XIV.

lieth in Wickedness, or, as the Original SER M. has it, under the Power of the wicked One, I ep. v. 19; that is, The greater part of Mankind, through their eafinefs in yielding to the Temptations of Unrighteoufnefs, their negligence in not correcting the Corruptions of their Nature, and their Perverseness in Chufing wilfully the Ways of Wickedness and Debauchery; are altogether incapable of that State of Happiness, which is in Scripture ftiled The Kingdom of God. For, what St Paul

affirms in the literal Senfe, that Flesh and Blood, mortal and corruptible Bodies, cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, is in the fpiritual Senfe ftill more neceffarily true, that wicked and corrupt Minds fhall in no cafe enter therein. The new Heavens and new Earth, which we look for according to his Promife, are fuch wherein dwelleth only Righteoufnels; that is, Meekness and Justice, Purity and Holinefs, Faithfulness and Truth. And therefore our Saviour, fpeaking of the refurrection of the Saints unto eternal Life, elegantly ftiles it The Refurrection of the Juft, Luk. xiv. 14, God is of purer eyes,

X 2

than

SER M. than to behold iniquity; and therefore inXIV. to the heavenly Jerufalem there shall in

no wife enter any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a Lie: There fhall be admitted no Fraud or Violence, no Arbitrarinefs cr Injuftice, no Debauchery or Impurity whatfoever; but the Spirits of Just men only, made perfect by the Practice of Virtue, and by the influences of the good Spirit of God. Now the Bulk of the wicked and corrupt World, being (in the nature of Things) incapable of inheriting This Kingdom of Righteousness, muft of neceffity, not by any Cruel and Severe Decree of God, but of neceffity in point of Wisdom and Good Government, they must be excluded out of Heaven, and, by the righteous and impartial Sentence of the unerring Judge, be in fuch as fhall be exactly suitable to each of their respective Demerits, fent into Deftruction. From which Destruction, They who (as our Lord expreffes it,) Shall be thought worthy to obtain That Life, and the Refurrection from the Dead, fhall be Saved. Not that all Others alfo

a manner,

fhall

hall not equally rife from the Dead; SER M. but that That only deferves to be truly XIV. and emphatically tiled the Refurrection' from the Dead, which is a Refurrection unto Life and Glory. This Deliverance therefore of all juft and good men, by the Mercy of God, and through the Interpofition of Chrift, from that final Destruction, which muft naturally and of neceffity, under the Government of a Wife and Righteous Judge, fall upon a wicked and corrupt World; this, I fay, is what the Scripture calls Salvation. The Confequence of which Salvation is indeed moreover mens being admitted into That incorruptible Inheritance, that unfpeakable and never-fading Happiness, which is the Free Gift of God through Christ, to Thofe whom in his unerring Judgment he fhall think fit to advance beyond their natural and original capacities, to be Heirs of God, and Joint-Heirs with Chrift, in his eternal Kingdom of Glory.

BUT the Primary Notion of Salvation, according to the proper fignification of the word, is Deliverance from Deftruction. X 3

And

SER M. And the Greatness of this Deliverance XIV. is, in the New Teftament, lively repre

fented

unto us by feveral remarkable Types. 'Tis represented first, by the Salvation of Lot out of Sodom; when God with Fire from Heaven overthrew those wicked Cities, fetting them forth for an example, having deftroyed them with an irreparable Deftruction, which St Jude calls the Vengeance of eternal Fire, ver. 7. 'Tis reprefented in the next place, by the Salvation of the children of Ifrael out of Egypt; when God overthrew Pharaoh and his whole Army in the Sea, but led his own people safely, through the Sea and through the Wilderness, into the promised Canaan. reprefented again, by the Salvation of those who escaped at the final deftruction of Jerufalem; concerning which our Saviour foretold, Matt. xxiv. 40. that then should two men be together in the field; the one should be taken, and the other left; And that two women should be grinding together at the mill; the one Should be taken, and the other left, Laftby, 'Tis reprefented by the Salvation of

'Tis

Noah

Noah and his Family in the Ark; when SER M. God destroyed at once the whole impe- XIV. nitent World with a Deluge of Water. For fo St Peter expreffly applies the fimilitude, 1 ep. iii. 20. The like figure whereunto, even Baptifm (faith he) doth alfo Now fave Us, Only, leaft by Baptifm any man should be fo weak as to think he meant the bare outward Form or Ceremony, the mere Name or Profeffion of a Christian; he adds in the very fame verfe this most important caution, that thereby he understands, not the putting away of the Filth of the Flesh, (not the mere Washing or the Ceremony of Baptifm,) but the Anfwer of a good Confcience towards God in the courfe of a virtuous and a Chriftian Life.

Now this being the true Notion of the word Salvation, the Duty of working out this Salvation, which is what we are so earnestly exhorted to in the Text, must consequently fignify the making ufe of thofe Means which are proper and fufficient to obtain This End: That is, it must fignify the whole Progress of our Deliverance, by a Life of Virtue and X 4

true