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IS the Tye so weak betwixt our Souls and bodies, how close and near then do all our Souls confine and border upon E∣ternity?
There is no more but a puff of breath, a blast of wind betwixt this world, and that to come. A very short step betwixt time and Eternity. There is a breath, which will be our last breath. Respiration must and will terminate in Expiration. The dead are the Inhabitants, and the living are Borderers upon the invisible world. This considerati∣on
deserves a dwelling place in the hearts of all men, whether,
I. Regenerate Souls should ponder this with pleasure, O 'tis transporting to think how small a matter is betwixt them, and their compleat Salvation. No sooner is your breath gone, but the full desire of your hearts is come. every breath you draw, draws you a degree nearer to your perfect happiness, Rom. 13.11. Now is your Salvation nearer than when you believed: therefore both your chearfulness and diligence should be greater than when you were in the infancy of your Faith. You have run through a con∣siderable part of your Christian course and race, and are now come nearer the Goal and prize of eternal life: O, despond not, loyter not now at last, who were so fer∣vent and zealous in the beginning.
'Tis Transporting to think how near you approach the Region of light and joy. O that you would distinctly con∣sider,
1. You that are now so near Salvation, were lately very near unto Damnation: there was but a puff of breath be∣twixt you and Hell. How many nights did you sleep secure∣ly in the state of nature and unregeneracy? How quietly did you rest upon the brink of Hell, not once imagining the danger you were in? Had any of those sicknesses you then suffered, been suffered by God, like a candle to burn asunder this slender thread of life, which was so near them, you had been as miserable and as hopeless, as those that now are roaring in the lowest Hell. I have heard of one that rid over a dangerous Bridge in the night, who upon the re∣view
of the place next day, fell into a swoon, when he was sensible of that danger which the darkness of the night hid from him. O Reader, shall not an escape from Hell affect thee, as much as such an escape would do?
2. 'Tis no less marvelous to consider where you now are; you that were afar off, are now made nigh, Eph. 2.13. you that were not beloved, are now beloved, Rom. 9. v. 25. You were in the state of death and condemnation; you are now passed from death to life, by your free justi∣fication, 1 Iohn 3.14. Your union with Christ hath set you free from condemnation, Rom. 8.1. Dye you must, though Christ be in you, but there is no hazzard or hurt in your death. The stopping of your breath, can put no stop to your happiness, it will hasten, not hinder it. If the pale Horse come for you, Heaven, not Hell will now follow him; your sins are pardoned, the covenant of your Salvation sealed, death is disarmed of its fatal sting, and what then should hinder you from a like Triumph even upon your death-bed, with that, 1 Cor. 15.55. O death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?
3. And yet you have more room for joy, whilst you consider where you must and shall be shortly. You are now in Christ, but in a few days you shall be with Christ, as well as in him: 'tis well now, but it will be better ere long. Your sin is now fully pardoned, but not fully purged out of your Souls. Your Persons are freed from guilt, but your Hearts are not either freed from filth or grief: But in a little time you shall be absolutely and eternally freed from both your present condition is an Heaven, compared with your former, and your future state will be ••n Heaven indeed, com∣pared with your present. The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more, unto the perfect day. Prov. 4.18.
II. But on the other side, what meditation can be more startling and amazing to all the unregenerate and Christless world? Ponder it thou poor Christless and unsanctified Soul. Get thee out of the noise and clamour of this world,
which makes such a continual din in thine ears, and consi∣der how thou hangest over the mouth of Hell it self, by the feeble thread which is spun every moment out of thy Nostrils. As soon as that gives way, thou art gone for ever. What shift do you make to quiet your fears, and eat and drink and labour with any pleasure? 'Tis storied of Dionysius the Tyrant, that when Democles would have flattered him into a conceit of the perfection of his happiness, as he was an absolute Soveraign Prince, and could do what he pleased with others, as his Vassals; Dionysius to confute his fancy, caused him to be placed at a Table richly furnished, and attended with the most curious Musick, but just over his head hanged a sharp and heavy Sword by one single hair; which when De∣mocles saw, no meat would go down with him, but he earnestly begged for a discharge from that place. This is the lively emblem of thy condition thou unregenerate man.
There are three things in thy state sadly opposed to the former state last described.
1. The State you were born in, was a sad state: you were born in sin, Psal. 51 5. and under wrath, Eph. 2.3. the womb of nature cast you forth into this world, both defiled and condemned creatures.
2. The state you are in now, is much worse than that you were born in: for what have you been doing ever since you were born, but treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, Rom. 2.5. For every sand of time which run out of the glass of Gods patience towards you, a drop of wrath hath been running into the Vials of his Indigna∣tion against you. O what a treasure of sin and wrath then is laid up in so many years as you have lived in sin? Every sin committed, every mercy abused, every call of God
neglected, and slighted, adds still more and more to this treasure.
3. It will be much worse shortly than it is now, except preventing renewing grace step in betwixt you, and that wrath, into which you are hastning so fast. 'Tis sad to be under the Sentence of Condemnation, but unspeakably worse, to be under the Execution of that sentence. To be a Christless man is lamentable, but to be a hopeless man is more lamentable. For though you be now without Christ, yet whilst the breath of life is in your Nostrils, you are not ab∣solutely without hope; but when once that breath is gone•• all the world cannot save or help you. Your last breath, and your last hope expire together. Though you be under Gods damning sentence, yet that sentence through the riches of forbearance is not executed; but assoon as you dye, all that wrath which hang'd over your heads, so many years, in the black clouds of Gods threatnings, will pour down in a furious storm upon you, which will never break up whilst God is God. O think, and think again, and let your thoughts think close to this sad and solemn Subject, there is but a Breath betwixt you and Hell.
Ho•• dicit q••od in f••d••i primordiis, ferventiores, & ad opera bona alacriores fais∣sent fideles; temporis autem progressu, re∣friguissent. Estius in loc.