I Cor. iv,

5.

observ'd, undiscover'd in that Day of Ser. II. Tryal. There is nothing now secret, that Shall not then be made manifest, neither any Luke viji. thing hid that shall not be known, and come 17. abroad. For when the Day of the Lord cometh, he both will bring to Light the hidden things of Darkness, and will make manifeft the Counsels of the Hearts. And now judge you, whether we ought not to be very strict in enquiring into our Duties, and very exact and impartial in the Examination of our selves; for you fee, that at that Day every thing will appear in its true and proper Colour. Our Excuses and Disguises will then, like Adam's FigLeaves, prove not the Concealments, but Evidences of our Shame and Nakedness; then shall we behold and hear not only the Actions and Discourses of Men; but we shall also see what was the secret Paffion, what was the hidden Luft, which did both produce and Act and Move them. O strange Sight! When thro' the thin Varnish of pretended Zeal, we shall be able to fee underneath Spiritual Pride, rash Self-Conceit, Ambitious Malice, Black Discontent, Sacrilegious Covetousness, unruly Wantonness and Itch of changing. O unwelcome Sight! When the Paint of Formality and

good Nature, and Civility being melted

by

Vol. II. by the Flames of that Day, there shall ~ appear as Engraven in Steel or Adamant, Spiritual Death, Hatred of GOD, Difrelish of Heavenly things, Sottish Intemperance, more Sottish Vanity, and most Sottish Pride, and a Thousand other Sins, not the Offsprings, but the Ulcers and Impostumations even of the Flesh. What a strange Sight will it be, when a bold and confident, but mistaken Conscience shall be shew'd, the private Luft, the fecret Sin, by which it fuffer'd it self to be betray'd into its Mischievous and Destructive Principles? These and fuch like will be the Miraculous Discoveries of that last Day: And doth it not therefore behove us to be extreamly Diligent, to fee that there be nothing of this kind in us, but what we have bewail'd and confefs'd? How much more eligible is it to make a plain Confeffion, an open Reftitution here in this World, than to undergo the Shame and the Eternal Mifery, that will otherwise attend our Hypocrify and Injustice in another? How much better is it for us to confefs and bemoan our Sins before the Throne of Grace, than to have 'em rise up in Judgment against us before the great Tribunal of the Laft Day? Thus you fee what Influs

Influence the Confideration of GOD's Ser. II. Omniscience ought to have upon us.

The next Attribute of GOD which calls ' for this Preparation e'er we can be fit to meet him, is his Holiness; for this is that, that enkindles his Anger to the extreameft Heat. If Righteous and Good Men be possess'd with an irreconcilable Hatred of Sin, and can't behold it without Indignation and Abhorrence; if the Conscience of a Sinner himself do reproach and lash him for Sin, what Passion think we must God have against it, and that in the Act of Judgment too, in the Day wherein he is to manifeft to Angels and Men, not only how Good and Mercifull, but how Just and Holy he is too? That God that can't restrain himself from giving the World many and dreadfull Testimonies of his Indignation againft Sin, even here in this Life, which is the Day of Mercy, and the Acceptable Time, how will his Indignation burn like Fire in that Day, which is the Day of Judgment, the Day of Justice, the Day of Wrath? What is it then that thou doft hope for? What is it that the wretched Sinner can then relie upon? Can'st thou hope that the Holy God will be reconciled to thy Sin? Thou may'st as foon reconcile Light and Darkness, and make

God

Vol. II. God and Belial, the Ark and Dagon ~ dwell amicably together in the fame

Temple. Or can'st thou hope that GOD will be wrought upon at that Day by the Prayers and Tears, by the Groans and Shrieks of his as Miserable, as Sinfull Creatures? Time was indeed when these would have prevail'd with GOD; Time was when Tears and Prayers would have mov'd the Bowels of Divine Compassion, and have turn'd the Anger of an Enemy into the Tenderness of a Father: But that Time will then be past, those Days will then be set in an hideous and implacable Night, which muft continue for ever. Does not this therefore loudly call for Preparation? Does it not bespeak the Neceffity of our Heb. iii. 8. Repenting to Day, while it is called to Day? To Day if you will here his Voice, harden not 2 Cor. vi. your Hearts; for now is the Accepted time, now is the Day of Salvation.

2,

The 3d. Attribute of God, which befpeaks our Preparation is his Power. Nothing can be more dreadful than Infinite Hatred, or Infinite Wrath, when it is Arm'd and furnish'd with Infinite Power. Contemptible are the Mightiest of Princes, Death it felf and all the Evils they can threaten are despicable ScareCrows and Mockeries in comparison of

an

an Angry GOD. Hence is that Advice Ser. II. of our Saviour to his Disciples, Fear not them which kill the Body, but are not able to kill the Soul: But rather fear him who is able Matt. 28. to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell. This is the Thought which ought to awaken us into the most lively and ferious Concern for our Success that Day; for this leaves no Room for that vain Imagination, which is the only remaining Hope and Confidence of a Sinner, that after Death he can be no more. There is a secret mixture of Infidelity, a conceal'd Opinion of the impoffibility of the Refurrection in all Men that die Impenitently, and one would think in all that live in a deliberate course of Sin. What Cefar gave as a Reason in the Senate, why the Complices of Cataline should not be punished with Death, is the sense of the Souls of fuch Men generally Mortem Arumnarum Requiem, non Cruciatum effe, eam cuncta Mortalium mala dissolvere, Cat.p. ultraneq; Cure,neq; Gaudio locum esse; that 160. Death is not the beginning of new Troubles, but the removal of the Old; that this puts an end to all the Miseries of Mortal Men, and that beyond it, there is neither Joy nor Fear. This is it that Sinners are all defirous to perfwade themselves, that a Future State and confequently

Sall. Bell.