price is put into the hand of fools Our life will be unto us but Occasion of eternall Misery and it would have been better for us never to have been born Will any Man then whose faith is not asleep or in a journy will any Man I mean that believes and considers the existence of Heaven and Hell and the other doctrines of our Faith venture to commit a sin or to provoke his judge or to do any thing that may endanger the damnation of his Soul to eternall Death to save so poor a thing as this uncertain life much lesse to get Riches or Honor or any other worldly acquirement Let us not therefore halt between two Opinions If the Gospell be Gospell Let it have the power of the Gospell Fear its threatnings Entertain its encouragements Receive its Dictats If you receive not these stay no longer here to be a scandall to the best Religion Go rather to the Font where you were initiated and there publickly Renounce and disclaim your Faith Turn professedly Julians or Judas's and insted of the Apostles creed take up the loose discourse of the wicked Atheist or blasphemer as it is express't in the Second chapter of the book of Wisdome and boasted upon Occasions with a little Variety by our modern pretenders to prophane Wit we are as the ungodly wretch in that place most Cursedly expatiates born at all adventures he meanes by chance as if Men were not at all design'd or formed by the providence of God and we shall be hereafter as if we had never been For the breath of our Nostrils is as smoke or which comes very neer the Philosophy of our Modern Atheist A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little spark in the moving of the heart Which being extinguished our Body shall be turned into ashes and our Spirit shall vanish into the soft Air And our name shall be forgotten in Time and no Man shall have our works in Remembrance For our time is a very shadow that passeth away and after our End there is no returning If you are prepared now to renounce your Religion and to agnize these Aphorismes of Atheisme to be the articles of your Faith If you are contented to be reckon'd not with the sheep but with the Goats and to have your portion with these wretches hereafter you may from the same place take the Counsell of the wicked Reasoner It is a fit Application for such a doctrine Enjoy the good things that are present and regard not the world to come Fill your selves with costly Wine and Oyntments and let none of you go without some part of his voluptuousnesse Contemn the laws of God and Nature Oppresse the poor righteous man spare not the Widdow and which is perfect Hobbisme Let your strength be the Law of Justice and what is feeble count it little worth Lay wait for the Righteous Man The man of great and just principles and resolutions he must be rid out of the way because he is not for your turn he will be sure to expose your basenesse to oppose your designes of Villany and wickednesse Examine him with Despitefullnesse Try him with Contumely thus know his meeknesse thus prove his Patience Do not only make your scoffs at Vertue but which are acts worthy a perfect Brave destroy it and root it out and then fear not to adventure upon any acts of Impiety or Insolence These are the Councels of the confirmed Reprobate in the second of Wisdome shame and Wo unto us that this noise should be heard in our streets that these Counsels should at this day be put in practice among us And you my Brethren if you have not come into the Councell of these Cains and Nimrods if these Theorems of Ranting and Hectoring do yet affright you if you dare not deny the truth of the Christian doctrine that is not only countenanced by the Analogy of other certain Truths but hath also been confirmed by Miracles from God and gifts of the holy Ghost Then as ye expect the light and life of God ye must live as children of that light as heirs of that life ye must professe and practice just contrary to the beleif and practice of these reprobated Men Ye must believe that there is an eternall Wages reserved for Temporall Righteousnesse and an everlasting Reward to blamelesse Souls And that for all the Rallery of these blasphemers Man was not so wonderfully made by chance Nor born at all adventures but that God created Man to bee immortall and to be the Image of his own Eternity as the Author of the book of Wisdome there declares in confutation of that wicked Reasoning which according the Epicurean Hypothesis he had so lively represented you are of those my Brethren that have not as I hope stood in the way much lesse sate down in the seat of those insolent Scorners at all Religion and Goodnesse You beleive that our Lord Jesus Christ shall one day come to judge the quick and the dead when as St Paul writeth to his Colossians those that have done well shall receive the Reward of an Inheritance and those that have done wrong shall receive for the wrong that they have done and there shall be no respect of persons Those who have chosen to be patrones and practicers of Atheisme and given themselves over to the suggestions of the Evill Spirit and to the Vanity of their own hearts those who have contemned the Gospell which as St Paul observes is not hid to any but those that are lost and slight the Righteousnesse that is commended to us though they are lofty now and full of their Grandeur how will their countenance fall when the sun shall become black as Sackcloth of hair and the moon shall be as blood and when the stars of heaven shall fall to the Earth as when a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs. With what boon grace will they carry themselves when they shall see the Heavens depart as a scroll that is folded together and every mountain and every Island and this of ours among the rest shall be visib'y moved quite out of their places St John telleth us what will bee their condition at that time who are wanting in Religion and good Manners though otherwise exalted in secular dignity and Estate Revel 6.15 The Kings of the Earth and the great Men and the Rich men and the cheife Captains and the bond and the free Men and all that whole Gang of wicked Men and Unbeleivers shall hide themselves in the dens and rocks of the mountains and shall say to the Mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. He whose first Advent to us was humble and mean and he that in his passion for us shewed the meeknesse of a Lamb will then appear as the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah He shall then come no more as a Preist to atone for us nor as a Prophet to Preach unto us the way of life but then only as a Judge to acquit or condemn us And the man that hath made no advantage of the first advent shall not need to wish the second There shall be no Place nor means for Redemption then But the fearfull and Unbeleiving and Abominable and Whoremongers and Sorcerers and Idolaters and Lyars and other such sinfull Men shall have their part in that lake of fire and Brimstone where whatsoever Socinus or Mr Hobbes have thought to the contrary the smoke of their Torment shall ascend up for ever and ever and they shall have no rest day nor night Those on the Contrary who have beleived the Gospell of our Savior and by the power of their Faith have overcome the Temptations of the world and so by reason of their Inherent Grace have a title to plead the merits of Christ and his Righteousnesse for the Remission of their sins they shall inherite all things even all the Glorious unconceivable Happinesses of Heaven To which Kingdome of Glory God Allmighty bring us through all those means and methods that he hath sanctified to that purpose Now to the King of Heaven and to the Lord our Righteousnesse by whose merits only we have entrance into that Kingdome and to the Spirit of holinesse who can only give us title to those Merits and bring us within the conditions of the Covenant of Grace to the Whole holy and ever blessed Trinity in Unity be Glory Honor and Adoration for ever FINIS
us And it was by obeying these Notices that the Heathens are said by St Paul Rom. 2.14 to have done by nature the things that were written in the Law Plato telleth us that God hath diverse sorts of Laws and among the rest that one is Lex humana nostris insculpta mentibus ad veri rectique notitiam affectum It is the Law of human reason wrought and engraven in our minds to forme a knowledge and love of Truth and Right This being laid down as a ground they discoursed further that men ought not to think that these naturall notices were to no purpose imprinted on them by the author of their Natures But seeing they were most proper to direct Vertuous actions they argued that God had appointed them for that End even as he had appointed the Eye to see and the Ear to hear which were only proper for those services and consequently that wicked men crosse the purposes and designes of God and displease him when they make no use at all of those Dictates of Conscience or use them not to the right End and that they must expect to suffer the effects of that displeasure For it was not without reason presumed that to have these Notices obeyed was the pleasure of God who planted them in our Natures and that those pleased him most who obeyed him most in doeing as they directed and that either in this life or in the next they should find the benefit of their Obedience and the wicked the Reward of their Dissobedience tamblic de vitâ Pyth. c. 18. All beings shew their kindnesse where they love saith Pythagoras and God consequently And therefore he and his Schole allwayes concluded that wise Men will apply themselves to do the things that please God and that in hope of a Reward For even the Gentiles beleived that there was a God and that he was a Rewarder of all those that diligently seek Him According to the style of the Apostle Heb. 11.6 If it be askt what do we more than this what advantage then hath the Christian and what profit is there of the Gospell of Christ I answer as St Paul did Rom. 3.2 Much every way chiefly because that to us are committed the Oracles of God We grant that their Notices were pretty explicite that directed what actions were good and what evill Yet their thoughts concerning a Reward though they beleived it in the generall were very confused various doubtfull They saw that in this world good men were often oppress 't and that worse than they govern'd and bare Rule over them This made them resolve that the great and full reward of Vertuous actions was to bee expected in another World But their conceits concerning that other world were so uncertain and their Traditions upon which these conceits were built became at last so mixt with fables that they came to be esteemed but Poeticall Phansyes Heaven was metamorphos'd into the Elysian Fields and the Tales of Styx and Acharon confounded the True Notion of Hell insomuch that little remained of the old Faith and Tradition uniformly consented to more than this That there were Notions in us competently sufficient to direct our Practice That there was a God who made us and planted these Notions in us and that this God was a Rewarder Here then is our advantage The Gentiles they had their Altars erected to an Unknown God Act. 17.23 So then Vertue aimed at an unknown Reward What the best and most considering persons among them conceived confusedly and beleived uncertainly That the holy Gospell to us Christians proposeth distinctly and confirmeth surely And though the Glory and Happinesse which the blessed shall enjoy in Heaven be so great that as St Paul observeth Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor understanding comprehended it yet as the same St Paul observeth 1 Cor. 2.10 God hath reveled it to us by his Spirit He hath shewed us what is the condition of that estate at least so far forth as our earthy natures were capable to understand it And truly it is but necessary for us to be frequent in the contemplation of that happinesse that God hath provided for such as serve him For the Race that is set before us is to be run not without our labors and endeavor And it is the value of the prize that must encourage us to be temperate and strive in it King David though reported in holy Scripture to have been a Man after Gods own heart yet professeth of himselfe that he had utterly fainted but that he beleived verily to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living Psal 27. And St Paul observeth that it is onely and singly this Hope of Heaven that easeth a Christians life from being of all lives the most miserable to be of all lives the most happy 1. Cor. 15.19 Nor was his consideration of the Recompense of Reward thought either unlawfull or superfluous by Abraham or Moses or our blessed Savior Great were the Joyes that were set before them and great even the same great Delights are set before Us. The most searching wit cannot conceive greater For these are the greatest possible nay we cannot conceive these adequately because they are so great Now that I may not wander too much when I treat of so infinite a Theme I shall designedly confine my present discourse to some few Texts and chiefly to the last verse of the sixteenth Psalm Where the Prophet concludeth that in the Kingdome of Heaven or which is all one in the presence of God there is fullnesse of Joy and at his right hand there are Pleasures for evermore This Psalme is entitled by the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A piece of Davids Sculpture or engraving As our best Poets chuse to have some greater acumen somewhat more excellent and strong for wit and sense in the Closure of their Poems So in the last line of this Psalme in the Bottome of this piece of Sculpture there is engraved in small a good lively Image of Heaven or of that which maketh Heaven to be such Celestiall Happinesse This Urania is a fit piece for every divine Lover and courtier to cast both his Eyes upon And therefore while I discourse to You on this subject to rectify my meditations I shall frequently cast mine Eye upon this very little but very fine piece of the Royall Engraver I layd down in the beginning these undeniable and confessed Grounds First that every man desireth to live without greif in an estate of joy and happinesse Secondly that every wise man desireth the greater Happinesse before the lesse I shewed by the by the Opinions of Heathen Men that Happinesse was no otherwise attainable but by Vertue and the endeavor of Pleasing God But now I assume which I intend for the Argument of this Discourse That in Heaven in his own presence God hath provided for Vertuous men an estate of happinesse that is in all respects the greatest that
so saith St Paul was Adam our Fore-Father 1 Cor. 15. And while we live here we must bear as he there speaks the Image of the Earthy And so are not capable to understand what Joyes will be apt to suit with our Natures after their change into the state of Incorruption Only thus much is revealed unto us That as we have borne the Image of the Earthy so we must bear the Image of the heavenly 1 Cor. 15. That is as we have been hitherto like Adam so also hereafter we shall be in our glorified bodies like unto the glorifi'd body of Christ they are the expresse words of St Paul Phill. 3.21 That the Lord Jesus shall transfigure our vile bodyes and make them like unto his glorious body It is not saith St John 1 Epist. 3.2 manifest or Intelligible what we shall be only thus much is revealed and we know it to be true that when the Lord shall appear we shall be like him that is not only our Soules but our bodies also shall be purely spirituall even as the body of Christ was after his resurrection This is not vehemenisme but a great truth that there is a spirituall Body And however in the Notions of our present Philosophy Bodies and spirits are opposite and contradistinct yet not so but that the body of Christ now is and ours hereafter shall be undoubtedly spirituall we know but in part saith St Paul and truely the Nature of that spiritualty which we shall enjoy in our bodies after that great change is a mistery or that part of science which now we doe not cannot understand Maimonides hath an excellent discourse given us by the learned publisher of the Porta Mosis to this effect As saith he the blind Eye is not delighted by the most beautifull colours now the deaf Ear by the ravishing modulations of the sweetest Musick and as it is impossible that the fishes of the sea should know how to judge of the pleasures those creatures take that live in the quick and finest Aether under the Concave of the Moon Sicut nec caecue colores nec Sung dus voces nec impotens Veneris voluptatem veneris percipit ita nec corpora voluptates animi proprias assequi Et quemadmodum Piscis Elementum ignis non habet cognitum ita nec in mundo hoc corporeo voluptates Mundi spiritualis dignosci Maimonid in praefat ad Explic. cap. 10 Sanedrim apud Pocockium de Portâ Mosts so neither by us in this world can the delights of the spirituall world be discerned We have no true tast saith he of any but corporeall pleasures and purely mentall delights are so strange unto us that we cannot without much Industry and diligence have any tast or Apprehension of them On the contrary Angels are not sensible of any corporeall pleasures their senses are not as ours nor made to the same purposes And we after death shall no more relish or desire these bodily pleasures than a wise Monarch would desire to dethrone himselfe for ever and lay down all his Regalia that he might spend his dayes at play in the streets with that company and in those sports which when he was a child was more suitable to his temper than the excercise of his Royall power Such difference is there in the dignity and vilenesse of the delight of this corporeall and that spirituall World And therefore as that considering Rabbin well expresseth this matter God hath dealt with his people as a prudent and indulgent Master treateth the tender schollar whom he desires to improve He provokes him to his lesson with the reward of a fig or a piece of sweetmeates Et paulo post Non est Angelis voluâ—tas aliqua corporea nec cam percipiant cum non sint illis ut nobis seasus quibus ea quae nos percipimus assequantur Eodemque modo cum e Nobis quis dignus factus fuerit qui gradum istum pâ—st mortem consequatur Non amplius voluptates corporeas percepturus est eâsve appetiturus magis quam Rex magni Regni dominus Regno suo exuicuoiat ut ad Pili lusum in Plateis redeat etiamsi tempus faerit quo lusum istum Regno anteserret Fingas puerum minorennem ad praeceptorem deductum quo cum legem eâ—oceat quod magnum ei ob eam quam inde assequetur perfectionem Bonum est licet ipse magnitudinem istius boai prae intellectus imbecillitate non percipiat Coget Necessitas Praeceptorem qui ipso perfectior est scholarem sic provocare Dicet Lege ut tibi Juglandem aut ficum aut sacchari portiunculam demus ta fiet ut studcat Non ipsius Lectioâ—is gratiâ Cujus digaitatem nondum intelligit sed ut edulium istud accipiat c. apud Maimoniden cod lib. p. 138. deinceps or somewhat that will for the present work upon his phancy not with a discourse of nice speculation to evince a future satisfaction to the mind by the learning of the Law And this doubtlesse is the very reason why the holy Ghost bath had such frequent reference to corporeall pleasures in the Notices which he hath given us concerning the Joyes of Heaven because while wee are here our body generally prevailes above our spirit and we do better resent corporeall than mentall pleasures Cum horro mortalis de aternâ gloriâ disserit Caecus de luce disserit Gregor Moral 27.26 But notwithstanding for the use of those that are more perfect and that we may not conceive to our selves as I said any hope of a Mahumetane Paradise or reality of grosse corporeall pleasures in the life to come the same Spirit hath made frequent attestations of the Spirituallnesse which we shall enjoy even in our Bodyes then and of the diversity of our delights there from these of this present world and therefore when we shall come to explain the Nature of Heavenly glory without the use of Metaphors which can be only done by Negatives because we cannot forme any direct Idea of it then all these pleasures of eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage and all corporeall delights are denyed of it But now since we have made so good a progresse in the way we designed let us indulge our selves the refreshment a little to look back and see how consistent and agreeable these principles of Religion are to the Notions of considering men among the Heathen And truly it is hard to find any thing more agreeable to us than the Philosophy of Socrates as it is represented by Plato in his Philebus and elsewhere dispersedly among his writings and was as I take it the ancientest Philosophy of the whole world Which in short is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which testify that the ancients to Plato own'd the world to be govern'd by the providence of God He reckons this among the great and ancient Traditions inter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
preference because as St Paul doth more than once assert so great is the glory that shall be revealed that to it nothing in this present world is worthy to be compared It was the Hope of this Happinesse that made the primitive Christians leap into the Flames and suffer Martyrdome with joy Now though we through the Mercy of God have no flames of Martyrdome to seap into yet we may take this note from the Psalmist Psal 125. that those who are said to return with joy had a Time of going on their Way weeping and bearing good seed or this from St John That the Bride must have her wedding Garments prepared before hand She must not be like the foolish Virgins she must not be to provide her Ornaments when her wedding Hour is come She must be arrayed in Fine linnen and this Fine linnen is the Righteousnesse of the Saints Revel 19. We must know that Christians are to bee arrayed not only with the Righteousnesse of Saints inherent We may learn from St Paul 1 Cor. 9. That those who obtain this Crown of Glory in Heaven are temperate in all things and prepare themselves before hand and then also run and strive that they may obtain For it is so ordained that no man shall come to that great glory either with the assistance and Grace of God or without his own faithfull Endeavor Complement alone will never do it Our Savior hath protested Matth. 7.25 That not every One who professeth this Religion Not every one who saith unto Him Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of Heaven but he only who doth the will of his Father which is in Heaven Now to the king of Heaven and to the Lord our Righteousnesse by whose merits only we can have Entrance into that kingdome and to the Spirit of Holinesse who can only give us title to those merits c. SERM. IV. Of Happiness in Heaven shewing In Opposition to the Atheist The Reasons why we believe Rewards and punishments in another life The Immortality of the Soul The Resurrection of the Body I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaak and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living Math. 22.23 ACTS 26.8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible that GOD should raise the Dead AS the Fear of that Punishment The Hope of the Resurrection of the Body and life everlasting the greatest Encouragement to Vertue that God hath prepared for Wicked men is apt to deter them from the continuall practices of Vice So the Christians Hope of the Resurrection of the Body and everlasting life in Heaven is the greatest encouragement to the Excercise of Religion and vertue I have allready shewed you the excellence and Glory of that Estate which we Hope for and in the next place I think it may bee seasonable in Opposition to the Atheists of our Time to clear unto you the foundation of this Hope namely the Credibility of the Resurrection it self which I propose to do in this method First to shew you that from Naturall Reason much hath been granted towards our faith in this particular Secondly that the world had reason to receive and we have reason still to continue the belief of the doctrine of our Savior delivered us in this Article All this I mean to do as it were historically by giving you the ancient state of the doctrine delivered in it and some of the old arguments that continued this belief against the Atheisticall Reasonings of former Ages And these old arguments of proof that have withstood the Batteries of Atheisme hitherto I am not only contented with but indeed I prefer them before those fine but untried ones of New Invention The existence of the law of Nature argues rewards and punishments in another life because they are not equally distributed in this First this was part of the Naturall Mans creed that there shall be hereafter in another life time and place for Blisse and Punishment This all considering persons have argued from the Notions of the Law of Nature that men generally find implanted in them If a law say they then there must be a Reward and Punishment else that Law will be to no purpose But we find a Law written in our Hearts and yet vertue hath not its Reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. apud Platodem in Phaed. nor vice its Punishment allwaies in this life and therefore it must bee lookt for in another How many vicious livers are there who have escaped correction from all Mortall Men and how many poor vertuous persons have there been who for their generall practice of vertue and patience in Honesty and upright dealing have received nothing but Envy Reprocah Despite and Oppression in this life V. Plutarchum de serâ numinis vindicta Platonem in Gratillo Gorgia and therefore we argue now as they did anciently that there is wanting that Order and providence in the Government of the Rationall world that is visible in all things of lesser moment unlesse as we believe there shall bee indeed another life wherein according to our merits we may receive Rewards and punishments And upon this Expectation Solid and Wise Men still held that the Practice of Honesty and the Observance of the Laws of Nature were to be defended and preferred even before the preservation of their present lives Which had been irrationall and foolish for them to have done had they been without a Reasonable Hope of a just Recompence in another life Secondly another thing that we have received from Arguments of naturall and Human Reason is the doctrine of the Immortality of our Souls And since the Soul according to the Platonique and Peripateticall and all other Philosophy Detrchere aliquid alteri hominis incommodo suum augere commodum magis est contra Naturam quam Mors quam paupertas quam dolor c. apud Ciceronem de Off. 3. Ad Carthaginem rediit Regulus cum neque ignorabat se ad crudelissimum hostem atque exquisita supplicia prosicisci quod Fidem servandam putabat Cicero eod Justum tenacem propositi virum Non civium ardor prova jubentium Non vultus instantis Tyranni Mente qualit solidâ Si fractus illabatur Orbis Impavidum ferient ruinae Hac arte Pollux vagus Hercules Innixus arces attigit igneas c. apud Horatium carm lib. 3. Ode 3. is the great constituent Principle of our Being and Individuation if that bee granted to bee immortall it must bee granted that the greatest and most considerable part of every Individuall Man is immortall And this will well conduce to expedite our other doctrine concerning the credibility of the Resurrection of the same Body It is most true Mr Hobbes's opinion considered that the Author of the Leviathan affirmeth that Men before the time of our Savior were generally possess 't of an Opinion Leviathan p. 4. p. 340.
therefore in the very words of our Office in the holy communion Let us lift up our hearts and give thanks to our Lord God For it is meet and right and our bounden duty that we should in all times and in all places give thanks unto thee O Lord holy father All mighty and everlasting God But cheifly are we bound to praise thee for the glorious Resurrection of thy son Jesus Christ our Lord who by his death hath destroied death and by his Rising again to life hath restored us to everlasting life Therefore with the Angels and Arch-angels and all the company of Heaven we laud and magnify thy glorious name evermore praising thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most high Amen FINES COMPARATI THE AIMES of Philosophicall Vulgar Wits Compared vvith the Ends of Religion and Vertue That which is Crooked cannot be made strait and that which is wanting cannot be numbred Eccles 1.15 1 Cor. 1.20 21 22 23. VVhere is the VVise VVhere is the scribe VVhere is the Disputer of this VVorld Hath not God made foolish the VVisdome of this VVorld For after that in the VVisdome of God the world by VVisdome knew not God it pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to save them that believe For the Jewes require a sign and the Greeks seek after VVisdome But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jewes a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishnesse But unto them that are called Jewes and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdome of God To which adde the 6th and 7th verses of the following chapter We speak wisdome among them that are perfect yet not the Wisdome of this world or of the princes of this world that come to nought But we speak the wisdome of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdome which God ordained before the world to our Glory WHen I have been sometimes considering upon what slight grounds diverse learned Men have undervalued Religion and the Hopes of Immortality and Glory and that many vulgar Wits have done the same and that neither the learned Philosophers nor the carnally-minded and worldly men Both Philosophical and vulgar Wits vain in the choice of their ends have gotten any thing considerable in exchange or indeed have any thing in comparison to boast of I could not but apply to these two differences the high and Philosophicall and the low and vulgar Wits that saying of the Psalmist applyed by Him to the different states of Men. Psalm 62. Surely the Wits of high degree are Vanity and those of low degree are a lye to be laid in a Balance they are both together lighter than Vanity For I shall easily make it appear that the Wise man or Philosopher when he hath exalted himself against God He hath made himself a fool and that he hath no more Reason to glory of his Wisdome Jer. 9.23 than the Rich man hath of his Riches or the Voluptuous Man of his pleasure and that neither of them have any cause to Glory He that glories against Religion holds up his Weapons against God and he shall prosper accordingly Give me therefore your favor and patience and I shall consider them all the high and the low the Wise man and the fool as they have opposed the most perfect wisdome which however sometimes despised I shall plainly demonstrate to bee the VVisdome of Religion The Philosophers have ever been apt to soar too high and to towr aloft beyond their senses The vulgar have ever been as apt to sink too low so that their senses are communly drowned in the Enjoyments of this world We will not disparage Philosophy so much as not to consider it in the first Place And therefore I have chosen to present you a Landscape where you have our great Apostle represented as taking a Review of his Opponents at Athens who were the Philosophers in generall and among them if we distinguish particularly the Epicureans and the Stoicks And upon this full Review of the Opposition he had on the one side and of the power strength and successe of his Gospell on the other I conceive Him as it were venting both his Pitty and his Indignation in the words of this Text Where is the VVise Where is the the Scribe Where is the Disputer of this World hath not God made foolish the Wisdome of this World c. This Epistle was written to the Christians in Achaia Corinth as all know was the Metropolis in that Province insomuch that when the Apostle mentions the readinesse of of the Corinthians his phrase is that all Achaia was ready a year ago Athens was another lesser Citty in the same province but renownd for the Academy that was held there by the Philosophers And I am of Opinion that this Text reflects on somewhat that happen'd to St Paul at Athens Argumentum l. 5. Tuscul Quaestionum illud est Virtutem ad beatè vivenduÌ„ seipsâ esse contentam ubi sanctum illud augustúmque ut vocat Platonis fontem aperit Cui viro ex se apta sunt omnia quae ad beate vivenduÌ„ ferunt huic optime vivendi ratio comparata est Neque enim laetabitur unquam aut maerebit nimis Quod semper in seipso omnem spem reponet sui Et inter paradoxa defendit Cicero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nemo potest non esle beatissimus inquit qui est totus aptus ex se quique in se uno sua ponit omnia Contentus sis temet ipso ex te nascentibus bonis Sen. Epist. 20. Stoicus putat Deum ad sapienteum sic dicere Non egere felicitate felicitas vestra est Est quo Deum antecedatis Ille extra patâ—entiam malorum est vos supra patientiam Contemnite mortem quae vos aut finit aut transfert Ante omnia cautum est ne quis vos teneret invitos Nihil facilius quam mori c. Sen. de Providentia cap. 6. Solcbat Sextius dicere Jovem plus non posse quam Virum bonum Deus non vincis sapientiam felicitate etiamsi vincit aetate Non est Virtus major quae longior c. Epist 73. epist 5.3 Est aliquod inquit Seneca quo sapiens antecedat Deum Ille naturae beneficio non suo sapiens est Ecce res magna habere imbecillitatem hominis securitatem Dei. Et epist 31. Hoc est summum bonum quod si occupas incipis Deorum socius esse non supplex Vox Stoici non intercedam apud Deum ut sapiens plenus gaudio hilaris inconcussus sim ita Horatius Aequum animum mihi ipse parabo For as he disputed against the superstition of that place and preach't the Christian doctrine certain Philosophers of the Epicureans and the Stoicks encountred Him abused Him called him names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 babler that is one that makes a great noise and
Vindicated p. 43 44 Justin Martyr vindicated p. 45 St Gregory Photius Cyprian Prudentius Athanasius and St Hierom considered p. 45 46 47 Justinians letter to Archbishop Menna and the decree of the sixt councell of Constantinople refer'd to p. 47 48 Whether Hell Torments formally such as described if not such greater St Greg. Nyssenes Opinion p. 49 Hell Torments not now understood p. 49 50 God himself is in Hell a consuming fire p. 50 51 Fear of God and his judgement commended p. 51 52 This fear a principall Bar against Vice p. 52 53 Vicious men not to be Envied p. 54 There is a Reward in the End for the Religious SECT II. SERM I. Of the Rewards of Religion Man Naturally desireth Happinesse p. 5 The Greater Happinesse is more desireable then the lesse p. 58 Heathens were sensible of a Reward for Vertue and a punishment impendent upon Vice p. 59 The fears and suspicions of an ill Conscience immoveable p. 60 The joy and content of the Heathens in the practice of Vertue and how this joy was reasonable p. 60 61 The Laws of Nature and sense of God a Rewarder in all Men. p. 61 62 Christians have greater Reasons of their satisfaction and content in the excercise of Christian Vertue p. 62 63 The contemplation of the joyes of Heaven necessary for our encouragement to Vertue p. 63 Psal 16. v. ult commended p. 64 Happinesse in Heaven the greatest possible ib. The parts of the greatest Happinesse explained p. 65 Security from Greif a necessary prerequisite to Happinesse p. 66 Heavenly Happinesse free from pain and Greif p. 67 Mans condition considered in respect of pain p. 68 The use of Cares and Pains in this World p. 69 No Vse of Pains or Cares in Heaven p. 70 The particular Occasions and Causes of our Bodily pains and cares inconsistent with the state of Glory p. 71 72 Of Pains purely Mentall p. 73 The state of Glory free from mentall Pains p. 74 Of Hell Torment p. 75 The state of Glory free from these Torments p. 75 76 The vision of Heavenly joy shall encrease the Torment of the damned p. 76 The vision of Hell Torments shall encrease the blessednesse of the blessed p. 77 Recapitulation and Conclusion p. 78 SERM II. Of the Rewards of Religion His Apology may be pardon'd who is put to describe Heaven p. 79 It is Gods mercy that Heaven is described by Metaphors p. 80 Voluptas in Motu active joyes in Heaven p. 81 And in the highest degrees and greatest quantities ib. Scenes of Spirituall joyes in corporall shapes and figures given us in compassion to our Infirmities p. 82 Heavenly joyes compared to the pleasures of feasting ib. To the joyes of marriage p. 83 To the joyes of Honor. p. 84 To the Glories of a Victor in games of Honor. ib. To the Gl ries of a King p. 85 The statelinesse of the Court of Heaven descibed p. 85 86 The Eternall duration of these joyes and Glories in Heaven p. 86 87 88 Metaphors expresse the Grandeur not the Nature of that Joy p. 88 Glorified Bodies Spirituall like Christs Body p. 89 Ben Maimons discourse of the Reasonablenesse of Gods proposing Heaaven to us under such Metaphors p. 89 90 The Doctrine of Socrates and Plato de Finibus compared with that of Christianity p. 91 92 Materiall senses continued in Heaven for Ornament rather then for Vse p. 93 The Conclusion p. 94 SERM III. Of the Rewards of Religion Why men prefer Worldly Enjoyments before those of Heaven p. 96 The same Attributes given to God and Heaven ib. The happinesse of Both described by Negatives p. 96 97 The Enjoyment in Nature great the Enjoyments in conceit and phancy greater then those in Nature p. 98 99 The Enjoyments in Heaven greater then both p. 99 1 Cor. 2.9 and Isaiah 64. vv 1 2 3 4. compared and explained p. 100 101 The Conflagration of this world in order to the purgation of its Matter for the New Heavens and New Earth and New Jerusalem incomprehensibly glorious ib. Rabbins affirme that from the state of the Messiah we must take the image of our future Glory p. 101 102 The Resurrection of Christ the Image of ours p. 102 How the Glories of Heaven are revealed to Christians by the Spirit p. 103 Advice Stand no more gazing in Heaven p. 104 Christian Faith and Hope commended Christian Practice commended SERM IV. Of the Rewards of Religion The Hope of the Resurrection of the Body and life everlasting the greatest Encouragements to Vertue p. 109 The Existence of the Law of Nature argues Rewards and punishments in another life because they are not equally Distributed in this p. 110 The immortality of the Soul anciently beleived p. 111 Mr Hobbes's his Opinion considered ib. The Doctrine of the Souls Immortality sprang not from the Daemonology of the Greeks p. 112 The ancient arguments for the Immortality of the Soul from Cicero and other Philosophers p. 113 115 116 The Explication of those who make Souls corporeall imperfect p. 114 Mr Hobbes misinterprets Scripture which determines the Soul to be independent from the Body p. 117 118 Reasons why Christians first beleived the Gospell of Christ concerning the Resurrection of the Body p. 118 119 Christs other pred ctions allready miraculously fullfill'd were received as Arguments that his Doctrine concerning the Resurrection shall be fullfilled also p. 119 120 Miraculous instances of his power in raising the Dead p. 120 121 Jairus his daughter and the Widdows son raised p. 121 122 Lazarus raised and the Resurrection preacht p. 122 123 Christs own Resurrection a powerfull argument of ours p. p. 123 124 Objections Obviated p. 125 126 How the Doctrine of the Resurrection was received among the Jews p. 127 Our Saviors Argument against the Sadduces explain'd p. 127 128 How farve the Doctrine of the Philosophers was consistent with the Christian Doctrine of the Resurrection p. 129 130 Application Hope of this Resurection to be cherisht p. 131 This Vertue Hope commended from its Vsefullnesse p. 132 The Antinomians Error who rejects this Vertue deduced from its Originals described and confuted p. 〈…〉 134 The Exercise of Hope commended from the 〈…〉 to it p. 134 The Exercise of Thanksgiving and Worship commended p. 135 SECT III. SERM I. Of the cheifest good Christian Doctrine opposed by Epicureans and Stoicks p. 146 141 142 St Pauls Triumph over his learned opponents p. 143 Philosophers very good and very bad p. 144 145 146 Errours about summum Bonum p. 147 148 No sect could obtain Happinesse in this life p. 149 150 151 Their happinesse designd in this life inconsiderable p. 152 153 Some philosophers prizd vertuous actions to be summum bonum p. 154 Others esteem'd pleasure to be it p. 155 And aimd at that only in this life p. 156 Christians aime at everlasting pleasures p. 157 SERM II. Of the cheifest Good St Augustine under temptation of pleasure p. 160 Difference of lusts p. 161 Religion opposeth
can possibly be imagined or enjoyed And to prove this that I assume I shall onely beg you to grant what if you consider you cannot but grant namely that the greatest happinesse possible can have but those parts or properties which in this Text are either explicitely or implicitely affirmed of the Glory of Heaven The first of these is Indolence that is the absence of Greif and security from it This is required as a prerequisite or principle and foundation of the other parts and is implied because the other mention'd properties cannot be where this is not The second part or property is that it hath Joy in possession The very forme essence or substance of that happinesse consists in Joy Nothing can be more suitable to our Natures or appetites than delight Joy or pleasure And this we have an explicite assurance of from this Text. For the Psalmist telleth us expressely That in the presence of God there is joy and at his right hand there are Pleasures The third property of the greatest happinesse is that there be fullnesse of this Joy For Fullnesse implieth the highest degree and greatest measure Neither man nor Angell nor any other Being can be capable of more than fullnesse and this is also explicitely affirm'd of the estate of Glory viz. That in the presence of God there is fullnesse of Joy The Fourth and last property of the greatest happinesse that can be imagined is the Perpetuity or eternall duration of its pleasures and this the Text also giveth us an explicite assurance of For it concludeth That in the presence of God are pleasures for evermore not for a day or a year or ten years or ten thousand But in the presence of God are pleasures for evermore Thus the Royall engraver in this very little piece hath given us all the lineaments of the greatest happinesse and hath directed us where this Urania makes her abode where this Happinesse this perfect and compleat happinesse is to bee found not among Glories or riches or Pleasures of this World but in the presence of God in Heaven O Let the Power of thy Grace O Lord fit us for that presence The first property of that happy estate which the blessed enjoy in the presence of God is Indolence or security from Greifs This is not expressely mention'd in the description but certainly implied For there can be no Fullnesse of joy where pains or sorrows are mixt or fill any part of the Soul For that Soul cannot be perfectly full of joy that is partly fill'd with sorrow And I therefore place Indolence first because an Estate of Joy can stand upon no other Bottome There can be no foundation for it where the place is allready possess 't with greif For as the Scholemen use to dispute that the privation or absence of cold is a necessary requisite for the introducing of Heat so they affirme also that the absence of greif or sorrow is as necessary for the production of delight and Pleasure Secondly this estate of Indolence which is the ground or Basis of delight though it be onely implied in the Psalmists description here yet in other Texts of Scripture is expressely asserted to be part of the Portion of the Blessed in Heaven Wee are Christians we all professe to beleive the Scriptures In them we hope to have eternall life and so if the Son of God be to be beleived before Socinus did the Jewes before us we have the light of that Revelation which the Heathens wanted and would have rejoyced at This would have corrected their Traditions and rectified their confused Expectations We have as St Peter speaketh a more sure word of Prophesy to which we shall do well if we take heed as to a light that shineth in a darke place untill the day dawn and the day star arise in our hearts that is untill the day come that we shall be admited into the presence of God and shall see him not in a glasse darkely but face to face Till that time come we must borrow all our light from Scripture which came not by the will of Man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1. ult St John we know in the time of the Gospell was the great Master of Revelations He was the person whom our Savior chose out of all his Disciples to reveal those things unto that were to come to passe in the End of the world And he hath given us a sufficient Testimony of our Security from greif at that time when we shall enjoy the presence of God in the new Jerusalem He saw the Heavens and the Earth fly away from before the face of God and there was no place found for them Rev. 20.11 He saw also a new Heaven and a new Earth and a new Jerusalem coming down from God richly adorn'd as a Bride in Expectation of her Bridegroome Rev. 21.1 2 3 4. And I heard saith he a great voice out of Heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and bee their God and God shall wipe away all teares from their Eyes and there shall be no more Death neither sorrow nor Crying neither shall there be any more pain Here You see we have a particular Revelation to assure us that in the resurrection of the just they shall have the first part of Happinesse which is Indolence or the security from greif Now the manner or solemnity of giving this Revelation deserves to be considered also For least this vision should be without an authentick Notary He who sate upon the throne said unto John Write for the words are faithfull and true This came not like a delphick whisper For he heard a great Voice and that not uttering the mind of God enigmatically as it were in a riddle not in amphibolies or equivocall language and of various construction as the heathen Oracles did who sought out darke speech that the Event might not overtake them in an evident lye but in plain univocall and downright termes There shall be no more Death nor sorrow nor crying nor pain This was a Voice from Heaven This is the eternall decree and covenant of God of which he commanded St John to be the Scrivener This is the enfeofment of the redeemed or in the phrase of the Spirit the words that are faithfull and true and cannot passe away This Text you see is generall and full and can bee meant of nothing else But seeing what is here spoken in generall is in other Texts delivered more particularly It will not be amisse to follow wheresoever the Scripture leadeth and so to take a more speciall account what are the miseries that ill men are subject to and that holy and good men by the mercy of God are redeemed from It is most true that Esdras long since observ'd that Mans condition is not greatly to be boasted
our Natures fixt for ever so that no malignant no pestilentiall vapor nor any new and heterogeneous ferment shall be able to alter or corrupt our Constitutions The pestilence that walketh in darknesse propagating it self occultly and the Plague that destroieth at noon day shall have no influence nor power over us Thirdly though the Body and all its parts be strong and the Air wherein we breath be sweet and wholesome Yet Diseases may arise from other causes For example sometimes there happens to be some dissagreablenesse in the matter of our Diet sometimes a mistake in the Quantity sometimes by some other accidents Errors are committed in some of our Digestions which as they happen in the first second or third Digestion to use the style of our vulgar Physiology they cause the pain in the stomach the Colick or the Flux the Obstruction of the Mesentery the fits of an Ague or the pains of a putrid feaver and many more as well Chronicall as acute diseases But all these are accidents of that Nature that they cannot possibly happen to our glorified Bodies St John declares Rev. 7.15.16 That in Heaven Men shall hunger no more they shall thirst no more There shall be none of those stimuli none of those pungent pains for want of meat and drink There shall be no use of Diet nor possibility of Comitting Errors in Diet on Digestions and consequently no surfet nor putrid feavers nor those other diseases that here arise from errors committed in diet and digestion There shall not be any burning feaver No nor so much as a febris ephemera not the least Inflammation of the Spirits from the heat of the Sun So St John proceeds The Sun shall not fall hurtfully upon them neither shall any burning It may be added to compleat the difference That Women which is the half of the rationall world bear children here and it is notorious that they do not bear them without pain and sorrow For to many a disease are they peculiarly and upon that account obnoxious before they can bring a Man child into the world But in Heaven it is Impossible that Women should have any of these Discomposures or that the now Naturall care for Wives and children should disturbe men there For our Savior hath condescended to tell us that those who shall be accounted worthy to attain that world and the Resurrection from the Dead neither marry nor are given in marriage nor can they dy any more They shall have a perpetuity but it shall be established in a better way than by succession of Generations For it followes Luk. 20.35 They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equall to or of like immortall Nature with the Angells and are the sons of God Thus you see how that in all things God exalts the honor of his Goodnesse to us He did us a kindnesse in giving us these pains during our Mortality In the resurrection that day of our Jubilee when there shall be no further use of them He will take from us our Diet of bitter herbs and do us a more great and excellent kindnesse He will establish us in such a state that it will bee Impossible any such cares or greifs should fall upon us I have spoken hitherto principally of our deliverance from greifs that are corporall and incident to us by reason of our Bodies But it is too true that we are subject here to those that are mentall also The Spirit of man may bear his infirmities That is such Evills as are incident to his Mans Body may be born by his Spirit Prov. 18.14 but a wounded Spirit who can bear When our strength is weaknesse how great is that weaknesse and when our Releif is Torment how great is that Torment It is for the sorenesse of these pains of Conscience that they are compared even by Heathens to perpetuall whippings to destructive diseases to sore and incurable Ulcers nay even to the Torments of Hell it self And it is most true that no man in this world can be perfectly secure from the pains and troubles of Conscience because no man can here be perfectly just no man can perfectly comply with the Dictates of his Conscience which containes yet a blotted Copy of Gods first Originall Law Nor can any professor of Christianity perfectly comply with the book't or later Edition of Gods Royall Law so as to need no remorse so as to be above the Necessity of sorrowing and Repenting for his sin Though David was a Man after Gods own heart yet there was a time when his heart smote Him And if his heart smote him for cutting off Sauls skirt and for numbring the people what work think you made his heart with Him in the not to be named matter of Uriah How bitter are those crye◠in the 38th Psalms Thine arrows stick fast in mee and thy hand presseth me sore There is no health in my flesh because of thy Displeasure neither is there any rest in my Bones by Reason of my sin For my wickednesses are gone over my head and are like a sore Burden too heavy for me to bear And how full of concern are those prayers in the 51. Psalm pen'd on that very occasion Cast me not away from thy presence Take not thy holy Spirit from me Restore me to the Joy of thy Salvation Deliver me from blood guiltinesse O God And St Peter that great Apostle though his pretended successor pretends he cannot erre yet he erred more than once and for his errors wept I wish I could read of any Popes that did the same for his errors I say he wept as bitter tears as ere were wept by Mary Magdalene But Heaven is above all these clouds and showers There is no trouble of Conscience there is no broken Spirit there there is no greif no sorrow no pain And therefore not the greatest of pains the pain of a troubled mind As in the state of Integrity there was neither sin nor sting of Conscience So shall it bee in the state of perfect Restauration The glorified Christians shall not only be purg'd from all their sins by the blood of Christ and be cloathed with his Righteousnesse but such Grace shall be given them that they shall grow up and flourish in an inherent Righteousnesse of their own The great Master of Revelations tells us that to the Spouse of the Lambe which is the glorified Church of Christ to her it shall be granted that she shall be arrayed in fine linnen which fine linnen as the same St John interpreteth it is the Righteousnesse of the Saints Rev. 19.8 They shall be as the confirmed Angels are secure from falling into any Action that may cause sin or sorrow Their trade shall bee to be ever Glorifying God and this shall adde to their Glory and to their joy that they shall know that this their glorious Employment shall neither have any end nor any Intermission And Having shewed you now that Heaven is free from the pains of
fit us for them and bring us to them even to those joyes that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor have entred into the heart of Man to be conceived To the God of Joy and peace who is able to do for us more abundantly than we can ask or think be Glory Honor and Adoration for ever SERM. II. PSAL. 16.11 In thy presence is fullnesse of Joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore FOR Ministers to make Apologyes in the Pulpit when they are not absolutely necessary is generally judg'd to be uncomely and below the Gravity of their place But there are subjects sometimes to be treated of in which there is so just Occasion of some Preface that to omit it were token enough of a proud and presuming Nature And such I take to be the argument which I must consider from this Text which leadeth me to the consideration and Description of that Estate which I can neither fully understand nor speak And if God should give me the Tongue as he gave St Paul when he was rapt up into the third Heaven the Eyes of an Angell yet ye would not be able to understand neither the Nature of heavenly glory unlesse the same God should likewise give unto you Angelicall Intellectuals Such is the grossenesse of human sense that when we desire to give Heaven its due esteem yet all our thoughts are both besides it and below it We are not capable of any true Idea's of it We cannot bear the least ray of the starrinesse of its Nature It is therefore the great Mercy and Condescention of God that since we could not arise to the Contemplation of Heaven in its true and Native lustre he hath considered our Natures and by the use of familiar Metaphors and allusions made his heaven stoop to us and cloathed it for our present Comprehension with the Air and livery of this lower world And we are further to adore his Bounty that hath made heaven too great and too glorious an estate to be described Philosophically in affirmative univocall Termes It will be sufficient if I can any way expresse it though in phrases Metaphoricall and borrowed from subjects below it self and though they are as they must needs be full of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and undervaluations of its true and frequently alien from its essentiall and genuine dignity I shew'd in the foregoing discourse among other things that the greatest Happinesse possible can have but these four parts or properties 1. Indolence or security from greif which is required as a prerequisite and foundation of the other parts 2. That for the essence nothing can be desired more suitable to our Natures than Delight joy or Pleasure 3. That for the Degree man is capable of no more than Fullnesse 4. For the Extent that nothing can be longer or larger than Perpetuity or pleasures for evermore I went then only through the Negative part and without figure or Metaphor proved it from Scripture clearly distinctly that the state of Glory shall be free from pains and greifs bodily mentall temporall eternall Now I come to the positive part and to prove that there is not only in Heaven the state of Indolence or security from greif which answers that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Voluptas in statu so much valued by some of the ancient Philosophers but also that Voluptas in Motu preferred by others namely all those stirring and pleasant Airinesses and commotions of the mind which are concomitants of the greatest mirth For so though generally under figures and metaphors is that estate represented to us If you ask by what Authorities of Scripture we entertain this hope of an active joy in Heaven besides that of my Text which affirmes joy and fullnesse of joy to be had in the presence of God I shall refer you to what the Psalmist affirmeth in the 125 Psalm viz. That he who in this world goeth on his way weeping and beareth good seed shall doubtlesse come again with joy the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek that is with an Ovation or great exultancy of active joy Nay there is so much of this in Heaven that the state of Glory is simply styled by the name of Joy For the forme of words to bee used by our Savior when he shall admit his Religious and faithfull servants into Heaven is no other but this Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. But I have yet a further Conclusion to be prov'd from divine Revelation namely that there is not only a security from greif and some active joy in Heaven But that there are the greatest degrees and quantities of that joy There shall be plenty of it even as much as our refined and exalted Natures shall then be able to contain Nothing is capable of more than fullnesse and we have a ready testimony from the Text that in the presence of God there is fullnesse of joy Now to comply with our Natures and to make us esteem the reward that is proposed to us and to entice our affections after it that are generally too carnall and to represent the fullnesse of this joy so as to give it a power over us that are yet earthy minded the holy Ghost hath chosen to represent the pure and in their own Nature incomprehensible joyes of Heaven by sensible representations of the most eminent earthy delights and pleasures He saw our Infirmity that we cannot well Judge of delights that are purely intellectuall and spirituall and therefore he hath so much condescended to our Distempers as to distemper Heaven it self for our sakes and to draw us some scenes of Heavenly joyes in the corporall shapes and figures of our fullest earthy pleasures Such are those of feastings Weddings the possession of Riches Honors and the like so Luke 22.30 This Heavenly joy is represented by that of a Royall feast with God by eating and drinking at the Table of the king of Heaven And our Psalmist hath given us the like figure of Celestiall Happinesse in the thirty sixt Psalm v. 8. which we read thus They that trust in thee shall be abundantly satisfied with the fulnesse of thy House and thou shalt give them to drink of the River of thy pleasures that is thou shalt give them to drink plentifully of thy pleasures as out of a River It followes For with thee is the Well the never ceasing spring of life And in thy light shall we see light Every particular is very considerable First Inebriabuntur ubertate domus tuae so the vulgar latine agreeably enough to the Originall and best Translations In Textum Inebrtabuntur ubertate domus tuae torrente voluptatis tuae potabis eos dicunt Interpretes quia suavior in poculentis voluptas quam in esculentis ideo per inebriationem summam laetitiam hie intelligi v. Euthymium Nicephorum â—uin Philosophi instantiam voluptatis iâ— motu eam potantis
post sitim inducunt inde per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Veteres quidam ut Orpheus perpetuam inebriationem Virtutis mercedem dixerunt Now by that or the like phrases learned Men have chosen to represent that Voluptas in Motu that active and stirring pleasure in which they placed the greatest Happinesse Secondly those Phrases they shall be abundantly satisfied and they shall drink as out of a River signify the greatest plenty of that pleasure or to use the stile of the Text a great fullnesse of this Joy And though these representations for our sakes are Corporeall yet there is one in the close more Intellectuall Spirituall and harder to be understood In thy light shall we see light Let the foundation of light and life so purify and then exalt our Natures that we may see that light and live It is most certain that the Joyes of Heaven are in their own Nature highly Intellectuall and Spirituall and yet to exhibite a full delight and shape its idea to our present affections It is frequently in Scripture Compared to the pleasures of a Marriage and which is a high Honor to Matrimony to that of a Bride upon her Wedding day That we know is the Time of her great joy and there is reason it should be so seeing at that day she is emancipated from the corrections of childhood and youth she is freed from the commands of her Governesses she is made Mistresse of her self she receives a Blessing and a portion from her father smiles and Gratulations of joy from her whole family and kinred and which is above all she taketh then a perfect assurance of full satisfaction to her Naturall desires and makes an everlasting settlement of her own and takes an everlasting assurance of her Husbands love In these colours therefore doth St John typify unto us the estate of the blessed in Heaven Revel 21. Then saith he that is in the first appearance of the state of Glory the triumphant Church shall come prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband as the Bride rather than as the Bridegroom because if there be any difference her Joy is esteemed generally the greatest And then as it is express't Rev. 19. the Blessed Angels shall sing for Joy those divine Scripture Epithalamiums Let us be glad and rejoyce and give honour to the Lord for the marriage of the Lamb is come and the Bride hath made her ready and that song of Loves Psasm 25. Hearken O princesse and consider encline thine Ear forget also thy own Countrey and thy Fathers house then shall the King greatly desire thy Beauty for he is the Lord thy God and worship thou him To which the Bride shall make Responsals like that penned by Isaiah cap. 61.10 I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my soul shall be joyfull in my God for he hath cloathed me with the garments of salvation hee hath covered me with a robe of Righteousnesse even as a Bride richly adorned with her Jewels But because Glory and honor to some more Intellectuall Complexions is matter of their greater delight than those sensuall of meat and marriage to comply with the Notions of these men also concerning Happinesse Heaven is elsewhere express't to be an appearance in Glory Col. 3.4 and it is in holy scripture particularly compared to the pleasure that men of great Spirits take in Honors gotten by noble and excellent Atchievements Among the triumphant Glorys mentioned in History V. Natalis Com. lib. 5. Mythologiae cap. 5. Morere Diagera Non enim in coelum ascenderes Lacenis Gratulatio ad Diagoram duos filios Victores olympiae habentem Tusc Quaest l. 1. and of use in former times there were none Causes of greater Joy than those accustomed upon a victory at the Pythian Nemaean Isthmian or Olymphick Games where he that got the victory was crowned with an honourable garland and carryed on the shoulders of the chiefest Cittizens not into the Gates but through triumphant Pageants or Arches even over the walls of their Cittyes In the chief places of which there were Inscriptions engraven or statues erected to the honour of the Conquerour sometimes therefore the estate of Glory is compared to the transport and Joy of these triumphant victors So by St Paul 1 Cor. 9.24.25 to that or a Crowne or prize gotten by those who strive for Mastery at the Race But that which is above all in point of Honour and more universally resented as the most full ample and greatest attainment that is possible in this world is to be the Fountaine of Honour to be a King in possession of a reall Crowne or throne By this therefore the Glory of Heaven is most frequently exemplifyed to him that overcometh saith our Savior Rev. 3.21 will I give to sit with me in my throne and St James telleth us that the Lord hath promised and the Blessed shall receive a Crowne of life James 1.12 and Math. 24.24 and Rev. 1.6 It is said that the Blessed shall be Kings and Priests unto God Nor shall they have these honours in an obscure place For the glory of that Court to compleat the fulnesse of our Joy is exprest to be of a most unimaginable slateliness beyond that of any Princes palace in the world Socrates in one of Platoes discourses tells us that all the ordinary herbage of the Superiour world is as glorious as the brightest part of the most beautifull flower upon Earth and that the vast mountains of that world are entire Rubyes and Diamonds whereof those gems which we wear and value are as it were but small scattered Chips and fragments I will not accuse Socrates for these Hyperboles his meaning might be sober and the words intended onely to expresse a great glory in the world above For even the slatelinesse of the Heavenly Jerusalem is typified in the Revelation chap. 21.19 by Ministring unto our Corporeall phancyes a not unlike representation For it said that the wall of that City as it was represented to Him was made of Jasper the foundation consisting of divers other precious stones that the Citty it selfe was all built of a substance that had the purenesse and other qualityes of perfect gold and which is the only quality that can be added to make gold it self more precious the clearnesse and transparency of glasse That the streets were paved with the same most precious mettall That every Gate was one entire Pearle that the presence of God and of the Lamb were a constant light and Glory and as it were a temple in the midst of it Now if this should be literally true and in kind even as it is exprest what an overflowing fullnesse of delight must he bee possest with that is continually ravish't with these Enjoyments that is a King or a prince in such a place as this and we cannot deny to admit these Comparisons so far as they were intended namely to joyne with the Text in confirming the proposed Truth That there is delight in
our Mistake concerning the Vanity of the things of this world but our Ignorance or Infidelity concerning the Things of the next The whole Nature and all the Qualities of that Happinesse while we are here We shall never perfectly know But God hath given us such a portion of Revelation concerning it as may sufficiently commend it to us And indeed in these and many other Texts very excellent things are spoken concerning a glorious state to come a state of Happinesse which Religious and good Men shall enjoy in Heaven I may speak in the phrase of the Psalmist very excellent and glorious things are spoken of thee thou City of God Heaven is a place of so great Glory that it hath gotten some of the prime attributes of the great and glorious God that dwelleth in it God is infinite and so is the Happinesse of Heaven God is incomprehensible and so is the Happinesse of Heaven The excellence of God Himself Naturally and the Glory in that Heaven which he hath prepared for his own Mansion and for the future Mansion of his servants are too great to be expressed truly and without a Metaphor otherwise than by Negatives It was true without a Metaphor what we declared in the first part That in Heaven there shall be no greif no sorrow no pain But how shall we speak the positive parts of Heavenly glory by way of Negatives Why we may speak as the Church anciently did by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard what that is what positive parts of Glory God hath prepared for those that wait upon Him And St Paul goes further in the same Way when he telleth us that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor which is somewhat beyond what is contained in the expression of the Prophet Esay have those things entred into the heart of Man that God hath prepared for those that love Him The Eye of a man that is gentile and curious sees much and the Ear of the same Man heareth much more than his Eye ever saw and his Phancy conceives beyond them both But the heart of a Man if we take it for his will and Desires enlarge themselves infinitely and exceed all For a man may will and desire all happinesse indefinitely even that which he never saw nor perfectly conceived But the things that God hath prepared for those that love Him are so great and containe so much of Happinesse and delight that St Paul affirmeth they have not entred into the Heart certainly not into the imaginative part and it may bee not perfectly into the appetitive part of the soul of Man But suppose that St Paul spake only of the understanding Phancy or Imaginative faculties when He saith that the Glories of Heaven have not entred upon mans heart It is surely a very high commendation of that Glory which Christ hath purchased and prepared for his servants and which the spirits of just men made perfect shall enjoy in Heaven when he telleth us that it is greater than any that our externall or internall senses greater than any that our animal or rationall faculties can apprehend more great more perfectly excellent than did ever enter into the understanding or Imagination of Man Great surely are the riches and ample is the dominion of Nature But greater and more ample that of human Phancy The enjoyments in Nature great there are Beauties of Art and Nature to please the Eye There are the delicate Enchantments of Voices and other Musick to delight and Ravish the Ear. Nature for the Tast hath afforded us variety of pleasant meats and drinks and the studied and Curious Arts of Luxury have found out many more Every sense hath its entertainments fitted for it and the world is not so poor but that there is somewhat what in it to answer allmost every Phancy and every appetite of Man In the Citty there is wealth In the court there is rich apparrell the gracefull Meen gallantry and glory In the University there is learning and good Natured men there is that great pleasure of wise and excellent Conversation With Councellors there is civil prudence with Commanders there is courage and Conduct with other professions other excellencyes to be admir'd There are in the world Royalties Primacies Principallities Empires for such as are ambitious of them But which are of ten thousand times more value than all that I have mention'd There are yet further such precious attainments to be had even here below as vertue and the inchoate grace of God inchoate I say for in heaven onely shall our vertues and our Graces together with our glory bee made perfect These and many other enjoyments and delights there are which have been respectively seen by the Eye or heard of by the Ear or apprehended by Man And though few men have attain'd to all or the most part of these Yet a man in his heart or mind by the consideration of the parts may without difficulty conceive all these great delights to meet in one and the same person And further it is at least conceivable that all those pleasures may continue with Him and with his children and descendents in his sight any finite number of years even the greatest that can be counted by Arithmetick and even what he cannot conceive or understand with his Mind he may indefinitely wish for or desire with his heart as an unknown Happinesse But if we take up in the narrower Interpretation and confine this word Heart to the Understanding faculties It must needs be confess 't that it were a strange portentous state of delight and Glory if all these known and conceiveable parts of Happinesse should thus accrue to any one in particular and indeed it would be so great that rightly to conceive this Estate if it were only as great as any that can enter into the understanding of Man one had need of a knowledge not only like that of Salomon comprehensive of the Nature and use of all plants or of any one Species of things but of the Nature and advantages of all Objects whatsoever and so rather like that of the first Man Adam who knew all the Excellencies of all the Creatures and gave them names accordingly But yet St Paul telleth us which is the consideration that I would enforce That even such an Estate it being seen with the Eye and heard of by the Ear and having entred into the heart of Man is of a much baser and lower Nature than is the true Est te of that Grace and Glory which the Blessed in Heaven shall be possessed of Adam himself who knew so much of the Nature of all things yet knew not perfectly the Glory of this estate and St Paul who in his rapture into the third Heaven saw it yet confesseth that it was unspeakeable And here he does not only tell us from the Prophet Esay that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard but hee addes nor have those things entred
ten-thousand years but for evermore He surely can have no further Happinesse to wish nor greater enjoyment to design And St Paul from that Text 1 Cor. 2.9 Where it is said that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor hath it ever enter'd into the Heart of Man to conceive the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him intimateth thus much That if you could gather together all the riches of Nature and could adde to the heap whatsoever Human Phansy could further Imagine For example Let there be presented the best and Clearest Beauties for the Eye The most Ravishing Musiks for the Ear the most delicate meates for the palate let the choicest entertainment be found out for every Phancy and every Appetite that Nature improved by Human art and study can supply us with Joyn and place in one and the same person all the wealth of the Citty the Grace the Gallantry the Glory of the Court the learning of the University the most desireable conversation of learned and good Natured Men Adde to these the prudence of the Wisest Councels the Courage conduct and successe of the most fam'd commanders all the Regalia that Princes and Emperors enjoy in the fullnesse of their Majesty and power and last of all adde also which is infinitely of more worth then all these the enjoyment of Vertue and the inchoate Grace of God Then make all these enjoyments of the greatest imaginable duration and extend them to his dearest Issue and neerest Relations yet all this is still below the Happinesse good Christians shall enjoy in the life of Glory For all this may be conceived But the state of Glory is so Glorious that St Paul who saw it saith it cannot be conceived It connot enter into the Heart of Man Do you now beleive all this to be true Do you receive this Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles nay of Christ Himself Or do you deny that Article of the Christian Faith that affirmes the being of such a life everlasting after Death If you do beleive it can you think such an Estate not worth the seeking after Do you think your selves wiser then Abraham and Moses and all the worthies of the former ages who quitted their greatest temporall Interests that they might seek this Inheritance Examine your selves my Brethren and first see whether there is not a fault in the very spring whether there be not somewhat defective in your very faith Suppose now that with St Paul you had been rapt up to the third Heaven and there had taken a view of those unspeakable Glories that were then and are now enjoyd by the Spirits of Just men made perfect Would you not think that the obtaining of that Estate and to be made one of those glorified beings would be worth nay infinitely more worth then all the pains you could take and all the labors you could undergo during the Remainder of your short uncertain lives you are Christians and your being so implies that you beleive there are such Joyes your faith if you have any gives you a confidence of them and makes the existence of them evident unto you though you have not seen them as St Paul did For faith as it is defined by the Author to the Ebrewes is the confidence of things hoped for and the Evidence of things not seen But if it be not from any want of faith but from a certain Carelessenesse or Retchlessnesse as some call it that you are lazy and neglect the seeking this your greatest Interests Consider I pray a little further that if you will not concern your self to be thus very happy you then must take the just contrary lot and submit your self to be very miserable If you will not take pains to attain that Glory that is the crown and reward of the just you must expect to fall into Hell even into the Nethermost Hell with the wicked Do you think the Rich Luxurious Glutton mention'd in the Gospell who in his life time cared not for Heaven nor the concernes of the world to come who pamper'd Himself and suffered Lazarus to starve before his door Might such a Man as he I say have the liberty granted Him of a second Tryall and to live over his life here on Earth but once again Would he not rather spend his dayes neatly and soberly in frugality and Temperance which are the Vertues that our Religion commendeth to us and give away the superfluities of his Estate in Charity to the poor then be sentenc'd the second time for his Cruelty and Ryot Vices ill put together into that place of Misery and Wo where during the vast duration of Eternity he may not procure one drop of Water to cool his Tongue Would you know what that death is that they incurre who are not preferr'd unto that Eternall life that Christ hath purchased for His Flames and Brimstone and Wormes the painfull worme of conscience and that Hideous noise of Tophet that is of Continuall howling burning and drumming These are the parts of the second Death Now is it worth no paines to secure your selves from so endlesse so easelesse so Remedy lesse a misery and torment Where is your sense my Brethren where is your Faith Your Faith or at least the consideration of the Articles of your Faith is commonly out of the Way when it should be doing you any good Let me ubraid it as Eliah ubraided the false God 1 Kings 18. Peradventure it is in a journy or else it sleepeth It sleepeth surely and must be awakened Bestirre your minds and consider Is not the very avoiding the Torments of Hell of more consequence then the Enjoyments of all the present Honors or estates that we are capable of in this world of more consequence then either to avoid the miseries of this life or even Death it self Which though it be a most dreadfull thing to flesh and blood yet to use the phrase of the devout Church Poet it is but a Chair a ready easy conveiance into another Estate over which Death it self shall have no power But if you are of that Nice and Curious temper that you must be led only by the silken threds of Example not stratned by Councell nor goaded on by precept Read I pray St Pauls writings and consider his Acts as they are recorded in the book of the Acts of the Apostles Was his life like the life of a Man that had but a little understanding Do you think your selves wiser then He was If not why do not you why do not we all imitate Him Why have we not all his Zeal and his Resolution Could Tribulation or Distresse or famine or perill or Sword Nay could either life or Death Angell or Divell principallities or powers things present or things to come could either heigth or depth or any other Creature hinder him from pursuing his well chosen Aimes from seeking the life of Glory and from fighting against his Spirituall Enemies that he saw ready to obstruct