in this World and another But our Souls are of an Immortal Nature that will subsist in Happiness or Misery after this Life otherwise the Rewards and Punishments of another World signify nothing the Question then is if it can be made a Question Whether it be more agreeable to the Infinite Goodness and Wisdom of God to provide for the Well-being of Mankind in such a low and gloomy a Region as this Earth is or to advance them into a far better Place and better Company and more noble and divine Delights and those not depending on a fading drooping dying Life but on the perpetual Enjoyment of a complete Happiness both of Soul and Body No one that ever dares to think or consider of these things can believe there is any Comparison between them so that the Salvation tendred by the Gospel is the most agreeable End which the Wisdom and Goodness of God could carry on for the Benefit of Mankind But why should Mankind flatter themselves with the Hopes or Expectation of a Happiness so far above what they can pretend to deserve There were some Grounds for such an Objection as this if we supposed the Rewards of another Life to come from any other Fountain than the Infinite Goodness of God towards those who sincerely love him and endeavour to please him although with many Failings and Imperfections But this is the only Hypothesis which we maintain to be the Christian Doctrine And what is there in it which is repugnant to the Wisdom and Goodness of God What was it but Infinite Goodness which gave a Being to the World at first and hath preserved it ever since and made it so usefull and beneficial to Mankind What is it but infinite Goodness that suffers us to live and enjoy so many Comforts of Life after so many great and continual Provocations If we were to argue from our Deserts it were impossible for us to justifie the wonderfull Patience and Long-suffering of God towards the sinfull Race of Mankind for we are certain that they have long since deserved to be cut off from the Face of the Earth If we consider the Justice and Holiness of God whereby he is daily provoked to punish Offenders and the Power he hath to execute his Justice in a Moment without any opposite Power to controll or resist him we have Reason to be astonished at the Wonderfull Patience and Forbearance of God of which we every day see so large Experience But this is not all he doth not only suffer them to live but often makes their Condition easie and prosperous as to this World having Health Riches and Honour and the Hopes of their Posterity enjoying the same things after them Now these to such who do not believe or value another Life are the greatest things God can do to their Satisfaction But if they can allow so much Goodness in God towards those who continually offend him why should they question greater Instances of it towards those that endeavour to please him I do not mean as to this World but as to another which they value far before it for if they do not they have no reason to expect any Happiness in it Why then should it be thought more unreasonable for God to bestow the Happiness of another Life on those who esteem and choose it than to give the good things of this Life to those who love and admire it I do not say the Wisdom is equal in the Choice but the Goodness of God is wonderfull in both And there can be no imaginable Ground to suspect that God should be really less kind to those who love him best It is a vain thing to talk of those being saved by Christ's coming into the World who do not heartily love God and keep his Commandments for the whole Design of the Gospel is to perswade us to one in order to the other and therefore it is not a well-grounded Hope but a fond Imagination for any to expect Salvation by Christ on any other Terms If we then take in the whole Hypothesis or true Scheme of Christianity together it is no other than that God sent his Son into the World that the World through him might be saved not by continuing in the sinfull Practises of this World which S. John calls the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye and the Pride of Life but by subduing and mortifying all disorderly Passions do prepare themselves for a better State Now if there be in our Minds a firm Perswasion of the infinite Goodness of God of which we are convinced by meer Natural Reason why should it be thought hard to believe that God should take Care of so great and good an End as the Eternal Salvation of those who truly love and obey him II. The next Principle agreeable to Natural Reason and Religion is That no such thing as Salvation or Happiness in a future State can be expected without the particular Favour of God For all who do own Natural Religion must agree that the Soul of Man is an Immortal Thinking Being and therefore its Happiness must consist in such a sort of Thinking as carries the greatest Pleasure and Satisfaction along with it Let us think with our selves what a Soul separate from the Body can do to make it self Happy Here it was Intangled Corrupted and therefore apt to be deceived by the false Appearances of things which glide through the Senses and leave too lasting Impressions on the Mind and thereby it comes to mistake Shews for Substance and meer Colours for Realities But this is a Mistake so common and so fatal to Mankind that very few are throughly undeceived in this World for one way or other they are apt to flatter themselves with some Pleasing Mistakes and Delightfull Errors of Life But assoon as the Soul is dislodged from this cloudy Mansion in the Body all things will then appear not as by an uncertain Sky-light in a dark Room but in an open and distinct View and then it will be impossible to be any longer deceived by false Representations of Things What then can be conceived sufficient to entertain and please the Mind Will it be the Reflection on the past Pleasures of the Body No certainly for those cannot bear a severe Reflection onw and the very thoughts of them make men's Minds very uneasie for the most tempting Pleasures of Sin leave no grateful Relish behind them How then should the Mind bear up it self in another State when its Reflections must be far more constant and severe What then Can the Mind lay it self asleep and put it self into a State of Unthinking That were all one as a kind of self-Annihilation if it be of a Thinking Nature There is a State of Unthinking in this VVorld which is too common when the Mind is as it were overlaid and stifled with Feathers I mean is so taken up with trifling and vain Imaginations as hardly give way to one serious Thought
take no Notice of them and on the other side to insist too much upon them were to make them appear much more considerable than they are Therefore I shall pass over all the Trifling and Impertinent Talk of such Men which is not whispered in Corners but I am afraid is become a Matter of too Common and Publick Discourse and I shall single out that which seems to have the greatest Weight in it viz. Suppose God should have an Intention to offer Terms of Salvation to Mankind yet what need was there that the Son of God should come into the World for that End Had not God easier Methods of doing it than by the Incarnation and Crucifixion of his Son Is it not more Credible that God should forgive Sins without any Attonement than that he should send his Son to be a Sacrifice of Propitiation to himself Is it not enough for us to believe all the Principles of Natural Religion to be true for we own a God and Providence and a Life to come and Rewards and Punishments of Mankind according to the Nature of their Actions but why should our Faith be cramp'd by such incredible Mysteries as these concerning the Son of God's coming into the World in such a manner as the Evangelists describe it This is so far from being a Kindness to the World that it makes the Condition of Salvation so much harder if we must believe things which seem so impossible to us and so hard to be reconciled to the Natural Principles of Reason and Religion I shall not dispute it with such Men whether these late Pretenders to Natural Religion have at the bottom any real kindness for the Principles of it or not I am willing to hope the best and that it is a meer Dissatisfaction in them as to our Revealed Religion and that this pretended Zeal for Natural Religion is little more than a meer Sham and Disguise to avoid a more odious Imputation But let it be as great and real as they pretend what I at present undertake is to make it appear That none who do embrace the Principles of Natural Religion can have any Reason to reject the Christian even as to this Article of God's sending his Son into the World which they seem most to stumble at I shall not go about to shew how the Christian Religion not only Supposes but Improves Refines Establishes and Enforces the most noted and allowed Principles of Natural Religion as to the Being of God and Providence the most Agreeable way of Worship the Nature and Kinds of Moral Duties the Rewards and Punishments of another World since no one of common Sense can deny that the Christian Religion is very Exact and Particular in these things above any other Institution in the World And therefore I cannot but in passing take notice that I do not remember any one Institution in the World with respect to Religion except that which we have by Revelation which hath not some notorious Blunders in it as to the Principles of Natural Religion and Vertue and therefore they have far less Reason to quarrel with Christianity than any other Religion if their quarrel were not really against all as I fear it is Let them look abroad over the unchristian World and they will find such foolish Notions such vain Superstitions such incoherent Fables such immoral Practices allowed by their several Religions as would make a considering Man wonder how the Notion of Religion could be so debased among Men. Let them look backward upon the Passages of elder Times and they shall find either they set up false Gods with the true or the false Worship of the true God or a Worship disagreeable to the Divine Nature by mean Representations or uncouth Sacrifices or impure Rites or else there were some horrible Flaws as to the Common Principles of Morality as to Conjugal Society or the Rights of Property or the due Regard to the Preservation of Mankind or they give such a pitifull Representation of the Rewards and Punishments of another Life as if they had a Mind to have them look'd on as Fables or despised as unworthy our regarding them above the present Pleasures of Life But I dare challenge the most Cavilling Sceptick to find any just Fault with the Duties of Christianity For the Worship of God required therein is Pure Holy Spiritual very agreeable to the Divine Nature and the common Reason of Mankind The Moral Precepts of it are clear weighty and comprehensive And those who have delivered them to us neither commend any Vice nor sink the Reputation of any Vertue they never lessen our Duties to God or to one another all the just Complaint is that the Precepts are too strict and severe too good and too hard for Mankind to practise them But is this an Objection against our Religion or against Mankind If they think that let our Religion require what it will the generality of the World will still live and act like Brutes and go against all Reason and Religion how can we help it But we hope the blame is not to be laid on Reason or Religion that so great a part of Mankind are either Fools or Mad-men i. e. either want Sense to understand their Duty or are resolved not to Practise it Especially considering that the Rewards and Punishments of another Life are set forth in the Gospel with that Clearness that Force that Authority that if any thing of that nature would work upon Mankind these must But all these things I pass over and come to that which I proposed as my chief Design which is to prove That none who truly believe the Principles of Natural Religion can have any Reason to reject this Fundamental Article of it as to God's sending his Son into the World And that upon two Accounts I. That the Principles of Natural Religion make this Design appear very Credible or fit to be believed by Men of Sense and Understanding II. That the Principles on which this Fundamental Article of our Revealed Religion stands afford sufficient Evidence to prove it True and therefore that we are bound to Believe it As to the former the Grounds or Principles which I go upon are these I. That the great End of Christ's coming into the World viz. the Salvation of Mankind is most agreeable to the Infinite Wisdom and Goodness of God No one who believes a God can deny him to be of Infinite Wisdom and Goodness for the very same Reasons which move Men to believe a God do convince them that he must be of Infinite Wisdom and Goodness seeing the strongest Evidences to prove his Being are from the Instances of them in the World These being then supposed as essential and inseparable Attributes of the Divine Nature we are to consider what End with Respect to Mankind is most agreeable to these to carry on and we must suppose Mankind to be made up of Soul and Body which are capable of Pleasures and Satisfaction both
But this is impossible in another State and therefore nothing but what will bear a most strict and severe Scrutiny can give any Support or Comfort to the Mind then It must be true and real Good to create any Satisfaction It must be durable and lasting to keep it up It must be Compleat and Perfect to answer all the just and reasonable Desires of an Immortal Soul And what can this be less than God himself And therefore the Christian Religion speaks most agreeably to Natural Reason when it still supposes the Happiness of another VVorld to consist in the Presence and Enjoyment of God For those must have all that is desireable who enjoy the Favour of him who commands all things and knows how to suit them to the greatest Advantage to those to whom he designs to shew his Favour And this Prospect of another State or of the Salvation of Mankind by Christ's coming into the World is that which lets us into another View of all that relates to the Son of God's coming into the VVorld For if our Minds be possessed with great Apprehensions of the Power and Greatness of the VVorld all that the Gospel represents as to the manner of God's sending his Son into the VVorld his being born of an obscure Virgin being laid in the common Manger being bred up in a private Place having so mean Followers meeting with so cold a Reception from his own People and at last being exposed to an Ignominious Death by them looks very Reproachfull and Contemptible But on the other side if we could raise our Minds to such Idea's of things here as the Glorious Spirits above have and see how all things are esteemed by them according to the Ends and Purposes they are designed for we should then perceive how admirably all these things were fitted for his great End which was to wean Mens Hearts from the Pomp and Vanities of this VVorld and to prepare them for a better and we should then have quite another Opinion of these things For as there is a certain Greatness which is above all the formal Shews and affected Appearances of it so when a Great and Noble Design is to be carried on the true Measure of Decorum in that Case is that which is most serviceable to the principal End If a great Person had a Design to rescue some near Relations out of Slavery he would never go with a splendid Equipage and a long Train of Attendance which would but make his Person more gazed at and his Design less Effectual If he had intended to have rescued them by Force out of Captivity it had been necessary to have had Power and Strength proportionable to his Design but if it were only by Perswasion then he must accommodate himself to such Methods as were most likely to prevail The great End of the coming of Christ was to deliver the Souls of Men from a much worse Captivity viz. of their own Sinfull Passions and the Devil's Tyranny by their means but he did not come in a way of Violence to break open the Prison-doors and in an instant to knock off their Fetters and bid them be free but he makes use of all the gentle and effectual methods of Perswasion not only by his Words but by his own Example that they might learn by him to despise this World who had so little in it and to prepare for that from whence he came where their Happiness should be unconceivable and without End III. The Third Principle is That no such Particular Favour of God is to be expected as long as his Displeasure is so just against Mankind for Sin and no effectual Means used to remove it The truth is the whole Scheme of the Gospel turns upon this Point whether God be really displeased with Mankind for their Sins so as to need a Reconciliation For if all that the Scripture so often expresses concerning the Wrath and Displeasure of God against Mankind for Sin be only Figurative and Hyperbolical Expressions then the whole Design of the Gospel must be given up as a meer Scheme for if God be not really displeased there is no need of Reconciliation if no need of that then there can be no need of Christ's coming to reconcile us to God and if he did not come for that End we have no Reason to believe the Scripture which affirms it over and over And I do not think any stronger Argument can be brought to prove a thing than that the most Emphatical Expressions are so often applied to that purpose by such Persons who used all Sincerity and Plainness So that this matter as to the Scripture is clear if any thing can be made so and if nothing can I cannot see how it is possible to have a written Rule of Faith since all Writings are capable by Ambiguity of Words and Phrases by the different Use of Particles and Transposition of Letters and Syllables of very different Interpretations But this is not my present Business which is rather to consider the Natural Sense and Reason of Mankind as to this matter We cannot in Reason suppose any such Passion in an Infinitely Perfect Being as that which we call Wrath and Anger in Men. For that is a violent Perturbation arising from Surprise and Indignation but there can be no Disorder or Surprise in a Being of Infinite Wisdom Therefore Wrath in God must suppose two Things 1. A just Cause of Displeasure given by us 2. Such a Just Displeasure following upon it as will End in the severe Punishment of Offenders if it be not removed Now whether there be a just Cause of Displeasure or not must depend upon the Natural Differences of Good and Evil. And it is impossible that any one who exercises his Reason can judge amiss in this Matter Not that all the Differences of Good and Evil are equally clear for all Propositions in Mathematicks are not so but it is sufficient to our Purpose that the general Principles are so and the greater Instances so that no Man can think that he Acts as much according to Reaso in one as the other And can any one of common Sense imagine God to be as well pleased with him who blasphemes his Name and despises his Service and hates Religion as with one that Fears and Honours him and endeavours to Please him Can he be as well pleased with him that assassines his Parents as with him that obeys them With him that robs and defrauds his Neighbour as with him that relieves him in his Necessities With him who subdues his disorderly Passions as with him that gives way to them With him who is Cruel Inhuman and Perfidious as with him that is Faithfull and Just and Compassionate These are but some of the Instances of the Differences of Good and Evil but they are so plain and notorious that a man must renounce the common Principles of Humanity who doth not own them And to say there are no such Differences because
Happy And I hope none who profess themselves Christians this Day will ever be discouraged by the Mocks and Flouts of Infidels so as to let go the Anchor of their Hope or mistrust the Foundation of their Faith It is as great a piece of Wisdom to know when to Believe as when not to Believe and it is as certain an Argument of a Weak Mind to be always Doubting as to be over-forward in Believing For the Soil must be very bad that can bear no Foundation But withall let us not flatter our selves only that we have a better Faith than others For how miserable will our Case be if we have nothing but a Superficial Faith and a sort of Anniversary Devotion We can never thank God too much for the Blessing of this Day but God expects something more from us than meerly the giving him Solemn Thanks once a Year for Sending his Son into the World We must endeavour to answer the End of God's sending him i. e. to save us first from our Sins and then from the wrath to come This is the Method which God himself hath appointed not barely from his own Will and Pleasure but from the necessary Order and Reason of Things For otherwise a Man might be Rewarded for doing amiss and Punished for performing his Duty If we therefore ever hope for any Benefit by this coming of Christ into the World we must apply our Minds to consider seriously on what Conditions we may reasonably hope for Salvation by him Can they think that Christ came to so little purpose as to save Men in their Sins If that were to be hoped there had been no need of his Coming but it is a hard Work indeed to save us from them The Guilt must be expiated and the Power subdued the former Christ hath done but he expects and with great Reason that we should deny ungodly and worldly Lusts and work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling FINIS Lately Printed for Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-Yard A Sermon preached before the Queen at White-hall Feb. 22. 1688 9. upon 1 Pet. 4.18 A Sermon preached before the King and Queen at White-hall March 23. 1689 90. upon Ecclesiastes 11.9 Christian Magnanimity A Sermon preached in the Cathedral-Church at Worcester at the time of the Assizes Sept. 21. 1690. upon 2 Tim. 1.7 A Sermon preached before the Queen at White-hall March 1. 1690 1 on Luke 6.46 A Sermon preached before the Queen at White-hall March 13. 1691 2. upon Rom. 8.6 The Mysteries of the Christian Faith Vindicated in a Sermon preached at St. Lawrence-Iewry London April 7. 1691. upon 1 Tim. 1.15 All Six by the Right Reverend Father in God Edward Lord Bishop of Worcester The Bishop of Worcester's Charge to the Clergy of his Diocese in his Primary Visitation begun at Worcester Sept. 11. 1690. The Unreasonableness of a Separation from the New Bishops Or a Treatise out of Ecclesiastical History Shewing That although a Bishop was unjustly deprived neither He nor the Church ever made a Separation if the Successor was not a Heretick Translated out of an ancient Greek Manuscript in the Publick Library at Oxford The Case of Sees Vacant by an Unjust or Uncanonical Deprivation stated in Reply to a Treatise entituled A Vindication of the Deprived Bishops c. Together with the several Pamphlets lately published as Answers to the Baroccian Treatise both by Humphrey Hody D. D. Fellow of Wadham-College in Oxford The Folly and Unreasonableness of Atheism demonstrated from the Advantage and Pleasure of a Religious Life The Faculties of Human Souls The Structure of Animate Bodies and the Origin and Frame of the World in Eight Sermons preached at the Lecture founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq in the First Year 1692. by Richard Bentley M. A. Chaplain to the Right Reverend Father in God Edward Lord Bishop of Worcester ch 20.31 ch 1.3 2.32 ch 1.11.12 Rom. 1.20 ver 3. Psal. 8.4.144.3 â— Joh. 1.16