Salvation as he has already done so to some And that he will also make them acquainted with the Conditions that he requires of them in order to their being made Partakers of such Salvation that is he will make them acquainted with Jesus Christ their Saviour and with his Doctrine and Laws And then to come up close to that Design at which we have all along aimed Since we know by Experience that God has not by any Means made all Men acquainted with these Things in this Life that therefore he will do it in a future Life And it seems to me that he has given us sufficient Grounds to believe that he will do so in those very Revelations which he has already afforded us to guide us in the Way of Salvat on For tho' the generality of Christians and by their Way of wording themselves whether in their Popular Discourses or in their Writings one would be inclined to think that the generality of Divines too do conceive that the Resurrection of all Men will be caused at one and the same time perhaps invited to such a Persuasion because as the Scriptures do tell us that a Resurrection is in order to a General Judgment so they do assign but one Day to that Judgment called therefore the Day of Judgment Yet we may do well to consider That short and general Expressions are very seldom compleat and full Narratives And if in this very Case the Scriptures where they descend to a more particular Account of the Matter do give us in a different Information and so do assure us that the Resurrection of all Men shall not be at one and the same time but that there is a distinct Period of Time set out for the Resurrection of some Men from that which is appointed for the Resurrection of others then we hope it will not be thought an Extravagance if we shall assert That there will be more Resurrections than one or which perhaps speaks our Meaning plainer That several Sorts of Men according to the Tariety of their Behaviour and other their Circumstances in this World shall be raised not only in different Conditions but also at differeut Times in the next World And those Times too as will appear from what will be spoken hereafter at Distances considerably remote from each other Now the Scriptures in the Twentieth Chapter of the Revelations do acquaint us with a three-fold Resurrection 1. The First is of those Men who were Martyrs for Jesus and for the Word of God c. ver 4. By which I understand all the Faithful in Christ tho' I do not in this Place contend the Truth of such Exposition because I shall have occasion to speak to it hereafter 2. The Second Resurrection is in ver 5. where we are told that the rest of the Dead lived not again till the thousand Years were finished Now those who are said to be first raised in the Fourth Verse are there also said to reign with Christ a thousand Years Therefore when we are told in the Fifth Verse that the rest of the Dead lived not again till the thousand Tears were finished it is implied that then they did live again So that a thousand Years do intervene between the first and second Resurrection And tho' it follows in the latter end of the Fifth Verse This is the first Resurrection yet it is evident that that cannot be meant of the Resurrection in the Fifth Verse because we had been before made acquainted with a Resurrection which was a thousand Years before it I therefore take the whole Sentence in the former part of the Fifth Verse But the rest of the Dead lived not till the thousand Years were finished to be Proâ—eptical and to come in in a Parenthesis For indeed their proper Place is between the Sixth and Seventh Verses Let us therefore see how the Sense will go if we remove them from the Place where they stand at present and place them between the Sixth and Seventh Verses Ver. 4. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand Years Ver. 5. This is the first Resurrection Ver. 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection On such the secord Death hath no power but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand Years Now if in this Place we bring in those Words in the Fifth Verse But the rest c. the Sense will go thus Ver. 5. But the rest of the Dead lived not again until the thousand Years were finished Ver. 7. And when the thousand Years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his Prison and shall go out to deceive the Nations c. By which it is plain that if the Sentence at the beginning of the Fifth Verse be removed and placed between the Sixth and Seventh-Verses then the Sense and the Discourse concerning both the First and Second Resurrection will be entire and continued and also will be plain easie and natural Now from the Words thus restored to their natural and true Order we do to our present purpose take notice 1. That they who have behaved themselves as faithful Christians in this Life shall be raised first in the next Life 1 Cor. chap. 15. ver 23. 2. That they shall reign with Christ a thousand Years before any of the rest of Mankind shall be raised 3. That they shall reign with Christ here upon Earth because 1. The Dead in Christ shall rise first shall with the Faithful that are alive and remain at the Lord 's coming be caught up in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air From whence we do with Mr. Mead infer That the Lord is at that time coming down to the Earth for otherwise how should they meet him Consult the First to the Thessalonians chap. 4. towards the latter end 2. Because the Saints of the First Resurrection shall after the thousand Years be besieged in the beloved City Rev. 20. ver 9. But such City comes down from Heaven to Earth Rev. 21. ver 2. And it is evident in the First Text that the City besieged was upon the Earth Consult the Second of Peter ch 3. ver 13. 4. That they shall never die more because they shall ever be with the Lord 1 Thes ch 4. ver 17. 5. That they shall with him judge the Angels 1 Cor. chap. 6. ver 3. and probably also wicked Men See the Second Verse of the same Chapter Compare also the Thrones in the Fourth with the great White Throne in the Eleventh Verse of the Twentieth Chapter of Revelations By all which it is at least suggested that the Saints of the first Resurrection shall then be with the Lord Jesus when he shall judge both wicked Angels and Men. 6. That as our Saviour after his own Resurrection continued upon Earth Forty Days and then ascended into Heaven so his People shall upon their Resurrection continue with him upon Earth a thousand Years and
and his Law he would be unwise also And therefore 6. Lastly The last Judgment and that Description that we meet with of it in Gods Word do fully assure us that he has no such Designs in his Counsels as to throw away his Laws to gratifie his Enemies with Impunity From all which Reasons and as we do believe from each of them in particular it seems satisfactorily evident that a Gospel-Pardon of Sin is no absolute Pardon And that therefore when God does in the Gospel promise Pardon of Sin there must be some previous Conditions that must be observed in order to such a Pardon And what Share our Saviour has in the Performance and Accomplishment of such Conditions we shall learn hereafter In the mean time before we dismiss this Chapter we must not dissemble that it may be surmised and therefore also that it may be objected That tho' there should be no alsolute Gospel-Pardon that yet there may be an arbitrary Gospel-Pardon and that there are some Expressions in the New Testament that lean that way and may at least incline us to believe that there is such a Thing But because we are sure that no Pardon can come from God but what is just and because we know that Arbitrary Justice is only one Branch of Arbitrary Power and therefore is in reality no Justice at all for it is only a resolute Determination of the Will without any Reason for such Determination therefore we are sure that it cannot belong to God For all his Actions are limited and bounded by his Holiness that is by the Eternal Rules of Reason and Justice And he only therefore wills what he pleases because he neither does not can please to will any thing but what is Just CHAP. III. A Gospel-Salvation contains in it 1. Pardon of Sin 2. The Gift of Eternal Happiness To these Two other Things required 1. An Expiation of Sin 2. A Restitution to Holiness Negatively the several Ways how such Expiation cannot be made from whence an Inference of the Doctrine asserted with some Practical Inferences HAving in the First Chapter made it good that Misery and Death that is in one Word that Vengeance is as the just so also the necessary Wages of Sin And in the Second That the Gospel it self holds out no such thing to us as either an Absolute or Arbitrary Forgiveness of Sin Our next Proposition must be That because the Gospel in this very Case is the Revelation of God's Will and because the Will and Counsel of God in that Gospel revealed is the Pardon and Salvation of Man that therefore Man's Sin is to be pardoned tho' not by an absolute or arbitrary Forgiveness And then because it must for that Reason be pardoned some way or other it will be our next Business to enquire what that Way is For by such Enquiry it may perhaps appear to be a Gospel-Truth and that too agreeable to Reason That there is not Salvation in any other but in Jesus Christ alone and that there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved And here because the Gospel promises no absolute Pardon of Sin as we do from thence in the first place conclude that the Pardon must be conditional so we must in the next place enquire what that Condition or what those Conditions are upon which this Pardon is to be obtained Now if in order to our more rational and satisfactory Resolution of this Enquiry we do first look into the Gospel there to inform our selves what a Gospel-Salvation means we may from thence learn that it does contain in it Two Things Whereof the first is Pardon of Sin and the second is the Gift of Eternal Happiness And in order to the obtaining of these Two Things as we shall see more fully in the farther Prosecution of this Matter Two other Things are in the Gospel required 1. An Expiation of Sin and 2. A Restitution to our lost Holiness For as we may conclude from our second Proposition That tho' the Gospel does allow a Pardon yet because it does not allow an absolute Pardon of Sin that therefore something will be required in order to such a Pardon So we may conclude from our first Proposition That because Punishment for Sin is necessary therefore some Punishment be that what it will at present must be suffered for our Sin And then if in the Progress of our Discourse it shall appear that in Consideration of any such Punishment so suffered the Gospel-Pardon of our Sins does afterwards ensue then such Pardon may be so far ascribed to such Punishment as that our Guilt and the Vengeance due to such our Guilt may be truly esteemed to be expiated by it Now in order to find out what Punishment it is that can make such an Expiation we shall first enquire what Punishment cannot do it And because Repentance does not so wholly consist in Action but that it must have something of Suffering mixed with it therefore in pursuit of our Design let our first Negative Proposition be this 1. That our Repentance for our Sins can never make out an Expiation of our Sins For tho' Repentance for our Sins be a Gospel-Condition required of us without which we shall never be made Partakers of the Benefit of the Gospel-Expiation yet notwithstanding that we neither do nor can by our Repentance make out that Expiation for Sin which is by the Gospel necessary for our Salvation For besides that there is no Man's Repentance so exact and compleat as to free him from all Sin while he lives and so after all he must remain a Sinner as long as he lives I say besides that His very manner of going out of the World and that is by Death is a demonstrative Proof that his Repentance has not made an Expiation for his Sins because we may most certainly conclude that his Sins are not then expiated and so neither pardoned when God himself lays on the Penalty threatned in his Law with his own Hand For when God gave his Law to Mankind in their universal Father and Representative Adam we know that he ratified such Law by the Penalty of Death and we know also that every Man let him be as pemtent as can be supposed does still suffer that Penalty And we may from thence also know that for that Reason no Man's Repentance can so far expiate his Sin as to free him from the Punishment threatned to it by the Law And then from the whole we may conclude That if any Man be saved because he is a true Penitent he must be saved by some other Expiation than by such his Repentance forasmuch as his Repentance can at the most but qualifie him to be made a Partaker of such Expiation 2. As Man's Repentance for his Sin which we may call his voluntary Punishment for Sin cannot so neither can his professed Punishment which we may call his legal Punishment for Sin expiate his Sin and so
reckoned a Reward And if that Obedience to which such Reward is by the Law assigned were entirely their own then that Person whom yet the Scriptures call their Saviour could in no Sense be truly so called because in such Case their Salvation would be their own legal Purchase as being the Reward of their own Obedience And lastly to suppose the Saviour to be therefore their Saviour because he bestows upon them Salvation in Consideration of an Imperfect Obedience that is an Obedience which is so far from deserving Salvation that it does indeed stand in need of a Pardon is to suppose him to bestow the Reward there where the Law does not lay it that is upon Supposition that such Law is Just it is to suppose him to be Unjust From all which the Conclusion at last must be That since their Saviour must save them for their exact Obedience to the Law if he save them justly and since we are sure that he does save them justly tho' they have paid no such Obedience that therefore the Method in which he saves them is by entitling them to a perfect Obedience Now how that is done will be our Business to make out as also that the Manner of his doing it is just and righteous and therefore reasonable By which it will appear that our present Way of Reasoning does not want its Weight tho' perhaps it may at present seem too light to demand an Assent But before we proceed to that we shall offer a few Practical Reflections upon what has been already laid down 1. And first From what has been said we may easily perceive that God is not so fond of our Persons or of our future and everlasting Happiness as to provide for such our Happiness by his own Neglect of his own Law For Heaven and Earth shall pass away but one Tittle of his Law shall not do so Tho' therefore we can easily allow our selves to break his Law and make light of his Commands yet we may therefore be sure that he will not do so because his Commands and his Laws are Holy For it is a foolish and vain Imagination to think that essential Justice and Holiness that is in other Words that God will put Slights upon himself to gratifie those with Impunity and much less with Glory and Immortality who put Slights upon Holiness by sinning against his Laws The truth of it is because we are fond of our selves and very desirous of our own Happiness we are ay! and the very best of us too too apt to think that God is so too and in this Case we are foolishly inclined to think him to be altogether such an one as our selves And this makes us to entertain soft and easie Thoughts of his Mercy and in the mean time to have no due Regard to his Justice But if we would but consider that both his Mercy and his Justice are guided by his Holiness and that as he will not punish us without our Demerit so neither will he reward us unless we become righteous I say if we would but seriously consider this it might be an effectual Means to engage us to look better to our Ways lest whilst we think we are on our Journey towards Happiness we be found by Mistake to tread in the broad Road that leads to Destruction 2. From what has been said we may learn where to seek and to find what we do all naturally desire and that is Happiness I say we may learn that it is only to be sought wisely and to be found certainly in the Ways of Holiness For tho' our Sins may be expiated by the Death of our Saviour yet when we have made our selves Sinners we are not sure that we shall be made Partakers of such Expiation and so we are not sure of the Pardon of such our Sins and we are sure that without returning to the Paths of Holiness we shall not be made Partakers of such Expiation and that therefore we shall only enjoy the Benefit of it when we are found in such Paths The most certain Means therefore of making our selves happy will be by keeping our selves holy For so long as we do so we keep our selves within the reach of the Gospel-Promises and tho' our Holiness be not in this World perfect yet as we shall see shortly God will provide a way to make that and our Happiness perfect in another World 3. By what has been said we may learn how it comes to pass that we have no sincere and entire Happiness in this World and that is because we have not here any sincere and entire Holiness For were we freed from all Sin we should be also freed from all Misery For we mistake if we do not think that Crosses Losles Pains Sickness and Death are all of them the Effects of our Sins And we may be sure that they therefore are so because we are sure that when our Sins are done away all these Miseries shall be taken away too No! Sin is mixed with our Life That spots stains and corrupts it and so Affliction and Misery come to be mixed with it too And therefore were Sin once banished out of this lower World and true Righteousness planted in its Place were God's Will done in Earth as it is done in Heaven his Kingdom would presently come and the Glories and Beatitudes of Heaven would certainly flow in upon all those who have arrived to a perfect that is to an Heavenly Holiness Since therefore we may be so easily satisfied that it is Sin and Sin alone that impairs our Happiness and that too that Happiness which most of us love so well our Happiness in this World one would think that this Consideration single and by its self should engage us to hate Sin as much as we love such our Happiness and therefore also to endeavour to encrease our Happiness by destroying our Sins 4. If our Good Works are so full of Flaws and Imperfections that in order to our Salvation it will be necessary that we be entitled to a Perfect Obedience then this may instruct us not to trust in them alone for our Salvation For tho' it be true that we cannot be saved without them yet it is as true that we cannot be saved by them alone because an Imperfect Cause can never produce a Perfect Effect Such Salvation then as the Gospel has taught us to hope and expect God in our Saviour only can bestow but we can never by our Good Works deserve And therefore even he who has wrought out such Salvation for us has taught us when we have done the best we can still to confess our selves unprofitable Servants 5. Lastly If no Man's Obedience be perfect in this World then it will but ill become us to boast of our Perfection here Which in this latter Age has been the known Practice of several proud Seducers and Enthusiasts who have therefore despised all other Christians but those of their own Cast or Sect as
Devils and therefore much more beyond the reach of short-sighted Man And yet by his Light he can because he has instructed us that such Things are not only the Effects of an Almighty Power but of an Almighty Wisdom of an Almighty Justice and of an Almighty Mercy too For in the Business of Man's Salvation as in all Things else he does so display his Attributes as that they never clash nor interfere His Mercy does not fight against his Justice nor his Justice against his Mercy and neither fights against his Wisdom By the Revelation therefore of the Christian Religion God has admitted us to a nearer View of his Dealings with the Children of Men and has at least communicated so much of his Counsel to us as may assist us if we be not wanting to our selves to provide for our own everlasting Happiness and Security and to vindicate and assert his Justice and Mercy Let us therefore thankfully receive the Mercy as it is graciously offered and not pretend to regulate his Revelations by our feeble Reason but guide our Reason by his Revelations For we know that he can do more than we can and therefore also we may know that he can guide us better than we can guide our selves And because he has vouchsafed in Mercy so to do it will but very ill sort with that Deference we owe him to do as too many now-a-days do that is to return from Revealed to Natural Religion and so to walk in Paths not only of our own chusing but many times of our own making too For since the Day-Star from on High hath visited us it is our Duty as to guide our Lives so to guide our Faith by that Light which it affords us 2. Since we can only be saved in Consideration of our Obedience to the Law and since none of us have paid such Obedience and so if we stand the Award of our own Deserts we must needs fall short of Salvation I say since Things are so we ought with Heart and Voice to praise our Saviour who by an Infinite Condescension both obliged himself to obey the Law and so intimately united us to himself as to entitle us to his Obedience by which we may be saved For as there is no other way of obtaining Salvation but by Obedience so there is no other Name given but his whereby we must be saved and therefore we may safely conclude that that Obedience by which we must be saved is his His Love to Righteousness then made his Obedience perfect and his Love to us made his Obedience ours and Both if we be not wanting to our selves will make our Condition happy and secure And then surely our Security and Happiness as they do very well deserve so they do require a Thanksgiving For we therefore stand bound to be grateful to and to love the Author of our Happiness because we find that we cannot but love our selves 3. As we cannot be saved without our Saviour's Righteousness so as we desire our own Safety we should heartily endeavour to qualifie our selves to be made Partakers of such his Righteousness And we may be sure that our Desire at least after Righteousness and our Good-will to entertain it are necessary even for our obtaining the Imputation of it because it cannot in any Sense be ours if we be not willing that it should be so We must be therefore disabled to receive it if we be unwilling to entertain it So much Righteousness God requires of us in order to our being entitled to a perfect Righteousness I know that some Divines do speak of Irresistible Grace and that some few do defend it That is in a few Words they make God by the arbitrary Determinations of his own Pleasure to bestow Grace upon some Men whether they will or no and even against their Inclinations And to make good what they so maintain they instance in the Conversion of St. Paul and such like Cases But tho' St. Paul and some others have been converted by Miracle yet we know well enough that Miracles wrought for the self-same purpose have not always been attended with Success and that the Miracles even of our Saviour himself and those too wrought before their Eyes did fail of their designed Effect and that in a manner upon the whole Nation of the Jews And we know not the Hearts of Men nor the inward but real Preparations of Soul that may duely qualifie them to admit God's Grace But we do know that St. Paul thought verily that he ought to do as he did And then tho' he was defective in his Knowledge yet because he acted according to such Knowledge he was therefore honest and sincere in his Practice And then if God in pity to his Ignorance and in approbation of his Sincerity did reward that Sincerity with an extraordinary Direction for the guidance of his Practice we may from thence be taught that his Grace was suited to St. Paul's Will For he willed that after the Miracle which he willed before it that is he willed that which he took to be good And indeed we may as well think any other Creature to be capable of Righteousness as we may think Man to be so without his own Will and Consent Let us therefore take care that we will and endeavour to obey God's Law that is to be righteous if we design that God our Saviour should make us so For we cannot be like him unless we are willing to be so He therefore who would appear at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb must take care to wash and cleanse himself from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit in order to his putting on the Wedding-Garment For as they only shall be pronounced Blessed who shall be found Righteous so they only shall be found so who do sincerely desire and endeavour to be so CHAP. XI The First and General Proposition asserted from all that has been said That the whole Doctrine of a Gospel-Salvation as laid down in the Scriptures is agreeable to the allowed Practices of Mankind in their Legal or Judicial Proceedings and is worded in the Scriptures accordingly AND now having gone so far before we proceed any farther we shall bring all that we have hitherto spoken to our Design at the Beginning and by so doing shall endeavour to make it out That there is not Salvation in any other but in Jesus Christ alone and That there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved 1. And to do this we shall first shew That no other but our Saviour alone could so suffer for Sin as to obtain a Release from the Penalty which the Law had threatned against it Or which is much one and the same Thing That no one but our Saviour alone could make an Expiation for the Sin of Man 2. And secondly That no one but our Saviour alone could by an exact Obedience to the Law purchase that Reward the Gift of Eternal Life which
Common Sense that Immortality is a sure Fence for that Life If therefore God has graciously made Provision for the Gratification of this our most exalted Appetite by securing to us a future Immortality and if over and above he has engaged to secure that very Immortality from the Loads and Incumbrances of all those Miseries which do constantly attend our Mortal Life in this World I say if God has done so great Things for us we ought to look upon our selves to be obliged in Gratitude to endeavour a Return as far as our slender Abilities go in some measure proportionate to the Almighty Bounty For if ever our Thanks be due to any one whomsoever then most certainly they must be so to him who is willing and able and has promised to gratifie the utmost Pitch and the most exalted Desires of our own Self-love 2. Has God provided an Immortal and Secure Life for us in another World Then that should engage us not to set up for Happiness in this For tho' it be granted that the Good Things of this Life are present and at hand but that those of a better Life are lodged at a distance and so we are engaged in our Pursuit after the first by our Senses but we can only pursue the last by our Faith or Hope Yet because our Experience upon innumerable Repetitions has constantly convinced us that our Senses have alway deceived us for our highest and most exalted Enjoyments here do always determine in Emptiness and Dissatisfaction I say for this single Reason if yet there were no other we should for the future rather seek for the Happiness we desire there where our Faith tells us it may be had than to repeat our Disappointments by pursuing it there where our Experience has convinced us that it cannot Alas a very little consideration may satisfie us that in our Attempts after Happiness by the Pursuit of the Good Things of this Life we always blunder and that too whether we do or do not obtain those Good Things which we so pursue For if we do not then we lose our desired Happiness by our Disappointment But if we do then either they must leave us by reason of their slipperiness and uncertainty or we must leave them by reason of our Mortality And then be it one or be it t'other the Case is much one and the same for in both Cases the expected Happiness vanishes And because by this we may perceive that we cannot be made happy by any Thing in this Life therefore 3. Let us be exhorted to seek our Happiness in a future Life that is as has appeared to seek it there where it may be had For if Happiness be to be had any where undoubtedly it is to be had in the Favour and Presence of God who as he is the undoubted Author of all Things so for that Reason alone he is the undoubted Author of all that Happiness which we can possibly reap from the Enjoyment of any Good whatsoever Now because the same Revelations which have discovered to us a Future and Immortal Life have also acquainted us that that Life is lodged in the kind and favourable Presence of God that is in Heaven and because we know that no unholy or impure Thing shall come into the Presence of him who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity Therefore to the present Exhortation let me add this Direction and that is That we pursue our future Glory and Immortality or Eternal Life hereafter by an holy Life here For the true and solid Reason why there is no Misery nor Death in Heaven is because there is no Sin nor Wickedness there For Death and Misery are so far forth the inseparable Companions of Sin and Wickedness that as where-ever we find the last there we are sure to find the first so where the first are not there we may be sure that the last are shut out And therefore because Mortality and Misery have no Place in Heaven we may for that Reason stand confirmed that Sin and Impiety have no Place there neither If therefore we do in good earnest design to be lodged in those Regions of Happiness we must first be sure to cast off our Sins and to leave them behind us For so sure as Death is the Wages of Sin so sure it is that Immortality and Happiness shall not be the Portion of the Impenitent And so long as God is in his own Nature Holy and that is so long as he is God so long he must be displeased with all those who are pleased with and make much of Sin the grand Enemy of such his Nature because the grand Enemy of such his Holiness CHAP. XIV Wherein the Happiness of Eternal Life does consist Several Reflections and Considerations on what has been said tending to promote an Holy Life HAving in the last Chapter shewed by what Means we are put into the Possession of an Happy and Eternal Life the Purchase of our Saviour's Merits We must in this according to our Promise inquire wherein the Happiness of such Life does consist And in answer to this Inquiry we lay it down in short That the Consummate Happiness of the Saints in Eternal Life does consist in that Joy Pleasure and full Satisfaction which results from their Loving the Lord their God with all their Heart with all their Soul with all their Strength and with all their Mind and from their Enjoyment of God the Party beloved and his Love I have chose to express the Love of the glorified Saints to God in the Words of Scripture because they seem to me to contain in them such an Intense Love under so large and comprehensive an Expression that had I delivered it in other Words I should more than have doubted that I should have fallen short of the Thing And I do believe that such Caution will then appear to be no scrupulous Nicety when we shall come seriously to weigh and consider those Things that follow 1. And first we take notice what every one may easily be satisfied of by their own Experience That we love our selves best that is before and beyond all other Persons and all Things whatsoever And there neither is nor can be any doubt but that such our Inclination is planted in us at our first Formation by the Hand of God himself And therefore neither does God ever require of us to slight or cast it away but by such Motives that will more than recompense all the Evil that we do or can suffer by our so doing And therefore he who in the Cause of God and Goodness shall so far undervalue his own Welfare as to part with that Welfare be it what it will for the sake of such Cause may be sure of a Compensation from God's Hand that shall repair his Damages with advantage and that too tho' what he so parts with be Life it self And therefore it was a fixed and undoubted Persuasion in the Primitive Christians that
of the Love of God in the Effusions of such Joy and Delight such agreeable Transports and Ecstasies as shall fill the utmost Capacities of his Chosen ones and shall therefore exceed their Hopes and Wishes because their first Knowledge of such their Happiness can only come from their Experience of it and that Experience alone will fully answer to and gratifie their Self-love 7. Lastly The Love of the glorified Saints to God will be still further augmented and indeed receive its full Complement and Perfection by their Assurance that all that Happiness of which they stand possessed at present shall be eternal For a Fear of a Failure for the future may dash the Relish of the highest Enjoyment for the present and our Satisfaction in the Possession of any Good Thing be it what it will must needs be abated if it be accompanied with a Doubt of its Continuance But Happiness with Security must needs be compleat and perfect Nay it must be so much the more compleat and perfect because tho the Continuance of Happiness be future yet the Assurance of such Continuance is present and by such Assurance we do in some Degree compendiously and at the same time enjoy both our present and our future Happiness Now the Blessed in Glory may therefore be secure of the Eternity of their Happiness because God's Love stands immutably engaged to their Holiness forasmuch as such their Holiness is indefectible and eternal For where that is eternal his Love most certainly is so too To conclude in a few Words Our Love of our selves makes us desire to be happy But it must be our Love of something else that must make us so For if the Love of our selves could of it self make us happy then it could not for that Reason engage us to desire to be so And nothing can conduce to our Happiness much less can any thing compleat it but what is entertained by our Love When therefore we fix our Love upon that which will answer the Desires of our Self-love we may then be sure that we love that which may make us happy and when we come to possess and enjoy that which we so love we may be sure that we shall be happy and if our Enjoyment of it be securely eternal we may then be farther assured that we shall be always so And that our perfect Love of God and our Enjoyment of his Love and Favour will bring all these things to pass we hope our foregoing Discourse has made good 1. Now if the Happiness of our future State in Glory shall come from our Love of God and his Love of us then this should teach us to have a care that we do not make our selves unfit for the Happiness of Heaven by our Uncharitableness whilst we live here upon Earth For the Love of God will hardly be perfected in that Man who does not love his Neighbour For He who loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how shall he love God whom he hath not seen And he who does not love God here how shall his Love to him be perfected hereafter For that that is not can never be made perfect And he whose Love to God shall never be made perfect how shall he be ever made happy For there can be no Happineâ—s no not in Heaven it self without our perfect Love of God It is remarkable that our Saviour when he taught his Disciples to pray tho' he taught them to pray for several Things yet annexes a Condition to that Petition alone by which they were to bâ—g Forgiveness of their Sins and afterwards gives them a Reason for his so doing because if they forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will their Father who is in Heaven forgive them their Trespasses By which we may understand that as we shall not be admitted into Heaven unless we be made like to God and as we shall not be admitted into Heaven unless God does forgive us our Sins so neither shall we be admitted into Heaven unless we be in this like to God that we do forgive their Sins to others In one Word the malicious ill-natur'd and uncharitable Man is one of the worst Companions in the World For he is very apt to do it always and for the most part actually does make all People uneasie where he comes and from thence we may be satisfied that he is very unlikely to come in for a Share of that Happiness which consists in Love And for that Reason we may be satisfied also that till he lays aside his Uncharitableness it will be impossible that he should be made Partaker of the Happiness of the Blessed 2. If our eternal Happiness must come from our ardent and eternal Love of God and Holiness then we should have a care that we do not place our Religion and by consequence our Hopes of eternal Happiness in such Things which have no real Holiness in them For it is a very great Mistake which yet perhaps runs thro all Sorts of Christians to think that such Things that are not good and holy will for ever make them happy For too many People do place not only their Religion but their Zeal for it too in such little and in themselves insignificant Observances and Practices which may be done or may be let alone and yet all the while they themselves be never the more either religious or holy For what Holiness for Instance can the Confession of the Sinner or the Absolution of the Priest confer upon that Man who has no other Design in his Confession but that he may go on to sin upon a new Score and so continue his Sin with a better Relish and with the less Reluctance Or What Holiness can the strict Observance of the Sabbath beget in that Man who therefore only obliges himself to a greater Severity upon that Day that he may by that Means compound with his Conscience for his fraudulent Dealings or his profligate and vicious Life all the rest of the Week Or How can any Man be the more holy because he lists himself under this or that Party or Sect when all the while he takes no care to do what God commands or to avoid what God forbids No! no! Holiness is a real Thing tho' it be not the Object of our Senses And this Thing only lodges in that Heart which by an humble Obedience conforms it self to God's Will and which by hearkning to his Voice is conformed to his Likeness And if any Man thinks to become Holy by any other Means he does but deceive his own Soul and by a fond and foolish Imagination exclude himself from that Happiness which shall only be bestowed upon those who shall be made like to him who is most happy that is who shall be holy as he is holy All they then who would make themselves happy must take care that they make themselves holy They must I say do so and they must be pleased that they have so done For he only