Since our head is there and the Communion that we have with him is so strict and indissoluble wherefore doth not he assemble his members about him although by his wise dispensation some part of them remain yet a while on Earth Since he hath prayed that where he is we may be also why is the fruit of this prayer which without doubt God did hear differred for so many ages Since he hath said that he went thither to prepare a place for us why should we doubt that he doth receive us to the place that he hath designed and marked out for us To conclude since he shews himself to those that enquire not after him why doth he depart or withdraw himself so far from those that seek and desire him with so great passions and affections When Mary cast her self at his feet to embrace him he said touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father Without doubt because this woman transported with the pleasure of seeing him raised again was willing as we say to rejoyce and congratulate with him in so glorious a Victory and because she and his other disciples had hitherunto had some hope that the Lord would remain on Earth with them to re-establish the Kingdom of Israel she was ravished with joy as if henceforth there were nothing that could hinder but that she might enjoy his presence according to her wish and content there with all the desires of her Soul For that reason he repressed this heat and ardour and tells her that 't is not yet done it remains as yet that he ascend on high ere they must see the accomplishment of their expectations For according to his admirable goodness and wisdom he knew so to dispose his actions and discourses to his servants and to accommodate them for a little time to the quality of their knowledg and understanding but at this time that he is ascended upon high wherefore in expectation that he will descend thence to raise our Bodies should he not permit our Souls to go cast themselves at his feet and refresh themselves with the pleasant enjoyment of his presence all these considerations certainly ought to make very great impressions upon our minds but that which ought fully to perswade them is that the holy Scriptures given us most evident and indubitable instructions concerning it Let us therefore chuse some passages very express and which will render the thing wholly manifest St. Paul in the place that I alledged above saith that if the earthly House of our Body be dissolved we have a Building of God an House eternal in the Heavens And we have seen above that he speaks of what happens to the faithful immediately after death and not only of what they expect at the last Resurrection Will any one say that these words in the Heavens do not signify the place but the condition that is to say that Habitation is called Heavenly not because 't is in the Heavens but because 't is very holy and happy Certainly this neither can nor must be For besides that we may not have recourse to interpretations which seem a little forced without an absolute and invincible necessity he says 't is an house Eternal in the Heavens Now the Court of Heaven which is appointed for the faithful may well be called Eternal although it be necessary that Souls leave it for a moment at the time of the Resurrection Because things that are done for a very little space of time and only by dispensation are not at all considered and so small an interval hinders not but that we say they have always continued in that same place Even as we do not quit our dwelling by making a voyage into the Country and although the Angels come sufficiently often on Earth yet we do not cease to name them the Angels of Heaven but if Souls be in any place out of Heaven until the day of the Resurrection that Habitation being to be abandoned for ever it cannot in any wise be said to be Eternal The same Apostle says that he desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ Forasmuch as it was much better for him without doubt Jesus Christ is in the Heavens and if St. Paul had not believed that he should go thither when he died but that he must be confined in some other place of the world wherever it be out of the presence of our Lord he had not served himself of such expressions our Lord promised the Thief that he should that day be with him in Paradise now Paradise is in Heaven and although our Lord did soon redescend from thence to reunite himself to his body the thief without all controversy continued there having no need or occasion to return to this Earth In the Book of the Revel Chap. 14. Vers 4. All the faithful departed hence are represented under the number of an hundred and forty and four thousand gathered together in the Heavens in the company of the Lamb and following him whithersoever he goes Now there is no probability that God would represent to his Prophet Visions of this nature for the confirmation and consolation of his Children if they were contrary to the truth of things In the Epistle to the Hebrews 't is said that we are come to the assembly and Church of the first born whose names are written in Heaven Now 't is not the manner to enrol and make men free of a City and soon after exile them for a very long time into the Countrey Besides 't is apparent that this word written or enrolled signifies in this Text assembled for here are no publique Rolls or Records in the Heavens where the names and qualities of believers are actually written But because those that are admitted to the priviledges of Freemen in a City are wont first of all to be Enrolled after that manner of speaking which I have before remarked where that which goes before is put for that which follows and that which follows for that which goes before the holy Apostle calls those written or enrolled which are actually received into the possession of their Heavenly freedom and truly it seems to me that there is no reason to doubt of a thing whereof God hath been pleased to give most express assurance in all the periods and parts of the holy Scriptures For why think we did he raise and Translate Enoch before the Law Elias under the legal Oeconomy and Jesus Christ under the Gospel so apparently and manifestly that no man could doubt but that they are carried to Heaven if it were not to this end that we might raise our desires thoughts and affections thither after them I very well know that these things have a particular regard to the hope of the Resurrection but I do also maintain that God would not have drawn the hearts of men so visibly to himself if he had had any intention to command their Souls separated from their Bodies to remain I know not where
are done there and that if all of a sudden he should be taken thence and the Heavens and the Earth the Sun the Moon the Stars the Clouds the force and power of the Winds and in general all that is peculiarly worthy of knowledge in all the parts of nature be shewed unto him 't is indubitable that he would fall into a very great admiration and that he would immediately cry out this is the Work and Habitation of the Gods themselves And there is no Person that Considers the thing as it ought which doth not easily apprehend that this Philosopher had reason For although the custom of seeing all these marvellous Objects diminishes the admiration of them 't is nevertheless from thence that all Nations have first learned that there is an infinite Being that by the wisdom of his understanding and power of his hand hath given being to all these things What may we then think of the ravishments that the Souls of the Faithful have experience of then when being delivered from the chains of the body and carried on high between the hands of Angels after having passed all the extent of the Air and gone through the vast and immense spaces of the Celestial Orbs and considered near at hand the vast and prodigious greatness the marvellous splendour of the Sun and other Stars they come to enter that stately Palace where God and our Lord Jesus dwell in glory When Jacob saw a Ladder which reached from Earth to Heaven and the Angels that ascended and descended from above he cried out this is the House of God or at least it is certainly the Gate of Heaven and testified that this place so venerable filled his Soul with fear and wonder both together David placed among his most earnest desires that of entring into the Tabernacle of God and of seeing on all sides the marvels that shined there And truely I do not doubt but that Spectacle was capable of overwhelming the Spirit with unspeakable content the matter it self was illustrious and amazing but the work and design much exceeded the matter But what is all that in comparison of what we may presume concerning the Heavens and the wonders that on all sides shine and sparkle there When we view the palaces of Kings the costliness of their Houses the stateliness of their seylings the variety of their Pictures the richness of their Tapestry the rarity of their Statues the lofty grandeur of their Pillars and Arches give a pleasure marvellously sensible and affecting to all men that have eyes and have not their internal senses marvellously stupid and blockish those that are knowing in Arts and well understand Building Painting Carving Embroidery and other things of that nature do there take much more content than others because they discover all the beauties that are in those Objects the most curious stroaks and the most delicate devices cannot escape them Whereas the generality observe nothing there but the various sparkling of Colours some order and general harmony and proportion which the most gross cannot be ignorant in and in such or such a Picture some likeness to persons that at some time they have seen If there be either Histories or Emblems Riddles or Devices in the Tapestries or Pictures those which are conversant in good Learning and pride themselves either in quickness of wit or the knowledg of Histories and Fables do there receive yet more satisfaction if they can lay open what is wrapt up there and go to the bottom of what others see nothing but the bark And if with so many other things the Spirit of Prophecy had given to David some understanding of the Mysteries which were vailed under the Types and Allegories of the Old Testament I do believe that in the contemplation of the Tabernacle neither the price of the matter whereof it was composed nor the Divine industry that Bezaleel and Aholiab employed there did never so much content either his senses or his understanding as he felt of ravishment in the marvellous wisdom wherewith God directed the design of all these things to represent by them others incomparably more excellent which were yet hid in the darkness of time to come Imagine you therefore a Soul first of all ready instructed in the truths of Christianity and purified from all false impressions which may have been mingled with them then afterwards extraordinarily illuminated by the Spirit of God and by that means made capable of all that the most sublime intelligences are capable of to be introduced into this place so full of Magnificence and splendor and there finding the substance of that whereof the Sanctuary of the Tabernacle was heretofore but a shadow If you do so I assure my self that you will fall so short of being able to conceive all the contentment that it will find there that you cannot attentively affix your Spirit thereon but it will remain swallowed up and fall and faint under the admiration of the knowledg that it will obtain there although you be not able to comprehend it There remains the third of these objects which is the presence of our Lord Jesus and our Communion with happy Spirits and Holy Angels To begin there as I believe that there is no reason to doubt but that Angels can communicate among themselves So I hold for certain that happy spirits can do the same and that Angels and Souls can mutually entertain each other What is the manner of this communication is a thing as difficult to explain as is the nature of Angels themselves and the substance of Spirits For such as is the nature of things such is the manner and quality of their Operations and no man will ever well explain the one if he have not first of all perfectly comprehended what may be understood of the other But although we do not well understand the manner nevertheless we do not fail to be fully assured of the thing it self Every understanding Being is enclined to society as on the other side no Beings have any society among themselves but those that are endued with understanding 'T is for that reason that among Animals man alone is Politick and Sociable as therefore with an understanding but which is inclosed in a Body God hath given us speech which is a Corporeal means of mutual Conversation so to substances separate from Body but nevertheless endued with understanding he hath given some power to entertain society and converse although it be not Corporeal And those that imagine that neither Angels nor Souls can move themselves unless it be by the means of a Body nor discover their thoughts and sentiments to each other unless it be by some Corporeal medium to say no more pretend to know what they do not at all understand For seeing they dare to determine the nature of the faculties of Spirits and the manner of their Operations they must be presumed to have an exact and perfect knowledg of the nature of substances purely Spiritual Therefore
of this discourse is imployed to come to this Conclusion as we set shadows and leaves round about Pictures which serve for nothing but to fill up the void space and give some little Ornament to the Table so there is something in this discourse of our Lord the use whereof consists wholly in making the Parable more full bright and luminous 'T is therefore to be Considered whether it were the common opinion of the Jews that the Souls of unbelievers are tormented immediately after death or that being deprived of all perception and use of their faculties they remain as if they were in a profound sleep if it were the last of these our Lord did not it seems a thing worthy of his wisdom to establish his Parable upon an Hypothesis contrary to the common belief of the Jews For if a parable be not taken from a truth really and indeed accomplished at least it ought not to contradict the common conceptions of men And our Lord never proposed any in which we might not easily see much reason and appearance of possibility and by how much the more of difficulty there is to comprehend for these two persons could reason together there being too great a gulph between them by so much the rest of the Parable ought to be accommodated to the sense and apprehension of the Auditors to the end that they may not accuse him that speaks of giving them instructions built upon false and extravagant opinions If it were the common opinion of the Jews that Souls enjoy perception after death our Lord sufficiently confirms it not only in that he makes no opposition to it but moreover in that he builds thereupon instructions excellent and full of wisdom I make no doubt therefore but that he gives us to understand in this Emblem that the Souls of the wicked are tormented from the time they go out of this life and that the Souls of the faithful do receive Consolation which cannot be without some notable sense or perception nor can there be so notable a sense if they have not their faculties active and awake When the Apostle St. Paul tells us he was caught up into Paradise where he heard things that could not be uttered 't is true he tells us that he knew not whether'twas in the body or out of the body So that although it be not without probability that it was rather out of the body yet it would be great boldness positively to determine concerning it since he himself would not do it But 't is clear that he supposes that it might be done out of the body and by consequent that Souls can make use of their faculties when they are separated from it for in that estate in which he supposes his Soul was or might be they could not hear things unspeakable soon after without some use of their understanding moreover it must be an excellent use thereof as well because of the greatness of the object which without doubt could not be comprehended unless by an understanding very active as because it so vehemently applyed it self unto it and it received such deep impressions from it that after it was rejoined to its body and again offered unto its Organs as before it nevertheless retains the memory thereof Now it is enough that St. Paul supposes that it might be to rescue our minds from all difficulty and doubt in this matter The Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews representing in a stately manner the condition whereunto Christians are called says that it is to the Heavenly Jerusalem to thousands of Angels to the assembly of the first born who are enrolled or whose names are written in Heaven and to the Spirits of just men sanctified I will not stay to search out what is signified by those words enrolled in the Heavens although it seems to be a manner of speech taken from publick Registers and Rolls wherein are written the names of such Citizens which ought to have the right of Free-men and to partake in the priviledges of the Corporation Which will signify that these first born are already received into the Heavens a place of abode not at all proper for a sleep so profound and void of all perception as is that to which some condemn Souls till the day of the Resurrection I will only say that this word the Spirits doth signify without doubt Souls separated from their Bodies and that the word which we Translate Sanctified signifies properly perfect or accomplished A Title that in the New Testament is not given unless it be to those which be it in knowledg or holiness have obtained that degree of perfection whereunto before they did aspire and whereunto those that they have left behind them are not yet arrived Thus we are said to be perfect in comparison with the Jews who lived under the dispensation of the Law but imperfect in comparison with them that have obtained that knowledg whereunto we cannot come in this life so that these just men made perfect concerning the Spirit of whom he speaks in this Text are those that have obtained a degree of perfection which we have not as yet which cannot be obtained without an excellent use of those faculties which are called Understanding and Will In the Book of the Revelation Chap. 14. Vers 13. It is said that the Spirit declares those happy which are dead in the Lord now happiness and the privation of the use of all their faculties are inconsistent Aristotle himself says that happiness cannot properly be attributed unless it be to such who are actually in the exercise of the most excellent operations of their noblest and most excellent powers and vacant in the contemplation and love of the bravest and sublimest Objects and to the end that we may not think that they are called happy because they are appointed to the injoyment of the happiness which is to be revealed at the last day as the same Philosopher says we call little Children happy by a kind of hope when there is much of probability that one day they will obtain it 'T is said that they rest from their labours and their works follow them Now 't is true indeed that we call sleep by the name of rest in opposition to the labours and troubles of the day but nevertheless if speaking of a person that is returned into his Country after great and memorable battels fought in Forreign Lands we should say that henceforth he rests from his labours I do not think that any one would understand thereby that he had slept for a long time but that he enjoyed in peace and tranquillity the fruit of his former pains and labours and indeed these words and their works follow them do mean they enjoy their reward For because the work and the reward are inseparable by the appointment of the good will of God and the holy Spirit being willing to inform us that believers shall not lose their labours in the good works that they do
the mean whiles passing its happy time in the company of those Saints and Angels which are in the same expectation The same thing is practised towards Embassadors who first enter as private persons into the capital Cities of those Empires whither their Embassies are addressed and soon after go forth to return again on another day in the glory of a great and courtly Attendance and at the Entry of Princes when they return from some Conquest or some glorious Expedition the same method of proceeding is frequently observed the Pomp and Magnificence is differred to some solemn day but in the mean while they live at home with their ordinary Court To conclude the same thing having been used towards our Lord Jesus it may not be thought strange if God make use of it towards Believers For first of all He fought upon the Cross and by his courage became victorious his Body being laid in the Grave his Soul ascended into Paradise and if I may so say without any noise and afterwards being returned and his Body raised he was carried up on high mounted on the Clouds and entred in triumph into Heaven among the applauses of happy Spirits and the acclamations of Angels in the mean time 't is no wonder if the Scripture speaks something more rarely of the reception of Souls into Heaven than of the glorious day of the blessed Resurrection for those beginnings of our happiness which we enjoy immediately after death are indeed very marvellous if we consider them precisely and in themselves but they are obscure imperfect and of little or no lustre if we compare them with the splendor and magnificence in which we shall see the accomplishment of it therefore as the promises of reward made to Jesus Christ for his obedience to the death of the Cross do properly respect his ascension into Heaven and his exaltation to the right hand of his Father in glory so that St. Paul refers it thither Phil. 2. that hinders not but that his Soul might obtain the right of entring into Paradise during the time of its separation from the body and that he did make use of it so that although the promises of Reward have a particular respect to the Resurrection that doth not infer that our Souls are deprived of the liberty of entring into the heavenly Sanctuary there to live in the expectation of it And if any of us according to the manner of the ancient Romans should adopt any one for his Child with resolution to declare this adoption publickly and according to Law upon some certain day to the end that he may be capable of succeeding to our Estate and Honours nothing hinders but that in the mean time he may lodge in our House though perhaps he may keep a little more close and private till the day apointed for this publick and solemn action or installation 'T is true there are some that make some scruple of lodging the Souls of those in Heaven that God hath raised up with purpose to permit them to live yet a while in the World as that of Lazarus and some others For what likelyhood is there say they of bringing them back from that place of glory and happiness to one so wretched as is that of our Conversation on this Earth Had it not been much better never to have given them any taste of the joys of Heaven than to pluck them thence and return them to live among the infirmities and inconveniencies of the present life They are therefore willingly enclined to say that it would have been more adviseable to have assigned them an Habitation in some place whereof the deprivation would neither be so sensible nor so prejudicial But methinks these men give themselves a great deal of trouble to no purpose For if there be any inconvenience therein is it not easie for God to appoint some particular Habitation for those and in the mean time receive all others into the Heavens to the end that none may go thence till on the final Resurrection A score of Souls it may be which were to be reunited to their Bodies by a particular dispensation must they give Law to so many Millions of Spirits as are not at all subject to it nor must have experience of any other Resurrection than that of the general and last day To which we may add that although they should have been received into Heaven seeing that in their first Creation they were made for the glory of God and on other accounts have so many obligations to him because he hath redeemed them they will have no reason to complain if they suffer something extraordinary for his service Scipio Africanus after very glorious Triumphs went to War for the obtaining of Forreign Conquests under the Authority of his Brother and in the quality of his Lieutenant for the sole love that he bore to him and to assist him in arriving at the highest dignities of the Common-Wealth In which he suffered some diminution of his own besides the incommodities which he received in his own person and the sensible griefs that he had experience of by the captivity of his Son The Angels themselves descend from Heaven where they enjoy the vision of God with unspeakable contentments to the end that they Minister to the Protection and Salvation of believers To conclude in whatsoever place those Souls be lodged which by a particular Resurrection return again to the Habitation of their bodies they are delivered from their infirmities as long as they are separated from them and it seems probable that they cannot re-enter there without some disadvantage by that change of condition Wherefore since they cannot return into the world without some abatement to their felicity it cannot be more troubleous to them to be brought back from the Heavens than from the Elementary Region If it were reasonable absolutely to decide this Question touching the place where the faithful are received after death by simple reasonings drawn either from the probability of things or even from the harmony that the parts of Theology and Religion have among themselves there are those that are clear enough and pregnant enough to perswade us to believe that they are received into the Heavens for since as St. Paul teaches us our Conversation is in Heaven and we have the honour to be Citizens thereof for what reasons are we so long exiled from our Country What sin remains unpardoned which should hinder our return to the place whence we are descended Since we are exhorted to tend thither and henceforth to think of nothing but Heavenly things why are we so long deprived of the fruit of our thoughts and desires How is it that the Gospel labours so powerfully to beget in us a desire after it if it give us not also the enjoyment of it Since we are dead to the World and our life is hid with Christ in God why do we not go to converse where our life is kept in reserve for us
we love One whereof are insensible of our love because they are so in themselves The other have knowledge of our affection and on their part correspond unto it the love that we have for the first gives not a pleasure that comes near that of the love that we have for the second then when we are assured that they love us reciprocally And the reason thereof is two fold The first is that the things that cannot love us reciprocally however excellent they may otherwise be are nevertheless void of understanding those that are capable of a true affection for us are partakers of it Now things endued with understanding are infinitely better than those that are not if therefore the satisfaction that we receive either from our contemplation or from our love encreaseth as we have seen above according to the proportion of the excellency of the object upon which our faculties display and exercise themselves the love that we have for things endued with understanding must infinitely over-weigh the other The second is that as we love nothing earnestly which we do not value much so we cannot perceive our selves loved but we perceive our selves also valued and esteemed by those that love us Now 't is a thing supreamly sweet and pleasant to be valued and esteemed by those that we believe do exactly know us and which otherwise we know are themselves to be valued and esteemed in a Soveraign manner For either they esteem us for the sake of our proper worth as when we love our Friends for the sake of their virtue Or else they esteem us for this that although in our selves in comparison of them we be of no marvellous great price so it is nevertheless that they have made us and 't is by them that we are what we are So we love our Children so every understanding Cause loves the work that he hath produced with some Understanding and Art The first is marvellously pleasant For if it be a thing agreeable to be and to know that we are how much more is it to possess a Being accompanied with commendable qualities The second ought to be much more For although we do not perceive our selves commendable in our selves 't is no small commendation to be dependances of a great Cause and parts of a Noble Principle from whom we are derived Now in the Estate in which we shall be in the Kingdom of Heaven we shall possess both all these degrees and all these kinds of happiness For as we shall love both the Angels and the faithful that shall there be partakers with us in one and the same glory with tenderness unimaginable so will they on their part love us so heartily that they will perfectly correspond to our affections And in the same manner that we shall love them as well with that kind of love wherewith we embrace our Friends by reason of their Holiness and virtue which we shall see arrived at the highest pitch of its perfection as with that kind of love wherewith we love our Brethren For the sake of the Communion we shall have with one and the same Heavenly Father So we do certainly know that we shall be perfectly loved of them on the same considerations because our virtue and perfections will be the same with theirs and we shall be equally the Sons of God So that as by the love that we shall bear to them we shall be so closely joined to them that we shall have them perpetually in our minds they will be joyned so closely to us by the affection wherewith they will embrace us that they will have us perpetually in theirs and so our Souls shall be as it were melted and mingled together And this will be wonderful in the vehemence and sincerity of this love that whereas 't is impossible here below to have many such Friends for whom we have such deep and great affection there will be above in the Heavens Millions with whom we shall have these indissoluble Tyes and Obligations For on one side here are found but few that upon Trial we have judged or can judge worthy of this degree of love and on the other side our minds in this natural Constitution in which they are cannot supply to so many Operations of so great and extraordinary vehemence Whereas there we shall be fully assured of the excellency and merit of all our Objects without any need of Tryal and our minds having obtained by their glorification a supernatural and extraordinary vigour they will become as it were fruitful and inexhaustible fountains of these kinds of operations from whence love and kindness will run down not as little streams or brooks which presently grow dry but as floods abounding and remaining to eternal ages Again as we shall love the Lord Jesus and the Heavenly Father all as much as the properties infinitely and supremely amiable that are in them shall be known by faculties such as ours will be that is to say with the whole extent of the power of a reasonable Creature raised to glory in like manner they both the one and the other will love us all as much as such Creatures can be loved by those that are wholly love Insomuch that although we do not find in our selves to whatever perfection we do arrive what may correspond to the honour of so great love Nevertheless we shall not cease to esteem our selves supremely happy in it and to receive unspeakable joy from it For this Relation which we shall have with God of being his Children and that which we shall have with Jesus Christ of being his beloved Brethren will certainly be sufficient to give us esteem and value and to make us eternally the objects not only of those which shall partake with us in the same Salvation but the admiration of Angels themselves Behold will they say those that were taken from the Earth raised above the Heavens those that had deserved Eternal confusion advanced to the top of glory and honour those that have deserved to inhabite Hell with Devils partaking Heaven with the Son of God Those that were sometimes worthy that God should separate them from his presence Eternally received into his own bosom there to enjoy the Communion of his Holy Spirit in Eternal life and glory Now to him that shall have all the powers of his Soul filled with so great and perfect contentment what can be wanting of a most perfect and Soveraign happiness Observe principally as I have above represented it that the Body shall become shining incorruptible and immortal and that the enjoyment of this happiness will be given us in an Habitation Eternally glorious For it is not for nothing that St. John representing the Jerusalem that is on high saith that 't is full of the glory of God and that its light is more sparkling than that of Pretious Stones That the wall thereof is Jasper the buildings thereof of pure Gold like unto transparent glass The foundations thereof so many Quarries of Pretious Stones That its twelve gates were twelve Pearls its Streets paved with Gold and that the Lord Almighty and the Lamb that accomplished our Salvation is the Temple thereof That it hath no need of Sun nor Moon For God enlightens it on all sides and the Lamb is the Torch which makes it sparkle with an Eternal light For although these terms be Prophetick and Mysterious their sense is nevertheless a representation of a magnificence which cannot be expressed And although it have a particular regard to the light of knowledge and the perfect holiness of the Church of God nevertheless it includes the quality of its remaining happiness and the beauty of its Habitation Now although it be not unprofitable thus to bring down if I may so express it Heaven to Earth by our Meditation and from thence to form some imperfect Idea thereof in our minds 'T is yet notwithstanding incomparably more advantageous to raise as far as our infirmity will permit Earth to Heaven and even now to fix our hearts and affections on high expecting that the Lord Jesus will do us the favour and bestow on us the priviledge really to contemplate there what we do not yet see but in the promises that he hath given us to him with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory power and dominion for ever and ever Amen FINIS ERRATA PAge 3 l. 14 r. merry l. 16 r. occurence p 4 l. 1 r. of p 5 l. 7 r. fails l. 21 r. consequence p 6 l. 14 blot out forms p 9 l. 22 for to r. so p 14 l. 25 r. there p 15 l. 4 r. that l. 9 r. abstractions p 17 l. 1 r. those l. 28 r. on p 18 l. 8 r. he p 19 l. 22 r. how p 21 l. 12 r. affixed l. 22 r. retained p 22 l. 28 r. Spirits p 26 l. 8 r. this p 30 l. 27 r. therein p 31 l. 9 r. so p 33 l. 27 r. Christ p 35 l. 13 r. buried l 16 r. so p 39 l. 20 r. Orpheus p 52 l. 10 r. entred p 59 l. 3 r. it p 75 l. 9 r. may p 81 l. 12 r. there p 83 l. 21 r. consists p 85 l. 4 r. them not p 97 l. 27 r. already p 109 l. 12 r. of r. All l. 15 blot out now p. 111 l. 8 r. love p 114 l. 3 r. so 122 l. 14 r. raised p 123 l. 1 blot out of p 126 l. 23 r. precedent p 131 l. 15 r from p 147 l. 11 r. then p 148 l. 22 r. wraps p 150 l. 20 r. will appear p 153 l. 8 r imbued p 157 l. 15 r. means l. 16 r. Brethren p 163 l. 3 r. Calvin p 165 l. 23 r. Flaminius And Also p 166 l. 6 and p 170 l. 12 r. and Prophets
as 't is altogether apparent how will it be possible that a Being effectively living endued with faculties so excellent and those faculties adorned with habits so comly should remain so many ages without being awakened in any manner to discover them by some Operations Is it not the property of habits to incline the faculties to action to facilitate the action to which they do incline them yea and in some manner to spur them thereunto And since that man is a being naturally active and that 't is the Soul that gives him this activity and since that which makes the Soul incline it self more to one thing than another in its actions is because its habits give him a tendency that way Why is it that the Soul cannot preserve in it self when separated the activity that it Communicated to the Body and that its proper habits should not have the power they had before to bend it in its actions that way to which they themselves are inclined But let us not fasten our selves on the teaching and institutions of nature Let us consult the Analogy of Religion Certainly all believers have Communion with Christ And this Communion on their parts consists in faith whereby they receive him and on his part in the Communication of his Spirit by which he comforts and sanctifies them Now this Communion is so strict and close that it never suffers any separation And as the death of the body in our Saviour did not hinder in him the personal union of the Divine nature with the humane so that the saying of the Ancient Church is true that what Christ once takes in that regard he never leaves so the death of our Bodies hinders not the mysterious union of our Saviour with us In such manner that those that he hath once taken for his members cannot but always remain so Therefore even after death the Communication of his Spirit of holiness and Consolation abides with us Now what is this Spirit of holiness and Consolation which doth never comfort or sanctify us Or what is this holiness and comfort if it gives us no sense of it self or us When any member of the body becomes mortified it is not reputed a member of it because 't is not esteemed a member but by reason of its Communion in the same life and with the same Soul which is the principle both of life and action If then the Soul do not partake in the Spirit of Christ who alone animates the whole mysterious body composed of himself and the faithful that he hath redeemed how can it be his member And how can it partake of him if it have no use of any of its faculties For the participation of the Spirit consists either in those actions to which it moves and excites us or in the habits which it impresses upon the faculties of our minds Now there is no action where the faculties are deeply asleep for 't is the property of sleep to arrest and intercept the action of our faculties and as to habits 't is neither reasonable nor imaginable that they should be preserved so many ages in a subject where they never discover themselves by any Operations the body may certainly in a sense retain the quality of a member of Christ in the dust of the grave although it feel no effect of the Communication of this Spirit because though it have immediately and by it self no connexion with the head it may have it at least by the mediation of the Soul which is the other part of the whole which both together they do compound For the Soul by the relation that it hath to it in that respect always considers it as a dependance or appendix of his essence in as much as without it it cannot constitute any subject and as an essence on which it self in some sort depends For as much as without it it cannot constitute a compleat man So that the Soul having an effective and immediate Communion with Christ by the participation of his Spirit the Body also retains some connexion with the head at least mediately and by virtue of the interposition of the Soul But if all connexion between Christ and the Soul comes to be broken which will certainly happen if the Spirit do not Communicate to it neither in habits nor actions the Soul will by it self cease to be a member of Christ and the body cannot be so by its intervention I conclude then touching this first point that the Soul separate from the body hath understanding and perception and by consequence that the Souls of the faithful departed hence do enjoy some degrees of felicity and glory Let us see whither it may proceed or what may be the degrees thereof as far as the word of God and the Analogy of faith will inform us What is the happiness of faithful Souls after their separation from the Body and what is the place where they are gathered together or assembled The Second Discourse BEcause the place whereinto the Souls of the faithful are assembled at the time of their separation doth contribute without doubt very much to their contentment and when we shall have decided where it is it will be much more easy to speak of the nature of happiness it self before we proceed to enquire into the degrees of the happiness of good men it seems necessary to search and examine what is the place which is appointed for their abode and residence To the end therefore that I may there begin my discourse it must be known that many have been of this opinion that the Souls of the Patriarchs and Fathers that lived under the Old Testament were not received into Heaven till the manifestation of the New and that by the ascension of Christ on high admission thither was granted to them And the principal foundation that they have for this opinion is that passage in the ninth Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews where it is said Vers 8. that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest under the time of legal dispensation whilst the first Tabernacle was standing Having therefore banished Souls from the habitation of Heaven for all the time that ran by till the ascension of our Saviour and it being necessary to provide for them some certain habitation to the end they might not remain wanderers and vagabonds because they did not believe any place more proper to mark out for them than the bosom of Abraham of which our Saviour speaks in the Gospel they have made no difficulty to determine that is there they have made their abode all this long tract of time only they have found themselves much perplexed when they have been to determine precisely in what part of the World the bosom of Abraham should be For some have placed it in the near neighbourhood of Hell although our Lord put a great deep between them others have made it the Porch or Antichamber of Heaven to conclude others not knowing
well what to hold or affirm have left the Question undecided Now as to what concerns the bosom of Abraham as when our Lord saith Mat. 8. 11. that many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob. He never intended to design or determin the place where these Patriarchs are together so that if the place where they are may be gathered from this Text 't is from those words in the Kingdom of Heaven And not from those and shall sit with Abraham Isaac and Jacob So there is no appearance that he intended to determine any certain place by those words in Abrahams bosom Because in his time there were two manners of eating together the one by sitting round a Table as we now do the other by lying on beds in such fashion that their heads were near each other and one did repose himself as it were in the bosom of his neighbour in the one of those Texts the Lord hath respect to one of these customs and in the other to the other to signify one and the same thing viz. that they shall eat with Abraham And because to eat together after this manner is a Testimony of a Familiar Conversation and of a Society full of friendship to signifie that Lazarus had this strict familiarity with Abraham he says that he was in his bosom as to signifie that others shall enjoy the same sweet society with him he says they shall be with him at Table Which shews without doubt that they must be in the same place but doth in no manner determine whether this place be above the Heavens or beneath the earth As to the meaning of the other Text surely those that make use of it to exclude the Spirits of the Fathers from entring into Heaven before the Ascension of Christ are deceived in the interpretation of it The Apostle means nothing thereby but that by the Ceremony of the High Priests entring once a year into the Holy of Holies with Blood for the expiation of Sins the holy Spirit did give them sufficiently to understand that the true High Priest was not as yet entred into the Sanctuary of Heaven and that the means by which that was to be accomplished was not yet made evident or revealed and indeed it could not be made evident but by the coming of the Thing it Self now the Thing it Self and the Ceremony could not subsist at the same time for the one had the place of a Figure the other of Reality and Truth and the Figure and Truth are appointed for divers times and differing dispensations the Truth therefore existing the Figure necessarily ceases And therefore as long as the Figure did by the appointment of God subsist the Truth could not be presumed actually exhibited But be the interpretation that they have given to this Text What it will it will be of no great importance whether they be deceived in it yea or no since that which the most part of them hold is a constant truth and the whole World are at an agreement with them in it And 't is that since our Lord Jesus is ascended on high the entrance into the Heavens hath been open not only to the faithful that have departed since him but also generally to all those that have lived under the dispensation of the times passed as well since as before the publication of the Law upon the mountain For what doth it concern me that Abraham and the other Patriarchs Fathers Believers and good men that lived in former times had not the advantage of entring into Heaven till our Saviour ascended thither since I my self shall enter there at death and meet them all there to partake with them in the same joy I say what doth it import me that God hath at other times taken the Souls of Believers as Elias speaks of his own and hath lodged them apart in some place at a distance from him until the ascension of our Saviour since that when he takes mine he will place it in his Sanctuary But because all Christians are not of this Opinion and that some have thought that although the faithful after death do enter into a deep Repose accompanied with Consolation and joy marvellously sensible nevertheless they will not be permitted to enter into the presence of God in the Heavens nor to enjoy the Vision of him until the Resurrection I think my self obliged briefly to examine the Texts and Reasons upon which they do establish their Persuasion They say therefore that the holy Scripture doth ordinarily remit us to the Resurrection for the accomplishment of our hopes and that it is on that day alone that our Lord doth promise to give Rewards to those that believe in him as may be seen Joh. 6. and in many other places of like nature even some have made no scruple to alledge to this purpose that Text of St. Peter where he says that Christ was quickened in the Spirit by which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison because although he there speaks of the Spirits of those that lived long before the Revelation of the new Covenant nevertheless according to their opinions there is a likeness of Reason and that we ought to make the same judgment of Believers now and those of times past in this matter and behold well near how they explain themselves There is none say they that is either rewarded or punished with those Rewards or Punishments that are appointed by the Laws until the Sentence be given and pronounced judicially now the Judgment that must pass judicially upon us is differred till the last day so that it will be contrary to all ordinary forms of Administring Justice that the Spirits of Believers should be admitted to the Vision of God before our Lord shall have pronounced Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the beginning of the World for I was an hungry c. Therefore as Criminals were kept in Prison and that 's it which is signified by the word Prison 1 Pet. 3. 19. until the pronunciation of Judgment and as they are not brought forth in publick to be punished till after Judgment is pronounced so it is reasonable that some place be appointed for the Reception of those which shall be absolved at the Coming of Christ which is different from the place wherein they shall receive their Reward but as those that are in Prison are racked and tormented in their Consciences by the fear of Judgment and the punishment that doth attend them which is properly in their opinion the pain that the damned at this time endure so it is reasonable that those that expect their Reward in the place of Repose should enjoy Consolation in the assurance of their future absolution and hopes of Glory Now if this Consideration be valid for the Fathers of the most ancient times without doubt it will be as good for the faithful of the new Covenant as for
those of the old As to this Text of Scripture I observe that 't is understood after diverse manners whereof among others there are two worthy of Consideration for some have thought that by the Spirit of Christ is meant his Soul by his preaching the knowledge that he gave to the Souls of the ancient Believers of the propitiation that he made upon the Cross by the word which we translate Prison a kind of Watch-Tower wherein these Souls expected the Redemption hoped for according to the promises that had been given them concerning it they suppose then the Souls of the ancient Believers in condition something like those that are set in Centinel on some high place in a besieged City to discover afar off from whence and when succour will appear unto them only they put this difference that the hopes of succour in a place besieged is always mixed with doubts because of the uncertainty of all human Counsels and Events and this doubt is not without fear nor fear without unquietness nor by consequent without anxiety and perturbation whereas the Souls of the holy Persons of passed ages never having any doubt concerning the promise of God have possessed a hope altogether assured and by consequent a tranquillity very profound and a contentment without any mixture of afflictions others have thought that by the Spirit of Christ must be meant his Divine Nature by his preaching the invitation to Repentance that he caused to be made in the days of Noah And by the Spirits that are in Prison for they believe that to accommodate this Hebrew phrase to our Language 't is necessary to supply these words which are or which are now the Souls of those which would not hearken to this invitation and who by reason of their obstinacy have been put under chains of darkness in those horrible Prisons where they expect their final punishment Now to make here a small Digression and to return again after a little while to the preceding Question I say that whether of these two interpretations we do embrace it will evidently conclude that Souls are not destitute of all knowledge after death for if we fasten on the first the Souls of the faithful expect with great longing the revelation of the Redemption of Jesus Christ and if we follow the second Offenders do not use always to sleep in their holes the worm of their Conscience and the fear of what is to come will awaken them Besides if the Souls of the wicked lose all sense at their going out of the Body there will be no need of assigning to them one certain and common Prison they will be sufficiently well disposed of for the expectation of Judgment in whatsoever part of the World they shall be found But let us return to the Question in hand I think this second Interpretation much the better and most agreeable both to the intention and words of the Apostle and if I should hold my self to that I should have nothing to answer but that although the Prison and place of punishment be different sufficiently often yet they are not always so sometimes Offenders are punished in the Gaols and Prisons wherein they are kept expecting the sentence of the Judge and in the time that St. Peter wrote 't was a thing sufficiently common among the Ramans and Greeks to make use of the same place first as a Prison and then as the Theater of punishment so that this Text proves not at all that the Souls of Unbelievers are not now kept in Hell although one day they must there be tormented for their Crimes And by the same reason it will not follow that the Souls of Believers are not now assembled in the Heavens although that must be one day the place of their recompence and their glory But let us give this honour to those that have proposed this first interpretation to see if by receiving it it can be proved that the Souls of the faithful have not at present their habitation in the Heavens Although the Vision of God in which consists our supream happiness must be chiefly Communicated in the Heavens nevertheless the Court of Heaven and the Vision of God may be things distinct I say God may make himself seen out of Heaven if he pleases and if he pleases he may receive a person to Heaven who shall not see God by that Vision in which consists the top and highest part of happiness Let us put the Case that the Souls of the faithful have in other ages or are at present put in some place as in a Watch-Tower those of the faithful of times past in expectation of the Redemption of the Cross and those of the faithful of the time present in expectation of the appearance of the same Redeemer this place may very well be in the Heavens though the Vision of the glory of God be not yet Communicated to them and if we compare this Text so interpreted with that This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise there will be much more reason to believe that the place of this Sentinel is in Heaven than any where else for the Paradise whither the Soul of our Lord Ascended is in the Heaven and there by consequence are the Souls of those to whom he will give the knowledge of his satisfaction As to what concerns those other Texts wherein the Scripture sends us to the day of the blessed Resurrection for the obtaining of our Reward it seems not at all necessary to understand them in such manner as may persuade us to exclude faithful Souls from Heaven There is no term more usual to represent the glory which we expect on that very happy day than that of triumph Let us then compare the Condition of them that have formerly Triumphed at Rome with the faithful that expect the Reward of Glory they first of all fought at a distance from the City in strange Countreys some nearer and some farther off according as the emergency of things and the extent of the Empire did require after they had vanquished their Enemies they were permitted to enter into the City of Rome as private persons there to demand the charges of the Common-wealth or the honour of Triumph the Senate first appointed it and no man ever triumphed at Rome without consent of the Senate or by authority of the People After a permission of Triumph was obtained they went out of the City to return again in some short time not as private Persons without any Attendance or Ornaments but as victorious Captains and Conquerors with solemn pomp and magnificence Wherefore then after the Believer hath fought here below against the Enemies of the glory of God and his Salvation and is escaped victorious in all his Combates may he not be permitted to enter as a private person stripped of his body into the heavenly Jerusalem not to demand a Triumph for that is already determined but to expect the day on which it must be Celebrated in
where the Book of the Revelation attributes to Angels and Spirits that are assembled in Heaven a voice that says without ceasing Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty and Lord thou art worthy to receive honour and power for thou hast created all things and by thy will they are and were Created and again thou wert slain and hast Redeemed us to God out of every Tribe and Language and People and Nation and hast made us Kings and Priests to our God There are two things distinct the one is the voice it self which St. John represents as if it might be heard by the ears of the Body the other is the thing signified by the voice Forasmuch as 't is that which presents it self to the understanding Now as to what concerns the attributing a voice unto them 't is a thing Symbolical accommodated to the manner of Prophetical Visions which must not necessarily be so taken as if really and indeed the Angels and blessed Spirits had so cried The Angels are indeed represented in the Holy Scripture sometimes as speaking to men and as forming sounds in the air so as it happened in the publishing of the Law upon the mountain and it is certain they have sufficient power and force upon the Elementary Bodies to impress Images and sounds there when it is convenient and to articulate them in such manner that our ears shall be capable of receiving them and presenting them intelligibly to our minds But there is great probability that all the things that St. John reports are Visions the Idea's whereof had no subsistance any farther than the Spirit of God did impress them upon his imagination and not things so really existing that they could be perceived even by his Bodily senses as to what concerns that which is pronounced by the voice there appears a manifest consent in celebrating the nature virtues and Operations of God and our Lord Jesus Christ Now all consent of that kind necessarily infers that those among whom 't is found have knowledg of the minds and affections of each other The Soul therefore is not content to employ it self alone in the contemplation and admiration of those objects which are offered to it it communicates with those of its own kind and they all with the Holy Angels conspire on this occasion to give unto God the praises and blessings that are due unto him St. Paul says that in his ravishment into the third Heaven he heard words and things that could not be uttered that is to say he would not report them to us Nor was it permitted to him that heard them to come from thence either to astonish the Spirits or entertain the curiosity of men For without doubt if he had once given himself the liberty to tell them News from on high they would have forgotten the mystery of the Cross and have so wasted their Spirits in enquiring how Paradise was made that they would have neglected the knowledg of the means by which they might ascend thither Because therefore he did not tell us what it is and he himself hath concealed from whose mouth he understood these marvels 't is neither lawful for us to enquire nor possible to obtain more knowledg than he hath given us concerning it I will only infer this that although God hath had a marvellous care to instruct his Church here below and to this end hath given to his Prophets and Apostles incomparable illuminations and which infinitely exceed the sublimest thoughts that ever entred into humane understanding nevertheless he intends things yet more ravishing in the Heavens seeing St. Paul who hath explained to us so clearly the Mysteries of Religion keeps these other secrets hidden as far surpassing our present condition and the capacity of our understanding As to what concerns the presence of our Lord as we do not willingly behold the Sun it self directly Forasmuch as the lustre of its light doth dazle our eyes therefore we rather behold its image in the water where its splendour is much less illustrious so I shall not dare to fix my mind on the contemplation of the Idea's of his body such as we imagine it to be now on high I believe it will be better to search out some representation of it elsewhere where its glory will give less darkness and confusion to my thoughts the Evangelists report that he was once transfigured upon the mountain in the presence of St. Peter James and John and that his face became shining as the Sun and his garments white and glittering as the light Which was nevertheless but an essay of his glory as we make sometimes an image of the Sun in the night by some kind of Art and notwithstanding St. Peter remained so ravished in the admiration of it that although he did not altogether sink it appears plain enough by his words that his mind staggered under it and that he was not able to bear the weight of a Spectacle so glorious How will it be then with a mind perfectly purified from the infirmities of nature and the Body when it comes to contemplate the Lord Jesus in the Heavens amidst the glory wherewithal he glitters there there is no one among us that reading the History of the Gospel and there observing the discourses of our Lord the sweetness and wisdom of his conversation his wondrous actions the report of his miracles and all that Divine conduct whereof we have the description in the New Testament who doth not esteem them very happy who had the honour not only to converse familiarly with him as his disciples did but even to touch his garments and see that countenance so full of incomparable sweetness and great Majesty both together Notwithstanding that then he was encompassed with infirmity and always carried with him the presages of his Cross and ignominious passion How will it be then with a blessed Soul when it comes to present it self before him and shall see him in that estate that becomes him that is sate down on the right hand of God in infinite Power and Glory And if we that have eyes so weak and understandings so dark do not happen on those words where it is said that he is the brightness of his Fathers glory and the Table which bears a deep and indelible impression of his Power and Authority But the lustre of these expressions and the glory of the thoughts that they produce in our minds do cause within us very extraordinary emotions What must be the vision of this glorious object then when the separate Soul shall apply it self to contemplate him with an understanding full of light There it will remember indubitably what the Holy Gospel learnt it here below there it will enter into these discourses if at least the attempts that we make upon it are capable of representing any of its thoughts This is he will it say which hath put on our nature with its infirmities but by his Resurrection and ascension upon high hath changed his
infirmities into glory This is he that conversed here below in mean condition among men and behold him raised above the magnificence of all the Angels This is he that suffered the contradiction of sinners but receives now the applause and veneration of all the Inhabitants of Heaven This is he that ignominiously hung upon the Cross but now all Creatures behold him with reverence and trembling This is he that here below suffered death but who now holds in his hand the life of all things and the subsistance of the universe This is he that was seen laid in a dark Tomb in comparison of whom now the splendor of the Sun is but as a shadow This is he that was thought unworthy that the Earth should bear him who now walks upon the Heavens and under whose feet the whole Fabrick of the World doth Tremble This is he in whom sometimes I believed indeed but with a faith always imperfect always spotted with some darkness always mingled with some remainders of incredulity whom I now see fully and manifestly and to whom I have liberty to approach without fear and behold him face to face After having in some sort represented what is the excellence of the knowledg which the believing Soul obtains when 't is received into Heaven there is no need that I should stay long to examine what is the measure of the happiness that it there enjoys For happiness consists as well in the absence of evils as in the fruition of good which are inconsistent or agreeable to the nature of those Beings which we call by the name of happy As for evils there are none that enter the Kingdom of Heaven which is a marvellous happiness to a nature sensible as ours is As for good things what may they be which are suitable to a reasonable Soul notwithstanding 't is separate from the Body Certainly as the happiness of the eye consists in seeing agreeable things and as the happiness of the ear in hearing pleasant and harmonious sounds and generally the happiness of all the other senses in exercising themselves upon those Objects whereunto nature hath appointed them with pleasure and content the happiness of the separate Soul consists in a suitable exercise of its faculties upon the most excellent Objects which can be presented to it and in the joy that is consequent thereunto It s understanding therefore being both perfectly purified in it self and filled with the presence of Objects so admirable its happiness in this respect is proportionable to the excellency of its Operation and those contemplations in which it is perpetually employed If those therefore that have any spark of generosity and any thing brave in their Souls do esteem those happy that have obtained any skill in those Sciences to which men ordinarily apply themselves and yet nevertheless an excellent Philosopher had reason to say that one drop of the knowledg of the nature of Celestial Bodies is more to be desired by reason of the nobleness of their essence and the advantage of their utility than all the Sciences that men have formed upon the other Beings of the World how happy must that Soul be that perfectly knows those things whose excellency as far surmounts the Sun and other the Stars of Heaven as they are to be esteemed more worthy than all the other Bodies of these Elementary Regions And if none of our faculties do employ themselves in their Operations in a suitable manner upon those subjects that are proportionable unto them without receiving some sensible pleasure what may be the satisfaction that a faithful Soul receives in being incessantly exercised in such marvellous Operations Certainly the pleasure of the eyes and ears is great when they are filled with such Objects whose colour or figure or harmony and justness of proportion is capable reasonably as satisfying the hunger that uncorrupted nature hath placed in those Senses For pleasure properly consists in this that now when the Objects that are without do occur unto our faculties and apply themselves to the desires or capacities that are there with so much proportion and equality that the motions that they make there be neither too languishing nor too violent but in an agreeable measure The pleasure of the mind when it employs it self with success in the contemplation of things intellectual is much more great than that of the eyes or ears because 't is a more noble faculty and things Spiritual are more excellent than Bodies and by consequence Operations more exquisite and curious do arise from the occurrence of them From whence it follows necessarily that when the faculties of the Soul are come to that point of perfection in which they do as it were as much surpass themselves when they were in a state of nature as in this state of nature they did surpass the eyes and ears and that when the Objects that are presented to them have as many or more degrees of excellency above those things intellectual which we ordinarily apprehend as they have above sensible and Corporeal Objects it is indubitable that the joy and content that doth accompany Operations so Divine must infinitely excel that which can be Ministred by the knowledg of the most perfect and sublime Sciences The understanding being filled with such excellent knowledg it must necessarily be that the will be full of love marvellously ardent towards those Objects from whence it doth derive For things that are excellent do draw our affections for their own sake and deserve our love by the sole respect of their beauty And the content that we take in the knowledg of them is a cause that we love them also for our own sake because we love our selves it cannot be that in that respect we should not love those things that Minister to our satisfaction Besides we are so naturally disposed that we do not only love those Objects from whence such excellent knowledg derives but we singularly esteem the means by which we do enjoy it and 't is for that reason that some have said that we have our eyes above our other Bodily Senses because they discover to our knowledg a far greater multitude of things than our others and under greater variety And experience teaches us that of all visible Objects light seems to be most beautiful and pleasant which comes to pass not only from its natural constitution in that it seems to be the Object which hath the most proportion with the faculty of seeing but also because 't is that which renders other things visible and which if I may so say doth colour even colours themselves and give the form and figure to the forms and figures of Bodies So that we may not doubt but that blessed Souls are wholly inflamed with the love of the persons and things which on high are perpetually presented to the eyes of their understandings Now love is of it self a thing full of contentment and joy when we enjoy the thing we love and know that we are
beloved thereof The believing Soul therefore ardently loves the happy Spirits which are received on high and likewise the Holy Angels and being likewise reciprocally loved by them and loving our Lord Jesus with an affection far above what it bears to Angels and Spirits and being much assured that it is yet much more beloved of him and to conclude seeing in its Habitation in the Heavens in the aspect of the marvellous things that are there in the company of Holy Spirits in the Society of Angels in the presence and Communion of Jesus Christ so many and such irrefragable Testimonies of the love of God towards it it plunges and drowns and totally swallows it self in the love that it bears to him and finds in all these motions a sensible and sublime taste of unspeakable felicity What it is that the Resurrection will add to the blessedness of the believing Soul The Third Discourse THis which I have said hitherunto very imperfectly concerning the happiness of the believing Soul after it is separate from the Body may enable us to conceive something of its grandeur as by the lightning that passes before our eyes we do in some manner judge of the quantity of fire that is wrapt up in the dark clouds But although there be attractives enough in what we understand of it to excite the desire and admiration of it in our hearts yet it falls far short of its perfection as long as man remains deprived of the other half of his essence For the believer of whose happiness we are now discoursing may be considered after three manners First in himself then as the world hath some Relation to and Connexion with him And lastly as he hath some Relation to the Church as a member hath Relation to his Body Now to consider him in himself seeing he is composed of a Soul and a Body to whatsoever perfection the Soul be advanced so it is that whilst the Body remains under the power of death its happiness is not compleat To consider it in the Relation that it and the World have between each other forasmuch as the World was made for-man and hath been made subject to vanity by reason of him when man shall be placed all entire in perfect happiness as far as precisely concerns himself nevertheless he cannot be said to be absolutely and entirely happy as long as the World remains subject to misery by reason of him and by occasion of him bears the marks of the cruse of God Lastly to consider him after the third manner Forasmuch as he is a part of that whereof the Church is the whole although he should behold himself perfectly happy in himself and although he should see the World delivered from the curse that it incurred for his sake nevertheless he cannot be said to enjoy a full felicity until the whole Church on its part partake in the enjoyment of it If Esther esteemed her self miserable although she were advanced to the glory of a great Empire whilst she beheld her Nation in danger of desolation the Believer may not account it self happy whilst some of his brethren are fighting upon Earth and others with respect to their Bodies are under the power of death and rotting in their graves Forasmuch then as the Soul in that beatitude that it enjoys in the Heavens hath sufficient knowledge of all these Relations 't is impossible that it should not desire the Resurrection of its Body to the end that it may be united with it and the deliverance of the World out of its misery and vanity so that it may no longer be subject to corruption for its sake and the glorification of the Church in a perfect felicity so that the state of that wherewith it hath such inviolable ties may not divide its thoughts betwixt grief and and joy Now he is not happy perfectly that doth desire and hath yet reason and subject to desire something 'T is very true the desire of the Soul in all these regards is without inquietude and anxiety for these passions are generated either from the impatience of our spirits or the uncertainty of the event of what we desire or from hence that although the event that we expect is sure yet the condition that we are in in the mean while is troublesome in it self and uneasy to be born As to what concerns impatience there is not the least string or fiber there-of in the Souls that are on high they are endued with all sorts of Virtues principally they are all swallowed up in a profound respect to the providence of God And as to the assurance of their hope they are more than most assured that it will never fail them since God hath promised it and the power that he hath to execute his Counsels finds no where either difficulty or impossibility to arrest or hinder it to conclude as to what respects their condition the little which I have above reported of it represents it capable of swallowing up in the sweetness of its contents all resentments they may have for the length of their expectations When the Holy Ghost in the Revelation causeth us to hear them cry how long Lord wilt thou not avenge our blood we may not take that for any mark of inquietude of mind any more than for an inordinate desire of vengeance Forasmuch as in this place they consider their enemies as reprobated and adjudged by God to the suffering of punishment and are no longer obliged to have any charity for them Our charity having none for its object but such as may have some access to the mercy of our Heavenly Father Is the gate then closed upon any one Yea as it hath been from the beginning upon Devils or on those that have sinned against the Holy Ghost or on those against whom God hath pronounced an irrevocable sentence of death and condemnation our charity remains utterly extinct in respect of them And to desire the Execution of this condemnation as the Souls of the faithful do is nothing but a conformity to the Divine Justice and will So that the words how long are purely and simply a Holy breathing of Zeal which they have to see the glory of God shining in the Execution of his judgments which doth not pass the bounds of respect which they owe to the conduct of his wisdom Nevertheless although they be without inquietude so it is as I have said they are not without out desire Now he which desires gives evidence that something is wanting to his condition and by consequent is not accomplished in all things And 't is for this reason that we must see what will be the happiness of believers in these three respects at the last day For the first it seems that there are principally two things to be considered that is to say what will be the quality and condition of the body when it shall be raised again and then what will be the estate of the Soul when it shall be rejoined unto
having been able to find out the truth of some Geometrical Problems even so far as to feel some kind of ravishment therein how will it be with us when there will be nothing in all those secrets of Sciences to which men ordinarily addict themselves which is not exposed to our sight as in perfect light In comparing them also with the estate of things then For although all these wonders of nature be supreamly lovely in themselves so it is that by comparison they cause us to find those of the supernatural State yet infinitely more lovely and will contribute so much the more to our satisfaction and ravishment and if it may be permitted to compare small things with great it will be as if after we had considered a glass of frail and ordinary constitution mingled with store of knots which hindered much of its transparency and luster we should see it in a moment transformed into Christal not only pure and resplendent to a wonder but also easy to be hammered and resisting all kinds of strokes without any offence or damage For it cannot be doubted but that our astonishment would then be very great and that we should enquire with extream care from what cause a change so observable should proceed As to what concerns the Church I shall not consider it at present so much in it self as with respect to that Religion by which it arrives at this glory and which now seems to be composed principally of the Histories of things past of the predictions of those that are yet to come of Doctrines that have no particular regard to any difference of times and of promises in which God hath declared his good will and the riches that he hath designed for us All which things do now compose a Body of science altogether admirable as well in the excellency of the parts whereof 't is constituted as in the wonderful symmetry and agreement that is among them and in the beautiful Harmony which they make with the Ceremonies which have been appointed to confirm the promises of God unto us Now 't is very true that touching Ceremonies we shall make no use of them in the Kingdom of Heaven They are helps for the support of our present infirmities which can have no place in the perfect State that is to come We shall not any more consider the promises as objects of our faith because they will be performed and Faith as the Apostle teaches us will in that respect be abolished We shall no more consider the predictions of things to come in that quality or under that notion because we shall see the events of them accomplished whereof the most part will eternally subsist before our eyes and that which is at this time a prediction will become a History In like manner we shall no more consider the Doctrines that have particular respect to any difference of times as things the belief and assurance whereof is a means to bring us to the fruition of happiness For when we are in the enjoyment of the end the means as such lose their use and value But nevertheless both the Histories appertaining to Religion which at the present we Consider as such and the things contained in the Prophecies to which we give the name of predictions and the Doctrines which we apprehend as Eternal verities and which change not their nature with change of times and that which is contained under the promises and the reasons of the institution of Ceremonies and Sacraments will form in the perfection in which we shall see them Objects so noble and lovely to be presented to our understandings and instructions so illustrious concerning the perfections of God whereof I have spoken before that we know not how to express with what greediness our Souls will continually feed their thoughts on them and we may not reckon what will be their emotions and transports then by that sluggishness and stupid negligence wherewithal we behave our selves very often at present in the contemplation of these Divine Objects The little knowledg that we have of their excellence and the little vivacity of desire that is in our inward thoughts for things of this nature is a cause that very few men apply themselves unto them and even of those few there are not any that have that taste of them as they ought We must measure and reckon them by the inclinations of Angels themselves who find in these Mysteries although they be at this time but imperfectly revealed so many beauties depths and wonders that St. Peter represents them as bending and inclining themselves downwards attentively to consider them and to endeavour to fathom them as far as the light of Intelligences so excellent and perfect can attain But if besides this you add to the consideration of Religion in it self that of the images and types thereof which God hath put in the constitution of the World and the old Covenant you will easily conceive that the searching out of the agreements that ought to be between the figures and the truths is an employment in speculations very profitable and agreeable to our minds For we may not imagine that so many lovely similitudes as are between the first Creation and Redemption of the World whereof the Apostle St. Paul only observes some few nor that so many lovely things as the shadows of the Old Testament do now cover and whereof we shall have little or no knowledge as long as the World endures will remain Eternally buried in obscurity All the marvels which are unknown both in nature and in Religion which notwithstanding have been produced by the Divine wisdom to the end that understanding Creatures might by them be raised to praise and adore it shall one day be unfolded from the darkness in which they are that they may serve the end and use to which they were intended That cause to which they owe their Original is too wise to have them buried like Gold in mines so deep that we shall never be able to fetch them thence 'T is necessary that the nature of things do open if I may so express it its bowels and give us one day a view and enjoyment of the inestimable treasures which the hand of God hath hidden there Now the time that will be given us for this Divine employment with the other circumstances that will accompany it is very considerable For 't is certain that to be profitably employed in the Contemplation of things 't is necessary that we be exempt from all incommodities from elsewhere Because the sense of incommodity carries away the mind from its Object and recalls it however unwilling it be to that which troubles it Now we shall be there both so far removed from all evils and possest of so great an affluence of all sorts of content that there is not the least reason in the World to fear that any thing will divert be it never so little our Spirits or hinder them from remaining fixed upon