therefore shall Christ's Appearing when he comes to judge the World be with Power and Great Glory Then shall all the Tribes of the Earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory Matth. 24. 30. to the end that the Wicked on the one hand beholding plainly with their Eyes his Glorious Appearance may be convinced of the justness of their Condemnation in being rejected and cast for ever from the Presence of God which is that Portion of their Misery called Poena Damni Sect. 7. because they preferred the Satisfaction of their sinful Lusts and vain Desines the perpetual Frustration whereof is that other share of their Torment named Poena sensus Sect. 7. before the Fruition of their great and glorious Maker and Redeemer And that the Godly on the other hand seeing Christ coming in his Glory may meet him with ineffable Joy to enter upon the Possession of his Beatific Presence to be everlastingly enjoy'd because they despised the fulfilling of their Lusts and wicked Desires here for the Fruition of Him hereafter to Eternity If it be objected that Christ shall at length deliver up the Kingdom to his Father that God may be all in all 1 Cor. 15. 28. And that therefore it seems that the Father alone shall be the sole Object of Mans Bliss in Heaven I answer that Christ delivering up the Kingdom to his Father signifies his leaving off or ceasing from his Mediatory Office whereby he was constituted King for the Protection of the Church and not that He shall not reign eternally together with his Father for otherwise why is it said that of his Kingdom there shall be no end Luke 1. 33. The Word God therefore in the 1 Cor. 15. 28. is not to be understood of the Father alone but of the whole Trinity accordingly as Doctor Hammond explicates it in his Paraphrase on the Place When all is subdued to Christ then shall Christ lay down that Office viz. of his Mediatorship which till then he exerciseth and then shall God the Father Son and Holy Ghost fill all the Elect with Glory and Bliss eternally Object 5. Although formal Righteousness be that Love of God in the Soul which expels out of it mortal Sin here and all Sin hereafter Yet if Christ came into the World only to take away Sin by introducing Charity into the Soul what doth Satisfaction Redemption Salvation Propitiation and Reconciliation made and obtained by Christ intend and signifie Solut They intend and signifie that God the Father through the gracious Intervention of his eternal Son consubstantial and co-equal with Himself wrought Salvation for lost Mankind whilst his Incarnation and the Consequents of it which he undertook for Man are the intermediate efficient cause proceeding from Gods Love of Benevolence the Principal Cause by which the Salvation of every one that comes to Bliss is really and powerfully effected and contain that Worth Virtue and Vigor as would be of efficacy enough to save the whole World yea infinite Worlds if they were possible besides But notwithstanding this seeing Man is neither converted nor perseveres in Grace nor goes to Bliss that is neither obtains Charity nor keeps Charity nor is perfected in Charity without his own voluntary Consent 't is apparent that the Merits of Christ are the efficient Cause of Mans eternal Welfare by really and effectually working preserving and perfecting the Love of God in the Soul whilst by Christs Heavenly Doctrine Mans understanding is divinely illuminated with the Knowledg of saving Truth and through that and the serious Consideration of his gracious and wonderful Actings and Sufferings in behalf of Man his Will is powerfully converted to God. Forasmuch then as sincere habitual Charity destroys mortal Sin Par. 6. and thereupon so far brings Man in favour with God or so near to him that he is freed from everlasting Destruction Par. 7. and that perfect Charity wholly extirpates all Sin Par. 9. and thereby constitutes Man in full favour or throughly unites him to God is it not clear and evident that Christ in cleansing the Soul through his Merits from Sin makes up the Breach it had caused between God and Man and so reconciles and brings them again together And is he not an effectual Mediator by whose means they are reconciled together who would otherwise have been at as great difference and distance as Heaven and Hell could make them And in regard unrighteous men are the Servants of Sin Rom. 6. 20. and that St. Peter speaking of the Servants of Corruption saith of whom a man is overcome of the same he is brought in Bondage 2 Pet. 2. 19. and that our Blessed Saviour himself testifieth that Whosoever commiteth Sin is the Servant or Slave of Sin John 8. 34. is it not plain that Christ inasmuch as by his Merits he effectually working Charity in the Soul doth truly deliver thereby from the Bondage and Slavery of Sin has really wrought through his Merits mans Redemption and is thence rightly called his Redeemer And because everlasting Damnation and the Pains of Hell are the unavoidable Consequents and Result of Sin unrepented of is not Christ in that he works Repentance and thereby saves men from eternal Destruction a true and real Saviour And in regard the Breach and Distance caused by Sin between God and Man could not be made up but by means sufficiently powerful to effect the same and that Christ did that by his Merits or Doings and Sufferings which was sufficiently powerful to make up the Breach and Distance between God and Man and that when nothing else was able to do it Sect. 9. is he not on good grounds said to have made a full Atonement and Satisfaction for Sin Not that God was ever affected with Anger and his Wrath really appeased it being impossible that there should be any alteration or change in God who is immutable Sect. 1. Par. 8. and without all variableness or shadow of turning James 1. 17. So that God loved us even when we were Sinners and Enemies Rom. 5. 8 10. and St. John says Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins 1 John 4. 10. Wherefore since there was no want of Love to wit of Benevolence for with the love of Complacency or Delight God cannot affect Sinners in the Almighty towards the making up the Breach and Distance between himself and man the whole failure of Love was on mans side whose Heart in that it was so fast wedded and glued to the World that neither the Consideration of the glorious and gracious Work of the Creation nor of the great and daily Mercy of Divine Providence proved Motives prevalent enough to make a Divorce and Separation between them some more potent Motive was necessary for the doing of it And because every Creature must needs fall infinitely short of affording such a Motive man
kept his Native Integrity yet our Blessed Saviours Incarnation Doings and Sufferings occasioned by the Laps were as primarily intended by God as the very Creation it self For the All-wise and All-good God infallibly knowing what Use Man would make of the Freedom of his Will designed his Creation no sooner than he did a Way which should not only prevent the defeating of the End for which he made man but would also be a means to advance it to an higher degree of Perfection than it could have had without it whilst man has by the Blessed Incarnation of the Son of God of which hereafter in the 9th Section and the gracious Sequel of it far greater Motives to the Love of God in which Felicity consists sect 4. par 13. than by the Creation and all other things besides whatsoever and consequently a certain Means of augmenting the intensness of his Affection to God and thereby the greatness of his eternal Bliss as will hereafter be made out sect 11. 6. This occasional interruption over I go on to shew that Grief Fear Discord Damnation and the Torments of Hell are so many several Branches of the Tree of the knowledg of good and evil For as for Grief it is a Passion which arises from the Sense of an incumbent Evil and Fear from the apprehension of an evil approaching so that in regard there could have no evil happened if Man had continued innocent there would have been neither Fear nor Grief in the World. Nor should Discord or Wars have been found amongst men if their Appetites had continued regular and subject to Reason for generally it is because that several men desire the same single thing which one alone can but enjoy at the same time that differences arise which if the Parties concerned be Sovereigns often grow to Wars But whatever other cause of Dissentions there be 't is the effect of immoderate Desires which sprouted from the Tree of the knowledg of good and evil There is then no Misery incident to Man if Damnation and the Pains of Hell be within the List but derives its Origin from thence which that they are shall be the Work of the following Section to make appear SECT VII Eternal Damnation or the perpetual Loss of Bliss inevitably follows from the perpetual Alienation of the Souls Affections from God. Eternal Torments or the Pains of the Damned necessarily for ever accompany their impious Desires of preferring worldly Vanities before the Enjoyment of God. Hence by these two an Aversion from the Creator and a Conversion to the Creature Man makes himself eternally miserable 1. SInce it has been proved Sect. 4. par 13. that eternal Felicity consists in the immense Pleasure Joy and Contentment that flows from the Beatific Vision or Intellectual Sight of God and that the same Pleasure Joy and Contentment is the Love of Complacency or Delight whereby the Soul inseparably adheres to God with all its might sect 4. par 14. 't is plain that such Alienation of the Soul's Affections from God as shall for ever deprive it of such adherence to him must of necessity deprive it of everlasting Bliss 2. And in regard an everlasting deprivation of Bliss is that eternal Misery which the Schools call Poena Damni 't is clear that Damnation or the perpetual Loss of Bliss inevitably follows the perpetual Alienation of the Souls Affection from God. 3. And whereas it is impossible to alienate the Souls Affections from God upon his own account because in him is no appearance of evil 't is manifest that for the gratifying of some inordinate Desire as the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye or Pride of Life man's Soul is alienated in affection from God. 4. Wherefore if the Souls Affections be in this Life so bent upon Riches Honour Luxury Revenge or other worldly Contentment that it prefers any of them before the enjoyment of God and thence makes choice thereof as its chief Good and Felicity or the thing wherein it is above all others delighted it must needs be that whatsoever Soul departs this Life so affected must either forsake and leave off that its desire or be satisfied with the Fruition of the Thing desired or else be eternally tormented for to be for ever deprived of that which the Soul perpetually longs for will be an endless affliction 5. And first That a Soul departing this Life with an habitual affection to some worldly Vanity wherein it delights cannot ever shake off that its Desire is apparent from this that the Will which is an essential Faculty of the Soul can never be void of some Desire or other and that it is unconceivable how it should part with those it is habitually possessed of when it leaves the Body since it is certain that the love of God in pious Souls begun here on Earth continues after Death and accompanies them to Heaven as will be seen sect 13. par 2. and that the Nature of Qualities or habitual Dispositions whether good or bad as to their inherence in the Soul is in all men alike And secondly That those Lusts which inseparably adhere to mens Souls after death can never with the enjoyment of what they desire be satisfied is as certainly true as that their Return to the Earth to enjoy the Pleasures of this World shall never come to pass And thirdly that men who have inordinate desires shall after death endure Torments answerable to the strength of Affection which they have for the Things they lust after and cannot possibly enjoy may be gathered from the afflicted miserable condition of those Persons upon Earth whose Hearts are irrevocably set on Riches Honour Luxury Revenge c. when they find themselves totally disappointed of what they earnestly desire For does not Experience shew us that the Heart of many a covetous Wretch is so cemented to his Gold that when it is stollen from him his Life which before he would not have exchanged for Heaven becomes his Hell so as that he hastens by the first thing in his way to be delivered from it And are not the Thoughts of some vain-glorious and ambitious men so intent upon Honour that falling into Disgrace their very Hearts burst for grief of the want of that alone amidst the affluence of almost all other worldly Goods besides As sad distress befals not a few forlorn Lovers whose Affections are so fast glewed to their Mistresses that they judge no Pain like that of frustrated Love insomuch that they chuse the readiest for the best way of offering violence to their restless wearisom Lives What shall I say of envious and revengeful wishes not accomplished than which no Viper can more cruelly gnaw mens Hearts If then mens Desires may be so violent and the frustrating of them so grievous as hath been said while the Soul is involved in a Body of Clay how fierce will the one and how intolerable will the other be when its Operations are not damped thereby Object
is attainable by Man will alone be the utmost Perfection of the Intellect 11. And forasmuch as the Will is a rational Appetite desirous of good and consequently if it follow the Course of Nature imprinted in it first by God par 4. will certainly desire above all things that which the Rational Faculty of Knowing the Intellect directs unto as the greatest and noblest good it must needs be seeing the Intellect if it judge according to right Reason cannot chuse but determin that the highest Knowledg attainable of the most excellent Object is the greatest and noblest good which a Being whose nature is rational can possibly desire that Man's Will shall never arrive at its utmost Perfection and Satisfaction till the Soul be filled with the highest Knowledg attainable of the most excellent Object which is the prime independent Being or God sect 1. 12. Wherefore seeing it is evident by the two last Paragraphs that the Objective Perfection both of the Intellect and the Will is the prime Being under the Notion of Truth and Goodness it plainly follows that seeing it was proved in the Paragraph above that whatever is the Perfection of the Intellect and the Will the same is the Perfection of the Soul God known and beloved is the chiefest Objective Good of the Soul called by Divines the Beatific Vision or Light of Glory 13. And forasmuch as from the Fruition of the Chiefest Good the greatest and purest Joy Pleasure and Contentment which Man's Heart is capable of must of necessity flow 't is clear that the greatest and purest Joy Pleasure and Contentment must accordingly flow from the clear Knowledg of God or the Beatific Vision and such Joy Pleasure and Content is formal Perfection the chiefest Bliss and ultimate End of Man. 14. Hence it is manifest that Man was not made to enjoy immediatly upon his Creation the Beatific Vision for if he had once enjoyed it he should have been for ever confirmed and established in Bliss For the Beatific Object once clearly seen will most certainly be beloved and delighted in with all the might and power of the Soul as fully satisfying the whole Desire thereof And being so beloved and delighted in the Soul cannot otherwise chuse but with its whole force and strength of affection perpetually desire the sight of it and consequently there can be no Divorce between the Soul and Object of Felicity after it is once fully possessed thereof by either withdrawing its Affections or placing them on any thing besides 15. Although therefore Man by Creation as was proved par 6. understood what his chief good was and wherein the Means convenient to procure the same were placed and withal made use of the latter to obtain the former by yet in regard he was not fully united to God in perfect Love thro' the best Knowledg of him 't is plain that tho the state of Creation was a state of Innocency Uprightness or Integrity in that Man's Heart was right towards God yet was it not a state of Perfection from which he could not depart or fall Object If Man 's own Felicity be the ultimate End for which he was created as was said above Paragraph 13. how is it that God's Glory is so universally held as we know it is to be the Final Cause of the whole Creation Solut. Man's Felicity and the glorifying God for ever by the Saints in Heaven are not two several distinct things but one and the self same thing For since Felicity is the greatest and purest Joy Pleasure and Contentment flowing from the Beatific Vision which Man's Soul is able to contain par 13. and that this very Joy Pleasure and contentment doth not at all differ save only in Words from loving God with all the Heart and with all the Soul and with all the Mind for what is it so to love God but to take delight in him with the whole power and strength of the Soul 't is plain that such Love or perpetual firm and full adherence to God as the most desirable Object with plenary satisfaction being the sublimest perfectest Act which Man's Soul can exhibit to God is to give him the greatest Honour and Glory or to own his transcendent Excellency above all other things in the best and noblest manner which the Soul is able to do And to this only Act of glorifying God all other Acts of Honour to be given unto him as inferior to it do by Divine Designment directly tend For to love God upon Earth above all things is only a lower degree of the glory which is to be consummated in Heaven Neither is that great and just Opinion and Reverence which every created intelligent and rational Being ought to have to and for the Almighties adorable Excellence Attributes and Counsels the final Honour which God requires for an Assent of the Understanding however strongly and reverently given to the Truth of all those is but a subordinate and subservient Act of Honour intentionally designed by the Requirer of it to procure and effect a correspondent Act in the Will of taking Delight in them as the only ultimate and perfect Act of glorifying God whilst every Act of Honour whatsoever done by the Intellect is not only eminently contain'd therein but is also rendred in a more excellent way thereby than immediatly in it self for to place ones whole Delight in the contemplation of the Divine Excellence Attributes and Counsels is evidently a more noble Act of honouring God than only to give a full and reverent Assent to their Truth since he that does the latter does the former also and with all the advantage which the operation of the Will most vigorously re-enforcing and elevating the operation of the Intellect by the Souls strongest Affections can perform To which supream and comprehensive Act of glorifying the Divine Majesty since it is nevertheless impossible that the Almighty and All-sufficient should have any regard at all in respect of an Advantage either of Benefit or Pleasure expected to accrue thereby to himself because Perfection being essential to the Deity sect 1. par 7. the Divine Nature is even to contradiction incapable of acquiring or receiving any manner of Profit or Pleasure from the best Performance of his Creature it is manifestly plain that God's Design in creating Man was not to receive but to communicate good Nor indeed is that Course of doing good without expecting a requital unagreeable to Human Nature it self which in that it is Rational would prompt every one to do good to others without expectation of any Return to be made for the same provided that he himself should not suffer any harm loss or want thereby as the Almighty most undoubtedly can never in bestowing Benefits possibly do who when he has given all that he can will have nothing less himself than if he had not given any thing at all SECT V. Man is fallen from the State wherein he was created The manner of the Fall explicated The
all the desire the perpetual Enjoyment of Him will also love him most hereafter for exactly according to the measure of the Manifestation of Gods Glory both to the Saints and Angels is the Measure of their Love of Him or Delight taken in the Contemplation of his Excellence and in this consists their Felicity which though it is sufficient and satisfactory to every one of them inasmuch as they all love him with their entire Affection or are delighted in him with all their might and so are happy to their own Desire yet do they not however enjoy equal Happiness because the love of God in some of them is more intense than in some others as answering to a fuller manifestation of his Glory to them Object 4. If the formal Cause of Justification be inherent Righteousness or Charity then doth every degree thereof truly justifie so that man's Righteousness may be greater or less and consequently either every degree of Righteousness will not give a just Title to Heaven so as Possession shall ever ensue thereupon or else imperfect Charity shall estate men in everlasting Felicity which is contrary to what hath been often said Solut. In Answer to this Objection I grant that every degree of habitual Charity from the highest to the lowest if either it be not lost or being lost be renewed entitles men so truly to Heaven I that they shall not departing this life therewith finally fail of the full possession of Bliss but sooner or later shall certainly obtain the same sooner or later I say because such an absolute full desire to enjoy the Presence of God as totally excludes all appetite to earthly Enjoyments and Satisfactions of this Life is the sole immediate disposition which prepares the Soul for Bliss so that those alone who through their ardent desire to be with God are weary of this World shall strâ—ight upon their departure hence go to pure and simple Joy but yet so intense as they shall afterwards have at the last upon the re-union of Soul and Body I do not say All the rest that depart this life not having the like ardency of desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ their God and Saviour will in all appearance of Reason retain the mixture of Affection to God and the World which they left the later with for how a meer separation of Soul and Body should root out all Affection to the World is I think a thing unaccountable till the Resurrection from the dead If it be said as indeed it is by some that Christ's appearing to the Souls of good men that departed this Life before his Death must needs have been a Motive and Cause of Change unto them whence it came to pass that the Graves were opened and many Bodies of the Saints which slept arose c. Matth. 27. 52 53. I answer that since it is here supposed that there had been no Motive offered before that his shewing himself to them which had altered the state into which they entered at their separation from the Body it is reasonable to think that there will likewise be no Motive to cause a Change in those which have left or shall leave this World after that his appearing till his coming to Judgment at the last day which in that it must needs in some degree or other be both dreadful and amiable to every one that hath not totally rooted out all Affection to the World according to their different Measures of Fear and Hope arising from their finding themselves more or less clogged with terrene Desires will be a Motive rightly adapted wholly to purge out all the Dreggs of impure Affections and so cause them to fix their Minds for ever upon God. But in the intenim they 'l continue in that condition which they left the World with and so each of them as their Love to God is greater will have more and purer Delight yet not be altogether void of anguish of Spirit by reason they cannot go immediately to God through the load of Sin which though not so heavy as to press them down to Hell yet will not suffer them to soar up to Heaven For we see even in this Life the more Pious that men are the more serene Joy and greater inward Contentment they enjoy but have not withstanding their Groans and Sighs and trouble of Spirit because they find the Old Man is not throughly conquered and subdued and however brought low is nevertheless often giving check to their Spiritual Joy and causing their Grief Nor is an incompleat imperfect State after this Life till the Day of Doom only consonant to Reason but the Sacred Scripture also and Catholic Tradition appear to make for it for what mean these Expressions of being recompensed at the Resurrection of the Just Luke 14. 14. Of the Spirit being saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 5. 5. Of finding Mercy of the Lord in that Day 2 Tim. 1. 18. but that something is to be received at the Day of Judgment not to be obtained before Which the practical Tradition of the Church both Eastern and Western give Testimony to by their praying for the Dead but not for the delivery of Souls out of Purgatory a Practise so universal that the Learned Mr. Thorndike saith It hath been a Custom so general in the Church to pray for the Dead that no beginning of it can be assigned no time no part of the Church where it was not used Epilogue to the Tragedy of the Church of England Book 3. Ch. 29. P. 333. And another of our Learned Country-men Dr. Hammond writeth thus 'T is certain that some measure of Bliss which shall at the Day of Judgment be vouchsafed the Saints when their Bodies and Souls shall be reunited is not till then enjoyed by them and therefore may safely and fitly be prayed for Annotat. on 2 Tim. 1. 16 17 18. For besides that it is evident from Holy Writ that there shall be a general Resurrection The hour is coming in which all that are in their Graves shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done Evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation John 5. 28 29. it is manifest likewise to our Reason that there must be a Re-union of every Soul and Body at the last Day for since Christ shall then appear in his Humanity Ye Men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven this same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Acts 1. 11. corporeal Eyes will be necessarily requisite to behold Him with and that not only because the Organs or Sense are the proper Means instituted by God for the giving notice of corporeal Objects to the Souls of Men but for this farther reason also that there may be a manifest equal Distribution of Justice to the whole Generation of Mankind for