and the high pitch thereof together with the mighty assiâ—â—ance hereunto The Promise of the Spirit of God moving and cooperating in the inward man to the finishing and completing all his works in us that we may be holy and blameless without spot or wrinkle or any such thing We have also prevented all perverse glosses of false Teachers whereby they would slacken and enervate the strength and efficacy of these three Powers of the Gospel we have hitherto spoken of by introducing a bare fruitless and steril Faith or the Imputation of an external Righteousness that according to their compute is further removed from us then the highest Star Which errour were it as harmless as groundless any peaceable good Christian could be content to connive at it but it being an old mischievous Stratagem against the Church and so noted by the wisedom of the Apostles an evil Machination found out by the Prince of darkness to undermine the Kingdom of Christ no faithful Adherent to the interest of the Lord Jesus and the advancement of his Rule and Power in the World can with a good conscience slightly pass it over but will use his best endeavour to undeceive the world in so dangerous a mistake 2. And though I be now hasting apace to the next joynt of the Evangelical Engine I am describing yet I cannot passe on with satisfaction to my self before I have also added to the suffrages of the Apostles who unanimously have voted this opinion of being righteous without doing righteousnesse a very dangerous Imposture and Deceit some rational Considerations that may make us still more sensible of the ill consequences thereof For my own part I must confesse that it is to me a thing utterly inconceivable how a man can be righteous here without Righteousnesse or happy hereafter without Righteousnesse here or how any true Christian can please himself in a Palliation more then a Cure or can be satisfied with any thing but that Manna that came down from heaven the very Flesh and Bloud of Christ in that sense I have interpreted it or without feeding his Soul with that real Spirit of Righteousness or the Divine Nature which is meat indeed and drink indeed For I do not understand how the condition of these Opposers of so Essential and Fundamental a Truth can be any other then what the Prophet Esay has prefigured in those that fight against Ariel the Altar of Holocausts where the whole beastly nature is to be burned by the consuming Fire of God and that lay siege against Mount Sion the Hill of that Drinesse and Thirst which God has promised to irrigate with living Springs of water It shall be as when an hungry man dreameth and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his soul is empty or as when a thirsty man dreameth and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint So shall the multitude of the Nations be that fight against Mount Sion This is the condition of all Sects whatsoever that are contrary to them that thirst and hunger after righteousness For these shall be really satisfied the dew of Divine grace shall plentifully showr down upon this Sion and they shall be filled with Spiritual Manna from Heaven whereas the other their hunger and thirst that is their wants and defects being real but not after real Righteousness are fed only by imaginations and dreams and whenever they awake out of them will finde themselves destitute 3. Nay what is yet worse a man may almost conclude that they are not so much as in a capacity of dreaming of celestial food For that is a function of life to dream of such things as are agreeable to such a species of living creatures and those that dream of such things as are congruous to their nature it is because they have had an enjoyment of them and do sometimes enjoy them according to the order of Nature And certainly he that is a true Christian is not a mere natural man but is that New Creature that is framed in righteousness and true holinesse and therefore he must be fed out of such Principles as he was generated from not of the will of man but the Spirit of God and therefore he does not only dream of but really feed of that Manna that is from Heaven that inward essential Righteousnesse that is from God And as it is impossible for one man to eat to drink and to breath for another in a natural way so also is it alike impossible for any one person to eat and drink and breath in a spiritual way for another And if we were wholly alive to that life that is most certainly in every Christian rightly so called we should think it as inconvenient that any one should be righteous for us as that he should be in health for us For what comfort would it be while we are in a tedious fever a sharp fit of the stone or gout that some other person should be sound and at ease for us 4. And therefore it is too shrewd an indication that men in this imaginary perswasion are in a manner past feeling as the Apostle speaks as being devoid of all divine life and sense otherwise Sin and Immorality would be as harsh to their Souls as these Diseases are painful to their bodies And hence it is that S. Iohn saith That he that is born of God sinneth not because the seed of God remaineth in him as I have noted above For what Principle of life sins against it self what Beast wilfully wounds it self what Tree blasts it self what life will so much as hurt it self any way Will the Eagle swim in the Sea or the Dolphin fly in the Aire Will not all Creatures keep them to their own Element and Original and fly their contrary Element as that which brings destruction or at least a great deal of diseasement to them What regenerate man then can endure to come near the Region of Sin It can be no more pleasant to him then the Smoke to his eyes or the Saw to his hearing How can I do this wickedness and sin against God Nay how can I cut and launce and scorch my self my better self even Christ which lives in me with whom I suffer as often as his image suffers And this may serve for a more generall taste of the unreasonablenesse of this wicked and mischievous Imposture that has ever more or lesse attempted the Church of Christ. But I shall bring you in a more punctual Bill of the losses and damages done thereby CHAP. XI 1. That the want of real Righteousness deprives us of the Divine Wisedom proved out of Scripture 2. As also from the nature of the thing it self 3. That it disadvantages the Soul also in Natural speculations 4. That it stifles all Noble and laudable Actions 5. And exposes the imaginary Religionist to open reproach 6. That mere imaginary Righteousness robs the Soul of her peace of Conscience 7. And of
were not asleep at so concerning a Sermon 6. Again 2 Cor. 5. v. 8. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. Here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plainly intimates a going out of this Mortal Body not a change of it into an Immortal one therefore we may safely conclude that this courage and willingness of the Apostle to die implies an enjoyment of the presence of Christ after death before the general Resurrection Else why should he rather desire to die then to live but that he expects that Faith should be presently perfected by Sight as he insinuates in the foregoing verse But assuredly better is that enjoyment which is onely by Faith then to have no enjoyment at all as it must be if the Soul cannot operate out of this Body 7. A like Proof to this and further Confirmation of the Truth is that of Philipp 1.21 22 23 24. where the Apostle again professing his courage and forwardness to magnifie Christ in his body whether by life or by death uses the like Argument as before For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain But if I live in the flesh it will be worth my labour yet what I should chuse I wote not For I am in a strife betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needfull for you 8. The genuine sense of which Place is questionless this That while he lived his life was like Christ's upon Earth innocent but encumbred with much hardship and affliction bearing about in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus but if he died he should then once for all seal to the Truth of his Martyrdome and not onely scape all future troubles which yet the love of Christ his Assistance and Hope of Reward did ever sustain him in but which was his great gain and advantage arrive to an higher fruition of him after whom he had so longing a desire But if to be with Christ were to sleep in his bosome and not so much as to be sensible he is there it were impossible the Apostles affections should be carried so strongly to that state or his judgement should determine it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so exceedingly much better especially his stay in the flesh being so necessary to the Philippians and the rest of the Church and what he suffered and might further suffer in his life no less a Testimony to the Truth then Death it self 9. Fourthly Those phrases of S. Peter 2 Pet. 1.13 Yea I think it meet so long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up and put you in remembrance Knowing that I must shortly put off this Tabernacle c. And so vers 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all likelyhood alludes to the same as if his Soul went out of the Body as out of a Tabernacle All these Phrases I say seem to me manifestly to indicate that there is no such necessary Union betwixt the Soul and the Body but she may act as freely out of it as in it as men are nothing the more dull sleepy or senseless by putting off their cloaths and going out of the house but rather more awakened active and sensible 10. Fifthly Hebr. 12. There God is called the Father of Spirits the Corrector and Chastiser of our Souls in contradistinction to our Flesh or Bodies and then vers 22. lifting us up quite above the consideration of our Corporeal condition he brings us to the Mystical mount Sion the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the Universal assembly and Church of the first-born which are inrolled in heaven and to God the Iudge of all and to the Spirits of just men made perfect Now I demand what Perfection can be in the Spirits of these just men to be overwhelmed in a senseless Sleep or what a disproportionable and unsutable representation is it of this throng Theatre in Heaven made up of Saints and Angels that so great a part of them as the Souls of the Holy men deceased should be found drooping or quite drown'd in an unactive Lethargie Certainly as it is incongruous in it self so it is altogether inconsistent with the magnificency of the representation which this Author intends in this place 11. Sixthly Matth. 10.28 The life of the Soul separate from the Body is there plainly asserted by our Saviour Fear not them that kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul but rather fear him who is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell i. e. able if he will to destroy the life both of Body and Soul in Hell-fire according to the conceit of those whose opinions I have recited in my Treatise Of the Immortality of the Soul Book 3. chap. 18. or else miserably to punish or afflict both Body and Soul in Hell the torments whereof are worse then Death it self For as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and perire signifie to be excessively miserable so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and perdere may very well signifie to make excessively miserable But now for the former part of the verse but are not able to kill the Soul it is evident that they were able if the Soul could not live separate from the Body For killing of the Body what is it but depriving it of life wherefore if the Soul by the death of the Body be also deprived of life it is manifest that she can be killed which is contrary to our Saviour's Assertion CHAP. X. 1. A pregnant Argument from the State of the Soul of Christ and of the Thief after death 2. Grotius his explication of Christ's promise to the Thief 3. The meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. How Christ with the Thief could be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Paradise at once 5. That the Parables of Dives and Lazarus and of the unjust Steward implie That the Soul hath life and sense immediately after death 1. WE have yet one more notable Testimony against our Adversaries Our Saviour Christ's Soul and the Thief 's upon the Cross did subsist and live immediately upon the death of the Body as appears from Luke 23.42 43. And he said unto Iesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdome And Iesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise As if he should thus answer Thou indeed beggest of me that I would be mindfull of thee when I come into my Kingdome but I will not deferre thee so long onely distrust not the unexpected riches of my goodness to thee For verily I say unto thee That this very day shalt thou be with me in Paradise And there is no evasion from this Interpretation the Syriack as Grotius noteth interpointing betwixt I say unto thee and Today and all the Greek copies as Beza affirmes joyning
also of the worth and value and of the fitness and accommodateness of so ample a Reward 3. For Philosophy herself can witness That according to the greater purity of our Spirits the Motions and Passions of our Minds are changed and become more holy and divine our Thoughts and Apprehensions more clear our Love to God more ardent and sincere our Benignity to men more free and general and all the Faculties of our Soul in a ready posture to comply with the best commands or suggestions of Reason or Religion Of what infinite importance therefore must it be to have such a Body as is not only perpetually thus compliable with the Best motions of the Soul but by virtue of its Heavenly purity does naturally encline the Mind to such Thoughts Motions and Affections as are most acceptable to God and most enravishing to her self Which consideration does evidently demonstrate that high Reason that is in our Religion in the Promise of a glorified Body as the greatest Reward of our earnest colluctations and obedient endeavours in this life For nothing but Divine Inspiration or some infallible Method of Philosophy could discover to the Mind of man so concerning a Point 4. But to doubt whether Christ can cloath us with such Bodies as those or enliven our whole man in whatsoever bodies we be found into that Immortality and Life which accrues to us by transforming our vile bodies into the similitude of his glorious Bodie is either to forget or not to believe what mighty power he had when he was here upon earth how merely by his word he calmed the raging of the seas silenced the tempestuousness of the windes multiplied a few loaves and a few fishes so in the very eating of them that he fed many thousands therewith in the wilderness which was an eminent specimen of his power of transforming Matter into what modification he pleased besides his healing of the sick not only those that were present and believed on him but also the absent to which you may add the raising of the dead which comes nearer to our purpose as also the Resurrection of those that rose with him to signifie his enlivening power who himself so miraculously rose from the Grave 5. By which wonderfull works he did plainly demonstrate That what he professed of himself was true That as the Father has life in himself so he has also given the Son to have life in himself that is the power of vivification or enlivening of others as you may see by the context John 5. v. 26. And not only so but he has given him also the power of punishing as well as rewarding as it follows in the next verse And he hath given him authority to execute judgement because he is the Son of man viz. That Son of man that upon his sufferings and after his being risen from the dead should have all power given to him in Heaven and in Earth Which we may easily believe whenas he had so vast a power in the lowest ebbe of his Humiliation when he went up and down afflicted despised and neglected being attended only by a few contemptible fisher-men and others of like inferiour condition and yet then he opened the eyes of them that were born blind and at a distance healed the sick and being unaccompanied with any visible pomp or power with one word of his mouth drove away a Legion of Devils at once What shall he not then be able to doe when he shall return in the highest Glory and Majesty that the visible Divinity can appear in when the Heavens shall be filled with the brightness of his Camp and all the Nations of the World shall be astonished at the dreadfull splendour of his coming 6. Shall not he then who in his dejectment could raise to life not only a faithless but senseless corps enliven those that at his glorious Appearance are so filled with Faith Love Joy Desire and Admiration that their empassioned Souls are ready to leave their Bodies if it were possible to come and doe their homage to their long-expected Saviour and Redeemer Shall not that Divine and Omnipotent Power then that worketh round about him so cooperate with those kindled Affections as to change their very Bodies into an ability of naturally ascending up to him and joining with him Or is it hard for him to convert Flesh or Air into a pure Aethereal Fire to awake such a Facultie in the Soul as shall kindly and vitally inactuate it who turned Air into Flesh and prepared the dead carcase of Lazarus so fittingly for reunion with the Soul that he raised him out of the Grave on the fourth day Wherefore this Resurrection Life and Immortality we speak of being neither impossible for Christ to give nor our nature uncapable to receive it remains that we shall enjoy it because Christ both himself and by his Apostles has so plainly and expresly promised it CHAP. VII 1. Caecilius his scoffs against the Resurrection and Conflagration of the World That against the Resurrection answered already 2. In what sense the soberer Christians understood the Conflagration of the World 3. That the Conflagration in their sense is possible argued from the Combustibleness of the parts of the Earth 4. As also from actual Fire found in several Mountains as Aetna Helga and Hecla 5. Several instances of that sort out of Plinie 6. Instances of Vulcanoes out of Acosta 7. The Vulcanoes of Guatimalla 8. Vulcanoes without smoak having a quick fire at the bottome 9. Vulcanoes that have cast fire and smoak some thousand of years together 10. Hot Fountains Springs running with Pitch and Rosin certain Thermae catching fire at a distance 1. THe Third thing we propounded comprized in Christ's Return to Judgment is the Conflagration of the world a Point as incredible to most of the Heathen as the Resurrection of the dead and the comparing of them both together made it the more ridiculously-incredible to them as you may see by that Jear that Caecilius gives the Christians in Minucius Felix Quid quod toti Orbi ipsi Mundo cum sideribus suis minantur incendium ruinam moliuntur quasi aut Naturae divinis legibus constitutus aeternus ordo turbetur aut rupto omnium elementorum foedere coelesti compage divisâ moles ista quâ continemur cingimur subruatur Nec hâc furiosâ opinione contenti aniles fabulas astruunt annectunt Renasci se ferunt post Mortem Cineres Favillas Nescio quâ fiduciâ mendaciis suis invicem credunt Putes eos jam revixisse Anceps malum gemina dementia Coelo astris quae sic relinquimus ut invenimus interitum denunciare sibi mortuis extinctis qui sicut nascimur interimus aeternitatem repromittere To which you may add how they menace burning and meditate ruine to the whole Earth and to the Heaven it self with the Stars thereof as if the Eternal Order constituted by the divine