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
cernatur locata in medio mundi sede solidâ undique ipsa in sese nutibus suis congloba ta vestita floribus arboribus srugibus quorum omnium incredibilis multitudo insatiabili varietate distinguitur Adde huc fontium gelidas perennitates c. ib. n. 98. from all Eternity by infinite successions of Generations and corruptions and that without the Creation or Providence of God To make way therefore for the establishing the worship and fear of God in your hearts We will consider the Vanity of these our greatest modern opposers first of our Epicurean then of our Aristotelean Atheists who for want of Invention in themselves have raked their Atheisme out of the errors of the old Philosophers He then that adopts the Epicurean Hypothesis and believes that the whole world and all the parts of it come together by chance and is so preserved without the work or providence of God Let him but cast his Eyes up to Heaven and there take a just view of the compass of those vast Bodies Let him see the Glory of the Sun the light and beauty of the Moon the number order and the exact Motion of the Stars continued now for neer six thousand years without Error or Interruption Then let him look down upon the Earth and wonder to see how it is fastened without prop or pillar and made to stand immoveable in the midde of the Air how it is compassed and intervein'd with waters how it is covered with Grasse and herbs beautified with flowers and enrich't with all manner of fruits all which are conveniences most necessary for the use of Man Will he then think that all these came by chance Will he not rather with old Hermes the Trismegist call God Father and own him to be the Wise and powerfull Creator and preserver of all these things The Heavens saith David Psal 19. declare the Glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work Day unto day uttereth Speech and Night unto Night sheweth Knowledge There is no Speech nor Language where their Voice is not heard Nay this Hypothesis of the Epicureans is abundantly confuted even by Cicero and other considering Men among the Heathen If a man say they should come into a fair house well built both for state and convenience provided with all usefull and adorned with all Curious furniture could he think the house had no founder that built no Master that own'd and furnished it So he that beholds the goodly frame and structure of the World and the variety of all those Curious and usefull parts contained in it may justly be censured for wanting the commun Reason of Mankind if he doth not conclude that it had an author and a former and hath a Lord and an Owner Which is no other but that God the fear of whose power and providence these Epicures desire to lay aside If there be no providence how came that admirable correspondence in parts so different as those are whereof the world is made Is it by Chance that things in their Natures most contrary as hot and cold moist and dry fluid and firme all conspire to the advantage of the Creature as to their commun End Is it by Chance that the Springs do feed the Rivers and the Rivers the Sea and the Sea the Clouds and the Clouds the Earth and the Earth Beasts and Beasts Men No surely God hath done all this for Man and he expects from Man this return onely Namely that he will give him the honor of his own Work If there be no providence how came it that throughout the whole Universe there are for particular and extraordinary cases such particular and extraordinary provisions Aegypt and some other Countries have no Rain But then insteed of Rain Magnae etiam Opportunitates ad cultum hominum alque abundantiam aliam alâ—s iâ— locis reperiuntur Aegyptum Nilus irrigat totâ aestate obrutam oppletamque tenucrit tum recedit mollitosque oblinatos agros ad seâ— rendum relinquit Mesopotamiam fertilem efficit Euphrates in quam quotannis quasi notos agros invehit Jndus vâ—rò qui omnium est Fluminum maximus non aqua solum agros laetisicat mitigat sed cos etiam conserit Magnam enim Vim frumenti sea cum similium dicitur deportare c. lib. 2. de Nat. Deor. n 1 â— 1. they have great Rivers such as Nilus and Niger in the otherwise barren parts of Africa which at certain times of the year overflow their banks and at other periods sink and draw themselves in again which make these countries as fruitful as if they had all the seasonable showers of the former and the latter Rain Great and unsufferable were the beat under the torrid Zone by the necessary reflection of the Sun unlesse otherwise qualified And think You that it comes by chance that in those places they abound with fresh Winds Springs and Showers constantly to mitigate the extremity of that Heat Neer the Poles the cold is so excessive that without great assistances for warmth Men could not live There therefore groweth abundance of Wood and there are the beasts with all the deep furres proper for the use of those inhabitants We in these Countries have hot stomachs and we have plenty of flesh and other solid meat at hand In hot countries where there can be little provision of flesh there they have lesser stomachs and find fruit and herbs with a little bread and wine to be food convenient for them All these things my Brethren came not by Chance Let Atheists blaspheme as they please There is the hand of providence in it For as in a family where all are under one Lord and all are served by one Steward every one hath his portion and allowance according to the Office he bears and the work he is approved to do So did God the Father in his first Creation appoint for all the Nations of the world a fit Diett according to the Temperature of their Bodies and the condition of the Climate they live under Neither hath he made this provision for Men onely but also for beasts and for the fouls of the Air and for every creeping thing according to that of the Psalmist The Eyes of all things look unto thee O Lord and thou givest them their Meat in due season The Epicurean Atheists undertook indeed to shew how the world and all its parts were made without a God But what have they performed in that great Essay Of those ten thousand Myriads of appearances in the world can they performe it in any one Can they make one hair white or black Let them make the Leaf of a tree or the wing of a fly how else shall wee think them able to answer their great Undertakings and to shew what they promise Unde queat res quaeque creari Et quo quaeque modo fiant Operâ sine divôm that is how althings in the world may be created and made without
Torments of Hell are infinite and intolerable that the fire is unquenchable and the worme punisheth immortally that the place is darke and horrible V. Basil citat in Epistolâ Justiniani Imper. ad Menciam Archiep. Constantinop apud Binium concil Tom. 4. concil Constantinop 60. the wailings bitter and unpleasant and that these complicated miseries shall have no end In another place in answer to that Text where it is said that some shall be beaten with few stripes He telleth us that those who suffer fewest must suffer at least an eternall punishment they must endure the everlasting biteings of the worme that dyeth not and the everlasting burnings of the fire that never shall be quenched Elsewhere he telleth us that it is the craft of the Devill that persuadeth men the contrary when our Saviors speech is plain That the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment Basil in libro Regularum and the Righteous into life everlasting and that men may as well say that everlasting life in Heaven shall have an End as that there shall be an end to the punishment in Hell seeing they are both by our Savior equally said to be everlasting This is St Basils Doctrine and his advice is as safe and good That while we have Opportunity we would secure our future condition and fly from that eternall punishment whereinto if we are once plung'd by Gods dreadfull sentence we shall never afterwards bee able to escape To day therefore if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Strive to enter in at the strait Gate for wide is the Gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and as Salomon spake in another case None that go in thither returne again nor take they hold of the paths of life St Ambrose declares as well the greatnesse and extension as the perpetuity of the pains of Hell Ambros De fide resurrectionis that as both body and Soul sin'd So Body and Soul should suffer what the Soul imagined and contrived the Body put into Act the law of the flesh wrought upon the law of the mind and therefore it was reason that no part should have any rest but that as all parts and faculties sin'd so all should suffer together This is answerable to what is spoken by our modern Divines and by some Jewish Rabbins also That the Wages of sin in Hell should be commensurable to the Body of sin on Earth We know it is the nature of Evill to spread like Venome over every part and faculty of Man when once it hath gotten an Empire or Dominion in him And so it is the will of God that Punishment in the time of its Reign that is in Hell should spread also and that every faculty that hath been the seat of sin should be made the seat of torment Did Lust enter at the Eye from corporeall Beauties In Hell Horror shall more abundantly enter there from Ghastly sights Did the Ear delight in Vanity and let in laughter when Religion was abused or the holy Scriptures jested upon and turned into Burlesque Now let the same profane ear take its farewell of its ancient pleasures and content it self if it can with the variety of Noises that shall be found in the howlings and drummings of Tophet Was Dives his tongue curious in tasting its delicate meats now it shall be parch'd with a continued infernall Feaver and be denied the cheap refreshment of a drop of Water from Lazarus his finger And that grosse sense of touching which is the bed of the fowlest Sin shall be laid not to repose but to be eternally disquieted in a Bed of flame After a like manner shall all the internall senses that have been the servants of sin bee entertained in punishment And the faculties of the soul that have been debauch't to wickednesse shall be distracted with greater torments than all these Some Jewish Doctors are of Opinion that the Souls of the damned shall be violently rap't upwards and downwards by most painfull and contrariant Motions that they shall endeavor upwards in order to associate themselves to the purer Spirits Vide Pocockii notas Miscell in Portam Mosis Maim c. 6. but having no principles nor skill to attain that purity nor use in it shall by the power of their old use and custome with ineffable torments be hurried downwards They shall be continually toss't from one desire to another and yet shall have no waies or means to attain either the new spirituall delights or the old earthy pleasures And these they affirme are greater than any torments of fire or Ice of Knives or Swords of Serpents or Scorpions and that their Minds shall be so distracted by these Opposite desires that their pain shall bee thence as great as if two Angels stood one on the north Pole and another of the South and did thence continually from severall slings Vide Pocock autores ib. p. 170. sling these miserably tormented Souls from one End of the world unto the other without giving them any intermediate Quiet And for the continuance of this Torment St Ambrose affirmeth also Ambros lib. De Fide Resurrect that the sinner in Hell shall be preserv'd for punishment as the just is perpetuated for Glory and that there shall be no more decay in the worme of the wicked than in the glorified Bodies of the Just Ambros in 1. Cor. c. 3. tom 5. and he expresseth the perpetuity of that Torment in another place to the full when he telleth us that the wicked and perfidious or Apostate Christians igne aeterno in perpetuum torquebuntur they shall be tormented for ever in an eternall fire So that it is not the fire only as our Patrons of Vice would have it but the torment in that fire that shall be eternall also Lactantius asserts the extension of the pains of Hell not only over the Soul but over their Bodies also Lactantius de divino praemio lib. 7. c. 21. which saith he shall be indissoluble and eternally permanent that they may hold out against the torments of everlasting fire That the Fire shall be pure and fluid rather like that of melted metals and minerals and consistent with that blacknesse of darknesse mention'd by St Jude than like our Culinary fire or any other luminous flame That it shall endure of it self and preserve it self without aliment And not only so but that it shall even restore what it consumes Idem divinus ignis saith he unâ eademque potentia cremabit impios recreabit The same fire of God shall by the same faculty and power burn the wicked and recruit them Et quantum a corporibus abjumit tantum reponet sibiipsi eternum pabulum subministrabit It shall restore so much of the Body as it consumes and so furnish it self with an eternall fuell He doth not only say that the passive faculties of the damned shall be strengthned and made hard as an Anvil
Joies of Heaven are such as cannot be described in words seeing they are such as Eye hath not seen non Ear heard so neither shall the pains in the lise to come be like those that we now feel The fire shall not be like our fire for ours may be extinguish't that cannot Nor shall that worme be of the kind of our earthy Vermine For they dye but that dyeth not And truly I never heard that it was censured as Heresy I am sure it was not the Heresy of Origen to assert the Seripturall expressions concerning the pains of Hell Metaphoricall What it was is declared in this discourse and St German and Photius two great Patriarchs have anciently written his defence V. Elogia in Nyssenum in prolegomena ad ejusdem opera ex editione Claudii Morelli Parisiis 1638. So neither is it possible that our present flesh and blood should be able without a change of its Nature to inherit or endure the kingdome of Satan And if there must be a change of this corruptible Nature before it can be capacitated to suffer those everlasting Torments possibly there must also be a change in our earthy Natures before we shall be able perfectly to understand them We read that upon the delivery of the law of Moses Exod. 24.17 that the sight of the Glory of the Lord was like devouring Fire upon the Top of the mount And that then the People saw the thundrings and lightnings and the noise of the Trumpet and the mountain smoking And he professed Himself then to be a consuming Fire Deut. 4.23 Believe me my Brethren or if ye will not believe me believe the Author to the Hebrews who telleth us that even under the Gospell our God is also a consuming Fire And it is as I formerly noted the Observation of the Psalmist That if we make our Bed in Hell God is there also God is there and he will shew himself a consuming fire in the midst of those Flames Though Heaven be the Throne and place of Gods presence yet God is in Hell as certainly and as effectually as he is in Heaven And the wicked together with the good Company they hope for shall be sure to find Him there disposing of that good Company so that they shall not bee able to clude the Vindictive Wrath of God or any way to alleviate one anothers punishment God I say who is the luster of a shining Glory in the new Jerusalem with his presence doth also fill that Tophet that he hath prepared You remember that the same God that was light and Glory to the children of Israel was a cloud and pillar of darkenesse and trouble to the Egyptians Exod. 14. and so shall the same God be light to the Just and a cause of Horror to the wicked after the resurrection How much of the Torment shall be inflicted on the damned immediately by himself as he is God the consuming fire He only knoweth and God grant that by his grace we may so live that by our own wofull experience we may never know it I am sure it is a good inference that the Apostle makes from this Consideration Heb. 12. ult Let us saith he have the Grace to serve God with Reverence and godly fear as we read it or as the ancients read it with Reverence and fear of punishment For our God is a Consuming Fire And thus much have I spoken to commend unto you that Initiall fear that is the way to Vertue and the beginning of Wisdome I speak not of this as of the highest attainment in Religion I know there is an estate of so great perfection as to be above fear and that is the estate of perfect love For perfect love casts out fear 1 John 4.18 I wish we were but well setled within the Bordures of Religion Not is a Man to be denied his Sonship and Interest in God the Father if he be really religious though he be not arrived so high as that perfect love which casts out fear Solomon assureth us that there is a blessednesse that belongs to the man that feareth allwaies Prov. 28 14. and St Paul adviseth us to work out our salvation with Fear and Trembling Phil. 2.12 And therefore I cannot alltogether approve the Rule of the Schools that saith that Timor filialis non respicit Deum tanquam Principium inflictivum paenarum Filiall fear looks not upon God as the cause of Punishment For the best of us though Children must confesse that we have been dissobedient children Joseph feared especially the evill of sin when he resisted his lustfull Mistresse with that Expostulation Gen. 29.9 How shall I do this wickednesse and sin against God but it is not said that He did not fear the Punishment of that sin also To fear God is to honor and sanctify Him so the Prophet Esay adviseth Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself How is that to be done Why it follows let him be your fear let him be your dread Esay 8.13 When we fear him and punishment by Him we think honorably of his power and of his justice And thus as Solomon observeth Prov. 19.23 The fear of the Lordtendeth to life And though the perfection of Holinesse implieth more yet as St Paul noteth we do not come to that perfection we do not perfect that holinesse but by the fear of the Lord. 2 Cor. 7.11 He that feareth God dares do no Evill and whether he feareth sin as sin or whether he feareth the punishment of God upon his sin the least and lowest of these fears causeth a man to abstain from evill and is the way to life that we are commanded to walk in And let me give it this further commendation that it doth not only cause our Obedience in other things but we shew our Obedience even in this when we fear God And therefore we are doubly to blame if we do not cherish this Fear that is in the first place commanded by God himselfe and so our Duty secondly that containeth in it such an honor of God and such an estimation of his power and justice as will be a motive to lead us to holinesse here and consequently to eternall happinesse hereafter And now I have done I tell you that I am not at all delighted with this argument and I had rather if there were cause have been commending unto you that other fear of God that filial fear which indeed hath little of true and proper fear in it I mean that I had rather have been preaching unto you the joyfull Tokens of your assurance in order to the perfecting your love in God But alasse I find too much reason to be still upon these Initiall lessons And My Brethren you must not be angry with the watch for giving you these Alarmes untill they find you more apprehensive It is most certainly true that where there is no fear of God there is no true stable and well grounded Vertue What a Conclusion was that of Abraham
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
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
this world you will easily beleive that it is free from the pains of the other world also Heaven were not Heaven if there could be any danger of the second Death or if the pains of Hell might interrupt the delights and Gloryes of the Blessed there The prophet Esay telleth us indeed that there is a Tophet prepared of Old Esay 30.33 and our Savior that there is an everlasting fire prepared for the Divell and his Angels Math. 25.41 a Torment that as St John speaks shall neither have End nor Intermission Rev. 14.11 The smoke of their Torment saith he shall ascend up for ever and ever and they shall have no Rest day nor night The Eternity of this Torment is sufficiently asserted and proved by the Fathers in Opposition to the Heresy of Origen which same proofs may serve to convince all Hereticks and Men of loose principles that now endeavor to Renew the same pernicious doctrine I gave you a particular of them with Answers to the matters objected in another Discourse when I commended unto you the fear and dread of God even of that God who as our Savior declareth is able to cast both Soul and Body into Hell fire And I shall not repeat now what I delivered then It then being granted that the condition of the second Death and the pains of Hell therein are very dreadfull it will be a doctrine worthy of our acceptance that those who are accounted worthy to wear the livery of Christ and to be Citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem shall have security from those pains also David speaks it as well of Himself as of Christ Thou shalt not leave my Soul in Hell For the Souls of the Just are all in the hand of God and no Torment shall touch them Wisd 3.1 The Plagues of Egypt shall not bee seen in Goshen Our Savior who knowes it best hath described unto us the management of that whole affaire and the different portions of the good and the bad Math. 25.30 When saith he the son of Man shall come in his glory and all his Angels with Him All Nations shall be gathered before his Throne and He shall separate the good from the bad as a shepheard separates his sheep from the Goates The good he shall blesse and receive into his own kingdome but unto the wicked shall this sentence be Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divell and his Angels so these shall go into everlasting punishment and the Righteous into life everlasting Give me leave to adde one Observation more It is this That though the damned shall have a sight of Heaven and of the state of Glory yet that sight shall be so far from being any comfort or refreshment to them that it shall greatly augment their torment For that sight shall Cause envy and we know that Envy naturally causeth greif There shall be as our blessed redeemer testifieth weeping and gnashing of Teeth when they shall see Abraham and Isaak and Jacob in the kingdome of God and themselves thrust out This very Circumstance of their seeing Abraham and Isaak and Jacob and the whole company of the professors of Religion men whom they formerly contemned and despised in the possession of that Glorious Happinesse and themselves with all their wisdome and Policy thrust out and excluded this uncomfortable Contemplation shall cause no small accession to their torment Secondly though the blessed have seen sorrow for the time past and shall then see the horror of Hell before their eyes Yet both the Remembrance of the one and the sight of the other shall be so far from causing greif and sadnesse in them that these Contemplations shall greatly augment their Joy Suave mari magno turbantibus aequora Nautis E Terrâ alterius magnum spectare laborem Non quia Vexari quenquam est jucunda voluptas Sed quibus ipse malis careas quia cernere suave est It is a delight saith Lucretius for one that hath escaped to the shore to look back upon the Tempest and to see it break the masts and tear the Sails and create trouble to the mariners who are yet toss't like a Tennis on the waves Not that it is a pleasure for one man to see another toyld but a joy to stand in security and to view so great a danger that He himself in his own particular hath so neerly escaped So likewise the Blessed in Heaven when they are secured in their own particulars then shall they with pleasure remember all the troubles and greifs that they have waded through in the life past and with pleasure look upon the pains of Hell which they see other plunged into but themselves have by the Mercy of God so strangely escaped and thence even from this consideration shall they take Occasion to sing praises to Him who hath placed them in a blessed estate not obnoxious to any of their former greifs and hath also redeemed them from the dreadfull Region of darknesse and brought them to his own marvellous light And now the summe of what I have discours'd is this That there is nothing more desireable to mankind in generall than joy or Happinesse That the greater joy is by all wise men to be prefer'd before the lesse That to the greatest possible joy besides other requisites the absence of all greif is required That the estate of Glory hath this requisite First it is free from all those cares and greifs and pains to which we are here obnoxious by reason of our Bodies For the proof of which I shewed you in particular That though the usuall cares and pains to which we are here obnoxious by reason of our mortality are of Use and necessity in this present world Yet they have no Use nor place nor possibility in the state of Glory Then I shewd you that there shall be none of those pains in Heaven that are purely mentall and last of all That though after this life there is a Tophet of everlasting punishment prepar'd yet that the pains thereof shall not touch the blessed but that the contemplation of them shall even augment their Joy All this have I done to prove that the first condition namely Indolence or security from greifs is one part of the portion of Religious and good men in Heaven But this is but the Negative part but the removing of the Rubbish that there may be a good foundation laid for the superstructure of Happinesse When I shall draw the next Curtain I shall shew You that I may further provoke You to the practice of a Religious and Vertuous life The Glory of the Mansion it self the joy of Heaven the fullnesse of that joy the pleasures of that state even those pleasures that the Psalmist affirmes shall last for evermore Now let the great God of his infinite mercy pardon our sins and purify our hearts and make us first as desirous of his Rewards in Heaven as they are worthy of our Desire then let Him
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
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. passim V. Platonem in Philebo and in his tenth book de leg he appointeth severe punishment for Atheists as for persons that are most destructive to the common-wealth of which he makes three kinds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. First that there is a God and a providence that Rules the whole world That man is a complext being consisting partly of an Immortall soul which is derived from God the great spirit that fills and governs all things and partly of a corruptible Body made of the Elements and corruptible parts of the world And consequently that the pleasures and delights of Man are diverse answerable to this Complexion and mixture Some pleasures are purely Intellectuall some purely corporeall some mixt of both That when any thing tends to the corruption of this complext and mortall Nature it causeth greif And that when any thing tendeth to the restoration of the same Nature it causeth joy or pleasure to the Body That there is a joy or Pleasure that ariseth purely from the expectation of the soul alone and that there is another mixt kind For the soul may conceive pleasure in expectation of some good to happen to the whole compound And this well agrees with our Divinity For we professe that the souls of all good Christians rejoyce in the hope of that Glory of God that shall hereafter be extended both to our Souls and to our Bodyes And that very well agrees with our Divinity in this subject de Finibus which he affirmes That there is a sort of joy that is far more excellent than all the rest and that is a certain fruition and Speculative pleasure that ariseth from the knowledge and contemplation of things that continue eternally the same For such fruitions in the highest degree are enjoyed by all glorified spirits by means of the Beatifick vision 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. of the most Glorious objects of the world to come concerning which the Scholes have furnished us with large discourses that are not unpleasant but yet have this deficiency V. Aquin. supplem Quaest 92 93. Doctores passim de visione beatifi â. that they have more of Phancy and conjecture in them than certain evidence For seeing we neither now understand what our own Natures shall be then when we shall be exalted into the state of Incorruption Nor what kind of glorious Objects shall present themselves nor to what kind of senses they shall accurre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soc. lb. therefore it is impossible we should have a positive knowledge of the true Nature of the fruitions of that Estate Thus much is revealed that we shall not cat nor drink to restore Nature nor shall our Constitutions be discomposed by any disease and therefore neither shall we have any of those Pleasures that Plato speaks of which living creatures enjoy when they are restored to their own Natures we shall have none of those concretions and discretions None of those replettons and evacuations none of those increments and decrements corruptions and restitutions of Nature which are according to the Philosophy of Sorates Causes of greif or Joy in this world For St Paul hath declared that in the Resurrection Men shall have spirituall Bodyes that shall be immortall in themselves and therefore not to be preserved so by eating or drinking or the continued addition of new substance Quaerat fortasse aliquis de virtute gustabili virtute tangibili etiam odorabili si quae erit earum operatio vel usus in futura gloria Et revera est dubitandum quod vires illae non recedent ab Animabus humanis sed Operatio virtutis gustabilis qua Gustatio est cum non sit necessaria nisi propter nutrimentum restaurationem corporis non eritibi necessaria ficut nec operatio virtutis generativae quae generatio est Liberabuntur tamen istae vires a miseriis in quibus modo sunt Tu enim hic vides qualiter affligitur virtus gustabilis fame siti malisque saporibus De vi etiam generativâ notum est quae tormenta patiatur hic ab ardoribus concupiscentiarum libidinibus ab his igitur erit liberatunc Et erit Decus ejus Gloria castitas inviolabilis Non enim Sobrietas aut Abstinentia minus virtutes sunt aut minus Arma animarum humanarum in pace spirituali quam in bâ—llo Et hoc est quoniam non solum Armasunt sed etiam ornamenta pulchritudines animarum mirabiles at desiderabiles c. apud Gul. Parisientem part 1. de universo p. 2. c. 33. p. 696. And yet Bodyes they shall be still and in the Opinion of the best scholemen they shall have the same materiall senses of Tast and touch and smell though if they do continùe it is agreed that they must continue for Ornament rather than for those uses to which they were applyed in this world Let us conclude by adressing our thanks to God that he hath vouchsafed to reveal so much unto us concerning the Glory of the life to come which we could not have understood by Nature For the Naturall Man understandeth not these things of God and if we consider aright we shall find that we have Reason with all humility precious Reverence to thank God that we do not comprehend it all For it is the infinite Blessednesse of that condition that puts it beyond the reach of our senses and of our understanding as we shall declare more largely when we explain that Text where it is affirmed that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor have those things entred into the heart of Man that God hath prepared for those that love Him Now to the great God who is maker of all things and judge and Rewarder of all men And to the Lord our Righteousnesse c. SERM. III. 1 COR. 2.9 It is written Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him IF you ask where this is written the Margin of your Bibles direct you to the 64th of Esay where the Church desirous of his second Advent addresseth thus to the desired Messiah Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens that thou wouldest come down that the mountains might flow down at they presence For from the beginning of the world so the fourth verse proceeds men have not heard nor perceived by the Ear neither hath the Eye seen O God besides thee what Hee hath prepared for Him that waiteth for Him There is one thing wherein I find the generallity of Men strangely inconsistent with themselves They cry out and declame against the present world and undervalue all its Enjoyments Why men preser earthy enjoyments before those of heaven and yet they are loath to leave it and in practice preferre it before Heaven it self Now this is a dangerous Misprision and the cause of it is not
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
God hath prepared for those that wait upon Him St John telleth us 1 John 3.2 that it does not yet appear what we shall bee but this we know that when our Lord Christ shall appear wee shall be like unto Him He shall change our vile body and make it like unto his own glorious body according to that mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself There is another doubt also objected from that Parathesis or addition of St Paul But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit For how can it be said that the things that God hath prepared for his servants have not entred into the heart of Man when Christians are men and it is added that God hath revealed them to us Christians by his Spirit This parathesis therefore must be justly not strictly interpreted For it is true that God hath revealed them now much more than formerly He hath revealed them by his Spirit but he hath not revealed them fully not so that St Paul himself could while he lived here adequately conceive the Nature of those heavenly Glories It is most true that since our Saviour preacht the doctrine of the new Testament and since the gift of the Spirit which hath raised Man above his Nature and since the Transfiguration resurrection and Ascention of Christ which are patternes of what shall happen to all Gods servants Now the existence of the future state of Glory is more fully confirmed and its nature much better understood than it was by those who lived in the former Ages when they had no light but from the letter of Moses whose writings were darke in this point or from the Prophets or from the more uncertain Faith and Tradition of the Gentiles And yet notwithstanding the great advancement of our knowledge in this particular It is not so advanc't as to render this text untrue it is not so advanc't as that we may persectly know them For his Rapture into the third Heaven taught St Paul himself that those Joyes are yet unspeakeable and that Humane Nature is yet uncapable adequately to conceive them They are so great that Eye hath not seen them Ear hath not heard them nor have they ever so enter'd into the heart of Man as to be perfectly and fully conceived by Him When our Savior was taken up into Heaven from amidst his disciples in Mount Olivet Act. 1. and a Cloud had received him out of their sight they continued still stedfastly looking towards Heaven but were reproved by the Angels in these Words Ye men of Galilee why stand you gazing up into Heaven Words my Brethren that we may nost properly apply to the present figure of our own thoughts we have been looking not towards Heaven only but upon Heaven it self untill in the midst of our gazing we have lost it Only we cannot so properly say that a Cloud as that a sun-beame or at least a very bright Cloud hath received it out of our sight For we find that Heaven is so wrapt up in its own glory that there is no perfect entrance left to the Eye of our understanding Let us therefore apply to our selves that Angelicall advice and stand no more gazing into Heaven It is proper for us in this case to do as the disciples did to hast away to our upper Roomes First to our prayers then to our work But for our Encouragement we may cast an Eye upon the great Reward that God hath provided for us We may consider so much of Heaven as is revealeable to us and beleive further and expect beyond all that those incomprehensible Glories that are to be enjoy'd with Christ above Nay let us beleive and give thanks for it that there are joyes prepared for us that are not now revealeable and though we can forme no Idea or conceit of them yet let us rejoice and give thanks unto God that there are joyes prepared for us and for all Religious and good Men with us of which we can forme no Idea Christ hath merited this beleif of the world that we should think him able to performe his promises to raise us from the dead and to glorify us with that glory which I have endeavor'd to describe but have been oppress 't in my endeavor by the weight of my undertaking finding the excellent glory and happinesse of that Estate to be incomprehensible and ineffable He that raised Jairus his daughter and the Widdowes son and Lazarus and which is most of all himself from the dead whatsoever Atheists may speak of the Incredibility of that Resurrection shall certainly raise us also I hope by Gods help to give you an account of the Reasonablenesse of the Christian faith in that article at some other time But we that professe Religion professe to believe our Resurrection as certainly as we believe our death I know that my redeemer liveth saith Job Job 19.25 26. and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth and though after my skin wormes destroy this Body yet in my flesh shall I sce God c. And I know saith Martha that my Brother shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last day John 11.24 I shall now adde but one advice more which is this that as we have Evangelicall expectations so we should take the Evangelicall directions that we would endeavour to rise to newnesse of life here that we may rise to eternall Glory hereafter Let the Doctrine of our Resurrection to eternall life have its perfect work so the full belief and actuall consideration of this one Article of eternall life or eternall misery to come may by the grace of God minister to us Christians in giving obedience to our Lord that which we sometimes complain so much for the want of even a power to do all things through Christ that strengtheneth There is no Duty saith Dr Jackson whereunto the belief of this eternall Reward doth not enable and bind us If we do not live in some measure agreeable to our profession and the hopes of our profession we shall be in the End condemned by it and in the mean time we betray it openly that there is now a defect in that principle that should be within us or in the excercise of that Principle that is we believe not or we consider not For what saith St John every one that hath this hope purifieth Himself even as God is pure 1 John 3.3 And therefore he that doth not purify Himself He is but a pretender to this Hope He hath it not at all well grounded in Him or at least he hath it not in actuall excercise and Employment For if there be such a Hope unlesse it be very sleepy if it be a lively and a quick Hope it must be the spring of a Christians joy and glory in comparison of which He will contemn all the Riches all the Honors all the Pleasures of this world as drosse and dung And there is reason for this
assemble themselves with the Congregations of Robbers and use ill Arts of living but those who by Intemperance have spent their estates in making provision for their Lusts But above all others that Incontinence the 3d Species described by chambering and Wantonesse is the Mother of great varieties of Injuries If it runs out into Adultery it causeth the breach of Conjugall faith which is the foundation of all Domestick Union then Spurious heires are thrust into inheritances not belonging to them and insteed of Love that cements Families they are harraz't with the sad effects of Hatred and Jealousy which end commonly in Duels poisons and such other Malicious Revenges But if it run out into Fornication only It brings in murder of Infants or their ill Education the staines of Bastardy and 1000 other Inconveniences Lastly let us consider how dishonourable a thing it is for Man as Man who is confess 't to have a divine and rationall Soul to be made a slave to such bestiall filthy lust There is not a Man among the Heathen but apprehends himself made for better ends Os homini sublime dedit Coelumque videre Jussit Saith one of their own Poets Man was not made to be a sot Quod si Pupillum tibi Deus commifisset nuÌ„ iilum negligeres Te vero cuÌ„ tibi ipfi commendavit inquiens non habeo aliquem fideliorem cui te committam quam Teipsum Hunc volo ita mihi custodias quemadmodum ipsius Natura postulat scil pudicum fideleÌ„ altum infractuÌ„ affectibus malis vacuum moderatum Sobrium c. Apud Ariaâ—um in Epictet or to intend no more then what all beasts intend and enjoy much more than he No man was made for the Exercise of vertue and contemplation of God and communion with him and hath even as Heathen Philosophers have observed a Soul apt for such Employments How base therefore and dishonourable a thing were it for Man to wallow in the dirty puddle of his lusts which makes him unfit not only for communion with God but also for the exercise of Reason and vertue among Men. Who then but a fool would wish to live the life of sensuall pleasures when as I have prov'd unto you there is neither satisfaction nor content to be had in the Enjoyment nor safety either to the mind Body or estate to be had in the pursuance of those pleasures to which we are addicted by our Naturall Lusts besides that it is dishonourable and unworthy of a Man to be made a vassall and slave to such Enjoyments as are commun to him with the beasts that perish All this you will say you could have heard in the Morall Philosophy School and it is probable you might Morality is a great and acceptable part of Gods service and our Duty and he useth his Reason well who by it establisheth himself in Morall Reformation St Paul himself presseth a Morall Argument against the use of these Intemperances as 1 Cor. 6.18 where he telleth us that he who committeth fornication sinneth against his own body which is a Truth commended to us by all Moralists It is true wee that are Christians have more high and spirituall Reasons to move those who value the honor and Interest of their professions And therefore my third Conclusion was That the pursuance of lustfull pleasures was most of all Mischevous and dishonorable to Man as Christian Wee cannot serve God and Lust Simul esse possunt Simul regnare non possunt Heaven and Hell are not more contrary in their Rules designes and Ends than they For let a man put on the strongest Resolutions of Piety let him bind those Resolutions with the strongest vowes yet a Dalilah in his Bosome a reigning Lust will quickly ruine and nullify them all Seeing therefore we cannot serve God and our lustfull pleasures at the same time let us own our own Master his servants we are to whom we obey let us take heed we do not come under the Character 1 Tim. 3.4 of being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of pleasures more than Lovers of God For they which are so have denyed their first profession which was to keep Gods holy Will and commandments and to renounce the sin full Lusts of the Flesh Secondly which is the other part of my Conclusion The pursuance of all sensuall pleasures is highly dishonourable also to Man as Christian. This may be learn't from that Argument of St Paul 1 Cor. 6.19 Know ye not that your Bodies are Temples of the holy Ghost that is as Churches and Temples are honored above other places by being consecrated to Gods service so are our Bodies honored above the bodies of other Men by being consecrated to the service and Inhabitation of Gods holy Spirit Sometimes for the like honor done unto them our Bodies are compared to holy and consecrated vessels and therefore the same Apostle telleth us that this is the will of God even our Sanctification that every one should know how to possesse his vessell in sanctification and honour 1 Thess 4 3 4. not in the lust of Concupiscence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed which we translate vessell signifieth also any utensill or Instrument and the body being the Instrument not only of the rationall soul but also of the holy Spirit is therefore properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Its utensill or vessell but then as the Apostle intimates the utensils of the soul or Spirit are to be used honorably holily and cleanly and if Philosophy hath condemned the pleasures of Intemperance as unworthy the Aimes of Men much more will they appear to be below and unworthy of a Christian It was the Strict command of God by the Prophet Esay Depart depart touch no unclean thing yee that bear the vessels of the Lord. And if it be so strictly required that those should be clean that bear the vessels much more Reason is it that those should be clean that are the vessels of the Lord. Consider my Brethren the filthinesses that are consequent to all manner of Intemperances they are so very filthy they are not to be named in a Christian Assembly Of what Judgement then shall we be thought worthy if when we have consecrated our vessels unto God we afterwards dishonor and pollute them He acceps the gifts of our Bodies as well as that of our souls and Spirits and hath preferred them to be vessels of sanctification purity and Honor what a Judgement fell upon Belshasser when he was taken in the act of profaning the Material vessels of the Sanctuary in his Luxury and drunkennesse Dan. 5. But the sin of the loose and debauch't professor is worse than this For he polluteth the Temple it self the Sanctuary it self For such is every Christians Body unto Christ The Intemperate man may pretend much but he cannot truly boast of any Religion or love to the Church He hath a zeal it may be against the separatist but he considereth not that even in the
him and to hinder him in his Race thither But you will say what I before intimated that St Paul had the advantage of us For he had been Rapt up into the third Heaven and had seen this Glory Well then if he saw it we have an Eye witnesse at least that confirmes the existence of it to us But had Abel had Enoch had Noah seen the objects of their Faith By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen prepared an Ark to the saving of his house and so became heir of the Righteousnesse that is by Faith Heb. 11.7 And if we will be heirs of Righteousnesse we must beleive God concerning things to come which we never saw we must condemn the world also and prepare an Ark even the Righteousnesse of Christ to convey us to that Kingdome Blessed are they saith our Savior to St Thomas who have not seen and yet have believed Consider the whole Army of Martyrs mention'd in the eleventh chapter to the Hebrews who through Faith subdued Kingdomes wrought Righteousnesse Joh. 20.29 obtained promises stopped the mouths of Lyons quenched the violence of fire escaped the Edge of the sword out of weaknesse were made strong waxed valiant in fight turned to flight the Armies of the Aliens Women received their dead raised to life again others were tortured not accepting of deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection This better Resurrection though unseen by them as yet was the Anchor of their Hope and the spring of their Courage They were stoned they were sawed asunder they were tempted they were slain with the sword They went about in sheep skins and goat-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented Of whom the world was not worthy they wandred in deserts and mountains and hid themselves in the dens and caves of the Earth This they did this they suffered though they were never rapt up into the third Heaven They endured all these hardships through Faith even the common faith that we professe and it was this Article concerning the better Resurrection and the life of abundant Glory that upheld them Where then is our Zeal and our strengh Do we not in every publick service in every assembly that we make like this professe that we believe the same resurrection of the Flesh and everlasting life after death And yet have we no regard to any thing but what is present Are things in Reversion of no value with us Do not all men among us that have any Reputation for Wisdome take care to secure their estates in all kinds of secular Tenures that are to commence to others after their own deaths And should not Charity begin at home Is this our fashion or if it be is it agreable to the Rules of Wisdome and prudence that we should provide so studiously for the wellfare of our surviving Friends and should take no care of our own eternall wellfare even after our departure hence Is our present estate for so long a terme is it so certain so permanent so secure that we need not be concern'd no not for so vast a futurity Whosoever thinks himself so perfectly setled Let him above all other dread that sentence Luk 12.20 Thou fool this night even this night shall thy Soul be required of thee and then whose shall these things bee that thou hast provided For so is he thus shall it be with Him This shall be his lot from the Lord who layeth up treasures to himself and is not rich towards God He shall also suddenly be taken from the wealth wherein he trusted Understand ye brutish among the People O we fools when shall we be wise Do we part with the life of Glory Do we part with the Kingdome of God to seek we know not what Or do we think to have Sauls fortune to find a Kingdome while we are seeking Asses Why is the heart of the world set upon that which is not So short are the continuance of pleasures honors life it self that they are scarcely to be accounted things that are Every man seeth that the pleasures of this world are quick and short and passe away like lightning from us Honors are but Feathers which the breath of other men may discompose every Moment Riches the more substantiall and more generall Idol are good for nothing if we well observe it but to make the Wing the larger to make a Man soar higher and fly with the greater sweep and thus no sooner are they but they make themselves wings and fly away And what is life the Ordinary life of Nature Extend it to its length it is but as a day saith Cicero in comparison of Eternity Were it not full of Trouble Sorrow and disease Were there nothing otherwise to be excepted against but the shortnesse and Uncertainty of it It were not a possession that for its own sake ought at all to be esteemed Quae vero aetas longa aut quid omnino homini longum nonne modo pueros modo adolescentes in cursu a tergo insequens nec opinantes affecuta est senectus Sed quia ultra nihil habemus hoc longum dicimus Omnia ista perinde ut cuique data sunt pro parte aut longa aut brevia dicuntur apud Hipanim fluvium qui ab Europae parte in Pontum influit Aristoteles ait bestiolas quasdam nasci quae unum diem vivant ex his igitur hora octavâ quae mortua est provecta aetate mortua est quae vero occidente sole decrepitâ eo magis si etiam folstitiali die Confer nostram longissimam aetatem cum aeternitate in eadem propemodum brevitate quâ illae bestiolae reperiemur Cicero Tusc Quaest lib. 1. And therefore it is a most reasonable counsell of tke Psalmist in the 146 t Psalm Trust not in Man whose breath is in his Nostrils Trust not in thy Patron in thy Friend in thy Brother if his breath be in his Nostrils Trust not in thy self if thou hast no better tenure in thy being then that Mans breath ceaseth suddenly by a thousand Occasions And when that breath 's gon where is the Man you trusted in or wherein is he to be accounted of We may make a blaze in our life But this life burnes all the while as uncertainly as a Taper There is nothing surer then that this Taper will soon be blown out or burnt out Lord teach us so to number our dayes and the shortnesse and Uncertainty of this present life that we may apply our hearts to the highest truest noblest Wisdome There is nothing in naturall life considerable but this one thing that therein we have an Opportunity to purchase to our selves that life of abundant Glory that estate of eternall happinesse that I have been now commending to you If we apply our selves to this then indeed we apply our selves to the truest Wisdome we have a prize set before us and liberty to run a Race But if eventually it be found that this
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