THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT

 
 i , w ATT * D
 
 THE WORLD TO COME : 
 
 OR. 
 
 DISCOURSES ON THE JOYS OR SORROWS 
 
 OP 
 
 DEATH, JUDGMENT AND ETERNITY : 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED AN 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SEPARATE STATE OF SOULS, 
 
 AND 
 
 AN APPENDIX, 
 
 CONTAINING SELECT POEMS. 
 
 BY ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 
 
 WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES 
 BY JOHN BURTT, V. D. M. 
 
 DAYTON: 
 PUBLISHED BY B.F.ELLS. 
 
 1836.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, 
 
 BY B. F. ELLS, 
 in the Clerk's Office for the District Court of Ohio.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 EDITOR'S PREFACE Page v. 
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE viii. 
 
 Discourses on the -world to come. 
 
 DISCOURSE I. The End of Time 13 
 
 DISCOURSE II. The watchful Christian dying in peace 33 
 
 DISCOURSE III. Surprise in Death 58 
 
 DISCOURSE IV. Christ admired and glorified in his Saints 78 
 
 DISCOURSE V. The Wrath of the Lamb 10 
 
 DISCOUKSE VI. The vain Refuge of Sinners, or a meditation on the 
 
 rocks near Tunbridge- Wells. 1729 114 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. No Night in Heaven 130 
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. A Soul prepared for Heaven 147 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. No Pain among the Blessed 175 
 
 DISCOURSE X. The first fruits of the Spirit, or the foretaste of Hea- 
 ven 210 
 
 DISCOURSE XI. Safety in the Grave, and joy at the Resurrection . . 233 
 
 A Speech over a Grave 255 
 
 DISCOURSE XII. The Nature of the Punishments in Hell 257 
 
 DISCOURSE XIII. The eternal Duration of the Punishments in Hell 291 
 An Essay toward the proof of a Separate State of Souls between 
 
 Death and the Resurrection , 334 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Earth and Heaven 383 
 
 Death and Eternity 384 
 
 The Atheist's Mistake 385 
 
 The Welcome Measenger 386 
 
 The Farewell 387 
 
 Launching into Eternity 388 
 
 Happy Frailty 388 
 
 The Day of Judgment 390 
 
 A Prospect of the Resurrection , 391 
 
 A Sight of Heaven in Sickness 392 
 
 Felicity Above 393 
 
 The Presence of God worth dying for ; or the Death of Moses 394 
 
 God's Dominion and Decrees 395 
 
 The Incomprehensible 396 
 
 True Wisdom 397 
 
 Christ dying, rising, and reigning 399 
 
 The Song of Angels above 399 
 
 Two happy Rivals, Devotion and the Muse 402 
 
 Come, Lord Jesus 404 
 
 A Sight of Christ 408
 
 

 
 EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 Dr.. ISAAC WATTS, the author of the following Discourses, was born at 
 Southampton, in England, in the year 1674. His parents were noncon- 
 formists, and his father was a sufferer for conscience' sake, having been im- 
 prisoned more than once for refusing to conform to the religion established 
 by government During his confinement, his afflicted and sympathising 
 wife was sometimes seen sitting on a stone, near the prison door, with her 
 son Isaac on her bosom. Isaac, at a very early age, gave promising indica- 
 tions of genius, and from fifteen to fifty, poetical composition contributed to 
 his amusement, as it also did to his usefulness and fame. In his nineteenth 
 year, he became a professed follower of Christ, and devoted himself to those 
 studies, and assiduously cultivated those habits, which were calculated to 
 prepare him for the sacro:! duties of a Christian tninister. At the age of 
 twenty-four, and on his birth-day, he preached his first sermon. During the 
 iirst three or four years of his ministry, his labours were much interrupted 
 by sick-.iess ; but he was so far restored as to labour with much acceptance 
 and success, till 1712, when a violent fever so completely prostrated his 
 constitution, that he was never afterwards able to discharge, statedly, the 
 public duties of a pastor. During a period of thirty-six years, which he 
 spent in a state 01* retirement, he laboured most laudably and industriously, 
 to promote by his pen, that holy cause, which he was no longer permitted 
 to plead from the sacred desk. In 1748, he died, in the 74th year of his 
 age, sustained by the consolations, and animated with the hopes of that 
 gospel, which h ' had so long been spared and privileged to recommend to 
 others. 
 
 His poetical works are, for the greater part, well known, and favourably 
 appreciated, by all who love pious sentiments expressed in an elegant sim- 
 plicity of diction. His prose works arc various and excellent. The writer 
 of these remarks takes a pleasure in recording here his obligations to Dr. 
 Walts' treatise " On the improvement of the mind," from which, in youth, 
 A 2 V
 
 vi EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 he derived more permanent advantage than from any other work of human 
 composition. The Discourses contained in this volume, and generally pub- 
 lished under the title of " The World to come," have been long known to 
 the Christian public, and highly esteemed by pious people, of every degree 
 of mental cultivation. The author combines, in the happiest manner, ele- 
 gance with perspicuity, tenderness with fidelity, a vivacity of imagination 
 with cogency of argument, clear statement, and impressive thought. 
 
 While I think that every serious Christian reader will agree with me, in 
 a high estimate of the excellence of these Discourses, I would not conceal, 
 and at the same time, I would not aggravate, the blemishes which I see in 
 them. A few, and but a few sentences occur, in which there are expres- 
 sions, which although not intended to teach error, are rather loose and un- 
 guarded. On several of the most remarkable of these, I have taken the lib- 
 erty to comment briefly in the Notes, which the reader will find at the bottom 
 of the pages, where the faulty expressions occur. It would not have been 
 consistent with my respect for the author, nor with the sense which I enter- 
 tain of my own imperfection, to enter my caveat against every turn of ex- 
 pression which might appear to me exceptionable : to notice some of these, 
 I considered to be necessary, for the sake of guarding the inexperienced and 
 unsuspecting reader from taking upon trust every thing which may fall 
 from the pen of even a truly learned and pious man. With the few excep- 
 tions to which I have reference, the reader will find that the work is at once 
 scriptural, luminous, and solemn, treating of the most awful subjects that 
 can engage the attention of men, in a manner the most becomingly tender, 
 and instructively interesting. 
 
 Besides these Notes, which I hope the intelligent reader will not consider 
 captious, as they were not written in a captious spirit, there are a few 
 others, intended for illustration. I might have increased the number of 
 these; but in a work professedly, and I may add, pre-eminently practical, 
 I judged it best not to divert the attention of the reader too often from the 
 train of thought presented by the author. 
 
 The subjects treated of in the following pages are o r universal concern ; 
 every human being, now on earth, is hastening on, as rapidly as time can 
 carry him, to the joys or terrors of a " World to come." The change 
 which we must all experience at death, and the asi-crtained or possible in- 
 terests, which we may have in eternity, as they unspeakably surpass all 
 earthly objects of contemplation, so they ought to have a suitable share of 
 our daily attention, and awaken in us the most serious thoughts. " What 
 shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own 
 soul V What will be the amount of all our care, and toil, and acquire- 
 ments, when calculated in the dying hour, if we have not cared and toiled 
 for our eternal interests, and obtained a hope, through grace, of an inheri- 
 tance in heaven ? These are questions which we all should ask ; and none
 
 EDITOR'S PREFACE. Yii 
 
 of us should rest, until we are enabled to adopt the language of the apostle, 
 and say : " According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in no- 
 thing I shall be ashamed, but that .... Christ shall be magnified in my 
 body, whether it be by life or by death : for to me, to live is Christ, and to 
 die is gain." 
 
 That the perusal of this volume may be blessed to the reader, and be a 
 means of exciting him to live habitually in view of the glory of God, and 
 the salvation of his soul, is the earnest prayer of his sincere well-wisher, 
 
 JOHN BURTT.
 
 THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 AMONG all the solemn and important things which relate to reli- 
 gion, there is nothing that strikes the soul of man with so much awe 
 and solemnity, as the scenes of death, and the dreadful or delightful 
 consequents which attend it. Who can think of entering into that 
 unknown region where spirits dwell, without the strongest impres- 
 sions upon the mind arising from so strange a manner of existence ? 
 Who can take a survey of the resurrection of the millions of the dead, 
 and of the tribunal of Christ, whence men and angels must receive 
 their doom, without the most painful solicitude, ' What will my sen- 
 tence be ?' Who can meditate on the intense and unmingled plea- 
 sure or pain in the world to come, without the most pathetic emotions 
 of soul, since each of us must be determined to one of these states, 
 and they are both of everlasting duration 1 
 
 These are the things that touch the springs of every passion in the 
 most sensible manner, and raise our hopes and our fears to their su- 
 preme exercise. These are the subjects with which our blessed Sa- 
 viour and his Apostles frequently entertained their hearers, in order to 
 persuade them to hearken, and attend to the divine lessons which they 
 published amongst them. These were some of the sharpest weapons 
 of their holy warfare, which entered into the inmost vitals of man- 
 kind, and pierced their consciences with the highest solicitude. 
 These have been the happy means to awaken thousands of sinners to 
 flee from the wrath to come, and to allure and hasten them to enter 
 into that glorious refuge that is set before them in the gospel. 
 
 It is for the same reason that I have, selected a few discourses on 
 these arguments out of my public ministry, to set them before the 
 eyes of the world in a more public manner, that if possible, some 
 thoughtless creatures might be roused out of their sinful slumbers, 
 and might awake into a spiritual and eternal life, through the concur- 
 ring influences of the blessed Spirit. 
 
 lam not willing to disappoint my readers, and therefore I would 
 
 viii
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. ix 
 
 let them know before-hand, that they will find very little in this book 
 to gratify their curiosity abort the many questions relating to the in- 
 visible world, and the things which God has not plainly revealed. 
 Something of this kind, perhaps, may be found in two discourses of 
 death and heaven, which I published long ago : but in the present dis- 
 courses I have very much neglected such curious enquiries. Noi 
 will the ear that has an itch for controversy be much entertained here, 
 for I have avoided matters of doubtful debate. Nor need the most 
 zealous man of orthodoxy, fear to be led astray into new and dangerous 
 sentiments, if he will hut take the plainest and most evident dictates 
 of Scripture, for his direction into all truth. 
 
 My only design has been to set the great and most momentous 
 things of a future world in the most convincing and affecting light, 
 and to enforce them upon the conscience with all the fervour that such 
 subjects demand and require. And may our blessed Redeemer, who 
 reigns Lord of the invisible world, pronounce these words with a di- 
 vine power to the heart of pvery man, who shall either read or hear 
 them. 
 
 The treatise which is set as an introduction to this book, * was 
 printed many years 230 without the author's name, and there, in a 
 short preface, represented to the reader these few reasons of its wri- 
 ting and publication, viz. 
 
 The principles of atheism and infidelity have prevailed so far upon 
 our age, as to break in upon the sacred fences of virtue and piety, 
 and to destroy the noblest and most effectual springs of true and vital 
 religion? I mean those which are contained in the blessed gospel. 
 The doctrine of the resurrection of the body, and the consequent states 
 of heaven and hell, is a guard and motive of divine force ; but it is re- 
 nounced by the enemies of our holy Christianity : and should we 
 give up the recompences of separate souls, while the deist denies the 
 resurrection of the lody, I fear between both we should sadly enfeeble 
 and expose the cause of virtue, and leave it too naked and defenceless. 
 The Christian would have but one persuasive of this kind remaining, 
 and the deist would have none at all. 
 
 It is necessary therefore to be upon our guard, and to establish eve- 
 ry motive that we can derive either from reason or Scripture, to se- 
 cure religion in the world. The doctrine of the state of separate 
 spirits, and the commencement of rewards and punishments, imme- 
 diately after death, is one of those sacred fence? of virtue which we 
 borrow from Scripture, and it is highly favoured by reason,and there- 
 
 * In the present edition, the treatise, or Essay, referred to here, is placed 
 it the end of the volume. ED.
 
 x AUTHOK'S PREFACE. 
 
 fore it may not le unseasonable to publish such arguments as may 
 tend to the support of it. 
 
 In this second edition of this small treatise, I have added several 
 paragraphs and pages to defend the same doctrine, and the last sec- 
 tion contains an answer to various new objections which I had not 
 met with, when I first began to write on this subject. I hope it is 
 set upon such a firm foundation of many Scriptures, as cannot pos- 
 sibly be overturned, nor do I think it a very easy matter any way to 
 evade the force of them. May the grace of God lead us on further 
 into every truth that tends to maintain and propagate faith and holi- 
 ness. 
 
 In the first cf these discourses, I have endeavoured to prove, that 
 'at the departure of the soul from the body by death, the rewards or 
 punishments,' i. e. the joys or sorrows ' of the other world, are ap- 
 pointed to commence :'. and I hope I have given, from the evidence of 
 Scripture, such arguments to support this doctrine, as that the faith 
 of Christians may not be staggered and confounded by different opin- 
 ions, or made to wait for these events, through all the many years 
 that may arise between death and the resurrection. 
 
 I know nothing besides this, that is made r. matter of controversy ; 
 and I hope that the whole of these sermons, by the blessing of God, 
 wil 1 be made happily useful to Christians, to awaken and v/arn them 
 against the danger of being seized by death in a state unprepared for 
 the presence of God, and the happiness of heaven, and to raise the 
 comforts and joys of many pious souls in the lively expectation of 
 future blessedness. 
 
 The last discourses of this book, especially the 'eternity of the 
 punishments of hell,' have been in latter and former years made a 
 matter of dispute ; and were I to pursue my enquiries inLo this doc- 
 trine, only by the aids of the light of nature and reason, I fear my 
 natural tenderness might warp me aside from the rules and the de- 
 mands of strict justice, and the wise and holy government of the 
 great God. But as I confine myself almost entirely to the revelation 
 of Scripture in all my searches into the things of revealed religion 
 and Christianity, I am constrained to forget or to lay aside that soft- 
 ness and tenderness of animal nature which might lead rie astray, 
 and to follow the unerring dictates of the word of God. 
 
 The Scripture frequently, and in the plainest and strongest man- 
 ner, asserts the everlasting punishment of sinners in hell ; and that 
 by all the methods of expression which are used in Scripture to sig- 
 nify an everlasting continuance. 
 
 God's utter hatred and aversion to sin, in this perpetual punish-
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xi 
 
 ment of it, are manifested many ways ; (1.) By the just and severe 
 threatenings of the wise and righteous Governor of the world, which 
 are scattered up and down in his word. (2.) By the veracity of 
 God in his intimations or narratives of past events, as Jude v. 7. 
 " Sodom and Gomorrah suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." (3.) 
 By his express predictions, Matth. xxv. 46, " These shall go away 
 into evarlasting punishment :" 2 Thess. i. 9, " Who shall be pun- 
 ished with everlasting destruction ;" and I might add, (4.) by the 
 veracity and truth of all his holy Prophets and Apostles, and his Son 
 Jesus Christ at the head of them, whom he has sent to acquaint man- 
 kind with the rules of their duty, and the certain judgment of God in 
 a holy correspondence therewith, and that in such words as seem to 
 admit of no way of escape, or of hope for the condemned criminals. 
 
 i. must confess here, if it were possible for the great and blessed 
 God any other way to vindicate his own eternal and unchangeable 
 hatred of sin, the inflexible justice of his government, the wisdom of 
 his severe threatenings, and the veracity of his predictions, if it were 
 also possible for him, without this terrible ex-scution, to vindicate 
 the veracity ^sincerity, and wisdom of the Prophets and Apostles, 
 and Jesus Christ his Son, the greatest and chiefest of his divine 
 messengers ; and then, if the blessed God should at any time, in a 
 consistence with his glorious and incomprehensible perfections, re- 
 lease those wretched creatures from their acute pains and long im- 
 prisonment in hell, either with a design of the utter destruction of 
 their beings by annihilation, or to put them into some unknown world, 
 upon a new foot of trial, I think I ought cheerfully and joyfully to 
 accept this appointment of God, for the good of millions of my fel- 
 low-creatures, and add my joys and praises to all the songs and tri- 
 umph* of the heavenly world in the day of such a divine and glori- 
 ous release of these prisoners. 
 
 But I feel myself under a necessity of confessing, that I am utter- 
 ly unable to solve these difficulties according to the discoveries of the 
 New Testament, which must be my constant rule of faith, and hope, 
 and expectation, with regard to myself and others. I have read the 
 strongest and best writers on the other side, yet after all my studies 
 I have not been able to find any way how these difficulties may be 
 removed, and how the divine perfections, and the conduct of God in 
 his word, may he fairly vindicated without the establishment of this 
 doctrine, as awful and formidable as it is. 
 
 'The ways' indeed of the great God and his 'thoughts are above 
 our thoughts and our ways, as the heavens are above the earth ;' yet 
 I most rest and acquiesce where our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father's
 
 Xll AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 chief Minister, both of his wrath and his love, has left me in the di- 
 vine revelations of Scripture ; and I am constrained therefore to leave 
 these unhappy creatures under the chains of everlasting darkness, in- 
 to which they have cast themselves by their wilful iniquities, till the 
 blessed God shall see fit to release them. 
 
 This would be indeed such a new, such an astonishing and univer- 
 sal jubilee, both for devils and wicked men, as must fill heaven, earth, 
 and hell, with hallelujahs and joy. In the mean time it is my ardent 
 wish, that this awful sense of the terrors of the Almighty, and his 
 everlasting anger, which the word of the great God denounces, may 
 awaken some souls timely to bethink themselves of the dreadful danger 
 into which they are running, before these terrors seize them at death, 
 and begin to be executed upon them without release and without 
 hope. 
 
 Note. Where these Discourses shall be used as a religious service in 
 private families on Lord's-day evenings, each of them will afford a division 
 near the middle, lest the service be made too long and tiresome.
 
 DISCOURSES 
 
 WORLD TO COME 
 
 DISCOURSE I. 
 
 THE END OF TIME. 
 
 RET. x. 5, 6. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea, and upon 
 the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for 
 ever and ever, that there should be time no longer. 
 
 THIS is tfie oath and the solemn sentence of a mighty 
 angel who came down from heaven, and by the descrip- 
 tion of him in the first verse, he seems to be the "angel 
 of God's presence, in whom is the name of God, 7 ' even 
 our Lord Jesus Christ himself, * who pronounced and 
 sware that "Time should be no longer;" for all seasons 
 and times are now put into his hand, together with the 
 book of his Father's decrees, Rev. v. 7, 9. What special 
 age or period of time in this world the prophecy refers 
 to, may not be so easy to determine; t but this is certain, 
 that it may be happily applied to the period of every 
 man's life ; for whensoever the term of our continuance 
 in this world is finished, 'our Time,' in the present cir- 
 cumstances and scenes that attend it, ' shall be no more.' 
 We fhall be swept off the stage of this visible state into 
 an unseen and eternal world: Eternity comes upon us at 
 once, and all that we enjoy, all that we do, and all that 
 we suffer in 'Time, shall be no longer.' 
 
 * Commentators are generally agreed, in considering the Angel, men- 
 tioned in the text, as Christ himself, or that which represented him to 
 John, in the vision, as the Messenger of the covenant. ED. 
 
 f Judicious expositors concur in believing this part of the prophecy to 
 apply to that period, which immediately precedes the sounding of the seventh 
 trumpet, and during the events which are introductory to the latter day 
 of glory, predicted to the church. ED. 
 
 B 13
 
 14 THE END OF TIME. 
 
 Let us stand still here, and consider in the first place 
 what awful and important thoughts are contained in this 
 sentence ; what solemn ideas should arise to the view of 
 mortal creatures when it shall be pronounced concerning 
 each of them, that ' Time shall be no more. ' 
 
 1. 'The Time of the recovery of our nature from its 
 sinful and wretched state shall be no longer.' We come 
 into this world fallen creatures, children of iniquity, and 
 heirs of death ; we have lost the ' image of God' who 
 made us, and which our nature enjoyed in our first 
 parents; and instead of it we are changed into the 'image 
 of the devil' in the lusts of the mind, in pride and malice, 
 in self-sufficiency and enmity to God; and we have put on 
 also the ' image of the brute' in sinful appetites and sensu- 
 alities, and in the lusts of the flesh; nor can we ever be 
 made truly happy till the image of the blessed God be 
 restored upon us, till we are made holy as he is holy, till 
 we have a divine change past upon us, whereby we are 
 created anew and reformed in heart and practice. And 
 this life is the only time given us for this important change. 
 If this life be finished before the image of God be restored 
 to us, this image will never be restored ; but we shall bear 
 the likeness of devils for ever; and perhaps the image 
 of the brute too at the resurrection of the body, and be 
 further off from God and all that is holy than ever we 
 were here upon earth. 
 
 Of what infinite importance is it then to be frequently 
 awakening ourselves at special seasons and periods of life 
 to enquire, whether this image of God is begun to be 
 renewed, whether we have this glorious change wrought 
 in us, whether our desires and delights are fixed upon 
 holy and heavenly things, instead of those sensual and 
 earthly objects which draw away all our souls from God 
 and heaven. Let it appear to us as a matter of utmost 
 moment to seek after this change; let us pursue it with 
 unwearied labours and strivings with our own hearts, 
 and perpetual importunities at the throne of grace, lest 
 the voice of him who swears that, < there shall be Time 
 no longer,' should seize us in some unexpected moment, 
 and lest he^wear in his wrath concerning us, "let him 
 that is unholy be unholy still, and let him that is filthy 
 be filthy still." 
 
 2. When thissentence is pronounced concerningus, < the
 
 THE END OP TIME. 15 
 
 season and the means of restoring us to the favour and 
 love of God shall be no longer.' We are born ' children 
 of wrath' as well as the sons and daughters of iniquity, 
 Ephes. ii. 2. We have lost the original favour ef, our 
 Maker and are banished from his love, and the superior 
 blessings of his goodness; and yet, blessed be the Lord, 
 that we are not at present for ever banished beyond all 
 hope : This ' Time of life' is given us to seek the recovery of 
 the love of God, by returning to him according to the 
 gospel of his Son : Now is pardon and peace, now is 
 grace and salvation preached unto men, to sinful wretched 
 men, who are at enmity with God and the objects of his 
 high displeasure ; now the voice of mercy calls to us, 
 "This is the accepted time, this is the day of salvation," 
 2 Cor. vi. 2. "To-day if ye will hear his voice, let not 
 your hearts be hardened to refuse it:" Now the fountain 
 of the blood of Christ is set open to wash our souls from 
 the guilt of sin; now all the springs of his mercy are broken 
 up in the ministrations of the gospel: Now ' God is in 
 Christ reconciling sinners to himself,' and 'he has sent us,' 
 his ministers, 'to intreat you in Christ's stead, be ye 
 reconciled to God ;' and we beseech you in his name, 
 continue not one day, or one hour, longer in your enmity 
 and rebellion, but be ye reconciled to God your Creator, 
 and accept of his offered forgiveness and grace. 2 Cor. v. 20. 
 The moment is hastening upon us when this mighty 
 angel, who manages the affairs of the kingdom of Provi- 
 dence, shall swear concerning every unbelieving and im- 
 penitent sinner, that the l Time of offered mercy shall be 
 no longer, the time of pardon and grace and reconciliation 
 ehall be no more:' The sound of this mercy reaches not 
 to the regions of the dead; those who die before they are 
 reconciled, die under the load of all their sins, and must 
 perish for ever, without the least hope or glimpse of recon- 
 ciling or forgiving grace. 
 
 3. At the term of this mortal life, 'the Time of prayer and 
 repentance and service, for God or man, in this world, shall 
 be no longer.' Eccl. ix. 10. "There is no work nor device, 
 nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou 
 goest," whither we are all hastening. Let every sinful 
 creature therefore ask himself, ' Have I never yet begun 
 to pray ? Never begun to call upon the mercy of God that 
 made me ? Never begun to repent of all my crimes
 
 16 THE END OF TIME. 
 
 and follies ? Nor begun in good earnest to do service for 
 God, or to honour him amongst men ?' Dreadful thought 
 indeed ! when, it may be, the next hour, we may be put 
 outof all capacity and opportunity to do itfor ever! Assoon 
 as ever an impenitent sinner has the vail of death drawn 
 over him, all his opportunities of this kind are for ever 
 cutoff. He that has never repented, never prayed, never 
 honoured his God, shall never be able to pray, or repent, 
 or do any thing for God, or his honour, through all the ages 
 of his future immortality. Nor is there any promise made 
 to returning or repenting sinners in the other world, 
 whither we are hastening. "As the tree falls," when 
 it is cut down, "so it lies," and it must for ever lie, 
 'pointing to the north or the south,' to hell or heaven, 
 Eccles. xi. 3. 
 
 And, indeed, no true prayer, no sincere repentance can 
 be exercised after this life ; for the soul that has wasted 
 away all its time given for repentance and prayer, is, at 
 the moment of death, left under everlasting hardness of 
 heart ; and whatsoever enmity against God and godliness 
 was found in the heart in this world is increased in the 
 world to come, when all manner of softening means and 
 mercies are ever at an end. This leads me to the next 
 thought. 
 
 4. 'How wretched soever our state is at death, the day 
 of hope is ended, and it returns no more. ' Be our cir- 
 cumstances never so bad, yet we are not completely 
 wretched while the time of hope remains. We are all 
 by nature miserable by reason of sin, but it is only despair 
 that can perfect our misery. Therefore fallen angels are 
 sealed up under misery because there is no door of hope 
 opened for them. But in this life there is hope for the 
 worst of sinful men : There is the word of grace and 
 hope calling them in the gospel ; there is the voice of di- 
 vine mercy sounding in the sanctuary, and ' blessed are 
 they that hear the joyful sound.' But if we turn the deaf 
 ear to the voice of God and his Son, and to all the tender 
 and compassionate intreaties of a dying Saviour, hope is 
 hastening to its period ; for this very angel will shortly 
 swear, that this joyful sound shall be heard no longer. 
 
 He comes now to the door of our hearts, he sues there 
 for admittance, l Open unto me and receive me as your 
 and your Lord, give me and my gospel free ad-
 
 THE END OP TIME. 17 
 
 mission, and I will come in and bestow upon you the 
 riches of my grace and all my salvation : Open your 
 hearts to me with the holy desires and humble submission 
 of penitence, and receive the blessings of righteousness, 
 and pardon, and eternal life.' He now invites you to 
 return to God with an acknowledgement and renunciation 
 of every sin, and he offers to take you by the hand and 
 introduce yoa into his Father's presence with comfort. 
 This is a day of hope for the vilest and most hateful crimi- 
 nals; but if you continue to refuse^ he will shortly swear 
 in his wrath, that you shall never enter into his kingdom, 
 you shall never taste of the provisions of his grace, you 
 shall never be partakers of the blessings purchased with 
 his blood, Heb. iii. 18. "I sware in. my wrath," saith 
 the Lord, "they sbill not enter into my rest." 
 
 Oh the dreadful state of sinful creatures, who continue 
 in such obstinacy, who waste away the means of grace 
 and the seasons of hope, week after week, and month 
 after month, till the day of grace and hope is for ever at 
 an end with them! Hopeless creatures! Under the power 
 and the plague of sin, under the wrath and curse of a 
 God, under the eternal displeasure of Jesus who was once 
 the minister of his Father's love; and they must abide 
 under all this wretchedness through a long eternity, and 
 in the land of everlasting despair. But I forbear that 
 theme at present, and proceed. 
 
 5. At the moment of our death, f the Time of our pre- 
 paration for the hour of judgment, and for the insurance 
 of heaven and happiness shall be no longer.' Miserable 
 creatures that are summoned to die thus unprepared! 
 This life is the only time to prepare for dying, to get 
 ready to stand before the Judge of the whole earth, and 
 to secure our title to the heavenly blessedness. Let my 
 heart inquire, ' Have I ever seriously begun to prepare 
 for a dying hour, and to appear before the Judge of all ? 
 Have I ever concerned myself in good earnest to secure 
 an interest in the heavenly inheritance, when this earthly 
 tabernacle shall be dissolved ? Have I ever made interest 
 for the favour of God and a share of the inheritance of the 
 saints, by Jesus the great Mediator while he afforded life 
 and time !' Death is daily and hourly hastening upon us: 
 Death is the 'king of terrors,' and will fulfil all his name 
 to every soul that is unprepared. It is a piece of wisdom 
 
 3 B 2
 
 18 THE END OP TIME. 
 
 then for every one of us, since we must die, to search 
 and feel whether death has lost its sting or no: whether 
 it be taken away hy the blood of Christ : Is this blood 
 sprinkled on my conscience by the humble exercise of 
 faith on a dying Saviour ? Are the terrors of death re- 
 moved, and am I prepared .to meet it by the sanctifying 
 influences of the blessed Spirit ? Have -I such an interest 
 in the covenant of grace as takes away the sting of death, 
 as turns the curse into a blessing, and changes the dark 
 scene of death into t)ie commencement of u new and 
 everlasting life ? This is that preparation for dying for 
 which our time of life was given us ; and happy are those 
 who are taught of God to make this use of it. 
 
 Judgment is making haste towards us ; months and days 
 of divine patience are flying swrft away, and the last great 
 day is just at hand: Then we must give an account of "all 
 that has been done in the body whether it has been good 
 or evil:" And what a dismal and distressing surprise will 
 it be to have the Judge come upon us in a blaze of glory 
 and terror, while we have no good account to give at Jiis 
 demand ? And yet this is the very end and design of all 
 our time, which is lengthened out to us on this side the 
 grave, and of all the advantages that we have enjoyed in 
 this life, that we may be ready to render up our account 
 with joy to the Judge of all the. earth. 
 
 Heaven is not ours by birth and inheritance, as lands 
 and houses on earth descend to us from our earthly parents. 
 We, as well as they, are by nature unfit for heaven and 
 children of wrath; but we may be born again, we may be 
 born of God, and become heirs of the heavenly inheritance 
 through Jesus Christ. We may be renewed into the tem- 
 per and spirit of heaven; and this life is the only season 
 that is given us for this important change. Shall we let 
 our days and years pass away one after another in long 
 succession, and continue the children of wrath still ? Are 
 we contented to go on this year as the last, without a 
 title to heaven, without a divine temper, and without any 
 preparation for the business or the blessedness of that 
 happy world ? 
 
 6. When this life comes to an end, 'the time of all our 
 earthly comforts and amusements shall be no more.' We 
 shall have none of these sensible things around us, to 
 employ to entertain our eyes or our ears, to gratify our
 
 THE END OP TIME. 19 
 
 appetites, to soothe our passions, or to support our spirits 
 in distress. All the infinite variety of cares, labours 
 and joys, which surround us here, shall be no more ; 
 life, with all the busy scenes and pleasing satisfactions of 
 it dissolve and perish together. Have a care then that you 
 do not make any of them your chief hope ; for they are 
 but the things of time ; they are all short and dying en- 
 joyments. 
 
 Under the various calamities of this life we find a varie- 
 ty of sensible reliefs, and our thoughts and souls are called 
 away -from their sorrows by present business, or diverted 
 by present pleasures; but all these avocations and amuse- 
 ments will forsake us at once, when we drop this mortal 
 tabernacle; we must enter alone into the world of spirits, 
 and live without them there. 
 
 Whatsoever agonies or terrors, or huge distresses, we 
 may meet with in that unknown region, we shall have 
 none of these sensible enjoyments to soften and allay 
 them, no drop of sweetness to mix with that bitter cup, 
 no scenes of gaiety and merriment to relieve the gloom 
 of that utter darkness, or to soothe the anguish of that 
 eternal heart-ate. take heed, my friends, that your 
 souls do not live too much on any of the satisfactions of 
 this life, that your affections be not setupon them in too high 
 a degree, that you make them not your idols and your 
 chief gorod, lest you be left helpless land miserable under 
 everlasting disappointment, for they cannot follow you 
 into the world of souls. They are the things of time, and 
 they have no place in eternity. Read what caution the 
 apostle Paul gives us in . our converse with the dearest 
 comforts of life; 1 Cor. vii. 39. "The time is short;" 
 and let those who have the largest affluence of temporal 
 blessings, who have the nearest and kindest relatives, and 
 themost endeared friendships, be mortified to them, and be, 
 in some sense, 'as though they had them not,' for ye can- 
 not possess them long. St. Peter joins in the same sort 
 of advice, 1 Pet. iv. 7. " The end of all things is at hand, 
 therefore be ye sober," be ye moderate in every enjoy- 
 ment on earth, and prepare to part with them all, when 
 the angel pronounces that ' Time shall be no longer.' His 
 sentence. puts an effectual period to every joy in this life, 
 and to every hope that is not eternal. 
 
 There we have taken a brief survey, what are the solemn
 
 20 THE END OP TUVTE. 
 
 and awful thoughts relating to ' such mortal creatures in 
 general,' which are contained in this voice or sentence of 
 the angel, 'That Time shall be no longer.' 
 
 In the second place let us proceed further, and inquire 
 a little ' what are those terrors which will attend sinners, 
 impenitent sinners, at the end of time.' 
 
 1. A dreadful account must be given of all this lost 
 and wasted time. When the Judge shall ascend his throne 
 in the air, and all the sons and daughters of Adam are 
 brought before him, the grand inquiry will be, ' What 
 have you done with all the time of life in yonder world ? 
 You spent thirty or forty years there, or perhaps seventy 
 or eighty, and I gave yo'u this time with a thousand oppor- 
 tunities and means of grace and salvation ; what have you 
 done with them all ? How many sabbaths did I .afford 
 you ? How many sermons have ye heard ? How many 
 seasons did I give you for prayer and retirement, and con- 
 verse with God and your own souls ? Did you improve 
 time well ? Did you pray ^ Did you converse with your 
 souls and with God ? Or did you suffer time to slide a- 
 way in a thousand impertinencies, and neglect the one 
 thing necessary ?' 
 
 2. ' A fruitless and bitter mourning for the waste and 
 abuse of time' will be another consequence of your foljy. 
 Whatsoever satisfaction you may take now in passing time 
 away merrily and without thinking, it must not pass away 
 so for ever. If the approaches of death do not awaken 
 you, yefe judgment will do it. Your consciences will be 
 worried-! with terrible reflections on your foolish conduct. 
 
 could we but hear the complaints of the souls in hell, 
 what multitudes of them would be found groaning out this 
 dismal note, 'How hath my time been lost in vanity, and 
 my soul is now lost for ever in distress: How might I have 
 shone among the saints in heaven, had I wisely improved 
 the time which was given me on earth, given me on pur- 
 pose to prepare for death and heaven?' Then they will 
 for ever curse themselves, and call themselves eternal fools, 
 for hearkening to the temptations of flesh and sense, which 
 wasted their time, and deprived them of eternal treasures. 
 
 3. Another of the terrors which will seize upon impeni- 
 tent sinners at the end of time, will be ' endless despair 
 of the recovery of lost time, and of those blessings whose 
 hope is for ever lost with it' There are blessings offered
 
 THE END OF TIME. 21 
 
 to sinful miserable men in time, which will never be of- 
 fered in eternity, nor put within their reach for ever. 
 The gospel hath no calls, no invitations, no encouragements, 
 no promises for the dead, who have lost and wasted their 
 time, and are perished without hope. The region of sor- 
 row, whither the Judge shall drive impenitent sinners, is 
 a dark and desolate place, where light and hope can never 
 come: But fruitless repentance, with horrors and agonies 
 of soul, and doleful despair reign through that world, 
 without one gleam of light or hope, or one moment of 
 intermission. Then will despairing sinners gnaw their 
 tongues for anguish of heart, and curse themselves with 
 long execrations, and curse their fellow sinners, who assis- 
 ted them to waste their time, and ruin their souls. 
 
 4. The last terror I shall mention which will attend sin- 
 ners at the end of time, is an ' eternal suffering of all the 
 painful and dismal consequences of lost and wasted time.' 
 Not one smile from the face of God for ever, not one 
 glimpse of love or mercy in his countenance, not one 
 word of grace from Jesus Christ, who was once the chief 
 messenger of the grace of God, nnt nnp favourable regard 
 from all the holy saints and angels; but the fire and brim- 
 stone burn without end, " and the smoke of this their tor- 
 ment will ascend for ever and ever before the throne of 
 God and the Lamb." 
 
 Who knows how keen and bitter will be the agonies of 
 an awakened conscience, and the vengeance of a provoked 
 God in that world of misery ? How will you cry out, 
 ' what a wretch have I been to renounce all the ad- 
 vices of a compassionate father, when he would have per- 
 suaded me to improve the time of youth and health! Alas, 
 I turned a deaf ear to his advice, and now time is lost, 
 and my hopes of mercy for ever perished. How have I 
 treated with ridicule among my vain companions the 
 compassionate and pious counsels of my aged parents who 
 laboured for my salvation ? How have I scorned the 
 tender admonitions of a mother, and wasted that time 
 in sinning and sensuality which should have been spent in 
 prayer and devotion ? And God turns a deaf ear to my 
 cries now, and is regardless of all my groanings.' This 
 sort of anguish of spirit with loud and cutting complaints 
 would destroy life itself, and these inward terrors would 
 sting their souls to death, if there could be any such thing
 
 22 THE END OF TIME. 
 
 as dying there. Such sighs and sobs and bitter agonic* 
 would break their hearts, and dissolve their being, if 
 the heart could break, or the being could be dissolv- 
 ed. But immortality is their dreadful portion, immortal- 
 ity of sorrows to punish their wicked and wilful abuse 
 of time, and that waste of the means of grace they were 
 guilty of in their mortal state. 
 
 I proceed in the last place to consider what reflections 
 may be made on this discourse, or what are some of the 
 profitable lessons to be learnt from it. 
 
 Reflect. 1. We may learn with great evidence 'the 
 inestimable worth and value of time, and particularly to 
 those who are not prepared for eternity.' Every hour 
 you live is an hour longer given you to prepare for dy- 
 ing, and to save a soul. If you were but apprized of the 
 worth of your own souls, you would better know the worth 
 of days and hours, and of every passing moment, for 
 they are given to secure your immortal interest, and save 
 a soul from everlasting misery. And you would be zeal- 
 ous and importunate in the prayer of Moses, the man of 
 God, upon a meditation of the. shortness of life, Psal. xc. 
 12. " So teach us to number our days, as to apply our 
 hearts to wisdom ;" i. e. so teach us to consider how few 
 and uncertain our days are, that we may be truly wise in 
 preparing for the end of them. 
 
 It is a matter of vast importance to be ever ready for 
 the end of time, ready to hear this awful sentence con- 
 firmed with the oath of the glorious angel, that Time 
 shall be no longer.' The terrors or the comforts of a dy- 
 ing bed depend upon it : the solemn and decisive voice of 
 judgment depends upon it : the joys and the sorrows of a 
 long eternity depend upon it. Go now, careless sinner, 
 and in the view of such things as these, go and trifle away 
 time as you have done before ; time, that invaluable treas- 
 ure ! Go and venture the loss of your souls, and the hopes 
 of heaven and your eternal happiness, in wasting away 
 the remnant hours or moments of life. But remember 
 the awful voice of the angel is hastening towards you, and 
 the sound is just breaking in upon you, that ' Time shall 
 be no longer.' 
 
 Reflect. II. ' A due sense of time hastening to its pe- 
 riod, will furnish us with perpetual new occasions of holy 
 meditation.
 
 THE END OP TIMU. 23 
 
 Do I observe the declining day and the setting sun sink- 
 ing into darkness ? so declines the day of life, the hours of 
 labour, and the season of grace. may I finish my ap- 
 pointed work with honour, before the light is fled ! May 
 I improve the shining hours of grace before the shadows 
 of the evening overtake me, and my time of working is no 
 more! 
 
 Do I see the moon gliding along through midnight, and 
 fulfilling her stages in the dusky sky ? This planet also is 
 measuring out my life, and bringing the number of my 
 months to their end. May I be prepared to take leave of 
 the sun and moon, and bid adieu to these visible heav- 
 ens and all the twinkling glories of them! These are all 
 but the measurers of my time, and hasten me on towards 
 eternity. 
 
 Am I walking in a garden, and stand still to observe the 
 slow motion of the shadow upon a dial there ? It passes 
 over the hour lines with an imperceptible progress, yet it 
 will touch the last line of day-light shortly: so my hours 
 and my moments move onward with a silent pace ; but 
 they will arrive with certainty at the last limit, how heed- 
 less soever I am of their motion, and how thoughtless so- 
 ever I may be of the improvement of time, or of the 
 end of it. 
 
 Does a new year commence, and the first morning of it 
 dawn upon me ? Let me remember that the last year was 
 finished, and has gone over my head, in order to make 
 way for the entrance of the present. I have one year the 
 less to travel through this world, and to fulfil the various 
 services of a travelling state. May my diligence in duty 
 be doubled, since the number of my appointed years is 
 diminished. 
 
 Do I find a new birth-day in my survey of the kalendar, 
 the day wherein I entered upon the stage of mortality, and 
 was born into this world of sins, frailties and sorrows, in 
 order to my probation for a better state ? Blessed Lord, how 
 much have I spent already of this mortal life, this season 
 of my probation, and how little am I prepared for that 
 happier world ? How unready for my dying moment? I 
 am hastening hourly to the end of the life of man, which 
 began with my nativity; am I yet born of God ? Have I 
 begun the life of a saint? Am I prepared for that awful 
 day which shall determine the numbed of my months on
 
 24 THE END OF TIME. 
 
 earth ? Am I fit to be born into the world of spirits 
 through the strait gate of death ? Am I renewed in all the 
 powers of my nature, and made meet to enter into that 
 unseen world, where there shall be no more of these re- 
 volutions of days and years ; but one eternal day fills up all 
 the space with divine pleasure, or one eternal night with 
 long and deplorable distress and darkness ? 
 
 When I see a friend expiring, or the corpse of my neigh- 
 bour conveyed to the grave, alas! their months and min- 
 utes are all determined, and the seasons of their trial are 
 finished for ever; they are gone to their eternal home, and 
 the estate of their souls is fixed unchangeably. The angel 
 that has sworn their 'time shall be no longer,' has conclud- 
 ed their hopes, or has finished their fears, and, according 
 to the rules of righteous judgment, has decided their misery 
 or happiness for a long immortality. Take this warning, 
 my soul, and think of thy own removal. 
 
 Are we standing in the church-yard, paying the last hon- 
 ours to the relics of our friends ? What a number of hillocks 
 of death appear all round us? What are the tomb-stones, 
 but memorials of the inhabitants of that town, to inform 
 us of the periods of all their lives, and to point out the 
 day when it was said to each of them, * your time shall be 
 no longer.' may I readily learn this important lesson, 
 that my turn is hastening too; such a little hillock shall 
 shortly arise for me in some unknown spot of ground, 
 it shall cover this flesh and these bones of mine in dark- 
 ness, and shall hide them from the light of the sun, and 
 from the sight of man till the heavens be no more. 
 
 Perhaps some surviving friend may engrave my name 
 with the number of my days, upon a plain funeral stone, 
 without ornament and below envy. There shall my tomb 
 stand among the rest as a fresh monument of the frailty 
 of nature and the end of time. It is possible some friend- 
 ly foot may now and then visit the place of my repose, 
 and some tender eye may bedew the cold memorial with 
 a tear. One or another of my old acquaintance may pos- 
 sibly attend there to learn the silent lecture of mortality 
 from my grave stone, which my lips are now preaching a- 
 loud to the world. And if love and sorrow should reach 
 so far, perhaps while his soul is melting in his eyelids, and 
 his voice scarce finds an utterance, he will point with his 
 finger, and shew his companion the month and the day of
 
 THE END OF TIME. 25 
 
 my decease. that solemn, that awful day, which shall 
 finish my appointed time on earth, and put a full period to 
 all the designs of my heart, and all the labours of my 
 tongue and pen! , 
 
 Think, my soul, that while friends and strangers are 
 engaged on that spot, and reading the date of thy departure 
 hence, thou wilt be fixed under a decisive and unchange- 
 able sentence, rejoicing in the rewards of time well-im- 
 proved, or suffering the long, sorrows which shall attend 
 the abuse of it, in an unknown world of happiness or misery. 
 Reflect. III. We may 'learn from this discourse, the 
 'stupid folly and madness of those who are terribly afraid 
 of the end of time, whensoever they think of it, and yet 
 they know, not what to do with their time as it runs off 
 daily and hourly.' They find their souls unready for 
 death, and yet they live from year to year without any 
 further preparation for dying. They waste away their 
 hours of leisure in mere trifling, they lose their seasons of 
 grace, their means and opportunities of salvation, in a 
 thoughtless and shameful manner, as though they had no 
 business to employ them in; they live as though they had 
 nothing to do with all their time but to eat and drink, and 
 be easy and merry. From the rising to the setting sun 
 you find them still in pursuit of impertinencies; they waste 
 God's sacred time as well as their own, either in a lazy, in- 
 dolent, And careless humour, or in following after vanity, sin 
 and madness, while the end of time is hastening upon them. 
 What multitudes are there of the race of Adam, both in 
 higher and lower ranks, who are ever complaining they 
 want leisure, and when they have a release from business 
 for .one day, or one hour, they hardly know what to do 
 with that idle day, or how to lay out one of the hours of 
 it for any valuable purpose ? Those in higher station and 
 richer circumstances, have most of their time at their own 
 command and disposal : but by their actual disposal of it, 
 you plainly see they know not what it is good for, nor 
 what use to make of it; they are quite at a loss how to get 
 rid of thjs tedious thing called Time, which lies daily as a 
 burden on their hands. Indeed if their head ake, or their 
 face grow pale, and a physician feel their pulse, or look 
 wishfully on their countenance; and, especially, if he should 
 shake his head, or tell them his fears that they will not 
 hold out long, what surprise of soul, what agonies and ter- 
 4 C
 
 26 THE END OF TIME. 
 
 rors seize them on a sudden, for fear of the end of time ? 
 For they are conscious how unfit they are for eternity. 
 Yet when the pain vanishes, and they feel health again, 
 they are as much at a loss as ever what to do with the 
 remnant of life. 
 
 the painful and the unhappy ignorance of the sons 
 and daughters of men, that are sent hither on a trial for 
 eternity, and yet know not how to pass away time! they 
 know not how to wear out life, and get soon enough to the 
 end of the day. ' They doze their hours away, or saunter 
 from place to place,' without any design or meaning. They 
 enquire of every one they meet, what they shall do to kill 
 time (as the French phrase is,) because they cannot spend 
 it fast enough; they are perpetually calling in the assis- 
 tance of others to laugh, or sport, or trifle with them, and 
 to help them off with this dead weight of time, while, at 
 the same moment, if you do but mention the end of ti/ne, 
 they are dreadfully afraid of coming near it What folly 
 and distraction is this! What sottish inconsistency is 
 found in the heart and practice of sinful men! Eccles. ix. 
 3. " The heart of the sons of men, is full of evil, madness 
 is in their heart while they live, and after that they go 
 down to the dead." 
 
 that these loiterers would once consider that time loi- 
 ters not; days and hours, months and years, loiter not; 
 each of them flies away with swiftest wing, as fast as suc- 
 cession admits of, and bears them onward, to the goal of 
 eternity. If they delay and linger among toys and shad- 
 ows, time knows no delay; and they will one day learn by 
 bitter experience what substantial, important, and eternal 
 blessings they have -lost by their criminal and shameful 
 waste of time. The apostle Peter assures them, 2 Pet. ii. 
 3, though they slumber and sleep in a lethargy of sin, so 
 that you cannot awaken them, yet 'their judgment linger- 
 eth not, and their damnation slumbereth not' The awful 
 moment is hasting upon them which shall teach them 
 terribly the true value of time. Then they would give 
 all the golden pleasures, and the riches and the grandeur 
 of this world, to purchase one short day more, or one hour 
 of time, wherein they might repent and return to God, 
 and get within the reach of hope and salvation. But time 
 and salvation and hope are all vanished, and fled, and gone 
 out of their reach for ever.
 
 THE END OP TIME. 
 
 27 
 
 Reflect. IV. Learn from such meditations as these, ' the 
 rich mercy of God, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 in giving us so long a warning, before he swears that time 
 shall be no more." 1 Every stroke of sickness is a warning- 
 piece that life is coming to its period : every death amongst 
 our friends and acquaintance, is another tender and painful 
 admonition that our death also is at hand. The end of ev- 
 ery week and every dawning Sabbath is another warning; 
 every sermon we hear of the 'shortness of time/ and the 
 1 uncertainty of life/ is a fresh intimation that the great 
 angel will shortly pronounce a period upon all our time. 
 How inexcusable shall we be if we turn the deaf ear to 
 all these warnings ? St Peter advises us to "count the long- 
 suffering of the Lord for salvation," 2 Pet iii. 15; and 
 to secure our eternal safety, and our escape from hell, du- 
 ring the season of his lengthened grace. 
 
 Alas! how long has Jesus, and his mercy, and his gos- 
 pel, waited on you, before you began to think of the things 
 of your everlasting peace ? And if you are now solemn- 
 ly awakened, yet how long has he waited on you with fresh 
 admonitions, and with special providences, with mercies 
 and judgments, with promises and invitations of grace, with 
 threatenings and words of terror, and with the whispers and 
 advices of his own Spirit, since you began to see your dan- 
 ger ? And after all, have you yet sincerely repented of sin ? 
 Have you yet received the offered grace ? Have you given up 
 yourselves to the Lord and laid hold of his salvation ? 2 Cor. 
 vi.2. " This is the accepted time, this is the day of salvation; 
 To-day if ye will hear his voice harden not yourhearts." Heb. 
 iii. 7, 8, &c. It is never said through all the Bible, that 
 * to-morrow is the day of grace/ or l tomorrow is the time 
 of acceptance.' It is the present hour only that is offered. 
 Every day and every hour is a mercy of unknown impor- 
 tance to sinful men. It is a mercy, sinners, that you 
 awaked not this morning in hell, and that you were not 
 fixed without remedy beyond the reach of hope and mercy. 
 
 Reflect. V. Learn from this discourse what ' a very use- 
 ful practice it would be to set ourselves often before hand 
 as at the end of time/ to imagine ourselves just under the 
 sound of the voice of this mighty angel, or at the tribunal 
 of Christ, and to call our souls to a solemn account in what 
 manner we have past away all our leisure time hitherto: I 
 mean, all that time which hath not been laid out in the
 
 28 THE END OP TIME. 
 
 necessities of the natural life, for its support and its need- 
 ful refreshment, or in the due and proper employments of 
 the civil life : both these are allowed and required by the 
 God of nature and the God of providence who governs the 
 world. But what hast thou done, man, Q woman, what 
 hast thou done with all the hours of leisure which might 
 have been laid out on far better 'employments, and to far 
 nobler purposes ? Give me leave to enter into particulars 
 a little, for generals do but seldom convince the mind, or 
 awaken the conscience, or affect the heart. 
 
 1. Have you not ' slumbered or squandered* away too 
 much time ' without any useful purpose or design' at all ? 
 How many are there s that when they have morning hours 
 on their hands, can pass them off on their beds, and lose 
 and forget time ih ' a little more sleep and a little more 
 slumber;' a few impertinences, with breakfast and dressing, 
 wear out the morning without God. And how many af- 
 ternoon and evening hours are worn away in such saunter- 
 ing idleness as I have described, that when the night comes 
 they cannot review one half hour's useful work, from the 
 dawn of morning to the hour of rest. Time is gone and 
 vanished, and as they knew not what to do with it while 
 it was present, so now it is past, they know not what they 
 have done with it: they keep no account of it, and are ne- 
 ver prepared to come to a reckoning. But will the great 
 Judge of all take this for answer to such a solemn inquiry? 
 
 2. Have you never laid out much more time than was 
 needful in ' recreations and pleasures of sense ?' Recreations 
 are not unlawful, so far as they are necessary and proper 
 to relieve the fatigue of the spirits, and when they are tired 
 with business or labour, and to prepare for new labours 
 and new business ; but have we not followed sports with- 
 out measure and without due limitation ? Hath not some 
 of that very time been spent in them which should have 
 been laid out in preparing for death and eternity, and in 
 seeking things of far higher importance ? 
 
 3. Have you not wasted too much time in your frequent 
 clubs, and what you call good company, and in ' places 
 of public resort ?' Hath not the tavern, or the coffee-house, 
 or the ale-house, seen and known you from hour to hour 
 for a. whole evening, and that sometimes before the trade 
 or labours of the day should have been ended ? And when 
 your Bible and your closet, or the devotion of your family,
 
 THE END OF TIME. 29 
 
 have sometimes called upon your conscience, have you not 
 turned the deaf ear to them all ? 
 
 4. Have not ' useless and impertinent visits' been made 
 to no good purpose, or been prolonged beyond all neces- 
 sity or improvement ? When your conversation runs 
 low even to the dregs, and both you and your friends have 
 been at a loss what to say next, and knew not how to fill 
 up the time, yet the visit must go on, and time must be 
 wasted. Sometimes the wind and the weather, and twen- 
 ty insignificancies, or (what is much worse) scandal of 
 persons or families, have come in to your relief, that there 
 might not be too long a silence; but not one word of God 
 or goodness could find room to enter in and relieve the 
 lull hour. Is none of this time ever to be accounted for ? 
 And will it sound well in the ears of the great Judge, 
 We ran to these sorry topics, these slanderous and back- 
 biting stories, because \ve could not tell what to talk of, 
 and we knew not how to spend our time.' 
 
 5. Have you not been guilty of ' frequent and even per- 
 petual delays or neglects of your proper necessary business 
 in the civil life, or in the solemn duties of religion, by bu- 
 sying yourselves in some other needless thing under this 
 pretence, it is time enough yet ?' 
 
 Have you learnt that important and eternal rule of pru- 
 dence, ' never delay till to-morrow what may be done to- 
 day; never put off till the next hour what may be done in 
 this ?' Have you not often experienced your own disap- 
 pointment and folly by these delays ? And yet have you 
 ever so repented as to learn to mend them ? Solomon 
 tells us. Eccles. iii. 1. "There is a time for every purpose, 
 and every work, under the sun :" a proper and agreeable 
 time for every lawful work of nature and life ; and it is 
 the business and care of a w-ise man to ' do proper work in 
 proper time;' but when we have let slip the proper season, 
 how often have we been utterly disappointed ? Have we 
 not sustained great inconveniencies ? And sometimes it 
 hath so happened that we could never do that work or bu- 
 siness at all, because another proper season for it hath never 
 offered ? Time hath been no more. Felix put off his dis- 
 course with Paul about the " faith of Christ, and righteous- 
 ness, and judgment to come, to a more convenient time," 
 which probably never came, Acts xxiv. 25. And the word 
 of God teaches us, that if we neglect our salvation in the 
 
 c2 

 
 30 THE END OF TIME. 
 
 present day of grace, the angel in my text is ready to swear^ 
 that ' Time shall he no longer.' 
 
 Here permit me to put in a short word to those who 
 have lost much time already. 
 
 my friends, begin now to do what in you lies to re- 
 gain it, by double diligence in the matters of your salvation, 
 lest the 'voice of the arch-angel' should finish your time of 
 trial, and call you to judgment before you are prepared. 
 
 What time lies before you for this double improvement, 
 God only knows. The remnant of the measure of your 
 days are with him, and every evening the number is dimin- 
 ished. Let not the rising sun upbraid you with continued 
 negligence. Remember your former abuses of hours, and 
 months, and years, in folly and sin, or at best in vanity and 
 trifling. Let these thoughts of your past conduct lie with 
 such an effectual weight on your hearts, as to keep you 
 ever vigorous in present duty. Since you have been so 
 lazy and loitering in your Christian race in time past, take 
 larger steps daily, and stretch all the powers of your souls 
 to hasten towards the crown and the prize. Hearken to 
 the voice of God in his word, with stronger attention and 
 zeal to profit. Pray to a long-suffering God with double 
 fervency; cry aloud and give him no rest till your sinful 
 soul is changed into penitence, and reuewed to holiness, 
 till you have some good evidences of your sincere love to 
 God, and unfeigned faith in his son Jesus. Never be sat- 
 isfied till you are come to a well-grounded hope through 
 grace, that God is your friend, your reconciled Father; that 
 when days and months are no more, you may enter into 
 the region of everlasting light and peace. 
 
 But I proceed to the last general remark. ' Learn the 
 unspeakable happiness of those who have improved time 
 well, and who wait for the end of time with Christian hope.' 
 They are not afraid, or at least they need not be afraid of 
 the sentence, nor the oath of this mighty angel, when he 
 lifts up his hand to heaven, and swears with a loud voice, 
 ' There shall be time no more.' 
 
 blessed creatures, who have so happily improved the 
 time of life and day of grace, as to obtain the restoration 
 of the image of God, in some degree, on their souls, and 
 to recover the favour of God through the gospel of Christ, 
 for which end time was bestowed upon them ! They have 
 reviewed their follies with shame-in the land of hope; they
 
 THE END 01 s TIME. 31 
 
 have mourned and repented of sin, ere the season of repen- 
 tance was past, and are become new creatures, and their 
 lips and their lives declare the divine change. They have 
 made preparation for death, for which purpose life and time 
 were given. Happy souls indeed, who have so valued time 
 as not to let it run off in trifles, but have obtained treas- 
 ures more valuable than that time which is gone, even the 
 riches of the covenant of grace, and the hopes of an eternal 
 inheritance in glory. 
 
 Happy such souls indeed when time is no more with 
 them 1 Their happiness begins when the duration of their 
 mortal life is finished. Let us survey this their happiness 
 in a few particulars. 
 
 The time of their ' darkness and difficulties' is no longer: 
 the time of painful ignorance and error is come to an end. 
 You shall wander no more in mistake and folly : you shall 
 behold all things in the light of God, and see him face to 
 face, who is the original beauty and the eternal truth. You 
 shall see him without vails and shadows, without the re- 
 flecting glass of his word and ordinances, which at best 
 give us but a faint glimpse of him, either in his nature or 
 wisdom, his power or goodness. You shall see him in 
 himself and in his son Jesus, the brightest and fairest im- 
 age of the Father, and ' shall know him as you are known,' 
 1 Cor. xiii. 10, 12. 
 
 There is no more time for 'temptation and danger:' 
 when once you are got beyond the limits of this visible 
 world, and all the enticing objects of flesh and sense, there 
 shall be no more hazard of your salvation, no more doubt- 
 ing and distressing fears about your interest in your Father's 
 love, or in the salvation of his beloved Son. 
 
 There is no more place nor time for 'sin to inhabit in 
 ydu:' the lease of its habitation in your mortal body must 
 end, when the body itself falls into the dust: you shall feel 
 no more of its powerful and defiling operations either in 
 heart or life for ever. 
 
 The time of * conflict with your spiritual adversaries is 
 no longer.' There is no more warfare betwixt the flesh 
 and spirit, no more combat with the world and the devil, 
 who, by a thousand ways haveattempted todeceive you. and 
 to bear you off from your heavenly hope. Your warfare is 
 accomplished, your victory is complete, you are made over- 
 comers through him that has loved you.. Death is the last
 
 32 THE END OP TIME. 
 
 enemy to be overcome; the sting of it is already taken 
 away, and you have now finished the conquest, and are 
 assured of the crown, 1 Cor. xv. 56, 57. 
 
 The time of your ' distance and absence from God is no 
 more: the time of coldness and indifference, and the fear- 
 ful danger of backslidings, is no more. You shall be made 
 as ' pillars in the temple of your God, and shall go no more 
 out.' He shall love you like a God, and kindle the flames 
 of your love to so intense a degree, as is only known to an- 
 gels, and to the spirits of the just made perfect. 
 
 There is no more time for you to be vexed with the 'so- 
 ciety of sinful creatures.' Your spirit within you shall be 
 no more ruffled and disquieted with the teazing conversa- 
 tion of the wicked, nor shall you be interrupted in your 
 holy and heavenly exercises by any of the enemies of God 
 and his grace. 
 
 The time of your ' painful labours and sufferings is no 
 more.' Rev. xiv. 13, "Blessed are the dead that die in 
 the Lord, for they rest from all their labours" that carry toil 
 or fatigue with them. ' There shall be no more' complaints 
 nor groans, ' no sorrow or crying;' the springs of grief are for 
 ever dried up, ' neither shall there be any more pain' in the 
 flesh or the spirit. " God shall wipe away all tears from 
 your eyes, and death shall be no more." Rev. xxi. 4. 
 
 " It is finished," said our blessed Lord on the cross: ' It 
 is finished,' may every one of his followers say at the hour 
 of death, and at the end of time. My sins and follies, my 
 distresses and my sufferings, are finished for ever, and the 
 mighty angel swears to it, that the time of those evils is 
 no longer: they are vanished, and shall never return. 
 happy souls, who have been so wise to count the short 
 and uncertain number of your days on earth, as to make 
 an early provision for a removal to heaven. Blest are you 
 above all the powers of present thought and language. 
 Days, and months, and years, and all these short and pain- 
 ful periods of time, shall be swallowed up in a long and 
 blissful eternity; the stream of time which has run between 
 the banks of this mortal life, and borne you along amidst 
 many dangerous rocks of temptation, fear and sorrow, shall 
 launch you out into the ocean of pleasures which have no 
 period. Those felicities must be everlasting, for duration 
 has no limit there, Time, with all its measures, shall be 
 no more. Amen.
 
 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 THE WATCHFUL CHRISTIAN DYING IN PEACE. 
 
 OCCASIONED BY THE DECEASE OF MISS SARAH ABNEY, DAUGHTER OF THE 
 ' LATE SIR THOMAS ABNEY, KNT. &C. PREACHED APRIL 2, 1732. 
 
 . 
 
 Dedicated to the Lady ABNEY, mother of the deceased, and to Miss MARY and Miss 
 ELIZABETH ABNEY, her two surviving sisters. 
 
 MADAM, 
 
 IF sorrows could be diminished in proportion to the multitude of those 
 who share in them, the spring of your tears would have been drawn almost 
 dry, and the tide of grief have sunk low, by being divided into a thousand 
 streams. But though this cannot afford perfect relief to your Ladyship, yet it 
 must be some consolation to have been blessed with a daughter, whose removal 
 from our world could give occasion for so general a mourning. 
 
 I confess, Madam, the wound which was made by such a smarting stroke 
 is not to be healed in a day or two ; reason permits some risings of the softer 
 and kinder passions in such a season ; it shews at least that our hearts are not 
 marble, and reveals the tender ingredients that are moulded up in our frame ; 
 nor does religion permit us to be insensible when a God afflicts, though he 
 doth it with the hand of a father and a friend. Nature and love are full of 
 these sensibilities, and incline you to miss her presence in every place where 
 she was wont to attend you, and where you rejoiced in her as one of your 
 dearest blessings. She is taken away indeed from mortal sight, and to follow 
 her remains to the grave, and to dwell there, gives but a dark and melancholy 
 view, till the great rising-day. Faith may ken the distant prospect, and exult 
 in the sight of that glorious futurity ; yet I think there is also a nearer relief, 
 Madam, to your sorrows. By the virtues which shone in her life, you may 
 trace the ascent of her spirit to the world of immortality and joy. Could 
 your Ladyship keep the eye of your soul directed thither, you would find it 
 an effectual balm for a heart that bleeds at the painful remembrance of her 
 death. What could your Ladyship have asked as a higher favour of heaven, 
 than to have born and trained up a child for that glorious inheritance, and to 
 have her secured of the possession beyond all possible fear or danger of los- 
 ing it. 
 
 This, Madam, is your own divinest hope for yourself, and you are hasten- 
 ing on- toward that blessed society as- fast as days and hours give leave. 
 When your thoughts descend to this lower world again, there are two living 
 comforts near you of the same kind with what you have lost. May your 
 Ladyship rejoice in them yet many years, and tfyey in you ! And when Je- 
 sus, who hath the keys of death and the invisible state, shall appoint the hour 
 for your ascent to heaven, may you leave them behind to bless the world 
 with fair examples of virtue and piety among men, and a long train of servi- 
 ces for the interest of their Redeemer. 
 
 5 33
 
 34 DEDICATION. 
 
 If I were to say any thing, young Ladies, to you in particular, it saould 
 be in the language of our Saviour, and his beloved apostle ; " Hold fast what 
 you have till the Lord comes, that none may deprive you of your crown. 
 Take heed to yourselves, that you lose not the things which you have 
 wrought, but that ye receive a full reward." Go on and persevere as you 
 have begun, in the path of true religion and happiness : and in this age of 
 infidelity and degenerate life, be ye daily more established in the Christian 
 faith and practice, in opposition to the smiles and frowns, and every snare 
 of a vain delusive world. Let this one thought set a double guard upon you, 
 that while your elder sister was with you, it was something easier to resist 
 every temptation, when she had pronounced the first refusal : Her steadiness 
 was a guard which you have now lost, but you have an Almighty God in 
 covenant on your side, and the " grace of our Lord Jesus is sufficient for 
 you." 
 
 To his care, My Lady, I commend yourself, and your whole family, with 
 affectionate petitions ; and am, 
 
 MAD AH, 
 
 Tour Ladyship's most obliged 
 
 and faithful Servant, 
 
 I. WATTS. 
 
 London, April 28, 1732.
 
 A FUNERAL SERMON. 
 
 IT is an awful providence which hath lately removed 
 from among us a young person well known to most of you, 
 whose agreeable temper and conduct had gained the es- 
 teem of all her acquaintance, whose constitution of body, 
 together with the furniture of her mind, and circumstan- 
 ces in the world, concurred to promise many future years 
 of life and usefulness. But all that is born of the race of 
 man is frail and mortal, and all that is done by the hand of 
 God is wise and holy. We mourn, and we submit in si- 
 lence. Yet the providence hath a voice in it, and the 
 friends of the deceased are very solicitous that such an unex- 
 pected and instructive appearance of death might be religi- 
 ously improved to the benefit of the living. For this end 
 I am desired to entertain you at present with some medi- 
 tations on those words of our Saviour, which you read in 
 
 LUKE xii. 37. 
 Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord,when he com- 
 
 eth, shall find watching. 
 
 Various and well chosen are those parables whereby 
 our Saviour gave warning to his disciples, that when he 
 was departed from this world they should ever be upon 
 their guard, and always in a readiness to receive him at 
 his return : because he would come on a sudden, and " in 
 such an hour as they thought not," to demand an account 
 of their behaviour, and to distribute his recompences accor- 
 ding to their works. There are two of these parables in 
 this chapter. But to enter into a detail of all the particu- 
 lar metaphors which relate to this one, whence I have bor- 
 rowed my text, would be too tedious here, and would spend 
 too much of the present hour. Without any longer pre- 
 face therefore, I shall apply myself to improve the- words 
 to our spiritual profit in the following method. 
 
 35
 
 36 THE WATCHFUL CHRISTIAN 
 
 I. I shall enquire what is meant by the ' coming of Christ* 
 in the text, and how it may be properly applied to our 
 present purpose, or the 'hour of death.' 
 
 II. I shall consider what is implied in the watchfulness 
 which our Saviour recommends. 
 
 III. I propose some considerations which will discover the 
 * blessedness of the watchful soul' in a dying hour. 
 
 IV. I shall add some practical remarks. 
 
 First, Let us enquire what is meant by the 'coming of 
 Christ,'in my text. 
 
 The 'coming of Christ,' in some of these parables, may 
 have reference to his speedy appearance in the course of 
 his providence in that very age, to ju(?ge and punish the 
 Jewish nation, to destroy their city, and put an end to 
 their church and state, for their many heinous iniquities, 
 and the most provoking crime of rejecting and crucifying 
 the Son of God. But these words, in their supreme and 
 most important sense, always point to the 'glorious appear- 
 ance of Christ at the last day/ when he shall come to shut 
 up all the scenes of- this frail life, to put an end to the pre- 
 sent world, to finish all the works of this mortal state, and 
 to decide and determine the eternal states of all mankind 
 by the general judgment. 
 
 Yet ' Christ comes' to each of us in ' the hour of death' 
 also, for 'he hath the keys of death and of hell,' or of the in- 
 visible world, Rev. i. 18. It is he who appoints the very 
 moment when the soul shall be dismissed from this flesh ; 
 he opens the door? of the grave for the dying body ; and 
 he is Lord of the world of spirits, and lets in new inhab- 
 itants every minute into those unseen regions of immortal 
 sorrow, or immortal peace. 
 
 And as Christ may be said to 'come to us' by the 
 message or ' summons of death,' so the many solemn wri- 
 tings and commands of ivatchfulness, which attend these 
 parables of Christ, have been usually, and with good rea- 
 son, applied to the ' hour of death' also, for then the Lord 
 comes ' to shut up the scene of each of our lives, our 
 'works are then finished,' our ''last day is cojne,' and the 
 f world is then at an end' with us. 
 
 Let it be observed also, that there is a further parallel 
 between the day of the ' general judgment,' and that of
 
 DYING IN PEACE. 37 
 
 ' our own death.' The one will as certainly come as the 
 other ; but the time when Christ will come in either of 
 these senses, is unknown to us and uncertain : and it is this, 
 which renders the duty of perpetual watchfulness so neces- 
 sary to all men. The parable assures us, that our Lord 
 will certainly come ; but whether at the 'second or third 
 watch/ whether 'at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or near 
 the morning,' this is all uncertainty ; yet whensoever he 
 comes, he expects we should ' have our loins girded,' like 
 servants fit for business, 'and our lamps burning,' to attend 
 him at the door, and that we ' be ready to receive him as 
 soon as he knocks.' * 
 
 * It may not be unacceptable to the -reader, to find here an account of the 
 manner in which the marriage processipn was conducted anciently among 
 the Jews, as it will help to illustrate and explain the allusions, which our 
 Lord employs in the context, and in other passages. " After the connubial 
 union was solemnly ratified and attested, and the religious part of it con- 
 cluded, it was customary for the bridegroom, in the evening, to conduct his 
 upouse from her friends to his own house, with all the pomp, brilliancy and 
 joy, that could be crowded into the procession. It was usual for the bride- 
 groom, to invite his young female friends and relations to grace this pro- 
 cession, and to add numbers and lustre to his retinue : these, adorned in 
 robes suitable to the occasion, "took lamps, and waited in a company near 
 the house, till the bride and bridegroom with their friends issued forth, whom 
 they welcomed with the customary congratulations, then joined in the train, 
 and with songs and acclamations and every demonstration of joy, advanced 
 to the bridegroom's house, where an entertainment was provided, according to 
 the circumstances of the united pair. The nuptial feast was adorned and cele- 
 brated only by a select company of the bride and bridegroom's friends ; no 
 strangers were admitted ; by these the evening was spent in all the convivial 
 enjoyment, which social happiness, their approbation of the [recent] union, 
 and the splendor of such a festivity could inspire." [These circumstances 
 are finely alluded to in the parable'of the ten virgins, Mat. xxv. Five of 
 these inconsiderately took lamps, but neglected the oil. As the return of 
 the bridegroom was always at night, and the precise time of his approach 
 uncertain, these virgins, after waiting long, and becoming fatigued with 
 tedious expectation, fell asleep.] ' But lo ! at midnight, they were sud- 
 denly alarmed with a cry, " The bridegroom ! the bridegroom is coming ! 
 Hasten to meet and congratulate him." Roused with this unexpected pro- 
 clamation they all rose up and trimmed their lamps. The thoughtless 
 then began to solicit the others to impart to them some of their oil, telling 
 them that their lamps were entirely extinguished. To these entreaties the 
 prudent [virgins] answered, that they had only provided a sufficient quanti- 
 ty for their own use, and therefore advised them to go and purchase oil of 
 those who sold it. They departed accordingly ; but during their absence 
 the bridegroom came, and the prudent virgins, being prepared for his re- 
 ception, went along with him to the entertainment. The doors were then 
 immediately shut. After some time the others came to the door, and sup- 
 plicated earnestly for admission. But the bridegroom repulsed them, telHng 
 
 D
 
 38 THE WATCHFUL CHRISTIAN 
 
 Were the appointed hour of judgment, or of death, made 
 known to us for months or years before-hand, we should be 
 ready to think constant wattfi fulness, a very needless 
 thing. Mankind would persuade themselves to indulge 
 their foolish and sinful slumbers, and only take care to rub 
 their eyes a little, and bestir themselves an hour or two be- 
 fore this awful event. But it is the suddenness and uncer- 
 tainty of the coming of Christ to all mankind, for either of 
 these purposes, that extends the charge of watchfulness to 
 all men as well as to the Apostles, Mark. xiii. 37, and that 
 calls upon us aloud to keep our souls ever awake, ( lest (as 
 our Lord there expresses it,) coming suddenly, he should 
 find us sleeping.' And remember this, that if we are unpre- 
 pared to meet the Lord at death, we can never be ready 
 when he comes to judgment.; peace and blessedness attend 
 the watchful Christian, whensoever his Lord cometh. 
 " Blessed is that servant, whom, when his Lord comes, he 
 shall find watching." This leads me to the second general 
 head. 
 
 Secondly, What is implied in watchfulness ? 
 
 In general, it is opposed to sleeping, as I have already 
 hinted, in Mark xiii. 35, 36. And in the language of Scrip- 
 ture, as well as in common speech, sleep and slumbering, 
 denote an unpreparedness to receive whatever comes, for 
 this is the case with those who are asleep. On the other 
 hand, watchfulness is a preparation and readiness for every 
 event, and so it is expressed in some of these parables ; 
 ver. 40, " Be ye therefore ready." But to enter into a few 
 particulars. 
 
 1. There is a "sleep of death," Psal. xiii. 3. Spiritual 
 death as well as natural, is sometimes called a sleep. Such 
 is the case of a soul " dead in trespasses and sins," Eph. 
 
 them he did not know them, and would not admit any strangers." Home's 
 Introduction, vol. iii. p. 409. As no admittance was granted after the 
 shutting of the door, it is plain, that careless friends, who, through un- 
 watchfulness, might suffer surprise, and not be prepared to join the pro- 
 cession, in time to enter in with the bridegroom, would also be excluded. 
 If the servants, whose business it was to prepare every thing for the recep- 
 tion of their master and his friends, should have been found asleep, negligent, 
 and unprepared, when his knock at the door admonished them of his arrival, 
 it is evident, that they would have been liable to punishment. If we, as 
 unfaithful servants, be found, when our Lord, in the night of death, shall 
 knock at the door of our earthly tabernacle, unprepared to meet him, what 
 imagination can anticipate the anguish of our doom ? ED.
 
 DYING IN PEACE. 39 
 
 v. 14. compared with ii. 1 : Awake thou that sleepest and 
 arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." 
 
 Watchfulness therefore implies life, a principle of spir- 
 itual life in the soul. Surely those who are dead in sins 
 are not prepared to receive their Lord. He is a perfect 
 stranger to them, they know him not, they love him not, 
 ' they obey him not ; and a terrible stranger he will be, if 
 he comes upon them before they are awake. But those 
 who are awakened by divine grace into a spiritual life, 
 have seen something of " the glory of God in the face of 
 Jesus Christ ;" they are acquainted with their Lord, they 
 love him, and have some degree of preparation to meet 
 their Saviour when he summons them to leave this world. 
 This is therefore a matter of highest consequence, that we 
 awake from a state of sin and death, that we be made 
 alive to God, begin the Christian life, and set upon religion 
 in good earnest, according to the rules of the gospel, before 
 Christ call us away. It is only this divine life begun in 
 us, that can secure us from eternal death ; though even 
 Christians may be found slumbering in other respects, and 
 expose themselves to painful evils, if that hour surprise 
 them at unawares. 
 
 2. There is 'a sleep of indolence and thoughtlessness.' 
 When a man is insensible of his own circumstances, and 
 too careless of the things which most concern him, we 
 say, l the man is asleep.' Such a sleep seems to be upon 
 the church of Israel, Isa. xxix. 10, " a spirit of deep sleep," 
 when the law which contained the great things of God, 
 and their salvation, was to them ' as a sealed book,' they 
 read it not, their eyes were closed, their spiritual senses 
 were bound up. Many a Christian who hath been raised 
 from a death in sin, has been seized with this criminal 
 slumber, and has had the image of death come again upon 
 him. He has grown too careless and unconcerned about 
 his most important and eternal affairs ; and in this temper 
 he hardly knows what his state is toward God, nor keeps 
 up a lively rense or notice of divine and eternal things 
 upon his spirit. 
 
 Watchfulness in opposition to this sleep, implies a ho- 
 ly solicitude and diligence, to know our own spiritual 
 state; a consciousness of what we are; a keeping all the 
 spiritual senses in proper exercise, and maintaining a live- 
 ly perception of divine things. It implies an acute, pain-
 
 40 THE WATCHFUL CHRISTIAN 
 
 ful sense of indwelling sin, and the irregular propensities 
 of the heart, a delightful relish of heavenly objects, fre- 
 quent thoughts of death and eternity, constant waiting for 
 those awful events, with a quick apprehension and resent- 
 ment of all things, that help or hinder the spiritual life. 
 This is the character of a wakeful Christian, and such a 
 one as is ready to receive his returning Lord. 
 
 3. There is- a 'sleep of security and foolish peace,' 
 when a person is not apprehensive of imminent danger, 
 and is much unguarded against it. Such was the sleep of 
 Jonah ' in the storm, of Sampson on the lap of Delilah, 
 when the Philistines were upon him, and of the disciples, 
 when Judas and the barld of soldiers were just ready to 
 seize their Master. This is the case of many a slumber- 
 ing Christian; he is not "upon his guard against his inward 
 lusts and passions, nor against those outward temptations 
 and perils to which he is continually exposed, while he 
 dwells in flesh and blood. 
 
 Watchfulness in this respect is, when a Christian hath 
 his eyes open, and turns them round on every side to fore- 
 see approaching evil, and prevent it; when he is- prepared 
 for every assault of every adversary, whether sin or the 
 world, whether death or the devil; he hath his spiritual 
 armour girt upon him, and is ready for th,e combat. He 
 is every hour guarded against the powers of the flesh, and 
 watching against its allurements and attractions, lest he be 
 defiled thereby, and unftt to meet his returning' Lord. 
 He is daily loosening his, heart from all' sensual attach- 
 ments, and weaning himself from the world and creatures, 
 because he knows he must quickly take his long farewell, 
 and part with them all, at the call and appointment of his 
 great Master. He is Hke a sentinel upon his watch-tow- 
 er, ever awake, because dangers stand thick around him. 
 
 4. There is a < sleep of sloth and inactivity,' Prov. xix. 
 15: " Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep." <A little more 
 sleep, a little more .slumber,' saith the lazy Christian, who 
 * turns upon his bed, as- the door upon its hinges,' and 
 makes no progress or advance in his way to heaven. We 
 are sleepy Christians when we do little for God, or our 
 own souls, in comparison of the vast work, and important 
 varieties of duty that lie upon us : when our zeal is cold, 
 and our efforts of service slight and feeble: when the light 
 of grace shines so dim, and the spark of holiness is so co- 

 
 DYING IN PEACE. 41 
 
 vered with ashes, that it is hard to say whether it burn or 
 no. As in natural things, so in spiritual, it is a difficult 
 matter sometimes to distinguish between a dead man, and 
 a lethargic sleeper. 
 
 Watchfulness in opposition to this slumber, is a lively 
 and vigorous exercise of every grace, and a diligent at- 
 tendance on every duty, both toward God and man, a con- 
 stant converse with heaven by daily devotion, an active 
 zeal for God in the world, a steady faith in the promises, 
 a joyful hope of heavenly blessedness, a longing expecta- 
 tion of the returning Saviour, which makes the soul 
 stretch out the wings of desire and joy, as though it were 
 going forth to meet him. This is the meaning of the 
 Apostle Peter's expression, 2 Pet. iii. 12, "Looking for, 
 and hastening to the coming of the day of God." 
 
 Put all these things together now, and they make up 
 the character of a ' watchful Christian.' He is awake from 
 the sleep of death, and made spiritually alive; he hath the 
 work of vital religion begun in his heart. 
 
 He is awake from the sleep of ' thoughtlessness and in- 
 dolence ;' he is solicitous to know his own state, and hath 
 good hope through graee ; he lives in the view of heaven- 
 ly things, and keeps his eye open to future and eternal 
 glories. 
 
 He is awake from the sleep of security, he is upon his 
 guard against every danger, and ready to receive every 
 alarm. 
 
 He is awake from the sleep of slothfulness, and is ac- 
 tive in the pursuit of the glory of his God, and his own 
 eternal interest, and still ' pressing toward the mark to ob- 
 tain the prize.' v This is the soul that is ready to meet a 
 returning Saviour, and to receive his Lord when he comes, 
 either at the hour of death, or to the general judgment. 
 
 Thirdly, Let me propose some special considerations 
 which discover < the blessedness of the watchful Christian 
 at the hour of death.' 
 
 1. Consid. That moment dispossesses us of every en- 
 joyment of flesh and blood, and divides us from the com- 
 merce of this visible world ; but 'the wakeful Christian 
 is happy, for he is ready to be thus divided and dispos- 
 sessed.' Death breaks the band at once between us, and 
 all the sensible things round about us, by dissolving the 
 frame of this body, which had united us to them ; and the 
 6 D2
 
 42 THE WATCHFUL CHRISTIAN 
 
 watchful saint is content to have that bond broken, these* 
 unions dissolved. His heart and soul are not torn away 
 from the dear delights of this mortal state with that pain, 
 anguish and horror, that attends the sinner when deatli 
 summons him off the stage, and divides him from his 
 fleshly idols. The Christian hath been untying his heart 
 by degrees, from the dearest delights of sense, and disen- 
 gaging it from all that is not immortal. With holy plea- 
 sure he can bid farewell to sun, moon, and stars, and to all 
 things which their light can shew him, for he is going to 
 a world where the Sun of righteousness ever shines in un- 
 clouded glory, and discovers such sights, as are infinitely 
 superior to all that the eyes of flesh can behold ; he can 
 part with friends and kindred with a composed spirit, for 
 he is going to meet better friends and diviner kindred, as 
 we shall shew immediately. He can leave his dying flesh 
 behind him, and commit it to the dust, in joyful hope of 
 the great rising-day, and he hath a better mansion at pre- 
 sent provided for him on high in his Father's house, while 
 he lives far separate from all earthly dwellings, 2 Cor. v. 
 1. "We know that if this earthly house of our tabernacle 
 be dissolved, we have a building of God not made with 
 hands, eternal in the heavens." 
 
 2. Consid. The moment of death finishes our state of 
 trial, and fixes us unchangeably in the state of sin or holi- 
 ness, in which we are then found ; and blessed is the 
 watchful Christian, for he is prepared to have his trial thus 
 ended, and his state thus fixed and made unchangeable.' 
 "As the tree falls, so it lies," Eccles. xi. 10, " whether to 
 the north, or the south."' As the soul parts from the bo- 
 dy, so it remains, whether fitted for heaven or hell. It is 
 therefore a matter of the last importance to be prepared 
 and ready for such an eternal sentence, and unchangeable 
 determination. Were any of us to be surprised some mo- 
 ment this day, and forced to continue all our lives, in that 
 very posture of body, in which we are then found ; should 
 . we not be awake, and keep ourselves in the most natural 
 and easy gestures all that day, lest we be seized at once, 
 and fixed in some distorted, painful, and uneasy situation, 
 all our months and years to come ? Or if we were to be 
 bound down to one single thought, or passion, all the rem- 
 nant of our life, in which we were found in any uncertain 
 minute in this hour ; should we not watch with the ut-
 
 IN PEACE. 43 
 
 most care, and guard against every unpleasing thought, 
 and every fretful and vexing passion, lest it should be fix- 
 ed upon us till we die ? 
 
 Now this is the case at death. The almighty voice of 
 God then pronounces, " he that is unclean and unholy 
 must for erer be unholy and unclean ; but he that is righ- 
 teous let him he righteous still, and he that is holy shall be 
 for ever holy," Rev. xxii. 11. I will not precisely deter- 
 mine that this is the sense of that text; yet since the Apos- 
 tle speaks there concerning the coming of Christ, it may 
 be very applicable to the present case. Now, how dreadful 
 soever this thought is to a guilty sinful creature, it is no 
 terror to a wakeful Christian. He is ready to have these 
 words pronounced from heaven ; for they will establish 
 him in eternal holiness and eternal peace. He hath en- 
 deavoured to secure to himself an interest in the love of 
 God, through the faith and love of Jesus the blessed Me- 
 diator, and at death he is fixed for ever in that love. He 
 hath loved God in time, and in this visible world, and 
 there is nothing in all the unseen worlds, nothing through 
 all the ages of eternity, that shall ever separate him from 
 the love of God in Christ Jesus. The moment of death 
 hath fixed him for ever a holy and beloved soul, beyond 
 the power of creatures to change his temper, or his state. 
 This is the blessedness of the watchful Christian. 
 
 3. Consid. Death sets us in a more immediate and sen- 
 sible manner in the presence of God, a glorious and holy 
 God, God the Judge of all ; and "blessed is the watchful 
 Christian, for he is willing to stand before this God, to be 
 brought into his presence. This is what he hath longed 
 and prayed for, to be for ever with God. It is the bles- 
 sedness that he hath sought with incessant labours and tears, 
 with holy diligence, and daily devotion ; and blessed is 
 the "pure in heart," who hath watched against the pol- 
 lutions of the world, " for he shall see God," Math. v. 8. 
 
 It is certain, that'when the soul departs from the body, 
 "it returns to God who gave it," Eccles. xii. 7. And 
 probably to God as a Judge too, Heb. ix. 27: "After 
 death judgment. " There is some sort of determination 
 of the state of each single person at death, before the great 
 and general judgment-day ; because that day is appointed 
 rather for the public vindication of the equity of God in 
 his distribution of rewards and punishments, and is par-
 
 44 THE WATCHFTTT, CHRISTIAN 
 
 ticularly put into the hands of our Lord Jesus. Now, 
 since the separate soul returns to God who gave it, it is of 
 vast importance that we be then prepared to come before 
 him. 
 
 Some of us here would be mightily afraid of appearing 
 before a prince, or a great and honorable person, in an 
 undress ; but for our souls in a naked state, or in a garment 
 of sinful pollution, to be surprised by the great and holy 
 God, to be set on a sudden in his presence, what terror is 
 contained in this thought! Now the 'watchful Christian 
 hath this blessedness,' that he is washed from his defilements 
 in the blood of the Lamb, " he is clothed with the robe of 
 righteousness, and the garments of salvation," Isa. Ixi. 10. 
 He is prepared to appear before a God of infinite holiness 
 without terror, for he is made like him, he bears his image, 
 he appears as one of his children, and he is not afraid to 
 see his Father. 
 
 However some commentators may confine and impover- 
 ish the sense of David in the end of the seventeenth Psalm, 
 yet I am persuaded the Spirit of God in him designed to 
 express his faith and joy, either at the hour of death, or 
 in the morning of the resurrection ; "I shall behold thy 
 face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake 
 with thy likeness." When the Psalmist had described 
 what were the satisfactions of the men of this world in 
 death, ver. 14, viz. that they had filled their houses with 
 children, and leave their substance or riches to them, he 
 then declares, what was his support and hope in his dying 
 hour, As for me, saith he, I have other views : I am not 
 afraid, my God, to appear before thee in the other world, 
 for I shall see thy face, not as a criminal, but as a person 
 approved and accepted, and righteous in thy sight ; I shall 
 awake from this world of dreams and shadows into thy 
 complete image and perfect holiness ; or, I shall awake 
 from the dust of death, and shall be fully satisfied ; and 
 rejoice to find myself made so like my God, and to dwell 
 for ever in his presence. 
 
 4. Consid. It is the Lord Jesus Christ that lets the soul 
 out of the body, for he ' hath the keys of death, and of the 
 unseen world,' and 'blessed is the watchful Christian, who 
 waits for the coming of his Lord, for he can meet him gladly, 
 when fulfilling this part of his glorious office. ' He shall 
 be introduced by him into the presence of God his Father,
 
 DYING IN PEACE. 45 
 
 and shall receive most condescending instances of mercy 
 from Christ himself. See the text, Luke xii. 36, 37, "Be 
 ye yourselves like men that wait for the Lord, that when 
 he cometh and knocketh, ye may open to him immediately. 
 Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when he 
 cometh, shall find watching : verily, \ say to you, he shall 
 gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and come 
 forth and serve them." He shall condescend, as it were, 
 even below the office of a steward, he shall bring out the 
 heavenly provisions of his Father's house, and make them 
 sit down in his kingdom, and give them divine refresh- 
 ments after their labours; he shall '.feed them' as a shep- 
 herd, shall 'lead them to living fountains of waters,' 
 and afford them his presence for ever. 
 
 The watchful Christian is blessed indeed^ when he shall 
 be { absent from the body, and be at once present with the 
 Lord,' 2 Cor, v. 8. The Lord Jesus whom he hath seen 
 by faith in his gospel, whose voice he hath heard in his 
 word, and obeyed it ; Jesus, whom he hath touched and 
 tasted in the appointed emblems of hie supper on earth, in 
 whom he hath believed thiuugn the word of grace, and 
 whom he hath loved before he saw him, shall now receive 
 him into his presence, and the disciple shall rejoice fop 
 ever to meet his Lord, with joy unspeakable and full of 
 glory. 
 
 5. Consid. At the hour of death we are sent at once 
 into an invisible woild ; we shall find ourselves in the 
 midst of holy or of unclean spirits ; borne away at once 
 into an unknown region, and into the midst of unknown 
 inhabitants, the nations of the saved, or the Crowds of 
 damned souls ; ' and blessed is the watchful Christian, for 
 he is ready to enter into the unseen regions :' He knows he 
 shall not be placed among those whose company and whose 
 character he never loved here on earth ; ' his soul shall-not 
 be gathered -with sinners,' nor his dwelling "be ' with the 
 workers of iniquity,' but with the 'saints, the excellent in 
 the earth, in whom was all his delight.' Every one when 
 dismissed from the prison of this body, must go as the 
 Apostles did, when released from the prison at Jerusalem, 
 ' must go to their own company,' Acts iv. 23. Judas the 
 traitor 'went to his own place,' Acts i. 25. And the 
 watchful Christian will be disposed among ' spirits of the 
 just made perfect ;' he will find himself in that blessed so-
 
 46 THE WATCHFUL CHRISTIAN 
 
 ciety, at his dismission from flesh and blood. Read and 
 see what a glorious society it is, Heb. xii. 22, 23, " To 
 the innumerable company of angels, the general assembly 
 and church of the first-born, who are written in heaven, to 
 God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made 
 perfect, and Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant. " 
 The Apostle says, < we are come to them' already, that is, 
 by the covenant of grace, as administered under the gospel ; 
 we are brought into a blessed union with them, in spirit, 
 and in temper, even in this life ; we are members of the 
 same body, we are united to the same head, and made parts 
 of the same household, though we are not yet brought 
 home. But at death we are actually present with them, 
 and dwell and converse among them with holy familiarity, 
 as citizens of the same heavenly Jerusalem, as part o_f the 
 same sacred family, and at home, as children of the same 
 God, and in their Father's house. The watchful Christian 
 is at Once carried into the midst of the blessed world by 
 ministering angels, the world where Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob dwell, and made a speedy partaker of their blessed- 
 noes., Luke xvi. 22. 
 
 6, Cnnsid. Death brings with it a most amazing and 
 inconceivable change of all our present circumstances aud 
 thoughts, our actions and pursuits, our sensations and en- 
 joyments ; I mean all those that relate to this life only, 
 such as eating, drinking, buying, selling, &c. It dislodges 
 from these bodies, and thereby finishes all those affections, 
 concerns and troubles, which belong to the body, and sends 
 us into another sort of world, whose affairs and concerns 
 are such only, as belong to spirits, whether sinful or holy. 
 A most delightful, or a most dreadful change 1 a world of 
 unknown sorrows or unknown happiness ! Luke, xxiii. 43, 
 " This day shalt thou be with me in paradise. " Luke xvi. 
 22,. "The rich man died, and in hell he lift up his eyes." 
 And indeed the change is so vast, that, comparatively 
 speaking, we know not what sorrow, or happiness is,, till 
 this day comes. Now, it is a very foolish and dangerous 
 thing at best, to pass into such an extreme change of states, 
 infinitely worse, or infinitely better, while we are asleep 
 and at all uncertainties. What if it should be the miserable 
 state, and we should- awake in hell? But 'the watchful 
 Christian is blessed, for he isready for this amazing change.' 
 He hath long lived upon it by faith and hope, though he
 
 DYING IN PEACE. 47 
 
 knows not so well what .the particular enjoyments of heaven 
 are ; and he is well satisfied that he is prepared for that 
 hrfppy world by God himself. 2 Cor. v. 5, "He that 
 hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God." " He is 
 well pleased to have his faith. 'changed into sight, and his 
 hope into fruition. He hath been long pained and burdened 
 in this sinful world, with the vain trifles, the poor low 
 cares and amusements of it ; the sins and sorrows and temp- 
 tations that surrounded him in it, give him continual dis- 
 quietudes, and he hath been training up in the school of 
 Christ, by devotion and good works for those higher services 
 of heaven. Since he can trust the promises of the gospel, 
 and has had some small foretaste of these pleasures, lie 
 knows that the actions and employments, the business and 
 joys of the upper world, are incomparably superior to any 
 thing here on earth, and free from aW the uneasy and defiling 
 circumstances of this life. He is awake to receive this 
 change : he rejoices in his removal from world to world : 
 his vital and active powers are ready for the business of 
 paradise, and he opens his heart to take in the joy. 
 
 7. Consid. Death makes its approaches oftentimes, and 
 seizes us in such a manner as to give no room for prayers 
 or repentance : then ' the blessedness of the watchful soul 
 appears, that if he is carried out of the world and time in 
 such a surprising way, he is safe for eternity.' 
 
 Sometimes the messenger of death stops all our thoughts 
 and actions at once by a lethargic stroke, or confounds 
 them all, by the delirious rovings of a fever ; the light of 
 reason is eclipsed and darkened, the powers of the mind 
 ate all obstructed, or the languisbings of nature have so 
 enfeebled tnem, that either we cannot exercise them to any- 
 spiritual purposes, or we are forbid to do it, for fear of 
 counter-workiijor the physician, increasing the malady, and 
 hastening our deuh. Thus we are not capable of making 
 any new preparatnn, for the important work of dying ; 
 we can make use oi none of the means of grace, nor do 
 any thing more to sectre an interest in the love of God, the 
 salvation of Christ, anl the blessings of heaven. 
 
 This is a very dismal thought indeed. But the watch- 
 ful Christian hath this blensedness, that he is fit to receive 
 the sentence of death in any form ; nor lethargies, nor de- 
 liriums, nor languors of nature, ",an destroy the seedof grace 
 and religion in the heart, which were sown there in the 

 
 48 . THE WATCHFUL CHRISTIAN 
 
 days of health : nor can any of the formidable attendants 
 of death cancel his former transactions with God and. 
 Christ, about his immortal concerns. That great and mo- 
 mentous work was done before death appeared, or any 
 of its attendants. . He was not so unwise, as to leave mat- 
 ters of infinite importance at that dreadful hazard. He is 
 not now to seek after a lost God, nor to .begin his repen- 
 tance for past sins. He is not now a stranger at the throne 
 of grace, nor beginning to learn to pray. He is not now 
 commencing his acquaintance with Jesus Christ his Sa- 
 viour, in the midst of a tumult and hurry of thoughts and 
 fears ; nor are the works of faith, and love, and holiness, 
 to be now begun. Dreadful work indeed, and infinitely 
 hazardous ! to begin to be convinced of sin on the borders 
 of death, and to make our first enquiries after God and hea- 
 ven, upon the very brink of hell! to begin to ask for par- 
 don, when we can live in sin no longer ; to cry out, Jesus, 
 save me, when the waves of the wrath of God, are break- 
 ing in upon the drowning soul ! Hopeless condition and 
 extreme wretchedness ! to have all the .hard work of con- 
 version to go through, under the sinkings of feeble nature, 
 and to begin the exercises of virtue and godliness, undei 
 the wild disorders of reason ! What a madness is it, to 
 leave our infinite concerns at such a horrible uncertainty .' 
 But these are not thy circumstances, oh wakeful Ch<r/s 
 tian 1 ; nor was this the case of our young departed friend, 
 though her distemper soon discomposed her reasoningpow-' 
 ers, and gave her very little opportunity to make apres- 
 ent preparation for dying. But she had heard the yoice 
 of Christ in his gcspel betimes, and awoke to righteous- 
 ness at his call, that.she might be always ready for his 
 summons in death. Religion was her early c/fe> a fear to 
 offend God possessed and governed her thoughts and ac- 
 tions from her childhood, and heavenly tnngs were her 
 youthful choice. She had appeared, for some years, in 
 the public profession of Christianity, a^d maintained the 
 practice of godliness in the church, And the world ; but 
 it began much more early in secret., Her beloved closet, 
 and her retiring hours, were silent witnesses of her dai- 
 ly converse with God, and her SaVaour, There she devo- 
 ted her soul to her Creator betimes, according to the en- 
 couragements and rules of tte gospel of Christ, and there 
 she found peace and salvatUn. It was there she made a
 
 DYING IN PEACE. 49 
 
 conscientious recollection -of the sermons she heard in 
 public, from her tender years, and left behind her these 
 fruits of her memory and her pen, to attest what improve- 
 ments she gained in knowledge, by the ministrations of 
 the word ; and her cabinet has now discovered to us anoth- 
 er set of memoirs, wherein she continually observed what 
 advances she might make in real piety by those weekly 
 seasons of grace. 
 
 It was under 'these influences she maintained a most 
 dutiful and affectionate behaviour to her honoured parents, 
 and with filial fondness mingled with esteem, submission and 
 reverence, paid her constant regards to the lady her mo- 
 ther, in her widowed estate. It was by the united princi- 
 ples of grace and nature, she lived with her younger sis- 
 ters in uncommon harmony and friendship, as though one 
 heart and soul animated them all. It was under these in- 
 fluences she ever stood upon her guard, amongst all the in- 
 nocent freedoms of life : and though she did not immure 
 herself, in the walls of a mother's house, but indulged a 
 just curiosity to learn some of the forms of the world, 
 the magnificence of courts, and the grandeurs of life ; yet 
 she knew how far to appear among them, and when to re- 
 tire. Nor did she forbid herself all the polite diversions 
 of youth, agreeable to her rank ; nor did reason or reli- 
 gion, or her superior relatives forbid her ; yet she was 
 still awake to secure all that belongs to honour and virtue, 
 nor did she use to venture to the utmost bounds, of what 
 sobriety and religion might allow. Danger of guilt stands 
 near the extreme limits of innocence. 
 
 Shall I let this paper inform the world, with what friend- 
 ly decency, she treated her young companions and acquain- 
 tance ; how far from indulging the modish liberties of 
 scandal on the absent ; how much she hated those scornful 
 and derisive airs, which persons on higher ground, too of- 
 ten assume toward those who are seated in the inferior 
 ranks of life ? Is it proper I should say, how much her 
 behaviour won upon the esteem of all that knew her, 
 though I could appeal to the general sorrow at her death, 
 to confirm the truth of it ? But who can forbear on this 
 occasion, to take notice, how far she acquired that lovely 
 character in her narrow and private sphere, which seems 
 almost to have been derived to her by inheritance, from 
 her honoured father, deceased, who had the tears of his 
 
 7 E
 
 5C THE WATCHFUL CHRISTIAN 
 
 country long dropping upon his tomb, and whose memory 
 yet lives in a thousand hearts ? , 
 
 Such a conversation, and such a character, made up of 
 piety and virtue, were prepared for the attacks of a fever, 
 with malignant and mortal symptons. Slow and unsus- 
 pected were the advances of .the disease, till the powers 
 of reason began to falter and retire, till the heralds of death 
 had made their appearance, and spread on her bosom, their 
 purple ensigns. When these" disorders began, her lucid 
 intervals were longer, and while she thought no person was 
 near, she could address herself to God, and say, how often 
 she had given herself to him ; she hoped she had done it 
 sincerely, and found acceptance with him, and trusted that 
 she was not deceived. The gleams of reason that broke 
 in between the clouds, gave her light enough to discern her 
 own evidences of piety, and refresh her hope.- Then she 
 repeated some of the last verses of the 139th Psalm in 
 metre, viz. 
 
 " Lord, search my soul, try every thought : 
 Tho' my own heart accuse me not, 
 Of walking in a false disguise, 
 I beg the trial of thine eyes. 
 
 Doth secret mischief lurk within ! 
 Do I indulge some unknown sin ? 
 O turn my feet whene'er I stray, 
 And lead me in thy perfect way." 
 
 She was frequent and importunate in her requests for the 
 Psalm-book, that she might read that Psalm, or at least 
 have it read to her throughout ; and it was with some dif- 
 ficulty, we persuaded her to be composed in silence : thus 
 sincerely willing was she, that God might search and try 
 her heart, still hoping well concerning her spiritual state, 
 yet still solicitous about the assurance of her own sinceri- 
 ty, in her former transactions with heaven. 
 
 The next day among the roving of her thoughts, she re- 
 hearsed all those verses of the 17th Psalm, which are par- 
 aphrased in the same book, with very little faltering in a 
 line or two : 
 
 " Lord I am thine ; but wilt thou prove 
 My faith, my patience, and my love," &c. 
 
 The traces of her thoughts under this confusion of animal 
 nature, retained something in them divine and heavenly. 
 blessed situation of soul, when we stand prepared for
 
 DYING IN PEACE. 51 
 
 death, though it come with the formidable retinue of a 
 disordered brain, and clouded reason '. It would be too 
 long at present to represent to you the ' sad consequences 
 of being found asleep when Christ comes to call us away 
 from this world,' I shall therefore only make these three 
 reflections. 
 
 Reflect. 1. ' None can begin too early to awake to 
 righteousness, and prepare for the call of Christ, since no 
 one is too young to be sent for by his messenger of death.' 
 I do not here speak of the state of infancy, when persons 
 can hardly be said to be in a personal state of trial :* but 
 when I say, l none can awake too early to mind the things 
 of religion,' I mean,- after reason begins its proper exer- 
 cise, and this appears sometimes in early childhood. All 
 our life in this world, compared with heaven, is a sort of 
 night and season of darkness ; and if our Lord summon 
 us away " in the first watch of the night," in the midst of 
 youth and vigour, and the pleasing allurements of flesh 
 and sense, we are in a deplorable state if we are found 
 .sleeping, and hurried away from earth, into the invisible 
 world, in the midst of our foolish dreams of golden vani- 
 
 * Properly speaking, no one can now be Said to be in a state of trial, 
 since all are in a state of condemnation. Rom. v. 19. The trial has been 
 made ; man has fallen ; and all are " by nature children of wrath." What 
 the author and others mean by " a personal state of trial" is their being pla- 
 ced under a dispensation of long suffering, in which time is afforded for the 
 exercise of unmerited grace towards those who are the subjects of it; occa- 
 sion given to all the adult part of the human race to develope their real 
 character, as alienated from God ; and, in those places especially where the 
 Lord has sent the gospel, opportunity granted to embrace the overtures of 
 mercy, and thus return to the Fountain of blessedness from which they have 
 sinfully departed. The trial consists in sufficient opportunity and privilege 
 being bestowed upon them, and such a course of discipline administered, as 
 may have a tendency to lead them to repentance, and to God. If they im- 
 prove the circumstances in which they are placed, to the glory of God, and 
 the salvation of their souls, it shows, not that they have caused themselves 
 to differ, but that they have " obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful." 
 If they neglect and misimprove their privileges, and persevere in sin, they 
 exhibit the fearful nature of our fallen state, demonstrate the power and 
 magnitude of that grace by which any are saved, and justify to every mind 
 and conscience the divine procedure, in condemning all who live and die 
 impenitent. To say of any, therefore, that they are in " a stale of personal 
 trial," in any other sense than that they are placed in such circumstances, aa 
 to show the power of sin, or of grace in them, according as the one or the 
 other of these contrary principles operates and reigns, would be opposed to 
 fact; and as the language doe's not quadrate very well with Scripture, or 
 with the true state of the case, it would be better not to employ it.-r-ED.
 
 52 THE WATCHFUL CHRISTIAN 
 
 ty. Dreadful indeed, to have a young thoughtless crea- 
 ture carried off the stage, sleeping and dead in trespasses 
 and sins ! Let those that arc drunk with wine fall asleep 
 upon the top of a mast in the middle of the . sea, where 
 the winds and the waves are tossing and roaring all around 
 them ; let a madman who has lost his reason, lie down to 
 sleep upon the edge of a precipice,* where a pit of fire and 
 brimstone is burning beneath him, and ready to receive his 
 fall ; but let not young sinners, whose rational powers are 
 in exercise, and whose life is every moment a mere un- 
 certainty, venture to go on in their dangerous slumbers, 
 while the wrath of a God and eternal misery attend them, 
 if they die before they are awake. 
 
 It is granted that no power beneath that which is divine, 
 can effectually quicken a dead soul, and awaken it into a 
 divine life. It is the work of " God to quicken the dead," 
 Rom. iv. 17.; Eph. ii. 5. It is the son of God who is the 
 "light and life of the world," John i. 4, to whom "the 
 Father hath given this quickening power," John, vi. 26. 
 He calls sinners to awaken them from their deadly sleep, 
 Eph. v. 14; and "they live by him, as he lives by the 
 Father," John vi. 57. He awakens dead souls to life, by 
 the same living spirit, which " shall quicken their mortal 
 bodies," and raise them from the grave, Rom. viii. 9, 11, 
 13; 2 Cor. iii. 3, which spirit he " hath received from the 
 Father," John iii. 34. And on this account we are to 
 seek the vital influences of this grace from heaven, by 
 constant and importunate prayer. Yet in my text, as well 
 as in other scriptures, " awaking out of sleep," and 
 "watching unto righteousness," is represented as our duty, 
 and we are to exert all our natural powers with holy fer- 
 vency, for this end, while our daily petitions draw down 
 from heaven the promised aid of grace. Our diligence indu.- 
 ty, and our dependence on the* divine power and mercy, are 
 happily and effectually joined in the command of our Sa- 
 viour, on this very occasion, in one of his parables ; Mark 
 xiii. 33, " Watch and pray, for ye know not when the 
 time is that the Lord will come." And again, chap. xiv. 
 38, " Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation." 
 Trust not in your own strength and sufficiency for the glo- 
 rious change to be wrought in your sinful hearts, and yet 
 neglect not your own labours and restless endeavours un- 
 der a pretence, that it is God's work and not yours.
 
 DYING IN PEACE. 53 
 
 " Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and 
 Christ shall give thee light." 
 
 Nor should frail dying creatures in their youngest years, 
 delay this work, one day, or one hour, since the conse- 
 quences of being found asleep when Christ calls, are ter- 
 rible indeed. We are beset with mortality all around us ; 
 the seeds of disease and dissolution are working within 
 us from our very birth and cradle, ever since sin entered 
 into our natures ; and we should ever be in a readiness to 
 remove hence, since we are never secure from the sum- 
 mons of heaven, the stroke of death, and the demands of 
 the -grave. 
 
 There was a 'lovely boy, the son of the Shunamite, who 
 was given to his mother in a miraculous way, and when 
 he was in the field among the reapers, he cried out, my 
 head, my head ; he was carried home immediately, and 
 in a few hours died in his mother's bosom, 2 Kings iv. 18. 
 Who would have imagined that head-ache should have 
 been death, and that in so short a time too ? This is al- 
 most the case which we lament at present ; the head-ache 
 was sent but a few days before, -nor was the pain very in- 
 tense, nor the appearance dangerous, yet it became the fa- 
 tal, though unexpected fore-runner of. death. 
 
 This providence is an awful warning-piece to all her 
 young acquaintance, to be ready for a- sudden removal ; 
 for she was of a healthy make, and seemed to stand at as 
 great distance from the gates of death as any of youc but 
 the firmest constitution of human nature is born with death 
 in it. From every age, and every spot of ground, and 
 every moment of time, there are short and sudden ways 
 of descent to the grave. Trap-doors (if I may use so low 
 i metaphor) are always under us, and a thousand unseen 
 avenues to the regions of the dead. A malignant fever 
 strikes the strongest nature with a mortal blast, at the 
 command of the great Author and Disposer of life. My 
 youngest hearers may be called away from the earth, by 
 the next pain that seizes them. Nothing but religion, 
 early religion, and sincere godliness, can give you hope in 
 youthful death, or leave a fragrant savor on your name or 
 memory among those that survive. 
 
 Reflect. 2. If such blessedness as I have described, 
 belong to every watchful Christian at the hour of deatb, 
 then it may not be improper here to take notice of < some 
 
 E2
 
 54 THE WATCHFUL CHRISTIAN 
 
 peculiar advantages which attend those who shake off tha 
 deadly sleep of sin in their younger years, and are awake 
 early to God and religion.' 
 
 (1.) They have much fewer sins to mourn over' on a 
 death-bed, and they prevent much hitter repentance for 
 youthful iniquities. Holy Job was a man of distinguished 
 piety, and God himself pronounces of him that " there was 
 none like him in all the earth," Job i. 2. But it is a 
 question whether his most early days were devoted to God, 
 and whether he was so watchful over his behaviour, in that 
 dangerous season of life ; for he makes a heavy complaint in 
 his addresses to God, Job xiii. 26, "Thou writest Bitter 
 things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities 
 of my youth." The sooner we begin to be awake to ho 
 liness, the more of these follies and sorrows are prevented. 
 Happy those who have the fewest of them, to embitter 
 their following lives, or make a death-bed painful ! 
 
 (2.) Young persons have fewer attachments to th*e w.orld, 
 and the persons and things of it, which are round about 
 them, and are more ready to part with it when their souls 
 are united to God by an early faith and love. They have 
 not yet entered into so numerous engagements of life, nor 
 dwelt long enough here to have their hearts grown so fast 
 on to creatures, which usually makes the parting stroke so 
 full of anguish and smarting sorrow. A child can much 
 more easily ascend to heaven, and leave a parent behind, 
 without that tender and painful solicitude, which a dying 
 parent has for the welfare of a surviving child. The sur- 
 render of all mortal interests at the call of God, is much 
 more easy when our souls are not tied to them by so ma- 
 ny strings, nor united by so many of the softer endear- 
 ments of nature, and where grace has taught us to practise 
 an early weaning from all temporal comforts, and a little 
 loosened our hearts from them, by the faith of things 
 eternal. 
 
 (3.) Those that have been awake betimes to godliness, 
 give peculiar honours to the gospel at death, and leave this 
 testimony to the divine religion of Jesus, that it was able 
 to subdue passion and appetite in that season of life, when 
 they are usually strongest and most unruly.- They give 
 peculiar credit and glory to the Christian name and the 
 gospel, which has gained them so many victories over the
 
 DYING IN PEACE. 55 
 
 enemies of their salvation, at that age wherein multitudes 
 are the captives of sin, and slaves to folly and vanity. 
 
 (4.) Those Christians who are- awake to God in their 
 early years, leave more happy and powerful examples of 
 living and dying, to their young companions and acquaint- 
 ance. It is the temper of every age of life, to be more in- 
 fluenced and affected by the practice of persons of the same 
 years. Sin has fewer excuses to make, in order to shield 
 itself from the reproof of such examples, who have re- 
 nounced it betimes ; and virtue carries with it a more ef- 
 fectual motive to persuade young sinners to piety and 
 goodness, when it can point to its votaries of the same age, 
 and in the same circumstances of life. < Why may not 
 this be practised by you, as well as by your companions 
 round about you, of the same age ?' But I muet hasten to 
 the last reflection. 
 
 Reflect. 3. ' When we mourn the death of friends who 
 were prepared for an early summons, let their preparation 
 be our support.' Blessed be God they were not found 
 sleeping ! While we drop our tears upon the grave of 
 any young Christian who was awake and alive to God, that 
 blessedness which Christ himself pronounces upon them, 
 is a sweet cordial to mingle with our bitter sorrows, and 
 will greatly assist to dry up the spring of them. The idea 
 of their piety, and their approbation in the sight of God, 
 is a balm to heal the wound, and give present ease to the 
 heart-ache. 
 
 We are ready to run over their virtues, and spread 
 abroad their amiable qualities in our thoughts, and then, 
 with seeming reason, we give a loose to the mournful pas- 
 sion ; whereas all these, when set in a true light, are real 
 ingredients towards our relief. 
 
 We lament the loss of our departed friend, when we 
 review that capacious and uncommon power of memory, 
 which the -God of nature had given her, and which was so 
 well furnished with a variety of human and divine knowl- 
 edge, and was stored with a rich treasure of the word of 
 God, so. that if Providence had called her into a more 
 public appearance, she might have stood up in the world 
 as a burning and shining light, so far as her sex and station 
 required. This furniture of the mind seems indeed to be 
 lost in death, and buried in the grave ; but we give in too 
 much to the judgment of sense. Did not this extensive
 
 56 THE WATCHFUL CHRISTIAN 
 
 knowledge lay a foundation for her early piety ? And did 
 it not, by this means, prepare her for a more speedy re- 
 moval to a higher school of improvement, and a world of 
 sublimer devotion ? Ajid does she not shine there among 
 the better and brighter company ? 
 
 We mourn again for our loss of a person so valuable, 
 when we think of that general calmness and sedateness pf 
 soul, which she possessed in a peculiar degree, so that she 
 Was not greatly elevated or depressed, by common accidents 
 or occurrences : but this secured her from the rise of un- 
 ruly passions, those stormy powers of nature, which some- 
 times sink us into guilt and distress, and make us unwilling 
 and afraid of the sudden summons of Christ, lest he should 
 find us under these disorders. 
 
 We think of her firmness of spirit, and that steady re- 
 solution, which, joined with a natural reserve, was a happy 
 guard against many of the. forward follies and dangers of 
 youth, and proved a successful defence against some of the 
 allurements and temptations of the gayer years of life : 
 and then we mourn afresh that a person so well formed for 
 growing prudence and virtue, should he so suddenly 
 snatched away from amongst us. But this steady and dis- 
 passionate frame of soul, well improved by religion and 
 divine grace, became an effectual means to preserve her 
 youth more unblemished, and made her spirit fitter for the 
 heavenly world, where nothing can enter that is defiled, 
 and whose delights are not tumultuous as ours are on earth ; 
 but all is a calm and rational state of joy. 
 
 We lament yet further when we think of her native 
 goodness and unwillingness to displease ; but goodness is 
 the very temper of that region to which she is gone, and 
 she is the fitter companion for the inhabitants of a world of 
 love. 
 
 We lament that such a pattern of early piety should be 
 taken from the earth, when there are so few practisers of 
 it, especially among the youth of our degenerate age, and 
 in plentiful circumstances of life. But it is a matter of 
 high thankfulness to God, who endowed her with those 
 valuable qualities, and trained her up so soon for a world 
 so much better than ours is. Let our sorrow for the de- 
 ceased be changed into devout praises to divine grace. 
 Let us imitate the holy language of St. Paul to the Thes- 
 salonians. and say, l we are comforted' even at her grave,
 
 CYING IN PEACE. 57 
 
 < in all our affliction and distress, by the' remembrance of 
 'her faith' and piety. 'What' sufficient 'thanks can we 
 render unto God, upon her account, for all the joy where- 
 with we rejoice for' her 'sake bjefore our God, night and 
 day, praying exceedingly that we m,ay see her face' in the 
 state of perfection ? And ' may God himself, even our 
 Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way,' to 
 the happy world, where she dwells, 1. Thess. iii. 7, &c. 
 The imitation of what was excellent in her life, and watch- 
 ful readiness to follow her in death, are the best honours 
 we can pay her memory, and the wisest improvements of 
 the present providence. May the Spirit df grace teach us 
 these lessons, and make us all learn them with power, 
 that when our Lord Jesus shaH come to call us hence by 
 death, or shall appear with all his saints, in the great ris- 
 ing-day, we may* be found ampng his wakeful servants, 
 and partake of the promised blessedness ! Jlmen.
 
 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 
 
 MARK xiii. 36. > Watch ye therefore, lest coming suddenly, he find you 
 sleeping. 
 
 AMONG the parables of- our Saviour, there are several 
 recorded by the Evangelists, which represent him as a 
 Prince, or Lord and Master of a family, departing for a 
 season from his servants, and in his absence, appointing 
 them their proper work, with a solemn charge to wait for 
 his return ; at which time he foretold them, that he should 
 require an account of their behaviour in his absence, and 
 he either intimates or expresses a severe treatment of those, 
 who should neglect their duty while he was gone, or make 
 no preparation for his appearance. He informs them also 
 that he should come upon them on a sudden, and for this 
 reason charges them to be always awake and upon their 
 guard, ver. 35, "Watch ye therefore, for ye know not 
 when the Master of the house cometh, whether at even, 
 or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning." 
 
 Though the ultimate design of these parables, and the 
 * coming of Christ' mentioned therein, refer to the great 
 day of judgment, when he shall return from heaven, shall 
 raise the dead, and call mankind to appear before his judg- 
 ment seat, to % receive a recompense according to their 
 works ; yet both the duties and the warnings, which are 
 represented in these parables, seem to be very accommo- 
 dable to the hour of our death ; for then our Lord Jesus, 
 who < has the kej-s of death and' the grave, and ' the un- 
 seen world,' comes to finish our state of trial, and to put a 
 period to -all our works on earth : He comes then to call 
 us into the invisible state ; he disposes our bodies to the 
 dust, and our souls are sent into other mansions, and taste 
 some degrees of appointed happiness or misery, according 
 to their behaviour here. The solemn and awful warning 
 
 58
 
 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 59 
 
 which my text gives us concerning thereturn of Christ to 
 judgment, may be therefore pertinently applied to the sea- 
 son, when he shall send his messenger of death, to fetch 
 us hence ; " Watch ye therefore, lest coming suddenly, 
 he find you sleeping." 
 
 When I had occasion to treat on a subject near akin to 
 this,* I shewed that there was a distinction to be made, 
 between the ' dead sleep of a sinner,' and ' slumber of an 
 unwatchful Christian.' Those who never had the work 
 of religion begun in their hearts or lives, are sleeping the 
 sleep of death, whereas some who are made alive by the 
 grace of Christ yet may indulge sinful drowsiness, and 
 grow careless and secure, slothful and unactive. "The 
 wise virgins as well as the foolish, were slumbering and 
 sleeping," Matt. xxv. 5. The mischiefs and sorrows which 
 attend each of these, when Christ shall summon them to 
 judgment, or shall call them away from earth, by natilral 
 death, are great and formidable, though they are not equally 
 dangerous. Let us consider each of them in succession, 
 in order to rouse dead sinners from their lethargy, and to 
 keep drowsy Christians awake. 
 
 First. Let us survey the sad consequences which attend 
 those that are ( asleep in sin and spiritually dead,' when the 
 hour of natural death approaches. They are such as these: 
 I. ' If they happen to be awakened on the borders of 
 the grave, into what a horrible confusion and distress of 
 soul are they plunged ?' What keen anguish of conscience 
 for v their past iniquities seizes upon them ? What bitter re- 
 morse and self-reproaches, for the seasons of grace which 
 they have -vasted, for the proposals of mercy which they 
 have abused and rejected, and for the divine salvation 
 which seems now to be lost for ever, and put almost be- 
 yond the reach, of possibility and hope. They feel the 
 messenger of death, faying his cold hands upon them, and 
 they shudder and tremble,- with the expectation of approach- 
 ing misery. They look up to heaven and they see a God of 
 holiness there, as a consuming fire ready to devour them, 
 as stubble fit for the flame. They look to the Son of God, 
 who has the keys of death in his hand, and who calls them 
 away from the land of the living, even to Jesus, the com- 
 
 * In a funeral Sermon for Miss Sarah Abney, on Luke xii. 37. " Blessed 
 re those servants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.'*
 
 60 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 
 
 passionate Mediator, but they can scarce persuade them- 
 selves to expect any thing from him, because they have 
 turned a deaf ear so long to the invitations of his gospel, 
 and so long affronted his divine compassion. They look 
 behind them, and w ith painful agonies are frighted at the 
 mountains of their former guilt, ready to overwhelm them. 
 They look forward, and see the pit of hell opening upon 
 them, with all its torments ; long darkness without a 
 glimpse of light, and eternal despair with no glimmerings 
 of hope. 
 
 Or, if now and then amidst their horrors, they would 
 try to form some faint hope of mercy, how are their spir- 
 its perplexed with prevailing and distracting fears, with 
 keen and cutting reflections'?- ' Oh that I had improved 
 my former seasons for reading, for praying, for meditating 
 on divine things ! But I cannot read, I can hardly medi- 
 tate, and scarce know how to pray. Will the ear of God 
 ever hearken to the cries and groans of a rebel that has 
 so' long resisted his grace ? Afe there any pardons to be 
 had for a criminal, who never left his sins till vengeance 
 was in view ? Will the blood of Christ ever be applied to 
 wash a soul, that has wallowed in his defilements, till death 
 roused him out of them ? Will the meanest favour of heav- 
 en, be indulged to a wretch who has grown bold in sin, in 
 opposition to so loud and repeated warnings ? I am awake 
 indeed, but I can see nothing round me but distresses and 
 discouragements, and my soul sinks within me, and my 
 heart dies at the thoughts of appearing before God/ 
 
 It is a wise, and just observation among Christians, 
 though it is a very common one, that the Scriptures give 
 us one instance of a penitent saved in his dyin hour, and 
 that is the ' thief upon the cross,' that so none ?night utterly 
 despair ; but there is but one such instance given, that 
 none might presume. The work of repeutance is too dif- 
 ficult, and too important a thing, to be le/t to the languors 
 of a dying bed, and the tumults and flutterings of thought, 
 which attend such a late conviction. There can be hardly 
 any effectual proofs given of the sincerity of such repent- 
 ings : and I am verily persuaded there are few of them 
 sincere ; for we have often found these violent emotions 
 of conscience vanish again, if the sinner has happened to 
 recover his health. They seem merely to be the wild per- 
 plexities and struggles of nature, averse to misery, rather
 
 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 61 
 
 than averse to sin. Their renouncing their former lusts, 
 on the very borders of hell and destruction, is more like 
 the vehement and irregular efforts of a drowning creature, 
 constrained to let go a most beloved object, and taking 
 eager hold of any plank for safety ; rather than the calm 
 and reasonable, and voluntary designs of a mariner, who 
 forsakes his earthly joys, ventures himself in a ship that 
 is offered him, and sets sail for the heavenly country. I 
 never will pronounce such efforts and endeavours Desperate, 
 lest I limit the grace of God, which is unbounded ; but I 
 ran give very little encouragement for hope to an hour or 
 two, of this vehement and tumultuous penitence, on the 
 very brink of damnation. ' Judas repented,' but his ago- 
 nies of soul, hurried him to hasten his own death, " that 
 he naight'go to his own place." And there is abundance 
 of such kind of repenting, in every corner of hell ; that 
 is a deep and dreadful pit, whence there is no redemption, 
 though there are millions of such sort of penitents ; it is 
 a strong and dark prison, where no beam of comfort ever 
 shines, where bitter anguish' and mourning for sins past, 
 is no evangelical repentance, but everlasting and hopeless 
 sorrow. 
 
 II. ' Those that are found sleeping at the hour of death' 
 are carried away at once, from all their sensual pursuits and 
 enjoyments, which were their chosen portion, and their 
 highest happiness.' At once they lose all their golden 
 dreams, and their chief good is, as it were, snatched away 
 from them at once and for ever. ' They stand on slippery 
 places, they are brought to destruction in a moment,' and 
 all their former joys ' are like a dream when one awaketh,' 
 and finds himself beset round with terrors. 
 
 Are there any of you that are pleasing yourselves here 
 in the days of youth and vanity, and indulge your dreams 
 of pleasure, in the sleep of spiritual death ? Think of the 
 approaching moment, when the death of nature shall dis- 
 solve your sleep, and scatter all the delusive images of 
 sinful joy. This separation from the body of flesh, is a 
 fearful shock given to the soul, that makes it awake indeed. 
 Sermons would not do it ; the voice of the preacher was 
 not loud enough ; strokes of affliction, and smarting pro- 
 vidences would not do it ; perhaps the soul might be roused 
 a little, but dropt into profound sleep again : sudden or 
 surprising deaths near them, and even the p<iins of nature 
 
 F
 
 62 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 
 
 in their own flesh, their own sicknesses and diseases, did not 
 awaken them, nor the voice of the Lord in them all : but 
 the parting-stroke that divides the soul and body, will 
 terribly awaken the soul from the vain delusion, and all its 
 fancied delights for ever vanish. 
 
 When they are l visited by the Lord of hosts with this 
 thunder and earthquake,' as the Prophet Isaiah speaks, 
 when ( this storm and tempest' of death, shall shake the 
 sinner out of his airy visions, he shall ' be as an hungry 
 man that dreameth he was eating, but awakes and his soul 
 is empty j or as a thirsty creature dreaming that he drinks, 
 but he awaketh, and behold he is faint,' and his soul is 
 pained with raging appetite. The sinner finds to his own 
 torment, how wretchedly he has deceived himself and fed 
 upon vanity. Thefe are no more earthly objects to please 
 his senses, and to gratify his inclinations ; but the soul for 
 ever lives upon a rack of carnal desire, and no proper ob- 
 ject to satisfy it. His taste is not suited to the. pleasures 
 of a world of spirits ; he can find no God there to comfort 
 him. God with his offers of grace are gone for ever, and 
 the world with its joys are for ever vanished, while the 
 wretched and malicious creatures, into whose company he 
 is hurried, and who were the tempters or associates of his 
 crimes, shall stand round him to become his tormentors. 
 
 III. 'Though -death will awaken . sinful souls into a 
 sharper and more lively sense of divine and heavenly 
 things than ever they had in this" 'world, yet they shall 
 never be awakened to spiritual life and holiness.' And I 
 think I may add, that though they should be awakened to 
 a sight of God, and his justice, and his grace, to a sight of 
 heaven and hell, more immediate and perspicuous than 
 what even the saints themselves usually enjoy in this life, 
 yet they would remain still under the bondage of their 
 lusts, still dead in trespasses and sins. They shall forever 
 continue unbeloved ofGod, and incapable of all the happi- 
 ness of the heavenly state, because they are for ever averse 
 to the holiness of God, and themselves for ever unholy. 
 It is only in the present state of trial, and under the pres- 
 ent proposals of grace, that sleeping sinners can be awa- 
 kened into the spiritual and divine life. The voice of the 
 Son of God, that breaks the monuments of brass, and makes 
 tombs of hardest marble yield to his call, shall never break 
 one heart of stone, which is gone down to death, in its na-
 
 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 63 
 
 tive and sinful hardness. That almighty voice that must 
 awaken the nations of the dead, and command their bodies 
 up from the grave, shall never awaken one dead soul, when 
 they are past the limits of this life. The compassionate 
 calls, of a Saviour, and the offers -of mercy, are then come 
 to their utmost period: and if we refuse to hear the call 
 of mercy to the moment of death, we shall then be terri- 
 bly constrained to feel the loss of it, but never able to ob- 
 tain the blessing. . 
 
 Obstinate sleepers shall be awakened to -see God, but 
 only as Balaam was: "I shall see him but not nigh," 
 Numb. xxiv. 17. The saints in this life have God near 
 them in all their trials, as a father and a friend, to uphold, 
 to comfort*, to sanctify, theugh they see him but darkly 
 through a glass, and behold but lit'tle of his power or glory. 
 The sinner awaking in hell shall, perhaps, have a clearer 
 and more acute perception of what God is, than any saint 
 on earth: but he' shall behold him as an enemy, and not a 
 friend. If he beholds him in the glory of his grace, it is 
 at a dreadful and insuperable distance ; there is no grace 
 for him. He sees him in his holiness, but he cannot love 
 hjm, he has no meltings of true penitence for his former 
 rebellions against God, his heart is hardened into everlast- 
 ing enmity, and shall never taste of his love. Hence arise 
 all the foul and gnawing passions of envy, malignity, and 
 long despair, which are the very image of Satan, and change 
 mankind into devils. 
 
 These impenitent sons and daughters of men, shall grow 
 
 " into the more complete likeness of those wicked spirits, 
 
 and, under the impressions of their guilt and damnation, 
 
 they shall rival those apostate and cursed creatures, in the 
 
 obstinate haired of God, and all that is holy. 
 
 IV. Hence it will follow in the last place, that the sin- 
 ner who is * fast asleep in his sins at -the hour of death, 
 shall awake into such a life as is worse than dying.' He 
 shall be surprised all at once 'into darkness and fire, which 
 have no gleam of light, and'sorrows without mitigation, 
 and which can find no end. The punishment of hell is 
 not called, eternal death, to denote a state of senseless and 
 stupid existence ; but death being the most opposite to 
 life, and all the enjoyments of it, the misery of hell is des- 
 cribed by death, as the most formidable thing to nature, 
 as -a word that puts a period to all the enjoyments of this
 
 64 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 
 
 mortal life, and stands directly opposite to a life of joy and 
 glory in the immortal world. Happy would it be for such 
 souls if they could sink into an everlasting sleep, and grow 
 stupid and senseless for ever and ever ; but this is a favour 
 not to be granted to those who have been constant and un- 
 repenting rebels, against the law and the grace of God. 
 
 The moment when the body falls asleep in death, the 
 soul is more awake than ever, to behold its own guilt and 
 wretchedness. It has then such a lively and piercing sense 
 of its own iniquities, and the divine wrath that is due to 
 them, as it never saw or felt before- The inward senses 
 of the soul (if I may so express it) which have been dark- 
 ened and stupified, and benumbed in this body, are all 
 awake at once, when the veil of flesh is thrown" off, and the 
 curtains are drawn ba'ck which divided them from the 
 world of spirits. Every thought of sin, and the anger of 
 God, wounds the spirit deep in this awakened state, though 
 it scarce felt any thing of it before ; and "awounded spirit 
 who can bear ?" Prov. xviii. 14. But sinners must bear 
 it days without end, and ages without hope. 
 
 Then the crimes they have committed, and the sinful 
 pleasures they have indulged, shall glare upon their re- 
 membrance, and stare them in the face with dreadful sur- 
 prise ; and each of them is enough to drive a soul to des- 
 pair. Nor can they turn their eyes away from the horrid 
 sight, for their criminal practices beset them around, and 
 the naked soul is all sight and all sense ; it is eye and ear 
 all over ; it hears the dreadful curses of the law, and the 
 sentence of the Judge, and never, never forgets it This" 
 is the character, these the circumstances of an obstinate 
 sinner, that awakes not till the moment of death, and " lift 
 up his eyes in hell," as our Saviour expresses it. These 
 will be the consequences of our guilt and folly, if we are 
 found in a dead sleep of sin, when our Lord comes to call 
 us from this mortal state. 
 
 Secondly, Let us spend a few thoughts also upon the 
 dangerous and unhappy circumstances of those of whom 
 we may ( have some reason to hope, that they have once 
 begun religion in good earnest, and are made spiritually 
 alive, but have indulged themselves in drowsiness, and 
 worn out the latter end of their days in a careless, secure, 
 and slothful frame of spirit 7 
 
 1. If they have had the principle ojf vital religion wrought
 
 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 65 
 
 in their hearts, yet ' by these criminal slumbers, they dar- 
 ken and lose their evidences of grace, and by this means, 
 they cut themselves off from the sweet reflections and com- 
 forts of it on a dying bed, when they have most need of 
 them.' They know not whether they are the children of 
 God or not, and are in anxious confusion and distressing 
 fear. They have scarce any plain proofs of their conver- 
 sion to God, and the evidences of true Christianity* ready 
 at hand, when all are little enough to support their spirits. 
 They have not used themselves to search for them by self- 
 enquiry, and to keep them in their sight, and therefore 
 they are missing in this important hour. They have not 
 been wont to live upon their heavenly hopes, and they 
 cannot be found when they want them to rest upon in 
 death. They 'die therefore almost like sinners, though 
 they may perhaps have been once converted to holiness, 
 and there may be a root of grace remaining in them ; and 
 the reason is, because they have lived too much as sinners 
 do. They have given too great and criminal an indul- 
 gence, to the vain and worldly cares, or the trifling amuse- 
 ments of this life ; these have engrossed almost all their 
 thoughts and their time, and therefore in the day of death 
 they fall under terrors and painful apprehensions of a 
 doubtful eternity just at hand. 
 
 If we have not walked closely with God in this world, 
 we may well be afraid to appear before him in the next. 
 If we hav not maintained a constant converse with Jesus 
 our Saviour, by holy exercises of faith and hope, it is no 
 wonder if we are not so ready with cheerfulness and joy, 
 to resign our departing spirits into his hand. It is possi- 
 ble we may have a right to the inheritance of heaven, hav- 
 ing had some sight of it by faith as revealed in the gospel, 
 haying in the main chosen it for our portion, and set our 
 feet in the path of holiness that leads to it ; but we have 
 so often wandered out of the way, that in this awful and 
 solemn hour, we shall be in doubt, whether we shall be re- 
 ceived at the gates, and enter into the city. 
 
 Such unwatchful Christians have not kept the eternal 
 glories of heaven, in their constant and active pursuit, they 
 have not lived upon them as their portiqn and inheritance, 
 
 * That is, " evidences" of their being truly the followers of Christ, and of 
 having an interest in him. ED. 
 
 9 T2
 
 66 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 
 
 they have been too much strangers to the invisible 
 of happiness, and they know not how to venture through 
 death into it. They have built ' indeed upon the solid 
 foundation, Christ Jesus' and the gospel, but they have 
 mingled so much ' hay and stubble' with the superstructure, 
 that when they depart hence, or when they appear before 
 Christ in judgment, " they shall suffer great loss by the 
 burning of their works, yet themselves may be saved so 
 as by fire," 1 Cor. iii. 10 15. They may pass as it were 
 by the flame of hell, and have something like the scorch- 
 ing terrors of it in death,- though the abounding and for- 
 giving grace of the gospel may convey them safe to hea- 
 ven. They escape as a man that is awakened with the 
 sudden alarms of fire, who suffers the loss of his substance, 
 and a great part of the fruit of his labours, and just saves 
 his own life. They plunge into eternity, and make a sort 
 of terrible escape from hell. 
 
 2. 'They can never expect any peculiar favours from 
 heaven at the hour of death, no special visitations of the 
 comforting Spirit, nor that the love of God, and the joy of 
 his presence, should attend, them through the dark valley.' 
 It is not to such unwatchful or sleepy Christians, that God 
 is wont to vouchsafe his choicest consolations. They fall 
 under terrible fears about the pardon of their sins, when 
 they stand in most need of the sight of their pardon ; and 
 Christ, as the ruler of his church, sees it fit they should 
 be thus punished for their negligence. They lay hold of 
 the promises of mercy with a trembling hand, and cannot 
 claim them by a vigorous faith, because they have not been 
 wont to live upon them, nor do they see those holy cha- 
 racters in their own hearts and lives, which confirm their 
 title to them. They have no bright views of the celestial 
 world, and earnests of their salvation ; for it is only for 
 watchful souls, that these cordials are prepared in the faint- 
 ing hour : it is only to the watchful Christian, that these 
 fore-tastes of glory -are given. " The fruit of righteous- 
 ness is peace, and the effect of righteousness is quietness 
 and assurance for ever," Isai. xxxii. 17. "Blessed is he 
 which watcheth, and keepeth his garments" clean, that he 
 may enter with triumph into that city, where nothing shall 
 enter that defileth. 
 
 3. * Slumbering and slothful Christians are often-times 
 left to wrestle with sore temptations of Satan, and have
 
 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 67 
 
 dreadful conflicts in the day of death :' and the reason is 
 evident, because they have not watched against their adver- 
 sary, and obtained but few victories over him in their life. 
 These temptations are keen and piercing thorns, that en- 
 ter deep into the heart of a dying creature. The devil 
 may be let loose upon them ' with great wrath, knowing 
 that his time is but short ;' and yet there is great justice 
 in the conduct of the God in heaven, in giving them Up 
 to be buffeted by the powers of hell. What frightful ag- 
 onies are raised in the conscience, by the tempter, and the 
 accuser of souls, on a sick or dying bed, can hardly be de- 
 scribed by the living, and are known only to those who 
 have felt them in death. 
 
 4. ' Such drowsy Christians make dismal work for new 
 and terrible repentance on a death bed :' for, though they 
 have sincerely repented in times past of their former sins, 
 yet, having too much omitted the self-mortifying-duties, 
 having given too much indulgence to temptation and folly, 
 and having not maintained this habitual penitence for their 
 daily offences in constant exercise, their spirits are now filled 
 with fresh convictions and bitter remorse of heart. The guilt 
 of their careless and- slothful conduct finds them out now, 
 and beset them around, and they feel most a.cute sorrows, 
 and wounding reflections of conscience, while they have 
 need of most comfort. What a glorious entrance had St. Paul 
 into the world of spirits, and the presence of Christ ? He 
 had made repentance, and mortification, and faith in Jesus, 
 his daily work : " wretched man that I am ! who shall 
 deliver me from the body of this death ? I run, I fight, I 
 subdue my body, and keep it under ; I am crucified to the 
 world, and the world to me ; the life which I live in the 
 flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.'? When he 
 was "ready to be offered up, and the time of his departure 
 was at hand," from the edge of the sword, and the bor- 
 ders of the grave, he could look back upon his former life, 
 and say, " 1 have fought the good fight, I have finished my 
 course, I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up 
 for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the right- 
 eous Judge will give me." 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. 
 
 5. ' The unwatchful Christian, at the hour of death, has 
 the pain and anguish of reflecting, that he has omitted ma- 
 ny duties to God and man, and these can never be per- 
 formed now ; that he has done scarce any services for
 
 68 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 
 
 Christ in the world, and those must be left for ever undone: 
 there is no further work or device, no labours of zeal, no 
 activity for God ' in the grave,' whither we are hastening, 
 Eccl. ix. 10. < Alas! I have brought forth but little fruit 
 to God, and it is. well if I be not cast away as an unprofit- 
 able servant My talents have lain bound up in rust, or 
 been but poorly employed, whilst I have lain slumbering 
 and unactive. The records of my life in the court of hea- 
 ven, will shew but very little service for God amongst men : 
 I have raised few monuments of praise to my Redeemer, 
 and I can never raise them now. I shall have but few tes- 
 timonies for my love and zeal, to appear in the great day 
 of account, when the martyrs, and the confessors, and the 
 lively Christians, shall be surrounded with the living en- 
 signs of their victories over sin and the world, and their 
 glorious services for their Redeemer. Wretch that I am ! 
 that I have loved my Lord at so cold a rate, and lain slum- 
 bering on a bed of ease, whilst I should have been fight- 
 ing the battles of the Lord, and gaining daily honours for 
 my Saviour!' 
 
 6. ' As such sort of Christians give but little glory to 
 God in life, so they do him no honour in death: they are 
 no ornaments to religion while they continue here, and 
 leave perhaps but little comfort with their friends when 
 they go hence.' Doubtings and jealousies about their eter- 
 nal welfare, mingle with our tears and sorrows for a dying- 
 friend ; these anxious fears about the departed spirit swell 
 the tide of our grief high, and double the inward anguish. 
 They are gone, alas ! from our world, but we know not 
 whither they are gone, to heaven or to hell. A sad farewel 
 to those whom we love! a dismal parting-stroke, and a 
 long heart ache! 
 
 And what honour can be expected to be done to God or 
 his Son, what reputation or glory can be given to religion 
 and the gospel, by a drowsy Christian departing, as it were, 
 under a spiritual lethargy ? He dies under a cloud, and 
 casts a gloom upon the Christian faith. St. Paul was a 
 man of another spirit, a lively and active saint, full of vi- 
 gour and zeal in his soul. It was the holy resolution and 
 assurance of this blessed apostle, " that Christ should be 
 magnified in his body, whether by life or death," Phil. i. 
 20. He spent 'his life' in the service of Christ, and he 
 could rejoice in * death as his gain^ It is a glory to the
 
 SURPRISE IN DEATS. 69 
 
 gospel, when we can lie down and die with courage, in the 
 hope of its promised blessings. It is an honour to our 
 common faith, when it overcomes the terrors of death, and 
 raises the Christian to a song of triumph, in view of the 
 last enemy. It is a new crown put upon the head of our Re- 
 deemer, and a living cordial put into the hands of mourn- 
 ing friends in our dying hour, when vre can take our leave 
 of them with holy fortitude, rejoicing in the salvation of 
 Christ. No sooner does he call but. we are ready, and can 
 answer, with holy transport, ' Lord I come.' This is a 
 blessing that belongs only to the watchful Christian. May 
 every one of us be awake to salvation in our expiring 
 moments, and partake of this glorious blessedness! 
 
 I proceed now to a few remarks, and particularly such 
 as relate tD the necessity and duty of constant watohfulness 7 
 and the hazardous case of sleeping souls. 
 
 1. Remark. ' To presume on long life is a most danger- 
 ous temptation, for it is the common spring and cause of 
 spiritual sleep and drowsiness.' Could we take an inward 
 view of the hearts of men, and trace out the springs of 
 their coldness and indifference about eternal things, and the 
 shameful neglect of their most important interests, we 
 should find this secret thought in the bottom of their hearts, 
 that ' we are not like to die to-day or to-morrow.' They 
 put this evil day afar off, and indulge themselves in their 
 carnal delights, without the solicitude to prepare for the 
 call of God. There is scarce any thing produces so much 
 evil fruit in the world, so much shameful wickedness a- 
 mongst the sensual and profane, or such neglect of lively 
 religion among real Christians, as this bitter root of pre- 
 sumption upon life and time before us. Matth. XYI'V. 48, 
 49, " The evil servant" did not " begin to smite his fellows 
 and to eat and drink with the drunken," till he " said in 
 his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming:" It was "while 
 the bridegroom tarried," and they imagined he would tar- 
 ry longer, that even the wise virgins fell into slumbers. 
 Ask your own hearts, my friends, does not this thought 
 secretly lurk within you, when you comply with a tempt- 
 ation, 'surely I shall not die yet :. I have no sickness up- 
 on me, nor tokens of death, -I shall live a little longer, and 
 repent of my follies ?' Vain expectation and groundless 
 fancy! when you see the young, and the strong, and the 
 healthy, seized away from the rnidst of you, and the final
 
 70 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 
 
 period put at once to all their works and designs in this 
 life. Yet we are foolisn enough to imagine our term of 
 life shall be extended, and we presume upon months and 
 years, which God hath not written down for us in his own 
 book, and which he will never give us to enjoy. 
 
 We are all borderers upon the river of death, which 
 conveys us into the eternal world, and we should b& ever- 
 waiting the call of our Lord, that we may launch away 
 with joy, to the regions of immortality. But thoughtless crea- 
 tures that we are, we are perpetually wandering far up, 
 into the fields of sense and time, we are gathering the gay 
 .and fading flowers that grow there, and. filling our laps 
 with them as a fair treasure, or making garlands for ambi- 
 tion to crown our"brows,till one and anotherof us is called off 
 on n snddfMi, find hurried awft.y from this mortal coast. Those 
 of us who survive, are surprised' a little, we stand gazing, 
 we follow our departing friends with a weeping eye for a 
 minute or two, and then we fall to our amusements again, and 
 grow busy as before, in gathering the flowers of time and 
 sense. how fond we are to enrich ourselves with these 
 perishing trifles, and adorn- our heads with honours and 
 withering vanities, never thinking which of us may receive 
 the next summons to leave all behind us, and stand before 
 God ; but each presumes, <it will not be sent to me.' We 
 trifle with God and things eternal, or utterly forget them, 
 while our hands and our hearts are thus deeply engaged in 
 the pursuit of our. earthly delights. All our powers t)f 
 thoughtand action, are intensely busied amongst the dreams 
 of this life, while we are asleep to God, because we vainly 
 imagine he will riot call us yet. 
 
 2. Remark. ' Whatsoever puts us in mind of dying, 
 should be improved to awaken us fr<3m our spiritual sleep.' 
 Sudden deaths near us should have this* effect ; our young 
 companions and acquaintance snatched away from among 
 us in an unexpected hour, should become our monitors in 
 death, and teach us this divine and needful lesson. The 
 surprising loss of our friends who lay near our hearts, 
 should put us in mind of our own departure, and power- 
 fully awaken us from our dangerous slumbers. Sinners, 
 when they feel no sorrows, think of no death ; but ' when 
 the judgments of God are in the earth,' his . Spirit . can 
 awaken <the inhabitants of the world to learn righteousness.' 
 At such seasons it is time for < the sinners in Zion' to be
 
 SUBPRISE IN DEATH. 71 
 
 afraid,' and tearfulness to surprise the hypocrites/ Even 
 the children of God have sometimes need of painful warning- 
 pieces, to awaken them from their careless, their slothful, 
 and their secure frame : and as for those souls who are in- 
 deed awake to righteousness, and lively in the practice of 
 all religion and virtue, such sudden and awful strokes of 
 Providence have a happy tendency to wean them from 
 creatures, and keep them awake to God, that ' when their 
 Lord comes he may find them watching,' and pronounce 
 upon thein everlasting blessedness. 
 
 3. Remark. ' No person can be exempted from this 
 duty of watchfulness, till he is Lord of his own life, and 
 can appoint the time of his own dying.' Then indeed you 
 might have some colour for your carnal indulgences, some 
 pretence for sleeping, if you were sovereign' of death and 
 the grave, and had the keys in your own hand. 
 
 j\nd truly such as venture to sleep in sm, do in effect 
 say, we are lords of our own life. They act and manage 
 as if their times were in their own hands, and not in the 
 hand of their Maker. But the watchful Christian lives up- 
 on that principle, which David professes, Psal. xxxi. 15, 
 'My times are in thine hand," .0 Lord ; and they never 
 give rest to themselves till they can rejoice with -him, and 
 say to the Lord, " thou art my God; into thy hands 
 I commit my spirit, for thou hast redeemed it, and I 
 leave it to thy appointment when thou wilt dislodge me 
 from this body of flesh and blood, and call me into thy 
 more hnmediate presence." If we could but resist the 
 messenger of death, when the Lord of hosts has sent it, if 
 we could shut the mouth of the grave when the Son of 
 God has opened it for us, with the key that is entrusted 
 in his hand, we might say -then to our souls; 'Sleep on 
 upon your bed of ease, and take your rest ; but woe be to 
 those who will venture to sleep in an unholy and unpar- 
 doned state, or even allow themselves the indulgence of 
 short and sinful slumbers, when they cannot resist death 
 one moment, when they cannot delay the summons of 
 heaven, when they cannot defer their appearance before 
 that Judge, whose sentence is eternal pleasure, or ever- 
 lasting pain. 
 
 Our holy watch must not be intermitted one moment, 
 for every following moment is a grand uncertainty. There 
 is no minute of life, no point of time, wherein I can say,
 
 72 SURPRISE IN DEATH, 
 
 < I shall not die,' and therefore I should not dare to say, 
 ' this minute I will take a short slumber.' What if my 
 Lord should summon' me while he finds me sleeping ? 
 His command cannot be disobeyed, the very call and sound 
 .of it divides me from flesh and blood, and all that is mor- 
 tal, and sends me at once into the eternal world, for it is 
 an almighty voice. 
 
 4. Remark. As it is a foolish and dangerous thing, for 
 any of the sons and daughters of men to presume upon 
 long life, and neglect their watch, so < persons under some 
 peculiar circumstances, are eminently called to be ever 
 wakeful.' Give me leave here to reckon up some of them, 
 and make a particular address to the persons concerned. 
 
 (1.) 'Is your constitution of body weak and feeble?' 
 You carry then a perpetual warning about you never to 
 indulge sinful drowsiness. Every languor of nature as- 
 sures you that it is sinking to the dust: every pain you 
 feel, should put you in mind, that the pains of death are 
 ready to seize you : you are tottering upon the very bor- 
 ders of the grave, and will you venture to drop in before 
 your hopes of life and immortality are secured, and a joy- 
 ful resurrection ? You pass perhaps many nights, where- 
 in the infirmities of your flesh will not suffer you to sleep, 
 and to take that common refreshment of nature, and shall 
 not these same infirmities keep you awake to things spiri- 
 tual, and rouse all your thoughts and cares about your im- 
 mortal interests ? 
 
 (2.) ' You whose circumstances or employments of life, 
 expose you to perpetual dangers either by land or by sea ;' 
 you who carry your lives as it were in your hand, and are 
 often in a day within a few inches of death ; is it not ne- 
 cessary for you to inquire daily, Am I prepared for a de- 
 parture hence ? Am I ready to hear the summons of my 
 Lord, and ready to give up my account before him? Shall 
 I dare go on another day with my sins unpardoned, with 
 my soul unsanctified, and in immediate danger of eternal 
 misery ? A fall from a horse, or a house-top, may send 
 you down to the pit whence there is no redemption ; eve- 
 ry wind that blows, and every rising wave, may convey 
 you into the eternal world, and are you ready to meet the 
 great God in such a surprise, and without warning ? 
 
 (3.) You who are 'young and vigorous, and flourish 
 amidst all the gaieties and allurements of life,' you are in
 
 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 73 
 
 most danger of being lulled asleep in sin, and therefore I 
 addressed you lately in a funeral discourse, when the pre- 
 sent providence gave each of you a new and loud call to 
 awake, and I pray God you may hear his voice in it. 
 
 (4.) Perhaps others of you are arrived at old age, and 
 the course of nature forbids you to expect a long continu- 
 ance in the land of the living : are any of my hearers an- 
 cient sinners and asleep still ? Venturous and thoughtless 
 creatures ! that have grown old in slumber, and worn out 
 their whole life in iniquities ! Surely it is time for you 
 to hear the voice of-the Son of God in the gospel, and ac- 
 cept of his salvation. Behold the Judge is at the door, he 
 comes speedily, and he will not tarry, his herald of death 
 is just at hand. Are you willing ne should seize you in a 
 deadly sleep, and send you into eternal sorrows ? 
 
 And let aged Christians bestir 'themselves, and awake 
 from their slothful and secure- frames of spirit ; let them 
 look upward to the crown that is not far off, to the prize 
 that is almost within reach. 'Whatsoever your hand' or 
 heart ' find to do' for God, ' do it with all your' zeal and 
 might: let your loins be girt' about, and your natural 
 powers active in his service, 'le.t your lamp' of profession 
 be bright and burning, that when Jesus comes, ye may 
 receive him with joy. 
 
 ("5.) And are there any of you 'that are under decays 
 of grace and piety,' that are 'labouring and wrestling with 
 strong corruptions,' or in actual conflict with repeated 
 temptations which too often prevail over you? It becomes 
 you to hear the watch-word which Christ often gives to 
 his churches under such circumstances : make haste and 
 awake unto holiness, 'be watchful and strengthen the things 
 that remain that are ready to die ; hold fast what thou hast 
 received ; remember thy first affection and zeal, and repent' 
 and mourn for what thou hast lost, 'lest I come upon thee 
 as a thief, and thou shalt not know the hour.'' Remember 
 whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works, 
 for thou hast lost thy first love. Have a care of danger- 
 ous luke-warmness, and indifference in the things of reli- 
 gion. This is the very temper of a sleepy declining Chris- 
 tian, while he dreams he is rich and has great attainments. 
 Take heed, lest presuming upon thy riches and thy self- 
 sufficiency, thou 'shouldest be found ' wretched and mise- 
 rable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' Keep your souls 
 10 G
 
 74 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 
 
 awake hourly, and be upon your guard against every ad- 
 versary, and every defilement, lest ye be seized away in 
 the commission of some sin, or in the compliance with 
 some foul temptation.' The drowsy soldier is liable to be 
 led captive, and to die in fetters, and groan heavily in death. 
 But < blessed is the watchful' Christian ; he shall be found 
 amongst the overcomers, and shall partake of the rich va- 
 riety of divine favours, which are contained in the epistles 
 to the seven churches. Rev. ii. and iii. 
 
 Though the greatest part of a former discourse, has been 
 describing.the blessedness of a watchful Christian at the 
 hour of death, and in this I have set before you the sad 
 consequences that attend sleepers (both which are power- 
 ful preservatives against drowsiness,) yet at the conclusion 
 of this sermon, give me leave to add a few more motives 
 to the duty of watchfulness, for we cannot be too well 
 guarded against the danger of spiritual sloth and security. 
 
 Motive 1. ' Our natures at best in the present state are 
 too much inclined to slumber.' We are too ready to fall 
 asleep hourly : all the saints on earth, even the most live- 
 ly and active of them, are not out of danger, while they 
 carry this flesh and blood about them. Indeed the best 
 of Christians here below dwell but as it were in twilight, 
 and in some sense they may be described as persons be- 
 tween sleeping and waking, in comparison of the world of 
 spirits. We behold divine things here but darkly, and 
 exert our spiritual faculties but in a feeble manner : it is 
 only in the other world, that we are broad awake, and in 
 the perfect and unrestrained exercise of our vital powers ; 
 there only the complete life and vigour of a saint appears. 
 In such a drowsy state then, and in this dusky hoar, we 
 cannot be too diligent in rousing ourselves, lest we sink 
 down into dangerous slumbers. Besides, if we profess to 
 be 'children of the light and of the day,' and growing up 
 to a brighter immortality, ' let us not sleep as others do* 
 who are the sons and daughters of night and darkness. 
 1 Thess. v. 4, 5. 
 
 Motive 2. 'Almost, every thing around us in this world 
 of sense and sin, tends to lull us asleep again, as soon as 
 we begin to be awake.' The busy or the pleasant scenes 
 of'this temporal life are ever calling away our thoughts 
 from eternal things, they conceal from us the spiritual 
 world, and close our eyes to God, and things divine and
 
 SURPRISE IN DEATH, 75 
 
 heavenly. If the eye of. the soul were but open to invisi- 
 ble things, what lively Christians should we be ? But 
 either the winds of worldly cares rock us to sleep, or the 
 charm of worldly pleasures soothe us into deceitful slum- 
 bers. We are too ready to indulge earthly delights, and 
 while we dream of pleasure in the creatures, we lose, or 
 at least, abate our delights in God. Even the lawful sat- 
 isfactions of flesh and sense, and the enticing objects round 
 about us, may attach our hearts so fast to them, as to draw 
 us down into a bed oF carnal ease, till we fall asleep in 
 spiritual security, and forget that we are made for heaven, 
 and that, our hope and our home is on high. 
 
 Motive 3. ' Many thousands have been found sleeping 
 at the call of Christ.' Some perhaps in a profound and 
 deadly sleep, and others in an hour of dangerous slumber. 
 Many an acquaintance of ours has gone down to the grave, 
 when neither they nor we thought of their dying at such 
 a season. But as thoughtless as they were, they were 
 never the further from the point of death ; and we shud- 
 der with horror when we think what is become of their 
 souls. 
 
 While we are young, we are ready to please ourselves 
 with the enjoyments of life, and flatter our hopes with a 
 long succession of them. We suppose death to be at the 
 distance ' of fifty or threescore miles ;' threescore years 
 and ten is the appointed period. But alas ! how few are 
 there whose hopes are fulfilled, or whose life is extended 
 to those dimensions ? Perhaps the messenger of death is 
 within a furlong of our dwelling ; a few more steps on- 
 ward, and he smites us down to the dust. 
 
 There are some beautiful verses which I have read per- 
 haps thirty years ago, wherein the ingenious author de- 
 scribes the different stages of human life, under the image 
 of a fair prospect or landscape, and death is placed by mis- 
 taken mortals, afar off, beyond them all. Since the lines 
 return now upon my remembrance, I will repeat them here 
 with some small alteration. They are as follows : 
 
 Life and the scenes that round it rise, 
 
 Share in the same uncertainties, 
 Yet still we hug ourselves with vain presage 
 
 Of future days, serene and long, 
 
 Of pleasures fresh and ever strong, 
 An active youth, and slow declining age.
 
 76 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 
 
 Like a fair prospect, still jve make 
 
 Things future pleasing forms to take : 
 First verdant meads arise and flowery fields ; 
 
 Cool grooves and shady copses here, 
 
 There brooks and winding streams appear, 
 While change of objects still new pleasures yields. 
 
 Farther, fine castles court the eye, 
 
 There wealth and honours we espy 
 Beyond, a huddled mixture fills the stage, 
 
 Till the remoter distance shrouds 
 
 The plains with hills, those hiMs with clouds ; . * . 
 There we place death behind old shivering age. 
 
 When death alas, perhaps too nigh, 
 
 In the next hedge doth skulking' lie, 
 There plants his engines, thence lets fly his dart , 
 
 Which while we ramble without fear, 
 
 Will stop us in our full career ; 
 And force us from our airy dreams to part. 
 
 How fond and vain are our imaginations, when we have 
 seen others called away on a sadden from the early scenes 
 of life, to promise ourselves a long continuance here ! We 
 have the same feeble bodies, the same tabernacles of clay, 
 that others have, and we are liable to many of the same 
 accidents or casualties : the same killing diseases are at 
 work in our natures, and why should we imagine, or pre- 
 sume, that others should go so much before us ? 
 
 And if we enquire of ourselves as to character or merit, 
 or moral circumstances of any kind, and compare ourselves 
 with those that are gone before, what foundation have we 
 to promise ourselves a longer continuance here ? Have 
 we not the same sins, or greater, to provoke God ? Are 
 we more useful in the world than they, and do more ser- 
 vice for his name ? May not God summon us off the stage 
 of life on a sudden, as well as others ? What are we bet- 
 ter than they ? Are we not as much under the sovereign 
 disposal of the great God as any of our acquaintance who 
 have been seized in the flower and prime of life, and called 
 away in an unexpected hour ? And what power have we 
 to resist the seizure, or what promise to hope that God will 
 delay longer ? Let us then no more deceive ourselves with 
 vain imaginations, but each of us awake and bestir ourselves 
 as though we were the next persons to be called away 
 from this assembly, and to appear next before the Lord. 
 
 Motive 4. ' When we are awake, we are not only fitter 
 for the coming of our Lord to call us away by death, and
 
 SURPRISE IN DEATH. 77 
 
 fitter for his appearance to the great judgment, but we are 
 better prepared also to attend him in every call to present 
 duty, and more ready to meet his appearance in every 
 providence.' It is the Christian soldier who is ever awake 
 and on his guard, that is only fit for every sudden ap- 
 pointment to new stations and services, he is more pre- 
 pared for any post of danger or hazardous enterprise, and 
 better furnished to sustain the roughest assaults. We shall 
 be less shocked at sudden afflictions here on earth, if our 
 souls keep heaven in view, and are ready winged for im- 
 mortality. When we are fit to die we are fit to live also, 
 and to (To. better service for God in whichsoever of his 
 worlds he shall please to appoint our station. My business, 
 Father, and my ioy, is to do. thy will among the sons of 
 mortality, or among the spirits of the blest on high. 
 
 Motive 5. 'Let us remember we have slept too long 
 already in days past, and it is but a little while that we are 
 called to watch.' We have worn away too much of our life 
 in sloth and drowsiness. The ' night is far spent' with 
 many of us, "the day is at hand ; it is now high time to 
 awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than 
 when we first believed j" Rom. xiii.- 11, 12. Another 
 hour or two, 'and the night will be at an end with us ;' Je- 
 sus the morning star is just appearing ; what ? ' can we 
 not watch one hour ?' happy souls ! that keep themselves 
 awake to God in the midst of this dreaming world ! Hap- 
 py indeed, when our Lord shall call us out of these dusky 
 regions, and we shall answer his call with holy joy, and 
 spring upward to the inheritance of the saints in light ! 
 Then all the seasons of darkness, and slumbering, will be 
 finished for ever ; there is no need of laborious watchful- 
 ness in that world, where there is no flesh and blood to 
 hang heavy upon the spirit; but the sanctified powers of 
 the soul are all life, and immortal vigour. There is ' no 
 want of tlie sun-beams' to make their day-light, or to irradi- 
 ate 'that city ; the glory of God enlightens it' with divine 
 splendors, 'and the Lamb is the light thereof.' No inhab- 
 itant can sleep urtder such a united blaze of grace and glory. 
 No faintings of nature, no languors or weariness are found 
 in all that vital climate ; every citizen is for ever awake 
 and busy under the beams of that glorious day ; zeal, and 
 love, and joy, are the springs of their eternal activity, and 
 1 there is no night there.'
 
 DISCOURSE IV 
 
 CHRIST ADMIRED AND GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. 
 
 2 Er. THESSAI. i. 10. When he shall cotneto be glorified in his saints, 
 and admired in all them that believe. 
 
 How mean and contemptible soever our Lord Jesus 
 Christ might appear heretofore on earth, yet there is a day 
 coming when he shall make a glorious figure in the sight 
 of men and angels. How little soever the saints may be 
 esteemed in our day, and look poor and despicable in an 
 ungodly world, yet there is an hour approaching when 
 they shall be glorious beyond all imagination, and Christ 
 himself shall be glorified in them. In that day shall the 
 Lord our Saviour be the object of adoration and wonder, 
 not only among those of the sons of men that have be- 
 lieved on him, but befoi^e all the intellectual creation,. and 
 that upon the account of his grace manifested in believers. 
 
 The natural enquiry that arises here is this, ' What par- 
 ticular instances of the grace, of Christ in his saints, shall 
 be the matter of our admiration, and his glory in that 
 day?' 
 
 To this I shall propose an answer under the following 
 particulars. 
 
 First, It is a matter of pleasing wonder, < that persons of 
 all characters should have been united in one faith, and 
 persuaded to trust in the same Saviour, and embrace the 
 same salvation ;' for some of all sorts shall stand in that 
 blessed Assembly. Then it shall be a fruitful spring of 
 wonder and glory, that men of various nations and ages, 
 of different tempers, capacities, and interests, of contrary 
 educations, and contrary prejudices, should believe one 
 gospel, and trust in one Deliverer, from hell and death ; 
 that the sprightly, the studious and the stupid, the wise and 
 the foolish, should relish and rejoice in the same sublime 
 truths, not only concerning the true God, but also concer- 
 
 78
 
 GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. 79 
 
 ning Jesus the Redeemer ; that the Barbarian and the 
 Roman, the Greek and the Jew, should approve and re- 
 ceive the same doctrines of salvation, that they should 
 come into the same sentiments in the matters of religion, 
 and live upon them as their only hope. 
 
 Astonishing spectacle ! when the dark and savage in- 
 habitants of Africa, and our fore-fathers, the rugged and 
 warlike Britons, from the * ends of the earth/ shall ap- 
 pear in that assembly, .with some of 'the polite nations 
 of Greece and Rome, and each of them shall glory in 
 having been taught to renounce the gods of their ancestors, 
 and the demons which they once worshipped, and phall 
 rejoice in Jesus the king of Israel, and in Jehovah, the ev- 
 erlasting God. 
 
 The conversion -of the Gentile world to Christianity, is 
 a matter of glorious wonder, and shall appear to be so in 
 that great day. That those who had been educated to be- 
 lieve many gods, or no god at all, should renounce athe- 
 ism and idolatry, and adore the true God only : and those 
 that were taught to sacrifice to idols, and to atone for their 
 own sins with the blood of beasts, should trust in one sac- 
 rifice, and the atoning blood of the Son of God. Here 
 shall stand a believing atheist, and there a converted idol- 
 ater, as monuments of the Almighty power of his grace. 
 
 There shall shine also in that assembly, here and there 
 a prince, and a philosopher, though ' not many wise, not 
 many noble, not many mighty are called ;' and they shall 
 be matter of wonder and glory ; that princes who love no 
 control, should bow their, sceptres and their souls, to the 
 royality and godhead of the poor man of Nazareth ; that 
 the heat hen philosophers, who had been used only to yield 
 to reason, should submit their understandings to divine 
 reyelation r even when it has something above the powers 
 and discoveries of reason in it. 
 
 It shall raise our holy wonder too. when we shall, behold 
 some of the Jewish Priests and Pharisees, who became 
 converts to the Christian faith, adorning the triumph of 
 that clay. The Jewish Pharisees who expected a glorious 
 temporal prince for their Messiah, that they should at last 
 own the son of a carpenter for their. Teacher, their Saviour 
 and their king : that they should veil the pride of their 
 souls, and acknowledge a parcel of poor fishermea for his 
 chief ministers of state, and receive them as ambassadors
 
 80 CHRIST ADMIRED AND 
 
 to the world. That those who thought they were righte- 
 ous, and hoasted in it, should renounce their boastings and 
 their righteousnesses, and learn to expect salvation and life 
 for themselves, from the death and righteousness of anoth- 
 er : that they who once called the cross of Christ ' folly 
 and weakness,' should come to see the 'wisdom and. power 
 of God' in crucified man, and believe him who hung up- 
 on d tree as an accursed creature, to be Emmanuel, God 
 with us, 'God manifest in the flesh,* and the Saviour of 
 mankind. . . 
 
 Surely shall men and angels say in that day, 'these 
 were the effects of ah Almighty power, it was the work 
 of God the Saviour, and it is marvellous in our eyes.' With 
 united voice shall all the saints confess, "flesh and blood 
 has not revealed this unto us, but the spirit of our Dord 
 Jesus Christ, and of God the Father. We had perished 
 in our folly, but Christ has been made wisdom to us ; 
 we were in darkness and lay under the shadow of death, 
 but Christ has given us light" 1 Cor. i. 30. Ephes. v. 14. 
 
 Come, all ye saints of these latter ages upon whom 
 the end of the world is come, raise your heads with me 
 and look far backwards, even to the beginning of time 
 and the days of Adam ; for the believers' of all ages, as 
 well as of all nations shall appear together in that day, 
 and acknowledge Jesus the Saviour. According to the 
 brighter or darker discoveries of the age in which they 
 lived, he has been the common object of their faith. Ev- 
 er since he was called the 'seed of the woman,' till the 
 time of his appearance in. the flesh, all the chosen of God 
 have lived upon his grace thou-gh multitudes of them ne- 
 ver knew his name. It is true the greater part of that 
 illustrious company on the right hand of Christ, lived 
 since the time of his incarnation, (for the "great multi- 
 tude which no man could number, is derived from the 
 Gentile 'nations," Rev. vii. 9.) Yet the ancient patri- 
 archs, with the Jewish prophets and saints, shall make 
 a splendid appearance there : 'one hundred and forty -four 
 thousand are sealed among the tribes of Israel. These 
 of old embraced the gospel in types and shadows ; but 
 now their eyes' behold .Christ Jesus, the substance and the 
 truth. In the days of their flesh they read his name in 
 dark lines and looked through the long glass of prophecy 
 to distant ages, and a Saviour to cdme, and now behold
 
 GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. 81 
 
 they find complete and certain salvation and glory in him. 
 "These all diad in faith, not having received the promis- 
 es, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded 
 of them, and embraced them." Heb. xi.' 13. They died 
 in -the hope of this salvation, and they shall arise in the 
 blessed possession of it. 
 
 Behold Abraham appearing there, the Father of the faith- 
 ful, who ' saw the day of Christ,' and rejoiced to see it, 
 who trusted in his on Jesus two thousand years before 
 he was born. His elder family the pious Jews surround 
 him there, and we his younger children among the Gen- 
 tiles, shall stand with him as thje followers of his faith, 
 who trust in the same Jesus almost two thousand years 
 after he is dead. How shall we both * rejoice to see this 
 brightest day' of the Son of man, and congratulate each 
 other's faith, while our eyes meet and centre in him, and 
 our souls triumph in the sight and love, and enjoyment of 
 him in whom we believed ! How admirable and divinely 
 glorious shall our Lord himself appear, on whom every 
 eye is fixed with unutterable delight, in whom the faith 
 of distant countries and ages is centred and reconciled, and 
 in whom * all the nations nf tho earth' appear to be ' bles- 
 se'd,' according to the ancient word of promise. Gen. xv. 
 and xvii. 
 
 Secondly, It is a further occasion of pleasing wonder, 
 ( that so many wicked obstinate wills of men, and so ma- 
 ny perverse affections, should be bowed down, and submit 
 themselves to the holy rules of the gospel.' This is ano- 
 ther instance of the grace of Christ, and shall be the sub- 
 ject of our joyful admiration. Every son and daughter of 
 Adam by nature is averse to God, and inclined to sin, a 
 child of disobedience and death. Eph. ii. 2. There is a 
 new miracle wrought by Christ in every instance of con- 
 verting grace, and he shall have the glory of them all in 
 that day. It is a first resurrection from the dead, it is a 
 new creation, and the Almighty power shall then be pub- 
 licly adored; * 
 
 Then one shall say, < I was a sensual sinner, drenched 
 in liquor and unclean lusts, and wicked in all the forms of 
 lewdness and intemperance : "the grace of God my Sav- 
 iour appeared to me, and taught me to deny worldly lusts," 
 which I once thought I could never have parted with. I 
 loved my sins as my life, but he has persuaded and con- 
 11
 
 82 CHRIST ADMIRED AKD 
 
 strained me to cut off a right hand, and to pluck out aright 
 eye, and to part with my darling vices ; .and behold me 
 here a monument of his saving mercy.' 
 
 'I was envious against my neighbour, (shall another 
 say,) and my temper was malice and wrath ; revenge 
 was. mingled with my constitution, and I thought it no in- 
 iquity. But I bless the name of Christ my Redeemer, 
 who in the day of his 1 grace turned my wrath into meek- 
 ness ; he inclined me to love even mine enemies, and to 
 pray for them that cursed me ; he taught me all this by 
 his own example, and he made me learn it by the sovereign 
 influences of his Spirit. I am a wonder to myself, when 
 I think of what once I was. Amazing change and al- 
 mighty grace !' . 
 
 Then a third shall confess, ' I was a profane wretch, a 
 swearer, a blasphemer ; I hoped for no heaven, and I 
 feared no hell ; but the Lord seized me in the midst of 
 my rebellions, and sent his arrows into my soul ; he made 
 me feel the stings of an awakened conscience, and con- 
 strained me to believe there was a God and a hell, till I cried 
 out astonished, what shall I do to be saved . ? Then he 
 led me to partake of his own salvation, and from a proud 
 rebellious infidel, he has made me a penitent arid a huirible 
 believer ; and here I stand to shew forth the wonders of 
 his grace, and the boundless extent of his forgiveness. ' 
 
 A fourth shall stand up and acknowledge in that day, 
 ' And I was a poor carnal covetous creature, who made 
 this world my god, and abundance of money was. my hea- 
 ven ; but he cured me of this vile idolatry of gold, taught 
 me how to obtain treasures in the heavenly world, and to 
 forsake all on earth, that I might have an inheritance there ; 
 and behold he has not disappointed my hope : I am now 
 made rich indeed, and I must forever speak his praises.' 
 
 There shall be no doubt or dispute in that day, whether 
 it was the power of our own will, or the superior power 
 of divine grace, that wrought the blessed change, that 
 turned a lion into a lamb, a grovelling earth-worm into a 
 bird of paradise, and of a co.vetous or malicious sinner, 
 made a meek and a heavenly saint. The grace of Christ 
 shall be so conspicuous in every glorified believer in that 
 assembly, that with one voice they shall all shout to the 
 praise and glory of his grace ; " Not to us, Lord, not to 
 us, but to thy name be all the honour." Psal. cxv. 1.
 
 GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS 83 
 
 Thirdly, It shall be the matter of our wonder, and the 
 glory of Christ in that day, 'that so many thousand guilty 
 wretches should be made righteous by one righteousness, 
 cleansed in one laver from all their iniquities, and sprin- 
 kled unto pardon and sanctification, wkh the blood of one 
 man, Jesus Christ.' See the " great multitude that no man 
 can number," JRev. vii. 9. 10. They all "washed their 
 robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," 
 ver. 14. 
 
 It is a matter of wonder to us now on earth, that the 
 blessed Son of God who is one with the Father, should 
 stoop so low as to unite himself to a mortal nature, that he 
 should become a poor despicable man, and pass through a 
 life of sufferings and sorrows, and die an accursed death, 
 to redeem us from guilt and deserved misery. But when 
 we shall see him in his native glory and lustre, his acquir- 
 ed dignities, and all the honours of heaven heaped upon 
 him, it will raise our wonder high, to think that such a 
 One should once humble himself to the death of the cross, 
 the death of the vilest slave, that he might save our souls 
 from dying ; that he should pour out his own blood to 
 wash off the stains of millions of sins, that we might ap- 
 pear righteous before a God of holiness. Then shall the 
 multitude of the saved join in that song, "-To him that 
 loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 
 be glory and dominion for ever." Rev. i. 5, 6. " Wor- 
 thy is the Lan:b that was slain to receive power, and rich- 
 es, and honour, for thou hast redeemed us with thy blood 
 from every kindred, tribe and nation." Rev. v. 
 
 Then shall those blessed words of Scripture appear and 
 shine in full glory, howsoever they are often passed over 
 in silence, and too much forgotten in our age, Rom. v. 17, 
 19, 21. "If by one man's offence death reigned by one ; 
 much more they which receive abundance of grace, and 
 of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Je- 
 sus Christ. For as by one man's disobedience many were 
 made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be 
 made righteous. That as sin hath reigned unto death, 
 even so might -grace reign through righteousness unto 
 eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." Then shall our 
 blessed Lord shine in the complete lustre of that incom- 
 municable name, JEHOVAH TZIDKENU, the Lord our 
 righteousness. Jer. xxiii. 6.
 
 84 CHRIST ADMIRED AND 
 
 And not only the atonement and salvation itself, shall 
 be the subject of our glorious admiration, but the 'way 
 and manner' how sinners partake of it, shall minister fur- 
 ther to our wonder, and to the glory of Christ. That such 
 a world of poor miserable creatures should be saved from 
 hell, by believing or trusting in grace, when they could 
 never be saved by all their own works ; that they should 
 obtain righteousness and acceptance unto eternal life, by a 
 humble penitence and poverty of spirit, depending on the 
 death and righteousness of another, when all their labours 
 and toil in works of the law,, could not make up a righte- 
 ousness of their own, sufficient to appear before the justice 
 of God ; Christ will not only be glorified in their holiness 
 as saints, but admired and honoured in and by their faith 
 as believers. His blood and his grace shall share all the 
 glory. " Therefore it is of faith," and not of works, "that 
 it might be of grace," Rom. iv. 15. Yet this saving faith 
 is the -spring of shining holiness in every believer. Duties 
 and virtues are not left out of our religion, when faith is 
 brought into it. The graces of the saints join happily 
 with the atonement of Christ, to render that day more 
 illustrious. 
 
 Fourthly, ( That a company of such feeble Christians, 
 should maintain their course towards heaven, through so 
 many thousand obstacles :' this shall be another subject of 
 admiration, and yield a further revenue of glory to our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, for he who is their righteousness is their 
 strength also. Isa. xlv. 24, 25. "In the Lord shall all 
 the seed of Israel glory" in that day, as their strength and 
 their salvation. They have broke through all their diffi- 
 culties, and were " able to . do all things through Christ 
 strengthening them." Phil. iv. 13. 
 
 Behold that noble army with palms in their hands ; once 
 they were weak warriors, yet they overcame mighty ene- 
 mies, and have gained the victory and the prize ; enemies 
 rising from earth, and from hell, to tempt and to accuse 
 them, but " they overcame by the blood of the Lamb," 
 Rev. xii. 7, 11. What a divine honour shall it be to our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, the Captain of our salvation, that weak 
 Christians should subdue their strong corruptions, and get 
 safe to heaven through a thousand oppositions within and 
 without ? It is all bwing to the grace of Christ, that there 
 is grace which is all-sufficient for every saint, 2 Cor. xii. 9.
 
 GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. 85 
 
 They are " made more than conquerors through him that 
 has loved them," Rom. via. 38. 
 
 Then shall the faith, and courage, and patience of the 
 saints, have a blessed review ; and it shall be told before 
 the whole creation what strife and wrestlings a poor be- 
 liever has passed through in a dark cottage, a chamber of 
 long sickness, or perhaps in a dungeon ; how he has there 
 combated with powers of darkness, how he has struggled 
 with huge sorrows, and 'has- borne and has not fainted,' 
 though he has been often ' in heaviness through manifold 
 temptations.' Then shall appear the bright scene which 
 St. Peter represents as the event of sore trials, 1 Pet. j. 6, 
 7. When our ' faith has been tried in the fire' of tribula- 
 tion, and is found ' more precious than gold,' it shall shine 
 to the ' praise, honour, and glory,' of the suffering saints, 
 and of Christ himself ' at his appearance.' 
 
 Behold that illustrious troop of martyrs, <md some 
 among them of the feeblest sex and of tender age ; now, 
 that women should grow bold in faith, even in the sight of 
 torments, and children, with a manly courage, should profess 
 the name of Christ in the face of angry and threatening 
 rulers ; that some of these should become undaunted con- 
 fessors of the truth, and others triumph in fire and torture ; 
 these things shall be matter of glory to Christ in that day ; 
 it was his power that gave them courage and victory in 
 martyrdom and death. Every Christian there, every sol- 
 dier in that triumphing army, shall ascribe his conquest to 
 the grace of his Lord', his Leader, and lay down all their 
 trophies at the feet of his Saviour, with humble acknowl- 
 edgments and shouts of honour. 
 
 Almost all the saved number were, at some part of their 
 lives, weak in faith, and yet, by the grace of Christ, 
 they held out to the end, and are crowned. ' I was a poor 
 trembling creature,' shall one say, ' but I was confirmed in 
 my faith and holiness by the gospel of Christ ; or I rested 
 on a naked promise and found support, because Christ was 
 there, and he shall have the glory of it.' In him are all 
 the promises yea, and in him Amen, to the glory of the 
 Father," 2 Cor. i. 20, 21, 22. And the Son shall share in 
 this glory, for he died to ratify these promises, and he lives 
 to fulfil them. 
 
 <0h what an almighty arm is this (shall the believer say) 
 that has borne up so many thousands of poor sinking crea- 
 
 H
 
 86 CHRIST ADMIRED AND 
 
 tures, and lifted their heads above the waves !' The spark 
 of grace that lived many years in a flood of temptations, and 
 was not quenched, shall then shinfc bright, to the glory of 
 Christ who kindled and maintained it. When we have 
 been brought through all the storms and threatening seas, 
 and yet the raging waves have been forftid to swallow us 
 up, we shall cry out in raptures of joy and wonder, "What 
 manner of man is this, that the winds and the seas have 
 obeyed him ?" 
 
 Then shall it be gloriously evident, that he has conquered 
 Satan, and kept the hosts of hell in chains, when it shall 
 appear that he has made poor, mean, trembling believers, 
 victorious over all the powers of darkness ; for the Prince 
 of 'peace has bruised him under their feet.' 
 
 Fifthly, There is more work for our wonder and joy, 
 and more glory for our blessed Lord, when we shajl see 
 ' that 'so many dark and dreadful providences were working 
 together in mercy, for the good of the saints ;' it is because 
 Jesus Christ had the management of them all put in hjs 
 hand ; and we shall acknowledge " he has done all things 
 well." Rom. viii. 28, " All things have wrought together 
 for good." It is the voice of Christ to every saint in sor- 
 row, " what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt 
 know hereafter," John xii. 7. I saw not then, saith the 
 Christian, that my Lord was curing my pride, by such a 
 threatening and abasing providence, that he was weaning 
 my heart from sensual delight, by such a sharp and pain- 
 ful wound ; but now I behold things in another light, and 
 give thanks and praises to my divine Physician. 
 
 We shall look back upon the hours of our impatience, 
 and be ashamed ; we shall chicle the flesh for its old re- 
 pinings, when we shall stand upon the eternal hills of para- 
 dise, and cast our eyes back upon yonder transactions of 
 time, those past ages of complaint and infirmity. We shall 
 then, with pleasure and thankfulness, confess, that the 
 captain of our salvation was much in the right to lead us 
 through so many sufferings and sorrows, and we were much 
 it the wrong to complain of his conduct: 
 
 Bear up your spirits then, ye poor afflicted distressed 
 souls, who are wrestling through difficult providences all 
 in the dark. Bear up but a little longer, " he that shall come, 
 will come, and will not tarry ;" he will set all his conduct
 
 GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. 
 
 in a fair light, and you shall say, 'Blessed be the Lord, 
 and all his government." 
 
 Sixthly, ' That heaven should be so well filled out of 
 such a hell of sin and misery as this world is,' shall be an- 
 other delightful.reflection full of wonder and glory. Take 
 a short survey of mankind, how < all flesh has corrupted 
 its ways' before God, and 'every imagination of the thought 
 of man's heart is only evil, and that continually ; there is 
 none righteous, no, not one.' Look round about you and 
 see how iniquity abounds, violence, oppression, pride, lust, 
 sensualities of all kinds, how they reign among the children 
 of men. Religion is lost, and God forgotten in the world ; 
 and yet, out of this wretched world, Christ has provided 
 inhabitants for heaven, where 'nothing can enter that de- 
 fileth.' Look into your own hearts, ye sinners, see what 
 a hell lies there ; and ye converts of the grace of Christ, 
 look into your hearts too, and see how many of the seeds 
 of wickedness still lie hid there ; how much corruption, 
 and how little holiness ; look inward, and wonder that 
 Christ should p.ve.r fit you for heaven, by his Converting 
 and his sanctifying grace. 
 
 Look round the world again, and survey the miseries 
 of this earth ; as many calamities as there are creatures, 
 and perhaps ten times more. Who is there on earth with- 
 out his sorrows ?, and sometimes a multitude of them meet 
 in one single sufferer. See how toil, and weariness, and 
 disappointment, poverty and sickness, pain, and anguish, 
 and vexation, are distributed through this world, that lies 
 on the borders of hell ; see all this, and wonder at the 
 grace of Christ, that has taken a colony out of this misera- 
 ble world, and made a heaven of it. 
 
 We shall, many of us, be a wonder to each other as well 
 as to ourselves, and we shall all review and admire the 
 grace of Christ in and towards us all. Among the rest, 
 there are two sorts of Christians whose salvation shall be 
 a special matter of wonder, and these are the melancholy 
 and the uncharitable.* The melancholy Christian shall 
 
 * The word is not used here by our author, in the full extent of its mean- 
 ing. The uncharitable would be as much out of place in heaven, as the 
 sanctified wduld be in hell. Yet compared to what he ought to be, a truly 
 pious man, through rashness and mistake, may be uncharitable in particular 
 instances ; and owing to difference of temperament, knowledge, piety, or 
 habit, pious men are sometimes uncharitable to a blamable extent, not only
 
 38 
 
 CHRIST ADMIRED AND 
 
 wonder that ever such a sinner as himself was brought to 
 heaven ; and the uncharitable shall wonder how such a 
 sinner as his neighbour came there. The poor doubting 
 melancholy soul, who was full of fears lest he should be 
 condemned, shall then have full assurance that he is elect- 
 ed and redeemed, pardoned and saved, when he sees, heais 
 and feels, the salvation and the glory upon him, within 
 him, and all around him, and he shall admire and adore 
 the grace of God his Saviour. The narrow-souled Chris- 
 tian, who said his neighbour would be damned for want 
 of some party notions, or 'for some lesser failings, shall 
 confess his uncharitable mistake, and shall wonder at the 
 abounding mercy of Christ, which has pardoned those er- 
 rors in his neighbour, for which he had excommunicated 
 and condemned him. Both these Christians in that day, 
 I mean, the timorous and the censorious, shall stand at 
 his right hand, as monuments of his surprising grace, who 
 forgave one the defects of his faith, and the other his want 
 of love ; and their souls and their tongues shall join toge- 
 ther to rejoice in the Lord, and their spirits shall magnify 
 their God and Redeemer. Christ shall have "his due reve- 
 nue of glory from both, in the hour of their public sal- 
 vation. 
 
 what honour shall it add to the overflowing mercy of 
 Christ, what joy and wonder to all the saints, to see Paul 
 the persecutor and blasphemer there, and Peter who de- 
 nied the Lord that bought him, and Mary Magdalene that 
 impure sinner !* See what afoul and shameful catalogue, 
 what children of iniquity are at last made heirs and pos- 
 sessors of heaven, 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10, 11. The fornicators 
 and idolaters, the thieves and the covetous, the drunkards, 
 
 in respect of what they should be, but also compared with others. It is in 
 this comparative sense that the word i used as above. ED. 
 
 * Tradition has been exceedingly unjust to the character of Mary of 
 Magdala. There is not a vestige of proof in the New Testament, that she 
 ever had been an impure woman. There is evidence of the contrary in the 
 character of her associates ; such as Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward, 
 Susannah, and other women of respectable station, and of the best charac- 
 ter. " She is spoken of," as Dr. Scott says, " rather as one who had been 
 remarkably afflicted, than peculiarly -wicked." She was a wealthy and 
 pious woman, who " ministered to Jesus of her substance," not only while 
 he was living, but also brought spices to embalm him after his death. She 
 was one of those devoted women, who watched our dying Saviour during 
 the whole time of his sufferings on mount Calvary, saw him laid in the 
 tomb, and was the first to whom he was pleased to show himself after he
 
 GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. , 89 
 
 the revilers, and the extortioners. Such they were in the 
 days of ignorance and heathenism, fit fuel for the fire of 
 hell ; and in those circumstances they are utterly excluded 
 1 from the kingdom of God ;' but now they find a place 
 in that blessed assembly, and the converting grace of Christ 
 is admired and glorified, that could turn such sinners into 
 saints. surprising scene of rich salyation, when these 
 Corinthian converts, washed in the blood of Christ, and 
 renewed by his Spirit, shall appear in their white garments 
 of holiness and glory ! There is not one sinful creature 
 to be found in all the vast retinue of the holy Jesus. But 
 there are thousands who have been once great criminals, 
 notorious sinners, and have been snatched by the arm of 
 divine love, as ' brands out of the burning.' What an af- 
 fecting sight will it be, when we shall behold all the mem- 
 bers of Christ united to their Head, and complete in glory ; 
 and see at the same time, a world of vile sinners doomed 
 to destruction ! With what admiration and wonder shall 
 we cry out, " and such were some of these happy ones, 
 but they are sanctified, but they are justified, in the name 
 of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God," ver.ll. 
 ' Not unto us, Lord, not unto us, but to' God our Sav- 
 iour be eternal honour. 
 
 In the seventh place, There is another glory and won- 
 der added to this illustrious scene, and gives honour to 
 our blessed Saviour, and that is, 'that so many vigorous, 
 beautiful, and immortal bodies, should be raised at once 
 out of the dust, with all their old infirmities left behind 
 them.' Not one ache or pain, not one weakness or dis- 
 ease, among all the glorified millions. As the Israelites 
 came out of their bondage in Egypt, so shall the army of 
 saints from the prison of the grave, " and not one feeble 
 among them," Psal. cv. 37. This is the work of Christ 
 the Creator and the Healer. 
 
 rose from the dead. I conclude, therefore, with Dr. Clarke, " that the com- 
 mon opinion is a vile slander on the character of one of the best women 
 mentioned in the Gospel of God ; and a reproach [by implication] on the 
 character and conduct of Christ and his disciples," to whom a certain degree 
 of imprudence might justly be imputed, if a woman of her supposed charac- 
 ter, however reformed, had been numbered among their associates. Far be 
 it from us to ascribe imprudence to Him who is possessed of all the treasures 
 of wisdom ; and we would also be as far from giving countenance to the as- 
 persions which blundering tradition casts on the character of any of tug 
 faithful followers. ED. 
 
 12 H 2
 
 90 CHRIST ADMIRED AND 
 
 Here I might run many sorrowful divisions, and travel 
 over the large and thorny field of sickness and pains that 
 attend human nature, those inborn mischiefs that vex poor 
 Christians in this state of trial and suffering. But these 
 were all buried when the body went to the grave, and 
 they are buried forever ; he that has the keys of death, 
 shall let the bodies of his saints out of prison ; but no gout 
 nor stone, no infirmity nor distemper, no head-ache nor 
 heart-ache, shall ever attend them. The body was 'sown 
 in weakness, but it is raised in power ;' it was ' sown in 
 dishonour, it is raised in glory,' through the power of the 
 second Adam, and his quickening Spirit. 1 Cor. xv. 43, 
 45. Rom. viii. 11. 
 
 Then shall Christ appear to be Sovereign and Lord of 
 death, when such an endless multitude of old and new 
 captives are released at his word, and the grave has restor- 
 ed its prey ; when those bodies which have been turned 
 into dust some thousands of years, and their atoms scatter- 
 ed abroad by the winds of heaven, shall be raised again in 
 glory and dignity, to meet their descending Lord in the 
 air. Surely Jesus in that day shall be acknowledged as a 
 Sovereign of nature, when, at the word of his command, 
 a new creation shall arise, all perfect and immortal. 
 
 It will add yet further glory to Christ, when we remem- 
 ber what fruitful seeds of iniquity were lodged in that flesh 
 and blood, which we wore on earth, and which we laid 
 down in the tomb ; and when, at the same time, we survey 
 our glorified bodies, how spiritual, how holy, how happily 
 fitted for the service of glorified souls made perfect in ho- 
 liness. How did all the saints once complain of 'a law in 
 their members, that warred against'the law of their minds, 
 and brought them into bondage to the law of sin ?' But 
 this 'law of sin' is now for ever abolished, this 'bondage' 
 dissolved and broken, and these ' members' all new-creat- 
 ed, for 'instruments' of 'righteousness' to serve God in 
 his temple. Holy Paul shall no more ' groan in a sinful 
 tabernacle,' he shall no more complain of that ' flesh where- 
 in no good thing dwelt,' he shall cry out no more, " 
 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me ?" 
 
 Many and bitter have been the sorrows of a holy soul 
 in this world, because of the perverse dispositions of ani- 
 mal nature and the flesh. But none of the saints in that 
 assembly shall ever feel again the stings of inward envy>
 
 GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. 91 
 
 the pricking thorns of peevishness, nor the wild ferments 
 of ' wrath and passion :' none of them shall ever find those 
 1 unruly appetites' which wrought so strongly in their old 
 flesh and blood, and too often overpowered their unwilling 
 souls, those appetites which brought their consciences 
 sometimes under fresh guilt, and filled them with inward 
 reproaches, and agonies of spirit. These evil principles 
 are all destroyed by death, they are lost in the grave, and 
 shall have no resurrection. The new-raised bodies of 
 the righteous in that day, shall be completely obedient to 
 the dictates of their spirits, without .any vicious juices to 
 make reluctance, or perverse humours to raise an inward 
 rebellion.* And not only so, but perhaps even our bodies 
 shall have some active holy tendencies, wrought in them 
 so far as corporeal nature can administer, towards the sacred 
 exercises of a glorified saint A sweet and blessed change 
 indeed ! And Jesus who raised these bodies in this beauty 
 of holiness, shall receive the glory of .this divine work. 
 
 The last instance I shall mention,, wherein Christ shall 
 be admired in his saints, is this, 'they shall appear in that 
 day, as so many images of his person, and as so many 
 monuments of the success of his office.' 
 
 Is the blessed Jesus a great Prophet, and the Teacher of 
 his church ? These are the persons that have learnt his di- 
 vine doctrine, they have ' heard the joyful sound' of his 
 gospel, and the holy truths of it are copied out in their 
 hearts. These are the disciples of his school ; and by his 
 word', and by his Spirit, they have been taught to know 
 God and their Saviour, and they have been trained up in 
 the way to eternal life. 
 
 Is Jesus a great ' High Priest, both of sacrifice and inter- 
 cession ?' Behold all these souls, an endless number, puri- 
 
 * " Vicious juices," and ''perverse humours," may be the causes or ef- 
 fects of bodily disease ; and disease, together with the habits which some- 
 times produce it, may make "reluctance," and " raise inward rebellion," 
 may try the faith and patience of God's people, and detect the deficiency and 
 feebleness, of their graces, and the strength of their remaining corruptions. 
 But disease in any part of the material frame, is not the cause of moral de- 
 linquency. It is the consequence of sin, the evidence that we " were by 
 nature the children of wrath, even as others," or, it may be the occasion of 
 remaining depravity in some way discovering itself; but it would be approx- 
 imating too much the confines of Gnosticism, to admit the idea that any of 
 the "juices" or " humours" of the body are morally "vicious" or "per- 
 Terse," ED.
 
 92 CHRIST ADMIRED AND 
 
 fied from their defilements by the blood of his cross, wash- 
 ed and made white in that blessed laver, and reconciled to 
 God by his atoning sacrifice. Behold the power of his in- 
 tercession, in securing millions from the wrath of God, 
 and in procuring for them every divine blessing. He has 
 obtained for each of them grace and glory. 
 
 Is Jesus the ' Lord of all things,' and the 'King of his 
 church ?' Behold his subjects waiting on him, a numerous 
 and a loyal multitude, who have the laws of their King 
 engraven on their souls. These are the sons and daughters 
 of Adam, whom he has rescued by his power from the 
 kingdom of darkness, and the hands of the devil : he has 
 guarded them from the rage of their malicious adversaries 
 in earth and hell, and brought them safe through all diffi- 
 culties, to behold the glories of this day, and to celebrate 
 the honours of their King. 
 
 Is he the ' Captain of salvation ?' See what a blessed ar- 
 my he has listed under his banner of love ; and they have 
 followed him through all the dangers of life and time under 
 his conduct. These are the 'chosen, the called, the faith- 
 ful.' They have sustained many a sharp conflict, many a 
 dreadful battle, and they are at last, ' made more than 
 conquerors through him that has loved them.' They at- 
 tribute all their victories to the wisdom, the goodness, and 
 the power of their divine Leader : and even stand amazed 
 at their own success against such mighty adversaries. But 
 they fought under the banner, conduct, and influence of the 
 'Prince of life,' the King of righteousness, who is always 
 victorious, and has a crown in his hand for every conqueror. 
 Is Jesus the great 'example of his saints?' Behold the 
 virtues and graces of the Son of God, copied out in all his 
 followers. ' As he was, so were they in this world, holy r 
 harmless and undefiled, and separate from sinners.' As 
 he now is, so are they, glorious in holiness, and divinely 
 beautiful, while each of them reflects the image of their 
 blessed Lord, and they appear as wonders to all the be- 
 holding world. They 'were unknown' here on earth, 
 even as ' Christ himself was unknown.' This is the day 
 appointed to reveal their works and their graces. Jesus is 
 the 'brightness of his Father's glory, and the express 
 image of his person ; and all the Sons and daughters of 
 God shall then appear, as so many pictures of the blessed 
 Jesus, drawn by the finger of the eternal Spirit
 
 GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. 
 
 And not their souls only, but their glorified bodies also 
 are framed in his likeness. What grace and grandeur 
 dwells in each countenance ! 'As thou art,' blessed Jesus, 
 so shall they be on that day, ' all of them resembling the 
 children of a king !' Vigour and health, beauty and immor- 
 tality, shine and reign throughout all that blessed assembly. 
 The adopted sons and daughters of God resemble the 
 original and only begotten Son. Christ will have all his 
 brethren and -sisters conformed unto his glories, that they 
 may be known to be his kindred, \\^ children of his Father, 
 and that he 'may appear the first-born qmong many breth- 
 ren.' When the Son of God breaks open the graves, he 
 forms the dust of his saints, by the model of his own glo- 
 rious aspect and figure, "and changes their vile bodies into 
 the likeness of his own glorious body, by that power 
 whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself," Phil, 
 iii. 91 He shall be admired as the bright original, and 
 each of the saints as a fair and glorious copy. The various 
 bftantiPs that, are dispersed among all that assembly, are 
 
 ;a 'ip and unite/I in b.'mepif . < h e is the chiefest of 
 ten thniKwnrK nnd altogether loVtiy ne 1! v/nb e S, 1 ., 01 
 
 firmament can paint his own bright image at once, upon 
 a thousand reflecting glasses, or mirrors of gold. What 
 a dazzling lustre would arise from such a scene of reflec- 
 tions ! But what superior and inexpressible glory, above 
 all the powers of similitude and beyond the reach of com- 
 parison, shall irradiate the world in that day, when Jesus 
 the Son of righteousness shall shine upon all his saints, 
 and find each of them well prepared to receive this lustre, 
 and to reflect it round the creation ; each of them displaying 
 the image of the original Son of God, and confessing all 
 their virtues and graces, all their beauties and glories, both of 
 soul and body, to be nothing else but mere copies and deri- 
 vations from Jesus, the first and fairest image of the Father ! 
 
 USE. The doctrines and the works of divine grace are 
 full of wonder and glory. Such is the person and offices 
 of Christ, such are his holy and faithful followers, and 
 such eminently will be the blessed scene at his appearance. 
 In the foregoing part of the discourse, we have briefly 
 surveyed some of those glorious wonders, we now come 
 to consider what use may be made of such a theme. 
 
 Use 1. It gives us eminently these two lessons of in- 
 struction.
 
 94 CHRIST ADMIRED AND 
 
 Lesson 1. 'How mistaken is the judgment of flesh 
 and sense, in the things that relate to Christ and his saints.' 
 The Son of God himself, was abused and scorned by the 
 blind world, they esteemed him as " one smitten of God 
 and unbeloved," and they saw no beauty nor comeliness 
 in him," Isa. liii. 23. He was poor and despised all his 
 life, and he was doomed to the death of a criminal and a 
 slave. As for the saints they find no more honour or es- 
 teem among men than th^r Lord, they are many times 
 called and counted < tJ* filth of the world, and the off- 
 scouring of all things/ 1 Cor. iv. 13. This is the judg- 
 ment of flesh and sense. 
 
 But when the great appointed hour is come, and Jesus 
 shall return from heaven ' with a shout of the arch-angel, 
 and the trump of God/ when he shall call up his saints 
 from their bods of dust and darkness, and make the graves 
 resign those 'prisoners of hope/ when they shall -ill gath- 
 er together around their Lord, a bright, ami numerous ar- 
 my, shining and reflecting the splendours of his pi-pspnce, 
 
 how will the judgment of flesh and sense be 
 
 . . i * ini onaniK ! i Is this tne 
 
 JI&TI ffiafwas loaded with scandal, that was buffeted with 
 scorn, and scourged and crucified in the land of Judea ? 
 Is this the person that hung on the c.ursed tree, and expi- 
 red under agonies of pain and sorrow ! Amazing sight! 
 how majestic, how divine his appearance ! the Son 
 of God, and the king of glory ! And are these the men 
 that were made the mockery of the world ? that wander- 
 ed about in sheep-skins, and goat-skins, in dens and 
 caves of the earth? Surprising appearance! how illus- 
 trious! how full of glory!' that such a meditation might 
 awaken us to judge more by faith. 
 
 Lesson 2. The next lesson that we may derive from 
 the text is this, viz. ' One great design of the day of 
 judgment, is to advance and publish the glory of Christ.' 
 He shall some on purpose to ' be glorified in his saints / 
 the whole creation was made by him and for him ; the 
 transactions of Providence, grace and justice, are managed 
 for his honour ; and the joyful and terrible affairs of the 
 day of judgment, are designed to display the majesty and 
 the power of Jesus the King, the wisdom and equity of 
 Jesus the Judge, and the grace and truth of Jesus the 
 Saviour. I will grant indeed that the appointment of
 
 GLOHIFIED IN HIS SAINTS* 95 
 
 this day is partly intended for the glory of Christ, in the 
 'just destruction of the impenitent,' for he wi'l be glori- 
 fied in pouring out the vengeance of his Father upon 
 rebellious sinners. " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed 
 from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, ta- 
 king vengeance on them that know not God, and obey 
 not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be 
 punished with everlasting destruction from the presence 
 of the Lord, and from the glory of his power," ver. 7, 
 8, 9. before my text. But his sweetest and most valua- 
 ble revenue of glory arises from among his saints. 
 
 If the 'messengers of the churches' are called ' the glo- 
 ry of Christ,' with all the weaknesses, and sins, and fol- 
 lies that attend the best of them here, as in 2 Cor. viii. 
 23, much more shall they be in his glory hereafter, when 
 they shall have no. spot or blemish found upon them, and 
 when the work of Christ upon their souls has formed and 
 finished them in the perfect beauty of holiness. The saints 
 shall reflect glory on each other, and all of them cast su- 
 preme lustre on Christ their head. The people shall be 
 the crown and glory of the minister in that day, and the 
 minister shall be the joy and glory of the people, and both 
 shall be the crown, joy and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 1 Thes. ii. 19, 20. 2 Cor. i.. 14. 2 Thes. i. 12. He 
 shall appear high on a throne in the midst of that bright 
 assembly and say, ' Father, th'ese are the sheep that thou 
 hast given me, in the counsels of thine eternal love ; all 
 these have I ransomed from hell at the price of my own 
 blood ; these have I rescued by my grace, from the do- 
 minion of sin and the devil ; I have formed them unto ho- 
 liness and fitted them for heaven : I have kept them by 
 my power through all' the dangers of their mortal state, 
 and have brought them safe to thy celestial kingdom. Ml 
 thine are mine, and all mine are thine; I teas glorified 
 in them on earth, John xvii. 10, and they arc now my ev- 
 erlasting crown and glory.' 
 
 Then shall the unknown worlds that never fell, worlds 
 of angels and innocent creatures, and the world of guilty 
 devils and condemned rebels, stand and wonder together 
 at the recovery and salvation Christ has provided for the 
 fallen sons of Adam. They shall stand amazed to see the 
 millions of apostate creatures, the inhabitants of this earth- 
 ly globe, recovered to their duty and allegiance by the
 
 96 CHRIST ADMIRED AND 
 
 Son of God going down to hell amongst them ; millions 
 of impure and deformed souls restored to the divine im- 
 age, and made beautiful as angels, by the grace and spirit 
 of our Lord Jesus. Those spectators shall be filled with 
 admiration and transport, to see such a multitude of crim- 
 inals pardoned and justified, for the sake of a rightousness 
 which they themselves never wrought, and accepted as 
 righteous in the sight of God, by a covenant of grace un- 
 known to other worlds, and by faith in the great Media- 
 tor. They shall wonder to see such an innumerable compa- 
 ny of polluted wretches, washed from their sins in so pre- 
 cious a laver as the blood of God's own Son. And he that 
 hung upon the cross as a spectacle of wretchedness at Jer- 
 usalem, shall entertain the superior and inferior worlds 
 with the sight of his adorable and divine glories, and the 
 spoils he has brought from the region of death and hell. 
 Thus to ' the principalities and powers in heavenly places, 
 shall be made known by the church triumphant, the ma- 
 nifold wisdom,' and the manifold grace of God the Father, 
 and his Son Jesus Christ, Eph. iii. 10. 
 
 But tremble, ye obstinate and impenitent wretches ! 
 ye sensual sinners ! ye infidels of a Christian name and 
 nation ! Christ will be glorified in you one way or anoth- 
 er : if your hearts are not bowed and melted to receive his 
 gospel, you shall be ' punished with everlasting destruc- 
 tion' among those that ' knaw not God, and obey not the 
 gospel of his Son.' 
 
 Tremble, ye sensual and ye profane sons of iniquity, 
 when ye remember this day, when ye shall see the holy 
 souls that ye scorned, with crowns on their heads, and 
 palms in their hands, with the shout of victory and joy on 
 their tongues, and the God-man whom ye despised, and 
 whose grace ye neglected, shining at the head of that 
 bright assembly. 
 
 Tremble, ye infidels, ye despisers of the name of a cru- 
 cified Christ, behold his cross is become a throne, and his 
 crown of thorns a crown of glory. See the man whom 
 ye have scorned and reproached, at the head of millions 
 of angels, and adored by ten thousand times ten thousand 
 saints, while wicked princes and captains, armies and na- 
 tions of sinners, wait their doom from his mouth, nor dare 
 hope for a word of his mercy. make haste, and come 
 and be reconciled to him, and to God by him, that ye may
 
 GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. 37 
 
 belong to that blessed assembly, that ye may bear a part 
 in the triumphs of that day, and that Christ may be glori- 
 fied in your recovery from the very borders of damnation. 
 This thought leads me to the next use. 
 II. This discourse gives l rich encom*agement to the 
 greatest sinners to hope for mercy, and to the weakest 
 saints to hope for victory and salvation.' Such sort of 
 subjects of the grace of Christ, shall yield him some of the 
 brightest rays of glory at the last day. Yet, sinners, let 
 me charge you here never to hope for this happiness with- 
 out solemn repentance, and an entire change of heart unto 
 holiness ; for an unholy soul would be a fearful blemish 
 in that assembly, and a disgrace to our Lord Jesus. Chris- 
 tians, I would charge you also never to hope for the hap- 
 piness of this day, without battle and conquest ; for all the 
 members of that assembly must be overcomers : but where 
 there is a hearty desire and longing after grace and salva- 
 tion, let not the worst of sinners despair, nor the weakest 
 believer let go his hope, for it is such as you and I are, in 
 whom Christ will be magnified in that day. 
 
 Believe this. thou humbled and convinced sinner ! 
 who complainest that thy heart is hard, though thou would- 
 est fain repent and mourn ; who fearest that the bonds of 
 thy corruptions are so strong that they shall never be bro- 
 ken ; believe that the sovereign grace of Christ has de- 
 signed to exalt itself in the sanctifi cation of such unholy 
 souls as thou art, and in melting such hard hearts as thine. 
 And thou poor trembling soul that wouldest fain trust in a 
 Saviour, but art afraid, because of the greatness of thy 
 guilt, and thine abounding iniquities, believe this, that 
 ' where sin has abounded, grace has much more abounded." 
 It is from the bringing such sinners as thou art to heaven, 
 that the choicest revenues of glory shall arise to our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and thy acclamations of joy and honour to 
 the Saviour, shall perhaps be loudest in that day, ' when 
 he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in 
 all them that believe/ 
 
 Read 1 Tim. i. 13, 14, 15, and 16, and see there what 
 an account the great Apostle gives of his own conversion ; 
 " I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, yet 
 I obtained mercy ; and the grace of our Lord was exceed- 
 ing abundant with faith, and love, which is in Jesus 
 Christ" Now I am sent to publish and preach to blas- 
 13 I
 
 38 CHRIST ADMIRED AND 
 
 phemers and persecutors, that " this is a faithful saying, 
 and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came intd 
 the world to save sinners ; of whom I am the chief. How- 
 beit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Je- 
 sus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pat- 
 tern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life 
 everlasting." 
 
 Turn to another text, ye feeble believers, 2 Cor. xii. 9, 
 10, and there you shall find the same Apostle a convert 
 and a Christian, but too weak to conflict with the messen- 
 ger of Satan that buffeted him, nor able to release himself 
 from that sore temptation that lay heavy upon him : but 
 having received a word from Christ that his 'grace was 
 sufficient,' and that his ' strength was' to shine ' perfect in 
 glory in the midst of our weakness,' the Apostle encoura- 
 ges himself to a joyful hope. Now, says he, I can even 
 " glory in my infirmities, (so far as they are without sin.) 
 that the power of Christ may rest upon me ; when 1 am 
 weak" in myself, " I am strong" in the Lord. 
 
 Are not the most diseased patients the chief honours of 
 the physician that hath healed them ? And must not these 
 appear eminently in that day, when he displays to the sight 
 of the world the noblest monuments of his healing power? 
 When cripples and invalids gain the victory over mighty 
 enemies, is not the skill and conduct of their leader most 
 admired ? You are the persons then in whom Christ will 
 be glorified, be of good cheer, receive his offered grace, 
 and wait for his salvation. 
 
 III. The next use I shall make of this discourse, is to 
 draw a 'word of advice' from it. ' Learn to despise those 
 nonours and ornaments in this world, in which Christ shall 
 have no share in the world to come.' I do not say, ' cast 
 them all away,' for many things are needful in this life, 
 that can have no immediate regard to the other ; but 'learn 
 to despise them,' and set light by them, because they reach 
 no further than time, and shall be forgotten in eternity. 
 Never put the higher esteem on yourselves or your neigh- 
 bours, because of the gay glitterings of silk or silver : nor 
 let these employ youreyes and your thoughts in the time of 
 worship, when the things of the future world should' fill 
 up all your attention ; nor let them entertain your tongues 
 in your friendly visits, so as to exclude the discourse of di- 
 vine ornaments and the glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus.
 
 GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. 99 
 
 When I am to put on my best attire, let me consider, if 
 I am hung round with jewels and gold, these must perish 
 before that solemn day, or ir.elt in the last great burning, 
 they can add no beauty to me in that assembly. If I put 
 on love and .faith, and humility, I shall shine in these here- 
 after, and Christ shall have some* rays of glory from them. 
 may your souls and mine be drest in those graces which 
 are ornaments of great price in the sight of God!" 1 Pet. 
 iii. 3, 4, such as may command the respect of angels, and 
 reflect honour upon Christ in that solemnity ! 
 
 I confess we dwell in flesh and blood, and human na- 
 ture in the best of us is too much impressed by things sen- 
 sible. When we see a train of human pomp and grand- 
 eur, and long ranks of shining garments and equipage, it 
 is ready to dazzle our eyes, and attract our hearts. Vain 
 pomp, and poor equipage, all this, when compared with 
 the triumph of our blessed Lord, at his appearance with 
 an endless army of his holy ones ; where every saint shall 
 be vested, (not in silks and gold,) but in robes of refined 
 light, out-shining the sun, such as Christ himself wore in 
 the mount of transfiguration. Millions of suns in one fir- 
 mament of glory. Think on that day and the illustrious 
 retinue of our Lord : think on that splendor that shall at- 
 tract the eyes of heaven and earth, shall confound the 
 proud sinner, and astonish the inhabitants of hell. Such 
 a meditation as this will cast a dim shadow over the brigh- 
 test appearances of a court, or a royal festival ; it will 
 spread a dead colouring over all the painted vanities of this 
 lifc ; it will damp every thought of rising ambition and 
 earthly pride, and we shall have but little heart to admire 
 or wish for any of the vain shows of mortality. Methinks 
 every gaudy scene of the present life, and all the gilded ho- 
 nours of courts and armies, should grow faint, and fade a- 
 way and vanish, at the meditation of this illustrious appear- 
 ance. 
 
 IV. This text will give us also two hints of caution. 
 
 First, ' You that are rich in this world, or wise, or 
 mighty, dare not ridicule nor scoff at those poor weak 
 Christians, in whom Christ shall be admired and glorified 
 in the last day.' You that fancy you have any advan- 
 tages of birth or beauty, of mind or body here on earth, 
 dare not make a jest of your poor pious neighbour that 
 wants them, for he is one of those persons whom Christ
 
 100 CHRIST ADMIRED AND 
 
 calls his glory, and he himself has given you warning, 
 lest you incur his resentment on this account, Matth. 
 xviii. 6, " Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which 
 believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were 
 hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the 
 depth of the sea." Perhaps the good man has some ble- 
 mish in his outward form, or it may be his countenance 
 is dejected, or his mien and figure awkward and uncome- 
 ly ; perhaps his garments sit wrong and unfashionable up- 
 on him-, or it may be they hang in tatters : the motions of 
 his body perhaps are ungraceful, his speech improper, and 
 his deportment simple and unpolished ; but he has shining 
 graces in his soul, in which Christ shall be admired in the 
 last day, and how darest thou make him thy laughing- 
 stock ? Wilt thou be willing to hear thy scornful jest re- 
 peated again at that day, when the poor derided Christian 
 has his robes of glory on, and the Judge of all shall ac- 
 knowledge him for one of his favourites ? 
 
 The second hint of caution is this, c You that shall be 
 the glory of Christ in that day, dare not do any thing that 
 may dishonour him now.* Walk answerable to your cha- 
 racter and your hope, nor indulge the least sinful defile- 
 ment. Say within yourselves, ' Am I to make one in that 
 splendid retinue of my Lord, where every one must ap- 
 pear in robes of holiness, and shall I spot my garments with 
 the flesh ? When I am provoked to anger and indigna- 
 tion, let me say, doth wrath and bluster become a follow- 
 er and an attendant of the meek and peaceful Jesus? 
 When I am tempted to pride and vanity of mind, will 
 this be a beauty, or a blemish, to that assembly that shines 
 in glorious humility ? Or perhaps I am wavering, and ready 
 ta yield, and become a captive to some foolish temptation ; 
 but how then can I expect a place in that holy triumph, 
 which is appointed for none but conquerors? And how 
 shall I be able to look my blessed General in the face on 
 that day, if I prove a coward under his banner, and aban- 
 don my profession of strict holiness, at the demand of a 
 sinful and threatening world?' 
 
 V. The last use I shall make of the text, is matter of 
 * consolation and joy' to two sorts of Christians. 
 
 First, 'To the poor, mean, and despised followers of 
 Christ,' and in whom Christ himself is despised by the 
 ungodly world ; read my text, and believe that in you,
 
 GLORIFIED IK HIS SAItfTS. 101 
 
 Christ shall be glorified and admired, when, with a mil- 
 lion of angels, he shall descend from heaven, and make 
 his last appearance upon earth ; mean as you are in your 
 own esteem, because of your ignorance and your weakness 
 in this world, you shall be one of the glories of Christ in 
 the world to come : little and despicable as you are in the 
 esteem of proud sinners, they shall behold your Lord ex- 
 alted on his throue, and you sitting, among the honours 
 at hi$ right hand, while they shall rage afar off, and gnash 
 their teeth at your glory. When the eye of faith is open, 
 it can spy this bright hour at a distance, and bid the mour- 
 ning Christian rejoice in hope. 
 
 Secondly, There 'is comfort also in my text, to those 
 ' who mourn for the dishonour of Christ in the world ;' 
 those lively members of the mystical body who sympathize 
 with the blessed Head, under all the reproaches that are 
 cast upon him and his gospel, who groan under the load 
 of scandal that is thrown upon Christ in an infidel age, as 
 though it were personally thrown upon themselves. It is 
 matter of lamentation indeed, that there are but few of this 
 sort of Christians in our day, few that love our Lord Jesus 
 with such tenderness ; but if such there be among you, 
 open your eyes, and look forward to this glorious day.' 
 This day, to which Enoch, the first of all the prophets, 
 and John, the last of all the Apostles, direct our faith. Read 
 their own words, Jucle 14, 15. Rev. i. 7. "Behold, the 
 Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute 
 judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly 
 among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have 
 ungodlily committed, and of all the hard speeches, which 
 ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Behold, he 
 cometh with clouds j and every eye shall see him, and 
 they also which pierced him : and all kindreds of the 
 earth shall wail because of him." Bear up your hearts, 
 ye mourners, and support your hopes with the promise of 
 our Lord. "Again, a little while and ye shall see me;" 
 ye shall see "the Son of man sitting on the throne of his 
 glory," Matt. xxv. 31. 'Then shall your heart rejoice' 
 in his honours and in your own, and this "joy no man tak- 
 eth from you," John xvi. 19, 22. And while he repeats 
 this promise with his last words in the Bible, 'surely I 
 come quickly/ let every soul of us echo to the voice of 
 our beloved, Jlmen. Even so come Lord Jesus. 
 
 i2 

 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 THE WRATH OF THE LAMB. 
 
 RET. vi..l5, 16, 17. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and 
 the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond- 
 man, and every free-man, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of 
 the mountains ; and said to the "mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide fls 
 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. ' . 
 
 WHEN some terrible judgment, or execution of divine 
 vengeance is denounced against an age or a nation, it is 
 Sometimes described in the language of prophecy, by a 
 resemblance to the last and great judgment-day, when all 
 mankind shall be called to account for their sins, and the 
 just and final indignation of God shall be executed upon 
 obstinate and unrepenting criminals ; the discourse of our 
 Saviour in the xxivth of Matthew, is an eminent example 
 of this kind, where the destruction of the Jewish nation is 
 predicted, together with the final judgment of the world, 
 in such uniform language, and similar phrases of speech, 
 that it is difficult to say whether both these scenes of ven- 
 geance run through the whole discourse, or which part of 
 the discourse belongs to the one and which to the other. 
 The same manner of prophecy appears in this text. 
 
 Learned interpreters suppose these words to foretell the 
 universal consternation which was found among the hea- 
 then idolaters and persecutors of the Church of Christ, 
 when Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, was raised 
 to the throne of Rome, and became governor of the world. 
 But whether they hit upon the proper application of 
 this prophecy or not, yet still it is pretty evident, that 
 this scene of terror is borrowed from the last judgment, 
 which will eminently appear to be the " day of wrath," 
 as it is called, Rom. ii. 5. It is the great day of divine 
 indignation, in so eminent a manner, that all the tremen- 
 dous desolations of kingdoms and people, from the crea- 
 
 102
 
 THE WRATH OF THE LAMB. 10S 
 
 tion of the world, to the consummation of all things, shall 
 be but as shadows of that day of terror and vengeance. 
 
 I shall therefore consider these words at present, as they 
 contain a solemn -representation of that last glorious and 
 dreadful day ; and here I shall enquireparticularly,(l.)< Who 
 are the persons whose aspect and appearance shall then be 
 so dreadful to sinners ? (2.) How comes the wrath which 
 discovers itself at that time to be so formidable ? and (3.) 
 How vain will all the shifts and hopes of sinners be, in 
 that dreadful day, to avoid the wrath and vengeance.' 
 
 First, Who are the persons lhat appear clothed in so 
 much* terror ? 
 
 It is he that " sits upon the throne, and the Lamb." It 
 is God the Father of -all, the great and Almighty Creator, 
 the supreme Lord and Governor of the world, and the 
 Lamb of -God, i. e. our Lord JESUS CHRIST, his Son, dwell- 
 ing in human nature, to whom the judgment of the world 
 is committed, and by whom the Father will introduce the 
 terrible and the illustrious' scenes of that day, and manage 
 the important and eternal affairs of it. It is by these names 
 that the Apostle John, in this prophetical book, describes 
 God the Father and his Son Jesus. Rev. iv. 10. and v. 
 6. 13. . 
 
 If it be enquired, why God the Father is described as 
 the person 'sitting on the throne,' this is plainly agreeable 
 to the other representations of him throughout the Scrip- 
 ture, where he is described as first and supreme in author- 
 ity, as sitting on the throne of majesty on high, as denot- 
 ing and commissioning the Lord Jesus, his well-beloved 
 Son, to act for him, and as placing him on his throne, to 
 execute his works of mercy or vengeance. Rev. iii. 21. 
 " He that overcometh shall 'sit down with me on my 
 throne," saith our Saviour, " even as I have overcome, 
 and am set down with the Father on his throne." John v. 
 22, 27. "The Father hath committed all judgment into 
 the hands of the Son." It is true, the Godhead or divine 
 essence is but one, and it is the same Godhead which be- 
 longs to the Father that dwells in the Son, and in this res- 
 pect "Christ and the Father are one, he is in the Father, 
 and the Father in him," John x. 30, 38 ; yet the Father 
 is constantly exhibited in Scripture, with peculiar charac- 
 ters of prime authority, and the Son is represented as re-
 
 104 THE WRATH OP THE LAMB. 
 
 ceiving all from the Father.* John v. 19,20,23, 26, 27. 
 If it be farther enquired, i why Christ is called the Lamb 
 of God,' I hall not pursue those many fine metaphors and 
 similqs, in which the wit and fancy of men have run a long 
 course on this subject ; but stiall only mention these two 
 things. 
 
 1. He is called the Lamb, from the innocence of his 
 behaviour, the quietness and meekness of his disposition 
 and conduct in the world. The character of Jesus, among 
 men, 'was peaceful, and harmless, and patient of injuries; 
 "when* he was reviled, he" reviled not again^ but was led 
 as a Lamb to the slaughter," with submission, and without 
 revenge. This resemblance appears, and ia set forth to 
 view in several Scriptures, wherein he is compared to this 
 gentle creature. Acts viii. 32. 1 Pet. ii. 23. 
 
 2. He was called the Lamb, because he was appointed 
 a sacrifice for the sins of men ; John i. 29, "Behold the 
 Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world." 
 1 Pet. i. 18, 19, " You were re'deemed with the precious 
 blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish, and without 
 spot." It was a lamb that was ordained for the constant 
 daily sacrifice among the Jews, morning and evening, to 
 typify the constant and everlasting influence of the atone- 
 ment made by' the death of Christ. Heb. x. 11, 12. It 
 was a lamb which was sacrificed at the passover, and on 
 which the families of Israel feasted, to commemorate their 
 redemption from the slavery of Egypt, and to typify Christ 
 who is " our passover, who was sacrificed for us," and for 
 whose sake the destroying angel spares all that trust in 
 him. 1 Cor. v. 7. 
 
 But will a lamb discover such dreadful wrath ? Has the 
 Lamb of God such indignation in him'? Can the meek, 
 the compassionate, the merciful Son of God, put on such 
 terrible forms and appearances ? Are his tender mercies 
 vanished quite away,' and will he renounce the kind aspect, 
 and the gentle language of a lamb for ever? 
 
 To this I answer, that the various glories and offices 'of 
 our blessed Lord require a variety of human metaphors 
 and emblems to represent them. He was a lamb, full of 
 gentleness, meekness, and compassion, to invite and en- 
 
 * All the passages of Scripture which ascribe inferiority or dependence to 
 the Son, speak of him in his mediatorial character, or have reference to hi* 
 human nature. ED.
 
 THE WRATH OP THE LAMB. 105 
 
 courage sinful perishing creatures, to accept of divine mer- 
 cy : but he has now to deal with obstinate and rebellious 
 criminals, who renounce his Father's mercy, and resist all 
 the gentle methods of his own-grace and salvation : and he 
 is sent by the Father to punish those rebellions ; but he is 
 named ( the Lamb of God' still, to put the rebels in mind 
 what gentleness and compassion they have affronted and 
 abused, and to make it appear that their guilt is utterly 
 inexcusable. 
 
 Let us remember, Christ is now a Lamb, raised to the 
 throne in heaven, and furnished and armed 'with seven 
 eyes and seven horns,' with perfect knowledge and per- 
 fect power, to govern the world, to vindicate his own 
 honour, and to avenge himself upon his impenitent and 
 obstinate enemies, Rev. v. 5, 6. Here the Lamb will as- 
 sume the name of the " Lion of the tribe of Judah" also, 
 and he must act -in different characters, according to the 
 persons he has to deal with. 
 
 The second general question which we are to consider, 
 is, ' How comes the wrath of that great day to be so terri- 
 ble ?' 
 
 I answer in general, because it is not only the ( wrath of 
 God,' but of < the Lamb.' It is the wrath that is manifest- 
 ed for the affronts of divine authority, and the abuse of 
 divine mercy : it is wrath that is awakened by the con- 
 tempt of the laws of God, written in the books of nature 
 and Scripture, and for the contemnt of his Invo rw>^or\ ; n 
 the Gospel by Jesus Christ. 
 
 lA_^..j-jppr to observe hcic, th.nt +h^ ' T.T^O+U f Oc-J,' ^..a 
 
 thp < wrath of the Lamb,' are not to be conceived as exact- 
 ly the same, for it is tne wrath of the Son of God in his 
 human nature exalted, as well as the displeasure of God 
 the Father. It is the righteous and holy resentment of 
 the man Jesus, awakened and let loose against rebellious 
 creatures that have broken all the rules of his Father's 
 government, and have refused all the proposals of his 
 Father's grace. It is the wrath of the highest, the great- 
 est, and the best of creatures, joined to the wrath of an of- 
 fended Creator.* But let us enter a little into particulars. 
 
 * Hc*e let it be observed, that when the holy Scripture speaks of the 
 
 torath and indignation of the blessed God, we are not to understand it as 
 
 though God were subject to such passions or affections of nature, as we feel 
 
 fermenting or working within ourselves when our anger rises. But because 
 
 14
 
 106 THE WRATH OF THE LAMB. 
 
 1. It is righteous wrath, and just and deserved venge- 
 ance, that < arises from the clearest discoveries of the love 
 of God neglected, and the sweetest messages of -divine 
 grace refused.' All the former discoveries of the love of 
 God to men, both in nature and providence, as well as by 
 divine revelation, whether in the days of the Patriarchs, or 
 in the days of Moses and the Jews, were far inferior to the 
 grace which was revealed by Jesus Christ; and therefore 
 the sin of rejecting it is greater in proportion, and the 
 punishment will be more severe. "If the word spoken 
 by angels was stead fast, 'and every transgression and dis- 
 obedience .received -a just recompence of reward, how 
 shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, as THIS 
 which began to be spoken by our Lord?" Heb. ii. 2, 3. 
 
 Moses had man)* true discoveries of grace made to him 
 and entrusted with him, for sinful nien. But the Scrip- 
 ture saith, John i. 17, "The law came by Moses, and 
 grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," i. e. in such super- 
 abundance, as though grace and truth had never appeared 
 in the world before. The forgiving mercy of God, under 
 the veil of ceremonies and sacrifices, and the mediation of 
 Christ, under the type of the high priest, was but a dark 
 and imperfect discovery, in comparison of the free, the 
 large, the full forgiveness, which is brought to us by the 
 gospel of Christ. Learn this doctrine at large, from Heb. 
 x. 1. 14. This is amazing mercy, astonishing grace, 
 and the despisers of it will dese.i ve to perish with double 
 -at-strtTCnon, rurTney wink Their eyes against clearer light 
 and reject the offers of more aV^uuUiij^ love. 
 
 the justice or rectoral wisdom of God Inclines Him to bring natural evil, pain 
 or sorrow, upon those who are obstinately guilty of moral evil or sin, and U> 
 treat them as anger or wrath inclines men to treat those that have offended 
 them ; therefore the Scripture, speaking after the manner of men, calls it, 
 the -wrath and indignation of God. 
 
 And it is hard to say, whether or no the wrath of the J,amb, i. e. of the 
 man Christ Jesus, in whom the Godhead dwells, be any thing more than 
 the calm, dispassionate, rectoral wisdom of tlic human nature of Christ, in- 
 clining him to punish rebellious and impenitent sinners, in conformity to the 
 will of God his Father, or in concurrence with the Godhead which dwells in 
 him. WATTS. 
 
 [Jesus is not to be viewed as merely man, in discharging the functions of 
 Mediator. We might as well imagine a human body to act without a soul, 
 as Christ to act separately from the divine nature. In his Person the two 
 natures are inseparably united. The " wrath of the Lamb" is the execution 
 of his just judgment upon sinners.~ED.]
 
 THE WRATH OP THE LAMB. 107 
 
 2. It is wrath that is 'awakened by the most precious 
 and most expensive methods of salvation slighted and under- 
 valued.' Well may God say to Christian nations, especial- 
 ly to Great-Britain, who sits under the daily sound of 
 this gospel, 'What could I have done more for you than I 
 have done ?' Isa. v. 4. 'I have sent my own Son, the son 
 of my bosom, the sou of my eternal love, to take flesh and 
 blood upon him, that he might be able to die in your stead 
 who were guilty rebels, and deserved to die : I have given 
 him up to the insults and injuries of men, to the tempta- 
 tions, the bufferings, and rage of devils, to the stroke of 
 the sword of my justice, to the cursed death of the cross 
 for you ; here is heaven and salvation purchased for man, 
 with the dearest and most valuable life in all the creation, 
 with the richest blood that ever ran in the veins of a creature, 
 with the life and blood of the Son of God ; and yet you 
 refused to receive and accept of this salvation, procured at 
 so immense a price. I called you to partake of this inval- 
 uable blessing freely, "without money and without price," 
 and yet you slighted all these offers" of mercy ; what re- 
 mains but that my wrath should kindle against you in the 
 hottest degree, and fill your souls with exquisite anguish 
 and misery ; you have refused to accept of a covenant 
 which was sealed with the blood of my own Son, which 
 was confirmed by miraculous operations of my own Spirit ; 
 you have valued your sinful pleasures, and the trifles of 
 this vain world, above the blood of my Son, and the life 
 of your souls : it is divinely proper that divine vengeance 
 should be your portion, who have rejected such rich treas- 
 ures of divine love.' - Heb. x. 28 31. ' He that despised 
 Moses' law, died without mercy, under two or three wit- 
 nesses ; of how much sorer punishment suppose ye, shall he 
 be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of 
 God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith 
 he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite 
 unto the Spirit of grace ? For we know him that hath 
 said vengeance belongeth unto me, I will repay, saith 
 the Lord.' 
 
 3. It is wrath that 'must avenge the affronts and inju- 
 ries done to the prime minister of God's government, arid 
 the chief messenger of his mercy.' All the patriarchs, 
 and the prophets, and angels themselves, were but ' ser- 
 vants* to bring messages of divine grace to men : and some
 
 108 THE WRATH OF THE LAMB. 
 
 of them in awful forms and appearances, represented the 
 authority of God too. But the < Son of God' is the prime 
 minister of his government, and the noblest ambassador of 
 his grace, and the chief deputy or vicegerent in his Fa- 
 ther's kingdom. See Heb. i. 1, 2. Psal. ii. 6, 9, 12. His 
 Father's glory and grandeur, compassion and love, are 
 most sublimely exhibited in the face of Christ his Son, 
 and God will not have his highest and fairest image disgra- 
 ced and affronted, without peculiar and signal vengeance. 
 
 The great God will vindicate the honours of his Son 
 Jesus, in the infinite destruction of a rebellious and unbe- 
 lieving world : and the Son himself hath wrath, and just 
 resentment ; he will vindicate bis own authority, and his 
 commission of grace. He hath a rod of iron put into his 
 hands, as well as a sceptre of mercy ^ and with this rod 
 will he break to pieces rebellious nations. Rev. iii. latter 
 end. It is not fit that the first minister of the empire of 
 the King of heaven, and the brightest image of his majesty 
 and of his love, should appear always in the character of 
 a Lamb, a meek and uriresenting creature. He will put 
 on the Lion when his commission of grace is ended : he 
 is the ' Lion of the tribe of Judah,' Rev. v. 5, and will 
 * rend the caul of the heart' of those unrepenting sinners, 
 who have resisted his authority and abused his love. 
 
 And how will the wrath of the Lamb of God penetrate 
 the soul of sinners with intense anguish, when the meek 
 and the compassionate Jesus, shall be commissioned and 
 constrained to speak the language of resentment and divine 
 indignation ? 
 
 { Did you not hear of me, sinners, in yonder world, 
 which lies weltering in flames ? Did you not read of me 
 in the gospel of my grace ? Did you not learn my cha- 
 racter and my salvation in the ministrations of my word ? 
 Were you not told that I was appointed to be the Saviour 
 of a lost world, and a minister of divine mercy to men ? 
 And was there not abundant evidence of it by miracles 
 and prophecies ? Were you not told that I was exalted 
 after my sufferings to the right hand of God, on purpose 
 to " bestow repentance and remission of sins ?" Acts. v. 
 31. And were you not informed also, that I had a "rod 
 of iron" given me to dash rebels to death ? Psal. ii. What 
 is the reason you never came to me, or submitted to my 
 government, or accepted of my grace ? Did you never
 
 THE WRATH OF THE LAMB. 109 
 
 hear of the threatenings that stood like drawn swords 
 against those who wilfully refuse this mercy ? Did you 
 think these were mere bugbears, mere sounding words to 
 fright children with, and harmless thunder that would ne- 
 ver blast you ? Did you think these flashes of wrath in 
 my word, were such -sort of lightnings as you might safe- 
 ly play with, and flame that would never burn ? What 
 punishments think you, do you deserve, first for the abuse 
 of my authority, and then for the wilful and obstinate re- 
 fusal of my grace ? Is it npt divinely fit and proper, my 
 wrath should awake against such heinous criminals 1 ? 
 Where is any proper object for. my resentment, if you are 
 not made objects of it ? Take them, angels, bind them 
 hand and foot, and cast them into utter darkness. Let 
 them be thrown headlong into the prison of hell, where 
 fire and brimstone burn unquenchably, where light, and 
 peace, and hope can never come. Let them be crushed 
 with the rod of iron, which the Father hath put into my 
 hands, as the first minister of his kingdom, as the avenger 
 of his despised grace.' 
 
 4. It is a wrath, that is 'excited by a final and utter re- 
 jection of the last proposals of divine love.' When mercy 
 was offered to men by the blessed God at first, the discov- 
 eries were more dark and imperfect ; there were still 
 further discoveries to be made in following ages. There- 
 fore the crime and guilt of sinners in those former days, 
 was much less than the crime and guilt of those who reject 
 this last proposal of mercy. There is no further edition 
 of the covenant of grace, for those who refuse this offer. 
 Those who neglect Christ as he is set forth in the gospei, 
 to be a sacrifice for sin, "there remains no more sacrifice 
 for them, but a certain fearful expectation of vengeance 
 and fiery indignation, which shall consume the adversa- 
 ry." Heb. x. 26, 28. . 
 
 All the former dispensations of grace are contained em- 
 inently and completed in this dispensation of the gospel. 
 God can send no greater messenger than his own Son, 
 and he concludes and finishes the whole scene and period 
 of grace, with the gospel of Christ. There remains noth- 
 ing but wrath to the uttermost for those who have abused 
 this last offer of mercy. This was exemplified in the de- 
 struction' of Jerusalem and the Jews, a little after they had 
 put Christ to death, and rejected the salvation which he 
 
 K
 
 110 'THE WRATH OF THE LAMB. 
 
 proposed' ; and this wrath will be more terribly glorified 
 in the final destruction of every sinner that wilfully re- 
 jects the glad tidings of this salvation. 
 
 5. It is such wrath, as 'arises from the patience of God, 
 tired and worn out by the boldest iniquities 'of men, and 
 by a final perseverance in their rebellions.' It is the cha- 
 racter and glory of God to be " long-suffering, and slow to 
 anger." Exod. xxxiv. 6. " The Lord God merciful and 
 gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and 
 truth ;" and Jesus his Son, is -the minister of this his pa- 
 tience, and the intercessor for this delay of judgment and 
 vengeance. He is represented as interceding one year 
 after another, for the reprieve of obstinate sinners, and at 
 his intercession, God the Father ' waits to be gracious :' 
 but God will not wait and delay, and keep silence for ev- 
 er, nor will Jesus for ever plead. Psal. 1. 1, 3, 21, 22. 
 " Consider this ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pie- 
 ces, and there be none to deliver." God will say then to 
 obstinate sinners, as he did to the Jews of old, Jer. xv.' 5, 
 6. " I will stretch out my hand against thee and destroy 
 thee, I am weary of repenting ;" and even the abused pa- 
 tience of Jesus the Saviour, shall turn into fury, when the 
 'day of recompence' shall come, and the "day of venge- 
 ance which is in his heart," Isa. Ixiii. 1, 4. 
 
 let each of us consider, 'How long have I made the 
 grace of God wait on me ? How many messages of peace 
 and pardon have I neglected? How many years have I 
 delayed to accept of this salvation, and made Jesus wait on 
 an impenitent rebel with the commission of mercy in his- 
 hand, while I have refused to receive it ? Let my soul 
 be this day awakened to lay hold of the covenant of grace, 
 to submit to the gospel of Christ, lest to-morrow the days 
 of his commission of mercy toward me expire, lest the 
 patience of God be finished, lest the abused love of a Sav- 
 iour turn into fury, and nothing remain for me, but una- 
 voidable destruction.' 
 
 6. It is a sentence of divine wrath, which 'shall be at- 
 tended with the fullest conviction of sinners, and self-con- 
 demnation in their own consciences.' This doubles the 
 sensations of divine wrath, and enhances the anguish of 
 the criminal to a high degree. 
 
 This final unbelief and rejection of grace, is a sin against 
 so much light and so much love, that however men cheat
 
 THE WRATH OP THE LAMB. Ill 
 
 their consciences now, and charm them into silence, yet at 
 the last great day their own consciences shall be on the 
 side of the Judge, when he pronounces wrath and damna- 
 tion upon them. What infinite terrors will shake the soul, 
 when there is not one of its own thoughts that can speak 
 peace within ? When all its own inward powers, shall 
 echo to the sentence of the Judge, and acknowledge the 
 justice and equity of it forever. 
 
 who can express the agonies of pain and torture, when 
 the impenitent sinner shall be awakened into such reflec- 
 tions as these ? ' I was placed in aland of light aad knowl- 
 edge ; the light of the gospel of grace shone all around 
 me ; but I winked my eyes against the light, and now I 
 am plunged into utter and eternal darkness ; I was con- 
 vinced often that I was a sinner, and in danger of death 
 and hell, I was convinced of the truth of the gospel, and 
 the all-sufficiency of the salvation of Christ ; but I loved the 
 vanities of this life, I followed the appetites of the flesh, 
 and the delusive charms of a tempting world, I delayed to 
 answer to the voice of Providence and the voice of mercy, 
 the voice of the gospel inviting me to. this salvation, and 
 the voice of Christ requiring me to be saved. My own 
 heart condemns me with ten thousand reproaches : how 
 righteous is God in his indignation ! how just is the resent- 
 ment of the Lamb of God in this day of his wrath ! What 
 clear and convincing and dreadful equity attends the sentence 
 of my condemnation, and doubles the anguish of my soul!' 
 7. It is such wrath as ' shall be executed hmnediately 
 and eternally, without one hour reprieve, and without the 
 least hope of mercy, and that through all the ages to come.' 
 For though Jesus is the Mediator between God and man, 
 to reconcile those to God who have broken his law, there 
 is no mediator appointed to reconcile those sinners to Christ, 
 when they have finally resisted the grace of his gospel. 
 There is 'no blood nor death that can atone, for the final 
 rejection of the blood of this dying Saviour. If we 
 resist Jesus Christ the Lord, and his atonement, and 
 his sacrifice,, his gospel, and his salvation, there remains 
 no 1 more atonement for us. Let us consider each of these 
 circumstances apart, and dwell a little on these terrors, 
 ' that our hearts may be affected with them. 
 
 (1.) This ' wrath shall be executed immediately,' for the 
 time of reprieve is come to an end. Here divine wisdom
 
 112 THE WRATH OF THE LAMB. 
 
 and justice have set the limits of divine patience, and they 
 reach no further. 
 
 (2.) It is ' wrath that shall be executed without mercy/ 
 because the day and hour of mercy is for ever finished. 
 That belongs only to this life. The day of grace is gone 
 for ever. "He that once made them, will now have no 
 mercy upon them : and he that formed them will shew 
 them no favour," Isa. xxvii. 11. The very mercy of the 
 Mediator, the compassion of the Lamb of God, is turned 
 into wrath and fury. The Lamb himself has put on the 
 form of a Lion, and there is no redeemer or advocate t& 
 speak a word for them who have finally rejected Jesus the 
 only Mediator, worn out the age of his pity, and provok- 
 ed his wrath as well as his Father's. 
 
 (3.) It is f wrath without end,' for their souls are immor- 
 tal, their bodies are raised to an immortal state, and their 
 whole nature being sinful and miserable, and immortal, 
 the} r must endure a wretched and .miserable immortality.. 
 This is the representation of the book of God, even of 
 the New Testament, and I have no commission from God, 
 either to soften these words of terror, or to shorten the 
 term of their misery. . 
 
 REMARKS ON THIS DISCOURSE. 
 
 Remark 1. 'What a wretched mistake is it to imagine 
 the great God is nothing else but Mercy,' and Jesus Christ 
 1 is nothing else but love and salvation.' It is true, 
 God has more mercy than we can imagine, his love is 
 boundless in many of .its exercises, and Jesus his Son, 
 who is the image of the Father, is the fairest image of his 
 love and grace. His compassions have " heights and depths, 
 and lengths and breadths in them, that pass all our knowl 
 edge," Eph. iii. 18. But God is an universal Sovereign 
 a wise and righteous Governor. There is majesty with 
 him as well as grace ; and ' Jesus is Lord of lords and 
 King of kings ; he bears the image of his Father's justice, 
 as well as of his Father's love ; otherwise, he could not 
 be the full " brightness of his glory, nor the express im- 
 age of his person." 
 
 And besides, the Father hath armed him with powers of 
 divine vengeance, as well as with powers of mercy and salva- 
 tion. Psal. ii. 9. He has put 'the rod of iron' into his hand,
 
 THE WRATH OF THE LAMB. 113 
 
 " to dash the nations like a potter's vessel." Rev. ii. 27. 
 and xix. 1 3. He is the " elect and precious corner stone 
 laid in Zion," 1 Pet. ii. 6. But he is a stone that " will 
 bruise those who stumble at him," and "those on whom 
 he shall fall, he will grind them to powder," Matth. xxi. 
 42. He is a Lamb and a Lion too. He can suffer at 
 Jerusalem and mount Calvary, with silence, < and not 
 open his mouth ;' and he can roar from heaven with over- 
 spreading terror, and shake the world with the sound of 
 his anger. See that his mercy be not abused. 
 
 Remark 2. 'The day of Christ's patience makes haste 
 to an end.' Every day of neglected grace hastens on 
 the hour of his wrath and vengeance.' Sinners waste 
 their months and years in rebellion against his love, while 
 he waits months and years to be gracious ; but Christ is 
 all-wise, and he knows the proper period of long-suffer- 
 ing, and the proper moment to let all his wrath and re- 
 sentment loose, on obstinate and unreclaimable sinners. 
 may every one of our souls awake to faith and repen- 
 tance, to religion and righteousness, to hope and salvation, 
 before this day of our peace be finished and gone for ev- 
 er! Psa!. ii. 12. " Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and 
 ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but 
 a little." There was once a season when he saw the na- 
 tion of the Jews, and the people of Jerusalem, wasting 
 the proposals of his love ; they let their day of mercy 
 pass av/ay unimproved, and he foretold their destruction 
 \vi-:li tears in his eyes. Luke xix. 41, 42. " He beheld 
 the city a;ul wept over 'it ;" alas, for the inhabitants who 
 would not be saved. He was then a messenger of salva- 
 tion, and clothed with pity to sinners, but in the last great 
 day of his wrath, there is no place for these tears of com- 
 passion, no room for pity or forgiveness. 
 
 Remark 3. 'When we preach terror 'to obstinate sin- 
 ners, we may preach Jesus Christ as well as when we 
 preach love and salvation,- for he is the minister of his 
 Father's government both in vengeance aod in mercy.' 
 The Lamb hath wrath as well as grace, and he is to be 
 feared as well as to be trusted ; and he must be repre- 
 sented under all the characters of dignity to which he is 
 exalted, that ' knowing the terrors of the Lord,' as well 
 as the compassion of the Saviour, ' we may persuade sinful 
 men to accept of salvation and happiness.' 
 
 15 * 3
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 THE VAIN REFUGE OF SINNERS : OR A MEDITATION ON 
 THE ROCKS NEAK TUNBRIDGE- WELLS; 1729. 
 
 REV. vi. 15, 16 17. And the kings of the earth, and the great, men, 
 and the rich men, &c. hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the 
 mountains ; and said to the rocks and mountains, fall on us, and hide us 
 from the face of him that sitteth, on the throne, and from the wrath of the- 
 Lamb. 
 
 IN the former discourse on this text, we have taken a 
 survey of these two persons and their characters, God and 
 the Lamb, whose united wrath spreads so terrible a scene 
 through the world at the great judgment-day ; we have 
 also inquired, and found sufficient reasons, why the anger 
 and justice of God should be so severe against the sinful 
 sons and daughters of men, who have wilfully broken his 
 law, and refused the grace of his gospel ; and why the in- 
 dignation of the Son of God should be superadded to all 
 the terrors of his Father's vengeance. 
 
 We are now r come to the third and last general head of 
 discourse, and that is to consider, 'how vain will all the 
 refuges and hopes of sinners be found in that dreadful day, 
 when God and the Lamb shall join to manifest their wrath 
 and indignation against them.' 
 
 These hopes, and shifts, and refuges of rebellious and 
 guilty creatures, are represented by a noble image and de- 
 scription in my text : "They shall call to the rocks and the 
 mountains to fall upon them, and to cover them from the 
 face of him that sits upon the throne, and from the wrath 
 of the Lamlr." As this address to mountains and to rocks 
 appears to be but a vain hope in extreme distress, when a 
 feeble and helpless criminal is pursued by a swift and 
 mighty avenger, so vain and fruitless shall all the hopes of 
 sinners be, to escape the just indignation and sentence of 
 their Judge. In order to shew the vanity of all the refuges 
 and shifts to which sinners shall betake themselves in that 
 
 114
 
 THE VAIN REFUGE OF SINNERS. 115 
 
 day, let us spread abroad this sacred description of them 
 in a paraphrase under the following heads. 
 
 1. Let us consider the 'rocks and mountains, as vast and 
 mighty created beings, of huge figure, and high appearance, 
 whose aid is sought in the last extremity of distress ;' and 
 what is this but calling upon creatures to help them against 
 their Creator ? What is it but flying to creatures to deliv- 
 er and save them, when their offended God resolves to 
 punish ?. A vain refuge indeed, when God, the Almighty 
 Maker of all things, and Jesus his Son, by whom all things 
 were made, shall agree to arise and go forth against them, 
 in their robes of judgment, and with their artillery of ven- 
 'geance ! What created being dares interpose in that hour 
 to shelter or defend a condemned criminal ? What high 
 and mighty creature is able to afford the least security or 
 protection ? 
 
 The princes of the earth, and the captains, the kings, 
 and heroes, and conquerors, with all their millions of arm- 
 ed men, are not able to lift a hand, for the defence of one 
 sinner against the anger of God and the Lamb. They 
 themselves shall quake and shiver at the tremendous sight, 
 and they shall fly into the holes of the rocks like mere 
 cowards, and shall join their outcries with the poor and the 
 slave, entreating the rocks and mountains to befriend them 
 with shelter and safety. 
 
 Not the highest mountains, not the hardest or the strong- 
 est rocks, not the most exalted or most powerful persons, 
 or things in nature can defend, when the God of nature re- 
 solves to destroy. When HE who is higher than the high- 
 est, and stronger than the strongest, shall pronounce de- 
 struction upon rebels, what creature can speak deliverance? 
 
 The rocks and the mountains obey their Maker, they 
 shiver in pieces at the word of his wrath, and will yield no 
 relief to criminals : but man, rebellious man, disobeys 1 his 
 Maker, and calls to the rocks and mountains to protect 
 him. Vain hope, sinner, to make the most exalted 
 creatures your friends, when God the Creator is your ene- 
 my. These inanimate things have never learnt disobe- 
 dience to their Maker, and rather than screen a rebel from 
 his deserved judgments, they will offer themselves as in- 
 struments of divine vengeance. 
 
 2. Rocks and mountains in their clifts, and dens, and 
 caverns, are sometimes considered as places of secresy
 
 116 THE VAIN UEFtTGE OP SINNERS. 
 
 and concealment.' My text tells us, that ' kings and 
 mighty men, the rich and the free man, as well as the poor 
 and the slave, hid themselves in dens, and in the rocks of 
 the mountains.' They hoped there might he some secret 
 corner, whose thick shadows and darkness were sufficient 
 to hide them, where the Judge might not spy or find them 
 out. Vain hope for sinners to hide in the holes of the 
 rocks, and the deepest caverns of the mountains, to escape 
 the notice of that God, who is all eye and all ear, and 
 present at once in every place of earth and heaven ! Fool- 
 ish expectation indeed,, to avoid the notice of the Son of 
 God, "whose eyes are as a flame of fire," and shoot through 
 the earth and its darkest caves. 
 
 Read the 139th Psalm, sinner ! and then think if it be 
 possible to flee from the eye of God, and to hide thy- 
 self in the clefts of the. rock, where his hand shall not 
 find thee. He has already 'beset thee behind and before,' 
 and his hand -already compasses thee round about in all 
 thy paths. Darkness itself cannot cover thee ; ' the night 
 shines as the day' before him, and scatters light round 
 about the criminal that would hide himself from the wrath 
 of God. Ask Jeremy the prophet, and he shall tell thee, 
 that " none can hide himself in secret places where God 
 shall not see him, the God who fills heaven and earth," 
 Jer. xxiii. 4. He shall hunt obstinate sinners from every 
 mountain, and 'out of the holes of the rocks; for his eyes 
 are upon all their ways, neither their persons, nor their 
 iniquities/can be hid from him. 
 
 And, as you can never conceal yourselves from the sigh 
 and notice of the Judge, so neither can you turn your eyes 
 away from him. You must behold his face in vengeance, 
 and endure the distressing sight. The rays of his Majes- 
 ty, in the day of his wrath, shall strike through all the 
 crannies of the darkest den, and pierce the deepest shade. 
 "Lord, when thy hand is lifted up they will not see ; but 
 they shall see and be ashamed,' Isa. xxvi. 10. And the 
 face of the Lamb must be seen in all its unknown terrors, 
 Rev. i. 7. " Behold, he comes in the clouds, and every 
 eye shall see him :" the guilty creature, and the divine 
 Avenger, shall meet eye to eye, though the creature has 
 hid himself under rocks and mountains. 
 
 3. These- 'rocks and mountains' are designed to repre- 
 sent, not only concealment and darkness by their holes
 
 THE VAIN REFUGE OF SINNERS. 117 
 
 and caverns, but they are known 'bulwarks of defence.' 
 and ' places of security and shelter, by reason of their 
 strength and thickness.' When the prophet would ex- 
 press the safety of the man who practises righteousness m 
 a vicious age, Isa. xxxiii. 16, he says, "He shall dweli on 
 high, his place of defence shall be a munition of rocks." 
 These shall be a bulwark round him for his guard and 
 safety. When sinners therefore flee to the mountains, 
 and to the rocks, they may be supposed to seek a thick 
 covering, or a shield of defence to' secure them, where the 
 strokes of divine anger shall not break through and reach 
 them. They trust .to the solid protection of the rocks, 
 and the strength of the mountains to guajrd them ;. butthese, 
 alas ! can yield no shelter from the stroke .of the arm of 
 God. Should the rocks, sinner. ! attempt to befriend 
 thee, and surround thee with their thickest fortification, 
 his wrath would cleave them asunder and pierce thee 'to 
 the soul, with greater ease. than thou canst break through 
 a paper wall with the battering engines of war. Ask the 
 prophet Nahum, who was acquainted with the majesty of 
 God, and he shall tell thee, how it " throws down the 
 mountain, antl tears the rock in pieces. When his fury is 
 poured out like fire, the mountains quake at him, the hills 
 melt, the earth is burnt at his presence, with all that" dwell 
 therein. He that "has his way in the whirlwind anJ in 
 the storm, anrl t.hf r.lnuds a-rn the. 'dust of his fcet" what 
 mountain " can stand before his indignation ?" And where 
 is the rock "that can abide in the fierceness of his anger?" 
 Nah. i. 2 6. Were the whole globe of the earth one 
 massy rock, and should it yawn to the very centre to give 
 thee a refuge and hiding-place, and then close again and 
 surround thee with its solid defence, yet, when the Lord 
 commands, the earth will obey the voice of him that made 
 it ; this solid earth would cleave again and resign the guil- 
 ty prisoner, and yield thee up to the sword of his justice. 
 Wheresoever God resolves to strike, safety and defence 
 are impossible things. The sinner must suffer without 
 remedy, and with'out hope, who has provoked an Almigh- 
 ty God, and awakened the wrath of that Saviour "who 
 can subdue all things to himself." 
 
 4. 'Rocks and mountains' falling upon us are 'instru- 
 ments of suddea and overwhelming death.' When sin- 
 ners therefore call to the 'rocks and mountains to fall up-
 
 118 THE VAIN REFUGE OF SINKERS. 
 
 on them and cover them,' they are supposed to endeavour 
 to put an end to their own beings by some overwhelming 
 destruction, that they may not live to feel and endure the 
 resentments of an affronted God, and an abused Saviour. 
 Though they are just raised to life, they would fain die 
 again ; but God, who calls the dead from their graves, wiill 
 forbid the rocks and the mountains, and every creature, to 
 lend sinners their aid to destroy themselves. Sinners, in 
 that dreadful day, shall ' seek death, but death shall flee 
 from them.' Their natures are now made immortal, and 
 the fall of rocks and mountains cannot crush them to death. 
 They must live to sustain the weight of divine wrath, 
 which is heavier than rocks and mountains. 
 
 The life which *God hath now given to men in this mor- 
 tal state, may be given up again, or thrown away by the 
 daring impiety of self-murder ; and they may make many 
 creatures instruments of their own destruction ; but the 
 life which the Son of God shall give them, when he calls 
 them from the dead is everlasting ; they cannot resign 
 their existence and immortality, they cannot pai't with it, 
 nor can any creature take it from them. They would ra- 
 ther die than see God in his majesty, or ihe Lamb arrayed 
 in his robes of judgment ; but the wretches are immortal- 
 ized to punishment, by the long abused majesty and pow- 
 er of God : and they must live forever to learn what it is 
 to desplstthe authority of God, and to abuse the grace of 
 a Saviour. -Tneir duum is " everlasting burnings : they 
 have no rest day nor night, the smoke of their torment 
 will ascend for ever and ever, in the presence of the holy 
 angels, and in the presence of the Lamb." Rev. xiv. 10, 11. 
 
 Thus have we considered those huge and bulky beings, 
 the rocks and the mountains, in all their vast and mighty 
 figures and. appearances, with all their clefts, and dens, 
 and caverns, for shelter and concealment, with all their 
 fortification and massy thickness for defence, and with all 
 their power to crush and destroy mankind, and yet we 
 find them utterly insufiicient to hide, cover, or protect 
 guilty creatures, in that great day of the wrath of God 
 and the Lamb. 
 
 4 
 
 REFLECTIONS ON THE FOREGOING DISCOURSE. 
 
 1. ' How strangely do all the appearances of Christ to 
 sinners, in the several seasons and dispensations of his
 
 THE VAIN REFUGE OP SINNERS. 119 
 
 grace, differ from that last great and solemn appearance, 
 which to them will be a dispensation of final vengeance. 
 He visited the 'world in divine visions of old, even from 
 the day of the sin of Adam, and it was to reveal mercy to 
 sinful man ; and he sometimes assumed the majesty of 
 God, to let the world know he was not to be trifled with, 
 He visited the earth at his incarnation : how lowly was 
 his state ! how full of grace his ministry ! yet he then 
 gave notice of this day of vengeance, whelihe should appear 
 in his own and his Father's most awful glories. 
 
 He visits the nations now with the word of salvation, 
 he appears in the glass-of his 1 gospel, and in the ordinan- 
 ces of his sanctuary, as a Saviour whose heart melts with 
 love, and in the language of his tenderest compassions, and 
 of his dying groans, he invites sinners to be reconciled to 
 an offended God. He appears as. a Lamb made a sacrifice 
 for sin, and as a Minister of his Father's mercy, offering 
 and distributing pardons to criminals. But when he vis- 
 its the world as a final judge, how solemn and illustrious 
 will that appearance be ? How terrible his countenance 
 to all those who have refused to receive him as a Saviour? 
 " Behold he cometh in flaming fire, with ten thousand of 
 his angels, to render vengeance to them thai" resisted 
 his grace, and disobeyed the invitation of his gospel, 
 2 Thes. i. 7. 
 
 Time was, when the " Father sent forth his Son, not to 
 condemn the world, but that through him the world might 
 have life," John iii. 17. But the time is coming, when 
 God shall send him arrayed with Majesty, and with right- 
 eous indignation, to condemn the rebellious world, and 
 inflict upon them the pains of eternal death. Hast thou 
 seen him, my soul ! in the discoveries of his mercy, fly 
 to him with all the wings of faith and love, with all the 
 speed of desire and joy fly to him, receive his grace, and 
 accept of his salvation, that when the day of the wrath of 
 the Lamb shall appear, thou mayest behold his counte- 
 nance without terror and confusion. 
 
 Refl. 2. ( How very different will the thoughts of 'sin- 
 ners be in that day, from what they are at present ? How 
 different their wishes and their inclinations ?' And that 
 with regard to this one terror, which my text describes, 
 viz. that they shall address themselves to the rocks and 
 mountains for shelter, and fly into the dens and caverns
 
 180 THE VAIN BEFUGE OF SINNERS. 
 
 of the earth for concealment and safety. Let us survey 
 this in a few particulars. 
 
 Sinners, whose ' looks were once lofty and disdainful',' 
 whose eyes were exalted in pride, their mouth set against 
 the heavens, and their hearts haughty and full of scorn, 
 they shall be humbled to the dust of the earth, they shall 
 creep into the hiding-places of the moles and the bats, and 
 thrust their heads into holes and caverns, and dens of des- 
 olation, at the appearance .of God their Creator in flaming 
 fire, and the. Son of God their Judge ; for he is the aven* 
 ger of his own and his Father's, injured honours. 
 
 Sinners who were ' once fwid of- their idols and their 
 sensual delights,' who made idols to themselves of every 
 agreeable creature, and gave it that place in their hearts 
 which belongs only to God, they shall be horribly con- 
 founded in that day, when God shall appear in his Majes- 
 ty, to shake the earth to the centre, and to burn the sur- 
 face of it with all its bravery. This is nobly described 
 by the prophet Isaiah, chap, the 2d from 10 21. " In 
 that day shall a man cast his idols of silver, and his idols 
 of gold, which they made, each one for himself to worship, 
 to the moles and to the bats, to go into the clefts of the 
 rock, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the 
 Lord, and for the glory of his Majesty, when he ariseth 
 to shake terribly the earth." 
 
 Sinners who once 'could not tell how to spend a day 
 without gay company, 5 those sons and daughters of mirth, 
 who turned their midnights into noon, with the splendor 
 of their lamps, and the rich and shining furniture of theii 
 palaces, those noidy companions of riot, who made the 
 streets of the city resound with their midnight revels, they 
 shall now fly to the solitary caverns of the rocks, and 
 would be glad to dwell there in darkness and silence for 
 ever, if they might but avoid the wrath of a provoked God, 
 and the countenance of an abused Saviour. They would 
 fain be shut up for ever from day-light, lest they should 
 see the face of art Almighty enemy, whose name and hon- 
 our have been reproached, in their songs of lewd-jollity 
 and profaneness. 
 
 Sinners who once l were fond qf liberty in the wildest 
 sense,' and could not bear that any restraints should be 
 laid upon their persons or their wishes, who never could 
 endure the thought of a confinement to their closets, for
 
 THE VAIN REFUGE OF SINNERS. 121 
 
 one half hour to converse with God, or with their own 
 souls there, they call now aloud to, the rocks and the moun- 
 tains to immure them round, as a refuge from the eye of 
 their Judge. They were once perpetually roving abroad, 
 and gadding through all the gay scenes of sensuality, in 
 quest of new and flowery pleasures, but now they beg to 
 be imprisoned for ever in the dens and caves of the earth; 
 the deepest and most dismal caves are their most ardent 
 wishes, that they might never see the countenance of their 
 divine Avenger, nor feel the weight of his hand. 
 
 Sinners who ' heretofore thought themselves and their 
 deeds of darkness secure enough from the eye of God, 
 and from the strokes of his justice,' while they revelled in 
 their common habitations, those, who even under the open 
 sky could defy the Almighty, could laugh at his threat- 
 enings,and mock the prophecies of his vengeance, now they 
 can find no caverns, deep or dark enough, to hide them 
 from his sight ; his lightnings penetrate the hardest rocks, 
 and shine into the deepest solitudes : there is no screen or 
 shelter thick and strong enough to stand between God and 
 them, and to cover and shield them from his thunder. 
 They call now to the mountains and the rocks to be an 
 eternal screen ; but the rocks and the mountains are deaf 
 to their cry. Then shall they remember, with unknown 
 regret and anguish, those days of grace, when Christ Je- 
 sus, who is now their Judge, offered himself to become a 
 screen to them, and a defence from the anger of God their 
 Creator : but they rejected this offered grace'. He would 
 have been the rock of their safety, where they should have 
 found refuge from the fiery threatening* of the broken law, 
 and the majesty of an offended God : the Father himself 
 had appointed him for this kind office to repenting sinners, 
 and perhaps he gave Moses a type or emblem of it, when 
 he commanded him to hide himself in the clefts of the 
 rock, to secure him from destruction, while the burning 
 blaze of his glory passed by, Exocl. xxxiii. 22. And Isaiah 
 the prophet had foretold, that this Jesus should be as 
 "the shadow of a great rock," to shelter them from the 
 beams of the wrath of God ; but they refused this blessing, 
 they renounced this refuge ; and now they find there is no 
 other rock sufficient to become a shelter from the stroke of 
 his almighty arm, or a sufficient shadow from the burning 
 vengeance. 
 
 16 L
 
 122 THE VAIN REFUGE OF SINNERS. 
 
 Sinners, who ' once over-rated their flesh and blood, 
 and loved it with infinite fondness,' who treated their flesh- 
 ly appetites with excessive nicety and elegance, and affect- 
 ed a humourous delicacy in every thing round about them, 
 would now gladly creep into the mouldy caverns of the 
 rocks, they would be glad to hide and defile themselves 
 in the dark and noisome grottos of the earth, and squeeze 
 their bodies into the rough and narrow clefts, to shield 
 themselves from the indignation of him that sits upon the 
 throne, and of the Lamb. 
 
 Those who ' once were so tender of (his mortal life and 
 limbs,' arid could not think of bearing the least hardship for 
 the sake of virtue and piety, are now wishing to have 
 those delicate limbs of theirs crushed by the fall of rocks 
 and mountains. They wish earnestly to have their lives 
 and their souls destroyed for ever, and their whole natures 
 buried in desolation and death, if they might but avoid the 
 eternal agonies and torments that are prepared for them. 
 Now they long for caverns, and graves, to hide them for 
 ever from the justice of God, whose authority they have 
 despised, and from the wrath of a Saviour whose mercy 
 they have impiously renounced. 
 
 Look forward, my soul ! to this awful and dreadful 
 hour ; survey this tremendous scene of confusion, when 
 sinners shall run counter to all their former principles and 
 wishes, and pass a quite different judgment upon their sinful 
 delights, from what they .were wont to do in the days of 
 this life of vanity. Learn, my soul ! to judge of things 
 more agreeably to the appearances of that day. Never 
 canst thou set the flattering pleasures of sense, and the joys 
 of sin, in a truer and juster view, than the light of this omi- 
 nous and tremendous judgment. 
 
 Refl. 3. c How great and dreadful must the distress of- 
 creatures be, when they cannot bear to see the face of God 
 their Creator ?' How terrible must be the circumstances of 
 the sons of men, when they cannot endure to see the face 
 of the Son of God, but would fain hide themselves from 
 the sight under rocks and mountains ? How wretched must 
 their state be, who avoid the face of the blessed God with 
 horror, which the holy angels ever behold with most in- 
 tense delight, and which the saints rejoice in as their high- 
 est happiness ? It is their heaven to see God, and behold 
 the glory of his Son Jesus, Matth. v. 8. John xvii. But
 
 THE VAIN REFUGE OF SINNERS. '123 
 
 this is the very hell of sinners in that dismal hour, and 
 will fill their souls with such inexpressible anguish, that 
 they call to the rocks and mountains to hide them from 
 the sight. Dreadful and deplorable is their case indeed, 
 who cannot endure to see the countenance of Jesus the 
 Son of God, Jesus the Saviour of men, the copy of the 
 Father's glory, and the image of his beauty and love. 
 They cannot bear to see that Jesus who is the chiefest of ten 
 thousands, and altogether lovely ; they fly from that blessed 
 countenance, which is the ornament, and the joy of all the 
 holy and happy creation ; that blessed countenance is become 
 the terror and confusion of impenitent and guilty rebels. 
 . And what shall I do, if I should be found among this 
 criminal number, in that great day ? If I look at the wis- 
 dom and the righteousness of God, these will reflect the 
 keenest rays of horror and anguish upon my soul, for it is 
 that wisdom, and that righteousness, that have joined to 
 prepare the salvation which I have rejected ; and therefore 
 now that wise and righteous God seeth it proper and ne- 
 cessary to punish me with everlasting sorrows. If I look 
 at the power of God, it is a dreadful sight. Eternal and 
 almighty power, that can break through rocks and moun- 
 tains, to inflict vengeance upon the guilty, and that stands 
 engaged by his honour to break my rebellious spirit with 
 unknown torments. If I look at his goodness or his love, 
 it is love and goodness that I have despised and abused, and 
 it is now changed into divine fury. If I look at the face 
 of Jesus, and find there the correspondent features of his 
 Father, I shall then hate to see it for this very reason, 
 because it bears his Father's image, who is so terrible to 
 my thoughts. I shall neither be able to bear the sight of 
 God nor of his fairest copy, that is, Jesus his Son, because 
 I am so shamefully unlike them both ; and besides, I have 
 affronted, their majesty, and despised their mercy. 
 
 How painful and smarting will be the reflection of my 
 heart in that day, when I shall remember, that Jesus called 
 out to me from heaven, by the messengers of his grace, 
 and said, " Behold me, behold me, look unto me from the 
 ends of the earth, and be saved. But now he is armed with a 
 commission of vengeance, and he strikes terror and exquis- 
 ite pain into my soul with every frown, so that I shall wish 
 to be forever 'hid from the face of the Lamb, for the great 
 day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able' to endure
 
 124 THE VAIN REFUGE OF SINNERS. 
 
 this wrath, to stand before his thunder, or bear the light- 
 ning of this day ? Alas, how miserable must I be by an 
 everlasting necessity, if I cannot bear the countenance of 
 God and Christ, which is the spring of unchangeable hap- 
 piness to all the saints and the blessed angels ? 
 may I timely secure the love of my God, and gain an in- 
 terest in the favour and salvation of the blessed Jesus ! 
 Here, Lord, at thy foot I lay down all the weapons of 
 my former rebellions ; I implore thy love through the in- 
 terest of thy Son, the great Mediator. Let me see the 
 light of thy countenance, and- the smiles of thy face. 
 Let me see a reconciled God, and let him tell me that my 
 sins are all forgiven ; then shall I not be afraid to meet the 
 countenance of him that sits upon the throne, or the Lamb, 
 when Christ shall return from heaven, to punish the im- 
 penitent rebels against divine grace. 
 
 Refl. 4. ' How hopeless, as well as distressed, is the 
 case of sinners in that day, when they are driven to this 
 last extremity, to seek help from the rocks and the moun- 
 tains ?' It is the last, but the fruitless refuge of a frighted 
 and perishing creature. The rocks and mountains refuse 
 to help them ; they will not crush to death those wretches, 
 whom the justice of God has doomed to a painful immor- 
 tality, nor will they conceal or shelter those obstinate re- 
 bels, whom the Son of God has raised out of their graves, 
 to be exposed to . public shame and punishment. Those 
 high and hollow rocks, those dismal dens and caverns, 
 dark as midnight, those deep and gloomy retreats of mel- 
 ancholy and sorrow, which they shunned with the utmost 
 aversion, and could hardly bear to think of, without hor- 
 ror, here on earth, are now become their only retreat and 
 shelter ; but it is a very vain and hopeless one. 
 
 When I see such awful appearances in nature, huge and 
 lofty rocks hanging over my head, and at every step of 
 my approach they seem to nod upon rne with overwhelm- 
 ing ruin, when my curiosity searches far into their hollow 
 clifts, their dark and deep caverns of solitude and desola- 
 tion, methinks while I stand amongst them, I can hardly 
 think myself in safety, and at best they give a sort of 
 solemn and dreadful delight. Let me improve the scene 
 to religious purposes, and raise a divine meditation. Am 
 I one of those wretches, who shall call to these huge im- 
 pending rocks to fall upon me ? Am I that guilty and
 
 THE VAIN REFUGE OF SINNERS. 125 
 
 miserable creature, who shall entreat these mountains to 
 cover me from him that sits on the throne and the Lamb ? 
 Am I prepared to meet the countenance of the blessed 
 Jesus the Judge in that day ? Have I such an acquain- 
 tance with the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of 
 the world, such a holy faith in his mediation, such a sin- 
 cere love to him, and such an unfeigned repentance of sill 
 my sins, that I can look upon him as my friend and my 
 refuge, and a friend infinitely better than rocks and moun- 
 tains; for he not only screens me from the divine anger, 
 but introduces me into the Father's love and places me 
 in his blissful presence for ever? 
 
 Refl. 5. 'What hideous and everlasting mischief is 
 contained in the nature of sin, especially sin against the 
 gospel of Christ, against the methods of grace, and the 
 offers of salvation, which exposes creatures to such ex- 
 treme distress ?' The fairest and the most flattering ini- 
 quity, what beautiful colours soever it may put on in the 
 hour of temptation, yet it carries all this hidden mischief 
 and terror in the bosom of it, for it frights the creature 
 from the sight of his Creator and his Saviour, and makes 
 him fly to every vain refuge. Adam and Eve, the par- 
 ents of our race, when they lost their innocence and became 
 criminals, fled from the presence of God, with whom they 
 conversed before in holy friendship, Gen. iii. 8. ' They 
 hid themselves among the trees of Paradise,' and the 
 thickest shadows of the garden ; but the eye and the voice 
 of God reached them there. The curse found them out, 
 though that was a curse allayed with the promised bles- 
 sing 'of a Saviour. Guilt will work in the conscience, 
 and tell .us, that ' God is angry,' and the next thought is, 
 ' where shall I hide myself from an angry God ?' But 
 when the mercy of God has taught us where we may hide 
 ourselves, even under the shadow of the cross of his Son, 
 and we refuse to make him our refuge, there remains no- 
 thing but a final horror of soul, and a hopeless address to 
 rocks and mountains, to hide us from an offended God, and 
 p. provoked Saviour. 
 
 Whensoever, my soul! thou shalt find or feel some 
 nattering iniquity alluring thy senses, making court to thy 
 heart, and ready to gain upon thy inward wishes, remem- 
 ber the distress and terror of heart that sinners must under- 
 go in the great and terrible day of the Lord. Think of 
 1 2
 
 126 THE VAIN REFUGE OF SINNERS. 
 
 the rocks and mountains which they vainly call upon to 
 befriend them, to shield'them from the vengeance of that 
 almighty arm which is provoked by sin, to make his crea- 
 tures miserable. Remember, my soul! and fear; re- 
 member and resist the vile temptation, and stand afar off 
 from that practice, which will make thee afraid to see the 
 face of God. 
 
 Refl. 6. l Of what infinite importance is it then to sin- 
 ners, to gain a humble acquaintance and friendship with 
 the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, 
 that we may be able with comfort,to behold the face of him 
 that sits on the throne in that day.' Which of us can 
 say, ' I" am not a sinner, I am not guilty before God ?' 
 And which of us then has the courage and hardiness to 
 declare, 'I have no need of a Saviour?' And is there 
 any one among us, who hath not yet fled for refuge to 
 Jesus our only and sufficient hope ? There is a protec- 
 tion provided against a provoked God, but there is none 
 against a neglected and abused Saviour : I mean, where 
 this neglect and abuse is final and unrepented of. 
 how solicitous should every soul be, in a matter of this 
 divine moment, this everlasting importance ? What 
 words of compassion shall we use, what words of awake- 
 ning terror, to put sinners in mind of their extreme dan- 
 ger, if they neglect the only security which the gospel has 
 appointed ? What language of fear and importunity shall 
 we make use of, to hasten you, sinners ! to the acquain- 
 tance, the faith and the love, of Jesus the Saviour, that 
 you may behold his face, and the face of the Father, 
 with serenity and joy iu the last day ? Give yourselves 
 jp to him then without further delay, as your teacher, 
 your high-priest, your reconciler, your Lord and king. 
 His blessed offices are the only chambers of protection, 
 when God shall arise to burn the world, and to avenge him- 
 self on his enemies that will not be reconciled. 
 
 Refl. 7. 'Let us take occasion from my text, also to 
 meditate on the happy circumstances of true Christians, 
 in that day of terror.' Behold the Judge appears, he 
 cometh in the clouds surrounded with armies of avenging 
 angels, the ministers of his indignation ; he rideth on a 
 chariot of flaming fire, the earth with all its mountains 
 melt like wax at the presence of the Lord, the fields and 
 the forests become one spacious blaze, the sea grows dry
 
 THE VAIN REFUGE OF SINNERS. 127 
 
 and forsakes its shores, and rivers flee away at his light- 
 ning; the rocks are broken and shivered at the appear- 
 ance of his majesty, the tombs are thrown open, and with 
 terrible dismay shall the graves give up their dead ; the py- 
 ramids of brick and stone, moulder and sink into dust, the 
 sepulchres of brass and marble yield up their royal pris- 
 oners, and all the captives of death awake and start into 
 life, at the voice of the Son of God. Amidst all these 
 scenes of surprise -and horror, with how serene a counte- 
 nance, and how peaceful a soul, do the saints awake from 
 their beds of earth ?, Calm and serene among all these 
 confusions they arise from their long slumber, and go to 
 meet their returning Saviour and their friend. They 
 have seen him in 'the glass of his gospel, submitted to his 
 laws, and rejoiced in his grace, and they now delight to 
 see him face to face in his glory. They have seen him 
 vested with his commission of mercy, they have heard 
 and received his message of goodness and love, and they 
 cannot but rejoice to see him coming to fulfil his last prom- 
 ises. They have cheerfully subjected themselves to his 
 government here on earth, they have followed him in 
 paths of holiness through the wilderness of this world ; 
 and what remains, but that. they be publicly acknowl- 
 edged by Jesus the Judge of all, and follow him up to the 
 place of blessedness which he hath prepared for them. 
 
 Perhaps some of these holy ones, in the days of the flesh, 
 were banished from the cities and the societies of men for 
 the sake of Christ, they were driven out from their native 
 towns, and forced to seek a shelter in solitary 'dens and 
 caves' among rocks and mountains, " to wander through 
 deserts in sheep-skins and goat-skins, destitute, afflicted, 
 tormented," Heb. xi. 31. They made the clefts of the rock 
 and caverns of the earth their refuge from the face of their 
 cruel persecutors. The mountains and rocks sheltered 
 them from the wrath of princes, and the dark grottos of 
 the earth, and the dens of wild beasts, concealed them from 
 the rage of men, from the sword of the mighty ; but now 
 the scene is gloriously changed, the martyrs and holy con- 
 fessors awaking from their graves, exult and triumph in 
 the smiles of their Judge, and receive public honours be- 
 fore the whole creation of God. They behold the infinite 
 consternation of haughty tyrants and persecuting princes, 
 of proud generals and bloody captains in that day : they
 
 128 THE VAIN REFUGE OF SINNERS. 
 
 hear them 'call to rocks and mountains to hide them from 
 the face of him that sits upon the throne and the Lamb/ 
 The authority and regal honour of the emperors of the 
 earth, hath long slept in the dust, but it is lost there for 
 ever ; their glory shall not awake nor arise with them. 
 Behold the mighty sinners who have been the enemies of 
 Christ, or negligent of his salvation, how they creep af- 
 frighted out of their shattered marbles, and leave all that 
 pomp and pride of death in ruins, to. appear before God 
 with shame and everlasting contempt. The men of arms, 
 the captains and sons of valour, whose swords lay under 
 their heads, with their trophies and titles spread around 
 them, shall raise their heads up from the dust, with utmost 
 affright and anguish of spirit : their courage fails them be- 
 fore the face of Jesus the Lord and Judge of the whole 
 creation. They would fly to the common refuge of slaves, 
 they shrink into the holes of the rocks, and call to the 
 mountains to screen and protect them : 'and every bond- 
 man, and every freeman,' who have not known nor loved 
 God and Christ, are plunged into extremest distress ; but 
 the humble Christian is serene and joyful, and lifts up his 
 head with courage and delight, in the midst of these scenes 
 of astonishment and dismay. 
 
 1 He is come, he is come, saith the saint, even that Lord 
 Jesus, whom I have seen, whom I have known and loved 
 in the days of my mortal life, whom I have long waited 
 for in the dust of death ; he is come to reward all my la- 
 bours, to wipe away all my sorrows, to finish my faith, 
 and turn it into sight, to fulfil all my hopes and his own 
 promises ; he is come to deliver me for ever, from all my 
 enemies, and to bear me to the place which he has prepar- 
 ed for those that love him, and long for his appearance. 
 
 ' blessed be the God of grace, who hath convinced 
 me of the sins of my nature, and the sins of my life in the 
 days of my flesh ; who hath discovered to me the danger 
 of a guilty and sinful'state, hath shewn me the commis- 
 sion of mercy in the hands of his Son, hath pointed me to 
 the Lamb of God, who was offered as a sacrifice to take 
 away the sins of men, and hath inclined me to receive him 
 in all his divine characters and offices, and to follow the 
 Captain of my salvation through all the labours and dan- 
 gers of life. I have trusted him, I have loved him, I have 
 endeavoured, though under many frailties, to honour and
 
 THE VAIN REFUGE OP SINNERS. 129 
 
 obey him, and I can now behold his face without terror. 
 While the mighty men of the earth tremble with amaze- 
 ment, and call to the rocksand mountains to hide them from 
 his face, I rejoice to see him in his robes of judgment, for 
 he is come to pronounce me righteous in the face of men 
 and angels, to declare me a good and faithful servant before 
 the whole creation, to set the crown of victory on my 
 head, to take me to heaven with him, that 'where he is I 
 may be also to behold his glory,' and to partake for ever of 
 the blessings of his love.' Amen. 
 
 17
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN. 
 REV. xxii. 25. And there shall be no Night there. 
 
 LENGTH of night and overspreading darkness in the 
 winter season, carries so many inconveniences with it, that 
 it is generally esteemed a most uncomfortable part of our 
 time. Though night and day necessarily succeed each 
 other all the year, by the wise appointment of God in the 
 course of nature, by means of the revolution of the hea- 
 venly bodies, or rather of this earthly globe ; yet the night- 
 season is neither so delightful nor so useful a part of life, 
 as the duration of day-light. It is the voice of all nature, 
 as well as the word of Solomon, " light is sweet, and a 
 pleasant thing to enjoy the sun-beams." Light gives a 
 glory and beauty to every thing that is visible, and shews 
 the face of nature in its most agreeable colours ; but night, 
 as it covers all the visible world with one ^ark and undistin- 
 guishing veil, is less pleasing to all the animal parts of the 
 creation. Therefore as hell and the place of punishment 
 is called ' utter darkness' in Scripture ; so heaven is rep- 
 resented as a mansion of ' glory,' as the ( inheritance of the 
 saints in light.' And this light is constant without inter- 
 ruption, and everlasting, or without end. So my text ex- 
 presses it, ' there shall be no night there.' 
 
 Let it be observed, that in the language of the holy wri- 
 ters, ' light' is often ascribed to intellectual beings, and is 
 used as a metaphor to imply 'knowledge, and holiness, and 
 joy.' 'Knowledge' as the beauty and excellency of the 
 'mind,' 'holiness' as the best regulation of the 'will,' and 
 'joy' as the harmony of our best affections in the posses- 
 sion of what we love : and in opposition to these, ' igno- 
 rance, iniquity, and sorrow,' are represented by the meta- 
 phor of ' darkness.' Then we are in ' darkness' in a spi- 
 ritual sense, when the understanding is beclouded or led 
 
 130
 
 NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN. 131 
 
 into mistake, or when the will is perverted or turned away 
 from God or holiness, or when the most uncomfortable 
 affections prevail in the soul. I might cite particular texts 
 of Scripture to exemplify all this. And when it is said, 
 < there shall be no night in heaven,' it may be very well 
 applied in the spiritual sense ; there shall be no errors or 
 mistakes among the blessed, no such ignorance as to lead 
 them astray, or to make them uneasy ; the will shall ne- 
 ver be turned aside from its pursuit of holiness, and obedi- 
 ence to God ; nor shall the affections ever be ruffled with 
 any thing that may administer grief or pain. Clear and 
 unerring knowledge, unspotted holiness, and everlasting 
 joy, shall be the portion of all the inhabitants of the upper 
 world. These are more common subjects of discourse. 
 
 But I chuse rather at present to consider this word 
 NIGHT, in its literal sense, and shall endeavour to repre- 
 sent part of the blessedness of the heavenly state, under 
 this special description of it. ( There is no night there.' 
 
 Now in order to pursue this design, let us take a brief sur- 
 vey of the several evils or inconveniences which attend the 
 night, or the season of darkness here on earth, and shew 
 how far the heavenly world is removed, and free from all 
 manner of inconvenience of this kind. 
 
 1. Though night be the season cf sleep for the relief of 
 nature, and for our refreshment after the labours of the 
 day ; yet ( it is a certain sign of the weakness and weari- 
 ness of nature, when it wants such refreshments, and such 
 dark seasons of relief.' But there is no night in heaven. 
 Say, ye inhabitants of that vital world, are ye ever wea- 
 ry ? Do your natures know any such weakness ? Or are 
 your holy labours of such a kind, as to expose you to fa- 
 tigue, or to tire your spirits ? The blessed above 'mount up 
 towards God as on eagles' wings, they run at the command 
 of God and are not weary, they walk on the hills of para- 
 dise and never faint,' as the Prophet Isaiah expresses a vig- 
 orous and pleasurable state. Chap. xl. ver. last. 
 
 There are no such animal bodies in heaven, whose natural 
 springs of action can be exhausted or weakened by the 
 business of the day : there is no flesh and blood there, to 
 complain of weariness, and to want rest* blessed state, 
 
 * When the apostle, 1 Cor. xv. 60, says, " Flesh and blood cannot inher- 
 it the kingdom of God," the meaning is that moral pravity , a fallen and cor- 
 rupt nature, cannot We have no precise instruction concerning the nature
 
 132 NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN. 
 
 where our faculties shall be so happily suited to our work, that 
 we shall never feel ourselves weary of it, nor fatigued by it. 
 
 And, as there is no weariness, so there is no sleeping 
 there. Sleep was not made for the heavenly state. Can 
 the spirits of the just ever sleep, under the full blaze of di- 
 vine glory, under the incessant communications of divine 
 love, under the perpetual influences of the grace of God 
 the Father, and of Jesus the Saviour, and amidst the invi- 
 ting confluence of every spring of blessedness ? 
 
 2. Another inconvenience of night, near akin to the 
 former, is that ' business is interrupted by it, partly for 
 want of light to perform it, as well as for want of strength 
 and spirits to pursue it.' This is constantly visible in the 
 successions of labour and repose here on earth ; and the 
 darkness of the night is appointed to interrupt the course 
 of laborr, and the business of the day, that nature may be 
 recruited. But the business of heaven is never interrupt- 
 ed ; there is everlasting light and everlasting strength. Say, 
 yeblessed spirits on high, who join in the services which are 
 performed for God and the Lamb there, ye who unite all 
 your powers in the worship and homage that is paid to the 
 Father .and to the Son, ye that mingle in all the joyful con- 
 versation of that divine and holy Assembly, say, is there 
 found any useless hour there ? Do your devotions, your 
 duties and your joys, ever suffer such an entire interrup- 
 
 of our bodies after the resurrection. Our Lord's body after his resurrection 
 had still the same physical constitution apparently, which it always had. 
 When his disciples were terrified, supposing that they saw an apparition, 
 he shewed them his body, and feet, told them to feel or handle him, and ad- 
 ded, " For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Luke 
 xxiv. 39. Now, we are told, that Jesus will " change our vile body, that 
 it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body," Phil. iii. 21. If then he 
 still possess the same body in glory with which he rose, and if it be of 
 the same materials as then; it will follow, that" flesh and blood," in the 
 physical sense of the phrase, may enter into the heavenly state ; but it will 
 be flesh and blood purified from all its present infirmities, and endued 
 with every quality to render it a delightful habitation for thi>. blessed soul in 
 the worship and enjoyments of heaven. God can as easily render a body 
 of flesh and blood immortal as any other kind of body. Still we have no 
 assurance of what kind it will be; for we are not certain that no change 
 passed upon our Lord's body, when he ascended to heaven. It would 
 therefore seem wise not to attempt to define or deny what the holy Scriptures 
 do not define or deny. Whatever the bodies of glorified saints may be, they 
 will not be subject to weariness, or any other painful sensation. They will be 
 instruments of utility and pleasure, not clogs and hindrances ; and to know 
 this, seems sufficient for \a iu our present sUte. KB.
 
 NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN. 133 
 
 tion of rest and silence, as the season of darkness on earth 
 necessarily creates among the inhabitants of our world ? 
 
 The living creatures * which are represented by John 
 the Apostle, in Rev. ~iv. whether they signify saints or 
 angels, yet .they were 'full of eyes' that never slumber ; 
 <they rest not day nor night ;' this is spoken in the lan- 
 guage of mortals, to signify, that they are never irjterrupt- 
 ed by any change of seasons, orjintervening darkness in 
 the honours they pay to God. They are described as ever 
 saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, 
 and is, an.d-is.to come." And the same soft of expression 
 is used concerning the saints in heaven,' Rev. vii. 15. 
 " They who came out of great 'tribulation, and have wash- 
 e'd their robes, and made them white in the blood of the 
 Lamb, feheji are before the throne of God, and serve him 
 day and night in his temple," i. e. they constantly serve or 
 worship "him in his holy temple 1 in heaven. Perhaps the 
 different orders and ranks of them in a continual succes- 
 sion, are ever* doing some honours to God. As there is 
 no night there, so there is no cessation <3f their services, 
 their worship, and their holy exercises, in one form or 
 anpther, throughout the duration of their.being. 
 
 Our pleasures here on earth \ire short-lived : if they 
 are intense, nature cannot bear them long, any .more than 
 constant business and labour : and, if our labours and pur 
 pleasures should happily .join and mingle here on earth, 
 which is not abvays the case, yet njght compels us to break 
 off the pleas'vng labour, and we must rest from the most de- 
 lightful business. Happy is that region on high, where 
 business -and pleasure are for ever the same among all the 
 inhabitants of itj and there is.no pause. or entire cessation 
 of the one or -the other. Tell me, ye- warm and lively 
 Christians, when your heartsare Sweetly and joyfully engag- 
 ed in-the worship of God, in holy conversation, or in any 
 pious services here on earth, hftw often you have been forc- 
 ed to break off these celestial entertainments by the re- 
 turning night ? But in th*e heavenly state there is ever- 
 ladling active service, with everlasting delight and satis- 
 faction. 
 
 In that blessed world there can be ho' idleness, no in- 
 
 The word ZJk, which is translated beasts, signifies only animals or 
 living creatures, and does not carry with it so mean and BO disagreeable an 
 idea as the word beasts in Englith. WATTS. 
 
 M
 
 134 NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN. 
 
 activity, no trifling intervals to pass away time, no vacant 
 or empty spaces in eternal life. Who can be -idle under 
 the immediate eye of God ? Who can trifle in the pres- 
 ence of Christ ? Who can neglect the' pleasurable work of 
 heaven, under the sweet influences of the present Deity, 
 and under the smiles of his countenance", who approve's all 
 their work and worship ? 
 
 3. As. in our present World ' the, hours of night' are un- 
 active if we sleep, so 'they seem long and tedious when 
 our eyes are wakeful, and sleep flies fro'm us.' Perhaps. we 
 hear the clock strike .one hour after another, with weari- 
 some longings for the next succeeding h'oil'r : we wish the 
 dark season at an end*, and iv"e long for th'e approah of mor- 
 ning, we grow impatient for the dawning of the day. But in 
 heaven, ye spirits who have dwcltlongest there*, can ye re- 
 member one tiresome or tedjous hour, through all the years 
 of your residence in thatcouritry ? Jsthercmot eternal wake- 
 fulness among all the blessed ? Gan any of yon ever indulge 
 a slumber ? Can you sleep in heaven ? Can you want it, or 
 wish for it ? No, for that world is all vital and sprightly 
 for ever. Wben we leave this flesh and bloody-farewell to' 
 all the /tedious measures of time, farewell tiresome, dark- 
 ness; our whole remaining duratio/i is life and light, vital ac- 
 tivity and vigour, attenfled with everlasting holiness-andjoy. 
 
 4. While we are here en, earth, ' the darkness df the 
 night often exposes us to the danger of losirtg* our way, of 
 wandering into confusjon, or falling into mischief.' When 
 the sun-"beams have withdrawn their light, -and midnight 
 clouds overspread .the heaven, we cannot see eur path be- 
 fore us, we eannot pursue our proper course, not secure 
 ourselves from stumbling... How ma"ny "travellers have 
 been betrayed by the thick shadows of the night, into mis- 
 taken ways or pathless 'deserts^ intr^ endless mazes among 
 thorns and briars, into bogs, and pits, and precipices,* into 
 sudden destruction and death'? But there" arc no 'dangers 
 of this kind in the heavenly, world. All the regions of" 
 paradise are for ever illurninated by the gfory of God : the 
 light of his countenance shines upon every step that We 
 shall take, and brightens, all our way. We shall walk in 
 the light of God, and under the blessed beams of the Sun 
 of righteousness, and 'we are secured' for ever against wan- 
 dering, and against every danger of tripping or falling in 
 our course. ' Our feet may stumble on the dark moun-
 
 NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN. 135 
 
 tains here below,' but there is TIO stumbling-block on the 
 hills of paradise, nor can we go astray from our God or 
 our duty. The paths of that country are -all pleasure, and 
 ever-living ckiy-light shines upon them without end. Hap- 
 'py beings who dwell or travel there ! 
 
 5. 'In the* night we" are exposed here on earth, to the 
 violence and plunder of wicked men, whether we are 
 abroad or at home.' There is scarce any safety now a-days 
 to those who travel in the night, and even in our own ha- 
 bitations there is frequent Tear and surprise. At that sea- 
 son, the sons of mischief ' dig through houses in the dark, 
 which they had. marked for 'themselves in the day-time : 
 they lurk in corners to seize the innocent, and to rob him' 
 of his possessions. But in the heavenly world there is no 
 dark hour ; there is nothing that can encourage such mis- 
 chievous designs ; nor are any of" the sons of violence, or 
 the malicious powers of darkness, suffered to have an abode 
 or refuge .in that country. No surprise nor fear- belongs 
 to- the inhabitants of those regions. Happy souls, who 
 spend all their life in the fight of the countenance of God, 
 and are for ever secure from the plots and mischievous 
 devices .of the wicked ! 
 
 "While we dwell here below, amongst the changing sea- 
 sons of light and darkness, what daily care is taken to shut 
 the doors of our dwellings against the men of mischief? 
 What solicitude in a time -of war to keep the gates of our 
 towns and cities well secured against all invasion of ene- 
 mies ! ( Every rmm with has. s\void upon his thigh, be- 
 cause of fear in the night/ But in that blessed world 
 there is up n.eed-of'such defences^ no such guardian cafes 
 to secure the. inhabitants, < The ,gates of that city shall 
 not be sJuit by day, and there is no night there.'* There 
 shines perpetual day -light,, and the gates are ever open to 
 receive newcomers from our World, or for the. conveyance 
 of oJxUirs'and messages to and, fro from the throne through 
 all the dominions of Go/1 and of th.e Lanib. Blessed are the 
 inhabitants of triat country, where there are no dangers 
 arising from any of the wicked powers of darkness, nor 
 any dJrk 'minute to favour their plots of mischief. 
 
 fj. The 'time of -night and darkness is the time of the 
 concealment of secret sins.' Shameful iniquities are then 
 practised amongst men, because the darkness is a cover to 
 them. " The eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight,
 
 136 NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN. 
 
 saying, no eye shall see me." Job xxiv. 15. < In the black 
 and dark night' he hopes for concealment as well as th"e 
 thief and the rrftfrderer, "and they that are -drunken, are- 
 drunken in the night," Thes. v. 7. The 'hours of dark- 
 ness are a temptation to these iniquities, and the shadows 
 of the evening .arc'a veil to cover them 'from the sight of 
 men : they find a screen behind the curtains of the night, . 
 and a refuge in thick darkness. But.in the'heavenly world 
 there is no temptation to such iniquities, no defilement can 
 gain an entrance there, nor could i$ find "any veil or cov- 
 ering. The regions of light, and peace^and holy love, 
 arc never violated with such scenes of villany and guilt. 
 No secret sins can be committed there, nor can they hope 
 for any screen to defend them from the eye of God 'atnd 
 the Lamb, 'whose eyes are -like a flame of fire.' The 
 light of God shines round every creature in that country, 
 and there is not a saint or angel there, that desires a cov- 
 ering from the sight of God, nor would accept -of a veil or 
 screen to interpose between him and the lovely gloriesL'of 
 divine holiness and grace. To behold God, and to live 
 under the blessings of his eye 1 , is their everlasting and cho- 
 sen joy. that our world were more like it ? 
 
 7. When the night returns upon. us here on earth, ' the 
 pleasures of sight vanish and are lost.' Knowledge" is shut 
 out at one eptrance in a great degree, "and one of our sen- 
 ses is withheld from the spreading beauties and glories oi 
 this lower creation, almost as though we were deprived 
 of it, and were grown blind for a season. 
 
 It is true, the God of nature has appointed the moon 
 and stars to relieve the darkness at some^seasons/that when 
 the sun is withdrawn, half the. world at those hours may 
 not be in confusion': and by the inventions of men,*we 
 are furnished with lamps and candles to relieve our dark- 
 ness within doors. But if we stir abroad in the black and 
 dark night, instead of the various and delightful scenes of 
 the creation of God in the skies and the fields, we are pre- 
 sented with an universal blank of nature, and one of the 
 great entertainments and satisfactions of 'this life, i^' quite 
 taken away from, us. But in heaven, the glories of that 
 world are for ever in view. The beauteous scenes and 
 prospects of the 'hills of paradise are never hidden : we 
 shall there continually behold a ricfi variety of ' things 
 which eye hath not seen on earth, which ear hath not
 
 NO NIC HT IN HEAVEN. 137 
 
 heard, and which the he;irt of man hath not conceived.' 
 Say, ye souls in paradise, ye inhabitants of that glorious 
 world, is there any loss of pleasure by your absence from 
 those works of God which are visible here on earth, while 
 you are for ever entertained with those brighter works of 
 God in the upper world ? while every corner of that coun- 
 try is enlightened by the glory of God himself, and while 
 the Son of God with all his beams of grace shines for ever 
 upon it. 
 
 8. It is another unpleesing circumstance of the night 
 season, '< that it is the coldest part of time.' When the 
 sun is sunk below the earth, and its beams are hidden from 
 us, its kindly and vital heat, as well as its light, are re- 
 moved from one side of the globe ; and this ' gives a sen- 
 sible uneasiness in the hours of midnight, to those who are 
 not well provided with warm accommodations. 
 
 And I might add also, it is too often night with us in a 
 spiritual sense, while we dwell here on earth : our hearts 
 are cold as well as dark. How seldom do we feel that 
 fervency of spirit in religious duties which God requires ? 
 How cool is our love to the greatest and the best of be- 
 ings ? How languid and indifferent are our affections to 
 the Son of God, the chiefest of ten thousand, and altogeth- 
 er lovely ? And how much doth the devotion of our souls 
 want its proper ardour and vivacity ? 
 
 But when the soul is arrived at heaven, we shall be all 
 warm and fervent in our divine and delightful work. As 
 there shall be nothing painful to the senses in that blessed 
 climate, so there shall not be one cold heart there, nor so 
 much as one lukewarm worshipper ; for we shall live un- 
 der the immediate rays of God who formed the light, and 
 under the kindest influences of 'Jesus, the Sun of righte- 
 ousness.' We shall be made like his angels who are most 
 active spirits, and ' his ministers' who "are flames of fire." 
 Psal. civ. 3. Nor shall any dulness or indifferency hang 
 .upon our sanctified powers and passions : they shall be all 
 warm and vigorous in their exercise, amidst the holy en- 
 joyments of that country. 
 
 In the 9th and last place, as njght is the season appoint- 
 ed for sleep, ' so it becomes a constant periodical emblem 
 of death, as it returns every evening.' Sleep and mid- 
 night, as I have shewn before, are no seasons of labour or 
 activity, nor of delight in the visible things of this world. 
 18 M *
 
 138 NO MGHT IN HEAVEN. 
 
 It is a dark and stupid scene wherein we behold nothing 
 with truth, though we are sometimes deceived and delud- 
 ed by dreaming visions and vanities. Night, and the 
 slumbers of it, are a sort of shorter death and burial, inter- 
 posed between the several daily scenes and transactions of 
 human life. But in heaven, as there is no sleeping, there 
 is no dying, nor is there any thing there that looks like 
 death. Sleep, the'image or emblem of death, is for ever 
 banished from that world. All is vital activity there : 
 every power is immortal, and every thing that dwells there 
 is for ever alive. There can be no death, nor the image 
 of it, where the ever-living God dwells and shines with 
 his kindest beams ; his presence maintains perpetual vital- 
 ity in every soul, and keeps the new creature in its youth 
 and vigour for ever. The saints shall never have reason 
 to mourn over their withering graces, languid virtues, or 
 dying comforts ; nor shall they ever complain of drowsy 
 faculties, or unactive powers, where God and the Lamb 
 are forever present in the midst of them. Shall I invite 
 your thoughts to dwell a little upon this subject ? 
 
 Shall we make a more particular ' enquiry, whence it 
 comes to pass that there is no night nor darkness in the 
 heavenly city?' We arc told a little before the words of 
 my text, that 'the glory of God enlightens it, and the 
 Lamb is the light thereof. There is no need of the 
 sun by day, or of the moon by night ;' there is no need 
 of any such change of seasons as day and night in the up- 
 per regions, nor any such alternate cnlighteners of a dark 
 world, as God has placed in our firmanent, or in this vis- , 
 ible sky. The inheritance of the saints in light is suffi- 
 ciently irradiated by God himself, who at his first call 
 made the light spring up out of darkness over a. wide cha- 
 os of confusion, before the sun and moon appeared ; and 
 the beams of divine light, grace and glory, are communi- 
 cated from God, the original foundation of it, by the Lamb, 
 to all the inhabitants of the heavenly country. It was 
 by Jesus his Son that God made the light at first, and by 
 him he conveys it to all the happy worlds. 
 
 There is no doubt of this in the present heaven of 
 saints departed from flesh, who are ascended ' to the 
 spirits of the just made perfect.' It is one of their privi- 
 leges that they go to dwell, not only where- they see the 
 face of God, but where they behold the glory of Christ,
 
 NO NIGHT Itf HEAVEN, 139 
 
 and converse with ' Jesus the Mediator of the new cove- 
 nant,' and are 'for ever present with the Lord' who re- 
 deemed them. Heb. xii. 23, 24. 2 Cor. v. 8. Since 
 his mediatorial kingdom and offices are not yet finished in 
 the present heaven of separate souls, we may depend on 
 this blessedness to be communicated through Christ the 
 Lamb of God, and all the spiritual enjoyments and 
 felicities which are represented under the metaphor 
 of 'light,' are conveyed to them through Jesus the 
 Mediator. 
 
 The sun, in the natural world, is a bright emblem of 
 divinity, or the Godhead, for it is the spring of all light, 
 and heat, and life, to the creation. It is by the influences 
 of the sun, that herbs, plants, and animals, are produced 
 in their proper seasons, and in all their various beauties, 
 and they are all refreshed and supported by it. Now if 
 we should suppose this vast globe of fire which we call 
 ' the sun,' to be inclosed in a huge hollow sphere of crys- 
 tal, which should attemper its rays like a transparent veil, 
 and give milder and gentler influences to the burning beams 
 of it, and yet transmit every desirable and useful portion 
 of light or heat, this would be an happy emblem of the 
 man 'Christ Jesus, in whom dwells all the fulness of the 
 Godhead bodily.' It is the Lamb of God who, in a 
 mild and gracious manner, conveys the blessings original- 
 ly derived from God his Father to all the saints. We par- 
 take of them in our measure in this lower world among 
 his churches here on earth ; but it is with a nobler influ- 
 ence, and in a more sublime -degree, the blessings of par- 
 adise are diffused through nil the mansions of glory, by 
 this illustrious medium 'of conveyance, Jesus the Son of 
 God ; and there can be no night nor coldness, death nor 
 darkness, in this happy state of separate souls. 
 
 When the bodies of the saints shall be raised again, and 
 re-united to their proper spirits, when they shall ascend 
 to the place of their final heaven and supreme happiness, 
 we know not what manner of bodies they shall be, what 
 sort of senses they shall be' furnishjed with, nor how ma- 
 ny powers of conversing with the corporeal world shall 
 be bestowed Upon them. Whether they shall have such 
 organs of sensation as eyes and ears, and stand in need 
 of such light as we derive from the sun or moon, is not ab- 
 solutely certain. The Scriptures tell us it shall not be a
 
 140 NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN. 
 
 body of flesh and blood.* These-are not materials refined 
 enough for the heavenly state ; " that which is corrupti- 
 ble cannot inherit incorruption." 1 Cor. xv. 50. But 
 this we may be assured of, that whatsoever inlets of 
 knowledge, whatever avenues of pleasure, whatever de- 
 lightful sensations are necessary to make the inhabitants 
 of that world happy, they shall be all united in that spir- 
 itual body which God will prepare for the new-raised 
 saints. If eyes and ears shall belong to that glorified bo- 
 dy, those sensitive powers shall be nobly enlarged, and 
 made more delightfully susceptive of richer shares of 
 knowledge and joy. 
 
 Or what if we shall have that body furnished with such 
 unknown mediums, or organs of sensation, as shall make 
 light and sound, such as we here partake of, unnecessary 
 to us ? These organs shall certainly be such, as shall 
 transcend all the advantages that we receive in this pre- 
 sent state from sounds or sunbeams. There shall be no 
 disconsolate darkness, nor any tiresome silence there. 
 There shall be no night to interrupt the business or pleas- 
 ures of that everlasting day. 
 
 Or what if the whole body shall be endued all over 
 with the senses of seeing and hearing"! What if these sorts 
 of sensations shall be diffused throughout all that immor- 
 tal body, as feeling is diffused through all our present mor- 
 tal flesh ? What if God himself shall in a more illustri- 
 ous manner irradiate all the powers of the body and spi- 
 rit, and comruunicate the light of knowledge, holiness, and 
 joy, in a superior manner to what we can now conceive 
 or imagine ? This is certain, that darkness in every sense, 
 with all the inconveniences and unhappy consequences of 
 it, is and must be for ever banished from the heavenly 
 state. ; There is no night there.' 
 
 When our Lord Jesus Christ shall have " given up his" 
 mediatorial kingdom to the Father, " and have" presented 
 all his saints spotless and without blemish before his throne, 
 it is hard for us mortals in the present, state, to say how 
 far he shall be the everlasting medium of the communica- 
 tion of divine blessings to the happy inhabitants on high. 
 
 * See note on page 131. Flesh and blood, or in other words, our bodies, 
 are corruptible in this state of sin and death. But the bodies of our first 
 parents, before the fall, were not subject to corruption. It does not follow, 
 therefore, that u body of flesh and blood must necessarily be corruptible. ED.
 
 NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN. 141 
 
 Yet when we consider that'the saints -and angels, and the 
 whole happy creation, are gathered together in him as 
 their head* it is certain they shall all be accounted in some 
 sense 'his members ;' and it is highly probable that he, as 
 their head, shall be for -ever active in communicating and 
 diffusing the unknown blessings of that -world, amongst 
 all the inhabitants of it who are gathered .and" united in 
 him.' 
 
 I come in the last place, to m'tfke a fe^ remarks upjon 
 the f o re go ing^i sco urse, and in order to Vender them more 
 effectual for or -spiritual advantage, I shall consider the 
 words.bf my text, 'there* shall be no night there/ in their 
 metaphorical or spiritual meaning, as well, as m their lite- 
 ral sense. There is no night of ignorance or error in the 
 mind, -no night of guik or of Sorrow in the soul : but the 
 blessed above shall dwell surrounded with 'the light of di- 
 vine knowledge, they shall walk in the light of holiness, 
 and they shall be forever filled with the light of consola- 
 tion and joy, as I have explained it atthe beginning of this 
 discourse^ 
 
 The 1st remark then is this, < When heaven, earth and 
 hell, are compared together, with relation 'to light and 
 darkness, or night and day,' we then- see them in their 
 proper distinctions and aspects. Every thing is s<;t in its 
 most distinguishing situation and appearance, when it is 
 compared with things which are most ppposite. 
 
 The earth on whicji we dwell during this state of trial, 
 has neither all day nor all night belonging* to it, but some- 
 times light appears, and again darkness, whether in a nat- 
 ural or a spiritual sense. * . 
 
 Though there be long seasons of darkness in the winter, 
 and darkness in the summer also, in its constant returns, 
 divides one day from another ; yet'the -God of nature has 
 given us a larger portion' of light than there i^ of darkness, 
 throughout the whole gidbe of the rarlh. And this bene- 
 fit we recejve by the remaining beams of the sun after its 
 setting, aftd" by the assistance of the moon and the stars of 
 heaven. -Blessed be God for the moon and stars, as well 
 as for the sun-beams and the brightness of noon. Blessed 
 be God for all the lights of nature ; but we still bless him 
 
 * The Greek word dtautt^<u,suu, used in Eph. i. 10. favours this mean- 
 ing, and perhaps Col. i. 10. includes the same thing.
 
 " * 
 
 142 NO NIGHT JN HEAVEN. 
 
 more for the light of the gospel, and for any rays from 
 heaven, any beams of the Sun of righteousness, Which dif- 
 fuse in lower measures knowledge, and holiness, and com- 
 fort, among the inhabitants of this our world. God is 
 here manifesting his love and 'grace in such proportions as 
 he thinks proper. Some beams of the heavenly world 
 break out upon us here in this dark region. God the 
 spring of all our, light, and the Lamb of God by'his^Spirit 
 C9mmunicates sufficient 'light to us, to guide us on in our 
 way to that heavenly country. " 
 
 In hell there is all. nighl; and darkness, thick darkness 
 in every sense, for the God of glory is absent the're as to 
 any manifestations of his face and favour. And theVefore 
 it is often called " outer darkness, where there is weeping, 
 wailing, 'and gnashing of teeth." There, is no holiness ; 
 there, is no comfort ; there, are no benefits of the creation, 
 no blessings of grace ; all are forfeited and gone for ever. 
 It is everlasting -night and blackness of darkness in that 
 world : horror of soul, without a beam of refreshment 
 from the face of God or the Lamb forever. The devils 
 are now" " reserved in everlasting chains under darkness 
 to the judgment of the great day," Jude 6. But then their 
 confinement shall be closer, and their darkness, guilt, and 
 sorrow, shall be more overwhelming. Is it* lawful for me 
 in this place, to mention the description which Milton 
 our English poet gives of their wretched habitation ? 
 
 , 'A dungeon horrible on all sides round, 
 
 As one great furnace flam'd ; yet from those flames 
 .'.. -No light, but rather darkness visible 
 
 1 % Serv'd prtly to discover sights of woe ; 
 
 Regions fof sorrow, dpleful shades, where- peace 
 
 And rest can never dwell ; hope never comes, 
 
 That comes to all : but torture without end . 
 
 Still urges, and a fiery deluge fed ', 
 
 With ever burning sulphur unconsum'd. 
 
 Such place eternal justice had prcjiar'd f 
 
 For rebel-angels ; here their pris'n ordain'd 
 
 In utter darkness, and their portion set 
 
 As far remov'd from God and light of-heaven 
 
 As frpm the centre thrice td th' utmost pole.' . 'Jr 
 
 To this the poet adds,. . V ' 
 
 * A 
 
 ' how unlike the place from whence they fell !' 
 
 How unlike to thfet heaven which I have been describ- 
 ing, in which there is no night ; and all the evils of dark-
 
 NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN. 143 
 
 ness in every sense are for ever excluded from that happy 
 region, where knowledge, holiness, and joy, are all insepar- 
 able ad immortal. 
 
 2. Remark. 'What light of every kind we are made 
 partakers of here on earth, let us use it with holy thank- 
 fulness, with zeal and religious improvement* IJereby 
 we" may be. assisted and animated to travel on, through the 
 mingled stages and scenes of light and darkness, in this 
 world" till we arrive at the inheritance of the sairit's.in 
 perfect light'. It is a glorious blessing to this dark world, 
 that the light of Christianity is added to the light of Ju- 
 daism, arid- the light of na'ture ; and thai the law' of Moses, 
 and the gospel of 'Christ, are set before us in this nation 
 in their distinct views, on purpose to make our way to hap- 
 piness more evident arfd easy. May the song of Moses, 
 and the song of the Lamb, be sung in our land ! But 
 let us never rest satisfied, till the lighfthat is let into our 
 minds become a spring of divine life within us, a life of 
 knowledge, holiness, and comfort. Let us not be found a- 
 mong the number of those, who, when ' light is come into 
 the world, love darkness rather than light,' lest we fall un- 
 der their condemnation. John iii. 19. Let us never rest 
 till we see the evidences of the children of God wrought 
 in us wjth power ; till the ' day-spring that has visited us 
 from on high' has' entered into our spirits, and refined and 
 moulded them into the divine image; till we who are by 
 nature all ' darkness are made light in the Lord.' 
 
 O what a blessed change, does the 'converting grace of 
 Christ make in the soul of a son or daughter of Adam ? 
 It is like the beauty and pleasure which the rising morning 
 diffuses over the face of the earth, after a night of storm 
 and darkness : it-i^so much of heaven let into all the 
 chambers of the soul.* It is then only that we begin to 
 know ourselves aright, 'and know God in his most awful 
 and mst lovely manifestations : it is .in this -light we see 
 the hateful evil of every sin, the beauty of holiness, the 
 worth of the gospel of Christ, and of his salvation. It is 
 a light that carries divinertieat a'nd life with it; ifcrenews 
 all the powers of the spirit, and introduces holiness, hope 
 and joy, in the room of folly and guilt, sin, darkness and 
 sorrow. 
 
 3. Remark. If God has wrought this sacred and di- 
 rine change in our souls, if we are made the children of
 
 144 NO WIGHT Ilf HEAVEN. 
 
 light, or if we profess. to have felt this change, and hope 
 for an interest in. this bright inheritance of the saints, ' let 
 us put away all the works of darkness with hatred and 
 detestation.' "Let us walk in the light" of truth and ho- 
 liness, Eph. v. 8. " Ye were once darkness, but are now 
 light in the'Lord ; walk as children of light." And the 
 apostle repeats his-exhortation to the Thessalonians in 1 
 Epist. 5th chapter and the 5th verse. ( Ye are all chil- 
 dren of the light and. of the day, and not the sons of 
 night or darkness ; therefore let us not sleep as -do others, 
 but let us watch and be sober; .putting on the breast-plate 
 of faith an3 love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation ; 
 for God hath not appointed us. to wrath but to cbtain-salva- 
 tion by our "Lord Jesus ChrisJ/ . . . 
 
 To animate .every Christian to this holy care and watch- 
 fulness, let us think what a terrible disappointment it will 
 be r after we have made a bright profession of Christianity 
 in our lives, to lie down in death in a state of sin and guilt, 
 and to awake in the world of [spirits, in the midst of the 
 groans .and agonies of hell, surrounded and covered with 
 everlasting darkness. Let -our public profession be as il- 
 lustrious and bright as it wjll, yet if we indulge works of 
 darkness in secret, .night and darkness will be our eternal 
 portion, with the anguish of conscience and the terrors of 
 the Almighty, without one glimpse of hdpe or relief. It 
 is only those who walk in the light of holiness here, who 
 can be fit to dwell in the presence of. a God of holiness 
 hereafter. ''Light ia sown only for the righteous, and joy 
 for the upright in heart ;' and it shall break out one day 
 from, among the clods, a glorious harvest ; but only the 
 sons and the daughters of light shall taste of the blessed 
 fruits of it. 
 
 Think again with yourselves when you are tempted to 
 sin and folly. What if I should be cut off on a sudden, 
 practising the "works of darkness, amt my soul be summon- 
 ed into the eternal jvorld, covered with, guilt and defile- 
 ment ? Shall I then be "fit for the world. of light ? Will 
 the God of light ever receive irtb to his dwelling ? Do I 
 not hereby render myself unfit company for the angels of 
 light ? and what if I should be sent down to dwell among 
 the spirits of darkness, since I have imitated their sinful 
 manners, and obeyed their cursed influence ? 
 
 may such thoughts as these dwell upon our spirits with
 
 NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN. 145 
 
 an awful solemnity, and be a perpetual guard against defil- 
 ing our garments with any iniquity, lest our Lord should 
 come and find us thus polluted. Let us walk onwards in 
 the paths of light, which are discovered to us in the word 
 of God, and which are illustrated by his holy ordinances, 
 to guide us through the clouds and shades which attend us 
 in this wilderness, till our Lord Jesus shall come with all 
 his surrounding glories, and take us to the full possession 
 of the inheritance in light. 
 
 4. Remark. ' Under our darkest nights, our most inac- 
 tive and heavy hours, our most uncomfortable seasons here 
 on earth, let us remember we are travelling to a world of 
 light and joy.' If we happen to lie awake in midnight 
 darkness, and count the tedious hours one after another, in 
 a mournful succession, under any of the maladies of nature, 
 or t?:e sorrows of this life, let us comfort ourselves that we 
 are not shut up in eternal night and darkness without hope, 
 but we are still making our way towards that country 
 where there is no night, where there is neither sin nor 
 pain, malady nor sorrow. 
 
 What if the blessed God is pleased to try us, by the 
 with-holding of light from our eyes for a season ? What 
 if we are called to seek our duty in dark providences, or 
 are perplexed in deep and difficult controversies wherein 
 we cannot find the light of truth ? What if we ' sit in dark- 
 ness' and mourning, ' and see no light,' and the beams of 
 divine consolation are cut off ? let us still ' trust in the name 
 of the Lord, and stay ourselves upon cur God,' especially 
 as he manifests himself in the Lamb that was slain, the 
 blessed medium of his mercy, Isa. 1. 10. Let us learn to 
 say with the prophet Micah in the spirit of faith, Micah 
 vii. 8, 9. " When I sit in darkness the Lord will be a 
 light unto me ; he will bring me forth to the light, and I 
 shall behold his righteousness." 
 
 Blessed be God that the night of ignorance, grief, or af- 
 fliction, which attends us in this world, is not everlasting 
 night. Heaven and glory are at hand ; wait and watch 
 for the morning star, for Jesus and the resurrection. Roll 
 on apace in your appointed course ye suns and moons, and 
 all ye twinkling enlighteners of the sky, carry on the chan- 
 ging seasons of light and darkness in this lower world with 
 your utmost speed, till you have finished all my appointed 
 months of continuance here. The light of faith shews me 
 19 N
 
 146 NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN. 
 
 the dawning of that glorious day, which shall finish all my 
 nights and darknesses for ever. Make haste, delightful 
 morning, and delay not my hopes. Let me hasten, let me 
 arrive at that blessed inheritance, those mansions of para- 
 dise, where night is never known, but one eternal day 
 shall make- our knowledge, our holiness, and our joy, eter 
 nal.
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 
 3 COB. v. 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing^ God. 
 
 WHEN this apostle designs to entertain our hope in the 
 noblest manner, and raise our faith to its highest joys, he 
 generally calls our thoughts far away from all present and 
 visible things, and sends them forward to the great and 
 glorious day of the resurrection. He points our medita- 
 tions to take a distant prospect of the final and complete 
 happiness of the saints in Heaven, when their bodies shall 
 be raised shining and immortal ; whereas it is but seldom 
 that he takes notice of the Heaven of separate souls, or 
 that part of our future happiness which commences at the 
 hour of death. But in this chapter the holy writer seems 
 to keep both these heavens in his eye, and speaks of that 
 blessedness which the spirits of the just shall enjoy in ths 
 * presence of the Lord,' as soon as 'they are absent from 
 the body ;' and yet leads our souls onwards also to our last 
 and most perfect state of happiness, which is delayed till 
 our corruptible bodies shall be raised from the dust, and mor- 
 tality shall be swallowed up in life. ' We know,' saith he in 
 the first verse of this chapter, ' we know that as soon as 
 our mortal tabernacle,' in which we now dwell, ' is dissolv- 
 ed, we have a building,' ready for us l in the heavens ;' 
 i. e. an investiture in a glorious state of holiness and im- 
 mortality, which waits to receive our spirits when we drop 
 this dying flesh. Yet the felicities of this paradise, or first 
 heaven, shall receive an unspeakable addition and ad- 
 vancement, when 'Christ shall come the second time,' 
 with all his saints, to complete our salvation. 
 
 But which heaven soever we arrive at, whether it be this 
 of the separate state, or that when our bodies shall be restor- 
 ed, still we must be * wrought up' to a proper fitness for 
 
 147
 
 148 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 
 
 it by God himself ; and as the end of this verse tells us, 
 he ' gives us his own Spirit as an earnest' of these future 
 blessings. 
 
 The observation which shall be the subject of my dis- 
 course, is this : ' Those who shall enjoy the heavenly 
 blessedness hereafter, must be prepared for it here in this 
 world, by the operation of the blessed God.' 
 
 Here we must take notice in the first place, that since 
 we are sinful and guilty creatures in ourselves, and have 
 forfeited all our pretences to the favour of God and happi- 
 ness, we must be restored to his favour, we must have our 
 sins forgiven, we must be justified in his sight with an 
 everlasting righteousness, we must be adopted as the chil- 
 dren of God, and have a right and title given us to the 
 heavenly inheritance, before we can enter into it, or pos- 
 sess it ; and this blessing is procured for us by the obedi- 
 ence and death of the Son of God. It is in his blood that 
 we find an atonement for our iniquities, and we must be 
 made heirs of glory by becoming the adopted children of 
 God, and so ' we are joint-heirs' with his Son Jesus, and 
 shall be glorified with him, Rom. viii. 17. 
 
 And it is by a true and living faith in the Son of God, 
 that we become partakers of this blessing. God has set 
 forth his Son Jesus as a propitiation for sinners through 
 faith in his blood, Rom. iii. 24. "We are justified by faith" 
 in his blood, and "have hope of eternal life through him," 
 Rom v. We also receive our adoption, and "become the 
 children of God through faith in Christ Jesus," Gal. iii. 26, 
 and thereby we obtain a title to some mansion in our Fa- 
 ther's house in heaven, since Jesus our elder brother, and 
 our forerunner, is admitted into it to take a place there in 
 our name. This is a very considerable part of our neces- 
 sary preparation for the heavenly world, that we should be 
 believers in the Son of God, and united to him by a living 
 faith; and this faith also is 'the gift of God,' Eph. ii. 8. 
 We are wrought up to it by his grace. 
 
 But as this does not seem to be the chief thing designed 
 in the words of my text, I shall pass it over thus briefly, 
 and apply myself to consider what that further fitness or 
 preparation for heaven intends, for which we are said here 
 <to be wrought up by God' himself. The former prepara- 
 tion for heaven, may rather be said to be a < relative change,' 
 which is included in our pardon or justification, and alters
 
 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVErs. 149 
 
 oi^r state from the condemnation of hell, to^ the favour and 
 love t of God * but this 'latter preparation implies a real 
 change of our nature by sanctifying grace, and gives us a 
 temper of soul suited to the business and blessedness of 
 the heavenly world. This is the 'preparation' which my 
 text speaks of. 
 
 The great enquiry therefore at present is, 'What are 
 those steps, or gradual operations^, by which the blessed 
 God works us up to this fitness for heaven ?' 
 
 And here I shall not run over all the parts and linea- 
 ments of the new creature, which is formed by regenera- 
 tion, nor the particular operations of converting: grace, 
 whereby .we are convinced of sin, and led to faith and 
 repentance, and new obedience, though these are all 
 necessary to this end $ but I shall confine myself only 
 to those things which nave a more immediate reference 
 to the heavenly blessedness ; and they are such as fol- 
 low : 
 
 1. 'God works us up to a preparation for the heavenly 
 felicity, by establishing and confirming our belief, that 
 there is a heaven provided for the saints, and by giving 
 us some clearer acquaintance. ,with the nature, the bu- 
 siness, and the blessedness of this heaven.' All this 
 is done by the gospel of Christ, and' by the secret ope- 
 ration of the blessed Go.d, teaching us to understand his 
 gospel. 
 
 Alas! how ignorant were the heathen sages about any 
 future state for the righteous ? how bewildered were the 
 best of them in all their imaginations ? how vain were all 
 their reasonings upon this subject, and how little satis- 
 
 faction could they give to an honest enquirer, whether 
 there was any reward provided for good men beyond this 
 life ? The light of nature was their guide ; and those in 
 
 whom this feeble taper burnt with the fairest lustre, were 
 still left in great darkness about futurity. As the Gentile 
 philosophers were left in great uncertainties whether there 
 was any heaven or not, so were their conceptions of hea- 
 venly tilings very absurd and ridiculous ; and their various 
 fancies about the nature and enjoyments of it, were all 
 impertinence. 
 
 And how little knowledge had the Patriarchs them- 
 selves, if we may judge of their knowledge by the five 
 books of Moses, which give no plain and express promise 
 
 N2
 
 150 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN". 
 
 of future happiness in another world, neither to Abel nor 
 Noah, to Abraham, Isaac, Jaco"b, or to Moses himself? 
 And were it not for some expressions in the New Testa- 
 ment, and by the xith chapter to the Hebrews, where we 
 are told, that these good men l sought a heavenly country,' 
 and hoped for happiness in a future and invisible state, 
 we should sometimes be ready to' doubt whether they 
 knew almost any thing of the future resurrection ami 
 glory. 
 
 That great and excellent man Job had one or two lucid 
 intervals of peculiar brightness, which shone upon him 
 from heaven, in the midst of his distresses, and raised him 
 above and beyond the common level of the dispensation 
 he lived in; yet, in the main, when he describes the state 
 of the dead, how desolate and dolesome is his language, 
 and what heavy darkness hangs upon his hope ! See his 
 expression, Job x. 21, 22, "Let me alone that I may take 
 comfort a little, before I go whence I shall not return, 
 even to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death, a 
 land of darkness as darkness itself, and of the shadow of 
 death without any order, and where the light is as dark- 
 ness." Mark how this good man heaps one darkness upon 
 another, and make^ so formidable a gloom as was hardly 
 to be dispelled by the common notices given to men in 
 that age. 
 
 And if we look into the Jewish writings in and after 
 the days of Moses, we find the men of righteousness fre- 
 quently entertained with promises of corn, and wine, and 
 oil, and other blessings of sense ; and few there were 
 amongst them who saw clearly, and firmly believed the 
 heavenly inheritance through the types, and shadows, and" 
 figures of Canaan, the .promised land, which flowed with 
 milk and honey.* 
 
 * There is no difficulty in believing, that the views of the Old Testament 
 saints were limited and obscure, Concerning many things upon which the 
 gospel has shed a more powerful and consoling light. But we cannot agreo 
 in thinking that they were altogether so much in the dark, as spme good 
 men have imagined them. Job's ideas of a resurrection seem to have been 
 as clear and as comfortable as any which we possess ; although some cir- 
 cumstances connected with that event, and which have been since revealed, 
 were most probably unknown to him. He could say, nevertheless, "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,
 
 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 151 
 
 It is granted there are some hints and discoveries of a 
 blessedness beyond the grave in the writings of David, 
 Isaiah, Daniel, and some of the -Prophets : but the bright- 
 est of these notices fall for short of what the gospel of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ has set before us. The Son of God who 
 came down from heaven, where he had lived from before 
 the creation of this world, .has revealed to us infinitely 
 more of the invisible state than all that went before him. 
 He tells us of the 'pure in heart enjoying the sight of God,' 
 and conversing with 'Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,' the an- 
 cient saints. He assures us there 'are many mansions in 
 his Father's hoilfce,' and that -he 'went to prepare a place' 
 there for his followers. "I tell you" says he, John viii. 38, 
 "I tell you the things which I have seen with my Father." 
 And when he came again from the dead, he made it ap- 
 pear to his disciples that he had " brought life and immor- 
 tality to light by his gospel," 2' Tim. i. 10. 
 
 It is only the New Testament that gives us so bright 
 and satisfactory an account what our future heaven is. 
 The 'righteous shall be with God,' shall behold him, shall 
 dwell with Christ, and see his glory ; they shall worship 
 day and night in his temple, and sing the praises of him 
 that sits upon the throne, arid of the Lamb that has redeem- 
 ed them by his blood; there shall be no sin, no sorrow, 
 
 and not another." Job xix. 25 27.f Even Balaam, at a later age, although 
 a "stranger to the covenants of promise," could. say, in view of the hopes 
 which support the godly man in death, " Let me die the death of the 
 righteous, and let my last end be like his !" Num. xxiii. 10. We have not 
 sufficient ground to infer from the silence of scripture, that the ancient Jews 
 were ignorant of the spiritual things, which were typified by their rites, ob- 
 servances, and peculiar privileges. We find from various passages of the 
 New Testament, that they were acquainted with particulars, and actuated 
 by views, which arc not -expressly attributed to them in the Old Testament 
 records. See, ft>r example, John viii. 56. Heb. xi. Jude 14, 15/. In Heb. 
 xi. 9, 10, it is intimated that Abraham had some' view of the typical refe- 
 rence of the promised land, as the pledge of a better inheritance : and if 
 this was known to him, we should not rashly impute ignorance of it to his 
 pious descendants. ED. 
 
 t Annexed are two translations of this remarkable pnssage. 
 
 " I am sure that my redeemer liveth ; " I know that my Redeemer (<s) living, 
 And that I slml ryse out of the And that ;it the last ((lay) 
 
 earth in the latter (laye; He will arise (in judgment) upon 
 
 That I slial lie clothed againe dust (mankind). 
 
 with this skynne: And after my skin lie manrled thus, 
 
 And se God in my flesh. Yet ever from my flesh shall I sec Ood ; 
 
 Yee, I myself shal bcholde him, Whom I shall seo for me (on my side) 
 Not with other, but with these And mine eyes shall behold him 
 
 same eyes." COVBRDALE. not estranged." IIALEU,
 
 152 A SOUL PREPABED FOR HEAVEN. 
 
 no death, nor t any more pain ; they shall have such satis- 
 factions and employments as- are worthy of a rational na- 
 ture, and a soul refined from sense and sin. St. Paul, one 
 of his disciples, was transported into the third heaven be- 
 fore he died, and there learnt "unspeakahle things," 
 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4; and he, together with the other Apostles, 
 have published the glories of that future world which they 
 learnt from Jesus their Lord, and confirmed these things 
 to our faith by prophecies and miracles without number. 
 
 Now the blessed God himself prepares his own people 
 for this heaven of happiness by giving them a full con- 
 viction and assurance of the truth of a4> these divine dis- 
 coveries; he impresses them upon their heart with power, 
 and makes them attend to those divine inlpressions. Every 
 true Christian has learnt to say within himself, 'This 
 celestial blessedness is no dream, is no painted vision, no 
 gay scene of flattering fahcy, nor is it a matter of doubtful 
 dispute, or of uncertain opinion. I am assured of it from 
 the words of Christ the Son of God, and from his 
 blessed followers, whom he authorised to teach me the 
 things of a. future world.' He that is taught of God be- 
 holds these glories in the light of a divine faith, which is 
 to him the "substance of things hoped for, and the evi- 
 dence of things not yet seen," Heb.-xi. 1. 
 
 2. God works up the souls of his people to a prepara- 
 tion for the heavenly state, by 'purifying them from 
 every defilement that might unfit them for the blessedness 
 of heaven.' The removal of the guilt of sin by' his par- 
 doning mercy I have mentioned before, as necessary to 
 our entrance into the heavenly state ; and we must walk 
 through this world, this defiling world with all holy 
 watchfulness, lest our soul be blemished with new pollu- 
 tions, lest new guilt come upon our consciences, and the 
 thoughts of appearance before God be terrible to us. That 
 soul is very much unfit for an entrance into the presence 
 of a holy God, who is ever plunging itself into new cir- 
 cumstances of guilt, by a careless and unholy conversation. 
 To stand upon the borders of life,- and the very edge of 
 eternity, will be dreadful to those who have given them- 
 selves loose to criminal pleasures, and indulged their 
 irregular appetites and passions. 
 
 But it is not only a conscience purged from the guilt 
 of sin by the blood of Christ, but a soul washed also from
 
 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 153 
 
 the defiling power and taint of sin, by the sanctifying 
 Spirit that is necessary to make us meet for the heavenly 
 inheritance. This is that purification which I now chiefly 
 intend ; Matth. v. 8, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for 
 they shall see God." Nothing that defileth must enter 
 into the city of God on high, nor whosoever maketh a 
 lie or loveth it, Rev. xxi. 27. No injustice, no falsehood, 
 no guile or deceit can be admitted within those gates. 
 They must be without guile both in their heart and tongue, 
 if they will "stand before the throne of God," Rev. xiv. 
 5 : sincerity and truth of soul, with all the beauties of an 
 upright heart and character, are necessary to prepare an 
 inhabitant for that blessed state. There must be no envy, 
 no wrath or malice, no revenge; nor will any of the angry 
 principles that dwell in our flesh and blood, or that inflame 
 and disturb the mind, be found in those regions of peace 
 and love. There must be no pride or ambition, no self- 
 exaltation and vanity that can dwell in heaven, for it cast 
 out the angels of glorious degree, when they would exalt 
 themselves above their own station. < Pride was the con- 
 demnation of the devil,' and it must not dwell in a human 
 heart that ever hopes for a heavenly dwelling-place, 
 1 Tim. iii. 6, and Jude ver. 6. There must be no sensual 
 and intemperate creature there, no covetous selfishness, 
 no irregular passions, no narrowness of soul, no unchari- 
 table and party spirit will ever be found in that country 
 of diffusive love and joy. 
 
 And since the best of Christians have had the seeds of 
 many of these iniquities in their hearts, and they have made 
 a painful complaint of these r ; sing corruptions of nature 
 upon many occasions, these iniquities must be mortified 
 and slain by the work of the Spirit of God within us, if 
 ever we ourselves would live the divine life of heaven, 
 Rom. viii. 33. There is a great deal of this purifying 
 work to be done in the souls of all of us, before we can 
 be prepared for the heavenly world, and though we cannot 
 arrive at perfection here, yet we must be wrought up to a 
 temper in some measure fit to enter into that blessednesc -. 
 and God is training his people up for this purpose all the 
 days of their travels through this desert world. Happy 
 souls, who feel themselves more and more released from 
 the bonds of these iniquities, day by day, and thereby feel 
 within themselves the growing evidences of a joyful hope! 
 20
 
 154 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 
 
 3. God does not only purify us from every sin in order 
 to prepare us for heaven, but f he is ever loosening and 
 yeaning our hearts from all those lawful things in this life, 
 which are not to be enjoyed in heaven.' Our sensual ap- 
 petites, and our carnal desires, so far as they are natural, 
 though not sinful, must die before we can enter into eter- 
 nal life. ' Flesh and blood cannot inherit' that divine, in- 
 corruptible, and refined happiness. Riches and treasures 
 of gold and silver which the < rust can corrupt, and which 
 thieves can break through and steal,' are not provided for 
 the heavenly state: they are all of the earthly kind, and 
 too mean for the relish of ,a heavenly spirit. Although a 
 Christian may possess many of these things in the present 
 life, yet his affections must be divested of them, and his 
 soul divided from them, if he would be a saint indeed, and 
 ever ready for the purer blessir.gs of paradise. The busi- 
 nesses, the cares and the concerns of this secular life, are rea- 
 dy to drink up our spirits too much while we are here ; 
 we are too prone to mingle our very souls with them, and 
 thereby STOW unfit for heavenly felicities : and therefore 
 it is that tar Saviour has warned us, Luke xxi. 34, " Let 
 not your hearts be overcharged with the cares of this world," 
 any more than " with surfeiting and drunkenness," if 
 you would be always ready for your flight to a better state, 
 and meet the summons of your Lord to paradise. 
 
 There are also many curious speculations and delightful 
 amusements which may lawfully entertain us while we 
 are here ; there are sports and recreations which may di- 
 vert the flesh or the mind in a lawful manner, whilst we 
 dwell in tabernacles of flesh and blood, and are encompass- 
 ed with mortal things. But the soul that is wrought up 
 for heaven must arise to an holy indifference to all the en- 
 tertainments of flesh and sense, and time, if it would put 
 on the appearance of an heavenly inhabitant. Christians, 
 that would be ever ready for the glories of a better world, 
 must be such in some measure as the Apostle describes, 1 
 Cor. vii. 30. &c. They must ' rejoice' with such moder- 
 -tion in their dearest comforts of life < as though they re- 
 joiced not ;' they must weep and mourn for the loss of 
 them with such a divine self-government < as though they 
 wept not ;' they must buy as though they possessed not;' 
 they must ' use this world as not abusing it' in any in- 
 stance, but must look upon the fashions and the scenes of it
 
 A SOUL PREPARED TOR HEAVEN. 155 
 
 as vanishing things, and have their hearts " set on the things 
 that are above, where Christ Jesus is at the Father's right 
 hand," Colos. iii. 1, 2. 
 
 If you ask me, what methods the blessed God uses in 
 <jrder to attain these ends, and to purify and refine the 
 soul for heaven ? I answer, he sometimes does it by 
 sharp strokes of affliction, making our interests in the crea- 
 ture bitter to us, that we may be weaned from the relish 
 of them, and the power of divine grace must accompany 
 all his weaning providences, or the work will not be done. 
 
 Sometimes again he weans the soul from the lawful 
 things of the world, by permitting our earthly enjoyments 
 to plunge us into difficulties, to seize the heart with anxi- 
 eties, or to surround us with sore temptation?. Then, 
 when we feel ourselves falling into sin, and bruised or de- 
 filed thereby, we lose our former gust of pleasure in them ; 
 and when we are recovered by divine grace, we are more 
 effectually weaned from such kind of temptations for the 
 future; but it is impossible in the compass of a few lines 
 to describe the various methods which the blessed God 
 uses to wean the spirit from all its earthly attachments, 
 and to work it up to a meetness for the inheritance of the 
 saints in light. Blessed souls, who are thus loosened and 
 weaned from sensible things, though it be done by painful 
 sufferings! 
 
 4. The great God not only *.veans our hearts from 
 those things that are not to be enjoyed in heaven, but he 
 ' gives us a holy appetite and relish suited to the provisions 
 of the heaver.V world, and raises our desires and tenden- 
 cies of soul towards them.' By nature our minds are es- 
 tranged from God, and from all that is divine and holy ; 
 we have no desires after his love, nor delight in the thought 
 01 dwelling with God : but when divine grace has effectu- 
 ally touched the heart, it ever tends upwards to that world 
 of holiness and peace. So the needle, when it is touched 
 by the load-stone, ever points to the beloved pole-star, and 
 seems uneasy when it is diverted from it, nor will it rest 
 till it return thither again. 
 
 Do the sweet sensations of divine love make up a great 
 part of the heavenly blessedness ? The soul is in some 
 measure fitted for it, who can say with David in Psal. iv. 
 7, "Lord lift thou up upon me the light of thy counte- 
 nance, and it shall rejoice" my heart "more than if corn
 
 156 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 
 
 and wine, and oil abounded," and all earthly blessings 
 were multiplied upon me ; for in thy love is the life of 
 my soul, and thy "loving-kindness is better than life," 
 Psal. Ixiii. 
 
 Is the felicitating presence of God to be enjoyed in the 
 future world, and shall we see his face there with un- 
 speakable delight? Then those souls are prepared for 
 heaven, who can say with the Psalmist, Psal. xlii. 2, 
 "When shall I come and appear before God?" When 
 shall I have finished my travels through this wilderness, 
 that I may arrive at my Father's house ? " This one thing 
 have I desired, that I may dwell in the house of God for 
 ever to behold the beauty of the Lord there," Psal. xxvii. 
 4. It is enough for me that I shall "behold thy face in 
 righteousness, and I shall be satisfied when I awake" out 
 of the dust "with thy likeness. With my soul have I 
 desired thee, Lord, in the night," in the darkness of 
 this desert world I have longed for the light of thy face, 
 "and with my spirit within me I will seek thee early. 
 Whom have I in heaven but thee, neither is there any on 
 earth that I desire beside thee," Psal. xvii. Isa. xxvi. Psal. 
 Ixxiii. when shall the day come when there shall be 
 no more distance and estrangement of my heart from God, 
 but I shall feel all my powers for ever near him ? 
 
 Is the sweet society of Jesus to be enjoyed in the hea- 
 venly region? Then those are prepared for this happi- 
 ness who feel in themselves "a desire to depart, and to be 
 with Christ, which is far better" than the most pleasurable 
 scenes on earth, Phil. i. 23. "I am willing" and rejoice 
 in the thought of it "rather to be absent from the body, 
 and to be present with the Lord," 2 Cor. v. 8. I behold 
 in the light of faith the dawning glory of that day, when 
 Jesus shall return from heaven, when he shall revisit this 
 wretched world, and put an end to these wretched scenes 
 of vanity. "Behold he cometh in the clouds, and every 
 eye shall see him." He comes into our world " to them 
 that look for him," not to be made a sacrifice for sin, but 
 to complete our salvation. I long to behold him, and I 
 love the thought of his appearance, Rev. i. Heb. ix/ 2 
 Tim. iv. &c. 
 
 Is there not only a freedom from pain and sorrow 
 among the saints on high, but is there also an eternal re- 
 lease from all the bonds of sin and temptation? Then
 
 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 157 
 
 that soul discovers a degree of preparation for it, who can 
 say with an holy groan and grief of heart, "0 wretched 
 man that I am, who shall deliver me from this hody of 
 sin and death?" Rom. vii. " In this tabernacle we groan 
 indeed being burdened, and are desirous rather to be 
 clothed upon with our house which is from heaven," with 
 our holy state of immortality, 2 Cor. v. 
 
 5. That God who has wrought these divine breathings 
 in the soul will one day fulfil them all, and he is working 
 up the Christian to a blessed meetness for this felicity, by 
 awakening these wishes 'in the very centre of the heart. 
 Happy heart, which feels these holy aspirations, these di- 
 vine breathings! 
 
 6. The blessed God is pleased to work us up to a pre- 
 paration for the heavenly world 'by forming the temper 
 of our minds into a likeness to the inhabitants of heaven,' 
 i. e. to God himself, to Christ Jesus the Son of God, to 
 angels and saints, to the spirits of the just made perfect. 
 From the children of folly and sin we must be transform- 
 ed into the children of God, we must be created anew 
 after his image, and resemble our heavenly Father, that 
 we may be capable of enjoying his love, and rejoicing in 
 his presence. We must oe conformable to the image of 
 his only begotten Son Christ Jesus, and walk and live as 
 he did in this world, that we may be prepared to dwell 
 with him in the world to come, Rom. viii. 29 ; 1 John iv. 
 17. We must have the same temper and spirit of holiness 
 wrought in us, that we may be imitators of all the holy 
 ones that dwell in heaven, and that we may be followers 
 of the saints who have been strangers and travellers in this 
 world in all former ages, 
 
 How can we hope to have free conversation with glori- 
 ous beings, which are so unlike to ourselves, as God, and 
 Christ, and angels are unlike to the sinful children of 
 men? How can we imagine ourselves to be fit company 
 for such pure and perfect beings, beauteous, and shining in 
 holiness, while we are defiled with the iniquities of our 
 natures, and ever falling into new guilt and pollution? 
 Happy souls, who can say through grace, 'I have walked 
 in the light as God is in the light,' and I trust, Father, 
 I shall dwell for ever with thee there. I have been a fol- 
 lower of the Lamb through the thorny and rugged pas- 
 sages of this wilderness, and I humbly hope I shall sit 

 
 158 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 
 
 with thee, Jesus, upon a throne glorious and holy. I 
 have been a companion of them who have finished the 
 Christian race, who have fought the good fight, and oh-, 
 tained the victory, and I trust I shall have a name and a 
 place amongst all you holy ones who have fought and 
 overcome. for a heart and tongue furnished for snch 
 appeals to all the blessed inhabitants of paradise, the pos- 
 sessors of those mansions on high ! 
 
 7. The grace of God works us up to a preparation for 
 heaven 'by carrying us through those trials and sufferings, 
 those labours and conflicts here in this life, which will not 
 only make heaven the sweeter to us, but will make it more 
 honorable for God himself to bestow this heaven upon us. ' 
 When the spirits of a creature are almost worn out with 
 the toilsome labours of the day, what an additional sweet- 
 ness does he find in rest and repose? What an inward 
 relish and satisfaction to the soul, that has been fatigued 
 under a long and tedious war with sins and temptations, 
 to be transported to such a place where sin cannot follow 
 them, and temptation can never reach them ? How will 
 it enhance all the felicities of the heavenly world when we 
 enter into it, to feel ourselves released from all the trials 
 and distresses and sufferings which we have sustained in 
 our travels thitherwards? The review of the waves and 
 the storms wherein we had been tossed for a long season, 
 and had been almost shipwrecked there, will make the 
 peaceful haven of eternity, to which we shall arrive, much 
 more agreeable to every one of the sufferers, 2 Cor. iv. 17. 
 "Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, are" 
 in this way "working for us a far more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory," and preparing us for the pos- 
 session of it. 
 
 But it should be added also, that the prize of life, and 
 the crown of glory, is much more honourably bestowed 
 on those who have been long fighting, running, and la- 
 bouring to obtain it. Heaven will appear as a condecent* 
 reward of all the faithful servants of God upon earth, and 
 a divine recompence of their labours and sufferings, 2 
 Thes. i. 6. 'As it is a righteous thing with God to re- 
 compence tribulation to them that trouble you, so to give 
 to those who are troubled rest' and salvation. 
 
 * Fit, becoming, appropriate. ED.
 
 t* 
 
 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 159 
 
 This is that equitable or condecent fitness that God, as 
 governor of the world, has wisely appointed and made 
 necessary before our entrance into heaven. Christ him- 
 self our forerunner, and the 'captain of our salvation, was 
 made perfect through his sufferings,' and was trained up 
 for his throne on high by enduring the contradiction of 
 sinners, and the variety of agonies which attended his life 
 and death in this lower world, this stage of conflict and 
 sufferings. See Heb. ii. 10. and xii. 1. 
 
 Though we cannot pretend by our labours in the race 
 to have merited the prize, yet we must labour through the 
 race before w,e receive it. Our conflicts cannot pretend 
 to have deserved the crown which is promised, but we 
 must fight the battles of the Lord before we obtain it 
 This was St. Paul's encouragement and hope, 2 Tim. iv. 
 7, 8, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished my 
 course, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up 
 for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the right- 
 eous Judge will give me, and not to me only, but to all 
 those who love his appearance." There is a great deal 
 of divine wisdom in this appointment, that the children 
 of God may be "counted in this sense, worthy of his 
 kingdom for which they also suffer," 2 Thes. i. 5, and 
 that the relish of those satisfactions may be doubled to all 
 the sufferers. 
 
 8. God yet further prepares and works up his people 
 for heaven, by 'teaching them some of the employments 
 of the heavenly world, and initiating and inuring them to 
 the practice thereof.' Is the 'contemplation of the blessed 
 God* in his nature and his various perfections the business 
 of glorified souls ? God teaches his children, whom he is 
 training up for glory, to practice this holy contemplation. 
 He fixes their thoughts upon the wonders of his nature 
 and his grace, his works of creation and providence, the 
 blessings of his redeeming love by his Son Jesus, and the 
 terrors of his justice which shall be executed by the same 
 hand, while the soul at the same time can appeal to God 
 with holy delight, 'My meditation of thee shall be sweet 
 indeed ;' may I dwell for ever in the midst of thy light, 
 and see all thy wondrous glories diffused around me, and 
 make my joys everlasting! 
 
 Are we told that heaven consists also in "beholding the 
 glory of Christ?" John xvii. 24. And how happily does
 
 160 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 
 
 God prepare his saints for this part of heaven, by filling 
 their thoughts with the various graces and honours of 
 Jesus the Saviour ? And when they are in their lonely 
 retirements, they trace the footsteps of their Beloved 
 through all his labours and sorrows in this mortal state, 
 even from his cradle to his cross ; they follow him in then 
 holy meditations to his agonies in the garden, to his an- 
 guish of soul there ; through all his sufferings in death, 
 through the grave his bed of darkness, and trace him on 
 still to his glorious resurrection, and to his ascent to his 
 Father's house, when a bright cloud like a chariot bore 
 him up to heaven with attending angels. 'This is my 
 beloved,' says the soul, and 'this 'is my friend,' whom I 
 shall see with joy in the upper world. Le is altogether 
 lovely, and he demands my highest love. 
 
 Is it part of the happiness of heaven to ' converse with 
 the blessed God by holy addresses of acknowledgements 
 and praise,' as it is described in Rev. iv. and v. and vii. ? 
 "They are before the throne of God day and night, and 
 serve him in his temple ;" and join with holy joy to pro- 
 nounce that divine song, " SJessmg and h-;^ anil glory 
 and power, be to him that sitteth on the throne, and to 
 the Lamb for ever and ever: worthy art thou, Lord, to 
 receive glory and honour, for thou hast created all things 
 for thy pleasure : worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to 
 receive power, and riches, and strength, glory and bless- 
 ing ; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us unto God 
 by thy blood out of every kindred and nation." Now it 
 is evident that those whose hearts and lips are joyfully 
 fitted to pronounce this holy song, and to join in this har- 
 mony, are fitted also for these blessed employments of the 
 heavenly state. And yet at the same time they abase 
 themselves in the dust of humility, and with the living 
 creatures or angels they fall down before the throne, and 
 with the elders they cast down their crowns at his foot, 
 they confess themselves the sons of earth and dust, and 
 would appear as nothing while God is all, Rev. iv. 9, 10. 
 and v. 8. 
 
 Are all the powers of glorified nature in heaven active 
 in the unknown services of God and Christ there? So 
 the saints are trained up for this service and this activity 
 here on earth, by diligence and delight in their less noble 
 employments, the inferior labors and duties that provi-
 
 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 161 
 
 dence demands of them here, whereby they are prepared 
 for more glorious employment on high ; for heaven is no 
 idle or unactive state. 
 
 Do some of the satisfactions of the heavenly world arise 
 from the ' sweet society of the blessed above, their fervent 
 love to each other, their mutual delight in holy converse, 
 the joy that arises in the heart of each upon a survey of 
 the happiness of all the holy and blessed inhabitants ? 
 Does benevolence and goodness of every kind overflow 
 in the heavenly world ?' It is plain that God is training 
 up his own children for this blessedness, by employing 
 them in this manner while they are here below. He is in 
 some measure fitted for this heaven, who can say, the 
 'saints are the excellent of the earth, in whom is all my 
 delight:' I love them from my soul, because they Icve my 
 God and my Saviour. I see the image of the Father, and 
 of Jesus his Son in them, and I cannot but love that image 
 wheresoever I behold it. I feel myself ready to rejoice 
 when my fellow Christians partake of joy, and I long for 
 that temper of mind when I shall delight myself in the 
 felicity of all my fellow saints in perfection, and shall make 
 their heaven a part of my own. But I proceed not here, 
 because this would anticipate what I design hereafter. 
 
 9. God is pleased to work up his people to a preparation 
 for the heavenly state, by 'giving them a pledge and 
 earnest of the blessedness of heaven/ that is, by sending 
 his o\vn Spirit into their hearts under this very character, 
 both as the spring of div.ine life, and as the evidence of 
 our hope, and sometimes bestowing upon them such 'fore- 
 tastes of the heavenly world,' by the operations of his 
 holy Sf irit, which are too joyful and glorious to be fully 
 expressed in mortal language ; but we shall attempt some- 
 thing of it in another discourse. 
 
 I proceed now to seek what inferences or edifying, 
 remarks may be made upon our meditations thus far. 
 
 Rem. 1. We learn from my text 'what aie the brightest, 
 the plainest, and the surest evidences of our interest in 
 the heavenly blessedness. Are we trained up to it, and 
 prepared for it ?' Has the blessed God wrought up our 
 souls to any hopeful degrees of this preparation ? Has he 
 in any measure made us meet for this inheritance of the 
 saints in light? 
 
 I grant the scripture teaches us, that it is by a true and 
 21 02
 
 162 A SOtJL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 
 
 living faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, that we obtain a title 
 to eternal life, according to the proposals of the covenant 
 of grace in the gospel ; but our preparation for heaven by 
 a holy and heavenly temper of mind and conduct of life, 
 is the fairest and most uncontested evidence of the truth 
 and life of our faith, and such a proof of it as will stand 
 the test both in life and death, in this world, and in the 
 world to come. If we would manifest our faith in Christ 
 to be sincere and genuine and effectual for our salvation, 
 we must make it appear that we are growing up into the 
 image of Christ in all things, we must be formed after the 
 likeness of the Son of God, who is our great example, and 
 our fore-runner into heaven ; and where this evidence is 
 found the soul cannot fail of salvation. Wheresoever there 
 is this fitness for the joys on high, God will assuredly 
 bestow these divine pleasures. It is for such souls that he 
 has prepared a heaven, and when he has prepared such 
 souls for the heavenly world, he will surely bring them 
 to the possession of it. 
 
 Of how great moment and importance is it then for each 
 of us to examine ourselves with watchful diligence and 
 sincerity, whether we are in any measure fitted for the 
 blessedness above : and to this end we may run over in 
 our enquiries all the former steps of preparation. 
 
 Let us enquire of our souls then, Am I so fully persua- 
 ded of this state of future happiness, as to resolve this 
 shall be my aim, this my everlasting pursuit ? Have we 
 seen this blessedness in the various representations of it 
 in the word of God, as the most amiable and desirable 
 thing, and have we set our faces to travel thither with an 
 holy purpose and determination, through grace, never to 
 tire, or grow weary till vye arrive at the enjoyment of it ? 
 Have we fined our hope '-.and expectation upon the blessed 
 ' promises in the word, and are we by these promises 
 endeavouring daily to cleanse ourselves from all defilements 
 of flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of 
 God ? Do we obtain any victories over our spiritual ene- 
 mies, and maintain our pious conflicts against all the op- 
 positions which we meet with in our way ? Do we labour 
 to suppress every rising ferment of envy, pride, wrath, 
 sensuality, and those corrupt appetites and passions which 
 render us unfit for that holy and heavenly world ? Are 
 our hearts daily more mortified to the things of this world,
 
 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 163 
 
 the enjoyments of flesh and sense, which are not to be 
 found in heaven ? Are our hearts more weaned from the 
 sensual satisfactions and intemperate delights of the ani- 
 mal life ? Are we dead to the temptations of gold and 
 silver, the grandeurs and the gaieties, and splendors of this 
 present low life of flesh and blood, which are no part nor 
 portion of the heavenly felicity ? Do' we view the temp- 
 ting things of this world with an holy indifference, and 
 possess and use them with affections so calm and so cool, 
 as becomes a rank of beings that have a nobler, a richer, 
 and a more exalted hope ? Have we found the labours 
 and burdens, the sorrows and afflictions of the present 
 state, happy instruments to prepare us for the blessedness 
 above, by curing all our vain and carnal desires ? Are we 
 in any measure imitators of those who have gone before 
 us through faith and patience, and are made possessors of 
 the promised joy ? Are we "followers of God as dear 
 children ?" Have we the image of our heavenly Father 
 created anew in us, and do we walk as our Lord Jesus 
 Christ also walked, while he was in this wilderness travel- 
 ling to IKS Father's house ? Are our earnest desires towards 
 this sort of felicity excited and raised high ? Have we a 
 strong tendency of soul to the holy enjoyments of the 
 upper world ? Do we sigh and groan after a complete free- 
 dom from sin, and a deliverance from every temptation ? 
 Do we employ ourselves with pleasure in the work and 
 business of heaven, in the holy contemplation of God, in 
 a delightful survey of the person and offices of his Son 
 Jesus, his wondrous condescension, and his amazing com- 
 passion ? Do we take pleasure in conversing with God our 
 Father by holy addresses of praise and thankfulness ? Do 
 we love all the saints, and delight in their society, and do 
 we rejoice to spend our time with them in heavenly con- 
 versation, though they may be among the lower ranks of 
 life here on earth ? And do we diffuse our love through 
 all who wear the image of God, and take a pleasing satis- 
 faction of soul in their increase in holiness, and rejoice in 
 their joys? 
 
 If God has thus fitted thee, Christian, in this manner 
 for the mansions of the happy world, then surely he has 
 set thee apart for himself, he has begun eternal life in thee, 
 the dawn of eternal glory is risen upon thee, and he will 
 bring thee into the complete noon of blessedness, into the
 
 164 A SOTTL PREPARED FOR HEAVEJT. 
 
 overflowing light of divine beatitudes. "Arise and shine," 
 Christian, for thy light is come, "the glory of the Lord 
 is risen upon thee;" thou hast no need to ascend into heaven 
 to search for thy evidences among the decrees of God, 
 and to pry into the rolls of electing grace ; for if thou hast 
 been transformed into an heavenly temper, thy name is 
 surely written in the Lamb's book of life; heaven is begun 
 within thee, and God will fulfil his own work. 
 
 jRem. 2. 'What a solid comfort is it to poor mourning, 
 troubled, afflicted souls under all their sorrows, their 
 frailties, their temptations, and infirmities here on earth, 
 that they have a clear evidence of heaven within them.' 
 This is such a peace as Jesus Christ left to his disciples by 
 legacy, John x'iv. 27. "Such as the world cannot give," 
 and such as the world cannot take away. 
 
 This is a spring of constant and divine consolation to 
 those who seem to be worn out with old age or infirmities 
 of nature, and who complain they are fit for n^service in 
 this world ; but if they can feel in themselves this holy 
 fitness for the enjoyments of heaven, they have a rich and 
 living fountain of pleasure in their own breasts, ever 
 springing, ever flowing, and such as will follow them with 
 daily supplies of pleasure, if they are not wanting to them- 
 selves, through all this wilderness, till they arrive at that 
 land were all the rivers of blessing meet and join in a full 
 stream, to make the inhabitants for ever happy. 
 
 It may be, Christian, thou art afraid that thou hast 
 felt but little of this 'divine preparation; thou seest so 
 many defects irt thyself daily, so much unlikeness to God, 
 so much working of iniquity, such restless efforts of the 
 body of sin, so much prevalence of temptation, so much 
 coldness in duty, such deadness in acts of devotion, such 
 frequent returns of guilt and pain in a tender conscience, 
 and so many enemies to struggle with every step of thy 
 way to heaven, that thou art greatly discouraged and afraid 
 this divine preparation is not wrought in thee. Enquire 
 then yet further, are all these melancholy scenes both 
 within and without, the matter of thy sincere grief and 
 burden ? Canst thou say in this tabernacle, I groan, being 
 burdened with the body of sin, as well as with the frailties 
 and pains of nature ? Canst thou say sincerely, that thy 
 inmost desires are towards God and his glory in the pre- 
 sent life, and towards his enjoyment in the life to come ?
 
 A SOUL PREPARED FOK HEAVEN. 165 
 
 Dost thou maintain a constant converse with heaven as 
 well as thou canst, though it be so much broken, and so 
 often painfully interrupted ? Hast thou a continual and 
 settled aversion and hatred to sin, and a holy jealousy and 
 fear of its defilements ? Hast thou a restless breathing of 
 soul after greater likeness to God, and greater communion 
 with him ? Dost thou delight irj spiritual and holy con- 
 versation ; and does thy zeal for the honour of God and 
 his Son Jesus, carry thee forth to those actions which are 
 suitable to thy station, for the advancement of religion in 
 the world ? .Be assured then that God is training thee up 
 for this heavenly state, and has in some measure prepared 
 thee for it. God has begun in thee the business and bles- 
 sedness of the upper world. In the midst of all thy sor- 
 rows and complaints here below, peace be with thee, and 
 joy in the Lord, for thy salvation and thy felicity shall 
 be completed. 
 
 Rem. 3. ' How vain, and idle, and unreasonable are all 
 the hopes of sinners, that they shall ever arrive at heaven 
 without any preparation for it here?' There is nothing 
 uiviii' _;m in them in this world, and yet they 
 
 hope to be made happy in the \vorld that is to come ; there 
 is nothing of true grace in their hearts here, and yet they 
 vainly expect to be made perfect in pleasure and glory 
 hereafter. 
 
 Think with thyself, carnal creature, that heaven 
 will be a burden to thee ; the powers, the appetites, and 
 passions of thy sinful nature, will r.ot suffer thee to relish 
 the joys of the heavenly state. Dost thou imagine that a 
 worm or serpent of the earth, or a swine which is ever tum- 
 bling in the mire, can be entertained with the golden orna- 
 ments and splendors of a palace ? Or will the stupid ass be de- 
 lighted with the harmony of a harp Or viol? No more 
 can a soul of a carnal and sensual taste, and which is ever 
 seeking and groveling after earthly gratifications, be pleas- 
 ed or gratified with the refined enjoyments of the heaven- 
 ly world. Thou must have a new nature, new appetites 
 and affections, ere thou canst partake of divine joys, or re- 
 ish them if thou wert placed in the midst of them. Holy 
 adoration of God, and humble converse with him in wor- 
 ship, converse with the saints about divine things, perfect 
 purity and devotion, with the meditation of the excellen- 
 cies of Christ, and the sight of him in his ordinances, have
 
 166 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 
 
 never yet been the object of tby delight or joy ; nay they 
 have rather been thine aversion ; and shouldst thou have 
 the gates of heaven open before thee, and see what busi- 
 ness the holy souls there are employed in, thou wouldst 
 find no desire to such sort of satisfactions ; the place and 
 the company would be thy burden, if thou couldst be let 
 at once into the midst of them. 
 
 Think again, sinful wretch, thy carnality of soul, thy 
 supreme love of sensual and brutal joys, the secret malice 
 or envy, the pride and impiety of thy heart, have prepar- 
 ed thee for another sort of company ; thou art fitted for 
 hell by the very temper of thy spirit, for such are the in- 
 habitants of that miserable world, and in thy present state 
 there can be no admission for thee into heaven. Thou 
 hast treasured up food for the worm that never dies, for 
 the eternal anguish of conscience ; thou hast made thyself 
 fit fuel by indulgence of thy sinful and rebellious appetites 
 and passions, for the fiery indignation of God ; and every 
 day thou persistest in this state, thy preparation for the 
 dark regions of sin and sorrow is increased. But this leads 
 me to the last remark. 
 
 Rem, 4. < How dangerous a thing it is for a sinner to 
 continue a day longer in a state so unprepared for the hea- 
 venly world.' Dost thou not know, whilst we are inhab- 
 itants in these regions of mortality, we are borderers up- 
 on death ; and if we are unprepared for heaven, we are 
 borderers upon damnation and hell ? Our life is but a 
 vapour, and the next puff may blow us away into the re- 
 gions of everlasting darkness, misery, and despair. 
 
 Alas! how much of this divine preparation do the best 
 of saints stand in need of for an immediate entrance into 
 heaven ? What care do they take, how constant are their 
 labours, and how fervent their prayers to increase in this 
 divine fitness, in these holy and heavenly qualifications ? 
 And dost thou vainly imagine to exchange earth for hea- 
 ven at once, and to be received into the pure and holy 
 mansions of paradise without any conformity to God or 
 Christ, or the rest of the inhabitants of that world. 
 
 Objection. But some idle and slothful creatures will be 
 ready to object and say, If it be God who creates his peo- 
 ple anew, according to his own image, and fits them for 
 heaven : if we must be wrought up by his power and 
 grace for the participation of this glory, what can we do
 
 
 
 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEX. 167 
 
 towards it ourselves ? Or why are we charged and exhor- 
 ted to prepare ourselves for heaven ? Since then it is 
 God that must do this work, why may we not lie still, and 
 wait till his grace shall prepare us ? 
 
 I answer, no, by no means ; for God is wont to exert 
 nis grace only while creatures are in the use of his appoint- 
 ments, and fulfil their duty. This language therefore, and 
 these excuses, seem to be the mere cavils of a carnal 
 mind, or the voice of sloth and indolence. Those who 
 have no inclination to prepare themselves for the joys of 
 the heavenly state, may wait and expect divine influences 
 in vain, if they will never stir up themselves to practise 
 what is in their power, and to attempt what the gospel of 
 grace demands. 
 
 In almost all the transactions of God with men, it is the 
 way of his wisdom to join our diligence and his grace to- 
 gether ; and there are many Scriptures that give us suffi- 
 cient notice of this. See how St. Paul argues with the 
 Philippians, and stirs them up to zeal and activity in secu- 
 ring their own salvation by the hope of divine assistances, 
 Phil. ii. 12, 13. "Work out your own salvation, for it is 
 God that worketh in you both to will and to do." So 
 said David to his son Solomon, when he appointed him to 
 build the temple of the Lord, 1 Chron. xxviii. 20, " Be 
 strong and of good courage, and do it, for the Lord God, 
 even my God, will be with thee, and will not fail thee, nor 
 forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work." This 
 was the charge also that God gave to his people Israel, 
 Lev. xx. 7, 8, " Sanctify yourselves and be ye holy, keep 
 my statutes ; I am the Lord who sanctifieth you." So the 
 Psalmist tells us, Psal. iv. 3, "The Lord hath set apart, 
 or separated him who is godly for himself ;" and yet, 
 2 Cor. vi. 17, The Lord commands his people to "separate 
 themselves" unto him, to " come out from among" the 
 sinners of this world; and "be you separate," saith the 
 Lord, " and I will receive you." So in other places of 
 Scripture, divine wisdom commands sinners to fulfil their 
 duty, Prov. i. 23, "Turn ye at my reproof;" and yet in 
 the 80th Psalm, the church prays, " Turn us, Lord, and 
 we shall be' saved." The case is very much the same ev- 
 en in the things that relate to this life, wherein divine assis- 
 tance and blessing are connected with our diligence in du- 
 ty. Solomon tells us, Prov. x. 4, "The hand of the dil-
 
 168 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 
 
 igent maketh rich ;" and yet ver. 22, it is "the blessing of 
 the Lord that maketh rich also." We can never expect 
 the favours of heaven, unless we are zealous to obey the 
 commands of heaven. 
 
 When the sinful children of men are found waiting on 
 God in his own appointed ordinances, then they are in the 
 fairest way to receive divine communications, and be 
 transformed into saints. If the blind man had not obeyed 
 the voice of Christ, John ix. 7, and washed himself 'in the 
 pool of Siloam,' he could not expect to have received his 
 eye-sight. If the man with the withered hand, Matth. 
 xii. 10, 13, had not used his own endeavours to 'stretch 
 forth his hand' at the command of Christ, I can hardly be- 
 lieve it would have been restored to its ancient vigour and 
 usefulness. If the poor impotent creature had not been 
 waiting at the side of the 'pool in Bethesda,' John v. he 
 had not met with the blessed Jesus, nor been healed by 
 his miraculous power. You will say, perhaps, that our 
 blessed Saviour could have visited Kim in his own house, 
 could have directed his journey towards his habitation, or 
 have sent for him into the public, and healed him there. 
 No, our Lord did not choose either of these ways ; but 
 while the man was waiting at the pool, where he had en- 
 couragement to hope for a cure, there the Lord found him, 
 and healed him. 
 
 Let not any presuming sinner therefore, who is sensible 
 of his own unfitness for heaven, dare to continue in a care- 
 less indifference about so important a concern. Let him 
 not put off his own conscience with this foolish excuse, 
 'It is God that must do all in us and for us, and therefore 
 I will do nothing myself.' Dost thou think, O soul, that 
 this will be a sufficient answer to him that shall judge thee 
 in the great and solemn day ? May you not expect to 
 hear the Judge reply terribly to such an excuse, 'You 
 never sought after this preparation for heaven, and you 
 must be plunged into hell, for which your own rebellion 
 and slothfulness have prepared you.' 
 
 But perhaps you will object again, what can so feeble, 
 so sinful a creature as I am, do towards this divine work ? 
 
 I answer, Canst thou not separate one quarter of an 
 hour daily to think of thy dreadful circumstances, and 
 thine eternal danger in a sinful and defiled state of soul ? 
 Think of the uncertainty of life, and how sudden thy sum-
 
 A SOUL PREPARED FOB HEAVEN. 169 
 
 mons may be kito the eternal and unchangeable state. 
 Survey thyself in thy sinful condition both of heart and life, 
 and see how unfit thou art for the company of all the holy 
 ones above. Meditate on these thy perilous circumstances, 
 till thy heart be deeply affected therewith ; fall down be- 
 fore God in humble acknowledgment of thy former guilt 
 and pollutions ; give up thyself to him with holy solemni- 
 ty, to have thy heart turned away from every sin, and 
 strongly inclined .to holiness and heaven. Commit thy 
 soul, guilty and defiled as it is, into the hands of Jesus the 
 Mediator ; entrust thy case with him as an all-sufficient 
 Saviour ; entreat that he would cleanse thee from all thy 
 guilt and pollution, by the blood of his sacrifice, and the 
 grace of his Spirit ; that blood of atonement which has 
 procured for sinners pardon and peace with God, and 
 those operations of his grace which may sanctify thy sin- 
 ful nature. Address thyself to the exalted Saviour for 
 healing influences from his htmd, to cure all the maladies 
 of thy soul, to form thee after his image, and to make thee 
 a son oT God. Pray with hoJy importunity for this ne- 
 cessary and divine blessing ; wait on God in secret and in 
 public ; give him no rest night nor day till he has renew- 
 ed thy soul, and transformed thee into a new creature, and 
 given thee a relish of the heavenly enjoyments. Dwell 
 at the throne of grace till thou feelest thy heart drawn up- 
 ward and heavenward, and watch against every thing that 
 would defile thy soul anew, 'or make thee unfit to enter 
 into the company of the blessed. 
 
 Permit me here to dwell a little upon those motives 
 that should awaken thee to bethink thyself ere it be too 
 late, before the grave has shut its mouth upon thee, and 
 thou art consigned to the place of eternal misery. Awake, 
 awake, impenitent sinners, who are as yet unprepared 
 for the business and blessedness of the heavenly state ; 
 awake and exert your souls in warmest reflections on mat- 
 ters of infinite importance. 
 
 (1.) Think with yourselves how much the great God 
 has done towards the preparation of sinful men for this 
 heaven; think seriously of his long-suffering goodness, 
 and his sparing mercy, which should have led you long 
 ago to a melting sense of your own folly, and brought you 
 back unto him by humble repentance. For what reason 
 were his patience and his long-suffering exercised towards 
 22 P
 
 170 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 
 
 you, if not for this very purpose ? Rom. ii. 4. Think of 
 the blessings of nature with which he has surrounded you, 
 and the comforts of this life wherewith' he has furnished 
 you, in order to allure your thoughts towards him, who is 
 the spring of all goodness ; and to raise your desires to- 
 wards him. It is he that invites you, 'who will Be the 
 everlasting portion and happiness of his people, and in 
 whose favour consists life and felicity ; and dare not any 
 longer neglect your preparation for this happiness, which 
 consists in the enjoyment'of God, lest you should be cut 
 off before you' are prepared. 
 
 (2.) Consider again what Jesus the Son of God has done 
 and suffered, 'and consider what he is yet doing towards 
 the preparation of souls for heaven. He came down to 
 our world to undertake the glorious and dreadful work of 
 the redemption of sinners from the curse of the law and 
 the terrors of hell, and to procure a heaven for every re- 
 bellious creature that would return to God his Father. 
 Think of the agonies of his death with which he pur- 
 chased mansions of glory for those that receive his grace 
 in his own appointed methods^ those that are willing to 
 have their hearts and minds formed into a suitable frame 
 to receive this felicity. Remember that he is risen from 
 the dead, he is ascended to prepare a place in glory for 
 those that are willing to follow him through the paths of 
 holiness. Hearken to the many kind invitations and al- 
 lurements of his gospel, which calls to the worst of sinners 
 to return and live, and entreats and exhorts those who are. 
 in the ends of the earth, and upon the borders t>f hell, "to 
 look unto him that they may be saved," Isa. xlv. 22. 
 Take heed that you suffer not these seasons of his inviting 
 love' to slide away .and vanish unimproved ; take heed 
 how you rebel against the language of the grace of h'is 
 gospel, and thereby prepare yourselves for double and 
 everlasting destruction. 
 
 (3.) Think again, what blessed assistances he. has pro- 
 posed to those who are desirous to be trained up for hea- 
 ven ; how many thousand souls, as carnal, as sensual, and 
 as criminal as yours are, have been recovered by the word 
 of his gospel, and the influences of his Spirit, to a new na- 
 ture and life of holiness ? How many are there who from 
 children of wrath, have become the sons and daughters 
 of the most high God, heirs of this blessedness, and pre-
 
 A SOTJL PREPARED TOR HEAVEN. 171 
 
 pared for the enjoyment of it? take heed that you 
 resist not this grace, nor rebel against the kind and sacred 
 motions of the blessed Spirit within you, when his very 
 office and business is to change your sinful natures, and to 
 prepare you for the regions of eternal holiness and peace. 
 (4.) Think yet further what advantages you have had 
 from the weekly ministrations of the word of grace, from 
 reading the book of God in your own language, and from 
 the pious education many of you have enjoyed in the 
 families from whence you sprung. Think what awaken- 
 ing hints you have received by the inward conviction of 
 your own consciences, and by the Christian friends you 
 may have conversed with. Have you not been told plain- 
 ly enough by the voice of conscience, that you are now 
 utterly unprepared for heaven ? Have not public and pri- 
 vate admonitions given you" sufficient warning of the dan- 
 ger-of your present state? And after all this will you 
 proceed in your own sinful course till you arrive at the very 
 gates of hell and destruction, till you have prepared your- 
 selves, and made your souls ripe for the vengeance of God, 
 and are plunged into it by death without remedy or relief? 
 (5.) Consider how dreadful will your state be if death 
 meet you in all your guilt and defilements, unwashed, 
 unpardoned, and unsanctified, without any garment of 
 righteousness, without any robe of salvation. What a ter- 
 rible sentence is that which death will pronounce upon 
 every such sinner the moment that he strikes their heart ? 
 Hear it and tremble, miserable creature, hear the for- 
 midable and eternal sentence, "Let him that is unholy be 
 unholy still :" let him that is unprepared for heaven go 
 down to the regions of death and hell, for which his ini- 
 quities have best prepared him. 
 
 (6. ) Think with yourselves, if you have any thing of 
 importance to do in this world, or have any momentous 
 scene of life to pass through, how diligent are you in pre- 
 paration for it. If you are but to visit the court of a prince, 
 or to go to make your addresses to any great man of honour 
 and power, or to be admitted into any numerous society 
 of a superior character, how diligently do yqu endeavour 
 to furnish yourselves with such knowledge of the common 
 ceremonies of life, and such ornaments about your body 
 as may render you acceptable among those whom you are 
 going to converse with. And does not an entrance into
 
 172 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 
 
 the court of heaven, into the presence of a God of holiness, 
 and into the society of pure and blessed spirits, require 
 some solicitude and care about those ornaments and qualifi- 
 cations which are necessary for so solemn and glorious an 
 appearance ? If you are designing in this life to commence 
 any trade or business for your employment and your sup- 
 port, you are willing to serve an apprenticeship of seven 
 years in order to a preparation for the exercise of this 
 public business; and can you hot afford one day in a week 
 to learn the business of heaven, and to prepare for the 
 blessedness of it ? 
 
 And let parents also consider with themselves what pains 
 they have taken that their children may be fit for the trades 
 and employments of life to which they design them, and 
 then let each enquire of their own consciences, have J ever 
 done so much to train up my son for the heavenly world, to 
 fit him for the appearance before God, and saints and angels, 
 and for all the unknown services of that celestial country? 
 (7.J Go on yet further, impenitent sinners, and con- 
 sider with yourselves what a blessedness it is to be pre- 
 pared for heaven ; for then you are prepared for death, 
 and at once you take away all the terrors of it. what 
 an unspeakable happiness is it to pass through this world 
 daily without the fear of dying ! What is it that makes 
 life so bitter to multitudes of souls, and 'every malady or 
 accident so frightful to them, but the perpetual terrors of 
 death ? Think what a divine satisfaction it is to walk up 
 and down in this desert land, ready prepared for an 
 entrance into the land of promise, the inheritance of the 
 saints in light. Think of the solid joy and inward con- 
 solation of those souls who feel in themselves an habitual 
 readiness for a departure hence, and who are wrought up 
 by divine grace to a preparation for the business and the 
 joys above. Think of the victory over death, which is ob- 
 tained by such a readiness for heaven, and how glorious a 
 thing it is to meet that last enemy the king of terrors, and 
 encounter him without fear, and to triumph over him with 
 divine language, "0 death, where is thy sting ?" How 
 joyful a scene would it be to take leave of all our friends 
 in this land of mortality, with an assured hope that we are 
 entering into a happier climate and a better country, ready 
 prepared for all the more glorious scenes that shall meet 
 us in the invisible world ?
 
 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 173 
 
 It is an amazing thing to me, how the children of men, 
 who are dying daily off from this stage of life, who must 
 all shortly die, and enter into a world of eternal futurity, 
 should be no -more concerned about a preparation for their 
 departure hence : that they should be so stupidly thought- 
 less of a world to come, while they are on the very bor- 
 ders of it, and eternal joy or eternal, sorrow depends upon 
 this one question, 'Am I prepared for heaven or not ?' 
 these two awful regions of the unseen world ; where 
 the love of God shines with its brightest glories, or where 
 the vengeance of God is discovered in all its anguish and 
 horror!- One of these will be the certain and eternal dwel- 
 ling place of the souls that are prepared for them, and there 
 must they pass their long immortality, either in joy or in 
 sorrow, without a change ; and yet the foolish' and besotted 
 tribes of mankind seem to have abandoned all thought and 
 concern abdutthern. A dangerous lethargy, or distraction! 
 
 What shall we do to cure sinners of this madness ? 
 Shall I try to rouse these indolent unthinking wretches 
 out of their dangerous and mortal slumbers with the 
 loudest voice of thunder and divine terror ? But the 
 lethargy of sin is proof against all these terrors and thun- 
 ders. Shall I call for a fountain of tears into my eyes, 
 and weep over them with the tenderest sympathy and 
 compassion ? But they feel not any meltings of pity for 
 themselves, nor are their hearts to be softened by all our 
 tears and wailings. Shall I 'beseech them'in the name of 
 Christ by the bowels of his dying love, and the blood and 
 anguish, of his sufferings for our salvation ? But even these 
 divine and astonishing instances of tenderness and mercy 
 make no impression on their souls. While Satan holds 
 them in his chains, they are sleeping the sleep of death. 
 for a word of sovereign and "almighty Grace to reach 
 the centre of their spirits! to shake all the powers of their 
 nature! 'to awaken them to behold their eternal interest, 
 and to prepare for heavenly felicity. Awake, sleepers, ere 
 the angel of death seize you, and the grave shut its mouth 
 upon you; then all your seasons and hopes of mercy are cut 
 off for eVer, and you will awake hopeless immortals. 
 
 I shall conclude this discourse with one word of ex- 
 hortation to those who are in any measure wrought up to 
 a preparation for the heavenly blessedness. happy crea- 
 ture! whatsoever pains you have taken, whatever conflicts 
 
 P2
 
 174 A SOUL .PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. 
 
 you have endured in the matter of your own salvation, 
 yet let God and his grace have all the honour of this work. 
 It is to God you owe your sacrifices of praise. 'He that 
 hath, wrought' you up for this felicity is God.' It was he 
 who awakened you first, and set you a thinking of your 
 most important concerns : it was he that led you first 
 into the way of salvation by Jesus Christ his Son, and 
 hath thus far crowned your labours and your prayers with 
 success and blessing. Every stumblingblock in your way 
 might have thrown you down to perdition : every temp- 
 tation might have turned you back from this glorious 
 pursuit: every enemy of your souls might have discouraged 
 or overcome you, if God and his grace had not been en- 
 gaged on your side. 
 
 It is he that hath upheld you when you were falling ; 
 he hath taken you by the hand and led you right onward 
 when you were wandering, and he hath supported you 
 by hig divine cordials of- promise when t you were faint- 
 ing. It is Gocl who hath enabled you to maintain your 
 conflict with all the mighty, obstacles of your faith and 
 hope ; it is his grace that hath renewed your nature^ hath 
 weaned you from this vain flattering world, and given you 
 a sacred relish of divine blessedness. It is he who hath 
 formed you again after his own. image, and hath trained 
 you up, and made you meet for the inheritance of the 
 saints in light/ Call up all your powers to praise his good- 
 ness, and say, "Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is 
 within me, bless his holy name : bless the Lord for ever, 
 and forget not all his benefits." 'It is God who hath cal- 
 led me out of darkness into his marvellous light, and 
 given me to see the things that belong to my everlasting 
 peace. It is God, who .washed away my iniquities in the 
 blood of his own Son, and hath renewed me unto holiness 
 by his blessed Spirit. It is God who hath taken me out 
 of the family of sin 'and Satan, and given me a place 
 among his children ; who hath begun to prepare me for 
 the joys and blessings of heaven, and in his own time 
 he will fulfil all my hopes, and complete iruy felicity.' 
 Walk before him with all holy care and watchfulness, and 
 'take heed that you lose not the things which you have 
 wrought/ nor the things which God hath wrought in you, 
 but that, persevering to the end, 'you may receive the full 
 reward/ and obtain the crown of everlasting life. Amen.
 
 DISCOURSE IX 
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED.. 
 RET. xxi. 4. Neither shall there be any more pain. 
 
 THERE have been some divines in ancient times as well 
 as in our present age,- who suppose this prophecy relates 
 to some glorious 'and happy event here on earth, wherein 
 the saints and faithful followers of Christ shall be deliver- 
 ed from the bondage and* miseries to which they have 
 been exposed in all former ages, and shall enjoy the bles- 
 sing which these words promise. Among these writers 
 some have placed this happy state before the resurrection 
 of the body; others make it to belong to that ' first resur- 
 rection' which is spoken of in Rev. xx. 6. But let this 
 prophecy have a particular aspect upon what earthly pe- 
 riod soever, yet all must grant it is certainly true concern- 
 ing the 'heavenly state;' from whose felicities, taken in 
 the literal sense, these figurative expressions are derived 
 to foretel the happiness of any period of the church in 
 this world; and in this sense, as' part f our happiness in 
 heaven,' I shall understand the words here, and propose 
 them as the foundation for my present discourse. 
 
 Among the many things that make this life uncomforta- 
 ble, and render mankind unhappy here below, this is one 
 that has a large influence, viz. that 'in this mortal state 
 we arc all liable to pain,' from which we shall be perfect- 
 ly delivered in the life to come. The Greek word which 
 is here translated pain, signifies also toil and fatigue and 
 excessive labour of the body, as well as anguish and vexa- 
 tion of the spirit. But since in the two other places of 
 the New Testament where it is used, the word most prop- 
 erly signifies the ' pain of the body,' I presume to under- 
 stand it chiefly in this sense also in my text. 
 
 I need not spend time in explaining 'what pain is' to 
 persons who dwell in flesh and blood. There is not one 
 of you in this assembly but is better acquainted with the 
 
 175
 
 176 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 nature of it by the sense of feeling, than it is possible for 
 the wisest philosopher to inform you by all his learned lan- 
 guage. Yet that I may proceed regularly, I would just 
 give you this short description of it. 'Pain is an uneasy 
 perception of the soul, 'occasioned by some indisposition 
 of the body to which it is united ;' whether this arise 
 from some disorder or malady in the flesh itself, or from 
 some injury received from without by wounds, bruises, or 
 any thing of the like kind. Now this sort of uneasy sen- 
 sations is not to be found or feared in heaven. ' . 
 
 In order to make our present meditations on this part 
 of the 'blessedness of heaven' useful and joyful to us while 
 we are here on earth, let us enquire, 
 
 I. What are the evils or grand inconveniences that gen- 
 erally flow from the pains we suffer here ; and as' we go 
 we shall survey the satisfactions which arise by our free- 
 dom from them ail in heaven. 
 
 II. What just and convincing proofs may be given that 
 these are no such uneasy sensations to be felt in heaven, or 
 to be feared after this life. 
 
 III. What are the chief reasons or designs of the blessed 
 God in sending pain on his creatures in this world; and at 
 the same time I shall shew that pain is banished from the 
 heavenly state, because God has no such designs remaining 
 to be accomplished in that world. 
 
 IV. What lessons we may learn from the painful disci- 
 pline which we feel while we are here, in order to shew 
 there is no need of such discipline to teach us those les- 
 sons in heaven. Let us address ourselves to 1 make these 
 four enquiries in their order. 
 
 I. First. 'What are the evils which flow from pain, 
 and usually attend it in this life;' and all along as we go 
 we shall take a short view of the heavenly state, where 
 we shall be released from all these evils and inconvenien- 
 cies. 
 
 1. 'Pain has a natural tendency to make the mind sor- 
 rowful as well as the body uneasy.' Our souls are so 
 nearly united to flesh and blood, that it is not possible for 
 the mind to possess perfect happiness and ease, while the 
 body is exposed to so many occasions of pain. It is gran- 
 ted, that natural courage and strength of heart may prevail 
 in some persons to bear up their spirits under long and in- 
 tense pains of the flesh, yet they really take away so much,
 
 NO FAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 177 
 
 of the ease and pleasure of life, while any of us lie under 
 the acute sensations of them. Pain will make us confess 
 that we a^'e flesh and blood, and force us sometimes to 
 cry out and groan. Even a stoick in spite of all the pride 
 of his philosophy, will sometimes be forced, by a sigh or a 
 groan to confess himself a man. What are* the greatest 
 part of the groans and outcries that are heard all round this 
 our globe of earth but the effects of pain, either felt or 
 feared ? 
 
 But in heaven, where there is no pain, there shall be no 
 sighing or groaning, nor any more crying, as my text ex- 
 presses. There shall be nothing to make the flesh or the 
 spirit uneasy, and to break the eternal thread of peace and 
 pleasure that runs through the whole duration of the saints: 
 not one painful moment to interrupt the everlasting felicity 
 of that state: When we have done with earth and mortal- 
 ity, we have done also with sickness and anguish of na- 
 ture, and with all sorrow and vexation for ever. There 
 are no groans in the heavenly world to break in upon the 
 harmony of the harps and the songs of thr> blessed ,- no 
 sighs, no outcries, no anguish there to disturb thp mnfrv 
 and the joy of the inhabitants. And though the soul shall 
 be united to the body, new-raised from the dead, to 
 dwell for ever in union, yet that new-raised body shall 
 have neither any springs of pain in it, nor be capable 
 of giving anguish or uneasiness to the indwelling spirit 
 for ever. 
 
 2. Another evil which attends on pain is this, that 'it 
 so indisposes our nature as often to unfit us for the busi- 
 nesses and duties of the present state.' With how much 
 coldness and indifferency do we go about our daily work, 
 and perform it too with many interruptions, when nature 
 is burdened with continual pain, and the vital springs of 
 action are overborne with perpetual uneasiness? What a 
 listlessness do we find to many of the duties of religion at 
 such a season, unless it be to run more frequently to the 
 throne of God, and pour out our groanings and our com- 
 plaints there? Groanings and cries are the language of 
 nature, and the children of God address themselves in this 
 language to their heavenly Father. Blessed be the name 
 of our gracious God, who hears every secret sigh, who is. 
 acquainted with the sense of every groan, while we mourn 
 before him, and make our complaints to him, that we can- 
 23
 
 178 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 not worship him, nor work for him as we would do, be- 
 cause of the anguish and maladies of nature. 
 
 And what an indisposition and backwardness do we 
 feel in ourselves to fulfil many of the duties towards our 
 fellow creatures while we ourselves are under present 
 smart and -anguish ? Pain will so sensibly affect self as 
 to draw off all our thoughts thither, "and centre them there, 
 that we cannot so much employ our cares and our active 
 powers for the benefit of our neighbours. It abates our 
 concern for our friends, and while it awakens the spirit 
 within us into keen sensations, it takes away the activity 
 of the man that feels it from almost all -the services of 
 human life. When human nature bears so much it can 
 act but little. 
 
 But what a blessed state will that be when we shall 
 never feel this indisposition to duties, either human or di- 
 vine, through any uneasiness of the body ? When we 
 shall never more be subject to any of these painful im- 
 pediments, but for ever cast off all those clogs and bur- 
 dens which fetter the antive powers of the soul ? Then 
 w/n shall HP. joyfully employed in such unknown and glo- 
 rious services to God our Father, and to the blessed 
 .Jesus, as require muh ouporiui capacities lu.what we here 
 possess, and shall find no weakness, no wearinessj no pain 
 throughout all the years of our immortality, Rev. vii. 15. 
 None of the blessed above are at rest or idle, either "day 
 or night, But they serve him in his temple," and never 
 cease, and iv. 8. No faintnees, no languors are known 
 there. The "inhabitants of that land shall not say, I am 
 sick." Everlasting vigour, cheerfulness and ease shall 
 render every blessed soul for ever zealous and active in 
 obedience, as the angels are in heaven. 
 
 3. 'Pain unfits us for .the enjoyments of life, as well as 
 for the labours and duties of it.' It takes away all the 
 pleasing satisfactions which might attend our circum- 
 stances, and renders the objects of them insipid and un- 
 relishing. What pleasure can a rich man take in all the 
 affluence of earthly blessings around him, while some pain- 
 ful distemper holds him upon the rack, and distresses him 
 with the torture ? How little delight can he find in meats 
 or in drinks which are prepared for luxury when sharp 
 pain calls all his attention to the diseased part ? What joy 
 can he find in magnificent buildings, in gay and shining
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 179 
 
 furniture, in elegant gardens, or in all the glittering treas- 
 ures of the Indies, when the gout torments his hands and 
 his feet, or the rheumatism afflicts his limbs with intense 
 anguish ? If pain attacks any part of the body and rises 
 to a high degree, the luxuries of life grow tasteless, and 
 life itself is embittered to us. Or when pains less acute 
 are prolonged through weeks^ and months, and perhaps 
 stick in our flesh all the night as well as in the day ; how 
 vain and feeble are all the efforts of the bright and gay 
 things around us to "raise the soul into cheerfulness ? There- 
 fore Solomon calls old age the "years wherein there is 
 no pleasure," Eccles. xii. 1. Because so many aches 
 and ails in that season pursue us in a continual succes- 
 sion ; so many infirmities and painful hours attend us 
 usually in that stage of life, even in the best situation 
 that mortality can boast of, as cuts off and destroys all our 
 pleasures. 
 
 But what a wondrous, what a joyful change shall that 
 be, when the soul is commanded to forsake this flesh' and 
 blood, when it rises as on the wings of angels to the hea- 
 venly .world, and leaves every pain behind it, together 
 with the body in the arms of death? And what a more 
 illustrious and delightful change shall we meet in the great 
 rising day, when our bodies shall start up out of the dust 
 with vigorous immo'rtality, and without any spring or seat 
 of pain? All the unknown enjoyments with which hea- 
 ven is furnished, shall be taken in by the enlarged powers 
 of the soul with intense pleasure, and not a moment's pain 
 shall ever interrupt them. 
 
 4. Another inconvenience and evil which belongs to 
 pain is, that 'it makes time and life itself appear tedious 
 and tiresome, and adds a new burden to all oth^r griev- 
 ances.' Many evidences of this truth are scattered 
 throughout all nature, and on all sides of this globe. There 
 is not one age of mankind but can furnish us with millions 
 of instances. In what melancholy language does Job dis- 
 cover his sensations of the tiresome nature of pain ? "I 
 am made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome 
 nights are appointed to me. When I lie down I say, 
 when shall I rise and the night be gone? And I am full 
 of tossing to and fro unto the dawning of the day," Job 
 yii. 3, 4. When pain takes hold of our flesh, it seems to 
 stretch the measures of time to a tedious length. We cry
 
 180 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 out as Moses expresses it, Deut xxviii. 67, " Ii> the morn- 
 ing we say, would to God it were evening ; and at the 
 return of the evening we say again, would to God it were 
 morning." 
 
 Long are those hours indeed, whether of day-light or 
 darkness, wherein there is no relief or intermission of 
 acute pain. How tiresome a thing is it to count the clock 
 at midnight in long successions, and to wait every hour 
 for the distant approach of morning, while our eyes are 
 unable to close themselves in slumber^ and our anguish 
 admits not the common, refuge of sleep. There are mul- 
 titudes among the race of mortals who have known these 
 truths by sore experience. Blessed be God that we do 
 not always feel them. 
 
 But when we turn our thoughts to the heavenly world, 
 where there is no pain, there we shall find no weary hours, 
 no tedious days, though eternity with all its unmeasurable 
 lengths of duration lies before us. What a dismal thought 
 is eternal pain? The very mention of it makes nature 
 shudder and stand aghast ; but ftfturity with all its endless 
 years, in a land of peace and pleasure gives the soul the 
 most delightful prospect, for there is no shadow of un- 
 easiness in that state to render our abode there tiresome, 
 or to think the ages of it long. 
 
 5. Another evil that belongs to pain is, that 'it has an 
 unhappy tendency to ruffle the passions, and to render us 
 fretful and peevish within ourselves, as well as towards 
 those who are round about us.' Even the kindest and 
 tenderest hand that ministers to our relief, -can hardly se- 
 cure itself from the peevish quarrels of a man in extreme 
 pain. 
 
 Not that we are to suppose that this peevish humour, 
 this fretfulness of spirit are thereby made innocent and 
 perfectly excused. No, by no means ; but it must be ac- 
 knowledged still, that continuance in pain is too ready to 
 work up the spirit into frequent disquietude and eager- 
 ness. We are tempted to fret at every thing, we quarrel 
 with every thing, we grow impatient under every delay, 
 angry with our best friends, sharp and sudden in our re- 
 sentments, with wrathful speeches breaking out of our lips. 
 
 This peevish humour in a clay of pain is so common a 
 fault, that I fear it is too much excused and indulged. 
 Let me rather say with myself, 'My God is now putting
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 181 
 
 me to the trial what sort of Christian I am, and how much 
 I have learnt oi self-government, and through his grace I 
 will" subdue my uneasy passions, though I cannot relieve 
 my pain.' it is a noble point of honour gained in a sick 
 chamber, or on a bed of anguish, to lie pressed with ex- 
 treme pain, and yet maintain a serenity and calmness of 
 -soul; to He all meekness and gentleness and patience 
 among oar friends or attendants, under the sharp twinges 
 of it; to utter no rude or angry language, and to take 
 every thing kindly that they say or do, and "become like 
 a weaned child." But' such. A character is not found in 
 every house. 
 
 A holy soul, through the severity of pain, may some- 
 times in such an hour be too much rufflad by violent and 
 sudden fits of impatience. This proceeded to such a de- 
 gree even in that good, man Job, under his various calam- 
 ities and the sore boils upon his flesh, that it made him 
 "curse the day wherein he was born," and cry out in the 
 anguish of his spirit, "my soul chooseth strangling and 
 death rather than life," Job iii. and vii. 15; and there 
 have been several instances of those who, having not the 
 fear of God before .their eyes, with hasty violence and 
 murderous hands have put an end to their own lives, 
 through their wild and sinful impatience of constant pain. 
 
 But these triajs are for ever finished when this life ex- 
 pires : then all our pains are ended for ever if we are 
 found among the children of God. There is not, nor can 
 be any temptation in heaven, to fretffjlness or disquietude 
 of mind. All the peevish passions are dropped into the 
 grave, together with the body of flesh ; and those evil 
 humours which were the sources of smart and anguish 
 here on earth have no. place -in the new-raised body. 
 Those irregular juices of animal nature which tormented 
 the nerves, and excited pain in the flesh, and which at the 
 same time provoked choler and irritated the spirit, are 
 never found in the heavenly mansions. There is nothing 
 but peace and pleasure, joy and love, goodness and benevo- 
 lence, ease and satisfaction diffused through all the regions 
 on high. There are no inward springs of uneasiness to 
 ruffle the mind, none of those fretful ferments which, were 
 wont to kindle in the mortal body, and explode them- 
 selves, with fire and thunder upon every supposed offence, 
 or even sometimes without provocation. happy state 
 
 O
 
 182 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 and bk-ssed mansions of the saints, when this body of sin 
 shall be destroyed, and all the restless atoms that dis- 
 quieted the flesh and provoked the spirit to impatience, 
 shall be buried in the dust of death, and never, never rise 
 again! 
 
 6. 'Pain carries a temptation with it, sometimes to repine 
 and murmur at the providence of God.' Not fellow- 
 creatures alone, but even our sovereign Creator comes 
 within the reach of the peevish humours, which are alarm- 
 ed and roused by sharp or continual pain. Jonah the pro- 
 phet, when he felt the sultry heat of the sun smite fiercely 
 upon him, and that the gourd which gave him a friendly 
 shadow was withered away, told God himself in a passion, 
 that "he did well 'to be angry, even unto death," Jonah 
 iv. 9. And even the man of-Uz, the pattern of patience,' 
 was sometimes transported with the smart and maladies 
 that were upon him, so that he complained against God 
 as well as complained to him, and used some very unbe- 
 coming expressions towards his Maker, When we are 
 under the smartiffg rebukes of Providence, we are ready 
 to compare ourselves .with others who are in peace, and 
 then the envious and the murmuring humour breaks out 
 into rebellious language, "Why am I thus afflicted more 
 than others ? Why hast thou set me as a mark for thine 
 arrows ? W T hy dost thou not let loose thy hand and cu., 
 me off from the earth ?" 
 
 But in heaven there is a glorious reverse of all such 
 unhappy scenes. There is no pain nor any temptation tb 
 murmur at the dealings of the Almighty. There is nothing 
 that can incline us to think hardly of God : the days of 
 chastisement are for ever ended, and painful discipline' 
 shall be used no more. We shall live for "ever in the em- 
 braces of the love of God, and he shall be the object of 
 our everlasting praise. Perfect felicity without the. inte*r- 
 ruption of one uneasy thought, for ever forbids the in- 
 habitants of that world to repine at their situation under 
 the eternal smiles of that blessed Being that made them. 
 
 7. To add no more, 'pain and anguish of the flesh have 
 sometimes prevailed so far as to distract the mind as well 
 as destroy the body.' It has overpowered all the reasoning 
 faculties of man, it has destroyed natural life, and brought 
 it down to the grave. The senses have been confounded, 
 and the understanding overwhelmed with severe and
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 183 
 
 racking pain, especially where there hath been an im- 
 patient temper to contest with them. Extreme smart of 
 the flesh distresses feeble nature, and turns the whole 
 frame of it upside down in wild confusion : it has actually 
 worn out this animal frame, and stopped all the springs of 
 vital motion. The gout and the stone have brought 
 death upon the patient in this manner ; and a dreadful 
 mariner of. dying it .is, to have breath and life and na- 
 ture quite oppressed and destroyed with intense and pain- 
 ful sensations. 
 
 But when we surveythe mansions of the heavenly world, 
 we shall find none of these evils there. No danger of any 
 such events as these ; for there is no pain, no sorrow, no 
 crying, no death nor destruction there. The mind shall 
 be for ever clear and serene in the ease and happiness of 
 the separate state: and when the body shall be raised again, 
 that glorified body, as was intimated a little before, shall 
 have none of the seeds of distemper in it, no ferments 
 that can rack the nerves, or create anguish ; no fever, or 
 gout, or stone, was ever known in that country, no head- 
 ache or heart-ache have ascended thither. 
 
 That body also shall be capable of no outward wounds 
 nor bruises, for it is raised only for happiness, and leaves 
 all the causes of pain behind it. It is a body made for 
 immortality and pleasure ; there the sickly Christian is 
 delivered from all the maladies of the flesh, and the 
 twinges of acute pain which made him groan here on earth 
 night and day. There the martyrs of the religion of Jesus, 
 and -all the holy confessors are free from their cruel tor- 
 mentors, those surly executioners of heathen fury, or anti- 
 christian wrath : They are for ever released from racks, 
 and wheels, and Ares, and every engine of torture and 
 smart. Immortal ease and unfading health and cheerfulness 
 run through their eternal state, and all the powers of the 
 man are composed for the most regular exercises of devotion 
 and divine joy. 
 
 Thus I have endeavoured briefly to set the different 
 states of heaven and earth before you under this distin- 
 guishing character, that 'all the tempting, the distressing 
 and mischievous attendants and consequences of pain' to 
 which we are exposed in our mortal life, are for ever 
 banished from the heavenly world. 
 
 II. The ' second general enquiry' was this, 'What
 
 184 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 just and convincing arguments or proofs can be given, that 
 there are no pains or uneasy sensations to 'be felt by the 
 saints in a future state, nor to be feared'after this life?' 
 
 My answers to this question shall be very few ; because 
 I think the thing must be sufficiently evident to those who 
 believe the New Testament, find have liberty to read it. 
 
 First argument. ^God has assured us so in his word, 
 that there is no pain for holy souls to endure in the world 
 to come :' My text may be esteemed a sufficient proof of 
 it; for whatsoever particular event or period of the church 
 on earth this prophecy may refer to, yet the' description 
 is borrowed from the blessedness of heaven ; and if there 
 shall be any such state on earth, much more will it be So 
 in the heavenly worldf whereof that period on eartn is 
 but a shadow and emblem. We are expressly told, Rev. 
 xiv. 8, in order to encourage the persecuted saints and 
 martyrs, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from 
 henceforth, for they rest from their labours, (or pains) and 
 their works follow them ;" i. e. in a way of gracious 
 recompence. 
 
 It is granted indeed by the Papists themselves, that in 
 heaven there is no pain ; yet they suppose there are many 
 and grievous pains for the soul to undergo in a place called 
 purgatory, after the death of the body, before it arrives 
 at heaven. 
 
 But give me leave to ask, does not St. Paul express 
 himself with confidence concerning himself and his fellow 
 Christians "that they shall be present with the Lord 
 when they are absent from the body ?" 2 Cor. v. 8. Surely 
 the state wherein Christ our Lord dwells after all his suf- 
 ferings and agonies, is a state of everlasting ease without 
 suffering ; and shall not his followers dwell with him ? 
 Do we not read in the parable of our Saviour, Luke xvi. 
 22, that Lazarus was no sooner dead, than "his soul was 
 carried by angels into the bosom of Abraham," or para- 
 dise ? Every holy soul wherein the work of grace is begun, 
 and sin hath received its mortal wound, is perfectly sancti- 
 fied when it is released from this body ; and it puts off the 
 body of sin and the body of flesh together, for "nothing 
 that defileth must enter into" paradise or the heavenly 
 state. 
 
 The word of God has appointed but two states, viz. 
 heaven and hell, for the reception of all mankind when
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 185 
 
 they depart from this world : and how vain a thing must 
 it be for men to invent a third state, and make a purgatory 
 of it ? This is a building erected by the church of Rome 
 between heaven and hell, and prepared by their wild 
 imagination for souls of imperfect virtue, to be tormented 
 there with pains equal to those of hell, but of shorter 
 duration. This state of fiery purgation, and extreme 
 anguish, is devised by that mother of lies, partly under 
 a pretence of completing the penances and satisfactions 
 for the sins of men committed in this life, and partly also 
 to purify and refine their souls from all the remaining 
 dregs of sin, and to fill up their virtues to perfection, that 
 they may be fit for the immediate presence of God. But 
 does not the Scripture sufficiently inform us, that the atone- 
 ment or satisfaction of Christ for sin is full and complete 
 in itself, and needs none of our additions in this world 6r 
 another ? Does not the Apostle John tell us, 1st epist. chap, 
 i. ver. 7, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from 
 all sin?" Nor shall the saints after this life sin any more, 
 to require any new atonement ; nor do they carry the 
 soeds of sin to heaven with them, but drop them together 
 with the flesh, and all the sources of pain together. Now 
 since neither Christ nor his apostles give us any intimation 
 of such a place as purgatory for the refinement or puri- 
 fication of souls after this life, we have no ground to 
 hearken to such a fable. 
 
 The second argument is this ; ' God has not provided 
 any medium to convey pain to holy souls after they have 
 dropped this body of flesh.' They are pardoned, they 
 are sanctified, they are accepted of God for ever ; and 
 since they are in no danger of sinning ifresh by the influ- 
 ences of corrupt flesh and blood, therefore they are in no 
 fear of suffering any thing thereby. And if, as some di- 
 vines have supposed, there should be any pure etherial 
 bodies or vehicles provided for holy separate spirits, when 
 departed from this grosser tabernacle of flesh and blood, 
 yet it cannot be supposed that the God of all grace would 
 mix up any seeds of pain with that etherial matter, which 
 is to be the occasional habitation of sanctified spirits in 
 that state, nor that he would make any avenues or doors 
 of entrance for pain into these refined vehicles, when the 
 state of their sinning and their trial is for ever finished. 
 
 Nor will the body at the final resurrection of the saints 
 24 Q2
 
 186 XQ PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 be made for a medium of any painful sensations. All the 
 pains of nature are ended, when the first union between 
 flesh and spirit is dissolved. When this body lies down 
 to sleep in the dust, it shall never awake again with any 
 of the principles of sin or pain in it. Though "it be sown 
 in weakness, it is raised in power ; 'though it be sown 
 in dishonour, it is raised in glory ;" and we shall be made 
 like the Son of God without sorrowand withoutsin forever. 
 3d. Argument. 'There are no moral causes or reasons 
 why there should be any thing of pain provided for the 
 heavenly state.' And if there be no moral reasons for it, 
 surely God will not provide pains for his creatures without 
 reason! But this thought leads me to the next general 
 head of my discourse. 
 
 III. The third general enquiry which I proposed to 
 make was this, 'What may be the chief moral reasons, 
 motives, or designs of the blessed God in sending pain on 
 his creatures here below ; and at the same time- I shall 
 shew that these designs and purposes of God arc finished, 
 and they have no place in heaven.' 
 
 1st. Then, 'pain is sometimes sent into our natures to 
 awaken slothful and drowsy Christians out of their spir- 
 itual slumbers, or to rouse stupid sinners from a state of 
 spiritual death.' Intense and sharp pain of the flesh has 
 oftentimes been the appointed and effectual means of pro- 
 vidence to attain these desirable ends. 
 
 Pain is like a rod in the hand of God, wherewith he 
 smites sinners that are dead in their trespasses, and his 
 Spirit joins with it to awaken them into spiritual life. 
 This rod is sometimes so smarting and severe, that it 
 will make a senseless and ungodly wretch look upwards 
 to the hand that smites it, arid take notice of the rebuke 
 of heaven, though all the thundering and lightning of the 
 word, and all the terrors of hell denounced there, could 
 not awaken him. 
 
 Acute pain is also a coirimon instrument in our heaven- 
 ly Father's hand, to recover backsliding saints from their 
 secure and drowsy frames of spirit. David often found 
 it so, and speaks it plainly in the 38th and 39th Psalms ; 
 and in Psalm cxix. 67, he confesses, " before I was afflicted 
 I went astray ;" but when he had felt the scourge, he 
 learnt to obey, and to ' keep the word of his God.' 
 
 But there is 'no need of this discipline in heaven:' no
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 187 
 
 need of this smarting scourge to make dead sinners feel 
 their Maker's hand, in order to rouse them into life, for 
 there are no such inhabitants in that world. Nor is there 
 any need of such divine and paternal discipline of God in 
 those holy mansions, where there is no drowsy Christian 
 to be awakened, no wandering spirit that wants to be re- 
 duced to duty. And where the designs of such smart- 
 ing strokes have no place, pain itself must be for ever 
 banished; for ' God does not willingly afflict, nor take de- 
 light in grieving the children' of men,' without substantial 
 reasons for it. 
 
 2. Another use of bodily pain and anguish in this 
 world is, ' to punish men for their faults and follies, to 
 make them know what an evil and bitter thing it is to sin 
 against God, and thereby to guard them against new temp- 
 tations.' Jer. ii. 19, "Thy own wickedness shall correct 
 thee, and thy backsliding shall reprove thee ;" i. e. by 
 means of the smarting chastisements they bring upon men. 
 When God makes the sinner taste of the fruit of his own 
 ways, he makes others also observe how hateful a thing ev- 
 ery sin is in the sight of God, which he thinks fit so ter- 
 ribly to punish. 
 
 This is one general reason why special diseases, mala- 
 dies, and plagues are spread over a whole nation, viz. to 
 punish the sins of the inhabitants, when they have provo- 
 ked God by public and spreadin-g iniquities. War and 
 famine with all their terrible train of anguish and agony, 
 and the dying pains which they diffuse over a kingdom, 
 are rods of punishment in the hand of God, the Governor 
 of the world, to declare from heaven and earth his indigna- 
 tion against an ungodly and an unrighteous^ge. 
 
 This indeed is one design of the pains and torments of 
 hell, where God inflicts pain without intermission; and 
 this is sometimes the purpose of God in his painful provi- 
 dences here on earth. Shall I rise yet higher and say, that 
 this was one great design in the eye of God, " when it 
 pleased the Father to bruise" his best beloved Son, and put 
 him under the impressions of extreme pain, viz. to discov- 
 er to the world the abominable evil that was in sin ? While 
 Jesus stood in the stead of sinners, then " his soul was ex- 
 ceeding sorrowful even to death, and he sweat drops of 
 blood" under the pressure of his agonies, to let the world 
 see what the sin of man had deserved. And sometimes
 
 188 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 God smites his own children in thi? world with smarting 
 strokes of correction, when they have indulged any ini- 
 quity, to shew the world that 'God hates sin in his own 
 people wheresoever he finds it, and to bring his children 
 back again to the paths of righteousness. 
 
 But 'in the heavenly state, there are no faults to- punish, 
 no follies to chastise.' Jesus, our Surety in the days of 
 his flesh, has suffered those sorrows which made -atone- 
 ment for sin, and that anguish of his holy soul, and the 
 blood of his cross, have satisfied the demands of God ; so 
 that with honour he can pardon ten thousand penitent 
 criminals, and provide an inheritance of ease and blessed- 
 ness for them for ever. When once we are dismissed 
 from this body, the spirit is thoroughly sanctified, and 
 there is no fire of purgatory needful to burn out the re- 
 mains of sin. Those foolish invented flames are but false 
 fire, kindled by the priests of Rome to fright the souls of 
 the dying, and to squeeze money out of them to purchase 
 so many vain and idle masses to relieve the souls of the 
 dead. Upon our actual release from this flesh and blood, 
 neither the guilt nor the power of sin shall attend the 
 saintsin their flight to heaven: all the spirits that arrive there 
 are made perfect in holiness without new seourges, and com- 
 mence a state of felicity that shall never be interrupted. 
 
 8. God has appointed pain in this world, 'to exercise 
 and try the virtues and the graces of his people.' As gold 
 is thrown into the fire to prove and try how pure it is 
 from any coarse alloy, so the children of God are some- 
 times left for a season in the furnace of sufferings, partly 
 to refine them from their dross, and partly to discover 
 their purity and their substantial weight and worth. 
 
 Sometimes 'God lays smarting pain with his own hand' 
 on the flesh of his people, on purpose to try their graces. 
 When we endure the pain without murmuring at Provi- 
 dence, then it is we come off conquerors. Christian sub- 
 mission and silence under the hand of God, is one way to 
 victory. "I was dumb," says David, "and opened not 
 my mouth, because thou didst it," Psal. xxxix. Our love 
 to God, our resignation to his will, our holy fortitude and 
 our patience find a proper trial in 'such smarting seasons. 
 Perhaps when some severe pain first seizes and surprise* 
 us, we find ourselves ' like a wild bull in a net,' and all 
 the powers of nature are thrown into tumult and disquiet?-
 
 KO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 189 
 
 ude, so that we have no possession of our own spirits ; but 
 when the hand of God has continued us awhile under this 
 divine discipline, we. learn to how down to his sovereign- 
 ty, we lie at his footstool calm and composed : he brings 
 our haughty and reluctant spirits down to his foot, and 
 makes us lie humble in the dust, and we wait with pa- 
 tience the hour of his release. Rom. v. 3, 4, 'Tribulation 
 worketh patience, and patience' under tribulation 'gives 
 us experience' of the dealings of God with his people, 
 and makes our way to a confirmed hope in his love. The 
 evidence of our various graces grows brighter and stronger 
 under a smarting rod, till we are settled in a joyful confi- 
 dence, and the soul rests in God himself. 
 
 Sometimes he has 'permitted evil angels to put the 
 flesh to paia,' for the trial of his children ; so "Job was 
 smitten with sore boils from head to foot" by the malice 
 of Satan, at the permission of God ; but " he knows the 
 way that I take," says this holy man, "and when he has 
 tried me I shall come forth as gold ; for my foot hath held 
 his steps" through all these trials, "neither have I gone 
 back from the commandments of his lips," Job. xxii. 16, 12. 
 
 At other times 'he suffers wicked men to spend their 
 own malice, and to inflict dreadful pains on his own chil- 
 dren,' Look back to the years of ancient persecution in 
 the land of Israel, under Jewish or heathen tyrants; re- 
 view the annals of Great Britain ; look over the seas into 
 popish kingdoms ; take a view of the cursed courts of in- 
 quisition in Spain, Portugal, and Italy ; behold the wea- 
 pons, the scourges, the racks, the machines of torture and 
 engines of cruelty, devised by the barbarous and inhuman 
 wit of men, to constrain the saints to renounce their faith, 
 and dishonor their Saviour. See the slow fires where the 
 martyrs have been roasted to death with lingering tor- 
 ment. These are seasons of terrible trial indeed, whereby 
 the malice of Satan and Antichrist would force the ser- 
 vants of God, and the followers of the Lamb, into sinful 
 compliances with their idolatry, or a desertion of their 
 post of duty. But the spirit of God has supported his 
 children to bear a glorious testimony to pure and undefined 
 religion; and they have seemed to mock the rage of their 
 tormentors, to defy all the stings of pain, and triumphed 
 over their vain attempts to compel them to sin against 
 their God.
 
 190 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 One would sometimes be ready to wonder, that a God 
 of infinite mercy and compassion should suffer his own 
 dear children to be tried in so terrible a manner as this; 
 but unsearchable wisdom is with him, and he does not 
 give an account to men of all the reasons and the rules of 
 his conduct. This has been his method of providence 
 with his saints at especial seasons, under the Jewish and 
 the Christian dispensations, and perhaps under all the dis- 
 pensations of God to men, from the days of Cain and Abel 
 to the present hour. Our blessed Lord has given us many 
 warnings of it in his word by his own mouth, and by all 
 his three Apostles, Paul, Peter and John. "They that 
 will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 
 Think it not strange therefore concerning the fiery trial. 
 The devil, by his wicked agents, shall cast .some of you 
 into prison, that ye may be tried ; and ye shall have tri- 
 bulation ten days, but fear none of the things which thou 
 shalt suffer. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give 
 thee a crown of life." 
 
 But blessed be God that this world is the only stage of 
 such trials. As soon as the state of -probation is finished, 
 the state of recompence begins. Such hard and painful 
 exercises to try the virtues of the saintis, have no place in 
 that world, which was not made for a stage of trial and 
 conflict, but a palace of glorious reward. ' Heaven is a 
 place where crowns and prizes are distributed' to all those 
 blessed ones 'who have endured temptation,' and who 
 have been found faithful to the death. These sharp and 
 dreadful combats with pain, have no place among con- 
 querors, who have finished their warfare, and have begun 
 their triumph. 
 
 4. 'Pain is sent -us by the hand of Providence to teach 
 us many a lesson both of truth and duty, which perhaps 
 we should never have learnt so well without it.' This 
 sharp sensation awakens our best powers to attend to those 
 truths and duties which we took less notice of before. In 
 the time of perfect ease we are ready to let them lie neg- 
 lected or forgotten, till God our great Master takes his rod 
 in hand for our instruction. 
 
 IV. And this leads me to the 'fourth general head' 
 of my discourse, and that is to 'enquire what are those 
 spiritual lessons which may be leamt on earth from the 
 pains we have suffered, or may suffer in the flesh.' I shall
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 191 
 
 divide them into two sorts, viz. 'Lessons of instruction' 
 in useful truth, and 'lessons of duty,' or practical Christi- 
 anity ; and there are many of each kind with which the 
 disciples of 'Christ in this world' may be better acquaint- 
 ed, by the actual sensations of pain, than any other way: 
 'in this world' I say, and 'in this only;' for in heaven 
 most of these 'lessons of doctrine and practice' are utterly 
 needless to be taught, either because they have been so 
 perfectly well known to all its inhabitants before, and 
 their present situation makes it impossible to forget them ; 
 or they shall be let into the fuller knowledge of them in 
 heaven in a far superior way of instruction, and without 
 any such uneasy discipline. And this I shall evidently 
 make appear, when I have first enumerated all these 'gen- 
 eral lessons' both 'of truth and duty,' and shewn how 
 wisely the great God has appointed them to be taught 
 here on earth, under the scourge and the wholesome dis- 
 cipline of pain in the flesh. 
 
 I. ' The lessons of instruction here on earth, or the use- 
 ful truths,' are such as these: 
 
 1. Pain teaches us feelingly, 'what feeble creatures we 
 are, and how entirely dependent on Godr our Maker for 
 every hour and moment of ease.' We are naturally wild 
 and wanton creatures, and especially in the season of youth, 
 our gayer powers are gadding abroad at the call of temp- 
 tation ; but when God sends his arrows into our flesh, he 
 arrests us on a sudden, teaches us that- we are but men, 
 poor feeble dying creatures, soon crushed, and sinking 
 under his hand. We are ready to exult in the vigour of 
 youth, when animal nature, in its prime of strength and 
 glory, raises .ow pride, and supports us in a sort of self- 
 sufficiency ; we CH-C so vain and foolish, as to imagine no- 
 thing can hurt us. But 'when the pain of a little nerve 
 seizes us, and we fet-1 the acute twinges of it, we are 
 made to confess that ' our flesh is not iron, nor our bones 
 brass ;' that we are by no xjeans the lords of ourselves, or 
 sovereigns over our own natyre. We cannot remove the 
 least degree of pain, till the Lord who sent it takes off his 
 hand, and commands the smart to cease. If the ( torture 
 fix itself but in a finger or a toe, or in the little nerve of a 
 tooth, what intense agonies may it create in us, ani that 
 beyond all the relief of medicines, till the moment wherein 
 Goti shall 'give us ease. This lesson of the frailty of hu-
 
 192 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 man nature must be some time written upon our hearts in 
 deep and smarting characters, by intense pain, before we 
 have learnt it well ; and this gives us, for some time to 
 come, a happy guard againtfr our pride and vanity. When 
 David felt the stroke of the hand of God upon him, which 
 corrected him with sharp rebukes for his iniquity, he 
 makes an humble address to God, and acknowledges that 
 his "beauty, and* all the boasted excellencies of flesh and 
 blood, consume away like a moth ; surely every* man is 
 vanity!" Psal. xxxix. 10, 11. 
 
 2. The next useful truth in which, pain instructs us, is 
 'the great evil that is contained in the nature of sin, be- 
 cause it is the occasion of such intense pain and misery to 
 human nature.' I grant, I have hinted this before, but I 
 would have it more powerfully impressed upon our spirits, 
 and therefore I introduce it here again in this part ol" my 
 discourse as a spiritual lesson, which we learn under the 
 discipline of our heavenly Father. 
 
 It is true indeed that innocent nature was made capable 
 of pain in the first Adam, and the innocent nature of the 
 man Jesus Christ suffered acute pain, when he came in the 
 likeness of sinful flesh. But if Adam had continued in his 
 state of innocence, it is a great question with me, whether 
 he or his children would have actually tasted or felt what 
 acute pain is ; I mean such pain as we now suffer, such as 
 makes us so far unhappy, and such as we cannot immedi- 
 ately relieve. 
 
 It may be granted, that natural hunger, and thirst, and 
 weariness after labour, would have carried in them some 
 degrees of pain or uneasiness, even in the state of innocence; 
 but these are necessary to awaken nature to seek food and 
 rest, and to put the man in mind to supply his- natural 
 wants ; and man might have immediately relieved them 
 himself, for the supplies of ease were at Jiand ; and these 
 sort of uneasinesses were abundantly compensated by the 
 pleasure of rest and food, and perhaps they were in some 
 measure necessary to make food and rest pleasant. 
 
 But surely if sin had never been known in our world, 
 all the pain that arises from inward diseases of nature, or 
 from outward violence, had been a stranger to the human 
 race, in unknown evil among the sons of meq, as it is 
 among the holy angels, the sons of God. There had been 
 no distempers or acute pains to meet young babes at their
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 193 
 
 entrance into this world ; no maladies to attend the sons 
 and daughters of Adam through the journey of life ; and 
 they should have been translated to some higher and hap- 
 pier region, without death, and without pain. 
 
 It was the eating of the tree of knowledge of good and 
 evil, that acquainted Adam and his offspring with the evil 
 of pain. Or if pain could have attacked innocence in any 
 form or degree, it would have been but in a way of trial, 
 to exercise and illustrate his virtues; and if he had endured 
 the test, and continued innocent, I am satisfied he should 
 nevei* have felt any pain which was not overbalanced with 
 superior pleasure, or abundantly recompensed by succeed- 
 ing rewards and satisfactions. 
 
 Some persons indeed, have supposed it within the reach 
 of the sovereignty of God to afflict and torment a sinless 
 creature. Yet I think it is hardly consistent with his good- 
 ness, or his equity, to constrain an innocent bejng, which 
 has no sin, to suffer pain without his own consent, and 
 without giving that creature equal or superior pleasure as 
 a recompence. Both those were the case in the sufferings 
 of our blessed Lord in his human nature, who was per- 
 fectly innocent : it was with his own consent that he 
 five himself up to be a sacrifice, when "it pleased the 
 ather to bruise him and put him to grief." And God 
 rewarded him with transcendent honours and joys after 
 his passion, he exalted him to his own right hand and 
 his throne, and gave him authority over all things. 
 
 In general therefore we have sufficient reason to say, 
 that as sin brought in death into human nature, so it 
 was sin that brought in pain also ; and wheresoever there 
 IB any pain suffered among the sons and daughters of 
 men, I am sure we may venture to assert boldly, that 
 the sufferer may learn the evil of sin. Even the Son 
 of God himself, when he suffered pain in his body, as 
 well as anguish in his 'spirit, has told us by his Apostles, 
 that our sins were the causes of it ; 'he bore our sins 
 on his own body on the tree, and for our iniquities he 
 was bruised :' so says Isaiah the prophet, and so speaks 
 Peter the Apostle. 
 
 And sometimes the Providence of God is pleased to 
 
 point out to us the particular sin we are guilty of by the 
 
 special punishment which he inflicts. In Psal. cvii. 17, 18, 
 
 "Fools are said to be afflicted/' i. e. with pain and sickness, 
 
 25 R
 
 ; 94 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 "because of their transgressions" of riot and intemperance; 
 "their soul abhors all manner of meat, and they draw near 
 to the gates of death. " Sickness and pain over-balance 
 all the pleasures of luxury in meats and drinks, and make 
 the epicure pay dear for the elegance of his palate, and 
 the sweet relish of his morsels or his cups. The drunkard 
 in his debauches, is preparing some smarting pain for his 
 own punishment. And let us all be so wise as to learn this 
 lesson by the pains we feel, that sin which introduced them 
 into the world is an abominable thing in the sight of God, 
 because it provokes him to use such smarting strokes of 
 discipline in order to recover us from our folly, and to 
 reduce us back again to the paths of righteousness. 
 
 blessed smart! happy pain, that helps to soften the 
 heart of a sinner, and melts it to receive divine instruction, 
 which before was hard as iron, and attended to no divine 
 counsel! We are ready to wander from God, and forget 
 him among the months and the years of ease arid pleasure ; 
 but when the soul is melted in this furnace of painful suf- 
 ferings, it more easily receives some divine stamp, some 
 lasting impression of truth, which the words of the preacher 
 and the book of God had before inculcated without suc- 
 cess, and repeated almost in vain. Happy is the soul that 
 learns this lesson thoroughly, and gains a more lasting 
 acquaintance with the evil of sin, and abhorrence of it, 
 under the smarting stroke of the hand of God. "Blessed 
 is the man whom thou correctest, Lord, and teachest 
 him the truths that are written in thy law," Psal. xciv. 12. 
 
 3. Pain in the flesh teaches us also hovv dreadfully the 
 great God can punish sin and sinners when he pleases, in 
 this world or in the other.' It is written in the song of 
 Moses, the man of God, Psal. xc. 11, "According to thy 
 fear, so is thy wrath," i. e. the displeasure and . anger of 
 the blessed God is as terrible as we can fear it to be ; and 
 he can inflict on us such intense pains and agonies, whose 
 distressing smart we may learn by feeling a little of them. 
 Unknown multiplications of racking pain, lengthened out 
 beyond years ahd ages, is part of the description of hellish 
 torments, and the other part lies in the bitter twinges 
 of conscience and keen remorse of soul for our past in- 
 iquities, but without all hope. Behold a man under a sharp 
 fit of the gout or stone, which wrings the groans from his 
 heart, and tears from his eye-lids ; this is the hand of God
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 195 
 
 in the present world, where there are many mixtures of 
 divine goodness ; but if ever we should be so wilfully un- 
 happy as to be plunged into those regions where the 
 ' almighty vengeance of God reigns, without one beam of 
 divine light or love, this irust be dreadful indeed. "It 
 is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," 
 Heb. x. 31, to be banished far off from all that is holy 
 and happy, and to be confined to that dark dungeon, that 
 place of torture, "where the gnawing worm of conscience 
 never dies,"' and "where the fire of divine anger is never 
 quenched." 
 
 We who are made up of flesh and blood, which is in- 
 terwoven with many nerves and muscles, and membranes, 
 may learn a little of the terrors of the Lord, if we reflect 
 that every nerve, muscle, and membrane of the body is 
 capable of giving us most sharp and painful sensations. 
 We may be wounded in every sensible part of nature ; 
 smart and anguish may enter in at every pore, and make 
 almost every atom of our constitution an instrument of 
 our anguish. "Fearfully and wonderfully are we formed" 
 indeed, capable of pain all over us ; and if a God shall see 
 fit to punish sin to its full desert, and penetrate every 
 atom of our nature with pain, what surprising and intoler- 
 able misery must that be ? And if God should raise the 
 wicked out of their graves to dwell in such sort of bodies 
 again, on purpose to shew his just anger against sin in 
 their punishment, how dreadful, beyond expression, must 
 their anguish be through the long ages of eternity ? God 
 can form even such bodies for immortality, and can sustain 
 them to endure everlasting agonies. 
 
 Let us think again, that when the hand of our Creator 
 sends pain into our flesh, we cannot avoid it, we cannot 
 fly from it, we carry it with us wheresoever we go. His 
 arrows stick fast in us, and we cannot shake them off ; 
 oftentimes it appears that we can find no relief from crea- 
 tures : and if by the destruction of ourselves, i. e. of these 
 bodies, we plunge ourselves into the world of spirits at 
 once, we shall find the same God of holiness and vengeance 
 there, who can pierce our souls with unknown sorrows, 
 equal, if not superior, to all that we felt in the flesh. "If 
 I make my bed in the grave, Lord, thou art there," thy 
 hand of justice and punishment would find me out 
 What a formidable thing it is to such creatures as we are,
 
 196 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 to have God, our Maker, for our enemy ? That God who 
 has all the tribes of pain and disease, and the innumerable 
 host of maladies at his command ? He fills the air in which 
 we breathe with fevers and pestilences as often as he wills. 
 The gout and the stone arrest and seize us by his order, 
 ^r.d Stretch us upon a bed of pain. Rheumatisms and 
 cholics come and go wheresoever he sends them, and 
 execute his anger against criminals-. He keeps in his hand 
 all th6 various springs of pain, and every invisible rack 
 that can torment the head or members, the bowels or the 
 joints of man : he sets them at their dreadful work when 
 and where he pleases. Let the sinner tremble at the name 
 of his power and terror, who can fill both flesh and spirit 
 with thrilling agonies; aftd yet he never punishes beyond 
 what our iniquities deserve. How necessary is it for such 
 sinful and guilty beings as we are, whose natures are ca- 
 pable of such constant and acute sensations of pain, to 
 have the God of nature our friend and our reconciled God? 
 
 4. When we feel the acute pains of nature, we 'may 
 learn something of the exceeding greatness of the love of 
 Christ, even the Son of God,' that glorious Spirit, who 
 took upon him flesh and blood for our sakes, that he might 
 be capable of pain and death, though he had never sinned. 
 He endured intense anguish, to make atonement for our 
 crimes.* "Because the children" whom he came to save 
 from misery "were partakers of flesh and blood, he also 
 himself took part of the same," that he might suffer in 
 the flesh, and by his sufferings put away our sins. 
 
 Happy was he in his Father's bosom, and the delight 
 of his soul through many long ages before his incarnation. 
 But he condescended to be born "in the likeness of sinful 
 flesh," that he might feel such smart and sorrows as our 
 sins had exposed us to. His innocent and holy soul was 
 uncapable of such sort of sufferings till he put on this clo- 
 thing of human nature, and became a Surety for sinful 
 perishing creatures.! 
 
 * This language is loose and inaccurate. It seems to intimate that the 
 Divine Nature of the Mediator suffered; which was impossible. The Son 
 assumed not merely " flesh and blood," he assumed a perfect human nature ; 
 a body and a soul, which were susceptible of pain. En. 
 
 j- His " innocent and holy soul" did not exist before " he put on this clo- 
 thing of human nature," as it was a constituent part of that nature. It 
 could be " capable" of nothing before it received a being. The language, 
 if not intended to convey a very erroneous idea, is very unguarded. ED,
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 197 
 
 Let us survey his sufferings a little. He was born to 
 sorrow, and trained up through the common uneasy cir- 
 cumstances of the infant and childish state, till he grew 
 up to man. What pains did attend him in hunger and 
 thirst, and weariness,, while he travelled on foot from city 
 to city, through wilds and deserts, where there was no 
 food nor rest? The Son of man sometimes wanted the 
 common bread of nature, nor had he where to lay his head. 
 What uneasy sensations was he exposed to, when he was 
 buffeted, when he was smitten on the cheek, when his 
 tender flesh was scourged with whips, and his temples 
 were crowned with thorns, when his hands and his feet 
 were barbarously torn with rude nails, and fastened to the 
 cross, where the whole weight of his body hung on those 
 wounds? And what man or angel can tell the inward 
 anguish, when "his soul was exceeding sorrowful unto 
 death," and the conflict ^and agonies of his spirit forced 
 out the drops of bloody sweat through every pore. It 
 was by the extreme torture of his nature that he was sup- 
 posed to expire on the cross ; these were the pangs of his 
 atonement and agonies that expiated the sins of men. 
 
 blessed Jesus ! what manner of sufferings were these ? 
 and what manner of love was it that willingly gave up 
 thy sacred nature to sustain them ? and what was the de- 
 sign of them, but to deliver us from the wrath of God in 
 hell, to save our flesh and spirit from eternal anguish and 
 distress there ? Why was he "made such a curse for us," 
 but "that he might redeem us from the curse of the law," 
 and the just punishment of our own iniquities. 
 
 Let us carry our thoughts of his love, and our benefit 
 by it, yet one step further. "Was it not by these sorrows, 
 and this painful passion, that he provided for us this very 
 heaven of happiness, where we shall be for ever freed 
 from all pain ? Were they not all endured by him to pro- 
 cure a paradise of pleasure, a mansion of everlasting peace 
 and joy for guilty creatures, who had merited everlasting 
 pain ? Was it not by these his- agonies in the mortal bo- 
 dy, which he assumed, that he purchased for each of us a 
 glorified body, strong and .immortal as his own when he 
 rose .from the dead, a body which has no seeds of disease 
 or pain in it, no springs of mortality or death ? May glo- 
 ry, honour and praise, with supreme pleasure, ever attend 
 the sacred person of our Redeemer, whose sorrows and 
 
 mi
 
 * 
 
 198 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 anguish of flesh and spirit were equal to our misery, and 
 to his own compassion. . 
 
 5. Another lesson, which we are taught by the long and 
 tiresome pains of nature, ' is the value and worth of the 
 word of God, and the sweetness of a promise, which can 
 give the kindest relief to a painful hour, and sooth the an- 
 guish of nature.' They teach us the excellency of the 
 covenant of grace, which lias sometimes strengthened the 
 feeblest pieces of human nature to bear intense sufferings 
 in the body, and which sanctifies them all to our advantage. 
 Painful and tiresome maladies teach us to improve the 
 promises to valuable purposes, and the promises take away 
 half the smart of our pains by the sensations of divine love 
 let into the soul. 
 
 We read of philosophers and heroes in some ancient 
 histories, who could endure pain by dint of reasoning, by 
 a pride of their science, by an obstinacy of heart, or by 
 natural courage ; but a Christian takes the word of a pro- 
 mise, and lies down upon it in the midst of intense pains 
 of nature ; and the pleasure of devotion supplies him 
 with such ease, that all the reasonings of philosophy, all 
 the courage of nature, all the anodynes of medicine, and 
 soothing plaisters have attempted without success. When a 
 child of God can read his Father's love in a promise, and 
 by searching into the qualifications of his own soul, can 
 lay faster hold of it by a living faith, the rage of his pain 
 is much allayed, and made half easy. A promise is a 
 sweet couch to rest a languishing body in the midst of pains, 
 and a soft repose for the head or heart-ache. 
 
 The Stoicks pretended to give ease to pain, by persuad- 
 ing themselves 'there was no evil in it;' as though the 
 mere misnaming of things would destroy their nature : but 
 the Christian, by a sweet submission to the evil which his 
 heavenly Father inflicts upon his flesh, reposes himself at 
 the foot of God on the covenant of grace, and bears the 
 wounds and the smart with much more serenity and hon- 
 our. 'It is my heavenly Father that scourges me, and I know 
 he designs me no hurt, though he fills my flesh with present 
 pain: his own presence, and the sense of his love, soften the 
 anguish of all that I feel: he bids me not yield to fear, for 
 when I pass through the fires he will be with me ; and 
 he that loved me, and died for me, has suffered greater 
 sorrows and more anguish on my account, than what he
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 199 
 
 calls me to bear under the strokes of his wise and holy 
 discipline : he has left his word with me as an universal 
 medicine to relieve me under all my anguish, till he shall 
 bring me to those mansions on high, where sorrows and 
 pains are found no more.' 
 
 6. Anguish and pain of nature here on earth teach us 
 'the excellency and use of the mercy-seat in heaven, and 
 the admirable privilege of prayer.' Even the sons of 
 mere nature are ready to think of God at such a season ; 
 and they who never prayed before, 'pour out a prayer be- 
 fore him when his chastening is upon them,' Isa. xxvi. 16. 
 An hour of twinging and tormenting pain, when crea- 
 tures and medicines can give no relief, drives them to the 
 throne of God to try whether he will relieve them or not. 
 But much more delightful is it for a child of God that has 
 been used to address the throne of grace, to run thither with 
 pleasure and hope, and to spread all his angu ish before the face 
 of his heavenly Father. The blessed God has built this mer- 
 cy-seat for his people to bring all their sorrows thither, and 
 spread them before his eyes in all their smarting circumstan- 
 ces, and he. has been often pleased to speak a word of relief. 
 
 Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he dwelt in flesh and 
 blood, practised this part of religion with holy satisfaction 
 and success. " Being in an agony he prayed more earnest- 
 ly," and an angel was sent to strengthen and comfort him, 
 Luke xxii. 43, 44. 
 
 This was the relief of holy David in ancient times, 
 Psalm xxv. 18, "Look upon my affliction and my pain, 
 and pardon all my sins." Psal. cxvi. 3, 4, " The sorrows 
 of death compassed me, and the pains of hell, or the grave, 
 took hold of me ; then called I upon the name of the Lord ; 
 Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul." And when he 
 found a gracious answer to his request, he acknowledges the 
 grace of God therein, and charges his soul to dwell near to 
 God; "return to thy rest, my soul, for the Lord hath dealt 
 bountifully with thee; I was brought low, and he helped me, 
 hedeliveredmy soiilfrom death, and mine eyes from tears." 
 But we have stronger encouragement than David was 
 acquainted with, since it is revealed to usj/that we "have 
 an high Priest" at this throne ready to bespeak all neces- 
 sary relief for us there, Heb. ii. 18. "An- high Priest 
 who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities," 
 who has sustained the same sorrows and pains in the flesh,
 
 200 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 who can pity and relieve his people under their maladies 
 and acutest anguish, Heh. iv. 15. When we groan and 
 sigh under continued pains, they are ready to make nature 
 weary and faint : we groan unto the Lord, who knows 
 the language of our frailty ; our High Priest carries every 
 groan to the mercy-seat; his compassion works towards 
 his brethren, and he will suffer them to continue no longer 
 under this discipline than is necessary for their own best 
 improvement and happiness. 
 
 how much of this sort of consolation has many a 
 Christian learnt and tasted, by a holy intercourse with 
 heaven, in such painful seasons? How much has he 
 learnt of the tender mercies of God the Father, and of the 
 pity and sympathy of our great High Priest above ? Who 
 would be content to live in such a painful world as this is, 
 without the pleasure and relief of prayer ? Who would 
 live without an interest at this mercy-seat, and with- 
 out the supporting friendship of this Advocate at the 
 throne ? 
 
 Thus I have run over the chief lessons of instruction or 
 doctrine, which may be derived from our sejisations of 
 .pain here in this world : but there is no need of this sort 
 of discipline in the blessed regions of heaven to teach the 
 inhabitants such truths. 
 
 They will remember 'what feeble helpless creatures 
 they were' when they dwelt in flesh and blood ; but they 
 have put off those fleshly garments of mortality, with all 
 its weaknesses together. The spirits of the blessed know 
 nothing of those frailties, nor shall the bodies of the saints, 
 new raised from the dust, bring back any of their old in- 
 firmities with them. These blessed creatures know well 
 'how entirely dependent they are for all things upon God* 
 their Creator, without the need of pains and maladies to 
 teach them, for they live every moment with God, and in 
 a full dependence upon him : they are supported in their 
 life, and all its everlasting blessings, by his immediate 
 presence, power and mercy. 
 
 They have no need of pain in those fields or gardens of 
 pleasure to teach them the evil of sin; they well remem- 
 ber all the sorrows they have passed through in their mor- 
 tal state, while they were traversing the wilderness of 
 this world, and they know that sin was the cause of them 
 9!!. They see the evil of sin in the glass of the divine
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 201 
 
 holiness, and the hateful contrariety that is in it to the na- 
 ture of God is discovered in the immediate light of all his 
 perfections, his wisdom, his truth and his goodness. They 
 behold the evil of sin in the marks of the sufferings of 
 their blessed Saviour; he appears in glory 'as the Lamb 
 that was slain,' and carries some memorials of his death 
 about him, to let the saints "know for ever what he has 
 suffered to make atonement for their sins. 
 
 Nor have the blessed above any need to learn ' how 
 dreadfully God can punish sin and sinners,' while they 
 behold his indignation going focth in a long and endless 
 stream, to make the wicked enemies of God in hell for 
 ever justly miserable. And in this sense it may be said, 
 that " the smoke'of their torments comes up before God 
 and his holy angels, and his saints for ever." 
 
 Nor do these happy beings stand in need of new sensa- 
 tions of pain, to teach them 'the exceeding greatness of 
 the love of Christ,' who exposed himself to intense and 
 smarting anguish, both of flesh and spirit., to procure their 
 salvation. For while they dwell amidst tho bloasodnosg 
 of that state, which the Redeemer purchased with the 
 price of his own sufferings, they can never forget his love. 
 
 Nor do they want to learn in heaven the 'value of the 
 word of God and his promises,' by which they were sup- 
 ported under their pains and sorrows in this mortal state. 
 Those promises have been fulfilled to them partly on earth, 
 and in a more glorious and abundant manner in the hea- 
 venly world. They relish the sweetness of all those 
 words of mercy, in reviewing the means whereby divine 
 grace sustained them in their former state of trial, and in 
 the complete accomplishment of the best of those promises 
 in their present situation amidst ten thousand eadless 
 blessings. 
 
 And if any of them were too cold and remiss, and in- 
 frequent in their applications to the mercy-seat by prayer, 
 when they were here on earth, and stood in need of chas- 
 tisement to make them pour out their prayers to God, yet 
 they can never forget 'the value of this privilege,' while 
 they themselves dwell round about the throne, and behold 
 all their ancient sincere addresses to the mercy-seat an- 
 swered and swallowed up in the full fruition of their pre- 
 sent glories and joys. Praise is properly the language of 
 heaven, \VTien all their wants are supplied, and their pray- 
 26
 
 202 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSEJD. 
 
 ers on earth are finished ; and whatever further desires 
 they may have to present before God, the throne of grace 
 is ever at hand, and God himself is ever in the midst of 
 them to bestow every proper blessing in its season that 
 belongs to the. heavenly world. Not one of them can any 
 more stand in need of chastisement or painful exercises of 
 the flesh to drive them to the throne of God, while they 
 are at home in their Father's house, and for ever near him 
 and his all-sufficiency. It is from thence they are con- 
 stantly deriving; immortal supplies of blessedness, as from 
 a spring that will never fail. 
 
 V. I proceed now to consider in the last place, what 
 are the ' practical lessons which pain may teach us while 
 we are here on earth' in our state of probation and disci- 
 pline, and shall afterwards make it evident, that there is 
 'no need of pain in heaven for the same purposes.' 
 
 1. The frequent returns of pain may put us in mind ' to 
 offer to God his due sacrifices of praise for the months and 
 years of easp which WP have enjoyed ;' wp are too ready 
 to forget the mercy of God herein, unless we arc awaken- 
 ed by new painful sensations ; and When we experience 
 new relief, then our lips are . opened with thankfulness, 
 and our mouth shews forth his praise. Then we cry out 
 with devout language, < Blessed be the Lord that has de- 
 livered us!' When we have been oppressed for some 
 time with extreme anguish, then one day, or one hour of 
 ease fills the heart and the tongue with thankfulness; 
 1 blessed be the God of nature that has 'appointed medi- 
 cines to restore our ease, and blessed be that goodness that 
 has given success to them!' What a rich mercy is it 
 under our acute torments, that there are methods of relief 
 and h2aling found among the powers of nature, among the 
 plants and the herbs, .and the mineral stores which are 
 under ground ? Blessed be the Lord, who in the course 
 of his providence has given skill to physicians to compose 
 and to apply the. proper means of relief! Blessed be that 
 hand that has planted every herb in the field or the gar- 
 den, and has made the bowels of the earth to teem with 
 medicines for the recovery of our health and ease, and 
 blessed be his name who has rebuked our maladies, who 
 has constrained the smarting diseases to depart by the u&e 
 of balms and balsams that are happily applied ! 
 
 While we enjoy, the benefits of common life, in health
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 203 
 
 of body and in easy circumstances, we are too often" 
 thoughtless of the hand of God, which showers clown 
 these favours of heaven apon us in a long and constant 
 succession ; but when he sees fit to touch us with his fin- 
 ger, and awaken some lurking malady within us, our ease 
 vanishes, pur days are restless and painful,, and tiresome 
 nights of darkness pass over us without sleep or repose. 
 Then we repent that we have so long forgotten the God 
 of our mercies ; and we learn to lift up our praises to the 
 Lord, that every night of our Jives has not been restless, 
 that every day and hour has not been a season of racking 
 pain. Blessed be the Lord that enables us, without an- 
 guish or uneasiness, to fulfil the common business of the 
 day ; and blessed be his hand that draws the peaceful cur- 
 tains of the night round about us ! And even in the midst 
 of moderate pains, we bless his name who gives us re- 
 freshing slumbers ; and we grow more careful to employ 
 and improve every moment of returning ease, as the most 
 proper way of expressing our thankfulness to our Al- 
 mighty healer. 
 
 Alas, what poor, sorry, sinful creatures are we in the 
 present state, who want to be taught the value of our mer- 
 cies by the removal of them ! The man of a robust and 
 vigorous make, and a healthy constitution, knows not the 
 true worth of health and ease, nor sets a due value upon 
 these blessings of heaven ; but we are taught to thank 
 God feelingly, for an easy hour after long repeated twinges 
 of pain. We bless that goodness which gives us an easy 
 night after a day of distressing anguish. Blessed be the 
 God of nature and grace, that has not made the gout or 
 the stone immortal, nor subjected our sensible powers to 
 an everlasting cholic or tooth-ache. 
 
 2. Pain in the flesh more effectually teaches us 'to sym- 
 pathise with those who suffer.' We learn a tenderness of 
 soul experimentally by our own sufferings. We generally 
 love self so well, that we forget our neighbours under 
 special tribulation and distress, unless we are made to feel 
 them too. In a particular manner, when our nature is 
 pinched and pierced through with some smarting malady, 
 we learn to pity those who lie groaning under the same 
 disease. A kindredship of sorrows and sufferings works 
 up our natures into compassion ; and we find our own 
 hearts more sensibly affected with the groans of ourfriendi
 
 204 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 under a sharp fit of the gout or rheumatism, when we our- 
 selves have felt the stings of the same distemper. 
 
 Our blessed Saviour himself, though he wanted not 
 compassion and love to the children of men, since he came 
 down from heaven on purpose to die for them ; yet he is 
 represented to us as our merciful High Priest, who had 
 learnt sympathy and compassion to our sorrows in the 
 same way of experience as we learn it. He was "encom- 
 passed about with infirmities," when he took the sinless 
 frailties of our nature upon him, that he might learn to 
 pity us under those frailties. "In that he himself hath suf- 
 fered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are 
 tempted. For we have not an High Priest which cannot 
 be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in 
 all points tempted like as we are," though he was always 
 "without sin; and by the things which he suffered," he may 
 be said, after the manner of men, to learn 'sympathy and pi- 
 ty' to miserable creatures, as well as obedience to God, 
 who is blessed for ever, Heb. ii. 18, and iv. 15, and v. 2, 8. 
 
 3. Since our natures are subject to pain, it should teach 
 us 'watchfulness against every sin, lest we double our own 
 distresses by the mixture of guilt with them.' How care- 
 ful should we be to keep always a clear conscience, that 
 we may be able at all times to look up with pleasure to 
 the hand of God who smites us, and be better composed 
 to endure the pains which he inflicts upon us for our trial 
 and improvement in grace. Innocence and piety, and a 
 peaceful conscience, are an admirable defence to support 
 the spirit against the overwhelming efforts of bodily pain : 
 but when inward reproaches of mind, and a racking con- 
 science join with acute pain in the flesh, it is double misery, 
 and aggravated wretchedness. The scourges and inward 
 remorse of our own hearts, joined to the sorrows of nature, 
 add torment to torment. How dreadful is it when we are 
 forced to confess, 'I have procured all this to myself by 
 intemperance, by my rashness, by my obstinacy against 
 the advice of friends,' and rebellion against the commands 
 of God! 
 
 ProTjably it was such circumstances as these, that gave 
 the soul of David double anguish, "when his bones waxed 
 old, through his roaring all the day long, when day and 
 night the hand of God was heavy upon him, and his moist 
 ure was turned into the drought of summer j" when he
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 205 
 
 complained unto God, "thine arrows stick fast in me, and 
 thy hand presseth me sore: there is no soundness in my 
 flesh, because of thine anger ; nor any rest in my bones, 
 because of my sin. Mine iniquities are gone over mine 
 head as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. Deep 
 calls unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts, all thy 
 waves and thy billows are gone ovej me." The 'deep of 
 anguish' in my "flesh calls to the 'deep of sorrow' in my 
 soul, and makes a tremendous tumult within me. " My 
 wounds stink, and are corrupt, because of my foolishness: 
 I am feeble and sore broken ; I have roared by reason of 
 the disquietness of my heart ;" nor could he find any rest 
 or ease till he "acknowledged his sin unto God, and con- 
 fessed his transgressions," and till he had some comfortable 
 hope that "God had forgiven the iniquity of his sin." See 
 this sorrowful scene exemplified in a very affecting manner 
 in the 32 d and 38th Psalms. Happy is the man that walks 
 closely with his God in the days of health and ease, that 
 whenever it shall please his heavenly Father to try him 
 with smarting pain, he may find sweet relief from a peace- 
 ful conscience, and .humble appeals to God concerning his 
 own sincerity and watchfulness. 
 
 4. Pain in the flesh may sometimes be sent by the hand 
 of God, to teach us 'to wean ourselves by degrees from 
 this body, which we love too well ; this body, which has 
 all the springs of pain in it.' How little should we be 
 fond of this flesh and blood in the present feeble state, 
 wherein we are continually liable to one malady or another; 
 to the head-ache or the heart-ache, to wounds or bruises, 
 and uneasy sensations of various kinds? Nor can the soul 
 secure itself from them, while it is so closely united to this 
 mortal body. And yet we are too fond of our present 
 dwelling, though it be but a cottage of clay, feeble and 
 ruinous, where the winds and the storms are continually 
 ready to break in and distress us. A sorry habitation in- 
 deed for aii immortal spirit, since sin has mingled so many 
 diseases in our constitution, has made so many avenues for 
 smart and anguish in our flesh, and we are capable of ad- 
 mitting pain and agonies at every pore. 
 
 Pain is appointed to be a sort of balance to the 'tempt- 
 ing pleasures of life,' and to make us feel that perfect 
 happiness does not grow among the inhabitants of flesh 
 and Wood. Pain takes away the pleasures of the day and 
 
 S
 
 206 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 
 
 the repose of the night, and makes life bitter in all the 
 returning seasons. The Got! of nature and grace is pleased, 
 by sending sickness and pain, to loosen his own children 
 by degrees from their fond attachment to this fleshly, ta- 
 bernacle, and to make us willing to depart at his call. 
 
 A long continuance of pain, or the frequent repeated 
 twinges of it, will <t eacn a Chrjstian and incline him to 
 meet death with courage, at the appointed hour of release.' 
 This will much abate the fierceness of the king of terrors, 
 when he appears as a sovereign physician to finish every 
 malady of nature. Death is sanctified to the holy soul, and 
 by the covenant of grace this curse of nature is changed 
 into a blessing. The grave is a safe retiring place from 
 all the .attacks of disease and anguish : and there are some 
 incurables here on earth, which can find no perfect relief 
 but in the grave. Neither maladies, nor tyrants can stretch 
 their terrors beyond this life : and if we can but look upon 
 death as a conquered enemy, and its sting takcm away by 
 the death of Christ, we shall easily venture into this last 
 combat, and obtain an everlasting victory. Blessed be God 
 for the grave as a refuge from smarting pains! Thanks be- 
 to God through Christ Jesus, who enables us to triumph 
 over the last pain of nature, and to say, "-0 death where 
 is thy sting? and grave where is thy victory?" 
 
 In the fifth and last place, by the pains that we suffer in 
 this body, 'we are taught to breathe after the blessedness 
 of the heavenly state wherein there shall be no pain.' 
 When the soul is dismissed from the bonds of flesh, and 
 presented before God in the world of spirits without spot 
 or blemish by Jesus our great Forerunner, it is then ap- 
 pointed to dwell among the "spirits of the just made per- 
 fect," who were all released in their several seasons from 
 the body of flesh and sin. Maladies and infirmities of every 
 kind are buried in the grave, and cease for ever ; and if we 
 survey the properties of the new raised body in the great 
 resurrection-day, as described 1 Cor. xv, we shall find no 
 room for pain there, no avenue or residence for smart or 
 anguish. It will not be such a body of flesh and blood as 
 can be a source of maladies, or subject to outward injuries; 
 but by its own principles of innate vigour and immortality, 
 as well as by the power and mercy of God, it shall be for 
 ever secured from those uneasy sensations which made 
 our flesh on earth painful and burdensome, and which'
 
 tlO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 207 
 
 tended toward dissolution and death. It is such a body as 
 our Lord Jesus wore at his ascent to heaven in a bright 
 cloud, for ever incorruptible ; "for flesh and blood cannot 
 inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption in- 
 herit incorruption. As we have borne the image of the 
 earthly" Adam in the frailties and sufferings that belong 
 to it, so shall "we also bear the .image of the heavenly," 
 even the "Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile 
 body, according- to the working whereby he is able to sub- 
 due all things unto himself," Phil. iii. 21. "We shall 
 hunger no more, we shall thirst no more, nor shall the 
 sun light on us" with its parching beams^ nor shall we be 
 annoyed with fire or frost, with heat or cold, in those 
 temperate and happy regions. "The Lamb which is in 
 the midst of the throne shall feed" his people for ever 
 there "with the fruits of the tree of life/' and with un- 
 known entertainments suited to a glorified state. "He shall 
 lead them to living fountains of waters, and God shall 
 wipe away all tears from their eyes." 
 
 Thus have I set before you 'the practical lessons' which 
 pain is designed to teach us in our present state ; and we 
 find that a body subject to maladies and pains, is a well 
 appointed school, wherein our great Master gives us these 
 divine instructions, and trains us up by degrees for the 
 heavenly world. It is rough discipline indeed for the 
 flesh, but i f , is wholesome for the soul : and there are many 
 Christians here on earth that have been made to confess, 
 that they had never learnt the practice of some of these 
 virtues, if they had not been taught by such sort of dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 Pain, which was brought into human nature at first by 
 sin, is happily suited by the providence of God to such a 
 state of probation, wherein creatures born in the midst of 
 sins ind sorrows are by degrees recovered to the love of 
 God and holiness, and fitted for a world of peace and joy. 
 But when we have done with this world, and departed 
 from the tribes of mortal men, and from all the scenes of 
 allurement and temptation, there is no more need that 
 such lessons should be taught us in heaven, nor any pain- 
 ful scourge made use of by the Father of spirits, to carry 
 on, or to maintain the divine work of holiness and grace 
 within us. Let us survey this matter according to the 
 foregoing particulars.
 
 208 
 
 Is it possible that while the blessed above are surround- 
 ed with endless satisfactions flowing from the throne of 
 God and the Lamb, they should 'forget their benefactor, 
 and neglect his praises?' Is it possible they should dwell 
 in immortal health and ease without, interruption, under 
 the constant vital influences of the King of Glory, and yet 
 want gratitude to the spring of all their blessings? 
 
 Nor is there any need for the inhabitants of a world, 
 where no pains and sorrows are found, 'to learn compas- 
 sion and sympathy to those who suffer,' for there are no 
 sufferers there: but love and joy, intense and intimate 
 love, and a harmony of joy runs through all that blessed 
 company, and unites them in a universal sympathy, if I 
 may so express, it, or blissful sensation of each other's hap- 
 piness. And I might add also, could there be such a thing 
 as sorrow and misery in those regions, the divine piinci- 
 ple of love would work sweetly and powerfully towards 
 such objects in all necessary compassion. 
 
 What if pain was once made a spur to our duties, in 
 this frail state of flesh and blood ? What if pain were de- 
 signed as a guard against temptation, and a means to' 
 awaken our watch against new transgression and guilt? 
 But in a climate where all is holiness, and all is peace, in 
 the full enjoyment of the great God, and secured by that 
 everlasting covenant which was sealed by the blood of the 
 Lamb, there is no more danger of sinning. The soal is 
 moulded into the more complete likeness of God, by living 
 for ever under the light of his countenance and the warm- 
 est beams of his love. 
 
 What if we had need of the stings of pai-n and anguish 
 in time past, 'to wean us by degrees from this body, and 
 from all sensible things,' and to make us willing to part 
 with them all at the call of God? Yet when we arrive at 
 the heavenly world, we shall have no more need of being 
 weaned from earth, we shall never look back upon that 
 state of pain and frailty with a wishful eye, being for ever 
 satisfied in the affluence of present joys. 
 
 glorious and happy state I where millions of creatures 
 who have dwelt in bodies of sin and pain, and have been 
 guilty of innumerable follies and offences against their Ma- 
 ker, yet are all forgiven, 'their robes are washed, and made 
 white in the blood of Jesus,' their iniquities are cancelled for 
 ever, and there shall not be one stroke more from the hand
 
 NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. 209 
 
 / 
 
 of God to chasten them, nor one more sensation of pain 
 to punish them. Divine and illustrious privilege indeed, 
 and a glorious world, where complete sanctification of all 
 the powers of nature shall for ever secure us from new 
 sins, and where the springs and causes of pain shall for 
 ever cease, both within us and without us. Our glorified 
 bodies shall have no avenue for pain to enter ; the gates 
 of heaven shall admit no enemy to afflict or hurt us. God 
 is our everlasting friend, and our souls shall be satisfied 
 with the "rivers of pleasure which flow for ever at the 
 right hand of God." Amen. 
 
 07
 
 DISCOURSE X. 
 
 THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, OR THE FORETASTE 
 OF HEAVEN. 
 
 ROM. viii. 23. And not only they, but ourselves also who have the first 
 fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for 
 the adoption, that is, the redemption of the body. 
 
 I. BY a beautiful figure of speech the Apostle had 
 been describing, in the foregoing verses, the unnatural 
 abuse which the creatures suffer through the sins of men, 
 when they are employed to sinful purposes and the dis- 
 honour of God their Creator. Permit me to read the words 
 and represent the sense of them in a short paraphrase. 
 Ver. 22. "We know that the whole creation groaneth and 
 travaileth in pain together until now." The earth itself 
 may be represented as groaning to bear such loads of ini- 
 quity, such a multitude of wicked men who abuse the 
 creatures of God to the dishonour of him that made them. 
 The air may be said to groan to give breath to those vile 
 wretches who abuse it in filthiness and foolish talking, to 
 the dishonour of God, and to the scandal of their neigh- 
 bours ; it groans to furnish men with breath that is abused 
 in idolatry by the false worship of the true God, or the 
 worship of creatures which is abominable in his sight. 
 The sun itself may be said to groan to give light to those 
 sinners who abuse both day-light and darkness in rioting 
 and wantonness, in doing mischief among men and com- 
 mitting fresh iniquities against their Maker. The moon 
 and stars are abused by adulterers and thieves, and other 
 midnight sinners, when they any way afford light enough 
 to them to guide them in their pursuit of wicked ways 
 and practices. The 'beasts of burden' may be said also 
 to groan and be abused when they bear the wicked sons 
 and daughters of Adam to the accomplishment of their 
 iniquities : and even all the parts of the brutal world, as 
 well as of the inanimate creation, are some way or other 
 
 210
 
 THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, &C. 211 
 
 made to Serve the detestable and wicked purposes of the 
 sinful children of men, and may be figuratively said to 
 groan on this account. And if we have tasted of the fruits 
 of the Spirit of grace; we cannot but in some measure 
 groan with the rest of the creation in expectation of the 
 blessed day, when the creatures shall be delivered from 
 this bandage of corruption, to which the providence of 
 God has suffered them to be subjected in this degenerate 
 state of things. 
 
 We hope there is a time coming, when the creatures 
 themselves shall be used according to the original appoint- 
 ment of their Maker, agreeably to their own first design, 
 and for the good of their fellow-creatures, and supremely 
 for the honour. of their God, "in that day when holiness 
 to the Lord shall be written upon the bells of the horses ; 
 and every pot in Jerusalem shall be holiness unto the 
 Lord of hosts." Why should we not join then" with the 
 whole creation in groaning and longing after this promised 
 time, when all the works of God shall be restored to their 
 rightful use, and the glory of the Maker shall some way 
 or other be made to shine in every one of them ? 
 
 The Apostle then adds, in the words of my text, "and 
 not these creatures only, but ourselves also 'who have the 
 first fruits of the Spirit," we who are filled with the gifts 
 and graces of the holy Spirit, and eminently the first fruits 
 hereof appear in our taste and relish of the divine provis- 
 ions that God has given us here in this world to prepare 
 for a better ; and even bestows upon some of his Christian 
 servants these first fruits of the tree of paradise, these 
 blessings, and these foretastes which are near a-kin to 
 those of the upper world, when the saints shall be raised 
 from the dead, when their adoption shall be clearly mani- 
 fested, and they shall look like the children of God, and 
 their bodies and all their natural powers shall be redeemed 
 from those disorders, whether of sin or sorrow, and from 
 all the springs and seeds of them, which they are more or 
 less -liable to feel in the present state. 
 
 Here let it be observed, that the first fruits of any field, 
 or- plant, or tree, are of the same kind with the full product 
 f ^ h . e h . arvest ; therefore it is plain, that the first fruits of the 
 Spirit, in this place, cannot chiefly signify the gifts' of the 
 Spirit, such as the gifts of tongues, or of healing, or of mira- 
 cles, nor the gifts of prophecy, preaching, or praying, be-
 
 212 THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, 
 
 cause these are not the employments nor the enjoyments of 
 heaven. The 'first fruits of the Spirit' must rather refer 
 therefore to the knowledge and holiness, the graces and the 
 joys which are more perfect and glorious in the heavenly 
 state, than they were ever designed to be here upon earth. 
 Now these first fruits of graces and joys are sometimes be- 
 stowed upon Christians in this world, in such a degree as 
 brings them near to the heavenly state : and that is the chief 
 observation I design to draw from these words, viz. 'That 
 Gotl has been pleased to give some of his children here on 
 earth several of the foretastes of the heavenly blessedness, 
 the graces and the joys of the upper world ;' as they are the 
 first fruits of that paradise to which we are travelling: and 
 these privileges have brought some of tl^e saints within 
 the verge of the courts of heaven, within the confines and 
 borders of the celestial country. What these are I shall 
 shew immediately ; but before 'I represent them I desire 
 to lay down these few cautions. 
 
 Caution 1. 'These sensible foretastes of heaven do not 
 belong to all Christians ; these are not such general bles- 
 sings of the covenant of grace, of which every Christian 
 is made partaker ;' but they are special favours now and 
 then bestowed on some particular persons by the special 
 will of God.- (1.) Such as are more eminent in faith, and 
 holiness, and prayer than others are, such as have made 
 great advancements in every part of religion, in mortifi- 
 cation to the world, in spiritual-mindedness, in humility, 
 and in much converse with God, &c. Or, (2.) sometimes 
 these first fruits may be given unto such as are weak both 
 in reason and in faith, and may be babes in Christ, and are 
 not able by their reasoning powers to search out their 
 evidences for heaven, especially under some present temp- 
 tation or darkness. Or, (3.) sometimes to those who are 
 called by providence to go through huge and uncommon 
 trials and sufferings, in order to support their spirits, and 
 bear up their courage, their faith and patience. 
 
 It is true, the more general and common way whereby 
 God prepares his people for heaven, is by leading them 
 through several steps of advancing holiness, sincere repen- 
 tance, mortification of sin, weanedness from the world, 
 likeness to God, heavenly minded ness, &c. These are in- 
 deed the usual preparatives for glory, and the surest evi- 
 dences of a state of grace. Therefore let not any person
 
 OR THE FORETASTE OF HEAVEIf. 213 
 
 imagine he is not a true Christian, because he hath not 
 enjoye.d these special favours and signal manifestations. 
 
 Caution 2. 'If there be any who have been favoured 
 with these peculiar blessings, they must not expect them 
 to be constant and perpetual, nor always to be 'given in 
 the same manner or same measure ;' they are rare blessings 
 and special reviving cordials ; they are not the common 
 food of Christians, nor the daily nourishment of the saints. 
 The word of God, and the grace of Christ in the promises 
 is our daily support, and the constant nourishment of our 
 souls. Cordials arc not given for our daily nourishment 
 in the life of grace. 
 
 Caution 3. 'However great and rapturous these fore- 
 tastes may be, let us not so depend on them as to neglect 
 the more substantial and. solid evidences for heaven, and 
 those steps of preparation' which I have elsewhere men- 
 tioned. I A et not those who have enjoyed them give a loose 
 to th'eir souls, and let go their watchfulness, or neglect 
 their daily mortification and diligence in every duty. Some 
 of these divine raptures have sometimes been so nearly 
 counterfeited by raptures of fancy, by warm self-love, or 
 perhaps by the deceit of evil angels, that they are not so 
 safe a foundation for our dependence and assured hope, as 
 the soul's experience of a sincere repentance, and general 
 turn of heart to God, and mortification of sin, and delight 
 in every practice of holiness. The devil sometimes' "has 
 transformed himself into an angel of light," 2 Cor. xi. 14; 
 and there have been some who at first hearing of the gospel 
 have had wondrous raptures. Heb. vi. 4. it is said, "they 
 have tasted of the powers of the world to come," &c. who 
 have yet fallen away again, and having lost all their sense 
 and savour of divine things > have become vile apostates. 
 
 Caution 4. 'If you seem to enjoy any of these affec- 
 tionate and rapturous foretastes of heaven; be jealous of 
 the truth of them, if ihr-y have not a proportionate sanctify- 
 ing influence upon your souls and your 1 actions.' . 
 
 If you find they incline you to negligence in duty, to 
 coldness in the common practices of religion and godliness, 
 if they make you fancy that common ordinances are a low 
 and needless dispensation, if they seem to excuse you from 
 diligence in the common duties of life towards man, or 
 religion towards God, there is great reason then to suspect 
 them. There is danger lest they should be mere sug-
 
 214 THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, 
 
 gestions artd deceitful workings either of your own natural 
 passions, or the crafty snares of the artful and busy ad- 
 versary of souls, on purpose to make you. neglect solid 
 religion^ and make you part with what is substantial for a 
 bright and flashy glimpse of heavenly things. 
 
 But, on the other hand, if you find that these special 
 favours and enjoyments raise your hearts to a greater near- 
 ness to God, and more constant converse with him ; if 
 they keep you deep in humility, and in everlasting depen- 
 dence on the grace of Christ in the gospel, and warm and 
 zealous attendance on the ordinances of worship ; if they 
 teach and incline you to fulfil every duty of love to your 
 neighbour, and particularly to your fellow Christians, then 
 they appear to be the 'fruits of the Spirit;' and as they 
 fit you for every duty and every providence here upon 
 earth, there is very good reason to hope they are real visits 
 from heaven, and are sent from the God of all grace to 
 make you more meet for the heavenly glory. 
 
 II. These are the four cautions. I proceed now to 
 describe some "of these 'foretastes of the heavenly blessed- 
 ness,' and shew how nearly they resemble the blessedness 
 and enjoyments of the heavenly world. 
 
 First, In 'heaven there is a near view of God in his 
 glories, with such a fixed contemplation of his several per- 
 fections, as draws out the heart into all correspondent 
 exerelses, in an uncommon, transcendent, and supreme 
 degree.' It is described as one of the felicities of heaven, 
 that "we shall see God." Matth. v. 8. that we sh<lll behold 
 him "face to face," and not in shadows and glasses, 1 Cor. 
 xiii. 12. Let us exhibit some particulars of this kind, and 
 dwell a little, upon them in the most easy and natural 
 method. 
 
 1. In heaven the blessed inhabitants 'behold the majesty 
 and greatness of God' in such a light as fixes their thoughts 
 in glorious wonder and the humblest adoration, and exalts 
 them to the highest, pleasure .and praise. Have you. never 
 fallen into such a devout and fixed contemplation of the 
 * majesty of God,' as to be even astonished at his glory 
 and greatness, and to have your sods so swallowed up in 
 this sight, that all the sorrows and the joys of this life, 
 all the businesses and necessities of it hath been forgotten 
 for a season, all things below and beneath God have seem- 
 ed as nothing in your eyes? All the grandeurs and splen-
 
 OR THE FORETASTE OF HEAVEN. 215 
 
 dors of mortality have been buried in darkness and oblivion, 
 and creatures have, as it were, vanished from the thoughts 
 and been lost, as the stars die and vanish at the rising sun 
 and are no more seen ? Have you never seen the face of 
 God in his sublime grandeur, excellence and majesty, so 
 as to shrink into the dust before him, and lie low at his 
 foot with humblest adoration ? And you have been trans- 
 ported into a feeling acknowledgment of your own no- 
 thingness in the presence of God. Such a sight the prophet 
 Isaiah seems to have enjoyed, Isai. xi. 12, 15 17. "Be- 
 hold the nations before him are as the drop of the bucket, 
 and as the small dust of the balance, he taketh up the isles 
 as a very little thing. All nations before him are as nothing, 
 they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity." 
 
 When the lips are not only directed to speak this sub- 
 lime language, but the soul, as it were, beholds God in 
 these heights of transcendent majesty, it is overwhelmed 
 with blessed wonder and surprising delight, even while it 
 adores in most profound lowliness and self-abasement 
 This is the emblem of the worship of the heavenly world, 
 see Rev. iv. 10, where the elders, saints .and prophets, 
 martyrs, angels, and dominions, and principalities of the 
 highest degree u cast down their crowns" at the foot of 
 him that made them, and exalt God in his supremacy 
 over all. 
 
 2. In heaven there are such blessed and extensive sur- 
 veys of the 'infinite knowledge of God,' and his amazing 
 wisdom discovered in his works, as makes even all their 
 own heavenly improvements in knowledge and under- 
 standing to appear as mere ignorance, darkness, and folly 
 before him. In such an hour as this is, the holy angels 
 may charge themselves with folly in his sight, as he be- 
 holds them in the imperfection of their understanding. 
 Now have you never been carried away in your medita- 
 tions of the all-comprehensive knowledge of God to such 
 a degree, as to lose and abandon all your former pride and 
 appearances of knowledge and wisdom in all the native 
 and acquired riches of it, and count them all as nothing 
 in h\s sight? Have you never looked upward to the mid- 
 nigh it skies, and with amazement sent your thoughts up- 
 ward to him who 'calls all the stars by their names,' and 
 bri ngs them forth in all their sparkling glories, who mar- 
 sh; Js them in their nightly ranks and orders, and then
 
 216 THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, 
 
 stood overwhelmed with sacred astonishment at the wisdom 
 which made and ranged idem all in their proper situations, 
 and there appointed them to fulfil ten thousand useful pur- 
 poses, and that not only towards this little ball of Earth, 
 but to a multitude of upper planetary worlds? Have you 
 never enquired into the wonders of his wisdom in framing 
 the bodies, the limbs, and the senses of millions of animals, 
 birds, and beasts, fishes, and insects, as well as men all 
 around this globe, and who hath framed all their organs 
 and powers of nature with exquisite skill, to see and hear, 
 to run and fly, and swim, to produce their young in all 
 their proper forms and sizes, furnished with their various 
 powers, and to feed and nourish them in their innumerable 
 shapes and colours, admirable for their strength and beauty? 
 And have you not felt your souls filled with devout adora- 
 tion at the unspeakable and infinite contrivances. of God? 
 And not only his 'works of creation,' but of his provi- 
 dence too, have afforded some pious souls such devout 
 imazeirent. What astonishing wisdom must that be which 
 las created mankind on earth, near six thousand years ago, 
 ind by his divine word in every age continues to create 
 them or give them being, with all the same natural powers 
 find parts, beauties and excellencies! That he hath wisely 
 governed so many millions of animals with living souls or 
 spirits in them, so many millions of intelligent creatures, 
 endued with a free will of their own to choose or refuse 
 what they will or will not do, and hath managed this in- 
 numerable company of beings in all ages, notwithstanding 
 all their different and clashing opinions- and customs, their 
 crossing humours, wills and passions in endless variety, 
 and yet hath made them all subservient to his own com- 
 prehensive designs and purposes thiough all ages of the 
 world and all nations on earth! What unconceivable wis- 
 dom is that which hath effectually appointed them all to 
 centre in the accomplishment of his own eternal counsels! 
 And with what overwhelming amazement will this scene 
 appear, when he shall shut up the theatre of this earth, 
 and fold up these heavens as a curtain, and this visible 
 structure of things shall be laid in ashes? What an aston- 
 ishing view must this be of the all-surveying knowledge^ 
 all-comprehending wisdom of God, and with what holy 
 and humble pleasure must the pious soul be filled who tal'^es 
 in and enjoys this scene of infinite varieties and wonders?
 
 OR THE FORETASTE OF HEAVEN. 217 
 
 How near doth such an hour approach to the bliss of heaven 
 and the raptures of contemplation, which belong to the 
 blessed inhabitants of it? 
 
 3. I might add something of the almighty power of 
 God in his creation and government of the world, in his 
 kingdoms of nature and providence. Did not the angels 
 rejoice at the birth-day of this universe, and "those morn- 
 ing stars shout for joy" at the first appearance of this 
 creation? And what the inhabitants of heaven make their 
 song, may not a holy soul be entertained with it, even to 
 extacy and rapture ? I behold, says he, in divine medita- 
 tion, I behold this huge structure of the universe rising 
 out of nothing at the voice of his command ; I behold the 
 several planets in their various orders set a moving by the 
 same word of power. With what delightful surprise do 
 I hear him pronouncing the words, "let there be light," 
 and, lo 'the light appears?' Let there be earth and seas ; 
 let there be clouds ,and heavens ; let there be sun, moon 
 and stars, and lo the heavens, and the dry land, and the 
 waters appear, the clouds and the stars in their various 
 order and situation, and all the parts of the creation arise, 
 all replenished with proper, ornaments and animals accor- 
 ding to his word. At his command nature exists in all 
 its regions with all its furniture ; the beasts, and birds, and 
 fishes in all their forms arise, and at once they obey the 
 several Almighty orders he gave, and by the unknown 
 and unconceivable force of such a word they leap out into 
 existence in ten thousand forms. 
 
 Again, what divine pleasure is it to hear God beginning 
 the work of his providence, and speaking those wondrous 
 words of power to every plant and animal, "Be fruitful, 
 and multiply, and replenish the earth ;" and lo, in a long 
 succession of near six thousand years the earth has been 
 covered all over with herbs and plants, with shrubs and 
 tall trees in all their beauty and dimensions. The air hath 
 been filled with birds and insects, the seas and rivers with 
 fish, and the dry land with beasts and men even to this 
 present day. When all this philosophy is changed into 
 devotion, it must also be transformed into divine and un- 
 utterable joy. 
 
 Nor are these things too low and mean for the con- 
 templation of heavenly beings: for God is seen in all of 
 them. There is not a spire of grass but the power and 
 28 T
 
 218 THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, 
 
 wisdom of God are visible therein. And it is certain the 
 heavenly beings must be sometimes employed in the con- 
 templation of many of these lower wonders. The plants 
 and beasts in desolate regions where no man inhabits, and 
 in distant and foreign oceans and rivers, where the fishy 
 shoals in all their variety and numbers, in all their succes- 
 sions and generations for near six thousand years were 
 never seen nor known by any of the sons of men ; these 
 seem to have been created in vain, if no heavenly beings 
 are acquainted with them, nor raise a revenue of glory to 
 him that made them. 
 
 This almighty power therefore which made this huge 
 universe, which sustains the frame of it every moment, 
 and secures it from dissolving; this power which brings 
 forth the stars in their order, and worms and creeping 
 things in their innumerable millions, and governs all the 
 motions of them to the purposes of divine glory, must 
 needs affect a contemplative soul with raptures of pleasing 
 meditation ; and in these sublime meditations, by the aids 
 of the divine Spirit, a soul on earth may get near to heaven. 
 And with what religious and unknown pleasure at such a 
 season doth it shrink its own being as it were into an atom, 
 and lie in the dust and adore! 
 
 4. The 'all-sufficiency of the great God to form and to 
 supply every creature with all that it can want or desire,' 
 is another perfection of the divine nature, which is better 
 known in heaven than it ever was here on earth, and af- 
 fords another scene of astonishment and sacred delight. 
 And there may be some advances towards this pleasure 
 found among saints below, some first fruits of this heavenly 
 felicity and joy in the-all-sufficiency of God. 
 
 My whole self, body aud mind, is from God and from 
 him alone. All my limbs and powers of flesh and spirit 
 were derived from him, and borrowed their first existence 
 from their original pattern in his fruitful mind. All that 
 I have of life or comfort, of breath or being, with all my 
 blessings round about me, is owing to his boundless and 
 eternal fulness ; and all my long reaching hopes and end- 
 less expectations that stretch far into futurity, and an 
 eternal world, are growing out of this same all-sufficient 
 fulness. 
 
 But what do I think or speak of so little a trifle as I am ? 
 Stretch thy thoughts, my soul, through the lengths, and
 
 OR THE FORETASTE OP HEAVEN*. 219 
 
 breadths, and depths of his creation, what an uncon- 
 ceivable fulness of being, glory, and excellency is found 
 in God the universal parent and spring of all ! What an 
 inexhaustible ocean of being and life, of perfection and 
 blessedness must our God be, who supplies all the infinite 
 armies of his creatures in all his known and unknown 
 dominions with life and motion, with breath and activity, 
 with food and support, with satisfaction and delight! Who 
 maintains the vital powers and faculties of all the spirits 
 which he hath made in all the visible and invisible worlds, 
 in all his territories of light, and peace, and joy, and in 
 all the regions of darkness, punishment and misery ! In 
 him all things "live and move, and have their beings," 
 Acts xvii. 28. Psal. civ. 29, "He withdraws his breath 
 and they die." He hath writ down all their names in his 
 own mind, he gives them all their natures, and without 
 him there is nothing, there can be nothing; all nature 
 without him would have been a perpetual blank, a univer- 
 sal emptiness, an everlasting void, and with one turn of 
 his will he could sink and dissolve all nature into its ori- 
 ginal nothing. 
 
 Confess, my soul, thy own nothingness in his presence, 
 and with astonishing pleasure and worship adore his ful- 
 ness. He is thy everlasting all. Be thy dependence ever 
 fixed upon him ; thou canst not, thou shalt not live a mo- 
 ment without him, without this habitual dependence, and 
 a frequent delightful acknowledgment of it. Such a devout 
 frame as this, is heaven, and such scenes now and then 
 passing through the soul, are glimpses of the heavenly 
 blessedness. 
 
 III. Though the eternity and immensity of God 
 might, perhaps, in their own nature, and in the reason of 
 things, be first mentioned, yet his majesty, his power, and 
 his wisdom, in their sovereign excellency strike the souls 
 of creatures more immediately, therefore I have put these 
 first However, let us now consider the eternity of the 
 great God, and his omnipresence, and think how the spi- 
 rits in heaven are affected therewith, and what kindred 
 meditations may be derived from these perfections by the 
 saints here on earth. I proceed therefore, 
 
 5. To the eternity of God : which though the most 
 exalted spirit in heaven cannot comprehend, yet it is 
 probable they have some nearer and clearer discovery of 

 
 220 
 
 it than we can have here in this mortal state, while we 
 dwell in flesh and blood. We have nothing in this visi- 
 ble world that gives us so much as an example or simili- 
 tude of it. The great God " who is, who was," and 
 " who is to come" through all ages, he is, and was, and 
 for ever will be the same. Let us go back as many thou- 
 sand ages as we can in our thoughts, and still an eternal 
 God was before them ; a Being that had no beginning 
 of his existence, nor will have any end of his life or du- 
 ration. And as he says to Moses, my name is / am that 
 I am, so as there is nothing which had any hand in his 
 being, but all the reasons ol it are, derived from his own 
 self-fulness, therefore we may say of him that he is be- 
 cause he is, and because he ivill be. He had no spring 
 of his first beginning, nor any cause of his continued ex- 
 istence, but what is within himself. We can never set 
 ourselves in too mean a light when an eternal God is near 
 us ; and every thing besides God can be but little in 
 our eyes. 
 
 And, O my thinking powers, are ye not sweetly lost in 
 this holy rapture, and overpowered with divine pleasure, 
 in such meditation as this ? Art thou not, my soul, 
 delightfully surprised with the thoughts of such self-suf- 
 ficience and such an unconceivable perfection ? Thy be- 
 ing, considered as here in this life, is not so much in 
 the sight of God as an atom in comparison of the whole 
 earth ; and even the supposed future ages of thy exis- 
 tence in the eternal state are inconceivably short, when 
 compared with the glory of that Being that never began 
 his life or his duration. 
 
 Many things here on earth concur towards my satis- 
 faction and peace ; but if I have God my friend, I have 
 all in him that I can possibly want or desire. Let me 
 then live no longer upon creatures when God is all. 
 
 Let sun, moon and stars vanish, and all this visible 
 creation disappear and be for ever annihilated if God 
 please, he himself is still my eternal hope and never- 
 failing spring of all my blessedness : my expectations 
 are continually safe in his hands, and shall never fail 
 while I am so near to him. This is joy unspeakable 
 and akin to glory. 
 
 6. Let us meditate also on the immensity of God, 
 which I think is much better expressed by his omni-
 
 OR THE FORETASTE OF HEAVEN. 221 
 
 presence- God is wheresoever any creature is or can 
 be ; Jtnowing immediately by his own presence all that 
 belongs to them, all that they are or can be, all that 
 they do or can do, all that concerns them, whether their 
 sins or their virtues, their pains or their pleasures, their 
 hopes or their fears. It implies also that he doth by his 
 immediate power and influence support and govern all 
 the creatures. In short, this immensity is nothing else 
 but the infinite extent of his knowledge and his power, 
 and it reaches to and beyond all places, as eternitj^ 
 reaches to and beyond all time. This the blessed above 
 know and rejoice in, and take infinite satisfaction there- 
 in : having God, as it were surrounding them on all sides, 
 so that they cannot be where he is not, he is ever pre- 
 sent with his all-sufficiency ready to bestow on them all 
 they wish or desire while he continues their God, i. e. 
 for ever and ever. They are under the blessing of his 
 eye, and the care of his hand, to guard them from every 
 evil, and to secure their peace. 
 
 Let thy flesh or spirit be surrounded with ever so 
 many thousand dangers or enemies, they cannot do thee 
 the least damage without his leave by force or by sur- 
 prise while such an Almighty .Being is all around thee : 
 nor hast thou reason to indulge any fear while the spring 
 and ocean of all life, activity, and blessedness thus se- 
 cures thee on every side. If thou hast the evidences of 
 his children on thee, thou possessest an eternal security 
 of thy peace. 
 
 7. ' The sovereignty and dominion' of the blessed God 
 is a further meditation and pleasure which becomes and 
 adorns the inhabitants of the heavenly world. There he 
 reigns upon the throne of his glory, and the greater part 
 of the territories which are subject to him are more in 
 their view than our scanty powers of nature or perception 
 can now apprehend, and a proportionable degree of plea- 
 sure is found with the saints above in these contemplations. 
 
 But in our present state of mortality our souls can 
 only look through ttofese lattices of flesh and blood, and 
 make a few scanty and imperfect inferences from what 
 they always see, and hear, and feel. And yet the glori- 
 ous sovereignty and dominion of the blessed God may so 
 penetrate the soul with a divine sense of it here on earth, 
 as to raise up a heaven of wonder and joy within. 
 
 T2
 
 222 THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, 
 
 Adore him, my soul, who surveys and rules all 
 things which he has made with an absolute authority, and 
 is for ever uncontroulable. How righteous a thing is it 
 that he should give laws to all the beings which his hand 
 hath formed, which his breath hath spoken into life, and 
 especially that rank Avhich his favour hath furnished with 
 immortality? How just that he should be obeyed by 
 every creature without the least reluctance or reserve, 
 without a moment's delay, and that to all the length of 
 their existence ? 
 
 Submit to his government with pleasure, my nature, 
 and be all ye my powers of soul and body in everlasting 
 readiness to do whatsoever he requires, and to be what- 
 soever he appoints. Wilt thou have me, Lord, lie under 
 sickness or pain, wilt thou have me languish under weak- 
 ness and confinement ? I am at thy foot, I am for ever at 
 thy disposal. Wilt thou have me active and vigorous in 
 thy service ? Lord, I am ready with utmost cheerfulness. 
 Wilt thou confine me to painful idleness and long patience ? 
 Lord here I am, do with me what seemeth good unto thee, 
 I am ready to serve thy purposes here, or thy orders in 
 the unkno\vn world of spirits, when thou shalt dissolve 
 this mortal frame : I lay down these limbs in the dust of 
 death at thy command : I venture into the regions of 
 angels and unbodied minds at thy summons. I will be 
 what thou wilt, I will go -when thou wilt, I will dwell 
 where thou wilt, for thou art always with me, and I am 
 entirely thine. I both rejoice and tremble at thy sovereign- 
 ty and dominion over all. God cannot do injury to a 
 creature who is so entirely his own property ; God will 
 not deal unkindly with a creature who is so sensible of 
 his just dominion and supremacy, and which bows at the 
 foot of his sovereignty with so much relish of satisfaction. 
 8. Let us next take notice of the perfect purity of the 
 nature of God, his universal holiness, the rectitude of 
 the divine nature manifested in all his thoughts, his works, 
 and his words, all perfectly agreeable to the eternal rules 
 of truth and righteousness, and at the furthest distance 
 from every thing that is false and faulty, every thing that 
 is or can be dishonourable *o so glorious a Being. Have 
 we never seen God in this light, in the glory of his holi- 
 ness, his universal rectitude, and the everlasting harmony 
 of all his perfections in exact correspondence with all the
 
 OR THE FORETASTE OP HEAVEN. 223 
 
 notions we can have of truth and reason ? And has not 
 God appeared then as a glorious and lovely Being? And 
 have we not at the same time beheld ourselves as unclean, 
 and unholy creatures, in one part or other of our natures, 
 ever ready to jar or fall out with some of the most pure 
 and perfect rules of holiness, justice or truth? Have we 
 not seen all our sins and iniquities in this light, with ut- 
 most abhorrence and highest hatred of them, and looked 
 down upon ourselves with a 'deep and overwhelming sense 
 of shame and displicence against our depraved and cor- 
 rupted natures, and abased ourselves as Job does, in dust 
 and ashes, and not daring to open our mouths before him ? 
 Job xlii. 6. "I have heard or thee by the hearing of the 
 ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, and I abhor myself in 
 dust and ashes." The least spot or blemish of sin grows 
 highly offensive and painful to the eyes of a saint in this 
 situation. 
 
 "Every little warping from truth in our conversation, 
 every degree of insincerity or fraud becomes a smarting 
 uneasiness to the mind in the remembrance of our past 
 follies in the present state. There is the highest abhor- 
 rence of sin among all the heavenly inhabitants, and this 
 sight of God in the beauties of his holiness, and his per- 
 fect rectitude, is an everlasting preservative to holy souls 
 against the admission of an impure or unholy thought. 
 And therefore some divines have supposed, that the angels 
 at their first creation were put into a state of trial before 
 they were admitted to this full sight of the beauty of God 
 in his holiness, which would have secured them from the 
 least thought or step towards apostacy. 
 
 my soul, of what happy importance it is to thee to 
 maintain, as long as possfble, this sense of the purity ', 
 rectitude and perfection of the nature of the blessed God, 
 "who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity," with the 
 least regard of approbation or allowance? And what in- 
 finite condescension is it in such a God to find out and ap- 
 point a way of grace, whereby such shameful polluted 
 creatures as we are should ever be admitted into his pre- 
 sence to make the least address to his majesty, or to hope 
 for his favour ? 
 
 Besides, in this sublime view of the holiness of God, 
 we shall not only love God better than ever, as we see 
 him more amiable under this view of his glorious attributes, 
 

 
 224 THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, 
 
 but we shall grow more sincere and fervent in our love to 
 all that is holy, to every fellow Christian, to 'every saint 
 in heaven and on earth : we shall not bear any estranged- 
 ness or alienation from those who have so much of the 
 likeness of God in them. They will ever appear to be the 
 "excellent of the earth, in whom is all our delight:" their 
 supposed blemishes will vanish at the thought of their 
 likeness to God in holiness : and especially our blessed 
 Lord Jesus, the Son of God, will be most precious and 
 all-glorious in our eyes as he is the most perfect image of 
 his Father's holiness. There is nothing in the blessed God, 
 but the man Christ Jesus bears a proportionable resem- 
 blancs to it, as far as a creature can resemble God^* and 
 he will consequently be highest in o,ur esteem under God 
 the Lord and Father of all. 
 
 9. The ever-pleasing attribute of divine 'goodness and 
 love' is another .endless and joyful theme or object of the 
 contemplation of the heavenly world. There this perfec- 
 tion shines in its brightest rays, there it displays its most 
 triumphant glories, and kindles a flame of everlasting joy 
 in all the sons of blessedness. 
 
 But we in this world may have such glimpses of this 
 goodness and love as may fill the soul with unspeakable 
 pleasure, and begin in it the first fruits and earnest of 
 heaven. When we survey the inexhaustible ocean of 
 goodness which is in God, which fills and supplies all the 
 creatures with every thing they stand in need of; when 
 we behold all the tribes of the sons of men supported by 
 his boundless sufficiency, his bounty and kind providence, 
 and refreshed with a thousand comforts beyond what the 
 mere necessities of nature require : in such an hour if we 
 feel the least fiowings of goodness in ourselves towards 
 others, we shall humble ourselves to the dust, and cry out 
 in holy amazement, Lord, what is an atom to a mountain ? 
 what is a drop to a river, a sea of beneficence ? what is a 
 shadow to the eternal substance ? what good tiling is there 
 in time or in eternity, which I can possibly want which 
 
 * If the " man Christ Jesus" could be viewed either by saints above, or 
 saints on earth, as separate from the Divine Person of the eternal Son, he 
 would be shorn of the brightest rays of his glory. God forbid, that our 
 meditations should ever terminate in his human nature, or that we should 
 conceive so meanly of the Son of God, as to regard him as merely a crea- 
 ture ! ED.
 
 OR THE FORETASTE OF HEAVEN. 225 
 
 is not abundantly supplied out of thine overflowing ful- 
 ness? -Hence arises the eternal satisfaction of all the holy 
 and happy creation in being so near to thee, and under 
 the everlasting assurances of thy love. I can do nothing 
 but fall down before thee in deepest humility, and admire, 
 adore, and everlastingly love thee, who hast assumed to 
 thyself the name of love, 1 John iv. 8, "God is love." 
 
 IV. Thus far our joys may rise into an imitation of 
 the joys above, in the devout 'contemplation of divine 
 perfections.' 
 
 And not only the 'perfections pf God' considered and 
 surveyed singly in themselves, but the union and blessed 
 harmony of many of them in the divine works and trans- 
 actions of Providence and of grace, especially in the gospel 
 of Christ, administer further matter for contemplation and 
 pleasure among the happy spirits in heaven : and so far 
 as this enjoyment may be communicated to the saints here 
 on earth, they may be also said to have a foretaste of the 
 business an/1 pleasure of heaven. Let us take notice of 
 this harmony in several instances. 
 
 1. In the sacred constitution of the person of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ as God and man united in one personal agent: 
 here majesty and mercy give a glorious instance of their 
 union, here all the grandeur and dignity of Godhead con- 
 descends to join itself in union with a creature, such as 
 man is, a spirit dwelling in flesh and blood. 1 Tim. ii. 5. 
 "There is one God, and one Mediator between God and 
 men, even the man Christ Jesus." But this man is per- 
 sonally united to the blessed God, he is "God manifested 
 in the flesh." He is a man. in "whom dwells all the ful- 
 ness of the Godhead bodily," to constitute one all-sufficient 
 Saviour of miserable and fallen mankind. What an amazing 
 stoop or condescension is this for the eternal Godhead thus 
 to join itself to a creature, and what ^surprising exaltation 
 is this of the creature, for the man Christ Jesus thus to be 
 assumed into so near a relation to the blessed God ? All 
 the glories that result from this divine contrivance and 
 transaction are not to be enumerated on paper, nor by the 
 best capacity of writers here on earth : the heavenly in- 
 habitants are much better acquainted with them. 
 
 Again, here is an example of the harmony and co-opera- 
 tion of unsearchable wisdom and all-commanding power 
 in the person of the blessed Jesus ; and what a happy 
 29
 
 226 THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, 
 
 design is hereby executed, namely, the reconciliation of 
 sinful man and the holy and glorious God : and who could 
 do this but one who was possessed of such wisdom and 
 such power? When there was no creature in heaven or 
 earth sufficient for this work, God was pleased to appoint 
 such an union between a creature and Creator, between 
 God and man, as might answer all the inconceivable pur- 
 poses concealed in his thought. If there be wanting a 
 person fit to execute any of his infinite designs, he will 
 not he frustrated for want of an agent, he will appoint God 
 and man to be so ueudy united as to become one agent to 
 execute this design. 
 
 2: 'In the manner of our salvation,' (viz.) by an 'atone- 
 ment for sin.' The great God did not think it proper, 
 nor agreeable to his sublime holiness, to receive sinful 
 man into his favour without an atonement for sin, and a 
 satisfaction mndp. to the Governor of the world for the 
 abuse and violation of his holy law here on earth ; and 
 therefore he appointed such a sacrifice of atonement as 
 might be sufficient to do complete honour to the law-giver, 
 as well as to save and deliver the offender from death. 
 Therefore, Jesus was made a man capable of suffering and 
 dying, that he might honour the majesty and the justice of 
 the broken law of God, and that he might do it complete- 
 ly by the union of Godhead to this man and Mediator;* 
 the dignity of whose divinity diffuses itself over all that 
 he did and all that he suffered, so as to make his obedience 
 completely acceptable to God instead of thousands of 
 creatures, and fully satisfactory for the offence that was 
 given him by them ; here is a sacrifice provided equal to 
 the guilt of sin, and therefore sufficient to take it away. 
 
 You see here what a blessed harmony there is between 
 the justice of God doing honour to his own law, and his 
 compassion resolved to save a ruined creature. Here is 
 no blemish cast upon the strict justice and righteousness 
 of God, when the offender is forgiven in such a method as 
 may do honour to justice and mercy at once. Rom. iii. 
 24, 25, "We are justified freely by his grace through the 
 
 * It is by the union of the two, natures that the Lord Jesus is a proper 
 Mediator. Jt is incorrect to say that the "Godhead" was united "to this 
 man and Mediator." It was the Son, or Word, not the Godhead, that 
 " became flesh ;" and thus humbling himself, gave himself for us, the Just 
 for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. ED.
 
 OR THE FORETASTE OF HEAVEN.' 227 
 
 redemption that is in 'Jesus Christ; whom God hath set 
 forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to 
 declare his righteousness," even his perfect governing 
 justice, though he passes by and pardons the sins of a 
 thousand criminal creatures; <to declare,' I say, 'at this 
 time his righteousness, that he might appear* to be just' 
 to his 6wn authority and law, while he justifies the sinful 
 man who believeth or trusteth in Jesus the Mediator as 
 becoming a proper sacrifice and propitiation for sin. 
 
 3. By the 'saqctification of our nature.' There is also 
 another remarkable harmony between the holiness of God 
 and his mercy in this work of the salvation of sinful man. 
 The guilt of sin is not only to be forgiven and taken away 
 by a complete atonrcment and sacrifice, but the sinful na- 
 ture of this ruined creature is to be changed into holiness, 
 is to be renewed and sanctified by the blessed Spirit, and 
 reformed into the image of God his Maker. He must not 
 only be released from punishment by forgiveness, but he 
 must be restored to the image of God by sanctifying grace ; 
 that so he may be fit company for the rest of the favourites 
 of God in the upper world ; that he may be qualified to be 
 admitted into this society, where perfect purity and holn 
 ness are necessary for all the inhabitants of this upper 
 world, and for such near attendants on the -blessed God. 
 In that happy state nothing shall enter there that defileth, 
 Rev. xxi. 27, and therefore concerning the criminals 
 amongst the Corinthians, as vile and as offensive to the 
 pure and holy God as they are represented, 1 Cor. vi. 9 
 11, viz. "Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, drunkards, &c. 
 but, it is said, they are washed, but they are sanctified, 
 but they are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus^ and 
 by the Spirit of our God." 
 
 Now when the souls of the saints here on earth are 
 raised to such .divine contemplations, what transporting 
 satisfaction and delight must arise from the surprising 
 'union and harmony' of the attributes of the blessed God 
 in these his transactions? And especially when the soul 
 in the lively exercise of grace and view of its own pardon, 
 justification, and restored holiness, looks upon itself as one 
 of these happy favourites of the majesty of heaven; it 
 
 The Scripture says, not that " he might appear to be ;" but that " h 
 might be just" God's actionu are dot thow ; they are realitie*. ED.
 
 223 THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, 
 
 cries out as it were in holy amazement, 'What a divine 
 profusion is here of wisdom and power, glory and grace, 
 to save a wretched worm from everlasting burnings, and 
 to advance a worthless rebel to such undeserved and ex- 
 alte.d 'glories !' 
 
 V. 'The wonders of divine perfections united in the 
 success of the gospel,' give an ecstasy of joy sometimes to 
 holy souls. Not only do these views of the united per- 
 fections of God, as they are concerned in the contrivance 
 of the gospel, entertain the saints above with new and 
 pleasurable contemplations, but the wonders of divine 
 wisdom, power and grace, united and harmonizing in 
 'the propagation and success of the gospel,' become a 
 matter of delightful attention and survey to the saints on 
 high. 
 
 This is imitated also in a measure by the children of 
 God here on earth. Have you never felt such a surprising 
 pleasure in the view of the attributes of God, his grace, 
 wisdom, and power in making these divine designs so 
 happily efficacious for the good of thousands of souls ? If 
 there "be joy in heaven among the angels of God" at the 
 conversion "of a sinner," what perpetual messages of un- 
 known satisfaction and delight did the daily and constant 
 labours of the blessed Apostle Paul send to the upper 
 world ? What perpetual tidings were carried to the worlds 
 on high of such and such souls, converted un.to God from 
 gross idolatry, from the worship of dumb iuojs, from the 
 vain superstition of their heroes and mediator-gods, and 
 from the impure and bloody sacrifices of their own coun- 
 trymen, whereby they intended to satisfy their gods for 
 their own iniquities, and to reconcile themselves to these 
 invented gods, these demons or devils which were deified 
 by the folly and madness of sinful men ? What new hal- 
 lelujahs must it put into the mouths of the saints and an- 
 fels on high, to see the true and living God worshipped 
 y thousands that had never before known him, and to see 
 Jesus the Mediator in all the glories of his divine offices 
 admired and adored by those who lately had either known 
 nothing of him, or been shameful revilers and blasphemers 
 of his majesty. 
 
 And what an unknown delight is diffused through many 
 of the saints of God now here on earth upon such tidings, 
 not only from the foreign and heathen countries, but even.
 
 OR THE FORETASTE OF HEAVEN. 229 
 
 some that have professed Christianity, but under gross 
 mistakes and miserable fogs of darkness and superstition? 
 What an unconceivable and overwhelming pleasure has 
 surprised a Christian sometimes in the midst of his zealous 
 worship of God and his Saviour, to hear of such tidings 
 of new subjects in multitudes submitting themselves to 
 their divine dominion? 
 
 And even in our day, whensoever we hear of the work 
 of grace begun by the ministry of the word awakening a 
 drowsy and lethargic soul from its dangerous sleep on the 
 brink of hell, rousing a negligent and slothful creature 
 from his indolence and carelessness about the things of 
 eternity ; or again, in making a heart soft and impressive 
 to the powers of divine grace, \vhich was before hard as 
 the nether millstone j and especially when multitudes of 
 these, tidings come together from distant places, as of late 
 we have heard from New England, and several of those 
 plantations, from Scotland, and several of her assemblies, 
 what additional scenes of heavenly joy and pleasure have 
 been raised amongst the pious souls, both those who relate 
 and those who hear them. 
 
 VI. Foretastes of heaven are sometimes derived from 
 <the overflowing sense of the love of God' let in upon the 
 soul. 
 
 The spirits above who are surrounded with this blessed- 
 ness and this love <5 and rejoice in the everlasting assurance 
 of it, cannot but be filled with intense joy. What can be 
 a greater foundation of complete blessedness and delight 
 than the immediate sensation and assurance of being be- 
 loved by the glorious, and supreme, and the all-sufficient 
 Being, who will never suffer his favourites to want any 
 thing he can bestow upon them to make them happy in 
 perfection, and for ever ? All creatures are under his pre- 
 sent view and immediate command ; there is not the least 
 of them can give disturbance to any of the favourites of 
 heaven, who dwell in 'the midst of their Creator's love ; 
 nor is there any creature that can be employed towards 
 the complete happiness of the saints on high, but is for 
 ever under the disposal of that God who has made all 
 things, and it shall be employed upon every just occasion 
 for the display of his love to his saints. 
 
 Some have imagined, that that 'perfect satisfaction of 
 soul which arises from a good conscience, speaking peace
 
 230 THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, 
 
 inwardly in the survey of its sincere desire to please God 
 in all things, and having with uprightness of heart fulfilled 
 its duty,' is the supreme delight of heaven. But it is my 
 opinion God has never made the felicity of his creatures 
 to be drawn so entirely. out of themselves, or from the 
 spring of their own bosom, as this notion seems to imply. 
 God himself will be all in all to his creatures; and. all 
 their original springs of blessedness as well as being are 
 in him, and must be derived from him. It is therefore 
 the overflowing sense of being beloved by a God almighty 
 and eternal, that is the supreme fountain of joy and bless- 
 edness in every reasonable nature, and the endless security 
 of this happiness is joy everlasting in all the regions of the 
 blessed above. 
 
 Now a taste of this kind is heavenly blessedness even 
 on this earth, where God is pleased to bestow it on his 
 creatures ; and the glimpses of it bring such ecstaciesinto 
 the soul as can hardly be conceived, or revealed to others, 
 but it is best felt by them who enjoy it. 
 
 VII. 'Foretastes of heaven in the fervent emotions of 
 soul in love to Jesus Christ.' 
 
 What the love and strong affections of the blessed saints 
 above towards Jesus Christ their Lord and Saviour may 
 impress of joy on their spirits, is not possible for us to 
 learn in the present state ; but there are some who have 
 even here on earth felt such transcendent affections to 
 Jesus the Son of God ; even though they have never 
 enjoyed the sight of him, yet they love him with most 
 intense and ardent zeal ; their devotion almost swallows 
 them up and carries them away captive above al.1 earthly 
 things, and brings them near'to the heavenly world. There 
 is an unknown joy which arises from such intense love to 
 an object so lovely and so deserving ; such is that which 
 is spoken concerning the saints to whom St. Peter wrote, 
 1 Pet. i. 8, "Whom having not seen, ye love, in whom 
 though now ye see rfim not, yet believing ye rejoice with 
 joy unspeakable and full of glory." It is through this di- 
 vine taste of love, and joy, and glory communicated by 
 the blessed Spirit, revealing the things of Christ to their 
 souls, that many of the confessors and martyrs in the pri- 
 mitive ages and in latter times, have not only joyfully 
 parted with all their possessions and their comforts in this 
 life, but have followed the call of God through prisons
 
 OR THE FORETASTE OF HEAVEN. 231 
 
 and deaths of a most dreadful kind ; through racks, and 
 fires, and many torments for the sake of the love of Jesus. 
 And perhaps there may be some in our day who have had 
 so lively and strong a sensation of the love of Christ let 
 in upon their souls, that they could not only be content to 
 be absent from all their carnal delights for ever, but even 
 from their intellectual and more spiritual entertainments, 
 if they might be for ever placed in such a situation to 
 Jesus- Christ, as to feel the everlasting beams of his love 
 let out upon them, and to rejoice in him with perpetual 
 delight As he is the nearest image of God the Father, 
 they can love nothing beneath God equal to their love of 
 him, nor delight in anything beneath God equal to their de- 
 light in Jesus Christ. Indeed their love and their joy are so 
 wrapped up in the great and blessed GoJ as he appears in 
 Christ Jesus, that they do not usually divide their affections 
 in this matter, but love God supremely for ever, as revea- 
 ling himself in his most perfect love in Christ Jesus unto 
 their souls. How near this may approach to the glorified 
 love of the saints in heaven, or what difference there is 
 between the holy ones above and the saints below in this 
 respect, may be hard to say. 
 
 VIII. 'Foretastes of heaven in the transcendent love 
 of the saints to each other.' I might here ask some ad- 
 vanced saints, 
 
 Have you never seen or heard of a fellow Christian 
 growing into such a near resemblance to the blessed Jesus, 
 in all the virtues and graces of the Spirit, that you would 
 willingly part with all the attainments and honours that 
 you have already arrived' at, which make .you never so 
 eminent in the world or the church, as to be made so near 
 a conformist to the image of the blessed Jesus as this fel- 
 low Christian has seemed to be ? 
 
 Have you never seen or read of the glories and graces 
 of the Son of God exemplified in some of the saints in so 
 high a degree, and at the same time been so divested of 
 self, and so mortified to a narrow selflove, as to be satis- 
 fied with the lowest and the meanest supports of life, and 
 the meanest station in the church of Christ here on earth, 
 if you might hut be favoured to partake of that trans- 
 cen^ent likeness to the holy Jesus, as you would fain imi- 
 tate and possess ? 
 
 Have you never had a view of all the virtues and gra-
 
 232 THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, &C. 
 
 ces of the saints, derived from one eternal fountain, the 
 blessed God, and flowing through the mediation of Jesus 
 his Son, in so glorious a manner, that you have longed for 
 the day when you shall be among them, and receive your 
 share of this blessedness ? Have you never found your- 
 self so united to them in one heart and one soul, that you 
 have wished them all the .same blessings that you wished 
 to yourself, and that without the least shadow of grudging 
 or envy, if every one of them were partaker as much as 
 you ? There is no envy among the heavenly inhabitants ; 
 nor doth St. Paul receive the less because Cephas or Apol- 
 los has a large share. Every vessel has its capacity en- 
 larged to a proper extent by the Gotl of nature and grace, 
 and every vessel is completely filled, and feels itself for 
 ever full and for ever happy. Then, there cannot be found 
 the shadow of envy amongst the"m. 
 
 Now, to sum up the view of these things in short; who 
 is there that enjoys these blessed evidences of an interest 
 in the inheritance on high, who is there that has any such 
 foretastes of the felicity above, but must join with the 
 whole creation in groaning for that great day, when all 
 the children of God shall appear in the splendor of their 
 adoption, and every thing in nature and grace among them 
 shall attain the proper end for which it was at first design- 
 ed? Arid whensoever any such Christian hears some of 
 the last words in the Bible pronounced by our Lord Jesus, 
 "Surely I come quickly," he must immediately join the 
 universal echo of the saints with unspeakable delight, 
 "even so come, Lord Jesus."
 
 DISCOURSE XI. 
 
 SAFETY IN THE GRAVE, AND JOY AT TflE RESURRECTION. 
 
 JOB. xiv. 13, 14, 16. O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave, that 
 thou wouldst keep me in secret until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldst 
 appoint me a set time and remember me ! If a man die shall he live again 1 
 All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come. Thou 
 shalt call and I will answer then": thou wilt have a desire to the work of 
 thy hands. 
 
 BEFORE we attempt to make any improvement of these 
 words of Job for our present edification, it is necessary 
 that we search out the true meaning of them. There are 
 two general senses of these three verses, which are given 
 by some of the most considerable interpreters of Scripture, 
 and they are exceedingly different from each other. 
 
 The first is this. Some suppose Job under the extremity 
 of his anguish to long after death here, as he does in some 
 other parts of this book, and to desire that God would cut 
 him off from the land of the living, and "hide him in the 
 grave," or, at least,, take him away from the present stage 
 of action, and conceal him in some retired and solitary 
 place, dark as the grave is, till all the days which might 
 be designed for his pain and sorrow were finished : and 
 that God would '-appoint him a time" for his restoration 
 to health and happiness again in this world, and raise him 
 to the possession of it, 'by calling him out of that dark 
 and solitary place of retreat; and then Job would answer 
 him, and appear with pleasure at such a call of Providence. 
 
 Others give this sense of the words, that though the 
 pressing and overwhelming sorrows of this good man 
 constrained him to long for death, antl he entreated of God 
 that he might be sent to the "grave as a hiding-place," 
 and thus be delivered from his present calamities, yet he 
 had some divine glimpse of a resurrection or living again, 
 and he hopes for the happiness of a future state when God 
 should call him out of the grave. He knew that the bles- 
 sed God would have 'a desire to' restore Hhe work of 
 30 u2 233
 
 234 SAFETY IN THE GRAVE, 
 
 his own hands' to life again, end Job would 'answer the 
 call' of his God into a resurrection with holy pleasure 
 and joy. 
 
 Now there are four or five reasons which incline me 
 to prefer this latter sense of the words, and to shew that 
 the comforts and hope which Job aspires to iu this place, 
 are only to be derived from a resurrection to final happiness. 
 
 1. The express words of the text are, "0 that thou 
 wouldst hide me in the grave!" Not in a darksome place 
 like the grave ; and where the literal sense of the words 
 is plain and agreeable to the context, there is no need of 
 making metaphors to explain them. There is nothing 
 that can encourage us to suppose that Job had any hope of 
 happiness in this world again, after he was gone down to 
 the grave, and therefore he would not make so unreason- 
 able a petition to the great God. This seems to be too 
 foolish and too hopeless a request for us to put into 'the 
 mouth of so wise and good a man. 
 
 2. He seems to limit the continuance of man in the state 
 of death to the duration of the heavens, ver. 12th, "man 
 lieth down and riseth not till the heavens be no more." 
 Not absolutely for ever does Job desire to be hidden in 
 the grave, but till the dissolution of all these visible things, 
 these heavens and this earth, and the great rising-day for 
 the sons of men. These words seem to have a plain aspect 
 towards the resurrection. 
 
 And especially when he adds, "they shall not be wa- 
 kened nor raised out of their sleep." The brutes when 
 dying are never said to sleep in Scripture, because they 
 shall never rise again ; but this is a frequent word used to 
 signify the death of man both in the Old Testament and 
 in the New, because he only lies down in the grave for a 
 season, as in a bed of sleep, in order to awake and arise 
 hereafter. 
 
 3. In other places of this book, Job gives us some evi- 
 dent hints of his hope of a resurrection, especially that 
 divine passage and prophecy, when he spake as one sur- 
 rounded with a vision of glory, and filled with the light 
 and joy of faith. Job xix. 25, "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 
 myselfj and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though
 
 AND JOY AT THE RESURRECTION. 235 
 
 my reins be consumed within me." But in many parts 
 of this book the good man lets us know, that he had no 
 manner of hope of any restoration 'to health and peace in 
 this life. Job vii. 6, 7, 8, "My days are spent without 
 hope : mine eye shall no more see good : the eye of him 
 that hath seen me shall see me no, more : thine eyes are 
 upon me, and I am not." Ver. 21. "Now shall I sleep 
 in the dust, thou shalt seek me in the morning and I shall 
 not be." Job xvii. 15. "Where is now my hope"? As for 
 my hope, who shall see it?" He and his hope seemed "to 
 go down to the bars of the pit together, and to rest in the 
 dust." And if Job had no hope of a restoration in this world, 
 then his hopes must point to the resurrection of the dead. 
 4. If we turn these verses here, as well as that noble 
 passage in Job xix, "to the more evangelical sense of a re- 
 surrection, the truths which are contained in the one and 
 the other, are all supported by the language of the New 
 Testament : and the express words of both these texts are 
 much more naturally and easily applied to the evangelical 
 sense, without any strain and difficulty. 
 
 The expressions in the xixth of Job, "I know that my 
 Redeemer liveth," &c. have been rescued by many wise 
 interpreters from that poor and low sense which has been 
 forced upon them, by those who will not allow Job to have 
 any prospect beyond this life : and it has been made to 
 appear to be a bright glimpse of .divine light and joy, a 
 ray or Vision of the sun of righteousness breakirfg in be- 
 tween the dark clouds of his pressing sorrow. And, that 
 the words of my text demand the same sort of interpreta- 
 tion, will appear further by these short remarks, and this 
 paraphrase upon them. 
 
 Job had been speaking, ver. 7, &c. that " there is hope 
 of a tree when it is cut down that it will sprout again" 
 visibly, and bring forth boughs; but when "man gives up 
 the ghost" he is no more visible upon earth. "Where is 
 he ?" J.ob does not deny his future existence, but only 
 intimates that he does not appear iri the place where he 
 was ; and in the following verses he does not say, a dying 
 man shall never rise, or shall 'never be awakened out of 
 his sleep ;' but asserts that "he rises not till" the dissolu- 
 tion of "these heavens" and these visible things: and by 
 calling death a sleep, he supposes an awaking time, though 
 it may be distant and far off.
 
 236 SAFETY IN THE GRAVE, 
 
 Then he proceeds to long for death, that thou wouldst 
 hide me in the grave ! that thou wouldst keep me secret 
 till thy wrath be past !" till these times and seasons of 
 sorrow be ended, which seem to be the effect of divine 
 wrath or anger. l3ut then I entreat "thou wouldst ap- 
 point me a set time" for my tarrying in the grave, "and 
 remember me" in order to raise me again. Then with a 
 sort of surprise of faith and pleasure he adds, "If a man 
 die shall he live again?. Shall these dry bones live?" 
 And Jie answers in the language of hope ; "All the days 
 of that appointed time" of thine "I will wait till that glo- 
 rious change shall come. Thou shalt call" from heaven, 
 "and I will answer thee" from the dust of death. I will 
 appear at thy call'and say, "Here am I. Thou' wilt have 
 a desire to the work of thy hands," to raise me again from 
 the dead, whom -thou hast made of clay, and fashioned 
 into life. * 
 
 From the words thus expounded, we may draw these 
 several observations, and make a short reflection upon 
 each of them, as we pass along. 
 
 Obs. I. This world is a place wherein good men are 
 exposed to great calamities, and they are ready to think 
 the anger or wrath of God appears in them. 
 
 Obs. II. The grave- is God's known hiding-place- for 
 his people. 
 
 Obs. III. God has appointed a set time in his own coun- 
 sels for "all his children to continue in death. 
 
 Obs. IV. The lively view of a happy resurrection, an4 
 a well-grounded hope of this blessed change, is a solid and 
 divine comfort to the saints of God, under all trials of 
 every kind both in life and death. 
 
 Obs. V. The saints of God who are resting in their beds 
 of dust, will arise joyfully at the call of their heavenly 
 Father. 
 
 Obs. VI. God takes delight in- his works of nature, but 
 much more when they are dignified and adorned by the 
 operations of divine grace. 
 
 Obs. VII. How much are we indebted to God for the rev- 
 elation of the New Testament, which teaches us to find out 
 the blessings which are contained in the Old, and to fetch 
 out the glories and treasures which are concealed there? 
 
 Let us dwell a while upon each of these, and endeavour 
 to improve them by a particular application.
 
 AND JOY AT THE RESURRECTION. 237 
 
 Obs, I. 'This world is a place wherein good men are 
 exposed to great calamities, and they are ready to think 
 the anger or wrath of God appears in them.' This mortal 
 life and this present-state of things, are surrounded with 
 crosses and disappointments ; the loss of our dearest friends, 
 as well as our own pains and sicknesses, have so much 
 anguish and misery attending them, that they seem to be 
 the seasons of divine wrath, and they grieve and pain the 
 sp*iritof many a pious man, under a sense -of the anger of 
 his God. It must be confessed in. general that misery is 
 the effect of sin. for sin and sorrow came into the world 
 together, It .is granted also, that God sometimes afflicts 
 his people "in anger, and corrects them in his hot dis- 
 pleasure," when they have sinned against him in a re- 
 markable manner. But this is not always the case. 
 
 The, great God was not really angry with Job when he 
 suffered him to fall into such complicated distresses; for 
 it is plain, that while he delivered him up into the hands 
 of Satan to be afflicted, he vindicates and honours him with 
 a divine testimony concerning his piety. Job i. 8, "There 
 is none like Ijim in* the earth, a perfect and an upright 
 man, one that feareth God and avoideth evil." Nor was 
 he angry with his Son Jesus Christ, when it "pleased the 
 Father to bruise him and put him to grief," when he 
 "made his soul an offering for sin/' and he was "stricken, 
 smitten of God and afflicted," Isai. liii. To these we may 
 add Paul, the besj of the Apostles, and the greatest of 
 Christians, who .was abundant in labours and sufferings 
 beyond all the rest. 'See a- dismal catalogue of his calami- 
 ties^ 2 Cor. xi. 23, &c. What variety of wretchedness, 
 what terrible persecutions from men,' what repeated strokes 
 of distress came upon- him by the providence of God, 
 which appeared like the effects of divine wrath or anger? 
 But they were.plainly designed for more divine and blessed 
 purposes, both with regard to God, with regard to him- 
 self, and to all the succeeding ages of the Christian church. 
 
 God does not always smite his own people to punish 
 sin and shew his anger; but these sufferings are often ap- 
 pointed for the 'trial of their Christian virtues and graces/ 
 for the exercise of their humility and their patience, for 
 the proof of their steadfastness in religion, for the honour 
 of the grace of God in them, and for the increase of their 
 own future weight of glory. "Blessed is the man that
 
 238 SAFETY IN THE GRAVE, 
 
 endures temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive 
 thg crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them 
 that love him," Jam. i. 12. "The devil shall cast some 
 of you into prison, that you may be tried, and ye shall 
 have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, 
 and I will give thee a crown of life," Rev. ii. 10. "Our 
 light afflictions which are but for a nxoment, are working 
 for us a far more exceeding ahd eternal weight of glory," 
 2 Cor. iv. 17. 
 
 However, upon the whole, this world is a very trouble- 
 some and painful place to the children of God. They are 
 subject hej*e to many weaknesses and sins, temptations and 
 follies ; they are in danger of new defilements ; they go 
 through many threatening perils and many real sorrows, 
 which either are the effects of the displeasure of God, or, 
 at least, carry an appearance of divine anger in them. 
 But there is a time when these shall be finished, and sor- 
 row shall have its last period : there is a time when'these 
 calamities "will be overpast," and shall return no more 
 for ever. 
 
 'Reflection. Why then, my soul, why shouldst thou 
 be so fond of dwelling in this present world? Why 
 shmildst thou be desirous 'of a long continuance in it? 
 Hast thou never found sorrows and afflictions enough 
 among' the scenes of life, to make fhee weary of them? 
 And when sorrow and sin have joined together, have they 
 not grievously embittered this life unto thee? Wilt thou 
 never be weaned from these sensible scenes of flesh and 
 blood? Hast thou such a love to the darknesses, the'de- 
 filements, and the uneasinesses which are found in such a 
 prison as this is, a. to make thee unwilling to depart, when 
 God shall call? Hast thou dwelt so long in this taberna- 
 cle of clay, and dost thou not "groan, being burdened?" 
 Hast thou no desire to a release into that upper and better 
 world, where sorrows, sins and temptations have no place, 
 and where there shall never be the least appearance or 
 suspicion of the displeasure of thy God towards thee ? 
 
 'Obs. II. 'The grave is God's known hiding-piace for 
 his people.' It is his appointed 'shelter and retreat for his 
 favourites, when he finds them overpressed either with 
 present dangers or calamities, or when he foresees huge 
 calamities and dangers, like storms and billows, ready to 
 overtake them ; Isa. Ivii. .1, "The righteous is taken away
 
 AND JOY AT THE RESURRECTION. 239 
 
 from the evil to come. " God our heavenly Father be- 
 holds this evil advancing forward through all the present 
 smiles of nature, and all the peaceful circumstances that 
 surround us. He hides his children in' the grave from a 
 thousand sins, and sorrows, and distresses of this life, 
 which they foresaw not : and even When they are actually 
 beset behind and before, scr that there seems k> be no natu- 
 ral way for their escape, God calls them aside into the 
 chambers of death, in the same sort of language as he uses 
 in another case, Isa. xxvi. 20, "Come my people, enter 
 thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about theo 
 hide thyself as. it were for a little moment till the indig- 
 nation be overpassed." 
 
 And yet perhaps it is possible, that this very language 
 of the Lord in Isaiah may refer 'to the grave, as God's 
 hiding-place, for the verse before promises a resurrection. 
 "Thy dead men shall live; together with my dead body 
 shall they arise. Awake and sing ye that dwell in the 
 dust ; for th*y dew is as the* dew of herbs, and the earth 
 shall cast out the dead." And if we may suppose this 
 last verse to have been* transposed .by any ancient tran- 
 scribers, so as to have followed originally verse 20, or 21, 
 it is very natural then to interpret the whole paragraph 
 concerning death, as God's hiding-pi See for his people, 
 and their rising again through the virtue of the resurrec- 
 tion of Christ as their joyful release. 
 
 Many a time God is pleased to shorten the labours, 
 and travels and fatigues of gpod men in this wilderness, 
 and he opens a door of rest to them where he pleases, and 
 perhaps surprises them into a state of safety and peace, 
 "where the weary are .at rest,*and the wicked cease from 
 troubling ;" and holy Job seems to'desire this favour from 
 his Maker here. 
 
 Sometimes indeed, in the history of this book, he seems 
 to break out into these desires in too rude and angry a 
 manner of expression ; and in' a fit of criminal impatience 
 he murmurs against God for upholding him in the land of 
 the living : but at other times, as in 'this text, he repre- 
 sents his desires with more decency and submission. 
 Every desire to die is not to be construed sinful and crim- 
 inal. Nature may ask of God a relief from its agonies 
 and a period to its sorrows ; nor does grace utterly forbid 
 it, if there be also an humble submission and resignation
 
 240 SAFETY IN. THE GRAVE, 
 
 to the will of God, such as we find exemplified by our 
 blessed Saviour, "Father, if it be thy will let this cup 
 pass from me ; yet not as I will, but as thou wilt." 
 
 On this second observation, I desire to make these 
 three reflections. . 
 
 Reflec. 1. Though- a good man knows that death was 
 originally appointed as a curse for siy, yet his faith can 
 trust God to turn that curse into a blessing. He can hum- 
 bly ask his Maker to release him from the painful, bonds 
 of life, to hasten the slow approaches of death, and to hide 
 him in the grave from some overwhelming sorrows. Thi? 
 fs the glory of God in his covenant of grace with thf; 
 children of men, that he "turns Curves into blessings," 
 Deut. xxiii. 5. And the grave, which was designed as a 
 prison for sinners, is become a place of shelter to the" 
 saints, where they are hidden and secured from. rising 
 sorrows and calamities. It is God's known hiding-place 
 for his own children from the envy and the rage of men ; 
 from all the known and unknown agonies of nature, the 
 diseases of the flesh, and the distresses of hu:uaii life, 
 which perhaps might be overbearing and intolerable. 
 
 Why, my fearful soul, why shouldst thou be afraid 
 of dying? Why shouldst thou be frighted at the dark 
 shadows of the gra^e, when thou art weary with the toils 
 and, crosses of the' day? Hast thou not often desired the 
 shadow of the evening, and longed for the bed of natural 
 sleep, where thy fatigues and thy sorrows may be for- 
 gotten for a season ? And is no't, the grave itself a sweet 
 sleeping-place for the saints 1 , wherein they lie down and 
 forget their distresses, and feel none of the miseries of 
 human life, and especially s^nce it is softened and sancti- 
 fied by the Son of God lying down there? Why shouldst 
 thou be afraid to lay thy head in the dust?. It is but en- 
 tering into 'God's hiding-place,' into his chambers of rest 
 and repose : it is but committing thy flesh, the meaner 
 part of thy composition, to his care m the dark for a short 
 season. He will hide the'e there, and keep thee in safety 
 from the dreadful trials which perhaps would overwhelm 
 thy spirit. Sometimes in the course of his providence he 
 may find it necessary that some spreading calamity should 
 overtake the place where thou dwellest, or some distress- 
 ing stroke fall upon thy family, or thy friends, but he will 
 hide thee under ground before it comes, and thus disap-
 
 AND JOT AT THE RESURRECTION. 241 
 
 point all thy fears, ar:d lay every perplexing thought into 
 rest and silence. 
 
 Reflect. 2. Let it be ever remembered, that the grave 
 is God's hiding-place, and not our own. We are to ven- 
 ture into it without terror when he calls us ; but he does 
 not suffer us to break into it our own way without his 
 call Death and life are in the hands of God, and he never 
 gave the keys of them to mortal men, to let themselves 
 out of this world when they pleaso, nor to enter his hiding- 
 place without his leave. 
 
 Bear up then, my soul, under all the sorrows and 
 trials of this present state, till God himself shall say, it is 
 finished ; till our blessad Jesus, who has the .keys put 
 into his hands, shall open the door of death, and give thee 
 an entrance into that dark and peaceful retreat. It is a 
 safe and silent refuge from the bustle and the noise, the 
 labours and the troubles of life ; but he that forces it open 
 with his own hands, how will he dare to appear before 
 God in the world of spirits? What will he answer, when 
 with a dreadful frown the great God shall demand of him, 
 "friend, hoWcomest thou in hither?" Who sent for thee, 
 or gave thee leave to come ? Such a wretch must venture 
 upon so rash an action at the peril of the wrath of God, 
 and his own eternal destruction. 
 
 Our blessed Jesus, who has all the vast scheme of di- 
 vine counsels before his eyes, by having the books of his 
 Father's decrees put into his hands, he knows how long 
 it is proper for thee, Christian, to fight and labour, to 
 wrestle and strive with sins, temptations and difficulties 
 in the present life. He knows best in what moment to 
 put a period to them, and pronounce thee conqueror. Fly 
 not from the field of battle for want oi holy fortitude, 
 though thy enemies and -thy danger? be never so many; 
 nor dare to dismiss thyself from thy appointed post, till 
 the Lord of life pronounce the word of thy dismission. 
 
 Sometimes I have been ready to say within myself, 
 why is my life prolonged in sorrow? Why are my days 
 lengthened out to see further wretchedness? Methinks 
 the "grave should be ready for me, and the house appoint- 
 ed for all the living." What can I do further for God or 
 for man here on earth, since my nature pines away with 
 painful sickness, my nerves are unstrung, my spirits dis- 
 sipated, and my best powers of acting are enfeebled and 
 31 V
 
 242 SAFETY IN THE GRAVE, 
 
 almost lost? Peace, peace, thou complaining spirit! Dost 
 thou know the counsels of the Almighty, and the secret 
 designs of thy God and thy Saviour ? He has many deep 
 and unknown purposes in continuing his children amidst 
 heavy sorrows, which they can never penetrate or learn 
 in this world. Silence and submission becomes thee at 
 all times. "Father, not my will, but thy will be dons." 
 
 And let it be hinted to thee, my soul, that it is much 
 more honourable to be weary of this life, because of the 
 sins and temptations of it, than because of the toils and 
 sorrows that attend it. If we must "groan in this taber- 
 nacle being burdened," let the snares, and the dangers, 
 and the defilements of it be the chief springs of thy groan- 
 ing and the warmest motives to request a release. God 
 loves to see his peopJe more afraid of sin than of sorrow. 
 If thy corruptions are so strong, and the temptations of 
 life so unhappily surround thee, that thou art daily crying 
 out, "who shall deliver thee from the body of sin and 
 death," then thou mayest more honourably send up a wish 
 to heaven, "0 that I had the wings of a dove, that I might 
 fly away and be at rest! that God would hide me in the 
 grave" from my prevailing iniquities, and from the ruffling 
 and disquieting influence of my own follies and my daily 
 temptations! But never be thou quite weary of doing or 
 suffering the will of thy heavenly Father, though he should 
 continue thee in this mortal life a length of years beyond 
 thy desires, and should' withhold thee from his secret place 
 of retreat and rest. 
 
 A constant and joyful readiness set the call of God to 
 depart hence, with a cheerful patience to continue' here 
 during his pleasure, is the most perfect and blessed temper 
 that a Christian t/m arrive at : it gives God the highest 
 glory, and keeps tho. soul in the sweetest peace. 
 
 Reflect 3. This one- thought, that the < grave is God's 
 hiding-place,' should compose our spirits -to silence, and 
 abate our mourning for ^he loss of friends, who have given 
 sufficient evidence that they arc the children of God. 
 Their heavenly Father has seized them from the midst 'of 
 their trials, dangers and difficulties, and given them a se- 
 cure refuge in his own appointed place of rest and safety. 
 Jesus has opened the door of the grave with his golden 
 key, and hath let them into a chamber of repose. He has 
 concealed them ia a silent retreat, where temptation and
 
 AND JOY AT THE RESURRECTION. 243 
 
 sin cannot reach them, and where anguish and misery can 
 never come. 
 
 When I have lost therefore a dear and delightful rela- 
 tive or friend, or perhaps many of them in a short season 
 are called successively down to the dust, let me say thus 
 within myseli, "It is their God and my God has done it 
 He saw what new temptations where ready to surround 
 them in the circumstances of life wherein they stood. He 
 beheld the trials and difficulties that were ready to en- 
 compass them on all sides, and his love made a way for 
 their escape. He opened the dark retreat of death, and 
 hid them there from a thousand perils which might have 
 plunged them into guilt and defilement. He beheld this as 
 the proper season to give them a release from a world of 
 labour and toil, vanity and vexation, sin and sorrow. They 
 are taken away from the evil to come, and'I will learn 
 to complain no more. The blessed Jesus to whom they 
 had devoted themselves, well knew what allurements of 
 gaiety and joy might have been too prevalent over them, 
 and he gave them a kind escape lest their souls should 
 suffer any real detriment, lest their strict profession of 
 piety should be soiled or dishonoured. He knew how 
 much they ivere able to bear, and be would lay upon 
 them no further burden. He saw rising difficulties ap- 
 proaching, and new perils coming upon them beyond their 
 strength, and he fulfils their own promises, and glorifies 
 his own faithfulness, by opening the door of his well- 
 known .hiding-place, and giving them a safe refuge there. 
 He keeps them there in secret from the corruptions of a 
 public life, and the multiplied dangers of a degenerate 
 age, which might have divided their hearts from God and 
 things heavenly : and perhaps he guards them also in that 
 dark retreat from some long and languishing sickness, 
 some unknown distress, some overbearing flood of misery, 
 which was like to come upon them had they continued 
 longer on the stage of life. 
 
 "Let this silence thy murmuring thoughts, my soul; 
 let this dry up thy tears which are ready to overflow on 
 such an occasion. Dare not pronounce it a stroke of anger 
 from the hand of God, who divicTed them from the tempt- 
 ing or the distressing scenes of this world, and kindly re- 
 moved them out of the way of danger. This was the 
 wisest method of his love to guard them from many a
 
 244 SAFETY IN THE GRAVE, 
 
 folly and many a sorrow, which he foresaw just at the 
 door." 
 
 Will the wounded and complaining heart go on to groan 
 and murmur still, 'But my son was carried off in the prime 
 of life, or my daughter in her blooming years; they stood 
 flourishing in the vigour of their nature, and it was my 
 delight to behold their growing appearances of virtue and 
 goodness, and that in the midst of ease, and plenty, and 
 prospects of happiness, so far as this world can afford it ?' 
 
 But could you look through the next year to the end 
 of it? Could you penetrate into future events, and survey 
 the scenes of seven years to come ? Could your heart as- 
 sure itself of the real possession of this imaginary view 
 of happiness and peace? Perhaps the blessed God saw the 
 clouds gathering afar off, and at a great distance of time, 
 and in much kindness he housed your favourite from un- 
 known trials, dangers and sorrows. So a prudent gardener, 
 who is acquainted with the sky, and skilful in the signs 
 of the seasons, even in the month of May, foresees a 
 heavy tempest rising in the edge of the horizon, while a 
 vulgar eye observes nothing but sunshine; and he who 
 knows the worth and the tenderness of some special plants 
 in his garden, houses them in haste, lest they should be 
 exposed and demolished by the sweeping rain or haih 
 
 You say, 'these children were in the bloom of life, and 
 in the most desirable appearance of joy and satisfaction :' 
 but is not that also usually the most dangerous season of 
 life, and the hour of most powerful temptation ? Was not 
 that the time when their passions might have been too hard 
 for them, and the deluding pleasures of life stood round 
 them with a most perilous assault? And what if God, out 
 of pure compassion, saw it necessary to hide them from 
 an army of perils at once, and to carry them off the stage 
 of life with more purity and honour? Surely when the 
 great God has appointed it, when the blessed Jesus has 
 done it, we would not rise up in opposition and say, 'But 
 I would have had them live longer here at all adventures: 
 I wish they were alive again, let the consequence be what 
 it will.' This is not the voice of faith or patience ; this 
 is not the language of holy submission and love to God, 
 nor can our souls approve of such irregular storms of unr 
 governed affection, which oppose themselves to the divine 
 will, and ruffle the soul with criminal disquietude.
 
 AND JOY AT THE RESURRECTION. 245 
 
 There are many, even of the children of God, who had 
 left a more unblemished and a more honourable character 
 behind them, if they had died much sooner. The latter 
 end of life hath sometimes sullied their brightness, and 
 tarnished the glory they had acquired in a hopeful youth. 
 Their growing years have fallen under such temptations, 
 and been defiled and disgraced by such failings, as would 
 have been entirely prevented had they been summoned 
 away into God's hiding-place some years before. Our bles- 
 sed Jesus walks among the roses and lilies in the garden 
 of his church, and when he sees a wintry storm coming 
 upon some tender plants of righteousness, he hides them 
 in earth to preserve life in them, that they may bloom with 
 new glories when they shall be raised from that bed. The 
 blessed God acts like a tender Father, and consults the 
 safety .and honour of his children, when the hand of his 
 mercy snatches them away before that powerful tempta- 
 tion comes, which he foresees would have defiled and dis- 
 tressed, and almost destroyed--them. They are not lost, 
 but they are gone to rest a little sooner than we are. Peace 
 be to that bed of dust where they are hidden, by the hand 
 of their God, from unknown clangers ! Blessed be our 
 Lord Jesus, who .has the keys of the grave, and rtever 
 opens it for his favourites but in the wisest season ! 
 
 Obs. III. 'God has appointed a set time in his own 
 counsels for all his children to continue in death.' Those 
 whom he has hidden in the grave he remembers that they 
 lie there, and he will not suffer them to abide in the dust 
 for ever. When Job entreats of God that he may be hid- 
 den from his sorrows in the dust of death, he requests also 
 that "God would appoint a set time" for his release, "an3 
 remember him." His faith seems to have had a glimpse 
 of the blessed resurrection. Our senses and our carnal pas- 
 sions would cry out, where is Abraham, and Isaac, and Ja- 
 cob, and the rest of the ancient worthies, who have been 
 long sleepers in their beds of repose for many thousand 
 years? But faith" assures us, that God numbers the days 
 and the months of their concealment under ground, he 
 knows where their dust lies, and where to find every scat- 
 tered atom against the great restoring day. They are un- 
 seen indeed and forgotten of men, but they are under the 
 eye and the keeping of the blessed God. He watches over 
 their sleeping dust, and while the world has forgotten and 
 Y2
 
 246 SAFETY IX THE GRAVE, 
 
 lost even their names, they are every moment under the 
 eye of God, for they stand written in his book of life, with 
 the name of the Lamb at the head of them. 
 
 Jesus, his Son, had but three days appointed him to 
 dwell in this hiding-place, and he rose again at the ap- 
 pointed hour. Other good men, who were gone to their 
 grave not long before him, arose again at the resurrection 
 of Christ, and made a visit to many in Jerusalem. Their 
 appointed hiding-place was but for a short season ; and all 
 the children of God shall be remembered in their proper 
 seasons in faithfulness to his Son to whom he has given 
 them. The Head is raised to the mansions of glory, and 
 the members must not forever lie in dust. 
 
 Reflection. Then let all the saints of God wait with 
 patience for the appointed time when he will call them 
 down to death, and let them lie down in their secret beds 
 of repose, and in a waiting frame commit their dust to his 
 care till the resurrection. " All the days of my appointed 
 time (says Job) I will wait till my change come." The 
 word ' appointed time' is supposed to signify warfare in 
 the Hebrew : as a centinel, when he is fixed to his post by 
 his .general, he waits there till he has orders for a release. 
 And this clause of the verse may refer either to dying or 
 rising again, for either of them is a very great and im- 
 portant change passing upon human nature, whether from 
 life to death, 01 from death to life. 
 
 It is said by the prophet Isaiah, chap, xxviii. 10, "He 
 that believeth shall not make haste," i. e. he that trusts in 
 the wisdom and the promised mercy of God will not be 
 too urgent or importunate in any of his desires. It is for 
 want of faith that nature sometimes is in too much haste 
 to die, as Job in some of his expressions appears to have 
 been, or as Elijah perhaps discovered himself when he 
 was wandering in the wilderness disconsolate and almost 
 despairing, or as the prophet Jeremiah sufficiently mani- 
 fested, when he cursed the day of his birth, or as Jonah 
 was, that peevish prophet, when he was angry with God 
 for not taking away his life ; but the ground of it was, he 
 was vexed because God did not destroy Nineveh according 
 to his prophecy. These are certain blemishes of the chil- 
 dren of God left upon record in his word, to give us 
 warning of our danger of impatience, and to guard us 
 against their sins and follies. And since we know that
 
 AND JOY AT THE RESURRECTION. 247 
 
 God has appointed the seasons of our entrance into death, 
 and into the state of the resurrection, we should humbly 
 commit the disposal of ourselves to the hand of our God, 
 who will bestow upon us the most needful blessings in the 
 most proper season. 
 
 Do not the "spirits of the just made perfect" wait in 
 patience for the great and blessed rising-day which God 
 has appointed, and for the illustrious change of their bo- 
 dies from corruption and darkness to light, and life, and 
 glory ? God has promised it, and that suffices, and sup- 
 ports their waiting spirits, though they know not the hour. 
 The " Father keeps that in his own hand," and perhaps 
 reveals it to none but his Son Jesus, who is exalted to be 
 the governor and judge of the world. There are mill- 
 ions of souls waiting in that separate state for ths accom- 
 plishment of these last and best promises, ready to shout 
 and rejoice when they shall see and feel that bright morn- 
 ing dawning upon them. 
 
 Wait therefore, my soul, as becomes a child of God 
 in the wilderness among many trials, darknesses, and dis- 
 tresses. He has stripped thee perhaps of one comfort af- 
 ter another, and thy friends and dear relatives in succes- 
 sion are called down to the dust ; they are released from 
 their conflicts, and are placed far out of the reach of every 
 temptation ; and it is not thy business to prescribe to God 
 at what hour he shall release thee also. Whensoever he 
 is pleased to call thee to lay down thy flesh in the dust, 
 and to enter into God's hiding-place, meet thou the sum- 
 mons with holy courage, satisfaction and joy, enter into 
 the chamber of rest till all the days of sin, sorrow and 
 wretchedness are overpast. Lie down there in a waiting 
 frame, end commit thy flesh to his care and keeping till 
 the 'hour in which he has appointed thy glorious change. 
 
 Obs. IV. 'The lively view of a happy resurrection, 
 and a well grounded hope of this blessed change, is a solid 
 and divine comfort to the saints of God, under all trials 
 of every kind, both in life and death.' The faith and 
 hope of a joyful rising-day has supported the children of 
 God under long distresses and uige agonies of sorrow 
 which they sustain here. It's the expectation of this de- 
 sirable day that animates the s->ul \vth vigour and life to 
 fulfil every painful and dangerois dutj. It is for this we 
 expose ourselves to the bitter repmchetand persecutions
 
 248 SAFETY IN THE GKAVE, 
 
 of the wicked world ; it is for this that we conflict with 
 all our adversaries on earth, and all the powers of darkness 
 that are sent from hell to annoy us ; it is this joyful ex- 
 pectation that bears up our spirits under every present 
 burden and calamity of life. 
 
 What could we do in such a painful and dying world, 
 or how could we bear with patience the long fatigues of 
 such a wretched life, if we had' no hope of rising again 
 from the dead ? Surely " we are the most miserable of 
 all men" in days of public persecution, " if we had hope 
 only in this life," 1 Cor. xv. 19. It is for this that we la- 
 bor, and suffer, and endure whatsoever our heavenly Fa- 
 ther is pleased to lay upon us. It is this confirms our for- 
 titude, and makes " us steadfast, unloveable, always 
 abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as we 
 know that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord," 
 1 Cor. xv. 58. It is this that enables us to bear the loss 
 of our dearest friends with patience and hope, and assuages 
 the smart of our sharpest sorrows. For since we believe 
 that " Jesus died and rose again," so we rejoice in hope 
 that " they which sleep in Jesus shall be brought with 
 him" at his return, and shall appear in brighter and more 
 glorious circumstances than ever our eyes were blessed 
 with here on earth, 1 Thcs. iv. 13. This teaches us to tri- 
 umph over death and. the grave in divine language, "0 
 death, where is thy sting ? grave, where is thy vic- 
 tory ?" 
 
 Reflection. What are thy chie burdens, my soul? 
 Whence are all thy sighs and thy daily groanings? What 
 are thy distresses of flesh or spirit? Summon them all in 
 one view, and see whether there be not power and glory 
 enough in a resurrection to conquer and silence them all, 
 and to put thy present sorrows to flight? 
 
 Dost thou dwell in a 'vexing and persecuting world/ 
 amongst oppressions and rep/oaches ? But those who re- 
 proach and oppress are bi/t mortal creatures, who shall 
 shortly go down to the du*t, and then they shall tyrannize 
 and afflict thee no mo/4. The great rising-day shall 
 change the scene from oppression and reproach .to domin- 
 ion and glory. Whep "they lie down in the grave like" 
 beasts of slaughter, 'deatX shall feed on them, and the 
 upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, 
 when God shall /edeex* thy soul from the power of the
 
 AND JOT AT THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 grave." Thy God shall hide thy body from their rage 
 in his own appointed resting-place, and he shall receive 
 thy soul, and keep it secure in his own presence, till that 
 blessed morning break upon this lower creation; then 
 shalt thou "arise and shine, for the glory of the Lord is 
 risen upon thee." 
 
 Do the ' calamities which thou sufferest proceed from 
 the hand of Gocl ?' Art thou disquieted with daily pain, 
 with sicknesses and anguish in thy flesh? or art thou sur- 
 rounded with crosses and disappointments in thy outward 
 circumstances? Are thy spirits sunk with many loads of 
 care and pressing perplexities? Canst thou not forget 
 them all in the visio.i that faith can give thee of the great 
 rising-day? Canst thou not say in the language of faith, 
 "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be 
 compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us?" 
 Then the head and the heart shell ake no more, and every 
 circumstance around thee shall be pleasing and joyful for 
 ever. 
 
 Or art thou tenderly affected with the 'loss of pious 
 friends,' who have been very dear and desirable? Per- 
 haps thy sensibilities here are too great and painful: they 
 are such indeed as nature is ready to indulge, but are they 
 not more than God requires, or the gospel allows? Do 
 not thy thoughts dwell too much on the gloom and dark- 
 ness of the grave? think of that bright hour when 
 every saint shall rise from the dark retreats of death with 
 more complete characters of beauty, holiness and pleasure 
 than ever this world could shew them in ! They are not 
 perished, but sent a Kttle before us into ' God's hiding- 
 place/ where though they lie in dust and darkness, yet 
 they are safe from the dangers and vexations of life; but 
 they shall spring up in the happy moment into immor- 
 tality, and shall join with thee in a mutual surprise at 
 each other's divine change. 
 
 Or dost thou feel the 'corruptions of thy heart' work- 
 ing within thee, and the sins of thy nature restless in 
 their endeavours to bring defilement upon thy soul, and 
 guilt upon thy conscience? Go on and maintain the holy 
 warfare against all these rising iniquities. This thy war- 
 fare shall not continue long. Thou shalt find every one 
 of these sins buried with thee in the grave, but they shall 
 rise to assault thee no more. The saint shall leave every 
 32
 
 250 SAFETY IN THE GRAVE, 
 
 sin behind him when he breaks. out of the dust at the 
 summons of Christ, and thou shalt find no seeds of iniquity 
 in thy body when it is raised from the grave. "Holiness 
 to the Lord" shall be inscribed upon all thy powers for 
 ever. 
 
 Or art thou perplexed, my soul, <at the near prospect 
 of death,' and all the terrors and dismal appearances that 
 surround it? Art thou afraid to lie down in the cold and 
 noisome grave? Does thy nature shudder at it as a 
 gloomy place of horror? These indeed are the prejudices 
 of sense ; but the language of faith will tell thee, it is only 
 1 God's hiding-place,' where he secures his saints till all 
 the ages of sin and sorrow .re overpast. Look forward 
 to the glorious morning when thou shalt rise from the 
 dust among ten thousand of thy fellows, every one in the 
 image of the Son of God, with their " bodies formed after 
 the likeness of his glorious body," and rejoicing together 
 with divine satisfaction in the pleasure of this heavenly 
 change. Try whether the meditation of these glories, 
 and the distant prospect of this illustrious day, will scatter 
 all the gloom that hovers round the grave, and vanquish 
 the fiercest appearances of the king of terrors. 
 
 What is there, my soul, among all the miseries thou 
 hast felt, or all that thou fearest, that can sink thy courage, 
 if the faith of a resurrection be but alive and wakeful? 
 But this leads me to the 
 
 Obs. V. 'The saints of God, who are resting in their 
 beds of dust, will arise joyfully at the call of their heaven- 
 ly Father.' "Thou shalt callj and Twill answer thee," 
 said holy Job. The" command of God creates life, and 
 gives power to the dead to arise and speak. ' I come, 
 Lord, I come.' When Jesus, the Son of God, as with 
 the trumpet of an archangel, shall pronounce the word 
 which he spake to Lazarus, "Arise and come forth," dust 
 and rottenness shall hear the call from heaven, and the 
 clods of corruption all round the earth shall arise into the 
 form of man. The saints shall -appear at once and an- 
 swer to that divine call, arrayed in a glory like that of 
 angels ; an illustrious host of martyrs and confessors for 
 the truth ; an army of heroes and valiant sufferers for the 
 name and cause of God and his Son ; an innumerable mul- 
 titude of faithful servants who have finished their work, 
 and who are laid down at rest.
 
 AND JOT AT THE RESURRECTION. 251 
 
 How shall Adam, the father of our race, together with 
 the holy men of his day, be surprised, when they shall 
 awake out of their long sleep of five thousand years ? 
 How shall all the saints of the intermediate ages break 
 from their beds of darkness with intense delight? And 
 those who lay down but yesterday in the dust shall start 
 up at once with their early ancestors, and answer to the 
 call of Jesus from one end of time to the other, and from 
 all the ends of the earth. They shall arise together to 
 <meet the 'Lord in the air, that they may be for ever with 
 the Lord.' 
 
 Never was any voice obeyed with more readiness and 
 joy than the voice or trumpet of the great archangel, sum- 
 moning all the children of God to awake from their long 
 slumbers, and to leave their dusty beds behind them, with 
 all the seeds of sin and sorrow, which are buried and lost 
 there for ever. Never did any army on earth march with 
 more speed and pleasure, at the sound of the trumpet, to 
 attend their general to a new triumph, than this glorious 
 assembly shall arise to meet their returning Lord, when 
 this last trumpet sounds, and when he shall come the sec- 
 ond time in the full glories of his person and his offices, 
 as Lord and Juxlge of the world, to bring his faithful fol- 
 lowers into complete salvation. 
 
 Reflection. Whensoever, my soul, thoii feelest any 
 reluctance to obey the summons of death, encourage thy 
 faith, and scatter thy fears, by waiting for the call pf God 
 to a blessed resurrection. Jesus himself lay down in the 
 grave at his Father's command, and he arose with joy at 
 the appointed hour as the head of the new creation, as the 
 first-born from the dead ; and he has orders given him by 
 the Father to summon every saint from their graves at the 
 long appointed hour. Because Jesus arose and lives, they 
 shall arise and live also. may my flesh lie down in the 
 dust with all courage and composure, and rejoice to escape 
 into a place of rest and silence, far away from the noise 
 and tumult, the hurry and bustle of this present life ; being 
 well assured that the next sound which shall be heard is 
 the voice of the Son of God, "Arise ye dead !" Make 
 haste then, blessed Jesus, and finish thy divine work 
 here on earth : I lay down my head to sleep in the dust, 
 waiting for thy call to awake in the morning. 
 
 Ob*. VI. 'God takes delight in his works of nature,
 
 253 SAFETY IN THE GRAVE, 
 
 but much more when they are* dignified and adorned by 
 the operations of divine grace.' "Thou wilt have a de- 
 sire," saith the good man in my text, "to the work of thy 
 own hands." Thou hast moulded me and fashioned me 
 at first by thy power, thou has created me hy thy spirit, 
 and though thou hidest me for a season in one of thy secret 
 chambers of death, thou wilt raise me again to light and 
 life, "and in my flesh shall I see God." 
 
 When the. Almighty had created this visible world, he 
 surveyed his works on the sev-enth day, and p-onounced 
 them all good, and he took delight in them all before sin 
 entered and defiled them. And when he has delivered 
 the creatures of his power from the bondage of corruption, 
 and has purged our souls and our bodies from sin and 
 from every evil principle, he will again delight in the 
 sons and daughters of Adam whom he has thus cleansed 
 and refined by his sovereign grace, and has qualified and 
 adorned them for his own presence. "He will sing and 
 rejoice over them, and rest in his love," Zephan. iii. 17. 
 
 He will love to see them with his Son Jesus at their 
 head, diffusing holiness and glory through all his members. 
 Jesus the Redeemer will love to see them round him ; for 
 he has bought them with his blood, and they are a treas- 
 ure too precious to be for ever lost. He will rejoice to 
 behold them rising at his call into a splendour like his 
 own, and they "shall be satisfied when they awake" from 
 death "into his likeness," .and appear in the image of his 
 own glorious body, fit heirs for the inheritance of heaven, 
 fit companions for the blessed angels of light, and prepared 
 to dwell for ever with himself. 
 
 Reflection. And shall not we who are the work of his 
 hands have a desire to him that made us? to him that re- 
 deemed us? to him that has new created and moulded us 
 into his own likeness? Do we not long to see him? Have 
 we not a desire to be with him, even though we should be 
 "absent from the body" for a season? But much more 
 should we delight to think of being "present with the 
 Lord," when our whole natures, body and soul, shall ap- 
 pear as the new workmanship of almighty power; our 
 souls new created in the image of God, and our bodies new 
 born from the de."d, into a life of immortality. 
 
 VII. The last observation is of a very general nature, 
 and spreads itself through all my text, and that is, <hovr
 
 AND JOY AT THE RESURRECTION. 253 
 
 much are we indebted to God for the revelation of the 
 New Testament, which teaches us to find out the blessings 
 which are contained in the Old, and to fetch out the glories 
 and treasures which are concealed there ?' The writers of 
 the gospel have not only pointed us to the rich mines where 
 these treasures lie, but have brought forth many of the 
 jewels and set them before us. It is this gospel that 
 ''brings life and immortality to light by Jesus Christ." 2 
 Tim. i. 10. It is this gospel that scatters the gloom and 
 darkness which was spread over the face of the grave, and 
 illuminates all the chambers of death. -Who could have 
 found out the doctrine of the resurrection contained in that 
 word of grace given to Abraham, "I am thy God," if 
 Jesus, the great prophet, had not taught us to explain it 
 thus, Matth. xxii. 31? "God is not the God of the dead, 
 but of the living." 
 
 We who have the happiness to live in the days of the 
 Messiah, know more than all the ancient prophets were 
 acquainted with, and understand the word of their pro- 
 phecies better than they themselves ; for "they searched 
 what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ, which 
 was in them, did signify, when it testified before hand the 
 sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should follow," 
 1 Pet. i. 1 1. But we read all this fairly written in the gospel. 
 Do you think that good David could have explained some 
 of his own Psalms into so divine a sense, or Isaiah given 
 such a brhght account of his own words of prophecy, as 
 St. Paul has done in several places of the New Testament, 
 where he cites and unfolds them ? Could those illustrious 
 ancients have given us such 'abundant consolation and 
 hope through the Scriptures,' which they themselves 'wrote 
 aforetime,' as this Apostle has done, Rom. xv. 4? Do you 
 think Job could have read us such a lecture on his own ex- 
 pressions in this text, or in that bright prophecy in the 
 xixth chapter, as the very meanest among the ministers of 
 the gospel can do by the help of the New Testament? For 
 in point of clear discoveries of divine truths and graces, 
 "the least in the kingdom of the Messiah is greater than 
 John the Baptist and all the prophets," and our blessed 
 Jesus has told us" so, Matth. xi. 11. 13. And by the aid 
 and influences of his Spirit we may be taught yet further 
 to search into these hidden mines of grace, and bring forth 
 new treasures of glory.
 
 254 . SAFETY IN THE GKAVB. 
 
 Reflection. Awake, my soul, and bless the Lord 
 with all thy powers, and give thanks with holy joy for 
 the gospel of his Son Jesus. Jesus by his rising from the 
 dead has left a divine light upon the gates of the grave, 
 and scattered much of the darkness that surrounded it. It 
 is the gospel of Christ which casts a glory even lipon the 
 bed of death, and spreads a brightness upon the graves o/ 
 the saints in the lively views of a great rising-day. bles- 
 sed and surprising prospect of faith ! illustrious scenes 
 of future vision and transport ! When the.- Son of God 
 shall bring forth to public view all his redeemed ones, who. 
 had been long hidden in night and dust, and shall present 
 them all to.God the Father in his own ftnage, bright and 
 holy, and unblemished, in the midst of all the splendors 
 of the resurrection ! blessed and joyful voice, when he 
 shall say with divine pleasure, "Here am I, and the .chil- 
 dren which thou hast given me :" 'we have both passed 
 through the grave, and I have made them all conquerors 
 of death, and vested them with immortality according to 
 thy divine commission ! Thine they were, Father, and 
 thou hast given them into my hands, and behold I have 
 brought them all safe to thy appointed mansions, and I pre- 
 sent them before thee without spot or blemish.' 
 
 And many a parent of a pious household in that day, 
 when they shall see their sons and their daughters around 
 them, all arrayed with the beams. of the Sun of righteous 
 ness, shall echo with holy joy to the voice of the blessed 
 Jesus, "Lord, here am I, and the children which thou 
 hast given me." <I was afraid, as Job once might be when 
 his friends suggested this fear ; I was afraid that my Chil- 
 dren had .sinned against God, and he had cast them 
 away for their transgression : but I am now convinced, 
 when he seized them from my sight, he only took them 
 out of the way of temptation and danger, and concealed 
 them for a season in his safe hiding-place. I mourned in 
 the day-time for a lost son or a lost daughter, and in the 
 night my couch was bedewed with my tears. I was scared 
 with midnight dreams on their account, and the visions of 
 the grave terrified me because my children were there. I 
 gave up myself to sorrow for fear of the displeasure of my 
 God both against them and against me. But how unreasona- 
 ble were thesa sorrows? How groundless were my fears ? 
 How gloriously am I disappointed this blessed morning ?
 
 A SPEECH OVER A GRAVE. 255 
 
 I see my dear offspring called out of that long retreat 
 where God had concealed thorn, and they arise to meet 
 the divine call. I hear them answering with joy to the 
 happy summons. My eyes behold them risen in the image 
 of my God and their God : they are near me, they stand 
 with me at the right hand of the Judge ; now shall we 
 rejoice together in the saritence.of eternal blessedness from 
 the lips of my Lord and their Lord, my Redeemer and 
 their Redeemer.' */2men. 
 
 
 
 * . 
 
 Arhons my papers I have found a speech spoken at a grave, which I 
 transcribed almost fifty years ao, and which deserves to be saved from 
 perishing. It was pronounced many years before at the funeral of a pious 
 person, by a minister there present, supposed to be the Rev. Mr. Peter 
 Sterry ; and the subject of it being suited to this discourse, I thought it not 
 iipproper to preserve it here. 
 
 "CHRISTIAN friends, though sin be entered inta the 
 world, and by sin death, and so death passed upon all men, 
 for that all.have sinned ; yet it seems not wholly suitable 
 to our Christian hope, to stanu by and see the grave with 
 open mouth take in, and swallow down any part of a pre- 
 cious saint, and not bring some testimony against the 
 devourer.. And yet that our witness may be in righteous- 
 ness, we must first own, acknowledge, and accept of that 
 good and sorviceableness that -is in it. 
 
 "For through the death and resurrection of our dear 
 Redeemer, death and the grave are become sweetened to 
 us, and sanctified for us : so that as death is but a sleep, the 
 grave through his lying down in it and rising again, is be- 
 come as a Ij3'l of repose to them that are in him, and a safe 
 and quiet hiding-place for his saints till the resurrection. 
 
 "And in tSiis respt-ct we do for ourselves, and for this 
 our clearly beloved in the Lord, accept of thee, grave, 
 and readily -deliver up her body -to thec; it is a body that 
 hath been weakened and wearied with long affliction and 
 anguish, we freely give it unto thee ; receive it, and let 
 it have in thee a quiet rest from all its labours; for thus 
 we read it written of thee, there the wicked cease from 
 troubling, and there the weary be at rest, 
 
 "Besides, it is, grave, a body that hath been sweetly 
 embalmed by a virtuous, pious, peaceable conversation, by 
 several inward openings and outpourings of the spirit of 
 life, by much patience and meekness in strong trials and
 
 256 A SPEECH OVER A GRAVE. 
 
 afflictions. Receive it, and let it enjoy thee, what was once 
 deeply impressed on her own heart, and in a* due season 
 written out with her own hand; a sabbath in the grave : 
 for thus also we find it recorded of our Lord and her Lord, 
 that enjoyed the rest of his last sabhath in the grave. 
 
 "But we know thee/0 grave, to be also a devourer, 
 and yet we can freely deliver up the body into thee. 
 
 " There was in it a contracted corruptibility, dishonour 
 and weakness ; take them as thy proper prey, they belong 
 to thee, and we would not withhold them from thee. 
 Freely swallow them up for ever, that they may appear 
 no more. 
 
 "Yet know, grave, there is in the body, considered 
 as once united to such a soul, a divine relation to the Lord 
 of life ; and this thou must not, thou canst not dissolve* or 
 destroy. But know, and even before thee, and over thee 
 be it spoken, that there is a season hastening wherein we 
 shall expect it again from thee in incorruption, honour 
 and power. 
 
 "We now sow it into thee in dishonour, but expect it 
 again returned from thee in glory; we now sow it into 
 thee in iveakness, we expect it again in power; we how 
 sow it into thee a natural body, we look for it again from 
 thee a spiritual body. 
 
 "And when thou hast fulfilled that end for which the 
 Prince of life, who took thee captive, made thee to serve, . 
 then shalt thou who hast devoured be thyself also swal- 
 lowed up ; for thus it is written of thee, O death, I will 
 be thy plague, grave, I will be thy destruction. And 
 then we shall sing over thee what also is written of thee, 
 O death, where is nou> thy sting? O grave, where is 
 now thy victory ? Amen." 
 
 Note. A line or two is altered in this speech, to suit it more to the 
 understanding and the sense of the present age. WATTS.
 
 DISCOURSE XII. 
 
 THE NATURE OF THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 
 MARK. ix. 46. Where the Worm dieth not, and the Fire is not quenched. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THESE words are a short description of hall, by the 
 lips of the Son of God, who came down from heaven : 
 and he who lay in the bosom of his father, and was inti- 
 mate in all the counsels of his mercy and justice, /must be 
 supposed to know what the terrors and the wrath of God 
 are, as well as his compassion and his goodness. 
 
 It is confessed, that a discourse on this dreadful sub- 
 ject is not .a direct ministration of grace and the glad ti- 
 dings of salvation, yet it has a great and happy tendency 
 to the same end, even the salvation of sinful men ; for it 
 awakens them to a more piercing sight, and to a more 
 keen sensation of their own guilt and danger ; it possesses 
 their spirits with a mere lively sense of their misery, it 
 fills the:n with a holy dread of divine punishment, and ex- 
 cites the powerful passion of fear to make them flee from 
 the wrath to come, and betake themselves to the grace of 
 God revealed in the gospel. 
 
 The blessed Saviour himself., who was the most perfect 
 image of his Father's love, and the prime minister of his 
 grace, publishes more of these terrors to the world, ai:d 
 preaches hell and, damnation to sinners more than all the 
 prophets or teachers that ever went before him ; and 
 several of the Apostles imitate (heir Lord in this practice. 
 They kindle the flames of hell in their cpisLles, they thun- 
 der through the very hearts and consciences of men with 
 the voice of damnation and eternal misery, to make stupid 
 sinners feel as much of these terrors in the present pros- 
 pect as is possible, in order to escape the actual sensation 
 of them in time to come. 
 
 33 w 2 257
 
 258 THE NATURE OP THE 
 
 Such awful discourses are many times also of excellent 
 use to keep the children of God, and the disciples of Je- 
 sus, in a holy and watchful frame, and to affright them 
 from returning to sin and folly, and from the indulgence 
 of any temptation, by setting these terrors of the Lord 
 before their eye's. may these words of his terror, from 
 the lips of one of the meanest of his ministers, be attend- 
 ed with divine power from the convincing and sanctify- 
 ing Spirit, that they may answer these happy cods and 
 purposes, that they may excite a solemn reverence of the 
 dreadful majesty of God in all our souls, and awaken us 
 to repentance for every sin, and a more watchful course 
 oC holiness ! 
 
 Let us then consider the expression in my text : When 
 our Saviour mentions the word ' rrell,' he adds, ' where the 
 worm dieth not, and the ' (ire is not quenched' ;' in which 
 description we may read the nature of this punishment, 
 and the perpetuity of it. N 
 
 First, We shall consider" fhe ' nature of this punish- 
 ment,' as it is represented by the metaphors which .our 
 Saviour uses ; and i.f I were to give the most natural and 
 proper senss of this representation, I would say that our 
 Saviour might borrow this figure of speech from these 
 three considerations. 
 
 1. ' Worms' and 'fire' are the two most general ways 
 whereby the bodies of the dead are destroyed ; for wheth- 
 er they are buried or not buried, worms devour those 
 who, by the custom of their country, are not burnt with 
 fire. And perhaps he might refer to the words of Isaiah 
 Ixvi. 24, where the prophet seems to foretel the punish- 
 ment of thoss who will not receive the gospel, when it 
 shall be preached to all nations : They, says he (that is the 
 true Israel, tli3 saints of God, or Christians,) 'they shall 
 go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men who have 
 transgressed against me ; for their worm shall not die, 
 neither shall their fire be quenched, and ihey shall be an ah- ' 
 horrence to all flesh/ It is highly probable that this is only 
 a metaphor referring to the punishment of the souls of ob- 
 tinate unbelievers in hell ; for it would be but a very small 
 punishment indeed, if only their dead bodies were de- 
 voured by worms or fire, or rather no punishment at alt 
 besides a memorial of their sin. 
 
 2. Consider, the 'gnawing of worms' and the 'burning
 
 . PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 259 
 
 of fire' are some of the most smart and severe torments 
 that aliving man can feel in the flesh ; therefore the ven- 
 geance of God, upon the souls of obstinate sinners, is set 
 forth by it in our Saviour's discourse ; and it was probably 
 well known amongst the Jews, as appears by some of the 
 apocryphal writings; Judith xvi. 17, 'Woe to the nation 
 that rises up against my kindred ; the Lord Almighty will 
 take vengeance of them in the day of judgment, patting 
 fire and worms in their flesh, and they shall feel them and 
 weep for ever.' And Eccles. vii. 16, 17, 'Number not 
 thyself among the multitude of sinners, but remember the 
 wrath will not tarry long. Humble thy soul greatly, for 
 the vengeance of the ungodly is fire^and w r orms.' 
 
 3. Consider, whether 'worms' feed upon a living man 
 or devour his dead body, still 'they are such as" are bred 
 in his own flesh; but fire is brought by other hands,' and 
 applied, to the flesh: even so this metaphor .'of a worm' 
 happily represents the 'inward torments,' and the 'teazing 
 and vexing passions' whrch shall arise i:i the souls of those 
 unhappy creatures, who are the just objects of this punish- 
 ment; and it is* called 'their worm,' that worm that be- 
 longs to them, and is bred within them by the foul vices 
 and diseases of their souls. -But the 'fire which never 
 shall be quenched' refers rather to the pains and'anguish 
 which come 'from without,' -and thnt chiefly from the 
 . hand of God, the righteous avdnger of' sin, and from his 
 indignation, which is compared to fire. 
 I. ' The, worm that dicth not.' 
 Let us begin with the first of these, viz. the /torments 
 which are derived from the gnawing worm, those agonies 
 and uneasy passions which will arise and work in the souls 
 of these wretched creatures/ so far as we can collect them 
 from the word of God, from the reason of things, and the 
 working powers of human nature. . 
 
 When an impenitent sinner is cast into hell, we have 
 abundant reason to suppose, that the evil temper of his 
 soul, and the vicious principles within him, are not abated, 
 but his natural, powers, and the vices which have tainted 
 them and mingle with them, are awakened and enraged 
 -into intense activity and exercise, under the first sensa- 
 tions of his dreadful punishment. Let us endeavour to 
 conceive then what would be the ferments, the raging 
 passions, and the vexing inward torments of a wicked
 
 860 THE NATURE OF THE 
 
 man, seized by the officers of an almighty Judge, borne 
 away by the executioners of vengeance, and plunged into 
 a pit of torture and smarting misery, while at the same 
 time he had a most fresh* and piercing conviction ever pre- 
 sent, that he had brought all this mischief upon himself 
 by his own guilt and folly. 
 
 I. The first particular piece of wretchedness therefore, 
 contained in this metaphor, is the 'remorse and terrible 
 anguish of conscience which shall never be relieved.' How 
 terrible are the racks of a guilty conscience here on earth, 
 which arise from a sense of past sins? How does David 
 cry out and roar under the disquietude of his spirit? Psal. 
 xxxii. 3, 'While I kept silence' and confessed not mine 
 iniquity, 'my bones Waxed old through my roaring all 
 the day long, day and night thy hand was heavy upon me, 
 and my moisture is turned into the drought of summer:' 
 and again,' Psal. x-xxviii. 4, 'Mine iniquities are gone over 
 mine head, as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for 
 me.' God has wisely so framed the nature and spirit of 
 man, that a reflection on his past misbehaviour should 
 raise such keen anguish at his heart; -and thousands have 
 felt it in a dreadful degree, even while they have contin- 
 ued in this world, in the land of life and hope. 
 
 But when death has divided the soul from this body, 
 and from all the means of grace, and cut off all the hopes 
 of pardoning mercy forever, what smart beyond" all our. 
 thoughts and expressions must the sinner feel from such 
 inward wounds of conscience? And it gives a twinging 
 accent to every sorrow when the sinner is constrained to. 
 cry out, 'It is I, it is I who have brought all this upon 
 myself. Life and death were set before me in the world 
 where once I dwelt, but I refused the blessings of eternal 
 life, and the offers of saving grace. I turned my back 
 upon the ways' of holiness which led to life, and renounced 
 the tenders of divine mercy : I chose the paths of sin, and 
 folly, and madness, though I knew they led to everlasting 
 misery and death. Wretch that I was, to choose those sins 
 and these sorrows, though I knew they were necessarily 
 joined together ! I am sent into those regions of misery 
 which I chose for myself, against all the kind admonitions 
 and warnings of God and Christ, of his gospel and his 
 ministers of grace ! these cursed eyes of mine, that led 
 me into the snares of guilt and folly ! these cursed hands
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN BELT.. 261 
 
 that practised iniquity -with .greediness! these cursed lips 
 of mine, which dishonoured my Maker! these cursed 
 appetites and passions, and this obstinate will, which have 
 wrought my ruin !. this cursed body and soul, that have 
 procured their own everlasting wretchedness!' These 
 thoughts will be like a gnawing worm within, which will 
 prey upon the spirit forever. The fretting smart arising 
 from this vexatious worm must be painful in the highest 
 extreme, when we know it is 'a worm which will never 
 die,' which will forever hang at our heart, and gting our 
 vitals in the most tender-and sensible parts of them' with- 
 out intermission, as well as without end. 
 
 Here on earth the stings and scourges of conscience 
 meet with some intervals of relief, from necessary busi- 
 ness which employs the mind, from gay company which 
 diverts the hsart, from the refreshment! of nature by clay, 
 or from the sweet repose of returning night. But in the 
 world to come every hour shall be filled up with these 
 cutting sorrows, for there is no season of refreshment, no 
 diversion of mind, no sleeping there. A.I1 things arp for 
 ever awake, in that world ! There are no shadows and 
 darkness to hide us where this torment shall not find us, 
 for it is bred and lires within.' There is, no couch there 
 to lull the conscience into soft repose, and to permit the 
 sufferer to fought his agonies. Ancient crimes shall rise 
 up and stand forever before the eyes of the -sinner in all 
 their glaring forms, and all their heinous aggravating Cir- 
 cumstances. Thes3 will sit heavy upon the spirit with 
 teazing and- eternal- vexation. dreadful state of an im- 
 mortal creature, which must forever be its own tormentor, 
 and shall know no relief through all 'the ages of its im- 
 mortality ! Think cf this bitter anguish of soul, sinner, 
 to guard thee from sin in an hour of strong temptation. 
 
 II. Anolher spring of this torment will be the 'over- 
 whelming sense of an angry God, and utter despair of his 
 love, which, is lost forever.' .It was the thought of the 
 displeasure of God, which pierced the soul of David with 
 such acute pain, when he remembered his sins, Psal. li. 3, 
 4, "My sin- is ever before'me: against thee, against thee 
 only have I sinned, and done this evil in tny sight." And 
 again he pleads with God, Psal. vi. 1, "0 Lord, chasten' 
 me not in thine anger, nor vex me in thy sore displeasure." 
 He could face an host of armed men without fear, but he
 
 262 TEE .NATURE OF THE 
 
 could not face an angry God, 'whose loving 'kindness Is 
 life,' and the loss of whose love is worse than death. Psal. 
 Ixxvii. 3, "I remembered God," paid he, "and was trou- 
 bled," i. e. "lest he should be favourable no mafe, and 
 shut up his tender mercies in everlasting anger." This 
 was the terror of that good man, under a deep sense of 
 his crimes, and of.God hiding his face from him, and this 
 even while he was in the' land of the living, and was not 
 cast out beyond all hope. 
 
 But when the grave shuts its mouth on the sinner, and 
 he is thrust out into utter darkness, where the light of 
 God's countenance never shines, nor will shine, how in- 
 supportable must such anguish be? 
 
 Here in this life perhaps a profane wretch has imagin- 
 ed he could live well enough 'without God in the world/ 
 and was content to have nothing to do wi h him in a way 
 of worship or c.ependence here. He determined' with 
 himself, that the less he could think of God the better, and 
 so forgot his Maker days without number. But in those 
 regions of hell, whither the sinner shall he driven, he can 
 never forget an angry God, nor fly out of the reach of his 
 terrors. 
 
 <I am now convinced, saith he, but too late, that hap- 
 piness dwells in his presence, and rivers of pleasures flow 
 at his right hand; but this happiness I shall never see, 
 these streams of pleasure I shall never taste ; he is gone 
 forever with all his love and with all his blessings, ;God 
 is gone with all his graces and pardons beyond my reach. 
 He stands afar off from my groaning He told me of it 
 heretofore in the ministry of his word ; but, wretch that I 
 was! I would not hearken, I would not believe. I was 
 invited by the Son of his love to receive IIM gospel^ and 
 to partake of forgiving mercy ; he stretched out his hands 
 with divine compassion, and offered to receiv* my soul to 
 his grace, and to wash away my defilements with his own 
 blood ; he beseeched me to repent and return to God, and 
 assured me he would Secure his Father's favour to me, 
 and a place among the mansions of his glory : but cursed 
 rebel that I was, to despise this salvation, and resist the 
 offers of such love, and to renounce such divine compas- 
 sion ! These offers of mercy are forever finished ; I shall 
 never see him more as surrounded with the blessings of 
 his grace, but as the minister of his Father's justice, and
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN HlfLL. 263 
 
 the avenger of his abused *nercy. There is no other Sa- 
 viour, no other intercessor, to procure divine favour for 
 me, and my hopes are overwhelmed and buried in the 
 eternal despair of his love.' 
 
 III. There \yill be found also atnong the damned, <a con- 
 stant enmity, and malice, and hatred against the blessed 
 God, which can never satisfy nor ease itself by revenge.' 
 It seems very strange indeed that a, creature should design 
 revenge against his Maker; but thus it is in these dismal, 
 regions of hell. Every wicked man is by nature at enmity 
 with God, and in a stale of -rebellion-; and when this en-' 
 mity is wrought up to malice, under a sense pf his punish- 
 ing hand, then arises that cursed and detestable desire in 
 the soul of revenging' itself against its Maker. The fallen 
 angels, those wicked spirits, have found this dismal tem- 
 per of mind reigning in them : they hate the blessed God 
 with intense malice, -because his governing justice sees fit 
 to punish their pride and other iniquities, and they would 
 fain be revenged of him by destroying mankind who were 
 made after his image. Their malice cannot reach him in 
 the heights of his glory ; but they can reach man his crea- 
 ture made in his likeness, and they began to take their re- 
 venge there near six thousand years ago. All the sins, and . 
 all the miseries of the sons and daughters of Adam, from 
 the beginning of the \yorld to this clay, are owing, to this 
 madness of malice, this hatred. of God* in the hearts of evil 
 angels, who \\ere cast out from heaven and the regions of 
 happiness : they began to exert this malice early, and still 
 they are everlasting tempters' of men, in order to avenge 
 themselves- upon a righteous God. 
 
 But alas, what a wretched satisfaction must the damned 
 spirits of men propose to themselves in s.uch a wild and 
 extravagant attempt? The very name and mention of 
 this iniquity seems to put our souls and our ears to pain, 
 while we dwell in flesh and blood ; butas'cursed and hate- 
 ful a temper as this is, it is the very spirit and temper of 
 apostate angels; and this will be thy temper and th}' spi- 
 rit, wilful and impenitent sinner, when thou shalt have 
 obstinately siniled thyself into damnation, and canrt never 
 deliver thyself from the punishing hand of God. 
 
 Think, my soul, at what a dreadful distance such 
 creatures must be from every glimpse of peace and hap- 
 piness, whose hearts are filled with such blasphemy and
 
 264 Tim NATURE OP THE 
 
 rage, and who would be attempting such vain and impious 
 effort? of mingled insolence and madness. Read, O ye 
 foolish and wilful trangVessors, read the temper and con- 
 duct of devils in their spite and opposition to every thing 
 of God, through all the books of the Old Testament an d 
 the New, and remember and think, that such will your 
 temper be when you also shall be banished, from the pre- 
 sence of God for your wjlful rebellions, as the fallen angels 
 a,re, and be forever shut out from all the blessings of his 
 love, and all hope of his favour. 
 
 IV. A further spring of continued torment is 'such fix- 
 ed and eternal hardness of heart as will never be softened, 
 such impenitence and obstinacy of soul which will never 
 relent or submit.' The hardest sinner here on earth may 
 now and then feel a relenting moment, and the most daring 
 Atheist may sometimes have a softening 'thought come 
 across him, which may perhaps bring. a tear into his eyes, 
 and may form a good wish or two in his sou.l, and wring 
 a groan from his heart which look's like repentance ; but 
 when we are dismissed from this body., and this state of 
 trial and of hops, eternal hardness seizes upon the mind: 
 the neck is like an iron sinew hardened more (if I may so 
 express it) in the fire of hell. The will is fixed in ever- 
 lasting obstinacy against God, and against the glories of 
 his holiness. If Mos:;S and the prophets, if Christ and 
 his apostles in the ministry of the word, could not soften 
 the heart of bold transgressors, what can be expected when 
 all the means of grace and the methods of divine compas- 
 sion are vanished and gone 'for ever? 
 
 It is granted indeed there will bo bitter repentance 
 among the damned in hell, and inward vexation of soul 
 and self-cursing in abundance, for having plunged them- 
 selves into this misery, and having abandoned all the of- 
 fers of divine mercy : but it will be only such a repent- 
 ance as 'Judas the traitor felt, when 'he repented and 
 hanged himself.' This is a sort of madness of rage with- 
 in them for having made themselves miserable. But there 
 will be found no hatred of the evil of sin, at it is an of- 
 fence against God ; no painful and relenting" ssnsa of their 
 iniquity, as it has dishonored God and broken his law; 
 no such sorrow for sin as is attended with an hearty aver- 
 sion to it, and a desire to love God and obey him ; but
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 265 
 
 rather they will feel and nourish a growing aversion to 
 God and his holiness. 
 
 Ask yourselves, my young friends, did you never feel 
 your hearts indulging an angry and unrelenting mood, 
 and stubborn in your wrath against a superior who had 
 sharply reproved you ? Or have you never felt an obstinate 
 and unreconcileable hour in your younger years, even 
 against a parent who had severely corrected you ? Or have 
 you not found, at some seasons, your soul rising and kind- 
 ling into violent resentment and a revengeful temper 
 against your neighbour upon some supposed affront, damage, 
 or mischief he had done you ? Call these unhappy minutes 
 to mind, and learn what hell is. Think into what a wretch- 
 ed case you would be plunged, if this wrath and stub- 
 bornness, this enmity and hardness should become immortal 
 and unchangeable, though it were but against a neighbour. 
 But if this obstinacy and stubborn hardness of soul were 
 bent against God himself, so that you would never relent, 
 never sincerely repent of your crimes, nor bow, nor melt, 
 nor yield either to his majesty or his mercy, what would 
 you think of yourselves and of your state? Would you 
 not be wretched and horrible creatures indeed, without 
 the least reason to hope for favour and compassion at his 
 hands ? Such is the case probably of every damned sinner. 
 Amazing scene of complicated misery and rebellion ! a 
 guilty spirit which cannot repent! a rebellious spirit 
 which cannot submit, even to God himself! a hardened 
 soul that cannot bend nor yield to its Maker ! Must not 
 such a wretch be for ever the object of its own inward 
 torment, as well as of divine punishment ? the hopeless 
 and dreadful state of every bold transgressor, that is gone 
 down to death without true repentance ; for sincere and 
 true repentance for having offended God, and ingenuous 
 relentings of heart for sin are never found in those regions 
 of future misery : no kindly meltings of soul toward God 
 are ever known there. 
 
 V. There will be also 'intense sorrow and wild impa- 
 tience at the loss of present comforts, without any recom- 
 pence, and without any relief.' If this world, sinful 
 creature, with the riches, or the honours, or the pleasures of 
 it be all thy chosen happiness, what universal grief and 
 vexation will overspread all the powers of thy nature> 
 when thou shalt be torn away from them all, even from 
 34 X
 
 266 THE NATURE OP THE 
 
 all thy happiness by death, and have nothing come in the 
 room of them, nothing to relieve thy piercing grief, 
 nothing to divert or amuse this vexation, nothing to soothe 
 or ease this eternal pain at the heart. 
 
 And yet further, when thou shalt be as the Prophet 
 speaks, ' like a wild bull in a net/ struggling and tossing 
 to and fro to free thyself on all sides, when thou shalt be 
 racked with inward fretfulncss and impatience, and 'full 
 of the fury of the Lord' that made thee, and the 'rebuke 
 of that God' that punishes thee, Isai. li. 20, then shall 
 thy heart, hard as it is in an obstinate course of sin, be 
 ready to burst and break, not with penitence, but madness 
 and overswelling sorrows : and yet it must not break nor 
 dissolve, but will remain firm and hard forever to suffer 
 these pangs. This is and must be an eternal head-ache, 
 for there are no broken hearts in heil in any sense what- 
 soever. There th6 eyes are weeping, and the hands are 
 wringing, and the tongue almost dried with long wailings 
 and outcries, and the teeth gnashing with madness of thought : 
 this is our Saviour's frequent representation of hell, 'there 
 shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth ;' and 
 yet the heart ever living and ever obstinate, to supply fresh 
 springs of these sorrows, and to feel the anguish of them all. 
 
 VI. There will be also ( raging desires of ease and plea- 
 sure which shall never be satisfied, together with perpetual 
 disappointment and endless confusion thrown upon all their 
 schemes and their efforts of hope.' It is the nature of man, 
 while it continues in being, that it must desire happiness, 
 and make some efforts towards it : and some divines have 
 supposed, that men of wicked sensuality and luxury in 
 this world, have so drenched their souls in fleshly appetite 
 by indulging their lusts, and placing their chief satisfaction 
 and happiness therein, that they will carry this very temper 
 of sensuality with them into the world of spirits ; and it 
 is possible their raging appetites to this sensual happiness, 
 may be increased while there are no objects to gratify 
 them. Now if this be the case, it must be intense and con- 
 stant misery to feel eternal hunger with no bread to relieve 
 it; keen desire of dainties with no luxurious dishes to 
 please their humourous taste ; eternal thirst without one 
 drop of wine or water to allay or cool it ; eternal fatigue 
 and weariness without power to sleep, and eternal lust of 
 pleasure without any hope of gratification.
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 267 
 
 But if we should suppose these sensualities die together 
 with the body, yet this is certain, the soul will have ever- 
 lasting appetites of its own, i. e. the general desire of ease 
 and happiness, and of some satisfying good : but God, 
 who is the only true source of happiness to spirits, the 
 only satisfying portion of souls, itf forever departed and 
 gone ; and thus the natural appetite of felicity will be ever 
 wakeful and violent in damned spirits, while every at- 
 tempt or hope to satisfy it will meet with perpetual dis- 
 appointment. 
 
 Milton, our English poet, has represented this part of 
 the misery of devils in a beautiful manner. He supposes, 
 that ever since they tempted man to sin by the forbidden 
 tree of knowledge, they are once a year changed into the 
 form of serpents, and brought by millions into a grove 
 of such trees, with the same golden appearance of fruit 
 upon them : and while with eager appetite they seize those 
 fair appearances to allay their thirst and hunger, instead 
 of fruit they chew nothing but bitter ashes, and reject the 
 hateful taste with spattering noise ; and still they repeat 
 their attempts with shameful disappointment, till they are 
 vexed, are tormented, and torn with meagre famine, and 
 then are permitted to resume the shape of devils again.* 
 And why may we not suppose, that the crimes of which 
 the wicked children of men have been guilty in the pre- 
 sent life, may be punished with some such kind of pain 
 and confusion, both of body and soul, as is here repre- 
 sented in this poetic emblem or parable ? 
 
 VII. Another misery of damned creatures is, that 'vex- 
 ing envy which arises against the saints in glory, and 
 which shall never be appeased or gratified.' The blessed 
 in heaven shall be forever blessed, and the envy of devils 
 and damned souls shall never hurt' their felicity, nor see 
 their joys diminished. This vile passion of those cursed 
 spirits therefore against the blessed inhabitants of heaven, 
 though it rage never so high, is only preying upon their 
 own hearts, and increasing their own inward anguish. 
 
 Let us imagine how many thousand holy souls are ar- 
 rived safe at paradise, who were surrounded with mean and 
 low circumstances here upon earth, while their haughty 
 lords, and their rich insolent neighbours, have sinned 
 
 * See Paradise Lott, Book X. v. 504 584. ED.
 
 268 THE NATURE OF THE 
 
 themselves into hell : and do you think those children of 
 pride can ever bear this sight without envy ? How many 
 martyrs have ascended to glory from racks, and tortures, 
 and fires, here upon earth, while their bloody and cruel 
 persecutors have been working out their own damnation 
 by these inhuman acts of murder and cruelty ? And will 
 not these wretches, under their righteous sufferings and 
 punishments in hell, envy the creatures whom they have 
 scorned, and oppressed, and murdered here on earth, when 
 they shall see them placed on high seats in the kingdom 
 of heaven, and themselves cast into utter darkness ? 
 
 And what does all this envy do but increase their own 
 wretchedness ? They are distracted with pride and rage, 
 to think of these high favours of the blessed God bestowed 
 on creatures whom they treated once with utmost disdain. 
 But their envy, like a viper, preys upon their own en- 
 trails, and shall never be allayed or made easy. They 
 send a thousand curses up to the heavenly world ; but the 
 saints are forever secured in happiness, under the eye of 
 God their heavenly Father, and the care of Jesus their 
 almighty Friend. 
 
 what a painful plague must this envy be, when with 
 all her envenomed whips and stings she does but scourge 
 and torment the heart where she dwells ? What an un- 
 speakable torture must it be to feel this envy so violent 
 and so constant, that it gives itself no ease through ever- 
 lasting ages ? Who, that dwells in flesh and blood, can 
 conceive or express the horror and the twinging agonies 
 that arise from such a hateful passion, fermenting and 
 raging through all the powers of the soul ? 
 
 VIII. The last thing I shall mention, as part of those 
 punishments of hell which affect the spirit, is a 'perpetual 
 expectation and dread of new and increasing punishments 
 without end;' and it is highly probable, that this shall be 
 the portion of multitudes. When the souls of the saints 
 are released by death, and arrive at the blessed regions, 
 they are not vested with all their brightest glories in a 
 moment, nor fixed in .the highest point of knowledge and 
 happiness at their first entrance ; but as their knowledge 
 and their love increases, so their capacities are enlarged to 
 take in new scenes and new degrees of pleasure, and it is 
 probable that their felicities shall be ever increasing. And 
 in the same manner, it is not unlikely,, that the increasing
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 269 
 
 sins, the growing wickedness, and mad rebellion of damned 
 spirits, may bring upon them new judgments and more 
 weighty vengeance. So it was with Pharaoh the Egyptian 
 tyrant, when he remained obstinate and rebellious against 
 the messages of God by Moses, even while he and his 
 nation lay under smarting scourges of the Almighty : 
 how did his plagues increase with his iniquities ? And he 
 may be set before us as an emblem of sinners, and their 
 sufferings, under the wrath of God in hell, as in Rom. 
 
 O ' ' 
 
 ix. 17, 18. 
 
 Or perhaps as the wicked of this world when they die, 
 have left evil and pernicious examples behind them, or 
 have corrupted the morals of their neighbours by their 
 enticements, or their commands, or by their wicked in- 
 fluence of any kind, so their punishment may be increas- 
 ed in proportion to the lasting effects of their vile example, 
 or their vicious influences. And perhaps, too, there are 
 none among all the ranks of the damned, whose souls will 
 be filled so high with the dread and horror of increasing 
 woes, as lewd and profane writers, profane and immoral 
 princes, or cruel persecutors of religion. Jeroboam, the 
 king, not only sinned himself grievously, but 'made Israel 
 to sin,' as the scripture frequently expresses it with an 
 emphasis, by setting up the idolatry of calves in the land, 
 1 Kings xiv, and xv, and xvi. His ghost stood fair for 
 such an increase of torment from age to age, as his idolatry 
 prevailed further in the land. And all the wanton poets 
 and the vile persecutors, whether of heathen or of Chris- 
 tian name, whose writings, whose example, or whose 
 laws have conveyed' and propagated their wickedness from 
 age to age after their decease, will be some of these wretch- 
 ed expectants of new and increasing punishment. 
 
 Have a care, ye witty and ye mighty sinners! have 
 a care of setting vile temptations and bad examples be- 
 fore the men of your age ! have a care of spreading the 
 contagion of your vices around you, by the softness and 
 the force of your allurements ! have a care of establish- 
 ing iniquity by a law, and propagating loose and wicked 
 opinions, or of encouraging persecution for conscience- 
 sake ! Take heed lest the cursed influence of your crimes 
 should descend from generation to generation among the 
 living, long after you are dead, and should call for new and 
 sharper strokes from the punishing hand of the Almighty?
 
 270 THE NATURE OF 
 
 But suppose there were nothing else but the long dread- 
 ful view of the eternity of their present miseries, with 
 an everlasting despair of case or deliverance, this would 
 add unspeakably to their torment: The constant sensation 
 of what they feel now, and the dread of what they must 
 feel, is sufficient to make their wretchedness intolerable. 
 
 If all these springs of misery, which I have already 
 mentioned, are, and will be found in the souls of damned 
 sinners, there is no need of more to make them exquisitely 
 miserable : and yet, since their bodies shall be raised from 
 the dust, in order to be joined with their souls in punish- 
 ment, as they were united in sin, why may we not sup- 
 pose, that the great God will create bodies for them of such 
 an unhappy mould and contexture, as shall be another per- 
 petual source of pain and anguish ? What if their bodies 
 shall be raised with all the seeds of disease in them, like the 
 gout or the stone, or any more smarting malady ? And 
 what if the smart of these bodily distempers should min- 
 gle with the raging passions of the mind, as far as it is con- 
 sistent with immortality and everlasting duration ? Who 
 can say, that when God exerts * his power and makes his 
 wrath known,' in punishing obstinate, rebellious, and im- 
 penitent sinners, as Rom. ix. he will not frame such bodies 
 for them to dwell in, as shall be a hateful burden, and an 
 incessant plague to them through all ages of their duration ? 
 And perhaps these bodily pains may be also included in the 
 metaphor of a 'gnawing' worm bred within them, 'which 
 shall never die,' which shall never cease to fill them with 
 grievous anguish. 
 
 Here perhaps, it may be enquired, are there not multi- 
 tudes of men in this world, who are not sinners of the 
 grosser kind, but have lived, in the main, in the practice 
 of the common social 'duties, and have maintained the 
 usual forms of religion, according to the outward rules of 
 the gospel, and the custom of their nation, but they have 
 been negligent indeed of any sincere repentance towards 
 God, and have been strangers to inward vital religion 
 throughout their whole course ? Shall these creatures, 
 who seem to stand in a sort of indifferent character, who 
 are outwardly blameless, with regard to common morality, 
 and have exercised the common virtues of justice and be- 
 nevolence towards their fellow-creatures, perhaps un- 
 der the influences of education or custom, or perhaps by
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 271 
 
 the effect that reason or philosophy, or other inward fears, 
 have had toward the restraint of their passions and appe- 
 tites ; I say, shall such sort of creatures as these be filled 
 -with those furies of rage and resentment against God, en- 
 vy and malice toward their fellow-sinners, and all the vile 
 and unsociable passions in these regions of misery, which 
 -they have never found working in them here on earth, or 
 but in a low degree ? Shall all the torments and inward 
 anguish of soul that you have been describing, fall upon 
 this rank of sinners, whom the eye of the world could hard- 
 ly distinguish from good men, and who were very far 
 from the character of wicked ? 
 
 I < answer,' 1st, that however there may seem to be 
 three sorts of persons in our esteem, viz. the good, the 
 bad, and the indifferent, yet the word of God seems to ac- 
 knowledge but two sorts, viz. 'Those who fear God and 
 serve him, and those who fear him not,' Mai. iii. 18, those 
 who have acted from principles of inward religion, or the 
 love of Gcd, and those who had no such principle within 
 them : and therefore the scripture reveals and declares but 
 two sorts of states in the future world, viz. that of ' re- 
 wards and punishments,' or that of ' happiness and mis- 
 ery :' and, as God the righteous Judge is intimately ac- 
 quainted with all the secret principles and workings of 
 every heart, he alone knows who have practised virtue 
 sincerely from pious principles, and who have had ao such 
 principles within them. He well distinguishes who they 
 are that have complied with the rules of the dispensation 
 under which they have lived, or who have not complied 
 with it : and such as may have the good esteem of men 
 may be highly offensive to God, who knows all things, 
 and may be worthy of his final punishment. * The Judge 
 of the whole earth will do right'* 
 
 * It has been the opinion of some writers in oldei' and in later times, 
 that the vast numbers of indifferent persons who have neither been evident- 
 ly holy nor evidently wicked, shall be sent to a new state of trial in the 
 other world; but I can find nothing of this doctrine in the Bible, nor any 
 hint of it, unless in that obscure text of St> Peter, 1 Episk ch. iii. 1 9, where 
 Christ is said ' to go and preach to the spirits' of those Dinners who were 
 drowned in the flood of .AV/n/i, which may be construed to another sense 
 with truth and justice. WATTST* 
 
 The true sense of this passage is clearly given by Henry, Scott, Doddridge, 
 Clarke, and other commentators, which the reader can consult at his conve- 
 nience. I shall here subjoin Macnight's view of the passage, in which he
 
 272 THE NATURE OF THE 
 
 And since he has declared it to be his rule of judgment, 
 that he will reward every one according to their works, 
 and it shall be much more tolerable for some of those 
 creatures than it shall be for others, by reason of their les- 
 ser crimes, or their nearer approaches to virtue and piety j 
 so it is certain he will act in perfect justice and equity to- 
 wards every criminal, and none shall be punished above 
 their demerits, though no impenitent sinner shall go 
 unpunished. 
 
 We do not, therefore, imagine, that every condemned 
 criminal shall have the same degree of inward raging pas- 
 sions, the same madness and fury against God and their 
 fellow-creatures, nor the same anguish of conscience as 
 those who have been more grossly and obstinately wicked 
 and vicious, and have wilfully refused and renounced the 
 well known offers of grace and salvation. There are in- 
 numerable degrees of inward punishment and pain, accor- 
 ding to the degrees of sin. 
 
 tdtisw. 2. It should be added too, that that world of 
 punishment is also a world of increasing wickedness, and 
 those that have had some natural virtues, and some appear- 
 ances of goodness here, may and will renounce it all in 
 the world to come, where they find themselves punished 
 for their impenitence and irreligion, and their criminal neg- 
 lect of God and godliness : and the least and the lightest 
 of the punishments of damned souls will be terrible enough, 
 
 briefly and clearly expresses the opinion common to the great body of pro- 
 testant divines and expositors. " Christ is said, by the same Spirit who 
 made him alive, to have preached to the antediluvians, because his Spirit in- 
 spired Noah to preach to them, as is plain from Gen. vi. 3. ' My Spirit shall 
 not always strive with man.' Hence Noah is called ' a preacher of righte- 
 ousness,' 2 Pet. ii. 5. By attributing the preaching of (he ancient prophets 
 to Christ, the apostle hath taught us, that from the beginning the economy 
 of man's redemption hath been under the direction of Christ. According- 
 ly the same apostle hath expressly affirmed, 1 Pet. i. 11. that the Spirit 
 
 who was in the ancient prophets was the Spirit of Christ Eph. 
 
 ii. 15 17. ' Having abolished,' &c. ' and came and preached peace to you 
 who were afar off, and to them who were nigh.' [Now] it is certain, that 
 our Lord, after his resurrection, did not go personally to the Gentiles to 
 preach peace to them : he preached to them by his apostles only. But if 
 Christ is said by Paul to go and do, what he did by his apostles, he may 
 with equal propriety be said by Peter, to go and do what he did by his 
 prophet Noah. .... [The antediluvians] were men on earth in the flesh 
 when Christ preached to them by his Spirit speaking in Noah ; but they an 
 now ' spirits in prison,' detained like the fallen angels, (Jude 6,) ' unto th* 
 judgment of the great day.' ED. 
 
 . i
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 273 
 
 and yet not surpass the desert of their offences. They 
 have been all in greater or less degrees, treasuring up food 
 for this immortal worm, and fuel /or this fire, which is un- 
 quenchable. 
 
 Besides, it may be added here, that in threatenings the 
 Holy Scripture generally expresses them in their highest 
 degrees, and most formidable appearances, on purpose to 
 secure men from coming near the peril and border of them. 
 
 This shall suffice to explain the first part of the meta- 
 phor in my text, i. e. * The worm that dieth not.' 
 
 II. The. fire, shall not be quenched. 
 
 I proceed now to consider the second part of the de- 
 scription of hell in the nature of it, as it is represented by 
 our Saviour, and that is, that 'the fire is never quenched.' 
 
 Fire signifies the medium or instrument of torture 
 from without, which God has threatened to employ in the 
 punishment of guilty creatures, even as the gnawing worm 
 signifies their inward torment. Fire applied to the sensi- 
 ble and tender parts of the flesh, gives the sharpest pain 
 of any thing that comes within our common notice, and it 
 is used in scripture to signify the punishments of damned 
 sinners, and the wrath of God in the world to come. And 
 perhaps that text is the foundation of it, Isa. xxx. last verse, 
 * Tophet is ordained of old, he has made it. deep and large, 
 the pile thereof is fire and much wood, and the breath of 
 the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.' This 
 Tophet was a place in the valley of Hinnom, where chil- 
 dren were wont to be burnt in sacrifice to the idol Moloch; 
 and from these Hebrew words, hell in the New Testament 
 is called Geenna, because of the burning torture and the 
 terrible shrieks of dying children in the valley of Hin- 
 nom. 
 
 This description of Hell by fire is used by our Saviour 
 and his Apostles, in their speeches and writings on this 
 subject. Hell-fire is mentioned six times in six verses 
 where my text lies ; the last sentence of judgment passed 
 upon sinners, as it is represented by our Saviour, is ex- 
 pressed in the same language, Matt, xxv, 'Depart, ye curs- 
 ed, into everlasting fire.' The Apostle Paul, speaking of 
 the return of Christ, 2 Thess. i. 8, asserts that ' he shall ap- 
 pear in flaming fire, to take vengeance on them that know 
 not God, and that obey not the gospel :' and in Rev. xiv. 
 1Q, 11, as well as in other parts of this book, the final pun- 
 35
 
 274 THE NATURE OP THE 
 
 ishment of sinners is represented by 'fire and brimstone/ as 
 the instruments of their torment. 
 
 It is true indeed, spirits or beings which have no body 
 cannot feel burning by material fire, unless they are united 
 to some sort of material vehicles ; but that God will use 
 material fire, to punish obstinate and rebellious sinners 
 hereafter at the resurrection, is not improbable, though it 
 is very hard to say with full assurance. Since the bodies 
 of the wicked are to be raised again, it is not at all unlike- 
 ly that their habitation shall be a place of fire, and their 
 bodies may be made immortal to endure the smart and tor- 
 ture without consuming. Did not this God, by his almighty 
 power and mercy, preserve the bodies of Shadrach, Mesh- 
 ech, and Abednego, in the burning furnace of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, so that the fire had no power to consume .or des- 
 troy them? and cannot his power do the same thing un- 
 der the influence of his justice as well as of his mercy ? 
 May they not be maintained forever in their existence to 
 endure the appointed and deserved vengeance ? If the 
 blessed God has ' with much long-suffering borne with 
 these vessels of wrath,' under their repeated oppositions 
 to his law and gospel, and they still go on in their vice, 
 obstinacy and impenitence, and have ' fitted themselves 
 for destruction,' surely he will ' mate his wrath and power 
 kftown' in their punishment, as St. Paul expresses it, 
 Rom. ix, and when the power and wrath of God unite to 
 punish a creature, how miserable must that creature be ? 
 
 It is certain, that God has been pleased in his word fre- 
 quently to make use of Jire, brimstone, burning, smoke, 
 darkness, and chains, and every thing that is painful and 
 noisome to nature on earth, in order to represent the 
 miseries that he has prepared for sinners in hell : and we 
 must suppose that all these metaphors, if they are but 
 mere metaphors, carry with them a sense of most intense 
 pain and anguish with which God will afflict the bodies, as 
 well as the spirits of those guilty creatures, who have re- 
 belled against his majesty, rejected his mercy, and exposed 
 themselves to his indignation. But what particular instru- 
 ments and methods of punishment, what other elements 
 or means of torture the great God will make use of to 
 execute his sentence in this tremendous work, is more 
 than we can now declare, because God has not fully de- 
 clared it. And I pray God none of us may be ever
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 275 
 
 doomed to learn it by terrible experience. But if there 
 be nothing but fire, the anguish will be intolerable, as one 
 of our poets expresses it, 
 
 In liquid burning^ or on dry, to dwell, 
 Is all the sad variety of hell. 
 
 Or what if the Almighty, who has all nature, with all 
 its powers, at his command, should employ other material 
 instruments for the execution of his deserved wrath? 
 What if he should choose the alternate' extremes of fire 
 and frost, as some have imagined, to torment those impeni- 
 tent criminals ? Or what if the creatures which they have 
 abused to their impious and brutish purposes, should be 
 made instruments and mediums of their punishment ? 
 Wine may be rendered a frequent means of sickness, ago- 
 ny and pain to the drunkard, and meat and other dainties 
 to the glutton, and gold to the covetous wretches who 
 made gold their god, that they may all remember their 
 crimes and their sufferings. The wisdom of God will 
 execute the sentence of his justice in the most honoura- 
 ble manner. 
 
 And after all, if we call away our thoughts from fire, 
 and every material instrument of pain, which the great 
 God may employ in punishing obstinate rebels, and sur- 
 vey only those acute and dreadful impressions of horror 
 and anguish, which a just and holy God may make on sin- 
 ful spirits in an immediate manner in hell, this would 
 overwhelm our souls with insupportable, agonies. ' Who 
 knows the power of thine anger-? For according to thy 
 fear, so is thy wrath/ says Moses, Psal. xc. Our fears do 
 not rise above those evils which the wrath of God will in- 
 flict- W T ho knows what are those arrows of the Almigh- 
 ty, of which Job speaks, ' the poison whereof drank up 
 his spirits, and those terrors of God which set themselves 
 in array against him ?' Who knows what our Saviour 
 felt in the hour of his agony and atonement for our sins, 
 which made him sweat drops of blood ? And what sort 
 of terrible impressions God himself may make of his own 
 wrath and vengeance, on the heart of such criminals as 
 wilfully reject his salvation, is beyond our thoughts to 
 conceive, or our language to express. 
 
 This much shall suffice concerning the metaphor of fire, 
 and the hand of God himself in kindling this fire for the 
 execution of his sentence against impenitents. But since
 
 276 THE NATURE OP THE 
 
 I have entered so far into this subject, I cannot think it 
 proper entirely to finish it, without giving notice of some 
 different and dreadful additions to their torment which 
 will arise from evil angels, and from their companions in 
 sin and misery among the children of men : for in the 
 agonies of our Saviour, men and devils joined together to 
 afflict him, when it 'pleased the Father to bruise him, and 
 to make his soul an offering for our sins.' 
 
 I. ' Evil angels, wicked and unclean spirits, with all 
 their furious dispositions and active powers, will increase 
 the misery of the damned.' They paved the way to hell 
 for man by the first temptation of our parents in paradise, 
 and they have been ever since busy in tempting the chil- 
 dren of men to sin, and they will be hereafter as busy in 
 giving them torment. When these wicked spirits, sin- 
 ner, who have taken thee as a willing captive by their baits 
 and devices in this world, have led thee down through the 
 paths of vice to the regions of sorrow, they will begin 
 then to insult thee with hateful reproaches, and to triumph 
 over thee with insolence and scorn. When they have de- 
 ceived thee on earth, to thy own perdition, they will make 
 thee the object of their bitter ridicule and mockery in 
 hell. 
 
 could we turn aside the veil of the invisible world, 
 and hold the bottomless pit open before you, what bitter 
 groans of ghosts would you hear, not only oppressed and 
 agonizing under the wrath of a righteous God, but also 
 under the insults of cruel devils ? As < there is joy a- 
 mong the angels of heaven when .a sinner repents,' or 
 when a soul arrives safely at those blessed mansions ; so 
 when a rebellious and obstinate criminal is sent down to 
 hell, you would hear the triumphs of those malicious 
 spirits over him, with the voice of insulting pride, and 
 hellish joy. And while they domineer over you, and 
 tear you as roaring lions, who seek and tear their prey, 
 you will curse yourselves a thousand times for hearkening 
 to their deceitful allurements. You will vent your rage 
 against yourselves at the same time that they scoff at you 
 as eternal fools, who have lost a God, and a heaven, and 
 immortal happiness, by your own madness and folly in 
 hearkening to their temptations. 
 
 II. ' Tne mutual upbraidings of fellow-sinners and fel- 
 low-sufferers among the children of men, will aggravate
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 277 
 
 your wretchedness day and night without end.' Those 
 who drew each other into foul iniquities, shall fill the ears 
 of each other with loud and sharp reproaches for their 
 mutual influence on both their ruin, and shall charge their 
 damnation, and all their heavy sorrows, as a heavy load 
 on each other's souls. Some of those who have been 
 joined in the nearest ties of kindred and friendship, 
 while they dwelt in flesh and blood, shall be the terrible 
 instruments of their keenest remorse and vexation, and 
 teaze their spirits with endless upbraidings. 
 
 Here the ' sons of pride,' that most hateful iniquity, shall 
 be overwhelmed, with huge mortification and disdain. 
 The mighty sinner shall be insulted by the meanest of the 
 crowd, and princes shall be bearded and affronted by those 
 gay slaves of the court, whom they once employed in 
 flattering and adoring them. They were once vain enough 
 to believe, that they were something more than mortal ; 
 but now they are spurned by those very flatterers with a 
 foot of contempt, and their eternal pride still swelling, 
 gives their own hearts new stings and twinges at every re- 
 sentment. None but a proud and haughty creature here 
 in this world, who has sometimes met with scorn and in- 
 sult from his inferiors, can speak feelingly of the exquis- 
 ite sensibility of these torments of a soul in hell. 
 
 But besides this, there are many sinners who lived in 
 malice, and who died with their hearts full of revenge 
 against their fellow-sinners ; and when they shall meet 
 them in those deplorable regions, how natural is it to 
 suppose they will endeavour to execute this revenge 
 upon them without end and without mercy ? For it may 
 be easily supposed, that malice, revenge, and cruelty, 
 which are the proper character of devils, shall not be 
 abated among the children of men, when they are grown 
 so near akin in their tempers to those evil spirits, and are 
 now forever mingled amongst them. 
 
 And yet further, who knows what the damned in hell 
 shall endure from the endless brawls and bitter quarrels 
 among themselves? What new contentions will arise 
 perpetually in such a country, where it is perhaps the 
 practice and custom of the place, and the nature of the 
 inhabitants, for the most part, to make every one of their 
 fellows as uneasy and as miserable as they can? what 
 mad and furious pride, and malice, and every hellish pas-
 
 278 THE NATURE OF THE 
 
 sion, will be raging almost in every bosom against all 
 those who are near them, and this in a dark prison where 
 all are intensely tormented, and where there is no such 
 thing as compassion or sincere love, nothing to sooth each 
 other's sorrows, but every thing that may add to the sma.rt 
 and anguish ! 
 
 that the present survey of these horrors of soul, these 
 complicated distresses and miseries from within us and 
 without us, from every quarter of heaven and hell, from 
 the 'gnawing worm' within us, and from the 'fire' of the 
 wrath of God, and the mutual insults, railings and injuries 
 of men and devils, might all lie with its due weight upon 
 our spirits now, while we are in the land of hope ; that 
 every one of us may be awakened to a timely concern 
 about our highest interest, and hasten to make our escape 
 as Lot did from Sodom, lest the sentence of death be pro- 
 nounced upon us while we delay, and the fiery deluge 
 overtake us. 
 
 But here I would tarry a little to answer a repeated ob- 
 jection, viz. the terror of this outward punishment from 
 the hand of God, which is described by 'avenging fire/ is 
 so severe and intolerable, that it awakens some lesser 
 criminals to raise the same cavil against this 'unquencha- 
 ble fire,' or God's punishing hand, as was raised before 
 against the 'never-dying worm,' or the inward anguish of 
 soul arising from its own conscience. 
 
 It is possible sorqe lesser sinner, who has had more ap- 
 pearances of piety or religion here on earth, may rise and 
 say, you have set the punishments of sin in a most horrible 
 and tremendous light, from this metaphor of 'fire,' as well 
 as from the deathless 'worm:' but surely this cannot be 
 the case, nor these the sufferings which God will inflict 
 on every wretched creature in hell. Are not the punish- 
 ments there proportioned to the offences ? What if these 
 sharpest and deepest tortures and horrors should be the 
 portion of the vilest criminals, the most impious rebels 
 against God, the profane and obstinate abusers of grace, 
 the scoffers at Christ and his gospel, and the cruel perse- 
 cutors of all the saints, yet will every soul who had not 
 quite religion and holiness enough to reach heaven, be 
 thus terribly tormented in hell? Does not Christ himself 
 tell us, and did you not allow before, that it shall be more 
 tolerable for some sinners than for others? And will there
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 279 
 
 be no easier abodes, no milder regions, no kinder and 
 more favourable appointments for such as have many good 
 wishes and hopes, many friendly exercises of virtue towards 
 men, and some workings of imperfect piety toward God? 
 
 To this I answer, as before, it is certain that ' every one 
 shall be judged according to their works,' by an unerring 
 rule of equity, and shall be punished according to the ag- 
 gravation of their iniquities. But dost thou know, sin- 
 ner, how great is that punishment which the least trans- 
 gression against the law of God deserves ? One single sin, 
 which thou wilt not part with, will create insufferable mis- 
 ery. And though there may be other criminals there of 
 much more heinous and aggravated guilt, profaneness, and 
 rebellion than thine is, yet if thy soul be filled with all 
 that torment which one sin may create and deserve, there 
 will be hell enough around thee to make thy distress too 
 terrible for thee to bear. 
 
 Besides, let it be remembered, that whatsoever tenden- 
 cies toward piety, or appearances of goodness, might be 
 found with thee in this world, all these will vanish and be 
 lost, when once thy day of grace is finished, and all the 
 means of grace and salvation are ended forever. If thoa 
 hast refused the proposals of mercy, and continued in thy 
 sins without repentance, and hast never accepted the sal- 
 vation of Christ while it was offered, all the good 'that 
 thou seemedst to have shall be taken from thee,' Matt, 
 xxv. 29, or rather thy heart itself will grow more hard, 
 thy will more obstinate against God, and every evil pas- 
 sion will rise and prevail, and make thee perhaps as very 
 a devil as thy companions in guilt and misery. It is for 
 those who would not part with their beWed sins, which 
 were as dear as 'right hands,' or as l right eyes,' that the 
 'never-dying worm' and the 'unquenchable fire' are pre- 
 pared, as the context itself informs us in this place. 
 
 And as the worm of, conscience, even for lesser sins, 
 will gnaw thy heart with intense anguish, so the vengeance 
 of divine fire will torment thee with exquisite pain, though 
 thy pain and thy anguish shall not be equal to what great- 
 er criminals endure. But it is wise and kind in the blessed 
 God to denounce the terrors and sanctions of his law in. 
 their utmost severity, to guard his law the better against 
 every transgression, and to frighten and secure his crea- 
 tures from sin and punishment.
 
 280 THE NATURE OF THE- 
 
 Trifle not, therefore, sinner, with the means of mercy r 
 and venture not upon little sins, in hope of little misery, 
 nor dare to continue in an impenitent state without God, 
 without Christ and his salvation, upon a foolish presump- 
 tion that thy sins are hut small, and thy punishment shall 
 be less than others : for the least of those sorrows will be 
 found greater than any mortal creature can bear, and there- 
 fore thou shalt be made immortal to suffer them. 
 
 It is granted, there are many mansions in hell, as well 
 as\n heaven, but, as the lowest mansion in heaven is hap- 
 piness, so the easiest place in hell is misery. 
 
 There is another objection arises here, which it is neces- 
 sary to give some answer to ; viz. if the punishments of 
 hell are so intense and terrible, between the worm of con- 
 science, the fire of God's anger, and the malice of evil spir- 
 its, surely it will work up human nature into extacy and 
 madness ; it will take away all the regular exercise of our 
 natural powers ; it will render us perhaps mere passive 
 miserable beings, of keen sensations without reasoning. 
 This is certain, that such and so various tortures would 
 have that influence upon our natures at present, and why 
 should it not hereafter ? And will the blessed God con- 
 tinue to punish creatures when their reason is lost ? What 
 can punishments avail ? 
 
 T answer, surely God will not continue to punish mad- 
 men ; therefore none of these torments shall extinguish 
 our reason, or destroy our intellectual powers ; for it is as 
 creatures of reason and free-will that sinners are thus pun- 
 ished, and therefore these powers must remain in their 
 proper exercise; besides, the very operation of these 
 powers in self-ccndemnation, and self-upbraiding, are part 
 of their punishment. But whether God will so fortify 
 the natures of the damned, which probably shall not be 
 made of flesh and blood, and enable them to bear such 
 intense pain without distraction, or whether the high- 
 est extremes of their torment shall only be inflicted at 
 some certain periods or intervals, so that they shall soon 
 return to their reasoning powers again, with bitter remem- 
 brance of what passed, this matter is hard to determine; 
 and because it is unwritten and unrevealed, I am silent.. 
 But it still remains, that punishment shall be so intense 
 and severe,, as becomes a God of holiness and justice to 
 inflict on rebellious and obstinate creatures.
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 281 
 
 III. Reflections on the nature of these punish- 
 ments. 
 
 It is time now that we should proceed to form some 
 special l reflections on the nature of the punishments of 
 hell,' such as they have been described in the foregoing 
 discourse. 
 
 The first is this ; ' what dreadful and unknown evil is 
 contained in the nature of sin which grows up into such 
 misery,' which breeds this stinging worm in the con- 
 science, which prepares the creature for such fiery tor- 
 ments, and which provokes God to inflict them ? The 
 ' vessels of wrath have prepared themselves' for it, as the 
 Apostle intimates, by their own sins, Rom. ix. 22, 'they 
 are fitted for destruction :' nor does all the intense and in- 
 finite anguish of this punishment-exceed the desert of our 
 sins. The great God, in a way of bounty, may often be- 
 stow upon us vastly beyond what our. little services can 
 ever pretend to have deserved, but he never punishes be- 
 yond our deserts. 
 
 What a dangerous and pernicious mistake is it in the chil- 
 dren of men to sport with sin, as with a harmless thing ? 
 It is much safer sporting with a poisonous serpent, or with 
 burning firebrands. The serpent has many gay and pleas- 
 ing colours on its skin, and appears a very charming 
 'creature, which tempts children and fools to play with it :. 
 and the same ignorance inclines them sometimes to sport 
 with fire, because of its shining brightness : and till they 
 are burnt with the fire, or bit by the serpent, they will not 
 forsake their foolish choice, nor be convinced of their 
 danger. Such is the case and temper of sinful mortals : 
 their senses indulge the pleasing flatteries of sin, and are 
 fond of its tempting amusements, till they feel the smart 
 of the fire raging in their bosoms, and the adder stings 
 them to death. Thus the wise man describes the flatteries 
 of wine in the view of the drunkard, Prov. xxiii. 31, 32 : 
 but the same wise man pronounces every one 'a fool that 
 makes a mock at sin,' or trifles with so formidable a mis- 
 chief, Prov. xiv. 9. 
 
 How vain are the gay fancies of sinful men in the hour 
 of temptation, and how shocking and dreadful will be 
 their disappointment ? They think the descriptions of sin, 
 which are blown up and kindled into such terror by the 
 lips of the preacher, are but as mock-fire which never 
 36 r2
 
 282 THE NATURE OF THE 
 
 burns; but the great day of vengeance, which makes haste 
 towards them, will terribly and eternally convince them 
 of the fatal mischief of it by the various plagues that shall 
 seize upon them. The living worm shall gnaw their con- 
 sciences, and the fire of God will torment their spirits, 
 and spread a raging anguish through their whole natures ; 
 and every twinging accent of their pain shall teach them, 
 but with a terrible and hopeless conviction, ' what un- 
 speakable 'evil is contained in sin.' They will then find 
 what ' a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the liv- 
 ing God,' who has a right, and power to punish, and who 
 will punish, Heb. x. 31. 
 
 that eaclvof us might arrive at this holy wisdom, to 
 learn the dreadful ' evil of sin' from this Bible, this book 
 of the divine law and grace, and not provoke the blessed 
 God to teach us so necessary a lesson by the rod of his 
 vengeance ! that we could look upon every unlawful 
 action, and particularly every sin against conscience, as the 
 seed of that worm which will gn-aw our souls in hell with 
 intense pain, as part of that fuel which is kindling into a 
 flame to torment our consciences forever, and that under 
 the powerful influences of these representations of sin we 
 might flee to the utmost distance from it with horror, and 
 make our safe escape ! 
 
 Reflect. II. If the punishments of hell, appointed by 
 the blessed God, carry so much terror in them, ' how much 
 mistaken are the sinful children of men in the ideas which 
 they form of the great and blessed God ? This representa- 
 tion of the vengeance of the Lord in hell may be of use 
 to refute such mistaken opinions. 
 
 Some have framed a God for themselves ; not such as 
 dwells in the heavens, not such as he has described himself 
 in his word; but their vain imagination has raised up an 
 idol made of mere goodness and mercy, without holiness 
 and justice. It is their own self-love which forms this 
 idle and foolish image of the God that made them, because 
 they do not like to think of falling under the terrors of 
 his power. They venture to affront him to his face, Ihey 
 dare him to vengeance ; and as the writer of the book of 
 Job expresses it, ' they stretch out their hands against God, 
 they strengthen themselves against the Almighty, they 
 run upon him with insolence, and venture upon the thick 
 bosses of his buckler,' Job xv. 25. There are multitudes.
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 283 
 
 in our day that are arrived at such a dreadful height of 
 impiety, as to call upon him for the damnation of them- 
 selves, as well as of their friends, in sport and merriment. 
 They will not believe that the blessed God will ever be 
 found so severe and formidable as preachers describe him ; 
 and 'because judgment is not speedily executed' against 
 the men of iniquity, 'therefore the sons of men have their 
 hearts set in them to do mischief. Madness is in their 
 hearts,' Eccles. viii. 11, and ix. 3. Because God delays 
 his indignation they will not believe he has any belonging 
 to him, notwithstanding all the terrible" words by which 
 he is represented by the prophets, the apostles, and the 
 Son of God himself. And w.hile they rush boldly on 
 those crimes which God has severely forbidden, they are 
 ready to think 'God is just such an one as. themselves,' 
 regardless of virtue and government, Psal. 1. 21 : and be- 
 cause they make nothing of sin, they imagine God will 
 make nothing of it. 
 
 that the sons of men would once learn to know God 
 better, for 'there are many who have not the true know- 
 ledge of God, I speak it to their shame, when they' fancy 
 he is all made up of gentleness and forbearance, without 
 holiness and justice! Alas, sirs, these attributes areas 
 necessary in God as grace and compassion. He is and he 
 must be a wise, a righteous governor of the world ; and 
 his wisdom requires that impenitent sinners should be 
 punished, to secure the honour of his law, and to guard 
 his gospel from contempt. * These awful perfections of 
 the blessed God are as necessary to vindicate his authority 
 and his government from insult and rebellion, as his good- 
 ness is needful to encourage sinful creatures to repent and 
 return to their duty. The word of God expressly tells 
 us, he is a God of 'holiness and a consuming fire,' Heb. 
 xii. 29 ; but there is many a sinner that will never learn 
 
 
 
 * A governor made up of mere goodness and meifjr, could be no 
 governor at all ; for it is absurd to call that a government, where every 
 subject may do what iniquity and mischief he pleases with impunity. The 
 laws of such a government would cease to be laws, and become mere rules 
 and directions for living, which every one might observe or not, just ac- 
 cording to his inclination. To say that it became thu wisdom of God to 
 threaten offenders, but that his goodness will interpose in the end and 
 hinder the punishment, is to say, that God is not wise ; for if he were, 
 he would certainly have taken care not to let those men into the secret. 
 Bishop Hort's sermons, p. 315.
 
 284 THE NATURE OF THE 
 
 this lesson till the torments of hell teach it him by dismal 
 experience. They have trifled with his majesty, and 
 mocked at his threatenings all their life, till at the moment 
 of death he awakes like a lion, and tears their spirits with 
 everlasting anguish. 
 
 I might take notice also in this place, that there is 
 another mistaken notion of God, into which some persons 
 have unhappily fallen, as 'though God were the cause and 
 author of sin,' and have spoken unadvisedly with their 
 lips, in such language as borders too near upon blasphe- 
 my. But it is evident, that a God, who will punish the 
 sins of men with such intense pain and torment, can never 
 be so inconsistent with hijnself as to be the author or cause 
 of those sins. It is granted, that his universal providence 
 has a concern in every thing that is transacted among men , 
 but since he has informed us in what a dreadful manner 
 he will execute his vengeance against sinners in the world 
 to come, it is insolence and indignity against the blessed 
 God to represent him as introducing sin into our world. 
 'Let God be true, though every man be a liar ;' let God 
 be pure, and righteous, and holy, though every man be 
 found guilty and criminal: 'otherwise, how shall God 
 judge the world ?' How can he inflict such torments on 
 rebellious creatures, if he constrain or influence them to 
 practise this rebellion ? All opinions therefore, that allow 
 of such an inference, as though 'God were the author of 
 sin,' must be pronounced false and pernicious to men, as 
 well as injurious to the justice of God ; for these notions 
 throw a vile imputation on the blessed God, and charge 
 him with heinous insincerity, to forbid the commission of 
 sin by all these terrors, and yet suppose him to influence 
 men to the practice of them. 
 
 Reflect. III. 'How reasonable is it for us to believe, that 
 such a hell, as I have described, is prepared for impeni- 
 tent sinners, since there are so many appearances of the 
 beginnings of it here on earth,' so many indications, and 
 signs, and forerunners of such misery and torment inflicted 
 on sinful men. Survey the remarkable executions of God's 
 judgments on the world in several ages and nations ; look 
 back to our first parents, who were thrust out of paradise, 
 the garden of pleasure, and banished from the gates of it 
 forever, upon the account of the first sin, and the entrance 
 of it was guarded by a flaming sword to forbid their return.
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 285 
 
 Behold the flood of watery vengeance in the days of Noah 
 breaking up from the vast caverns of the earth, and pouring 
 down from the windows of heaven to punish sin. 'Deep 
 calls unto deep' in the tremendous noise of these water- 
 spouts, which spread death and desolation over the face 
 of the whole earth, 'because all flesh had sinned' against 
 God their Creator. Turn your eyes to Sodom and Gomor- 
 rah, and the cities of the plain, 'suffering the vengeance' 
 of heaven with lightning and devouring fire bursting from 
 the clouds to punish the unnatural crimes of that country. 
 See the fiery flying serpents, as the messengers of divine 
 anger, to punish the rebellion of the Israelites, in the 
 wilderness. Mark what multitudes in the camp of Israel 
 received their mortal sting, and were given up to destruc- 
 tion and death. Cast your eyes abroad over the nations, 
 and what records have we of all former ages, which do 
 not manifest the vengeance of God pursuing the iniqui- 
 ties of men, by wars, and famines, and pestilences, and 
 every thing that is bitter and dreadful to human nature. 
 See Jerusalem, the city of God, all in flames, and the 
 whole land of Judea laid desolate with deepest distress, 
 diffused and reigning among all the inhabitants of it. Above 
 a million of them were actually slaughtered and consumed 
 by famine and sword, as a sacrifice to the anger of God, 
 for their long provocations, and the cruel barbarous mur- 
 der of his Son Jesus. And when you have taken all these 
 surveys, then tell me if such terrors of the Lord do not. 
 give us sufficient warning what unknown agonies and 
 destructions may be expected by obstinate and impenitent 
 sinners from the hand of God, when the utmost limits of 
 his patience restrain his wrath no longer, but his wisdom 
 gives a loose to all his fiery indignation. 
 
 To inforce this yet upon your hearts, think again of all 
 the pains and torments of flesh and spirit, which arise 
 from the distempers of body, and from the anguish of 
 soul, even in this present state of trial, this land of hope, 
 this season of divine long-suffering. Go to the hospi- 
 tals, where the gout, and stone, and rheumatism, and a 
 thpusand maladies torture the nerves and the joints of men 
 with intolerable smart ; and infer thence what God will 
 inflict both on the flesh and spirit, or the soul and body 
 of .sinners in the day of his complete vengeance, when 
 his offers of mercy and the years of his grace are come to
 
 286 THE NATURE OF THE 
 
 their last period. Go and survey the fields of battle and 
 slaughter, where thousands of the dead and the dying are 
 mingled in contused heaps, and groan out their souls 'in 
 long anguish and extreme torture, with bruises and wounds 
 and all the smarting effects of the instruments of war. 
 Now if all these things corne under the conduct of divine 
 providence in a sinful world, which is yet in a way of 
 hope, what may those resolved and obstinate rebels, expect, 
 when all the doors of hope are shut up forever, and pro- 
 vidence has nothing to do on earth or in hell, but to execute 
 the vengeance of God. 
 
 Shall we take one step yet further, and think of the 
 inward pangs of conscience, which some awakened crim- 
 inals have felt in this life on the account of sin, when the 
 arrows of God have been shot into their souls, and the 
 poison thereof lies drinking up their spirits? Think what 
 dreadful ferments of passion, and rage, and hatred of God 
 have been found in the hearts of some sinful creatures, 
 when they have grown mad with revenge against God, 
 and against themselves, and envy against all their fellow- 
 mortals, who, are not in the same circumstances ; think 
 yet again how terribly their misery must be aggravated, 
 when the torture of everlasting despair attends all the 
 rest of- the pains and sorrows they suffer ; and then say, 
 if the description of a future hell in the word of God may 
 not be true and real. What anguish beyond all the power 
 of present thought and language, may seize all the powers 
 of wilful and impious rebels against the authority and the 
 mercy of God, when all the stores of his vengeance that 
 have been treasuring up for many years, shall be poured 
 out upon them without any mitigation or mixture of mercy. 
 Reflect. IV. 'It is matter of surprise, and great aston- 
 ishment, that thousands and ten thousands of the sinful 
 children of men, from day to day, and from year to year, 
 are walking on the borders of all this misery, and yet are 
 so thoughtless and unconcerned about it.' They carry 
 peaceful and easy minds in the midst of this dreadful 
 danger, and while they have all the symptoms of the 
 children of wrath upon them, they live without fear, and 
 make no effort toward their escape. Wretched creatures 
 indeed ! Who have a mortal disease upon them that will 
 breed this growing worm of conscience, that will grow 
 up into all this anguish and distress, and yet are senseless
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 287 
 
 of their own peril, unacquainted with their own state of 
 soul, and are daily treading their earthly rounds of busi- 
 ness and of pleasure with a merry heart. All the heavy 
 artillery of divine vengeance is ready to be discharged 
 upon them as soon as the door of death opens and lets 
 them into the invisible world ; and yet they walk on fear- 
 less and joyful, and have no guard or defence from all 
 this misery, besides their own vain presumption. Stupid 
 creatures, to lie down at night, and awake in the morning 
 within an inch of holl, and yet secure and fearless ! They 
 live ' without God in the world,' and that even in this land 
 of light and hope, where he offers to visit them with all his 
 graces ; and yet they are hasting hourly to the eternal world, 
 where they must meet and behold him in all his terrors. 
 
 Will nothing awaken you, O ye obstinate transgressors 
 against God, ye obstinate rejecters of his grace and gospel? 
 Will nothing warn you to flee from the wrath to come ? 
 But just thus it was in the days of Noah ; the sinners of 
 that generation would not hearken to that preacher of 
 righteousness; and even when they saw the clouds of hea- 
 ven grow big and black over their heads, and the rain be- 
 gan to be poured down from the skies, little did they im- 
 agine that it would have drowned the earth, till they were 
 overwhelmed with the rising destruction. And so shall 
 it be in the days of the Son of man, when all the warnings 
 of the preachers have been despised, and the threatened 
 vengeance of the book of God derided, when they have 
 set up for bold and witty scoffers, and impudently deman- 
 ded, ' where is the promise of his coming ?' Then shall 
 the great and terrible day of the Lord come, and pour out 
 upon them the full measure of wrath and indignation. 
 
 Is it not time, my friends, to bethink yourselves, wheth- 
 er this be your case ? Is it not time for evfery one of us 
 to examine our souls ? Am I exposed to this danger ? Am 
 I every moment on the brink of this misery, and yet con- 
 tent to Continue so one night or one day longer ? Can I 
 ever hope to escape the fury of God, while I thus abuse 
 his patience ? Or can I have any expectation of living 
 with him as my God hereafter, if I never seek after him 
 here ? The face of God, as a stranger in the world to 
 come, carries infinite terrors in it, and yet we are content 
 to be strangers to him, and to live without his acquaintance. 
 'The wrath of God abides upon' every man who isunregen-
 
 288 THE NATURE OF THE 
 
 erate in this life, and ' who has not trusted in the name of 
 the Son of God/ John iii. 36 ; yet they are thoughtless of 
 it, for they feel it not ; but the moment when they shall 
 awake in the world of spirits, that wrath will be felt with 
 sudden and dreadful anguish, as a most unsupportable bur 
 then, and will crush all the powers of the soul into torment. 
 
 Reflect. V. < It deserves and it demands our highest gra- 
 titude 'to the great God, our humblest acknowledgements 
 and our most exalted praises to his majesty and his mercy, 
 that we, who have long ago deserved this misery, are not 
 yet plunged into the midst of it:' that we have not been 
 entirely cut off from the land of hope, and sent down to 
 this destruction. Blessed be the name and the grace of 
 our Cruel for ever and ever. 
 
 While there are thousands who have been sent down 
 to the place of punishment, whence there is no redemp- 
 tion, before they .had continued so long in sin as many of 
 us have done, what a peculiar instance is it of divine long- 
 suffering and goodness, that we are not actually put under 
 the sting of this living worm, under this fiery vengeance 
 from the hand 'of God ? What was there in us that should 
 secure us from this destruction, while we continued in our 
 state of guilt, rebellion and impenitence ? Have we not 
 seen many sinners on our right hand, and on our left, cut 
 off in their sins, and to all appearance they seem to be 
 sent down to the place of sorrows ? What is it but the 
 special mercy and distinguishing favour of God that has 
 dealt thus kindly with us, and spared and saved us, week 
 tfter week, and month after month, while we continued in 
 ur iniquities, and has given us space for repentance and 
 hope ? What shall we render to the Lord for all his pa- 
 tience and long-suffering, even to this day ? How often 
 :iave we incurred the penalty of the law of God, and the 
 fiery sentence of condemnation by our repeated iniquities, 
 both against the authority and the grace of God? And yet 
 we are alive in his presence, and are hearing the words of 
 hope and salvation. let us look back and shudder at the 
 thoughts of that dreadful precipice,' on the edge of which 
 we have so long wandered. Let us flee for escape to the 
 refuge that is set before us, and give a thousand glories to 
 the divine mercy that we are not plunged into this perdi- 
 tion. 
 
 Reflect. VI. Let us learn from this description of hell,
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 289 
 
 and our imminent danger of it, ' the infinite vtrlue and 
 worth of the gospel of Christ :' this gospel, which calls us 
 aloud to flee from, the wrath ^o come, and points .out to us 
 the only effectual way to escape it., .\\hat can all the 
 riches of the Iridjes.tTo to relieve us under 4 the guilt and 
 distress into which* sin* has brought us ? What? can the fa- 
 your of princes, and Vhe flatterjng honours of the world 
 do* to rescue us from this danger ? What can the highest 
 gust of sensuality, and the most exquisite- delights of flesh 
 and blood do fc> secure' us against thi# ovenv helming mis- 
 ery ?* It is only the gospel of the.'*blessetl Jesus which is 
 our refuge,, and our safety from the tremendous destruction. 
 
 What ar"e the heights, and depths,'and- lengths of human 
 science, with^all the boasted acq-uisitiorts of the brightest 
 genius, of mankind ?\ Learning and 'science can measure 
 the globe, can squifd the depths of tke sea, can compase the 
 heavens, can mete out the distances of the* sun. and moon, 
 and mark.'out the paflvof every twinkiiu'g sta for many 
 ages past, or ages- tcwcome ^ but they cannot acquaint us 
 with the way. 6f ^salvation from this long, this- endless dis- 
 tress. What are all tTie sublirhe reasonings of philosophers 
 upon the abstruse and most'difficult SLrbjects? What is the 
 whole circle 'of sciences which human wit and thought can 
 trace otit and comprehend ? Can they deliver iis from the 
 guilt oi one sin ? . Can they free' Us from- one- of the . ter- 
 rors of the Almighty ? Can. they, assaagc the torment of 
 a wounded spirit, or guard .us" From the impressions of 
 divine indignation I Alas! they are all but trifles, in com- 
 parison of flits blessed -gospel, which saves us from eternal 
 anguish and death. 
 
 It is the gospel that teaches 'us the holy skill to prevent 
 this Worm of conscience from gnawing the soul, and -in- 
 structs us how to ldfl it in the seed and first springs of it, 
 to mortify the corruptions of- the heart,. to resist the temp- 
 tations of Satan, and where to wash away the guilt of sin. 
 It is this blessed gospel that clearly djscovers to us how 
 we may guard against the fire of crivine wrath, or rather 
 how to secure our souls from becoming the fuel of it. It is 
 this book that teaches us to' sprinkle the blood of Christ on 
 a guilty conscience by faith, i. e. by receiving him as sin- 
 cere penitents, and thereby, defends* us from the angel of 
 death and destruction. This is that experimental philoso- 
 phy of the saints in heaven, whereby they have been re- 
 37 Z
 
 290 THE NATURE OS THE 
 
 leased from the bonds <of their sins, have beeri rescued from' 
 the curse of the law, 'and been secured from -the gnawing 
 worm and the devouring fire*... 
 
 A serious metlitatipri of hell in its exquisite pain and 
 sorrow, will ejihance our value of *the' salvation of Christ, 
 and will exalt our esteem and honour of the Ipre of God, 
 who has delivered us- from eternal dfeath. If we will i>ut* 
 appoint our thoughts* to dSvell a little on- the terrors and 
 vengeance from which the blessed Jesus has rescued us by 
 his glorious undertaking, if we will stretch the powers pf 
 our souls,--and survey the lengths, and the breadths, and 
 the depths pf this distress and misery, which w$ hfcrve" de- 
 served, this will discover to'usthe heights, and the depths, 
 and the lengths' of his love, who submitted himself to the 
 curses of the law-of God, 'and was made a curse for us,' 
 that he- might redeem* us to the possession of an eternal 
 blessing, Gal. iii. 33. This will shejv us what .exceeding 
 riches of the' graee of God have been laid out upon us for 
 our salvation. . This will spread before us the unmeasura- 
 ble love of Jesus, which has brought Jiirn* down from the 
 bosom of his Father into such- agonies as he sustained* in 
 the garden, and dn-the cross, ttiat he miglii rescue us from 
 the wrath to come. 'what immense and endless debts 
 of gratitude and love are due from every ransomed sinner, 
 who ha"s been released from the bonds of his guilf, and 
 from all this wretchedness, by, the love of God the Fa- 
 ther,' and the grace of his Son Jesws Christ, to w^iom be 
 glory and honour,, and most exalted praise, fprever and 
 ever. v Jtme.n. 

 
 DISCOURSE XIII. 
 
 THE ETERNAL DURATION OF THE PUNISHMENTS IN 
 HEX*..' 
 
 V 
 
 MATIK. ix. 46. Whete their' Worm dieth, not, and the Fire is not 
 quenched. 
 
 I. Arguments to prove the perpetuity of hell. 
 
 WHEN the great ami blessed God had & mind to make 
 known his wisdom, his" power, and his, goodness amongst 
 creatures* he built this world as a theatre, in -which those 
 perfections of his -nature might 'be displayed 'amidst the 
 various work of his hands. He spread it round with the 
 blessings of life and pleasure, he overhung it with a cano- 
 py of skies atid. stars, and placed the glorious bodies of the 
 . suli and 'moon there, to appear in their alternate seasons ; 
 and even amidst the ruins which sin. has brought into this 
 world,- jjet still.every eye may behold the traces of an al- 
 mighty, an all-wise,- and a bountiful God. 
 
 When the -same divine and sovereign Being designed 
 to exalt and diffu.se the wonders of his grace among the 
 begt of his creatures, -he built a heaven for them, and fur- 
 nished it with unknown "varieties of beauty and blessing: 
 and we would hope in our Appointed season to be raised 
 to this upper world, and there to behold the riches of di- 
 vine magnificence and mercy, and to be sharers thereof 
 among the rest of the happy inhabitants. 
 
 But since sin and wickedue'ss has entered into his crea- 
 tion of men and angels, he saw it accessary also to display 
 the terrors of his*] u slice, and to make his wrath and indig- 
 nation known amongst rebellious creatures, that he might 
 maintain, .a.just jjwe and reverence of 'his own authority, 
 and a constant hatred of sin .through all his dominions. 
 For this pqrpose he has built- a hell, a dreadful building 
 indeed, in some dismal region. of his vast empire, where 
 he has amassed together all that is grievous and formida- 
 
 291
 
 292 THE ETERNAL DURATION OF 
 
 ble to sensible beings, and wicked spirits -carry their own 
 inward hell thither with them, a hell of sin and misery ; 
 and though he- has sent his own Son to acquaint us with 
 the distresses and agonies of- that doleful worhlj aijd to 
 warn us of the danger of falling into -it; yet if any of us 
 should be so unhappy as to continue in an "obstinate state 
 ^ of irrtjjenitence and disobedience to God, we shall be mader" 
 to confess, by dreadful'experiehce, that not one-half hath 
 been told us. . . 
 
 Therefore hath God set -before us these terrors in his 
 wordj that, we might fl6e frojn this wratja to. come, and 
 avoid these sufferings.. And therefore do his ministers, 
 by his commission, proceed to publish this vengeance and 
 indignation of the Lord, that sinners might be awakened 
 to lay hold on the hope that .is set before them, and might 
 be- affrighted from plugging themselves into this pit of 
 anguish, whence there is no redemption. 
 
 We. have' taken a short survey of these miseries, in th'e 
 'kind and* nature. of them/ in some former discourses, and 
 we are now come to the last thing contained in our Sa* 
 viour's description of hell, and that is the 'perpetuity' of 
 il. The misery is everlasting. irt both the, p'arts of it; for 
 'their-worm dieth not,'and the fire is riot quenched.' The. 
 arguments which shall be employed to prove jt, are such 
 as these. .. 
 
 I. Jlrgument* Th'e express words of Christ and his 
 Apostles prcHio.unce these punishments eternal ; and surely 
 these words are given to be .the foundation of our faith 
 and practice, antl the rules of our hope and .fear. My 
 text seems io carry plain and -unanswerable evi,dencein it. 
 'Thejr worm dieth not, aud the fire is not quenched.' 
 And it. is many times repealed in. tbis chapter, and that 
 with a special acqent on the eternal, duration of it,' to make 
 that circumstance of it more* observed, an'd to' aggravate? 
 the terror.. Such an awful, repetition from the lips of 
 the Son of God shoujd make the sojund of the vengeance 
 dwell longer on the ear, and the threatening sink 'deeper 
 into'the soul. 
 
 Let us next* obsferve the. final sentence whichChrist, as 
 Judge, pronounces against .impenitent- sinners among tfee 
 sons of 'men, as well as agahist fallen spirits, in- Matt. xxv. 
 It is this, 'Depart, ye cursed; into everlasting fire, pre- 
 pared for the devil and "his angels.' And as soon as the
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 293 
 
 sentence Is pronounced, it is, immediately executed, as our 
 Saviour forete,ls, 'in the last' verse : 'These shall go away 
 into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life 
 eternal.' What he pronounces as a Judge, he"foretels also 
 as a Prophet,,that it shall be put in execution. , 
 . The express word -#f' God, .in describiiig the punish- 
 ment of. sinsers by* the pen of h-is <two apostles, Paul and 
 John, declares the samp thing,- 2 .Th.es. j.. 9, 'They shall 
 be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence 
 of the .Lord.' And the book of Revelation gives us assu- 
 rance'that these miseries shall bave.no end. Rev. xiv. 10, 
 11. The 'antidifistian' idolaters, 'who worship the beafst, 
 shall drink ef the wine of the wrath of God, which is 
 poured out, without mixture, intojhe cup of his indigna- 
 tion, and shall be" tormente'd with fire and brimstone in 
 the presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment 
 ascendeth tip for ever and ever.' Jude the apostle beftrs 
 his testimony in the same manner, ver. 6; 'ther* damned 
 'spirits, who kept not .their first* station, are' said to be 
 'cast down-' into hell, 'ar\d bound in chains of everlasting 
 darkness.' Now, "suppose a man plunged into a pit of 
 thick darkness', by the command of God, and bound there 
 with everlasting chains; what hope can he ever have of 
 deliverance? 
 
 And if Christ, ttnd his apostles who were % taught by him 
 and by his blessed Spirit, assert this punishment shall be 
 eternal, who shall dare 1 to contradict them ? Who is there 
 so rash and confident as to say', 'This torment shall not be 
 everlasting, this worm one day hall die, and this fire 
 shall be quenched?" Does.it'not approach to the crime 
 of contradicting the Almighty, and the true-G*od ? ' 
 
 JI, Argument. There" is a sort of infinite evil in sin, 
 arising from the consideration of the person against whom 
 it is committed, i. e. the great and blessed God : for every 
 crime, according to the law .of nations, and the common 
 sense of mankind, take* its aggravation from the dignity 
 of the p'erson 'offended, as well as from the heLnousness of 
 Ijie act^ so reproaches or assaults against a king, or a fa- 
 ther,- are much more criminal and heinous than the same as- 
 saults or reproaches cast on an equal or an inferior ; but all 
 sin being an offence "against God, an infinite object, and a 
 violation of his law, js a. dishonour of infinite Majesty, an 
 affront to the divine authority, and therefore its aggrava-
 
 294 THE ETERNAL DUUATION-OF 
 
 tions arise in that proportion to a sort- of infinity, and re- 
 quire an equal. punishment. But ^because the nature of a 
 creature cannot suffer infinite puhfthmcTit in thd 'intense- 
 ness of the pain/ therefore "he must bear it to an 'infinite 
 duration/* 1. e.^to all everlasting.. 
 
 When divine justice pronounce* a sentence against the 
 sinner, equal to the demerit of sin, it must be*iniinite, i. e. 
 eternal; and the .sinner shall -nev^r 'be released from the 
 prison.' and the punishment, 'till he has .paid the utmost 
 farthing/ Matth. ix. 25, and till he has made satisfaction 
 to God, equal, to his de'mandsj and the demerit of the 
 offence. 
 
 I know this argument is treated with mlicn contejnpt 
 jind derision among these of the moderns, who v, r ould di- 
 minish the evjl t)f sin, and shorten the punishment of it. 
 But it is much easier to ridicule it than to answ'er it A 
 jest is no refutation. And after my best, survey bf it, I 
 think, without prejudice. or partiality, the force of it seems 
 to me unanswerable as'to the desert of sin ; and I am not. 
 ashamed to employ it in the support of thie truth. 
 
 But a very feeble .opposition' can be' made to it by those 
 who say, that .'if sin be counted an infinite evil, and must 
 have infinite punishment, theji all sins are equal, and will 
 require equal punishment/ for there are no different de- 
 grees in infinity, or -in things which are' infinite. 
 
 But our Saviour has taught us, that there are certainly 
 various degrees of punishment as well as of sin. He as- 
 sures us that 'it sh'all be more tolerable for' the inhabitants 
 of 'Sodom and Gomorrtih,;in the da"y of judgment, than if 
 shall be for Capernaum and Bethsaida,' Where he had 
 preached and wrought his wori'ders, Luke X, f2, &c'and 
 the reason is plain, viz. because the sins of Sodori} were 
 less than theirs. t 
 
 And it is very easy to answer thi pretence or objection 
 about the equality of all sins, for sins may have different 
 degrees of guilt and aggravation as to the actj where the 
 object is the same, whether this object be. finite or infinite ; 
 as the murder of" a father or a king, is a- much .greater 
 crime than a reproach or slander cast on thetsame persons. 
 So the wilful hatred of God ai\d blasphemy against him, 
 with continued malice and public violent opposition to his 
 name, or law, or gospel, are far greater sins than a single 
 neglect of his daily worship for fear of persecution, or a
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 295 
 
 
 
 distrusting his providence, though both have the same in- 
 finite Being, i. e. God,'for thejc object ; and in this sense 
 .there is a sort of infinity in each of the. crimes. 
 
 And accordingly punishments may be proportioned to 
 * every .crime^ for they may differ greatly in tl)e degree of 
 severity and torture, though they may all be t?qual or 
 eternal in. 'the duration, Sodom aud Gomorrah, Caper- 
 naum and Bethsajda, may all suffer -infinite or eVerlasting, 
 sorrow, and yet the degrees of their pain may be exceed- 
 ingly different all the while. They Vnay have .the same in- 
 finity, of duration, though very different.as-to the inte'nse- 
 ness or degree of the pain. , , . 
 
 III. Argument. > If the iniquities committed 'in this 
 life were not punished -with torment whioh is everlasting, 
 yet the. damned, inr hell are ev^r. sinning. against -Qod, and 
 therefore they provoke the vengeance .of God to continue 
 his punishing hand upon them forever. The law of God, 
 in all its demands f duty, its prohibitions of sin, as well 
 as in its sanctions of punishment, continues forever in 
 force in heaven", and etirth, ami hell, and we see not how 
 it can t>e abrogated where it arises from t the very nature 
 of God and a creature,: and 'curse'd is he that continues 
 not in all things which the law requires,' Gal. iii. Every 
 new sin demands a new curse and a new punishment, and 
 ihere is* no reason which forbids a righteous governor to 
 cease punishing, while the rebellious creature will not 
 cease to offend, and especially while he maintains an ever-- 
 lasting enmity^ and rebellion .against the law of God his 
 Creator.. 
 
 If there were any humble meltings of repentance in the 
 guilty soul, if there w.ere any sincere mournings in the 
 sinful creatare for having offended his- Maker, -if there 
 were any'softneSs of heart, relenting under a sense of the 
 evil of sm, and returning to obedience and duty, even this- 
 would not oblige a righteous and wise governor to forgive 
 the criminal ; repentanpe is noncompensation fpr a wilful 
 offence ; nor is it thought unrighteous or unwise for a 
 prince to punish even a penitent offender with death. 
 . But let us propose the case in utmost favour to a sinner 
 against the blessed God, let us imagine that divine wisdom 
 and divine mercy* per haptf fbighf be supposed to contrive 
 and to .offer some proposals to justice in a way of compas- 
 iion, and might enquire whether the sentence of punish-
 
 296 THE ETERNAL DURATION OF 
 
 merit could not be reversed, or the terror of it relieved, or 
 some new state of trial pt;apoecl. Let it be added in fa- 
 vour of the criminal, that we do jnotfind- through all the 
 book of God the actual practipe of true repentance begin T 
 ning' among men, but -it has been always followed with 
 proportionable degrees of compassion from God. But, on 
 the other side, when there is nothing found fn the heart 
 
 ,of a sinner but ob'stinacy, and rhalice, and revenge, curs- 
 ing and blasphemy against t-he Almighty, without the' least 
 moving or melting irfto a genuine penitence or holy sor- 
 rovv, without'apy. meek snbmissionto the majesty and jus- 
 tice of God, or humbje, imploring of tiis meYcy, what 
 reasonable hope can sijch wretches have, that their chains 
 of Darkness shoUld be bfoken, and the prisoners released 
 from vengeance ? When they shallcurse his justice, be- 
 cause it punishes thejr .crimes, 'when they shall curse his 
 mercy, because it did not save their souls, and curse and 
 blaspheme the blood of the blessed Jesus, because it has 
 not washed away their sins, what possible -excuse can be 
 made for auch creatures? Or wh^f possible expectation 
 carr there be for such criminals, but an everlasting 'contin- 
 uance of the fiery indignation?. . 
 
 Here it will be replied, but why should we suppose, 
 and much more, why should we affirm, that ' the damned 
 will never repent ?' Are they nob free in the other work! 
 front this flesh and blood, wherein there are so many un- 
 
 ruly passions and appetites ? Are they not far remote from 
 all the f temptations of flesh and sense, of^ intemperance, 
 ambition, and covetousness ? Have they not understanding 
 to see divine truths more clearly than. in this world ? Have- 
 they not reason to distinguish good and evil^ and free-will 
 to choose tfyat which is good ? Will they not hate all sin, 
 since they have been so -long taught the miscRief of sin 
 by their sufferjngs? And is there* any thing fitter than 
 their, agonies and torture by fire 4 to make men know and 
 feel the dreadful evil of sinning agaihst God, .and to awa- 
 ken them to repeal t ante ? 
 
 To this I answdr, let us judge a little concerning the 
 sinners in'hell, by the practice of sinners on earth. ' How- 
 many wretched creatures are there . who have been long 
 imprisoned, and perhaps 'punished for drimes against the 
 state, and yet persist in their rebellious temper, and are ne- 
 ver convinced they were in- the wrong, so far as to change 

 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 297 
 
 
 
 their treason into /sincere, submission, repentance, and obe- 
 dience ? Was notPharaoh, kingef Egypt, an instance of 
 the stubbornness and 'impendence of human nature, when, 
 in opposition to ten dreadful'plagues he Would still pursue 
 the flying Israelites, and/destroy a people beloved of God? 
 
 . te not hardness and enmity against the governor often in- 
 creased; by the* severe punishments that criminals lie un- 
 der? Have these nn-nishments any sufficient power to sof- 
 ten their "hearts into true repentance ? 
 
 What though they do not live in the midst, of sensual 
 tejnptatipn's, yet who knows lunv farjheir spirits, having 
 been immersed in 'flesh and blood, may carry ' with 
 them in'ward, raging appetites to thc%e sinful sensualities 
 and cfefilin'g pleasures, of which theV are fot ever depri- 
 ved? 'A 
 
 Let- me as'k again, have the devijs. ever repen-ted in al- 
 most six thousand years*? ; Are they not the same enemies 
 to G.od, and his glory, and his image through a-11 ages? And 
 though the damned -spirits of men are abselit from this 
 world, and their tjvil companions oh earth, yet are they 
 not in the fittest .company to teach them ptide^and rage, 
 resentment 'and malice, and die ipost unfit ttif teach . them 
 humility, repentance, and obedience to God? And when 
 they have perversely sinned away all the means of grace 
 iri this life, is it reasonable 4o imagine, that* God will pow- 
 erfully softe'n their hearts by 'his 'sovereign grace, since he 
 has never given the least hint or yistan.ee .of- it in alKthe 
 discoveries made in the Bible? And has it net been- of- 
 ten one way of God's punishing, signers, here rrw this world, 
 by letting, them go oi\, iri <tKelr. iniquity and madness to the 
 end ? And why may n&t the wisdonwnd justice of God 
 
 see fit to treat shiners, whg have been in,cerrigible in this 
 jife, .by the same method in, the* world* to come? 
 
 . IV. Jlrgument.. The natural effects and conse.quences 
 ef'svn living -in the soul, are misery and torment so* long 
 as the soul lives, i. e. forever.- Sin f though it be amoral 
 evil, as it is committed against^ qd ; yet it is such ah ene- 
 my to the nature of, man, that ^'here it has established its 
 habit and tenrper in tlie soul, it naturally prepares constant 
 anguish qf conscience and certain misery. A wicked spi- 
 rit all.'ove.r averse tp God and -goodrtess, gone from this 
 world and all the soothtfig or bnsy amusements of it, intense 
 in its desiues'of happines's, and yet a stranger to all that 
 38' %
 
 298 THE ETERNAL DURATJON OF 
 
 can make it truly happy, and at the same time shut out 
 by God's righteous Judgment, from all the means and 
 hopes of grace, must needs he miserable, ancl has prepar- 
 ed a state of endless miser^ for its'elf, because its nature 
 and duration arc-- immortal. An yfihtoly creature who loves 
 not God, and cannot delight in thingshoiy and hqavenly, 
 but derives its chief joy from sinful pleasures, can never 
 taste of felicity, can never relish the satisfactions that come 
 from the knowledge, arid love, and enjoyment' of God; 
 and when it is tojn.away, and banishjed fronj all the sensi- 
 ble amusements of, -this life, it must and will be a wretch- 
 ed creature in the world of spirits,and (hat by the very course- 
 of nature. 'And Gtnl' cannot be obliged to change |he es- 
 tablished coiirse of nature to relieve this misery which the 
 sinner Jiad wilfully brought on himself; nor can God make 
 him happy without. giving him a new temper of holiness, 
 which he is not obliged to do by any perfection of his na- 
 ture, or any promise of his grace. 
 
 . If .the soilis of men are immortal, such will their pas- 
 sions be, their desires,. their'fears, and their sorrows. Now 
 their natgral desires of happiness, as I have said, will be 
 intense and strong, when G % od, th^ spring K)f all happi- 
 ness, who hath been renouftced^ and abandoned by them, 
 hath now forever forsaken them, and .separated himself 
 from them. What can there -remain for them but ever- 
 lasting, darkness' and 'despair, without a daw.n of hope 
 through all the ages of , eternity ? Their guilty conscien- 
 ces, with the views of God's unchangeable holiness, will 
 forever fill them with rvew fears and terrors, what shall be 
 the next punishment they are tc* suffer. Such is the state 
 of devils at'this time, who expect a more dreadful punish-, 
 ment at the gneat day, as-'several place's -oT scripture make 
 evident. Their bein.g immersed in the guilt of sin, and 
 under .the constant and tyrannical dominion of it, will 
 overwhelm them with present grief, with cutting sorrows, 
 and horror unspeakable, which will sink into the centre 
 of their souls, and make them an eternal terror and plague 
 to themselves. 
 
 tfgain, let us consider that their immortality of soul 
 will be spent in ' thinking :' and what, cojnfortable or hope- 
 ful object is there in heaven^ earth, or hell, on which they 
 can fix or employ their thoughts for one moment, to give 
 a short release from their extreme misery? So that they 
 
 

 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 290 
 
 are left in endless successions of most painful thoughts and 
 passions from the very nature of things. 
 
 Again, slippose this body of mine were by nature im- 
 mortal, and was designed, by my Creator in its- constitu- 
 tion to live ibrever ; "and suppose by my own folly and 
 madness, my own wilful indulgence of appetite and pas- 
 sion, I had brought some dreadful distemper into my 
 flesh which was found to be incurable, whether it be the gout 
 or the stone, or some more terjible malady of the nervous 
 kind, must not this gout, by necessity of nature, become 
 an immortal gout? 'Must pofc these distempers be -immor- 
 tal distempers, and create Eternal pain? And is th (*od 
 of nature bound to work amira*cle to cure -and heal- these 
 diseases-which I have wilfully brought upon 1 myself by- my 
 own iniquities> aad that 'after many warnings? Is. it un- 
 righteous in God to let me languish on arnklst my agonies 
 and groans as long as my nature .continues in being, i. e. 
 to immortality ? And especially when there are valuable 
 ends in divine providence, and' God's government of the 
 world, to be subserved^ by suffering such wilful, rebellious, 
 and impenitent 'creatures to become sacrifices to their own 
 iniquity' and his justice, and perpetual monuments to other 
 worlds of their bwn madness ajid *his holiness. Such' is 
 the case of a sinful .spirit, and therefore a God of justice 
 may pronounce upon it, and execute the eternal misery. 
 
 II. The. strongest and most plausible objections 
 against the perpetuity of hell answered. 
 
 I think these reasons, wh'ich have been gij?en, are suf- 
 ficient to justify the ministers of the gospel .in represent- 
 ing the punishments of hell as everlasting. B.ut*nan, sinful 
 man,, does not love to hear of this dreadful perpetuity of 
 hell. They w^uld fain^find some period to these sorrows, 
 they search on. every si<]e if there be no way' for Escape 
 from this prison, no door* of me.rcy, no cranny of hope 
 left among. the reasons of things, or among the attributes; 
 or the transactions of the blessed God: and they are ever 
 proposing some methods to cut short this eternity, which 
 .scripture ascribes to the punishment of impenitent sinners. 
 I shajl endeavour therefore to give a fair and plain answer 
 to- Hie strongest objections against this doctrine which I ev- 
 er yet have met with* 
 
 The first objection is raised from a ' criticism on the 
 words of scripture.' The Greek and Hebrew words, say
 
 THE ETERNAL DURATION OF 
 
 they, which we translate .eternal and everlasting, where 
 the torments of hell are mentioned, are not always used 
 for proper and complete eternity, they sometinles signify 
 only ' a long duration.' So God gave Abraham and his 
 seed the laud of 'Canaan for an everlasting .possession,' 
 Gen. xvii. 8, but nw the '.Turks- possess it. Several of 
 the statutes of the. Levitical law.Xvere said' to be everlast- 
 ing, Lev. xvi. 31, but they are all abolished ih the gospel. 
 The sons of AaTon had an ^everlasting priesthood, confer- 
 red upon themjExod. xl. 15, but this office is cancelled by 
 the kingdom of Uie Messiah,; and finished forever.- 
 
 lk'sides,let it be remjemberecf, Say the ebjcctors,'that the 
 Hebrew and Greek words, sigr.ify <3nly the varieus ages 
 or period's of trme'which belong to the duration ef crea-. 
 tures, or to some constitutions 'of God concerning his 
 creatures: and .they should be translated an age, or ages, 
 more properly than any thiilg. else. And the Greek ad- 
 jective, when applied" to creatures,.can relate only to these 
 ages ; but these expression? wore never designed to enier 
 into God's' own eternity^ either ^before the existence of 
 this world, or after the consummatien of it : upon which 
 rea'son it is highly- improper and absurd to -assert,* that the 
 duration or punishment of .creatures in hefl shall be prop- 
 erly eternal and equal to the duration of the blessed God 
 himself. NOW 'since cyery thing in God's; transactions 
 towards creatures is sometimes' Jimited by these terms, or 
 "ages, which are periods of time that shall Be finished, why 
 may not the damnation and th'e -sorrows 'of hell be also 
 finished and cancelled at a certain length'o-f years, though 
 the common words, which % we translate -'eternal' and 'ev-' 
 erlasthig",'. be ascViheJ to j.hem in Scripture ? 
 
 tfinsto. I. These- are.'the -same Words beth in Greek and 
 Hebrew, by which God expresses 'his own eternity,' 
 which is absolute and complete Without end.. He is 'the 
 everlasting God,' Gqn. xxi. 33, '.the eternal Goxl, and his 
 everlasting 'arms',' Deut.. xxxiii. 2V,' Rom. i. 20, and xvj. 
 2, and several other -places. These* are the' words also 
 by which the scripture expresses the duration- of the 'fe- 
 licities of heaven,' ahd the eternal life and happiness of 
 the saints, Dan. xii. .2, Rom, vi. 23, John iii. 45, &c. 
 Now, why should we not suppose the* same words to sig- 
 nify the same duration, when the .Old or New Testament 
 speaks of 'everlasting burnings' as.the vengeance of God
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 301 
 
 against the wicked, Isai. xxxiii. 14, or < everlasting shame 
 and contempt ?' Dan. xii. 2. And especially where the 
 joys of the saints^ and the misery of sinners, are set in 
 opposition to one another in the same- text, as in Dan. xii; 
 and Matt. xxvi. 45, 'The wicked shall go away into ev- 
 erlasting punishment, and the righteous into life eternal ?' 
 And yet further, when we find this doctrine sufficiently 
 confirmed by many other places o'f Scripture which set 
 forth the eternity of these torments ? I grant that the 
 eternity of God himself, before this world began, or after 
 its consummation, has something in it so immense and so 
 incomprehensible, thai in my m,ost mature thoughts I do 
 not choose to enter into those infinite abysses ; nor do I 
 think we ought Usually, when we speak concerning crea- 
 tures, to affirm positively, that their existence shall be 
 equal to that of the blessed God, especially with regard to 
 the duration of their punisiunent, Perhaps this sort of 
 language may carry in it something beyond what we are 
 called to discourse about, at Iqast in this mortal state, and 
 therefore such comparisons are rr\ore safely omitted. 
 
 But, I would remark here still, thai these ages, both of 
 reward and punishment, which are pronounced concerning, 
 saints or sinners, do but begin in their perfection at the 
 end of this world ; and thence it follows, that they must 
 enter far away into the eternity of God's existence yet to 
 Come. Arid the saints will be made happy, and the .sin- 
 ners will be punished, for long ages after .the end of this 
 world, and all the ages of it. 
 
 And though God, by his" Spirit, has not been pleased to 
 make this comparison expressly, nor assert our duration 
 commensurate with his own, yet he is pleased to express 
 the duration of the punishment, of sinners in the same' 
 common language and phrases, whereby he expresses his 
 own duration, and the happine'ss of -the saints : and here- 
 by he encourages us to express these punishments by the 
 same common words in our language too, rather than ven- 
 ture to cat them short by a Greek or Hebrew criticism, 
 without, any divine" warrant or necessity. 
 
 Now are there any sinned so void of understanding, of 
 so daring and desperate a mind; as to venture their 'eter- 
 nal all' upon such a poor criticism* of words ? Even upon 
 supposition that these terms in the Greek and Hebrew 
 might signify any long duration short of eternity : yet 
 
 2 A
 
 302 THB ETERNAL DURATION OF 
 
 there is a terrible hazard in confining them to this sense, 
 since they do rvot denote a proper eternity, when they 
 describe the duration of the blessed God; and I think 
 we may add also, the duration of the happiness of the 
 saints. * 
 
 Besides, -let it bo remembered, that the other expres- 
 sions of Scripture, which denote and pronounce the per r 
 petuity or eternity of these punishments, are.'not Imble td 
 the same criticism or ambiguity of- a word. 'Their fire' 
 shall be ' unquenchable,' or ' is not quenched, their worm 
 dieth not. They have no rest day r^or night^ thejf shadl .be 
 tormented day angl night forever and ever,' Rev. xx. 10. 
 These expressions seem to carry with them a more cei 1 - 
 tain signification of the perpetual continuance of the pun- 
 
 * I do not understand -this sentence, as it stands in the text of Watts. 
 It seems to be an admission of what contradicts and overthrows his own ar- 
 gument, viz. that " these are the same words, both in Greek aud Hebrew, 
 by which God expresses his oiun eternity, which is absolute and complete, 
 without end." Consistently with this position it cannot be said, 'that ' they 
 do not denote a proper eternity ;," for, i? the eternity of .Gbd.be not proper 
 and absolute, what can- be. uch 1 It ought to read, " there i a terrible 
 hazard in confining them to this sense," (the sense assumed by the objec- 
 tor,) "since they must denote a proper eternity, when they describe the du-: 
 ration of the blessed God," &c. A few paragraphs antecedent to this, the- 
 author makes another concession, which i thtnk nearly overturns his argu- 
 ment, or at least much abates its force. He says, " Nor do I think we ought 
 usually, when we speak concerning creatures, to affirm positively, that their 
 existence shall be equal to that of the blesse,<] God, especially with regard to 
 the duration of their punishment." .By "tlieir existence," in thrs -very ob- 
 scure sentence, I suppose that the author means the duration of vheir fu 
 ture existence ; for I cannot suppose him guilty of the absurdity of referring 
 to the ihode of the divine, existence in this connexion. He therefore pp 
 pears to signify thai we should not affirm positively, that our future exis- 
 tence will be absolutely, and in' this respect, like the existence of God, with 
 out end, ami especially that the, duration of punishment will be intermina- 
 ble; and. if we ought not -to affirm i4 positively, our inability to do so must 
 of course, be owing to want of evidence to uncertainty. This is giving 
 up the very point which the author has undertaken to- prove ! The doc- 
 trine of future existence, although entirely agreeable to reason, and sup- 
 ported by it, can be made certain to our minds, only b^ the light of revela- 
 tion. That only source of certain evidence on this p.-ui.t employs the 
 strongest terms which "language affords, to express the interminable exis- 
 tence of every human being: and it u,ses tho same terms to express the 
 endless duration of the punishment of v.ickeil men and angels. It never 
 suggests a single doubt of the aHsojujte eternity of cither. I cannot see, 
 therefore, by what rule of scrijAure, or of reason, we -can be required ' not 
 to affirm positively," that the existence of rational creatures shall not be 
 equal in its future duration with that of God, or that the punishment of the 
 wicked will be less durable than their eternal existence. ED.
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 303 
 
 ishment. Now can the tempter and the deceiver of souls 
 have so unhappy an influence over you, as to persuade 
 you to venture onward in the paths of sin, to put off re- 
 ligion, and delay your repentance, and neglect the means 
 of salvation, in hopes that hereafter this weak criticism, 
 upon some of the threatening?, may take place hefore the 
 Judge. of the whote eart.li, and thus excuse or save you ? 
 Is not such a sorry refuge and presumption a dangerous 
 and a dismal sign upon impenitent- sinners, that sin and 
 Satan have darkened your understanding, and confounded 
 your judgment, as well as hardened your hearts, in order 
 to your everlasting destruction ? ' 
 
 lfl.nsio. 2. Suppose the punishments -of hell continue 
 only for a long thrie, and not for an endless immortality, 
 yet this time would 'certainly be found exceedingly long 
 for sinners to hear the torment even according to their 
 own criticisms. Let us consider this matter .under some 
 particulars. The. Jewish dispensation, which is some- 
 times called 'everlasting,' stood nearly about fifteen hun- 
 dred years, from Moses io Christ ; and are ye content to 
 languish and gr&an under torments and miseries for fifteen 
 hundred years, merely to satisfy your vicious appetite of 
 pleasure for a few days or a few years of this mortal life ? 
 Jlguin ; the ' rebellious sinners,' who. were destroyed 
 at the flood, and their spirits, which were sent into the 
 prison of hades, or hell, were certainly confined there 
 foui and twenty hundred years-: and if they were released 
 then, as some imagine, by the preaching of'Christ to them, 
 it is a long and, dreadful time to continue under the ven- 
 geance of God ; and is it worth while for any man to 
 .continue in sin on earth, and to venture this length of 
 punishment in hell J 
 
 What J build this computation upon, are some expres- 
 sions of St. Peter, 1 Epis't. iii. 19', 2O, where Christ is aid 
 to 'preach unto the spirits in prison, which sometime 
 wertj diso,be'flient, when once the long-suffering of God 
 waited in the days of Noah ;' some have supposed, that 
 this text informs, us of Christ's, descent into hell after 
 his death, and then, preaching to those rebels who were 
 drowned in the flood near two thousand four 'hundred 
 years before, in order to awaken them to repentance and 
 salvation : whereas others think this text may be better 
 expounded concerning the.spirit of Christ given to Noah,
 
 304 THE ETERNAL DURATION OF 
 
 which made him a preacher of righteousness, when he 
 foretold and threatened a flood of waters, and called men 
 to repentance. 
 
 But if it should be granted, that those rebellious spirits 
 among the dead did all- repent, and were delivered by this 
 preaching of Christ, would you choosfe to indulge the de- 
 lights of sin for a short season,.and Venture twenty-four 
 hundred years of torment and anguish for it ? 
 
 Yet further, the devils have lain under punishment near 
 six thousand years, viz. four thousand before Christ came, 
 and almost two thousand years since, which may be thus 
 computed from whac St. Jude says of them. The ^angels 
 who kept not their first station' were .'Cast into chains of 
 darkness,' probably before the creation of this our world j 
 for they were fallen, and they tempted Adam to sin as soon 
 as this world was made : and they had been confined in 
 these chains from that time about four thousand years be- 
 fore Christ came, and are waiting still for yet sharper 
 punishment at the judgment of the -great day, Jude vi ; 
 and it is evident that they are canscious of this terror and 
 this future increase of punishment, for they expostulated 
 with our Saviour, Matt. viii. 29, 'Art t!hou come to tor 
 ment us before the .time ?'. Now it is near two thousand 
 years since Christ came, and from the time of their sin- 
 ning, unto this day, it is almost six thousand years : and 
 when the great day of judgment comes, their fiercer pun- 
 ishment is but then to begin. And are not the devil and 
 his angels sentenced and confined to dwell together with 
 the wicked children of Adam, when they shall be con- 
 signed at that dreadful day to the same ' everlasting fire' 
 and torment, which was prepared for those evil spirits J 
 And who knows when their torment will end ? Now 
 what folly and hardness <5f heart, or rather whai madness 
 is k for men to continue in their sins, to delay their re- 
 turn to God, and abandon the grace of the gospel, under 
 this foolish flattery and wild preeumptidn, that a'bov.e six 
 thousand years hence perhaps a certain day may come 
 when the 'worm' of conscience will die, and the 'fire' of 
 hell will be quenched? Sucli presumption is madneSs 
 and distraction rather than reasoning. 
 
 The 'second objection' is derived from the 'justice and 
 equity of God.' -Surely may some person say, the justice 
 of God will proportion the punishment to the offence
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 305 
 
 f 
 
 but since our sins are but the actions of mortal and short- 
 lived creatures, and'#re committed in a few years of time, 
 why should the ptlnishment be immortaj, and the ages 
 be lengthened out to eternity? Can a righteous God pro- 
 nounce such a severe and unjust sentence, and execute it 
 in its full dimensions ? 
 
 Jlnsw. It is not the length of time which wicked men 
 spe"nt'in committing their sins, .nor the.nature of the per- 
 sons \yho have sinned, that determines the measures of 
 punishment, but the dignity of that .infinitely , glorious 
 Being, against *vhom sin is 'committed, that gives such 
 a high aggravation's ,to require punishment without end. 
 How m'atfy instances are there among men wherein offen- 
 ders against their neighbours, or against a magistrate, who 
 spent but a few moments in the crime, yet are doomed to 
 imprisonment for months and years? And a lower degree 
 of trespass against, a king, whiah is short of high treason, 
 is sometimes purjishecl with Confiscation of goo'ds, and with 
 poverty and close imprisonment for life. And by the 
 same rea'son, the'sins of men being committed against a 
 Gpd .of infinite majesty* require an endless punishment, 
 as I have proved in the second argument : and therefore 
 divine, justice pronounces or inflicts no longer penalty 
 than the crimes of men deserve, according'to their aggra- 
 vations. If. any sinners tarry then till they have paid the 
 utmost farthing tp divine justice;, I grant God will release 
 them, but he h.as given us i;o nope before. 
 
 The 'third- objection' -is drawn from 'the sovereignty 
 and goodness of God.' It is granted,-, say they, .that the 
 threatenings o'f eterndl death are 1 denounced against sinners 
 in Scripture, yet it is not necessary God should execute 
 them to the full. When a law is made, the threatenings 
 of it 6nly- declare' what -punishment the offender shall be 
 exposed to, and shall be obliged to bear when it is in- 
 flicted ; but these expressions in a law do not oblige the 
 government to inflict that sentence with all its terrors. It 
 is granted, thai in the case of promises, truth and veracity 
 oblige the promiser^to fulfil them punctually, because the 
 right of the thiog promised passes over* to that other per- 
 son to whom the promise was made, and he hath such a 
 right to require it, that it is injustice to withhold it from 
 him ; and therefore everlasting felicity must be given to 
 the righteous : but in threatenings the case is otherwise ; 
 39 2 A2
 
 306 THE ETKRXAL- DURATION OF 
 
 for though the full punishment is clue to sinners, yet they 
 will never require the execution of it ; and the goodness 
 of God will incline him to relieve the- sufferer, and to 
 release him from the severity of such a'punishment, where 
 his veracity or truth does not forhjd it. 
 To this I answer two ways : 
 
 1st, I will not dehate this point of law-jiow, how far a 
 governor of sovereign and absolute'authority can dispense 
 with his owji threatenings, can. omit the* execution of'them, 
 relax the degree of threatened punishment, or shorten the 
 duration ( of it. But let it be -considered,' that here is not 
 only the threatening of God, the universal Governor, but 
 the prediction of this Sternal punishment, by a 'God who 
 cannot lie.' God's own truth and veracity are concerne'd 
 in this case, since his -Son Jesus, who is the greatest of 
 his messengers, together with the Prophets and Apostles, 
 have in the .name of God often foretold, that these punish- 
 ments shall be eternal : and therefore whatsoever an ab- 
 solute governor might do, as to shortening the punishment 
 threatened, in a way of mercy and relaxation ; yet I can- 
 not see how t'he truth and veracity of God hi'mself, or the 
 veracity of Iris Son Jesus Christ, who is the great Proph6t, 
 or the truth of the rest of his prophets and messengers 
 can be maintained, if this punishment -be not executed 
 according to the many*express 'predictions of it. These 
 all agree to tell us, by inspiration from heaven r in various 
 forms of speech, that the -torments of hell shall be ever- 
 lasting ; and (as I -hinted be'fiore) the man Jesus who pro- 
 nounces this eternal sentence as aLord and a Judge, foretels 
 it also as a Prophet, that the. execution of it shall be to 
 all everlasting. '. . 
 
 fl.nsw. 2. Obstinate and impenitent sinners have no 
 reason to expect, that the goodness of God should release 
 them from their miseries, .since the justice and the holi- 
 ness, the righteous government and authority of God iti 
 his law require and demand their due of honour, as. well 
 as his goodness. Do we not see that these honours of 
 divine justice, and of God's hatred o sin, have been con- 
 tinually demanded and executed < in the' infinite and 'in- 
 numerable evils, sorrows, miseries, diseases and deaths, 
 that have been spread over this world almost six thousand 
 years because of sin ? Nor does his goodness forbid or 
 hinder it
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 307 
 
 And let it be remembered .too, that all this immense 
 variety aHd long succession of plagues and terrors arose 
 originally from the just indignation and resentment of 
 God against one sin, even that of the first'man. Who was 
 it that burnt SodomaHd Gomorrah with fire from heaven ? 
 Who was it that chained fallen angels in darkness to a 
 more terrible judgment?. Was it no.t a God of .supreme 
 goodness ? Who t sent famines, and pestilences', and slaugh- 
 ters all over the earth in many distinct .generations, where- 
 by mankind have been made- abundantly wretched, and 
 plunged into millions of distresses? And yet the goodness 
 of God abides forever. And while the great God is acting 
 according to the glories of his. nature and government in 
 punishing rebellious* creatures, his goodness will feel no 
 soft and sensible impressions from all their groans' and 
 outcries ; but if I may so express it, will be changed into 
 just indignation without end. And the language of it to 
 those impenitent wretches will be", this, 'because I have 
 called and ye refused, ye have set at naught al\ my counsel 
 and would none of my t reproof, I will laugh at your cala- 
 mity, I will mock when your fear cometh ; when ' your 
 fear cometh as desolation, an<J your destruction as a whirl- 
 wind, when distress and anguish cometh .upon you, then 
 tfhall ye call upon me, but I will not answer.; ye shall seek 
 me early, but ye shall not find me ; for ye hated know- 
 ledge, and did not choose the fear ef the Lord ; ye would 
 none of my counsels,' ye despised all my rebukes ; there- 
 fore shall ye eat of the fruit of your own way, and be 
 filled with your-own devices.' Take tfiem, angels, 'bind 
 them hand and foot, and cast tliem into everlasting fire 
 and utter darkness : there shall be weeping, and wailing r 
 and gnastiing of teeth,' Prov. i. ^latt. xxii. 13. 
 
 Let us cease then to murmur against the threatenings 
 and the transactions -of. the great God, till we are become 
 fitter judges- of his perfections and their demands. Let us 
 cavil no more against his conduct" dnd government, till we 
 can teach him how far his punishing justice shall go in 
 the execution of his threatenings, and till we can assign 
 to him the point and limit where his goodness shall inter- 
 pose and restrain that justice. 
 
 The 'fourth objection' is derived from the 'rectitude of 
 the nature of God,' or 'his common equity and mercy 
 united,' which has been represented in this manner. Sup-
 
 308 THE ETERNAL DTTRATION'OF 
 
 pose one of the damned spirits among mankind should ad- 
 dress himself to the great God in such sort of language as 
 this, "Lord, . I was created hy thy sovereign pleasure 
 without my.ovru will, I did not desire, to be made, much 
 less to be born in such a relation- tt) Adam, whereby J 
 brought a sinful nature into the world with me ; but 1 was 
 united by thy power and pleasure to -a body which had 
 the seeds of sin and misery. in it. There were strong 
 appetites and violent passions mingled with my flesh and 
 blood, which I myself had no hand in procuring ; they 
 fermented in me with much vehemence, and I was 
 tempted to many excesses : I made some resistance at 
 first, and many times tried to subdue them, but I was 
 overcome. At last I suffered myself to be carried away 
 by the stream of these sinful affections and appetites which 
 I could hot possibly avoid, nor easily subdue. Is it agree- 
 able to thin-e equity, blessed God, to punish such a poo*- 
 wretch with everlasting torments? And can thy mercy 
 continue to fee this my misery -forever and ever, and not 
 help me ? I intreat thee, thou almighty .Author of my 
 being, to destroy and annihilate me utterly soul and body; 
 take away this being which I never asked nor desired ; 
 nay, which I would not have 'consented to accept among 
 the sinful race.of mankind, because in this track of genera- 
 tion and existence I stood much more likely* to be misei- 
 able than to be happyV 
 
 fttisw. 1st. As- for the reasonableness and equity of the 
 conveyance and communication of the original effects of 
 the sin of < Adajn* through every generation of man, it is 
 granted there are some difficulties attending it ; bjjt these 
 are generally answered by the writers on that subject ; and* 
 for me to divert from my present discourse, in oruer to de- 
 bate this point here, would be too tedious. 
 
 The equity .of this wise and a,wful constitution of God 
 has been lately vindicated in a large treatise bn the ' ruin 
 and recovery of mankind,' especially in the second edition 
 of that book. But it is enough for my present argument 
 to say, that God .himself will make the equity of this con- 
 stitution to appear with much more evidence and" con- 
 viction in the last great day, when millions of actaal crimi- 
 nals shall stand before the judgment-seat, who owe the 
 first spring of their sin and rain to our common parent, and 
 yet will fall under the righteous condemnation of the judge.
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 309 
 
 Jlnsw. 2. When God decreed to. give thee a being, 
 sinner, and designed thee in his eternal ideas to be a man, 
 placed among, a thousand blessings of nature and provi- 
 dence, it was then a favour of thy Creator ; for thou wert 
 designed also in- this original divine idea to have full suffi- 
 ciency of power to become wise and happy. It was also 
 a favour from thy Creator, that he look all these thy suffi- 
 ciencies of power, and put them into the hand of one man, 
 even the father of thy face, because he. was as wise, and 
 holy, and as wall able as any man of his posterity could 
 be., to preserve his siati6r> in the favour of God, and to - se- 
 cure thy happiness together with his own; and -he hfad 
 much stronger obligations to obey his Maker, aid more 
 powerful motives to sepure thy happiness than thou thy- 
 self, or any single man could possibly have^ because he was 
 intrusted with the felicity of so miny millions of his own 
 dear offspring, as well as his own. Now though Adam, 
 thy first father, being thus furnished with sufficiencies of 
 power, and with the strongest obligations to preserve him- 
 self and thee, has actually sinned and ruined himself and 
 'bis offspring ; (this is indeed an unhappy truth ;) but tlie 
 great God is not to blame, who lias not only acted wisely 
 but kindly towards his creatures in this constitution," be- 
 cause so far as we can judge, it was much more probable 
 that Adam would have maintained his innocence and his 
 happiness, together with that of his offspring. 
 
 Again, when the race of man was ruined, and God saw 
 thaf every man would come into the vrorld under unhappy 
 circumstances of guilt and co'rruption pf nature, he provid- 
 ed a covenant of grace, and brought th^e into some know- 
 ledge of it. Aad this had been effectual to have recover- 
 ed and saved thee from the ruins of the fall if thou hadst 
 exerted all thy force, employed .all thy natural powers of 
 understanding and will for this purpose, and used all thy 
 diligence to follow the 'methods of his grace, and hadst 
 sought earnestly for divine aids. For there is no man 
 amongihe da.mned who is able to say, l I have done" every 
 thing that was in my power to do.' No man shall be con- 
 demned for what was utterly impossible for him to avoid. 
 'It is conlessecl indeed, ttou art laid under some hardships 
 and difficulties by the sin.of thy first father ; yet it is thine 
 own actual and personal crimes- for which thou art here 
 condemned at this judgment, wherein ' every one shall be'
 
 310 THE ETERNAL DURATION OF 
 
 judged and 'rewarded according to his works.' It is for 
 many wilful offences against the law of God,- and for sin- 
 ning against the offers of divine grace'; it is* for obstinacy 
 against thy own conscience, ajid all the outward and in- 
 ward monitions of thy duty, thatthou art fallen under this 
 sentence, and because thou didst* not* labour' and strive 
 against sin., and resist it even to the end of thy state of life 
 
 ^(1 trial. Thou hasfhad numy^an in ward -reproof for sin, 
 many a- S9cret gr public, call to virtue, and perhaps loud 
 and fa^v warnings of thy danger; but thou hast turned a 
 deaf car to the.m all, and it is thy bwn'folly, obstinacy, and . 
 iniquity, that lrve brought thee into this misery, and ftlbu 
 must eot the fruit of thy own works. 
 
 If there should be any person found indeed among Jews, 
 Gentiles, or Christians, who ean justly complain, *i. 
 have not had a fair and full state of trial, and yet I am con- 
 demned,' I think \vc may grant that the righteous God 
 will release such from their misery, after they have worn 
 out a proper number of years in punishment proportion- 
 able to, their past crime's ; and that there shall be a fair, and 
 full, and proper state of*trial aprjoirfted to the'm before they 
 shall he utterly and irretrievably miserable. But if no 
 such person be found th^r.e, if there be no such just' com- 
 plaint to be made among the m'UUon's'of.the damned, then 
 they may be still ^continued in their/ prison and pun- 
 ishment without any imputation upon' divine justice, and 
 equity. 
 
 jlnsw. 3. Whensoever any such criminal in hell shall 
 be found making such a sincere and mournful address to 
 the righteous and merciful Judge of all, if at the same time 
 he is truly humble and penitent for his -past sins, and is 
 grieved -at his heart for having offended -his Maker, and 
 melts into sincere repentance, I cannot think that a God 
 of perfect equity apd rich mercy will continue such a crea- 
 ture under his verigea'nce ; but rather, that the perfections 
 of God will contrive a way for escape, though God has 
 not given us here any revelation or discovery of siren spe- 
 cial grace as this-. 
 
 But on the other hand ; whatever melting and moving 
 speeches may be made by sinners nepe on earth, in com-' 
 passion to the sinners who are gone before them to hell ; 
 yet if no such person be ever found in hell, truly and hum- 
 bly repenting of his sins, nor have We any reason to think
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 311 
 
 there ever will, why should a righteous God be obliged 
 to cease punishing a rebel who only is vexed and raged 
 under his own chains, and who continued in the spirit of 
 obstinacy and rebellion against God, and- will not repent 
 oftt? 
 
 Objection the fifth' is derived from the t mercy a f hd com- 
 passion of Gpd, compared with the mercy and cempassion 
 of man.' Surely the compassion of the ever-blessed God, 
 who has described himself rich in -mercy, ahnndant in 
 goodness, and whose very name is 'love,' 1 John iv. 8, 
 must have, transcendant tenderness and pity towards his 
 creatures, the work of hjji hands, above 'all the compas- 
 sions that any one fellow-creature -can express torwards 
 another. Now the -very thought and -name of eternal 
 punishments, or endless terment, is such as seems to shock 
 the nature of a good-natured man ;.and though he was ev- 
 er so much injured, ye.t he would never have a thought of 
 wishing his enemy any kind of eternal punishment for 
 it, much less of condemning him to everlasting "misery, 
 and supporting him in being on puitoose to suffer it ; and 
 therefore we cannot suppose that God will dp it. 
 
 This < -objection' is further strengthened by an expres- 
 sion of our Saviour himself, who says, Mark, xviii- 19, 
 ' There is norce good, save one, that is God :' as much as 
 to say, there is none equal or comparable in goodness to 
 God himself. -And it is -further supported still by the 
 common notions which good men have of God ; those ex 
 pressions in the apocryphal writings confirm it, 2 Esd.. 
 v. 33, ' Then said the Lord unto me, thou art sore troub- 
 led in mind for Israel ; lovestthoy that people more than 
 he that made them ?' And in the same book, chap. viii. 
 47, * Thou comest far short, that thou shouldst be able to 
 love my creature more than I.' Now since no good man 
 couJd wish* such a curse or mischief to his worst and most 
 wicked enemy, as torment without end, surely we cannot 
 conceive the great God will ever be so severe as to inflict it 
 
 Jlnsw. 1st. It is readily allowed, that God has more 
 goodness than any creatifre, but God has also more wisdom 
 and knowledge, which concur with his goodness in all 
 his actions, and he forms a much juster judgment concern- 
 ing the evil and demerits of sin and rebellion against 
 himself, than it is possible for any creature to form. And 
 I think I may boldly assert, one can know the com-
 
 312 THE ETERNAL DURATION OP 
 
 plete evil of sin, or its full desert, but that same glorious 
 Being against whom sin is committed, who knows well 
 the dignity -of his own nature and his own law, and what 
 unspeakable injury is done thereto by the sins of men. 
 Now his goodness in all his transactions must be regulated 
 and limited 1 by this infinite wisdom ; and if a man dots not 
 see and consent to the just demerits of sin against his Ma- 
 ker, it is because he has less wisdom and knowledge than 
 the great God hasj and his tend*ernes and compassion may 
 run into very great excesses, and may be in some instances 
 a sign of his weakness and folly, as well as of his goodness 
 and pity, as I shall shew under .the next answer. 
 
 At ^present let us-'represent the case in a common in- 
 stance. When criminals' go tor execution from month to 
 month, or from year to year, in this great city ; and espe- 
 cially if some of them have a handsome and agreeable 
 appearance, and if they are wringing their hands with 
 outcries ; and vexing their* own hearts, and are stung by 
 their ofon consciences for their having brought this mis- 
 ery upon themselves, you will finfl several of the specta- 
 tors of so tender a make as to grieve for the execution of 
 such criminals, and to wish in their hearts it was in their 
 power to save them. And yet further, if there are num- 
 bers of these wicked creatures that are sent'at once to the 
 punishment of the sword or the gallows, there maybe 
 many, of these spectators grieving for them, and pitying 
 them, and perhaps exclaiming against the severity of the 
 law, and the cruelty of the judge, for condemning such 
 malefactors to death. 
 
 But do all these weepers arid complainers judge justly 
 of the case ? Do they consider how pernicious and ruinous 
 a'thing it would be to a government to let such traitors go 
 unpunished ? Do they know, that it is a piece of clemency 
 and goodness to the innocent to punish the witked ? Or 
 that it is a piece of necessary honour due to the laws, to 
 make those who insolently break them sustain the penalty 
 that the law has appointed? Do they remember that the 
 few good qualities, or supposed talents, or fine appearances 
 which these offenders are possessed of, should out-weigh 
 the demands of the law and justice, the peace of the 
 nation or kingdom, and the restraint of others from the 
 
 same crimes 
 
 ftnsui. 2. The goodness of God, the eternal Spirit, is a
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN 1IELL. 313 
 
 much superior thing to the tenderness and compassion of 
 man dwelling in flesh and blood. Man grows compas- 
 sionate hy a sort of sympathy or sensation of miseries 
 which his fellow-creatures endure ; and though this is 
 exceedingly useful for many purposes of human life, and 
 therefore God planted it in our natures ; yet it has so much 
 mixture of animal nature with it, that it frequently de- 
 generates into weakness, fondness, and folly. And indeed, 
 if. every tender creature must be gratified in this weakness, 
 and form the rules of government, there would never a 
 malefactor fall under execution, but the vilest criminals 
 would be spared, though the government were ruined. 
 
 On the other hand, the goodness or mercy of God is a 
 sedate willingness or design to do good to creatures, and 
 particularly to the miserable, but always according to the 
 directions of wisdom and holiness. As God cannot have 
 such anger, resentment, or cruelty in his nature, as man- 
 kind may fall into when they are punishing offenders, so 
 properly speaking, he has no such sort of passionate tender- 
 ness and sympathy in sparing them. Though the words 
 of greatest affection are sometimes used by the sacred 
 writers to figure out the mercies of God to man ; yet God 
 both punishes and spares according to the calm and righ- 
 teous exercises of his wisdom, and not under the influence 
 of such passions as we feel. 
 
 Since therefore the exercise of such sort of passions 
 among men oftentimes appears to be the weakness of na- 
 ture, joined with their ignorance of the rules of equity, 
 is it reasonable that the great and all-wise God should 
 make such creatures his patterns in the limitation of the 
 exercises of his justice ? Or that he should be as weak as 
 they are, and as much moved to swerve from the rules of 
 his own righteous government by such a sort of tenderness 
 as ignorant, weak and foolish man may sometimes express 
 towards criminals in their deserved misery ? 
 
 It is readily granted, that a wise and a good man may 
 and ought to be sorry and grieved, that any of his fellow- 
 creatures should be so vicious as to bring themselves under 
 so severe a penalty by their own wilful crimes; but still 
 in their calmest and wisest thoughts they acknowledge 
 the wisdom and equity of the government, in inflicting 
 auch penalties upon those who heinously offend, and they 
 acquiesce in the sentence and the execution. 
 40 2B
 
 314 THE ETERNAL DURATION OF 
 
 Our blessed Lord Jesus himself, who was the wisest 
 and the best of creatures,* looked upon the city of Jeru- 
 salem with an eye of compassion, 'and wept over it/ 
 Luke xiii. 34, "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest 
 the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, 
 how often would 1 have gathered thy children as a hen 
 doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not ? 
 Therefore behold your house is left unto you desolate." 
 Let it be observed here, that our Saviour had the bowels 
 and compassions, and tenderness of the best of men ; but 
 he still maintains the vindictive exercise of the govern- 
 ment of God. "Your desolation must and shall come upon 
 you, nor will I forbid or withhold it." And I am sure 
 the human nature of our blessed Saviour was formed near- 
 est to the image of God beyond any creature besides : 
 and as I have hinted before, it is he, who is the supreme 
 messenger of his Father's love, that has pronounced these 
 eternal punishments upon impenitent sinners in many 
 parts of his ministry. 
 
 t/insw. 3. How far will these objectors permit the jus- 
 tice of God to go in the punishment of impenitent sinners ? 
 If eternal punishment must neither be threatened nor in- 
 flicted, lest divine goodness be injured, then all mankind, 
 even the worst and vilest of criminals, must certainly be 
 one day delivered from their miseries ; and thus the great 
 God, who is infinitely offended, is bound to finish his 
 wrath one day, and return in mercy to the offenders, 
 whether they return to him by repentance or no. What ! 
 may the criminal rebel creature with impudence and spite 
 affront the Creator infinitely, and must not the Creatoi 
 have a right to demand equal vengeance ? No, he musf 
 not, according to these writers : for if the essential good 
 ness of God do certainly forbid eternal punishments, these 
 absurdities, as gross as they appear, will be the necessary 
 consequences of it : And though the creature be not re- 
 strained from sinning, yet the blessed God will be utterly 
 restrained from punishing. And Is this a doctrine fit to be 
 believed by Christians, or to be taught by those who 
 have no commission for it from their Bible ? Or indeed, 
 will the light of nature and reason ever justify and sup- 
 port this sort of pleading? 
 
 * I. e. as to his human nature, ED.
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 315 
 
 * Objection the sixth' is drawn from the 'wisdom of God 
 in his government of the world.' Surely, will the sinner 
 say, it was for some valuable end that God at first pro- 
 nounced punishment to attend the sins of his creatures, 
 for 'he does not afflict willingly, nor' delight to 'grieve 
 the children of naen.' His design must be therefore one 
 of these two things ; either to correct and reform the sin- 
 ners whom he punishes, and reduce them to their duty, 
 in order to partake of his mercy, or else it must be to 
 'maintain a public monument and demonstration of his 
 justice,' and to support the authority of his law, and hon- 
 our of his government, that he may deter other creatures 
 from sinning against him. But when this world is come to 
 its period, and his governing providence over it is finished, 
 and all the means of grace are ended, the first end, viz. 'cor- 
 rection and reformation' ceases. There is no more hope of re- . 
 forming such sinners as these. And what further need can 
 there be of the secondary design of punishment, viz. the 
 'demonstration of his justice' in so terrible a manner to 
 'restrain others from sinning,' when the state of our trial is 
 ended, and all mankind are sent either to heaven or hell ? 
 
 flnsw. 1. I might here reply, by way of concession, 
 that if there were no other intelligent creatures to be wit- 
 nesses of these eternal demonstrations of God's holiness, 
 his justice and his hatred of sin ; and if God himself was 
 the only Being who knew of these eternal punishments, 
 I acknowledge I cannot see sufficient reason for this end- 
 less duration of them ; I cannot give any probable ac- 
 count wjiy creatures, who are liever to be corrected and 
 reformed, should be tormented forever in secret ; God 
 perfectly knows hi's own holiness and justice without such 
 monuments of it; and since he has asserted this punish- 
 ment, T think there must he some creatures to receive a 
 moral influence from the knowledge of it. 
 
 I answer Sclly, when there is a representation made of 
 the punishment of the worshippers of the beast, in Rev. 
 xiv. 10, 11, 'that 'they shall drink of the wine of the wrath 
 of God which is poured out without mixture, and they 
 shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, and the smoke 
 of their torment ascendeth forever and ever,' it is 'in the 
 presence of the holy angels' as well as in" the 'presence of 
 the Lamb.' Angels and other innocent beings may im- 
 prove such a sight to valuable purposes.
 
 316 THE ETERNAL DURATION OF 
 
 the seventh, When we remember that Jesus 
 Christ himself hath assured us that 'hut few shall be saved,' 
 and that the broad way is full of sinners runnirig down to 
 destruction and death; if we suppose these punishments 
 to be endless, some will be ready to say, What! shall the 
 greatest part of God's creatures he made miserable forever 
 and ever? Is this consistent with the wisdom and good- 
 ness of the blessed God, to form such an immense multi- 
 tude of souls dwelling in bodies, to make them forever 
 miserable? What will a God of goodness have to prove his 
 goodness to his creatures, if far the greatest part of them 
 are left in everlasting sorrows? * 
 
 *fl.nsw. The far greatest part of the creation of God 
 may be holy and happy.still. For this world of ours, ev- 
 
 * How can the goodness of God be proved to wicked creatures ? They 
 
 will assent to the evidence of his goodness, only while they are left to fol- 
 
 low their inclinations with impunity. But God, as the moral Governor of the 
 
 universe, as essentially holy and just, cannot leave the violators of his law 
 
 unpunished. To treat the obedient and disobedient alike, would be oppos- 
 
 ed to all our ideas of justice, and would effectually obliterate all distinction 
 
 between virtue and vice, holiness a,nd wickedness. As soon as a wicked 
 
 creature becomes the subject of deserved punishment, no proof that can be 
 
 offered, will satisfy him that God is good. The impenitent sinner's notion 
 
 of goodness is inaccurate and selfish. Whatever falls in With his preferred 
 
 enjoyments and pursuits, is good in his esteem ; whatever crosses or destroys 
 
 them, he views as evil. Therefore, evil is his good, and what is truly good, 
 
 he pronounces evil. A holy creature perceives and experiences, in every 
 
 thing and every where, manifest proofs of the goodness of God ; in the 
 
 punishment itself of the wicked, he discovers this, as it restrains them from 
 
 working deeper and more diffusive evil. Had .all the transgressors of man- 
 
 kind, instead of a part of them, been subjected to deserved punishment, there 
 
 could have been no objection raised from this against the goodness of God, 
 
 among those who perceive the consistency of goodness and justice, and 
 
 who. cannot deem that being perfectly good, who is not at the same tinir 
 
 perfectly just. That any part of guilty men ai<; saved, and saved too in en- 
 
 tire consistency with justice, is indeed a wonderful illustration of the good- 
 
 ness of God, as well as of his other attributes. But without depending up- 
 
 on the hypothetical answer to this objection which follows in the text, it is 
 
 sufficiently met, by denying that God formed a single soul to be miserable, 
 
 and by affirming the truth, that the " immense number" spoken of, have 
 
 rendered themselves miserable, by violating the laws of thpir moral being. 
 
 Every one will acknowledge the impossibility of being healthy and free 
 
 from pain, if we neglect the laws of our. physical being ; and no one will 
 
 impute the sufferings which our negligence ha? incurred, to any want of 
 
 goodness in God. Why then should that misery be imputed to any defect 
 
 in the divine goodness, which' men-bring upon themselves by transgressing 
 
 the laws of their moral being"! And why should any dream, that either 
 
 at death, or at some undefined period beyond it, these laws will cease to ope- 
 
 rate on sinners ? ED,
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 317 
 
 en all mankind, is a very small portion of God's immense 
 dominions ; and when the transactions of our earth, and 
 God's present government of it, shall be finished, he has 
 a thousand other dominions among the planets and stars, 
 which has been proved by the reason of men to a great de- 
 gree of probability ; and these he governs by righteous 
 laws, and though he has not revealed much of them to us 
 in this life, yet he has discovered something of this kind 
 in his own word. He has acquainted us with his wise and 
 righteous government over 'fallen angels,' and what was 
 their sin, vix. their pride and ambition, and what was their 
 punishment for their last rebellion, Jude vi. and this is 
 done by the wisdom and mercy of God to affright men 
 from sinning, while we behold how those fallen spirits are 
 exposed and set forth as terrible examples for our warning. 
 And why may not the everlasting punishment of sinners 
 among the children of men be made a standing monument 
 of God's justice, to deter many other worlds from offen- 
 ding him? Other worlds, I say, of unknown creatures, 
 vvhich perhaps may inhabit the planetary globes rolling 
 round the same sun as our earth does ; and their state of 
 trial perhaps is not yet begun, or it may be half run out, and 
 yet shall not be finished for some thousands of years ? 
 
 Orperhaps there are other worlds of spirits,and invisible, 
 incorporeal, intelligent creatures in a state of trial, who 
 may persevere in glorious innocence and complete happi- 
 ness, to the eternal praise of- their Maker's goodness, and 
 may yet be kept in their constant duty and obedience, by 
 having always in their view the eternal punishments of 
 wicked men. See this subject treated of more at large in 
 a book called ' The strength and weakness of human rea- 
 son,' 2d edition, p. 288. 
 
 The counsels of God are far above our reach, and his 
 dominions and governments are unknown to us. What if 
 the great God will have creatures in some of his territo- 
 ries, who in themselves are weak and ready to fall, and 
 may be deterred from sin and apostacy by such standing 
 manifestations of his hatred of it, and his righteous ven- 
 geance against it? And since others have been monu- 
 ments of warning to us, what if he please to make this 
 wicked world of ours, when he has taken the few right- 
 eous out of it to heaven; I say, what if he please to make 
 the rest an everlasting spectacle of his justice and holiness 
 2 B2
 
 318 THE ETERNAL DURATION OF 
 
 to a hundred or a thousand other worlds, which may be ut- 
 terly unknown to us? And he may, for this end, reveal 
 his transactions with mankind to those worlds, though he 
 has not revealed much of their affairs to us. 
 
 If I were to mention any other objection worthy of no- 
 tice, I know of none but this, viz. 'some learned men sup- 
 pose it to have been the opinion of the primitive fathers,' 
 that souls departing from this world were sent into hades, 
 or the state of the dead, where the righteous rest in a state 
 of peace and hope: till the resurrection should bring them 
 to heaven : and the most wicked among mankind went al- 
 so to hades, or this state of the dead, under a long and 
 fearful expectation of the final punishments of hell. But 
 that great multitudes who were of an indifferent character, 
 and who were not so bad but they might be reclaimed, 
 had another state of trial in hades, whither, they say, our 
 Lord Jesus Christ at his death descended and preached the 
 gospel to them, and many of them were recovered, and 
 shall be hereafter raised to eternal life. The chief Scrip- 
 ture whence they borrow this is 1 Pet. iii. 19, : 20, of 
 which we have spoken before ; and that at the great day 
 of judgment incorrigible sinners should be sent with the 
 devils into the punishment of fire, which, though it may 
 last for a shorter or longer time, yet should destroy both 
 their bodies and their souls forever. 
 
 To this I answer, first, If this had been the doctrine of 
 many ancient Christians, yet unless they could bri'ng plain- 
 er proofs of it from the word of God than one difficult 
 and obscure text of St. Peter, there is no great reason for 
 us to receive from them such traditions. The xvord of 
 God is our only test of truth, and our instructor in mat- 
 ters of the invisible world. 
 
 jlnsw. 2d, Though there might be a few of the early 
 writers who seemed to incline to some of these opinions; 
 yet this sense is drawn-out from most of them by learned 
 men with much difficulty, uncertainty and conjecture : 
 and there are many others of them who make the punish- 
 ments of hell as durable as the writers of later ages : nor 
 do they mention or allow of any such sort of purgatory 
 for souls of an indifferent character as this objection pre- 
 tends. Those who look into their writings will find 
 abundant evidence, that most of them talk of 'eternal pun- 
 ishment by fire' in the very words and language of the
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 319 
 
 New Testament, and in direst opposition to this doctrine 
 of temporal punishments in hell. I shall cite but two writ- 
 ers, one of which is the .very earliest of the fathers, an 
 acquaintance of St. Paul, and that is Clemens the Roman, 
 who in the eighth section of his second epistle says thus : 
 
 ' Let us therefore repent whilst we are yet upon the 
 earth : for we are as clay in the hand of the artificer. 
 For as the potter, if he makes a vessel, and it be distorted 
 in his hands, or broken, again forms it anew ; but if he 
 hath gone so Yar as to throw it into the furnace of firfe, he 
 can no more bring any remedy to it : so we, whilst we 
 are in this world, should repent with our whole h^art for 
 whatsoever evil we have done in the flesh, while we have 
 yet the time of repentance, that we may be saved by the 
 Lord. For after we shall have departed out of this world, 
 we shall no longer be able," cither to confess our sins, or 
 repent, in the other.' The English reader may find this 
 in Archbishop Wake's translation of the most primitive 
 fathers. 
 
 Justin Martyr, wlto is also one of the most early wri- 
 ters, in the eighth section of his < first apology, tells us, that 
 Plato ' teaches that Rhadamanthus and Minos punished 
 the unrighteous who came before them : and that we 
 Christians say the same thing will be done,' but it is by 
 Christ : ' when their bodies are joined with their souls, 
 and they shall be punished with eternal punishment, and 
 not gr the period of a thousand years only, as Plato said.' 
 This same writer also, in very many places of his works, 
 talks of 'eternal punishment,' and of 'pfinishment for an 
 endless age,' and ' eternal fire, with eternal sensation' or 
 pain. 
 
 Irenaeus also after him, as well as Ignatius and Poly- 
 carp before him, speak of this ' fire which is not to be 
 quenched,' and of death and punishment, not temporal, but 
 eternal. So that it is really an imposition upon unlearn- 
 ed readers to pretend, that the doctrine which denies 
 the eternity of the punishments of hell, was the common 
 sense of the primitive fathers, though it is granted that 
 Origen and some others might be of this opinion. 
 
 To conclude ; since the word of God has expressly as- 
 sured us, that these punishments of sinful men shall be 
 eternal, it is not for us to hearken to any other doctrines, 
 and neglect vvha^ God has said, nor is it fit for us to dis-
 
 320 THE ETERNAL DURATION OF 
 
 pute the wisdom and justice of divine conduct, nor to 
 impeach his goodness. ' Let God he true, though every 
 man be a liar ;' let God be wise, though every man he a 
 fool ; let God be just and righteous in all his ways, 
 though man vainly murmur against him, and raise these 
 noisy and feeble remonstrances against his judgments 
 ' The counsel of the Lord shall stand, and he will do all 
 his pleasure,' in the eternal manifestations of his justice 
 as well as his grace. If there be any supposed inconsis- 
 tencfy or cloud of difficulty remaining on his conduct, ha 
 will clear it up to the satisfaction of every rational mind 
 one day, and will bring the conscience of every condemn- 
 ed sinner to acknowledge the equity of his proceedings. 
 The whole creation shall then justify the final sentence 
 of judgment on all the sons of men.' 
 
 I cannot finish this awful, argument better than the 
 Apostle finishes the same sort of subject in the ninth and 
 eleventh chapters to the Romans. ' man, who art thou 
 that repliest against God ? What if God, willing to shew 
 his wrath, and to make his power known, hath eftdured, 
 with much long-suffering, the vessels of wrath, who have 
 fitted themselves for destruction ? And that he might 
 make known the riches of his glory on the vessels cf 
 mercy, which he hath afore prepared unto glory ? the 
 depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge, 
 the justice and the goodness of God, how unsearchable 
 are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For of 
 him, and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom 
 be glory forever and ever.' Amen. 
 
 III. Reflections on the Eternity of Punishment in 
 Hell. 
 
 As we have before drawn various inferences from the 
 nature of those punishments that are prepared from sinners 
 in the world to come, so there are other inferences and 
 terrible reflections which may be derived from the duration 
 or perpetuity of the torments of hell. 
 
 Reflect. I. 'What unspeakable anguish and torture doth 
 this one circumstance add to every pain and sorrow of 
 damned creatures, that it is everlasting and has no end ?' 
 What unknown twinges in the conscience doth this thought 
 give to the gnawing of the cruel worm, viz. that it is a 
 ' worm that never dies ?' What unconceivable force and 
 sting of torment does this add to the fire of God's indigna-
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 321 
 
 tion in hell, that it is a 'fire which shall never be quenched?' 
 When one year of torment and sorrow is ended, or one 
 thousand years are come to their period, the case of sin- 
 ners is still much the same, the vengeance remains still as 
 heavy as ever, and seems as far off from its end. This 
 dreadful price, which the justice of God demands for the 
 reparation of our offences against his law and his authority, 
 is a price which creatures can never pay, for ii is inlinite ; 
 and therefore, when a finite creature begins to make pay- 
 ment thereof with his own sufferings, these sufferings 
 must he everlasting. 
 
 It is evident, that one wilful sin is sufficient to sink 
 creatures under the indignation of God for six thousand 
 years : I call the angels who sinned for witnesses to this 
 truth. They were formed in holiness and in glory before 
 the creation of this lower world, and probably they sinned 
 and fell before this creation too ; and they are yet impris- 
 oned and confined ' under perpetual chains of darkness,' 
 as the word of God tells us, and ' reserved to' everlasting 
 punishment 'at the judgment of the great day.' And if 
 thou, sinner, among the sons of men, if thou diest in 
 an unregenerate, unholy, and un pardoned state, the sins 
 of thy whole life are charged upon thee, and thou art 
 ' daily treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, and 
 thou shalt not escape from this prison till thou hast paid 
 the utmost farthing,' Rom. ii. 5. Matt. v. 26. 
 
 If one sin deserves all this misery which has been de- 
 scribed, what a dreadful reckoning will the sins of thy 
 whole life ccme to, when every command of God which 
 thou hast broken shall appear and demand reparation for 
 its injured honour ? Remember, sinner, obstinate and 
 rebellious, remember thou hast to do with a great and 
 dreadful God, who has all thine ' iniquities ever before his 
 eyes ;' Isa. Ivi. 5, > Behold they are written before me, 
 and I will recompence, saith the Lord, their iniquity into 
 their bosom.' He is a God that will never forget any one 
 of thy crimes. Amos viii. 7. < The Lord hath sworn by 
 the excellency of Jacob, surely I will never forget any of 
 their works.' Though thou hast lost and forgot them, 
 he will bring them again into thy conscience with a terri- 
 ble remembrance ; and when this God comes forth in a 
 way of vengeance, ' every transgression and disobedience 
 shall receive a just recompence of reward. Vengeance 
 41
 
 322 THE ETERNAL DURATION Oi' 
 
 belongeth unto me, saith the Lord,' Heb. ii. 2. and x. 30. 
 ' He that spared not his own Son, when he laid on him the 
 iniquity of us all,' will never spare thee who art the personal 
 and criminal transgressor. Eternal, recompences are due to 
 the demands of justice, and he will punish till full payment 
 is made equal to the evil of sin, i. e. to all everlasting. 
 Reflect. II. ' What Infinite and eternal concerns of men 
 upon the short and slender thread of human life ?' 
 
 An eternal heaven or an eternal hell depend on our good 
 or ill behaviour in this short and mortal state. While life 
 remains the sinner's hope remains ; he abides on the stage 
 of action, and this is the state of trial for eternity : but as 
 soon as the thread of life is broken, immediately ensues 
 endless joy or endless sorrow. 
 
 , What a poor fleeting vapour, what a thin and frail bub- 
 ble is this feeble and uncertain thing which we call 'life ?' 
 And yet what matters of immense importance depend up- 
 on it ? This present life is a prize put intd our hands, for 
 it is the only time given us to obtain deliverance and es- 
 cape from eternal death. Life in this view, as mere a bub- 
 ble and vapour as it is, carries in it something of infinite 
 and everlasting moment : but alas, how wretchedly does 
 foolish and sinful mankind trifle and squander it away 
 amidst a thousand vanities and impertinences, or saunter 
 it out in sloth and laziness, with an utter disregard of the 
 important eternity that depends upon it ? What multi- 
 tudes are there that waste the golden hours of grace and 
 the seasons of hope, in procuring to themselves, by their 
 own wilful iniquities, a length of damnation and ever- 
 lasting despair ? 
 
 Whilst we dwell here in the midst of the means of mer- 
 cy and salvation, there is hope that our sinful souls may 
 be healed of that disease which is breeding the cvergnaw- 
 ing worm within us. We may prevent the fuel of divine 
 wrath from kindling into a flame which cannot be quench- 
 ed : but when once the clock of life has gone through its 
 appointed spaces, and the last hour strikes, whether it be 
 three or five, whether at twelve at noon or at midnight, 
 all hope is forever gone ; we are plunged into the re- 
 gions of death, despondency and darkness, and nothing 
 remains but the actual torture of the 'worm' of cons- 
 cience to seize on us, and the ' fire' of divine anger actual- 
 ly breaks out, which shall burn to the lowest hell.
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 323 
 
 could we but behold ourselves in the glass of wisdom, 
 while we are yet standing upon the slippery edge of this 
 burning precipice, and playing with painted bubbles there, 
 cv in warm pursuit of a flying shining feather along the 
 brink of this burning torrent, what fools and madmen 
 should we appear to be even in our own eyes ! And yet 
 we go on to practise this folly, this madness, day after 
 day, in spite of all the warnings of Gocl and man, till 
 at last our foot slips in some dreadful moment, and we van- 
 ish out of the sight of our companions, and are lost forever. 
 
 Reflect. III. If the miseries of hell are eternal, ' how 
 unreasonable a thing is it ever to suffer the loss of any pos- 
 sessions or joys which are temporal and perishing, to come 
 into competition witn them ?' Surely there is nothing 
 that belongs to time that should tempt us to run the risk 
 of the sorrows of eternity, nor allure us to colhmit one 
 sin against Gocl, which is the fatal spring of such sorrows ! 
 Stand still, sinner, and hearken to the voice of wisdom. 
 Do the pleasures of sense, ov the gaieties of sight, or the 
 wealth or grandeurs of this life allure thee to make thy 
 way boldly through any ' means' toward the possession of 
 them, think with thyself, is it by offending this great and 
 dreadful God ? And wilt thou dare to take one step to- 
 wards these dangerous and deceitful vanities, and risk 
 thine immortal welfare in the pursuit? What a foolish 
 bargain wilt thou make ' to gain the whole world' of short- 
 lived perishing trifles, and ' to lose thy soul' ir> endless per- 
 dition ? Mark viii. 36. Dare any of us venture an eter- 
 nal state of torment to gain the flattering and delusive joy 
 )f a short hour, or a winter's day ? 
 
 What are all the0gratifica f ions of flesh a"nd sense ! 
 What are all the swelling titles of honour amongst men ! 
 What are all the treasures of this perishing world ! How 
 short is their duration, and how short is the possession of 
 them ! All earthly felicities 'perish in the using,' and are 
 no sooner enjoyed but are quickly lost again, or expire in 
 the enjoyment : but if the ruin of a soul, and a lost heaven, 
 be the price of them, how mad is the purchase, and how 
 wretched is the purchaser ? 
 
 Reflect. IV. ' How patiently should we bear all the la- 
 bours, and fatigues, the pains and miseries of this mortal 
 life, when we have any hope of our deliverance from the 
 pains and sorrows of immortality ?' As for our maladies
 
 324 THE ETERNAL DURATION OF 
 
 and sorrows here on earth, blessed be God they are not 
 eternal ; there are some intervals to relieve, and there is 
 some period to finish them. When we ask a friend who 
 is sick and in pain, " how fare you ? I am in pain now, 
 says he, but 1 hope I shall be easy anon : I am sick to- 
 day, but I trust I shall be in health to-morrow." This is 
 a sweet mitigation of the present uneasiness, and gives re- 
 lief to the patient. But how dreadful and piercing would 
 these'accents be, if we should hear our friend make this 
 answer to us, "I am all over in extreme pain and an- 
 guish, and I shall never, never be eased of it : I lio 
 under exquisite torment of the flesh, and horror in my 
 soul, and 1 shall forever feel this horror and this torment." 
 Such ie the case of the damned sinners in hell, and there- 
 fore their agonies are intolerable. 
 
 But if you have any comfortaWe prospect of the par- 
 don of sin, and a well-grounded hope of eternal salvation 
 through the blood of ' Christ,' and by the rules and pro- 
 mises of the gospel, all the temporal toils and plagues that 
 can possibly stand between us and heaven should be des- 
 pised and disregarded by us, and we should learn to tri- 
 umph over them with the victorious songs of thankful- 
 ness and praise. Ble^ed be the name of our God, 'though 
 he has smitten us' sorely, ' yet he has not given us over 
 to' everlasting 'death.' 
 
 Let our thoughts ascend to the heavenly regions, and 
 let us ask those who are arrived thii-her out of the land of 
 temptation and conflict, out of these tabernacles of sin and 
 sorrow ; let us ask them what gave them so divine a cour- 
 age, and so firm a patience, in the midst of all their trials ? 
 With one voice they will all make answer, it was the view 
 of our tJeliveranc3 from an eternal hell, and the hopes of 
 obtaining salvation by ' Christ Jesus' with eternal glory ; 
 iris this that sppported us under every burden, and bore 
 us on with a spirit of faith and victory through every hard- 
 ship on earth. It was for this we laboured, and suffered, 
 and ' counted not life,' nor any of the blessings of it, < dear 
 to us,' nor any of the sorrows of it intolerable, that we 
 might escape the everlasting sorrows of a future state, and 
 enjoy the blessings of life eternal. And, may every one 
 of us 'be the followers of those who through' this 'faith 
 and patience have obtained the promised' felicity ! May 
 we also make our way by the same motives, through the
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 325 
 
 floods and the fires of affliction and distress, to reach this 
 everlasting heaven, and to escape everlasting burnings ! 
 
 In order to confirm our patience, and to animate our 
 zeal, let us survey the blessed example of St. ' Paul, who 
 was reproached, who was buffeted, who was persecuted with 
 stones, and whips, and scourges, and bore a thousand indig- 
 nities, who was assaulted with endless strokes of injury and 
 violence, and yet rejoiced in the midst of all his sufferings 
 in the view of his eternal hope. The spirit of faith in the 
 midst of all his sufferings taught him to singthis divine song, 
 'our light afflictions which are but for a moment, are working 
 for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The 
 sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be com- 
 pared with the glory that shall be revealed,' 2 Cor. iv. 17. 
 Rom. viii. 18. Nor are they worthy to be compared with 
 that exceeding and eternal weight of vengcance,from which 
 we are delivered by faith and patient obedience to the gos- 
 pel of our Lord 'Jesus Christ.' 
 
 Reflect. V. If ' the miseries of hell are eternal, we can 
 never have our deliverance from them made too secure.' 
 If the danger of any mischief to which we might be ex- 
 posed, were but slight, and the duration of it short, 
 there might be possibly some excuse for our delay toes- 
 capje it. But when it is total and irrevocable ruin to which 
 we are liable every moment, while we continue in a state 
 of sin, we should fly with all the wings of our souls, and 
 never be at ease or quiet till we are got without the reach of 
 danger, and settled in a place of safety, or on the rock 
 of our salvation. 
 
 could we but perceive a thousandth part of the hor- 
 ror that is contained in an eternal hell, an eternal banish- 
 ment from the face and favour of God, and the eternal im- 
 pressions of his anger, we should never give ourselves 
 rest one moment, till we had returned to God by a sincere 
 repentance, and were reconciled to him that made us : till 
 we fled for refuge to the blood of Jesus, and to his sanc- 
 tifying grace, which is the jpnly hope that is set before us. 
 We should never give ourselves leave to lie down, or 
 awake. in quiet, while we were destitute of a saving inte- 
 rest in the salvation of Christ, and had attained to some 
 clear evidence of it, and a well-grounded hope. 
 
 Have we not sometimes felt the 'worm of conscience' be- 
 gin to gnaw within us, and to prey upon our spirits after 
 
 2C
 
 326 THE ETEKNAL DURATION OF 
 
 the commission of some sin? And shall we not apply 
 ourselves with all holy speed to the divine Physician, who 
 can kill this gnawing worm within us, and can heal thost 
 sinful maladies that are breeding it ? Have we not some- 
 times felt the threatenings of the wrath of God in his law, 
 Jike a fire in our bones? With what infinite desire then, 
 and what restless vehemence should we fly .to tne blood of 
 Jesus our great sacrifice, which alone can quench the fiery 
 indignation of God, and prevent it from growing up to an 
 everlasting flame. 
 
 Had we upon our spirits such a sense of the terrors of 
 the Lord in hell, as his threatenings represent, we should 
 never be satisfied with such cold doubtful hopes of our de- 
 liverance from them, as thousands of nominal Christians 
 are contented with ; but we should make every needful 
 and critical enquiry, whether our repentance were sincere, 
 whether our faith in Christ were unfeigned, whether oui 
 hopes had a solid foundation in the divine promise. We 
 should search every power of our souls, and examine our 
 hearts through every corner, whether sin be mortified there, 
 whether the Christian virtues are formed within us, and the 
 divine image is begun to be stamped upon our minds. We 
 should be restless and impatient in our inward searches, 
 whether we are made new creatures, whether we are born 
 of God and become his children, and are secured by his 
 gospel from this everlasting vengeance. The degree and 
 the infinite duration of this misery should appoint the pro- 
 portion of our Zeal and solicitude to escape it. 
 
 A man who sees or feels his own house on fire under 
 him, does not continue upon his bed of sloth, or sit amusing 
 himself among the ornaments of his chamber, till the flames 
 have broke through and seized him : but with huge out-, 
 cries he seeks for help, and flees in haste for his life, where- 
 soever he finds a way. Such should be the language, and 
 such the activity of sinful creatures, to escape the wrath 
 to come; and such will be the outcries of sinners when 
 they are thoroughly awakened ; this language of every 
 place, and of every hour will then be awakened, ' what 
 shall I do to be saved ? Whither shall I flee for refuge ?' 
 blessed Jesus, receive me into thy protection, and be 
 thou my deliverer. 
 
 Give me leave to repeat this sort of expostulation with 
 lingering and delaying sinners, or with drowsy and for-
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 327 
 
 mal Christians. If you would set yourselves often in the 
 blaze of these everlasting burnings, you would never sat- 
 isfy yourselves with such cold faint wishes, such lazy en- 
 deavours, such languid efforts of faith and repentance, to 
 escape this fiery indignation that shall never be quenched: 
 nor would you content yourselves with dark and doubtful 
 evidences of your interest in the love of God, and the 
 grace of our Lord Jesus ; but you would be day and night 
 busy with your own hearts in the most intimate and care- 
 ful search after oonverting grace and living Christianity : 
 you would never be at rest till you felt the new nature 
 working with power and bright evidence within you, that 
 you might be able to say, "we know there is no condemna- 
 tion belongs to us, butthat we are passed from death unto life." 
 
 Let us proceed upon this subject, turning the discourse 
 from ourselves to our friends, and say with what fervour 
 of love, with what holy zeal and compassion should we 
 labour to save our friends and all that are dear to us, from 
 this eternal destruction ? What words of fiery terror shall 
 we choose to awaken those who slumber on the edge of 
 endless burnings? What language of kind and tender 
 passion shall we chuse to reach their hearts? What phra- 
 sesof melting pity to hasten their escape from this precipice 
 of burning ruin, or to pluck them as brands out of the fire 
 before it becomes unquenchable? 'Knowing these ter- 
 rors of the Lord,' with what vehemence of zeal should 
 we try to persuade men, our fellow mortals, that they 
 would not venture into the midst of these miseries, and 
 beseech them in the name of Christ to be reconciled to 
 God ? This was the practice, and these the motives of the 
 great Apostle, as he describes them at the latter end of the 
 fifth chapter in his second epistle to the Corinthians. 
 
 with what force of ardent and active compassion should 
 ministers preach both the curses of the law, and the grace 
 of the blessed gospel, to perishing sinners, and make haste 
 to rescue their souls from this everlasting vengeance? 
 With what warm and solicitous zeal should they lay hold 
 of those poor thoughtless wretches- who are madly indul- 
 ging their lusts a"nd follies, and thereby preparing them- 
 selves to become fit fuel for this eternal fire? They are 
 forming themselves by their iniquities to become vessels 
 of this everlasting indignation. Let us seize them by 
 some kind and constraining words of love, some outcries
 
 32S THE ETERNAL DURATION OF 
 
 of compassion and fear, lest they rush into those flames 
 which will never he quenched. Perhaps when they 
 arc summoned away from us hy the stroke of death, they 
 may leave us in the most uncomfortable sorrows for our 
 neglect, while they are suffering the long endless punish- 
 ment due to their own iniquities. 
 
 Reflect. VI. ' How unreasonable a thing is it for us min- 
 isters, who are charged and entrusted with' the whole 
 counsel of God for the salvation of men, to avoid the men- 
 tion of these his eternal terrors in our sermons, and in our 
 addresses to mortal creatures ; creatures' who are daily 
 preparing themselves for them by their sins, and are ready 
 to plunge into the midst of them ! Has not our blessed 
 Saviour made frequent mention of them in his gospel, and 
 set them in their dreadful array before his hearers? Has 
 he not expressed them in their strongest terms, and spread 
 them in their most frightful colours, and set them in their 
 full and everlasting extent, before the sinners which atten- 
 ded his ministry? And did he ever give any hint that 
 they should be understood in a milder sense? Have rfot 
 the Apostles followed their Lord in the same dreadful dis- 
 play of the sharp and ever-during punishments of hell ? 
 And have they taught us to qualify these terrors by gen 
 tier interpretations of them ? And have not such kind of 
 discourses been abundantly blessed in the providence of 
 God, both in ancient and later ages, to awaken and save 
 multitudes of the souls of men ? 
 
 How many holy and happy spirits are now rejoicing 
 before God, and before the throne of his love, and encom- 
 passed with all the joys of immortality, who owe the be- 
 ginnings of their repentance, and the first turn of then 
 souls towards faith and salvation to such words of terror 
 as these? Hpw many of the' saints on high have been 
 first awakened from their deadly sleep in sin, by the min- 
 istrations of this eternal vengeance of God ? How many 
 have been affrighted out of their indolence at first by the 
 discovery of these everlasting horrors of conscience and 
 agonies of soul ? The dread of the worm that never dies 
 has affrighted their consciences from a course of sin : the 
 fiery indignation which shall never be quenched has flash- 
 ed in their bosoms from the lips of the preacher, and has 
 set them all over trembling, and filled all their inward 
 powers with dismay and anguish. Their tongue has broke 
 
 I*
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 329 
 
 into loud and earnest enquiries, 'Who shall deliver me from 
 this eternal death ? How shall I escape this everlasting wrath 
 to come ?' And the spirit of God by degrees has led 
 them to Jesus, and his atoning blood, his gospel, his right- 
 eousness, and his converting grace, as the only way of de- 
 liverance and salvation. 
 
 How unreasonable a thing is it for ministers in their 
 preaching to soften these terrors of the Lord, to cut short 
 these endless horrors and anguish, and to mitigate the 
 miseries of hell and damnation, since even all that length 
 and eternity in which Christ and his Apostles preached 
 these terrors, have not been sufficient to reclaim mankind 
 from their iniquities ; but multitudes of them, in the face 
 of all these threatening.?, still persist in the broad way to 
 destruction and death? 
 
 Can we possibly do any honour to the ministry of our 
 blessed Lord, or is there any real service done to the souls 
 of men by our fond and vain reasonings to shorten these 
 sorrows, and put a period to these threatened torments? 
 Will the blessed Jesus when he sits on the throne of judg- 
 ment, give us thanks for running counter to the language 
 of his own ministry, and for daring to contradict his de- 
 nounced vengeance? 
 
 By the various expressions and representatives of this 
 matter in scripture, in such solemn and dreadful language, 
 must I not suppose that the blessed God, and our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, designed and intended that mankind should 
 believe the pains and punishments of hell will be eternal? 
 Can I then be censured for endeavouring to establish and 
 promote the awful doctrine which both God the Father 
 and his Son intended should be believed, and by which 
 they designed to guard both the law and the gospel ? A 
 doctrine which was left on record to deter sinners from 
 the paths of sin and destruction, and to awaken the souls 
 and consciences of men to repentance ? On the other hand, 
 can those teachers be approved of God or good men, whose 
 evident design is fo lead the world to disbelieve this solemn 
 and terrible warning of the great God ? 
 
 Let us proceed in these enquiries, and address ourselves 
 to those wicked and miserable creatures, who are actually 
 suffering this divine vengeance. Let us ask them, how 
 they approve of this sort of preaching which withholds 
 from the eyes, and ears, and consciences of men, the most 
 42 2c2
 
 330 THE ETERNAL DURATION OF 
 
 dreadful circumstance of these horrors ? Will any of the 
 damned wretches of hell thank us for hiding so dreadful 
 a part of these miseries from them ? Will they bless us 
 for lessening the threatened curses and indignation of God ? 
 "No, says the condemned wretch, those preachers are 
 worthy of my curses and .not my thanks, who abated these 
 terrors of the Lord, and shortened his threatened punish- 
 ment ; for they persuaded me to hope there would be an 
 end of my misery, and thereby tempted me to venture 
 upon those sins which I should have renounced with 
 abomination, had I believed the words of God, and these 
 everlasting torments. cursed and cruel preachers, who, 
 by softening and curtailing the sentence of eternal misery, 
 gave a sort of licence to my wickedness, and broke one 
 of the strongest bars that restrained me from sinning ! It 
 is by this sort of flattery they paved my way down to 
 hell, and have brought me into this prison, this eternal 
 anguish, whence there is no release." * 
 
 Say, ye who preach that the gates of hell shall one day 
 be opened to let out the prisoners, ye who tell sinners 
 there is a time of release for them, say, do ye expect to 
 fright them out of their sins by lessening their fear of 
 God and his wrath to come ? Do ye hope to bring ob- 
 stinate and impenitent rebels to a more speedy remorse for 
 sin, and to begin a life of holiness, by persuading them 
 that these terrors of God shall have an end ? Can ye 
 imagine that such vain tidings, such soothing flattery, will 
 ever melt them to repentance and love, when all the grace 
 of the gospel, mingled with the blood and tears of the 
 Son of God will not do it ? Would not this manner of 
 preaching rather encourage them to run on still in their 
 rebellions, and make them more regardless of their highest, 
 interest? Would it not tempt them to give a loose to their 
 vilest inclinations, and all the flagrant and abominable 
 enormities of their own heart, when they shall be told that 
 
 * Some of the ancients have called those preachers who shorten the 
 pains of hell, the merciful or compassionate doctors : and Dr. T. Burnet 
 calls those merciless or uncompassionate, who preach the eternity of it. 
 But. I think it will appear one day, that those are truly the compassionate 
 writers and teachers, who most effectually affright and prevent men from 
 gin and damnation ; and those who have given wicked men hope of their 
 release from hell, will be in danger of being charged with smoothing their 
 way to this misery, by softening the terrors of it WATTS.
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 33 1 
 
 these punishments, which the Bible calls everlasting, shall 
 one day come to an end ? 
 
 Besides, I believe it has been observed in every age r 
 that the fears of this 'worm which never dies,' and this 
 eternal 'fire which shall never be quenched,' have been 
 made abundantly useful in the providence of God to lay 
 a powerful restraint on the unruly vices of some sinners, 
 who have never been awakened and drawn into saving 
 penitence, or reclaimed to a life of sincere holiness. And, 
 if the restraint of this terror were taken away, how much 
 more would all iniquity abound among those who have no 
 inward principle of goodness ? 
 
 Let us proceed then to preach the same terror which 
 the blessed Jesus thought not unworthy of his ministry ; 
 and may the providence and the grace of God give success 
 to our labours, both for the restraining the extravagant 
 vices of the wicked, for the saving conversion of many 
 sinners, and for a guard and restraint to the young and 
 wavering Christians.* 
 
 Notwithstanding all the express language of scripture 
 on our side of the question, and all our arguments drawn 
 from it ; yet there are some of the reasoners and the dis- 
 puters of this world, who will still suppose that it is more 
 for the honour of God, and for the glory of our blessed 
 Saviour, for ministers to dwell always upon the promises 
 
 * The late Dr. Thomas Burnet, in his Latin treatise of the 'state of the 
 dead, and those who rise again,' opposes the doctrine of the eternity of 
 future punishments, and shews who of the ancient fathers seem to be of 
 the same opinion with him. But he tells us, that these ancient fathers, 
 when they treated of this subject, often gave the same advice to others, 
 which he himself gives in these words : " Whatsoever you determine within 
 yourself, and in your own breast, conceming these punishments, whether 
 they are eternal or no, yet you ought to use the common doctrine and the 
 common language when you preach or speak to the people, especially those 
 of the lower rank, who are ready to run headlong into vice, and arc to be 
 restrained from evil only by the fear of punishment. And even among 
 good Christians there arc infants to be nourished with, milk ; nor is their diet 
 to be rashly changed, lest through intemperance they fall into diseases." 
 
 And he adds in the margin, "whosoever shall translate these sentiments 
 into our mother tongue. I shall think it was done with an evil design and 
 to bad purpose." So that if this were a true doctrine, yet the learned author 
 agrees, that neither the holy writers of the Bible, nor the fathers, think it 
 proper that the bulk of the people should know it. But if it should not 
 be translated, I would ask, why did the author write it, and leave it to be 
 published T Did he suppose all men and boys, who understood Latin, to be 
 officiently guarded against the abuse of such an ppinion 7 WATTS.
 
 332 THE ETERNAL DURATION OP 
 
 of the new covenant, and the riches of the grace of Christ, 
 and the overflowing measures of the love of God, in order 
 to save sinful men. "Surely, say they, preachers have 
 tried long enough what the words of terror will do ; let 
 us now alhire sinful men to be reconciled to God by a 
 ministry of universal love and grace ; and let us see whe- 
 ther the boundless compassions of God, in putting a final 
 period to the miseries of his guilty creatures after a certain 
 number of. years, will not draw sinners with a sweeter 
 violence to the love and obedience of their Maker, than 
 all this doctrine of severity and terror." 
 
 In the first place, I answer, that surely Jesus himself, 
 who is the prime minister of his Father's kingdom, and 
 the divinest messenger of his love, knew better than we 
 do, how to pay the highest honour to his heavenly Fa- 
 ther, and to display his own grace. Surely he was well 
 acquainted with the best way to begin with winners, in 
 order to their reconciliation to God, and knew also the 
 most effectual avenues to the consciences of sinful crea- 
 tures, incomparably beyond what any of us can pretend 
 to. Had he not as tender a sense of the honour of his 
 Father's mercy, as warm a zeal for the glory of his own 
 grace and gospel, and as wise and melting a compassion 
 for the souls of men as the best of us can boast of? 
 And yet he thought it proper to lay the foundation of his 
 own, and his Apostles, ministrations of. grace, in this lan- 
 guage of terror, in these threatenings of eternal punish- 
 ment. And in the course of his providence throughout 
 all ages, he has, in some measure, made this doctrine suc- 
 cessful to recover souls from the snares of the devil, and 
 to enlarge his own heavenly kingdom. 
 
 But I answer further, it must be granted that the 
 tempers of men are various, and -it is possible that some 
 may be of so ingenuous and refined a disposition, that 
 the words of love and grace, without any terror, might 
 reach their hearts, and through the influences of heaven, 
 touch them effectually : But as for the bulk of mankind, 
 while they continue in their sins, daily experience con- 
 vinceth us that they are best awakened by the terrors of 
 the Lord, by representations of the gnawing 'worm which 
 never dies/ and the 'fire which shall not be quenched.* 
 I never knew but one person in the whole course of my 
 ministry, who acknowledged that the first motions of re-
 
 THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL. 333 
 
 ligion in their own heart arose from a sense of the good- 
 ness of God, and that they were gently and sweetly led at 
 first to this enquiry, ' What shall I render to the Lord 
 who hath dealt so bountifully with me ?' But I think all 
 besides, who have, come within my notice, have rather 
 been first awakened, by the passion of fear, to flee from 
 the wrath to come. 
 
 If, therefore, we will practice, according to the exam- 
 ple of Jesus, the greatest and ' the wisest Prophet of his 
 church, and his holy Apostles, and the best of preachers 
 in all ages who have followed him, if we would obey the 
 dictates of long experience, and our best observations on 
 the methods of converting grace, I think we must proceed 
 to denounce these eternal terrors of the Lord against the 
 transgressors of his law, and the despijers of his gospel. 
 This seems to be the appointed and most effectual way to 
 rouse their consciences to seek a deliverance from the 
 curses of the law, which carry in them everlasting punish- 
 ment. This appears to be the first spring of religion in 
 sinful men, and the first motive to receive the glad tidings 
 of salvation which are displayed in the New Testament. 
 This spurs on their passions to escape the vengeance of 
 God, by fleeing to his gospel, where there is rich and 
 abundant grace to encourage the hope of rebellious crea- 
 tures in their returns, to God by Jesus Christ the Saviour,. 
 To Jesus, who is the awful messenger of his father's ter- 
 rors, and the prime minister of his love, be glory and 
 honour to everlasting ages. Amen.
 
 AN ESSAY 
 
 TOWARD THE PROOF OF A SEPARATE STATE OF SOULS 
 BETWEEN DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 I. The introduction or proposal of the question, 
 with a distinction of the persons who oppose it. 
 
 IT is confessed that the doctrine of the resurrection of 
 the dead at the last day, and the everlasting joys, and the 
 eternal sorrows, that shall succeed it, as they are describ- 
 ed in the New Testament, are a very awful sanction to the 
 gospel of Christ, and carry in them such principles of hope 
 and terror as should effectually discourage vice and irreli- 
 gion, and become a powerful attractive to the practice of 
 faith and love, and universal holiness. 
 
 But so corrupt and perverse are the inclinations of men 
 in this fallen and degenerate world, and their passions are 
 so much impressed and moved by things that are present 
 or just at hand, that the joys of heaven, and the sorrows of 
 hell, when set far beyond death and the grave at some 
 vast unknown distance of time, would have but too little 
 influence on their hearts and lives. And though these 
 solemn and important events are never so certain in them- 
 selves, yet being looked upon as things a great way off, 
 make too feeble an impression on the conscience, and their 
 distance is much abused to givean indulgence to present, sen- 
 sualities. For this we have the testimony of our blessed 
 Saviour himself, Matt. xxiv. 48, " The evil servant says, 
 my Lord delays his coming ; then he begins to smite his 
 fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken.'' 
 And Solomon teaches us the same truth, Eccles. viii. 11, 
 " Because sentence against an evil work is not executed 
 speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is ful- 
 ly set in them to do evil." And even the good servants 
 in this imperfect state, the sons of virtue and piety, 
 may be too much allured to indulge sinful negligence, 
 
 334
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 335 
 
 and yield to temptations too easily when the terrors of 
 another world are set so far off, and their hope of happi- 
 ness is delayed so long. It is granted, indeed, that this 
 sort of reasoning is very urtjust ; hut so foolish are our na- 
 tures, that we are too ready to take up with it, and to grow 
 more remiss in the cause of relig'on. 
 
 Whereas, if it can be made to appear from the word of 
 God, that, at the moment of death, the soul enters into an 
 unchangeable state, according to its character and conduct 
 here on earth, and that the recompences of vice and virtue, 
 are, in some measure, to begin immediately upon the end 
 of our state of trial ; and if, besides all this, there be a glo- 
 rious and a dreadful resurrection to be expected, with eter- 
 nal pain or eternal pleasure both for soul and body, and 
 that in a more intense degree, when the theatre of this 
 world is shut up, and Christ Jesus appears to pronounce 
 his public judgment on the world, then all those little sub- 
 terfuges are precluded, which mankind would form to 
 themselves from the unknown distance of the day of re- 
 compence. Virtue will have a nearer and stronger guard 
 placed about it, and piety will be attended with superior 
 motives, if its initial rewards are near at hand, and shall 
 commence as soon as this life expires ; and the vicious and 
 profane will be more effectually affrighted, if the hour of 
 death must immediately consign them to a state of perpet- 
 ual sorrows and bitter anguish of conscience, without hope, 
 and with a fearful expectation of yet greater sorrows and, 
 anguish. 
 
 I know what the opposers of the Separate State reply 
 here, viz. That the whole time from death to the resurrec-' 
 tion is but as the sleep of a night, and the dead shall awake 
 out of their graves, utterly ignorant and insensible of 
 the long distance of time that hath past since their death. 
 One year or one thousand years will be the same thing to 
 them ; and therefore, they should be as careful to prepare 
 for the day of judgment, and the rewards that attend it, as 
 they are for their entrance into the Separate State at 'death, 
 if there were any such state to receive them. 
 
 I grant, men should be so in reason and justice : but 
 such is the weakness and folly of our natures, that men 
 will not be so much influenced nor alarmed by distant pros- 
 pects, nor so solicitous to prepare for an event which they 
 suppose to be so very far off, as they would for the same
 
 336 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PKOOF OP 
 
 event, if it commences as soon as ever this mortal life ex- 
 pires. The vicious man will indulge his sensualities, and 
 lie down to sleep in death with this comfort, ( I shall take 
 my rest here for a hundred or a thousand years, and per- 
 haps, in all that space, my offences may be forgotten, or 
 something may happen that I may escape : or, let the worst 
 come that can come, I shall have a long sweet nap before 
 my sorrows begin. Thus the force of divine terrors are 
 greatly enervated by this delay of punishment. 
 
 I will not undertake to determine, when the soul is dis- 
 missed from the body, whether there be any explicit di- 
 vine sentence passed concerning its eternal state of happi- 
 ness or misery, according to its works in thjs life ; or 
 whether the pain or pleasure that belongs to the State be 
 not chiefly such a'S arises by natural consequence from a 
 life of sin or a life of holiness, and as being under the pow- 
 er of an approving or a condemning conscience. But, it 
 seems to me more probable, that since " the spirit returns 
 to God that gave it, to God the Judge of all," with whom 
 "the spirits of the just made perfect" dwell, and) since 
 the spirit of a Christian, when "absent from the body, is 
 present with the Lord," i. e. Christ, I am more inclined 
 to think that there is some sort of judicial determination 
 of this important point, either by God himself, or by Jesus 
 Christ, into whose hands "he has committed all judgment." 
 Heb. ix. 27. " It is appointed unto men once to die, but 
 after this the judgment :" whether immediate or more 
 distant, is not here expressly declared, though the imme 
 diate connection of the words hardly gives room for seven- 
 teen hundred years to intervene. But, if the solemn for- 
 malities of a judgment be delayed, yet the conscience of a 
 separate spirit, reflecting* on a holy or a sinful life, is suffi- 
 cient to begin a heaven or a hell immediately after death. 
 
 Amongst those who delay the season of recompence till 
 the resurrection, there are some who suppose the soul to 
 exist still as a distinct being from the body, but to pass 
 the whole interval of time in a state of stupor or sleep, 
 being altogether unconscious and unactive. Others again 
 imagine, that the soul itself has not a sufficient distinction 
 from the body to give it any proper existence when the 
 body dies ; but that its existence shall be renewed at the 
 resurrection of the body, and then be made the subject of 
 joy or pain, according to its behaviour in this mortal state.
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 337 
 
 I think there might be an effectual argument against 
 each of these opinions raised from the principles of phi- 
 losophy : I shall just give a hint of them, and then pro- 
 ceed to search what Scripture has revealed in this matter, 
 which is of much greater importance to us, and will have 
 a more powerful influence on the minds of Christians. 
 
 I. Some imagine the soul of man to be his blood or his 
 breath, or a sort of vital flame, or refined air or vapour, or 
 the composition and motion of the fluids and solids in the 
 animal body. This they suppose to be the spring, or prin- 
 ciple of his intellectual life, and of all his thoughts and 
 consciousness, as well as of his animal life. And though 
 this soul of man dies together with the body, and has no 
 manner of separate existence or consciousness, yet when 
 his body is raised from the grave, they suppose this prin- 
 ciple of consciousness is renewed again, and intellectual 
 life is given him at the resurrection as well as a new cor- 
 poreal life. 
 
 But it should be considered, that this conscious or think- 
 ing principle having lost its existence for a season, it will 
 be quite a new thing, or another creature at the resurrec- 
 tion ; and the man will be properly another person, anoth- 
 er self, another I or he : and such a new conscious princi- 
 ple or person cannot properly be rewarded or punished for 
 personal virtues or vices of which itself cannot be con- 
 scious by any power of memory or reflection, and which 
 were transacted in this mortal state by another distinct 
 principle of consciousness. For if the conscious princi- 
 ple itself, or the thinking being has ceased to exist, it is 
 impossible that it should retain any memory of former ac- 
 tions, since itself began to be but in the moment of the 
 resurrection. The doctrine of rewarding or punishing the 
 same soul or intelligent nature which did good or evil in 
 this life, necessarily requires that the same soul or intelli- 
 gent nature should havea continued and uninterrupted exis- 
 tence, that so the same conscious being which did good or 
 evil may be rewarded or punished. 
 
 II. Those who suppose the so-il of man to have a real 
 distinct existence when the body dies, but only to fall into 
 a state of slumber without consciousness or activity, must, 
 I think, suppose this soul to be material, i. e. an extended 
 and solid substance. 
 
 If they suppose it to be inextended, or to have no parte 
 43 2D
 
 338 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OP 
 
 or quantity, I confess I have no manner of idea of the ex- 
 istence or possibility of such an inextended being, with- 
 out consciousness or active power ; nor do they pretend 
 to have any such idea as I ever heard, and therefore they 
 generally grant it to be extended. 
 
 But if they imagine the soul to be extended, it must 
 either have something more of solidity or density than 
 mere empty space, or it must be quite as unsolid and thin 
 as space itself. Let us consider both these. 
 
 If it be as thin and subtle as mere empty space, yet 
 while it is active and conscious, I own it must have a 
 proper existence ; but if it once begin to sleep and drop 
 all conscipusness and activity, I have no other idea of it, 
 but the same which I have of empty space ; and that I 
 conceive to be mere nothing, though it impose upon us 
 with the appearance of some sort of properties. 
 
 If they allow the soul to have any the least degree of 
 density above'what belongs to empty space, this is solidity 
 in the philosophic sense of the word, and then it is solid 
 extension, which I call matter : and a material being may 
 indeed be laid asleep, i. e. it may cease to have any motion 
 in its parts ; but motion is not consciousness : and how 
 either solid or unsolid extension, either space or matter, 
 can have any consciousness or thought belonging to any 
 part of it, or spread through the whole of it, I know not ; 
 or what any sort of extension can do toward thought or 
 consciousness, I confess I understand not; nor can I frame 
 any more an idea of it, than I can of a blue motion or a 
 sweet smelling sound, or of fire or air or water reasoning 
 or rejoicing : and I do not affect to speak of things or 
 words, when I can form no correspondent ideas of what 
 is spoken. 
 
 So far as I can judge, the soul of man in its own nature, 
 is nothing else but a conscious and active principle, sub- 
 sisting by itself, made after the image of God, who is all 
 conscious activity ; and it is still the same being, whether 
 it be united to an animal body, or separated from it. If 
 the body die, the soul still exists an active and conscious 
 power or principle, or being ; and if it ceases to be con- 
 scious and active, I think it ceases to be ; for I have no 
 conception of what remains. 
 
 Now, if the conscious principle continue conscious after 
 death, it will not be in a mere conscious indolence : the
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 339 
 
 good man and the wicked will not have the same indolent 
 existence. Virtue or vice, in the very temper of this be- 
 ing when absent from matter or body, will become a 
 pleasure or a pain to the conscience of a separate spirit 
 
 I am well aware that this is a subject which has employ- 
 ed the thoughts of many philosophers, and I do but just 
 intimate my own sentiments without presuming to judge 
 for others. But the defence or refutation of arguments on 
 this subject, would draw me into a field of philosophical 
 discourse, which is very foreign to my present purpose : 
 and whether this reasoning stand or fall, it will have but 
 very little influence on this controversy with the generality 
 of Christians, because it is a thing rather to be determined 
 by the revelation of the word of God. I therefore drop 
 this argument at once, and apply myself immediately to 
 consider the proofs that may be drawn from Scripture for 
 the soul's existence in a Separate State after death, and 
 before the resurrection. 
 
 II. Probable arguments for the Separate State. ' 
 
 There are several places of Scripture in the Old Testa- 
 ment, as well as in the New, which may be most naturally 
 and properly construed to signify the existence of the soul 
 in a Separate State after the body is dead ; but since they 
 do not curry with them such plain evidence, or forcible 
 proof, and may possibly be interpreted to another sense, 
 I shall not long insist upon them : however it may not be 
 amiss just to mention a few of them, and pass away. 
 
 Psal. Ixxiii. 24,26. "Thou shalt guide me with thy 
 counsel, and afterward receive me to glory : my flesh and 
 my heart faileth ; but God is the strength of my heart 
 and my portion for ever." In these verses 'receiving to 
 glory' seems immediately to follow a guidance through 
 this world ; and when 'the flesh and heart' of the Psalmist 
 should 'fail him' in death, God continued to be his 'por- 
 tion for ever,' God would receive him to himself as such 
 a portion, and thereby he gave strength or ' courage to 
 his heart' even in a dying hour. It would be a very odd 
 and unnatural exposition of this text to interpret it 
 only of the resurrection, thus, " Thou shalt guide 
 me b\' thy counsel through this life, and after the long 
 interval of some thousand years thou wilt receive me to 
 glory." 
 
 Eccles. xii. 7, " Then shall the dust return to the earth
 
 340 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OF 
 
 as it was, and the spirit to God that gave it." It is confes- 
 sed the word spirit in the Hebrew is the same with breath, 
 and is represented in some places of Scripture as the spring 
 of animal life to the body : yet it is evident in many other 
 places, the word spirit signifies the conscious principle in 
 man, or the intelligent heing, which knows and reasons, 
 perceives and acts. The Scripture speaks of heing "grieved 
 inspirit," Isa. liv. 6; of "rejoicing in spirit," Luke x. 
 21 ; "the spirit of a man knoweth the things of a man," 
 1 Cor. ii. 11 : "there is a spirit in man," i. e. a principle 
 of understanding, Job xxxii. 8 ; and 'this spirit' both of 
 the wicked and the righteous at death "returns to God," 
 Eccl. xii. 7, to God who (as I hinted before) is the 'Judge 
 of all' in the world of spirits, probably to be further de- 
 termined and disposed of, as to its state of reward or 
 punishment. 
 
 Isa. Ivii. 2, " The righteous is taken away from the evil 
 to come, he shall enter into peace, they shall rest in their 
 beds, each one walking in his uprightness." The soul of 
 every one that walketh uprightly shall at death enter into 
 a state of peace while their body rests in the bed of dust. 
 
 Luke ix. 30, 31, "And behold there talked with him, 
 (i. e. with Jesus,) two men which were Moses and Elias, 
 who appeared ia glory, and spake of his decease which he 
 should accomplish at. Jerusalem." I grant it possible that 
 these might be but mere visions which appeared to our 
 blessed Saviour and his apostles : but it is a much more 
 natural and obvious interpretation to suppose that the 
 spirits of these two great men whereof one was the in- 
 Stitutor, and the other the reformer of the Jewish church, 
 did really appear to Christ, who was the reformer of the 
 world, and the institutor of the Christian church, and con- 
 verse with him about the important event of his death 
 and his return to heaven. Perhaps the spirit of Elijah 
 had his heavenly body with him there, since he never died, 
 but was carried alive to heaven ; but Moses gave up his 
 soul at the call of God when no man was near him, and 
 his body was buried by God himself, (see 2 Kings ii. 11. 
 and Deut. xxxiv. 1, 5, 6,) and his spirit was probably made 
 visible only by an assumed vehicle for that purpose. 
 
 John v. 24, "Whoso heareth my word and believeth 
 on him that sent me, hath everlasting life ; is passed from 
 death to life." John vi. 47, 50, 51, "This is the bread
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 341 
 
 which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat 
 thereof and not die. If any man eat of this bread, he shall 
 live for ever." John xi. 26, " Whoso liveth and believeth 
 in me, shall never die," to which may be added the words 
 of Christ to the woman of Samaria, John iv. 14, "The 
 water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, 
 springing up into everlasting life." 1 John v. 12, "He that 
 hath the Son hath life," &c. The argument I draw from 
 these Scriptures in this. It is hardly to be supposed that 
 our Saviour in this gospel, and John in his first epistle 
 imitating him, should speak such strong language concern- 
 ing eternal life, actually given to and possessed by the 
 believers of that day, if there must be an interruption of 
 it by total death or sleep both of soul and body for almost 
 two thousand years, i. e. till the resurrection. 
 
 Acts vii. 59, "And they stoned Stephen calling upon 
 God, and saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit." Those who 
 deny a Separate State, suppose that Stephen here commits 
 his spirit, or principle of human life, into the hands or 
 care of Christ (because the life of a saint is said to be 
 "hid with Christ in God," Colos. iii. 3,4,) that he might 
 restore it at the resurrection, and raise him to life again. 
 But I think this is an unnatural force put upon these words, 
 contrary to their most obvious meaning, if we consider 
 the context : for Stephen here had a vision of the "Son 
 of man, (or Christ Jesus,) standing on the right hand of 
 God, and the glory of God near him ;" see ver. 55, 56. 
 Whereupon Stephen being conscious of the existence of 
 Christ in that glorious state, desired that he would receive 
 his spirit, and take it to dwell with him in his Father'shouse ; 
 not to lie and sleep in heaven, for "there is no night 
 there," but to behold the glory of Christ according to the 
 many promises that Christ had made to his disciples, that 
 he "would go and prepare a place for them in his Father's 
 house," and that they should be " with him there to 
 behold his glory," John xiv, and xvii, which I shall have 
 occasion to speak of afterward. 
 
 Rom. viii. 10, 11. " And if Christ be in you, the body 
 is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of 
 righteousness," i. e. if Christ dwell in you by the sancti- 
 fying influences of his Spirit, it is true indeed, your body 
 is mortal and must die, because it is doomed to death from 
 the fall of Adam on the account of sin, and because sinful 
 2 D 2
 
 342 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OF 
 
 principles still dwell in this fleshly body ; but your soaf 
 or spirit is life, or (as some copies read instead of &} your 
 spirit lives when the body is dead, and enjoys a life of hap- 
 piness, because of the righteousness imputed to you, i. c. 
 "your justification unto life," Rom. v. 17, 18. 21. I 
 know there are several other ways of construing the words 
 of this verse by metaphors ; but the plain and most natur- 
 al antithesis which appears here between the death of the 
 body of a saint because of sin or guilt, and the continu- 
 ance of the spirit or soul in a life of peace because of justi- 
 fication or righteousness, and that even when the body is 
 dead, gives a pretty clear proof that this is the sense of 
 the apostle. This is also further confirmed by the next 
 verse, which promises the resurrection of the dead body 
 in due time. " If the Spirit of him that raised up Christ 
 from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from 
 the dead," i. e. God the Father, "shall also quicken 
 your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." 
 The spirit or soul of the saint lives without dying, because 
 of its pardon of sin and justification and sanctification, in 
 the 10th verse ; and the body (not the spirit or soul) shall 
 be quickened or raised to life again, by the blessed Spirit 
 of God which dwells in the saints, ver. 11. 
 
 2 Cor. v. 1,2, " 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 heavens. 
 For in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon 
 with our house which is from heaven." Ver. 4, " We in 
 this tabernacle groan being burdened, not for that *we 
 would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might 
 be swallowed up of life." It is evident that this ' house from 
 heaven,' this ' building of God,' is something which is 
 like the clothing of a soul divested of this ' earthly taber- 
 nacle,' ver. 1, 2, or it is the clothing of the whole person, 
 body and soul, which would abrogate the state of mortali- 
 ty, and l swallow it up in life,' ver. 4. For though in ver. 
 4, the apostle supposes that the soul doth not desire the 
 death of the body, or that itself should be unclothed, and 
 therefore he would rather choose to have this state of bles- 
 sed immortality superinduced on his body and soul at 
 once without dying, yet in the first verse he plainly 
 means such a house in or from heaven, or such a cloth- 
 ing which may come upon the soul immediately as soon.
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 343 
 
 as the -'earthly house' or 'tabernacle of his body is 
 dissolved.' And how dubious soever this may ap- 
 pear to those who read the chapter only thus far, yet 
 the 8th verse, which supposes good men to be ' present 
 with Christ' when 'absent from the body,' determines 
 the sense of it as I have explained it ; of which hereafter. 
 Perhaps it is hard to determine, whether this superin- 
 duced clothing be like the Shechinah or Visible glory in 
 which Christ, Moses, and Elias, appeared at the transfi- 
 guration, and which some suppose to have belonged to 
 Adam in innocency; or whether it signify only 'a 
 state of happy immortality,' superinduced OF brought in 
 upon the departing soul at death, or upon the soul, and body 
 united as in thislife, and with which those saints shall be cloth- 
 ed, who are " found alive at the coming of Christ," accord- 
 ing to 1 Cor. xv. 52, 53, 54, which will not kill the body, 
 but swallow up its mortal state in immortal life. 
 
 Let this matter, I say, be determined either way, yet the 
 great point seems to be evident, even beyond probability, 
 that there is a conscious being spoken of, which is very dis- 
 tinct from its tabernacle, or house, or clothing, and which ex- 
 ists still, whatever its clothing or its dwelling bo, or whether 
 it be put off, or put on ; and that, when the earthly house or 
 vessel is dissolved or put of, the heavenly house or clothing 
 is ready at hand to be put on immediately, to render the soul 
 of the Christian fit to be present with the Lord. 
 
 2 Cor. xii. 2, 3, " 1 knew a man in Christ above fourteen 
 years ago, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot 
 tell, God knoweth ; howthathe was caught up into paradise, 
 and heard unspeakable words." I grant this ecstacy of the 
 apostle does not actually shew the existence of a Separate 
 State after death till the resurrection ; yet it plainly manifests 
 St. Paul's belief, that there might be such a state, and that 
 the soul might be separated from the body, and exist and 
 think, and know, and act, in paradise, in a state of separa- 
 tion, and hear, and perhaps converse in the unspeakable lan- 
 guage of that world, while it was 'absent from the body.' 
 
 And, as I acknowledge I am one of those persons who 
 do not believe that the intellectual spirit or mind of man 
 is the proper principle of animal life to the body, but that 
 it is another distinct conscious being, that generally uses 
 the body as an habitation, engine, or instrument, while its 
 animal life remains ; so I am of opinion, it is a possible
 
 344 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OF 
 
 thing for the intellectual spirit, in a miraculous manner, 
 by the special order of God, to act in a state of separation 
 without the death of the animal body, since the life of the 
 body depends upon breath and air, and the regular temper 
 and motion of the solids and fluids, of which it is compos- 
 ed;* And St. Paul seems here to be of the same mind, 
 by his doubting whether his spirit was 'in the body or out 
 of the body,' whilst it was ' rapt into the third heaven' and 
 enjoyed this vision, his body being yet alive. 
 
 Phil. i. 21, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is 
 gain." The apostle, whilst he was here upon earth, spent 
 his life in the service of Christ, and enjoyed many glori- 
 ous communications from him. "For him to live was 
 Christ." And, on this account, he was contented to con- 
 tinue here in life longer: yet he is well satisfied that death 
 would be an advantage or gain to him. Now we can hard- 
 ly imagine what gain it would be for St. Paul to die, if 
 his soul immediately went to sleep and became unactive and 
 unconscious, while his body lay in the grave, and neither 
 soul nor body could do any service for Christ, or receive 
 any communications from him, till the great rising-day. This 
 text seeny to carry .the argument above a mere probability. 
 
 It would be thought, perhaps, a little foreign to my pn>ei;t purpose, if I 
 should stay here, to prove that it is not the conscious principle in man that 
 gives or maintains the animal life of his hotly. It is granted, that, according 
 to the course of nature, and the general appointment of God therein, this 
 conscious principle or spirit continues its communications with the body, 
 while the body has animal life, or is capable of its natural motions, and 
 able to obey the volition of the spirit ; and, on this account, the ' union of 
 the rational spirit to the body,' and ' the animal life of the body,' are often 
 represented as one and the same thing. 
 
 But, if we enter into a philosophical consideration of things, we should re- 
 member that animals of every kind in earth, air, and sea, and even the minu- 
 test insects which swarm in millions, and worlds of them, which are invis- 
 ible to the naked eye, have all an animal life, but no such conscious or think- 
 ing principle as is in man : and why may not the body of man have the 
 same sort of animal life quite distinct from the conscious spirit 1 
 
 Besides, if this conscious principle give life to the body, medicines and 
 physicians whose power reaches only to rectify the disordered solids or 
 fluids of the body, would not be so necessary to preserve life, as an oratorio 
 persuade the spirit to continue in the body and preserve its life. And ac- 
 cordingly, we read of foreign ignorant nations, where the kindred persuade 
 the dying person to live and tarry with them, and not to f rsake them ; and, 
 when the person is dead, they mourn and reprove him, ' N\ hy were you so 
 unkind to leave and forsake us '!' and indeed this conduct of those poor sav- 
 ages is a very natural inference from their supposition of the* intelligent spi- 
 rit giving animal life to the body.
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 345 
 
 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." The most natural and evident sense 
 of these words is this, that when the man Jesus Christ (in 
 whom dwells the fulness of the Godhead) shall descend 
 from heaven, in order to raise the dead bodies of those that 
 died or went to bleep in the faith of Christ, God dwelling 
 in him, will bring with him the souls of his saints who 
 were in paradise, down to earth to be reunited to their bo- 
 dies when Jesus raises them from the dead, of which the 
 apostle speaks in the 6th verse: this, I say, is. the most na- 
 tural and obvious sense : other paraphrases of the words 
 seem strained and unnatural. 
 
 1 Thess. v. 10, "Jesus Christ, who died for us, that 
 whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with 
 him." Sleep is the death of good men, in the language of 
 the apostle, in chap. iv. 13, 14, 15, and sleep in this verse, 
 can neither signify natural sleep, S ver. 7, nor spiritual 
 sloth, as ver. 6, therefore it must signify death here. Now, 
 they who sleep in Christ, in this sense, do still live to- 
 gether with him in their souls, and shall live with him in 
 thir bodies also, when raised from the dead. This expo- 
 sition arises near to a certainty of evidence. 
 
 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19, 20, "Christ was put to death in the 
 flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; by which also he went 
 and preached unio the spirits in prison, which sometime 
 were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God 
 waited in the days of Noah." I confess this is a text that 
 has much puzzled interpreters, in what sense Christ may 
 be said "to go and preach" to those ancient rebels who 
 were destroyed by the flood : whether he did it by his 
 spirit working in Noah the " preacher of righteousness" 
 in those days; or whether, in the three days in which 
 the body of Christ lay de^d, his soul visited the spir- 
 its of those rebels in their separate state cf imprison- 
 ment, on which some ground the notion of his descent in- 
 to hell. But, let this be determined as it will, * the most 
 clear and easy sense of the apostle, when he speaks ol the 
 "spirits in prison," is, that the souls of those rebels, after their 
 bodies were destroyed by the flood, were reserved in pri- 
 son for some special and future design. And this is very 
 
 44 "See Note, page 100, supra.
 
 34fi ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OF 
 
 parallel to the present circumstances of fallen angels in 
 Jude ver. 4, "The angels that kept not their first estate, 
 he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto 
 the judgment of the great day :" and why may not the 
 spirits of men be as well kept in such a prison as angelic 
 spirits? 
 
 Jude ver. 7, ' Sodom and Gomorrah are set forth for an 
 example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.' It 
 is evident that the material fire which destroyed Sodom 
 and Gomorrah was not eternal, for a great lake of water 
 quickly overflowed and now covers all that plain where 
 the fire was kindled, which burnt down those cities. It is 
 manifest also, that, the day of resurrection and future pun- 
 ishment being not yet come, they do not, at this time, 
 suffer the vengeance of eternal fire in their bodies. Nor 
 can this verse, I think, be well explained to make Sodom 
 and Gomorrah an example to deter present sinners from 
 uncleanness, but by allowing that the spirits of those lewd 
 persons are now suffering a degree of vengeance or pun- 
 ishment from the justice of God, which is compared to 
 that fire whereby their cities and their bodies were burnt: 
 and which vengeance, at the last great day, shall continue 
 their punishment, and pronounce it eternal, or kindle ma- 
 terial fire which shall never be quenched. 
 
 The last text I shall mention, is Rev. vi. 9, " I saw un- 
 der the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word 
 of-God, and for the testimony which they held." I confess 
 this is a book of visions, and this place, amongst others, 
 might be explained as a mere vision of the apostle, if there 
 were no other text which confirmed the doctrine of a Sepa- 
 rate State. But since I think there are some solid proofs of it 
 in other parts of the New Testament, I know not why 
 this may not be explained, at least something nearer to the 
 literal sense of it. than those will allow, who suppose the 
 soul to sleep from death to the resurrection. Why may 
 not the spirits of the martyrs, which are now with God, 
 pray him to hasten the accomplishment of his promises 
 made to his church, and the day of vengeance upon his ir- 
 reconcileable enemies ? 
 
 III. Some firmer or more evident proofs of a Sepa- 
 rate State. 
 
 I come now to consider those texts which do more ex- 
 pressly and certainly discover the Separate State, and
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 347 
 
 which, I think, cannot, with any tolerable appearance of 
 reason, be turned aside from their plain and obvious inten- 
 tion, to reveal and declare that there is a Separate State 
 of souls. And such, in my opinion, are these that follow. 
 I. Text, Matth. x. 28, ' Fear not them which kill the 
 body, but are not able to kill the soul ; but rather fear 
 him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.' 
 Every common reader, as well as every man of learning 
 who reads this text with a sincere mind and without preju- 
 dice, I think, will acknowledge at least, that the most ob- 
 vious and easy sense of the words, implies, that there is a 
 soul in man which men cannot kill, even though they kill 
 the body. 
 
 It is to very little purpose for writers to say, that the 
 Greek word 4 u Pc which we translate soul here, doth in 
 other places of Scripture, and even in the 39th verse of ' 
 this very chapter, signiiy life, and consequently here it 
 may also signify the animal life or person of the man ; for 
 it is manifest, that in this place it must signify some im- 
 mortal principle in man that cannot die ; whereas when 
 the body is killed, the animal life dies too, and does not 
 exist till the body is raised again : but the soul is a prin- 
 ciple in this place which men cannot kill even though 
 they destroy the life of the body : and whatsoever other 
 senses tae word 4 V * may obtain in other texts, that cannot 
 preclude such a sense of it in this text, as is most usual in 
 itself, and which the context makes necessary in this 
 place. 
 
 Nor will it avail the supporters of the mortality of the 
 soul to say that this scripture means only that < men can- 
 not kill the soul for ever,' so that it shall for ever perish 
 and have no future life hereafter by a resurrection : for in 
 this sense men cannot 'kill the body,' so that it shall 
 never revive or rise again : but here is a plain distinction 
 in the text, that the body may be killed, but the soul can- 
 not. 
 
 And I think this Scripture proves also, that though the 
 body may be laid to sleep in the grave, yet the soul can- 
 not be laid to sleep ; for the substance of the body still 
 exists, and is not utterly destroyed by killing it, but only 
 'laid to sleep' for a time, as the Scripture often describes 
 death : but the soul cannot be thus laid to sleep for a 
 time, with its substance still existing, for that would be to
 
 348 ESSAY TOWARDS TPE PROOF OF 
 
 have no pre-eminence above the body, which is contrary 
 to this assertion of our Saviour. 
 
 II. Luke xvi. 22, &c. " The beggar died and was car- 
 ried by angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man 
 also died and was buried, and in hell he lifted up his 
 eyes, being in torments, and said, Father Abraham, have 
 mercy on me, &c. and send Lazarus, ver. 27, to my father's 
 house that he may testify to my brethren, lest they come 
 also into this place of torment." I grant that this ac- 
 count of the rich man and the beggar is but a parable, and 
 yet it may prove the existence of the rich man's soul 
 in a place of torment before the resurrection of the body ; 
 1. Because the existence of' souls in a Separate State, 
 whilst other men dwell here on earth, is the very founda- 
 tion ol the whole parable, and runs through the whole of 
 it. The poor man died and his soul was in paradise. The 
 rich man's dead body was buried and his soul was in hell, 
 while his five brethren were here on earth in a state of 
 probation, and would not hearken to 'Moses and the 
 prophets.' 
 
 2. Because the very design of the parable is to shew, 
 that a ghost sent from the other world, whether heaven 
 or hell ; to wicked men who are here in a state of trial, 
 will not. be sufficient to convert them to holiness, if they 
 reject the means of grace and the ministers of th3 word. 
 The very design of our Saviour seems. to be lost, if there 
 be no souls existing in a Separate State. A ghost sent 
 from the other world could never be supposed to have 
 any influence to convert sinners in this world, even in a 
 parable, if there were no such things as ghosts there. The 
 rich man's five brethren could have no motive to hearken 
 to a ghost pretending to come from heaven or hell, if 
 there were no such thing as ghosts or separate souls ei- 
 ther happy or miserable. Now surely, if parables can 
 prove any thing at all, they must prove those proposi- 
 tions which are both the foundation and the design of 
 the whole parable. 
 
 3. I might add yet further, that it is very strange that 
 our Saviour should so particularly spealc of angels car- 
 rying the soul of a man, whose body was just dead, into 
 heaven or paradise, which he calls 'Abraham's bosom,' 
 if there wpre no such state or place as a heaven for 
 separate souls; if Abraham's soul had no residence there,
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 349 
 
 no existence in that state ; if angels had never any thing 
 to do in such an off.ce. What would the Jews have said or 
 thought of a prophet come from God, who had taught his 
 doctrines to the people in such parables as had scarce 
 any sort of foundation in the reality or nature of things. 
 
 But you will say the Jews had such an opinion current 
 among them, though it was a very false one, and that this 
 was enough to support a parable. I answer, what could 
 Christ (who is truth itself) have said more or plainer to 
 confirm the Jews in this gross error of a Separate State 
 of souls, than to form a parable which supposes this doc- 
 trine in the very design and moral of it, as well as in the 
 foundation and matter of it ? 
 
 III. Luke xx. 37, 38, " Now that the dead are raised 
 even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord 
 the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of 
 Jacob ; for he is not a God of the dead but of the living; 
 for all live unto him." Some learned men suppose that 
 the controversy between Christ and the Sadducees in this 
 place was about the anastasis, which implies (he whole 
 state of existence after death, including both the Separate 
 State and the resurrection, because the Sadducees denied 
 both these at once, and believed that death finished the 
 whole existence of the man. " They denied angels and 
 spirits," Acts xxiii. 8, i. e. separate souls of men, and 
 thought the rewards and punishments mentioned in Scrip- 
 ture related only to this life. .Upon this account they 
 suppose our Saviour's design is to prove the existence of 
 persons or spirits in the Separate State as much as the 
 resurrection of the body. 
 
 And when he says, that the Lord or Jehovah is de- 
 scribed as the 'God of Abraham,' &c. it supposes Abra- 
 ham at the same time to have actually some life and exis- 
 tence in some state or other, for "God is not a God of 
 the dead 'but of the living," for ,all that are dead and 
 gone out of this world still live unto God, i. e. they 
 have a present life in the invisible world of spirits as 
 God is an invisible Spirit, as well as they expect a re- 
 surrection of their body in due time. 
 
 How could God in the days of Moses be called ac- 
 tually "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," who 
 were long since dead, if. there was no sense in which 
 they were now alive to God, since our Saviour declares 
 2E
 
 350 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OF 
 
 God is properly "the God only of the living, and not 
 of the dead ?" This part of the argument holds good in 
 whatsoever sense you construe the whole debate, and hy 
 whatsoever medium or connection you prove the doctrine 
 of the resurrection of the body ; and this is obvious to 
 the honest and unlearned reader, as well as to the men of 
 learning. 
 
 IV. Luke xxiii. 42,43, "And he (that is, the penitent 
 thief upon the cross) said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me 
 when thou comest into thy kingdom : and Jesus said unto 
 him, Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with 
 me in paradise." The thief upon the cross believed that 
 Christ would enter into paradise which he supposed to be 
 Christ's kingdom, when he departed from 'this' world' 
 which was ' not his kingdom ;' and this he believed partly 
 according to the common sentiment of the Jews concern- 
 ing good men at their death, as well as it is agreeable 
 to our Saviour's own expressions to God, John xvii. 11, 
 "Holy Father, lam no more in the world and 1 am come 
 unto thee :" or as he had said 1o his disciples, John xvi. 
 28, "I leave the world and go to the Father." 
 
 And according to these expressions, Luke, xxiii. 46, 
 Christ dies with these words on his lips, "Father into thy 
 hands I commend my spirit." Our Saviour taking notice 
 of the 'repentance of the thief, acknowledging his own 
 guilt, thus, "we are justly under this condemnation and 
 receive the due reward of our deeds ;" and taking notice 
 also of his faith in the Messiah, as a king whose "king- 
 dom was not of this world," when Tie prayed, "Lord, 
 remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom :" 
 Christ, I say, taking notice of both these, answers him 
 with a promise of much grace, "Verily, I say unto thee, 
 to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise," 
 
 The use of the word paradise in Scripture, and among 
 ancient writers Jewish and Christian, is to signify the 
 ' happiness of holy souls in a Separate State ;' and our 
 Saviour entering into that state at his death declared to 
 the dying penitent, that he should be with him there 
 immediately. It is certain that by the word paradise St. 
 Paul means the place of happy spirits, into which h>' was 
 transported, 2 Cor. xii. 4. And this sense is very ac- 
 commodate and proper to this expression of our Saviour 
 and to the prayer of the penitent thief, and it is as
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 351 
 
 suitable to the design of Christ in his epistle to the church 
 of Ephesus, Rev. ii. 7, " the tree of life in the midst of 
 the paradise of God," which are the only three places 
 where the New Testament uses this word. 
 
 I know there have been great pains taken to shew 
 that the stops should be altered, and the comma should 
 be placed after the word to-day, thus 'I say unto thee 
 to-day, thou shalt be with me in paradise,' i. e. some 
 time or other hereafter. As though Christ meant no more 
 than this, viz. ' Thou askest me to remember thee when 
 I come into my kingdom : and I declare unto thee truly 
 this very day, that some long time hereafter thou shalt 
 be with me in happiness at thy resurrection, when my 
 kingdom shall be just at an end and I shall give it all up 
 to the Father,' as in 1 Cor. xv. 24. Can any one imagine 
 this to be the meaning of our blessed Saviour in answer 
 to this prayer of the dying penitent? I know also there 
 are other laborious criticisms to represent these words 
 (to-day) in other places of Scripture as referring to some 
 distant time, and not to mean that very day of twenty- 
 four hours : but rather than enter into a long and critical 
 debate upon all these texts, I will venture to trust the 
 sense of it in this place with any sincere and unlearn- 
 ed reader. 
 
 But if we consult the learned Dr. Whitby, he will tell 
 us, that it was a familiar phrase of the Jews to say, on a 
 just man's dying, 'to day shall he sit in the bosom of 
 Abraham :' and it was their opinion, that the ' souls of 
 the righteous who were very eminent in piety, were car- 
 ried immediately into paradise.' The Chaldee paraphrase 
 on Solomon's Song, iv. 12, takes some notice of the 'souls 
 of the just, who are carried into paradise by the hands 
 of angels.' Grotius, in his notes on Luke xxiii. 43, men- 
 tions the hearty and serious wish of the Jews concerning 
 their friends who are dead, in the language of the Tal- 
 mudical writers, ' let his soul be gathered to the garden 
 of Eden :' and, hr their solemn prayers when one dies, 
 1 let him have his portion in paradise, and also in the world 
 to come,' by which they mean the state of the resurrec- 
 tion,, and plainly distinguish it from this immediate en- 
 trance into Eden or paradise at the hour of death. The 
 Jews suppose Enoch to be carried to paradise even in his 
 body ; and that the souls of good men have no interrup-
 
 352 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OF 
 
 tion of life, but that there was a 'reward for blameless 
 souls,' as the book of Wisdom speaks, chap. ii. 22, For 
 God created man to be immortal, and to be an image of 
 his own eternity," wh : ch seems to suppose ' blameless 
 souls' entering into this reward without interruption of 
 their life. And, if this be the meaning of paradise among 
 the Jews, doubtless our Saviour spake the words in such 
 a known and common sense, in 'which the penitent thief 
 would easily and presently understand him, it being a 
 promise of grace in his dying hour, wherein he had no 
 long time to study hard for the sense of it, or consult the 
 critics in order to find the meaning. 
 
 We come now to consider the writings of St. Paul : and 
 it is certain, that the most natural and obvious sense of his 
 words in many places of his epistles, refer to a Separate 
 State of the souls after death. For, as he was a Pharisee 
 in his sentiments of religion, so he seems to be something 
 of a Platonist in philosophy, so far as Christianity admit- 
 ted 'the same principles.* Why then should it not be rea- 
 sonably supposed, wheresoever he speaks of this subject, 
 and speaks in their language too, that he means the same 
 thing which the Pharisees and Platonists believed, that is, 
 the immortality and life of the soul in a Separate State. 
 But I proceed tcr the particular texts. 
 
 V. 2 Cor. v. 6, 8, " Therefore we are always confident, 
 (or of good courage,) knowing, that whilst we are at home in 
 the body we are absent from the* Lord : we are confident, 
 I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and 
 to be present with the Lord." The apostle ver. 4, seems 
 to wish that he might be clothed upon at once with immor- 
 tality in soul and body, without dying or being unclothed : 
 but since things are otherwise determined, then, in the 
 next place, he would rather choose 'absence from the bo- 
 dy,' that he might be ' present with the Lord.' These 
 words seem to be so plain, so express, and so unanswerable 
 a proof of the spirits of good men existing in a Separate 
 State, and being ' present with the Lord, when they are 
 ' absent from the body* at death, that I could never meet 
 but with two ways of evading it. 
 
 * As Paul wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I must protest against 
 a practice becoming more and more prcvajent, of imputing human theories, 
 be it Platonism, or any other ism, to him, or to any other of the inspired wri- 
 ters. ED.
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 353 
 
 The first is what a gentleman many years ago, who pro- 
 fessed Christianity, acknowledged to me, viz. that he be- 
 lieved St. Paul did mean, in this place, the same sense in 
 which I have explained him; but he thought St. Paul might 
 be mistaken in his opinion, for he was not of the apostle's 
 mind in this point. I think I need not tarry to refute this 
 answer: but I may make this remark upon it, viz. that the 
 sense of St. Paul concerning the Separate State was so ev- 
 ident, in this place, that this man had rather differ from 
 the apostle than deny this to be his meaning. All his pre- 
 judices against this doctrine could not hinder him from 
 acknowledging that the apostle believed and taught it 
 
 The second way of evading it is, that this text, with one 
 or two others of like kind, do indeed speak of the happi- 
 ness of souls in a Separate State, but it doth refer only to 
 the apostles themselves, who had this peculiar favour and 
 privilege granted them by Christ, to follow him to para- 
 dise and enjoy his presence there, while the souls of other 
 Christians were asleep, unconscious and unaqtive till the 
 resurrection. 
 
 Answer 1. It is granted indeed, that several verses of 
 this chapter, as well as in the former, have a peculiar ref- 
 erence to the ministers of Christ, and perhaps to the apos- 
 tles who were his ambassadors; but there are many things 
 in both these chapters that are perfectly applicable to every 
 Christian, and the versesjust before and just afterthis eighth 
 verse, may belong to all good men as well as to the apos- 
 tles or ministers. " He that hath wrought us for the self- 
 same thing," i. e. for the happiness of the future state, 
 " is God, who hath also given unto us the earnest of the 
 Spirit," at least as an enlightencr and sanctifier, if not as 
 the author of special gifts, for, Rom. viii. 9, " If any man 
 hath not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his." And 
 ver. 6. " therefore we are .always confident," or of good 
 courage, " knowing that whilst we are at home in the bo- 
 dy we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith not 
 by sight." This is or should be the character of every 
 Christian. And the 9th verse that follows it, belongs to 
 all the saints. " Wherefore we labour that whether pres- 
 ent or absent we may be accepted of him ; for we must 
 all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every 
 one may receive the things done in his body according to 
 that he hath done, whether it be good, or bad." Now why 
 45 2E2
 
 354 AN ESSAT TOWARDS THE PROOF OF 
 
 should we suppose that St. Paul excludes all other Chris- 
 tians besides himself and his brethren the apostles from the 
 blessing of the 8th verse, viz. that when they are " absent 
 from the body 'they' shall be present with the Lord," 
 since the verses all round it are applicable to all Christians? 
 Answer 2. These chapters were written with a design not 
 only to vindicate and encourage the apostle himself under 
 the sufferings and reproaches which he met with, but doubtless 
 to give encouragementtothe Corinthians, and all Christians 
 'under any sufferings or reproaches they might meet with in the 
 world; that (as he expresses it a little before) they might 
 learn "to walk by faith and to look at the things which 
 are unseen, which are eternal."' And indeed if this pe- 
 culiar blessing of the happiness of a Separate State belongs 
 only to the apostles, how much are the comforts of the 
 New Testament narrowed and diminished, and the faith 
 and hope of common Christians discouraged and enerva- 
 ted, and their motives to holiness weakened, when they 
 are told, that they have nothing to do to lay hold up- 
 on such promised favours, such revelations of grace, be- 
 cause they belong only to the apostles and not to them. 
 
 And indeed how shall common Christians ever know 
 what part of the epistles they may apply to themselves for 
 their direction and consolation, if they may not hope in 
 such words of grace, where the holy writers use the word 
 ' we,' and do not plainly intimate that they belong to 
 preachers or apostles only ? 
 
 Answer 3. When our Saviour prays for himself and 
 his apostles in the beginning of the xviith of St. John, he 
 comes in the 20th verse to extend the blessings he had 
 prayed for to all believers. Ver. 20. "Neither pray I for 
 these alone, but for them also which shall believe, on me 
 through their word ; that they all may be one, as thou, 
 Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in 
 us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." 
 Ver. 24. "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast 
 given me may be with me where I am, that they may be- 
 hold my glory which thou hast given me." Here it is 
 evident that our Saviour prays that those that shall believe 
 on him through the word of the Apostles may be present 
 with him in his kingdom to behold his glory ; and is not 
 that a very considerable part of his glory, which the Father 
 hath conferred upon him to be Lord and King and head
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 355 
 
 of his church ? But this peculiar glory reaches no further 
 than the resurrection and judgment, and cannot be seen af- 
 terwards; for in 1 Cor. xv. 24, "then cometh the end, and 
 Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to God the Father; the 
 Son himself also shall be subject unto the Father, that God 
 may be all in all," ver. 28. 
 
 As for that final blaze of supreme glory wherein Christ 
 shall appear at the day of judgment just before he resigns 
 up his kingdom, and which perhaps is once called 'his 
 kingdom/ 2 Tim. iv. 1 ; " when he shall come in the glory 
 of his Father and of his holy angels as well as his own," 
 Mark viii. 38, the sight of it shall be public and common 
 to all the world, and not any peculiar favour to the saints. 
 
 It seems therefore most probable that it is only or chiefly 
 in the Separate State of souls departed, that the saints have 
 a special promise of' beholding this mediatorial glory of 
 Christ in his kingdom ; and this favour our Saviour entreats 
 of his Father for others that shall believe on him, as well 
 as for his Apostles. 
 
 I might here take occasion to enquire whether every 
 text which promises to other Christians as well as to the 
 Apostles, a dwelling with Christ 'in his kingdom,' must 
 not have a more special reference to the glory of the Sep- 
 arate State ; upon this very account, because this king- 
 dom' of Christ ceases at the resurrection and judgment ; 
 and particularly that text in 2 Pet. i. 11, " so an entrance 
 shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlas- 
 ting kingdom of our Lord and Savidur Jesus Christ :" 
 which is often in Scripture called everlasting because it con- 
 tinues to the end of the world; and the 'abundant entrance 
 into it' very naturally refers to our departure from this life. 
 
 Answer 4. I cannot find any text of Scripture where 
 this blessing of being 'present with the Lord' after death 
 in the Separate State is limited only to the Apostles. I 
 read not one word of such a peculiar favour promised them 
 by Christ; and therefore according to the current course of 
 several other places of Scripture which have been here 
 produced, I am persuaded it belongs to all true Christ ians,un- 
 less the Apostle in some plainer manner had limited it to 
 himself and his twelve brethren, and secluded or forbid our 
 hopes of it 
 
 * I. e. his mediatorial kingdom. ED.
 
 After all, if it be allowed that the Apostles may enjoy 
 the blessedness of a Separate State before the resurrection, 
 then there is such a thing as a < Separate State of happi- 
 ness for souls.' This precludes at once all the arguments 
 against it that arise from the nature of things, and from any 
 supposed impropriety in such a divine constitution ; and 
 since it is granted that there are millions of angels and 
 several human spirits in this unbodied state, enjoying hap- 
 piness, I see no reason why the rest of the unbodied spirits 
 of saints departed should not be received to their society 
 after death, unless there were some particular Scriptures 
 that excluded them from it. 
 
 VI. Phil. i. 23, 24, For I am in a strait betwixt two, 
 having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ ; which 
 is far better : nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more 
 needful for you." When the apostle speaks here of his 
 " abiding in the flesh," and his " departing from the flesh," 
 he declares the first was the more needful for the Philippi- 
 ans, to promote religion in their hearts and lives ; but the 
 second would be better for himself, for he should be with 
 Christ, when he was departed from the flesh. 
 
 I would only ask any reasonable man to .determine 
 whether, when St. Paul speaks of his " being with Christ" 
 after his departure from the flesh, he can suppose that the 
 Apostle did not expect to see Christ till the resurrection, 
 which he knew would be a considerable distance of time, 
 though perhaps it has proved many hundred years longer 
 than the Apostle himself expected it ? 'No ; it is evident 
 he hoped to ' be present with the Lord' immediately as 
 soon as he was ' absent from the body ;' otherwise, as I 
 have hinted before, death to him would have been but of 
 little gain if he must have lain sleeping till the dead shall 
 rise, and have been cut off from his delightful service for 
 Christ in the gospel and all the blessed communications of 
 his grace. The objection which may arise here also from 
 supposing this to be a peculiar favour granted to the Apos- 
 tles is answered just before. 
 
 VII. Heb. xii. 23, "Ye are come to the heavenly Jeru- 
 salem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the gener- 
 al assembly and church of the first-born which are written 
 ('or registered') in heaven, to God the Judge of all, and 
 to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the 
 Mediator of the New covenant," i, e. The gospel or the
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 357 
 
 Christian state brings good men into a nearer union and 
 communion with the heavenly world, and the inhabitants 
 thereof, than the - Jewish state could do : now the inhabi- 
 tants of this upper world, this heavenly Jerusalem, are 
 here reckoned up, God as the prime Lord or Head ; Jesus 
 the Mediator as the King of his church; 'the innumera- 
 ble company of angels' as ministers of his kingdom ; 'the 
 general assembly' of God's favourites or children who are 
 called the first-born ; perhaps this may refer in general to 
 all the saints of all ages past and to come whose names are 
 written in the book of life in heaven ; and particularly to 
 the ' separate spirits of just men' who are departed from 
 this world, and are made perfect in the heavenly state. 
 The criticisms that are used to put other senses upon these 
 words seem to carry them away so far from their more 
 plain and obvious meaning, that I can hardly think they 
 are the meaning of the Apostle ; for it would be of very 
 little use for a common Christian to read these verses of di- 
 vine consolation and grace, if he could take no comfort 
 from them until he had learnt those critical and distant ex- 
 positions of such plain language. 
 
 It has been indeed objected against the plain sense of 
 this text, that the ' spirits of the just' or good men are not 
 yet made perfect in heaven, because the same Apostle, 
 Heb. xi. 39, 40, says, " These all, (i. e. the saints of the 
 Old Testament,) having obtained a good report through 
 faith, received not the promises, God having provided 
 some better thing for us, that they without us should not 
 be made perfect," Now these had been dead for many 
 generations, yet they received not the promises nor were 
 made perfect. Thus saith the objection. 
 
 But the evident meaning of this text is, that they lived 
 and died in the faith of many promises, some of which 
 were to be fulfilled after their days here on earth, but 
 were not fulfilled in their life-time : they did not enjoy 
 the privileges and the blessings of the gospel of the Mes- 
 siah in that perfect manner in which we do since the Mes- 
 siah is actually come and has fulfilled these promises, and 
 by his death, ' or offering himself,' as the same apostle 
 expresses it, " for ever perfected them that are sanctified," 
 Heb. x. 14. But all this does by no means preclude their 
 existence and happiness in a Separate State as 'spirits 
 made perfect/ i. e. in a perfect freedom from all sin and
 
 338 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OF 
 
 sorrow ; though it is probable this very state of compara- 
 tive perfection might have several degrees of joy added to 
 it at the ascension of Christ, and will have many more at 
 the resurrection from the dead. 
 
 VIII. 2 Pet. i. 13, "I think it meet, as long as I am in 
 this tabernacle, to stir you up, by putting you in remem- 
 brance ; knowing that shortly I must put off this my ta- 
 bernacle." Here it is evident that the person who 'thinks 
 it meet to stir up' Christians to their duty, has a tabernacle 
 belonging to him, and which he must ' shortly put off. ' 
 The soul or thinking principle of the Apostle Peter, 
 which is here supposed to be himself, is so plainly distin- 
 guished from the tabernacle of the body in which he dwelt 
 for a season, and which he ' must put off shortly,' that it 
 most evidently implies an existence of this thinking soul 
 very distinct from the body, and which will exist when 
 the body is laid aside. Surely the conscious being and its 
 tabernacle or dwelling place are two very distinct things, 
 and the conscious being exists when he puts off his present 
 dwelling. 
 
 After all these arguments from Scripture, may I be per- 
 mitted to mention one which is derived partly from reason 
 and partly from the sacred records, which seems to carry 
 some weight with it. 
 
 The doctrine of rewards and punishments in a Separate 
 State of souls hath been one of the very chief principles 
 or motives whereby virtue . and religion have been main- 
 tained in this sinful world throughout all former ages and 
 nations, and under the several dispensations of God among 
 men, until the resurrection of the body was fully revealed. 
 Now, it is scarce to be supposed that such a doctrine, which 
 God, in the course of his providence, hath made use of as 
 a chief principle and motive of religion and virtue, through 
 all the world which had any true virtue, and in all ages 
 before Christianity, should be a false doctrine. Let us 
 prove the first proposition by a view of -the several ages 
 of mankind and dispensations of religion. 
 
 The Heathens, who have had nothing else but the light 
 of nature to guide them, could have no notion at all of 
 the resurrection of the body ; and therefore, not only the 
 wisest and best of them, but perhaps the bulk of mankind 
 among the Gentiles, at least in Europe and Asia, if not in 
 Africa and America also, who have been taught by priests,
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 359 
 
 and poets, and the public opinions of their nation, and 
 traditions of their ancestors, have generally supposed such 
 a Separate State after this life, wherein their souls should 
 be rewarded or punished, except where the fancy of trans- 
 migration prevailed ; and even these very transmigrations 
 into other bodies, viz. of dogs, or horses, or men, were 
 assigned as speedy rewards or punishments of their be- 
 haviour in this life. 
 
 Now, though this doctrine of immediate recompences 
 could not be proved by them wirli certainty and clearness, 
 and had many follies mingled with it, yet the probable 
 expectation of it, so far as it hath obtained among men, 
 hath had a good degree of influence through the conduct 
 of common providence, to keep the world in some toler- 
 able order, and 'prevent universal irregularities and exces- 
 ses of the highest degree'; it hath had some force on the 
 conscience to restrain the enormous wickedness of men. 
 
 The 'patriarchs of the first ages,' whose history is relat- 
 ed in Scripture, had no notion of the resurrection of the 
 body expressly revealed to them that we can find ; and it 
 must be the hope of such a state of recompence of their 
 souls after death, that influenced their practice of piety, if 
 they were not informed that their bodies should rise again, 
 Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had no plain and distinct 
 promise of the resurrection of the body ; yet it is said, 
 Heb. xi. 14, "They received the promises," that is, of 
 some future happiness, "and embraced them, and confes- 
 sed they were strangers and pilgrims on earth, whereby 
 they plainly declared, that they sought some other country, 
 i. e. an heavenly, and God hath prepared a city for them." 
 What city, what heavenly country can this be, which 
 they themselves sought after, but the city or country of 
 Separate Souls or paradise, where good men are rewarded, 
 and 'God is their God,' if they had no plain promises or 
 views of a resurrection of the body ? And indeed they 
 had need of a very plain and express promise of such a 
 resurrection, to encourage their faith and obedience, if they 
 had no notion or belief of a Separate State, or a ' heavenly 
 country,' whither their souls should go at their death.* 
 Job seems to have some bright glimpses of resurrection 
 
 Enoch prophesied of the day of judgment, Jude 14, 15, and Abraham 
 knew that God could raise the dead, Heb. xi. 1 9. Moderns are apt to form 
 mistaken notions concerning the knowledge of the ancients. ED.
 
 360 ESSAY TOWARPS THE PROOF OF 
 
 in chap, xixth, but this was far above the level of the 
 dispensation wherein he lived, and a peculiar, and dis- 
 tinguishing favour granted to him under his uncommon 
 and peculiar sufferings. 
 
 In the institution of the Jewish religion by Moses, 
 there is no express mention of a resurrection, and we must 
 suppose their hope, of a future state was chiefly such as 
 they could gain from the light of nature, and learn by 
 traditions from their fathers, or from unwritten instruc- 
 tions. For, though our Saviour improves the words of God 
 to Moses in the bush, " I am the God of Abraham," &c. 
 so far as to prove a resurrection from them, yet we can 
 hardly suppose the Israelites could carry it any further, 
 than merely to the happiness of Abraham's soul, &c. in 
 some Separate State ; ;.nd thence came the notion of de- 
 parted souls of good men "going to the bosom of Abra- 
 ham." 
 
 I grant that David in his Psalms, Isaiah and Daniel in 
 their prophecies, have some hints of the resurrection of 
 the body ; but this doth not seem to h'ave been the. com- 
 mon principle or support of virtue and goodness, or a 
 general article of belief among the Jews in the early ages. 
 
 In the days of the later prophets, and after their return 
 from Babylon, I confess the Jews had some notions of a 
 resurrection ; but they also retained their opinion of the 
 "righteous souls being at rest with God" in a Separate 
 State before the resurrection. See the book of Wisdom, 
 chap. iii. 14, "The souls of the righteous are in the hand 
 of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the 
 sight of the unwise they seemed to die, and their depar- 
 ture is taken for misery, and their going from us to be 
 utter destruction ; but they are in peace ; for, though they 
 be perished in the sight pf men, yet is their hope full 
 of immortality," .and iv. 7, "Though the righteous be 
 prevented with death, yet they shall be in rest." 
 
 That this was the most common doctrine of the Jews, 
 except the Sadducees and their followers, in our Saviour's 
 time, and that itwas the doctrine of the primitive Christians 
 also, need not be proved here ; though they also had the 
 expectation of the resurrection of the body. 
 
 Now, if this be the chief or only doctrine which men 
 could attain to under the dispensation of natural reason, 
 a* the most powerful motive to virtue and piety, if thia
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 361 
 
 be the chiefest doctrine of that kind that we know of, 
 which the patriarchs and the primitive Jews enjoyed, if 
 this also be a constant doctrine of later Jews, i. e. the 
 wisest and best of them, and also of the 'primitive Chris- 
 tians,' which had so much influence on the good behaviour 
 of all of them toward God and men, and by which God 
 carried on his work of piety in their hearts and lives, and 
 by which also he impressed the consciences of evil men, 
 in some measure, and restrained them from their utmost 
 excesses of vice and wickedness, is it not hard to be sup- 
 posed that this doctrine is all mere fancy and delusion, 
 and hath nothing of truth in it ? And indeed, if this doc- 
 trine had .been taken away, the Heathens would be left 
 without any possible true notion of a future state of re- 
 compence, and the Patriarchs seem to have had no suffi- 
 cient principle or motive to virtue and piety left them, 
 and the principles and motives of goodness in the follow- 
 ing ages among ' Jews and Christians,' had been greatly 
 diminished and enfeebled. 
 
 At the conclusion of this chapter, I cannot help taking 
 notice, (though I shall but just mention it,) that the mul- 
 titude of narratives which we have heard of in all ages of 
 the.' apparition of the spirits or ghosts' of persons depart- 
 ed from this life, can hardly be all delusion and falsehood. 
 Some of them have been affirmed to appear upon such 
 great and important occasions, as may be equal to such an 
 unusual event. And several of these accounts have been 
 attested by such witnesses of wisdom, and prudence, and 
 sagacity, under no distempers of imagination, that they 
 may justly demand belief; and the effects of these appa- 
 ritions in- the discovery of murders and things unknown, 
 have been so considerable and useful, that a fair disputant 
 should hardly venture to run directly counter to such a 
 cloud of witnesses, without some good assurance on the 
 contrary side. . He must be a shrewd philosopher indeed, 
 who, upon any other hypothesis, can give a tolerable ac- 
 count of all the narratives in * Glanvill's Sadducismus Tri- 
 umphatus,' or 'Baxter's World of spirits and apparitions,' 
 &c. Though I will grant some of these stories have but 
 insufficient proof, yet, if there be but one real apparition 
 of a departed spirit, then the point is gained, that there is 
 a Separate State. 
 
 And indeed, the Scripture itself seems to mention such 
 46 2F
 
 362 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OF 
 
 sort of ghosts or appearances of souls departed, Matth, 
 xiv. 26. When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the 
 water, they "thought it had been a spirit:" and, Luke 
 xxiv. 36, after his resurrection they saw him at once ap- 
 pearing in the midst of them, "and they supposed they 
 had seen a spirit ;" and our Saviour doth not contradict 
 their notion, but argues with them upon the supposition 
 of the truth of it, "A spirit hath not flesh and bones as 
 ye see me to have." And Acts xxiii. 8, 9. The word 
 spirit seem to signify the l apparition of a departed soul,' 
 where it is said "the Sadducees say, There is no resurrec- 
 tion, neither angel nor spirit," and ver. 9, "If a spirit or 
 an angel hath spoken to this man," &c. A spirit here is 
 plainly distinct from an angel, and what can it mean but 
 an apparition of a human soul which has left the body ? 
 
 IV. Objections answered. 
 
 Having pointed out so many springs of argument to 
 support this doctrine, from the word of God as well as 
 from reason and tradition, I proceed now to answer some 
 particular objections which are raised against it 
 
 Object. I. The Scripture is so far from supposing that 
 the soul of man is immortal, or that there is any such 
 thing as the life of the soul continuing after the death of 
 the body, that it often speaks of the " death of the soul," 
 if the words were translated exactly according to the 
 original. Numb. xxxi. 19, "Whosoever hath killed any 
 person," Hebr. any soul. 1 Sam. xxii. 22, "I have occa- 
 sioned the death of every soul of thy father's house." 
 Judges xvi. 30, " And Sampson said, Let my soul die 
 with the Philistines." Ezk. xviii. 20, "The soul that 
 sinneth it shall die." Psal. Ixxxix. 48, " What man is 
 he that liveth and shall not see death ? shall he deliver his 
 soul from the hand of the grave ?" 1 Kings xix. 4, 
 "Elijah requested for himself that he might die," Hebr. 
 that his soul might die.* 
 
 Jlnsw. The word soul in English, Nephesh in Hebrew, 
 Psyche in Greek, and Jlnima in Latin, &c. signifies not 
 only the conscious and active principle in man, which 
 thinks and reasons, loves and hates, hopes and fears, and 
 which is the proper agent in virtue or vice, but it is used 
 
 * The simple answer to this objection is, that in the Hebrew idiom soul, 
 as denoting the more excellent part of man, is commonly used for tkewhoU 
 person : " Let my soul die," means, " let me die," &c. ED.
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 363 
 
 also to signify the principle of animal life and motion in 
 a living creature. And, though these two in themselves 
 are very distinct things, yet, upon this account, the word 
 soul is attributed to brutes as well as to men. For the 
 Jews as well as some Heathens, in their mistaken philoso- 
 phy, supposed the same 'soul of man/ which gives natu- 
 ral life to the body, to be also that very intellectual princi- 
 ple, which thinks and reasons, fears and loves ; and, upon 
 this account, they gave botfy these principles, how distinct 
 soever in themselves, one common name, and called them 
 * the soul/ . . 
 
 Now,, the soul, cr the principle of animal life and mo- 
 *tion, being the chief or most valuable thing in an animal, 
 it came to pass that the whole animal was called a soul : 
 therefore, even birds and fishes are called " living souls," 
 Gen. i. 20, smd anv animals whatsoever in Scripture are 
 called < souls' or < living souls.' And then, for the same 
 reason, i. e. because the ' soul of man' is his chief part, 
 the whole person of man is called ' his soul,' Gen. ii. 7, 
 " Man became a living soul," i. e. a living person. So 
 Exod. i. 5, " All the souls that came out of the loins of 
 Jacob were seventy souls," i. e. all the persons were 
 seventy. , 
 
 And this is not- only the language of the Jews, but even 
 of other nations. In our country we use the word souls 
 to signify persons. So we say < a poor soul,' when we 
 see a person in misery ; we use the word f a meagre soul/ 
 for a thin man ; we say, ' there were twenty souls lost in. 
 the ship,' i. e. twenty persons/ &c. 
 
 Now, the word soul among the Jews being so univer- 
 sally used to signify the ' person of man," they used the 
 same word to signify < the person', when he was dead as 
 well as when he was alive. Numb. vi. 6, " He shall come 
 at no dead body," in the Hebr. no dead soul, i. e. no dead 
 man or woman, or perhaps no dead animal. 
 
 Since the word soul is taken so often and so commonly 
 to signify the person of a man or woman, no wonder that 
 there is so frequent mention of souls dying in the Scrip- 
 ture, when human persons die. 
 
 And, if the soul signify a man or woman when they are 
 dead as well as when living, here is a fair account why 
 the Scriptures may speak of the " souls going down to the 
 grave," or being " delivered from the grave," &c. Psal.
 
 364 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OF 
 
 Ixxxix. 48, " Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of 
 the grave ?" This may either denote his principle of ani- 
 mal life, or his person, i. e. himself. 
 
 Now this account of things is very consistent with the 
 scriptural doctrine of the distinction of the ' intelligent 
 soul' of man from his body, and the ' intelligent soul's' 
 survival of the body, nor do any of these scriptural ex- 
 pressions concerning the soul forbid this supposition. 
 For, though in some places, the word Soul signifies 'the 
 person' of the man or his ' body,' or that-' animal princi- 
 ple' which may die, yet in other places i* signifies that 'in- 
 telligent' or ' thinking principle' whi-ih cannot die, as we 
 have before proved where our Saviour tells us, "we shoul'd 
 not fear them that kill the body, but cannot kill the soul." 
 Wheresoever the Scripture speaks of a " soul's being 
 killed," it only means that the 'person who was mortal is 
 slain,' i. e. the life of the body is destroyed, and the man 
 considered as a compound being made up of soul and body 
 is in some sense .dissolved when one part of the composi- 
 tion dies. But where the soul signifies the intellectual 
 principle in man, it is never said 'to die, J unless the word 
 'death' means a loss of happiness, or living in misery; 
 but this implies natural 'life' still, for this rsoul cannot natu- 
 rally be destroyed by any power but that which made it. 
 
 If any person object that the apostle in Acts ii. 31, says, 
 "the soul of Christ was not left in hell, or the grave ;." for 
 so the word in Hebrew may signify, Psal, xvi. 10, whence 
 this is cited ; there is a sufficient answer to be given to 
 this two or three ways, ft may be construed, that the 
 principle of the animal life of Christ- was not left to con- 
 tinue in deatn ; of that the person of the man Jesus was 
 not left in death or the grave,.the body beinq; sometimes 
 put for the person ; or it may be as well construed, that the 
 spirit of Christ or his intellectual soul was not left in the 
 state of the dead, or of separation from the body, which the 
 word sheol in the Hebrew and fa in Greek, signify. 
 
 Here it may be observed also, that the word which sig- 
 nifies ' spirit, ruach, pneuma, spiritus,' in .Hebrew, Greek 
 and Latin, and other languages, is used sometimes for air 
 or breath, which is supposed to b*e the principle of life to 
 the animal' body ; and sometimes it signifies the ' intellec- 
 tual soul,' the conscious and active principle in man ; and 
 therefore whatsoever may be said of the ' spirit's dying,'
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 365 
 
 or ' being lost,' is no proof that the conscious principle in 
 man dies, which is a very different thing from breath or air. 
 
 Perhaps it will be said here, does not Moses suppose 
 breath to be the soul or spirit in man, when he says, Gen. 
 ii. 7, " God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 
 and man became a living soul." 
 
 I answer, rt is evident that Moses makes a plain differ- 
 ence between God'.s formation *of man and brutes, for he 
 makes no distinction between their soul and body in 
 their .crcatfon ; but he distinguishes the soul from the 
 body of man, in his creation, speaking according to 
 the common language and philosophy of that age as 
 though the soul were in the breath : nor. was it proper 
 to speak in strict philosophical language to those ignorant 
 people ; nor were' the modes of expression in the Bible 
 so peculiarly formed to t,each us philosophy as religion. . 
 ', But of this distinction between the 'soul of a brute,' and 
 the 'soul of a man, 'there seems to be a plain intimation 
 given by Solomon in the beok ofJEcclesiastes ehap. iii. 21. 
 " Who'Jtnoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and 
 the spirit of a beast that goeth downward to the ea"rth ?" 
 that the ' spirit of man,' i. e. his conscious and intellectual 
 principle f gbeth upvVard,' or survives at the death of fhe 
 body, bHt ' the spirit of the beast,' j. e. the spring of its 
 animal life, ' goeth down to the earth,' is mingled with the 
 common elements of this material world and entirely lost. 
 But the wise man in this place perhaps expresses some 
 of his former atheistical doubts, saying, 'who knows' 
 whether there is any 'difference between 'them ? yet it in- 
 timates thus much, that men who pretended to wisdom in 
 that age, supposed such a difference between the spirit of 
 man and the spirit of a brute. 
 
 Object. II. Is take rr from Psal. vi. 5, <<In death there 
 is no remembrance of thee ; in the grave who shall give 
 thee thanks ?" and Psal. cxlvi. 4, " His breath goeth 
 forth, he returnpth to his earth ; in that very day his 
 thoughts perish ;"' and Eccles. ix. 5, " The living know 
 that they shall die, but the dead know not any.thing." From 
 all which words some would infer there is no such thing 
 as a Separate State of souls. 
 
 Jlmw. 'Both David and his son Solomon exclude all 
 such sort of thoughts and actions, both religious and civil, 
 from the state of cbeath as are practised in this life, all the 
 2 F 2
 
 366 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OF 
 
 pursuits of their, present purposes, their present way*, 
 and manner of divine worship, and their management or 1 
 consciousness of human affairs : but they do. not exclude all 
 manner of consciousness, knowledge, thought or action, 
 such as may be suited to the invisible state of spirits. 
 The design of the writers in those places o( Scripture re- 
 quires no more than this 4 and therefore the words cannot 
 be construed to any farther sense, or'toi exclude the con- 
 scious and active powers of a separate spirit frm their pro- 
 per exercise in that ( invisible world, though they have 
 done with all their actions in the present visible state. 
 
 Object. III. Is taken frdta John xiv. 3, "If -'I go and 
 prepare a place for you, I will come again and 'receive 
 you to myself, that where I- am there ye may be also;" 
 which seems to determine the point, that the followers 
 of Christ were not to be present with him until he came 
 again to this world to raise the dead, and to take his disci- 
 ples to dwell with him. 
 
 Jlnsw. 1. It hath been already granted by some ^per- 
 sons who doubt of the Separate State of all souls, that the 
 Apostles had this special favour allowed'them to be recerv- 
 ed into the presence of Christ When 'they departed from this 
 body. Now these words were spoken to the Apostles, and 
 therefore they cannot preclude this privilege which they 
 expected, viz. that when they were ' absent from the body' 
 they should be 'present with the Lord,' 2 Cor. v. 8. 
 
 ftnsw. 2. ' Christ .came, again' to his. disciples at his 
 own resurrection from the dead, .and taught 'them the* 
 things of the other werld> and better prepared them for 
 the happiness of heaven and his own' presence. He came 
 again also by the destruction of, the Jewish state, and call- 
 ed his own people thence before 7 hand, as an emblem of 
 their salvation Vhen the world should be destroyed. He 
 also ' came again' at their death'; .when he ^that hath the 
 keys of death arid the invisible world' let them out of the 
 prison of the body into the Separate State, that they might 
 dwell with him. The 'coming. of Christ' has many and 
 various senses in the New Testament, and need not be re- 
 ferred only" to his ( coming at the day of judgment.' 
 
 Answ. 3. But suppose in this place the words of Christ 
 be construed concerning his 'great and public coming' to 
 raise the dead and Judge the world ; it is ^cprtain that .in 
 that day the disciples shall be received to 'dwell with him* 

 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 367 
 
 in a much more complete and glorious manner, when both 
 soul and body shalkie made the inhabitants of heaven. But 
 this does not preclude or forbid that the separate souls of 
 his followers should be favoured with his presence in par- 
 adise before his public coming to Judge the world. Though 
 thp last' and greatest blessing be only mentioned here', it 
 does not exclude the former. 
 
 Object. IV. Sj. Paul in Phil. iii. 10, 11, says, that he 
 desired "to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, 
 (&c.) if by any means he might attain to the resurrection 
 of the dead :'' now what need had the Apostle to be so soli- 
 Hjitous about the resurrection if he' 'expected to- be with 
 Christ immediately upon his death, since being with Christ 
 is the state qf ultimate happiness?* 
 
 Jinsw. 1. Some learned men -suppose that the apostle 
 here presses after some peculiar exaltationsVf piety in this 
 world, and after an' interest in some first resurrection, or 
 resurrection of the martyrsand most eminent saints, which 
 would.be long before the general resurrection -of all the 
 dead, according to the visions of St. John, Rev. xx. 4 7. 
 But as I p am aot sufficiently. acquainted with the sense of 
 that prophecy to determine my opiniop on this'side, I pro- 
 ceed to other answers. 
 
 Ansiv. 2. Wriat if the words of St. Paul in this place to 
 the Philippians, should mean no more than this, as tar.. 13, 
 14, " I forgot the things that are behind," as though I had 
 gained .so little already as not to be worth my notice; "and 
 I reach forth unt6 those things which are before," i. e. fur- 
 ther degree^ of holiness to be obtained, 'pressing towards 
 the mark' of. perfection, *if by any means I might be made 
 so conformable to the death of Christ,' as to be entirely dead 
 tQ sin, and 'if by any means I might attain to the resur- 
 rection of the dead,' i. 'e. to uch a perfection of holiness 
 as is represented by the. resurrection of Christ, Rom. vi, 
 or as that in which the 'dead saints shall be raised;' for I 
 , know 'I have not already attained it, nor am already perfect.' 
 
 Answ. 3. Suppose the soul of St. Paul -to be present 
 with Christ after death in heaven in the Separate State, 
 yet this is not the ultimate or highest ' happiness of the 
 saints,' and therefore he aimed at. something higher and 
 
 * Paul refers to the ' resurrection to eternal life;" of which he speaks in 
 v. 20, 21, of the same chapter, with glowing energy. ED.
 
 368 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OP 
 
 further, namely, the more complete happiness which he 
 should enjoy at the resurrection of the dead. 
 
 .Object. V. is borrowed from several verses of 1 Cor, 
 xv. where the Apostle is imagined to argue thus, "If there 
 be no resurrection of the dead," ver. 18, "Then they 
 whiclv are fallen- asleep in Christ are perished," ver. 19 ; 
 " theh we have hope only in this life," and, nothing else to 
 -support us. Then ver. 32, ( i what advantage" do I get by 
 all my sufferings for Christ, if the dead rise not ? We had 
 better comply with the ajjpetites of the flesh and etojoy a 
 merry life here, " Let us eat and drink for to-morrow we 
 die :" whereby it is evident that the Apostle places the 
 blessed expectation < of thdse that are fallen asleep in Christ' 
 bftly and entirely npon their being ' raised from, the dead/ 
 which he would not have done if there had been such a 
 Separate State: he extends 'our hope in Christ' beyond 
 <\his Jife,' and raises his own expectation of advantage or 
 reward for his sufferings, on the account of the. gospel en- 
 tirely and only upon the l resurrection of the dead/ having 
 no notion of any happiness in a Separate State of souls: 
 for if he had any such opinion or hope, thjs expectation 
 of the happiness of the SQU! in a Separate State might 
 have been- a sufficient proof that those who died or slept 
 in the faith of Christ, are < not perished,\and he had abun- 
 dant reward for his sufferings* in that world of separate 
 souls without the resurrection of the body.. 
 
 Jinsw. 1. It must be granted that the Scripture, in or- 
 der to 'support Christians under nresent trials, chiefly re- 
 fers them to the day of .the resurrection and final judg- 
 ment, as the great and chief season of retrfbution: the reason 
 of this will appear under my answer to a following objec- 
 tion. Now the Apostle may be supposed to argue here 
 only on this foot, neglecting or overlooking the Separate 
 State, as though this final retribution at and after the res- 
 urrection of the body were comparatively the whole, be- 
 cause it is far the chief and mo^t considerable part, being 
 much the most sensible, and conspicuous, and of the long- 
 est duration. ..The chief part of any thing is often taken 
 for the whole ; and if there were no resurrection of the 
 dead, i. e. if there were no state of retribution at all, then 
 the Epicurean reasoning would be good, '.Let us eat and 
 drink for to-morrow we die.' 
 
 And, to confirm this exposition, we may take notice, that
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 369 
 
 in other places of Scripture, where the ' resurrection of 
 the dead' is mentioned, this anastasis includes the whole 
 state of existence after death, both the Separate and the 
 resurrection State. This seems to be the sense of it in that 
 famous place, Luks xx. 35, where Christ argues with the 
 Sadducees, who denied the Separate Sta'te as well as the 
 resurrection of the body. Now if you take away this 
 anastasis, this whole state of existence and retribution, 
 then they that suffer for Christ have no advantage or re- 
 compence, and the Epicurean doctrine is plainly prefera- 
 ble, at least in the common sense and reasoning of men, and 
 in such seasons of trial and persecution. 
 
 Nor is it unreasonable to suppose that there might be 
 some of these principles of Sadducism begun to be instill- 
 ed into some of the Corinthians, viz. that there were re- 
 wards and punishments, at alHn any future state ; for he 
 tells them, ver. 34. that some^ of them ' had not the knowl- 
 edge of God,' i. e. as a righteous rewarder of them that dil- 
 igently seek him, "I speak this," says he, "to your shame." 
 And ven 5, 8, he encourages them 'to be " steadfast and 
 unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,-for 
 as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the 
 Lord ;" i. e. there is certainly a future state of recompence 
 for piety, and the discovery of it at the resurrection of the 
 dead is the most public and glorious part of it, and there- 
 fore he insists upon this alone. 
 
 flnsw. 2-. But we may .give yet a more particular answer 
 to thisobjection : for if we take in the whole scheme of 
 the Apostle's argument in this chapter, we shall find there 
 is -no sufficient gfound for this objection against a Separate 
 State. He begins, ver. 12, T3, &e. and argues thus, "If 
 there be.no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not 
 risen," for he l*ose' as the 'first fruits/ and his followers 
 shall be the harvest, ver. 23, but if there be no harvest 
 there were no first-fruits : and "if Christ be not risen, 
 then our preaching is vain,, and your faith is vain ;" ver. 
 14, "then we are* found false witnesses jn matters that 
 relate to God," ver. 15. mere impostors, who preach a 
 wicked falsehood, and lead you to hope for a happiness 
 which ye shall never obtain : for "if Christ, who died for 
 our sins," ver. 3, "be not raised for our justification," 
 as in Rom. iv. ult. ."then are ye yet in your sins," ye lie 
 yet under the guilt of sin ; and If so, "then also they 
 47
 
 370 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OP 
 
 which ha^e fallen asleep in Christ," or have died in the 
 faith of Christ, are perished, ver. 18, they must either be 
 condemned, or be utterly lost both soul and body, having 
 no ground for hope of eternal life, or any life or happiness 
 at all hereafter. Then ' the hope of. Christians would be 
 in this life only,' and we are 'miserable creatures' who 
 suffer sy much for Christ's sake, ver. 19 : it would be bet- 
 ter for us .who have senses and appetites as well as other' 
 men, to indulge these senses and appetites, and 'eat and 
 drink for to-morrow we die,' and there is an end of us : 
 there can be no future state of happiness of any kind for 
 us to expect, either in eoul or body, if we have deceived 
 you in the doctrine of- the resurrection of Christ, and all 
 our gospel be false. We are then such sort ef impostors 
 and wicked cheats as can have no belief of a future state 
 of rewards or punishments, and we had better act like 
 ourselves, and like mere Epicureans, give ourselves up to 
 all present pleasures than expose ourselves to perpetual 
 sufferings for the sake of a man, who (if there be no re- 
 surrection) died and never rose again, and therefore cannot 
 make us any recompence. Now this sort of arguing does 
 not at all preclude the Separate State of happiness, but 
 rather establish it. 
 
 I might add here a further answer to this objection, viz. 
 the Apostle is representing the 'sufferings of the body' for 
 Christ's sakfe, ver. 30 32, and therefore he thinks it pro- 
 per to encourage Christians with the recompence -of the 
 'resurrection of the body,' without taking any particular 
 notice of the happiness of the Separate State of the soul : 
 and in this view of things his argument stands gottd.* 'If 
 there be no resurrection of the body, there is no rfeeom- 
 pence for sufferings in the body ; let us then give the body- 
 its pleasures of sense ; 'Let us eat and drink' while we 
 live, for -there is an utter end of us in death. But (saith 
 he, ver. 33,) such 'evil traditions corrupt ajl good manners,' 
 and therefore they are not, they cannot be true : there 
 must be a resurrection of the body to* encourage sufferings 
 in the body for the sakfe of virtue and religion.* 
 
 * There are several pages of just and pertinent answers to this objection 
 by my learned and ingenious friend Mr. Henry Grove, in his ' Thoughts 
 concerning the Proof of a Future State from Reason,' which confirm the 
 replies I have here made.. ' Then they,' saith he, 'who are fallen asleep in 
 Christ (by whom the martyrs seem to be more especially intended) are
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 371 
 
 Object. VI. Doth not the New Testament constantly 
 refer the rewards and punishments of good and bad men 
 to the time of the resurrection of the dead, or the second 
 coming of Christ ? Is it not with this prospect it terrifies 
 the sinner ? Is it not with this it comforts the good man, 
 and supports him under his present sufferings ? It would 
 be endless to cite all the particular texts on this occasion. 
 That one text, 1 Thess. iv. 14, speaks the sense of many 
 others, and is sufficient to be cited here. The Apostle 
 persuades Christians not to "mourn for the dead as those 
 that sorrow without hope," and gives this reason, "for 
 those who sleep in Jesus, God will bring with him," when 
 he comes to raise the dead, and then 'they shall be for 
 ever with the Lord;' and he bids them 'comfort one 
 another with these words :' whereas their comforts had 
 been much nearer at hand if he could have told them of 
 the Separate State of happiness which the departed souls 
 of their friends at present enjoyed ; and if there had beqn 
 any such state he had the fairest opportunity here to in- 
 troduce it. 
 
 Jlnstv. This very text I have mentioned before as a 
 proof of the Separate State, and it is'plain the Apostle 
 seems to hint it, though he doth not insist upon it, when 
 he supposes the soul of the deceased to be with Christ 
 already ; for he saith, "God will bring them with him," 
 i. e. from heaven when he comes to raise their bodies. 
 
 But to give a more general answer to the objection, as 
 drawn from the silence of Scripture, in mc.ny places, about 
 this doctrine of the Separate State. 
 
 There are good reasons why the New Testament more 
 sparingly mentions the Separate State of souls, and doth 
 most frequently (but not constantly) refer both rewards 
 and punishments to the resurrection. 
 
 perished, for any thing that Christ can do for them, who will never reward 
 them for their sufferings, never restore that life which they lost for his 
 sake.' And particularly his exposition on those words, ' we arc most 
 miserable of all men,' is very agreeable to the place. ' The Greek txtuvvrtpot 
 signifies that we are ' more to be pitied' than any men, as wanting the com- 
 mon understanding of men to suffer death for Christ's sake, who would 
 never he able to recompence us for it, if he be not risen from the dead. 
 And it is (saith he a little afterward) for want of observing the inter- 
 mediate links of the Apostle's argument (which he there represents), that 
 some have beerr at a loss for his meaning, while others nave quite mistaken 
 at.' Sco p. 124, &c. WATTS.
 
 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OF 
 
 (1. ) Because the Heathens themselves (at least the wisest 
 and best of them) did believe some sort of future state of 
 happiness or misery, into which the souls of men should 
 be disposed when they departed from these bodies, accord- 
 ing to the vices or virtues they had practised in this life ; 
 and they derived this doctrine from their reasonings upon 
 the foot of the light of nature. The writings of Plato and 
 his followers, and the sentiments of Socrates conveyed to 
 us in Plato's writings, are full of this opinion, viz: of the 
 existence of the souls of good men in a happy state, when 
 they depart from the body. Cicero sometimes speaks of 
 it as his opinion, his desire and his hope, nor were other 
 heathen writers ignorant of this doctrine ; but .the New 
 Testament speaks less of this point, because it is the evi- 
 dent design of Christ and his Apostles to lead their dis- 
 ciples to .the more 'peculiar doctrines of revelation,' rather 
 than to treat them with sentiments derived from the light 
 of nature. And this doctrine of the resurrection from the 
 de'ad, and the eternal rewards and eternal punishments 
 that attend it, are more abundantly mentioned in the New 
 Testament, because they stand so much more connected 
 with the gospel of Christ, and with his own resurrection 
 from the dead, which is the chjef evidence of its divine 
 authority. It is Christ who rose from the dead, who ir 
 appointed to raise and to judge all mankind ; and there- 
 fore it is natural for the Apostles in their writings, whc 
 desire to keep the death and resurrection of Christ always* 
 in the view of their converts, to point to the awful events 
 of that day, when- their Saviour, risen from the dead, shall 
 appear in the execution of his glorious commission and 
 judge the world. Thus St. Paul preaches to the Athe- 
 nians, Acts xvii. 30. "God now commands all men every 
 where to repent, because he hath appointed a day in which 
 lie will judge the world in righteousness, by that man 
 whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance 
 to all men, in that, he hath raised him from the dead." 
 And in many other places he connects our resurrection 
 and future recompences with the resurrection of Christ 
 
 And in this respect, as well as in some others, the doc- 
 trine of rewards and punishments after the resurrection, 
 seems to carry such superior force in it, especially upon 
 those who believe the gospel, that it is no wonder the 
 New Testament more frequently refers to this great da7
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 373 
 
 of resurrection, and the apostle derives the chief part of 
 his consolations or terrors from it. 
 
 (2.) Then will be the 'public and universal retributions' 
 of vice and virtue in a more solemn manner exhibited be- 
 fore all the world, whereas the entrance of mankind into 
 the recompences of the Separate State is more private and 
 personal. 
 
 (3.) Then will be the day of ' complete rewards and 
 punishments' of man in both parts of his nature, soul and 
 body. All the Separate State belongs only to the soul, and 
 even those recompences are but imperfect in comparison 
 of what they will be when body and soul are united. 
 
 (4.) Then will be the most glorious, visible and sensible 
 distinction made between the good and bad ; and since 
 this belongs to the body as well as the soul, it is very pro- 
 perly set before the eyes of men in the. holy writings as 
 done at the resurrection : because corporeal and sensible 
 tilings work more powerfully on their in.agination, and 
 more sensibly and effectually strike the consciences of 
 men, than the notion of mere spiritual rewards and punish- 
 ments in the Separate State. 
 
 (5. ) The state of rewards and punishments after the 
 resurrection, will be fiar the longest and most durable 
 recompence of the good and the bad : and therefore it is 
 called ' eternal' so often in Scripture, ' everlasting life,' 
 and ' everlasting fire,' Matth. xxv. 41. Whereas the retri- 
 butions of the Separate State are comparatively but of 
 short duration ; and this is another thing that makes a 
 sensible impression on the. hearts of men, viz. the 'eter- 
 nal continuance' of the joys and sorrows that follow the 
 _ . j > 
 
 last judgment. 
 
 Perhaps it. will be replied here, that in the beginning 
 of this essay I represented the Separate State as a ' more 
 effectual motive' to the hopes and fears of men, because 
 the joys and sorrows of it were so much ' nearer at hand' 
 than those of the resurrection : and why do I now repre- 
 sent the recompences of the resurrection under such 
 characters as are fit to have the strongest influence, and 
 become the most ' effectual motive ?' 
 
 Jlnsw. It is granted that the recompences after the res- 
 urrection have several circumstances that carry with them 
 some peculiar and most powerful motives to religion and 
 virtue j but that awful day may still seem to want this 
 2G
 
 374 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OF 
 
 one motive, viz. ' the nearness of it,' which belongs emi- 
 nently to the recompences of the Separate State. Now, 
 if the Scripture does really reveal the doctrine of re- 
 wards and punishments of souls immediately after death, 
 and of soul and body together at the resurrection, then all 
 those circumstances of effectual motive to piety are col- 
 lected in our doctrine, viz. the 'immediate nearness of 
 them' in the Separate State, and the 'public appearance/ 
 the ' universality,' the ' completeness,' the 'sensibility/ 
 and the ' duration' of them after the great rising-day. 
 
 I might yet take occasion, fronl this objection, to give 
 a further reason, why the Apostles more frequently draw 
 their motives of hope and fear from the resurrection and 
 the great judgment, i. e. that even that clay of recom- 
 pence was generally then supposed to be 'near at hand/ 
 and so there was less need to insist upon the joys and 
 sorrows of the Separate State. 
 
 As the patriarchs and the Jews of old, after the Mes- 
 siah was promised, were constantly expecting his ' first 
 coming/ almost in every generation till he did appear, 
 and many modes of prophetical expression in Scripture 
 (which speak of things long to come, as though they were 
 present or just at hand) gave them some occasion for this 
 expectation, so the Christians of the first age did generally 
 expect ' the second coming' of Christ to judgment, and 
 the resurrection of the dead, in that very age wherein it 
 was foretold. St. Paul gives us a hint oi it in 2 Thess. 
 ii. 1, 2. They supposed the 'day of the Lord was just 
 appearing.' And many expressions of Christ concerning 
 his 'return' or ' coming again' after his departure, seemed 
 to represent his absence as a thing of no long continu- 
 ance. It is true, these words of his may partly refer to 
 his coming to destroy Jerusalem ; and the coming in of 
 his kingdom among the Gentiles, or his coming by his 
 messenger of death, yet they generally, in their supreme 
 and final sense, point to his ' coming' to raise the dead and 
 judge the world. And from the words of Christ also 
 concerning John, chap. xxi. 22, " If I will that he tarry 
 till I come ;" it is probable that the Apostles themselves 
 at first, as well as other Christians, might derive this ap- 
 prehension of his speedy coming. 
 
 It is certain, that when Christ speaks of his ' coming/ 
 in general and promiscuous and parabolical terms, whether
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 375 
 
 with regard to the destruction of Jerusalem or the judg- 
 ment of the world, he saith, Matth. xxiv. 34, " Verily I 
 say unto you this generation shall not pass till all these 
 things be fulfilled." And the Apostles frequently told the 
 world, the coming of the Lord was near, Phil. iv. 5, 
 "The Lord is at hand," Heb. x. 25, "Exhorting one an- 
 other, so much the more as you see the day approaching." 
 And that this is the day of the " coming of Christ," ver. 
 37, assures us, "For yet a little while, he that shall come 
 will come, and will not tarry." Rom. xiii. 12, "Now it 
 is high time to awake out of sleep. The night is far 
 spent, the day is at hand." 1 Pet. iv. 5, "To him who is 
 ready to judge the quick and the dead." Ver. 7, "The 
 end of all things is at hand." James v. 8, 9, "The com- 
 ing of ihe Lord draweth nigh. Behold the judge stand- 
 eth at the door." Rev. xxii. 10, " Seal not up the prophe- 
 cy of this book, for the time is at hand." Ver. 12, "And 
 behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to 
 give to every man as his v/ork shall be." And the sacred 
 volume is closed with this assurance, ver. 20, " Surely I 
 come quickly," and the echo and the expectation of the 
 Apostle or the church, ' Amen. Even so, come Lord 
 Jesus.' 
 
 It is granted, that in prophetical expressions, such as 
 all these are, some obscurity is allowed : and it may be 
 doubtful, perhaps, whether some of them may refer to 
 Christ's coming by the destruction of Jerusalem, or his com- 
 ing to call particular persons away by his messenger of 
 death, or his appearance to the last judgment. It is grant- 
 ed also, -it belongs to prophetical language to set things far 
 distant, as it were, before our eyes, and make them seem 
 present or very near at hand. But still these expressions 
 had plainly such an influence on primitive Christians, as 
 that they imagined the day of resurrection and judgment 
 was very near : and, since the prophetical words of Christ 
 and his Apostles seemed to carry this appearance in them, 
 and to keep the church under some uncertainty, it is no 
 wonder that the Apostles chiefly referred the disciples of 
 that age to the day of the resurrection lor comfort under 
 their sufferings and sorrows. And, though they never as- 
 serted that Christ would come to raise the dead and judge 
 the world in that age, yjet, when they knew themselves 
 that he would not come so soon, they might not think it
 
 376 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OF 
 
 necessary to give every Christian, nor every church, an 
 immediate account of the more distant time of this great 
 event, that the uncertainty of it might keep them ever 
 watchful. And even when St. Paul informs the Thessalo- 
 nians that the day of the Lord was not so very near as they 
 imagined it, 2 Thess. ii. 2, yet he does not put it ofi' be- 
 yond that century by any express language. 
 
 Thus we see there is very good reason why the New 
 Testament should derive its motives of terrqr and com- 
 fort chiefly from the ' resurrection' and the ' day of judg- 
 ment ;' though it is not altogether silent of the Separate 
 State of souls, and their happiness or misery, commenc- 
 ing, in some measure, immediately after death, which has 
 been before proved by many Scriptures cited for that pur- 
 pose. 
 
 Here let it be observed, that I am not concerned in that 
 question, Whether human souls separated from their 
 bodies have any other corporeal vehicle to which they 
 are united, or by which they act during the intermediate' 
 state between death and the resurrection? All that I pro- 
 pose to maintain here, is, that that period or interval is 
 not < a state of sleep,' i. e. utter unconsciousness and un- 
 activity : and, whether it be united to a vehicle o- no, 
 I call it still the Separate State, because it is a state of the 
 soul's separation from this body, which is united to it 
 in the present life. 
 
 V. More Objections answered. 
 
 Since this book was written I have met with several 
 other objections against the doctrine here maintained ; 
 and, as I think they may all have a sufficient answer 
 given to them, and the truth be defended against the 
 force of them, I thought it very proper to lead the reader 
 into a plain and easy solution of them. 
 
 Object. VII. Is not long life represented often in 
 Scripture, and especially in tlie Old Testament, as a bles- 
 sing to man? And, is not death set before us as a curse 
 or punishment ? But, how can either of these represen- 
 tations be just or true, if souls exist in a Separate State ? 
 Are they not then brought into a state of liberty by 
 death, and freed from all the inconveniences of this flesh 
 and blood ? By this means death ceases to be a pun- 
 ishment, and long life to be a blessing. 
 
 It is according as the characters of men are
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 377 
 
 either good or bad, and according as good men know 
 more or less of a Separate State of rewards or punish- 
 ments, so a long life, or early death, are to be esteemed 
 blessings or calamities in a greater or a Ipss degree. 
 
 1 Long life' was represented as a blessing to good men, 
 in as much as it gave them opportunity to enjoy more 
 of the blessings of this life, and to do more service for 
 God in the world : and especially since, in ancient times, 
 there was much darkness upon this doctrine of the future 
 state, and many good men had not so clear a knowledge 
 of it. Long life was also a blessing to wicked men, because 
 it kept them in a state wherein there were some comforts, 
 and withheld them, for a season, from the punishments of 
 the Separate State. 
 
 Death was doubtless a punishment and a curse when it 
 was first brought into human nature by the sin of Adam, 
 as it cut off mankind from the blessings of this life, and 
 plunged him into a dark and unknown state : and if he 
 were a wicked man, it plunged him into certain misery. 
 
 But since the blessings of the future state of happiness 
 for good men are more clearly revealed, 'long life' is 
 not so very great a blessing, nor death so great a punish- 
 ment to good men ; for death is sanctified by the covenant 
 of grace to be an introduction of their souls into the Sepa- 
 rate State of happiness, and the curse is turned in some re- 
 spect into a blessing. 
 
 Object. VIII. Was it not supposed to be a great privi- 
 lege to Enoch and Elijah when they were translated with- 
 out dying ? But, what advantage could it be to either of 
 them to carry a body with them to heaven, if their souls 
 could act without it? 
 
 I answer, when Enoch and Elijah carried their bodies 
 to heaven with them, it was certainly a sublime honour and 
 a peculiar privilege which they enjoyed, to have so early 
 an happiness both in flesh and spirit conferred upon them 
 so many ages before the rest of mankind. For though the 
 soul can act without the body, yet as a body is part of the 
 compounded nature of man, our happiness is not designed 
 to be complete till the soul and body are united in a state 
 of perfection and glory : and this happiness was conferred 
 early on those two favourites of heaven. 
 
 Object. IX. Was it not designed as a favour when per- 
 sons were raised from the dead under the Old Testament 
 48 2G 2
 
 378 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OP 
 
 or the New, by the Prophets, by Christ, and by his Apos- 
 tles ? But what benefit could this be to them, if they had 
 consciousness and enjoyment in the other world ? Was it 
 not rather an injury to bring them back from a state of 
 happiness into such a miserable world as this? 
 
 Jlnsw. 1. Since these souls were designed to be soon 
 restored to their bodies, and the persons were to be raised 
 to a mortal life again in a few days, it is probable they were 
 kept just in the same state of immemorial consciousness, as 
 the soul is in while the body is in the deepest sleep ; and 
 so were not immediately sent to heaven or hell, or deter- 
 mined to a state of sensible happiness or misery. Then 
 when the person was raised to life again, there was no re- 
 membrance of the intermediate state, but all the conscious- 
 ness of that day or two vanished and were forgotten for ever, 
 as it is with us when we sleep soundly without dreaming. 
 
 Jlnsw. 2. If those who were raised by Christ, or the 
 Prophets, or the Apostles, were pious persons, they sub- 
 mitted by the will of God to a longer continuance in this 
 world, amidst some difficulties and sorrows, which submis- 
 sion would be abundantly recompehced hereafter. If they 
 were not good persons, their renewed life on earth was a 
 reprieve from punishment. So there was no injury done 
 to any of them. 
 
 As for those who were l raised at the resurrection of 
 Christ,' and were * seen by many persons in the holy city,' 
 there is no doubt but they were raised to immortality, 
 and ascended to heaven when Christ did, as part of his 
 triumphant attendants, and went to dwell with him in the 
 heavenly state. 
 
 Object. X. If the .martyrs and confessors were to be 
 partakers of the first resurrection in Rev. xx. 4, 5, 'would 
 not this be a punishment instead of a blessing, to be csflled 
 from the immediate presence of God and Christ and angels, 
 to be re-united to bodies on earth and dwell here again 
 with men ? Therefore it seems more probable, that the 
 souls of these holy martyrs had no such separate existence 
 or enjoyment of -happiness. 
 
 Jlnsw. Perhaps neither that text nor any others in the 
 Bible foretell the resurrection of any number of persons 
 to an animal earthly life again in this world. Perhaps that 
 prophecy means no more, than that the cause of Christ 
 and religion, for which men were martyred and beheaded
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 379 
 
 heretofore, shall rise again in the world, and the professors 
 of it in that day shall IDC in flourishing circumstances for a 
 thousand years, or a very long seasog. So that in prophe- 
 tic language these words do not signify the same individ- 
 ual ^martyrs or confessors, but their successors in the same 
 faith and practice. 
 
 Or if there should be any resurrection of good men to 
 an animal life in this world, foretold by the prophets, and 
 intended by the great and blessed God, I doubt not but 
 Ihey would be here so far separated from the wicked 
 world where sins and sorrows reign, that it would be a 
 gradual advance of their happiness beyond what they en- 
 joyed before in the Separate State. 
 
 Object? XL Though man is often said to be a com- 
 pounded creature ef soul and body, yet in Scripture he is re- 
 presented as one being. It is the man that is born, that lives, 
 that .sleeps or waives, and that rises from the dead. This 
 is evident in many places of Scripture, where these things 
 are spoken of; and it ssems to be the latoof our nature or 
 being, that we should always act and live in such a state 
 as souls united to bodies, and never in a state of separation. 
 
 *Qnisiv. Though there ere several Scriptures which re- 
 present man as one being, viz. soul and body united, yet 
 there are many other Scriptures which have been cited in 
 the former parts of this essay, wherein the souls and the 
 bodies of men are represented as two very distinct things. 
 The one goes to the grave at death, and the other into Abra- 
 ham's bosom, or to a place of torment ; either to dwell 
 'with God,' to 'be present with Christ the. Lord,' and to 
 become one of the spirits of the just made perfect, or 
 to go to their own place as Judas did. Now thosfe texts 
 W]UT<: man is represented as one being, may be ex- 
 plaJhed with very great eass, considering ; cle up 
 
 of twq distinct substances, viz. bodv an;! spirit united into 
 one pvksonal agent, as we have -shewn before. But the 
 several^bexts' where the soul and body are so strongly 
 and j anguished, as has been before represent- 
 
 ed, there if^no possible way of representing these Scrip- 
 tures but by supposing a Separate State of existence 
 for souls after Uie body is dead, which makes it necessary 
 that this exposit.kjn should take pine;;. 
 
 Object. XII. IIuw comes death to be called so often in 
 Scripture a sleep, if the soul wakes all the while ?
 
 380 AN ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF OP 
 
 ifrnsw. Why is the repose of man every night called 
 sleep, since the soul wakes, as appears by a thousand 
 dreams ? But as a sleeping man ceases to act in the busi 
 nesses or affairs of this world, though the soul be not dead 
 or unthinking, so death is called sleep, because during that 
 state men are cut off from the businesses of this world, 
 though the soul may think and act another. 
 
 Object. XIII. The Scripture speaks often of the gener 
 ral judgment of mankind at the last great day of the res- 
 urrection, but it does not teach us the doctrine of a partifc- 
 ular judgment, which the soul is supposed to pass under 
 when every single man dies ; why then should we invent 
 such a supposition, or believe such a doctrine of a partic- 
 ular judgment in a Separate State ? 
 
 Jlnsiv. It is evident in many Scriptures, as we have 
 shewn before, that the souls of men after death are repre- 
 sented as enjoying pleasure or punishment in the Separate 
 State. The soul of Lazarus in heaven, the soul of Dives 
 in hell, the soul of Paul as being ' present with the Lord, 
 which is far better,' than dwelling in this flesh, or being 
 present with this body, &c. therefore there must be a sort 
 of judgment or sentence of determination past upon eve- 
 ry such soul by the great God, whether it shall be happy 
 or miserable : for it can never be supposed that happiness 
 or misery should be given to such souls without the de- 
 termination of God the Judge of all. And perhaps that 
 text Heb. ix. 27, refers to it, "it is appointed unto men 
 once to die, but after this the judgment:" i. e. immedi- 
 ately after it. 
 
 Or suppose that in the Separate State the pleasures or 
 sorrows, which attend souls departing from the body, 
 should be only such as are the necessary consequents of a 
 life spent in the practice of vice or of virtue, of religion or 
 ungodliness, without any formalities of standing before 
 a judgment-seat, or a solemn sentence of absolution or 
 condemnation : yet the very entrance upon this state, whe- 
 ther it be of peace or of torment, must be supposed to sig- 
 nify, that the state of that soul is adjudged or/letermined 
 by the great Governor of the world : and this is all that is 
 necessarily meant by a particular judgment of each soul at 
 death, whether it pass under the solemn formalities of a 
 judgment and a tribunal or not. 
 
 Object. XIV. If the saints can be happy without a bo-
 
 A SEPARATE STATE. 381 
 
 dy, what need of a resurrection ? Let the body be as re- 
 fined, as active, as it can be, still it must certainly be a clog 
 to the soul ; and this was the objection that the heathen 
 philosophers made to tLe doctrine of the resurrection, 
 which the Christians profess ; for the philosophers told 
 them, this resurrection, which they called their highest 
 reward, was really a punishment. 
 
 *Answ. The force of this objection has been, quite taken 
 away before, when it has been shewn that man, being a 
 creature compounded of body and spirit, was designed for 
 its highest happiness, and the perfection of its nature in 
 this state of unio.i, and- not in a state of separation. And 
 let it be observed,' that when the body shall be raised 
 from the grave, it shall not be such flesh and blood as we 
 now wear, nor made up of such materials, as shall clog or 
 obstruct the soul in any of its most vigorous and divine 
 exercises; but it shall be a " spiritual body," 1 Cor. xv. 44, 
 a body fitted to serve a holy and glorififed spirit in its ac- 
 tions and it's enjoyments, and to render the spirit capable 
 of some further excellencies, both of action and enjovment, 
 than it is naturally capa'jle of without a body. What 
 sort of qualities this new-raised body shall be endued 
 with, in order to increase the excellency or the happiness 
 of pious souls, will be, in a great measure, a mystery or 
 a secret, till that blessed morning appears. 
 
 Object. XV. Is not our immortclity in Scripture des- 
 cribed as built upon the incorruptible state of onr new- 
 raised bodies? 1 Cor. xv. 53, "vfhis corruptible must 
 put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immor- 
 tality :" but the doctrine of the immortality of the soul 
 is not particularly found or tafflght in Scripture. 
 
 Answ. It is granted that the immortality of the 'new 
 raised- body' is built on that incorruptible sort of mate- 
 rials of which it is to be formed, or which shall be 
 mingled with it, or the incorruptible qualities which shall 
 be given to it by God himself: but Ihe soul is immortal 
 in itself, whether with or without a body : and he that 
 can read all those texts of Scripture which have been 
 before made use of in this essay, wiierein the existence 
 of the spirit after the death of the body is so plainly ex- 
 pressed, and cannot find the ' immortality of the soul' 
 in them, or the l spirit's capacity of existence in a Sepa- 
 rate State from the body,' must be left to his own senti-
 
 382 ESSAY TOWARDS THE PROOF &C. 
 
 -*' 
 
 ments to explain and verify the expressions of Christ and 
 his Apostles some other way ; or he must acknowledge 
 that these expressions are somewhat uncautious and dan- 
 gerous, since it is evident they lead thousands and ten 
 thousands of wise and sober readers into this sentiment 
 of the soul's immortality. 
 
 Whether the soul in its own nature be necessarily im- 
 mortal, is a point of philosophy, and not to be sought for 
 directly in Scripture : But whether the great God, the 
 Governor of the world, has not appointed souls to exist in 
 a Separate State of happiness or misery after the 'bodies 
 are dead, seems to me to be so plainly determined in ma- 
 ny of the Scriptures which have been 'cited, as leaves no 
 sufficient reason to doubt the truth of it. 
 
 To conclude, though I think the doctrine of the Sepa- 
 rate State of souls to be of much importance in Christian- 
 ity, and that the denial of it carries great inconveniences, 
 and weakens the motive to virtue and piety, by putting 
 off all mannerof rewards and punishments to such a dis- 
 tance as the general resurrection, yet I dare not contend 
 for it as a matter of such absolute necessity, that a man 
 cannot be a Christian without it. But this must be con- 
 fessed, that they who deny this doctrine seem to have 
 need of stronger inward zeal to guard them against temp- 
 tation, and to keep their hearts always alive and watchful 
 to God and religion, since their motives to strict piety and 
 virtue are sensibly weakened, by renouncing all belief of 
 this nearer and more immediate commencement of heaven 
 and hell.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE following poems, selected from Dr. Watts' Horse Ly- 
 ricse, it is believed, will not be unacceptable to the Reader, 
 since they present some trains of thought connected with the 
 subjects discussed in the preceding DISCOURSES, in which poe- 
 try, elevated by devotional feeling, soothes the imagination, 
 while it affects the heart. ED. 
 
 EARTH AND HEAVEN. 
 
 HAST thou not seen, impatient boy, 
 
 Hast thou not read, the solemn truth, 
 That grey experience writes for giddy youth 
 
 On ev'ry mortal joy ? 
 Pleasure must be dashed with pain : 
 
 And yet, with heedless haste, 
 
 The thirsty boy repeats the taste, 
 Nor hearkens to despair, but tries the bowl again. 
 The rills of pleasure never run sincere : 
 
 (Earth has no unpolluted spring:) 
 From the curs'd soil some dang'rous taint they bear ; 
 So roses grow on thorns, aad honey wears a sting. 
 
 In vain we seek a heav'n below the sky ; 
 The world has false but flatt'ring charms; 
 Its distant joys shew big in our esteem, 
 But lessen still as they draw near the eye. 
 In our embrace the visions die ; 
 And, when we grasp the airy forms, 
 We lose the pleasing dream. 
 
 383
 
 384 APPENDIX. 
 
 Earth, with her scenes of gay delight. 
 
 Is but a landscape rudely drawn, 
 V/ith glaring colours and false light; 
 Distance commends it to the sight, 
 
 For fools to gaze upon ; 
 But, bring the nauseous daubing nigh, 
 Coarse and confus'd the hideous figures lie, 
 Dissol ve the pleasure, and offend the eye. 
 
 Look up, my soul ! pant tow'rd th' eternal hills ; 
 
 Those heav'ns are fairer than they seem; 
 There pleasures all sincere glide on in crystal rills J 
 
 There not a dreg of ^uilt defiles, 
 Nor grief disturbs, the stream. 
 
 That Canaan knows no noxious thing, 
 
 No cursed soil, no tainted spring, 
 Nor roses grow on thorns, nor honey wears a sting. 
 
 DEATH AND ETERNITY. 
 
 MY thoughts, that often mount the skies, 
 
 Go search the world beneath, 
 Where nature all in ruin lies, 
 
 And owns her sov'reign, Death. 
 
 The tyrant, how he triumphs here ! 
 
 His trophies spread around ! 
 And heaps of dust and bones appear 
 
 Through all the hollow ground. 
 
 These sculls, what ghastly figures now ! 
 
 How loathsome to the eyes ! 
 These are ihe heads we lately knew 
 
 So beauteous and so wise. 
 
 But where the souls, those deathless things 
 
 That left this dying clay ? 
 My thoughts, now stretch out all your wings, 
 
 And trace eternity. 
 
 that unfathomable sea ! 
 Those deeps without a shore,
 
 APPENDIX. 385 
 
 Where living waters gently play, 
 Or fiery billows roar. 
 
 Thus must we leave the hanks of life, 
 
 And try this doubtful sea ; 
 Vain. are our groans, and dying strife, 
 
 To gain a moment's stay. 
 
 There we shall swim in heav'nly bliss, 
 
 Or sink in flaming waves, 
 While the pale carcase thoughtless lies 
 
 Amongst the silent graves. 
 
 Some hearty friend shall drop his tear 
 
 On our dry bones, and say : 
 " These once wert strong, as mine appear, 
 
 And mine must be as they." 
 
 Thus shall our mould'ring members teach 
 
 What now our senses learn : 
 For dust and ashes loudest preach ' 
 
 Man's infinite concern. 
 
 THE ATHEIST'S MISTAKE. 
 
 LAUGH, ye profane, and swell and burst 
 
 With bold impiety ; 
 Yet shall ye live, for ever curs'd, 
 
 And seek in vain to die. 
 
 The gasp of your expiring breath 
 Consigns your souls to chains, 
 
 By the last agonies of death 
 Sent down to fiercer pains. 
 
 Ye stand upon a dreadful steep, 
 
 And all beneath is hell ; 
 Your weighty guilt will sink you deep 
 
 Where the old serpent fell. 
 
 When iron slumbers bind your flesh, 
 
 With strange surprise you'll find 
 Immortal vigour spring afresh, 
 And tortures wake the mind ! 
 40 2H
 
 386 APPENDIX. 
 
 Then you'll confess, the frightful names 
 Of plagues, you scorn'd before, 
 
 NJO more shall look like idle dreams, 
 Like foolish tales no more. 
 
 Then shall ye curse that fatal day, 
 
 (With flames upon your tongues,) 
 'When you exchang-'d your souls away- 
 For vanity and songs. 
 
 Behold, the saints rejoice to die, 
 For heav'n shines round their heads, 
 
 And angel-guards, prepar'd to fly, 
 Attend their fainting beds. 
 
 Their longing spirits part, and rise 
 
 To their celestial seat ; 
 Above these ruinable skies 
 
 They make their last retreat. 
 
 Hence, ye profane ! I hate your ways, 
 
 I walk with pious souls ; 
 There's a wide diif 'rence in our race, 
 
 And distant are our goals. 
 
 . THE WELCOME MESSENGER. 
 
 LORD, when we see a saint of thine, 
 Lie gasping out his breath, 
 
 With longing eyes, and looks divine, 
 Smiling and pleas'u in death ; 
 
 How we could e'en contend to lay 
 
 Our limbs upon that bed ! 
 We ask thine envoy to convey 
 
 Our spirits in his stead. 
 
 Our souls are rising on the wing 
 
 To venture in his place ; 
 For when grim death has lost his sting, 
 
 He has an angel's face. 
 
 Jesus, then purge my crimes away, 
 'Tis guilt creates my fears,
 
 APPENDIX. 387 
 
 'Tis guilt giv.es death its fierce, array, 
 And all the arms it bears. . 
 
 Oh ! if my threat'riing eins were gone, 
 And death had lost hjs sting, 
 
 I could invite the angel on, 
 And chide his lazy wing. 
 
 Away tkese interposing days, 
 
 And let the lovers meet ; 
 The angel has a cold embrace, 
 
 But kind, a"nd soft, and sweet : 
 
 I'd leap at once my seventy years, 
 
 I'd rush into his arms, 
 And lose my breath, and all my cares, 
 
 Amidst those heav'nly charms. 
 
 Joyful I'd lay this body down, ^ 
 
 And leave'the lifeless clay, 
 Without a sigh, without a groan, 
 And stretch and soar away. 
 
 THE FAREWELL. 
 
 DEAD be my heart to all below, 
 To mortal joys and mortal cares; 
 
 To sensual bliss, that charms us so, 
 Be dark, my eyes, and deaf, my ears. 
 
 Here I renounce my carnal taste . 
 
 Of'the fair fruit that sinners prize" : 
 Their paradise shall never waste 
 
 One thought of mine, but to despise. 
 
 All earthly joys are ov'er-weigh'd 
 With mountains of vexatious care ; 
 
 And where's the sweet that is not laid 
 A bait to some destructive snare ? 
 
 Be gone for ever, mortal things ! 
 
 Thou mighty mole- hill, earth, farewell ! 
 Angels.aspire on lofty wings, 
 
 And leave the globe for ants to dwell.
 
 388 ' APPENDIX. 
 
 Come, heaven, and fill my vast desires, 
 My soul pursues the sov'reign good : 
 
 She was all made of heav'nly fires, 
 Nor can she live on meaner food. 
 
 LAUNCHING INTO ETERNITY. 
 
 IT was a brave attemp* ' xi\ venturous he, 
 Who in the first ship broke the. unknown sea: 
 And, leaving his dear native shores behind, 
 Trusted his life to the licentious -wind. 
 I see the surging brine : the tempest raves : 
 He on a pine-plank rides across the waves, 
 Exulting on the edge of thousand gaping graves: 
 He steers the winged boat, and shifts the sails, 
 Conquers the flood, and manages the gales: 
 
 Such is the soul that leavQS this mortal land, 
 Fearless, when the great Master gives command ! 
 Death is the storm : she smiles to hear it roar, 
 And bids the tempest waft her from the shore : 
 Then with a skilful helm she sweeps the seas, 
 And manages the raging storm with ease; 
 " Her faith can govern death ;" she-spreads her wings 
 Wide to the wind, and as she sails she sings, 
 And loses by degrees the sight of mortal things. 
 As the shores lessen, so her joys arise, 
 The waves roll gentler, and the tempest dies. 
 Now vast eternity fills all her sigh't, 
 She floats on the broad deep with infinite delight, 
 The seas for ever calm, the skies for ever bright ! 
 
 HAPPY FRAlf/TY. 
 
 " How meanry .dwells th' immortal mind ! 
 
 How vile these bodies are ! 
 Why was a clod of earth design'd 
 
 T' enclose a heav'nly star ? 
 
 " Weak cottage where our souls reside ! 
 
 This flesh a tott'ring wall ; 
 With frightful breaches, gaping wide, 
 
 The building bends to fall.
 
 APPENDIX. 389 
 
 " All roun<i, it storms of trouble blow, 
 
 And waves of sorrow roll ; 
 Cold waves and winter-storms beat through, 
 
 And pain the tenant-soul, 
 i 
 
 " Alaa! how frail our state ! " said I ; 
 
 And thus went mourning on, 
 Till sudden, from the cleaving sky, 
 
 A gleam of glory shone. 
 
 My soul all felt the glory come,_ 
 
 And breath'd her native air ; 
 Then she remernber'd heaven her home, 
 
 And she a pris'ner here. 
 
 Strait she began to change her key 
 
 And joyful in her pains, 
 She sang the frailty of her clay 
 
 In pleasurable strains. 
 
 " How weak the pris'n is where I dwell ! 
 
 Flesh but a tott'ring wall ! 
 
 The breaches cheerfully foretel, 
 
 . The house must shortly fall. 
 
 " No more, my friends, shall I complain, 
 
 Though all my heart-strings ache ; 
 Welcome, disease, and every pain, 
 
 That makes the cottage shake. 
 
 " Now let the tempest blow all round, 
 
 Now swell the surges high, 
 And beat this house of bondage down, 
 
 To let the stranger fly. 
 
 "^B , 
 " 1 have a mansion built above 
 
 By the eternal Hand ; 
 And, should the earth's old basis move, 
 
 My heav'nly house. must stand. 
 
 
 
 " Yes, for 'tis there my Saviour reigns, 
 
 (I long to see the GOD,) 
 And his immortal, strength sustains 
 
 The courts that cost him blood !" 
 2n2
 
 390 APPENDIX, 
 
 Hark, from on high my Saviour calls : 
 " I come, my LORD, my LOVE :" 
 
 Devotion breaks the prison-walls, 
 And speeds my last remove. 
 
 THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. 
 
 WHEN the fierce north wind with his airy forces 
 
 Rears up the Baltic to a foaming fury ; 
 
 And the red lightning, with a storm of hail, comes 
 
 Rushing amain down : 
 
 How the poor sailors stand amaz'd and tremble ! 
 While the hoarse thunder, like a bloody trumpet, 
 Roars a loud onset to the gaping waters, 
 
 Quick to devour them ! 
 
 Such shall the noise be, and the wild disorder, 
 (If things eternal may be like these earthly,) 
 Such the dire terror, when the great arch-angel 
 
 Shakes the creation : 
 
 Tears the strong pillars of the vault of heaven, 
 Breaks up old marble, the repose of princes ; 
 See the graves open, and the bones arising, 
 
 Flames all around 'em ! 
 
 Hark, the shrill outcries of the guilty wretches ! 
 Lively bright horror, and amazing anguish, 
 Stare through their eye-lids, while the living worm lies 
 Gnawing within them. 
 
 Thoughts, like old vultures, prey upon their heart-strings, 
 And the smart twinges, when their eye beholds the 
 Lofty judge frowning, and a flood of vengeance 
 Rolling afore him. 
 
 Hopeless immortals ! how they scream and shiver, 
 While devils push them to the pit wide-yawning, 
 Hideous and gloomy, to receive them headlong 
 
 Down to the centre !
 
 APPENDIX. 391 
 
 Stop here, my fancy : (all away, ye horrid 
 
 Doleful ideas,) come, arise to JESUS ! 
 
 How he sits God-like ! and the saints around him 
 
 Thron'd, yet adoring ! 
 
 O may I sit there when he comes triumphant, 
 Dooming the nations ! then ascend to glory, 
 While our hosannas, all along the passage, 
 
 ' Shout the Redeemer ! 
 
 A PROSPECT OF THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 How long shall Death, the tyrant, reign 
 
 And triumph o'er the just, 
 While the rich blood of martyrs slain 
 
 Lies mingled with the dust ? 
 
 When- shall the tedious might be gone 1 
 
 When will our LORD appear < 
 Our fond desires would pray him down 
 
 Our love embrace him here. 
 
 . 
 Let faith arise and climb the hills, 
 
 And from afar descry 
 How distant are his chariot-wheels, 
 And tell how fast they fly, 
 
 Lo, I behold the scatt'ring shades, 
 
 The dawn of heav'n appears, 
 The sweet immortal mornfng spreads 
 
 Its blushes round the spheres. 
 
 I see the LORD of Glory come, 
 And flaming guards around : 
 
 The skies divide to make him room, 
 The trumpet shakes the ground. 
 
 I hear the voice, "Ye dead, arise'! 
 
 And, lo, the graves obey, 
 And waking saints, with joyful eyes, 
 
 Salute th' expected day, 
 
 They leave the dust, and on the wing 
 Rise to the middle air,
 
 392 APPENDIX. 
 
 In shining garments meet their king, 
 
 And low adore him there. 
 
 
 
 O may my humble spirit stand 
 
 Amongst them, cloth'd in white ! 
 The meanest. place at his right hand 
 Is infinite delight. 
 
 How will our joy and wonder rise, 
 
 When our returning King 
 Shall bear us homeward through the skies 
 
 On love's triumphant wing. 
 
 A SIGHT OF HEAVEN IN SICKNESS 
 
 OFT have I sat in secret sighs 
 To feel my flesh decay ; 
 
 Then groan'd aloud, with frighted eyes, 
 To ,view the tott'ring clay. 
 
 But I forbid my sorrows now, 
 Nor dares the flesh complain ; 
 
 Diseases bring their profits too, 
 The joy o'ercomes the pain. 
 
 My cheerful soul now all the day 
 Sits waiting here, and sings ; 
 
 Looks through the ruins of her clay, 
 And practises her. wings. 
 
 Faith almost changes into sight, 
 
 While from afar she spies 
 Her fair inheritance in light 
 . . Above preated skies. 
 
 Had but the prison-walls been strong, 
 
 And firm without a flaw, 
 In darkness she had dwelt too long, 
 
 And less of glory saw. 
 
 But now the everlasting hills 
 Through ev'ry chink appear, 
 
 And something of the joy she feels 
 While she's a pris'ner here.
 
 AP.PENDIX. 393 
 
 The shines of heav'n rush sweetly in 
 
 At all 4he gaping flaws ; 
 Visions of endless bliss are seeji, 
 
 And native air she draws. 
 
 may these walls stand totf.'ring still, 
 
 The breaches never close, 
 If I must herein darkness dwell, 
 And ah this glory lose ! 
 
 , 
 
 Or rather let this flesh decay, 
 
 The ruins wider grow, 
 
 Till, glad to see .th' enlarged way, 
 I stretch ray pinions through. 
 
 FELICITY ABOVE. 
 
 No, 'tis in vain to seek for bliss ; 
 
 For bliss can ne'er be found 
 Till we arrive where JESUS is, 
 
 And tread on Jieav'nly ground. 
 
 There's nothing round these painted skies, 
 
 Or round this dusty clod, 
 Nothing, my soul, that's worth thy joys, 
 
 Or lovely as thy GOD. 
 
 'Tis heav'n on earth to taste his love, 
 To feel his quick'ning grace.; 
 
 And all the heav'n I hope above 
 Is but to see his face. 
 
 Why move my years in slow delay 7 
 
 GOD of ages! why? 
 Let the sphere cleave, and mark my way 
 
 To the superior sky. 
 
 Dear Sov'reign, break these vital strings 
 
 That bind me to my clay ; 
 Take me, URIEL, on thy wings, 
 
 And stretch and soar away. 
 50
 
 394 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE PRESENCE OF GOD WORTH DYING FOR: 
 OR, THE DEATH OP MOSES. 
 
 LORD, 'tis an infinite delight 
 
 To see thy lovely face, 
 To dwell whole ages in thy sight, 
 
 And feel thy vital rays. 
 
 This Gabriel knows, and sings thy name 
 
 With rapture on his tongue ; 
 Moses the saint enjoys the same, t 
 
 And heav'n. repeats the song. 
 
 While the bright natioa sounds thy praise 
 
 From each eternal hill, * 
 Sweet odours of exhaling grace 
 
 The happy region fill. 
 
 Thy love, a sea without a shore, 
 
 Spreads life and joy abroad ; 
 O 'tis a heav'n worth dying for, 
 
 To see a smiling GOD ! 
 
 Shew me thy face, and I'll away 
 
 From all inferior things ; 
 Speak, LORD, and here I quit my clay, 
 
 And stretch my airy wings. 
 
 Sweet was fhe journey to the sky 
 ; '.. ' The wond'rous prophet tried ; 
 " Climb up the mount," says GOD, "and die:" 
 The prophet climb'd and died. 
 
 Softly his fainting head he lay 
 
 Upon his Maker's breast, 
 His Maker kiss'd his soul away, 
 
 And laid his flesh to rest. 
 
 In GOD'S own arms he left the breath 
 
 That GOD'S own spirit' gave ; 
 His was the noblest road to death, 
 
 And his the sweetest grave.
 
 APPENDIX. 395 
 
 GOD'S DOMINION AND DECREES. 
 
 KEEP Silence, all created things 
 
 And wait your. Maker's nod; 
 The muse stands trembling while she sings 
 
 The honours of her GOD. 
 
 Life, death, and hell, and worlds unknown, 
 
 Hang on his firm decree : 
 He sits on no precarious throne, 
 
 Nor borrows leave to be. 
 
 Th' almighty Toice bade ancient night 
 
 Her endless realms resign ; 
 And, lo, ten thousand globes of light 
 
 In fields of azure shine. 
 
 Now wisdom, with superior sway, 
 
 Guides the vast moving frame, 
 Whilst all the ranks of beings pay 
 
 Deep rev'rence to his name. 
 
 He spake : The sun obedient stood, 
 
 And held the falling day: 
 Old Jordan backward drives his flood, 
 
 And disappoints the sea. 
 
 Lord of the armies of the sky, 
 
 He marshals all the stars : 
 Red comets lift their banners high, 
 
 And wide proclaim his wars. 
 
 Chain'd to the throne, a volume lies, 
 
 With all the fates of men, 
 With ov'ry angel's form and size, 
 
 Drawn by th' eternal pen. 
 
 His providence unfolds the book, 
 
 And makes his counsels shine : 
 Each op'ning leaf, and ev'ry stroke, 
 
 Fulfils- some deep design. 
 
 Here he exalts neglected worms 
 To scepters and a crown ,
 
 386 APPENDIX. 
 
 Anon the following page he turns, 
 And treads the monarch down. 
 
 Not Gabriel asks the reason why 
 Nor GOD, the reason gives ; 
 
 Nor dares the fav'rite angel pry 
 Between the folded leaves. 
 
 My GOD, I never long'd to see 
 My fate with curious eyes ; 
 
 What gloomy lines are writ forme, 
 Or what bright scenes shall rise. 
 
 In thy fair book of Life end grace 
 May I but find my name, 
 
 Recorded, in some humble place, 
 Beneath my LORD, the LAMB ! 
 
 THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE. 
 
 FAR in the heav'ns my GOD retires 
 My GOD, the mark of my desires, 
 
 And hides his lovely face. 
 When he descends within my view, 
 He charms my reason to pursue, 
 But leaves it tir'd and fainting in th' unequal chace. 
 
 Or, if I reach unusual height, 
 
 Till near his presence brought, 
 There floods of glory check my flight. 
 Cramp the bold pinions of my wit, 
 
 And all untune my thought ; 
 Plung'd in a sea of light I roll, 
 Where Wisdom, Justice, Mercy, shines 
 
 Infinite rays, in crossing lines, 
 Beat thick confusion on my sight, and overwhelm my aoul. 
 
 Come to my aid, ye fellow-minds, 
 
 And help me reach tl.e throne ; 
 (What single strength in vaia designs 
 
 United force hath done ;
 
 APPENDIX. 397 
 
 Thus worms may join, and grasp the poles, 
 
 Thus atoms fill the sea ;) 
 But the whole race of creature-souls, 
 Stretch'd to their last extent of thought, plunge and are lost 
 in thee. 
 
 Great GOD, behold, my reason lies 
 Adoring, yet my love would rise 
 
 On pinions not her own. 
 Faith shall direct her humble flight, 
 Through all the trackless seas of light, 
 To thee, th' eternal Fair, the infinite Unknown ! 
 
 TRUE WISDOM. 
 
 PRONOUNCE him blest, my muse, whom WISDOM guides 
 In her own path to her own heav'nly seat ; 
 Through all the storms his soul securely glides, 
 
 Nor can the tempests, nor the tides, 
 That rise and roar around, supplant his steady feet. 
 
 Earth, you may let your golden arrows fly, 
 And seek in vain a passage to his breast, 
 Spread all your painted toys to court his eye, 
 
 He smiles, and sees them vaimy try 
 To lure his soul aside from her eternal rest. 
 
 Our head-strong lusts, like a young fiery horse, 
 
 Start, and flee raging in a violent course ; 
 
 He tames and breaks them, manages and rides 'em, 
 
 Checks their career, and turns and guides 'em, 
 And bids his reason bridle their licentious force. 
 
 Lord of himself, he rules his wildest thoughts. 
 And boldly acts what calmly he design'd, 
 While he looks down and pities human faults ; 
 
 Nor can he think, nor can he find, 
 A plague like reigning passions, and a subject mind 
 
 But, oh ! 'tis mighty toil to reach this height, 
 To vanquish self ; s a laborious art; 
 What manly courage to sustain the fight, 
 21
 
 398 APPENDIX. 
 
 To bear the noble pain, and part 
 With those dear charming tempters rooted in the heart 
 
 TIB -hard to stand when all the passions move, 
 Hard to awake the eye that passion blinds, 
 To rend and tear out this unhappy love, 
 That clings so close about our minds, 
 And where th' enchanted soul so sweet a poison finds. 
 
 Hard ; but it may be done. Come, heav'nly fire, 
 Home to my breast, and with one pow'rful ray 
 Melt off my lusts, my fetters : I can bear 
 
 A while to be a tenant here, 
 But not be chai-n'd and prison'd in a cage of clay, 
 
 Heav'n is my home and I must use my wings ; 
 Sublime above the globe my flight aspires : 
 I have a soul was made to pity kings, 
 And all their little glittering things : 
 I have a soul was made for infinite desires. 
 
 Loos'd from the earth, my heart is upward flown ; 
 Farewell, my friends, and all that once was mine ; 
 Now, should you fix my feet on Caesar's throne, 
 
 Crown me, and call the world my own, 
 The gold that binds my brows could ne'er my soul confine 
 
 I am the LORD'S and JESUS is my love; 
 He, the dear GOD, shall fill my vast desire, 
 My flesh below ; yet I can dwell above, 
 
 And nearer to my Saviour move ; 
 There all my soul shall centre, all my pow'rs conspire. 
 
 Thus I with angels live ; thus, half divine, 
 I sit on high, nor mind inferior joys : 
 Fill'd with his love, I feel that GOD is mine, 
 
 His glory is my great design, 
 That everlasting project all my thoughts employs.
 
 APPENDIX. 399 
 
 CHRIST DYING, RISING, AND REIGNING. 
 
 HE dies ! the heav'nly Lover dies ! 
 The tidings strike a doleful sound 
 On my poor heart-strings : Deep he lies 
 In the cold caverns of the ground ! 
 
 Come, saints, and drop a tear or two 
 On the dear bosom of your GOD ; 
 He sheds a thousand drops for you, 
 A thousand drops of richer blood ! 
 
 Here's love and grief beyond degree, 
 The LORD of glory dies for men ! 
 But, lo, what sudden joys I see! 
 JESUS the dead revives again. 
 
 The rising GOD forsakes the tomb, 
 Up to his Father's court he flies ; 
 Cherubic legions guard him home 
 And shout him welcome to the skies. 
 
 Break off your tears, ye saints, and tell 
 How high our great deliv'rer reigns ; 
 Sing how he spoil'd the hosts of hell, 
 And led the monster Death in chains. 
 
 Say, ' Live for ever, wond'rous King ! 
 Born to redeem, and strong to save !" 
 Then ask the monster, " Where's his sting] 
 " And where's thy victory, boasting grave 1" 
 
 THE SONG OF ANGELS ABOVE. 
 
 EARTH has detain'd me prisoner long, 
 
 And I'm grown weary now : 
 My heart, my hand, my ear, my tongue, 
 
 There's nothing here for you. 
 
 Tir'd in my thoughts, I stretch me down, 
 
 And upward glance mine eyes ; 
 Upward, my Father, to thy throne, 
 
 And to my native skies.
 
 400 APPENDIX. 
 
 There the dear MAN, my Saviour, sits, 
 The GOD, how bright he shines ! 
 
 And scatters infinite delights 
 On all the happy minds. 
 
 Seraphs, with elevated strains, 
 
 Circle the throne around, 
 And move and charm the starry plains 
 
 With an immortal sound. 
 
 JESUS, the LORD, their harps employs, 
 JESUS, my love, they sing ; 
 
 JESUS, the name of both our joys, 
 Sounds sweet from ev'ry string. 
 
 Hark, how, heyond the narrow bounds 
 Of time and space, they run, 
 
 And speak, in most majestic sounds, 
 The godhead of the SON. 
 
 How on the Father's breast he lay, 
 
 The darling of his soul, 
 Infinite years before the day 
 
 Or heavens began to roll. 
 
 And now they sink the lofty tone, 
 And gentler notes they play, 
 
 And bring th' eternal Godhead down 
 To dwell in humble clay. 
 
 O sacred beauties of the MAN ! 
 
 (The GOD resides within ;) 
 His flesh all pure, without a stain, 
 
 His soul without a sin. 
 
 Then, how he look'd and how he smil'd, 
 What wond'rous things he said ! 
 
 Sweet cherubs, stay, dwell here a while, 
 And tell what JESUS did. 
 
 At his command the blind awake 
 And feel the gladsome rays ; 
 
 He bids the dumb attempt to speak, 
 They try their tongues in praise.
 
 APPENDIX. 401 
 
 He shed a thousand blessings round 
 
 Where'er he turn'd his eye; 
 He spoke, and, at the sov'reign sound, 
 The hellish legions fly. 
 
 Thus, while, with unambitious strife, 
 
 Th' ethereal minstrels rove 
 Through all the labours of his life, 
 
 And wonders of his love : 
 
 In the full choir a broken string 
 
 Groans with a strange surprise ; 
 The rest in silence mourn their King, 
 
 That bleeds, and loves, and dies. 
 
 Seraph and saint, with dropping wings, 
 
 Cease their harmonious breath ; 
 No blooming trees, nor bubbling springs, 
 
 While JESUS sleeps in death. 
 
 Then all at once to living strains 
 
 They summon every chord, 
 Break up the tomb, and burst his chains, 
 
 And shew their rising LORD. 
 
 Around, the flaming army throngs, 
 
 To guard him to the skies, 
 With loud hosannas on their tongues, 
 
 And triumph in their eyes. 
 
 In awful state the conqu'ring GOD 
 
 Ascends his shining throne, 
 While tuneful angels sound abroad 
 
 The vict'ries he has won. 
 
 Now let me rise, and join their song, 
 
 And be an angel too ; 
 My heart, my hand, my ear, my tongue, 
 
 Here's joyful work for you. 
 
 I would begin the music here, 
 
 And so my soul should rise 
 Oh for some heavenly notes, to bear 
 
 My spirit to the skies ! 
 01 2i2
 
 402 APPENDIX. 
 
 There, ye that love my Saviour, sit, 
 
 There I would fain have place, 
 Among your thrones, or at your feet, 
 So I might see his face. 
 
 I am confin'd to earth no more, 
 But mount in haste above, 
 
 To bless the God that I adore, 
 And sing the MAN I love. 
 
 TWO HAPPY RIVALS, DEVOTION AND THE 
 MUSE. 
 
 WILD as the lightning, various as the moon, 
 
 Roves my Pindaric song : 
 Here she glows, like burning noon, 
 In fiercest flames, and here she plays 
 Gentle as star-beams on the midnight seas ; 
 Now in a smiling angel's form, 
 Anon she rides upon the storm, 
 Loud as the noisy thunder, as a deluge strong, 
 
 Are my thoughts and wishes free, 
 And know no number nor degree ! 
 Such is the muse : Lo she disdains 
 
 The links and chains, 
 Measures and rules of vulgar strains, 
 And o'er the laws of harmony a sov'reign queen she reign 
 
 If she roves 
 By streams or groves, 
 Tuning her pleasures or her pains, 
 My passion keeps her still in sight, 
 My passion holds an equal flight 
 Through love's or nature's wide campaigns. 
 If, with bold attempt she sings 
 Of the biggest mortal things, 
 Tott'ring thrones and nations slain ; 
 Or breaks the fleets of warring kings, 
 While thunders roar 
 From shore to shore, 
 My soul sits fast upon her wings, 
 And sweeps the crimson surge, or scours the purple nlain ;
 
 APPENDIX. 403 
 
 Still I attend her, as she flies, 
 Round the broad globe, and all beneath the skies. 
 
 But, when from the meridian star 
 
 Long streaks of glory shine, 
 And heav'n invites her from afar, 
 She takes the hint, she knows the sign, 
 The muse ascends her heavenly car, 
 And climbs the sleepy path and means the throne divine : 
 
 Then she leaves my flutt'ring mind, 
 
 Clogg'd with clay and unrefin'd ; 
 
 Lengths of distance far behind, 
 
 Virtue lags with heavy wheel ; 
 
 Faith has wings but cannot rise, 
 
 Cannot rise, swift and high, 
 
 As the winged numbers fly, 
 And faint Devotion panting lies 
 
 Half way th' ethereal hill. 
 
 O why is piety so weak, 
 
 And yet the muse so strong ! 
 When shall these hateful fetters break 
 
 That have confin'd me long ? 
 Inward a glowing heat I feel, 
 
 A spark of heav'nly day ; 
 But earthly vapours damp my zeal, 
 And heavy flesh drags me the downward way. 
 
 Faint ate the efforts of my will, 
 And mortal passion charms my soul astray. 
 Shine, thou sweet hour of dear release, 
 Shine from the sky, 
 And call me high, 
 
 To mingle with the choirs of glory and of bliss. 
 Devotion there begins the flight, 
 Awakes the song, and guides the v, ay ; 
 There love and zeal, divine and bright, 
 Trace out m in the world of light, 
 
 And scarce the boldest muse can follow or obey. 
 
 I'm in a dream, and fancy reigns, 
 She spreads her gay delusive scenes ; 
 Or is the vision true ?
 
 404 APPENDIX. 
 
 Behold RELIGION on her throne, 
 In awful state descending down, 
 
 And her dominions vast and bright within my soacious view. 
 She smiles, and with a courteous hand 
 
 She beckons me away ; 
 
 I feel mine airy pow'rs loose from the cumb'rous clay, 
 And with a joyful haste obey 
 RELIGION'S high command. 
 
 What lengths, and heights, and depths, unknown 
 Broad fields with blooming glory sown, 
 And seas, and skies, and stars, her own, 
 
 In an unmeasur'd sphere ! 
 What heav'ns of joy, and light serene, 
 Which nor the rolling sun has seen, 
 Where nor the roving Muse has been, 
 That greater traveller ! 
 
 A long farewell to all below, 
 Farewell to all that sense can shew, 
 To golden scenes, and flow'ry fields, 
 To all the worlds that fancy builds, 
 
 And all that poets know. 
 Now the swift transports of the mind 
 Leave the fluttering muse behind, 
 A thousand loose Pindaric plumes fly scattering down the 
 
 wind. 
 Among the clouds I lose my breath, 
 
 The rapture grows too strong : 
 The feeble pow'rs that nature gave 
 Faint and drop downward to the grave ; 
 Receive their fall, thou treasurer of death ; 
 I will BO more demand my tongue, 
 Till the gross organ, well refin'd, 
 Can trace the boundless flights of an unfetter'd mind, 
 And raise an equal song ! 
 
 COME, LORD JESUS. 
 
 WHEN shall thy lovely face be seen? 
 When shall our eyes behold our GOD? 
 What lengths of distance lie between, 
 And hills of guilt. A heavy load 1
 
 405 
 
 Our months are agres of delay, 
 And slowly every minute wears : 
 Fly, winged time, and roll away 
 These tedious rounds of sluggish years. 
 
 Ye heav'nly gates, loose all your chains, 
 Let the eternal pillars bow ; 
 Blest, SAVIOUR, cleave the starry plains, 
 And make the crystal mountains flow. 
 
 Hark, how thy saints unite their cries, 
 And pray and wait the general doom : 
 Come, thou, the soul of all our joys, 
 Thou, the desire of nations, come. 
 
 Put thy bright robes of triumph on, 
 And bless our eyes, and bless our ears, 
 Thou absent Love, Ihou dear unknown, 
 Thou fairest of ten thousand fairs. 
 
 Our heart-strings groan with deep complaint, 
 Our flesh lies panting, LORD, for thee, 
 And every limb, and every joint, 
 Stretches for immortality. 
 
 Our spirits shake the'r eager wings, 
 And burn to meet thy flying throne : 
 We rise away from mortal things 
 T' attend thy shining chariot down. 
 
 Now let our cheerful eyes survey 
 The blazing earth and melting hills, 
 And smile to see the lightnings play, 
 And flash along before thy wheels. 
 
 O for a shout of violent joys 
 To join the trumpet's thund'ring sound! 
 The angel herald shakes the skies, 
 Awakes the graves, and tears the ground. 
 
 Ye slumb'ring saints, a heav'nly host 
 Stands waiting at your gaping tombs ;
 
 406 APPENDIX. 
 
 Let every sacred sleeping dust 
 Leap into life, for JESUS comes. 
 
 JESUS, the GOD of might and love, 
 New moulds our limbs of cumb'rous clay; 
 Quick as seraphic flames we move, 
 Active, and young, and fair, as they. 
 
 Our airy feet with unknown flight, 
 Swift as the motions of desire, 
 Run up the hills of heav'nly light, 
 And leave the welt'ring world in fire. 
 
 A SIGHT OF CHRIST. 
 
 ANGELS of light, your GOD and KING surround 
 
 With noble songs ; in his exalted flesh 
 
 He claims your worship ; while his saints on earth 
 
 Bless their REDEEMER-GOD with humble tongues. 
 
 Angels, with lofty honours crown his head ; 
 
 We, bowing at his feet by faith, may feel 
 
 His distant influence, and confess his love. 
 
 Once I beheld his face, when beams divine 
 Broke from his eye-lids, and unusual light 
 Wrapt me at once in glory and surprise. 
 My joyful heart, high-leaping in my breast, 
 With transport cried, " This is the CHRIST of GOD !' 
 Then threw my arms around in sweet embrace, 
 And clasp'd,and bow'd, adoring low, till I was lost in him. 
 
 While he appears, no other charms can hold 
 Or draw my soul, asham'd of former things, 
 Which no remembrance now deserve, or name, 
 Though with contempt ; best in oblivion hid. 
 
 But the bright shine and presence soon withdrew ; 
 I sought him whom I love, but found him not ; 
 I felt his absence ; and with strongest cries 
 Proclaim'd, " Where JESUS is not, all is vain !" 
 Whether I hold him with a full delight, 
 Or seek him panting with extreme desire,
 
 APPENDIX. 407 
 
 'Tis he alone can please my wond'ring soul ; 
 To hold or seek him is my only choice. 
 If he refrain on me to cast his eye 
 Down from his palace, nor my longing soul 
 With upward look can spy my dearest LORD 
 Through his blue pavement, I'll behold him still 
 With sweet reflection, on the peaceful cross, 
 All in his blood and anguish groaning deep 
 
 Gasping and dying there ! 
 
 This sight I ne'er can lose, by it I live : 
 A quick'ning virtue, from his death inspired, 
 Is life and breath to me : his flesh my food ; 
 His vital blood I drink, and hence my strength. 
 
 I live, I'm strong, and now eternal life 
 Beats quick within my breast ; my vigorous mind 
 Spurns the dull earth, and on her fiery wings 
 Reaches the mount of purposes divine, 
 Counsels of peace 'betwixt th' almighty Three, 
 Conceiv'd at once, and sign'd without debate, 
 In perfect union of th' eternal mind. 
 With vast amaze I see th' unfathom'd thoughts, 
 Infinite schemes, and infinite designs, 
 Of GOD'S own heart, in which he ever rests. 
 Eternity lies open to my view ; 
 Here the beginning and the end of all 
 I can discover ; CHRIST the end of all, 
 And CHRIST the great beginning ; he my head, 
 My GOD, my glory, and my all in all. 
 
 O that the day, the joyful day, were come, 
 When the first Adam from his ancient dust, 
 Crown'd with new honours, shall revive, and see 
 JESUS his son and lord ; while shouting saints 
 Surround their King, and GOD'S eternal Son 
 Shines in the midst but with surperior beams, 
 And like himself; then the mysterious WORD, 
 Long hid behind the letter, shall appear 
 All spirit and life, and in the fullest light 
 Stand forth to public view ; and there disclose 
 His Father*s sacred works, and wond'rous ways : 
 Then wisdom, righteousness, and grace divine, 
 
 j
 
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