kind Physician who when nothing else in the Divine Pharmacopaea could be sound available for so great a Cure applies his own Body to heal the Distempers of our Souls and his Blood to restore the Spoyls of Humane Nature None but the Favourites of the King of Heaven are admitted to this Immortal Banquet None but such as have the Wedding Garment on can have Access to this Table of Delicacies this Repast of Royal Dainties Many indeed and too many 't is to be feared are licensed to come into the Kings Anti-Chambers and to sit down in the Church and taste the outward Elements but it is the Priviledge of his Saints only to enter his Cabinet and be Regal'd with the costly Entertainment of his Secret Table and to partake in the New Wine of the Kingdom of Heaven A Serious Christian once told me that if ever he was like Paul taken up into the Third Heaven it was when he first sat down at the Lords Table The Sacrament of the Lords Supper is the nearest and visiblest Communion that can be had with God and Christ upon Earth Here are the greatest revivings and the sweetest refreshings that a Pious Soul is capable of on this side Heaven it self Other Duties seem to be our work this our meat and wages other duties are but preparative to this Baptism Praying Preaching Hearing Meditating Conferring are all ordained but to sit us for this High and Mysterious Ordinance Here you have all the benefits of the Covenant of Grace folded up in one Rite Here is the whole contrivance of Salvation represented in a little Bread and Wine whereby God invisibly seals up an assurance of his Everlasting Love upon our Hearts It is grown even to a Proverb saith Acosta among the poor Indians that have entertained the Faith that Qui Eucharistiam semel susceperit c. He must never more be unholy that hath once received the Holy Communion As to the Posture of Receiving I am not scrupulous being willing to conform to the Custom of those with whom I communicate I can receive on my Knees without Danger of Idolatry or Sitting without the Guilt of Contempt This latter I esteem of greater Antiquity it being the Posture wherein Christ Communicated to his Disciples at the last Supper unless it be said they lay along according to the Mode of the Eastern People in those Days However I do not think the Position of the Body but the Preparation of the Soul is required to render one a Worthy Commun icant in these Holy Mysteries I censure not the Primitive Christians not those more Modern ones who Communicate frequently yet I should be timorous to approach these Holy Mysteries too often lest I should incur the Judgment which St. Paul has pronounced on those who eat and drink unworthily I have Charity for others who Celebrate this Sacrament Monthly Weekly or Daily but I should have little for my self should I receive this tremendous Mystery of Life with less Preparation than were requisite to fit me for Death It being in the Number of those Medicines which either Kill or Cure according to the Constitution to which they are applyed If we examine the Books of Physicians those Registers of Humane Frailty and Mortality we shall find no less than Six Thousand Diseases on the Score to which Man's Body is liable And 't is to be feared the Distempers of the Soul come not short of the Account What is Pride but a Tympany Lust but a Feaver Drunkenness but a Dropsie Envy and Malice but the Consumption of the Soul To obviate these and innumerable more Spiritual Maladies God has as a Token of his Infinite Bounty given His Ministers Commission to dispense to the Sons of Men the Sacrament of his Body and Blood as a Divine Catholicon or Cure for all the Diseases which are incident to our Souls but with this Condition That he who partakes of these Holy Mysteries unworthily instead of being healed does but increase his Malady work it up to a dangerous Crisis if not to a desperate Paroxism which affords no Hopes but a fearful Expectation of Judgment to come Cyprian tells us two remarkable Stories that one coming to the Sacrament after the Minister had given him the Bread and he going to eat it it stuck in his Throat Gladium sibi sumens non cibum saith he he received his Bane instead of Bread the other came and took the Bread into his Hand and when he went to eat it there was nothing but Ashes in his Hand This Apprehension I ingenuously declare has had such Influence on me as to restrain me long from approaching the Holy Table I tremble at the Thought of Eating and Drinking my own Damnation and of trampling under-foot the Blood of the Eternal Testament I love not to humour my Spleen or gratifie my Hypocondria by inveighing against the Luxury of the present Age as if it were worse than those of old and that our Fore-fathers did not Eat and Drink to Excess as well as we The present Intemperance of Mankind is but the Transmigration of the Former And our Posterity shall but act o're the Patterns we set them Drunkenness is as old as Noah 's Flood and Epicurism begun with Adam The one had no sooner escaped the Universal Inundation of Water but he had like to have been drown'd in a Deluge of Wine And the Other not content with the large Indulgence and Commission God had given Him to eat of the Fruits of Paradice must needs leap the Fence which guarded the Forbidden Tree and wheâ— he might have Banquetted without Satiety or End on the Varieties which would have given him Life and Immortality he plays the Glutton and Surfeits Himself with the Plant of Death and Damnation His Children soon learn'd to tread in their Father's Steps and Gluttony was equally propagated with Mankind And tho' that Repairer of Adam's almost Shipwrackt Progeny could he abstemious when he might have furnisht his Table with all the Beasts of the Earth and Fowls of the Air at one Meal yet he could not refrain from the tempting Fruit of the Vine His Ebriety was also catching and the Incestuous Off-spring of Lot ow'd their Original to the Blood of the Grape Before the Flood Men were busied in Banquetting and Riot so they have been ever since and so they will be to the End of the World Men are great Followers of Antiquity in the Practice of these Vices For my Part I envy not the Board of Vitellius that at one Meal was covered with two Thousand Fish and double that Number of Fowls Neither do I covet the more Expensive Feasts of Heliogabulus The refin'd Luxury of Cleopatra seems to me less Sordid tho' more Prodigal who at one Draught swallow'd down a King's Ransom It was not her Palate she gratify'd in that Rich Potion but she humour'd the Gust of her Ambition which is a Sublimer sort of Vice and may not unfitly be call'd the Gluttony of the Soul
of the Uniâ—erse shall be subject to the Action of Fire such as the Earth we tread on with the other Planetary Bodies but that the purest Aetheâ— shall remain for ever untouch'd unchang'd the Sanctuary of the Bless'd the Habitatioâ— of the Spirits of Just men made perfect I aâ— also confirmed in this Belief by somethiâ—â— more Sacred and Authentick than natural Phâ—losophy For when the Royal Psalmist in thâ— Divine Rhapsody calls upon the Heavens 〈◊〉 Heavens and the Waters which are above tâ—â— Heavens to praise God he gives this for â— Reason viz. Because he spake and the were made he commanded and they werâ— created He establish'd them to Eternitâ— and for Everlasting Ages He fix'd a Decree which he will not disannul Then he calls upoâ— the Earth and all Creatures therein to joyn iâ— the same Act of Praise but not for the samâ— Reason not because the Earth shall enduâ—â— for ever but because the Name of God alonâ— is exalted and his Honour above Heaven anâ— Earth Which Distinction seems to me aâ— evident Argument of the unalterable Stabiliâ—â— of the Coelestial and Aetherial World whatâ—â—ever Mutations and Changes the Terrestiâ—â— may be subject to That those immense Tracts of quiet and iâ—passible Aether shall be the Seat of the Bless is very consistent with Philosophy and 〈◊〉 ways repugnant to Divinity However leâ— the Place be where it pleases God we arâ— assured that the Entertainment and Joys â—â— far surpass all humane Comprehension Yeâ— tho' we cannot have adequate Conceptions of Supream Felicity there are some Land-marks by which we may take imperfect Measures of that Region of Promise The Dim-Light of Natural Reason may afford us a Glimpse or faint Prospect of those Superlative Joys and the Opticks of Faith will improve the View We shall have the same Nature and Faculties there as here but free from the least Alloy of Frailty and Imperfection Our Souls shall display the radiant Brightness of their Immortal Essence with stronger Vibrations than the Sun having no internal Scum of Concupiscence boyling out from the Center of a depraved Will or erroneous Understanding to blemish and stain those unspotted Orbs of Light nor a terrene gross Body to Eclipse and shut up their Splendors But being ever Bright and Serene they shall shine through their Glorified and Spiritual Bodies as the Sun does through the â—ervious Air or at least as he does on a Bright Cloud which drinks in his Beams to reflect them abroad with a more sensible Glory We shall then see not by receiving the Visible Species into the narrow Glass of an Organized Eye we shall then hear without the distinct and curious Contexture of the Ear. The Body shall then be all Eye all Ear. All Sense in the whole and every Sense in every Part. In a word it shall be all over a common Sensorium and being made of the purest Aether without the Mixture of any lower or grosser Element the Soul shall by one undivided Act at once perceive all that Variety of Objects which now cannot without several distinct Organs and successive Actions or Passions reach our Sense From this Superlative Tenuity and Claritude of our Bodies will arisâ— that ineffable Delicacy in the Sensation of the Soul which will transport it with Delighâ— infinitely transcending the Heighth of Mortâ—â— Voluptuousness nay and even those more exalted Pleasures which the Vertuous sometimeâ— enjoy here on Earth as Foretasts of their futurâ— Beatitude in Heaven What here excites buâ— an Ordinary Emotion of Joy in the Soul wiâ—â— there produce all Raptures and Ecstasies We shall be always in Paroxisms of Love such are the transcendent Beauties of that admirable Place and such the divinely amorous Bent of the Soul We shall be always languishing yet ever enjoying what we languish for Neither suffering the least Pain through the Want of Fruition nor through any Satiety that shall attend it But through the Vigour of an Immortal Activity we shall have ever freshly kindleâ— Desires and new Enjoyments being dissolv'd in a Circle of Beatitude without Measure or End Here on Earth Men generally strive to Monopolize Pleasure to themselves there being few of so generous a Temper as to be sensibly touch'd with Delight that another shou'd partake with them in that which they esteem Felicity This is the peculiar Advantage of the Bless'd in Heaven that even in the Heighth of the Affairs of Immortal Love and Empire where they possess Eternal Crowns and unfading Beauties there is no such Thing to be found as a Rival or Competitor but every one's Joy is enhanc'd by the Enjoyments of another Every one loves all and all love every one Neither wou'd their Felicity be Perfect cou'd any Member of that Happy Society be suppos'd not to have his full proportion and share of Beatitude So communicative is the Love and Joy of those Holy Souls that they must cease to love and enjoy themselves shou'd they desist from loving and rejoicing in the Happiness of their Fellow-Citizens And if we may take our Measures of their Joys from our Common Experiences here on Earth it will be no small Augmentation of their Complacency to find those very Friendships which they had contracted here below translated to the Mansions above when they shall both see and know those whom they once loved on Earth how to be made Denizens with them in Heaven with what Ardours will they caress one anoâ—her With what Transports of Divine Affection will they mutually embrace and vent those Innocent Flames which had so long lain smothering in the Grave How passionately Rhetorical and Elegant will their Expressions be when their Sentiments which Death had Frozen up when he congeal'd their Blood shall now be Thaw'd again in the warm Airs of Paradise Like Men that have escap'd a common Shipwrack and swim safe to the Shore they will congratulate each other's Happiness with Joy and Wonder Their first Addresseâ— will be a Dialect of Interjections and short Periods the most Pathetick Language of Surprize and high wrought Joy And all their after converse eveâ— to Eternity will be couch'd in the highesâ— Strains and Flowers of Heavenly Oratory wiâ—â— Allelujahs intermix'd It much sweetneth the thoughts of Heaveâ— to me to remember that there are a multituâ—â— of my Friends gone thither to think such â— Friend that died at such a time and such a 〈◊〉 at another time O! what a number of thâ—â— cou'd I name and that all these I shall meet â—gain 'T is true it 's a question with some whethâ—â— we shall know each other in Heaven or no bâ—â— 't is none with me for surely there shall â—â— Knowledge cease which now we have bâ—â— only that which implyeth our Imperfectioâ— and what Imperfection can this imply Indeâ—â— we shall not know each other after the flesh nâ—â— by Stature Voice Colour or outward Shapâ— nor by Terms of Affinity and Consanguiniâ—â— nor by Youth or Age nor I think by Sex buâ— by the Image of
Spectators of the Hebrew Grandeur How could then the Divine Oracles be hid from the Gentilâ—s or the Sacred Tradition of Shiloh to come not be deliver'd to the inquisitive Nations of the Earth Without doubt the East saw the dawning of the Star of Jacob and the South could calculate his Meridian even before he rose Neither were the North and the West without some glimmerings of his Appearance The Wise Men that came to adore him at Bethlehem perform'd but the Wishes of their Fathers and the Eunuch of Queen Candaces made no Scruple to become a Christian when Philip had convinc'd him that He of whom the Prophets had so long foretold was now come in the Flesh Surely he was the desired of Nations the Hope of the Gentiles as well as the Glory of his People Israel Therefore I cannot number it among the Commendations of Christianity that a great Part of those who profess that Name are so presumptuously uncharitable as to damn all that were not of the Seed of Abraham before Christ came in the Flesh as if Salvation were entail'd to one Family and no man cou'd go to Heaven that was not circumcis'd Much rather had I believe That in the very Instant of Death God reveal'd the Mystery of Redemption to many innocent and vertuous Persons among the Gentiles and infus'd a saving Faith in Christ into their Souls at the very moment that their Sences were forsaking their Bodies Supplying their want of Scripture or Tradition with the inspiration of his Holy Spirit when they were taking the last gasp and breathing out their own Or if this be not thought sufficient I will believe That when Christ descended into Hell he preach'd the Gospel to the Spirits which were there in Prison not only those who were disobedient in the days of Noah but all such of the Race of Noah as by compleating the Measure of their Sins had sunk themselves into that fatal Place whether they were Jews or Heathens And I cannot understand those Texts of Scripture which mention his spoyling of Hell and leading Captivity Captive if they may not be applyed to his Triumphant Deliverance of some of those Souls which were shut up in the Infernal Caverns Neither do I perceive any Heresie in believing there might be some Vertuous Heathens in the Retinue he carried with Him from thence to Heaven as well as some of the Sons of Israel However leaving the manner of their Salvation to God I will conclude That it is unreasonable uncharitable and has too much of the Jew in it to pass the Sentence of Damnation on all the Gentiles since the Holy Ghost has assured us That God is no Respecter of Persons but he that in every Nation fears Him and works Righteousness is accepted of Him Besides methinks if matters were brought to the severest Ballance it would not appear Heterodox to say That as all men sin'd in Adam without their own Personal Knowledge or Consent so some might be saved in Christ even without a Particular and Personal Belief in Him of whom perhaps they never so much as heard Some Grains of Allowance may be given to the involuntary Frailties of Humane Nature some Indulgence granted to the invincible Ignorance of a great Part of Adam's Posterity who if they knew not the High-way to Heaven which was reveal'd to their Brethren the Jews and Christians might yet be conducted thither by some By-Path since it is too narrow a Conceit of God's Mercy to think that because he had chiefly manifested it in the Royal Road of the Law and the Gospel therefore he cou'd never go out of the beaten Track This were to retrench the Divine Prerogative and to tye Him up to limited Conditions whose Ways are in the Great Deep and whose Foot-steps no Created Being can Trace The Satisfaction I have of the Soul's Immortality if it amounts not to a Demonstration may yet be numbred among those Proleptick Ideas that need none as being self-evident It is a Parallel with first Principles and has equal Force on my Understanding for I am not more convinc'd That one and two make three than That the Soul of man is Immortal So that I make it not so much an Article of my Faith as a Proposition of my Reason and a Conclusion of Science Yet I do not always go so far round about as by a long Train of Logical Deductions and Inferences to dispute my self into the Remembrance of my Immortality This indeed were necessary to perswade another but I have a nearer Method to comfort my self with the Demonstration of this Noble Truth while it becomes an Object of my very Sence and I can feel that Immortality in my self which my Reason tells me another is possess'd of as well as I. This is easier to be experienc'd than utter'd in words 't is an Art not to be acquir'd without assiduous Reflection and strict Animadversion on our own Thoughts But the Fatigue is more than recompenc'd with the inessable Pleasure that attends it for when by a long and often repeated Practice a man has found the way to keep close Pace with his own Intellect in all its Flights and abstracted Starts from the Body when he can stand on the Brink of the Immaterial World and perceive what is before Him perceiving also that he perceives it then 't is he enjoys Heaven by Antâ—cipation and forestalls his Future Beatitude by tasting Immortality at present He is risen from the Dead before he dies and lives an Eternity of Ages in a Moment Neither is this a sleeping Chimera or a waking â—ream but a real Truth which as I have said is easier practised than expressed It was but a drowsie Conceit in those Fathers who phancy'd the Soul shou'd sleep in the Grave till the Resurrection of the â—ody Had they well traced the Nature of a Spirit from its first Principles they wou'd 〈◊〉 have provided a Dormitory for That Being which wou'd cease to be shou'd it cease to act since its very Essence implies a Contradiction to Rest. I cou'd as easily and with equal Reason believe it will be annihilated at its separation from the Body or at least that it shall be metamorphos'd into something else since if it continue the same it was before the Dissolution of the Body it must continue to think it being indeed nothing else but a pure Thought and how a Thought can take a Nap is beyond the Verge of my Philosophy to apprehend neither do I know of any thing in Divinity that seems to countenance so dull a Theorem As for those Texts of Scripture which seem to adumbrate the Supreme Felicity of the Saints by the Notion of Rest I do not think they mean a Cessation of the Souls natural Energy for how could it then be capable of that Seraphick Love and Joy in the Beatifick Vision which is the chief Entertainment of the Blessed in Heaven It seems rather to intimate the Soul's Escape and Deliverance from the Troubles
Church Triumphant who cordially embraces with the extended Arms of good-will who ever are dignifi'd with the Image of Piety tho' not distinguish'd with his own Superscription I profess my self an impartial Lover of all good men and do presume every man to be good till I find him otherwise I have as little Zeal about things that are manifestly indifferent either pro or con as any man in the World for 't is a Principle I receiv'd from my Education that the real differences of good and intelligent People are not so wide as they seem and that through prejudice and interest they do many times contest about words whilst they do heartily think the same thing I am not fond of the Names which distinguish one Party from another in the Church I esteem not a man the better for being regimented in this Communion rather than in that And for ought I know in the Camp of God a Reformade may be as acceptable as in those of Men. However a Mutineer in either is odious and to raise Factions about Religion is to adore Mars instead of Christ and to commence a War for the sake of Peace I cannot approve of their bitter Zeal who if they cannot call down Fire from Heaven will kindle it on the Earth against all that think not as they do He is an ill Disputant for Christianity who uses no other Topicks than Gun-powder and Steel The Logick of Mahomet becomes not a Disciple of Jesus and I should make but an Hypocritical Convert were I to be Dragoon'd into Religion by the Domineering Arguments of Booted Apostles To perswade to Conformity by Prisons and Confiscations is in my apprehension something like demonstrating a proposition in Euclid or apologizing by a Beetle and Wedges and I conceive they will equally produce their Effects when any Mathematitian shall do the one the Spiritual Court may perform the other We find few edified by a Dungeon or instructed by the spoiling of their goods Force hath as little power on Souls as a Chirurgions Knife on the Understanding and Affections of men Remedies must have some Analogy with the Sick and their Diseases 'T is sound Reason which is of our Essence and Constitution with some little intermixtures of Kindness and Love that must make men Proselytes to the Church of England or nothing The use I make of this Variety in Religions is faâ— different Truth is Homogeneous and attracts to it self all that is of its own Nature wheresoever dispers'd or separated rejecting the rest as not pertaining to it Thus I overlooking the Errors and Mistakes of those who differ from me at the same time embrace their Orthodox Tenets and shunning their Vices I imitate their Vertues This is to take Things by the right handle and like the Bee to suck Honey out of every Weed It is of the Nature of the Sun who has commerce with many Pollutions yet remains himself undefiled I abhor that mercenary Course of joyning my self with any Party of Christians that is uppermost to abet the prevailing Faction and assert the Opinions most in Fashion This is to be a Weather-cock in Religion pliable to every fresh Gale of Interest Neither on the other side do I think it good Manners or Prudence to affront the Religion of the State and by a sawcy Impertinence condemn those who worship God in the manner prescrib'd by the Laws of the Land In my Travels I learn'd this Moderation and he that knows not how to practise it is not fit to stir out of his Chimny Corner Religion does not authorize Rudeness neither is Arrogance compatible with Devotion It is difficult to find a Company of four or five men together where there is not at least a Triumvirate of Religions and he that will set up for a Dictator among them shall have all their Forces united against himself I do not value any mans Religion by his starch'd looks or supercilious Gravity I hate to put on an unsociable Face or screw my self into an ill-humour'd Riddle I do not angle for the Character of a Saint by magisterially declaiming against the Innocent Divertisements of Humane Life and ranking things indifferent among the greatest Crimes Above all I cannot approve of those who are prone to fasten Gods Judgments on particular Occasions as if they alone cou'd unlock the Secrets of the Almighty and were the Privy-Counsellors of Heaven No mans misfortune shall escape their Censure but forgetting what our Saviour said of those on whom the Tower of Siloam fell they condemn all alike and presume to distribute the Divinâ— Justice by their own false Weights and Measures I am in Love with that Saying oâ— Plato There is no Envy in the Deity Assuredly that Immense Ocean of Goodness never ceases to show'r down his Favours and Blessings on all that are capable of receiving them and he is not partial to any of hiâ— Creatures Like the Sun he imparts his Influence to all the World and if any â—â—joyce not in his Beams the Cloud that hindâ—â—s them is of their own raising Those men will hardly proselite me who dress the Deity in a frightful Figure and then wou'd perswade the World 't is his Essential Complexion While they exclaim against Pictures and Images they themselves commit Idolatry They set up an infinite Tyrant morose arbitrary and cruel instead of the Original Increated Beauty and Goodness worshiping the Idol of their own Imagination instead of the Indulgent Father of all things I do not take Prayer to consist in babling o're the devoutest Collects and Oraisons of the Church without a due Application of Spirit This is the Sacrifice of Fools without Salt or Fire and therefore must needs be unsavory to God The bended Knee submiss Looks and even a Body prostrate to the Ground unless accompanied with a proportionate Fervour and Humility of the Soul are but Religious Compliments and a Pious Banter Such Mock-Addresses I doubt are not graciously receiv'd in the Court of Heaven An equal dislike I have for those who offer up strange and unhallowed Flames burning Incense whose Composition is not warrantable who hold not fast the Form of sound Words but giving the Reins to their Tongue suffer it to commit a thousand Indecencies in the Hearing of Him who made the Ear. These as well as the Former are guiltâ—â—f Crimen laesae Majestatis while they affronâ— Heaven with Tautologies and vain Repetitions The one through Inadvertency the other through Presumption This bringing Form without Matter That offering Matter without Form and Both wanting the Spirit and Life of sincere Devotion Yet I neither censure such as use an allowable Form provided it be accompanied with attentive Devotion and less those who address themselves to Heaven in words of their own choosing provided it be season'd with Discretion and a modest Sobriety of Spirit For when a man fitly qualified endued with Learning too and above that adorn'd with a goâ—d Life breaks out into a warm and well deliver'd Prayer
had the Advantage of ours that it should deserve to be esteem'd more Bold and Noble since they had an Isaiah to preach the Gospel to Them who for the Eloquence of his Style his most accurate and particular Enarration of the Birth of Christ has acquired the Title of the fifth Evangelist 'T is certain both their Faith and â—ours rests on the Divine Revelation whether it consist in Prophesie of Things to come or History of Things past The ultimate Object of our Belief is one and the same that is the Authority of God They had their Sacraments also to strengthen their Faith as well as we They were Baptized in the Cloud and in the Sea they had Manna from Heaven and Water out of a Rock in the Earth They all eat the same Spiritual Meat and drank the same Spiritual Drink as we foâ— they drank of the Spiritual Rock of Ages that followed Them and that Rock was Christ I do not conclude from hence That therâ— is no difference between the Sacraments oâ— the Law and those of the Gospel Doubtless there is an Excellency in the Latter to which the Former could not pretend The Elements in Both are Natural as Wateâ— Manna Bread Wine c. so that in the Exteriour neither of Them has the Advantagâ— of the other They were both also Conduits of the same inward Grace and Spirit Only herein lyes the difference that the Jews had it but by Measure whereas thâ— Christians receive it in Abundance Theâ— touch'd but the Hem of Christ's Garment but we feed on his Body and Blood Theâ— did but wade in the low Ebb of Grace whereas we swim in the High-Tide anâ— over-flowings of the Holy Spirit Before thâ— Everlasting Sluces were drawn up whilâ— the Heavens were kept shut the Water which are above the Heavens did but distiâ—gently on Mankind The Divine Influencâ— came Drop by Drop here a little and therâ— a little But when Christ had once ascended up on High and open'd the Eternal Gate above then he showr'd down his Gifts upoâ— Men and let loose the Flood of Light and Grace that so it might water the whole Earth and make glad the City of God which is the Christian Church The Sacraments of Christianity are the Principal Channels through which Eternal Life is conveyed to our Souls By Baptism we are transplanted from the Old Stock of the First Adam and inoculated into Him who is the True Vine in whom we grow up as Branches receiving Nourishment and Encrease by the Eucharist which conveys to us the vital Principles of Immortality and Salvation I cannot speak of this tremendous Mystery without a Circumlocution nor think of it without a Rapture It is such a Complex of Riddles as it hath pos'd the stoutest Samsons of the Church to solve He alone was able to think and speak aright of it in few words who when he first instituted it said This is my Body This is my Blood That there is a real Change made in the outward Elements after the words of Consecration are pronounc'd is an Article of my Faith but the Manner how this Change is effected is no Query of my Philosophy I had rather humbly believe what I cannot comprehend in this Venerable Sacrament than suffer any vain Disquisitions to stagger my Faith I see Bread and Wine both retaining the same Taste Colour and other natural Qualities of those Creatures Therefore I conclude there is no Alteration made in that which is the Object of my Sences The Change must be in the Spiritual Part which only falls under the Intellect And yet I believe this Change to be Real tho' I cannot sensibly perceive wherein or how 't is produced Far be it from me to enter into the Secret of those who make a mere empty Figure of the Blessed Sacrament as if we were made Partakers only of mere Natural Bread and Wine in the Holy Communion This is to follow the impious Steps of Manicheus and Marcion who taught that our Saviour had only a Fantastick Figure of a Body not a Real one as if they thought the Blessed Virgin Mary brought forth nothing but a Shadow because she was overshadow'd by the Holy Ghost This is to outstrip Judas and begin where his Treason left off and as he sold his Master's Life so we should rob the Church of his Body and Blood which he bequeath'd to her in his last Supper Doubtless his Body is in the Sacrament of the Eucharist but not Bodily or after a corporeal manner not invested with all the gross Circumstances of Flesh and Blood but after a Spiritual Manner in a Mystery too profound for Humane Sence or Reason to comprehend I am extremely pleas'd with the Answer which Queen Elizabeth gave to the Bishop of Winchester when he demanded her Opinion of the Real Presence said she 'T was God the Word that spake it He took the Bread and brake it And what the Word did make it That I believe and take it It was an ill-manner'd as well as an envious Retort of him that stood by and said Your Highnesses Reply is like the Delphick Oracle full of Ambiguous Subtilty He had discover'd more Breeding and Charity had he told her That her Answer savour'd of his Wisdom who when tempted by the Pharisees with a Question concerning the Lawfulness of paying Tribure to Caesar took a piece of Money and asked whose Image and Superscription was that stamped on it they said Caesars He replyed Give therefore to Caesar the Things that are Caesar's and to God the Things that are Gods It is certainly a necessary piece of Prudence sometimes to obviate the Trains of an Enemy with a witty Evasion which may be done without denying the Truth or violating ones Conscience Those who wou'd trepan a man with Queries and make him a Transgressor for a word deserve to be paid in the same Coin and by an Ingenious adapting of words and placing of Periods be bassled in their Design and sent away like Fools as they came without any better Satisfaction than they cou'd reap from a Riddle In my Opinion it is but a Pious Scepticism to suspend our Thoughts from determining the particular Mode of Christ's being present in the Sacrament since it is impossible ever to demonstrate so recondite a Secret into which even the Angels themselves those perfect Intelligences perhaps look with Admiration without improving their Knowledge It is sufficient to my humble Faith that my Redeemer is there and that when I worthily receive this Blessed Sacrament I shall receive the Author of it into my Tabernacle and be united to the Heavenly Spouse This is the true Hidden Manna which nourishes both Angels and Men This is the Bread of Life which strengtheneth Man's Heart This is the Wine which rejoyceth God and Man This is that Heavenly Morsel which God has given us as an Antidote against the Dregs of that Venom we all derive from Adam's eating the forbidden Fruit. And he is a
another and to calumniate his Holiness which consists in the Harmony of them all I adore his Omnipotency and tremble at the Thought of calling in Question the Power that made All things of Nothing Yet I think it my Duty to be wise as well as Devout and to speak rightly as well as reverently of his Divine Perfections As his word is the Rule of my Faith so his Providence is the Pole-Star of my Reason And in the Scrutiny of his Works do not so much enquire what he is able to dâ— as what he uses to do Being assured thaâ— as nothing is to him Impossible so he has stated the Being Actions Passions Qualities and Circumstances of all Things ordering them iâ— exact Number Weight and Measure So that à posse Dei ad esse Rei non valet Consequentia He has fix'd the Laws of Loco-motion in Corporeaâ— Substances and ty'd up the Primum Mobile it self to a certain Proportion of Time and Distance which it can no more exceed than the smallest Wheel of a Watch. Such prodigious Whirligigs as the Heavenly Bodies must needs be in the Ptolomaick Hypothesis makes me giddy to think on 't and I believe they were troubl'd with a Vertigo that first reel'd upon the Notion Or they lâ—bour'd under the Deception of those at Sea who sailing within Sight of the Shore and not being able to perceive the Motion of the Vessel that carries them are apt to phancy the Neighbouring Cliffs Towns and Trees were under Sail and steering a contrary Course since they so appear to do For not less silently do I believe the Earth moves constantly round on her Axis thus making the Natural Day and Night without putting the whole Frame of the Universe into an unconceivable Hurry The Planet Jupiter is discover'd by the Telescope to make the same Circulation in 10 Hours Mars in 23 and the Sun himself in 28 Days These are no Chimaera's or Dreams of Poets no Metaphysical Speculations of Nut-shell Brains but Real Truths demonstrable by Art and Ocular Experience And methinks it is a more Vniform Idea if we suppose the Earth to be a Planet like the Rest and to take its Turn in the Septenary Dance round the Sun who is plac'd in the Centre of this Vortex and is the true Apollo to whose Musick the whole Planetary System keeps Time I fear not the Lash of Maurolycus nor the Scourge of his bigotted Brethren If Copernicus was by â—hem thought Scuticâ Flagello dignus for inâ—ovating on the Doctrines of Ptolomy What was Ptolomy himself worthy of who entrench'd on â— greater Antiquity and undermin'd the Phiâ—osophy of Aristarchus Samius who taught the Motion of the Earth above four hundred years â—efore Ptolomy was an Infant For my Part I â—hink it no Treason against the Common-wealth â—f Learning to say I prefer Galileo's Tube to â—tolomy's Spectacles and the Discoveries of our English Royal Society to the blind Conjectures â—f the Peripateticks and the wild Speculations â—f Athenâ— When I was first inform'd that there were â—iscover'd four new Stars moving about Jupiter and three about Saturn I was as well pleased as they who received the earliest News of Columbus's landing in America I am so far from being of Alexander's Humour that instead of weeping I should heartily rejoyce could I be credibly satisfied That there are ten Thousand more Worlds than are already discover'd I am naturally Melancholy and the weighâ— of this leaden Complexion does so depress my Spirits That all the Race of Mankind or Earth seems too small to afford Variety enougâ— for a Relief This makes me the more willinâ— to believe what my Reason suggests to be true That the Planets are Inhabited It is a lively as well as a Rational Notion and since the are Dark Opake Bodies like the Earth wâ— tread on having no other Light but what theâ— borrow from the Sun and seem in all otheâ— Circumstances to be adapted for Habitations see no Solaecism in Philosophy nor Heresâ—â— against the Faith to believe they are really Iâ—habited as is this Globe That they have Suâ—cession of Day and Night and their Satellites â—â— Moons to give them Light by Night even aâ— we is demonstrable to the Eye by the help oâ— the Telescope But there would in my Opinâ—on be little need of all this were there â—â—rational Inhabitants in those Coelestial Globes â—â— is a fastidious Pride in Man to phancy all thâ— Glittering Furniture above was only made foâ— Ornament or for Shepherds to gaze on in thâ— Night or for some other Inferior uses of thâ— Sons of Adam And 't is a narrow Conceiâ— to imagine that tho' this Globe be plentifully Inhabited by all sorts of Animals not a Turf of Land nor a Puddle of Water being without its Tenants yet all those ample and glorious Bodies above should lye empty and vacant tho' some of them be far bigger than our Earth and for ought we know may be ten times more commodious for Habitation Those Passages in St. Paul's Epistles to the Philippians 2.11 Ephes 1.9 10. Colos 1.16 seem to be calculated for the Inhabitants of those Heavenly Bodies And his Emphatical words in Ephes 3.9 seem to be but a Transcript of the Revelations he receiv'd and of the Things he saw when he was Rapt into the Third Heaven viz. That there are some in those Heavenly Places even Principalities and Powers to whom the manifold Wisdom of God in Christ was made known and that they were not only Created by Him but for Him and that they and we are all of one Family or Descent These may be some of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which that Holy Apostle speaks of in 2 Cor. 12.4 Words and Mysteries which could not be utter'd And for ought I know those Beings which he calls Principalities Powers Mights Thrones and Dominions may be no other than the several glorious Colonies of the Coelestial Family dwelling in the Stars who all believe in the same Eternal Jesus even as we do and through his Mediation make their Approaches to God the Father This may be the farther Fellowship of the Mystery of God hid from the Beginning This the untraceable Riches of Christ which put St. Paul to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the Depth of his Wisdom O the Superlative Greatness of his Power But whether the Planets be Inhabited or no this I am assured of and can produce an Hundreâ— Authentick Witnesses that they are Dark Bâ—dies like the Earth we tread on and thaâ— they have no Light but what they receive from the Sun which also they do but partially enjoy like us by Successive Hemispheres having their Day and Night measur'd out to them proportionate to the Time they take up in moving round their Centers When I have tyred my self with following these visible Motions of Nature I retire Home again thinking to take Sanctuary in my self and find a Rest in the Contemplation of my own Soul But there I do but commence a