into the Kingdom of God Yet he means not by this Assertion utterly to exclude all Rich Men from the Hopes of Heaven but only signifies to us that 't is a very hard and difficult matter for them that trust in Riches saying to Gold Thou art our Hope and to the fine Gold Thou art our Confidence ever to undertake the severer Discipline of the Gospel here and consequently to be made Partakers of his Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven hereafter How hard is it says he to his astonish'd Disciples for them that trust in Riches to enter into the Kingdom of God In like manner say these Learned Men when he positively asserts that all Sins and Blasphemies whatsoever shall be forgiven unto Men but that the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven he means not that 't is absolutely impossible it should ever be forgiven but only that it shall not be forgiven so easily but more hardly and with greater Difficulty than any other Sin or Blasphemy whatsoever Non utiquè quod remitti non possit as the fore-cited Jesuit not that it cannot he forgiven at all but because they who commit it nullam peccati sui excusationem habent are utterly destitute of all Apologies and Excuses and therefore are more unpardonable than other Men. I confess I can determine nothing in this matter whether this Sin be irremissible or not I can only answer with the humble Prophet Lord thou knowest God's gracious dealing indeed with David after his Adultery and Murther with Peter after his Denial of his Master with Paul after his persecuting the Church and with a thousand other Sinners of the same Magnitude obligeth me to believe that there is no Sin or Blasphemy whatsoever which is irremissible in respect of God and that therefore if the Sin against the Holy Ghost be indeed irremissible 't is only because it utterly excludes those who commit it from Repentance But tho I dare not be positive as to the Consequences of this Sin yet what is a greater matter of Comfort to despairing Souls I may venture to affirm that as to the Nature of it 't is such as cannot be committed by any Christian If you ask me what 't is I briefly answer That 't is a Total Apostasie and Final Falling away from Christ and his Gospel I say a Total Apostasie and Final Falling away And yet not every Total Apostasie and Final Falling away neither For 't is possible a poor ignorant Soul may be so decluded as to Apostatize from Christianity to Mahometism or some other Imposture and yet still believe Christ to have been a very good Man But this is such a Total Apostasie such a Final Falling away from Christ and his Gospel as is attended with the greatest Virulency Rancour Spight and Malice against both as can be imagin'd When a Man not only utterly renounceth the known Truth but also doth hate and abhor Christ and his Word doth revile and spit upon him doth with the Scribes and Pharisees crucifie and mock him and is so far from acknowledging him to be the Son of God or indeed so much as a good Man who did all his Miracles by the Power and Assistance of the Holy Spirit that he most maliciously and despitefully after full Conviction of his Conscience to the contrary pronounceth him the greatest of Cheats a most grand Impostor the Eldest Son of the Devil who acted only by Commission from Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils This I take to be plain from our Saviour's own Words when he mention'd this Sin There was brought unto him says the Evangelist one possess'd with a Devil blind and dumb Matt. 12. compar'd with Mark 3. and he heal'd him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw The People amaz'd at this great Miracle gave Glory to him confessing him to be in very deed the promis'd Messiah the Son of David But the Scribes and Pharisees mov'd with envy tho' they knew the Miracle to be the Effect only of the Spirit of God yet to lessen his Reputation among the People declar'd against their own Consciences that 't was not by any Divine Authority but purely by Vertue of a black Confederacy with the Infernal Powers that he did these things This Fellow say they with unparallell'd Rancour and Disdain doth not cast out Devils but by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils Upon this says our Lord All Sins shall be forgiven unto the Sons of Men and Blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness but is in danger of eternal damnation And then is added the Reason of this Assertion which plainly shews what the Sin against the Holy Ghost is in these words because they said He hath an unclean Spirit Now then My Brother do'st thou believe and confess That our Lord Jesus Christ is in very deed the Eternal Son of the Living God That when he was here upon Earth he acted only by Commission from his Father and that the Mighty Works which did shew forth themselves in him were done by the Vertue and Power of his own most Holy Spirit If thou dost then be of good cheer that hast not yet and as long as thou continuest in this Faith thou canst not commit this Sin against the Holy Ghost Nothing now but thy Impenitence can separate between thee and thy God Thou hast his own word for 't All sins and blaspemies whatsoever shall he forgiven unto the Sons of Men tho' perhaps this Sin against the Holy Ghost which thou hast not committed shall never be forgiven Break off thy sins then by Repentance and they shall all be forgiven thee Depart out of Babylon and come to Christ and thou shalt be refresh'd and find Rest unto thy Soul And so I come to the Last Thing observable in my Text viz. the Benefit of accepting our Lord's Invitation I will give you Rest 4. What joyful Tidings are these What Ease is here to wounded Consciences what Comfort to Despairing Sinners * Cant. 2. v. 11 12. Lo the Winter that dismal time wherein Ignorance Error and Superstition like Floods in the Winter-season overflow'd the earth is past and the Rain those cloudy uncomfortable days wherein we could see and enjoy but little of him is over and gone All the tokens of a new World appear and invite us to come and partake of heavenly joys and pleasures The Flowers appear on the Earth All manner of Blessings spring up in abundance now the Sun of Righteousness is risen upon us The time of the singing of Birds is come and the voice of the Turtle is heard in our land The heavenly Host sing for Joy and excite all Mankind to praise their Saviour with joyful Lips Is then thy Soul full of Sorrow and Heaviness and drooping under the Apprehensions of thine approaching Judgment Does thy Conscience tell thee That Hell is thy Portion and thine Inheritance in the
Reflections upon the inestimable Happiness of Good Men in the other World he in the very last Words dash'd all with an open undisguis'd Acknowledgment of his remaining Doubts and Jealousies Sub finem Apol. apud Platonem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Could I be assur'd says he a little before of the Reality of this Blessed State I would gladly die a thousand times over to enjoy it But now my Judges the time of my Departure is come 'T is your Lot to live and mine to die which of these two is the Better 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a thing utterly unknown to any but God alone In short Dicaearchus Democritus Epicurus and their Followers as constantly as positively declare That there is no Subsistence of the Soul after this Life but that when the Body returns to Dust she immediately relapseth into the bottomless Abyss of Annihilation and Darkness And then for the Jews at the time of our Saviour's Coming they stood much upon the same Level For though from the Translation of Enoch and Elias and the Death of their Patriarchs who never inherited the Promises of Temporal Felicity and particularly that of Moses which their Rabbins are pleas'd to call The Kiss of God's Mouth intimating thereby that he breathed out his Soul by the Force and Energy of Contemplation without those Pains and Convulsions which are the usual Concomitants of the Death of other Men resolving himself into the Embraces of his Maker From the positive and express Words of Job which however some Modern Commentators are pleas'd to understand them are I conceive with S. Hierom and the Ancients as plain and clear a Confession of the Resurrection as any that have been made since the Promulgation of the Gospel From the glorious Confession of that excellent Woman and her seven Children in the Maccabees who all refus'd Deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection and from those many Promises of Eternal Life scatter'd up and down in the Book of Psalms and other Writings of the Old Testament Though I say from all these one might reasonably expect the Jews should have had some fuller and clearer Knowledge of the State after Death yet being no part of that Covenant which if strictly considered as made with that People at Mount Sinai was founded only upon Temporal Promises Peace Long Life Plenty and Prosperity in their own Land they had generally no other Effect than that they were believ'd to be the Reward of Men of Heroick and Extraordinary Piety Nay their unaccountable Blindness and Unattention to the Faith and Manners of their Fathers who did all eat the same spiritual Meat and did all drink the same Spiritual Drink as we Christians do occasion'd so many Cavils and Disputes amongst them that the Sadduces peremptorily deny'd it not only decrying the Resurrection of the Dead but affirming likewise with the foremention'd Epicureans that the Souls of Men did perish together with the Body And tho' the Pharisees on the contrary confess'd it yet their Notions of it as Josephus himself * Antiq. Jud. l. 18. c. 2. who was one of them tells us were no better than those of Fairy-Land or Elysian Dreams Delicious Dwellings flowery Fields Crystalline Rivers and beautious Trees of Gold under whose delightful shade they should play and toy away a whole Eternity with fair and amorous Virgins was the utmost Heaven they could or car'd to imagine and therefore the Sadduces so often foil'd and buffled them with that Argument of the Woman and her seven Husbands which they thought to be so conclusive that but with different Success they attack'd likewise with it our Saviour himself But now the Veil is taken off by Christ and we behold the Glory of the Lord with open Face For this says the Apostle is the Promise that he has promis'd us even Eternal Life A Life not of sensual and brutish Pleasures not a Paradise of all Filthiness and Debauchery whereby the Epileptick Impostor has likewise impos'd upon his Followers but a Life of perfect Purity and Holiness a Life of immaterial spiritual abstracted Joys of chaste and rational Delights where our Nature shall be entirely conform'd to the Divine made like to God and we enjoy an endless and uninterrupted Communion with our Maker This he has promis'd and of this he has given us Assurance all the Assurance the thing is capable of in that he has not only rais'd himself from the Dead but call'd likewise some of our Brethren already out of the Grave and taken them up with him in their glorious Bodies to enter before-hand upon the Possession of this promis'd Inheritance So that we may boldly say with the Apostle We know for certain and are fully assured that if this earthly house of our Tabernacle be dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Thus has the Sun of Righteousness dispell'd all those Clouds of Ignorance and Darkness which overspread the whole World at his Rising and brought Life and Immortality to perfect Light thro' the Gospel Which must certainly be acknowledg'd to be a very great Salvation if we consider in the next place that he has hereby rescu'd us from that base and slavish Fear of Death by reason of which we had otherwise been all our life-time subject to Bondage 6. Now how unwelcome soever Death must be to those Men to whom 't is therefore all Terror before because all Darkness behind who are therefore dismay'd at his Approach because they know not the Consequences of this King of Terrors 't is impossible that Person should immoderately fear Death who considers that 't is only a Passage from this Wilderness to the true Canaan the Rest above that flows with Milk and Honey with Innocence and Happiness for ever who knows that the Death of the Saints is not total but that as in the Ceremony of Purification from Leprosie one Bird was kill'd the other let fly into the open Air the mysterious Shadow of the Lepers being restor'd to a state of Liberty so when the Body dies and returns to the Earth the Spirit is freed from the Clogs of Mortality and returns with Songs of Joy and Triumph in its mouth to the Object of its Happiness the God that gave it Nay the faithful Christians the true Lovers of Jesus who have tasted the Goodness of the Lord and long consider'd and well weighed the incomparable Difference between the mean imperfect frail Felicities of this present World and the substantial solid immutable Glories of that which is to come must certainly cry out with the inflamed * Cant. 1.4 Spouse Draw us and we will run after thee O! loosen our Affections from this World that we may readily ascend to thee Their longing Souls will renew the passionate Sighs of the Exil'd Prophet O when shall we come and appear before the presence of God! How welcome must Death be to them when it comes as it were with
ready to here and assist us But I answer 1. That this Opinion of Abraham and Israel's being in Limbo only and not in Heaven it self before the Resurrection of our Lord is groundless and unwarrantable Elias we are sure was translated into Heaven and we know likewise that Moses came down with him from that place to commune with our Lord upon the Mount But if these his Sons were thought worthy before the Resurrection of our Lord to be admitted into those blissful Mansions why Abraham the Father of the Faithful and the Peculiar Friend of God Why Isaac and Israel and the other Patriarchs and Prophets who were all Heirs of the same most holy Faith should be excluded I know not But supposing this Opinion was really as true as they would have it and that we could not deny what you see we have all the Reason in the World to deny but that the Saints before the Resurrection of our Lord lay only in Limbo but are now in Heaven yet that being there they have a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life and so are become the Objects of our Devotion is I answer in the 2. Place a most unphilosophical false and impious Assertion that has no Foundation in Scripture Reason or Antiquity 1. It has no Foundation in Scripture Now to pray after any other manner than what Christ himself hath taught us is not only Ignorance but Sin says * De Orat. Domin pag. 139. Ed. Oxon. St. Cyprian But what one place is there I ask in all his Scriptures that demands this of us which of all his Apostles Evangelists or Prophets doth allow that any of the Saints departed should be invok'd by us Bannes a Learned Dominican ingenuously confesseth that he knows not of any His Words are as express and full as can be Orationes ad Sanctos faciendas nequè etià m expressè nequè involute Scripturae docent i. e. that 't is our Duty to Pray to the Saints the Scriptures do neither explicitely nor implicitely inform us And those of his own Profession have never yet been able to shew that he is in an Errour 2. This Assertion has no Foundation in Reason For if the Saints in Heaven have a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life and so are become the Objects of our Devotion then this Knowledge of theirs is owing either 1. To their own Ubiquitary Presence by vertue of which they see and hear all our Words and Actions as some of our Adversaries affirm Or 2. As others with the like Boldness To their Perspicacity and Clear-sightedness whereby they are able to discern our very Thoughts and Intentions Or 3. To the constant and faithful Relations of daily-ascending Saints and Angels as a Third more modestly Or 4. As most To the Vision of the Divine Essence which they call Speculum Trinitatis But all these ways are ridiculous and absurd and some of them impious For 1. The Saints in Heaven have not a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life and so are become the Objects of our Devotion because they are every where present and so see and hear all our Words and Actions Heaven indeed is God's Throne and the Earth is his Foot-stool The Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him but he fills all Places both in Heaven and Earth and the imaginary Space too beyond the Limits of Both he is a God near at hand to us all to those that abide in the Continent and that remain in the broad Sea and also that live afar off in the Ends of all the Earth In a word tho' he cannot be circumscrib'd or included in any Place yet by his Immensity he is so every where present as not to be excluded out of any so that we may all of us at one and the same time pour out our Prayers before him with full Assurance of being heard But now 't is quite otherwise with all Created Beings Creation necessarily implies Limitation so that 't is as great a Contradiction to say That the Essence or Virtue of a Created Being can be Boundless or Infinite as that a Self-Existent Independent Being can be Finite Every Abstracted Spirit therefore since Created tho' rais'd to the utmost degree of its Perfection is but Finite and consequently as that great Patriarch of the Roman Schools * Sum. Part. prim Quaest 52. Art 2. Aquinas himself confesseth non se extendit ad omnia sed ad aliquid unum determinatum tho' it may as it pleaseth be sometimes in a greater sometimes in a lesser place yet it is so far from being able to extend it self to all places that 't is always necessarily and unavoidably but in one Non est ubique nec in pluribus locis sed in uno loco tantùm as he speaks again in the same Paragraph Great then only is the Lord and greatly to be praised because there is no End of his Greatness 2. The Saints in Heaven have not a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life and so are become the Objects of our Devotion from their Perspicacity or Clear-sightedness whereby they are able to discern our very Thought and Intentions This is plain from the Argument immediately foregoing For since according to the Laws of Creation the Saints are all limited and circumscrib'd in their Essences and Perfections it must necessarily be granted that they are likewise limited and circumscrib'd in their Science or Knowledge it being impossible for any Being but such as is Immense and fills all Places to know the different Concerns of all the several Beings residing and acting in those different Places God then alone since it appears that he only is Omnipresent must be acknowledg'd to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Searcher of the Hearts In him indeed do our Souls and Bodies live move and have their Beings He understands our Constitution knows whereof we are made the Composition as I may so say of our very Essences and therefore discerns all the Motions and Operations of our Souls In short 'T is his Prerogative alone to be about our Paths and about our Beds in our Hearts and in our Spirits and consequently to spy out all our Ways Whence it likewise appears in the 3. Place That the Saints in Heaven have not a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life and
't is next to Madness say they to suppose that he would suffer their Pains to receive any Diminution which yet the Hurt which according to this Position they are sometimes permitted to do to Mankind would certainly afford them But this seeming Contradiction will be easily reconcil'd if we consider that the like Argument may be urg'd as well against the Absence of good Angels from the Court of Heaven For since 't is piously believ'd on all hands that the Bless'd Inhabitants of those serene and peaceful Mansions are now the time of Probation being gone long ago fully and unalterably confirm'd in Happiness and Glory how can we imagine that their heavenly Father would be so unkind as to deprive them of the Beatifick Intuition of his interiour Beauties and as it were to banish his beloved Sons for a time from the Regions of Bliss And yet we need not be beholden neither to the Egyptians nor to the Platonists for the Confirmation of this Truth the Sacred History more than once assuring us if they do not constantly adhere to and inseparably accompany Good Men yet that they often descended to succour them in their Dangers and are also still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministring Spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of Salvation Wherefore in Answer to this Objection we may consider That Kindness and Compassion are so twisted and interwoven as I may so say with the very Essences of these glorious Creatures that 't is Heaven to them to relieve and assist their Fellow-Servants here below which being joyn'd to that infinite Delight and Satisfaction which they undoubtedly receive in the Execution of the Divine Will makes abundant Recompence for the seeming Loss of that more plentiful Harvest of Joys which the Blessed reap in the Mansions above And on the other side The Evagation of Evil Spirits from their infernal Dungeon must rather afford them fresh Occasions of Torture than administer any true Solace or real Content For so fierce and implacable so insolent and outrageous so envious and Eternally malicious are these Sons of Perdition that it must needs be Death to them to be frustrated in their Designs and worse if possible than Hell it self to see their Plots and Machinations all defeated and unravell'd How then must they fret and tear their Bowels for Grief to find their weak Attempts trampled on in great Disdain and Triumph by the Regenerate Sons of Adam who dwell securely under the Defence of the Most High and abide continually under the Shadow of the Almighty To see themselves sunk into so low and despicable a condition that they are as light and contemptible as the Dust before the Wind whilst the Angels of the Lord persecute and Scatter them How must they be cloath'd with Shame and Dishoour and Confusion of Face to see those little Mists they endeavour'd to raise utterly dispers'd and vanish'd and the Glory of the Lord shining round about the World and appearing out of Sion in perfect Beauty But not to prosecute these Considerations any farther The bare dismal Apprehensions of that accumulated Punishment which after the Last Day they must certainly undergo for all the Evil they have done amongst Men are sufficient to counterpoise whatever accidentary Satisfaction they seem to receive upon the Earth I foresee but one Scruple more that may arise against this Discourse which is That supposing Men were very well dispos'd to believe all we have said yet those Antick ridiculous Circumstances which in the Narrations even of the gravest Personages do accompany many things of this nature strongly argue the Uncertainty of them all But to this 't will be sufficient to answer with the Learned and Judicious Dr. * Appendix to the Antidote against Atheism c. 12. par 3. More That the Conversation of Evil Spirits amongst us in this World ought to seem never the more incredible for those ludicrous Passages For 't is not at all disconsonant to Reason that such Daemons which have their Haunts near this lower Air and Earth are variously †Hanc opinor ob causam audiunt apud S. Lucam c. 4. v. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passim apud Ethnicos penates Lares Lamiae Empusae Fauni Satyri Lemures c. laps'd into the enormous Love and Liking of the Animal Life having utterly forsaken the Divine and that therefore there are such Passions and Affections in them as are in Wicked Men and Beasts and that some of them especially bear the same Analogy to an Unfallen Angel that an Ape or Monkey does to a Sober Man so that all their Pleasure is in unlucky ridiculous Tricks This I am sure is fully and clearly attested by * De Abst lib. 2. Porphyry †Orig. cont Cels l. 8. p. 417. l. 7. p. 334. Celsus Origen St. Basil or whoever else was the Author of that Commentary upon Isaiah and others Wherefore 3. I come to shew with what indefatigable Pains and various Stratagems they seek to Ruin Men and with what Cruelty they treat them when they are delivered up into their hands This sublunary Region indeed which Man inhabits is nothing else but a continued Scene of Changes and Revolutions All things in this natural World are subject to Ebbs and Flows and nothing is found in it that acts either uniformly or constantly But the Devil's Malice is of another Constitution it suffers no Intermissions no Vicissitudes but like that stock of Motion which that great Mechanical Wit Descartes supposeth the Universe at first endow'd with it continues always in the same proportion and is never intended or remitted For tho' he may act more fiercely at one time than at another yet certainly he pursues his Revenge in general with the same Earnestness and Vigour and always wills our Ruine in the same measure of Volition Hence it comes to pass that having once gain'd Permission to begin his Assault he like Fire has no Power to suspend his Act but is as entirely determin'd by the Fullness of his Malice as a Natural Agent by the Appetites of Nature Thus as though it had been a small thing to have caus'd infinite Numbers of the Heavenly Host to let fall their Crowns and to have swept away with his Tail the third part of the Stars of Heaven we find him in the way Infancy of the World nay if some say true in the same Day wherein Man was Created plotting and nontriving to ruin all Mankind in their Head And tho' 't is believ'd for very good Reasons that he could not with all his Art and Subtilty entice so much as the Impure and Debauch'd Posterity of Cain to Idolatry before the Flood yet we are too well assur'd that he laid the Foundations of his Empire very early in the World For Historians say that even in the time of Heber who was the fifth from Noah Idolatry began mightily to prevail these Hellish Impostors giving Answers through the Images which Men generally
thus for knowing that none could call himself the proper and natural Son of God who must not assert himself likewise to be God and allowing him to be nothing more than a mere Man they again tax him with Blasphemy and go about to stone him I and my Father says our Lord are One. Then the Jews took up Sones again to stone him Jesus answer'd them Many good Works have I shew'd you from my Father for which of those Works do ye stone me The Jews answer'd him saying For a good work we stone thee not but for Blasphemy and because that thou being a Man makest thy self God The Jews I say in these places accuse him of calling himself the Son of God in the most proper Sense and consequently of making himself also very God And yet our Lord is so far from traversing the Indictment or reselling the Crimination that in Vers 38. he confirms their Logick and then leaves them in this Opinion which certainly he could never have done without infinite Derogation from the Honour of the Divine Majesty and downright blasphemy had he not really been what they apprehended he said he was the Proper Natural and Only Begotten Son of God Thus I say is the Divinity of our Lord put beyond all possibility of Distrust being preach'd to all the World by Angels Prophets and Apostles Proclaim'd more than once from Heaven by the God of all Truth the Eternal Father of Angels and men and also most positively asserted in a publick Assembly by our Lord himself who as the * 1 Pet. 2.22 Holy Ghost bears him witness did no Sin neither was guile found in his mouth What need we then My Brethren any farther witness Or how is it possible for any Man who rightly understands the weight of Divine Testimony to call it into Question Such Men as †Hist Eccles lib. 5. cap. 28. Eusebius has long since observ'd must be more wise than their Maker more knowing and more intelligent even than God that made them Those inspir'd and infallible Witnesses the Prophets and Apostles were not so knowing and the most intelligent of all the Heavenly Spirits the Cherubims themselves if compar'd to them are found wanting The Church of Christ in all Ages has unhappily been overspread with the thick uncomfortable darkness of Ignorance and Error and These Men alone have had the inestimable Privilege of enjoying the happy Goshen the Dwellings of Light the glorious Habitations of Wisdom and Knowledge For if after the complicated irrefragable Testimony of so many Infallible Witnesses the Belief and Confession of the Church be requir'd in this Matter She has in all Ages believ'd and confess'd it This is that Faith says the * Concil Paris tom 1. pag. 844. Synod of Antioch which we have receiv'd from the Beginning and which the holy Catholick Church preserves pure and undefil'd having deriv'd it by a constant and uninterrupted Succession even unto this Day from the Blessed Apostles themselves And †Videas Bulli Defensionem Fidei Nicenae Whitbit tractatum de verâ Christi Deitate sect 2. some truly excellent and Learned Divines of our own have shewn at large the Truth of this Assertion from the particular Writings and Monuments of the Primitive Fathers who as well before as after the Council of Nice with one Heart and one Voice confess and maintain the Divinity and Eternal Generation of the Son of God These well-grounded and pious Souls could not be laugh'd or ridicul'd by the Scoffs and Jeers the Taunts and Sarcasms of their Learned and witty Adversaries nor frighted by the severest Appearances of Torture and Persecution out of their Trust and Confidence in the Holy Jesus but notwithstanding all the Imputations of Folly and Madness from an invidious Trypho a scoffing Lucian a virulent Celsus and a malicious Julian they continually call'd upon him in the time of Trouble and as * Epist l. 10. Ep. 97. Pliny tells Trajan sang Praises to him as to the God of their Salvation Neither did they only thus bravely contend for the Faith against the violent Incursions of the wild Boar out of the Forest the Menaces and blasphemous Assaults of their profess'd Enemies the Jews and Gentiles but also were infinitely careful to secure it from the Wiles and Stratagems of the little Foxes those false Teachers that crept in amongst them and under the specious Pretences of Reason and Revelation continually endeavour'd to spoil the Lords Vineyard No sooner did any Heretick dare to impugn or invalidate this Doctrine but he was immediately disown'd by all the Faithful and Anathematiz'd or cast out of the Church as a ravenous Wolf who design'd only to devour and tear in pieces the Lord's Flock which is demonstratively Evident from that Class of Hereticks Ebion Theodotus Artemon Paulus Samosatenus and Photinus In short Socinus himself confesseth that the whole Stream of Antiquity runs against him and that of all the Primitive Fathers and Councils there is not so much as one that any way countenanceth his Opinion So that you see from all hands that unless with a truly Satanical Pride we exalt our selves above all that is called God and flatly give Heaven and Earth God Angels and pious Men the Lye to their face and side only with Jews Turks and Pagans we must acknowledge the Blessed Jesus to be in very deed no other than the Only-Begotten Son of the Most High the Maker of All things the King of Glory Alpha and Omega the First of Beings and the Last of Ends which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty Thus then does the Greatness of our Salvation appear from the Greatness and Majesty of the Person undertaking it It does so 2. From the Greatness and Unconceivableness of those Sufferings whereby he did accomplish it Some indeed lessen the Sufferings of our Lord by thinking he had the Comprehension of Blessedness the Supports of actual Glory in the midst of all his Torments that even then he did behold the Face of God and communicate in Glory But in answer to Men of these Thoughts I consider with the Excellent Bishop * Great Exemplar pag. 413 414. Taylor 1. That though the two Natures of Christ were knit by a mysterious Union into one Person yet the Natures still retain'd their incommunicable Properties so that as the Divine Nature could not by vertue of this Union derive upon it self the Infirmities of the Humane so neither did the Humane partake in all Instances of the Felicities of the Divine these indeed being essentially in God but to Man communicated without Necessity and by an arbitrary Dispensation Tho' therefore as God he is omniscient and knows every thing yet that as Man he was ignorant as many things seeking Fruit upon the Fig-tree when the time of Figs was not come and telling us himself that he knew not the Day nor the Hour when he should judge the World and therefore being said to have
Olive-branches in its hands to offer them Peace to set them at perfect Liberty from the Bondage of Corruption the Servitude and Thraldom of their mortal Bodies They know their happy Souls will be immediately convey'd by Angels into the Presence of their Savior and by him presented to his Father without Spot or Wrinkle invested with his Righteousness compleat in his Holiness and prepar'd and qualified for an Everlasting Communion with him in Glory That they are the Reward of his Sufferings the precious and dear Purchase of his Blood and therefore that they shall be joyfully received into Heaven by him who will then see the glorious Effects of the Travail of his Soul and be satisfied That the Angels who rejoyc'd at their Conversion will much more do so at their Glorification and the Church of the First-born who have before them entred into Glory have a new Accession of Joy to see them safely arriv'd at the same undefil'd and immortal Inheritance These things I say thus duly considered must needs inspire them with Courage and Alacrity and enable them chearfully to lay down their Bodies that they may ascend to the Seat of Blessedness this happy Society above that inspires mutual Endearments and Joys for evermore I am sure 't was thus with the Primitive Christians S. Paul with the most earnest Affections and passionate Zeal desir'd to depart hence to leave the transitory dissatisfying Pleasures of this Life to be dissolv'd and to be with Christ and the Martyrs with all imaginable Boldness and Gallantry encountred Death that interpos'd between them and Glory They as willingly left their Bodies as Elias let fall his Mantle to ascend into Heaven Some indeed of these excellent Persons as ‖ Hom. 8. S. Chrysostom tells us went to Death with many Appearances of Fear When they heard the wild Beasts roar they were struck with Horror At the sight of the Executioners and the Instruments of Torture they were pale and trembling The Flesh seem'd to cry out O! Let this Cup pass from me But these alas were but the little ineffectual Struglings of innocent Nature which though weak and faint follow'd the Spirit and corrected its own Desire with Not my Will but thine be done As the Moon in Eclipse though obscure goes on in a Regular Course as when 't is full of Light by the Reflection of the Sun so these Christian Heroes though as it were forsaken and depriv'd of the kind Influences of the Spirit the bright Beams and Irradiations of Divine Comfort persever'd notwithstanding in their Regular Motion the resolute and undaunted Profession of the Truth No Torments could force them to renounce their Saviour no Terrors of Death to warp from the Profession of their Faith but the Consideration of that eternal weight of Glory which after a short night of Sorrow and Heaviness they should receive in the Inheritance of the Saints in Light enabled them at length to overcome their Fears and in spight of all the Reluctancy of Nature to keep the Command of God and the Faith of Jesus Thus the Stars fall down from Heaven and Clods of Earth ascend and shine in the Firmament The Angels that excell'd in Strength and Knowledge kept not their state of Purity and Glory but are shamefully sunk down into Corruption and Misery but these humble Believers though weak and encompass'd with many Difficulties were preserved by the Blood of Jesus from destructive Evil from the Fear of the First and the Power of the Second Death passing undauntedly through the Dominions of the King of Terrors to their Fathers Kingdom where with all the Company of Holy Angels and Beatified Souls they now lie infolded in the Circles of Peace and Joy expecting the Consummation of Blessedness the Redemption of their Bodies in the joyful and glorious Morning of the Resurrection Which brings me to my Seventh and Last Particular which is to shew the Greatness of the Salvation wrought for us by Christ in that he has not only merited the Salvation of our Souls but the Redemption likewise or the Resurrection of our Bodies 7. Of all the Christian Doctrines this was ever esteemed the most incredible and has accordingly in all Ages met with the greatest Opposition The Learned Heathens generally look'd upon the Body as the Prison the Dungeon and Sepulchre of the Soul and therefore do not stick to affirm That for a separated Soul to return into a Body is to undergo a second Death Nay that famous Rabbin Ben Maimon was of the same Perswasion it being a known Aphorism of his in his Great Work That in the World to come or state of consummate Happiness there shall be nothing but pure Incorporeity This engag'd them to employ all their Learning and Parts to represent this Doctrine as a monstrous and ridiculous Paradox not fit to be embrac'd by any of the genuine Sons of Wisdom and Learning Accordingly we find St. Paul was counted mad by Festus and but a Babler at best by the great Wits at Athens for venturing to preach to them Jesus and his Resurrection and it chiefly stomachs the Heathen in Minutius Felix that the Christians should peremptorily assert the Resurrection of the Body which every Eye saw to be subject to Corruption and yet at the same time threaten Ruin and Destruction to the Heavenly Bodies which the generality of Philosophers acknowledg'd incorruptible Nay some Christians themselves have not been very careful to answer us fairly in this matter Photius tells us of Synesius that for his great Parts and singular Abilities he was made a Bishop before he believ'd this Article and the Socinians Anabaptists and some other Sectaries seem to be no great Favourers of it at this day But what if these Men believe not Shall their Unbelief make the Faith of God of none effect God forbid Yea let God be true as the Apostle speaks though every Man a Lyar. He then that is Truth it self who therefore can neither deceive nor be deceived has told us that the hour is coming in the which all that are in the ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 5.28 Grave shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of Damnation And now my pious Brethren how joyful and pleasant a thing is this to hear of the Restitution of our lost Parts the Renovation of our corrupted and putrefy'd Bodies that they shall not be devour'd in the Jaws of Death and the Grave but restor'd to us again all Fair and Beautiful and Glorious Sin indeed removes us all into the Retirements of the Grave and securely locks us up for a time in the Iron Embraces of the King of Terrors It dismantles us of all our Strength and Beauty and dooms us to dwell for ever in those dark Houses of Forgetfulness and Corruption We lie in the Grave like Sheep helpless and fast bound in the Chains and Fetters of
is so merciful that he will not suffer his Displeasure to arise but that he calls us daily importunes us incessantly and intreats us earnestly to return That he begs us not to ruin and destroy our selves opens his Arms to receive us tho' we have been never so ungrateful and promiseth Pardon for all that is past if we will but take care to be obedient for the future Lastly we know that if we will return and do Works meet for Repentance he will in due time take us from this Vale of Misery these Regions of Exile this State of our Pilgrimage into his Father's House there solemnly pronounce our Discharge before all his Saints and crown us with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Now then to trespass against this great Friend and Benefactor whose wonderful Love even condescended to assume our Nature into his Divinity and so to exalt it above Cherubims and all the brightest Orders of Intelligences who in our Nature thus assum'd graciously embrac'd for our â—akes both the Miseries and Calamities of a distressed Life and also the Infamy and Tortures of an accursed Death who still notwithstanding all our disingenuous and most ungrateful Returns continues his Tenderness and Compassion for us even â—ayly offering his Grace and Pardon to the greatest of Sinners and by all the gentle Insinuations of an unwearied â—over endeavouring to allure and entice them into Happiness To trespass I say against this great Friend and Benefactor is certainly a Provocation of the most amazing Proportions a Sin of the deepest Dye the basest and soulest Ingratitude that can be imagined What then think you will be the Condition of such Sinners when God shall come to Judge the World When they shall see him whose infinite Love they have despised and rejected coming in the Clouds of Heaven and all his Holy Angels with him to reward every Man according to his Works Alas every Circumstance of this glorious Day will frightfully represent to their awak'ned Consciences the monstrous Aggravations of their unparallell'd Ingratitude This God who now comes in the Clouds with Vengeance is that very Saviour who dy'd to redeem them Those Emeralds or sparkling Jewels that shine so gloriously in his Body the deep and gastly Wounds he receiv'd 〈◊〉 their sakes Those glittering Attendantâ— and Myriads of holy Ones the Company he design'd for their Eternal Conversation and those bright Regions of Everlastâ—â—â— Day which appear over their Heads thâ— Place he so dearly purchas'd for their immortal Inheritance These things I say thus united and at once represented to their view will swell their Passions to that Height and Fullness as infinitely exceed the Measures of Mortality to conceive They will occasion such sharp such acute Reflections as like two-edged Swords will every way rend and tear and stab and gash their mollified Spirits with fresh incurable Wounds to all Eternity Their monstrous Ingratitude will then look them broad in the face and like frightful and terrible Gorgons or Furies possess their Souls with Horror and Trembling with ineffable Amazement and everlasting Confusion In a word The thorough and lively Apprehensions which they shall then have of their Sins and Follies will so incense and enrage them that they 'll be all in a flame with Fury and Indignation against themselves weeping and wailing and gnashing their Teeth always as it were uon a Rack without any Intermission of their Pains and Anguish distorted afflicted distracted confounded What then remains but that since these things are so we seriously take our Case into Consideration That since our Burden is lighter than that of Jews or Gentiles we run with greater Chearfulness the ways of God's Commandments That we grieve not the Holy Spirit nor turn the Grace of God into Lasciviousness but that the great extraordinary Assistances which we now enjoy under the Gospel influence our Wills direct our Choice and give Warmth and Vigour to our Affections That the certain Faith and Assurance which we have of a Future State and of its Rewards and Punishments work most powerfully upon our Minds to conquer all the Temptations of this Life to deterr us from doing any thing whereby we may forfeit our Crown and to render us stedfast immoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our Labour will not be in vain in the Lord and since the greatest Punishments imaginable attend our Miscarriages that we lift up the hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble knees and run with patience the Race that is set before us Let us then look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith and follow his Example who for the Joy that was set before him endur'd the Cross despis'd the Shame and is therefore now sat down at the Right-hand of the Majesty on High Let us frequently contemplate his stupendious unfathomable Love in vouchsafing to assume our Nature that he who is Mighty should so debase himself to magnifie us and evermore say with the inflam'd and seraphick Virgin Holy and Blessed is his Name Let us with her Piety and Devotion view the Immaculate Lamb of God crown'd with Thorns upon the Cross Let us behold him there bleeding and dying for our Sins Let his unconceivable Agonies sink deep into our Hearts and make us to weep bitterly for those Sins which caus'd such Torments to our Dearest Lord. Let us beseech him by all that Anguish and Amazement his Soul endur'd for our sakes never to suffer us to crucifie him any more but that he would be pleas'd to come and take up his Lodging with us to drive out all those Usurpers the World with its Vanities to make an utter Destruction of every Amalakite and to take to himself the entire Possession of our Hearts Let us most passionately intreat him not to suffer our immortal Souls the price of his own Blood to perish but that he would be graciously pleas'd to wash away all their Stains to cloath them in his white Robe and so to present them spotless and unblameable to our Heavenly Father Lastly If the Author of Salvation and that Eternal too be worthy to be prais'd let us now begin these Songs upon Earth which will be our happy Employment and Business in Heaven with all those glorious Angels and Holy Ten Thousands that worship about the Throne saying Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power be unto him that fitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for Ever and Ever Amen Amen Allelujah ECCLES ix v. 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might WEre we to take the Measures of our most holy Profession as they are reach'd out to us in the Systems of some Christian Rabbins how prodigiously irrational and absurd an Institution would it appear to be An Institution both repugnant to the glorious Attributes of God and also destructive to the Welfare and Happiness of Mankind They pronounced it a state of absolute Liberty and Emancipation a perfect Discharge from
greater was his Mercy so unwilling was he that they should perish that he promis'd the interceeding Patriarch that if he cou'd find but ten Righteous Persons amongst them he would save them all But not to multiply Instances which are numberless the liveliest and most breathing Image of the Divine Mercy and Pity the most glorious and ravishing Displays of his unbounded Compassions appears in the wonderful Contrivance of our Restitution the mysterious and Costly Redemption of Lapsed Man This is an Instance of Love so astonishing and unfathomable as will afford new matter through all the Ages of Eternity for the Contemplation and Praises of the Saints and Angels in Heaven Since 't is a Province too great for any Created Being the Son of God himself before whose insupportable Glories the Seraphims veil their faces graciously descends from the Celestial Paradise into the Wilderness of this World to seek his straying Creatures to restore the lost sheep of the House of Israel and with his own Voice to call them back to himself the great Shepherd and Bishop of their Souls He comes in his Father's Name to proclaim Pardon and Forgiveness to all that return to him to demonstrate his infinite Tenderness and Compassion for every Soul of the Sons of Adam that notwithstanding all their Sins he would not have any of them perish not the greatest not the oldest not the most presumptuous of Sinners but that all should come to the Knowledge of the Truth and be sav'd This is his Business This his Errand This the great End and Design of his Coming which having finish'd in all the Parts he undertook and to confirm our Faith seal'd his Letters of Invitation with his own Blood and being now to return to the Father he to the Everlasting Comfort and Joy of Repenting Sinners commands his Apostles to go forth and carry them into all Parts of the World Go * Mark 16.15 says he and Preach the Gospel these glad Tidings of Reconciliation and Peace between God and Man to every Creature And accordingly too St. †2 Cor. 5.19 Paul tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing to them their trespasses and sins The whole Tenour and Design you see of the Evangelical Dispensation is to bring Sinners to their Saviour to call them off from all their vain Confidences to believe and trust only in the Son of God to beseech them to come to Christ that they may be refresh'd and find Rest unto their Souls And so I am brought to the Second Thing observable in the Text viz. the Person to whom the Invitation is made To Me that is to our only Saviour and Redeemer the Lord Christ Jesus 2. We are not then to unfold our Necessities or to present our Supplications and Prayers to Saints or Martyrs to Patriarchs Prophets or Apostles no not to the Blessed Virgin Mother her self The Votaries indeed of this Glorious Saint in the Romish Church are as a Learned * See a Discourse of the due Praise and Honour of the Virgin Mary intituled Speculum Beatae Virginis Author of our own has shewn at large sufficiently extravagant in the Honours they pay to her They exalt her above the Thrones even of Cherubim and Seraphim array her in the brightest Robes of Majesty and Honour and most religiously and devoutly Romance her into a Deity Nay this is not the Practice only of her private Authors but the more Authentick Voice likewise of her publick Offices in which they frequently invoke her by the paramount Titles of Mother of Mercy Mother of Grace Sweet Parent of Mercy Queen of Heaven the Gate of the Great King the only Hope of Sinners and their most gracious Lady Now these I say are Rants and Excesses indeed Excesses which questionless if known would put the Modesty of this Blessed Virgin to a much greater Blush than did the Appearance and Complement of the Angel Gabriel We confess her Privileges and Prerogatives are singularly great He that is Mighty hath magnify'd her and Blessed is her Name We acknowledge her a most happy Instrument of our Good and therefore shall her Memory be always Dear to us Dear and Honour'd throughout all Generations Dear and Reverenc'd but not worshipp'd and ador'd In a word Her according to her own Prediction will we ever call Blessed but only amongst Women To Her will we ascribe Glory Honour and Praise But to her Son alone with the Father and the Holy Spirit Power Might Majesty and Dominion For to speak a little closer to this Point if the Saints in Heaven This Blessed Virgin and the Rest have no constant Knowledge of our Affairs here below then 't is the Inference of every Elementary Logician and the Concession of the greatest Champions of their own Party that 't is altogether in vain and to no purpose to Pray to them Si non cognoscant nostras orationes videtur otiosum supervacaneum ad ipsos orare are * De Relig tom 2. l. 1. c. 10. Suarez his own Words But that the Saints in Heaven this Blessed Virgin and the Rest have no constant Knowledge of our Affairs here below and consequently that 't is altogether in vain and to no purpose to Pray to them is evident from that of the Prophet †Cap. 63. v. 16. Isaiah Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel knows us not For certainly if Abraham and Israel were ignorant and know nothing of the Affairs of that very People which descended from their own Loins then we have all the Reason in the World to conclude that the Saints in Heaven have no constant Knowledge of us and of our Affairs who are perfect Strangers to their Blood and Families Our Adversaries I know will be here ready to Object That Abraham and Israel were rightly said by the Prophet to be ignorant and to know nothing in his Time of the Affairs of Mankind and consequently that then indeed 't was but in vain and to no purpose to pray to them because before the Resurrection of our Lord the Patriarchs were not admitted into Heaven but lay only in Limbo the Retir'd and Secret Caverns of the Earth where they were utterly excluded from the Vision of God and likewise from all Traffick and Commerce with Men. But that now the case is quite alter'd with them that they are all translated from those Regions of Darkness that State of Expectation those Tabernacles of Hope into the inmost Court of Heaven the Kingdom of their Father the Land of Fruition where their Understandings are so widen'd and enlarg'd that they have a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done both in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life so that now they are become the proper Objects of our Devotion being both privy to all our Necessities and also as Fellow-Members of the same Mystical Body most willing and
God And yet how imperfect was the Knowledge how improveable the Understandings even of these Intelligences Notwithstanding this clear Vision of the Divine Essence the Mystery of Man's Redemption was so far hid from their Eyes that before the Manifestation of the Son of God in the Flesh they had only some general dark and obscure Notices of it And tho' now as * Ephes 3.10 St. Paul tells us the manifold Wisdom of God is in a greater measure made known unto them by his Dispensations in the Church yet even now are they so far from being able to comprehend it that †1 Epist 1.12 St. Peter assures us they still desire to look farther into it These things says he the Angels desire to look into In short our Lord has put this case beyond all doubt for speaking of the Day of Judgment Of that Day and Hour ‖ Matth. 24.36 Mat. 13.32 says he knoweth no Man no not the Angels of Heaven nor the Son but my Father only For if the Son of God himself as Man tho' he is to be the Umpire of that Great Day and the Holy Angels who always behold the Face of their Father and who with unspeakable Alacrity and Joy will attend and wait upon him in this his glorious Expedition was once and are still ignorant in this matter then certainly it can be nothing but Folly and Madness to imagine that the Spirits of Just Men and Women which tho' never so perfect as such are as they stand in Relation to their Bodies to whom they have a natural Inclination even in Heaven it self but in a State of Imperfection should so far excel as to have an entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done both in Heaven and Earth Now then from what has been thus discours'd I presume 't is Evident that there is no Foundation in Reason to think that the Saints tho in Heaven have a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life and so are become the Objects of our Devotion as our Adversaries pretend but that on the contrary we have all the Reason in the World to conclude that they have no constant Knowledge of any thing here below and consequently that according to the Romish Doctors themselves 't is otiosum Supervacaneum an idle vain and superfluous and according to Truth it self an impious wicked and idolatrous piece of Devotion that is put up to them For tho' we allow that God does sometimes of his especial Grace vouchsafe by an Extraordinary Revelation to acquaint his Saints with something of our Affairs here below like the good Shepherd in the Gospel who when he had found the Sheep he had lost soon inform'd his Neighbours of it and call'd them together to rejoyce with him for it nay farther tho' I cannot think it too much to grant that the Saints in Heaven do not only intercede with God for the Church in general that he would be favourable and gracious unto Sion and vouchsafe to repair the Breaches in the Walls of Jerusalem but also that some of them at some Times on some Occasions which either an immediate Revelation from God himself or perhaps the Relation of a Guardian Angel or possibly a short Errand of their own discovers to them do as * Ep. ad Trall pag. 80. Vsser Edit Ignatius †De Orat. sect 34 Origen ‖ De Mortalit pag. 166. Ed. Oxon. Cyprian and ** Vid. Aug. Confess l. 9. c. 3. Basil Hom. 20. Ambros de obitu Theod. Hieron Ep. 25. others think they do Pray for some of us in particular yet since there is no certainty in this matter no Revelation to inform us when this is done or indeed whether it be so much as done at all we cannot from such pious Conjectures only infer with the Council of Trent that we ought to Pray to them or make them the Mediators between God and our selves especially since besides the Arguments already alledg'd God himself has expressly pronounc'd him Curs'd who thus trusteth in Man and maketh Flesh his Arm and whose Heart departeth from the Lord. All we are to do is to Praise and Magnifie the Name of God for them that he has been pleas'd of his gracious Goodness to deliver their Souls from the Burthen of the Flesh from the Waves and Storms of this tempestuous World and to land them safely on the peaceful Harbour of Eternity That he adorn'd and inrich'd them with his manifold Gifts and Graces whereby they are rendered as burning and shining Light to his Church in succeeding Generations This I say together with a Reverential Respect and study of Imitation is all we have to do upon their Account and This we are sure whatever the Trent Doctors determine was the only Inference the Primitive Church made from these Premises 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Honour says * Vid. tom 5. p. 625. Vid. Eus Hist Eccl. l. 4. c. 15. pag. 134 135. Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 8. c. 27. l. 22. c. 10. S. Chrysostom that we are to pay to the Martyrs is to strike the same Lines as those invincible Heroes have done to copy out their Fortitude and Magnanimity and with the like Chearfulness to lay down our Lives for the Lord's sake And so I come to my 3. Particular which is to shew That as this Assertion has no Foundation in Scripture nor Reason so neither has it the least Support from Antiquity Spiritus Defunctorum †De curâ pro mortuis says St. Austin non vident quaecunque eveniunt aut aguntur in istâ vitâ hominum i. e. The Spirits of the Saints departed do not know all things that are Acted upon the Stage of the World And * Ep. 3. de Epitaph Nepot St. Hierom speaking of his deceased Friend Nepotianus is more particular Quicquid dixero says he quia ille non audit mutum videtur quocum loqui non possumus de eo loqui non desinamus Whatsoever I shall say seems dumb and to no purpose because Nepotian does not hear me yet since we can no more speak with him let us be the longer in speaking of him I know the Fathers about the latter End of the Fourth Century in their Funeral and Anniversary Panegyricks of the Saints and Martyrs frequently use very elegant and affectionate Apostrophe's to them as tho' they suppos'd them present But the Popish Abusers of this innocent Custom would do well to consider that they most cautiously usher them in with If 's and And 's as in that †Orat. 1. cont Julian of Nazianzen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hear O thou Soul of the Renown'd Constantine if thou hast any sence or knowledge of these matters For every School-boy will tell them that this is only a Rhetorical Flourish a pleasing Strain of
Eloquence taken up by Orators in expressing their own and moving the affections of others but never us'd by any as a Form of Prayer or a Mode of addressing their Devotions to the Deceas'd But we need not seek far for the Sence of Antiquity in this Matter The Fathers have sufficiently declar'd their Opinion in their Controversie with the Arians These Hereticks divested the Blessed Jesus of his Divinity diminish'd and degraded him into a mere Creature and yet held it lawful to pay him Religious Worship This tho' the Arians declar'd they worship'd him only with an inferiour degree of Worship parallel to what our Adversaries now call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that Degree which is peculiar only to the Supreme God was universally abhorr'd and detested by the Fathers who look'd upon it as an impious Restauration of Pagan Idolatry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Athanasius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Why do not these Arians since they are of this Opinion descend into the Class of the Unbelieving Gentiles for they are all guilty of one and the same kind of Idolatry Worshipping the Creature besides the Creator But now if the Arians were thus peremptorily condemn'd by the Fathers for Idolatry because they worshipp'd the Blessed Jesus tho' but with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they suppos'd him to be a Creature then how is it possible for our Adversaries to escape the same Condemnation who pay the same degree of worship to those we all know to be Creatures The Arians suppos'd the Son of God to be a Creature but were in the wrong and therefore tho' Formally Idolaters according to their own mistaken Hypothesis yet were they not Materially and Really so But these Men know for certain that the Saints they worship are indeed but Creatures and therefore are as well Materially as Formally Idolaters The Arians worshipp'd the Son indeed as a Creature but then not as an Ordinary Inferiour Creature but as the first the most glorious and the most excellent of all Creatures by whom as an Instrument all the others were made and yet were found Guilty How then shall these Men escape who worship in the same manner these ordinary Inferiour Beings whom we all know to be the Workmanship of his hands as he is God But tho the Saints are to have no part or share in our Devotions yet may we not humbly present our petitions before the Exalted Thrones of Angels and Archangels The Saints indeed were Persons of like Passions with our selves they had their Slips and Miscarriages here upon Earth and now in Heaven still bear the Marks and Badges of their Sins being depriv'd of half of themselves their Bodies But these Blessed indefective Spirits are the First-born Sons of the Heavenly King the most Correct and Amiable Patterns of his Essential Purity and Holiness and certainly he expects we should peculiarly honour them whom himself in so especial a manner delights to honour Honour them indeed we will and in the way most becoming such glorious and Exalted Beings We will endeavour to copy out their heavenly Vertues to transcribe their Heroick Exellencies and to live like Angels here that we may for ever live with them hereafter But to pray to them to invoke them to implore their Aid and Assistance in the time of our Need is what neither they desire nor we can give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 see not Rev. 19.10 and 22.9 was the Heavenly Messengers abrupt and hasty prohibition to St. John when dazzled and overcome by his Extraordinary Glory he would erroneously have worshipp'd him for his Adorable Master and he that dares do this holds not the Head says * Col. 2.19 St. Paul but vainly pust up by his fleshly Mind degenerates as the whole Laodicean †Vid. Balsamon Canon p. 841. Council in its thirty fifth Canon truly declares into the Abominable and Sacrilegious Rites of the Idolatrous Jews and Gentiles For whatever Fig-leaves Men may sew together to cover their Nakedness withal 't is most certain that they who in these Nations worshipp'd their Baalim their Daemons or Angels most did it upon the very same Principles as our Adversaries do at this day The ‖ Vid. Plat. sym Apul. de Daemon Socrat. Grotium in 2. cap. Ep. ad Col. v. 18. Pythagoreans ‖ Vid. Plat. sym Apul. de Daemon Socrat. Grotium in 2. cap. Ep. ad Col. v. 18. Platonists and other Learned Heathens will answer for themselves and the Rabbins as they are cited at large by the learned ‖ Intell. Gust p. 468 469. Cudworth for both Jews and Gentiles that they were always so far from thinking by such worship to derogate any thing from the Honour of the Lord Jehovah whom tho' under different Names they all equally acknowledge to be the Common Father of Gods and Men that they did verily believe he was highly pleas'd at that sort of Worship which they gave these his Extraordinary Ministers the Honour redounding chiefly to himself that made them and also that he accepted their Humility who duly sensible of their own Vileness and Unworthiness dar'd not to approach his awful Majesty without the Introduction of such mighty Favourites such Beloved Mediators And yet notwithstanding these so specious Pretences our * Rom. 1. Apostle expressly declares of the Gentiles that when they knew God they glorify'd him not as God but were therefore vain in their Imaginations because they worshipp'd the Creatures tho' not as so many Supreme Independent Beings but only as Mediators of Intercession 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Besides the Creator and the Prophets continually bait the Jewish Church for these things with the soul and odious Name of Whore Prostitute Whore and Abominable Harlot So that you see 't is the peculiar Honour the incommunicable Prerogative of the Son of God as the Learned †Orig. cont Cels l. 5. p. 233. l. 8. p. 382.384.395 Father peremptorily and frequently inculcates to be our Mediator to receive our Devotions and to intercede for us at the Right hand of the Father Prayer then shall be made only unto him and daily shall he be prais'd He is the way the Truth and the Life and no man can come unto the Father but by Him As in the Earthly Tabernacle the High-Priest only entered into the most Holy Place beyond the Veil there to be an Agent with God for the People so our only High-Priest the Blessed Jesus has therefore by his own blood entred into the Holy of Holies the Heavenly Tabernacle that there he may appear in the Presence of God for us He is that Angel with the golden Censer who offers the Incense the Prayers of the Saints upon the golden Altar before the Throne that Angel of the Presence that Messenger of the Covenant who is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him Tho' therefore there be as the Learn'd * 1 Cor.
are hardly enough to entertain him Now then my disconsolate Brother who would not rather thus cause Joy to the Blessed Choires above by a sincere and hearty Repentance than by a Sullen unwarrantable Despair please the profess'd Enemies of God and Man the Spirits of Darkness Who I say would not rather by a timely Repentance be the occasion of a Jubilation and Festival both in Heaven and Earth than by causing Grief in both delight the sullen and destructive Powers of the Kingdom of Darkness A Jubilation I say in Heaven and Earth too For see thy Mother the Church is highly concern'd for thee she mourns and laments thy unhappy State and daily offers up Prayers and Tears for thy Recovery She longs to see thee come boldly into her Courts there with all her faithful Sons and Daughters to worship the God of our Joy and Gladness and to sing merrily and to make a chearful noise unto the God of Jacob. Let then the Prayers and Tears of thy afflicted Mother let the Hearty Concern and passionate Wishes of the kind Spirits above let the most gracious and tender Promises of Pardon which Truth it self has made thee work thee out of this groundless this unaccountable State of Despondency Thou must not thou can'st not surely after all this despair Thy Saviour tells thee thou art not thine own but His. He made thee at first when thou wast nothing and when thou wast lost and worse than nothing He Redeem'd thee too with his own blood and most solemnly swears he would not have thee perish Wilt thou not then believe Him who hath done so many and great things for thee Wilt thou not believe Him who could even bleed and die for thee If any Man of known Integrity had given thee his word thou wouldst not Scruple to believe him How then can'st thou thus affront thy God who cannot lye by thy Infidelity when he not only says but also swears he would have thee live O! do not do not thus evacuate all the gracious Methods the Heavenly Father is pleas'd to use for thy Recovery Do not thus foolishly exclude thy self from Happiness when God does not exclude thee Alas Thy God is Omnipotent and can most easily perform all his Promises and therefore he needs not deceive thee He is good and gracious and therefore he will not deceive thee With him is no Variableness or shadow of Turning but he is the same yesterday to day and for ever and therefore he cannot deceive thee Obey then his gracious Call come to him throw thy self into his Arms prostrate thy self with all due Humility at his feet offer to him thy broken and contrite Spirit beg him to accept thee who never yet refus'd any and he will most gladly receive thee Tho' thou art never so heavy-laden he will give thee Rest He will ease thee of thy burthen he will pardon thy sins he will quiet thy Conscience here and give thee everlasting Rest and Happiness hereafter Which God of his infinite Mercy Grant unto us all through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus the Belov'd To whom c. A DISCOURSE Upon the Fifth of November PSAL. cxviii Ver. 24. This is the Day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it THIS Psalm is suppos'd to have been compil'd by the Royal Psalmist when after a long Series of Troubles and Persecutions he was at last both safely plac'd upon the Throne of Israel and Judah and had also subdued the proud Lords of the Philistines together with their Allies and Confederates * 2 Sam. 5. who in hopes to have crush'd him before he grew too powerful had rally'd their Forces and invaded the Land He had long grappled with the indefatigable Malice of his envious blood-thirsty Master long encountered the fierce Oppositions of Enemies abroad but especially of Adversaries at home some of which as he complains Psalm 64. were Men of such sneaking slavish mercenary Souls of such beggarly disingenuous unmanly Spirits that not daring to appear in the Gallantry of open Enemies they betook themselves to the little Arts of skulking Revenge endeavoring by all the sinister methods of clancular hatred by a long train of secret Calumnies and Reproaches to blow up his reputation and at one Blast to deprive him both of Life and Crown But now at length had the good hand of Providence put a joyful period to all these Troubles and Afflictions and made him glad with the Joy of his Countenance His haughty Neighbours humbly pay him Homage and he tramples upon the Necks of his Domestick Adversaries The Greatness of his Dangers endear him to the People who from his so many miraculous Escapes conclude him the Peculiar Favourite of Heaven and therefore receive him with the hearty and joyous Reiterations of Acclamations and Hosanna's Wherefore in a due sense of these great blessings he is not contented to offer only his own Sacrifice of Praise but likewise in the beginning of this Psalm excites all the people with their Doxologies and Allelujahs to assist and joyn with him in these his grateful acknowledgments O give thanks unto the Lord says he for he is gracious because his mercy endureth for ever Let all the Tribes of Israel let the Priests and Levites yea let All them that fear the Lord confess that he is gracious and that his mercy endureth for ever You need not recount the Wonders he shew'd for your Forefathers in the Land of Egypt nor recall to your Memories how after a Succession of Mracles for forty years in the Wilderness he at last with a mighty Hand and stretch'd-out Arm drove out the Nations before them and gave them this pleasant Land for an Inheritance Look only upon me and you will see a most lively Instance of his Mercy and Goodness For when mine Enemies swarm'd about me like Bees and as one Man conspir'd with all their Might and Cunning to throw me down from the Throne to which I was advanc'd when I was invaded by vast Multitudes from abroad and undermin'd by the secret Treacheries and Machinations of more dangerous Adversaries at home even then when there seem'd no possible way for my Escape was the Lord my Helper and is become my Strength and my Song and my mighty Salvation So that the Stone which these unskilful Builders would have rejected as unfit to be used is you see become the head-stone in the Corner whilst notwithstanding all the Attempts of mine Enemies to the contrary I sit this day safely on my Fathers Seat Now then it ever present your selves joyful before the Lord the King and come with me into his Courts in the voice of Thanksgiving for This of all others is the Day which the Lord himself hath made we will therefore rejoyce and be glad in it Thus you have in short the occasion of these Words which I shall no longer insist upon as they respect the circumstances of David but consider them wholly as they reflect
free Possession of your Estates and the Happiness of being Members of the most uncorrupted Church in the World are things that can in reason pretend to our Gratitude we of all Men in the World are the most indebted O then let us never with the ungrateful Israelites hanker again after these loathsome Flesh-pots nor when we have eaten and drank to the full rise up to play with this Harlot any more She will often no doubt be tempting and ensnaring you and by her Paints and Colours gaudy Shows and Pompous Pageantry endeavour to entice you again into her Embraces But remember 't is only a treacherous Syren's Voice which only therefore courts you that she may make you her Prey She seeks not you but yours and how Zealous soever she may seem for your Welfare the Term of her desire is only her own She knows the Fruitfulness of your Land the Liberality of your Soil and the Pleasantness of your Dwellings She remembers how she once rang'd without Controul over all your pleasant Pastures and chose out the fattest of your Lands for her to sport and play in and therefore since for the foul Apostasie she made from her Primitive Innocence the flaming Sword and the Guardian Spirits debar her from re-entring this Paradise 't is no Wonder if the better to deceive us she transform her self for a time into an Angel of Light But I trust the wakeful eye of Providence will still discover her Treacheries and not suffer us any more to be ensnar'd by her Smiles And then for her Frowns we are sure they cannot hurt us Those Curses she so liberally throws against us will I doubt not take wing and fly back upon her self and all those Bulls and Interdicts Anathema's Curses and Excommunications which yearly in Passion Week the better to prepare her self for the Celebration of the Lords Supper she charitably denounceth against us either prove Bruta fulmina Thunder-claps which indeed make a Noise but want a killing Bolt or by woful Rebounds turn the direful Execution upon her own Head In a word If we take care to walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith we are call'd and not dishonour Reform'd Religion by the Deformity of our Lives maugre all the Malice of Earth and Hell of Men and Devils we shall undoubtedly be sav'd Damnation will not be inflicted according to mens Passions and Uncharitableness neither will the grim Faces and dreadful Menaces of Romish Emissaries exclude us from the Favour and Blessing of Heaven Tho' they reject us Christ will embrace us Tho' they turn us out of their Synagogues God will receive us under his Wings and provided we forfeit not his Protection by our Misdemeanours the Angel of his Presence will undoubtedly continue to save us till Time it self shall be no more Wherefore that we may not peculiarly incur this Judgment by our Ingratitude but duly express our Joy and Thankfulness to God for the transcendent Mercy of this Day let us 3. Take Care both to continue our selves and also to bequeath to our Posterity a grateful Remembrance of it How near was the Daughter of Zion to be covered with a Cloud and to be trampled under foot by her treacherous Enemies The Net you have heard was cast about her and the Fowlers even hasting to the Slaughter The Train was laid all the Instruments of death prepar'd and there remain'd nothing to make us an Holocaust to the Roman Moloch but just putting the lighted Match to the Powder And yet methinks I hear the Church full of Faith saying Tho' no Danger was ever like to any Danger yet I charge You O ye Daughters of Jerusalem by the Roes and by the Hinds of the Field that ye stir not up nor awake my Love 'till he please For how forlorn and destitute soever I may seem to some yet I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine tho' therefore he tarries he will not be long but will in due time look forth as the Morning fair as the Moon clear as the Sun and terrible as an Army with Banners And indeed her Beloved came when she expected him not He was found of her when she sought not after him He awaked as one out of Sleep and look'd and saw there was none to help and wondred that there was none to uphold Therefore his own Arm brought Salvation to her and his infinite Goodness alone upheld her May then that God who has thus wonderfully wrought for us in snatching us from the Mouth of the Lion and the Paw of the Bear be ever blessed and the Remembrance of this unspeakable Mercy never defac'd so long as the Sun and Moon shall endure May those glorious Spirits which before pity'd our Danger and now rejoyce at our Deliverance never be frustrated in their Expectations but see all our Members and Faculties our Lips and Lives Hearts and Voices harmoniously singing the Triumphs of the Lord and in the continual Order Concord and Congruity declaring the infinite Goodness of our God that so our Candlestick may never be remov'd for our Ingratitude but tho' Darkness cover the Earth and gross Darkness the People This Church may still be a Crown of Glory in the Hand of the Lord and a Royal Diadem in the Hand of her God that the Gentiles may admire her Beauty and the Sons also of them that afflicted her come bending unto her and all they that despis'd her bow themselves down at the Soles of her Feet and all the Nations round about call her the City of the Lord the Zion of the Holy one of Israel Lastly May she be covered with the Robes of Righteousness and continually cloath'd with the Garments of Salvation 'till the Great Year of Jubilee the time of her final Redemption shall come when God shall put an End to all Prejudices and Animosities all Struglings and contentions and all the Elect with Crowns on their Heads and Palms in their hands shall make one perfect Harmony in singing the eternal Praise of God and of the Lamb. Which blessed time God in his Mercy hasten through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit Three Persons and One God be ascrib'd as is most due all Honour Glory Power Might Majesty Dominion and Thanksgiving from this time forth and for evermore Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for RICHARD SARE AND JOSEPH HINDMARSH FAbles of Esop and other Eminent Mythologists with Morals and Reflections Folio The Visions of Dom Francisco de Quevedo Octavo Seneca's Morals Octavo Erasmus's Colloquies Octavo Tully's Offices Twelves Bona's Guide to Eternity Twelves All six by Sir Roger L'Estrange The Genuine Epistles of St. Barnabas St. Ignatius St. Clement St. Polycarp The Shepherd of Hermas and the Martyrdoms of St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp Translated and Published with a large Preliminary Discourse by W. Wake D. D. Octavo A Practical Discourse concerning Swearing by Dr. Wake Octavo Compleat Sets consisting of Eight Volumes of Letters writ by a Turkish Spy who lived forty five years undiscovered at Paris giving an Impartial account to the Divan at Constantinople of the most remarkable Transactions of Europe during the said time Twelves Humane Prudence or the Art by which a Man may raise himself and Fortune to Grandeur the sixth Edition Twelves Moral Maxims and Reflections in four Parts written in French by the Duke of Rochefoucault now made English Twelves Epictetus's Morals with Simplicius's Comment made English from the Greek by George Stanhop late Fellow of King's College Cambridge Octavo The Parson's Councellor or the Law of Tythes by Sir Simon Degge Octavo Of the Art both of Writing and Judging of History with Reflections upon Ancient as well as Modern Historians by the Learned and Ingenious Father Le Moyne Twelves An Essay on Reason by Sir George Mackenzie Twelves The Unlawfulness of Bonds of Resignation Octavo The Doctrine of a God and Providence vindicated and asserted by Tho. 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