xvill be done, was not only an expression of submis-
sion, but had the form of a petition, as it is in the Lord's prayer.
He prayed that God's will might be done in his being enabled
to do the ivill of God, persevering in obedience unto death ; and
in the success of his sufiTerings ; which might in an eminent
manner be called the will of God, as it is inPsa. xl. 7, 8. "Then
said I, Lo, I come 1 delight to do thy will, O my God."
Ministers should follow the example of Christ in his diligence
and laboriousness in his work. " He went about doing good, and
healing all that were oppressed of the devil." Acts x. 38. So
abundant was he in labours, that oftentimes he scarcely allow-
ed himself time to eat or drink ; insomuch that his friends some-
times went out to lay hold of him, saying, " He is beside him-
self." Mark iii. 20, 21. That three years and an half of his public
ministry was so filled with action and labour, that one of his
disciples that constantly attended him, and was an eye-witness
SERMON XTI. 401
of his activity, tells us that if nil that he did should be written,
the world ivould not contnin the books.
3Iinisteis should follow the example of Christ, in Iiis readi-
ness not onl)- to labour, hut suffer for the salvation of souls, to
spend and be spent for them. \\\ this respect the apostle Paul
imitated his Lord and Master. Philipp. ii. 17. "Yea, and if I
he offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy
and rejoice with you all." Col. i. 24. " Who now rejoice in my
sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflic-
tions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the
church." 2 Cor. xii. 15. "And I will very gladly spend and
be spent for you." Christ, in his prayers, labours, and suffer-
ings for the souls of men, is represented as travailing in birth
with them. Isai. liii. 11. "He shall see of the travail of his
soul." In like manner should ministers travail for the con-
version and salvation of their hearers. They should imitate the
faithfulness of Christ in his ministry, in sj)caking whatsoever
God had commanded him, and declaring the whole counsel of
God. They should imitate him in the manner of his preaching ;
who taught not as the Scribes, but with authority, boldly,
zealously, and fervently ; insisting chiefly on the most important
things in religion, being- much in warning men of the danger of
damnation, setting forth the greatness of the future misery of
the ungodly ; insisting not only on the outward, but also the in-
ward and spiritual duties of religion ; being much in declaring
the great provocation and danger of sj)iritual pride, and a self-
righteous disposition; yet much insisting on the necessity and
importance of inherent holiness, and the practice of piety. Be-
having himself with admirable wisdom in all that he said and
did in his ministry, amidst the many difiiculties, enemies, and
temptations he was surrounded with, wonderfully adapting his
discourses to persons, seasons, and occasions. Isai. I. 4. " The
Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should
know how to speak a vvoid in season to him that is weary."
Ministers should follow their Master in his zeal, so wonder-
fully mixed and tempered with gentleness and condescension
in his dealing with souls; preaching the gospel to the poor, and
taking a gracious notice from time to time of little children.
And they should imitate their Lord in his following the work of
the ministry, not from mercenary views, or for the sake of
wordly advantages, but for God's glory, and men's salvation ;
and in having his heart engaged in his work; it being his great
dehght, and his meat to do the will of his Father, and finish his
work, John iv. 34, and having his heart set on the success of his
great undertaking in the salvation of souls ; this being the joy
that was set before him, for which he run his race, endured the
VOL. VIII. S9
462
SERMON XVI.
cross, and despised the shame ; his dehght in the prospect of the
eternal salvation of souls, more than couutervailiii": the dread
he had of his extreme sufferings. Many waters could not quench
his love, neither could the floods drown it, for his love was
stronger than death ; yea, than the mighty pains and torments
of such a death.
1 now proceed to the
II. Thing proposed in the handling of this suhject, which was
to give some reasons why ministers of the gospel should follow
the example of their great Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.
1. They should follow his example, because he is their Lord
and Master. Christ, as he is a divine person, is the Lord of
heaven and earth, and so one of infinite dignity, to whom our
supreme respect is due; and on that account he is infinitely
worthy that we should legard, not only his precepts, but ex-
ample. The infinite honourableness of his person recommends
his virtues, and a conformity to them as our greatest dignity
and honour.
Christ is more especially the Lord of Christians; who are
therefore under special obligations to follow him. He is their
shepherd, and surely the flock should follow their shepherd.
He is the captain of their salvati(jn ; and it becomes soldiers to
follow their captain and leader. He is their head ; not only their
head of rule and authority, but their head of influence and com-
munication, their vital head ; and Christians are members of his
body ; but members, as partakers of the life and spirit of the
head, arc confirmed to the head.
But Christ rs still in a more pecidiar manner the Lord and
Master of ministers of the gospel, as they are not only members
of his church, but the oflicers of his kingdom, and the dignified
servants of his family. It is the manner of a people to imitate
their prince, but es|)ecially the ministers of his kingdom, and
officers of his household. It is the duty of the whole army to
follow their general, but especially of those officers that have a
commission under him.
2. Ministers of the gospel are in some respects called and de-
voted to the same work and business that Christ himself was ap-
pointed to. Ministers are not men's mediators; for there is but
one Mediator between God anrl man, the Man, Christ Jesus:
'^JMiey are not our priests to make atonement and work out
righteousness tor us ; for Christ by one oftering has perfected
for ever them that are sanctified : They are not lords over God's
heritage ; for one is their niaster, even Christ. But yet minis-
ters of the gospel, as Christ's servants and oflicers under him,
are appointed to protnote the designs of that great work of
Christ, the work of salvation. It is the work that ministers are
SERMON xyi. 463
devoted to ; and therefore they me represented ns co-workers
with (/hrist. 2 Cor. vi. 1. " We then, as workers together
with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God
in vain." Christ is the Saviour of the souls of men : ministers
also, are spoken of in scripture as saving men's souls. 1 Tim,
iv. 16. "In doing this, thou shalt both save thyself and them
that bear thee." Rom. x. 14. " If l)y any means I may provoke
to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of
them." 1 Cor. ix. 22. "That 1 might by all means save some."
And whereas it is said, Ooad. 21, "Saviours shall come upon
mount Zion;" ministers of the g<)sj)el are supposed to be there
intended.
The work of ministers is in many respects like the work that
Christ himself was appointed to, as the Saviour of men ; and es-
pecially the same with the work which Christ does in his pro-
phetical otiice ; only with this difference, that ministers aie to
speak and act wlu)lly under Christ, as taught ofiiitn, as holding
forth his word, and by light and strength communicated from
him. Christ himself, after Ins baptism, followed the work of the
ministry : He was a niinister of the true sanctuary, (Heb. viii. 2,)
he spake and acted as his Father's minister ; was a minister of
the gospel, and as such preached and administered sacraments.
Pastors of churches are ministers of the same gosj)el ; but in
their ministry they act as the ministeis of (>hrist. Jesus Christ
is the great Bishop of souls; ministers are also bishops under
him. Christ came into the woild /A«/ /te might be the light of
the world ; ministers are set to be lights unto the churches, and
are also said to be the light of the world. Matth. v. 14. Christ
is the bright and morning star ; ministers are stars in Christ's
hand. Christ is the messenger of the covenant ; ministers are
called messengers of the Lord of hosts. Christ is his people's
shepherd, the good shepherd, the great shepherd of his sheep.
Ministers are also frequently called she|)herds, and are direct-
ed to feed the flock of Christ, which he purchased with his own
blood.
Seeing therefore it is thus, that the work that ministers are
called and devoted to, is rjo other than the work of Christ, or
the work that Christ does, certainly they ought to do his work ;
which they do not do, nuless they imitate him, and do as he
does, or as he hath set them an example.
3. The exaujple of Christ is most worthy of ministers' imita-
tion. His example was perfect, without error, blemish, or de-
fect ; and iherefoie worthy to be made our rule, and to be re-
garded and followed without exception, limitation, or reserve;
unless in those things uhich he did that were proper to his pe-
culiar oftice. Christ's virtue was not only |)eifecl, but waa ex-
464 SERMON xri.
ercised in those circiimstnnce.s, and under those trials, that ren-
dered his virtuous acts vastly the most amiable of any that ever
appeared in any creature whether man or angel. If we con-
sider the perfection of the virtue that Christ exercised, his vir-
tue did exceed that of the most eminent saints, more than the
purest gold exceeds the meanest and foulest ore: And if we
consider the manner of its exercise, and the trials under which
it was exercised, and the bles?ed fruits it has l)roughl forth, so
his virtue exceeds that of all otfier perfectly innocent creatures,
and even of the brightest angel, as the sun in its glory exceeds
the stars.
And this exa?nple was set us in our own nature, and so is es-
pecially fitted for our imitation, 'j'here was in the man Christ
Jesus, who was one of us, and dwelt among us, such exercises
of virtue as became our state and circun^stances in the world,
as those who dwell in frail flesh and l)lood, and as members
of Jiuman society, and dwellers in such a world of sorrow and
death.
And then these amiable exercises of virtue in Christ, were
exhibited chiefly in the things which he did in that work wherein
ministers are called to act as co-worUers with him. I'he bright
and glorious example of Christ that is set before us, is chiefly
in what he did during the three years and an half of his public
ministry ; and in the devotion, heaveiily-mindedness, humility,
patience, meekness, forgiveness, self-denial, and charity, which
he exercised in the labours and sufferings he went through for
the good of the souls of men : And therefore is especially set
for the imitation of those who are set apart that they may
make it the whole business of their lives to seek the same good
of souls.
4. Ministers should follow that example of (^hrist which has
been spoken of, because if they are fit for minisJers, and are such
as have any right to take that work upon theniselves, Christ
has set them this example in what he has done for their souls.
" I have given you an exain[)ie (says (Mirist in the text) that you
should do as 1 have done to you." Ministers should he animat-
ed in this work by a great love to the souls of men, and should
be ready to spend and be spent for them ; for Christ loved them,
and gave Ifunself for them : He loved them with a love stronger
than death. They should have compassion to men under their
spiritual miseries, as Christ had pity on them. They should be
much in prayer for the people of their flock, considering how
Christ prayed^and agonized for them, in tears of blood. They
should travail in birth with the souls that arf; committed to their
care, seeing their own salvation is the fruit of the travail of
Christ's soul. They should exercise a meek and condescend-
SERMON XVT. 465
\ng spirit to tlie mean nnd weak and poor, and should as it were
wash the feet of Christ's disciples ; considering how Christ
condescended to them, when they were wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked, and abased himself to wash
their feet.
The chief trials of Christ's virtue, and so their most bright
and eminent exercises, were in the abasement, labour, and suffer-
ing, that he was the subject of for our salvation. Which cer-
tainly may well endear those virtues to us, and greatly engage
us to imitate that example : So thethings where of this example
consists, were things by which we have infinite benefit, without
which we should have been unspeakably miserable for ever and
ever, and by virtue of which we have the glorious privilege of
the children of God, and have a full title to the crown of exceed- •
ing glory, and pleasures for evermore, at God's right hand.
III. I now proceed, as was |jro])osed, in the third place, to
apply what has been said to myself, and others tiiat are employ-
ed in this sacred work of the gospel ministry, and to such as are
about to nndertalio it, or are candidates for it ; and particularly
to him that is now to be solemnly set apart to this work in this
place.
We are those to whom these things especially belong: We
may hear Christ saying to us (his day, "I have given you an
example, that ye should do as I liavc done." For the words of
Christ in the text were not only spoken to the twelve, but are
also spoken unto us. V»'e have now had represented to us,
though in a very imperfect njanner, the example that Christ
has set, and what reasons there are that we, above all others,
should imitate it.
It is not only our great duty, but will be our greatest honour,
to imitate Christ, and do the work that he has done, and so act
as co-workers with him.
There are two kinds of persons that are given to Christ, and
appointed and devoted of God to be his servants, to be employ-
ed with Christ, and under him, in his great work of the salva-
tion of the souls of men ; and they are angels and ministers.
The angels are all of them, even the most exalted of them,
subjected of God the Father to our Redeemer, and given to
him as his servants, to be subservient to the great designs of his
saving and glorifying his elect. IJeb. i. 14. " Are they not all
ministering spirits, sent for to minister for them who shall be
heirs of salvation .?" And doubtless, they were created for this
very end; God made them for his Son, to be subservient to
him in this great work; which seems to be the chief design of
all God's works. And the employment of nnnisters of the
gospel in this respect, is like that of the glorious angels. Tho
466 SERMON XVI.
principalities and powers in heavenly places, esteem it not any
debasement, Ixit their great honour, to he employed as Christ's
ministers in this work; for therein thoy are employed as the
ministers of God, in the greatest and most honourable of all
God's works ; that work of God wherein his glory is chiefly dis-
played, and which his heart was chiefly upon from eternity.
It is the honour of the Son of God himself, that he is appointed
to this work. It was because God the Father infinitely loved
his Son, and deliirhted to put honour upon him, that he apjioint-
ed him to be the author of that glorious work of the salvation
of men. And when we consider the greatness, im|)ortance, and
excellency of it, we have reason to be astonished at the conde-
scension of God, that he would ever improve mere creatures as
co-workers and ministers of Christ in this affair; for ivho is suf-
ficient for these things ? 2 Cor. ii. G. " Who is fit, or worthy f
Who is equal to a work of such dignit}', and vast importance.^"
Especially have we reason to wonder that God will employ, not
only holy and glorious angels, but feeble, frail, sinful worms of
the dust, in this work, who need redemption themselves: And
yet the honour that is put upon faithfid ministers, is, in some
respects, greater than that of the angels: They seem to be that
kind of servants that are the most dignified of the two. For
Christ makes his angels to he njinistering spirits unto them,
unto the faithful ministers; and the angels are their angels:
As faithful ministers of the gospel are not only ministers to the
church, but dignified members of the church, that spouse of the
King of glory, on whom the most glorious angels, the highest
ministers in the court of heaven, are appointed to attend. And
then Clirist seems especially to delight to carry on his work of
the salvation of souls, through the ministrations of men, who
have that nature that Christ is imited to, and that are of those
sons of men with who/n he had his delight before the world was
made. So it is by the ministration of men, that the scriptures
are given; tliey were the penmen of tbe holy bible; and by
them the gospel is preached to the world : By them ordinances
are administered, and, through their ministrations, especially,
souls are converted. When (^hrist himself was employed in
the work of the ministry, in the time of his humiliation, biJt
few, comparatively, were brought home to him, immediately
by his ministrations: It pleased Chiist to reserve this honour
for his disciples and ministers, after his ascension, to whom he
promised that tliey should, in this respect, do greater works
than he, .Fob. xiv. 12, and accordingly it was by their preach-
ing that the Gentile world w^as converted, and Satan's kingdom
overthrown. 'J'hus God delights "to perfect praise out of the
SERMON XVI. 467
moiitlis of babes and sucklings, that ho may still the enemy and
the avenger."
It will be our great honour that we are called to this work
of Christ, if therein we follow him : for therein we shall be like
the Son of God: But if we are unfaithful in this ofBce, and do
not imitate our Master, our oifence will be heinous in propor-
tion to the dignity of our office, and our final and everlasting
disgrace and ignominy proportionably great ; and we, who in
honour are exalted up to heaven, shall be cast down proportion-
ably low in hell.
Let us further consider, that our following the example of
Christ in the work of the ministry, is the way to enjoy the sen-
sible joyful presence of Christ with us. The disciples had the
comfort of (.'hrist's presence and <;onversation by following him,
and going where he went. When we cease to follow him, he
will go from us, and we shall soon lose sight of him.
Our being conformed to Christ's example, will also be the
way for us to be conformed to him, and partake wilh him in his
privileges: It is the way for lis to have his joy fulfilled in us.
Christ, in doing the work lo which the Father appointed him,
obtained a glorious victory over his enemies, and having spoil-
ed principalities and powers, triumphed over them. Jf we imi-
tate his example, it will be the way for us in like manner to con-
quer principalities and powers, yea, to be much more than con-
querors : It will be the way for us always to triumph in Jesus
Christ. It will be the way for us to obtain success in our min-
istry, and actually to be made the happy instruments of the eter-
nal salvation of souls. Christ has not only told us, but shown
us the way to success in our business, and the way to victory
over all that oppose us in it. And our imitating Christ in our
ministry, will be the way for us to be partakers with him in his
glory ; the way for us in like manner to be approved, and openly
honoured and rewarded by God ; the way to be brought to sit
with Christ on his throne, as he is set down with the Father on
his throne. And as Christ is now exalted to shine as the bright
luminary and glory of heaven, so our following his example,
will be the way for us to be exalted, to shine with him, " as the
stars for ever and ever." Daniel xii. 3. And as Christ in hea-
ven rejoices in his success, and will receive his church; present-
ed to him without spot, as his everlasting crown ; so our imitating
Christ in our work, will be the way to partake with Christ in
this joy, and have the souls whose salvation we are the instru-
ments of, to be our crown of rejoicing forever. Thus Christ
and we shall rejoice together in that world of glory and joy
where there is no more labour or sorrow. And we must en-
468 SERMON xn.
ter into that joy and glory, in tlie way of following Christ in our
work ; there is no other way for ministers to enter there.
And that we may thus follow Christ's example, and be parta-
kers with him in his glory, we had need to be much in prayer for
his Spirit. Christ himself, though the eternal Son of God, ob-
tained the Holy Spirit for himself in a way of prayer. Luke iii.
21, 22. " Jesus being baptized, and praying, the heaven was open-
ed, and the Holy Ghost descended like a dove upon him." If we
have the spirit of Christ dwelling in us, we shall have Christ him-
self thereby living in us, and then we shall undoubtedly live like
him. If that fountain of light dwells richly in us, we shall shine
like him, and so shall be burning and shining lights.
That we may he and behave like Christ, we should earnestly
seek much acquaintance with him, and much love to him, and be
much in secret converse with him. It is natural, and as it were
necessary for us to imitate those whom we are much acquainted
and conversant with, and have a strong aflection for.
And in order to our imitating Christ in the work of the minis-
try, in any tolerable degree, we had need not to have our hearts
overcharged, and time hlled up with worldly affections, cares, and
pursuits. The duties of a minister that have been recommended,
are absolutely inconsistent with a mind much taken up with world-
ly profit, glory, amusements, and entertainments.
And another thing that is of very great importance, in order
to our doing the work that Christ did, is, that we take heed that
the religion we promote, be that same religion that Christ taught
and promoted, and not any of its counterfeits and delusive ap-
pearances, or any thing substituted by the subtle devices of Satan,
or vain imaginations of men, in lieu of it. If we are zealous and
very diligent to promote religion, but do not take good care to
distinguish true from false religion, we shall be in danger of doing
much more hurt than good, with all our zeal and activity.
I come now to the
IV. And last thing at first proposed, viz. to show what improve-
ment should be made of what has been said, by the people of this
church and congregation, who are now about solemnly to com-
mit their souls to the charge of him whom they have chosen to be
their pastor, and who is now about to be set apart to that office.
And YOU, MY BRETHREN, as all of you have immortal souls to
save, if you have considered the things that have been spoken,
cannot but be sensible, that it not only greatly concerns your elect
pastor to take heed how he behaves himself in his great work,
wherein he is to act as a co-worker with Christ for your salvation ;_
but that it infiniiely concerns you how you receive him, and be-
have towards him. Seeing that it is for your eternal salvation
that he is appointed to watch and labour; and seeing his busi-
SERMON XVI. 460
ness is to do the work of Christ for you, it is natural and easy lo
infer, that your reception and ei)tertainment of him should in some
respect imitate the church's reception of Jesus Christ. Gal. iv.
14. " BIy temptation which was in my flesh, ye despised not, nor
rejected ; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Je-
sus." Christ, in the text, commands those whom he sends, to follow
his example, and then in the 20th verse following', he directs those
to whom he sends them, how to treat them. " Verily, verily, I say
unto you. He that receiveth whomsoever I send, receivelh me;
and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me." Seeing
the work of your minister is in some respects the same with the
work of Christ, and he is to be appointed and devoted to do this
work for your souls in particular, surely you should esteem him
very highly in love for his work's sake, and do all that is in your
power to help hirn, and put him under the best advantages to imi-
tate his great master in this work, to give himself wholly to his
work, as Christ did during the time of his ministry, and to be
successful in his work. And as it was observed before, that it is
impossible that ministers should in any tolerable degree imitate
the example of Christ in their work, if their minds are overcharg-
ed with worldly cares and concerns, you ought so to provide for
him and support him, that he shall have no need to entangle him-
self with these things ; otherwise you will not only bring a great
temptation upon him, which will vastly tend to hinder him in the
work of Christ among you, but will for the sake of sparing a little
of your worldly substance to yourselves, foolishly and miserably
starve your own souls, and the souls of your children, and will but
cheat yourselves ; for you will not be in the way to prosper either
in your spiritual or temporal concerns. The way to have your
houses tilled with plenty, is to " honour the Lord with your sub-
stance, and with the first fruits of all your increase," Prov. iii. 9.
And as it is your duty and interest well to support your minis-
ter, so it concerns you to pray earnestly for him, and each one to
do what in him lies in all respects to encourage and help him, and
strengthen his hands, by attending diligentl}' to his ministry, re-
ceiving the truth in love, treating him with the honour due to a
messenger of Christ, carefully avoiding all contention with him,
and one with another. And take heed in particular, that you do
not forsake him to follow those, who under pretence of extraordi-
nary purity, are doubtless doing the devil's work, in separating
themselves, and endeavouring to draw off others from the ministers
and churches in the land in general.
If you think I have spoken something freely to you, I hope it
will be considered, that this is probably the last time you will ever
hear me speak from the pulpit, and that I shall never see you again
VOL. VIII. 60
470 SERMON XVI.
till WO «€e one another in the invisible and eternal world, where
these things will open to us all in their just importance.
And now nothing is left but to express my sincerest wishes and
prayers, that the God of all grace would be with you and your
elect pastor, and that he would give you in him a great and long
lasting blessing, that you may enjoy much of the presence of Christ
with you in him ; that in him may be made up the great loss you
sustained by the death of your former faithful and eminent pastor,
whose praise was in all the churches ; and that you may receive
him as you ought to receive a faithful minister of Jesus Christ,
and may be a great comfort to him, and may receive great spiri-
tual and eternal benefit by his means ; and that you may be each
other's crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus.
SERMON XVII.*
THE SORROWS OF THE BEREAVED SPREAD BEFORE
JESUS.
Matthew xiv. 12.
AtkI his disciples came and took up the body and buried «V, and
went and told Jesus.
Concerning these words I would observe three things.
1. On what occasion that was, that we have an account of
in the text. It was on occasion of the death of John the Bap-
tist, who was a person whose business it had been to preach
the gospel of the kingdom of God. He was a minister of Jesus
Christ, and had been improved to do great service, was an in-
strument of much good to many in Judea and Jerusalem, in his
life time. He was cruelly murdered by Herod, at the instiga-
tion of Herodias, having exposed himself to her malice by faith-
fully reproving them for their incestuous wickedness.
2. We may observe who the persons were spoken of in the
text; they were those that had been the disciples of John the
Baptist, that had sat at his feet to hear him preach the gospel,
that were his constant followers, that were with him as those
that received great benefit by his ministry, and were as it were
his children.
3. We may observe their behaviour on this occasion, consist-
ing in two things.
(1.) That whereby they showed their regard to the remains
of the deceased, They took up the body and buried it : It had
been used in a barbarous manner, by others, that had also been
his hearers, and were under special obligations to have treated
him with honour. They cruelly murdered him, by severing his
>■ Preached at Hatfield, September 2, 1741, being the day of the interment of the
Rev, Mr. William Williams.
472 SERMON XVII.
head from his body ; and his head was carried in a charger to
Herodias, that she, instead of paying that respect that was due
to the remains of so venerable a person, might have her malice
and cruelty gratified by such a spectacle, and that she might
thence take occasion to insult the dead. While that part of
the dead body was thus used by Herodias, his disciples out of
respect and honour to their master and teacher, decently inter-
red the rest.
(2.) That which they did, consequent on this, for God's glory
and their own good, They went and iold Jesus. Him they
knew to be one that their master John, while he lived, had tes-
tified a great regard to. Jesus was he whose forerunner John
was; whom he had preached, and of whom he had said, "Be-
hold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world :"
And, " This is he, of whom I said. After me cometh one that is
preferred before me ;" and whom he saw, and bare record that
this is the So7i of God. And probably they knew that Christ
was one that had put great honour upon John their teacher in
his life time. For he, though he was the Son of God, and
John's Maker and Savionr, yet came to him to be baptized of
him, and had said of him, that " Among those that were born
of women, there had not risen a greater than John the Bap-
tist."
It was now a sorrowful time with John's disciples; when they
were thus bereaved of him whose teachings they had sat under.
And the manner of his death was doubtless very grievous to
them. They were like a company of sorrowful, distressed, be-
reaved children ; and what do they do in their sorrows, but go
to Jesus with their complaint. The first thing that they do,
after paying proper regards to the remaitis of their dear master,
is to go to Christ, to spread their case before him, seeking com-
fort and help from him. Thus they sought their own benefit.
And probably one end of their immediately going and tell-
ing Jesus was, that he, being informed of it, might conduct him-
self accordingly, as his wisdom should direct, for the interest
of his own kingdom. When so great a person as John the Bap-
tist, the forerunner of Christ, was thus martyred, it was a great
event, in which the common cause, in which both Christ and
he were engaged, was greatly concerned : It was therefore fit
that he that was at the head of the whole afl:air should be in-
formed of it, for his future conduct in the affairs of his kingdqm.
And accordingly we find that Jesus seems immediately to be
influenced in his conduct by these tidings; as you may see in
the next verse: *' When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence
by a ship into a desert place apart." Thus John's disci]>le»
•ought God's glory.
SERMON XVII. 473
The observation from the words that I would make the subject
of my discourse at this time, is this :
When any one is taken army hy death, that has been efninent in
the work of the gospel ministry, such as are thereby bereaved, should
go and spread their calamity before Jesus.
Though in handling this subject I might particularly speak to
several propositions that are contained in this observation, and
many things might profitably be insisted on under it, if there were
room for it within the compass of a sermon ; yet I shall only give
the reasons of the doctrine, and then hasten to the application.
The following reasons may be given why, in case of such an
awful dispensation of Providence, those that are concerned in
it, and bereaved by it, should go and spread their sorrows before
Jesus :
1. Christ is one that is ready to pity the afflicted. It is natural
for persons that are bereaved of any that are dear to them, and
for all under deep sorrow, to seek some that they may declare
and lay open their griefs to, that they have good reason to think
will pity them, and have a fellow-feeling vfith them of their dis-
tress. The heart that is full of grief wants vent, and desires to
pour out its complaint ; but it seeks a compassionate friend to pour
it out before.
Christ is such an one, above all others. He of old, before his
incarnation, manifested himself full of compassion towards his peo-
ple ; for that is Jesus that is spoken of, Isai. Ixiii. 9, "In all
their affliction he was afflicted ; and the angel of his presence sav-
ed them ; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them ; and he
bare them, and carried them all the days of old." And when he
was upon earth in his state of humiliation, he was the most won-
derful instance of a tender, pitiful, compassionate spirit, that ever
appeared in the world. How often are we told of his having com-
passion on one and another ! So Matth. xv. 32. " Then Jesua
called his disciples, and said unto them, I have compassion on the
multitude." So he had compassion on the man possessed with
devils. Mark V. 19. "Go home to thy friends, and tell them
how great things the Lord hath done to thee, and hath had com-
passion on thee." So we read of his pitying the mother, that was
bereaved of her son. Luke vii. 13. There we have an account,
when Christ went into the city of Nain, and met the people carry-
ing out a dead man, the only son of his mother, that was a widow,
that when he saw her, he had compassion on her. So when the
two blind men that sat by the way side, cried to Jesus, as he pass-
ed by, saying, " Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David,"
we read that Jesus had compassion on them. Matth. xx. 39.
So we read of his being moved with compassion. Matth. xiv.
14. " And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and when
474 SERMON XVII
he saw them he was moved with compassion." His speeches to
his disciples were full of compassion ; especially those that he ut-
tered a little before his death, of which we have an account in the
13th, 14ih, 15th, and 16th chapters of John. His miracles were
almost universally deeds of pity to persons under affliction.
And seeing such a pitiful heart appeared in him on all occa-
sions, no wonder that John's disciples, when bereaved of their
dear guide and teacher, and their hearts were full of sorrow, came
to him for pity : Which likewise induced Mary and 3Iartha to
come and fall down, pouring out their tears at Jesus's feet, when
their dear brother Lazarus was dead : Other Jews came to com-
fort them, before Jesus came, whom they little regarded, but when
they heard that Jesus was come, they soon go and spread their
sorrows before him ; they were assured that he would pity them ;
and their expectation was not frustrated ; for he was most tenderly
affected and moved at their tears : We are told that on that occa-
sion he groaned in spirit and was troubled. .John xi. 33. And
when he came to the grave, it is observed, and a special note seems
to be set upon it, that he wept, verse 35.
He was one that wept with those that wept : And indeed it was
mere pity that brought him into the world, and induced him not
only to shed tears but to shed his blood : He poured out his blood
as water on the earth, out of compassion to the poor, miserable
children of men. And when do we ever read of any one person
coming to him when on earth, with an heavy heart, or under any
kind of sorrow or distress for pity or help, but what met with a
kind and compassionate reception ?
And he has the same compassion now he is ascended into glory :
There is still the same encouragement for bereaved ones to go
and spread their sorrows before him.
Afflicted persons love to speak of their sorrows to them that
have had EXPERIENCE of affliction, and know what sorrow is:
But there is none on earth or in heaven that ever had so much ex-
perience of sorrow as Christ: Therefore he knows how to pity
the sorrowful, and especially may we be confident that he is ready to
pity those that are bereaved of a faithful MINISTER, because such a
bereavement is a calamity that concerns the soids of men; and
Christ hath especially shown his pity to men's souls ; for it was
chiefly for them that he died : To relieve the miseries of the soul
especially, is it that he hath provided ; and it was from pity to the
souls of men that he made that provision for them that he hath
done, in appointing such an order of men as GOSPEL MINISTERS,
and in sending them forth to preach the gospel : It was because
he had compassion on men's souls, that he hath appointed minis-
ters to watch for souls.
SERMON XVII. 475
2. Christ has purchased all that persons need under such a be-
reavement. He has purchased all that miserable men stand in
need of under all their calamities, and comfort under every sort of
affliction ; and therefore that his invitation to those that " Labour
and are heavy laden," to come to him for rest, may be understood
in the most extensive sense, to extend to those that are " heavy
laden" with either natural or moral evil ; He has purchased di-
vine cordials and supports for those hearts that are ready to sink:
He has purchased all needed comfort and help for the widow and
the fatherless : He has purchased a sanctified improvement and
fruit of affliction, for all such as come to him, and spread their
sorrows before him. He has purchased those things that are suf-
ficient to make up their loss, that are bereaved of a great blessing
in an eminent minister of the gospel : It is he that has purchased
those divine blessings, those influences and fruits of the Spirit of
God, that the work of the ministry is appointed to be the means of.
Faithful ministers themselves, are the fruits of his purchase ; and
he has purchased all those gifts and graces whereby ministers do
become faithful, eminent and successful ; and therefore when he
"ascended up on high, he received such gifts for men." Eph.
iv. 8 &c. — So that he has purchased all that is needed to make
up for the loss that is sustained by the death of an eminent mi-
nister.
3. Christ is able to afford all that help that is needed in such a
case. His power and his wisdom are as sufficient as his purpose,
and answerable to his compassions. By the bowels of his mer-
cies, the love and tenderness of his heart, he is disposed to help
those that are in affliction ; and his ability is answerable to his
disposition. He is able to support the heart under the heaviest
sorrows, and to give light in the greatest darkness : He can divide
the thickest cloud with beams of heavenly light and comfort : He
is one that gives songs in the night, and turns the shadow of death
into the morning : He has power to make up the loss of those that
are bereaved by the death of the most eminent minister. His own
presence with the bereaved is sufficient ; if the great Shepherd and
Bishop of souls be present, how much more is this than enough
to supply the want of any under Shepherd ? And then he is able
to furnish others with like gifts and graces for that work.
Persons under sorrowful bereavements are ready to go and lay
open their sorrows to them that they think will be ready to pity
them, though they know they can but pity them, and cannot help
them. How much more is here in such a case to induce us to go
to Jesus, who is not only so ready to pity, but so able to help, able
abundantly more than to fill up the breach, and able to turn all
our sorrows into joy ?
476 SERMON XVII.
4. The consideration of the special office of Christ, and the
work that he has undertaken for his people, should engage them
to go and spread such a calamity, as the bereavement of a faith-
ful and eminent minister, before him : For he is the Head of
the body, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and lord of the har-
vest; that has undertaken the care of the whole church, and
has the absolute government of it in his hands, and the supreme
disposal and management of all ecclesiastical affairs, to whom
belongs the care of the universal church, and every part of it,
with respect to its supply with such guides, officers, and ordi-
nances, as it stands in need of. In case of bereavement of an
eminent minister, it was he that sent forth such a minister, ap-
pointed him his charge, and furnished him for his work, continu-
ed and assisted him in it, and in his own time removed him ;
and it is he that, in such a case, by his office, has the care of
filling up the vacancy, and furnishing, establishing, and assist-
ing successors, and supplying all the wants of bereaved
churches. It is surely therefore suitable and natural to go to
him in such a case, and spread such a calamity before him.
APPLICATION. '
I come now to apply what has been said to the sorrowful
OCCASION of our being thus assembled at this time, even the
death of that aged servant of God, who has long been eminent
in the work of the gospel ministry in this place.
There are many that may well look on themselves as nearly
concerned in this awful Providence, and sharers in the bereave-
ment : all of' whom should be directed by this doctrine, to go
and spread their affliction before Jesus, that compassionate,
all-sufficient head of the church, and Saviour of the body, that
merciful and faithful High Priest, that knows how to pity the
afflicted.
And particularly it now becomes and concerns you, that be-
long to this church and congregation, that are bereaved of your
aged and eminent pastor and father, that has so long been
a great blessing to you, now to go and tell Jesus.
The disciples of John, spoken of in the text, were those that
were ordinarily under his instruction, and were his constant
hearers, as it has been with you with respect to your aged pas-
tor, that is now taken from you. Therefore be exhorted to do
as they did. Do not think that you have finished your duty,
when you have taken up his body and buried it, and have
shown respect to his memory and remains at his funeral : This
is the least part of your duty : That which mainly concerns you
under this awlul Providence, is between Christ and your own
souls.
SERMON XVII. 477
God has now taken away from you an able and faithful minis-
ter of the New Testament, one that had long been a father
to you, and a father in our Israel, a jierson of uncommon na-
tural abilities, and distinguished learning, a great divine, of
very comprehensive knowledge, and of a solid, accurate judg-
ment.— Judiciousness and wisdom were eminently his charac-
ter. He was one of eminent gifts, qualifying him for all parts
of the work of the ministry ; and there appeared a savour of
holiness in his exercise of those gifts in public and private:
So that he improved them as a servant of Christ, and a man
of God. He was not negligent of the talents which his Lord
had committed to him ; you need not be told with what con-
stant diligence he improved them, how studious at home, and
how laborious in his public work : He ever devoted himself to
the work to which he is called : The ministry which he had
received of the Lord, he took heed to fulfil, and pursued it
with a constant and steadfast, even mind, through all its diffi-
culties.
You know his manner of addressing heaven in his public
prayers with you and for you, with what sanctity, humility,
faith, and fervency, he seemed to apply himself to the Father of
lights, from time to time, when he stood in this desk as your
mouth to God, and interceding for you, pleading with God
through the grace and merits of a glorious Mediator. And
you know his manner of applying himself to you, when became
to you, from time to time, in the name of the Lord.
In his PUBLIC ministry, he mainly insisted on the most weighty
and important things of religion ; he was eminently an evan-
gelical preacher ; evangelical subjects seemed to be his delight :
Christ was the great subject of his preaching ; and he much
insisted on those things that did nearly concern the essence and
power of religion ; and had a peculiar faculty of judiciously and
clearly handling the doctrines he insisted on, and treating pro-
perly whatever subject he took in hand ; and of selecting the
most weighty arguments and motives to enforce and set home
those things that concern Christian experience and practice.
His subjects were always weighty, and his manner of treating
them peculiarly happy, showing the strength and accuracy of
his judgment, and ever breathing forth the spirit of piety,
and a deep sense of the things he delivered, on his heart. His
sermons were none of them mean, but were all solid, wise
compositions. His words were none of them vain, but all were
weighty.
And you need not be told with what weight the welfare of
your souls seemed to lie on his heart, and how he instructed,
and reproved, and warned, and exhorted you, with all authority,
VOL. VIII. 61
478 SERMON XVII.
and with a fatherly tender concern for your eternal good. And
with what wisdom he presided in the house of God, and guided
its affairs ; and also counselled and directed you in private, un-
der your particular soul exercises and difficulties. You know
how he has brought you up (for most of you have been trained
up from your childhood under his ministry) with what authori-
ty, and with what judgment, prudence, and steadiness, he
has conducted you, as well as meekness and gentleness. You
know his manner of going in and out among you, how exem-
plary his walk and conversation has been, with what gravity,
judgment, and savour of holiness, he has walked before you, as a
man of God.
You have enjoyed great advantages for your soul's good, un-
der his ministry : That you had such a minister was your privi-
lege and your honour ; he has been an ornament to the town of
Hatfield; and his presence and conversation amongst you
has been both profitable and pleasant ; for though it was such
as did peculiarly command AWE and RESPECT, yet it was at
the same time, HUMBLE and condescending : It tended both
to instruct and entertain those that he conversed with : As a
wise man, and endued with knowledge, he showed out of good
conversation his ivories loith meekness of wisdom.
But now it hath pleased an holy God to take him away from
you : You will see his face and hear his voice no more, in the
land of the living : You will no more have the comfort and bene-
fits of his presence with you, and the exercise of his ministry
among you.
Therefore now go to Jesus, the Supreme Head of the church,
and Bishop of souls. Your pastor is dead, and will not live
again till the last day : But Christ, the chief Shepherd, though
he was dead, is 7iow alive! And behold he lives for evermore. He
ever lives to provide for his church, and to guide and feed his
flock. Go to that Jesus whom your deceased pastor preached,
and to whom he earnestly invited you while he lived, and give
thanks for the many blessings you enjoyed in him. Remember
how you have received and heard, and hold fast that no man
take your crown ;* and go and humble yourselves also before himf
that you made no better improvement of the ministry of your
pastor while he lived ; and beg of him a sanctified improvement
of his awful hand in taking him away, and that he would help
you to remember his warnings and counsels that you too much
slighted whilst you had them, lest those warnings and counsels
♦ Particularly, remember his late affectionate farewell, at the table of the Lord, not
f.xpectina such another opportunity with you. Exhorting you to follow peace and lu>-
Hmss and to edify one another.
SERMON XVII, 479
cry against you, and rise up in judgment against you another
day, lest you see your pastor, that so affectionately and earnest-
ly, and so often, and for so long a time continued to exhort you,
and earnestly prayed for you, while he lived, rising up in judg-
ment, and bearing testimony against you, declaring how con-
stantly and laboriously he entreated and called upon you, and
how obstinately some of you slighted his counsels ; and lest you
see him sitting with Christ to judge and condemn you, and ador-
ing his awful justice on your aggravated punishment.
All you that have an interest in Jesus, now go to him on
this occasion, and tell him of your bereavement, and beg of him
that he would not depart from you ; but that he would make up
his loss in his own immediate presence. Go to him for your
surviving pastor, that he would be with him, and furnish him
more and more for, and assist him in, that great work, that is
now wholly devolved upon him, and make him also a burning
and shining light amongst you ; and that you may have of the
presence and blessing of Jesus with you, and him.
And now, since I am called to speak in the name of Christ
on this solemn occasion, I would apply myself to the near rela-
tions of the deceased, who are especially to be looked upon, as
the bereaved,
God in his holy Providence has taken from you one that has
been a great blessing, comfort and honour to you, and deserv-
edly very dear to you, and honoured of you. The doctrine we
are upon directs you what to do in your present circumstances,
viz. to go to Jesus, to go and spread your affliction before
an all-sufficient Redeemer.
And particularly 1 would apply myself to the honoured relict,
who stood in the nearest relation of any to the deceased, whom
God by this awfid Providence has made a sorrowful widow.
Suffer me, honoured madam, in your great affliction, to exhibit
to you a compassionate Redeemer. God has now taken from
you that servant of his, that was the nearest and best friend
you had in this world, that was your wise and prudent guide,
your affectionate and pleasant companion, who was so great a
blessing while he lived, to you and your family, and under
Christ, was so much the comfort and support of your life. You
see, madam, where your resort must be : Your earthly friends
can condole your loss, but cannot make it up to you ; we must
all confess ourselves to be but miserable comforters : But you
may go and tell Jesus, and there you may have both support
and reparation : His love and his presence is far beyond that of
the nearest and most affectionate earthly friend. Now you are
bereaved of your earthly consort, you may go to a spiritual hus-
band, and seek his compassion and his company : He is the
480 SERMON XVII.
fountain of all that wisdom and prudence, that piety, that ten-
der affection and fathful care, that you enjoyed in your depart-
ed consort ; in him is an infinite fountain of all these things,
and of all good ; in him you may have light in your darkness,
comfort in your sorrow, and fullness of joy and glory in another
world, in an everlasting union with your dear, deceased rela-
tive, in the glorious presence of the same Redeemer, in whose
presence is fullness of joy, and at ivhose right hand are pleasures
for evermore.
This doctrine also directs the bereaved, afflicted children,
that are with hearts full of grief, now mourning over a dear de-
parted father, where to go and what to do. You will no longer
have your father's wisdom to guide you, his tender love to com-
fort and delight you, and his affectionate care to guard you and
assist you, and his pious and judicious counsels to direct you,
and his holy examples set before you, and his fervent, humble,
believing prayers with you and for you.
But in the blessed Jesus, your father's Lord and Redeemer,
you may have much rhore, than all those things : Your father's
virtues that made him so great a blessing to you, were but the
image of what is in Christ.
Therefore go to him in your mourning : Go and tell Jesus ;
tell a compassionate Saviour what has befallen you. Hereto-
fore you have had an earthly father to go to, whose heart was
full of tenderness to you ; but the heart of his Redeemer is
much more tender; his wisdom and his love is infinitely beyond
that of any earthly parent. Go to him, and then you will sure-
ly find comfort. Go to him, and you will find that, though you
are bereaved, yet you are not left in any want, you will find that
all your wants are supplied, and all your loss made up, and
nuich more than so.
But here I would particularly, in humility, address myself to
my honoured fathers, the sons of the deceased, that are im-
proved in the same great work of the gospel ministry, or in
other |)id3lic business for the service of their generation. Hon-
oured sirs, though it might be more proper for me to come to
you for instruction and counsel, than to take it upon me to ex-
hort you, yet as I am one that ought to have a fellow-feeling
of your affliction, and to look on myself as a sharer in it, and as
you have desired me to speak in the name of Christ, on this
occasion, suffer me to mention to you that source of comfort,
that infinite fountain of gooil, one of the larger streams of
which, has failed by the death of an earthly father, even the
blessed Jesus. You will doubtless acknowledge it as an in-
stance of his great goodness to you, that you have been the
sons of such a father; being sensible that your reputation and
SERMON XVII. 481
serviceableness in your generation, have been, under Christ,
very much owing to the great advantages you have been under,
by his instructions, counsels, and education. And is it not fit
that children that have learned of such a faithful servant of
Christ, and been brought up at his feet, now he is dead, should
do as John the Baptist's disciples did, go and tellJesus'? from
whom you may receive comfort under your bereavement, and
from whom you may receive more of that Spirit that dwelt in
him, and greater degrees of those virtues he derived from
Christ, to cause you to shine brighter, and to make you still
greater blessings in your generation. Now death has veiled
and hid from sight, a star that shone with refected light, our
text and doctrine leads you to the Sun, that hath light in himself,
and shines with infinite, unfailing brightness. And while you
go to .Fesus, honoured Sirs, on this occasion for yourselves, I
humbly desire your requests to him for us the surviving minis-
ters of this county, that he would be with us, now he has taken
from us him that was a father amongst us.
I next would address myself to the surviving pastor of this
church. We may well look upon you. Reverend Sir, as one in
an especial manner concerned in this awful Providence, and
that has a large share in the bereavement. You doubtless are
sensible what reason you have to bless God for the advantage
you have had, in serving in the gospel of Christ, so long as you
have done, with the venerable person deceased, as a son with a
father, enjoying the benefit of his instructions, counsels, and ex-
ample. And particularly, you willotten recollect the affection-
ate and fatherly counsels he gave you, to diligence and faith-
fulness in your Lord's work, with encouragement of his protec-
tion and assistance to carry you through all difficulties, the last
evening of his life. And now, dear Sir, God has taken him from
you, as he took Elijah from Elisha, and as he took John the
Baptist, the New Testament Elijah, from his disciples : There-
fore now you are directed what to do, viz. ^o and tell Jesus ; as
those disciples did. You have now a great work devolved up-
on you ; ynu have him no tnore, who, while l;ie lived, was as a
father to you, to guide and assist you, and take the burthen of
your great work from you. Therefore you have nowhere else
to go, but to your great Lord and Master, that has sent you to
labour in that part of his vineyard, where his aged, and now de-
parted servant was employed, to seek strength and wisdom,
and divine influence and assistance from him, and a double por-
tion of that Spirit, that dwelt in your predecessor.
And lastly. The text I am upon may be of direction to us the
surviving ministers of this county, what to do on this sorrowful
occasion. God has now taken our father and master from our
482 SERMON XVII.
head : He has removed him that has heretofore under Christ,
been very much our strength that we have been wont to resort
to in difficult cases for instruction and direction, and that used
to be amongst us from time to time, in our associations, and
that we were wont to behold as the head and ornament of those
conventions.* Where else can we now go but to Jesus, the
ever living Head of the whole church, and Lord of the whole
harvest, the fountain of light, our great Lord and Master that
sends all gospel ministers, and on whom they universally de-
pend? Let tills awfid Providence bring us to look to Christ,
to seek more of his presence with us; and that HE would pre-
side as Head in our associations : Let it bring us to a more im-
mediate and entire dependence upon him, for instruction and
direction, in all our difficulties.
Let us on this occasion consider what God has done in this
county of late years : It was not many years ago that the co»m-
ty was filled with aged ministers, that were our fathers: But
our fathers, where are theij? What a great alteration is made
in a little time, in the churches in this part of the land !t How
frequent of late have been the warnings of this kind that God
has given us to prepare to give up our account ! Let us go to
Jesus, and seek grace of him that we may be faithful while we
live, and that he would assist us in our great work, that when
we also are called hence, we may give up our account with joy
and not unth grief, and tUat hereafter we may meet those our
fathers, that have gone before us in the faithful labours of the
gospel, and that we may shine forth with them, as the brightness
of the firmament, aiid as the stars for ever and ever.
* Very worthy of our notice was that his farewell mespaee, sent us by one of our
beloved brethren (the Rev. Mr. Williams of Springfield) after he returned from such a
Meeting, where he also preached. "I do not expect," said he, "to be with yon an-
other Association Meeting: But I give you this advice, Love your Master, love your
work, and love one another." How very expressive of his own spirit ! Like John
the beloved disciple.
t The Rev. Mr. Stoddard, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Williams of Deerfield, Mr, Brewer, and
lately have died, Mr. Bull of Westfield, and Mr. Devotion of Suffield.
MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
ANGELS.
I CANNOT see why it should be thought more disagreeable to
reason to suppose, that angels may have influence on matter
so as to cause those alterations in it, which are beyond the
established laws of matter, more than to suppose that our spi-
rits should have such an influence. And I do not see why other
spirits should not have influence on matter according to other
laws ; or why, if we suppose spirits have an influence on matter,
that it must necessarily be accoidiug to the same established
rules as our spirits. We find tliat from such motions of mind,
there follows such an alteration in such and such matter, ac-
cording to established rules ; and those rules are entirely at
the pleasure of him that establishes them. And why we should
not think that God establishes other rules for other spirits, I
cannot imagine. And if we should suggest, that according to
estabhshed laws, angels do make alterations in the secret
springs of bodies, and so of minds, that otherwise would not be,
I cannot see why it should be accounted more of a miraclo
than that our souls can make alterations in the matter of our
hands and feet, which otherwise would not be.
[442] Angels confirmed. The angels that stood are doubtless
confirmed in holiness, and their allegiance to God ; so that they
never will sin, and they are out of every danger of it. But yet
1 believe God makes use of means to confirm them. They
were confirmed by the sight of the terrible destruction that God
brought upon the angels that fell. They see w hat a dreadful
thing it is to rebel. They were further confirmed by the mani-
festation God had rT)ade of his displeasure against sin, by the
eternal damnation of reprobates amongst men, and by the
amazing discovery of his holy jealousy and justice in the suf-
ferings of Christ. They are confirmed by finding by expe-
rience, their own happiness in standing and finding the mistake
of the angela that fell, with respect to that which was their
VOL. viij 62
486 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
temptation, and by new and greater manifestations of the
glory of God, whicli have been successively made in heaven,
and by his dispensations towards the church, and above all, by
the work of redemption by Jesus Christ. Eph. iii. 10. 1 Tim.
iii. IG. 1 Peter i. 12. Vide No. 515.
Carol. Hence we learn that the anj^els were not concerned
in the work of redemption by Jesus Christ.
So I believe the saints in heaven are made perfectly holy
and impeccable, by means, viz: By the beatific vision of God
in Christ in glory ; by exj)eriencing so much the ha[)piness of
holiness, its Irappy nature and issue; by seeing the vvrnth of
Gi)d on wicked men, ifec.
[GSl] I'he angels of heaven, though a superior order of be-
ing, and of a more exalted nature and faculties by far than
men, are yet all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to
them that shall be the heirs of salvation ; and so in some re-
spect are made inferior to the saints in honour. So likewise
the angels of the churches, the ministers of the gospel that are
of an higher order and office than other saints, yet they are by
Christ's appointment, ministers and servants to others, and are
least of all, as Matth. xx. 25, 20, 27. " Ye know that the prin-
ces of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that
are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so
among you : but whosoever will be great among you, let him
be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let
him be your servant." Matth. xxiii. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. " But be not
ye called Siabbi : for one is your Master, even Christ; and all
ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth :
for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called
masters : for one is your master, even Christ. But he that is
great (ist amotigyou shall^be your servant. And whosoever shall
exalt himself shall be abased ; and he that shall humble him-
self shall be exalted." And Mark ix. 35. "If any man desire
to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all." It
is as it is in the body natural, those parts that we account more
noble and honourable are, as it were, ministers to the more in-
ferior, to guard them, and serve them, as the apostle observes,
I Cor. xii. 23, 24. " And those members of the body, which we
think to be less lionourable, upon these we bestow more abun-
dant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant
comeliness. For our comely parts have no need : but God hath
tem])ered the body together, having given more abundant
honour to tiiat part which lacked." God's ways are all analo-
gous, and his dispensations harmonize one with another. As it
is between the saints that are of an inferior order of beings,
and the angels which are of more exalted natures and degrees,
and also between those Christians on earth that are of inferior
ANGELS* 4S7
order, and those who arc of superior, bein^ ministers of Christ ;
so without doubt it also is in some respects in heaven, betwecE
those that are of lower, and those that are of higher degrees
of glory. There, those that are most exalted in honour and
happiness, though they are above the least, yet in some respects
they are the least ; being ministers to others, and employed by
God to minister to their good and happiness. These sayings
of Christ, in Matth. xx. 25, &-c., and Mark ix. 35, were spoken
on occasion of the disciples manifesting an ambition to be great-
est in his kingdom, by which they meant his state of exaltation
and glory; and so it is in some sort, even with respect to the
man Christ Jesus himself, who is the very highest and niost ex-
alted of all creatures, and the head of all. He, to prepare
himself for it, descended lowest of all, was most abased of any,
and in some respects became least of all. Therefore, when
Christ in these places directs that those that would be greatest
among his disciples, should be the servants of the rest, and so
in some respects, least ; he enforces it with his own example.
Matth. XX. 26, 27, 28. " Whosoever will be great among you,
let him be your minister, and whosever will be chief among
you, let him be your servant. Even so the Son of man came
not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a
ransom for many." And Luke xxii. 26, 27. " He that is great-
est among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief
as he that doth serve, for whether is greater, he that sitteth at
meat, or he that serveth ? is not he that sitteth at meat ? But I
am among you as he that serveth." None in the kingdom of
heaven ever descended so low as Christ did, who descended as
it were into the depths of hell. He suffered shame and wrath,
and was made a curse. He went lower in these things than
ever any other did, and this he did as a servant not only to
God, but to men, in that he undertook to serve us, and minister
to us in such dreadful drudgery, while we sit at meat in quiet-
ness and rest, and partake of those dainties which he provides
for us. Christ took upon him to minister to us iii the lowest
service, which he represented and typified by that action of
washing the disciples' feet, which he did chiefly for that end.
Thus Christ is he that seems to be intended in Matth. xi. 11,
by him " that is least in the kingdom of heaven ;" who is there
said to be greater than John the Baptist. -
The design of God in thus ordering things, is to teach and
show that he is all, and the creature nothing, and that all ex-
altation and dignity belong to him ; and therefore those crea-
tures that are most exalted shall in other respects be least and
lowest. Thus, though the angels excel in wisdom and strength,
and are advanced to glorious dignity, and are principalities and
488 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
powers, and kings of the earth, yet God makes thetn all min-
isters to them who are much less than they, of inferior nature
and degree. Thus, also, the saints who are most exalted in
dignity are servants to others. The angelic nature is the high-
est and most exalted created nature ; yet God is pleased to put
greater honour upon our inferior nature, viz. the human, by
causing that the Head and King of all creatures should be in
the human nature, and that the saints in that nature in Christ,
should be in many respects exalted above the angels, that the
angelic nature may not magnify itself against the human ; and
the man Christ Jesus, that creature who is above all, owes his
superiority and dignity, not at all to himself, but to God ; viz.
to his union with a Divine person. Though he be above all,
yet in some respects he is inferior ; for he is not in the highest
created nature, but in a nature that is inferior to the angelic.
To prepare him for his exaltation above all, he was first
brought lowest of all in suffering and humiliation, and in some
respects in office, or in those parts of the office that were exe-
cuted by him in his state of humiliation. Though the saints are
exalted to glorious dignity, even to union and fellowship with God
himself; to be in some respects divine in glory and happiness,
and in many respects to be exalted above the angels ; yet care
is taken that it should not be in themselves, but in a person
who is God, and they must be as it were emptied of them-
selves in order to it. And though the angels are exalted in
themselves, yet they are ministers to them who are not exalted
in themselves, but only in communion with a divine person as
of free grace partaking with them. Thus wisely hath God or-
dered all things for his own glory, that however great and mar-
vellous the exercises of his grace, and love, and condescension
are to the creature, yet he alone may be exalted, and that he
mav be all in all. And though the creature be unspeakably
and wonderfully advanced in honour by God's grace and love ;
yet it is in such a way and manner, that even in its exaltation it
might be humbled, and so as that its nothingness before God,
and its absolute dependence on God, and subjection to him,
might be manifested. Yet this humiliation or abasement,
which is joined with the creatures' exaltation, is such as not to
detract from the privilege and happiness of the exaltation. So
far as exaltation is suitable for a creature, and is indeed a
privilege and happiness to the creature, it is given to the crea-
ture and nothing taken from it. That only is removed that
should carry any shadow of what belongs only to the Creator,
and which might make the difference between the Creator and
creature, and its absolute, infinite dependence on the Crea-
tor less manifest. That humiliation only is brought with the
ANGELS. 489
exaltation that is suitable to that great humility that becomes
the creature before the Creator. This humiliation iloes not de-
tract any thing from the happiness of elect holy creatures, but
adds to it, for it gratifies that humble disposition that they are of,
it is exceeding sweet and delightful to them to be humbled and
abased before God, to cast down their crowns at his feet as the
four and twenty elders do in Rev. iv. 10. And to abase
themselves, and appear nothing, and ascribe all power, and
riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and
blessing to him. 'J'hey will delight more in seeing God exalted
than themselves, and they will not look on themselves the less
honoured because that God appears to be all, even in their ex-
altation,, but the more. These creatures that are most exalted
will delight most in being abased before God, for they will excel
in humility as much as in dignity and glory, as has been else-
where observed. The man, Christ Jesus, who is the head of
all creatures, is the most humble of all creatures. That in
Matth. xviii. 4, " Whosoever therefore humbleth himself as
this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven,
is true, with respect to the humility that they exercise, both in
this and in another world. They that have most humility in
this world, will continue to excel in humility'in heaven ; and the
proposition is reciprocal. They that have the greatest humility,
shall be most exalted, and shall be greatest in the kingdom of
heaven, and they that are greatestin the kingdom of heaven,
are most humble.
Corol. I. What has been said above, confirms the conclusion
that some in heaven will be a kind of ministers in that society :
teachers ; ministers to their knowledge and love, and helpers of
their joy, as ministers of the gospel are here.
Corol. II. Hence we ma3«]earn the sweet and perfect har-
mony that will reign throughout that glorious society, and how
far those that are lowest will be from envying those that are
highest, or the highest from despising the lovvest,'for the highest
shall be made ministers to the happiness of the lowest, and
shall be even below them in humility, and the lowest shall have
the greatest love to the highest for their superior excellency,
and for the greater benefit which they shall receive from their
ministration, as it is the disposition of the saints to love and ho-
nour their faithful ministers here in this world.
[838] Angels — ivliy called Thrones, Dominions, Principali-
ties and Poivers. As the angels are made to be employed as
the ministers of God's providence of the government of the
world, and as they are beings of a limited understanding, and
not equally capable of understanding and managing the affairs
of the whole universe, or of the whole extent and compass of
490 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
divine providence, or of any part indiflerently, as they may be oi
affairs of some particular kind, or system, or series of events, or
of some particular part of the universe ; (for it must needs be so
with all that are of limited understanding, that they must be more
capable of the care and management of things in a certain parti-
cular sphere than of any thing indifferently wiihout any fixed li-
mits:) so it is very reasonable to suppose from hence iliat the dif-
ferent angels are appointed to different kinds of work, and that
their ministry more especially respects some certain limited parts
of the universality of things which God has in some respect com-
mitted to their care, so that over these things they have a minis*
terial dominion, some of larger and others of lesser extent; some
in a more exalted, others a less humble station. So they are a
kind of princes under God, over such and such parts of the crea-
tion, or within such a certain sphere. Though their xlominion be
only ministerial, (as the dominion of ministers of the gospel, or
angels of the churches is,) yet it is very honourable and exalted. It
is a very honourable work in which they are employed, an iniage
of the work of the Son of God, as God man, who has the vice-
gerency of the whole universe, and so they as well as the princes
of Israel are called gods, Elohim, Ps. xcii. 7. " Worship him,
all ye gods," which is rendered by the apostle, " Let all tl)e an-
gels of God worship him." And they are all called " The sons
of God," as they are, Job xxxviii. " When the morning stars
sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." They
may, on this account also, be fitly compared to stars, (as they are
here, and also in the song of Deborah, " The stars in their courses
fought against Sisera,") not only for their brightness in wisdom
and holiness, and for their being the native inhabitants of heaven,
and obeying the commands of God, as the stars do, but because
they have their 'particular dominion set them in the lower uni-
verse, as the stars have. Job xxxviii. 33, " Canst thou set the do-
minion thereof in the earth?" And also because they have their
certain sphere and course to which they are limited in heaven.
These seem in part to be signified by the kings of the earth, that
shall bring their honour and glory into the church. They are
made chiefly for a ministerial dominion over, and management of,
the world of mankind on the earth, as ministering spirits unto
Christ; and on the account of their honourable place and trust in
heaven, they may be called ministers of the new earth, there spo-
ken of in that chapter. God hath concealed the particular
spheres of the angels' dominion and ministry, that we might not
be tempted to idolatry. They, therefore, that worship angels un-
der a notion of such and such angels having a superintendency
over such particular persons or affairs, intrude into those things
that they have not seen.
ANGELS. 491
It is not reasonable to suppose that the angels are called thrones,
dominions, principalities, and powers, merely for the honour they
have in their great abilities and excellent qualifications, for the
words do properly denote ride and authority. Earthly rulers are
called principalities and powers. Tit. iii. 1. " Put them in mind
to be subject to principalities and powers, and to obey magis-
trates."
[937] Angels elect— their dependence on Christ.
Two questions may be raised witli respect to the elect angels.
(^iies. I. How far the elect angels are dependent on Christ for
eternal life ?
Ans. I. Probably the service appointed them as the great trial
of their obedience, was serving Christ, or ministering to him in
his great work that he had undertaken with respect to mankind.
H. When Lucifer rebelled and set up himself as a head in op-
position to God and Christ, and drew away a great number of the
angels after him, Christ, the Son of God, manifested himself as
an opposite head, and appeared graciously to dissuade and re-
strain by his grace the elect angels from hearkening to Lucifer's
temptation, so that they were upheld and preserved from eternal
destruction at this time of great danger by the free and sovereign
distinguishing grace of Christ. Herein Christ was the Saviour
of the elect angels, for though he did not save them as he did elect
men from the ruin they had already deserved, and were condemn-
ed to, and the miserable state they were already in, yet he saved
them from eternal destruction they were in great danger of, and
otherwise would have fallen into with the other angels. The elect
angels joined with him, the glorious Michael, as their Captain,
while the other angels hearkened to Lucifer and joined with him,
and then was that literally true that was fulfilled afterwards figur-
atively. Rev. xii. " When there was war in heaven, Michael
and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought
and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was there place found
any more in heaven, and the great dragon was cast out, that old
serpent called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole
world, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out
"with him."
HL They were dependent on the sovereign grace of Christ to
uphold them and assist them in this service, and to keep them from
ruining themselves, as the fallen angels had done ; by the fall of
the angels, especially of Lucifer, the greatest, brightest, and most
intelligent of all creatures, they were taught their own emptiness
and insufiiciency for themselves, and were led humbly in a self-dif-
fidence to look to Christ, to seek to him, and depend on him, in
whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell to pre-
serve them. So that they all along hung upon him. Through
492 MI;SCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
the whole course of their obedience during their time of trial,
having no absolute promise, as believers in Christ have amongst
tnen of perseverance in one act of faith, but only God the Father
had revealed to them that if they were preserved, it must be by
influence and help from his Son, and also made known to them
the infinite riches of the grace of his Son, and its sufficiency for
them, and given them experience of it in preserving them when
the other angels fell, and God directed them to seek to his Son
for help. But this humble dependence was part of their duty or
work by which they were to obtain eternal life, and it was not as
it is with men, the fruit of the purchase of life already made, the
first act of which entitles to all other fruits of this purchase through
eternity. Thus the angels did depend on Christ, and they were
supported by strength and grace from him freely communicated ;
it was sovereign grace that he was not obliged to afford them, for
he was not obliged to afford them any more grace than he did the
angels that fell, so that it can truly be said of the angels, that they
have eternal life by sovereign grace through Christ in a way of
self-emptiness, self-diffidence, and humble dependence on him. So
far is the way of the elect angels' receiving eternal life like that of
elect men's receiving of it.
IV. Christ is their Judge, and they actually receive their re-
ward at his hands as their Judge, as I have elsewhere shown.
V. They not only have the reward of eternal life adjudged to
them by Christ, but actually, continually, and eternally derive it
from him as their head of life and divine influence, the Spirit is
given them them through him.
VI. They have their happiness in him in this brightness of
God's glory and express image. It is that they behold the glory
and love of God, and so have eternal life in the enjoyment of
God. Thus Christ is the tree of life in paradise, on whose fruit
all its inhabitants live to all eternity, and the Lamb is the light of
that glorious city.
Qiies. II. How far the angels are dependent on Christ as God
man, and have benefit by his incarnation, sufferings, and ex-
altation, and the work of redemption that he wrought out for
mankind.''
Ans. I. The work of redemption is their end ; they were-cre-
ated to be subservient to Christ in this affair.
II. Their work and service that was appointed them, that was
the trial of their obedience, was to serve Christ and his elect peo-
ple in this affair, and it was by obeying Christ as his servants in
this affair, that they actually obtained eternal life.
III. Especially did the angels obtain life by attending on Christ,
and being faithful to him during the time of his humiliation, which
was the last, and most trying part of their obedience.
ANGELS. 493
IV. The Lord Jesus Christ God man is the Judge of the an-
gels that gives tliem the reward of eternal life. They did not
enjoy perfect rest till he descended and confirmed them, so that
the angels, as well as men, have rest in Christ God man. (See
the next.)
V. They have this benefit by the incarnation of Christ, that
thereby God is immediately united with a creature, and so is
nearer to them, whereby they are under infinitely greater advan-
tages to have the full enjoyment of God.
VI. Jesus Christ God man is he through whom, and in whom,
they enjoy the blessedness of the reward of eternal life, both as
the Head of influence through whom they have the Spirit, and also
as in Christ God man they behold God's glory, and have the
manifestations of his love.
VII. As the perfections of God are manifested to all creature?,
both men and angels, by the fruits of those perfections, i. e. by
God's works, (the wisdom of God appears by his wise works, and
liis power by iiis powerful works; his holiness and justice by his
holy and just acts, and his grace and love by the acts and works
of grace and love,) so the glorious angels have the greatest mani-
festations of the glory of God by v^'hat they see in the work of
man's redemption, and especially in the death and sufferings of
Christ.
[940] The elect angels have greatly increased both in holi-
ness and happiness, since the fall of those angels that fell, and are
immensely more holy than ever Lucifer and his angels were ; for
perfection in holiness, i. e. a sinless perfection, is not such in those
that are finite, but that it admits of infinite degrees. The fall of
the angels laid a foundation for the greater holiness of ihe elect
angels, as it increased their knowledge of God and themselves,
gave them the knowledge of good and evil, and was a means of
their being emptied of themselves and brought low in humility,
and they increased in holiness by persevering in obedience. What
they behold of the glory of God in the face of Christ as men's
Redeemer, and especially in Christ's humiliation, greatly increased
their holiness ; and their obedience, through that last and greatest
trial, contributed above all things to an increase of their holiness.
This further shows how the elect angels are dependent on Christ
God man.
[941] Christ's humiliation many ways laid a foundation for
the humiliation of all elect creatures. By seeing one infinitely
above them descending so low, and abasing himself so much,
they are abundantly made sensible how no abasement is too great
for them. Lucifer thought what God required of him too great
an abasement for so high and worthy a creature as he; but in
Christ Jesus they see one infinitely higher than he descending
VOL. VIII. " G3
494 illSCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
vastly lower than was required of him. It tends to humble the
angels, and to set them for ever at an immense distance from any
thought that any thing that God can require of them can be too
great an abasement for them ; and then it tended to humble them,
as this jjerson that appeared in such meanness, and in so despica-
ble a state, is appointed to be their Lord and their God, and as
they were required humbly to minister to him in his greatest
abasement. It tends to abase elect men two ways.
1. As here is the example of the voluntary humiliation of one
infinitely more worthy than they ; and,
2. As here is the greatest manifestation of the evil, dreadful na-
ture of sin, and particularly as here is the effects of their sin.
Here appears the venomous nature of their corruption, as it aims
at the life of God, and here appears the infinite greatness of its
demerit in such suflerings of a person of infinite glory. So that
all elect creatures are as it were humbled and abased in their head.
This shows further how the elect angels are dependent on Christ
God man.
[938] Heaven — Hovj the elect angels know good and evil. It
is a thing supposed, without proof, that the glorious inhabitants
of heaven never felt any such thing as trouble or uneasiness of any
kind. Their present innocency and holiness does not prove it.
God may suffer innocent creatures to be in trouble for their greater
happiness. The nature and end of that place of glory does not
prove it, for if that did not hinder ^mfrom entering, neither will it
necessarily hinder trouble from entering there.
The elect angels probably felt great fear at the time of the re-
volt of Lucifer and the angels that followed him. They were
then probably the subjects of great surprise, and a great sense of
their own danger of falling likewise, and when they saw the wrath
of God executed on the fallen angels, which they had no certain
promise that they should not suffer also by their own disobe-
dience, being not yet confirmed, it probably struck them with
fear. xVnd the highest heavens was not a place of such happi-
ness and rest before Christ's ascension as it was afterwards ; for
the angels were not till then confirmed. So that it was in Christ
God man that the angels have found rest. The angels, therefore,
have this to sweeten their safety and rest, that they have it after
they have known what it is to be in great danger, and to be dis-
tressed with fear.
[1098] That the angels in the times of the Old Testament did
not fully understand the counsels and designs of God with regard
to men's redemption, may be argued from that text, Isai. Ixiv. 4.
*• For since the beginning of the world they have not heard {7)ien
is not in the original,) nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the
eye seen, O God ! beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that
ANGELS. 495
waiteih for him." In the original, what '' he hath made or done
for him that vvaiteth for him." It is rendered in the margin,
" hath seen a God besides thee which doth so for him that waiteth
forhijny But our translation gives tlie sense more agreeable to
the citation of the apostle, 1 Cor. ii. 7, 8, 9. It is manifest by
this text, if we take it in a. sense agreeable to the apostle's under-
standing of it, tliat none of old understood the mystery of man's
redemption by Jesus Christ, it never entered into the hearts of
any ; and if this be the sense, it will follow from the words of the
text, not only that it had not entered into the hearts of any of
mankind, but also of the angels, for all are expressly excluded
but God himself; none have heard, seen, or perceived, O God,
beside thee. The meaning is not only that no works had been
already done that ever any had seen or heard of parallel to this
work ; for if the meaning was, that no works that were past had
been seen or heard of like this work, those words, O God, beside
thee, would not be added ; for if that were the sense, these words
would signify, That, though others had not seen any past works pa-
rallel with this, yet God had, which would not have been true ;
for God himself had not seen any past works parallel with this.
The same may also be argued from Eph. iii. 9, 10, 11, compared
with Rom. xvi. 25, 26, and Colos. i. 26. Not only are the words
of Eph. iii. 10 very manifestly to my present purpose, but those
words in the verse preceding are here worthy of remark. The
mystery, which, from the be<j:inning of the world, hath been HID
/iV GOD ; which seems plainly to imply, that it was a secret
which God kept wiiliin himself, which was hid and sealed up in
the divine understanding, and never had as yet been divulged to
any other, which was hid in God's secret counsel, which as yet
no other being had ever been made acquainted with ; and so the
words imply as much as those in the forementioned place in Isaiah,
that none had perceived it beside God.
[1247] Angels. That they are as the nobles and barons of
the court of heaven, as dignified servants in the palace of the
King of kings, is manifest by Matt, xviii. 10. See my Notes.
So in their being called thrones, dominions, principalities, and
powers.
[1276] Angels ignorant of the majesty of the gospel till Christ's
cominsc.
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and genera-
tions, but now is made manifest to his saints. To whom God
would make known what is the riches of the glory of this myste-
ry among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you the hope of glo-
ry. Doctor Goodwin says, " This doctrine of the gospel he
kept hid and close in his own breast ; not a creature knew it ; no,
not the angels, who were his nearest courtiers and dearest favour-
496 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
ites, it lay hid in God, Eph. iii. 9, even hid from them, ver. 10.
A mystery, which when it shonhl be revealed, should amaze
the world, put the angels to school again, as if they had known
nothing in comparison of this, wherein they should know over
again all those glorious riclies which are in God, and that more
perfectly and fully than ever yet. And so after they had a little
studied the catechism and compendium, there should come out
a large volume, a new system of the riches of the glory of
God, the mystery of Christ in the text, which is the last edi-
tion, also, now set out enlarged, perfected, wherein the large
inventory of God's glorious perfections is more fully set down
with additions." (Dr. Goodwin's works, vol. i. part iii. p. 64, on
Col. i. 26, 27.)
FALL OF THE ANGELS.
[438] So it was also with the angels, their judgment was
likewise decreed. Prohably they thought it would be degrada-
tion and misery to be ministers to a creature of an inferior na-
ture, whom God was about to create, and subjects and servants
to one in that nature, not knowing particularly how it was to
be, God having only in general revealed it to them. They
thought it would be best for themselves to resist, and endeavour
to be independent of God's government and ordering; and,
having an appetite to their own honour, it overcome holy dis-
positions, which when once overcome, immediately wholly left
them to the full and unrestrained rage of the principles that
overcoine, and their holy inclination to subjection was greatly
damped by their opinion of God, as though he intended to deal
unbecomingly by them in subjecting them to one of such a na-
ture, and so it was the more easily overcome.
[320] Devils. It seems to me probable that the temptation of
the angels, which occasioned their rebellion, was. That when God
was about to ( reate man, or had first created him, God de-
clared his decree to the angels that one of that human nattire
should bo his Son, his best beloved, his greatest favourite, and
should be united to his Eternal Son, and that he should be their
Head and King, that they should be given to him, and should
worship him, and be his servants, attendants, and ministers:
And God having thus declared his great love to the race of man-
kind, gave the angels the charge of them as ministering spirits
to men. Satan, or Lucifer, or Beelzebub, being the archangel,
k one of the highest of the angels, could not bear it, thought it
u below him, and a great debasing of him. So he conceived re-
\
FALL OF THE ANGELS. 497
bellion against the Almighty, and drew away a vast compa-
ny of the heavenly hosts witli him.\^ljiit he was cast down
from the highest pitch of glory to the lowest hell for it, and
himself was made an occasion of bringing that to pass which
his spirit so rose against, yea, his spite and malice was made an
occasion of it, and that sameactof hisby which he thought he had
entirely overthrown the design, and that same person in hu-
man nature which they could not bear should rule over them in
glory, and should be their King and Head, to communicate
happiness to ihem, by this means proves their King in spite of
them, and becomes their Judge ; and though they would not be
his willing subjects, they shall be his unwilling captives, he
shall be their sovereign to make them miserable and pour out
his wrath upon them ; and mankind whom they so envied and
so scorned, are b}' occasion of them advanced to higher glory
and honour, and greater happiness, and more nearly united to
God ; and though they disdained to be ministering spirits to
them, yet now they shall be judged by them as assessors with
Jesus Christ.
[833] Occasion of (he fall of the angels. Christ had his
delegated dominion over the world committed to him as soon as
the creation of the world was finished ; for though Christ did
not actually begin tlie work and business of a Mediator till man
had fallen, yet the world, even in its very creation, was de-
signed to be for the use of Christ in the great affair of Re-
demption, and his purpose in that work wsa the end of the
creation, and of all God's providences in it from the beginning.
Therefore the government of the world was committed into
his hands from the very beginning ; for even the very creation
was committed into his hands for that reason, as the apostle in-
timates, Eph. iii. 9, 10. Much more have we reason to think
that the disposal of it was committed into his hands when it was
made, because it was created for his disposal and use. It was
therefore most fit that it should be committed to him, notonly in
the actual accomplishment of that great work of his, the work
of redemption, but also in those antecedent dispensations that
were preparatory to itjiuring that short space of time that was
taken up in the preparation before the work of redemption ac-
tually began. It was most meet that Christ should have the
disposal of those things that were to prepare the way for his
own work, otherwise the work would not wholly be in his
hands'; for the accomplishing of the work itself, so as best to
suit his own purpose and pleasure, depends in a great measure
on the preparation that was made for it, and so there is the
same reason that the preparation should be in his hands as the
498 MISCELLAXEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
work itself. There is the pame reason, that those things that
are without the limits of the work itself, as to time, should be
in the hands of Christ, because of the relation they have to that
work, as that those things that are without the limits of the
work itself, as to place, and nature, and order of being, should
be in his hands; as the angels in heaven, and indeed all the
works of God that were before the fall of man, weie parts of
the work of preparation for the work of Redemption. The
creation itself was so ; and for this reason the creation of the
world was committed into his hands ; and there is no reason
to suppose that one part of this work of preparation was com-
mitted into Christ's hands, because it was a preparation for his
work, and not other parts of the preparation for the same work.
All things are for Christ, for his use ; and therefore God left it
with him to prepare all things for his own use, that in every
thing he might have the pre-eminence, and that in him might
all fullness dwell, a perfect sufficiency every way for the design
that he had to accomplish ; and therefore by the will and dis-
position of the Father, all things were made by him, and all
things consist by him, and he was made Head over all things to
the church, and for the purposes of the work of redemption
that he was to accomplish for the church. Colos. i. 16, 17, 18,
19. " For by him were all things created that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers ; all things
are created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and
by him all things consist, and he is the head of the body, the
church, who is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that
in all things he might have the pre-eminence; for it pleased the
Father that in him should all fullness dwell." Eph. i. 22.
" And hath put all things under his feet, and given him to be
head over all things to the church. It is manifest by these
things that not only the creation of the world, but the uphold-
ing and government of the world were committed into the
hands of Christ, and doubtless it was so from the beginning.
As Christ's delegated dominion over the world will not be at an
end till his use of it is finished, and he has completed that work
in which its great use consists, and has fully obtained his end
I of it, which will be at the end of the vjorld, when he will deliver
up THAT kingdom to the Father. So doubtless the delegated
dominion over the world began when his use of it begaU; which
was at the beginning of the world, or as soon as the world was
finished, and then the kingdom was committed to him of the Fa-
y ther.
[936] Fall of the angels. — Satan, the prince of the devils. It
seems manifest by the scripture, that there is one of the devils
iPALL OF THE ANGELS. 499
that is vastly superior to all the rest. His vast superiority ap-
pears in his being so very often spoken of singly, as the grand
enemy of God and matdiind, the grand adversary, the accuser
of the brethren, and the great destroyer. He is more frequently
spoken of singly, in scripture, than devils are spoken of in the
plural number, as though he were more than all the rest. He
seems commonly in scripture to be spoken oCinstar omnium. It
seems to be from his great superiority above all the rest, that
he is so often spoken of under so many peculiar names that are
never found in the plural number, as Satan, Diabolos, Beelzebub,
Lucifer, The Dragon, The Old Serpent, The Wicked One, The
God of this world. The Prince of this world, John xii. 31, The
Prince of the power of the air. The Accuser of the brethren, The
Temyter, The Adversary, Abaddon, Apollyon, The Enemy, and
The Avenger. His strength and subtilty are very great indeed ;
so much superior to the rest, that he maintains a dominion over
them, and is able to govern and manage them, that they durst
not raise rebellion against him, agreeble to Job xli. 25,
" When he raiseth up himself the mighty are afraid." But he
is king in hell, the prince of the devils ; as Leviathan is said,
Job xli. 34, to be " king over all the children of pride." See
Rev. ix. 11. All the rest of the devils are his servants, his
wretched slaves, they are spoken of as his possession, Matth.
XXV. 41. " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre-
pared for the Devil and his angels.''^ They are his attendants
and possession, as the good angels are Christ's attendants and
possession. Rev. xii. 7. "And there was war in heaven : Mi-
chael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon
fought, and his angels."
This angel, before his fall, was the chief of all the angels, of
greatest natural capacity, strength, and wisdom, and highest
in honour and dignity, the brighest of all those stars of heaven,
as is signified by what is said of him, under that type of him,
the king of Babylon, Isai. xiv. 12, " How art thou fallen from
heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning !" This signifies his
outshining all the other stars, as the morning star outshines the
rest. It is yet more manifest from what is said of the king of
Tyrus, as a type of the Devil, in Ezek.xxviii. 12 — 19. Here I
would observe several things. (See Note on the place.)
I. It is exceeding manifest that the king of Tyrus is here
spoken of as a type of the Devil, or the prince of the angels, or
cherubim that fell.
1. Because he is here]expressly called an Angel or Cherub^
once and again, ver. 14. 16. And is spoken of as a fallen che-
rub.
500 MISCELLANEOUS ODSERVATIONS.
2. He is spoken of as having been in heaven under three
different names ; by wliicii names heaven is often called in scrip-
ture, viz. Eden, The Gardtn of God, or the Paradise of God ;
ver. 13, The Holy mountain of God, ver. 14 and IG ; and The
Sa7ictiinry, ver. 18.
3. He is spoken of as having been in a most happy state in
the paradise of God, anxl holy mountain of God, in great ho-
nour and beauty, and pleasure.
4. He is spoken of as in his first estate, or the state wherein
he was created, to be perfectly free from sin, but afterwards
falling by sin. Ver. 15, " Thou wast j)erfect in thy ways, from
the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee."
5. The iniquity by which he fell was irride, or his being lifted
up by reason of his superlative beauty and brightness. Ver. 17.
"Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Thou hast
corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness."
6. He is represented as being cast out of heaven, and cast
down to the earth for his sin. Ver. IG. " Therefore I will cast
thee, as profane, out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy
thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the flames of fire."
Ver. 17. " I will cast thee to the ground."
7. He is represented as being destroyed by fire here, in this
earthly world. Ver. 18. "I will bring forth a fire from the
midst of thee : it shall devour thee ; and 1 will bring thee to
ashes upon the earth in the midst of all that behold thee."
8. His great wisdom is spoken of as being corrupted by sin,
i. e., turned into a wicked craftiness. Ver. 17. " Thou hast
corrupted thy wisdom because of thy brrgbtness." If the king
of Tyrus were not here expressly called "a Cherub,''^ ^^in the
Paradise of God,^^ and " in God''s holy mountain ;^^ by which it
is most evident that he is spoken of as a type of a cherub in the
• paradise of God; yet I say if it had not been so, the matter
I would have been very plain, for the things here spoken of can-
1 not be applied to the king of Tyrus with any beauty, nor with-
1 out the utmost shining, any other way than as a type of the
■ devil that was once a glorious angel in paradise. For bov\r
^ could it be said of the king of Tyrus, in any other sense, but
> as a type of the anointed angel, that he had been in God's holy
' mountain, and in Eden, the garden of God, and in God's sanc-
tuary, and there been first perfect in his ways ? (For the original
word is a kind of expression that is ever used in scripture to
signify holiness, or moral jperfection.) And how in any other
sense was he afterwards cast, as profane, out of the mountain
of God,?
II. It is evident that this Cherub or Angel is spoken of as
the highest of all the angels. This is evident by several things'
FALL OF THE ANGELS. 501
1. He is called the anointed cherub. This expression alone
shows him to have sat higher than any other cherub; for his being
anointed, must signify his being distinguished from all others.
Anointing of old was used as a note of distinction, to show that
that person was marked out and distinguished from allthe'rest for
a higher dignity. The 'Lord's anointed, in Israel, was he that
God of his mere good pleasure had appointed to the chief dig-
nity in Israel ; so the Lord's anointed, among the cherubim,
is the cherub that God had ajipointed to the highest dignity of
all. It is said, ver. 14, " Tliou art the anointed cherub that
covereth ; and 1 have set thee so;" i. e. plainly, " It has been
my pleasure to set thee, by my anointing, in the highest dignity
of all."
2. He is called, " The cherub that covereth, on God's holy
mountain," ver. 14, and '* The coi'e?m_g- cherub, in the midst
of the flames of fire," ver. 16. In which there seems to be a
reference to the cherubim in the temple in the holy of holies,
next to the throne of God that covered the throne with their
wings. Exod. xxv. 19, 20, and xxvii. 9. From this it appears,
that by the covering cherub is meant the cherub next to the
throne of God himself, having a place in the very holy of holies.
There were represented two cherubim that covered the mercy-
seat in the temple, that are called by the apostle, " cherubim of
glory shadowing the tnercy seat," Heb. ix. 5, which represent
the great dignity and honour of the cherubim that are next to
God's throne, and are covering cherubim. But before the fall of
this cherub he is spoken of as being alone entitled to this great
honour and nearness to God's throne in heaven, that he was
anointed to be above his fellows. (See Note on Matth. xviii. 10.)
3. This covering cherub is here spoken of as the top of all
the creation, or the summit and height of all creature per-
fection in wisdom and beauty. Ver. 12. "Thou sealest up
the sum, full of wisdom and perfect beauty." He is spoken
of not only as being in the midst of many things that are very
bright and beautiful, ver. 13, 14, and as walking up and down
among them, but as having the sum of all their beauty com-
pleted, perfected, and sealed up in himself. [It seems implied,
that no being is stronger than Beelzebub, and able to bind
him but God himself. Matth. xii. 29, with the context.]
Coral. I. Hence learn that Satan before his fall was the
Messiah or Christ, as he was the anointed. The word anointed
is radically the same in Hebrew as the word Messiah: So that
in this respect our Jesus is exalted into his place in heaven.
Corol. II. These things show another thing, wherein Jesus
is exalted into the place of Lucifer ; that whereas he had the
honour to dwell in the holy of holies continually, so Jesus is
VOL. viii. 64
S02 MISCELLANEOUS ODSEllVATIONS.
there entered, not as the high priests of old, but to be there con-
tinually, but in this respect is exalted higher than Lucifer ever
was; that whereas Lucifer was only near the throne, or kneeling
on the mercy-seat in humble posture, covering it with his wings,
Jesus is admitted to sit down for ever with God on the throne.
Carol. III.', From what is said in this passage of scripture, we
may learn that the angels were created in time. Though we have
no particular account ot their creation in the story of Moses, we
read here, once and again, of the day wherein this Anointed Che-
rub was created, ver. 13. 15. This is also implied in Gen. ii. 1.
" Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts
of them." The angels are often in scripture spoken of as the host
of heaven, and the angels are expressly spoken of as created by
Christ, in Col. i. IG. " P'or by him were all things created that
are in heaven and tliat are in earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers ; all
things were created by him, and for him." So Ps. civ. 4. " Who
maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire ;" which
is meant of proper angels, as appears by Heb. i. 7. Jt appears
also further, because they are called the sons of God, in Job
xxxviii., which cannot be meant by eternal generation, for so
Christ is God's only begotten Son. See Ps. cxlviii. 2, 3, 4, 5.
Corol. IV. In another respect also Jesus succeeds Lucifer, viz.
in being the Cocering Cherub. The word translated cover, often
and commonly signifies to protect. It was conmiltted to this arch-
angel especially, to have the care of protecting the beloved race,
elect man, that was God's jewel, !iis first fruits, his precious trea-
sure, laid up in God's ark, or cabinet, hid in the secret of his pre-
sence. That was the great business the angels were made for,
and therefore was especially committed to the head of the angels.
But he fell from his innocency and dignity, and Jesus in his stead
becomes the Cherub that covereth, the great Protector and Sa-
viour of elect man, that gathereth them as a hen her chickens
under her wings.
Corol. V, Lucifer, while a holy angel, in having the excellen-
cy of all those glorious things that were about him, all summed
up in hira, was a type of Christ, in whom all the glory and excel-
lency of all elect creatures is more properly summed, as the head
and foundation of all, just as the brightness of all, that reflects
the light of the sun, is summed up in the sun.
And as the Devil was the highest of all the angels, so he was
,the very highest of all God's creatures ; he was the top and crown
of the whole creation ; he was the brightest part of the heaven of
heavens, that brightest part of all the creation; he was the head of
the angels, that most noble rank of all created beings; and,
therefore, when spoken of under that type of hini, the Behemoth,
FALL OF THE ANGFL3. 503
lie is said to be " tlie chief of the ways of God," Job xl. 19. And
since it is revealed that there is a certain order and government
among the angels, the superior angels having some kind of au-
thority over others that are of lower rank ; and since Lucifer was
the chief of them all, we may suppose that he was the head of the
whole society, the captain of the whole host. He was the arch-
angel, the prince of the angels, and all did obeisance unto him.
And as the angels, as the ministers of God's providence, have a
certain superintendency and rule over the world, or at least over
some parts of it that God has committed to their care, hence they
are called thrones, duminions,principaUlies, Tin A powers. There-
fore, seeing Lucifer was the head, and captain, and prince of all,
and the highest creature in the whole universe, we may suppose
that ho had, as God's chief servant, and the grand minister of his
providence, and the top of the creation, in some respect commit-
ted to him power, dominion, and principality over the whole crea-
tion, and all the kingdom of providence ^^^nd as all the angels"!
are called the sons of Gnil, Lucifer was his firstborn, and was the
first-born of every creature. But when it was revealed to him,
high and glorious as he was, that he must be a ministering spirit
to the race of mankind which he had seen newly created, which
appeared so feeble, mean, and despicable, so vastly inferior, not
only to him, the prince of the angels, and head of the created uni-
verse, but also to the inferior angels, and that he must be subject
to one of that race that should hereafter be born, he could not bear
it. This occasioned his fall ; and now he, with the other angels
whom he drew away with him, are fallen, and elect men are trans-
lated to supply their places, and are exalted vastly higher in hea-
ven than they. And the Man Jesus Christ, the Chief, and
Prince, and Captain of all elect men, is translated and set in the i
throne that Lucifer, the chief and prince of the angels left, to be '■
the Head of the angels in his stead, the head of principality and
power, that all the angels might do obeisance to him; for God
said, " Let all the angels of God worship him;" and God made |
him his first-born instead of Lucifer, higher than all those thrones' ,'
dominions, principalities, and powers, and made him, yea, made \
him in his stead the first-born of every creature, or of the whole
creation,-and made him also in his stead the bright and morning
Star, and Head, and Prince of the universe; yea, gave this
honour, dignity, and power unto him, in an unspeakably higher
and more glorious manner than ever he had done to Lucifer, and
appointed him to conquer, subdue, and execute vengeance upon
that great rebel. Lucifer aspired to be " like the Most High,"
but God exalted one of mankind, the race that he envied, and,
from envy to whom, he rebelled against God, to be indeed like the
Most High, to a personal union with the eternal Son of God, and
504 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
exalted him in this union to proper divine honour and dignity,
set him at his own right hand on his own throne, and committed
to him proper divine power and authority, constituting him as
God man, the supreme, absolute, and universal Lord of the uni-
verse, and Judge of every creature, the darling of the whole
creation, the brightness of God's glory, and express image of his
person ; as, in his divine nature, he is the Natural Image of
God. God, in his providence, was pleased thus to show the empti-
ness and vanity of the creature, by suffering the insufficiency of
t'ne highest and most glorious of all creatures, the head and crown
of the whole creation, to appear, by his sudden fall from his glori
ous height into the lowest depih of halefulness, deformity, and
misery. God's design was first to show the creature's emptiness in
itself, and then to fill it with himself in eternal, unalterable full-
ness and glory. To show the emptiness of the creature, the old
creation, or the old heavens and earth, were to go to ruin and
perish, in some sense, or at least all was to be emptied. Great
part of the old creation was actually to sink into total and eternal
perdition, as fallen angels and some of fallen men, all mankind
was in a sense to be totally ; though some of them were to be re
stored, after they had sensibly been emptied of themselves. And
though the highest heaven never was to be destroyed, yet, before
it should have its consummate and immutable glory, the highest
and most glorious part of it was to perish, and a considerable
part of the glorious heavenly inhabitan(.s, and the rest were here-
by to be brought to see their own emptiness and utter insufficien-
cy, and so as it were to perish or die as to self-dependence and all
self-fullness, and to be brought to an entire dependence on the
sovereign grace and all-sufficiency of God to be communicated to
them by his Son as their head. And thus the whole old creation,
both heaven and earth, as to all its natural glory and creature-
fullness, was to be pulled down ; and thus, way was to be made for
the creation of the new heavens and new earth, or the setting
forth of the whole elect universe in its consummate, everlasting,
immutable, glory in the fullness of God, in a great, most conspi-
cuous, immediate, and universal dependence on his power and
sovereign grace, and also on the glorious ajiid infinitely excellent na-
ture and essence of God, as the infinite T'luitain of glory and love ;
the beholding and enjoying of which, and union with which, be-
ing the elect creature's all in all, all its strength, all its beauty, all
its life, its fruit, its honour, its blessedness.
Coral. I. From the last paragraph. This may show us the
necessity of a work of Humiliation in men as the necessity of
man's being emptied of himself in order to a partaking of the
benefits of the new creation, and the redemption of Jesus Christ.
FALL OF THE ANGELS. 505
Corol. II. This shows that even the elect angels have their eter-
nal life in a way of Humiliation, and also dependence on sove-
reign grace, as well as elect men, though not the same sort of hu-
miliation and dependence in all respects.
To show the emptiness of all creatures in themselves, the ruin
of the creation began in heaven, in the very best and highest part
of the creation, and in the highest creature in it, the crown and
glory of the whole creation ; because it was the will of God that
a mere creature should not be the head of the creation, but a di-
vine person, and that he should be the crown and glory of the
creation. Heaven was the first of the creation that was subject
to ruin, and it shall be the last part that shall be renewed or
amended by a new creation. There are two parts of the creation
connected with the work of redemption; one is the world of man,
and that is this visible world ; and the other is the world of an-
gels, and that is heaven. The whole is to be changed : the for-
mer shall be destroyed, because all men fell, and only an elect
number are saved out of it ; the other shall not be destroyed, be-
cause all the angels did not fall, those that stood supported it, a
blessing was left in it, and therefore God said, Destroy it not, and
therefore the change that is to be made in that is to be of a con-
trary nature to destruction ; it is to be made infinitely more glori-
ous by a new creation. And therefore God's dealings with re-
spect to the world of angels, are contrary to his dealings with
the world of men. The world of men is to be destroyed, and
therefore, elect men are taken out of it, and carried into the
world of angels, and reprobate men left in it to perish and sink
with it. The world of angels is not to be destroyed, but renewed
and glorified ; and therefore, reprobate angels are taken out of it,
and cast into the world of men, and elect angels are kept in it, to
be renewed and glorified with it.
Because God's design was to show the emptiness of the crea-
ture, and its exceeding insufficiency, therefore God suffered both
angels and men quickly to fall, and the old creation quickly to go
to ruin.
Some may be ready to think it to be incredible, and what the
wisdom of the Creator would not suffer, that the most glorious of
all his creatures should fall and be eternally ruined, or that it
should be so that the elect angels, those tliat are beloved of God,
should none of them be of equal strength and largeness of capa-
city with the devil. To this I would say,
1. That the man Christ Jesus that is exalted into the place of
Lucifer in heaven, though he be of a rank of creatures of a na-
ture far inferior in capacity to that of the angels, and especially
far below the highest of all the angels, yet God can, and hath ex-
506 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
alted that little worm of littleness and weakness to an immensely
greater capacity, dignity, and glory, than Lucifer ever had.
2. God can reward the elect angels that originally are inferior
to Lucifer, and can increase their capacity and strength ; and
there is no reason to think but that he has rewarded, or will re-
ward, elect angels, as well as elect men, with a great exaltation of
their nature. And probably Christ did, at his ascension, exalt
the natures of some of them at least, so as to exceed all that ever
Lucifer had. It seems probable, by Rev. xx. at the beginning ;
and probably at the day of judgment, the natures of all the an-
gels will be so exalted as to be above the devil in capacity.
Seeing that this was the case with the devil, that before his fall
he was the head of the creation, the captain and prince of the
angels, and had some kind of superintendency over the whole uni-
verse, and seeing his sin was his pride, and affecting to be like
the Most High, no wonder that he seeks to reign as god of this
world, and affects to be worshipped as God.
That the devil so restlessly endeavours to set up himself in this
world, and maintain his dominion here, and to oppose God, and
fight against him to the procuring his own continual disappoint-
ment and vexation, and to work out bis own misery, and at last to
bring on his own head his own greatest torment, his everlasting
and consummate misery, is the fruit of a curse that God has laid
him under for his first ambition, and envy, and opposition to God
in heaven. He is therefore made a perfect slave to those lusts
that reign over him, and torment him, and will pull down on him
eternal destruction.
[939] Occasion of the fall of the angels. We cannot but sup-
pose that it was made known to the angels, at their first creation,
that they were to be ministering spirits to men, and to serve the
Son of God in that way, by ministering to them as those that were
peculiarly beloved of him, because this was their proper business
for which they were made ; this was the end of their creation. It
is not to be supposed that seeing they were intelligent creatures,
that were to answer the end of their beings as voluntary agents,
or as willingly falling in with the design of their Creator, that
God would make them, and not make known to them what they
were made for, when he entered into covenant with them, and
established the conditions of their eternal happiness, and espe-
cially when they were admiring spectators of the creation of this
beloved creature for whose good they were made, and this visible
world that God made for his habitation. Seeing God made the
angels for a special service, it is reasonable to suppose that the
faithfulness of the angels in that special service must be the condi-
tion of their reward or wages ; and if this was the great condition
FALL OF THE ANGELS. 507
of their reward, then we may infer that it was their violating this
law, and refusing and failing of this condition, which was that by
which they fell. Hence we may infer, that the occasion of their
fall was God^s revealing this their end and special service to them,
and their not complying ivith it. That must be the occasion of
their fall.
CoROL. Confirination of the angels at Christ's ascension.
Hence it is rendered exceedingly probable that the angels were
not confirmed till Christ's ascension. For, by what has been
now said, it appears that the proper condition of their reward or
wages must be their faithfidness in that special service for which
God made them, or which was the end of their being ; but that
was to be ministering spirits to Christ in the great work of his
exalting and glorifying beloved mankind. But the angels had
not any great opportunity to do this business till this work of
Christ's glorifying mankind had been carried on considerably in
the world, nor had they the proper and chief trial whether they
would submit to that service of being subservient to Christ in the
work of redemption of fallen men, till that work of redemption
was wrought, and Christ had gone through his humiliation, and
it was seen whether they would submit to serve, obey, and adore
their appointed Head and King in his abject meanness, and
when set at nought and abased to hell for beloved, though sinful,
vile men.
[i057] Occasion of the fall of the angels. How it is agreea-
ble to the opinions of many divines that their refusing to be mi-
nistering spirits to beings of inferior rank, and to be subject to
Jesus Christ in our nature, when the design of his incarnation
was first revealed in heaven, and how that as man he was to be
the head of the angels ; see Mr. Charles Owen's Wonders of
Redeeming Love, p. 74, &-c. in our young people's librar}'. See
also Mr. Glass's Notes on Scripture Texts, Num. 3, p. 1 — 7.
[1261] Occasion of the fall of the angels. Ii is supposed by
some, and very rationally and probably by Zanchius, whom I ac-
count the best of protestant writers in his judgment, and likewise
by Suarez, the best of the school-men, that upon the very setting
up, or at least upon the first notice that the angels had of the set-
ting up of a kingdom for the man Christ Jesus, predestinated for
to come, (and this, whether it was without the fall predestinated
as some suppose, or upon supposition of the fall as others, yet so
much might be revealed to them,) and of the divine purpose that the
human nature wasto be assumed by, and united to, the second person
of the Trinity, and that he was to be the head of all principality and
power, and that angels and men should have their grace from him ; it
is supposed, I say, that on this being declared to be the will of God,
that the rejection of this kingdom on the part o( many of the an-
503 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
gels, and their refusing to be subject unto Christ, as man thus as-
sumed, was their first sin. And now in opposition hereunto they
did set up another kingdom against him. Thus those writers
whom I have mentioned do think; and they allege that place in
the Epistle of Jude, ver. 6, where, the sin of the angels being
described, it is said they kept not their first estate, but left their
own habitation, (which, sa}' the}', is not there brought in as their
punishment,) they left the station God had set them in, and they
left their dwelling in heaven to set up a kingdom here below in
opposition to Christ, and so to have an independent kingdom of
themselves ; for which God hath condemned them into eternal tor-
ments, and to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness; to
be reserved untnjudgment, 2 Peter ii. 4. And to set up this great
kingdom is their business, and therefore they do now associate
themselves together, not out of love, but as becometh rational crea-
tures that would drive on a project and design. These writers not
only go upon this place in Jude, but on that in John viii.
44, where Christ lays open both the devil's sin, and the sin of the
Jews. The sin of the Jews was this, they would not'receive that
truth which Christ had delivered to them, as he tells them, ver. 45,
*' Because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not;" and not re-
ceiving it, they sought to kill him. Now, if you ask what that
truth was which Christ had so much inculcated upon them, you
shall see, ver. 25, what it is. They asked him there. Who he was;
*' -Even the same," saith he, " that I have told you from the be-
guining. The Messiah, the Son of God. If the Son make
•you free, you shall be free indeed," ver 36. This was the great
truth that thesie Jews would not receive. Now he tells them,
likewise, ver. 44, that Satan, their father, the devil, abode not
in the truth. " He was the first, saith he, that opposed and con-
tradicted this great truth, and would not be subject to God who
revealed this, nor would he accept, or embrace, or continue, or
stand; he would quit heaven first; and so from hence come to be
a murderer, a hater of this man Christ Jesus, and of this king-
dom, and of mankind. For he that hateth God, or he that hat-
eth Christ, he is, in what in him lieth, a murderer of him, and he
showed it in falling upon man. And they back it with this rea-
son, why it should be so meant, because, otherwise the de-
vil's sin which he compares them to, had not been so great as
theirs. There had not been a likeness between the sin of the one
and that of the other ; his sin would have been only telling a lie,
a lie merely in speech, and theirs had been a refusing that great
truth, Jesus Christ is the Messiah and Head; and so the
devil's sin would have been less than theirs. Whereas he is made
the great father of this great lie, of this great stubbornness to
receive Christ, and to contradict this truth; and this, saith he, he
THE OEVIL. BQ^
hath opposed from the beginning with nil his might, and he set-
teth your hearts at work to kill me. But I say I will not stand
upon this, because I only deliver it as that which is the opinion of
so(ne, and hath some probability. However, this is certain,
whatsoever his sin was, he hath now, being fallen, set up his king-
dom in a special manner against Christ ; and so Christ hath been
the great stumbling-stone, and angels fall upon it, and men fall
upon it. So that indeed the first quarrel was laid in this ; God
himself proclaimed it at the very beginning. " The seed of the
woman shall bruise the serpent's head;" which, though spoken
to the serpent, comes in by way of curse, as striking at the very
spirit of the devil's sin. " He shall break thy head," saith he.
*• Thou wouldest have lifted up thyself. He shall crush thee."
God, I say, proclaimed the war, and the quarrel hath continued
from the beginning of the world to this day, and will do, till Sa-
tan be put out of the air, for so long he is to have his kingdom,
though Christ beateth him out of it every day in the world, and
so will continue to d(» till he hath won the world from him, and
then he will chain him up in the bottomless pit. This from Dr.
Goodwin, vol. 1 of his works, part ii. p. 32, 33.
[1266] Fall of the angels. The same Dr. Goodwin, in the
2d vol. of his works, in his Discourse on the Knowledge of God
the Father, and of his Son Jesus Christ, speaking of the pride
of some, has these words : " A lower degree of accursed pride fell
into the heart of the devil himself, whose sin in his first apostatiz-
ing from God, is conceived to be a stomaching that man should
be one day advanced unto the hypostical union, and be one per-
son with the Son of God, whose proud angelical nature (then in
actual existence, the highest of creatures,) could not brook."
THE DEVIL.
[48] Seeing the devil is so cunning and subtil, it may seem a
paradox why he will endeavour to frustrate the designs of an Om-
niscient Being, or to pretend to controvert him that is omnipo-
tent, and will not sufier any thing but what is for his own glory,
seeing that God turns every thing he does to the greater and
more illustrious advancement of his own honour. And seeing he
has experience of it, for so lonsc a time, all his deep laid contri-
vances have at last come out to his own overthrow, and the work
has been directly contrary to his design. To this I say, that al-
though the devil be exceeding craftv and subtil, yet he is one of
the greatest fools and blockheads in the world, as the subtilest of
wicked men are. Sin is of sM«h a nature, that it strangely infatu-
VOL. viii. C5
510 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
ates and stultifies the mind. Men deliberately choose eternal tor-
ments rather than miss of their pleasure of a few days; and to
esteem a little silver and gold above eternal happiness, makes men
choose a few minutes pleasure, though eternal misery be joined
thereunto, rather than not have it; this do the cunningest of
wicked men. Sin has the same effect on the devils to make them
act like fools, and so much the more as it is greater in them than
in others. The devil acts here according to his deliberate judg-
ment, being driven on to his own inexpressible torment by the fury
of sin, malice, revenge, and pride, and is so entirely under the
government of malice, that although he never attempted any thing
against God but he was disappointed, yet he cannot bear to be
quiet and refrain from exercising himself with all his might and
subtilty against the increase of holiness ; though, if he consider-
ed, he might know that it will turn to its advantage.
[296] Devils. — It is probable one reason why men have the
offer of a Saviour, and the devils never had, was because their
sin was attended with that malice, and spite, and haughty scorn-
fulness that was equivalent to that sin against the Holy Ghost.
Their sin was a downright spiteful rebellion, and a direct mali-
cious war against God, a scorn of subjection, and a proud seek-
ing of his throne.
[353] Angels. — The fall and misery of the rebel angels con-
tributes exceedingly to the happiness of the faithful angels; it
greatly exalts and gives life to their joy, their love, and admira-
tion, and praise ; not, however, by any pleasure they take in
their misery, but by seeing the miserable slate of those of the
same kind, from whom they are distinguished by God's electing
love, which leads them to reflect what evil they have escaped, by
withstanding the temptation of the chief of the rebel angels.
CONFIRMATION OF THE ANGELS.
[442] See Angels.
[515] The fall of the angels that fell, was a great establish-
ment and confirmation to the angels that stood. They resisted a
great temptation by which the rest fell, whatever that temptation
was, and they resisted the entreaties of the ringleaders which
drew away multitudes: and the resisting and overcoming great
temptation naturally tends greatly to confirm in righteousness.
And probably they had been engaged on God's side in resisting
those that fell when there was war and rebellion raised in heaven
against God. All the hosts of heaven soon divided, some on one
CONFIRMATION OF THE ANGELS. 511
side, and some on the other, and standing for God in opposition
and war against those that are his enemies, naturally tended to
confirm their friendship to God ; and then they saw the dreadful
issue of the fallen angels' rebellion, how much it was to their loss;
they saw how dreadful the wrath of God was, which tended to
make them dread rebellion, and sufficiently careful to avoid it.
They now learnt more highly to prixe God's favour by seeing the
dreadfulnessof his displeasure; they now saw more of the beauty
of holiness, now they had the deformity of sin to compare it with.
But when tiieir time of probation was at an end, and they had
the reward of certain confirmation by having eternal life abso-
lutely made certain to them, is in some degree uncertain. How-
ever, there are many things that make it look exceedingly proba-
ble to me, that whenever this was done, it was through the Son of
God, that he was the immediate dispenser of this reward, and that
they received it of the Father through him.
1. We have shown before, in No. 320, that it was in contempt
of the Son of God that those of them that fell, rebelled ; it was
because they would not have one in the human nature to rule over
them. How congruous, therefore, is it, that those that stood
should be dependent on him for their reward of confirmation in
contempt of whom the others had rebelled. It was congruous
that Christ, who was despised and rejected by a great number of
the angels, should become the foundation upon which the rest
should be built for eternal life, Ps. cxviii. 22, " The stone which
the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner."
That God should thus honour his Son in the sight of the an-
gels, who had been thus contemned by the angels that fell in their
sight, this makes it seem probable to me that the time of their
confirmation was when Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; for,
First. It was Jesus Christ in the human nature, that was despis-
ed and rejected by the rebelling angels. It was congruous, there-
fore, that it should be Jesus Christ in the human nature that should
confirm them that stood.
Secondly. It was also congruous that their confirmation should
be deferred till that time, that before they were confirmed they
might have a thorough trial of their obedience in that particular,
wherein the rebelling angels were guilty, viz. in their submission
to Jesus Christ in the human nature. It was congruous therefore
that their confirmation should be deferred till they had actually
submitted to Christ in man's nature as their King, as they had
opportunity to do when Christ in man's nature ascended into
heaven.
Thirdly. It seems very congruous that this should be reserved
to be part of Christ's exaltation. We often read of Christ's be-
ing set over the angels when he ascended, and set at the right hand
512 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS*
of God, and of his being then made head of all principality,
and power, th^t then all things were put under his feet, that
then God the Father said " Ii<it all the angels of God worship
him." It was very congruous that Christ should have this ho-
nour immediately after such grear humilration and sufferings.
Fourthly. It was fit that the angels should be contirmed after
they had seen Christ in the flesh, for this was the greatest trial
of the angels' obedience that ever was. If the other angels re-
belled only at its being foretold that such an one in man's na-
ture shouKl rule over them, if that was so great a trial that so
many mighty angels fell in it ; how great a trial was it when
they actually saw a poor, obscure, despised, afilicted man, one
whom they had just seen so mocked, and spit upon, and cruci-
fied, and put to death like a vile malefactor I This was a great
trial to those thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers,
those mighty, glorious, and exalted, spirits, whether or no they
would submit to such an one for their sovereign Lord and
King.
It was also very fit that God should honour the day of the
ascension, and glorious exaltation of his Son, which was a day
of such joy to Christ, with joining with it such an occasion of
joy to the angels as the reception of their reward (»f eternal life :
that when Christ rejoiced, who had lately endured so much sor-
row, the heavenly hosts might rejoice with him.
Object. I. It may be objected, That it was a long time for the
Angels to be kept in a state of trial from the beginning of the
world till the ascension of Christ, but there might very fitly be
a longer time of trial for those mighty spirits than for others.
Object. II. That the angels could not enjoy quiet and un-
disturbed happiness for all that while, if they were all the
time unconfirmed, and did not certainly know that they should
not fall.
I answer there was no occasion for any distressing fears,
for they never could be guilty of rebellion without knowing,
when they were going to commit it, that it was rebellion, and
that thereby they should forfeit eternal life, and expose them-
selves to wrath by the terror of God's covenant; and they
could not fall, but it must be their voluntary act; and they had
perfect freedom of mind from any lust ; and they had been
sufficiently warned, and greatly confirmed when the angels
fell, so that there was a great probability that they should not
fall, though God had not yet declared and promised absolutely
that they should not : they were not absolutely certain of it ;
this was an occasion of joy reserved for the joyful and glorious
day of Christ's ascension.
CONFIRMATION OF THE ANGELS. 513
Fifthly. The angels are now confirmed, and have been
since Christ's ascension.
I. For Christ, since he appeared in the flesh, gathered to-
gether, and united into one society, one family, one hody, all
the angels and spirits in heaven, and the rhurch on earth.
IVow it is not to be supposed that part of tliis hody are in a
confirmed state, and part still in a state of probation. But,
II. The second argument that the angels are confirmed by
Christ, is, that we learn by scri|)ture that Christ is the head of
the angels, and that the angels are united to him as part of
his body, which holds forth that he is not only their head of
government^ but their head of communication too. Christ is
therefore the head, from whence the angels receive communi-
cation of good: but how well doth this agree with their re-
ceiving their reward of obedience from himf God in making
Christ head of angels and men, hath made him his dispenser
of his benefits to all universally. It is therefore most probable
that he, who now dispenses the blessings of the angels' reward
to them, is he from whom they first received that reward ; that
God bestowed it upon them at first through his hands. And this
also confirms that the time of the angels' confirmation was at
Christ's ascension ; for then was he made the Head of the
angels, then were all things put under his feet.
HI. It is most congruous that that person who is to judge the
angels, who shall publicly declare the unalterable condemnation
of those that fell, and also shall publicly declare the unalterable
confirmation of those that stood, should be the same person
who acted the part of a Judge before, when they were first con-
firmed. He ;that is the Judge of the angels at the last day,
publicly before heaven, earth, and hell, to confirm them, is
probably the same person who was their judge when they were
first confirmed in heaven. The Father hath committed nil
judgment to the Son, and this he did to Christ God man; for
the committing all judgment to him was done at Christ's first
exaltation, and the first fruits of it was probably his confirming
the angels, as their Judge.
IV. Christ's being called " the tree of life, that groweth in
the midst of the paradise of God," Rev. ii. 7. If we consider
the use of the tree of life that grew in the midst of the earthly
paradise, it was to confirm man in life in case of obedience. If
he had stood, he was to have received the reward in that way,
by eating the fruit of that tree. Christ, being the liee of life
in the heavenly paradise, is so to all the inhabitants of that
paradise,
[570] Confirmation of angels. We learn by the first chap, of
Coloss. 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 2(hh verses, that it was the
514 • MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
desiirn of the Father, that l>is Son should have the pre-eminence
in all things, not only with respect to men, but with respect to
angels — thrones, dominions, principalities and powers; and
there are some things there mentioned, wherein he has the pre-
eminence, viz. that they were created by him and for him, and
that they consist by him, and that every creature has all fullness
in him. Why then hath not Christ the pre-eminence with re-
spect to the angels, as lie is the dispenser of God's benefits to
them, so that the}' should have all fullness in him ; and particu-
larly that the gift of eternal life should be from his hands? One
thing mentioned, wherein God's will that his Son in all things
should have the pre-eminence, and that all fullness should dwell
in him, is, that by him, he reconciles all things to him, whether
they be things in heaven or things on earth. If this be under-
stood only to extend to men ; yet, if it be one thing wherein
God wills that his Son should in all things have the pre-emi-
nence, and that all fullness should dwell in him, that it is by
him that men are brought to an union with God ; why would it
not be another, that by him the angels also are brought to their
confirmed union with him, when it is plainly implied in what
the apostle says, that it is the Father's design that Christ should
in all things have the pre-eminence with respect to the angels as
well as with respect to men, and that both angels and men
should have all their fullness in him ? If they have the'iv fullness
in him, 1 do not see how it can be otherwise than that they
should have their reward and eternal life and blessedness in
him.
Again, it i§ said, 1 Cor. viii. 6, that all things are of God
the Father, and all things bij Jesus Christ. God gave the angels
their being by Jesus Christ; and I do not see why this would
not be another instance of all things being bi/ him that he gives
them their eternal life by Jesus Christ. This very thing giving
eternal life, is one instance of men^s being by him, and is in-
tended in those words that follow, "and we by him."
[591] Confirmation of the angels. It is an argument that it
was Christ that confirmed the angels, and adjudged to them
their reward ; that this was an act of judgment ; was the pro-
per act of a juJge, whereby judgment was passed, whether
they had fuUfilled the law or no, and were worthy of the reward
of it by the tenor of it. But l^^hrist is constituted Universal
Judge of all, both angels and men. John v. 22. " For the Fa-
ther judgeth none, but hath committed all judgment to the
Son;" and Christ is not only constituted the judge of men, but
of angels. 1 Cor. vi. 3. " Know ye not that we shall judge
angels .^" If this be meant oidy of the evil angels, yet that
shows that Christ's power of judging is extended beyond man-
CONFIRMATION OF THE ANGELS. 5 IS
kind to the angelic nature ; and if he be constituted the Judge
of the evil angels, that will confirm me that he is of the good too,
as he is the Judge of both good and bad of mankind, and
Christ lells us that all power is given him in heaven and in earthy
Matth. xxviji. J8. And we are ofren particularly told as to the
good angels that he is made their Lord and Sovereign, and that
they are put under him. The apostle, in Romans xiv. verses
10, 11, and 12, speaking of Christ's being universal Judge, be-
fore whose judgmenl-seat all must stand, and to whom all must
give an account, speaks of it as meant by those words in the
Old Testament, "As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall
bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God ;" which'place
of the Old Testament the apostle refers to iii Philip, ii. 9, 10,
11, " Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given
him a name above every name, That at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and tilings in earth,
and things under the earth, and that every tongue should con-
fess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
And these things are spoken of Christ, as God man ; for in this
last mentioned place, it is mentioned as the reward of his being
found in fashion as a man, and humbling himself, and in that
other place, and in the place in Romans, his being univer-
sal Judge, and every knee bowing to him, and every tongue
confess! nil to him, is spoken of him as God man ; for it is said
that he " died, rose, and revived," that he might have this ho-
nour and authority. So in John v. at the 27th ver. it is said
that the Father hath given him authority to execute judgment
also, because he is the Son of God : So that if he has acted the
j)art of a Judge, towards the elect angels, it must be since his
incarnation : And we know that he is to judge angels at the last
day as God man.
Coral. I. Hence Christ is the tree of life in the heavenly para-
dise, to all the inhabitants of it. if our first parents had stood
in their obedience, and were found meet for their reward of
eternal life ; then they were to be brought to the tree of life,
and were to receive it from that tree, by eating the fruit of it,
as the eternal life was the fruit of that tree. Thus it is in the
earthly paradise, the dwelling place of men. And there was
also a Tree of life in the heavenly paradise, the dwelling place
of angels. When they had stood in their obedience, and were
looked upon of God meet lor the reward of eternal life, they
were brought to Jesus, to receive the reward at his hands,
which they in God's account especinlly become worthy of by their
being willing to be suhject to him as God man, and being wil-
ling to depend on him as their absolute Lord and supreme
Jud"re.
516 iflSCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
Carol. II. Here we may observe the wonderful analogy there
is in God's dispensations towards angels and men.
Coral. III. Here we may take notice of the manifold wisdom
of God ; what glorious and wonderful ends are accomplisiied by
the same events in heaven, earth, and hell, as particulnrly by those
dispensations of Providence in Christ's incarnation, death, and ex-
altation. How manifold are the wise designs that are carried on
in different worlds by the turning of one wheel !
Corol. IV. Here we may observe how the affairs of the Church
on earth, and of the blessed Assembly of heaven are linked toge-
ther. When the joyful times of the gospel began on earth, which
began with Christ's exaltation, then joyful times began also in
heaven among the angels there, and by the same means. When
we have such a glorious occasion given us to rejoice, they have
an occasion given them. So long as the church continued under
a legal dispensation, so long the angels continued under law ;
for since their confirmation, the angels are not under law, as is
evident by what I have said in my Notes on Gal. v. 18. So
doubtless at the same time there was a great addition to the hap-
piness of the separate spirits of the saints, of which the resur-
rection of many of them at Christ's resurrection is an argu-
ment. And in the general, when God gradually carries on the
designs of grace in this world, by accomplishing glorious things
in the church below, there is a new occasion of joy and glory to
ihe church in heaven ; thus the matter is represented in John's
Revelations, and it is fit that it should be thus, seeing they are
one family.
[744] Confirmation of the angels hy Jesus Christ. That Christ
in his ascension into heaven, gave to the angels the reward of
eternal life, or of confirmed immutable liappiness, may be argued
from Eph. iv. 10. " He that descended, is the same also that as-
cended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things,
i. e. all things not only on the face of earth, but all things
in the world where he dwelt before he descended into the lower
parts of tlie earth, as in the foregoing verse : all things in the
iower parts of the earth whither he descended, and all things in
heaven. By " all things,^'' agreeabh' to the apostle's wav of using
such an expression, is meant all persons or intelligent beings, as in
Philip, ii. 9, 10, "Wherefore God hatli highly exalted him, and
given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of
Jesus every every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things
in earth, and things under the earth ;" as there, so here, the apos-
tle is speaking of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth, as appears by comparing this with the foregoing
verse ; and the apostle there in Philippians mentions these three,
as therein enumerating all things whatsoever ; for certainly, what-
CONFIRMATION OF THE ANGELS. 51T
ever things there are, they must be either in heaven, or in the
earth, or under the earth ; and doubtless by all things there, that
are spoken of as being included in these three, is intended the
same with all things spoken of here, as included in the same three
divisions of the universe. But it is evident, that by things there,
is nwMxM persons, or iyiltUigent creatures: it is certainly they who
shall bovv the knee to hiu), and whose tongues shall confess to
him. And as there, God is said highly to have exalted Christ,
and to have given him a name above every name, i. e. above the
highest angels in heaven, as well as above the highest prince
upon earth ; so here, he is said to have ascended up far above all
heavens, or aI)ove the highest part of heaven, and therefore, above
the seat of the highest angel, tliat he might fdl alliiniversaUy, the
highest as well as the lowest, that all might depend on him and
receive their fullness from him. By things in heaven, in that
place in Philippians, and so doubtless here, is meant the angels ;
and by things in earth, is m^MuX. elect men living on earth; and by
things under the earth, or in the lower parts of the earth, is meant
the souls of departed saints, whose tjodies are gone under the earth,
and especially the saints that vere dead and buried before Christ
came, or before Christ descended into the loner parts of the earth.
Christ died and was buried, that he might fill those that were
dead and buried. Rom. xiv. 9. " For to this end Christ both
died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the
dead and oUhe living^ That by things or creatures under the earth,
is meant souls of buried saints, and not devils and damned souls in
hell, is manifest from Rev. v. 13. " And every creature which ig
in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are
in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I, saying, Blessing, and
houour, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." This would not
be said of devils and wicked, damned souls, who are far from thus
praising and extolling God and Christ with such exultation: in-
stead of that, they are continually blaspheming them.
And again ; by all things, is meant a/l elect intelligent creatures :
Eph. i. 10. " That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he
might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are
in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him." And if he
means all intelligent elect creatures tiiert^, by all things in heaven
and earth, doubtless he also does, when he speaks of all things in
heaven and on the earth, and the lower parts of the earth, in tiiis
iv. chap, of the same Epistle, where he is treating of the same
thing, viz. the glory of Christ's exaltation. So again, Colos. i.
20, " And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by
him to reconcile all things to fiimself, by him, I say, whether they
be things in earth, or things in heaven. In these two places last
VOL. vill. G6
518 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
referred to, are mentioned only things in heaven and things in
earth. Those, which in those other places are called things un-
der the ear' h, being here ranked among things in heaven, because
their souls are in heaven, though their bodies are in the lower
parts of the earth.
Christ is said to have descended and ascended, that he might
fill all things not only in earth and under the earth, but in the
highest heavens. Now by his filling all things, or all elect crea-
tures, according'to tiie apostle's common use of such un expres-
sion, must be undevstood filling than with life, and the enjoyment
of their proper good — giving them blessedness, and perfecting their
blessedness — making them complete in a happy state; as in the iii.
chap, of this Epistle, 19 verse, " And to know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge, that ye might he filled loith all the full-
ness oi God.'' ^ Colos. ii. 10. " Ye are cow/>/t'^e in him." Rom.
xi. 12. " Now if the fall of them be the riches of the Gentiles,
how much more ihe'iv fidlness P^ So that when we are are put in
mind that Christ, who dwelt once on the earth, descended into
the lower parts of the earth, and then ascended far above all
heavens, that he imght fill all things, the meaning is, that Christ
came down from heaven and dwelt among us on the earth ; the
word was made flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth ;
that we m\ghi partake of his fullness, and might he made happy
by him and in him, agreeably to John i. 14. 16. " And the word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth, and of his fullness have all we received, and grace for
grace;" and then Christ descended into the K)wer parts of the
earth in a state of death, that he might bless those that were in a
state of death ; agreeably to Rom. xiv. 9. '* For to this end
Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord
both of the dead and of the living." So we read, that when he
died, the graves of many saints were opened, and that many bo-
dies of saints that slept arose aud came out of their graves after
his resurrection, and went into the Holy City and appeared unto
many ; and then Christ ascended into heaven, and fdled them, be-
stowing eternal life and blessedness upon them, that the angels in
heaven might all receive the reward of confirmed and eternal
glory from him and in !)i.n.
That Christ, at his ascension into heaven, thus filled the angels
of heaven, is also plainly taught in the last verse of the first chap-
ter of this Epistle, " V\ hich is his body, the fullness of liim that
filleth all in all.''^ The apostle here has a special respect to his
filling the angels, and particularly to their being subjected to him
to receive their fullness from him as their head and as their Lord,
at his ascension ; for he in those foregoing verses is speaking of
CONFIRMATION OF THE ANGELS. 619
Christ's beinff made the Lord and head of the angels at his as-
cension, " Which he wrout^ht in Christ when he raised him from
the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion,
and every name that is named, not only in this world, but tliat
which is to come, and haih put all things under his feet, and given
him to be head over ail things to the church."' By all things, is
here meant, as in the verse we are upon, especially all intelligent
creatures, men and angels, as in that verse in the iv. chap, that we
are upon. God has given him to be head over the angels to the
church; agreeably to Heb, i. 14; " Are they not all ministering
spirits, sent forth to minister to them that shall be the heirs of sal-
vation ?" The same all things that Christ is here said to be made
head over, he is said in the next verse to Jill. By this it appears,
that the angels at Christ's ascension received their fullness, i. e.
their whole reward, all their confirmed life and eternal blessedness
from Christ, as their Judge, because they received ii from him as
their Lord, or head of government ; for they are said to be put un-
der his feet, and also that they received it ill him as the fountain of
communication. He did not only adjudge it to them, but he gives
■ it"to them, and they possess it as united to him in a constant de-
pendence on him, and have that more full enjoyment of God than
they before had, as beholding God's glory in his face, and as en-
joying God in him ; for he is here spoken of not only as their
Lord, but their Head, as a natural head to a body, as appears by
comparing the two last verses together.
This is confirmed again by the 10th verse, " That in the dis-
pensation of tiie fullness of times he might gather together in one
all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on
earth, even in him." The apostle adds, even in him, at the end of
the verse, because it migiit seem wonderful that not only things
on earth, but even things in heaven, or the angels, should be ga-
thered together in him, who was one that existed in the huniaa
nature. By gathering together in one, is meant making happy to-
gether in one head, or uniting all in one fountain of life and hap-
piness ; as appears by John xvii. 20, 21, 22, 23.
The same thing is taught again in Colos. ii. 9, 10. " For in
him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are
complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power."
What is rendered complete in him, in the original properly signifies
filled up, or filled full, in him. He is he in whom all thefidlness
of the Godhead dwells, and in whom the creature receives that
fullness ; and he is the head of communication whence ye receive
fullness, or in whom ye are filled full, who is the same person, who
is also the head, in whom the angels receive their fullness, as it is
added, " who is the head of all principality and power,"
520 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
Tills is very agreeable to what the npostle says, Colos. i. 18,
19, *' And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the be-
ginning, the first-born from the dead, that in all things he might
have the pre-eminence, for it pleased the Father that in him all
fullness should dwell." By this it appears that it was the design
of God so to exalt and glorify his Son, that all his intelligent
creatures should in every thing be after him, inferior to him, sub-
ject to him, and dependent on him, and should have all their full-
ness, all their supplies from him, and in him ; especially if we
compare this verse with the context, and with many other places
in the New Testament.
Tliat the angels have their fullness, or their eternal good and
happiness, not only from the hands of Christ, but also in him as
the head and fountain of it, and as enjoying God in him, and that
they have their confirmation in and by him, is confirmed in Christ's
being called angels' food. The Psalmist, speaking of manna,
says, Ps. Ixxviii. 2G, " Man did eat angels' food;" which can be
understood no otherwise than that that, of which manna was the
type, was angels' food ; but tliis Christ tells us is himself, in John
vi. 31, 32. There Christ tells us that that bread from heaven
spoken of in this very place in the Ixxviii. Psalm, is himself; for
the Jews quote the beginning of this passage, that is, the verse
immediately preceding in the psalm, ver. 31. "Our fathers did
eat manna in the wilderness, as it is written, he gave them bread
from heaven to eat;" and then we have Christ's answer in the two
next verses, " Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; (i. e.
//m^ bread from heaven spoken of in that place that you cite,) but
my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven ; for theltread of
God is he which coineth down, and giveth life unto the world."
Christ is called the tree of life that grows in the midst of the pa-
radise of God, but we know that the use of the tree of life in pa-
radise was that they that ate of that fruit might have confirmed
life, and never die, but live for ever. And the same is signified
by Christ's being called, in the vi. chap, of John, the bread of
life, viz. that he that eats of this bread should have confirmed life,
and not die, but live for ever, as Christ himself there teaches, ver.
48, Sic. " I am the bread of life ; your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die ; I am
the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one (for
so the original signifies) eat of this bread, he shall live for ever."
But we are taught from the forementioned place that it is the an-
gels' bread of life as well as ours, and therefore it is that bread by
which they have eternal life, or which they eat of and live for
ever, and is a tree of life to them as well as to us, a tree, the fruit
whereof they eat and live for ever as well as we.
CONFIRMATION OF THE ANGELS. 521
Corol. I. Here we may lake occasion to observe the sweet har-
mony that there is between God's dispensations, and particularly
the analogy and agreement there is between his dealings with the
angels and his dealings with mankind ; that though one is inno-
cent and the other guilty, the one having eternal life by a covenant
of grace, the other by a covenant of works, yet both have eternal
life by his Son Jesus Christ God man, and both, though different
ways, by the humiliation and sufferings of Christ; the one as the
price of life, the other as the greatest and last trial of their stead-
fast and persevering obedience. Both have eternal life through
different ways by their adherence, and voluntary submission, and
self-dedication to Christ crucified, and he is made the Lord and
King of both, and head of communication, influence, and enjoy-
ment to both, and a head of confirmation to both ; for as the an-
gels have confirmed life in and by Christ, so have the saints: all
that are united in this head have in him a security of persever-
ance. Thus Christ is the tree of life that groweth in the para-
dise of God to all that bslong to that paradise, and to all that
ever eat of the fruit of that tree. As Adam, if he had persevered
through his trial, would have eat of the fruit of the tree of life,
and after that would have had confirmation and been secure of per-
severance ; so are all that taste of the fruit of this tree, this branch
that grows out of the stem of Jesse, this tender plant and root
out of a dry ground, this branch of the Lord and fruit of the
earth, this bush that God dwells in, this low tree which God ex-
alts. Seeing the saints and angels are formed to be one society
dwelling together as one company to all eternity, it was fit that
they should be thus united in one common head, and that their
greatest interests, and those things that concern their everlasting
happiness should be so linked together, and that they should
have such communion, or common concern in the same great
events in which God chiefly manifests himself to them, and by
which they come to the possession of the eternal reward.
Corol. IL Here also we may observe that God's work from the
beginning of the universe to the end, and in all parts of the universe
appears to be but one. It is all one design carried on, one affair
managed, in all God's dispensations towards all intelligent beings,
viz. the glorifying and communicating himself in and through his
Son Jesus Christ as God man, and by the work of redemption of
fallen man. Those of the angels that fell are destroyed for their
opposition to God in this aflair, and are overthrown, and condemn-
ed, and destroyed by the Redeemer ; those of them that stood,
are confirmed for their submission and adherence to God in this
great affair. So the work of God is one, if we view it in all its
parts; what was done in heaven, and what was done on earth,
and in hell, in the beginning, and since that through all ages,
and what will be done at the end of the world.
522 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERAATIONS.
Corol. III. From this we may see that the angels are interested
in Jesus Christ God man, as well as elect men, and that tlie incar-
nation of Christ was not only for our sakes, (though chiefly for
ours,) but also for the sake of the angels. For God having from
eternity, from his infinite goodness, designed to communicate him-
self to creatures, the way in which he designed to conirnunic le
himself to elect beloved creatures, all of them was to unite him-
self to a created nature, and to becon)e one of the creatures, and
to gather together in one all elect creatures in that creature, whom
he assumed into a personal union with himself, and to manifest to
them, and maintain intercourse with them through him. All crea-
tures having //i/if benefit by Christ's incarnation, that God there-
by is, as it were, come down to them from his infinite height above
them, and Is become a fellow-creature, and all elect creatures here-
by have opportunity for a more free and intimate converse with
God, and full enjoyment of him than otherwise could be. And
though Christ is not the Mediator of the angels in the same sense
that he is of men, yet he is a middle person between God and
them, through whom is all their intercourse with God, and deriva-
tions from him.
Corol. IV. That the person who is the head of all elect crea-
tures, in whom all are gathered together in one, by whom they
all have their eternal fullness and glory, and who is the common
fountain of all their good, and the common medium through
whom God communicates himself to all, is so much nearer to men
than to the angels, confirms it, that the saints are higher in glory
than the angels.
Corol. V. This confirms it that the church, or blessed assem-
bly in heaven, is in a like progressive state, with the church on
earth; for, at the same time that the church in this world was
advanced to a state of new light and glory by the dawning of
the gospel day, the angels in heaven were advanced to a new
state of glory and happiness ; and not only so, but the souls of
the saints thai died under the Old Testament were advanced much
higher in glory, at Christ's resurrection and ascension, for the
text in Eph. iv. 10, teaches that at that time of the manifestation
of Christ God man in this universe, each of those three were ad-
vanced to a state of new blessedness, viz. the church on earth,
and departed souls of saints whose bodies were in the lower parts
of the earth, and also the angels in heaven. He came and dwelt
upon earth among us, and we beheld his glory, and received of
his fullness. When he rose from the dead he begat the church
again to a living ho|>e, as it were, raised the church from the
dead with him, and the church here was advanced to so much
higher glory that her former glory was no glory in this respect
bv reason of the glory that excelleth ; and then descended into
CONFIRMATfOIV OF THE ANGELS. 523
the lower parts of the earth, and filled those that were there — ad-
vanced the souls of departed saints in glory, in becoming Lord
of the dead ; and in token of it, and one instance of it then, was
his granting a resurrection to many of them, whereby the future
glory of the resurrection was in a measure anticifjated. Doubt-
less those saints, that rose with Christ, ascended triumphing with
him into heaven, into new glory and blessedness. These things
confirm that the assembly in heaven has all along been in a like
progressive state with the church on earth, and is in a preparatory
state; and that things there, from the beginning of the world
hitherto have been working" towards a great end, and glorious
issue, and consummation at the end of the world, as it is here.
The church of angels and saints there at first was in a state of
infancy to what it is now, as it was with the church on earth, and
have been brought forward to greater fullness and perfection by
great events of providence, as it has been with the church here;
and things there will arrive at a consummation at the same time,
and in the same great event at the end of the world, that they will
here. The church in heaven was greatly advanced in happiness
at Christ's exaltation, whence commenced the gospel day to the
church in this world ; and so again the cliurch in heaven will re-
ceive another still much higher advancement in glory at the time
of the fall of Antichrist, as appears by several passages in the
book of Kevelations, as abundantly appears. Rev. xviii. 20, and
the nine first verses of the xix. chap., and xx. chap, ver 4. And
both that part of the church that is on earth, and that which is in
heaven, shall at the same time receive their highest advancement
in glory, together with the consummation of Christ's exaltation
at the day of judgment. See No. 777, Corol. 3.
[942] Conjirmalion of the Angels. Befoie that the angels
were confirmed in holiness judicially, so that they were sure of
never failing away, they were first greatly prepared for it by hav-
ing their hearts greatly confirmed in holiness, naturally in some
respect so: i. e. holiness was greatly confirmed by the tendency
and influence of the means Cod used with them to that end. They
were first greatly confirmed by what they saw of evil, the know-
ledge the\' gained of the evil of siij and its punishment in the fall
of the angels, the dreadful ruin that sin brought, and also by what
they saw of their own weakness, and mutability, and insufiiciency
for themselves, and also the distinguishing grace of Christ to them
in preserving them when others fell ; and afterwards by what they
saw in that fall of man, and its consequences, and tlie grace of
God to man, and what they saw in God's dispensations of provi-
dence, in behalf of his church, and against his enemies from age
to age, and by the many trials they had of their obedience through
the age of the Old Testament. But their natural confirmatiou,
524 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
and so their preparation for a judicial confirmation, had its
finishing stroke by what they saw and did in the time of Christ's
humiliation, and above all at the time of his last sufferings.
What came to pass then, did above all other things confirm their
hearts in holiness and ripen their preparation for a judicial con-
firmation, which then was completed, and crowned their prepa-
ration. Their hearts were then confirmed by what they saw
then of God's glory, which had its chief manifestation then,
and what they then saw of the evil and dreadful nature of sin,
which had a much greater manifestation in what Christ did and
suffered for sin, and sinners, than in the sin and punishment of
fallen angels; and in the honour that they saw one so infinitely
great and glorious as Jesus Christ, put upon God's authority
and law, and the hatred he manifested of sin, and his willingly
abasing himself so infinitely to honour God, and promote the
happiness of his little unworthy sinful creatures, and by their
own steadfast, universal, and perfect obedience to God, and
thorough subjection to Christ under such a trial, and in seeing
Christ's exaltation, and the success of such humiliation and obe-
dience as Christ performed, and the infinite benefit of thorough
obedience to God, in great humiliation, and self-denial in what
they saw in Christ.
This confirmation of the hearts of the elect angels, that pre-
pared them for a judical confirmation consisted in the following
things :
1. In the warning they had, or what they saw, to make them
sensible, of the evil nature and dreadful consequences of sin,
and so to caUse them to fear God.
2. In their humiliation, by what they saw to make them sen-
sible of their own emptiness, and insufficiency for themselves,
and dependence on the grace of Christ.
3. In what they saw more of God in the manifestations of
his glorious excellency, and goodness, and grace to them, to in-
crease their love to God and Christ.
4. In the example they had set them of obedience by Christ,
whose obedience was performed by a person infinitely greater
than they, and was performed with such infinite abasement,
and an abasement of a like kind with what was required of
them, (only infinitely greater) viz. abasement in ministering to
so mean and despicable a creature as man ; and in the infinite
love to God, and regard to his authority that was manifested
by that obedience.
5. They had their hearts confirmed in obedience by habit
and custom, having long persevered in perfect obedience, and
having often overcome under trials which they had. And then
besides the natural tendency and influence to confirm their
CONFIRMATION oF THE ANGELS. 525
hearts in holiness that those things had, which came to pass while
they were yet in a stale of preparation for their judicial confirma-
tion. That judicial confirmation itself had also a great natural
tendency to confirm them, as the bestovvment of this infinite re-
ward upon them made manifest God's eternal, electing, distin-
guishing love, and sovereign and infinite grace to them ; and as
ihey hereby receive the sweet and infinitely precious fruit of that
grace and love, which tendency for ever must strongly engage
their hearts to God in love, and to move them with great devoted-
ness now to make an everlasting dedication of themselves to God
and Christ.
[935] Cotifirmation of the angels at Christ's ascension — Pro-
gress of the ivork of redemption. T!ie service of the angels of
heaven was altered after Christ's ascension from what it had been
before, in some analogy to the alteration that was made in the
service of the church on earth. The service of the church on
earth before Christ's ascension, and that establishment of the evan-
gelical dispensation consequent thereupon, was more legal and
mercenary, more from a spirit of bondage, not so free and inge-
nuous; but afterwards when faith as the great condition was more
fully revealed, and God here more clearly revealed the saints' infal-
lible perseverance, the service of the church is more the service of
those that are not under the law, but under grace, from a free spirit,
a spirit of adoption, which is a spirit of love. So the angels till
they were confirmed at Christ's ascension served God more from a
spirit of fear, being yet in probation, and their eternal happiness
or eternal damnation being yet suspended on their perfect obe-
dience not yet completed, their service was more mercenary, but
when Christ ascended, and they were confirmed, thenceforward
their service became more disinterested, and merely the service of
love; being now no longer in a state of probation, but sure of eter-
nal life by the infallible promise of God.
[947] Confirmation of the angels. The service of the angels
will not be at an end till the end of the world, when the work, of
redemption shall be finished ; and Christ, whose servants they are,
shall have finished his work as Mediator, having fully brought
home and glorified all his elect, to whom the angels are minister-
ing spirits, and therefore their most solemn judgment and reward
shall be then ; but God is pleased to confirm them before the last
judgment, and grants them an anticipation of their reward, and
deals with them in this respect as he deals with mankind. Man is
confirmed when he first believes in Christ, but his work is not
done till death, and the reward not bestowed till then; and there-
fore let the saint be never so fully confirmed and assured before,
yet it is proper that judgment should succeed the finishing of his
VOL. vin, C7
S26 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
work. The bestowment of reward for a work done is by an act
of judgment.
[994] Confirmatioyi of the angels. One trial of the obedience
of the ang-els before Christ's exaltation was, that till then they
were in a great measure kept in the dark as to God's drift and aim
in those great works of God in which they were employed as his
ministers from age to age. The grand design and scheme of in-
finite wisdom ill the successive operations of his hands and dis-
pensations of his providence from one age to another, was not
opened to them till Christ's exaltation, as appears by Eph. iii. 9,
10. So the obedience of God's church, which in its minority,
was tried by prescribing to them a manifold and burdensome ce-
remonial service, of which they did not know the meaning or de-
sign.
[1329] Confirmation of the angels. It is an argument that the
angels were not confirmed till Christ ascended into heaven, that
Jesus Christ God man is risen and ascended, is appointed the
head of the new creation, which only is that which cannot be
shaken. As to the old creation, it is all that which is liable to
pass away. Christ himself, while in the flesh, did in some re-
spects belong to the old creation that passed away, but in his ris-
ing again to a glorious immortal life, and so being the first-born
from the dead, he is the beginning of the creation of God, the
first-born of every creature; the Beginning and Head of the new
creation.
HEAVEN.
h Death of a Saint. — When a saint dies, he has no cause at all
to grieve because he leaves his friends and relations whom he
dearly loves ; for he doth not properly leave them, he enjoys them
still in Christ, because every thing that they love in them, and
love them for, is in Christ in an infinite degree, whether it be
nearness of relation, or any perfection and good received, or love
in us, or a likeness in dispositions, or whatever is a rational
ground of love.
flf Union with Christ. By virtue of the believer's union with
Christ, he doth really possess all things. That we know plainly
from scripture ; but it may be asked, How he possesses all things;
what is he the better for it; how is a true Christian so much richer
than other men? To answer this, 1 will tell you what 1 mean by
possessing all things. I mean that God, three in one, all that he
is, and all that he has, and all that he does, all that he has made
or done, the whole universe, bodies and spirits, light, heaven, an-
gels, men, and devils, sun, moon, stars, land, and sea, fish, and
HEAVEN. 127
fowls, all the silver and gold, all beings and perfections, as well
as mere man, are as much the Christian's as the money in his
pocket, the clothes he wears, or the house he dwells in, or the vic-
tuals he eats ; yea, more properly his, more advantageously, more
his than if he commanded all these things mentioned to be just in
all respects as he pleased, at any time, by virtue of the union with
Christ ; because Christ, who certainly doth here possess all things,
is entirely his, so that he possesses it all, more than a wife the
property of tlie best and dearest of husbands, more than the hand
possesses what the head doth. All the universe is his, only he
has not the trouble of managing it; but Christ, to whom it is no
trouble to manage it, manages it for him a thousand times as much
to his advantage as he could himself, if he had the managing of all
the atoms in tiie universe. Every thing is managed by Christ so
as to be most to the advantage of the Christian. Every particle
of air, or every ray of the sun, so that he in the other world,
when he comes to see it, shall sit and enjoy all this vast inheri-
tance with surprising, amazing joy. And how is it possible for a
man to possess any thing more than so as shall be most to his ad-
vantage ? And then besides this, the Christian shall have every
thing managed just according to his will ; for his will shall so be
left in the will of God, that he had rather have it according to
God's will than any way in the world. And who would desire to
possess all things more than to have all things managed just ac-
cording to his will? And then besides, he himself shall so use
them as to be most to his own advantage in his thoughts, and me-
ditations, he. Now, how is it possible for any one to possess any
thing more than to have it managed as much as possible accord-
ing to his will, as much as possible for his own advantage, and
for himself to use it as much as possible according to his advan-
tage ? But it is certain that so far shall the true Chrisiian pos-
sess all things : it is not a probable scheme, but absolutely cer-
tain ; for we know thai all things will be managed so as shall be
most agreeable to his will : that cannot be denied, nor that it shall
be most to his advantage, and that he himself shall use it most to
his own advantage. This is the kingdom Christ so often promis-
ed : they shall be kings with a witness at this rate : this is the sit-
ting in Christ's throne, and inheriting all things promised to the
victors in the Revelation, and the like in many other places.
ii. Saints. Is it not a very improper thing that saints in some
respects should be advanced above angels, seeing angels are of
more excellent natural parts .^ I answer. No more improper than
it is for the queen in some respects to be advanced above the no-
bles and barons of far nobler natural powers.
5. Heaven. There is no more reason why it should be a damp
to the happiness of some in heaven that others are happier, thaa
528 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS-
that their happiness should be damped by a bare possibility of
greater happiness, supposing them to be all equal ; for if they
were all equal, and all full of happiness, yet every one would
know that greater happiness is possible, absolutely, and possible
for them if God had but enlarged their capacit}'. And why
should not they who are actuated by pure reason desire it, as
much as if it were actually enjoyed by some beings? for barely
that it is enjoyed by other beings cannot possibly cause those that
are actuated by pure reason, and whose desires in every respect
are agreeable to reason to desire it, any more than if it was only
possible to be enjoyed, and were never actually enjoyed by any.
But instead of the superiority of some above others in happiness,
being a damp on the happiness of those that are inferior, there is
undoubted reason why it should be an addition to their happiness,
and why it would rather be a detraction from their happiness if it
were otherwise ; for most certainly there is a pure, ardent, and
inconceivably vehement, mutual love between the glorified saints,
and this love is in proportion to the perfection and amiableness of
the object loved. Therefore, seeing their love to them is propor-
tional to their amiableness, it must necessarily cause delight when
they see their happiness proportional to their amiableness, and so
to their love to them ; it will not damp any to see them loved more
than themselves, for they shall have as much love as they desire,
and as great manifestations of love as they can bear, and they
themselves will love those that are superior in holiness as much as
others, and will delight to see others love them as much as them-
selves. We are very apt to conceive that those that are more
holy and more happy than others in heaven will be elated and
lifted up above them ; whereas their being superior in holiness
implies their being superior in humility, or having the greatest
humility; for humility is a part of holiness that is capable of de-
grees in the perfect state of heaven as well as other graces ; not
that the holiest shall think more meanly of themselves than the
least holy, for they shall all be perfectW humble, and perfectly free
from pride, and none shall think more highly of themselves than
they ought to think, but yet as they see further into the divine
perfections than others, so they shall penetrate further into the
vast and infinite distance there is between them and God, and
their delight of annihilating themselves that God maybe all, shall
be greater. And besides those that are highest in holiness, and
so necessarily highest in happiness, (for holiness and happiness
are all one in heaven,) instead of any thing like despising those
that are less holy and happy, will love those that are inferior to
them more than they would do if they had not so much holiness
and happiness more than if they were but equal with them, and
more than those do that are equal with them. This is certain ;
HEAVEN. 529
for the foundation of the saints' love to each other will be their
love to the image of God which they see in them. Now most cer-
lainl}', the holier a man is, the more he loves the same decree of
the imnge ; so that the holiest in heaven will love that image of
God they see in the least holy more than those do that are less
holy; and that which makes it beyond any doubt that this supe-
rior happiness will be no damp to tliem, is this, that their superior
happiness consists in tlicir great humility, and in their greater love
to them, and to God, and Christ, whom the saints look upon as
themselves. These things may be said of this, beside what may
be said about every one being completely satisfied and full of
happiness, having as much as he is capable of enjoying or desir-
ing; and also what may be said about their entire resignation;
for God's will is become so much their own, that the fulfilling of
his will, let it be what it may, fills them with inconceivable satis-
faction.
[105] Heaven. That the glorified spirits shall grow in holi-
ness and happiness in eternit}', I argue from this foundation, that
iheir number of ideas shall increase to eternity. How great soever
the number of their ideas when they are first glorified, it is but
limited ; and it is evident the time will come when they shall have
lived in glory so long that the parts of duration, each equal to a
million million ages, that they have lived, will be more in number
than their ideas were at first. Now we cannot suppose that they
will ever entirely forget every thing that has passed in heaven,
and in the universe for a whole million million of ages. It is un-
doubted that they never will have forgot what passed in their life
upon earth, the sins they have been saved from, their regenera-
tion, the circumstances which did heighten their mercies, their
good works which follow them, their death, &c. They will
without doubt retain innumerable multitudes of ideas of what
passed in the first seventy years; so also they shall retain to eterni-
ty their ideas of what was done in the ages of the world, with re-
lation to the church of God, and God's wondrous providence with
respect to the world of men ; and can we then think that a whole
million million ages of those great and most glorious things that
pass in heaven shall ever be erased out of their minds ? But if
they retain but one idea for one such vast period, their ideas shall
be millions of times more in number than when they first entered
into heaven, as is evident, because by supposition the number of
such ages will be millions of times more in number ; therefore,
their knowledge will increase to eternity ; and if their knowledge,
their holiness ; for as they increase in the knowledge of God, and
of the works of God, the more they will see of his excellency,
and the more they see of his excellency, c(Eteris paribus, the more
will they love him, and the more they love God, the more delight
530 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
and hnppiness will they have in him. See Note on Ps. Ixxxix, I,
2. It will be objected that at this rate we might prove that the
damned increase in perfection. I answer, No; for, lliough it is
true that they shall increase in knowledge, they will increase in
odiousness in the same proportion.
[112] Heaven. Addition to 2d Corol. of 108. What beau-
teous and fragrant flowers will these be, reflecting all the sweetness
of the Son of God ! how will Christ delight to walk in the gar-
den among those beds of spices, to feed in the garden, and to
gather lilies !
[152] Heaven. The saints in heaven will doubtless eternally
exercise themselves in contemplation. They will not want employ
this way ; not in exercising their thoughts and study upon intri-
cacies and seeming repugnance to unfold them and discover an-
other further and further that way, as it is here, but by viewing
in their minds one thing after another, as they will naturally be
led, and sweetly drawn by love and delight, and with such intense-
ness as the natural bent of their hearts will cause. Their sight
shall reach further and further, and new tilings shall plainly pre-
sent to their minds, without the mixture of an}' error. It is error
always from whence intricacy proceeds, and seeming repugnance,
and not from ignorance. The object of their thoughts shall be
the glory of God, which they shall contemplate in the creation in
general, in the wonderful make of it ; particularly of the highest
heavens, and in the v.onders of God's providence. It shall most
clearly and delightfully be manifested in the church of saints and
angels, which they shall discover more and more by their conver-
sation, assisting one another to discoveries in other things, and
most of all mediate ways in the man Christ Jesus, They shall
employ themselves in singing God's praise, or expressing their
thoughts to God and Clu'ist, and also to one another, and in go-
ing from one part of heaven and of the universe to another, to
behold the glories of God shining in the various parts of it.
[143] Heaven. In the future world the saints' love, one to
another, will be such, that it will be a very delightful considera-
tion to them, that Christ Jesus dearly loves the other saints, and it
will fill them with joy to see him manifesting his love to them.
They again shall see the other saints rejoicing that Christ loves
and delights in them.
Singing is amiable, because of the proportion that is perceived
in it: singing in divine worship is beautiful and useful, because it
expresses and promotes the harmonious exercise of the mind.
There will doubtless in the future world be that which, as it will
be an expression of an immensely 'greater and more excellent
harmony of the mind, so will be a far more lively expression of
this harmony, and shall itself be vastly more harmonious, yea,
HEAVEN. 531
than our air, or ear, by any modulation is capable of, which ex-
pressions, and the harmony thereof, shall be sensible, and shall
in a far more livel}^ mantier strike our perception than sound.
[182] Heaven. How ravishing are the proportions of the re-
flexions of rays of light, and the proportion of the vibrations of
the air ! and without doubt God can contrive matter so that there
shall be other sort of proportions tiiat may be quite of a diflerent
kind, and may raise another sort of pleasure in the sense, and in
a manner to us now inconceivable, that shall be vastly more rav-
ishing and exquisite. And in all probability the abode of the
saints after the resurrection will be so contrived by God that there
shall be external beauties and harmonies altogether of another
kind from what we perceive here, and probably those beauties
will appear chiefly in the bodies the man Christ Jesus, and of the
saints. Our animal spirits will also be capable of immensely
more fine and exquisite proportions in their motions, than now they '
are, being so gross ; but how much more ravishing will the ex-
quisite spiritual proportions be that shall be seen in minds, in
their acts between one spiritual act and another, between one dis-
position and another, and between one mind and another, and be-
tween all their minds and Christ Jesus, and particularly between /
the man Christ Jesus and the Deity, and among the persons of ^
the Trinity, the supreme harmony of all ! And it is out of doubt
with me that there will be immediate intellectual views of minds,
one of another, and of the Supreme mind, more immediate, clear,
and sensible than our views of bodilv things with bodily eyes. In
this world we behold spiritual beauties only mediately by the in-
tervention of our senses, in perceiving those external actions which
are the eflects of spiritual proportion. Hereby the ravishingness
of the beauty is much obscured, and our sense of it flattened and
deadened ; but when we behold the beauties of mind more imme-
diately than now we do the colours of the rainbow, how ravishing
will it be ! All that there wants in order to such an intellectual
view, is that a clear and sensible apprehension of what is in mind
should be raised in our own mind constantly according to such
and such laws ; for it is no other way that we perceive with our
bodily eyes, or perceive by any of our senses.
Then also our capacities will be exceedingly enlarged, and we
shall be able to apprehend, and to take in more extended and com-
pounded proportions. We see that the narrower the capacity
the more simple must the beauty be to please: thus, in propor-
tion of sounds, the birds and brute creatures are most delighted
with simple music, and in the proportion confined to a ^e\\ notes;
so little children are not able to perceive the sweetness of very
complex tunes where respect is to be had to the proportion of a
great many notes together, in order to perceive the sweetness of
532 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
the lune; then perhaps we shall be able fully and easily to appre-
hend the beauty, or where respect is to be had to thousands of
different ratios at once to make up the harmony. Such kind of
beauties, when fully perceived, are far the sweetest.
[188] Heaven. The best, most beautiful, and most perfect
way that we have of expressing a sweet concord of mind to each
other is by music. Wiien 1 would form in my mind ideas of a
society in the highest degree happy, I think of them as express-
ing their love, their joy, and the inward concord, and harmony,
and spiritnal beauty of their souls, hy siceetly singing to each other.
But if in heaven minds will have an immediate view of one an-
other's dispositions without any such intermediate expression, how
much sweeter will it be ! But to-me it is probable that the glorifi-
ed saints, after they have again received their bodies, will have
ways of expressing the concord of their minds by some other
emanations than sounds, of which we cannot conceive, that will
be vastly more proportionate, harmonious, and delightful than
the nature of sounds is capable of; and the music they will
make will be in a measure capable of modulations in an infinitely
more nice, exact, and fine proportion than our gross airs, and with
organs as much more adapted to such proportions.
[95] Happiness of heaven. When the body enjoys the per-
fections of health and strength, the motions of the animal spirits
are not only brisk and free, but also harmonious ; there is a regu-
lar proportion in the motion from all parts of the body that begets
delight in the soul, and makes the body feel pleasantly all over —
God has so excellently contrived the nerves and parts of the hu-
man body. But iew men since the fall, especially since the flood,
have health to so great a perfection as to have much of this har-
monious motion. When it is enjoyed, one whose nature is not
very much vitiated and depraved, is very much assisted thereby
in every exercise of body or mind ; and it fits one for the contem-
plation of more exalted and spiritual excellencies and harmonies,
as music does. But we need not doubt but this harmony will be
in its proportion in the bodies of the saints after the resurrection,
and that as every part of the bodies of the wicked shall be ex-
cruciated with intolerable pain, so every part of the saints' refin-
ed bodies shall be as full of pleasure as they can hold, and that
this will not take the mind off from, but prompt and help it in, spi-
ritual delight, to which even the delight of their spiritual bodies
shall be but a shadow.
[198] Happiness. How soon do earthly lovers come to an
end of their discoveries of each other's beauty ! how soon do they
see all that is to be seen ! Are they united as near as possible,
and have communion as intimate as possible.'' How soon do they
come to the most endearing expressions of love that it is possible
HEAVEN. 533
to give, so that no new ways can be invented, given, or received.
And how Ijappy is that love in which there is an eternal progress
in all those things wherein new beauties are continually' discover-
ed, and more and more loveliness, and in which we shall for ever
increase in beauty ourselves; where we shall be more capable of
finding out and giving, and shall receive more and more endear-
ing expressions of love for ever ; our union will become more
close, and communion more intimate!
[206] Heaven. In heaven it is the direct reverse of what it
is on earth, for there by length of time things become more and
more youthful, that is, more vigorous, active, tender, and beau-
tiful.
[263] Heaven. If the saints after the resurrection shall see by
light, and speak and hear by sounds, it^is probable that the me-
dium will be infinitely finer, and moxe„ adapted lo a distant and
exact representation, so that a small, vibration in sound, though
the undulations may proportionally decrease according to" the dis-
tance from their rise or fountain, yet may be conve3'ed infinitely far-
ther with exactness before they begin to be confused and lost through
the sluggishness of the medium, or through the bulk, the roughness,
or tenaciousness of the particles, and the conveyance may like-
wise be with far greater swiftness. The organs also will be im-
mensely more exquisitely perceptive, so that perhaps a vibration
a thousand times less than can now be perceived by the ear, may
be distinctly and easily perceived by them ; and yet the organs
may be far more able to bear a very strong vibration than ours in
this state ; and through niceness of the organ they shall be able to
distinguish in the greatest multitude of sounds according to their
distance and direction, more exactly by the ear than we do visible
objects by the eye; and we know not how far they may clearly
hear one another's discourses. So the eye may be so much more
sensible, and the medium of vision (the rays) so much more ex-
quisite, that for aught we know they may distinctly see the beau-
ty of one another's countenances and smiles, and hold a delightful
and most intimate conversation at a thousand miles distance.
The light of the heavenly regions shall be the brightness of glo-
rified bodies, and especially in the countenance, but chiefly that of
the m^n Christ Jesus, and the glory of God, if there shall be
any visible appearance representing the presence of the Deity.
The light of the face of Christ will, for the abovementioned cause,
be an infinitely more excellent and delightful sort of refulgence
than the light of this world. The brightness of the saints shall
far excel that; but the splendour oi the Sun of Rigldeoiisness
shall be immensely more sweet and glorious, except that the light
of the bodies of the saints shall be some way or other a communi-
cation of the light of Christ, and then the difference will be ra-
VOL. VIII. 63
534 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
ther in degree than in kind of brightness, as the light wliich is re-
flected from a lily is the same light, but less bright than that of
the sun. This world is pleasant to us because the light is sweet,
and the sensation is pleasant to the mind ; how delightful a place
then is heaven with its light, so much more fine, more harmonious,
more bright, but yet easy and pleasant to behold ! Vide Note on
Rev. xxi. 11. Vide Nos. 721,95, 182.
[2G4] Splriis separate. Though we do not certainly know that
separate spirits can properly be said to be in any place ; seeing
that a spirit cannot be said to be in place at all, only with respect
to tlie immediate mutual operation there is between that and body;
now we know not whether there be any such mutual operation
with regard to separate spirits, whether or no there be any imme-
diate excitation of any corporeal ideas, or any other way than as
they see them in minds that are united to bodies, or remember
them as formerly excited in themselves; I say, though we do not
certainly know this, yet it does not seem probable that their man-
ner of existence and receiving ideas shall be so exceedingly difi'er-
ent from what it is here, and from the church on earth, with whom
they are of tlie same family, and so exceedingly aliene from what
it will be after the resurrection, so exceedingly different from the
existence of the man Christ Jesus, their head, so exceedingly
aliene from Enoch and Elijah, some of their number, and who are
now of the same glorified society. Doubtless they are not more
so than the angels who never were united to bodies; but it seems
to tne very improbable that there should be no corporeal world
with respect to the angels who have so much to do with the church
on earth, and who shall be conversant with tlie saints after the re-
surrection, and with whom they shall be conversant : I therefore
cannot think that as soon as a spirit leaves a body, the corporeal
world is annihilated with regard to it, but that corporeal ideas are
excited in them by some law. V/liy is Christ's body made glo-
rious now in heaven, if there are none in heaven to behold his
glory, or if separate spirits do not perceive the beauty of bo-
dies ?
[272] Happiness of heaven. It is not only for want of suffi-
cient accurateness, strength, and comprehension of mind that
from the motion of any one particular atom we cannot tell whe-
ther that ever has been that now is, in the whole extent of the
creation, as to quantity of matter, figure, bulk, motion, distance,
and every thing that ever shall be.
[371] Resurrection. The addition of happiness and glory
made to the saints at the resurrection, it seems to me evident by
the current of the Bible when it tells of those things, will be ex-
ceeding great. It is the Marriage of the Lamb and the Church ;
the state of things then is the state of perfection ; all the state of
HEAVEN. " 535
the church before, botli in eartli and In heaven, is n growing state.
Indeed, the spirits of jnst men mado perfect will be perfect!}' Cree
from sin and sorrow: will have inexpressible, inconceivable hap-
piness and perfect contentment. But yet part of their happiness
will consist in hope of what is to come. They will have as much
happiness as they will desire in their existing state, becanse they
will choose to have the addition at that time, and in that order,
which God has designed; it will be everyway most pleasing, and
and satisfying, and contenting to them that it should be so. Their
having of perfect happiness does not exclude all increase, nor
does it exclude all hope, for we do not know but they will increase
in happiness for ever. The souls of the saints may now have as
much happiness as they, wiiile separate, desire; and such happi-
ness as so answers their nature in its present state, as to exclude
all sort of uneasiness and disquietude ; and yet part of that hap-
piness, part of that sweet rest and contenting J03', consists in the
sight of what is future. They do not desire that that addition
should be now, they know that it will be most beautiful, most for
God's glory, most for their own happiness, and most for the glory
of the church, and every way most desirable, that it should be in
God's order.
But the more properly perfect and consummate state of God's
people of the church will be after the resurrection ; and the whole
is now only growing and preparing for that state : all things that
are now done in the world, are but preparations for it.
The accession of happiness will consist parti}' in these things :
1. Then the saints will be in their natural state of union with
bodies, glorious bodies, bodies perfectly fitted for the uses of a holy
glorified soul.
2. Then the bod}' of Christ will be perfect, the church will be
complete; all the parts of it in being; no part of it under sin or
affliction ; all the parts of it in a perfect state ; all the parts of it
together no longer mixed with ungodly men : then the church will*
be as a bride adorned for her husband, therefore the church will
exceedingly rejoice.
3. Then the Mediator will have fully accomplished his work ;
will have destroyed, and will triumph over all his enemies. Then
Christ will fully have obtained his reward ; then shall he have
perfected the full design that was upon his heart from all eternity,
and then Jesus Christ will rejoice, and his members must needs
rejoice with him.
4. Then God will have obtained the end of all his great works
that he had been doing from the beginning ; then all the deep de-
signs of God will be unfolded in their events; then the wis-
dom of his marvellous contrivances in his hidden, intricate, and
inexplicable works will appear, the ends being obtained ; then
535 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
God's glory will more abundantly appear in his works, his
works being- perfect ; this will cause a great accession of happi-
ness to the saints who behold it ; then God will fully have glo-
rified himself, and glorified his Son, and his elect ; then he will
see that all is very good, and will rejoice in his own works,
which will be the joy of all heaven. God will rest and be re-
freshed ; and thenceforward will the inhabitants keep an eter-
nal sabbath, such an one as all foregoing sabbaths were but
shadows of.
5. Then God will make more abundant manifestations of his
glory, and of the glory of his Son, and will pour forth more
plentifully of his Spirit, and will make answerable additions to
the glory of the saints, such as will be becoming the commence-
ment of the ultimate and most perfect state of things, and as
will become such a joyful occasion as the finishing of all things
and the marriage of the Lamb. Then also the glory of the
angels will receive proportional additions; for the evil angels are
then to have the consummation of their reward. So that the good
, angels will have the consummation of their reward. This will be
the (iay of Christ's triumph, and the day will last for ever. This
v^iil be the wedding-day between Christ and the Church, and
this wedding-day will last for ever ; the feast, and pomp, and en-
tertainments, and holy mirth, and joys of the wedding will be
continued to all eternity.
[372] Heavci}. It seems to be quite a wrong notion of the
happiness of heaven that it is in that manner unchangeable,
that it admits not of new joys upon new occasions. The scrip-
I tures tell us that there is joy in heaven, and among the angels
' of God, upon the conversion of one sitiner ; and why not among
the saints ? And if there be newjoy upon such an occasion, how
great joy have they upon the conversion of nations, and the
spiritual prosperity of the whole church on earth ! It seems
to me evident that the church in heaven have received new
joys from time to time upon new occasions, ever since the first
saint vv^ent to heaven ; their joy is continually increased as they
see the jjurposes of God's grace unfolded in his wondrous pro-
vidences towards his church. Their happiness is increased as
their number increases; as it will be greatly for the happiness
of the body of Christ to be completed as it will be at the resur-
rection, so it is increasing as the body grows towards perfec-
tion. The coming of Christ Jesus, I believe, made an exceed-
ingly great addition to the ha]:)piness of the saints of the Old
Testament, who were in heaven ; and especially was the day
of his ascension a joyful day among them. Then Abraham
and David, and holy men that lived under the Old Testament,
•' received the promise,''^ which was matter of such joyful expec-
tation to them when on earth. Wlicn Christ arose, many bodies
HEAVEN. 637
of saints of the Old Testament that slept arose and went to
heaven with Christ ; for it is unreasonable to suppose they
only arose for a few days to die again. The saints must needs
have new discoveries of God's glory upon this occasion, as the
angels had, Eph. iii. 10. Luke ii. 14. 1 Peter i. 12. It is evident
by those scri[)tures that the angels saw much more of the glory
of God by these things ; and if they did, undoubtedly the saints
also. It was a great addition to the glory of heaven to have
Jesus Christ God man made their Head : they had then far
more near admittance unto God, and more familiar communi-
cation with him, and many other ways did this increase their
happiness, and their happiness has been exceedingly greater
ever since. Thus the Old Testament prophecies of the glories
and blessedness that should attend the coming of the Messiah,
I believe, not only aimed at the glory that should be brought to
the church on earth, by it, but to that part of the church that
was in heaven. Thus, the church of Israel, those same saints
to whom those promises were given, do receive them in heaven.
I believe, also, that it greatly contributes to the happiness of
the saints in heaven to see the success of the gospel after Christ's
ascension, and its conquering the Roman empire, and that they
greatly rejoice at the Reformation from popery ; and will ex-
ceedingly rejoice at the fall of Antichrist and the conversion of
the world to Christianity. Those things seem clear to me by
many passages in the Revelation, and that their joy is increas-
ing, and will be increasing, as God gradually in his providence
unveils his glory, till the last day.
[413] Heaven — Separate spirits. One reason why the apostle
so much insisted upon the Resurrection of the dead, rather than
the blessedness of a separate state, as an encouragement to
Christians, was because they in those days looked upon Christ's
coming, and so the Resurrection, as just at hand.
[421] Heaven. It seems to me probable that that part of
the church that is in heaven have been from the beginning of
the world progressive in their light, and in their happiness as
the church on earth has. and that much of their happiness has
consisted in seeing the progressive wonderful doings of God,
with respect to his church here in this world. Thus Moses with
great joy saw the promises of God fulfilled, in bringing the chil-
dren of Israel into Canaan, with far greater satisfaction than he
would have seen it on earth; because he could much better see
the glorious ends God proposed by it, and his wonderful wisdom
in that work. So those saints, who die now, before the ac-
complishment of the far more glorious things tothe church that
God has foretold which are not yet fulfilled, and for which they
have prayed and waited, will see the fulfilment of them with
538 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIOiXS.
greater satisfaction than if they lived U{3on the earth till they
were accomphshed. The church in heav^en, and the church on
earth are more one people, one city, and one family, than is ge-
nerally imagined.
[430] Heaven. As there will be various members of differ-
ent degrees in the body of Christ in heaven, so it seems to mo
probable that there will be members of various kinds and differ-
ent offices as it is in the church on earth. 1 Cor. x. That is,
there will be some especially distisiguished for one grace, others
for another; some of one manner of the exercise of grace, others
of another ; some fitted for this work, others for that : every one
will have their distinguishing gift, one after this manner, and
another after that, the perfection of the saints in glory nothing
hindering ; for that perfection will not be of such a kind that
one saint may not be more eminent than another in grace, or
that they shall not be capable of increasing, and so attaining to
higher degrees, nor that one grace in the same saint shall not
have a more remarkable and eminent exercise than others ; and
it is most proba!)le, if it be so, that they shall excel most in the
same grace, and the same kind of works by which they were
most distinguished on earth : God rewarding their graces and
works by giving of them grace more abundantly of the same
kind ; as Christ hath promised that, " to him that hath shall
be given." This difference will be for the beauty and the profit
of the whole: they will profit one another by their distinguish-
ing graces ; with respect to those graces they will not be be-
yond being profited by one another, as well as delighted, they
will still be employed, and improving themselves.
[431] Heaven — Degrees of glory. The exaltation of some
in glory above others, will be so far from diminishing any thing
of the perfect happiness and joy of the rest that are inferior,
that they will be the happier for it. Such will be the union of
all of them, that they will be partakers of each other's glory
and happiness. 1 Cor. xii. 26. " If one of the members are
honoured, all the members rejoice with it."
[432] Heaven. Though the saints in heaven will see their
exceeding folly and vileness in much of their behaviour herein
this world, will see a thousand times as mmdi of the evil and
folly of sin as they do now; yet they will not experience any
proper sorrow or grief for it, for this reason, because they will
perfectly see at the same time how that it is turrnjd to the best
to the glory of God, or at least will so perfectly know that it is
so ; and particularly they will have so much the more admiring
and joyful sense of God's grace in pardoning them, that the re-
membrance of their sins will rather be an indirect occasion of
joy. Sorrow and grief for sin is a duty, because we are not ca-
pable of having so perfect views of those things. But that a
HEAVEN. 539
right sen.se of the odiousness and folly of sin will under all cir-
cumstances, necessarily cause grief, is not so clear. A sense of
the great evil of sin is good, absolutely considered; but grief
for sin is so only in a certain pre-supposed state and circum-
stances.
[435] Heaven. The church now in heaven is not in its fixed
and ultimate, but in a jnogressive, subordinate, and prepara-
tory state. The state which they are in is in order to another.
In the employments in which they are now exercised, they look
to that which is still future, to their consummate state, which
they have not yet arrived at. Their present happiness is, in
many respects, subordinate to a future ; and God in his deal-
ings with them has a constant and perpetual respect to the
great consummation of all things. So it is both with respect
to the saints and angels: all things in heaven and earth, and
throughout the universe, are in a state of preparation for the
state of consummation ; all the wheels are going, none of them
stop, and all are moving in a direction to the last and most per-
fect state. As the church on earth is in a state of preparation
for the resurrection state, so is that part of the church which is
in heaven. It is God's manner to keep things always progres-
sive, in a prejmratory state, as long as there is another change
to a more perfect state yet behind. The saints in this world are
progressive, and all things relating to them are subordinate
and preparatory to the more perfect state of heaven ; which is
a perfect state, in that it is a state of freedom from sinful and
uneasy imperfections ; but, when the saints are got to heaven,
there is yet another great change yet behind, there is yet an-
other state, which is that fixed and ultimate, and most perfect
state for which the whole general assembly both in heaven and
earth are designed, and therefore they are still progressive.
Not but that 1 believe the saints will be progressive in know-
ledge and hapj)iness to all eternity. But when I say the church
is progressive before the resurrection, I mean that they are pro-
gressive with a progression of preparation for another and more
perfect state, their state is itinerary, viatory; their state, their
employments, their glory and happiness, are subordinate and
preparatory to a future more glorious state.
So, the state of the devils and damned spirits is thus, only
in order to a future state of more perfect misery. A criminal
in a prison, or^in a dungeon, suffers misery, but it is only a sub-
ordinate misery, being in order to his approaching execution:
So they are spirits in prison, they are bound in chains of dark-
ness to the judgment of the great dav. Much of the misery of
the devils and damned souls consists in /eor; the devil is dread-
fully afraid of his approaching punishment, as appears by his
540 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
60 crying out when he was afraid that Christ was going to exe-
cute it upon him ; he beseeches him not to torment him, and
says, "Art thou come to torment me before the time?" So
much of the happiness of the saints and angels in heaven con-
sists in Jioye. The church in heaven, as to the happiness it now
has in Christ, comj)ared with its ultimate happiness, is, as it
were, in a betrothed state. The introducing of the glorious
state that succeeds the resurrection, is like the marriage of the
Lamb. The glorification of the separate soul, is a marriage,
compared with its state in this world. The coming of Christ
into the world, and introducing of the gospel state of the church,
is a marriage with respect to the state of the church under the
Old Testament; and the appearing of Christ incarnate in
heaven upon his ascension, together with the great access of
glory to the church, was like a marriage with respect to the
state of the glorified church before ; and the glorious times of
the church on earth after the destruction of Antichrist, will be
like the marriage of the Lamb. But these are but lower steps ;
and, in comparison of the final consummation, are but as be-
trothings, in order to that everlasting marriage of the church
with the Lamb, which shall be in the end of the world.
Much of the happiness of the saints, now, consists in behold-
ing and contemplating the wonderful works of God, that are in
order to the Consummation, the works of God in his church,
both in this world and in heaven.
[477] Happiness of heaven, vide Notes on John iv. 14.
[499j Hades — Separate spirits — Heaven — Hell. Our first
parents enjoyed great happiness : they dwelt in a paradise, and
there had a confluence of spiritual and outward blessings and
delights before they had so much as performed the condition of
eternal happiness, or had had a trial for it. It need not there-
fore be wondered at, that the separate spirits of saints should
be in a very happy state before they are judged at the last judg-
ment, and that the wicked should be very miserable.
[529] Heaven. There can be no doubt but that the saints in
heaven shall see the flourishing and prosperity of the church on
earth ; for how can they avoid it, when they shall be with the
King himself, whose kingdom this church is, and who as King
manages all those affairs.'* Shall the royal family be kept in
ignorance of the success of the affairs of the kingdom ? They
shall also be ivith the angels, those ministers by whom the King
manages those aff'airs. In the flourishing of Christ's kingdom
here on earth consists much of Christ's mediatorial glory, and
of the reward that the Father joromised him for his perfonning
what he did on earth in the work of redemption ; the happiness
of the saints in heaven consists much in that, that they are with
HEAVEN. 541
Christ, and are partakers with him in that glory and reward.
The saints are not only with the Kin^^ that reii2,ns over this
kingdom, but they reign with iiim in tlie same kingdoui, they
sit with him in his throne ; and therefore it is said that they
shall reign on earth ; that is, when the time of the floiirishin*^
and prosperity of Christ's kingdom comes on earth, when he
shall reign here in such a glorious manner in his kingdom of
grace, they shall reign with him ; so they are said to reign with
him a thousand years, 'i'herefore doubtless they are not igno-
rant of the flourishing of the church here on earth.
Can it be supposed that the saints in heaven had not notice
of Christ's Incarnation, and did not know what he did here upon
earth; and that they had no notice when he was crucified and
buried, and rose again ; and if not, why should they be igno-
rant of what succeeded, or of the pouring out of the Holy
Ghost at Pentecost ; and how the kingdom, of which Christ had
thus laid the foundation, flourished? Why should their know-
ledge of the affairs of Christ's kingdom on earth cease, as soon
as Christ was ascended ?
The saints in heaven are under infinitely greater advantages
to take the jileasure of beholding how 1/hrist's kingdom flou-
rishes than if they were here upon earth ; for they can better
see, and understand the marvellous steps that divine wisdom
takes in all that is done, and the glorious ends he accomplishes,
and what opposition Satan makes, and how he is baflled and
overthrown. They can sec the wise connection of one event
with another, and the beautiful order of all things that come to
pass in the church in diflercnt ages, that to us appear like con-
fusion. They will behold the glory of tlie divine attributes in
his works of providence infinitely more clearly than we can.
The greatest objection that 1 think of against this, is, the
prayer of Simeon ; who had it revealed to him, that he should
not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah ; and
when he saw him, said, "Now lettest thou thy servant depart in
peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation:" as tliough he
should have missed of the pleasure and satisfaction of seeing
this salvation, if he had died before. But shall we conclude
from hence that if Simeon had died before, he would not have
known of Christ's birth ? He surely at least would have seen
this salvation then, when Christ ascended into heaven. But
the case was this : Simeon was now more willing to die, more
willing to venture his soul into another world, and could die in
much stronger hope, because his faith in God's salvation was
abundantly strengthened by this sight. He had the greater as-
surance, that when he did depart, he should depart in peace;
for his eyes had actually seen the salvation which God had pro-
VOL. VIII, 69
542 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
vided for souls, and was therefore more fully persuaded that
his soul should be safe and happy in a future state : or if ot her-
wise, it was because the state of separate souls in that particular
was not known to him.
Indeed it is desirable to live to see the flourishing of God's
church upon this account ; that those saints, who live to see it
will probably be partakers in that spiritual prosperity ; their
souls will receive a portion of the spirit that is then plentifully
poured out, and so will be increased in grace and holiness ;
their own souls will prosper, and will be partakers of the pros-
perity of the church ; and besides, they will have a more glo-
rious opportunity to do good, in having a hand in promoting
that public prosperity.
An objection may be raised from Eccles. ix. G. The dead
" have no more a portion for ever in any thing done under the
sun ;" but see an answer in my notes on the verse.
[54C] Separate State — HcU Torments — Heaven. It may pos-
sibly seem strange that the torments of the wicked should be
so great, while they are only in prison, in order to their judg-
ment and punishment. But there is no difference in God's
dealing wiih sinners in this respect, from the treatment of
malefactors by human judges and rulers; but what naturally
arises from the difference of the nature and qualifications of
the judges, and the difference of the ends of judgment. Men
commit supposed malefactors to prison, in order to a determi-
nation whether they are guilty or no, the matter not being yet
sufficiently determined; but God, who imprisons wicked men,
certainly and infallibly understands whether they are guilty or
not: they are not imprisoned, that it may be determined
whether they are guilty, but because it is determined and
known that ihey are. The end of human judgment, is to find
out, whether a man be guilty or no; but the end of divine
judgment is only to declare their guilt, and God's righteous-
ness in their punishment. The guilt of wicked men is infalli-
bly determined when they die : it is fit therefore that they
should be bound in chains of darkness and misery ; it is fit that
God's enemies, and rebels against him, and the objects of his
eternal wrath, should be imprisoned in dark and dismal re-
cesses while they are reserved for execution ; it is fit that the
prison of the objects of divine wrath should be a doleful horrid
abode. So it is fit that those who are his elect, whom he hath
chosen to make the objects of his love, should be reserved in a
paradise in order to that consummation. It is fit that the church,
which is the bride, the Lamb's wife, should be reserved in a
blissful abode previous to the time of marriage. It is fit that
in th« mean time it should have blessed communion and conver-
KEAVEN. 448
satlon with God. The glorification of the souls of the saints
at their death, is a marriage in comparison of their conversion,
and their state of grace; but it is a state of betrothmenl, com-
pared with the glory that shall be after the resurrection. So
the state of the damned separate spirits, though it be inexpress-
ibly doleful, is yet but as a confinement in chains, and a dark
dungeon in order to execution, in comparison of their misery
after the day of judgment. See Note on Matth. xviii. 34.
[555] Heaven — Separafe State — Angels. The saints are
spectators of God's providences relating to his church here be-
low. (Vide Hebrews vi. 15. Notes.) One end of the creation
of the angels, and giving them such great understanding, was,
that they might be fit witnesses and spectators of God's works
here below, and might behold all parts of the divine scheme,
and see how it was accomplished in the divine works, and re-
velations from age to age. 31ortal men see but a very little,
they have a very imperfect view of God's providence in the
world while they live, and they do not live long enough to see
more than a very small part of the scheme. God saw fit that
there should be creatures of very great discerning, and com-
prehensive understanding, that should be spectators of the
whole series of the works of God ; and therefore they were
created in the beginning of the creation, that they might be-
hold the whole series from the beginning to the consummation
of all things. And therefore we read that they sang together,
and shouted for joy when they beheld God forming this lower
world. Job. xxxviii. 7. So we are taught that they are specta-
tors of the work of redemption, and the progress of it. 1 Tim.
iii. 16. Ephes. iii. 10. And as God has made them to be specta-
tors of the great works of divine wisdom and power, so that
their minds may be the more engaged and entertained, God al-
lows them to have a subordinate hand in them, and he improves
them as his messengers and servants in bringing them to pass.
Hence I argue, that undoubtedly the souls of departed
saints are also spectators of the same things ; for they go to be
in heaven with the angels. The angels carry them to para-
dise ; and we cannot suppose that they leave them there, and
that the only opportunity they have to converse with angels
from their death till the end of the world, is while they are on
their way from earth to Abraham's bosom. The saints even on
earth have from time to time been admitted to converse with
angels; and shall they not do so much more familiarly, when
they go to be with Christ in paradise ? The spirits of just men
made perfect, are reckoned as of the same society with the
angels, and as dwelling with them in mount Sion, the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, which the apostle else-
644 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
where calls " Jerusalem which is ahove,^^ by which he doubtless
means heaven. Why should not the saints go to be with the an-
gels when they go from their bodies, seeing they are of the same
family ? The angels are their brethren : why should they be kept
separate from the angels, who are their brethren in the same fomi-
1 y ? as the angel in the Revelation tells John he is of his bre-
Itnen, Rev. xxii. 9. x\nd if any would understand that, not of
a proper angel, but of the departed soul of one of the saints, then
will it make much more to our present purpose. If one of them
was sent to reveal to John the providences of God relating to the
church on earth, then certainly departed saints are acquainted
with them. But that the departed saints do dwell in heaven with
the angels, is most evident, because we learn by Eph. iii. 15, that
the whole family is in heaven and in earth. Departed saints are
doubtless of the family; the angels they also are of the family;
saints and angels are all gathered together in one in Christ, Eph.
i. 10, Colos. i. IG. 20. But none can doubt but that heaven is
the dweliing-piace of the angels.
It is nopri^i!ege to be continued in this world, to have.oppor-
tunit}^ to see here the success of the gospel and glorious things
accomplished in the church. If this had been any privilege, tl)e
man Christ Jtsus should have been allowed it: he saw very little
success, while he was here, of all tliat he did and suflered ; the
success was chiefly after he went to heaven, and there he can see
it better than if he were here ; and this is part of his promised
glory, that he there sees the success of his redemption, and his
own kingdom cariied on and flourishing in ths world, Isai. liii.
10, 11, 12. And it is the will of Christ, that departed saints
should be with'him where he is, that they ma}' behold this glory
of Christ, v.'hich the Father gives him, and be partakers with him
in it. John xvii. 24.
[5G5] Heaven — Separate spirits. The happiness which the
departed souls of the saints being with Christ before the resurrec-
tion, is proleptical, or by way of anticipation. This is not the pro-
per lime of their reward : the proper time of the reward and glo-
ry of saints is after the end of the world, when an end shall be
put to the world's state of probation ; tlien succeeds the state of
retribution. When all the present dispensations of the covenant
of grace sh.tdl be ended, and Christ shall have brought all enemies
under his feet, and shall have fully accomplished the ends and de-
signs of his mediatorial kingdom, and his own glory shall be
fully obtained, and he shall have fully finished God's scheme in
the series of revolutions in Divine Providence ; then will be the
time of Christ's joy and triumph, and then will be the proper time
of judgment and retribution, and then will be the proper time of
the reward and glory of Christ's followers. The state that spi-
HEAVEN. 545
rils ofjust men are in now is not the proper state of their reward ;
it is only a stale wherein they are reserved against the time of their
reward ; it is the tinrje wherein the pure chosen espoused virgin is
reserved in the King's house against the da}' of marriage, and
the joy and blessedness that they now enjoy with Christ in their
conversation with him, though it appear to us unspeakably great,
is only by way of prelibation of what is future, and therefore
vastly short of it. Such is God's overflowing love to them, that,
while they are only reserved for their designed glory, they shall
be reserved in blessed abodes as a king would entertain her whom
he reserves for marriage, and whom lie loves with a strong and
ardent love, in no mean manner, but in a way suitable to his love
to her and his design concerning her. The state of the blessed
souls in heaven is not merely a state of repose, but of a glorious
degree of anticipation of their reward ; as is evident by Ileb. vi.
12: see my Notes on it. Thus it is God's way, from his over-
flowing goodness to his people, to grant a prelibation of blesings
before the proper season. So the church of the Old Testament
had an anticipation of gospel benefits before Christ came, and the
gospel days commenced. So the saints now, are allowed in a
measure to anticipate the blessedness that is to succeed the fall of
Antichrist. Rev. vi. 9, 10, 11, "I saw under the altar the souls
of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimo-
ny which (hey held, and they cried with a loud voice, saying,
How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge
our blood on them that dwell on the earth ? And white robes
were given to every one of them ; and it was said unto them that
they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants
also, and their brethren also, which should be killed as they were,
should be fulfilled." Those ichite robes were the glory and re-
ward which God gave them beforehand, the earnest of what was
to be after Antichrist's fall. So the saints here in this world have
that light, holiness, and joy, that is an anticipation and earnest of
what they are to have in heaven ; and what they have now in hea-
ven is but an earnest of what they are to have afterwards at the
consummation of all things, and when all things come to be set-
tled in their fixed and eternal state. Therefore the apostle so of-
ten speaks of the reward and glory of the saints at Christ's se-
cond coming, and encourages Christians with that, without any
mention of the glory which they shall receive before.
[571] Heaven — Wisdom and the gloriousness of the work of
redemption. When the saints get to heaven, they shall not merely
see Christ and have to do with him, as subjects and servants with
a glorious and gracious Lord and Sovereign, but Christ will most
freely and intimately converse with them as friends and brethren.
This we may learn from the manner of Christ's conversing with
%
546 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
his disciples here on earth; though he was the supreme Lord
of the disciples, and did not refuse, yea, required, their supreme
respect and adoration ; yet he did not treat them as earthly sove-
reigns are wont to do their subjects ; he did not keep them at an
awful distance, but all along conversed with them with the most
friendly familiarity as with brethren, as a father amongst a.com-
pany of children. So he did with the twelve, and so he did with
Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus; he told his disciples that he did
not call them servants, but he called them friends. So neither
will he call his disciples servants, but friends, in heaven. Though
Christ be in a state of exaltation at the right hand of God, and
appears in an immense height of glory, yet this will not hinder
his conversing with his saints in a most familiar and intimate
manner; he will not treat his disciples with greater distance for
his being in a state of exaltation, but he will rather take them
into a state of exaltation with him. This will be the improve-
ment Christ will make of his own glory, to make his beloved
friends partakers with him, to glorify them in his glory, as Christ
says to his Father, John xvii. 22, 23. " And the glory which
thou hast given me, have I given them, that they may be one,
even as we are one, I in them," Sue. For we are to consider,
that though Christ be greatly exalted, yet he is exalted not as a
private person for himself only, but he is exalted as his people's
^head, and he is exalted in their name, and upon their account,
and as one of them, as their representative, as the first fruits : he is
not exalted that he may be more above them, and be at a greater
distance from them, but that they may be exalted with him. The
exaltation and honour of the head is not to make a greater dis-
tance between the head and the members, but the members and
head have the same relation and union as they had before, and are
honoured with the head.
When believers get to heaven, Christ will conform them to
himself, he will give them his glory; they shall in their measure
be made like to him ; their bodies after the resurrection shall be
conformed to his glorious body.
Christ, when he was going to heaven, comforted his disciples
with that, that after a while he would come and take them to him-
self, that they might be with him again. And we are not to sup-
pose, when the disciples got to heaven, though they found their
Lord in a state of inlinite exaltation, yet that they found him any
more retiring or keeping at a greater distance from them than he
used to do. No, he embraced them as friends, he welcomed them
home to their common Father's house, he welcomed them to their
common glory, who had been his friends here in this world, that
had been together here, had lived here together, partook of sor-
rows and troubles, now welcomed them to their rest to partake of
HEAVEN. B41
glory with him, he took them and led them into his chambers,
and showed them all his glory ; as Christ prayed, John xvii. 24,
" Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with
me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou liast
given me." And there ensued without doubt a most pleasant and
free conversation between Christ and his disciples when they met
together in their common rest and glory.
Christ did not behave with greater distance towards his disci-
ples, after they had seen his transfiguration, than before ; no, nor
after his resurrection ; nor will he in his highest exaltation in
heaven.
Christ took on him man's nature for this end, that he might be
under advantage for a more familiar conversation than the infinite
distance of the divine nature would allow of; and such a commu-
nion and familiar conversation is suitable to the relation that
Christ stands in to believers, as their representative, their brother,
and the husband of the church. The church being so often call-
ed the spouse of Christ, intimates the greatest nearness, intimacy,
and communion with God. Christ will conform his people to
himself; he will give them his glory, the glory of his person ;
their souls shall be made like his soul, their bodies like to his glo-
rious body ; they shall partake with him in his riches, as co-heirs
in his pleasures ; he will bring them into his banqueting house, and
they shall drink new wine with him ; they shall partake with him
in his dominion ; they shall sit with him in his throne, and shall
rule over the nations ; they shall partake with him in the honour
of judging the world at the last day. When Christ shall descend
from heaven in the glory of his Father, in such awful and dread-
ful majesty, with all his holy angels, and all nations shall be ga-
thered before the saints, at the same time shall they be as familiar
with Christ as his disciples were when he was upon earth : they
shall sit with him to judge with him. As Christ died as the head
of believers, and in their name, and was exalted in their name, so
shall hejudge the world as their head and representative. It was
God's design in this way to confound and triumph over Satan,
viz. by making Man, whom he so despised, and envied, and thought
to have had as a slave to lord it over, and thought to have glut-
ted his own pride, and malice, and envy with his blood, and in
his everlasting misery ; I say, by making Man his judge. Tt was
God's design that the elect of mankind should be Satan's Judge,
and therefore the head of them, the elder brother of them, is ap-
pointed to this work in the room of the rest, and the rest are to be
with him in it. God gave Christ " authority to execute judgment,
because he is the Son of 3i«w," John v. 27, partly upon this ac-
count we have mentioned.
The conversation of Christ's disciples in heaven shall in many
aspects be vastly more intimate than it was when Christ was upon
548 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
earth; vide Notes on John xx. 17 ; for in heaven the"' union shall
be perfected. The union is but begun in this world, and there is
a great deal remains in this world to separate and disunite them ;
but then all those obstacles of a close union and most intimate
communion shall be removed. When the church is received to
her consummate glory, that is her marriage with Christ, and
therefore doubtless the conversation and enjoyment will be more
intimate. This is not a time for that full acquaintance, and
those manifestations of love which Christ designs towards his
people. •
When saints shall see Christ's divine glory and exaltation in
heaven, this will indeed possess their hearts with the greater ad-
miration and adoring respect; yet this will not keep them at a dis-
tance, but will only serve the more to heighten their surprise and
pleasure, when they find Christ condescending to treat them in
such a familiar manner.
The saints, being united to Christ, shall have a more glorious
union with, and enjoyment of, the Father, than otherwise could
be; for hereby their relation becomes much nearer, they are the
children of God in a higher manner than otherwise they could
be ; for, being members of God's own Son, they are partakers of
his relation to the Father, or of his Sonship; being members of
the Son, they are partakers of the Father's love ta the Son and
his complacence in him. John xvii. 23. " I in them, and thou in
me : thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me ;" and verse
26, " That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in
them ;" and xvi. 27, " The Father himself loveth you, because
ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God."
So they are, in this measure, partakers of the Son's enjoyment of
his Father; they have his joy fulfilled in themselves, and by this
means they come to a more familiar and intimate conversing with
God the Father than otherwise ever would have been ; for there is,
doubtless, an infinite intimacy between the Father and the Son,
and the saints being in him shall partake with him in it, and of
the blessedness of it.
Such is the contrivance of our Redemption; thereby we are
brought to an immensely more glorious and exalted kind of union
with God and enjoyment of him, both the Father and the Son,
than otherwise could have been. For, Christ being united to the
human nature, we have advantage for a far more intimate union
and conversation with him than we could possibly have had if he
had remained only in the divine nature. So, we being united to
a divine person, can in him have more intimate union and con-
versation with God the Father, who is only in the divine nature,
than otherwise possibly could be. Christ, who is a divine person,
by taking on him our nature, descended from the infinite distance
IIRAVEPC. 549
between God and us, and is brought nlgli to us, to give us advan-
tage to converse with him. So, on the other liand, we, by being
in Christ, a divine person, ascend nearer to God the Father,
and have advantage to converse with him. This was the design
of Christ to bring it to pass that he, and his Father, and his peo-
ple might be brought to a most intimate union and communion,
John xvii. 21, 22, 23, " That they all may be one, as thou, Fa-
ther, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that
the world may believe that thou hast sent me ; and the glory which
thou hast given me have 1 given theni, that they may be made
perfect in one." Christ has brought it to pass, that those that
the Father has given him should be brought into the household
of God, that he and his Father, and they should be as it were one
society, one family, that his people should be in a sense admitted
into the society of the Three Persons in the Godhead. In that
family or household, God is the Father; Jesus Christ is his only
begotten and eternal Son ; the saint*, they also are childrt^n in the
family, they have all communion in the same spirit, the Holy
Ghost.
Cowl. I. Seeing that God hath designed men for such exceed-
ing exaltation ; it was but agreeable to his wisdom to bestow in
such a way as should abase man and exalt his own free grace, and
wherein man's entire, and absolute, and universal dependence on
God should be most evident and conspicuous.
Curol. U. It is easy to observe the wisdom of God, that see-
ing he designed Man for such a height of glory, that it should be
so ordered that he should be brought toil from the lowest deptlis
of wretchedness and misery.
Cowl. III. Hence we may learn something how vastly greater
glory and happiness the elect are brouglit to by Christ than that
which was lost by the fall, or even than that which man would
have attained to if he had not fallen, for then man would never
have had such an advantage for an intimate union and converse
with the Father or Son, Christ remaining at an infinite distance
from man in the divine nature, and man remaining at an infinite
distance from the Father without being brought nigh by an union
to a divine person.
Cowl. IV. Hence we may see liow God hath confounded Sa-
tan in actually fulfilling that which was a lis in him, wherewith he
deluded poor man an<l procured his fall, vi^. that they should be
as gods. When Satan said so, he did not think that this would
really be the fruit of it, he aimed at that which was infinitely con-
trary, his lowest depression, debasement, and ruin. But God
has greatly frustrated him in fulfilling of it, in making the issue
of eating that fruit to be the advancement of the elect to such an
union with the persons of the Trinity and communion with them
VOL. vm. 70
550 MISCELLANEOUS OBSEIIVATIONS.
in divine honour and blessedness, and particularly he united one
of them, the head and representative of tlie rest, in a perfect union
with the Godhead, and so to the honour, dominion, and work of
God in ruling the world, and judging it, and particularly in judg-
ing the devils, in which all the rest of the elect, according to their
measure, partake with him.
[576] Heaveii's happiness. If nothing be too much to be gi-
ven to man, and to be done for man in the means of procuring
his happiness, nothing will be too mucli to be given to him as the
end, no degree of happiness is too great for him to enjoy.
When I think how great this happiness is, sometimes it is ready
to seem almost incredible. But the death and sufierings of Ciirist
make every thing credible that belongs to this blessedness ; for if
God would so contrive to show i)is love in the manner and means
of procuring our happiness, nothino' can be incredible in the de-
gree of the happiness itself; if all that God doth about it be of a
piece, he, will also set infinite wisdom on work to make their hap-
piness and glor}' great in tiie degree of it. If God spared not
his own Son, but delivered him up for ns all, how shall he not
v'ith him also freely give us all things ? Nothing could have been
such a confirmation of their blessedness as this.
[585] Heaveii's happiness. It has sometimes looked strange
to me, that men should be ever brought to such exceeding happi-
ness as that of heaven seems to be, because we find that here
Providence will not suffer any great degree of happiness: when
men have something in which they hope to find very great joy,
there will be something to spoil it Providence seems watclitiilly
to take care they should have no exceeding joy and satisfaction in
this world. But indeed this, instead of being one argument
against tlie greatness of heaven's happiness, seems to argue for it;
for we cannot suppose that the reason why Providence will not
suffer men to enjoy great happiness here is, that he is averse to the
creature's happiness, but because this is not a time for it. To
every thing there is an appointed season and time, and this agree-
able to God's method of dispensation, that a thing siiould be
sought in vain out of its appointed time. God reserves happiness to
be bestowed hereafter that is the appointed time for it, and that is
the reason he does not give it now. No man, let him be nev( r so
strong or wise, shall alter this divine establishment by anticipating
happiness before his appointed time. It is so in all things: some-
times there is an appointed time for man's prosperity upon earth,
and then nothing can hinder their prosperity ; and then when
that time is past, then comes an appointed time for his adversit}',
and then all things conspire for his ruin, and all his strength and
skill shall not help him. History verifies this with respect to many
kings, generak, and great men ; one while they conquer all, and
HEAVEN. 551
nothing can stand before them ; all things conspire for their ad-
vancement, and all that oppose it are confounded, and after a while
it is right the reverse. So has it been with respect to the king-
doms and monarchies of the world ; one while is their time to
flourish, and then God will give all into their hands, and will de-
stroy those that oppose their Hourisliing, and then after that comes
the time of their decay and ruin, and then every thing runs back-
ward, and all helpers are vain. Jer. xxvii.
[639] Heaven. Whether the saints, when they go to heaven,
have any special comfort in their meeting with those that were
their godly friends on earth : 1 think that it is evident that they
will, by 1 Thess. iv. 13, 14, and the following verses, " But I
would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them
which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others, which have
no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
Here,
1. It seems to me that what the apostle mentions here as mat-
ter of comfort to mourners, is, not only that their departed friends,
though dead, shall be happy ; they are not so miserable in being
dead as persons are ready to imagine, because they shall rise
again ; but that they shall meet them and see them again, seems to
be intimated in the manner of expression, " God shall bring them
to them." Christians mourn when their near friends are dead,
because they are departed and gone; they are parted from them ;
but when they rise God shall bring them to them again; and this
is further confirmed by the following verses, especially the 17th
and ISih. " Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air;
and so shall we ever be with the Lord ; wherefore comfort one
another with these words ;'' where the apostle may well be under-
stood that they should comfort one another, when mourners, with
the consideration that they should be hereafter again with their
departed friends, and in a glorious and happy state.
2. 1 think it is evident hereby that there will be something else
that will be comfortable in meeting them in a future state than in
seeing other saints. The apostle doubtless mentions it as what
may be a comfortable consideration to them, that they shall again
see and converse with the same persons; implying that they will
have a different comfort in seeing them from what they would in
seeing other saints; otherwise, why did the apostle mention it for
their comfort, that they should see //tern again, rather than any other
saints that they had seen or heard of.'* The apostle's speaking
thus to the Thessalonians, might give them just ground to expect
that that peculiarly dear affection which they cherished for their
departed friends, which was crossed by their departure, would be
552 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
again gratified by meeting them again ; for this crossing of that
affection was the ground of their mourning. If the Thessalo-
nians knew that to see their friends again in another world would
be no gratification to their affection which they had to them as their
friends, and did no way think or conceive of it as such, then to
think of it would be no more comfort to them or remedy to their
mourning than to think that tliey should see any other saint that
lived and died in another country, or a past age; and that be-
cause it would be no remedy to the ground and foundation of
their mourning, viz. the crossing of their afleclions to them as
their friends ; and if it would be no remedy to their mourning to
think of it, it never would have been mentioned to them by the
apostle as a ground of comfort, or a reason why they need not
mourn. Thai was what they mourned for, viz. that they should
not have iheir affections towards them gratified by seeing of them,
conversing with them, <fcc. That was what the heathen, here
spoken of, that have no hope, mourned excessively for, that they
should never more have that affection gratified. The apostle here
would inform them that they have not this ground to mourn which
the heathen had, because they should have their affection gratifi-
ed again. '
Hence it follows, that the special affection which the saints have
in this world to other saints, who are their friends, will in some
respect remain in another world. I do not see why we should not
suppose that saints that have dwelt togeilier in this world, and
have done and received kindness to each other's souls, have been
assistant to each other's true happiness, should not love one another
with a love of gratitude for it in another world, and that the joy
in meeting those and seeing their happiness is partof that joy that
is spoken of, 2 Cor. i. 14. " As also ye have acknowledged us in
Dart, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the
day of the Lord Jesus; and 1 Thess. ii. 19, 20, " For what is
our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing: are not even ye in the
presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? for ye are our
glory and joy." Or why those that have loved one another with
a virtuous love, and from such a love have shown kindness one to
another, should not love one another the better for it in another
world.'* God and Christ will reward them and favour them the
more for such love, and all the fruits of it, to all eternity ; and I
do not see why they should not love one another the more for it.
Neither do I see how it argues infirmity for a saint in glory to
have a special respect to another, because God made use of him
as an instrument to bring him into being, and so is the remote
occasion of his eternal blessedness; or because lie himself was
the occasion of bringing the other into being; or that the same
agreeableness of temper, which is the foundation of special friend-
HEAVE.V. 553
ship here, may he so also in another world, or even that a former
acquaintance with persons, and their virtues, may occasion a par-
ticular respect in another world. They may go to heaven with a
desire to see them upon that account; the idea that they have of
them by their acquaintance here, may be what they carry to hea-
ven with them; and the idea we have of the proper object of our
love may be an occasion of the exercises of love, especially to-
wards that object, and more tfian towards another of which we
have not the idea.
This should move us to lay religion and virtue on the founda-
dation of all our friendship, and to strive that the love we have to
our friends be a virtuous love, dul}' subordinated to divine love;
for, so far as it is so, it will last for ever. Death does not put an
end to such friendship, nor can it put an end to such friends' en-
joyment of each other.
[G66] Separate state. Texts made use of by Dr. Watts in
his essay to prove a separate state: Ps. Ixxiii. 24. 26. Eccles.
xii. 7. Isai. Ivii. 2. Luke ix, 30, 31. Acts vii. 59. 2 Cor. v.
1, 2. 2 Cor. xii. 2, 3. It shows that St. Paul thought that a
soul might exist, think, know, and act, in paradise, in a state of
separation. (Vide my Notes on the text.) Philip, i. 21. 1
Thess. iv. 14. 1 Peter iii. 18, 19, 20. Spirits in prison:
Jude vii. Rev. vi. 9. Heb. xi. 14. The Jews generally sup-
posed separate spirits; and Christ did not correct them. Matih.
xiv. 26. Luke xxiv. 36, &c. Acts xxiii. 8, 9. More evident
proofs: Matth. x. 28. Luke xvi. 22, &c. Luke xx. 37, 38.
Luke xxiii. 42, 43. 2 Cor. v. 6. 8. Philip, i. 23, 24. Heb.
xii. 23. 2 Peter i. 13, 14. To which may be added, Acts i. 25.
See my Note on Heb. xii. 1. Blank Bible, p. 766.
[678] Beatifical vision. Whether there be any visible appear-
ance or glory, that is the symbol of the divine presence, in which
God manifests himself in heaven, beside the glorified body of
Christ: See of the Beatifical Vision, in my sermon from these
words, Rom. ii. 10, " But glory, honour, and peace, to every
one that worketh good."
[679] Goodness of God — Love of God — Happiness of hea-
ven. God stands in no need of creatures, and is not profited by
them ; neither can his happiness be said to be added to by the
creature. But 3'et God has a real and proper delight in the ex-
cellency and happiness of his creatures: he hath a real delight
in the excellency and loveliness of the creature, in his own image
in the creature, as that is a manifestation, or expression, or shining
forth of his own loveliness. God has a real delight in his own
loveliness, and he also has a real delight in the shining forth, or
glorifying of it. As it is a fit and condescent thing that God's
glory should shine forth, so God delights in its shining forth : So
654 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
that God has a real delight in the spiritual loveliness of the saints;
which delight is not a delight distinct from what he has in him-
self, but is to be resolved into the delight he has in himself; for lie
delights in liis image in the creature, as he delights in his own
being glorified; or as he delights in it, that his own glory shines
forth, and so he hath real proper delight in the happiness of his
creatures, which also is not distinct from the delight that he has
in himself, for it is to be resolved into the delight that he has in
his own goodness; for as he delights in his own goodness, so he
delights in the exercise of his goodness, and therefore he delights
to make the creature happy, and delights to see him made hnppy,
as he delights in exercising goodness, or communicating happi-
ness. This is no proper addition to the happiness of God, be-
cause it is that which he eternally, and unalterably had. God
hath no new delight when he beholds his own glory shining forth
in his imacre in the creature, and when he beholds the creature
made happy from the exercises of his goodness ; because those
and all things are from eternity equally present with God.
This delight in God cannot properly be said to be received
from the creature, because it consists only in a delight in
givinrr to the creature; neither will it hence follow that God is
dependent on the creature for any of his joy, because it is his own
act only that this delight is dependent on, and the creature is ab-
solutely dependent on God for that excellency and hoppiness that
God delights in. God cannot be said to be the more happy for
the creature, because he is infinitely iiappy in himself, and he is
not dependent on the creature for any thing, nor does he receive
any addition from the creature. But yet in one sense it can be
truly said that God has the more delight for the loveliness and
happiness of the creature, viz. as God would be less hapj)y if he
were less good, or if it were possible for him to be hindered in
exercising his own goodness, or to be hindered from glorifying
himself God has no addition to his happiness, when he exercises
any act of holiness towards his creatures ; and yet God has a real
delight in the exercises of his own holiness, and would be less
hapj)y if he were less holy, or were capable of being hindered
from any act of holiness.
CoroL I. Hence when the saints get to heaven they will have
this to rejoice them, and add to their blessedness, that God hath a
real delight and joy in them, in their holiness and happiness.
CoroL n. Hence God's love to the saints is real and proper
love ; so that those have been to blame, who have represented,
much to the prejudice of religion, the love of God to creatures as
if it were merely a purpose in God of acting as the creature does
that has love.
HEAVEiH. 555
Carol. III. Hence we learn how all God's love may be re-
solved into his love to himself, and delight in himself. His love
to the creature is only his inclination to glorify himself, and com-
municate himself; and his delight in himself glorified, and in him-
self communicated. There is his delight in the act, and in the fniit:
the act is the exercise of his own perfection; and the fruit is him-
self expressed and communicated.
[701] Happiness of heaven increasing. It is certain that the
inhabitants ol' heaven do increase in their knowledge, " the angels
Unow more than they did before Christ's Incarnation, for they
are said to know by the church, i. e. by the dealings of God
with the church, the manifold icisdom of God: and to desire to
look into the account the gospel gives of the sulitrings of Christ,
and the glory that should follow." Ilidgley's Body of Divinity,
p. 61, 62. vol. 1.
[7 1 OJ Heaven — Separate state — Resurrection — Dispensations.
How the hajipiness of the resurrection state will exceed the pre-
sent happiness in heaven. It looks to me probable, that the glory
of the state of the church after the resurrection will as mucii ex-
ceed the present glory of the spirits of just men made perfect, as the
gloi'y of the gospel dispensation exceeds the Mosaic dispensation ;
or as much as the glory of the state of the church in its first or
purest state of it, or ratlier in its state in the Millennium, (wherein
alone the glory ofllie gospel dispensation will be fully manifested,)
exceeds the state of the church under the law, and as much as the
slate, the company, of glorified souls exceed this. Of old, under
the Mosaic dispensation, the church saw things very darkly, they
saw as it were by a reflex light, as we see the light of the sun by
that of the moon ; they saw gospel things in dark types and
shadows, and in dark sayings, that were, as it were, riddles, or
enigmas. The glory of that dispensation was no glory in com-
parison of the gl 3ry of the evangelical dispensation it so much
excels, but under the gospel dispensation those dark shadows are
ceased, and instead of enigmas or dark sayings, the apostle uses
great plainness of speech. 2 Cor. iii. 12. The night in which
we saw by a leflex light only, is ceased, and Christ is actually
come, we enjoy day-light, John the Baptist was the day-star to
usher in the day ; and when he was born, the day-spring from on
high visited us, as Zachariah his father sang. 1/uke i. 78, 79.
And when Christ himself came, the sun rose; especially wiien he
rose from the dead, and siied forth his light and heat on the day
of Pentecost ; and now we see the sim by his own direct light, we
see him immediately, the veil is taken away, and we all see with
open face. 2Cor. iii. 18. But still, even under the gospel dis-
pensation, we see by a reflex light, we see only the in)age in a
looking-glass in comparison of what we shall in the future state.
556 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERV^ATIONS-
1 Cor. xiii. 12, We understand not by plain speeches and decla-
rations, but as in an enigma, or dark saying, as it is said in the
same place; for the things of heaven cannot be expressed as they
be in our language. The apostle, when he went there, said of them
that it was not lawful, or possible to utter them. But when the
souls of the saints are separated from their bodies, they shall no
longer see heaveidy things as in an enigma, or dark saying, for
they shall go themselves to heaven to dwell there, and shall im-
mediately see and hear those things that it is not possible or lawful
to utter plainly, or know immediately in this world. They shall
then no longer see Christ by reflexion as in a looking-glass, be-
cause they shall be where Christ himself shall be immediately pre-
sent ; for they that are departed are with Christ, they that are ab-
sent from the body are present with tiie Lord ; when that which
is perfect is come, then we shall no more see by a looking-glass or
enigma, but shall see face to face, as the apostle shows, 1 Cor.
xiii. 10. 12. "But when that which is perfect is come," is said
with respect to the separate souls of the saints, as is evident by
Heb. xii. 23 ; for they are tliere called the spirits of just nwnmade
perfect; and therefore when the soul of the saint leaves the body
and goes to heaven, it will be like coining out of the dim light of
the night into day-light. I'he present state is a dark benighted
state ; but when the soul enters into heaven, it is like the rising of
the sun, for they shall then see the Sun of Righteousness, by his
own direct light, because they shall be with him, they will be
spirits made perfect in that respect, that is, it will be perfect day
with them. Prov. iv. 18. We cannot in the present state see
clearly, because we have a veil before us, even the veil of the
flesh. The church is Christ mystical : the church in the Old
Testament state was represented by Christ in his fleshly state,
such as he was in before his death ; for Christ was the head of
that church in that state, and was subject to the san)e ordinances
with them, was under the same dispensation with his church till his
death.
His flesh was as it were a veil that hindered our access to hea-
venly things, or seeing them immediately. When Christ died,
this veil was rent from the top to the bottom, and the holy of
holies, with the ark of the testament, were opened to view ; and
especially will this be fulfilled in the glorious period of this evan-
gelical dispensation, when the kingdoms of this world become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, Rev. xi. 15. 19. But
still the church of Christ has a veil before it, to hinder it from see-
ing itnmediately things in the holy of holies ; and this veil is their
flesh, which is mystically tlie flesh of Christ. Christ in his mem-
bers is still in his fleshly state, but when the saints die this veil is
rent from the top to the bottom, and a glorious prospect will be
opened through this veil.
HEAVEN. 557
The day is a time of glory in comparison of the nigiit, because
of the sun lliat is then seen, which is tlie glory of the visible uni-
verse, and by his light fdls the world with glory. So the gospe
state of the church is spoken of as a state of glory, in comparison
of its Old Testament state. 1 Peter i. 11. " Searching what, or
what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did
signify when it testified beforehand, the sufferings of Christ, and
the iflory that should follow." 2. Cor. iii. 10. "For even that
which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason
of the glory that excelleth ;" and this state was prophecied of, of
old, as a state of glory, but the state of the holy separate souls,
is a state of glory in comparison of the present state. Ps. Ixxiii.
24. 23. " Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards
receive me to glory my flesh and my heart faileth, but God is
the strength of my heart, and mv portion for ever." So It is said
of Moses, and Elijah, who were in the state that the saints are
now in heaven, that at Christ's transfiguration they appeared in
glory. Luke ix. 30, 31.
But yet the glorilied souls of saints in their present state in hea-
ven, though they cannot be said properly to see as in an enigma,
is but darkly, in comparison of what they will see after the resur-
rection. Therefore, though we are said now to see with open
face, in comparison of what they did under the Old Testament;
and though separate souls in heaven see face to face, in compari-
son of what we do now ; yet the sight that the saints shall have at
the resurrection, is spoken of as it were the first sight wherein they
should see him as he is. 1 John iii. 2. " Beloved, now are we
tiie sons of God ; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be,
but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for
we shall see him as he is." The glory of Christ is what will as
it were then first appear to all the church, to all that shall then
lift up their heads out of their graves to behold it, as well as to
those that will then be alive. It is called the blessed hope, and
glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus
Christ, with respect to both those companies of which the church
consists. The apostle speaks of it as what would be a glorious
appearing to them, to the Christians that were then living ; Tit.
ii. 13 ; which implies something that will be seen anew, as though
he had been till then unseen. That appearing of (/hrist will be
like the appearing of the sun when it rises to all, both those that
shall then be found alive, and those that will then rise : it will be
to them both as the morning succeeding the dim light of the nighl,
Ps. xlix. 14. "The upright shall have dominion over them in
the morning." Though, in the state the saints are now in hea-
ven, there is no proper darkness, because there is no evil, yet the
light they have is dim, like the light of the night, in comparison
VOL. viii. 71
558 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
of the glorious light that shall appear in that morning. The
happiness that sejiarate souls have now in heaven is like the
quiet rest that a person has in bed, before a wedding day, or
some other joyful and glorious day, in comparison of the hght
and joy after the resurrection. Isai. Ivii. I, 2. " The righteous
perisheth, and no man layelh it to heart, and merciful men are
taken away, none considering that the righteous are taken
away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace. They
shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uj)right-
ness." 1 Thess. iv. 14, 15. "Them which sleep in Jesus will
God bring with him ; for this we say unto you by the word of
the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming
of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep." The
morning of the natural day when the sun rises, and persons
awake out of sleep, and the face of the whole world is revived,
seems to be a type of the resurrection, when the saints shall
awake out of sweet repose to glory.
The saints now in heaven see God or the divine nature by a
reflex light, comparatively with the manner in which they will
see it after the resurrection, seeing now through the glass of
the glorified human nature of Christ, and in that glass of his
works especially relating to redemption, as was observed No.
702.
Of old under the Old Testament, the church of Christ was
as a child ; Gal. iv. 1; so still under the gospel dispensation
the church on earth is as a child, in comparison of what the
church of glorified souls in heaven is, where what is perfect is
come. 1 Cor. xiii. 10, 11. " l^ut when that which is perfect
is come, then that which is in part shall be done away ; when
I was a child, I spake as a cliild, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child ; but when I became a man, I put away
childish things." But yet the church remains a child, and does
not come to the stature of a man until the resurrection. Kph.
iv. 10 — 13. " He that descended is the same also thai ascend-
ed far above all heavens, that he might fill all things ; and he
gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists,
and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying the body of Christ,
till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge
of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto them easure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ." But this will not be till that
time comes, when the work of those offices ceases, which will
not be till the end of the world, and there be no further use of
them. Math, xxviii. 20. It will not be till the time comes when
he that is ascended shall descend again. It will not be till the
church has all its members ; and all its members are delivered
HEAVEN. 559
from all remaining corruption ; and all are brought to their con-
summate glory.
Of old the church was in a preparatory state, as a woman pre-
paring for her marriage. The coming of Christ, his destroying
the Jewish state and church ; and setting up the gospel dispensa-
tion, is compared to the coming of the bridegroom, and his mar-
riage with the church ; the gospel day, to the wedding day ; and
the provision of God's house under the gospel to the wedding
feast; and gospel ministers, to servants sent out to invite persons
to the wedding ; Math. xxii. at the beginninff ; and Isai. Ixi. iO.
And especially is the most glorious time of the Christian church
on earth, when the glories of the gospel dispensation shall be most
fully manifested, called the marriage of the Lamb. Rev. xix. 7.
" Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honour to him ; for the
marriage of the Lamb is come, and Iiis wife hath made herself
ready," <fcc. But yet the translation of the soul from the earthly
to the heavenly state at death, is represented as its marriage to
Christ, and therefore, Christ's coming by death, is called the
coming of the bridegroom, in the beginning of the xxv. chap, of
Matthew. One thing that Christ has there respect to, is his
coming by death : This is the application Christ makes of it;
in the 13ih verse, Christ speaks of the coming of the bridegroom
as what would be sudden and unexpected, and as it were at mid-
night, to them that then were his hearers; and what they therefore
should continually watch and wait for, that they might not be
found slumbering and sleeping as the foolish virgins were,
" Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour
wherein the Son of man cometh." But this manner of speaking
is not applicable to those that were then living with respect to
Christ's last coming at the end of the world, but with regard to
his coming by death. But yet the glorification of the church
after the last judgment is represented as the proper marriage of
the Lamb. Rev. xxi. 2. " I John saw the holy city, new Jerusa-
lem, coming down from God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband ;" and ver. 9. " Come hither, I will
show thee the bride the Lamb's wife." See Luke xiv. 14, 15,
16, he. compared with Matth. xxii. at the beginning. See No.
774, Corol. .5.
[721] Happiness of Heaven after the resvrrection — Their ex-
ternal blessedness and delight. As the saints afier the resurrec- i
tion will have an_external part, or an outward man, distinct from I y
their souls^ so it necessarily fnUows that they shall have external //
perception, or sense, and, doubtless, then all their sense, and all
the perception that they have will be delighted and filled wifh
happiness — every perceptive faculty shall be an inlet of delight.
Particularly then, doubtless, they wjJl have tlie seeing, which is
560 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
the noblest of all the external senses, and iticn, vviihout doubt, the
most noble sense will receive most pleasure and delight. This
sense will be immensely more perfect than now it is, and the ex-
ternal light of the heavenly world will be a perfectly different kind
of light from the light of the sun, or any light in this world, ex-
citing sensations or ideas in the beholders perfectly diflerent, of
which we can no more conceive than we can conceive of a colour
we never saw, or than a blind man can conceive of liffht and co-
lours : a sort of light immensely more pleasant and glorious ; in
comparison of which the sun is a shade, and bis liglit but dark-
ness ; and this world, full of the light of the sun, is a world under
the darkness of night, but that a world of light affording inex-
pressible pleasure and delight to the beholders, in)mensely ex-
ceeding all sensitive delights in this world. That the light of
heaven, which will be the light of the brightness of Christ's glo-
rious body, shall be a perfectly different sort of light from that of
this world, seems evident from Rev. xxi. 11 ; and that it will be
so, and will also be ravishingly sweet to the eye, is evident from
the circumstances of Christ's transfiguration ; (see JNote on 2
Peter i. 11, to the end); and also from the circumstances of
Moses's vision of God in the Mount. (See INote on Exod. xxxiii.
18, to the end ; ff No. 266.)
But yet this pleasure from external perception will, in a sense,
have God for its object, it will be in a sight of Christ's external
glory, and it will be so ordered in its degree and circumstances as
to be wholly and absolutely subservient to a spiritual sight of that
divine spiritual glory, of which this will be a semblance, and ex-
ternal representation, and subservient to the superior spiritual
delights of the saints ; as the body will in all respects be a spi-
ritual body, and subservient to the happiness of the spirit, and
there will be no tendency to, or danger of, inordinacy, or predo-
minance. This visible glory will be su'nservient to a sense of
spiritual glory, as the music of God's praises is to the holy sense
and pleasure of the mind ; and more innnediately so, because this
that will he seen by the bodily eye will be God's glory, but that
music will not be so immediately God's harmony.
[741] Happiness of heaven. There is scarce any thing that
can be conceived of or expressed, about the degree of the happi-
ness of the saints in heaven, the degree of intimacy, of union,
and communion with Christ, and fullness of enjoyment of (iod,
for which the consideration of the nature and circumstances of
our redemption by Christ do not allow us and encourage us to
liope. Tliis redemption leaves nothing to hinder our highest ex-
altation, and the utmost intimacy, and fullness of enjoyment of
God. Our being such guilty creatures would be no hinderance,
because the blood of Christ has perfectly removed that, and by
HEAVEN. 561
his obedience he hath procured the contrary for us in the highest
perfection and glory. The meanness of our nature need be no
hlnderance, for Christ is in our nature. There is an infinite dis-
tance between the human nature and the divine ; the divine nature
lias that infinite majesty and greatness, whereby it is impossible
t hat we should immediately approach to that, and converse with
that, with that intimacy with which we might do to one who is in
our own nature. Job wished for a near approach to God ; but
his complaint was that his mean nature did not allow of so near
an approach to God as he desired : God's majesty was too great
for him. Job ix. 32, &c. But now we have not this to keep us
from the utmost nearness of access and intimacy of communion
witii Christ ; for, to remove this obstacle wholly out of the way,
Christ has come down, and taken upon him our nature : he is as
Elihu tells Job he was according to his wish. He is a man as we
are ; he also is formed out of the clay. This the church anciently
wished for, before it came to pass, to that end that she might have
greater opportunity of near access and intimacy of communion.
Cant. viii. 1. " O that thou vvert my brother, that sucked the
breasts of my mother, when I should find thee without I would
kiss thee, yea, I should not be despised," Christ descending so
low in uniting himself to our nature, tends to invite and encourage
us to ascend to the most intimate converse with him, and en-
courages us that we shall be accepted and not despised therein ;
for we have this to consider of, that let us be never so bold in this
kind of ascending, for Christ to allow us and accept us in it will
not be a greater humbling himself than to take upon him our
nature. Christ was made flesh and dwelt among us in a nature
infinitely below his original nature, for this end, that we might
have, as it were, the full possession and enjoyment of him. Again,!
it shows how much God designed to communicate himself to men, *
that he so communicated himself to the first and chief of elect men, a
the elder brother, and the head and representative of the rest, |\
even so that this man should be the same person with one of the:'
persons of the Trinity. It seems by this to have been God's design ■
to admit man as it were to the inmost fellowship with the Deity.
There was, as it were, an eternal society in the Godhead in the
Trinity of persons ; and it seems to be God's design to admit the
church into the divine family; so that which Satan made use of t
as a temptation to our first parents, " Ye shall he as gods, ''^ shall
be fulfilled contrary to his design. The saints' enjoyment of
Christ shall be like the Son's intimate enjoyment of the Father,
John xvii. 21, 22, 23, 24. *' That they may be all one, as thou,
Father, art in me, and 1 in thee, that they also may be one in us,
that the world may believe that thou has sent me. And the glory
which thou gavest me, have I given them, that they may be one
562 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
even as we are one ; I in them, and thou in me, that they may
be made perfect in one, that the world may know tiiat thou
hast sent me, and hast loved them, even as thou hast loved me.
Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with
me where 1 am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast
given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the
world." Ver. 26. " That the love wherewith thou hast loved
me, may be in them, and I in them." The Son's intimate en-
joyment of the Father is expressed by this, that he is in the
bosom of the Father ; so we read that one of Christ's disciples
leaned on his bosom, John xiii. 23. These things imply not only
that the saints shall have such an intimate enjoyment of the
Son, but that they, through the Son, shall have a most intimate
enjoyment of the Father; which may be argued from this,
that the way which God hath contrived to bring them to their
happiness, is to unite them to the Son as members, which
<loubtless is that they may partaUe with the head, to whom
they are so united, in his good. And so " our fellowship is
with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 1 John i. 3.
We have all reason to conclude that no degree of intimacy
will be too much for the manhood of Ciirist, seeing that the
divine liOgos has been pleased to assume him into his very
person ; and therefore we may conclude that no degree of in-
timacy will be too great for others to be admitted to, of whom
Christ is the head or chief, according to their capacity ; for this
is in some sort an exam])le of God's love to manhood, that he
iiath so advanced manhood. He hath done this to the head of
tnanhood, to.sliow forth what honour arid happiness God de-
signs for manhood ; for the end of God's assuming this parti-
cular manhood was the honour and happiness of the rest.
Surely, therefore, we may well argue the greatness of the ,
happiness of the rest from it. The assuinption of their par-
ticular manhood of Christ was but as a means of the honour
and advancement of the rest^ and we may well argue the end
from the means, and the excellency of the one from the excel-
lenf^y of the other.
Christ took on him our nature, that he might become our
brother, and our companion. The saints are called Christ/'s
brethren, Heb. ii. and his followers. Heb. i. 9. " God hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."
j*s. xlv. 8. The Hebrew word properly signifies a companion :
■l-iano comes from a root that properly signifies to conse-
•crate, or to be joined ivith. This teaches both the saints inti-
-urate converse with, and enjoyment of, Christ, and their fel-
HEWEN. 563
lowship with him, or being joined with him, in partaking with
him in his glory and happiness.
But nothing so much confirms these things as the death and
sufferings of Christ. " He that liath not withheld his own
Son, but hath freely delivered him up for us all in death, how
shall he not with him also freely give us all things.'"' If the
consideration of the greatness of Christ's condescension, in
taking on him our nature, invites us to ascend high in our inti-
macy with him, and encourages us that he will condescend to
allow us and accept us in it; much more does his so conde-
scending and humbling himself as he did in his last sufferings.
No degree of the enjoyment of God that we can suppose can
require grace and condescension that exceeds what was requi-
site in order to God's giving Christ to die, or will be a greater
expression of love. Christ will not descend lower, nor shall
we ascend higher, in having Christ for us, and giving himself
to us in such a high degree of enjoyinent, than to give himself
to us to be our sacrifice, and to be for us in such a degree of
suffering. It is certainly as much for God to give his Son to
bear his wrath towards, as it is to admit us to partake of, his
love towards him.
The latter in no respect seems no more too much to do for a
creature, and for a mean worthless creature, than the former.
Surely the majesty of God that did not hinder the one will not
hinder the other, especially considering that one is the end of
the other, we may more easily conceive that God would go far
in bestowing happiness on an inferior nature, than that he woidd
go far in bringing sufferings on an infinitely superior divine
person ; for the former is in itself agreeable to his nature, to
the attribute of his goodness; but bringing suffering and evil on
ah innocent and glorious person, is in itself, in some respect,
against his nature. If, therefore, God hath done the latter in
such a degree for those that are infeiior, how shall he not free-
ly do the former .'' It will not be in any respect a greater gift
for Christ thus to give himself in enjoyment, than it was for
him to give himself in snftering.
The sufferings of Christ for believers, also argue the great-
ness of intimacy with Christ, and fullness of enjoyment of him
that believers shall have, as it shows the fullness of propriefy
they shall have in him, or right that they have to him. Pro-
printy in any person is just ground of boldness of access and
freedom in enjoyment.
The beloved disciple John would not have made so free with
Jesus Christ as to lean on his bogotn, had not he looked upon
hini as his oivn. Christ did in effect give himself to tlie elect,
to be theirs from eternitv in the same covenant with the Fa-
564 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
ther, in which the Father gave them to him to be his; and
therefore Christ ever looked on himself to be theirs, and they
his, and Christ looked on himself to be much theirs, that he as
it were spent himself for them. When he was on the earth,
he had, in the eternal covenant of redemption, given liis life
to them, and so looked upon it as tbcirs, and laid it down for
them when their good required it; he looked on his blood as
theirs, and so spilt it for them when it was needed for their
happiness ; he looked on his flesh as theirs, and so gave it for
their life. John vi. 51. " The bread I will give is my flesh."
His heart was theirs; he had given it to them in the eternal
covenant, and therefore he yielded it u|) to be broken for them,
and to spill out his heart's blood for them, being pierced by the
wrath of God for their sins. He looked on his soul to be theirs,
and therefore he poured out his soul unto death, and made his
soul an oftering for their sins. Thus he from eternity gave
himself to them, and looked on them as having so great a pro-
priety in him as amounted to his thus spending and being spent
for them. And as he gave himself to them from eternity, so
he is theirs to eternity ; the right they have to him is an ever-
lasting right ; he is theirs, and will be for ever theirs. Now
what greater ground can there be for believers to come boldly
to Christ, and use the utmost liberty in access to him, and en-
joyment of him ? Will it argue Christ to be theirs in a higher
degree, for them to be admitted to the most perfectly intimate,
free, and full enjoyment of Christ, than for him so to be as it
were perfectly spent for them, and utterly consumed in such
extreme sufferings, and in the furnace of God's wrath.''
Again : If his enemies were admitted to be so free with
Christ in persecuting and aftlicting ; if Christ, as it were, yield-
ed himself wholly into their hands to be mocked and spit ujion,
and that they might be as bold as they would in deriding and
trampling on him, and might execute their utmost malice and
cruelty to make way for his friends' enjoyment of him ; doubt-
less his friends, for whom this was done, will be allowed to be
as free with him in enjoying of him : he will yield himself as
freely up to his friends to enjoy him, as he did to be abused by
his enemies, seeing the former was the end of the latter. Christ
will surely give himself as much to his saints as he has given
himself for them.
He whose arms were expanded to sufler, to be nailed to the
cross, will doubtless be opened as wide to embrace those for
whom he suftered. He wliose side, whose vitals, whose heart
was opened to the spear of his enemies, to give access to their
malice and cruelty, and to let out his blood, will doubtless be
opened to admit the love of his saints. They may freely come
HEAVEN. 565
evrn ad intima Chrisii, wlience the blood hath issued for them,
llie blood bath made way for them.
God and Christ, who have begrudged nothing as too great
to be done, too good to be given, as the means of the saints' en-
joyment of happiness, will not begrudge any thing in the enjoy-
ment itself.
The awful majesty of God now will not be in the way to hin-
der perfect freedom and inlimacy in the enjoyment of God, any
more than if God vvere our equal ; because that majesty has al-
ready been fully displayed, vindicated and glorified in Christ's
blood : all that the iionour of God's awful majesty requires, is
abundantly answered already, by so great sufferings of so great
a person. A sense of those wonderful sufferings of Christ for
their sins will be ever fixed in their minds, and a sense of their
dependence on those sufferings as the means of their obtaining
that happiness. Sutiicient care is taken in the method of salva-
tion, that all, that have the benefit of Christ's salvation and the
comforts and joys of it, should have them sensibly on that founda-
tion, that with their joys and comforts they should have a sense
of their dependence on those sufferings and their validity, and
that comforts should arise on the foundation of such a sense ; and
as God began to bestow comforts in tiiis waj' here, so he will go
on in heaven, for the joy and glory of heaven shall be enjoyed as
in Christ as the members of the Lamb slain, and the divine love
and glory shall be manifested through him ; and the sense they
will have of this, together with a continued sight of the punish-
ment of affronting this majesty in those who vvere of the same na-
ture and circumstances with themselves, will be sufficient to keep
up a due sense of the infinite awful majesty of God, without their
being kept at a distance; even though all possible nearness and
liberty should be allowed. All the ends of divine majesty are
already answered fully and perfectly, so as to prepare the way for
the most perfect union and communion without the least injury
to the honour of that majesty.
Though it might seem that an admission to such a kind of fel-
lowship with (Jod perhaps could not be, without God's own suf-
fering ; yet when Jesus Christ, a divine person, united to our na-
ture, has been slain, way is made for it, seeing that he has been
dead : the veil is rent from the top to the bottom by the death of
Christ; nothing of awful distance towards the believer can now
be of any use, the way is all open to the boldest and nearest ac-
cess, and he that was dead and alive again is ours fully and free-
ly to enjoy.
Again. We may further argue from the misery of the damned,
as God will have no manner of regard to the welfare of the damn-
ed, will have no pity, no merciful care, lest they should be too
VOL. VIII. 72
«f6^ MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIOKS.
miserable ; they will be perfectly lost and thrown away by God
as to any manner of care for their good, or defence from any de-
gree of misery ; there will be no merciful restraint to God's
wrath ; so on the contrary with respect to the saints there will be
no happiness too much for them ; God will not begrudge any
thing as too good for them ; there will be no restraint to his love,
no restraint to their enjoyment of himself; nothing will be too full,
too inward and intimate for them to be admitted to, but Christ
will say to his saints, as in Cant. v. 1, "Eat, O friends; drink,
3'ea, drink abundance, O beloved."
Corol. I. Humilialion. Hence we may see a reason why Uu-
miliation shou\d be required, in order to a title to those benefits;
and why such abundant love has been exercised in all God's dis-
pensations with fallen man to make provision for man's humilia-
tion and self-diffidenee, and self-emptiness; why it is so ordered
and contrived that it should not be by our own righteousness, but
altogether by the righteousness of another, viz. that there might
be the more effectual provision to keep the creature humble, and
in the place of a creature in such exceeding exaltation, and that
the honour of God's majesty and exaltation above the creature
might in all be maintained ; and how needful it is to believe those
truths, and how far those doctrines ave fundamental or important
that lend to this ; and how much they militate against the design
and drift of God in the contrivance for our redemption, that main-
tain contrary doctrines.
CoroL II. Hence we may learn that a believer has more to be
free and bold in his access to Christ than to any other person in
heaven or earth. The Papist's iroj's/iip angels ajid samts as inter-
cessors between Christ and them ; because they say it is too much
boldness to go to Christ, without some one to intercede for them ;
but we have far more to embolden and encourage us to go freely
and immediately to Christ, than we can have to any of the angels.
The angels are none of them so near to us as Christ is ; w ehave not
that propriety in them ; yea, we have a great deal more to en-
courage and invite us to freedom of access to, and communion
with, Christ, than with a fellow-worm. There is not the thou-
sandth parth of that to draw us to freedom and nearness towards
them, as there is towards Christ. Yea, though Christ is so much
above us, yet he is nearer to us than the saints themselves, for our
nearness to them is by him ; our relation to them is through him.
[743] Ne-w heavens and new earth — Consmnmatiun of all
things — Heaven. The place of God's eternal residence, and the
place of the everlasting residence and reign ol' Christ, and his
church, will be heaven ; and not this lower world, purified and
refined. Heaven is every where in scripture represented as the
HEAVEN. 567
throne of God, and that part of the universe that is God's fixed
abode, and dwelling place, and that is everlastingly appropriated
to that use. Other places are mentioned in scripture as being
places of God's residence for a time, as mount Sinai, and the land
of Canaan, the temple, the holy of holies; but yet God is repre-
sented as having dwelt in heaven before he dwelt in those places.
Gen. xix. 24 ; Exod. iii. 8 ; Job xxii. 12 — 14; Gen. xxviii. 12.
And when God is spoken of as dwelling in those places, he is re-
presented as coming down out of heaven. So he is represented as
coming on mount Sinai. Gen. xix. 11, v. 18, v. 20 ; Exod. xx.
22; Deut. iv. 36 ; Nehem. ix. 13. So he is represented as coming
to the temple. 2Chron. vii. 3. So when the cloud of glory first
came on the tabernacle, Exod. ult. 34, it doubtless was the same
cloud that till then abode on mount Sinai ; but God had first de-
scended from heaven on mount Sinai, and while God did dwell in
the tabernacle and temple, he was represented as still dwelling in
heaven, as being still his original, proper, and everlasting dwell-
ing place, and dwelling in the temple and tabernacle, in afar in-
ferior manner. 1 Kings viii. 30. " When they sliali pray towards
this place, then hear thou in heaven, thy dwelling place." So
verses 32. 34. 36. 39. 43. 45. 49 ; Ps. xi. 4. "The Lord is in his
holy teniple, the Lord's throne is in heaven." Deut. xxxiii. 26.
"There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rideth on the
heavens in thine help, and in his excellency on the sky." Ps. xx.
6. " Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed : he will hear
him from his holy heaven." Deut. xxvi. 15 ; Isai. Ixiii. 15 ; Lam.
iii. 50 ; 1 Chron. xxi. 26 ; 2 Chron. vi. 21. 23. 27. 30 ; and chap,
vii. 14; Neh. ix. 27, 28; Ps. xiv. 2 ; and liii. 2; Ps. xxxiii. 13,
14. " The Lord looketh from heaven, he beholdeth all the sons
of men from the place of his habitation, he looketh on all the in-
habitants of the earth ;" Ps. Ivii. 3 ; Ixxvi. 8; Ixxx. 14; cii. 19;
" For he hatli [looked from the height of his sanctuary, from
heaven did the ]jord behold the earth." Eccles. v. 8 ; "God is
in heaven, and thou on the earth," 2Kingsii.l, "would takeup
Elijah into heaven," and so we have an account how he was
taken up, ver. 1 1 ; 2 Chron. xxx. 27 ; Ps. Ixviii. 4. 33 ; cxxiii.
1 ; " Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the
heavens;" Ps. cxv. 2, 3 ; "Wherefore should the heathen say,
Where is now their God ."^ Our God is in the heavens : he hath
done whatsoever he pleased ;" Lam. iii. 41 ; 2 Chron. xx. 19 ;
Job xxxi. 2 ; Ps. cxiii. 5; Isai. xxxiii. 5 ; Jer. xxv. 30; Isai.
Ivii. 15.
The manner in which God dwells in heaven is so much supe-
rior to that wherein he dwells on eartii, that heaven is said to be
God's throne, and the earth his footstool ; Isai. Ixvi. 1. " Thus
568 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
sailli the Lord, The heaevn is my throne, and the earth is my
footstool ; where is the house that ye build unto nje, and where
is the place of my rest."
The holy places on earth, where God is represented as dwell-
ing, are called his footstool. Lam, ii. 1, "And remembered his
footstool in the day of his anger;" 1 Chron. xxviii. 2, "As for
me I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the
covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and had
made ready for the building;" Ps. cxxxii. 7, "We shall go into
his tabernacle, we will worship at his footstool." God's sanctuary
is called the place of his feet. Isai. Ix. 13. " To beautify the
place of my sanctuary, and to make the place of my feet glorious."
The inferior manner in which God dwelt in the Jewish sanctuary,
was expressed by this, that God placed his name there. Earthly
holy places, which were called God's house, or the place of his
habitation, were so in such a manner, and a manner so inferior to
that in which heaven is God's house, that they are represented as
only outworks, or gates of heaven. Gen. xxviii. 17. "Thisis none
other but the house of God, this is tiie gate of heaven." Yea,
though God is represented as dwelling in those earthly holy
places, yet he was so far from dwelling in them as he does in
heaven, that when he appeared in them from time to time, he is
represented as then coming from heaven to them, as though
heaven were his fixed abode, and not mount Sinai ; and the ta-
bernacle and the temple, places into which he would occasionally
turn aside and appear. Thus God is said to have descended in
a cloud, and appeared to Moses when he passed by him and pro-
claimed his name, though he had before that from time to time ap-
peared there as in the mount of God, and though Moses had at
that time been long conversing with God in the mount. Exod.
xxxiv. 5. And so God descended from time to time on the taber-
nacle. Numb. xi. 25, and xii. .5. Heaven is always represented
as the proper and fixed abode of God, and other dwelling places
but as occasional abodes. When the wise man speaks of wor-
shipping God in his house, he at the same time would have those
that worship him there be sensible that he is in heaven, and not
on the earth : Eccles. v. 1, 2. "Keep thy foot when thou goest
to the house of God. Let not thy heart be hasty to utter any
thing before God ; for God is in heaven, and thou upon the
earth."
So God, when he withdrew from the land of Israel, is spoken
of as returning to heaven ; which is called his place, as though tlie
land of Israel were not his place, Hosea v. 15, "I will go and
return to my place." And G'od is spoken of as being in heaven
in the time of the captivity, as he is in the prophecy of Daniel,
HEAVEN. 569
Dan. iv. 37 ; Dan. v. 23 ; and in Daniel's vision, Dan. iv. 13.
23. 31.
And heaven is also in the New Testament every where repre-
sented as the place of God's abode. Christ tolls us that it is
God's throne, Matth. v. 34. This we are taught in the New Tes-
tament to look on as God's Temple, after all that was legal and
ceremonial concerning holy times, and holy places ceased. Acts
vii. 48, 49. " Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples
made with hands, assailh the prophet. Heaven is my throne, and
the earth is my footstool, what house will ye build me saith the
Lord, and where is the place of my rest ?" This is the true Tem-
ple and the true holy of holies, as it is represented in the Epistle to
the Hebrews. Heaven is the place whence Christ descended, and
It is the place whither he ascended. It was the place whence the
Holy Ghost descended on Christ, and whence the voice came,
saying. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; and
is the place whence the Holy Ghost was poured out at Pentecost,
and whatever is from God is said to be from heaven, Matlh. xvi.
1 ; Mark viii. 11 ; Luke xi. IG ; Matth. xxi. 25 ; Luke ix. 54 ;
Luke xxi. 11 ; John iii. 27 ; John vi. 31 ; Acts ix. 3, and xi.
5, 9 ; Rom. i. 18 ; 1 Cor xv. 47 ; 1 Peter i. 12 ; Heb. xii, 25 ;
Rev. iii. 12 ; and other places. The angels are spoken of as
coming from heaven from time to time, in the New Testament ;
and visions of God are represented by heaven's being opened ;
and prayer and divine worship are enjoined under the New Tes-
tament to be directed to heaven. We are to pray to our Father
which is in heaven, which appellation is very often given to God
in the New Testament. So we are to lift up our eyes and hands to
heaven in our prayers. And heaven is every where in the New
Testament spoken of as the place of God and Christ, and the
angels, and the place of blessedness; and all good whatever of
a divine nature, is called heavenly ; and heaven is always spoken
of as the proper country of the saints, the appointed place of all
that is holy and happy.
Whenever God comes out of heaven into this world, he is re-
presented as bowing the heavens : intimating that heaven is so
much the proper place of God's abode, that it is something very
great and extraordinary for him to manifest himself as he is
pleased to do in this world among his people, that heaven, the
proper place of his abode, is, as it were, rent, or bowed, and
brought down in part to the earth to make way for it, 2 Sam. xxii.
10; Ps. xviii. 9 ; Ps. cxiiv. 5 ; Isai. Ixiv. 1. God is called the
God of heaven, the Lord of heaven, the King of heaven, Dan.
V. 23 ; iv. 37 ; ii. 44.
Heaven is so much the proper place of God's abode, that, hy
a metonomy, heaven is put for God himself, 2 Chron. xxxii. 20.
570 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
" And for this cause, Hezekiali the king, and the prophet Isaiah,
the son of Amoz, prayed, and cried to heaven ;" Ps. Ixxiii. 9.
" They set their mouth against the heavens ;" and when any thing
is spoken of in scripture as being from heaven, the same is to be
understood as to be from God; thus the Prodigal says, " 1 have
sinned against heaven,''^ i. e. againd God, I^uke xv. 21.
Heaven is a part of the universe which God in the first crea-
tion, and the disposition of things that was made in the beginning,
appropriated to himself, to be that part of the universe that should
be his residence, while other parts were destined to other uses.
Ps. cxv. 15, 16. "You are blessed of the Lord, who hath made
heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord's,
but the earth hath he given to the children of men." God having
taken this part of the universe for his dwelling-place in the be-
ginning of the creation, he will retain it as long as the creation
lasts.
When man was in a state of innocency before the world was
polluted and brought into the perfect state of confusion, God was
in heaven : heaven was God's dwelling-place, for the angels fell
from thence ; we read that when they fell God cast them down
from heaven, and therefore, when this polluted, confused state of
the world is at an end, and elect men shall be perfectly restored
from the fall to another state of innocency, and perfect happiness
after the resurrection, heaven will also then be the place of God's
abode.
This lower world in its beginning came from God in heaven.
lie dwelt in lieaven when he made it, and brought it out of its
chaos into its' present form ; as is evident, because we are told
that when God did this, the morning stars sang together and all
the sons of God, i. e. the angels, shouted for joy : without doubt
the habitation of the angels was from the beginning that high and
holy place where God dwells, and their habitation was heaven in
the time of the creation, because those that fell were cast down
from thence. But if the lower world in its beginning was from
God in heaven, without doubt in its end it will return thither as
he dwelt in heaven before, and when he made it and brought it
out of its chaos into its present form, so he will dwell in heaven
when and after it is destroyed and reduced to a chaos again.
Heaven is that throne where God sits in his dominion, not only
over some particular parts of the universe, as the mercy seat in the
temple, but it is the throne of his universal kingdom. Ps. ciii.
19. " Ttie Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his
kingdom ruleth over all," i. e. over all his works, or all that he
hath made; which appears by verse 22, " Bless the Lord all his
works, in all places of his dominion." Because it is the throne
in which God rules over the whole universe, therefore it is the up-
HEAVEN. 571
permost part of the universe as above all ; and it is evident that
the heaven where God dwells is far above those lower heavens ;
it is said to be far above all heavens. And as it is the throne of
his universal kingdom, so it is the throne of his everlasting king-
dom, as he here reigns by a dominion that is universal with re-
spect to the extent of it. The psalmist in this same place is
speaking of things that are the fruits of God's everlasting domi-
nion, especially his everlasting mercy to his people, (which mercy
will be especially manifested after the day of judgment,) as in the
words immediately preceding in the two foregoing verses, " But
the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
them that fear him," &c. The word here translated prepared^
also signifies established, having respect to its firmness, and du-
rableness. It is fit, as God's kingdom is everlasting, so the throne
of that kingdom should be everlasting, and never should be
changed, for that which moves is ready to vanish away. The
everiastingness of God's kingdom is signified by the same word
in the original that in the place now mentioned is translated j^re-
pared. Ps. xciii. 2. " Thy throne is established of old, thou art
from everlasting," together with the context.
If God should change the place of his abode, and his throne
from heaven to some other part of the universe, then that which
has hitherto been God's chief throne, and his metropolis, his royal
city, must either be destroyed or put to a so much meaner use,
and be deprived of so much of its glory as would be equivalent
to a destruction ; which is not a ?eemly thing for the cliief city,
palace, and throne of the Eternal King, whose royal throne never
shall be destroyed. Ps. xlv. 6. " Thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever."
This heaven, that is so often spoken of as the place of God's
proper and settled abode, is a heal heaven, a particular |)lace or
part of the universe, and the highest, or outermost part of it, be-
cause it is said to be the heaven of heavens ; it is the place where
the body of Christ is ascended, which is said to be far above all
heavens, and is called the third heaven.
Is it likely that God should change the place of his eternal
abode, and remove, and come and dwell in another part of the
universe ; or that he should gather men and bring them home to
himself, as to their great end and centre, whither all things should
tend, and in which all should rest?
It is fit that an immutable being, and he who has an everlast-
ing, and unchangeable dominion, should not move the place of
his throne.
The apostle John, even when he is giving a description of the
state of the church after the resurrection, represents the place of
572 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
God's abode as being then in heaven, for he says he saw the
new Jerusalem descending from God out of heaven.
The dwelliniJf place of the saints is said to be eternal in the
heavens; 2 Cor. v. 1 ; "For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the hea-
vens."
If any say that this earth will be heaven after the day of
judgment, is it not as easy to say that, after the resurrection,
heaven will be the new earth ? is there any more force upon
words one way than the other ?
The natural images ar)d representations of things seem to
represent heaven to be the place of light, happiness, and glo-
ry ; such as the serenity and brightness of the visible heavens
of which I have spoken elsewhere.
It is an argument, that this globe we now dwell upon is not
to be refined to be the place of God's everlasting abode, be-
cause it is a moveable globe, and must continue moving always,
if the laws of nature are upheld. It being so small, it cannot
remain and subsist distinct among the neighbouring parts of
the universe without motion ; but it is not seemly that God's
eternal glorious abode, and fixed and everlasting throne, should
be a moveable part of the universe.
As heaven will be everlastingly the place of God's chief,
highest, and most glorious abode; so without doubt it will be
the place of Christ's everlasting residence, and therefore the
place whither he will return after the day of judgment. He
who has hfid the honour and glory of dwelling in this glorious
abode of God hitherto, will not have his honour diminished
after he has completed all his work as God's officer, by then
dwelling in a place far separated from God's dwelling-place.
If he returned in triumph to heaven, entering into the royal
city after his first victory in his terrible conflict under suffer-
ings, nuich more shall he return thither after his more perfect
and com[)!ete victory, when all his enemies shall be put under
his feet after the day of judgment. And if Christ, after the
day of judgment, returns to heaven to dwell, doubtless all his
saints shall go there with him ; he will invite them to come
with him and iiiherit the kingdom prepared for them before
the foundation of the world.
The place of both Christ and hi-s church, their everlasting
residence, will be heaven : wlien Christ comes forth at the day
of judgment with the armies of heaven, the saints and angels
attending him, it will be as it were on a white horse going forth
to a glorious victory. And as the Roman generals after their vic-
tories returned in triumph to Rome, the metropolis of the em-
HEAVEJT. 573
pire, delivering up their power to them that sent them forth ;
so will Christ return in triumph to heaven, all his armies fol-
lowing him, and shall there deliver up his delegated authority
to the Father. As Christ returned to heaven after his first
victory, after the resurrection of his natural body, so he will
return thither again after his second victory, after the resur-
rection of his m^'stical body.
[745] Neio heavens and new earth. It is manifest that the
world of the blessed, that is the new world, or the new hea-
vens and earth, or the next world that is to succeed this as the
habitation of the church, is heaven, is the same world that is
now the habitation of the angels. For heaven, or the world
of the angels, is called the world that is to come. Eph. i. 20,
21, 22. " Which he wrought in Christ, w^hen he raised him
from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the hea-
venly places, far above all principality, and power, and might,
and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this
world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things
under his feet." Heaven, the habitation of principalities and
powers, is that which is here called the ivorld to come, as being
the world that was to succeed this, as the habitation of the
church. It cannot be understood in any other sense, or mere-
ly that Christ was to be at the head of things in the new world
when it did exist ; but it speaks of what is already done and
was done at Christ's ascension, a past effect of God's mighty
power, according to the ivorTcing of the exceeding greatness of
his power ivhich he wrought in Christ Jesus when he raised him
from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly
places.
[775] Happiness of separate saints. The proper time of
Christ's reward is not till after the end of the world, for ho
will not have finished the work of Mediator till then, but yet he
has glorious rewards in heaven before. The proper time of
the angels' reward is not till the end of the world, and their
work of attending on, and ministering to, Christ in his hum-
bled militant state, both in himself and members, or body mys-
tical, is not finished till then, but yet they are confirmed be-
fore, and have an exceeding reward before. The proper time
of the saints' reward is not in this world, nor is their work,
their hard labour, trial, and sufferings, finished till death ; but
yet they are confirmed as soon as they believe, and have an
earnest of their future inheritance the first fruits of the Spi-
rit now. And so, though the proper time of judgment and
reward of all elect creatures, is not till the end of the w orld ;
yet the saints have glorious rewards in heaven immediately af-
ter death.
VOL. VIII. 73
574 MISCELLAPnSftuS OBSERVATIONS.
[889] Heaven — the eterna] abode of the church. Tlic house
not made with hands is eternal in the heavens ; but, if the
saints' abode in heaven be temporary as well as their abode on
earth, it would not be said so; their house there would be but
a tabernacle as well as here. By the house eternal in the heavens,
it is evident there is sonic respect had to the resurrection body,
which proves that the place of the abode of the saints after
the resurrection will be in heaven, as well as before.
If the saints were only to stay in heaven till the resurrection,
then they would be pili^riins and strangers in heaven, as well
as on earth, and the country that the saints of old declared
plainly that they sought, though they were in possession of the
earthly Canaan, will be but a temporary Canaan, as well
as the earth ; and in some respects more so, because the
earth is to be their eternal abode, (though changed,) and not
heaven.
We are directed to lay up treasure in heaven, as in a safe
place, where it will be subject to no change or remove. The
names of the saints are written or enrolled in heaven, and they
have their citizenship in heaven, as being their proper fixed
abode where they belong, and where they are to be settled.
The inheritance, incorruptible, is reserved in heaven for the
saints, and they are kept by the i)ower of God to this salva-
tion, ready to be revealed in the lust time, or at the day of
indgnient. So that the inheritance in heaven is the saints'
proper, incorruptible, and everlasting inheritance; and the saints
shall be so far from changing the place of their abode in hea-
ven for an alwde on a renewed earth at the day of judgment,
that this is the proper time of the church's being translated to
tliis incorruptible inheritance in heaven, and the whole army
of Israel's passing Jordan to that inheritance; for that is the
last time wherein this salvation shall be revealed.
The Lord from heaven does not come to give his elect the
country of the earthly Adam only renewed to the paradisaical
state wherein the earthly Adam enjoyed it ; Col. i. 5. "For
the hope which is laid up for you in heaven." The proj)er time
of the reward of the saints is after the resurrection, ns is evi-
dent by Luke xiv. 14, " But thou shalt be recompensed at the
resurrection of the just;" and the proper place of that re-
ward is heaven, as is evident by Matth. v. 12, " Rejoice and
be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven ;" Ileb.
X. 34, " Ye have in heaven a better and an enduring sub-
stance ;" and the time, when the apostle encourages them that
they shall receive this enduring substance in heaven, is when
Christ comes to judgment, as is evident by the three following
verses.
HEAvmi. 575
Christ is entered into the holiest of all, and is set down for
ever on the right hand of God in heaven, and therefore will
not eternally leave heaven to dwell in this lower world in a re-
newed state. * V
Christ ascended into heaven as theforerunner of the church ;
and therefore the whole church shall enter there, even that
part that shall he found alive at the day of judijtnent. Christ
entered into heaven with his risen and glorified body, as an
earnest of the same resurrection and ascension to the bodies
of the saints ; therefore, when the bodies of the saints shall
rise, they shall also ascend into heaven. See No. 743. 1184.
[917] Saints in heaven acquainted tvith what is done on earth.
That the blessed inhabitants of heaven are very much occu-
pied in observing gospel wonders done on earth, and that their
blessedness in seeing God consists very much in behold in^^ his
glory as displayed in those wonders, is manifest not only by the
book of Revelation, but many other passages of scripture ; as
Ps. Ixxxix., which treats of tliese wonders ; ver. 5, " And the
heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord ; thy faithfulness also
in the congregation of the saints ;" and Ps. xix. 1, 2, consider-
ing the sul)ject of the Psalm, see Ps. cxlix. 5, to the end, with
Notes on verses 5 and 9. See Matth. xix. 29. Mark x. 30;
Luke xviii. 29.
[952] New heavens and neiv earth — Consummation of all
things — Progress of the work of redemjition. Heaven shall be
changed and exalted to higher glory at the end of the world.
The creation consists of two parts, upper and lower. This we
read of the worlds in the plural numlser that were made in the
creation, Ileb. i. 2, which the apostle in the next chapter dis-
tinguishes into two, viz. this world, and the world to come, ver.
5, as also Eph. i. 21. The upper world is said to be the world
to come, both because it is future to us in this world, and also
because to the whole elect church it is to succeed this world
when this is destroyed, and also on another account, that we
will observe by and by. The one of these worlds God hath
made for his own Son, and for his attendants, and ministers,
the angels ; and the other for man. Ps. civ. IG. *' The hea-
ven, even the heavens, are the Lord's, but the earth hath he
given to the children of men." According to the two differ-
ent kinds of intelligent creatures that God hath made, angels
and men, there are two worlds. The one is corru|)tible, but
the other incorruptible; the one is that which can be shaken,
the other that which cannot be shaken, but shall remain to all
eternity. But yet both in their own nature are mutable, and
that heaven is incorruptible, is by the divine will and grace,
and not necessarily from the oature of heaven. If the angelic
576 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
mature, the highest and most excellent part of heaven, is cor-
ruptible, or liable to be shaken and destroyed, as appears by the
event ; doubtless the place, what is inanimate in heaven, is in its
own nature capable of destruction. Heaven is not unalterable in
its own nature, so but that it may be exalted. That part of the
universe that is capable of ruin is not so unalterable in its own na-
ture, but that it may be brought to an higher excellency ; but the
highest heavens in their own nature are capable of ruin in the
highest and most excellent part of it, in the head of all that part of
the creation, and so of the whole creation, viz. Lucifer.
God only is incorruptible in his own nature. The one of these
worlds is to fall and be ruined, and is to be the eternal seat of
those creatures that fall and are ruined ; the other is to stand, and
to be exalted and brought to higher excellency, perfection, and
glory, and is to be the seat of those creatures that stand and are
brought to higher excellency. As all the intelligent creatures
that God hath made the inhabitants of the universe, all the spiri-
tual world, (which is the chief part of the universe, and instar to-
tiiis,) is mutable and is to be changed, either by suffering ruin, or
by being exalted to a vastly higher perfection ; so is the whole
universe itself (the habitation, the inferior and inanimate part of
the universe,) all of it mutable, and all to be changed, either by
suffering ruin, or being gloriously exalted in excellency. This
universal change shall be at the end of the world, or inunediately
after the day of judgment. Tlien shall be the change on the in-
habitants : some shall perish, and others shall be exalted to an im-
mensely iiigher degree of excellency and glory. And so shall it
then be with the two worlds: this lower world, that is to be the
place of those that perish, shall be destroyed by fire ; the upper
world, that is to be the seat of the elect, shall be exalted exceed-
ingly in its nature. And this is the new creation, so far as that
respects the external and inanimate universe. This will be the ex-
ternal new heavens, and new earth ; as there are two spiritual
worlds, the elect and the reprobate, so there are two natural
worlds, thnt are to be the everlasting external seats or places of
those spiritual worlds. And as it is to be with those spiritual
worlds themselves, that one will be destroyed as in a spiritual fur-
nace of fire, and the other will be exalted to a state of excellency
and glory, vastly greater than their original excellency ; as even
the angels, the original inhabitants of heaven will be ; so there is
no reason to think but that it will be likewise with the two external
worlds, wliich they have relation to.
When God created this lower world, he made different orders or
raidis of creatures, of which the lower creation is constituted, of
which man is the most noble and excellent ; and so when God
made the upper world, he made different parts, of which the an-
HEAVENS 577
gelical nature Is the most noble and exalted, and those parts
which constitute the habitation are inferior. h?urely, therefore,
the angels, the highest part of the upper creation, will be changed
and exceedingly exalted in the glory in which they shine, (as
doubtless they will be in some proportion to the great and vast al-
teration that will be made in the glory of the saints, seeing the
day of judgment is the proper time of the reward of the angels as
well as saints.) There is no reason to think that the inferior parts
will not also be proportionally exalted.
God built heaven chiefly for an habitation for Christ, his dear
Son, and the angels themselves are made for him, and are as it
were only parts of his house, or habitation ; as it is said of the
church in Heb. iii. 6. All that is in heaven is an habitation for
God's beloved Son, the angels are only the more noble and excel-
lent parts of the structure, the chief ornaments of the building.
The inanimate parts of heaven are to the angels an habitation ;
but the intelligent parts of it are to Christ an habitation. As they
are called h'\s chariots, the seat on which he rides, so they are his
throne, the seat on which he reigns. As the throne is the noblest
part of the palace, and as. God built the whole of the upper world
to be an habitation for his dear Son ; so when the time comes that
God shall reward his Son for his perfect and great obedience, and
finishing his great work appointed him to do, when the work he
was appointed to in his office is all finished at the end of the world,
and the time comes for him to receive his full reward, to be glo-
rified with his complete and highest glory in the head and all his
members, and all enter into heaven together at Christ's last and
greatest ascension thither ; the house shall be garnished and beau-
tified exceedingly, to make it fit for his reception in this his highest
glory, as it shall be so with the glorious angels who are his cha-
riot, in which he shall ascend, (they shall ascend in far greater
glory than they descended, because they shall have received the
glory that is their reward,) and who will be his throne when he is
come thither, and the chief and most noble parts of the building.
I say as they will be as it were made new, appearing in new glory,
so will it be with all the inferior parts of the habitation. The
house shall be garnished to prepare it for the glorious bridegroom,
who shall enter into it with his blessed bride in her complete and
perfect beauty, when they shall enter into heaven to celebrate the
solemnity, and to partake of the glorious entertainments and joys
of an eternal wedding; as when king Ahasuerus made a great feast,
wherein he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the ho-
nour of his excellent majesty; and, to show the beauty of his
queen, the palace was exceedingly adorned on that occasion. Eph.
i. 6.
There is nothing in the scripture, that in the least intimates the
external heaven or paradise to be unchangeable, and not capable
578 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIOiNS.
of being perfected and exalted to higher glory. There Is nothing
so but the divine nature itself; and it is too much honour to any
created thing to suppose it to be so perfect, that no occasion what-
soever, even the reward of the infinite merits of the infinitely be-
loved Son of God Iiimself, is occasion great enough for allowing
of it, or that shall render it fit and proper, that it be yet further
adorned. The only heaven that is unalterable, is the state of
God's own infinite and unchangeable glory; the heaven which
God dwelt in from all eternity, which is absolutely of infinite
height and infinite glory, and which might metaphorically be re-
presented as the heaven that was the eternal abode of the blessed
Trinity, and of the happiness and glory they have one in another ;
which is an heaven that is uncreated, and the heaven from whence
God infinitely stoops to behold the things done in the created
paradise; and of which, that which we conceive of as the infinite
and unchangeable expanse of Space, that is above and beyond
the whole universe, and encompasses the whole, is the shadow.
This is what is meant, Isai. Ivii. 15. (See Notes in loc.)
It is true the things of the highest heavens are things that
cannot be shaken, but shall remain through divine grace. Heaven
is God's throne, and his throne is established for ever, and there-
fore shall be forever and ever, and the saints shall receive a king-
dom that cannot be moved. Heb. xii. 28. Heaven is a city that
has foundations, whose builder and maker is God ; it is an house
not made with hands, and so eternal. This is an inheritance in-
corruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. What is re-
served in heaven is represented in scripture as far above the reach
of all the changes of time that should injure it, and the doors of
the palace are everlasting doors. Ps. xxiv. But none of these
things argue heaven to be in any other respect unchangeable, than
only as being above all changes that might destroy it, or mar it,
or in any respect fade its glory, or bring into any danger of those
things. Heaven is no otherwise out of the reach of change than the
precious jewels and treasures that are there kept are so, as the
angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect, and the man
Christ Jesus, the most precious and brightest jewel that God has
made, the first born of every creature, the crown and glory of
heaven and men, the sun of that world of light ; but yet all these
are susceptive of change in this respect, that they will be exalted
to vastly higher glory. Christ's glory after the day of judgment
will be greater than before, as the devil that has managed the
war against him shall then be punished for all the mischief that he
has done. So Christ, God's General, the Captain that he hath
sent forth in this great war against his enemies, when he shall have
fully conquered and put down all authority and power, having
come forth out of heaven to that end with all his hosts, and has
HEAVENrff 579
SO gloriously finished all the work that his Father gave him a com-
mission for, shall be exceedingly rewarded and glorified. When he
shall return with the victory in every respect perfect, he shall enter
tlie city with great triumph to receive a great reward from the Su-
preme authority of the city. If Christ God Man, the King of
heaven, and its most bright and precious jewel, the first born of
every creature, the head and crown, ornament and glory of
heaven, and its bright and only luminary, the Sun of heaven,
whose glory and sweetness is the fullness, and glory, and happiness
of all that world : who is the Alpha and Omega of all that is
tliere, and the sum of all ; I say, if he shall be exalted in glory,
why not the place, the external habitation that is the lowest part
of that world? The habitation has not the honour of being im-
mutable and immoveable in a higher sense than this King and end
and glory of heaven himself is. The man Christ Jesus becomes"!
immortal and eternal at his Resurrection, but yet that was no im-
pediment in the way of his being, as it were, further glorified, as it
were, in infinitely higher degrees, as in his first and second ascen-
sion. That the highest heavens pass under such a change at the ^
end of the world, is no argument that it is with that as it is with
the visible heavens that wax old as a garment ; any more than the
change on the body of Christ at his ascension, or on the bodies of
Enoch and Elias, and on the bodies of those that arose with
Christ, is an argument of the like waxing old.
If the highest heaven might be as it were bowed and rent,
(though it be the throne of God,) that the eternal Son of God
might come down on the earth, to be the subject of his humilia-
tion ; doubtless it is as capable of being adorned and made higher
and higher on occasion of his glorification.
The external Heavens, and the Human Nature of Christ, are
the external House and Temple of God in different senses ; but
the Human Nature, or Body, of Christ, including both the head
and the members, — including his human nature with his church, —
is the house and temple of God in the highest sense. Tliis is im-
mensely the most noble temple of God. But if this, which is
the Palace of God in so much the highest sense, will pass under
a glorious change ; why should not the external house, which is
the temple of God in a much inferior sense, and which indeed is
to be but an house for this house, pass under a glorious change f
If the Inner temple, the highest and most holy part of the temple,
shall be so much exalted, why may we not suppose that the Exter-
nal temple, the outer courts, or the outermost curtains of the ta-
bernacle be changed and made proportionally more beautiful ?
Christ Mystical, or Christ and his Church, and the External
Heaven, are the city of God, or the new Jerusalem, in different
senses ; but the former in vastly the highest and noblest manner.
580 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
But if the city of God, or the new Jerusalem, that which is called
so in the highest sense, shall be so exalted and adorned with new
glory at the head of the universe ; why not that external new Je-
rusalem, that is as much inferior to the other as the body is to the
soul .'' If the soul shall be glorified and made better, why not the
body : if the body, why not the garment : if the inhabitants, wh}
not the house ?
The body of Christ is the dwelling-place of his soul ; and
therefore when God the Father glorified the soul of Christ, he
also glorified his body, because he judged it meet that the altera-
tion in the house should be answerable to the alteration in the in-
habitant. And so, for the same reason^ the bodies of the saints shall
be glorified as well as their souls ; and there is just the same rea-
son why lieaven, the house of Christ, and the house of his saints;
or in one word, the house of Christ Mystical ; should be exalted
to higher glory at the same time that Christ Mystical himself, the
inhabitant, is exalted to higher glor}'.
The church is Christ's Temple : Christ is spoken of as dwell-
;'w«* m the saints. This temple of Christ, the new Jerusalem,
shall, at the end of the world, when Christ comes to receive his
full reward, be exceedingly adorned, to fit it for ChrhC s indwell-
ing ; as we see b}' Rev. xxi. 2. And why shall not the other
temple of Christ, that which is so in an inferior sense, be propor-
tionally adorned at the same time ? It is not rational to suppose
that the whole tabernacle shall he projjortionalli/ adorned and beau-
tified : the outer curtains proportionally with the inward curtains
of blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen ?
The infinitely glorious and beloved Son of God's shedding his
blood, and enduring those extreme sufierings in obedience to his
Father's will, was a thing great enough to obtain this, even that
the very heaven of heavens should be made new, with new glory
for him ; it was great enough to lay the foundation for an univer-
sal refreshing, renewing or new creation of all elect things, that
all things both spiritual and external should be immensely exalt-
ed in perfection, beauty, and glory.
It seems impossible that it should be otherwise than that all
heaven should put on new glory at the same time that Christ put
on new glory ; all must be allowed proportion, for Christ is the
glory of heaven, the beauty and ornament, the life and soul of all ;
and there is no glory there, but- only the reflection of his glory,
and the emanation of his brightness and life, and the difl'uslon of
his sweetness. Every manner of beauty or excellency there, is
immediately dependent on him : there is no shining or lustre, no
fineness or purity, no vivacity or pleasantness, in any thing there,
but it is in such a manner dependent on him, as to appear to be
immediately, every moment, /rom hiiiiy as a kind of diffusion of his
HEAVEN. 581
glory and sweetness on every thing, and into and through every
thing ; so that the most inward nature of every thing there re-
ceives all excellency, and all purity and preciousness, and sweet-
ness from him immediately. In heaven, Christ appears and acts
most visibly and sensibly as the Creator, and Life, and Soul, and
Fountain of all being and perfection, and He of whom, and
through whom all things are, and by whom all immediately con-
sist. Thus the glory of the latter house will in every respect be
greater than the giory of the former house, because Jehovah,
the angel of the covenant, shall come into his temple, and fill the
liouse with his glory. Christ's appearing in glory will be that
which will glorify the bodies of liis sain's, as though it was an
immediate visible comnmnication of his glory and life to them,
as from the head to the members. Nothing but his presence in
so great glory effects the thing, and so will it be with respect to
every thing else that is external in heaven.
Thus as the face of the earth rejoices at the return of the sun
in the spring, and there is a great alteration in it, it puts on new
beautiful garments of joy, and gladness, and welcomes the
sun ; and its renewed beauty is from the sun, from his diffused
glory, and sweet vivifying influence, in which all the face of the
earth rejoices; so it vvill be in heaven when Christ returns thither
in his highest glory after the day of judgment, all heaven will re-
joice, and put on new life, new beauty, and glory, to welcome
him thither.
[1122] Heaven perfected. The external heaven surrounds
Christ, not merely as a house surrounds an inhabitant, or as a
palace surrounds a prince ; but rather as plants and flowers are be-
fore the sun, that have their life and beauty and being from that
luminary; or as the sun may be encompassed round with re-
flections of his brightness, as the cloud of glory in mount Sinai
surrounded Christ there.
[11 2t)] Heaven perfected, after the day of judgment. Solomon's
temple was a great type of heaven ; and the prophet Haggai,
foretells that the glory of the latter temple shall be greater than
that of the former, because that the Messiah, " the desire of all
nations," should come into it; Hag. ii. 6, 7, S. " For thus saith
the Lord of hosts. Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake
the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land ; and I
vvill shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come;
and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The
silver is mine, and the gold is min'% saith the Lord of hosts. The
glory of the litter house shall be greater than of the former,
saith the Lord of hosts. And in this place will I give peace,
saith the Lord of hosts." I suppose that what was here foretold
concerning that typical temple was fulfilled much more properly
VOL. VIII. 74
582 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
and amply concerning heaven itself, when the Messiah entered into
it at his first ascension, and will be fulfilled to a much more glo-
rious degree still at his second ascension, at Christ's entrance
into that heavenly temple, with his glorified and complete mysti-
cal body, as well as his natural i:)ody, after God has in a literal
manner shaken the heavens and the earth, the sea, and the dry
land, and shaken all nations.
The beautifying and adorning the temple of Jerusalem so ex-
ceedingly be a little before Christ came into it, seems to be some
shadow of this ; and I believe was intended as a type of it ; though
not parallel in every circumstance, as the beautifying of it not be-
ing at the very instant of Christ's first entering into the temple,
and some other circumstances. This seems also to be typified by
the immensely more glorious abode that the ark had in Solomon's
lime than that which it had in David's time. The carrying up
of the ark into mount Zion in David's time, was a type of Christ's
first ascension into heaven, as is evident from scripture, and the
carryingof it up into mount Moriah, into Solomon's glorious tem-
ple, is a type of his second more glorious ascension into a more
glorious abode at the end of the world. David's militant reign
till all the enemies of Israel were subdued under them, was a type
of Christ's present reign in heaven, over his church till the resur-
rection, which is a militant reign ; for till the end of the world he
goes on fighting, and will continue so to do till all enemies are
made his footstool. As yet we see not all things put under him,
and the last enemy that shall be conquered is death, which shall
be at the end of the world. Solomon's glorious reign in perfect
peace and tranquillity with all subdued under him, and settled in
subjection to him, is a type of the reign of Christ after the end of
the world : all enemies shall be subdued ; and the place of the ark in
his reign, in this glorious and most magnificent temple, wasa type
of the abode of Christ in heaven, in its advanced glory, at the con-
summation of all things. It is the same heaven, only sublimated
and exalted to exceeding greater glory ; which is typified by the
mountain of the temple, being called by the same name after the
ark was removed into it, that the place of its former abode was
called by, viz. mount Zion ; so that the ark is represented as never
changing its place from mount Zion ; and when it was carried into
mount Zion, God said of it, " This is my rest for ever, here will I
dwell ; for I have desired it." Ps. cxxxii. 13, 14.
There is a place some\i'here in the universe, (perhaps in the cen-
tral parts of the earth,) that is called Hell ; but hell will be made
immensely more terrible after the day of judgment, when instead
of that fire in the centre of the earth, all the visible universe shall
be turned into a great furnace : and probably heaven will be
HEAVEN. 583
made as much more glorious, after the day of judgment, as hell
will be made more terrible.
Thus the External new Jerusalem, or the glorious and eternal
abode of the chuich of God ; (which cannot be excluded from the
description in the two last chapters in Revelations, because there
is in the description, often a distinction made between the cifi/ and
the sainfs thai nre the inhubifanf a ;) I say, Thus the external new
Jerusalem will come down from God out of heaven ; i. e. Heaven,
in this new ci-eation of it, shall come down from the infinitely
Higli and Uncreated Heaven, in which God had dwelt from all
eternity, from which God stoops and humbles himself to behold
the things that are in heaven.
Tlius that will be fulfilled that is proclaimed in Rev. xxi. 5,
" And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things
new." The whole creation, external and spiritual, shall be al-
tered, and new formed ; and thus the New creation will be parallel
with the First creation tliat Moses gives us an account of, to
which it is spoken of as parallel in scripture; and all the Elect
Creation, which is composed of all elect things in heaven and In
earth, shall be gotten together in Christ, and all made new, both
spiritual and external ; all that appertains to the elect, not only
elect spirits, but their external habitations : their bodies, that are
the microcosm or their particular habitations ; and the micro-
cosm, that is, the general habitation. There shall be collected
all that is Elect in heaven or earth, being all perfectly purified by
fire, and not mixed with the reprobate part of the world, and all
shall be made new, and so is justly called "the New Heaven and
New Earth." There will be new angels and new men, new bo-
dies and new spirits: things that are originally' of the earth made
new, and things originally of heaven also made new. Though
the place of the church of Christ (for whose sake chiefly all
heaven and earth is made) be different from what it was before :
she dwells in another place, instead of that heaven and earth that
was her habitation before: j'et it is called by the same name, but
only new, as the ark when it moved from Zion to mount Moriah,
carried t!ie 7ia??ie with it, only it was a New Zion.
When God has obtained his end of the Universe that he created
in the beginning, when all things are brought to issue into their
end at the Consummation of all things, and God in the final event
appears to be the OiMEGA, as he was the Alpha ; then God will
show his micfhty power a second time towards the whole :
towards the Repi-obate part of the creation, in terribly de-
stroying it; and towards the Elect part, in bringing it to
its highest perfection. The Elect creatures, who are the eye
and mouth of the creation, who are made to behold God's works,
and to give him the glory of them, did not behold the first crea-
584 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
tion. The angels did not behold the first creation of heaven,
that most glorious part of the creation, nor did they see the crea-
tion of themselves; and men beheld no part of (iod's work in
producing the creation ; but tlie time will come when God will
make all things new by a new creation, wherein his power to-
wards the whole will be much more displayed than in the first
creation. When God shall effect this creation, men and angels
shall see God perform it, they shall see God produce the JNew
heaven and New earth by his mighty power. Men, who saw the
creation of nothing in the first creation, shall see the creation of
all, and even their own new creation ; and angels shall see the
creation of heaven and of themselves: all shall see that creation
that shall be a work so much more wonderful, and so much
greater than the former, that the former shall not be mentioned,
nor come into mind.
Conflagration. Many suppose the fire of the conflagration
will be a pyrifying fire, by which the heavens and the earth will
be refined in order to their standing forth in new perfection and
beauty. This is very true, yet not in the manner in which many
ream to understand. It will indeed be the fire by which the whole
universe shall be purified, i. e. by vvliich it shall be purged from its
reprobate parts; all the filthiness of the whole universe shall be
gathered into it, there to be consumed. The reprobate part of
heaven was removed out of it to be cast into this fire ; the filthiness
that once was there is consumed here, and so is all that is repro-
bate, and filthy in the earth. It is a purifying fire, as it is the
fire of God's justice and holiness; but the jn<;tice and holiness of
God shall perfectly purify heaven and earth, and purge ail the
elect creation from all manner of defilement or mixture of that
which is reprobate ; whereby it will be fitted to be exalted to its
highest beauty and glory. And not only so, but such a wonder-
ful and terrible display of the holiness and justice of God, will be
a great means of further sanctifying ail the elect universe, setting
them at a vastly greater distance from sin against this Holy (Jod,
and a means of vastly exalting the purity and sanctity of their
minds.
Many have supposed that the place of the residence of the saints,
after the day of judgment, would be difl'erent from what it is before;
that the Paradise in which the departed souls of saints are now,
is difierent from the Heaven into which they shall be admitted
after the day of judgment; and tliat Paradise is only a place of
rest, in which the saints are reserved till the judgment, when they
shall be admitted into heaven. Here is a mixture of truth with
error. It is true that the habitation of the saints, after the day of
judgment, will be new and different, exceeding difierent, from
what it was before, but not in that manner that has been supposed :
HEAVEN. 585
HOt that the place or siluation will be different, there is no need
of that; but the habifatio7i will be new created, and shall appear
with quite new and transcendently more excellent glory.
It may be objected against what has been here supposed, that
Christ, at the day of judgment, will invite iiis saints to "inherit
the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation oftheiDorld;^'
as though it were the same heaven, that was made and prepared
for them at the first creation, which ihey were now going to iniierit.
Answer. It is the same house then built, not taken down, never
shaken or removed, but only made more glorious; as thevare the
same angels of heaven that were made for the saints, from the
foundation of the world, though they shall be so much more glo-
rified that they will be as it were new creatures. As it will be
with the angels of heaven, who are the principal part of the king-
dom spoken of, so if will be with the external habitation: it was
prepared for them at the foundation of the world — the foundation
of it was laid then, and has been preparing /ro/?/ the foundation of
the world, from that time that the foundation of the world was
laid, it has been preparing ever since, in all that has been done to
it, and in it, and about it. And not only the kingdom is prepared
from the foundation of the world in creating heaven, and in what
has been done there from that time ; but the creation of the whole uni-
verse was made to prepare a kingdom for them, to lay a foundation
for their kingdom and dominion, and all that has been done in provi-
dence, ever since, has been to prepare a kingdom for then). And
these words of Clirist are a good argument, that the work of re-
demption is the end and sum of all GocPs works. It was the end
of the creation of the whole universe, and of all God's works of
providence in it.
Q^uest. By whom and at what time will this glorious work of
God, in making the highest heavens new, be accomplished? will
it be done by God the Father in the absence of liis Son, while he
is here in this lower world taken up in the concerns of tiie last
judgment, to garnish heaven or prepare it for his Son with his
blessed bride against their coming f or will it be accomplished by
the Son at his return into heaven with his church f
Answer. Not by the former, but by the latter ; for the follow-
ing reasons.
1. All communicated glorv' to the creature must be by the Son
of God, who is the brightness or shining forth of his Father's glory :
and therefore when the Eternal World comes to receive its great-
est brightness and glory, it will doubtless be by liim, and it will
be by him as God man ; for all that God doth by Christ, or the
medium of communication between himself and the creature since
Christ became God man, or at least since as God man he has been
glorified and enthroned as Lord of the universe; he doth by Clirist
536 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
as God man, in vchom it hath pleased the Father that all fullness
should dwell, and that in all things he should have the pre-emi-
nence. As he glorifies the angels and saints who are the inhabit-
ants, so doubtless it will be he who will glorify the habitation.
^, 2. The old creation was bj him, the highest heavens were crea-
I ted by him ; for witliout him was not any thing made that was
made; it was said concerning him, "Thou, Lord, in the begin-
ning hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the lieavens are
the work of thine hand," Heb. i. 10; and not only the visible but
the invisible heavens were created by him ; for he is the image of
the invisible God, the fir'^t born of every creature, and the begin-
ning of the creation of God ; for by him were ail things created
that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers,
all things were created by him, and for him, and he is before all
things, and by him all things consist. So likewise the New Crea-
tion will be by him, for by him God makes the worlds; not only
tlie visible but invisible world, not only the present world, but
the world to come, that new world, the new heavens and new earth ;
for God halh given him a name above every name that is na-
med, not only in this world but in that which is to come, F>ph. i. 21.
Bv the world to come iti that place, the aposile seems to mean ihe
r>ew world that shall follow when the age o(" this shall be at an end,
for the word is Aiojv, Age: i /lis age, and that ichick is to come ;
and unto Christ hath God put in subjection the world to come.
If God committed to him the creation of the old world, much more
would he commit to hiin the creation of the new, for it his business
to renew all things. The creation of the new heavens and the
new earth is bythe work of Redeniption, which is his work ; and
it is a work that he works out as God man, and therefore as
God man he will make the heavens new. All new things are by
Christ: the new creature, the new name, the new covenant, the
new song, the new .lerusalem, and the new heavens and new earth,
are all by Christ, God man.
3. The destroying the lower world, the reprobate part of the
creation, is committed to him ; and therefore much more will the
glorifying of the elect part of it be his work, for this is his most
pro|)er business; the other is his business more indirectly, and in
subordination to this.
4. The creation is certainly by him, as to the principal parts
of it, viz. the glorifying the saints and angels. He shall build
the inner temple, and doubtless therefore, lie will build the outer
temple. The glorifying of that, which is his temple and city in
the highest sense, is committed to him ; and therefore, doubtless,
the glorifying of that which is the temple and city in an inferior
sense will be committed to him.
HEAVEN. 587
5. If Christ as God man shall be the author ofthis work, he
will doubtless be so vhibly ; for the work is committed to him for
his honour. It is an honour that ihe Father commits to him in
reward of what he has done and suflered ; it shall therefore be
visibly done by Christ, as God man, and therefore will not be ef-
fected in his absence here in this lower world ; but he shall be pre-
sent when it is done, and shall visibly put forth his power and
communicate his influence and glory in order to it.
6. If this work were wrought while Christ is here in this lower
world judging- the world, then this new creation would not be
seen by men and angels, which is not to be supposed.
7. If this work be wrouglitin Christ's absence, then that world
will not be glorified by the presence of the Sun of Righteousness,
as the face of the earth is renewed and glorified by the return of
the sun in tlie spring.
The Lamb is the light, and glory, and sun of the new Jerusa-
lem, and therefore the new brightness and life, vigour, bloom,
and beauty, and fragrancy, and joy, of this world will be from
him and from his presence.
After the curse is executed on the universe of the ungodly, and
all the angels and saints have beheld the dreadful execution ; then
Christ, with all his elect church, now perfect, shall ascend to hea-
ven, and Christ shall come and present his church, now perfect-
ly redeemed, to the Father, saying, "Here am I, and the chil-
dren whom thou hast given me ;" and having thus finished all the
work that the Father had given him to do, he shall deliver up the
kingdom to the Father. Then shall the Father, with infinite
manifestations of endearment and delight, testify his acceptance
of Christ, and of his Church thus presented to him, his infinite
acquiescence in what his Son has done, and his complacency in
him, and in his Church ; and in reward shall now give them the
joy of their eternal marriage-feast, and he himself will dress his
Son in his wedding robes. The human nature of Christ, or''
Christ as God man, shall be the subject of a new glorification
then, when he shall be the subject of those smiles of the Father,
and those infinitely sweet manifestations of his acceptance and
complacency, when he shall present his redeemed church, and de-
liver up the kingdom ; and from the manifestations of compla-
cency, the Son shall be changed into the same image of compla-
cency and love, and shall put on that divine glory, the glory of
the infinitely sweet divine love, grace, gentleness, and joy, and
shall shine with this special light far more brightly than ever he
did before, shall be clothed with those sweet robes in a far more
glorious manner than ever before: then shall that be fulfilled in
the highest degree ; Ps. xxi. 6 ; " For thon hast made him most
blessed for ever ; thou hast made him exceeding glad, with thy
588 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
countenance;" and also the foregoing verses. Thus God the
Father will give the Son his heart's desire, as it is said in the 2d
verse of that psalm ; his heart's desire was, that he might ex-
press his infinite love to his elect church, fully and freely ; to this
end God the Father will now crown him with a crown of love
and array him in the brightest robes of love and grace, as his
wedding garments, as the robe in which he should embrace his
redeemed church, now brought home to her everlasting rest, in
the house of her spiritual husband. As before he came into this
accursed world in the glory of the Father, and God the Father
arrayed him with his own glory, chiefly of his majesty, power,
justice, omnipotence, and holiness, attributes that are terrible to
God's enemies, because his errand into this reprobate part ot the
universe was to destroy it ; so now he is returned and entered in-
to the elect and blessed world, to receive the joy that was set be-
fore him with his church. Now he shall more especially have
conferred on him the glory of his Father, in his gentle and sweet
attributes, shining forth in the infinitely bright robes of his love,
and grace, and holiness, liis sweet ravishing beauty and delight,
that he may bless and glorify that elect world with the beams of
this light. The Son being thus glorified with infinite sweetness,
by the light of the countenance of the Father, the glory will be
communicated from him to his church, and she shall be trans-
formed into his image by beholding him, and by the light of his
glory and love, shining and smiling upon her. And at that time
will be the transformation of all heaven, and it will become a new
heaven; the beams of the Son's new glory of grace and love
shall advance that whole uorld to new glory and sweetness. Thus
Christ and hissaints shall both receive their consummate felicity
and full reward, and shall begin that eternal feast of love, and
the eternal joys of that marriage supper of the Lamb. The
saints shall not receive their full happiness till then ; though they
shall be glorified on earth when they shall be raised and changed
at the first sight of their glorious Redeemer coming in the clouds,
and shall be further glorified when they shall be made to sit with
Christ on his throne of judgment; yet Christ speaks of their
greatest happiness as then future, when he says, at the close of
the judgment, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the king-
dom prepared for you," &,c. Now they shall inherit it; now
they shall be put in possession of it.
Thus, though the new glory of heaven shall be, as it were, from
the communicated influence and glory of the Sun of Righteousness
returning to heaven from the judgment ; yet it will not be at once,
as soon as the beams of the returning Jesus shine on that world,
but Christ, with all his saints and angels, shall first enter into the
world, and they shall have opportunity to see its glory in its former
HEAtp:if. 589
itate ; and then the presentation shall be made to the Father, and
his acceptance manifested, arid the purchased glory then given by
his hands ; so that the saints and angels shall have opportunity
fully to see this work of the New Creation : first fully beholding
the world before its renovation, and then seeing the change as it
is, with the destruction of the reprobate world. That world, as
it were, sinks of itself, flies away, and breaks in pieces, by behold-
ing the manifestation of his awful majesty and wrath. Tlie shining
forth of the infinitely pure and powerful holiness, justice, and
wrath, does, as it were, of itself, set all on fire ; yet this destruc-
tion will not actually be at Chirst's first appearing in terrible ma-
jesty in the lower world, but at the greatest manifestation of it
when he pronounces the curse on the ungodly.
How immensely will it heighten, in the e3'es of the saints, the
value of that love and gentleness with which they now shall see
Christ clothed, that they just before have seen such great mani-
festations of his infinite majesty, and the terribleness of his wrath!
And how will it heighten their admiration and joy in his love, when
Christ himself, that glorious King, shall resign up the kingdom
to the Father! Though he shall receive now his reward, and new
glory from the Father, it will not be to act henceforward as the
Supreme Head of Dominion, to whom the government of the
world is left, but rather/^s an head or grand jTiedium of enjoyment 1
of theT^ather. Christ himself shall be admitted to a higher en- ''
Joymentof the Father than ever he was admitted to before ; and
in Christ, the saints shall enjoy the FajJier. The Son himself, as
God man, shall now be subject to the Father. After the saints
have seen him in infinite majesty in the judgment wherein his
glorious and divine dignity appeared, and now come to see him
in his ineffable mildness and love; they shall also see his trans-
cendent humility in his adoration of the Father. And what a
sense will this give them of the honour of the Father, to behold
Jesus Christ, God man, a person of such dignity as they saw in
the judgment, thus humbly adoring the Father ! And how will
this example influence their adoration of God, and keep up their
reverence in that infinite nearness and freedom to which they are
admitted ; as the sight they have had of the terrible majesty of
Christ in the judgment will keep up their reverence towards him
in the midst of their most intimate communion with him, and while
they dwell, as it were, in his arms, and on his lips! See concern-
ing the new occasion of glory to the highest heavens at Christ's
first ascension, Note on these words, John xiv. 2, " I go to pre-
pare a place for you."
[934] Happiness of Heaven. God doubtless will entertain his
saints according to the state of the King of heaven, when he
connes to entertain them at the feast that he has provided with such
VOL. VIII. 75
590 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
great contrivance and wonderful amazing exercises of infinite
and mysterious wisdom, showing the bottomless depths, and infi-
nite riches of his wisdom, and with such great and mighty ado, and
innumerable and wonderful exercises of his power ; having, in or-
der to provide this feast, created heaven and earth, and done all in
all ages, bringing such great revolutions in such an amazing won-
derful series, and besides that having come down himseU'from liis in-
finite height and become man, and also provided the feast at
such infinite expence as that of his own blood. We read of Aha-
suerus, a great king, when he made a feast unto all his princes
and servants, he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom, and .
the power of his excellent majesty, and gave drink in vessels of
gold, and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the
king, Esth. i. So doubtless the happiness of the saints in hea-
ven shall be so great, that the very majesty of God shall be ex-
ceedingly shown in the greatness, and magnificence, and fullness
of their enjo3'ments and delights.
[1059] That the happiness of the satJits in heaven consists
much in beholding the displays of God's mercy towards his
church on earth, may be strongly argued from those texts that
speak of the just and the meek inheriting the earth, and their
having in the present time much more given of this world,
houses, and lands, &c., than they parted with in the suffering
state of the church ; from Christ's comforting his disciples,
when about to leave them, that they should weep and lament,
and the world rejoice, yet their sorrow should be turned into
joy, as a woman has sorrow in her travail, but much more than
joy enough to balance it when she is delivered ; from its being
promised to the good man, Ps. cxxviii., that he should see the
})rosperity of Jerusalem, and peace in Israel ; from the manner
in which the promises of the future prosperity of the church
were made of old to the church then in being; and from the
manner in which the saints received them as all their salvation,
and all their desire, and arc said to hope and wait for the ful-
filment from time to time.
[1061] Happiness of heaven consisting much in beholding
God's works towards his church on earth. God says to David,
2 Sam. vii. " Thine house and thy kingdom shall be establish-
ed for ever BEFORE THEE. Thy throne shall be establish-
ed for ever." And a promise is made in the context concern-
ing Solomon, that must be understood in the same sense; ver.
12, 13, " And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep
with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall
proceed out of thy bowels, and 1 will establish his kingdom.
He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the
throne of his kingdom for ever."
HEAVBl*. 501
This promise concerning his kingdom and the kingdom of
his Son, its heing established for ever after he was dead, is
what David takes principal notice of, and is most affected with,
as implying this greatest benefit, and speaks of oUier things
conferred on him in his life-time as a small thing, in compari-
son of it, ver. ]9, 20, " And this was yet a small thing, in thy
sight, O Lord God ; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's
house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of
man, O Lord God ? And what can David say more unto thee?
for thou, Lord God, knowcst thy servant." And this he insists
upon chiefly in his prayer, and m the following verses; and
this, he elsewhere says, is all his salvation, and all his desire,
or wliat he sets his heart upon more than any thing whatsoever.
And the promise is renewed to Solomon, 1 Kings ix. 5, " I
will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon L^^rael for ever,
as I promised unto David thy father; there shall not fail thee
a man upon the throne of Israel." And yet this same Solo-
mon was thoroughly aware how little a njan is benefited by the
thought and hopes of what should be in the world after he is
dead, which he shall never see or enjoy any thing of; and speaks
of it as a great instance of men's folly and vanity to set their
hearts upon it, and deprive themselves of present good for it.
Eccles. ii. 24. " There is nothing better for a man than to eat
and drink, and that he should nmke his soul enjoy good in his
labours ;" and iii. 12, 13, " 1 know that there is no good in
them but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. And
also that every man sliould eat, and drink, and enjoy the good
of all his labours ; it is the gift of God." Ver. 22. "" Where-
fore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man
should rejoice in his own works; for that is his [>ortion : for
who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?" Eccles.
ix. 4, 5, 6, 7. "A living dog is better than a dead lion — for the
dead — have no more a reward neither have they any njore
a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. Go
thy way."
The saints in heaven will be under advantages to see much
more of it than the saints on earth, and to be every way more
directly, fully, and perfectly acquainted with all tiiat ajipcrtains
to it, and that manifests the glory of it ; the glory of God's
wisdom and other perfections in it. 'IMre blessed fruit and end
of it, in the eternal glory and blessedness of the subjects of
the work of God at that day, will be daily in their view, in those
that come out of dying bodies to heaven. And the chirrch
in heaven will be much more concerned in it than one part of
the church on earth shall be in the prosperity of another.
592 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
The blessedness of the church triumphant in heaven, and
their joy and glory will as much consist in heholding the suc-
cess of Christ's redemption on earth, and in as great propor-
tion, as the joy that was set before Christ consists in it, or as
the glory and reward of Christ as God man and Mediator con-
sists in it.
[1072] Happiness of heaven. The saints in heaven will en-
joy God as their portion, and possess all things in the most ex-
cellent manner possible; in that they will have all in Christ
their head. Christ their head is as it were their organ of enjoy-
ment ; but the capacity of enjoyment that this organ hath, is
of infinitely greater extent than the capacity of any of Christ's
members taken separately, or by themselves ; as the head of
the natural body, by reason of its extensive and noble senses,
has such a much greater capacity of enjoyment than the infe-
rior members of the body by themselves. Were not the saints f
united to Christ, they could never enjoy God tlie Father in so
excellent a manner as now they will in heaven, partaking wilhi
Christ in his enjoyment of him. And so they never could I
possess all the works of God in so excellent and glorious a
manner as they do in their head, who has the absolute posses-
sion of all, and rules over all, and disposes all things according
to his will ; for by virtue of their union with Christ, they also
shall rule over all. They shall sit with him in his throne, and
reign over the same kingdom, as his body, and shall see all
things disposed according to their will ; for the will of the
Head will be"^ the will of the whole body. Christ being their
head, the gratifying of his will shall be as much for their hap-
piness, as if it were their own will separately that was gratifi-
ed ; for they shall have no other will, as the natural body,
head, and members have but one will ; and on the other hand,
the holy desires of the saints (as they will have no other de-
sires) will be evermore Christ's will. The appetite of the mem-
bers will ever be the will of the head. If the whole universe
were given to a saint separately, he could not fully possess it,
Lis capacity would be too narrow. He would not know how to
dispose of it for his own good ; as the inferior members of the
natural body would not know how to dispose of things that the
body has possession of for their good, without the eyes or the
head. And if the saints did know, they would not have strength !
sufncient ; but in Christ their Head they have perfect know-
ledge and infinite strength. >
[1089] The saints in heaven acquainted ivith the state of the
church on earth. The man Christ Jesus is the head of the*-
glorified saints in heaven. He is the head of the glorious as- j
sembly, who leads them in all their worship and praise, and i« i
HEAVEN. 593
(heir vital Head. They are in some sense the glorified body of
Christ J they are with him as it were in all things, being par-
takers with him in all, all his exaltation and glory, all his re-
ward, all his enjoyment of God the Father, all his reward by
obtaining the joy set before him, his reign here on earth, the
glory of his reign in his kingdom of grace, the bestowment of
the promised reward in what is done to the elect here, his en-
joyment of the success of his redemption, his seeing his seed
the pleasure of the Lord, prospering in his hands, his justify-
' ing many by his righteousness, his conquering his enemies, his
subduing and triumphing over Satan, and Antichrist, and all
other enemies. What He sees of God, they in their measure
see ; w hat He sees of the church of God on earth, and of the
flourishing of religion here, they see according to their capaci-
ty; what He sees of the punishment of his enemies in hell,
they see in him ; and therefore this damnation of the enemies
of Christ, and its being in the presence of the inhabitants of
heaven, consisting of Christ, and saints, and angels, is express-
ed thus, Rev. xiv. 10: " They shall be tormented with fire
and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the
presence of the Lamb :" Saying nothing of the glorified saints,
including them in the name of the Lamb. Christ, with his glo- 1
rifled mystical body, being but one mystical person, for he is
the head of the glorified body, as the sight of the eyes that are
in the head are for the information of the whole body, and what
he enjoys they enjoy; they are with him in his honour and ad-
vancement; they are with him in his pleasures; they are with
him in his enjoyment of the Father's love; the love wherewith
the Father loves him is in them, and he in them; they are with
him in thejoy of his success on earth ; they 'are with him in his
joy at the conversion of one sinner. The good shepherd, when
he has found the sheep that was lost, calls together his friends
and neighbours, saying, " Rejoice with me, for I have found
my sheep that was lost," Luke xv. 5, 6. And they are wiih
him in his joy at the conversion of nations, and the world.
The day of Christ's espousals is the day of the gladness of his
heart. Cant. iii. 11. The day of the marriage of the Lamb is
the day of Christ's rejoicing. Isai. Ixii. 5; Zeph. iii. 17. So
it is the day of the gladness and rejoicing of the hearts of the
saints in heaven. Rev. xix. 1 — 9. When he rides forth in this
world, girding his sword on his thigh in his glory and majesty,
to battle against Antichrist and other enemies, they are repre-
sented as riding forth in glory with him. Rev. xix., and in his
triumph they triumph. They appear on mount Zion with him
with palms in their hands; and as Satan is bruised under hi$
feet, so he is bruised under their feet also. The saints, there-
594 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
fore have no more done with the state of the church and kingdom
on earth, because they have left this world, and have ascended
into heaven ; than Christ himself had, when lie left the earth and
ascended into iieaven, who was so Air from having done with the
prosperity of his church and kingdom here, as to any immediate
concern in those things by reason of his ascension, that he as-
cended to that very end, that he might be more concerned, that
he migiit receive the glory and reward of the enlargement and
prosperity of his church, and the conquest of his enemies here,
that he might reign in this kingdom, and be under the best advan-
tages for it, and^might have the fullest enjoyment of the glory of it,
as much as a king ascends a throne in order to reign over his peo-
ple, and receive the honour and glory of his dominion over them.
Christ came with clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of
days, and was brought near before him to that very end, that he
might receive dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all peo-
ple, nations, and languages should serve him, Dan. vii. 13, 14.
God the Father bade him sit at his right hand, that his enemies
might be made his footstool, and rule in the midst of his enemies,
and that he niight enjoy that glorious reward that is called
receiving the dew of his youth, and judging among the heathen,
and wounding the heads over many countries, Ps. ex. God the
Father set Christ on his holy hill of Zion, to that end that he
might have the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost
parts of the earth for his possession. And when the saints leave
this lower world by death, and ascend to heaven, they do but fol-
low their Forerunner; they ascend as it were with him, they are
made to sit together in heavenly places in him, they are exalted to
partake of his exaltation, 'they have written upon them the name of
the city of his God, and his own new name, to sit with him in his
throne, as he, when he ascended, sat down with the Father in his
throne, to rule with him over the same kingdom, to partake with
him in his reward, his honour, his victory, and triumph over his
enemies, his joy that was set before him, viz. the joy of the suc-
cess of his redemption, the joy of seeing his seed, of finding his
lost sheep, the satisfaction of seeing of the travail of his soul, &:c.
They in this world travail with him for the same thing, they are
crucified with Christ, they deny themselves to promote and ad-
vance his kingdom and glory in the world : they many of them
sufter with him, and die with him in the very same cause, and
their sufferings are called a filling up the sufferings of Christ;
and as they suffer with him on earth in this cause, so they shall
reign with liim, they shall enjoy with him the prosperity of that
cause, that interest which they sought by their labours and suffer-
ings, as he did by his labours and sufferings when he was on the
earth. They shall be as much with Christ in partaking with hira
IIEAVEX. 595
of the glory of his reigning over the world in his kingdom of
grace, as they shall partake with liim in the glory of his judging
the world. Indeed they now are not visibly to the iidiabilants of
the earth reigning with Christ over his kingdom of grace here ;
as they will hereafter be seen judging the world with Christ. No
more is Christ himself now seen by the inhabitants of the earth
visibly reigning here, as he will be seen judging at the day ofjndg-
ment ; but yet this does not hinder, but that he does now as truly
reign here, and possess and enjoy the glory of this dominion, as
he will truly judge at the end of the world.
The saints in going out of this world and ascending into hea-
ven, do not go out of sight of the affairs that appertain to Christ's
kingdom and church here, and things appertaining to that great
work of redemption that is carrying on here ; but on the contrary,
go out of a state of obscurity, and ascend above the mists and
clouds into the bright light, and ascend a pinnacle in the very centre
of light, where every thing appears in clear view. The saints
that are ascended to heaven have advantage to view the state of
Christ's kingdom in this world, and the works of the new crea-
tion here, as much greater than they had before, as a man that
ascends to the top of an high mountain has greater advantage to
view the face of the earth than he had while he was below in a deep
valley or forest, surrounded on every side with those things that
iiDpeded and limited his sight.
On this account, as well as others, both Christ and his saints
are beautifully represented as ascending and reigning on a moun-
tain, mount Zion, God's holy mountain, the mountain of the
height of Israel, &z-c. On this mountain, they have their king-
dom in view ; as David, who dwelled and reigned in mount Zion,
had Jerusalem in view; and as the saints in heaven have greater
advantage to see those things, so also to enjoy them, to see the
glory of them, and receive comfort and joy by them. They are
under great advantage to possess them as theirs, being with Christ
who does possess, in communion with whom they enjoy and pos-
sess their infinite portion, their whole heavenly inheritance and
kingdom ; as much as the whole body has all the pleasure of mu-
sic by the ear, and all the pleasure of its food by the mouth and
stomach, and all the benefit and refreshment of the air br»athed
in by the lungs; and thus it is the saints in heaven sing to the
Lamb, Rev. v. 9. 10. " Thou art worthy, &c. ; for thou hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood, and bast made us kings and
priests, and ire shall reign on the earth.'''' Thus it is, " The meek
shall inherit the earth ;" for Christ is the heir of the world, he
has purchased the kingdom; the kingdom is promised him by the
Father, and at last shall be given him when other kingdoms are
destroyed, Dan. vii. 14 ; and the saints are heirs with Christ, and
596 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
.shall inherit with him the same kingdom, and reign in the same
kingdom, and so they shall enjoy the victory with iiim : he binds
kings in chains ; and all the saints shall have that honour with
him, Ps. cxlix. 5, to the end. And thus it is that, ulitn the time
comes that Christ shall break his enemies with a rod of iron, they
also shall have power over llie nations, and shall rule them with
a rod of iron, k.c. Rev. ii. 2G, 27, 28. And thus it is the souls
of the martyrs of Jesus shall live and reign with Christ a thousand
years, llev. xx. They shall be most nearly interested in this re-
vival or spiritual resurrection of the church that shall be then,
that shall be in some sense the resurrection of Christ himself in
the same manner as the setting up the kingdom of Christ in the
world, is represented as Christ's being born. Rev. xii. They
shall possess the joy and happiness of that revival of the church;
it will be as much their own, and much more in some respects,
than of the saints on earth ; see Rev. xix. the former part of the
chapter. Thus Abraham, who is spoken of as the heir of the
world, inherits it, possesses his inheritance, and shall enjoy the
great promise of old made to him.
As the saints in heaven shall be under much greater advantage
in heaven to see and enjoy God than when on earth, so they shall
be proportionally under much greater advantage to see and enjoy
the works of God, and especially those works of God wliich ap-
pertain to the work of redemption ; which is that work by which
God chiefly manifests himself to the inhabitants of the heavenly
world, and especially the redeemed there. The saints and an-
gels see God by beholding the displays of his perfections, but the
perfections of God are displayed and manifested chiefly by their
effects. The chief way wherein the wisdom of God is to be seen
is in the wise acts and operations of God, and so of his power and
mercy, and justice, and other perfections. But these are seen
even by the angels themselves, chiefly by what God does in the
work of redemption. Eph. iii. 10. " To the intent that now
unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be
known by the church the manifold wisdom of God."
Coral. Hence we learn one reason, why the promises of the
future glory of the church in this world are so much insisted on
in the word of God, delivered to his church ages before the ac-
complishment.
Objection. In Eccles. \x. 5, 6, it is said of the dead, that they
know not any thing ; neither have they any more a portion for
ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
Ans. 1. Their having no more a portion, &;c. implies no more,
than that they shall no more be interested in sublunary things,
or in any worldly concern. But not that they are not interested
HEAVEN. 597
in the spiritual and heavenly aflaftfs of that family of God, that is
not of the world, that are chosen and called out of the world, and
redeemed from the earth ; and, as is represented by the apostle,
do not live in the world, but have their conversation and citizenship
in heaven.
2. It is manifest that by the contextjjthe wise man speaks of
temporal death as it is in itself, and not j^it is by redemption, an
inlet into a more happy state, in those that are redeemed from
death, from the power of the grave ; for the dead are here said to
have no more a reward, and as being in a far worse state than
when living. Ver. 4. The wise man's design and drift leads him
to speak of temporal death, or death as it is in itself, with regard
to things temporal and visible, without any respect to a future
state of existence; and therefore, all that is implied is, that the
dead body knows not any thing ; they that are in their graves
know not any thing, not but that the immortal soul that never dies
knows something, knows as well that the dead body shall rise
again, as the living know that they must die. It is in this sense,
and no other, that all things come alike to all, and there is one
event to the righteous and the wicked, ver. 3, and preceding ver-
ses. The event is the same in the death of both, only as tempo-
ral death is the same in all. In this sense, as dieth the wise man,
so the fool. Chap. ii. 16.
Texts of scripture that show thr.t the saints in heaven see and are
concerned, and' interested in the prosperity of the church on earth.
Math. xix. 27, to the end ; Pro v. x. 30; Ps. xxv. 13.
[1095] Saiiits in heaven reign on earth. It is evident, when
Christ promises a kingdom to his true followers, as he does espe-
cially in Luke xxii. 29, 30 ; that one thing especially intended,
is their rejoicing with him in his kingdom of grace on earth ; by
Christ's words in that place : " And I appoint unto you a king-
dom, as my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and
drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the
twelve tribes of Israel.''^ By this it also appears, that by that ex-
pression, used here and elsewhere, of sitting on thrones, judging
the tioelve tribes of Israel, is not intended merely judging the
world with Christ at the day of judgment; (as indeed it will be
unreasonable on other accounts to suppose this chiefly intended,
for the saints' judging the world, at the day of judgment, will
not consist in their judging the church of God ; for they shall all
have the blessed sentence pronounced on them together, and sit
down on Christ's right hand together, to be assessors with him in
judging others : after this they shall not judge one another ever
again;) but their judging the world will consist in their judging
angels and wicked men.
VOL. VIIT. 76
598 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIOiNS.
[1119] The saints in heaven acquainted with what is done on
earth. It is an argument of this that God so often calls the
heavens to be witness of his dealings with men on earth, Deut.
xxxi. 28; xxxii. 1 ; iv. 26; xxx. 19; Ps. i. 4; Isai. i. 2.
[1121] Saints and angels in heaven acquainted with ivhat is
done on earth. The psalmist, in Ps. Ixxxix. speaking of the
work of Redemption, the covenant God had made with his cho-
sen, God's prosecuting the designs of his mercy and covenant
faithfulness in his dealings withiiis church from age to age, and
gradually bringing the designs of his mercy to their consumma-
tion, as an architect gradually erects and completes a building,
ver. 1. 5, says, ver. 5, "The heavens shall praise thy wonders,
O Lord, thy faithfulness also in the congregation of thy saints,"
or holy ones. Now this cannot be merely such a figure of
speech as when sometimes the earth, seas, rocks, mountains
and trees, are called upon to praise the Lord. This is rather
a prediction of an event that shall come to pass, of the notice
the heavens shall take of those particular wonders of God's
mercy and faithfulness, and their celebrating them in their
praises, and doing it in the assembly of God's holy ones. And
what assembly can that be but that which we read of, Heb. xii.
22, 23? Such a praising of the heavens seems here to be spo-
ken of, as is described in Rev. v. 8, to the end ; vii. 9, 10, 11,
15,16,17; xii. 10, 11,12; xiv. 3; xvili. 20; xix. 1— 7.
[1134] Heavin, the everlasting abode of the church. That
the saints shall enter into heaven after the day of judgment,
and not continue with Christ here below is evident ; John, xiv.
2, 3. " In my Father's house are many mansions ; I go to pre-
pare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I
will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am
there ye may be also." Doubtless these words, "I will come
again and receive you to myself, that where I am," &c., will be
most eminently fulfilled at Christ's second coming at the end of
the world, that second coming spoken of, Heb. ix. last verse.
And when it is said he will receive them to himself to be where
he is, he must be understood to the place to which I am now to
go, to that house of my Father to which I am ascending, in
which I am going to prepare a place for you. At my second
coming I will receive you to those mansions which I now go to
prepare in my Father's house.
It is also evident that Christ went to the highest heavens,
the third heaven, far above all heavens, at his first ascension,
as the Forerunner of his people; implying that they shall all
go there in their turn, or after him; and doubtless in this he
wa3 the Forerunner of them, with respect to their reception of
their proper reward, or their complete happiness, which will
#
HEAVEN. 599
not be till the last day ; and their Forerunner as to a bodily
ascension or translation, wherein the saints' bodies shall be
made like to Christ's glorious body, a.id shall ascend as that did.
But they will not have glorified bodies till then ; and he is doubt-
less the Forerunner of the whole (ihurch in going to heaven;
which he would not be, if after the day of judgment the saints
were to stay here below; for those, wlio shall then be found
alive, in such a case never would ascend into heaven at all.
And then it is most reasonable to suppose, that Christ will be
the first fruits in his ascension, in like manner as in his resur-
rection ; but Christ is the first fruits in his resurrection with re-
gard to what the saints shall be the subjects of at the second
coming of Christ : 1 Cor. xv. 23, " Christ the first fruits ; after-
wards they that are Christ's at his coming."
[1137] Happiness of heaven. When God had finished the
work of creation, he is represented as resting, and being re-
freshed and rejoicing in his works. The apostle compares the
happiness Christ entered into, after he had finished his labours
andsufferings in the workof Redemption, to this, ITeb. iv. 4. 10.
Therefore we may well suppose, that very much of Christ's
happiness in heaven consists in beholding the glory of God ap-
pearing in the work of redemption; and so in rejoicing in his
own work and reaping the sweet fruit of it, the glorious success
of it, which was the joy that was set before him. And as the
apostle represents the future happiness of the saints by a par-
ticipation of God's rest and Christ's rest from their works, Heb.
iv. 4 — 11. Tiiis seems to argue two things, viz.
1. That the way that the saints will be happy in beholding
the glory of God, will be very much in beholding the glory of
his perfections in his works.
2. That the happiness of the saints in heaven, especially
since Christ's ascension, consisting in beholding God's glory,
will consist very much in seeing his glory in the work of re-
demption. The happiness of departed saints under the Old
Testament consisted much in beholding the glory of God in
the works of creation ; in beholding which, " the morning
stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy."
But their happiness, since Christ's ascension, consists much
more in beholding the glory .of God in the workof redemption,
since the old creation, in comparison of this, is no more men-
tioned, nor comes into mind. But they will be glad and rejoice
for ever in this work. -j
The beatific vision of God in heaven consists mostly in be-
holding the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, either in
his work, or in his person as appearing in the glorified human ^
nature.
600 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
[1246] The saints higher in glory than the angels. It is evi-
dent that the four and twenty elders in the Revelation do re-
present the church or company of jjflorified saints by their song-.
Chap. V. 9, 10. " Thou- art worthy to take the book, and to
open the seals thereof ; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed
us to God by thy bloody out of every kindred, aiid tongue, and
people, and nation, aim hast made us unto our God kings and
priests, and we shall reign on the earlh." But these are repre-
sented from time to time as sitting in a state of honour, with
white raiment and crowns of gold, and in seats of dignity, in
thrones of glory, next to the throne of God and the Lamb, be-
ing nextly the most observable and conspicuous sight to God,
and Christ, and the four living ones. . Chap. iv. 4. *' And
round about the throne were four and twenty seats, and upon
the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white
raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold." So
chap. V. 6. " And I beheld, and !o, in the midst of the throne,
and of the four living ones, and in the midst of the elders stood
a Lamb, as it had been slain." And the angels are represent-
ed as further off from the throne than they being round about
them, as they are round about the throne, and the beasts, and
the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times
ten thousand, and thousands of thousands. So chap, vii, 1],
*' And all the angels stood round about the throne and about
the elders, and fell down before the throne on their faces and
worshipped God." These things make the matter of the su-
periority of the privilege of the saints in heaven very plain.
[1281] Hades — Saints before the resurrection — saints in
heaven have communion in the ijrosiyerity of the church on earth.
There are three things very manifest from Heb. vi. 12 ; " That
ye he not slothful, but folloivers of them, icho through faith and
patience inherit the promises.
1. That the souls of the saints do go to a state of rewards
and glorious happiness before the -Resu/-rec^«o». I'hat although
the resurrection be indeed the proper time of their reward,
and their happiness before be small in comparison of what it
will be afterwards, yet that they are received to such a degree
of happiness before, that they may be said to be in possession
of the promises of the covenant of grace. Tiiose whom the
apostle has reference to, when he speaks of them that now in-
herit the promises, are the Old Testanjent saints, and particu-
larly the patriarchs, as appears by the next words, where the
apostle instances in Abraham, and the promise made to him,
and of his patiently enduring, and then obtaining the promise.
Again : it is manifest the tilings promised to Abraham which
the apostle speaks of, were things which were not fulfilled till
HEAVE^ 601
after his death ; and it is manifest by what the apostle express-
ly declares in this epistle that he supposed that Abraham and
the other Patriarchs did not obtain the promises while in this
life, chap. xi. 13. Speaking there of these patriarchs in parti-
cular, he says, " Those all died in faith, not having received
the promises." But here he speaks of them as now inheriting
the promises. This word, as it is used every where in the
New Testament, implies actual possession of the inheritance;
and so as it is used in the Septuagint. It generally signifies
the actual possessing of an inheritance, lot, estate, or portion,
and that being now in actual possession of the promised hap-
piness, is what the apostle means in this ])lace, is beyond dis-
pute, by what he says, as further explaining himself in the
words immediately following ; where he says that Abraham,
after he had patiently endured, obtained the promise. He not
only has the right of an heir to the promise, which he had
while he lived, but he actually obtained it, though he died, not
having received the promise. And that we should suppose
this to be the meaning of the apostle, is agreeable to what he
says, chap. x. 36. " For ye have need of patience, that after
ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise."
And that the aj^ostle, when he speaks here of Abraham's hav-
ing obtained the promise after patiently enduring, does not
mean merely in a figurative sense, viz. that the promise of
multiplying his natural posterity was fulfilled after his death,
though he was dead, and his soul asleep, knowing nothing of
the matter, for the word is in the present tense, inherit the pro-
mises, not only did obtain them, but continues still to possess
and enjoy them, though Abraham's natural seed had been
greatly diminished, and the promised land at that time under
the dominion of the heathen, and the greater part of the peo-
ple at that time broken oflT by unbelief, and rejected from be-
ing God's people, and their city, and land, and the bulk of the
nation on the borders of the most dreadful destruction and de-
solation that ever befel any people.
2. If we compare this with what the apostle says elsewhere
in this epistle, it is manifest that the saints he speaks of inherit
the promises in heaven, and not in any other place in the bowels
of the earth, or elsewhere called Hades. For it is evident that
the promised inheritance which they looked for and sought af-
ter, and the promises of which they by faith were persuaded
of and embraced, and the promise of which drew their hearts
oflf from this world, was in heaven; this is manifest by chap,
xi. 13, 14, 15, 16, " These all died in faith, not having receiv-
ed the promises, but having seen them afar off, were persuad-
602 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
ed of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were
strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such
things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if
they had been mindful of that country from whence they came
out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But
now they desire a better country, that is an heavenly, where-
fore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath
prepared for them a city." And the heavenly inheritance in
the heavenly Canaan, or land of rest, which Christ has enter-
ed into, is that which the apostle all along in this epistle speaks
of as the great subject matter of God's promises which the
saints obtain through faith and patience. Chap. iii. 11. 14,
and chap. iv. 1. 3. 9, 10, 11 ; viii. 6, and ix. 15, and x. 34, and
xii. 1, 2. 16, to the end.
3. Another thing, which may be strongly argued from this,
is, that the happiness of the separat-e souls of saints in heaven
consists very much in beholding the works of God relating to
man's redemption wrought here below, and the stages of infi-
nite grace, wisdom, holiness, and power in establishing and
building up the church of God on earth. For what was that
promise which the apostle here has S[)ecial reference to, and
expressly speaks of, that Abraham obtained after he had pa-
tiently endured, which promise God confirmed with an oath,
and in which we Christians and all the heirs of the promise
partake with Abraham, and in the promises of which to be
greatly confirmed, we have strong consolation and great hope?
The apostle tells us, verses 13, 14, *' For, when God made
promise to Al>raham, because he could swear by no greater,
he sware by himself; saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee,
and multiplying I will multi|)ly thee." This promise is chiefly
fulfilled in the great increase of the church of God by the
Messiah, and particularly in the calling of the Gentiles, pur-
suant to the |)romise made to Abraham, that in his seed all the
families of the earth should be blessed, Rom. iv. 11. 13. 16,
17; Heb. xi. 12.
When the apostle speaks of their inheriting the promises,
he seems to have a special respect to the glorious accomplish-
ment of the great promises made to the patriarchs concerning
their seed now in those days of the gospel ; as is greatly con-
firmed by chap. xi. 39, " And these all having obtained a good
report through faith, received not the promise, God having
provided some better thing for us, that they without us should
not be made perfect ;" plainly signifying, that they received
not the promise in their life-time; the promise having respect
to that better thing that was to be accomplished in that age, in
HEAVEfll. G03
^1
which the apostle and those he wrote to lived, and that the pro-
mise they relied upon was not completed, and their faith and
hope in the promise not crowned, till they saw this better thing
accomplished. Rev. xiv. 13. " They rest from their labours,
and their works do follow them ;" follow ivith them, (xsr aurwv,
not to come many thousand years after them, as Mr. Baxter ob-
serves. Doddridge on Rev. xiv. 13.
«f...
^
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END OF VOL. VIII.
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