The Fountain of Life
The Fountain of Life opened up: or, a display
of Christ in his essential and mediatorial glory
by John Flavel
The third of Christ's last Words upon the Cross
"And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto you, Today
shall you be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43
In this scripture you have the third excellent saying of
Christ upon the cross, expressing the riches of free grace to the penitent
thief; a man that had spent his life in wickedness, and for his wickedness
was now to lose his life. His practice had been vile and profane, but now
his heart was broken for it; he proves a convert, yes, the first fruits of
the blood of the cross. In the former verse he manifests his faith, "Lord,
remember me, when you comest into your kingdom. In this Christ manifests his
pardon and gracious acceptance of him; "Verily I say unto you, to-day shall
you be with me in paradise." In which promise are considerable, the matter
of it, the person to whom it is made, the time set for its performance, and
the confirmation of it for his full satisfaction.
First, The matter or substance of the promise made by
Christ, namely, That he shall be with him in paradise. By paradise he means
heaven itself, which is here shadowed to us by a place of delight and
pleasure. This is the receptacle of gracious souls, when separated from
their bodies. And that paradise signifies heaven itself, and not a third
place, as some of the fathers fondly imagine, is evident from 2 Cor. 12:2,
4. where the apostle calls the same place by the names of the third heaven,
and the paradise. This is the place of blessedness designed for the people
of God. So you find, Rev. 2:7. "To him that overcomes will I give to eat of
the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God;" that is to
have the fullest and most intimate communion with Jesus Christ in heaven.
And this is the substance of Christ's promise to the thief: You, that is you
in spirit, or you in the noblest part, your soul which here bears the image
of the whole person; "You shall be with me in paradise."
Secondly, The person to whom Christ makes this excellent
and glorious promise: it was to one that had lived lewdly and profanely; a
very vile and wretched man, in all the former part of his time, and, for his
wickedness, now justly under condemnation; yes, to one that had reviled
Christ, after that sentence was executed on him. However, now at last the
Lord gave him a penitent believing heart. Now, almost at the last gasp, he
is soundly, in an extraordinary way converted; and, being converted, he owns
and professes Christ amidst all the shame and reproach of his death;
vindicates his innocence, and humbly supplicates for mercy; "Lord, remember
me when you comest into your kingdom."
Thirdly, The set time for the performance of this
gracious promise: Today, this very day, shall you be with me in glory: Not
after the resurrection, but immediately from the time of your dissolution,
you shall enjoy blessedness. And here I cannot but detect the cheat of those
that deny an immediate state of glory to believers after death; who, (to the
end this scripture might not stand in full opposition to their, as
uncomfortable, as unsound opinion), loose the whole frame of it, by drawing
one pin, yes, by transposing but a comma, putting it at the word day, which
should be at the word you; and so reading it thus, "Verily I say unto you
to-day," referring the word "day" to the time that Christ made the promise,
and not to the time of its performance. But if such a liberty as this be
yielded, what may not men make the scriptures speak? There can be no doubt,
but Christ, in this expression, fixes the time for his happiness; "To-day
you shall be with me.
Fourthly, and lastly, You have here the confirmation and
seal of this most comfortable promise to him, with Christ's solemn
asseveration; "Verily I say unto you." Higher security cannot be given. I
that am able to perform what I promise, and have not out promised myself;
for heaven and the glory thereof, are mine: I that am faithful and true to
my promises, and have never forfeited my credit with any; I say it, I
solemnly confirm it; "Verily I say unto you, to-day you shall be with me in
paradise." Hence we have three plain obvious truths, for our instruction and
consolation.
DOCTRINE. 1. That there is a future eternal state, into
which souls pass at death.
DOCTRINE. 2. That all believers are, at their death,
immediately received into a state of glory and eternal happiness.
DOCTRINE. 3. That God may, though he seldom does, prepare
men for this glory, immediately before their dissolution by death.
These are the useful truths resulting from this
remarkable word of Christ to the penitent thief. We will consider and
improve them in the order proposed.
DOCTRINE. 1. That there is a future eternal state, into
which souls pass at death.
This is a principal foundation-stone to the hopes and
happiness of souls. And seeing our hopes must needs be as their foundation
and ground work is, I shall briefly establish this truth by these five
arguments. The being of a God evinces it. The scriptures of truth plainly
reveal it. The consciences of all men have presentiments of it. The
incarnation and death of Christ is but a vanity without it; and the
immortality of human souls plainly discovers it.
Arg. 1. The being of a God undeniably evinces a future
state for human souls after this life. For, if there be a God who rules the
world which he has made, he must rule it by rewards and punishments, equally
and righteously distributed to good and bad; putting a difference between
the obedient and disobedient. the righteous and the wicked. To make a
species of creatures capable of a moral government, and not to rule them at
all, is to make them in vain, and is inconsistent with his glory, which is
the last end of all things. To rule them, but not suitably to their natures,
consists not with that infinite wisdom from which their beings proceeded,
and by which their workings are ruled and ordered. To rule them, in a way
suitably to their natures, namely, by rewards and punishments, mid not to
perform, or execute them at all, is utterly incongruous with the veracity
and truth of him that cannot lie: this were to impose the greatest cheat in
the world upon men, and can never proceed from the holy and true God. So
then, as he has made a rational sort of creatures, capable of moral
government by rewards and punishments; so he rules them in that way which is
suitable to their natures, promising "it shall be well with the righteous,
and ill with the wicked." These promises and threatening can be no cheat,
merely intended to scare and fright, where there is no danger, or encourage
where there is no real benefit; but what he promises, or threatens, must be
accomplished, and every word of God take place and be fulfilled. But it is
evident that no such distinction is made by the providence of God (at least
ordinarily and generally) in this life; but all things coins alike to all;
and as with the righteous, so with the wicked. Yes, here it goes ill with
them that fear God; they are oppressed; they receive their evil things, and
wicked men their good; therefore we conclude, the righteous Judge of the
whole earth, will, in another world, recompense to everyone according as his
work shall be.
Arg. 2. Secondly, And as the very being of God evinces
it, so the scriptures of truth plainly reveal it. These scriptures are the
pandect, or system of the laws, for the government of man; which the wise
and holy Ruler of the world has enacted and ordained for that purpose. And
in them we find promises made to the righteous, of a full reward for all
their obedience, patience, and sufferings in the next life or world to come;
and threatening, made against the wicked, of eternal wrath and anguish, as
the just recommence of their sin in hell forever, Rom. 2:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
"You treasures up to yourself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation
of the righteous judgement of God; who will render to every man according to
his deeds: to them who, by patient continuance in well doing, seek for
glory, and honor, and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are
contentious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation
and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that does evil,
etc." So 2 Thess. 1:4, 5, 6, 7. "So that we ourselves glory in you, in the
churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and
tribulations that you endure: which is (a manifest token) of the righteous
judgement of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for
which you also suffer; seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense
tribulation to them that trouble you: and to you who are troubled rest with
us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, etc."
To these plain testimonies, multitudes might be added, if it were needful.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but these words shall never pass away.
Arg. 3. Thirdly, As the scriptures reveal it, so the
consciences of all men have borne presentiments of it. Where is the man
whose conscience never felt any impressions of hope, or fear, from a future
world? If it is said, these may be but the effects and force of discourse,
or education; we have read such things in the scriptures, or have heard it
by preachers; and so raise up to ourselves hopes and fears about it. I
demand, how the consciences of the Heathens, who have neither scriptures nor
preachers, came to be impressed with these things? Does not the apostle tell
us, Rom. 2:15. "That their consciences in the mean while work upon these
things?" their thoughts, with reference to a future state, accuse, or else
excuse, that is their hearts are cheered and encouraged by the good they do,
and terrified with fears about the evils they commit. Whereas, if there were
no such things, conscience would neither accuse nor excuse for good or evil
done in this world.
Arg. 4. Fourthly, The incarnation and death of Christ,
are but vanity without it. What did he propose to himself, or what benefit
have we by his coming, if there be no such future state? Did he take our
nature, and suffer such terrible things in it for nothing! If you say,
Christians have much comfort from it in this life: I answer, the comforts
they have are raised by faith and expectation of the happiness to be
enjoyed, as the purchase of his blood, in heaven. And if there be no such
heaven to which they are appointed, no hell from which they are redeemed,
they do but comfort themselves with a fable, and bless themselves with a
thing of nothing: their comfort is no greater than the comfort of a beggar,
that dreams he is a king, and when he awakes, finds himself a beggar still.
Surely the ends of Christ's death were to deliver us from the wrath to come,
1 Thess. 1:10. not from an imaginary, but a real hell, to bring us to God, 1
Pet. 3:18. to be the author of eternal salvation to them that obey him, Heb.
5:9.
Arg. 5. Fifthly and lastly, The immortality of human
souls, puts it beyond all doubt. The soul of man, vastly differs from that
of a beast, which is but a material form, and so wholly depending on, that
it must need perish with matter. But it is not so with ours: Ours are
reasonable spirits, that can live and act in a separated state from the
body, Eccles. 3:21. "Who knows the spirit of man, that goes upward; and the
spirit of a beast, that goes downward to the earth?" For if a man dispute
whether man be rational, this his very disputing it proves him to be so: so
our disputes, hopes, fears, and apprehensions of eternity, prove our souls
immortal, and capable of that state.
INFERENCE 1. Is there an eternal state, into which souls
pass after this life? How precious then is present time, upon the
improvement whereof that state depends. O what a huge weight has God hanged
upon a small wire! God has set us here in a state of trial: "According as we
improve these few hours, so will it fare with us to all eternity." Every
day, every hour, nay, every moment of your present time has an influence
into your eternity. Do you believe this? What! and yet squander away
precious time so carelessly, so vainly! How do these things consist? When
Seneca heard one promise to spend a week with a friend that invited him, to
recreate himself with him; he told him, he admired he should make such a
rash promise! What (said he) cast away so considerable a part of your life?
How can you do it? Surely, our prodigality in the expense of time, argues we
have but little sense of great eternity.
INFERENCE 2. How rational are all the difficulties, and
severities of religion, which serve to promote and secure a future eternal
happiness? So vast is the disproportion between time and eternity, things
seen, and not seen as yet, the present vanishing, and future permanent
state, that he can never be justly reputed a wise man, that will not let go
the best enjoyment he has on earth, if it stand in the way of his eternal
happiness. Nor can that man ever escape the just censure of notorious folly,
who, for the gratifying of his appetite and present accommodation of his
flesh, lets go an eternal glory in heaven. Darius repented heartily that he
lost a kingdom for a draught of water; O, said he, "for how short a pleasure
have I sold a kingdom!" It was Moses' choice, and his choice argued his
wisdom, he chose rather "to suffer afflictions with the people of God, than
to enjoy the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season," Heb. 11:25. Men
do not account him a fool, that will adventure a penny, upon a probability
to gain ten thousand pounds. But sure the disproportion between time and
eternity is much greater.
INFERENCE. 3. If there certainly be such an eternal state
into which souls pass immediately after death; How great a change then does
death make upon every man and upon every man and woman? O what a serious
thing is it to die! It is your passage out of the swift river of time, into
the boundless and bottomless ocean of eternity. You that now converse with
sensible objects, with men and women like yourselves, enter then into the
world of spirits. You that now see the continual revolutions of days and
nights, passing away one after another, will then be fixed in a perpetual
NOW. O what a serious thing is death! You throw a cast for eternity when you
die. If you were to cast a die for your natural life, O! how would your hand
shake with fear, how it would fall! But what is that to this?
The souls of men are, as it were, asleep now in their
bodies; at death they awake, and find themselves in the world of realities.
Let this teach you, both how to carry yourselves towards dying persons when
you visit them; and to make every day some provision for that hour
yourselves. Be serious, be plain, be faithful with others that are stepping
into eternity; be so with your own souls every day. O remember what a long
word, what an amazing thing eternity is! especially considering,
DOCTRINE. 2. That all believers are, at their death,
immediately received into a state of glory and eternal happiness.
"This day shall you be with me." This the Atheist denies:
He thinks he shall die, and therefore resolves to live as the beasts that
perish. Beryllus, and some others after him, taught, that there was indeed a
future state of happiness and misery for souls, but that they pass not into
it immediately upon death and separation from the body, but shall sleep
until the resurrection, and then awake and enter into it. But is not that
soul asleep, or worse, that dreams of a sleeping soul until the
resurrection? Are souls so wounded and prejudiced by their separation from
the body, that they cannot subsist or act separate from it? Or have they
found any such conceit in the scriptures? Not at all. The scriptures take
notice of no such interval; but plainly enough denies it, 2 Cor. 5:8. "We
are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and
present with the Lord." Mark it, no sooner parted from the body, but present
with the Lord. So Phil. 1:23. "I desire to be dissolved, and to be with
Christ, which is far better." If his soul was to sleep until the
resurrection, how was it far better to be dissolved, than to live? Sure
Paul's state in the body had been far better than his state after deaths if
this were so; for here he enjoyed much sweet communion with God by faith,
but then he should enjoy nothing.
To confirm this dream, they urge, John 14:3. "If I go
away, I will come attain, and receive you to myself". As if the time of
Christ's receiving his people to himself, should not come, until his second
coming at the end of the world. But though he will then collect all
believers into one body, and present them solemnly to his Father; yet that
hinders not, but he may, as indeed he does, receive every particular
believing soul to himself at death, by the ministry of angels. And if not,
how is it that when Christ comes to judgement, he is attended with ten
thousand of his saints, that shall follow him when he comes from heaven?
Jude 14. You see then the scripture puts no interval between the dissolution
of a saint, and his glorification: It speaks of the saints that are dead, as
already with the Lord: And the wicked that are dead, as already in hell,
calling them spirits in prison, 1 Pet. 3:19, 20. assuring us, that Judas
went presently to his own place, Acts 1:25. And to that sense, is the
parable of Dives and Lazarus, Luke 16:22.
But let us weigh these four things more particularly, for
our full satisfaction in this point.
Arg. 1. First, Why should the happiness of believers be
deferred, since they are immediately capable of enjoying it, as soon as
separated from the body? Alas, the soul is so far from being assisted by the
body (as it is now) for the enjoyment of God; that it is either clogged or
hindered by it: So speaks the apostle, 2 Cor. 5:6, 8. "While we are at home
in the body, we are absent from the Lord;" that is our bodies prejudice our
souls, obstruct and hinder the fullness and freedom of their communion: When
we part from the body, we go home to the Lord! then the soul is escaped as a
bird out of a cage or snare. Here I am prevented by an excellent pen, which
has judiciously opened this point: To whose excellent observations I only
add this; That if the entanglements, snares, and prejudices of the soul are
so great and many in its embodied estate, that it cannot so freely dilate
itself and take in the comforts of God by communion with him, then surely
the laying aside of that clog, or the freeing of the soul from that burden,
can be no bar to its greater happiness, which it enjoys in its separated
state.
Arg. 2. Secondly, Why should the happiness and glory of
the soul be deferred, unless God had some farther preparative work to do
upon it, before it be fit to be admitted into glory? But surely, here is no
such work wrought upon it after its separation by death: all that is done of
that kind, is done here. When the compositum is dissolved, all means,
duties, and ordinances are ceased. The working day is then ended, and night
comes, when no man can work, John 9:3. To that purpose are those words of
Solomon, Eccles. 9:10. "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your
might; for there is no wisdom, nor knowledge, nor device in the grave where
you go." So that our glorification is not deferred, in order to our fuller
preparation for glory. If we are not fit when we die, we can never be fit:
all is done upon us that ever was intended to be done; for they are called,
Heb. 12:23. the spirits of the just made perfect.
Arg. 3. Thirdly, Again, Why should our salvation slumber,
when the damnation of the wicked does not slumber? God defers not their
misery; and surely he will not defer our glory. If he be quick with his
enemies, he will not be slow and dilatory with his friends. It cannot be
imagined, but he is as much inclined to acts of favor to his children, as to
acts of justice to his enemies; these are presently damned, Jude, ver. 7.
Acts 1:25. 1 Pet. 3:19, 20. And what reason why believers, yes, every
believer, as well as this in the text, should not be, that very day in which
they die, with Christ in glory?
Arg. 4. Fourthly, and lastly, How do such delays consist
with Christ's ardent desires to have his people with him where he is, and
with the vehement longings of their souls to be with Christ? You may see
those reflected flames of love and desire of mutual enjoyment between the
bridegroom and his spouse in Rev. 22:17, 20. Delays make their hearts sick:
the expectation and faith in which the saints die, is to be satisfied then;
and surely God will not deceive them. I deny not but their glory will be
more complete when the body, their absent friend, is reunited, and made to
share with them in their happiness; yet that hinders not, but meanwhile the
soul may enjoy its glory, while the body takes its rest, and sleeps in the
dust.
INFERENCE 1. Are believers immediately with God after
their dissolution? Then how surprisingly glorious will heaven be to
believers! Not that they are in it before they think of it, or are fitted
for it; no, they have spent many thoughts upon it before, and been long
preparing for it; but the suddenness and greatness of the change is amazing
to our thoughts. For a soul to be now here in the body, conversing with men,
living among sensible objects, and within a few moments to be with the Lord;
this hour on earth, the next in the third heaven; now viewing this world,
and anon standing among an innumerable company of angels, and the spirits of
the just made perfect: O what a change is this! What! but wink, and see God!
Commend your soul to Christ, and be transferred in the arms of angels into
the invisible world, the world of spirits! To live as angels of God? To live
without eating, drinking. sleeping! To be lifted up from a bed of sickness
to a throne of glory! To leave a sinful, troublesome world, a sick and
pained body, and be in a moment perfectly cured, and feel yourself perfectly
well, and free from all troubles and distempers! You cannot think what this
will be! Who can tell what sights, what apprehensions, what thoughts, what
frames believing souls have, before the bodies they left are removed from
the eyes of their dear surviving friends!
INFERENCE. 2. Are believers immediately with God after
their dissolution? Where then shall the unbelievers be, and in what state
will they find themselves immediately after death has closed their eyes? Ah!
what will the case of them be that go the other way?
To be plucked out of house and body, from among friends
and comforts, and thrust into endless miseries, into the dark vault of hell,
never to see the light of this world any more; never to see a comfortable
sight; never to hear a joyful sound; never to know the meaning of rest,
peace, or delight any more. O what a change is here! To exchange the smiles
and honors of men, for the frowns and fury of God; to be clothed with
flames, and drink the pure unmixed wrath of God, who were but a few days
since clothed in silks, and filled with the sweet of the creature! How is
the state of things altered with them! It was the lamentable cry of poor
Adrian, when he felt death approaching: "O my poor wandering soul! alas!
where are you going! Where must you lodge this night! You shall never jest
more, never be merry more!"
Your term in your houses and bodies is out, and there is
another habitation provided for you; but it is a dismal one! When a saint
dies, heaven above is as it were moved to receive and entertain him; at his
coming, he is received into everlasting habitations, into the inheritance of
the saints in light. When an unbeliever dies, we may say of him alluding to
Isa. 14:9. "Hell from beneath is moved for him, to meet him at his coming;
ii stirs up the dead for him." No more sports, nor plays, nor cups of wine,
nor beds of pleasure: the more of these you enjoyed here, the more
intolerable will this change be to you. If saints are immediately with God,
others must be immediately with Satan.
INFERENCE. 3. How little cause have they to fear death,
who shall be with God so soon after their death? Some there are that tremble
at the thoughts of death; that cannot endure to hear its name mentioned;
they would rather stoop to any misery here, yes, to any sin, than die,
because they are afraid of the exchange. But you that are interested in
Christ, need not do so; you can lose nothing by the exchange: the words
Death, Grave, and Eternity, should have another kind of sound in your ears,
and make contrary impressions upon your hearts. If your earthly tabernacles
cast you out, you shall not be found naked; you have "a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens;" and it is but a step out
of this into that. O what fair, sweet, and lovely thoughts should you have
of that great and last change! But what speak I of your fearlessness of
death? Your duty lies much higher than that far.
INFERENCE. 3. If believers are immediately with God,
after their dissolution, then it is their duty to long for that dissolution,
and cast many a longing look towards their graves. So did Paul, I desire to
be dissolved, and to be with Christ, which is far better. The advantages of
this exchange are unspeakable: You have gold for brass; wine for water;
substance for shadow: solid glory for very vanity. Oh! if the dust of this
earth were but once blown out of your eyes, that you might see the divine
glory, how weary would you be to live? How willing to die; But then be sure
your title be sound and good: leave not so great a concernment to the last;
for, though it is confessed, God may do that in an hour, that never was done
all your days, yet it is not common; which brings to our third and last
observation.
DOCTRINE. 3. That God may, though he seldom does, prepare
men for glory immediately before their dissolution by death.
There is one parable, and no more, that speaks of some
that were called at the last hour, Matt. 20:9, 10. And there is this one
instance in the text, and no more, that gives us an account of a person so
called. We acknowledge God may do it, his grace is his own, he may dispense
it how and where he pleases: we must always salve divine prerogative. Who
shall fix bounds, or put limits to free grace, but God himself, whose it is?
If he do not ordinarily show such mercies to dying sinners (as indeed he
does not); yet it is not because he cannot, but because he will not; not
because their hearts are so hardened by long custom in sin, that his grace
cannot break them, but because he most justly withholds that grace from
them. When blessed Mr. Bilney, the martyr, heard a minister preaching thus:
O you old sinner, you have lain these fifty years rotting in your sin, do
you think now to be saved? That the blood of Christ shall save you? O, said
Mr. Bilney, what preaching of Christ is this? If I had heard no other
preaching than this, what had become of me? No, no, old sinners, or young
sinners, great or small sinners, are not to be beaten off from Christ, but
encouraged to repentance and faith; for who knows but the affections of
mercy may yearn at last upon one that has all along rejected it? This thief
was as unlikely ever to receive mercy, but a few hours before he died, as
any person in the world could be.
But surely this is no encouragement to neglect the
present seasons of mercy, because God may show mercy hereafter; or to
neglect the ordinary, because God sometimes manifests his grace in ways
extraordinary. Many, I know, have hardened themselves in ways of sin, by
this example of mercy. But what God did at this time, for this man, cannot
be expected to be done ordinarily for us, and the reasons thereof are:
Reason 1. First, Because God has vouchsafed us the
ordinary and standing means of grace, which this sinner had not; and
therefore we cannot expect such extraordinary and unusual conversion as he
had. This poor creature never heard in all likelihood, one sermon preached
by Christ, or any of his apostles: He lived the life of a highwayman, and
concerned not himself about religion. But we have Christ preached freely,
and constantly in our assemblies: We have line upon line, precept upon
precept: and when God affords the ordinary preaching of the gospel, he does
not use to work wonders. When Israel was in the wilderness, then God gave
them bread from heaven, and clave the rocks to give them drink; but when
they came to Canaan, where they had the ordinary means of subsistence, the
manna ceased.
Reason 2. Secondly, Such a conversion as this, may not be
ordinarily expected by any man, because such a time as that will never come
again: it is possible, if Christ where to die again, and you to be crucified
with him, you mightest receive your conversion in such a miraculous and
extraordinary way; but Christ dies no more; such a day as that will never
come again.
Mr. Fenner, in his excellent discourse upon this point,
tells us, That as this was an extraordinary time, Christ being now to be
installed in his kingdom, and crowned with glory and honor; so extraordinary
things were now done; as when kings are crowned, the streets are richly
hanged, the conduits run with wine, great malefactors are then pardoned, for
then they show their munificence and bounty; it is the day of the gladness
of their hearts. But let a man come at another time to the conduits, he
shall find no wine, but ordinary water there. Let a man be in the jail at
another time, and he may be hanged; veer, and have no reason but to expect
and prepare for it. What Christ did now for this man, was at an
extraordinary time.
Reason 3. Thirdly, Such a conversion as this may not
ordinarily be expected; for as such a time will never come again, so there
will never be the like reason for such a conversion any more: Christ
converted him upon the cross, to give an instance of his divine power at
that time, when it was almost wholly clouded: Look, as in that day the
divinity of Christ brake forth in several miracles, as the preternatural
eclipse of the sun, the great earthquake, the rending of the rocks and veil
of the temple; so in the conversion of this man in such an extraordinary
way, and all, to give evidence of the divinity of Christ, and prove him to
be the Son of God whom they crucified; but that is now sufficiently
confirmed, and there will be no more occasion for miracles to evidence it.
Reason 4. Fourthly. None has reason to expect the like
conversion, that enjoys the ordinary means; because, though in this convert
we have a pattern of what free grace can do, yet, as divines pertinently
observe, it is a pattern without a promise; God has not added any promise to
it, that ever he will do it for any other; and where we have not a promise
to encourage our hope, our hope can signify but little to us.
INFERENCE 1. Let those that have found mercy in the
evening of their life, admire the extraordinary race that therein has
appeared to them. O that ever God should accept the bran, when Satan has had
the flour of your days! The fore-mentioned reverend author tells us of one
Marcus Caius Victorius, a very aged man in the primitive times, who was
converted from Heathenism to Christianity in his old age. This man came to
Simplicianus, a minister, and told him, he heartily owned and embraced the
Christian faith. But neither he nor the church would trust him for a long
time; and the reason was, the unusualness of a conversion at such an age.
But after he had given them good evidence of the reality thereof, there were
acclamations and singing of Psalms, the people everywhere crying, Marcus
Caius Victorius is become a Christian. This was written for a wonder! Oh! if
God have wrought such wondrous salvation for any of you, what cause have you
to do more for him than others! What! to pluck you out of hell when one foot
was in! To appear to you at last, when so hardened by long custom in sin,
that one might say, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his
spots? Oh! what riches of mercy halve appeared to you!
INFERENCE. 2. Let this convince and startle such, as even
to their gray hairs, remain in an unconverted state, who are where they were
when they first came into the world, yes, rather further off by much.
Bethink yourselves, you that are full of days, and full
of sin, whose time is almost done, and your great work not begun: who have
but a few sands more in the upper part of the glass to run down, and then
your conversion will be impossible; your sun is setting; your night is
coming; the shadows of the evening, are stretched out upon you; you have one
foot in the grave, and the other in hell. O think, if all sense and
tenderness be not withered up as well as natural verdure; think with
yourselves how sad a case you are in: God may do wonders, but they are not
seen every day, then they would cease to be wondered at. O strive, strive,
while you have a little time, and a few helps and means more; strive to get
that work accomplished now that was never done yet; defer it no longer, you
have done so too much already.
It may be (to use Seneca's expression) you have been
these sixty, seventy, or eighty years, beginning to live, about to change
your tactics; but hitherto you still continue the same. Do not you see how
Satan has gulled, and cheated you with vain purposes, until he has brought
you to the very brink of the grave and hell? O it is time now to make a
stand, and pause a little where you are, and to what he has brought you. The
Lord at last give you an eye to see, and an heart to consider.
INFERENCE. 3. Lastly, Let this be a call and caution to
al young ones to begin with God betime, and take heed of delays until the
last, so as many thousands have done before them to their eternal ruin. Now
is your time, if you desire to be in Christ; if you have any sense of the
weight and worth of eternal things upon your hearts: I know your age is
voluptuous, and delights not the serious thoughts of death and eternity: you
are more inclined to mind your pleasures, and leave these grave and serious
matters to old age: but let me persuade you against that, by these
considerations.
First, O set to the business of religion now, because
this is the molding age. Now your hearts are tender, and your affections
flowing: now is the time when you are most likely to be wrought upon.
Secondly, Now, because this is the freest part of your
time. It is in the morning of your life, as in the morning of the day: if a
man have any business to be done, let him take the morning for it; for in
the after part of the day a hurry of business comes on, so that you either
forget it, or want opportunity for it.
Thirdly, Now, because your life is immediately uncertain;
you are not certain that ever you shall attain the years of your fathers:
there are graves in the church-yard just of your length; and souls of all
sorts and sizes in Golgotha, as the Jews proverb is.
Fourthly, Now, because God wil1 not spare you because you
are but young sinners, little sinners, if you die Christless. If you are
not; as you think, old enough to mind Christ, surely, if you die Christless,
you are old enough to be damned: there is the small spray, as well as great
logs in the fire of hell.
Fifthly, Now, because your life will be the more
eminently useful, and serviceable to God, when you know him betimes, and
begin with him early. Austin repented, and so have many thousands since,
that he began so late, and knew God no sooner.
Sixthly, Now, because your life will be the sweeter to
you, when the morning of it is dedicated to the Lord. The first fruits
sanctify the whole harvest: this will have a sweet influence into all your
days, whatever changes, straits, or troubles you may afterwards meet with!