know you will not pass such a judgment on your own disciples and therefore this fact of theirs condemns your partiality and proves my Divine vertue Nay the Devils themselves we find 5. were so astonished at this power which they felt in his name that thereupon they acknowledged him to be the CHRIST For that 's their meaning when they confessed him to be the HOLY ONE of God i. Mark 24. And so S. Luke expounds it iv 41. The Devils also came out of many crying out and saying Thou art the Christ the Son of God And 6. the most unprejudiced people who could not be worse than Devils took this miraculous work of the SPIRIT to be an argument of it xii Matth. 23. Then was brought unto him one possessed with a Devil blind and dumb and he healed him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw And all the people were amazed and said Is not this the Son of David By that name they called their KING whom they expected with the power of working more miracles than any Prophet before had done vii John 31. And therefore 7. when Cornelius and his company were desirous to hear of S. Peter all things that were commanded him of God x. Acts 33. he refers them to this in the first place after he had mentioned his being anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power as an argument why they should believe in Jesus that he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil And he offers himself together with others as witnesses of all things that he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem Which were the more wonderful I must add 8. in the last place because he was a person of such mean education Nothing like to Moses in this who was bred up in Pharaohs Court and acquainted with all the learning of the Egyptians But Jesus was bred up privately and in an homely manner having no advantages at all from a liberal institution Which was the cause that the people of his own Country who knew how he had been trained up were astonished saying xiii Matth. 54 55. Whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works Is not this the Carpenter's Son is not his Mother called Mary and his brethren James and Joses and Simon and Judas And his sisters are they not all with us whence then hath this man all these things That is do not we know him and all his kindred How comes he to be wiser and more powerful than they His parentage is poor his breeding was in a Carpenters house he never learnt of any of the Doctors and Masters in Israel nor was otherways disciplin'd than we our selves where then did he learn his skill and who gave him this power This was a just cause of astonishment but none at all of offence as S. Matthew in the following words ver 57. tells us it proved That which made them stumble should have rather drawn them to him and wrought faith in them when they saw such wonderful things done and such excellent things said by one that could not have them unless it were from God It could be no part they might easily think of the Devils craft to dispossess himself and therefore they ought to have concluded that he was the enemy of the Devil and indeed the destroyer of him whom God promised to send into the world And so they would have concluded had not their eyes been blinded with the splendour and pomp of this world and with the love of riches and such like things Which made them readier to follow a man that by the force of arms and their assistance promised to subdue the Roman Legions than him who by one word speaking they saw could cast out Legions of Devils Which naughty temper of mind is that which still prejudices men against the faith and makes their hearts indisposed to receive Christianity They prefer the world before God and love their bodies better than their souls otherwise they would find themselves inclined to believe in the name of Christ If they considered what God is what honour is due unto him and what it is that will make a Soul truly happy and desired this above all other things they would presently see that none ever glorified God so much as our Saviour none so plainly taught the world what worship honour and observance is to be given to him none ever so contrived the improvement and happiness of our immortal Spirits and so they would be disposed to hearken with due reverence and serious attention to what these Witnesses say concerning him Nay did they but prudently consult the good of their bodies only and had respect not merely to their present satisfaction but to their perpetual felicity it would certainly provoke them to examine carefully the Testimony which God hath given him because he promises to change these vile bodies and make them glorious by that power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself And there is not the least reason to doubt of his power now that he is in Heaven since it was so miraculous while he was here upon Earth that He frequently raised the dead Which is the second thing of which I am to speak a few words II. And there is nothing of this kind like to that of Lazarus his rising to life again after he had been dead four days and was already so far putrified as his friends thought that they disswaded our Saviour from having his Tomb opened lest it should prove offensive and noisom to him For with this S. John concludes all that he had to say of our Saviours miraculous works there being nothing that could be thought of beyond it For it never entred into the mind of any man to think that a person really dead as Lazarus undoubtedly was could be restored to life by any power but that which gives us life the power of Almighty God And therefore our Lord plainly designed this as the last thing he could do for their satisfaction while he was on Earth to prove that he was the Son of God Else Lazarus had not died but he would have gone and prevented it as he did in many other cases For when he heard that Lazarus was sick he would not stir from the place where he was notwithstanding the love he had both for him and for his two sisters So S. John observes when he tells us xi John 5 6. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus When he had heard therefore that he was sick he abode two days still in the same place where he was This is a strange reason for his making no more haste being at a great distance also from him One would think that he should have said THEREFORE he began his journey presently into Judea that he might come time enough to save him whom he loved But he resolved the quite contrary because the Son of God was to be glorified
by this sickness ver 4. Therefore he stayed so long before he would move towards him that Lazarus might be dead before he got to Bethany and He might get more glory by his resurrection than he had done by healing so many sicknesses and casting out such a number of Devils For this proved that he had power not only to break but utterly to destroy the works of the Devil and to tread him quite under foot who had the power of death For which reason he tells his Disciples that he was glad for their sakes that he was not there when Lazarus died to the intent they might believe ver 15. Have their faith that is more confirmed in him by seeing such an illustrious miracle wrought upon Lazarus after he was dead than it could have been by healing his sickness and preserving him from death They had seen many desperate diseases cured but never any man raised to life after he had been so long dead Some of the Jews indeed objected this to him that he ought to have been so kind as to have saved his friends life if he had had the power which he pretended Could not this man say they which opened the eyes of the blind have caused that even this man should not have died ver 37. They do not by these words express their Faith but their unbelief and upbraid him with weakness or want of love The latter could not be imputed to him for by his tears just before mentioned ver 35 36. they all observed how much he loved him But from thence some of the company took occasion to disparage his power and to ask the rest of their neighbours how they could believe that he had opened a blind mans eyes as was commonly reported Chap. ix when he suffered one whom he loved so much to want his help and perish If he had done the former how easie had it been for him to do the latter In which he failing though his affection could not but move him to do his utmost for his Friend they took it to be a demonstration that he was not such a mighty Man as the People imagined This perverse reasoning moved our Saviour very much so that he groaned again in himself v. 38. to see their deplorable obstinacy and malice as much as he had done before v. 33. to hear their pitious lamentations which they made for the dead These mens condition was far more pitious because he foresaw there was but little hope that they would be moved when they saw their frivolous cavil answered by the Resurrection of Lazarus Which would show there was good reason why he let him dye that he might express never the less love to him but more to them and to all Mankind by restoring his life which was a more Divine work by much than to have saved him from Death To this therefore he immediately applies himself and bids the Sister of the deceased whose faith it seems began to stagger not doubt but she should see the glory of God vers 40. such a stupendious instance that is of the power of God in him as would move many to give glory to God that sent him For wherein could the Majesty of God appear more to their astonishment than in such a marvailous work as this which when he entred upon he first lift up his eyes to him and called him Father on purpose that the People might believe he came from God and was his Son when they saw him answer his Prayers in this manner vers 41 42. Where if you read the place you will see he gives this reason why he made a publick acknowledgment to God for hearing him so often not because he doubted of his presence with him now but meerly that the by-standers might know by whom he did such miracles and ascribing them to no other power but his might believe that he had sent him What should they believe else when they heard him after this address to God commanding Lazarus with a loud voice expressing his assurance and authority to come forth and when they beheld him who could not lately move himself in his Bed rise up out of his Tomb and walk about not only restored to life but in perfect health This struck the hearts of many of the Jewes who were there present so powerfully that they believed on him vers 45. that is concluded he was more than a Prophet no less than the Messiah himself And those Cavillers before mentioned who still persisted to maintain their infidelity by the absurdest imaginations were so startled at it that they went presently and told some of the Great Sanhedrim what Jesus had done wishing them I suppose to look to themselves and not suffer these proceedings vers 46. For they were so alarmed with this news that a Council forthwith is called and they enter into a solemn Debate what course to take with him seeing plainly how powerful this Miracle was to win him Proselytes and draw the People to him vers 47. It had had that effect upon many already as you have heard and they were afraid it would increase the number of his Disciples so much that it would prove their utter ruine For they say vers 48. If we let him thus alone all men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and Nation That is the People will proclaim him their King and thereby we shall incur the indignation of Caesar who will send an Army and cut us off till he leave neither root nor branch as it is iv Mal. 1. but destroy both us and our Temple That place they were resolved to preserve though it were with his destruction whose death they now determine as soon as ever they could catch him For so their consultation ended first they decreed v. 53. that for the publick good as they called it He should be put to death and then that if any knew where he was v. 57. they should give notice of it that he might be apprehended in order to his trial Thus their blind malice turned the most powerful means of their conversion into the ground and reason of his destruction For because he did so many miracles v. 47. they did not think it fit to let him live when-as for that very cause they ought to have believed on him and thought him worthy to live eternally For I think these Three things are very considerable wherewith I shall conclude this part of the SPIRITS testimony I. First this Miracle wrought upon Lazarus was so evident a token that he was the Son of God that it had in it all the conditions which the Gentile King whom the Jews speak of in the Book COSRI * Part. 1. Sect. 8. requires in a prodigy sufficient to perswade men to believe that God speaks by him that works it Our mind says he cannot be brought to think that God enters into society with flesh and blood unless it be by such a miracle
Correspondencies And they who have neither Father nor Mother Wife nor Children near Kindred nor Relations whereon to place their affection let them consider if they have but a singular Friend what the pleasure is that two persons who sincerely and purely love take in the sweet company and conversation of each other Or if I must suppose any man to be so unkind and so unhappy as to have no love for any body but his own self let him think what contentment he hath and how he is pleased if he can arrive any thing near to a quiet enjoyment of his dear Self And such a delightfull state may be a small image of Heaven where holy Souls will love God with a far greater flame then ever they did or shall then love themselves because He will appear infinitely more lovely and to bear also a far greater love to them then it is possible for then to do to themselves Now none can tell how transporting it will be to a good Soul when it feels i◠self the Beloved of God as well as full of love to him because we cannot think how great the Love of the Almighty is unless we could know how great he is himself This is a thing that cannot fail to have a strange power over our affections and to master them so that we shall be taken quite out of our selves for we all extreamly love to be beloved If any neighbour shew us an unexpected and undeserved kindness we are apt to think he is the best person in the world And the poorest Wretch that is if we see in him the undoubted signs of an hearty love to us we cannot chuse but requite it with some expressions of kindness back again Nay if a Dog as I have said elsewhere or such a dumb creature do but fawn upon us and delight in our company and with a great deal of observance follow us wheresoever we go we cannot but be so far pleased with this inclination towards us as to make much of it and to be troubled to see any harm befall it and to love to see it play and be well pleased Judge then what a pleasure it will be to pious Souls to find themselves beloved of him who hath put these kind resentments into our nature To what an height will the sweet breathings of his Love blow up the flames of theirs Into what Ecstasies will they fall when they feel by the happy fruits what an exceeding great affection their Heavenly Father bears to them It is above our present thoughts to apprehend the joy that will then overflow them but we may conceive a little of it if we remember that GOD is Love and that by our Love He will be in us and by his Love we shall be in Him But if you please let us fall much lower then this and onely represent to our selves how great an happiness we shall account it to be beloved of the whole Family of God in Heaven Look down from the highest Angel to the smallest Infant that shall be blessed there from the noblest to the meanest in that celestiall Court and there is not one of them but will love us and be ready to shew their sincere and most affectionate kindness towards us They that are the greatest in that Glory will be the greatest Lovers they that enjoy most of God will be disposed to let us enjoy most of them For there is no Pride nor Envy in the heavenly Quire but the more any are Beloved the more they will delight in the most effectuall expressions of their Love And how can they chuse but interchange to each other unspeakable contentment who live in the comfort of such indissoluble Amity and Friendship Nothing can be thought of beyond this to set forth their happiness But we much conclude with * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 459. Philo that this i◠the best definition of immortall life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be held fast in an unfleshly and incorporeall love and friendship of God You will say perhaps that I have been now speaking of some other Love besides his which supposing our hearts so fixed on him we shall not be capable to entertain our selves withall in the other world For who can divert himself from so beloved a Good which sends also such tokens of Love to him and turn to any other object We cannot think that they who love God perfectly will be inclined to love any thing else And you may think so still if you please without any prejudice to what I have said This will but make that LIFE the more desirable and move us to wish for such an happy state where God will be in all our thoughts and we shall always love him and yet love one another too For these are not at all inconsistent but we may delight our selves in the sweet society of Angels and Saints and yet always SEE GOD because we see and love Him in every thing They will be his Beauties which we shall behold in them Those holy ones will shine in his Glory So that our affections will not incline to run to any person merely for himself but because we behold the face of God in him and see his Graces wherewith he is adorned All the Love there will be Divine And the more of God shall appear in any persons the more lovely they will be and the more we shall be ravisht with their company and rejoyce in a happy league of friendship with them Well then withdraw your thoughts a while from all the things you love here and raise them above to look at Love where it reigns and hath an uncontrolled Empire Behold it sitting on its Throne advanced to its utmost pitch of Perfection and shewing it self in its full Glory And then keep the beginnings of this Heavenly LIFE out of your Souls if you can It will be impossible you should not think there is nothing so much to be desired as to be all Love O happy Life will you say where they love as much as they are able and where they shall be able to love more then now can be conceived and where they will be beloved more then they can love and have their Love hereby heightned when they reflect upon it in an endless Circle of joy and pleasure Let us enter upon this Life with all the speed we can make Let us begin it this very moment and endeavour that no moment may pass hereafter but in the Love of God For there is no heart so stony sure and insensible that will not be dissolved into flesh and receive any impressions from God if it be once touched with the serious thoughts of this state of Love No Soul so hard frozen and icy that will not be thawed and melted to run whether God pleases when it doth but feel the least spark of this heavenly Fire fall down upon it Do but go from the reading of this with the thoughts of this Happiness burning
longer upon such considerations as these when his Doctrine which is the Second thing I mentioned is so holy and pure so heavenly and divine that the constant preacher of such things could not be guilty of so great an impiety as to call the God of heaven at last to bear witness to a known untruth No it condemns lesser lies to so severe a punishment that to say he was sent of God with the words of Eternall life nay was the Way the Truth and the Life when he knew he was not deserved according to his own sentence the heaviest condemnation To which if you add the manner of his Life which was the last thing it will compleat the Demonstration For it was so perfectly conformable to his Doctrine that we cannot but think he believed it and so could not die with a lie in his mouth Particularly it was so free from all covetous designs and from hunting after the applause and praise of men that it is incredible he should seek that by death which he had despised through the whole course of his life If he was so thirsty of vain-glory as to lose his life for it why did he not make it his business to win all he could of it while he lived Why did he not lay the foundation of his after-fame by insinuating himself in the most diligent and men-pleasing manner into the favour of all the Jewish nation and conform himself so perfectly to their humour that they might have presently made him their King Nay why did he not accept the offer when the people intended to advance him to the throne This had been a more likely way to honour and renown if that was all his aim then the lifting him up upon a Cross He might have hoped to build a lasting glory on the love of the Scribes and Elders of the people whereas this infamous death he could not but see would make him so odious that it would rob him of all mens good word and quite frustrate the design of winning a reputation among men This is a truth of which I presume by this time the most suspicious and unbelieving are convinced who cannot but confess that the voluntary death of such a person as this and a death so horrid and ignominious is a plain testimony of his sincerity and proves beyond any reasonable contradiction that he did not invent his Doctrine himself but believed it to be of God and did not seek to gain any thing by it but immortall life and glory in the world to come VI. Now that we must needs be great gainers hereby as well as himself will appear if you consider that he came into the world on purpose to doe mankind good as the business of his whole life testifies He went about doing good and sought all occasions of obliging even the most ungratefull He had compassion on every body he met withall and never denied a cure to those that begg'd it though they were never so poor and contemptible He imployed his Disciples also who attended on him in the same charitable works of healing all manner of diseases and easting out unclean spirits He bad them go and speak peace unto every house into which they entred And as for themselves he professed the greatest love imaginable to them as they themselves have recorded He called them his Friends and did not use them as Servants nay his Children and at last his Brethren which are all terms of much kindness and tenderness which he ever expressed towards them From whence I conclude that unless he could have served them better by his death then by his longer life he would not have so soon and so willingly gone to the Cross and there left these dear Friends for whose sake he had hitherto lived more then his own If he had not died for their sake too and been certain he should thereby shew more love to them and doe them better service then any other way he would have been as much inclined to stay still with them as they were to desire it He saw how loth they were to part with him and with what sad countenances and troubled spirits they received the news He was incompassed with sighs and groans when he did but mention it for sorrow as he speaks xvi Joh. 6. had filled their hearts Would not this have moved a heart less tender then his to alter this resolution when it was in his power to stay longer with them How could he endure to see their tears flow so fast when he was able to dry them up with the speaking but one word that he would not leave them If he had not been sure that he was going as he told them to his Father and that it was on purpose to prepare a place for them which ought to have made them rejoyce rather then weep because he would come again and receive them to himself that where he was there they might be also xiv Joh. 1 2 3 28. without all doubt his great love would have yielded to their prayers and commanded his power to prolong their happiness in his company He should be able he verily believed to doe greater wonders for them and bestow greater blessings upon them if he did not hearken to their importunities or else we cannot but think if we measure him by our selves he would have still continued with these his dear Companions especially since none as he professed could snatch him from their society but it was his own free choice to leave them V. And he earnestly desired them to believe as much and to look upon his BLOUD as the Seal of a New Covenant which contained better promises then the former between God and men So he said just before his death when he spoke of the Representation of it This is my BLOVD of the New Testament or Covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins xxvi Matt. 28. And so the Apostles believed and spake of his BLOUD in the same terms when by his resurrection from the dead they saw that it was the BLOVD of the Covenant x. Heb. 29. and that he was most eminent for this above all other things as the expression is xiii Heb. 20. where the Apostle calls him the Shepherd of the sheep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who was great in the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Now this is one Article every body knows one of the promises contained in it that we shall as certainly have Eternall Life as Israel in due time was brought to the possession of the good Land God promised to their Fathers Abraham you reade xv Gen. 7. had the word of God for it that he would give his posterity the Land of Canaan into which he had brought him out of Chaldaea And when he made so bold as to ask how he should know that this was true you find ver 9 10 11. that God passed this promise into a Covenant which was made by the bloud of sundry beasts
from the Messiah should begin to raise the dead when he went to take possession of his throne A plain sign that he is the Resurrection and the Life from whom we may confidently look for bodies not onely bright as the Moon but that shall shine according to his faithfull promise like the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father Concerning which things if the Apostles had written false and there had not been many able to bear record of the rising of these holy persons and coming into Jerusalem as well as of the rising of Lazarus there would have been pens enough in those days imployed to confute them and proclaim the forgery And these Jews would have been as carefull preservers of such confutations as of any their most beloved Traditions which can never doe them so much service as those volumes would have done VI. Nor is there the least shadow of reason to question the Testimony of those who saw him ascend into heaven and as a token of his being inthroned there received from him ten days after the gift of the Holy Ghost Which compleated the demonstration of his power and purpose to give Eternall Life to all his followers For 1. His very Ascension into heaven as it breeds in us a belief of a glorious state in the other World so it evidently shews that it is possible such as we may be translated thither And though our Bodies now be but lumps of living clay yet they may one day be snatched as he was from this dull globe to shine among the Stars And the Angels also appearing both at his resurrection and ascension and waiting upon him unto heaven shew that its gates are no longer barred against us but set open again to give us a free admission into it For they who were set to watch the way to Paradise and guard it so that none should enter voluntarily lent their assistence to transport Him thither after they had brought the joyfull news of his being risen from the dead 2. But this is the least comfort we receive from thence for his glorification at God's right hand when he came thither advances our hope to a greater height and shews that it is not onely possible but certain we shall be taken up above to be with him His Kingdom it is apparent now by his sending the Holy Ghost is supereminent over all and nothing can be out of the reach of his power For it is a power over all Creatures in heaven and earth and under the earth who doe obeisance to him and cannot resist him ii Phil. 10. 1 Pet. iii. ult And a power to doe all things for God hath put all things under his feet 1 Cor. xv 27. A power of conferring all dignities and honours iii. Phil. 21. and of removing all impediments to our preferment He having the keys of hell and death i. Rev. 18. In short a perfect power to doe all things to make us glorious For in that he put all in subjection under him he left nothing that is not put under him as the Apostle argues ii Heb. 8. And though he hath not yet exercised his whole unlimited power as it there follows yet we are sure he hath it because we see by manifest arguments Jesus crowned with glory and honour for the suffering of death By which the all-wise God thought fit to consecrate this Captain of Salvation who he designed should bring many Sons unto glory together with himself 3. Which He will not fail to doe we may be sure being thus perfected and compleatly furnished for the very purpose because this Royall power wherewith he is invested is a kind of Trust and he hath received it as St. Paul plainly supposes 1 Cor. xv 24 25 c. where he speaks of his Kingdom not onely for himself but for the good of all those whom he rules and governs For the Apostle concludes that he having a Kingdom which must at last be resigned into the hands of God the Father will first put down all rule all authority and power and leave no enemy unconquered no not Death which will onely be the last that shall be subdued but subdued and destroyed it must be ver 26 27. Nay our Lord himself acknowledges his Kingdome to be a trust when he says xvii Joh. 2. Thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternall life to as many as thou hast given him Whence it is that he often protests it is his Father's will that of all he hath given him he should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day c. vi Joh. 39 40. For as the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me ver 57. And in express terms he saith as I have shewn before that he went away to prepare a place for us And therefore is bound by his office we may conclude to promote us to that glory and honour in the heavens which it is his Father's will he knows should be bestowed on us 4. And who can doubt at all of his fidelity in this who was so faithfull in all other things most punctually for instance making good his promise of sending the Holy Ghost as an earnest I have often said of this immortall inheritance None can imagine he will now prove negligent in that which by his place he stands ingaged to perform when upon Earth he did the will of him that sent him with such exactness that he rewarded him for it with that high dignity which he now enjoys in the heavens Therefore his greatest care was to assert and prove his power to give Eternall Life Of his will he thought there need not much be said for none could doubt of it after they saw him die for them and then express such love after his resurrection as to send the Holy Ghost upon them 5. This is abundantly sufficient to secure all considering persons of so desirable a Good Which the Apostles began confidently to expect as soon as ever they were satisfied of the resurrection of our Lord from the dead Before he ascended to heaven their thoughts ran thither and they began to see that he was the Lord of life and glory For as soon as St. Thomas was convinced by a palpable demonstration that he was risen he cried out My Lord and my God xx Joh. 28. This is the first time that any of his Apostles gave him the title of their GOD when they were fully satisfied as Grotius observes by his Resurrection that he would give Eternall Life to them And then it was also you may note that he first gave them the title of his Brethren who should share with him in the glory to which he was going xx Joh. 17. xxviii Matth. 10. Go tell my Brethren that they go into Galilee c. In which words he alludes as Eusebius observes to those xxii Psal 22. I will declare thy name unto my
being separable from obedience that this is essentially included in it and freely flows from it if it may be but suffered to have its course and not be crossed in its clear intention and design If you be not convinced of this by what you feel you may learn it of S. John who tells you here what the natural issue of our faith is and what duty it exacts for it is the scope of these words which I have expounded to lay such a foundation of belief as may unavoidably inforce obedience unless we forget what our belief is He begins you know this Fifth Chapter of his Epistle with this Principle that every one who believes Jesus to be the Christ is born of God and from thence infers in that and in the second Verse that such a person cannot but love God and all his Brethren which Love cannot be discerned by any thing but by keeping his Commandments FOR THIS IS THE LOVE OF GOD ver 3. THAT WE KEEP HIS COMMANDEMENTS Here is the natural fruit of Faith This is its Progress if you do not stop its motions It begets in our heart a great Love and Love is to be Obedient and that to all God's Commandments which respect either our duty to him or to our Neighbour It is in vain to say we believe in Jesus if we do not heartily love God who sent him to us And it is in vain to pretend love to God if we keep not his Commandments And it is as vain to say we have a dutiful respect to his Commandments if our neighbour have any cause to complain of us For he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen And this Commandment we have from him that he who loveth God love his Brother also iv 20 21. Here now they who have less understanding of the grounds of Faith may make up what is wanting in their knowledge by the heartiness of their Devotion to God and the unfeignedness of their love to all their Brethren If they be mightily affected with what they believe and out of an honest love in their hearts to his holy Precepts be very diligent in their obedience it will supply the defect that is in their understanding of the Reasons why they believe in Jesus For if a small argument in a weak and dull understanding does the same work with a strong argument in a quick and piercing where lies the difference but only that the One can serve Religion more with his mind and discourse the other meerly with his good will and his pious life But will any man presume to be so impious as to imploy his will to find out ways to excuse his Obedience to him whom he acknowledges for his Lord He should rather consider seriously how reasonable and how necessary it is that he who knows so well what Jesus is and how he came should above all other Men do him the most faithful and zealous service For if we do but observe how many arguments here are to perswade us to this Faith in Jesus with what Authority he was sent and with what power he came to us we shall think it was for some very great work and fell it impossible while we are sensible of this not to do what he requires though now perhaps it seem impossible to be done He is not come of himself but hath the mark and stamp of the Supreme Lord upon him He evidently shows that he hath a Commission from God and brings as I may say the Broad-seal of Heaven with him to warrant what he demands though it be never so great a tribute of Obedience Here are Witnesses to him above all exception and they all bid us behave our selves submissively towards him and not deny to do any thing that he would have us Him hath God the Father sealed as he tells us vi Joh. 27. and by his Voice from Heaven commands us to HEAR HIM Which was as if he had said If you will believe him that cannot lye then Jesus is the TRUTH to every word of whose mouth we ought to hearken that is faithfully obey and observe For as God is said to hear us when he grants our desires so we hear him or his Son when we fulfill his pleasure The WORD likewise 2. when he appeared to S. Paul made him an Apostle for obedience to the faith among all Nations i. Rom. 5. And told him expresly that he appeared to him for this end that he might send him to the Gentiles to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God xxvi Act. 16 18. The HOLY GHOST likewise 3. is a Witness of this which was given to those that obeyed him v. Act. 32. But lookt upon all wickedness as an high affront to it at which it was grieved and by which it was quenched nay forced to depart as not induring to dwell in the same House with filthiness and impurity Unto which the Water 4. or the Holy life and purity of our Saviour in all his actions as well as his Doctrine was directly opposite And tells us that we must be obedient if there were no other reason for it but this alone that the Son of God himself was so in every thing Did God exact obedience of him that he might demand none of us Will he set us free from that duty and service to which his dearly beloved Son was strictly tyed He fulfilled all righteousness and observed even that Law of Ceremonies to which we have no obligation And do we think to be hereby excused from paying all those respects which are naturally due from Creatures to the author of their being and which we cannot but owe to those who are of the same kind with us What is it that hath so perverted the understanding of Christian People as to possess them with apprehensions quite contrary to common reason What ailes us that we cannot see the end of Christ's coming nay that we overlook the plain words of his holy Scriptures which tell us that he left us an example and expects that we should follow it and be made conformable to him and be renewed after his image in righteousness and true holiness without which no man shall see the Lord This the Bloud 5. speaks still more effectually For he would dye rather than disobey God He became obedient to death even the death of the Cross ii Philip. 8. which was the reason why God so highly exalted him and gave him that Name which he hath above every Name There was no other way whereby he could ascend up into Glory And therefore it is madness for us to think to leap up thither and skip over the holy life of Jesus Especially since he declares that his Bloud was shed to which perhaps we trust for redemption though we remain in our impurities that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of
Age. Increase of wickedness not only in themselves but others hath made some so impudent as to scoff at Religion and blaspheme Christ While they see those who acknowledge him do no better than themselves they are inclined to think that their belief makes them no more worth than those who have none at all Nay since they concur with them in their wicked practises they imagine that their fear of Hell and hope of Heaven is no part of their belief but only of their profession The hands of Infidels are strengthened in their impieties by the perfidiousness of ungodly believers They joyn with them to pull down Christian belief and make that be thought nothing which doth nothing above what infidelity doth And therefore let all those who love the memory of our Saviour who love their posterity and would not have them in danger to be drown'd in a deluge of infidelity put a stop to it by holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience 1 Tim. iii. 9. Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity and endeavour all he can to support the honour of his Name and of his Religion by a strict observance of all his holy commands They who believe not or mind not what they believe may think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot speaking evil of you 1 Pet. iv 4. But ye beloved building up your selves on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost keep your selves in love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life Jude 20.21 And that now is the next thing which flows from hence If we believe the Record or Witness which God hath given of his Son it contains in it the greatest joy in the World For this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son But I must refer that to another Discourse alone by it self Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy-Ghost GLory in the highest Let the Holy and undivided Trinity be for ever glorified by all Mankind especially by all Christian People who are made partakers of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost 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 But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit Blessed be God I most thankfully receive the manifold testimony which he hath given of his well beloved Son and humbly bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family of Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant me according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by the same spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in my heart by faith that being rooted and grounded in love I may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the bredth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that I may be filled with all the fulness of God And God forbid that any Soul who hears the voice of these Witnesses of God should refuse and turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven and hath declared to us the unsearchable riches of God's grace and the whole counsel of his will O that all they upon whom the glorious Gospel of Christ hath shined may most heartily believe in his Name Let them all be knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge And God forbid that any of them should hold the truth in unrighteousness But as they have received Christ Jesus the Lord so let them walk in him rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as they have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving And quicken that faith O thou author and finisher of it that it may work with great power in all Christian hearts and mightily bow their wills to forgo any of their own desires rather than displease thee and forfeit thy love and favour Let it inable them to overcome the World that they may be no longer slaves to the lusts of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life but conquering all these may yield themselves unto God to be the servants of righteousness and obey from the heart that form of doctrine which is delivered unto them And may the powerful working of faith and love and hope make all our duty easie to us that we may ever render thee cheerful as well as constant service May thy testimonies be our daily delight and the rejoycing of our heart May we love them above gold yea above fine gold May they be dearer unto us than thousands of gold and silver May we daily renew our strength and run and not be weary and walk and not faint May the holiness of our lives bear witness to the sincerity of our faith that others may glorifie thee our God for our professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ And we obtaining a good report by faith and carrying this testimony out of the world with us that we have pleased thee thou mayst receive us to thy self to be glorified with thee and to rejoyce in thy love towards us for ever Amen THE END Our Lords Ascension Acts. 1 9. And when he had spoken these things while they be held he was taken up a Cloud receiued him out of their sight to And while they stedfastly looked toward heaven behold two men stood by them in white apparell H. Which also said this same le sus shall so come as you haue seen him go into heaven THE WITNESSES TO CHRISTIANITY OR The Certainty of our FAITH and HOPE In a Discourse upon 1 S. JOHN V. 11. PART II. By SYMON PATRICK D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed by E. Flesher for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty MDCLXXVII TO The most Reverend Father in God GILBERT By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY Primate of all England and Metropolitan and one of His Majestie 's most Honourable Privy Council c. May it please Your Grace TO cast your eye upon the Second Part of that Work the First Part of which I took the confidence to address unto your Grace the last year It is concerning that ETERNALL LIFE which was with the Father as St. John speaks and now is manifested to us by his Son Jesus Christ who hath published the most gracious Purposes of God the Father towards us The thoughts of which as they cannot but be at all times exceeding welcome to Devout Christians especially to those who are faithfull Ministers in Christ's Kingdom so never more then when they
Our Passions are not mastered Forgetting our heavenly Originall we let anger swell and rage and take no care to suppress that pride and haughtiness which will at last lay us low We do not chastise irrational sadness nor foolish pleasure nor unchaste laughter nor disorderly aspects nor unsatiable hearing nor immoderate talking nor absurd thoughts nor any of those things by which the Evill one takes advantage against us to our ruine There is nothing like to this but quite contrary we give liberty to other mens evill affections and like Princes when they have got the Victory require nothing of them but onely that they be on our side and take our part though they oppose God the more impiously and audaciously These things it seems were then too manifest to be denied and notwithstanding these reproaches of holy men the humour propagated it self to after-times For the cure or prevention of which nothing is so necessary to be believed and preserved perpetually in mind as that Counsel which the same great Doctour gives in another place * Orat. xxix p. 493. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Wouldst thou be a Divine and worthy of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Keep the Commandments Go in the way of God's precepts Practice is the best step thou canst take to contemplation Which is the surest advice for all Christians to follow who must not think by any other means to arrive at that blissfull sight of God in which our knowledge of him will be perfected in the other World Of which Beatificall Vision I have not adventured to say much in the ensuing Treatise because our manner of living as Saint Augustine * Epist cxii ad Paulinam speaks in an Epistle of his upon this very subject is of more consideration in this inquiry then our manner of speaking Nam qui didicerunt à Domino Jesu mites esse humiles corde plùs cogitando orando proficiunt quà m legendo audiendo For they that have learned of the Lord Jesus to be lowly and humble in heart profit more by meditation and prayer then they can by reading and hearing But something I have said as far as I could find any directions in the Holy Scriptures which warrant us to conclude that the participation we have of God now shall be so improved in the other World that whatsoever we enjoy of him here we shall in a higher and after a more perfect manner with the addition of immortality enjoy when we rise from the dead We are now the Sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus who bids us be confident of it and rejoyce in it And yet he mentions this as a speciall priviledge belonging to us after the resurrection when we shall not marry nor die any more but be equall to the Angels and be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sons of God being the children of the Resurrection xx Luk. 35 36. Just as it was with our Lord Christ himself who was in a more speciall and excellent manner called the Son of God after his rising from the dead when God said to him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee advanced him that is to a more excellent degree of likeness to him in power and dominion putting all things under his feet So it shall be with all those Sons whom he brings unto glory They shall be more nearly related to God at the Resurrection and resemble him more exactly whose Image they now bear in Wisedom and Goodness But how much he will then impart of himself to us the Apostles themselves were not able to inform us We are now the Sons of God faith Saint John 1 Ep. iii. 2. but it doth not yet appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how we shall be the Sons of God in the other world We now find I may adde by a parity of reason a great pleasure in holy thoughts we feel the joys of ardent love are ravisht with the melody of Songs of praise and with the sweet violence of a glance of light from heaven upon us and we are fure we shall be so happy as to have a great increase of this pleasure when we remove from hence But it doth not appear how we shall think nor what will be the satisfaction of heavenly Love nor what new Songs shall be put into our mouths nor how God will look in upon us when we shall see him as he is We must be content to know that all these will bear a proportion to the infinite Goodness of Him who is Omnipotent and hath loved us so much as to purchase us with a great price and to give his Holy Spirit to us and according to the Love of him that died for us and is gone to prepare a place for us that where he is there we may be also In this hope we may now rejoyce though we do not at present see our Lord with joy unspeakable and full of glory For I have proved by undeniable arguments that God the Father hath given power to his Son Jesus to make us more happy then we can now conceive and that He will undoubtedly bring us to live with himself What greater Good can we desire then this Or what greater Motive can be thought of to perswade us sincerely to embrace the Christian Religion whose business it is as Lactantius concludes his Book of a Blessed Life to direct us to the Eternall Rewards of the heavenly Treasure Of which that we may be capable we must presently disingage our selves from the insnaring pleasures of this Life which deceive mens Souls by their pernicious sweetness And how great a felicity ought we to esteem it to go being delivered from the impurities of this Earth to that most equall Judge and most indulgent Father who for our labours will give us rest for death life for darkness light for earthly short goods those that are celestiall and eternall None of the sharpnesses and miseries which we endure here while we are employed in the works of righteousness are in any manner to be compared with that reward Therefore if we will be wise if we will be happy let us propose the worst things that can be to our selves and resolve to suffer them since it is manifest that this frail Pleasure we have here shall not be without punishment nor Vertue without a divine reward All mankind ought to endeavour with all speed to direct themselves into the right way that having undertaken and performed the duties of a vertuous life and patiently endured its labours they may be worthy to have God for their Comforter For our Father and Lord who made and settled the Heaven who brought the Sun and the rest of the Stars into it and out of Nothing raised the rest of the World to this perfection wherein we see it beholding the Errours of mankind sent a Leader who should lay before us the way of righteousness Him let us all follow Him let us hear Him let us most
to which our Faculties shall be advanced and impowered which may be as much as God pleases so certainly will the fulness and the overflowing measure of the delight be which rises and falls according to the alterations that are in in us for in GOD there is none at all To all this I have one Consideration more to adde that the Soul as you heard before by knowledge becomes in a manner what it knows not indeed by being changed into the object but by receiving the object into it self As we see some Bodies admit others so intirely into them that they have all the qualities of the nature which they have assumed iron for instance in the fire becomes red and warms or burns according as other bodies approach it so our Minds by the knowledge they have of things are after a sort united to them and partake so far of their qualities that Heaven and Earth do not differ more then two Souls do who have fixt their thoughts the one on Earthly the other on Heavenly things And therefore when we shall come to know God face to face the sight of him will be nothing less then a full possession of him a kind of becoming what he is in a true and reall as Divines speak though not essentiall likeness to him in Wisedom Righteousness Goodness Immortality and I may adde Power too because we shall perfectly command our selves and have our present unruly thoughts and affections in a due subjection to his sovereign Will For if as the Apostle saith by beholding now without a veil but in a glass the Glory of the Lord Christ we are changed into the same Image from glory to glory 2 Cor. iii. 18. then much more when we shall come without the help of words and writings to behold the Face of God himself we shall be transformed into his image and by being assimilated to his Divine Nature be made partakers of the joys and pleasures which are inseparable from it And if the transfigur'd Humanity of Christ as Anselm * in Matt. xvii meditates in the company of two Saints gave such delight when it was seen but for a point of time O how great will the pleasure be of seeing the Deity among the Quires of Angels If Peter beholding the glorified Humanity was affected with such a joy that he desired never to part with that sight what shall we think of those who shall be counted worthy to see the Divinity We may ask the Question as oft as we please but can no more give an Answer to it now then the Disciples could tell till they beheld it on the holy Mount what it was for their Master to be transfigured Then we shall understand it when we come to the High and Holy place where Jesus is of which that Mountain was but a figure For the present we must be content if we can raise up our minds to some small conceptions of its greatness by such considerations as these Oâ— which I have the longer insisted because they lay the foundation of what follows and lead our thoughts to the easier understanding of it II. And if the nature of this LIFE be farther examined you will find the Mind is not the onely Faculty that shall be gratisied but the Will shall conceive a Love as great as the Knowledge of which I have discoursed For as God is the highest object of the Understanding being the Prime Truth so he is the chiefest object of the Will being the First and Best Good And therefore as the Understanding shall then â—ost clearly know him so the Will in like manner shall most ardently love him and find perfect satisfaction in that Love There is a necessary connexion between these things and it cannot be otherwise but that from the best Good clearly known there will flow the greatest Love drawing along with it the greatest delight and the most perfect repose And therefore to SEE GOD virtually contains in its notion both Love and Delectation with Rest or Satisfaction Love naturally flows from thence as from its fountain and the other naturally flow from Love Which is the highest act of that Faculty which we call the Will as knowing and contemplating is of the Understanding Desire indeed is the first Motion of it when any thing is apprehended to be good for us but that will there be quenched in possession and enjoyment and no more of it can be conceived to remain then a longing after the continuance and increase of this Happiness which yet will be so certain that we shall be rather confident then desirous The Will therefore having such a glorious object always before it will be wholly imploy'd in Love and spend it self without any decay in flames of affection towards this Universall Good which shines so fairly and brightly in its eyes It will apply it self to the enjoyment of it with as great a vehemency as it can and laying its mouth as St. Austin teaches me to speak to the Spring of all happiness do more then taste the sweetness of it We may expect to have it filled with those delicious pleasures which we know attend on Love and which in that state will be proportionable to the greatness of the Good that is embraced and to the strength and ardency of the embracement And whereas here in this world men are wont to love beyond all reason whereby their love becomes adulterate and is mixed with so many discontents that it proves but a bitter-sweet There our Understanding as you have heard will be in its full growth and higheâ—â— pitch so that as nothing which is reasonable shall be omitted to be done nothing likewise shall be done that is unreasonable This Love will be grounded upon the clearest Judgment this Flame kindled by the purest Light so that there will be no â—nquiet or trouble in it but perfect rest and peace And whereas in this world mens affections flow to things that are not â—eaâ— so big as themselves i. e. as 〈…〉 desires and so they languish and faint and fall sick even in the enjoyment of the best good that it affords because they find it is not a supply proportionable to their want or to their expectations There will be no such emptiness nor want of satisfaction in those celestial enjoyments because we shall embrace not onely our proper good but that which is commensurate to our desires and beyond our hopes Our Affections will not fall then upon that which cannot sustain the whole weight of them but feeling themselves born up to the greatest height of Love by a Good so full that it will leave no room for complaint or uneasiness they will enjoy the most solid Rest and Satisfaction Do but conceive then in your minds what a pleasure it is here in this Life to Love and to be Beloved and you will have some notion whereby to take a measure of the LIFE we are speaking of which will consist in such mutuall Love and delightfull
in your breasts and preserve the fire for one hour from going out and you cannot imagine till you try to what an heavenly temper it will purifie and refine your Spirits It will make you heartily in love with the Life of Christ here which leads to such a blissfull Life in the other world You will zealously follow those holy desires and resolutions which you will necessarily feel it inspiring you withall And you will not suffer any temptation whatsoever to divert you from that earnest pursuit but still be saying as St. Austin begins and ends his Confessions Thou Lord hast made us for thee and our heart is uneasie and restless untill it repose it self in thee Who being that Good which needs no good art always at rest for thou thy self art thine own Rest But to understand this what man will give to man what Angel to Angel or what Angel to man Let it be askt of thee let it be sought in thee let it be knockt for at thee So so shall it be received so shall it be found so shall it be opened Amen III. And the more we think of it the more we must needs still desire it because our Understanding being filled with the knowledge and our Will with the love of the chiefest Good we shall sensibly perceive a Divine joy resulting from these and flowing into our heart with inexpressible pleasure For it is essentially included in every act both of that Knowledge and that Love as may be clearly discerned by what hath been already said We are now compounded of different and sometimes contrary passions which frequently disquiet us and disturb our peace by falling out with our Reason and with one another But in that blessed LIFE there will be no such troublesome mixture no fear no sorrow no hatred no anger or any the like remaining But joy alone advanced to the greatest height of glory will be left in the possession of the whole Soul and have the sole Dominion of it to it self The reason is because we shall for ever have the presence of the greatest Good which will exclude the presence of any evil to give us the least fear of losing what we love That 's the originall of all our Passions As we are glad when we enjoy any thing that we love so we are troubled when we want it or when we lose it and we are full of care and solicitude when we eagerly pursue it and rise up in hatred and displeasure at that which opposes our desires When Love then is secure by the possession of that Supreme Good whom no evill can approach the cause of all other passions will be banished and Joy alone be left to triumph in the conquest of them For which cause this heavenly Joy must needs be the more excessive when we shall have nothing else to do but to rejoyce This will mightily increase the greatness of it that there will be no employment for the rest of our Passions which here whether we will or no take their turns together with it and consequently there will be nothing to diminish the greatness of it by any trouble or disorder that can be given it For the proof of which I need onely refer you to the foregoing discourses and desire you to reflect upon what you have read of the Knowledge and Love of God You could not but observe how joy and pleasure was so inseparably knit to them and interwoven with them that I could not well speak of them but I must touch upon this also 1. As for the first of them we all feel a certain complacency which our very Senses as well as our Understanding takes in objects conformable to them even before our appetite moves at all towards them Truly the light is sweet says the Wise man and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the Sun xi Eccles. 7. Look then how much the Divine Light excells all other and how much the Majesty and Splendour of the Authour of Nature is beyond the best of his Works the glory and brightness of the Sun and so much sweeter and more pleasant will it be for our Mind to be filled with that Light and to behold that first and Originall beauty from whence all other are derived We cannot think of God and of our Saviour now without a singular joy and therefore we shall not be able to SEE them without an excess of it 2. And secondly as for Love Joy is a no less necessary attendant on it or rather is intwined with it being nothing else but that delight and pleasure which springs up from the sense of any Good that we have taken possession of So that look how great the Good is to which the passion of Love hath carried us proportionable will be the Joy when we feel that we are owners of it And if it now please us so much to think that we are really beloved of God and of his Son Jesus what an endless pleasure will the sense of their Love yield us when it hath placed us in Heaven Do but consider now how vast the Love of the Lord Jesus is in coming down from Heaven to us and that he knows better reasons of his Love then we do and that his own pleasure is concerned in loving us and that he cannot but finish his Love to those who are purchased with his Bloud and are of his Spirit and it will give a marvellous satisfaction to your heart at present But what it will do then when he will have expressed all his Love to us and perfected his kind intentions towards us we are not able to tell We can onely consider a little farther how he hath plainly told us that they who love him will rejoyce now because he is gone to the Father xiv Joh. 28. And therefore it must needs be an additionall pleasure in the other life to see what we here believe our Dearest Lord shining in the Glory of God the Father and inthroned on the right hard of the Majesty in the Heavens It will be an exceeding high satisfaction to us to behold him who loved us so much and was so ill requited for it by men so gloriously rewarded for it by God himself But it is so easie to apply what hath been said to this purpose that I shall leave such considerations as these to your own diligence and note something that is not altogether so obvious 3. Which is that pious Souls will considerably augment their joy by the reflexions they will make upon their happiness and the strong attention of their mind to their own delight and pleasure For we are never so truly delighted as when we find that we are not deceived in the comfort and contentment which we promised our selves and when we take notice of all the pleasing motions that are in our hearts and duly mark and observe the sweetness of them Before this reflexion and self-observation our Souls are onely touched by the Objects
which they apprehend and receive such impressions as they are able to make there But by this means the Soul touches and strikes it self sealing those impressions deeper and pressing them harder upon our spirit The presence of a Friend without asking our leave excites a joy and sudden passion of pleasure in our heart upon his very first approaches But when we consider with our selves not onely that he is our Friend but how good a Friend he hath been and what joy he hath now and many other times given us we then affect our selves with his presence and sweet company and make the joy greater by minding how great it is For it is the highest kind oâ— life in this world which hath an apprehension that it lives This makes the life of a man above the life of beasts and his pleasures above those that they enjoy This is it also which makes a man in â— Lethargy to be no better then dead because he hath no perception of his own life The quicker therefore and the more lively this apprehension of our LIFE and of the happiness and contentment of it grows the more blessed and joyfull will the LIFE it self be which we shall then lead If by loving without seeing we rejoyce in this world with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. i. 8. how glorious will the joy be there when Sight or Knowledge shall be if I may so speak in its high-noon and Love at its full sea and when there will be no declension much leâ— night nor the least ebbe any more and when we shall with the most accurate quickness instantly apprehend and observe every circumstance that adds to our unconceivable happiness We have many considerations left us now in the Gospel of Christ to refresh our minds withall from his great Love in becoming a Man for us from his Cross from his Resurrection from his Ascension and sitting at God's right hand from his promise of coming again and the hope we have of reigning with him for ever but by not attending to such blessed Truths as these we lose the comfort of them And when they are mightily urged upon us by others and the Holy Spirit of God also touches us and makes us sensible of the glad tidings that they bring us we lose still a great deal of the pleasure by not pressing them farther upon our hearts marking how they are affected with them And when all this is done we shall still feel a damp upon our spirits unless we can comfortably reflect upon our own sincere love to God and assure our selves that we are persons qualified for this supreme Joy But there will be no danger of any such defects in that happy World above where holy Souls will as readily improve as they easily discern every thing that gives them satisfaction As nothing will escape their observation which brings any joy along with it so they will please themselves in the contemplation of their own pleasures till they grow greater And so far they will be from wanting any reflexions on themselves as the persons whom God loves and delights to honour that they cannot but perceive it and be transported with the joyfull sense of it For if we should speak strictly this Joy will be so great that it will need no attention to it It s own strength will make it be most sensibly felt and as some have ventured to express so sublime a state it will by the transcendent force of its delight essentially reflect upon it self 4. But let us come down from these heights and consider again that as much as the Joy which God hath in himself exceeds all other satisfaction so much will the Joy which we shall have in him exceed all that we have or can enjoy in any other thing In his presence says the Psalmist xvi 11. is fulness of joy and pleasures everlasting which cannot fail to be the portion of those who shall be admitted into his presence and have the happiness to See him For since by our sight of him we shall be assimilated to him as was said before and made in a manner such as he is we must needs be partakers with him in his Joy as well as in other things and have such a measure of it as exceeds all the measures that our scanty apprehensions can now take of so full a Good It is too little to say that this Joy alone exceeds all worldly pleasures as far as the longest life exceeds a moment or this whole World the least mote we see in the Sun-beams rather we may say as far as God surmounts this World or Eternity Time between which there is scarce any comparison to be reasonably made 5. To all which you may subjoyn this as the highest consideration of all that such are the Perfections of the Divine Nature such is his infinite Bounty that they who are united to him in Love will meet with an infinite Satisfaction All objects of our delight here may be comprehended by our Understanding and we may see an end of all their perfection For which reason they may be slighted by our Will as less then our selves and unable to give us the contentment we desire It is at our choice whether we will love them or no or at least what portion of our love we will bestow upon them and therefore it is no great joy that they can give to one who feels how much he is above them But God now is so full so infinitely above us that he intirely satiates the heart of those that love him We cannot refuse him when we are perfectly acquainted with him nor is it at our liberty to love him but to such a measure No He will force our Soul then to love him and delight in him as much as it can yea more then naturally it could without the presence of such a Good more then it believed it should ever have been able to love And this is not a force of which the Soul grows weary as in other cases when it is strained beyond its present capacity but a plesing violence to which it opens it self and perceiving the power of that great Good would willingly be more possessed of it The pleasure that it feels sweetly dilates it and with a gratefull constraint so stretches and widens it that the extension becomes natural to it And with all this New Love created in it the joyfull Soul will for ever remain thus big embracing its most beloved Good and delighting it self in this largeness of Love This is the incomparable pleasure of the LIFE that Christ promises All other joys are but cold and dull in respect of the flames and spirits of this It is but a dream of drowzy delight which we enjoy here in comparison with that substantiall sprightly pleasure which our Souls will find in the bosom of God's Love wherein they will repose themselves with such a transport as if they would lose themselves to be all one with
imagine that the prolonged harmony of one day should it bless the Soul would make it account all the pleasures in this world harsh and troublesome and cause it to cry out as the man St. Hierom speaks of who after he had dreamt he was in Paradise called still to those who were about him Set me again in those flowry fields restore me to those pleasant walks O let me enjoy that melody once more let me hear those sweet songs trouble me no more with any of these worldly noises but bless me again with those heavenly touches Lift up your minds then by such thoughts as these to conceive what not one day or year or age but an eternity of such rare ravishing delight would be and that is a part of that blessed LIFE which I am treating of Which by your own confession must needs be more desirable then all that can be expressed by Musick and sweet Airs and melodious Strains and Songs or any such like words which must be acknowledged to be weak and imperfect able to express onely the outward images and shadows of those Divine enjoyments And the more perfectly you digest and frequently excite such thoughts as these the more you will apprehend of this bliss and the more impossible it will be that any thing should hinder you from beginning to be so happy by devoting your selves to a Christian life One part of which is to praise and bless the Lord at all times to bear in your gratefull minds a faithfull remembrance of his benefits and to express it as oft as you can in the most thankfull acknowlegments In which exercise whilst you seriously employ your selves you will be able thereby to know in part what the blessing of Eternall Life is wherewith our Lord hath promised to reward our hearty obedience V. And here it will be seasonable to adde that such will be our Knowledge and Love of God and our true Delight in him that they will produce a most sweet harmony between our Wills and his and move us to yield a free and constant Obedience to him with all our powers The Vnderstanding which now is subject to many mistakes and errours will then shine upon the Will with the rays of the purest Light And the Will which now is oft too refractory will not then in the least rebell against the Understanding but be obsequious to its illuminations And the Affections will be as ready to obey the Will and follow its motions which will all agree with the Mind of God and perfectly correspond to his desires His Will shall be always done and ours shall be but a sweet compliance with his For our knowing him making us like him will take away all liberty from us of doing any thing but what he would have us And the whole appetite being so intirely filled and satisfied as hath been said with this great Good there can be no room left for any inordinate desires but we must eternally cleave to God and cannot be turn'd aside from him any more And it will not prove any trouble to us neither to be thus fast bound to his will and observe all his motions but we shall fly as swiftly about in that free light as the winged Angels now do who never fetch so much as one sigh when they receive his commands but chearfully in every thing obey his pleasure Nay it would be the greatest trouble to us if we should doe otherways We should create a disturbance in the midst of that heavenly Rest should we not thus readily obey him One groan would spoil all the sweet accents of the joyfull Praises which are there continually offered Much more would one act of disobedience be so jarring with that harmony as to make us lose the pleasure of it But there will be no danger of this we shall all be changed as the Apostle speaks not onely in our Body but also in our Spirit and in this as well as all other things that our liberty of indifferency the freedom we now have to chuse good or let it alone yea to chuse evill as well as good shall be turned into a chearfull spontaneous motion towards that which is Good alone The will as some have expressed it shall remain but not the choice we shall willingly serve God but not chuse whether we will serve him or no. For that Sight which we shall have of his Beauty will not let us take our eyes off from him and that Love which flows from thence cannot but be exercised by those who have that blessed Sight and they that cannot but see and love so great a Good will not be able to turn their minds and hearts inordinately to any thing else They therefore who shall be accounted worthy of that World to come will be free from Sin and from the fear of sinning whereby they will be secure of perpetuall Blessedness which is necessary to make us perfectly happy For they are very short of it who are in danger or in fear of losing the felicity they enjoy Both these will be far remote from that happy World where they will be fixt in their Happiness because they will be fixt in their Obedience Which as it may grow it is possible still more and more chearfull so it will infuse a greater sense of the Divine Love into their hearts and every act wherein they doe the will of God may be rewarded perhaps with a greater increase of happiness Who would not chuse then to obey God now that hereafter he may not be able to doe otherwise Who would not strive to bring his will in subjection to Christ that he may at last exchange his own will wholly for his the liberty that is of a man for the liberty of the Divine Nature which is always determined by an happy necessity to that which is Good Yea who would not chuse such an happiness as is always it is probable growing more perfect the excellency of which we can never comprehend because it will be growing more excellent A Life so noble that every operation of it makes it more divine It is no disparagement to its worth to say that we cannot at first know all that we shall know nor love so much as we shall be able to love nor possess all the joy of our Lord but it is rather a commendation of it that after such an height of knowledge love and joy as we shall arrive unto at first we shall be advancing to a greater nearness and familiarity with God IV. But it is time to bring this Discourse to a conclusion when I have told you that it is not the Soul onely which will be happy in this Eternall LIFE That word I said at the first imports the supreme felicity of the whole Man and therefore Man consisting of a Body as well as a Soul that must come in for a share in this Bliss and at last be made partaker of it Yet I shall not stay to tell you
we ascend to the region of Light and are cloathed with the Sun we shall be out of the reach of these troubles and find our selves in a state of perfect rest and joy without the least disgust to abate our contentment And what will make us despise this Valley of tears if this blessed hope have not force enough to lift our hearts above it Who would not desire to come to the Mount of Vision and Transfiguration where we shall SEE THE LORD and be so changed thereby as to be made impassible as he is Let the Readers pardon me if I so far digress as to ask them What is this Wilderness wherein you live that you should love it better then that heavenly Canaan What is forty years or perhaps seventy of toil and labour to that Eternall Rest which Christ hath promised Are not these husks contemptible in respect of the Manna the Bread of life of which if a man eat he shall live for ever Is not our life here a dream a shaddow of life in comparison with this Life that is everlasting Why then are you so hardly perswaded to take off your thoughts and affections from things beneath and not so much to handle the thorns and prickles that are in all mortall things Why should we be at so much pains to draw you into this Paradise where as there is a perpetuall Spring so all joy flourishes without the least sense of grief to spoil its pleasures If you would have us to account you men we cannot but expect you should entertain this Happiness unless you can either disbelieve it or prove it falls so short of this description that it is not worth the price you must give for it But how unable you will be to doe the former shall appear presently when I have told you farther how far short this description is of the incomparable excellency of this Life II. For this word ETERNALL added to it may well denote the LIFE we speak of to be without any intermission as well as without any intermixture As there is no contrary sense of grief in that happy State so there is no insensibleness of joy The blessed Soul will never cease to feel its own pleasures because as there is no night in that heavenly country so there is no sleep in which we can scarce be said to live The life we shall lead there will be one continued Act of knowing loving rejoycing praising and obeying God and there will be no void spaces wherein we shall doe nothing or wherein we shall doe something else We cannot conceive how any drowziness should creep upon us or heaviness oppress our spirits and as for other actions besides those now named what should there be since all evill is banished all sin shut out of that Paradise As for all Good works there will be none of those wherein we are now imployed to exercise our Obedience as not befitting the Nobleness of that state wherein neither we nor others shall be in any need of those things which now call for our Charity to them or Justice to our selves What shall works of Mercy doe in that world where there is no Misery How shall we visit the sick where immortality and incorruption provides for a continuall health What hospitality shall we use there where no poor inhabit nor strangers come How shall we cloath the naked where they are invested with a robe of the purest and most unspotted light What Enemies shall we study to reconcile where universall Friendship reigns What differences shall we compose where all live in unity and harmonious love And if these works of Mercy shall be useless surely then all works of Necessity as they are termed will be superfluous There will be no meat no drink no apparell or habitation to be cared for where there is no hunger thirst and cold or such like wants which now continually pinch us The onely work will be to think of God to love him whose love will appear so wonderfull to rejoyce in him to reckon up his benefits to thank him for them to perform him such services as are suitable to the dignity of that condition to love all the blessed society who will contribute all they can to each other's happiness And how incomparably great will that happiness be when we shall have no other imployment but to be happy There are two great defects as a famous Divine of our own hath observed which spoil the intireness of all our delights here but will find no place in the enjoyments of that happy state For 1. all the Capacities we have now are so narrow and weak that we cannot long bear any high pleasure but we are soon satiated with it and are fain even for our own ease to lay it aside and seek some new delight This makes our best contentments not to be pure and sincere without the mixture of some dregs for of other this fleshly state will not admit And besides this 2. while we study the satisfaction of one Capacity another must be content to go without the pleasure that it desires They cannot all be gratified together but the rest must wait till one hath done And which is worse while we fulfill the desires of the lower Faculties the nobler commonly are deprived of their satisfaction They that are given to their appetite and are great purveyors for the grosser senses of the body not onely defraud the Mind but even the purer senses the Eye and the Ear which are the great Gates of wisedome of their most delightfull enjoyments Nay such is the imperfection of this state that the Mind it self cannot eamestly fix in one sort of studies but commonly it is render'd thereby very unapt to reap the delight that other parts of knowledge afford We have seen deep Contemplatours in severall Sciences prove too unskilfull in matters of common prudence and others strangely quick in worldly business to which they have bent their minds who have been extreme inapprehensive of Divine Mysteries But in the life to come it will be quite otherwise for our Capacities as I have discoursed in the foregoing Chapters will be there mightily improved and so inlarged and widened that we shall be in no danger to take a surfeit of the fullest enjoyments that can present themselves unto us And such will be the friendly agreement and sweet harmony between the capacities and desires of every faculty there that the satisfaction of one can no way turn to the prejudice of any other but rather further and set forward its true delight and contentment For then the more we know the more we shall love and the more we love the more we shall know how good God is And this we shall doe without any weariness which now forces us to break off our sweetest enjoyments because then we shall not spend but rather improve ourselves by exercise and motion Which makes another considerable difference between this state and that which we expect All our
whose bodies being divided and the halves laid one against another a smoaking furnace appeared and a lamp of fire representing a Divine Presence which passed between those pieces ver 17. according to the custom in those days of making Covenants by the parties going between a beast so out asunder In like manner our Blessed Lord and Saviour promised more then once or twice the Kingdom of Heaven to all his followers most earnestly intreating them to believe it And lest they should doubt of it he proceeds at last of his own accord to ingage himself to bestow it by entring into a solemn Covenant with them Which was ratified not by the bloud of beasts and the cutting their bodies in pieces but by his own most precious bloud and by suffering nails to be thrust through his own flesh that he might confirm us in the belief of his promise of an eternall inheritance ix Heb. 15. VI. And great reason there is we should be confirmed by it in this belief For what could he doe more to assure us he meant as he spake then to seal it with his bloud The Apostles justly took this to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an eminent testimony or WITNESSE to the truth of that which he preached So you reade 1 Tim. ii 6. He gave himself a ransome for all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a testimony in due time That is He became the price of our Redemption and like the Paschal Lamb his bloud saves us from the destroyer and assures us God will bring us to our Eternall Rest of which we cannot reasonably doubt since his giving himself thus to die for us is an evident testimony of God's great love to men and of his will which he spake of before ver 4. to save all men by pardoning their offences and bringing them to Eternall life for Jesus his sake His bloudy death was an unquestionable Witness as St. John here calls it of the truth of his promise which he confirmed and sealed in this solemn manner by dying on the Cross to verify it And this he did at that very time or season which was most fit and proper for such a business just when the Prophets said he should doe it for in those days as we reade ii Luk. 38. they looked for redemption in Jerusalem And he could not satisfie their expectation by any better means then this which was illud Testimonium as Erasmus renders it that Testimony that remarkable Witness which none can justly question For it is taken by all for certain that He doth not intend to deceive qui morte suâ fidem facit who seals what he saith with his bloud This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Testimony I may adde or WITNESS to the truth of what he preached was most properly his own Testimony There were sundry others but none while he was on earth so peculiarly his as this which was all he could doe to justify himself and his Doctrine The Voice from heaven was a Witness as you have heard but that was the testimony of the Father His Doctrine was a Witness but he saith of that it is not mine but his that sent me vii Joh. 16. His Works or Miracles were a Witness as he says v. Joh. 36. but in the same place he adds that they were the works which his Father gave him to finish and xiv 10. My Father doeth the Works But as for his most precious BLOUD it was that and that alone whereby He himself witnessed the truth to us For this cause he came into the world as he tells Pilate xviii 37. and it was a free act of his own for which reason he is said to give himself for us and to lay down his life there being none as I said before that had power without his consent to take it away from him And therefore it may well be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That testimony whereby He more peculiarly witnessed that this was the will of him that sent him that every one who saw the Son and believed on him should have everlasting life This he preached all his life and he justified it to be true by his Death When they would have had him revoke what he had said and deny that he was sent upon this message by God he maintained it to the last drop of his bloud Which was as much as could be done for the verifying of his Doctrine and assuring the World that he sincerely published the will of Heaven For who can doe more then die for the truth which he asserts But he having thus attested by dying that which God the Father had witnessed before in his life-time by voices from heaven by signs and wonders and such like things it pleased the same Father Almighty to give a more illustrious testimony to Him and to the truth of his Doctrine then ever had been given either in his life or at his death and that was by his Resurrection from the dead Which is commonly in the Holy Scriptures ascribed to him and made his work ii Act. 24 32. i. Ephes 17 20. c. and evidently proved all that I have said and more too For it shewed that as he was not a deceiver of others so he was not deceived himself God hereby bad all the World believe what he had preached and no longer make any doubt of that which he had testified even by his own BLOUD to be his heavenly Truth But of this more in its proper place VII Let us now consider that those persons whom our Saviour bad all men hear because they were sent by him as he was by the Father have told us and the event proved it true that this BLOUD was shed to make peace as you reade ii Eph. 14 15. That is to reconcile Jews and Gentiles together between whom there had been very long differences so that of twain they might become one new Man and both serve him in the same Religion and partake of the same privileges What force there is in this to prove the right we have to Eternall Life you will soon see when I have noted that the intention of God to bring all the World to share alike in his divine favour and love which had been so much inclosed in the Jewish Nation was notably proclaimed by the rending of the veil of the Temple in twain just when the veil of our Saviour's flesh was torn and he yielded up the ghost xxvii Matt. 50 51. This was a plain indication as Photius * Epist cxxv the famous Patriarch of Constantinople hath truly observed a Symbol and Presignification to use his words of the overthrow and desolation that was coming upon that Temple and the Worship therein celebrated How could it be otherwise construed when that place wherein their most holy rites were performed and their most venerable mysteries kept from the eyes of the vulgar was now laid open and exposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his words are to common view and
many Ages the sweet society of some good Friends in pure love and innocent conversation But hark He tells us we shall live with him and see his Glory and be with his Son Jesus and reign together with him in his heavenly Kingdom and be equall to the Angels and enter into the joy of our Lord and continue with him for ever What manner of love is this that we should be called the Sons of God and being like him behold him as he is Where is our love whither is it run after what is it wandred if it be not here ready to acknowledge this kindness in making us such great such exceeding great and precious promises Ah me that we should have lost our selves so much as not to find our affections forward to meet such a love as this with the highest transport of joy When our hearts so abound with love that we have enough for every thing in the world when there is not a pretty bird or a dog but we have some to spare for it have we none at all for our Lord God for LOVE it self for that Love which hath so loved us Ah blessed Jesus that thou shouldst be pleased to doe so much for those whose hearts thou knewest to be so cold that they would scarce be warmed with the brightest beams of thine inconceivable love How shall we excuse our selves to thee that our Souls are still so frozen after thou the Sun of righteousness hast shone so long so powerfully upon us Let us consider are we fed with a mere fancy do we live onely in a pleasing dream or are we left in doubt of the truth of these things and hang in such suspence that we know not what to think of them No such matter neither He hath compleated his kindness by giving us a Certainty and full assurance of those things which are revealed to us in his Gospell Here are WITNESSES of the highest quality to attest the truth of his Love by whom we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true c. This is the true God and Eternall Life And as if one or two were not sufficient here are six Witnesses come to tell us how he loves us Heaven and Earth conspire to draw our hearts to be love of him who hath not onely given us exceeding great Promises but exceeding great Certainty that they are all true and faithfull He knew very well they would seem incredible being as much beyond all our thoughts as they are beyond our deserts And therefore he took care to give us such evidences of their truth as should not merely work in us belief but a full assurance of faith By Himself by his Word by the Holy Ghost by the Water the Bloud and the Spirit we are so many ways rooted and grounded in this perswasion that we cannot but see we are doubly beholden to his infinite bounty first for such exceeding great and precious promises and then for as wonderfully great confirmation of them to our unspeakable and endless comfort And are we not yet apprehensive of his love Doth it not yet feelingly touch our hearts but leave us indifferent whether we will love him or not Ah fools that we are who must be sent to school to those brute creatures mentioned before to teach us better nature and better manners How do our very dogs as I have said elsewhere follow us and fawn upon us for a crust of bread how close do they keep to us how ready are they to defend us and our houses and all belonging to us Even when we are dead some of them have been known not to forsake their Masters for any other And what is all this service for but such things as we have no use of or make no account of our selves O blessed God! who can endure to stay so long as to hear this applied to himself before he learn to love thee I see whither this lesson tends I behold already how shamefull it is to dispose of my heart away from thee Thou hast given us thine own dear Son What a gift how great a boon Thou hast promised us eternall life How invaluable a possession Thou hast given us good hopes and strong consolation What an excessive kindness Shall we not devote our selves to thee shall we not forsake all and follow thee whithersoever thou wilt lead us We cannot refuse we must resolve to surrender our hearts intirely to thee We should be worse then Dogs should we not with all our minds and soul and strength love that transcendent goodness which by the most miraculous demonstrations hath perswaded us that we shall live eternally with himself and enjoy the everlasting fruits of his infinite love This is the most comfortable news that could possibly arrive from heaven Should we have had our own wishes nothing greater nothing so great could have entred into our hearts desire This sweetens the bitterness of all afflictions and this heightens all our joys when we hope the one shall shortly but the other shall never end Plutarch deservedly blamed Epicurus of great incogitancy who making all happiness consist in Pleasure denied the state of the future life which it is the greatest pleasure to hope for and expect Nothing casts such a damp upon all a man's enjoyments here as the cold thoughts of an endless death seizing on his heart He cannot but sigh to think that shortly there must be a finall period put to all his delights As on the contrary this gives life and spirit to them if he can think they shall be improved and perpetuated for ever And therefore how much do we owe to the love of God who hath given us assurance even of the Resurrection of our body to an immortall life and told us it shall be so far from being lost by going to the grave that like Seed it shall rise again quite another thing then it was when cast into the ground no longer weak contemptible corruptible and mortall but powerfull spirituall glorious incorruptible and immortall and consequently capable of purer more spritely and more lasting pleasures then now it injoys O how much more comfortable is this opinion then that of the Epicurean as Tertullian excellently speaks * De Testimonio animae c. iv which vindicates thee from destruction How much more seemly then the Pythagorean which doth not send thee into beasts How much more full then the Platonicall which restores even thy body as a new dowry to thee O tast and see how gracious the Lord is Bonum Deum novimus solum optimum à Christo ejus addiscimus * Id. De Resurrectione carnis cap. ix We knew God was good before but so most excellently good we learn onely from his Christ who bidding us next him to love our Neighbour doth that himself which he expects from us He loves even our body which is so many ways of kin to him II.
his father's house were many Mansions xiv 1 2. that is there was room for all comers though never such multitudes The discourse indeed of our Saviour there shews that this is but a fancy yet if we consider the haste men make in any other advantageous offers and how they will strive to prevent and circumvent one another to gain any preferment here in this world they might well think that men would come in as great crowds to heaven as we have seen them sometime come to Church and would all run as men do in a race contending earnestly who should carry away the crown For bonorum quorundam sicut malorum est intolerabilis magnitudo the greatness of some goods as well as of some evills is so excessive and intolerable as Tertullian if I forget not somewhere speaks that it weighs down all that can be cast into the scale against it and suffers not our wills as you have heard to deliberate about it Whence is it then that we see so little care and concern about that far more exceeding eternall weight of glory that good which is so vast that in this state we cannot bear the very thoughts of it In stead of that forwardness which might have been expected there is a strange backwardness so much as to think of these things A prodigious numness and stupidity hath seized on the hearts of Christian people who seem to have no life at all in them To what shall we impute it seeing the Sun of righteousness hath shone so brightly and strongly on them with these chearfull beams of Eternall Life which he hath brought to light through his Gospell Is there any thing here that can pretend to vie with the Eternall Life he hath revealed I will not stay for an Answer the disparity is so great between this and all other goods What is it then which makes men so indifferent Is there little or no hope that God will bestow such great and glorious things upon such vile wretches as we are No he hath promised and prepared them as you have heard and he cannot be worse then his word nor lose all his own preparations What is it then that stifles their endeavours after this immortall bliss Will he not give it but upon very hard terms and such rigorous conditions as are enough to freez the warmest resolutions when we think of them Not this neither For he hath prepared these good things for those that love him And what is there more easie what more pleasant and chearfull then love especially of the first and chiefest Good which will certainly make all our duty as easie and delightfull as it self is Or will you say that we cannot love him it is an impossible Condition For shame consider that the very offer of such glorious things is enough to make us love him intirely if we did believe them Were we perswaded that he will bestow upon good men such happiness with himself so great so long it would inflame our hearts with the most ardent passion towards his service Therefore I have already named the true cause of all mens coldness and sloth After all our search we shall find it nothing else but this They do not believe They are not perswaded of the certainty of the rewards in the other World or have not fixed this belief in their Minds for if they had it would not easily slip out again They are moved strongly by what they see with their eyes and feel with their hands and taste with their tongues but faith hath little or no place or power in their hearts This is proved to be too true by the lives of men which are so base and unworthy as if they did not hope for the happiness of a fly in the other World Therefore every one of our business must be to awaken that faith in our Souls which we profess that Divine principle which is of such force as to overcome the World For it is manifestly true which the Apostle writes that without faith it is impossible to please God We shall never doe any thing worthy of him unless we believe that God is and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him As on the contrary it is no less manifest that if we do believe we shall not onely please him but we shall please our selves in doing so and find it most delightfull to be religious It will marvellously inliven us and infuse as it were a new spirit and soul into us so that we shall differ as much from our selves as the corn doth when it is sown in the ground and when it shoots up again in all its verdure and beauty It will make us adorn our selves I mean with all the fruits of righteousness and beget in us such a spirituall life as will fructify and increase in all good works And here consider first That the things themselves propounded to our belief are such as we cannot but desire it should be true that God intends to bestow them on us Who is there that would not willingly live for ever that doth not think Immortality the greatest prerogative of humane Nature provided we may live always in joy and pleasure in uninterrupted contentments and never-fading delights Though they should be less then our Lord hath promised there is no heart but above all things wishes to be so happy To see onely the beautifull orders of the heavenly hosts the glorious Company of the Apostles the goodly Society of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs the venerable Quire of Pastors the whole multitude of holy men and women who celebrate a perpetuall feast of joy to live in happy friendship with them to love them and to be beloved of them to bear a part in their eternall Song of praise and thanks to God how desirable is it above any thing that we can fansy in this world No man hath so little love to himself as not to wish he might be numbred among those Saints in glory everlasting It 's impossible we should not be pleased with the thoughts of having a consortship in such an incomparable happiness were we but perswaded that it is not a dream but a reall truth There needs nothing more to bring it into all mens favour but onely to be satisfied that there is such an Happiness And that 's the other thing I would propound to your thoughts That as we naturally desire such an Happiness so if we consider the evident demonstations we have of it in the Gospell this and a great deal more appears to be the undoubted inheritance of all good Souls who shall see God and be with our Lord and behold his glory Which wonderfully recommends the Christian Religion to us wherein we are gratified in our most important desires and have those things made sure and certain to us which we would all fain have for our portion For what is the generall intent of the Gospell but to discover to mankind immortall life