Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A51225
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Of the immortality of the soul a sermon preached before the King and Queen at White-Hall upon Palm-Sunday, 1694 / by the Right Reverend Father in God, John Bishop of Norwich.
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Moore, John, 1646-1714.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing M2550; ESTC R9455
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17,023
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40
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ever shew better and greater at a distance than they prove in our Possession but this that they carry no proportion to the Appetites of the Mind which is of a Spiritual and Heavenly Nature and can never hope to receive adequate Satisfaction from any thing here below Wherefore if these vast Capacities and Desires were placed in us by a Being of Infinite Wisdom and if a Being infinitely wise can do nothing in vain then it follows that our Souls were created not only for this World but to live in another where they shall converse with and enjoy such bright and glorious Objects as will compleatly gratify and delight them And from hence I deduce a fourth Argument for the Immortality of the Soul viz. 4. From the common appetite in Men to live for ever and in that Eternal State to possess the chiefest good which will satiate the highest and most extensive Desires of the Mind Every Man that comes into the World loves happiness and would enjoy it eternally it was not only the desire of St. Paul to be dissolved and be with Christ but the wish of Balaam to die the death of the righteous He believed a future Life and that good Men should be blessed in it and he wisht he might have a share of their Blessedness We have had great experience of God's Goodness who hath enriched us with many favours and therefore we ought to believe that he loves us and did intend good to us in the whole contrivance and constitution of our Nature wherein he only could put these unextinguishable Appetites to live and subsist happily for ever and to partake of such Felicity as this World does not afford and which indeed is no where to be found but in his infinitely perfect Being Now he who loves us exceedingly well and of whose Bounty we have shared thus largely already would not have endued our Nature with those vehement Appetites which unless he be pleased in fit time to give them satisfaction can only serve to distract and torture our minds and render us extremely miserable For such a Treatment would be not only inconsistent with his infinite Wisdom which appears in every part of the World but repugnant to his boundless Goodness which always disposes him to promote the Happiness pity the weaknesses and supply the wants of his poor Creatures 'T is hope of enjoyment of Everlasting Happiness which makes us to bear Injuries Pains and Losses patiently and at length yield to the stroke of Death with a willing and contented mind But had we reason to believe that Death would make an utter end both of Body and Soul as the conceit thereof all-along this Life would be an intolerable burthen so we should leave the world with deep Horror But if there be a God and that God is the Author of our Nature and the Author of our Nature is infinitly Good and always acts suitably to that Goodness and if it be the property of infinite Goodness to bestow all that endless Bliss and Felicity upon its Creatures which it not only hath made them capable of but which it hath inclined their very Nature earnestly to desire and hope for then we may from hence beyond all question and doubt conclude the Immortality of our Souls And our hope of a joyful Eternity can no where rest so safely as upon the Divine Goodness 5. I shall but name one Argument more tho it is of unconquerable Force to prove the future subsistence of the Soul and that is Divine Providence which governs the World preserves all things in their natural order and observes whatever is done upon Earth to the end all men may receive a Treatment from God agreeable to their behaviour That those who love and fear and serve God may partake of the Glories with which he will reward the Heavenly-minded and that they who neglect and forget and dishonour God may be banisht into outer Darkness That they who have done good in their Generation and shew'd pity to their fellow-creatures may obtain a Recompence and they who have been impure and malicious and have laid wait for the righteous opprest the poor and not spared the widow may receive Judgment without Mercy But since this equal distribution of Rewards and Punishments which the Divine Justice does require is not made in this world we have full assurance our Souls shall live in another and there have Judgment pass upon them according to their deserts It now but remains that I make a short Reflection or two upon this Discourse 2. If our Souls shall survive our Bodies it ought not only to encourage us to be patient and resigned to the Will of God under the great variety of Troubles and Afflictions which happen in this Life but also to arm us against the fear of Death Since Death only will lay open a passage for us into another Life which will infinitely surpass this For as much as there we shall be deliver'd from all those things which render our present condition either dangerous or uncomfortable We shall no longer be exposed to the Temptations of wicked men or of our own Lusts now so dangerous and dreadful to us when admitted into the Conversation of Angels and Souls made Perfect we shall not so much as suspect treachery and wrongs when out of reach of the Malice of Men and Devils we shall not fear Pains and Diseases wherewith it is not possible our incorruptible nature should be affected in a word we never again shall be liable to the power of Death the King of Fears for our Lord says we cannot die any more The Poet supposes the Soul of Achilles after he was slain to be introduced into the presence of his Son and to exhort him not to grieve and be cast down for his Fathers Death by means whereof he was admitted to familiarity with the Blessed Gods but to furnish his mind with his Virtues from which he should reap most pleasant Fruit. Is not Death not Evil Are we not of kin to God and come from him Let us go back thither from whence we came and get loose from these Fetters which are strait and heavy Here are Robbers and Thieves and Judicatures and Tyrants who if they have Power over us it is with respect to our BODY and its Possessions Let us shew they have no power and wait the pleasure of God unto whom as soon as he shall discharge us from our Duty in the present Station we shall return What befals the righteous Man in his Death and how little reason he has to be concerned and dread it we learn from the Excellent Author of the Book of Wisdom For God created man to be immortal and made him to be an image of his own eternity nevertheless through the envy of the devil came death into the World and they that do hold on his side do find it But the Souls of the righteous are in the hands of God and there shall
no torment touch them In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die and their departure is taken for misery and their going from us to be utter destruction but they are in peace For tho they be punisht in the sight of men yet is their hope full of immortality O desirable Immortalicy from the belief of which not any Evil can come no real Good can be lost but the worst of Miseries may be escaped and the chiefest of Goods obtained Thou puttest the Souls of the righteous in the Hands of God a place of the greatest Peace and greatest Safety where without fear of being disturbed or dipossessed they shall praise and glorify and magnify his Name for ever 2. Since our Spirit must return to God who gave it it does highly concern us to keep it always in a fit Condition to be given back unto him This is a great work if we consider what our Soul is or whither it is going 'T is our Soul which hath the Image of God imprest upon it and which is more valuable to us than the whole World and this Soul is going to receive a Sentence which will make it either infinitely Happy or Miserable from that God who is of purer Eyes than to behold evil and therefore if it take leave of the Body polluted with the Lusts of the Flesh he will abhor it If we have not banisht Envy and Wrath and Hatred and all Malicious Passions out of our Souls how shall we presume to surrender them into the Hands of God who is Love and when the Condition on which only he will now dwell in us and perfect his Love in us is that we love one another God is just and true and his Eyes behold the things that are equal therefore if we are false and perfidious and deceitful and oppress or over-reach our Neighbours he will command us workers of iniquity to depart from him It is an admirable Saying of the Pythagoreans That there is no place on Earth more acceptable to God than a pure Soul I am sure it is the Doctrine of St. John that every one that hopes to see God as he is must purify himself even as he is pure That is must endeavour to become like God in his Purity Justice Love and Mercy and other Perfections which are imitable by his reasonable Creatures May we then not only not give our selves up to commit acts of Uncleanness but not so much as harbour or cherish any impure Thoughts And may God in his infinite Mercy bestow on us such a measure of his Grace as may enable us to subdue our unruly Lusts and bring them under the government of our Reason and the Laws of our Holy Religion And may not the Horrors of a guilty Conscience seize upon us when the Terrours of Death shall approch us but our Merciful Lord at his coming may find us labouring in his Vineyard and say Well done good and faithful Servants come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World FINIS ADVERTISEMENT Two Sermons of the Wisdom and Goodness of Provid ence Preach'd before the Queen at Whitehall August 17. and 24. 1690. on Prov. 3d. 6th A Sermon Preach'd at St. Andrews Holbourn June 28th 1691. on Gal. 6th 7th Of Religious Melancholly A Sermon Preach'd before the Queen at Whitehall March 6th 1691. on Psal 42. 6th These by the Right Reverend Father in God John Lord Bishop of Norwich Euseb praep Lib. XV. p. 810. * Sive anima sive ignis sit animus eum jurarem esse divinum Cic. Tusc quaest lib. 1. * Aristoteles longè omnibus Platonem semper excipio praestans ingenio diligentia cum quatuor illa genera Principiorum esset complexus e quibus omnia orirentur quintam quandam naturam censet esse è qua sit mens Cogitare euim providere discere docere invenire aliquid tam multa alia meminisse amare odisse cupere timere angi laetari haec similia corum in horum quatuor generum nullo inesse putat Cic. Tusc quaest lib. 1. * My dear Friend have not you and I concluded an hundred times that how much soever we strained our Understanding we could never concsive how from Insensible Corpuscles there could ever result any thing sensible without the intervention of any thing but what is Insensible and that with all their Atoms how small and how nimble soever they make them what motions and figures soever they give them and in what order mixture or disposition they range them yea and whatever industrious hand they assign them for Guidance they would never be able still supposing with them that they have no other properties or perfection than those recited to make us imagin how thence could result a Compound I say not that should be Reasoning like a man but that should be meerly Sensitive such as may be the vilest and most imperfect worm on earth How then dare they pretend that they will make it out how thence can result a thing Imagining a thing Reasoning and such an one as shall be the Imaginations and Ratiocinations themselves Mr. Bernier's Letter of Atoms and the mind of man p. ult Gen. c. 1. v. 26. C. 2. v. 7. * J. Philoponus de Mund. Creat p. 21. Eccl. 3. 21. Cap. 12. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phocylid Poem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trismegist Luke c. 23. v. 43. * Josephus lib. 3. Philo de Mundi opisicio de somniis de praemiis Poenis Animasque praelio aut suppliciis peremptorum aeternas putant hinc Moriendi contemptus Haec de Judaeis Tacitus lib. 5. Hist Maimonid de fund Legis p. 47. Vide Manass Ben. Israel de resurrect Mort. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herodot in Euterp Diodor. Bibliothec. p 83. Dion Halicarn Rom. Antiq. p. 523. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strabo l. 4 p. 197. id l. 3. p 76. Caesar l. vi p. 118. Pompon Mela. lib. 2. c. 2. p. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laer. proeem Segm. 11. * II. ι ' Odys λ ' * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. l. 1. Segm. 24. Herod in Euterp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pausan Pherecydes Syrus primus dixit animos hominum esse aeternos Cic. Tuscul l 1. Vide Menagii in Diog. Laert. li. 1. Seg. 116. Observationes * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Photii Biblioth Col. 1317. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristol l. 4. de gen animal * Omni autem in re consensio omnium gentium lex naturae putanda est Atque haec ita sentimus natura duce nulla ratione nulla doctrina Quod si omnium consensus naturae vox est omnesque qui ubique sunt consentiunt esse aliquid quod ad eos pertinent qui vita cesserint nobis quoque idem existimandum est Sic permanere animos arbitramur consensu nationum omnium Tusc qu. lib. 1. * Cum de animarum aeternitate disserimus non leve momentum apud nos habet consensus hominum aut timentium inferos aut colentium utor hac publica persuasione Epist 117. Nihil aliud intercidet quam corpus fragilitatis caducae morbis obnoxium casibus expositum proscriptionibus objectum Animus vero divina origine haustus cui nec senectus ulla nec mors onerosi corporis vinculis exsolutus ad sedes suas cognata sidera recurret Suasoriar p. 129. * Obtinuisse non minus de incorporalitate animae quam de immortalitate sententiam Macrob in som Scipio l. 1. c. 14. * Ut condones mihi peccata mea Statuas mihi immunitalem ab inferno Custodi me ò adjutor meus in hac futura vita peculiariter in die resurrectionis Muhammedan Prec p. 18. p. 399. Vide Hottinger Hist Orient p. 254. * Anima imbuta hisce perfectionibus cum discesserit à corpore experietur in semet ipsa voluptatem maximum laetitiam immensam efficieturque anima illa tanquam Angelus ex Angelis Propinquis Deo Propositae Sapientiae Arabum Philosoph p. 75. * Joh Mendoza de Regno Chinae l 2. 6. Trigautius de Christ expedit apud sinas p. 102. Linschoten Voyag p. 39. Varenius de divers Gent. Religion p. 255 269. Lerius Navigat c. 16. Osorii Hist l. iv Benzo Hist Nov. orb p. 29. Harriot Virgin Tavernier Persian Trav p. 165. Ind. Trav p 167. Jos Acosta lib. 5. c. 7. Rauwolf's Trav. p. 240. * Esse quandam vim in natura humana qua caetera animantium genera destituantur ut neminem sensu rationis nitentem praeter Pomponatium asseclas dubitare arbitror Postellus de orbis Concord p. 114. O Italia etiam ea hominum monstra alis qui non satis habent esse impii nisi etiam virus suum omnibus coeteris propinent cum hac pernicie in Aulas principum penetrent Idem ib. * Concil Lateran Sessio 8. 19. Decemb. An. 1513. * Quid enim est tam falsum tamque abhorrens à vero ut non ad id probandum argumenta excogitari queant Neque quicquam est tam absurdum quin dicendo probabile fieri neque tam verum exploratum quin dicendo in dubium vocari aut etiam coargui queat Muretus in Arist Eth. p. 150. Hieroc in carm Pythag p. 165. Quintus Calaber lib. 14. p. 678. Arrian in Epict. l. 1. c. 9 p 109. C. 2. 23 24. C. 3. 1 2 3 4. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianz. Iambic 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hieroc in Carm. Pythag. p. 25.