“overcome the sharpness of death, didst open this kingdom of heaven to all believers!" 66 It is very easy for us to lose ourselves in this speculation, and therefore I pass from it to what remains. 5. And lastly, This worthiness of the heavenly glory comprehends a mighty zeal, industry, and diligence in our endeavour to obtain it. He that believes he shall come to heaven without labour and diligence, his belief is contrary to the very nature and notion of true faith, which the divine author of the Epistle to the Hebrews assures us is to believe, that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, not of such as negligently and lazily serve him. And accordingly the same author exhorts us, not to be slothful, but to be followers of them, who through faith and patience (i. e. an unwearied diligence and perseverance in the service of God) inherit the promises. Indeed the holy Scriptures do every where inculcate and press on us an earnest, vehement study and endeavour in the business of our salvation. We are commanded to strive to enter in at the strait gate; to labour for that meat which endures to everlasting life; to work out our salvation with fear and trembling; to press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus; to give all diligence, to make our calling and election suré; that so an entrance may be ministered to us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But I shall insist only on that one text, as most apposite to our present purpose, which on another account we have already cited out of Luke xxi. 36. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things which shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. They are the words of our Lord himself, wherein he plainly shews us what we must do, if we will be accounted worthy to escape those dreadful things, which shall befall the wicked at the day of the universal judgment, (for that he principally respects in that chapter, and not only the destruction of the wicked Jews, the type and shadow of it,) and to stand before the Judge as acquitted and absolved persons; to stand at his right hand among those holy ones, to whom he will say, Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. If we would be accounted, through the grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus, worthy of this, we must do these two things, we must watch, and we must pray, and that always. We must watch, i. e. stand upon our guard, look about us, use all possible care and diligence to avoid those temptations to sin wherewith we are surrounded; and not only so, but we must also watch, and carefully observe all opportunities of doing our duty, of doing and receiving good: nor must we only watch, but also pray to God for his grace, to enable us to do our duty, and to persevere therein. How aptly are these two things joined together! We must not presume on the assistance of God's grace without our own care and endeavour; nor must we so rely on our own endeavour, as not to see our continual need of God's grace, without which all our endeavours will prove vain and ineffectual. Προσοχή and προσευχή, care and prayer, must go together, and in both we must persevere.. We must watch and pray ev Tavτì kαıp at all times; i. e. we ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ must live in the daily exercise of watchfulness, care, and diligence, about the concerns of our immortal souls; and also in a constant course of devotion, of serious and most earnest prayer to God day and night, for his grace to assist us; ever both looking to ourselves, and also looking to God for help. This must be our constant employment, whilst we live on this earth. And if thus we do, our Lord himself, who is to be our Judge, hath beforehand assured us, that at the great day of trial we shall be accounted worthy to stand before him: i. e. we shall carry our cause at his tribunal, be accounted and pronounced righteous in his sight, according to that law of grace and mercy, which he, as our Saviour, hath procured, ratified, and confirmed with his most precious blood. This is the worthiness required in those that shall be partakers of the future heavenly glory. It comprehends these five things: 1. A steadfast belief and persuasion of the certainty of the future glory. 2. A vigorous and lively apprehension and consideration of its transcendent worth and excellence, compared with whatsoever happiness this present life can offer in competition with it. 3. A well weighed and fixed resolution to part with any thing that is most dear to us in this world, rather than lose our shares and interest therein. 4. A profound and deep sense of our own utter unworthiness of it. 5. And lastly, A mighty zeal, industry, and diligence in our endeavour to obtain it. APPLICATION. Now from this discourse, (that I may briefly apply it,) we cannot but see too much reason sadly to reflect on the state and condition of the generality of professed Christians. If none shall be partakers of the future heavenly glory, but such as have this worthiness of meetness, fitness, and due disposition for it, how few are there among those that have been baptized into the faith of Christ, and profess their hopes of heaven, who can produce any colourable claim and title to it! There are two sorts of persons, I am sure, that are here deeply concerned. 1. If this be true, what will become of the notoriously vicious, the gross and scandalous sinner, the drunkard, the adulterer, the fornicator, the common swearer, the malicious and revengeful person, the liar, the extortioner, the oppressor, and such like? Can any of these men (even in the most merciful estimation) be thought worthy of, i. e. meet and fit for the heavenly glory? was the kingdom of heaven, think you, ever prepared or designed for such as these? Certainly no. I need not insist long on this, the case is so plain; and therefore St. Paul seems to wonder at the sottish and stupid ignorance of those who can imagine a vicious life to be reconcileable with the hopes of heaven; 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. The good Lord of his mercy open the eyes of these men, that they may see their wretched condition before it be too late, and seasonably take the advice of St. James, chap. iv. 8, 9, 10. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. 2. This discourse discovers the vain hope of the careless, negligent, idle, and unprofitable Christian, that rests in a negative religion; who hath no other ground for his hope of heaven, but that he is no scandalous sinner; whilst in the mean time he hath no lively sense of religion, and lives in the ordinary neglect of the manifest duties of Christianity, both those of piety towards God, and of charity towards his neighbour; who by his carelessness in those matters declares that religion is none of his main design or business. How much a stranger is this man to frequent, fervent, and serious prayer in private! to the diligent and daily study of the holy Scriptures! to daily meditation of heaven and heavenly things! In a word, view him in the whole course of his life, and you will think he scarce in good earnest believed a life to come, or had any serious thoughts of his eternal state in the other world. Now surely the worthiness we have been discoursing of implies another kind of religion than this. The sum is, no man shall be accounted worthy of the future heavenly glory, but he that steadfastly believing it, doth before all things desire it, and thinks no labour too much to obtain it. He whose greatest care it is, how he may save his precious and |