46 The final Vac of Sin, are fumm'd up in this one word, John 20. 3i. Theft thingsare written, that you might believe that Jefitsis the Chrifi, theSon ofGod, and that believing yemight have Life through hisName. r Job. 4. 9. In this was manifefi the love ofGod towordr ur, becanfe Godfent his only begotten Son into the World, that we might live through him So that under this Term or NotionofLife, theScriptureis wont toexprefs all Happinefs to us, and more efpecially that Eternal Life which is the great Pro - mife of the Gofpel. And this is Life by way of Eminency as if this frail and mortal and miferableLife, which we live here in this World, did not deferve that Name. And on the other hand, all the Evils which are confequent upon fin, efpecially the dreadful and lafting Mifery of another 'World, are called by the Name of Death, The end of thefe things is Death. So the Apofile, here in the Text, and 43. V. The wagesof fin is Death, not only a Temporal, Death, but fuch a Death as is oppofed to Eternal Life;, The wages offin it Death: but the gift ofGod is Eternal Life through Jefus Chrifl our Lord. So that Death here in the Text is plainly intended to comprehend in it all thofe fearful and aflonifhing Miferies, wherewith the wrath of God will purfue and aflliet finners in anotherWorld. But what and how great this Mifery is, I am not able to declare to you; it bath no more enter'd into the heart ofman, than thofe great and glorious things which God bath laid up for them that love him : and as I would fain hope, that none of us here (hall ever have the fad experience of it ; fo none but thofe who have felt it, are able to give a tolerable defcriptionof the intolerablenefs of it. But by what the Scripture hath faid of it ingeneral, and in Inch Metaphors as are moft level to our pt'efent Capacity, it appears fo full of Terror, that I am loth to attempt the Reprefentation ofit. There are fo many other Arguments, thatare more Humane and Natural, and more proper to work upon the Reafon and Ingenuity ofMen ; as the great Love and Kindnefs of God to us ; the grie- vous Sufferingsof his Son for us ; theUnreafonablenefs and Shamefulnefsof Sin ; the prefent Benefit and Advantage, the Peace and Pleafure of an Holy an Virtu- ous Life ; and the might Rewards promifed to it in another world, that one would think thefe fhould be abundantly fuficient to prevail with men to gain them to goodnefs, and that they need not be frighted into it, and to have the Law laid to them, as it was once given to the People of Ifrael in thunder and lightning, in blacknefr, in darknefi and tempefl, fo as to make them exceedingly to fear and tremble. And it feems a veryhard Cafe, that when we have to deal with men, fenfible enough of their Intereft in other Cafes, and diligent enough to mind it, we cannot perfwade them to accept ofHappinefs, without fetting before them the Terrors of Eternal Darknefs, and thole amazing and endlefs Miferies, which will certainly be the Portionof thofe whorefufe fo great an Happinefs ; this I fay feems very hard, that men mutt be carried to the Gate of Hell, before they can be brought to fet their faces towards Heaven, and to think in good ear- neft of getting thither. And yet it cannot be diffembled, that the Nature ofmen is fo degenerate, as to ftand in needofthis Argument; and that men are fo far engaged in anEvil Courfe, that they arenot tobe reclaimed from it, by anyiotherConfideration, but of the endlefs and unfpeakable Mifery of impenitent Sinners in another World. And therefore God, knowing how neceffary this is, doth frequently make ufeof it; and our Bleffed Saviour, than whom none was ever more mild andgentle, doth often fet this Confideration, before men to take them off from fin, and to bring them to dobetter. And this St. Paul tells us, Rom. r. r8. is one principal thing which renders the Gofpel fo powerful aninlirument forthe reformingandPaving of Mankind, becaufe therein the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven, againfi all eengodlinef and unrighteoufnefr ofmen. So that how harsh and unpleafant roever this Argument maybe, the great ftupi- dity and folly of fome men, and their inveterateobftinacy in an Evil Courfemakes it neceffary for us to prefs it home, that thofe who will not be moved, and made fenfible of the dangerand inconvenienceof fin by gentler Arguments, may be rous'd and awakened by the Terrors of Eternal Mifery. That Vol. II:
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