II. that it can be only the Intereft of those SERM, Men, there should be no future Rewards and Punishments, who are refolved to go on in their Sins, and who prefer the vain, fading, tranfitory Enjoyments of this World before thofe which are eternal in the Heavens. And therefore I proceed to the last General propofed, III. To fhew the abfolute Neceffity of believing future Rewards and Punishments for all that would come to God, and that this is one of the strongest Pillars of our Faith, and a fundamental Article of the Chriftian Religion; and therefore, He that comes to God, must believe that he is, and that he is a Rewarder of thofe that diligently feek him. And that for this plain Reason, because, if we do not believe that God is a Rewarder of fuch as diligently feek him, we fhall wart fufficient Encouragements and Motives to obey his Laws; for, though Virtue may be fometimes, and is frequently (as I have already fhewn) a fufficient Reward to itself, yet it is not fo always; for, fince the Fall, the Corruption of Man's Nature is fo great, that Vice has got the Upper-hand, and the Generality of Mankind have degenerated from the Excellency of their Original, and made them SERM. felves lower and more vile than the Beasts II. that perish; nay, they are not content only to be wicked themselves, but hate and perfecute thofe who do not run into the fame Excess of Riot. Now, fince the Degeneracy of Mankind is fo great, it muft needs fo fall out, that it may fometimes be a coftly and a dangerous Thing to go out of the common Road, and to forfake the beaten Track of Vice and Wickedness, when Iniquity is eftablished by a Law, and Sin recommended by Custom (which is a fecond Nature) and become fashionable; he must act out of a noble Principle indeed, and look forward to the Recompence of a more excellent Reward than any this World can afford him, that dares oppofe himself against the Stream, and stem the Torrent of a vicious Age. He must by an Eye of Faith behold the Glory of a future State, who can be able to contemn the perishing Enjoyments of this, and look for a Houfe not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens; who can forego his Intereft here for the Testimony of a good Confcience. There are indeed fome that teach, that to serve God, out of the Hopes of Reward, is a bafe and mercenary Principle, below and un worthy worthy of a Child of God, and incom- SERM, patible with the high Attainments of a II. Christian; that God is the best and most excellent Being, and therefore to be loved and admired, ferved and obeyed, for his own Sake, without any Refpect to our Convenience and Advantage; and that as, on the one Hand, to be frighted out of our Sins, by the Terror of Hell, is a flavish Fear: So, on the other Hand, to be allured to our Duty, by the Hopes of Reward, is rather Love to ourselves, than Love to God, and doth not entitle us to the Joys of Heaven. BUT these Men feem to forget that Hopes and Fears are the two main Springs of all our Actions, and that God, who made us, and therefore knows us better than we do ourselves, addreffes himself to both these, and throughout the Holy Writ makes our Hopes and Fears the Motives of our Obedience; and then, what high Presumption is it, for Men to pretend to be wiser than their Maker? And, what is more just than for God to deny them the Affiftance of his Grace, and to fuffer them to miscarry, who are too proud and too conceited, to make Use of thofe Helps and Affiftances which he has afforded them? What must these Men SERM. think of themselves? Are they holier and II. more righteous than Mofes, who had ReSpect to the Recompence of Reward; is their Love and Zeal more fervent than that of the holy Army of Martyrs, who were tortured, not accepting Deliverance, that they might enjoy a better Refurrection? Would they be thought wifer and better than our Saviour Chrift himself, who, for the Joy that was fet before him, endured the Cross, defpifing the Shame? It is plain and evident, this is not required of us; God has made us reasonable Creatures, and therefore expects our reasonable Service; and that we should obey him out of fuch Principles as he has implanted in us. WHAT remains therefore, but that the due and ferious Confideration of those excellent and incómprehenfible Rewards which God has prepared for those that love him; and of those dreadful and intolerable Punishments which God has denounced against the impenitent Offenders; fhould put us upon a ferious Repentance for our paft Sins, and a firm Refolution of yielding a fincere and univerfal Obedience to all the Laws of his Gospel? That fo at that great Day of Account, when all the Secrets of Men's Hearts fhall be laid open II. open, and every one rewarded according SERM. to his Deeds, we may hear that comfortable Sentence pronounced, Come ye bleed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you, from the Beginning of the World; and then with the Voice of Joy and Gladness, with the Shouts of Angels and Arch-angels, we may enter into the foy of our Lord; who is the Rewarder of those who diligently feek him. SERMON |