so saith St Paul was Adam our Fore-Father 1 Cor. 15. And while we live here we must bear as he there speaks the Image of the Earthy And so are not capable to understand what Joyes will be apt to suit with our Natures after their change into the state of Incorruption Only thus much is revealed unto us That as we have borne the Image of the Earthy so we must bear the Image of the heavenly 1 Cor. 15. That is as we have been hitherto like Adam so also hereafter we shall be in our glorified bodies like unto the glorifi'd body of Christ they are the expresse words of St Paul Phill. 3.21 That the Lord Jesus shall transfigure our vile bodyes and make them like unto his glorious body It is not saith St John 1 Epist. 3.2 manifest or Intelligible what we shall be only thus much is revealed and we know it to be true that when the Lord shall appear we shall be like him that is not only our Soules but our bodies also shall be purely spirituall even as the body of Christ was after his resurrection This is not vehemenisme but a great truth that there is a spirituall Body And however in the Notions of our present Philosophy Bodies and spirits are opposite and contradistinct yet not so but that the body of Christ now is and ours hereafter shall be undoubtedly spirituall we know but in part saith St Paul and truely the Nature of that spiritualty which we shall enjoy in our bodies after that great change is a mistery or that part of science which now we doe not cannot understand Maimonides hath an excellent discourse given us by the learned publisher of the Porta Mosis to this effect As saith he the blind Eye is not delighted by the most beautifull colours now the deaf Ear by the ravishing modulations of the sweetest Musick and as it is impossible that the fishes of the sea should know how to judge of the pleasures those creatures take that live in the quick and finest Aether under the Concave of the Moon Sicut nec caecue colores nec Sung dus voces nec impotens Veneris voluptatem veneris percipit ita nec corpora voluptates animi proprias assequi Et quemadmodum Piscis Elementum ignis non habet cognitum ita nec in mundo hoc corporeo voluptates Mundi spiritualis dignosci Maimonid in praefat ad Explic. cap. 10 Sanedrim apud Pocockium de Portâ Mosts so neither by us in this world can the delights of the spirituall world be discerned We have no true tast saith he of any but corporeall pleasures and purely mentall delights are so strange unto us that we cannot without much Industry and diligence have any tast or Apprehension of them On the contrary Angels are not sensible of any corporeall pleasures their senses are not as ours nor made to the same purposes And we after death shall no more relish or desire these bodily pleasures than a wise Monarch would desire to dethrone himselfe for ever and lay down all his Regalia that he might spend his dayes at play in the streets with that company and in those sports which when he was a child was more suitable to his temper than the excercise of his Royall power Such difference is there in the dignity and vilenesse of the delight of this corporeall and that spirituall World And therefore as that considering Rabbin well expresseth this matter God hath dealt with his people as a prudent and indulgent Master treateth the tender schollar whom he desires to improve He provokes him to his lesson with the reward of a fig or a piece of sweetmeates Et paulo post Non est Angelis voluâ—tas aliqua corporea nec cam percipiant cum non sint illis ut nobis seasus quibus ea quae nos percipimus assequantur Eodemque modo cum e Nobis quis dignus factus fuerit qui gradum istum pâ—st mortem consequatur Non amplius voluptates corporeas percepturus est eâsve appetiturus magis quam Rex magni Regni dominus Regno suo exuicuoiat ut ad Pili lusum in Plateis redeat etiamsi tempus faerit quo lusum istum Regno anteserret Fingas puerum minorennem ad praeceptorem deductum quo cum legem eâ—oceat quod magnum ei ob eam quam inde assequetur perfectionem Bonum est licet ipse magnitudinem istius boai prae intellectus imbecillitate non percipiat Coget Necessitas Praeceptorem qui ipso perfectior est scholarem sic provocare Dicet Lege ut tibi Juglandem aut ficum aut sacchari portiunculam demus ta fiet ut studcat Non ipsius Lectioâ—is gratiâ Cujus digaitatem nondum intelligit sed ut edulium istud accipiat c. apud Maimoniden cod lib. p. 138. deinceps or somewhat that will for the present work upon his phancy not with a discourse of nice speculation to evince a future satisfaction to the mind by the learning of the Law And this doubtlesse is the very reason why the holy Ghost bath had such frequent reference to corporeall pleasures in the Notices which he hath given us concerning the Joyes of Heaven because while wee are here our body generally prevailes above our spirit and we do better resent corporeall than mentall pleasures Cum horro mortalis de aternâ gloriâ disserit Caecus de luce disserit Gregor Moral 27.26 But notwithstanding for the use of those that are more perfect and that we may not conceive to our selves as I said any hope of a Mahumetane Paradise or reality of grosse corporeall pleasures in the life to come the same Spirit hath made frequent attestations of the Spirituallnesse which we shall enjoy even in our Bodyes then and of the diversity of our delights there from these of this present world and therefore when we shall come to explain the Nature of Heavenly glory without the use of Metaphors which can be only done by Negatives because we cannot forme any direct Idea of it then all these pleasures of eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage and all corporeall delights are denyed of it But now since we have made so good a progresse in the way we designed let us indulge our selves the refreshment a little to look back and see how consistent and agreeable these principles of Religion are to the Notions of considering men among the Heathen And truly it is hard to find any thing more agreeable to us than the Philosophy of Socrates as it is represented by Plato in his Philebus and elsewhere dispersedly among his writings and was as I take it the ancientest Philosophy of the whole world Which in short is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which testify that the ancients to Plato own'd the world to be govern'd by the providence of God He reckons this among the great and ancient Traditions inter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
God hath prepared for those that wait upon Him St John telleth us 1 John 3.2 that it does not yet appear what we shall bee but this we know that when our Lord Christ shall appear wee shall be like unto Him He shall change our vile body and make it like unto his own glorious body according to that mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself There is another doubt also objected from that Parathesis or addition of St Paul But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit For how can it be said that the things that God hath prepared for his servants have not entred into the heart of Man when Christians are men and it is added that God hath revealed them to us Christians by his Spirit This parathesis therefore must be justly not strictly interpreted For it is true that God hath revealed them now much more than formerly He hath revealed them by his Spirit but he hath not revealed them fully not so that St Paul himself could while he lived here adequately conceive the Nature of those heavenly Glories It is most true that since our Saviour preacht the doctrine of the new Testament and since the gift of the Spirit which hath raised Man above his Nature and since the Transfiguration resurrection and Ascention of Christ which are patternes of what shall happen to all Gods servants Now the existence of the future state of Glory is more fully confirmed and its nature much better understood than it was by those who lived in the former Ages when they had no light but from the letter of Moses whose writings were darke in this point or from the Prophets or from the more uncertain Faith and Tradition of the Gentiles And yet notwithstanding the great advancement of our knowledge in this particular It is not so advanc't as to render this text untrue it is not so advanc't as that we may persectly know them For his Rapture into the third Heaven taught St Paul himself that those Joyes are yet unspeakeable and that Humane Nature is yet uncapable adequately to conceive them They are so great that Eye hath not seen them Ear hath not heard them nor have they ever so enter'd into the heart of Man as to be perfectly and fully conceived by Him When our Savior was taken up into Heaven from amidst his disciples in Mount Olivet Act. 1. and a Cloud had received him out of their sight they continued still stedfastly looking towards Heaven but were reproved by the Angels in these Words Ye men of Galilee why stand you gazing up into Heaven Words my Brethren that we may nost properly apply to the present figure of our own thoughts we have been looking not towards Heaven only but upon Heaven it self untill in the midst of our gazing we have lost it Only we cannot so properly say that a Cloud as that a sun-beame or at least a very bright Cloud hath received it out of our sight For we find that Heaven is so wrapt up in its own glory that there is no perfect entrance left to the Eye of our understanding Let us therefore apply to our selves that Angelicall advice and stand no more gazing into Heaven It is proper for us in this case to do as the disciples did to hast away to our upper Roomes First to our prayers then to our work But for our Encouragement we may cast an Eye upon the great Reward that God hath provided for us We may consider so much of Heaven as is revealeable to us and beleive further and expect beyond all that those incomprehensible Glories that are to be enjoy'd with Christ above Nay let us beleive and give thanks for it that there are joyes prepared for us that are not now revealeable and though we can forme no Idea or conceit of them yet let us rejoice and give thanks unto God that there are joyes prepared for us and for all Religious and good Men with us of which we can forme no Idea Christ hath merited this beleif of the world that we should think him able to performe his promises to raise us from the dead and to glorify us with that glory which I have endeavor'd to describe but have been oppress 't in my endeavor by the weight of my undertaking finding the excellent glory and happinesse of that Estate to be incomprehensible and ineffable He that raised Jairus his daughter and the Widdowes son and Lazarus and which is most of all himself from the dead whatsoever Atheists may speak of the Incredibility of that Resurrection shall certainly raise us also I hope by Gods help to give you an account of the Reasonablenesse of the Christian faith in that article at some other time But we that professe Religion professe to believe our Resurrection as certainly as we believe our death I know that my redeemer liveth saith Job Job 19.25 26. and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth and though after my skin wormes destroy this Body yet in my flesh shall I sce God c. And I know saith Martha that my Brother shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last day John 11.24 I shall now adde but one advice more which is this that as we have Evangelicall expectations so we should take the Evangelicall directions that we would endeavour to rise to newnesse of life here that we may rise to eternall Glory hereafter Let the Doctrine of our Resurrection to eternall life have its perfect work so the full belief and actuall consideration of this one Article of eternall life or eternall misery to come may by the grace of God minister to us Christians in giving obedience to our Lord that which we sometimes complain so much for the want of even a power to do all things through Christ that strengtheneth There is no Duty saith Dr Jackson whereunto the belief of this eternall Reward doth not enable and bind us If we do not live in some measure agreeable to our profession and the hopes of our profession we shall be in the End condemned by it and in the mean time we betray it openly that there is now a defect in that principle that should be within us or in the excercise of that Principle that is we believe not or we consider not For what saith St John every one that hath this hope purifieth Himself even as God is pure 1 John 3.3 And therefore he that doth not purify Himself He is but a pretender to this Hope He hath it not at all well grounded in Him or at least he hath it not in actuall excercise and Employment For if there be such a Hope unlesse it be very sleepy if it be a lively and a quick Hope it must be the spring of a Christians joy and glory in comparison of which He will contemn all the Riches all the Honors all the Pleasures of this world as drosse and dung And there is reason for this
Brain and that in these folds Memory and reminiscence is performed Yet here the main Questions concerning Memory remain still unexplained Namely how notwithstanding the continued wasting of the parts of the Brain and the supply of fresh parts in their Room and notwithstanding the confluence of all the vast variety of new Impressions yet the memory of the same things continues so many yeares if there be nothing but a transient Elementary matter to be the subject of these Memories Secondly it neither is nor do I ever expect to see it explained how within those Folds Light or Air or Fire or any Elementary Body should be able to Remember or Recollect when neither Fire nor Air nor Light in any other place ever appear'd to have any Faculties in any particulars like those mention'd Wee believe there is a Soul of Man that goeth upward and the Soul of a beast that goeth downward But let none of our Materialists in Philosophy boast that they have demonstrated how either of these Souls can performe its meanest Operations if to speak in Opposition to the Elements it be not a Quintessence somewhat above these Materiall Natures His enim Naturis I must repeat Ciceroes words Nihil inest quod vim Memoriae Mentis Cogitationis habeat Another of Cicero's arguments is this Quod sapit Other old Arguments for the souls immortality from its simplicity causality of its own motions and longings after eternity divinum est To be wise implieth a high and noble Intellect and is a faculty fit not for a corporeall and Elementary but for an excellent pure and simple essence and if it bee not of an Elementary but of a pure and simple Nature it must consequently be eternall Dubitare non possumus quin nihil sit animis admixtum nihil copulatum nihil duplex quod cum ita sit certe nec secerni nec dividi dec discerpi nec distrahi potest Nec interi re igitur Est enim Interitus quasi discessus secretio direptio earū partiū quae ante interitum junctione aliqua teneban tur Cicero Tusc Quaefi lib. 1. It is not to be doubted saith he that the Soul is an incomplex't Being such a one as is not mixt nor join'd nor doubled in its composure Which being so the parts of it can never be divided or sever'd one from another and consequently it can never dye because Death is but a separation of those parts that before Death were in conjuncture Other Arguments he hath for the Immortality of the Soul as that the Soul is the principle of its own Motion and so moveth it selfe and therefore seeing nothing can be deserted of it selfe the soul can never dye nor cease to move as the Body doth which therefore dyeth because it is deserted of the Principle of its Motion which is the soul That the soul hath native Breathings and longings after Eternity implanted in it And that those Breathings and longings are not in vain since God and Nature made nothing in vain Such are the arguments that were anciently used on this subject And let no Man here object the Operations of beasts For it is demonstrable that they are of a kind vastly inferior to ours and therefore we judge their souls to bee so too And truly many considering Men will rather think the Souls of beasts somewhat above Elementary which we understand not and own with Socrates our imperfect knowledge than that such Operations as are performed by the Minds of Men should be the product of Elementary matter only For surely our modern Materialists who are the Philosophers in Fashion have been so far from shewing how the Operations of the Souls of Men may be performed by such matter that they have not given any sufficient satisfaction how it is possible that by such matter and locall Motion alone the actions of bruit beasts may be elicited But enough hath been said to make it evident beyond all contradiction That the doctrine of the Souls Immortality was not built upon the Daemonology of the Greeks but was received and continued from Reasons drawn from the consideration of its own Nature Motions and Operations And Mr Hobbes should do well to answer those Reasons and to shew the credibility of his own Hypothesis seeing He hath exceeded the Atheisme not only of the ancient hereticks in Philosophy but of all pretenders to it in this last and most Atheisticall Age. For he and those of his Clubbe make the human Soul to be little or Nothing but a Modus Entis at best a kind of Motion of some parts of an Organized Body somewhat like that Harmony of parts to which some compared the soul anciently and stand confuted for their pains by Plato and other Philosophers And as if it had been a small matter to corrupt Philosophy he hath done worse and hath shew'd his endeavor to abuse Divinity also when he levells the sense of Scripture to that of his own Philosophy and when he telleth us that the Soul in our Saviors words doth not signify any such distinct and immortall substance as the erroneous world believes it to bee but only the life that is in his sense the Motion of an organized Body that the Body and Soul when spoken of together signify the Body alive that is the Body in its Organicall Motions But all his Wit and Learning will never be able to draw the holy Scriptures to favor the impious Hypothesis of his Philosophy If there be no such thing as Spirit Mr Hobbes misinterprets the scripture which speaks of the soul as independent from the body or incorporeall substance that may informe us if the Soul so much spoken of be nothing but a Modus Entis the motion or harmony of the Body it was neither safe nor wise nor good advise that our Savior gave his Disciples when he commanded them thus 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 For if the Soul were only the Motion or Harmony of the Parts of the Body he that should kill the Body must needs spoil the Harmony or motions of it also and consequently must bee able to destroy the Soul too As he who breaks the Lute must needs spoil all its Musick for ever after It is plain therefore that our Savior speaks of the Soul as of a Being independent from the Body so likewise when his Body was upon the crosse and lay under the cruelty of his deadly Enemies he commended his Soul to God as that which was above their reach The like did his first Martyr St Stephen and all his holy Martyrs and all good Christians ever since have at their Death 's commended their souls to God as that which is distinct and independent from their perishing Bodyes And yet this doctrine concerning the Independence Immateriality and Immortality of the Soul was as I have shewed no peculiar doctrine
of being their God this must be shewed in another life and consequently God must raise them up from the dead Comp. Heb. 11.16 with Exod. 3.6 that they may be made capable of it And the Author to the Hebrews interpreteth this phrase just as our Savior doth that Abraham and the Patriarchs by vertue of this promise expected a better Country that is an heavenly And he affirmeth that God is not ashamed to be called their God upon this very account because he hath prepared them a Citty intimating that his preparing for his people a Citty in Heaven a heavenly Jerusalem is the very thing that giveth Him a title to be called their God Now the soul as is above affirmed being alwaies immortall and this promise being made concerning the beatifying of their Bodyes and rendring them glorious in Heaven in both respects first in respect of what they alwaies enjoy in their Souls and secondly in respect of the certainty of Gods promise concerning the Resurrection of their Bodyes Abraham Isaak and Iacob are look't upon as being even now alive If God be just the soul is immortall For Abraham and other good Men have not had their Recompense of Reward in this life Nay if God be indeed faithfull and just he will be a God to whole Abraham Body and Soul Wee see while it is in conjuncture the Soul loves the Body and would not willingly be parted from it And it is all the Equity in the world that since the Bodies of Gods servants suffer much in Obedience to the Soul and Spirit they should bee partakers of Glory with the Soul and Spirit God made the whole Man and redeemed the whole Man and every good Christian giveth unto God the whole Man and therefore we may conclude that it is agreeable to the goodnesse of God to be kind to both parts body and soul and equally to glorify the whole Man As to the Opinions of wise and rationall Men among the Heathen we find as I shewed before that they perfectly agree with ours concerning the soul of Man I cannot say as much in that other point concerning the Resurrection of the Body though some possibly among them have believed that also And the Principles of others do rather favor than contradict it For this we have the Authorities of St Augustine and St Gregory Nyssene Gregory Nyssene telleth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ita Phocylides inter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut Suidas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illud poema appellat quamvis sunt qui dubitant an Gapita illa antiqui sint Phocylidis qui Olympiad 59 aut 60 floruit Non tamen est cur aut Judaeum aut Christianum ex stylo reputemus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. habot his aliena that even the Opinion of the Pythagoricall Transmigration hath a notion in it not very different from ours of the Resurrection Both hold that the same Soul may after its departure from the Body abide and informe some Elementary Body only our Doctrine is That the Soul shall abide and again informe the same Elementary Body St Augustine telleth us that there were a sect of Philosophers called the Genethliaci mention'd by Varro who were of Opinion that after certain periods of Time the same Soul and the same Body should be again reunited and comparing the Opinions of Plato and Porphyry he reports Plato's Opinion to be thus Animas sine corporibus in aeternum esse non posse Greg Nyssen de Anima Resurrectione p. 231. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. deinceps Videatur Augustinus de Civitate Dei lib. 22. capp 28 29. v. Forcatulum lib. 1 pag. 87 90. That our Souls will not endure to live eternally in disunion from our Bodies He reports Porphyries Opinion to bee That the Soul being in a separate estate from the Body and once made pure will never care to returne to those Evills to which it hath been obnoxious in Human Body But he observes in the conclusion that both these Opinions were reconcileable to Christianity Nay if they were both united they would make up perfectly the Christian doctrine and that if Porphyry had lent his Opinion to Plato and Plato his to Porphyry they both had been united to the Truth of the Gospell in this particular which is that our Souls in the End shall return to such Bodies in which they shall happily and immortally continue His words are Dicat c. Dicat cum Platone Porphyrrius redibunt ad corpora dicat Plato cum Porphyrio non redibuet ad malo ad ea cortora redire consentieat in quibus nulla mala patiantur Let Porphyry say with Plato that our Souls shall return to some Bodies and let Plato say with Porphyry that they shall not return to evill Bodies and then the conclusion must be that our Souls shall return to such Bodies in which they shall suffer no evills Which is the very doctrine and faith of those that professe Christianity But my Brethren we have diverse reasons to believe both the Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection of the Body which those Philosophers wanted God hath begotten us to this Hope by great and powerfull Arguments It remains only that we make some good use of these Doctrines and the first and most genuine is this That as wise Men and good Christians we cherish this Hope Which we have great Reason to do First upon account of its Usefullnesse here secondly upon account of that Reward which God hath reserved for this Vertue in the life to come This Hope is a vertue not only usefull but necessary for us while we are in this militant condition Our life is sometimes compared to a Warfare and then this Hope of salvation is said to be our Helmet 1 Thess 5.8 which is as all know a most necessary piece of Armor and the defence of the most Principall part Sometimes our life is compared to a Voyage by Sea and then this lively Hope is represented as most usefull to us upon another account For if we are becalm'd in the midst of the Ocean of these worldly affaires Hope is the Wind that must fill our sails And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full Gale of this Hope will safely and in due time bring us to our desired Haven Heb. 6.11 But if on the contrary by reason of our own lightnesse and Vanity we are ready to be tossed to and fro with every Wave of Temptation This Hope of Heaven serves us for another Use For then as the Apostle to the Hebrews well observeth we are to have this Hope as an Anchor of the Soul sure and stedfast Heb. 6.19 In every profession and calling the Encouragement is from Hope He that ploweth ploweth in Hope and he that thresheth thresheth in Hope 1 Cor. 9.10 And in our generall calling of Christianity no man ever was made perfect without this Hope Men as Men desire Happinesse and would avoid misery But if
assemble themselves with the Congregations of Robbers and use ill Arts of living but those who by Intemperance have spent their estates in making provision for their Lusts But above all others that Incontinence the 3d Species described by chambering and Wantonesse is the Mother of great varieties of Injuries If it runs out into Adultery it causeth the breach of Conjugall faith which is the foundation of all Domestick Union then Spurious heires are thrust into inheritances not belonging to them and insteed of Love that cements Families they are harraz't with the sad effects of Hatred and Jealousy which end commonly in Duels poisons and such other Malicious Revenges But if it run out into Fornication only It brings in murder of Infants or their ill Education the staines of Bastardy and 1000 other Inconveniences Lastly let us consider how dishonourable a thing it is for Man as Man who is confess 't to have a divine and rationall Soul to be made a slave to such bestiall filthy lust There is not a Man among the Heathen but apprehends himself made for better ends Os homini sublime dedit Coelumque videre Jussit Saith one of their own Poets Man was not made to be a sot Quod si Pupillum tibi Deus commifisset nuÌ„ iilum negligeres Te vero cuÌ„ tibi ipfi commendavit inquiens non habeo aliquem fideliorem cui te committam quam Teipsum Hunc volo ita mihi custodias quemadmodum ipsius Natura postulat scil pudicum fideleÌ„ altum infractuÌ„ affectibus malis vacuum moderatum Sobrium c. Apud Ariaâ—um in Epictet or to intend no more then what all beasts intend and enjoy much more than he No man was made for the Exercise of vertue and contemplation of God and communion with him and hath even as Heathen Philosophers have observed a Soul apt for such Employments How base therefore and dishonourable a thing were it for Man to wallow in the dirty puddle of his lusts which makes him unfit not only for communion with God but also for the exercise of Reason and vertue among Men. Who then but a fool would wish to live the life of sensuall pleasures when as I have prov'd unto you there is neither satisfaction nor content to be had in the Enjoyment nor safety either to the mind Body or estate to be had in the pursuance of those pleasures to which we are addicted by our Naturall Lusts besides that it is dishonourable and unworthy of a Man to be made a vassall and slave to such Enjoyments as are commun to him with the beasts that perish All this you will say you could have heard in the Morall Philosophy School and it is probable you might Morality is a great and acceptable part of Gods service and our Duty and he useth his Reason well who by it establisheth himself in Morall Reformation St Paul himself presseth a Morall Argument against the use of these Intemperances as 1 Cor. 6.18 where he telleth us that he who committeth fornication sinneth against his own body which is a Truth commended to us by all Moralists It is true wee that are Christians have more high and spirituall Reasons to move those who value the honor and Interest of their professions And therefore my third Conclusion was That the pursuance of lustfull pleasures was most of all Mischevous and dishonorable to Man as Christian Wee cannot serve God and Lust Simul esse possunt Simul regnare non possunt Heaven and Hell are not more contrary in their Rules designes and Ends than they For let a man put on the strongest Resolutions of Piety let him bind those Resolutions with the strongest vowes yet a Dalilah in his Bosome a reigning Lust will quickly ruine and nullify them all Seeing therefore we cannot serve God and our lustfull pleasures at the same time let us own our own Master his servants we are to whom we obey let us take heed we do not come under the Character 1 Tim. 3.4 of being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of pleasures more than Lovers of God For they which are so have denyed their first profession which was to keep Gods holy Will and commandments and to renounce the sin full Lusts of the Flesh Secondly which is the other part of my Conclusion The pursuance of all sensuall pleasures is highly dishonourable also to Man as Christian. This may be learn't from that Argument of St Paul 1 Cor. 6.19 Know ye not that your Bodies are Temples of the holy Ghost that is as Churches and Temples are honored above other places by being consecrated to Gods service so are our Bodies honored above the bodies of other Men by being consecrated to the service and Inhabitation of Gods holy Spirit Sometimes for the like honor done unto them our Bodies are compared to holy and consecrated vessels and therefore the same Apostle telleth us that this is the will of God even our Sanctification that every one should know how to possesse his vessell in sanctification and honour 1 Thess 4 3 4. not in the lust of Concupiscence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed which we translate vessell signifieth also any utensill or Instrument and the body being the Instrument not only of the rationall soul but also of the holy Spirit is therefore properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Its utensill or vessell but then as the Apostle intimates the utensils of the soul or Spirit are to be used honorably holily and cleanly and if Philosophy hath condemned the pleasures of Intemperance as unworthy the Aimes of Men much more will they appear to be below and unworthy of a Christian It was the Strict command of God by the Prophet Esay Depart depart touch no unclean thing yee that bear the vessels of the Lord. And if it be so strictly required that those should be clean that bear the vessels much more Reason is it that those should be clean that are the vessels of the Lord. Consider my Brethren the filthinesses that are consequent to all manner of Intemperances they are so very filthy they are not to be named in a Christian Assembly Of what Judgement then shall we be thought worthy if when we have consecrated our vessels unto God we afterwards dishonor and pollute them He acceps the gifts of our Bodies as well as that of our souls and Spirits and hath preferred them to be vessels of sanctification purity and Honor what a Judgement fell upon Belshasser when he was taken in the act of profaning the Material vessels of the Sanctuary in his Luxury and drunkennesse Dan. 5. But the sin of the loose and debauch't professor is worse than this For he polluteth the Temple it self the Sanctuary it self For such is every Christians Body unto Christ The Intemperate man may pretend much but he cannot truly boast of any Religion or love to the Church He hath a zeal it may be against the separatist but he considereth not that even in the
can possibly be imagined or enjoyed And to prove this that I assume I shall onely beg you to grant what if you consider you cannot but grant namely that the greatest happinesse possible can have but those parts or properties which in this Text are either explicitely or implicitely affirmed of the Glory of Heaven The first of these is Indolence that is the absence of Greif and security from it This is required as a prerequisite or principle and foundation of the other parts and is implied because the other mention'd properties cannot be where this is not The second part or property is that it hath Joy in possession The very forme essence or substance of that happinesse consists in Joy Nothing can be more suitable to our Natures or appetites than delight Joy or pleasure And this we have an explicite assurance of from this Text. For the Psalmist telleth us expressely That in the presence of God there is joy and at his right hand there are Pleasures The third property of the greatest happinesse is that there be fullnesse of this Joy For Fullnesse implieth the highest degree and greatest measure Neither man nor Angell nor any other Being can be capable of more than fullnesse and this is also explicitely affirm'd of the estate of Glory viz. That in the presence of God there is fullnesse of Joy The Fourth and last property of the greatest happinesse that can be imagined is the Perpetuity or eternall duration of its pleasures and this the Text also giveth us an explicite assurance of For it concludeth That in the presence of God are pleasures for evermore not for a day or a year or ten years or ten thousand But in the presence of God are pleasures for evermore Thus the Royall engraver in this very little piece hath given us all the lineaments of the greatest happinesse and hath directed us where this Urania makes her abode where this Happinesse this perfect and compleat happinesse is to bee found not among Glories or riches or Pleasures of this World but in the presence of God in Heaven O Let the Power of thy Grace O Lord fit us for that presence The first property of that happy estate which the blessed enjoy in the presence of God is Indolence or security from Greifs This is not expressely mention'd in the description but certainly implied For there can be no Fullnesse of joy where pains or sorrows are mixt or fill any part of the Soul For that Soul cannot be perfectly full of joy that is partly fill'd with sorrow And I therefore place Indolence first because an Estate of Joy can stand upon no other Bottome There can be no foundation for it where the place is allready possess 't with greif For as the Scholemen use to dispute that the privation or absence of cold is a necessary requisite for the introducing of Heat so they affirme also that the absence of greif or sorrow is as necessary for the production of delight and Pleasure Secondly this estate of Indolence which is the ground or Basis of delight though it be onely implied in the Psalmists description here yet in other Texts of Scripture is expressely asserted to be part of the Portion of the Blessed in Heaven Wee are Christians we all professe to beleive the Scriptures In them we hope to have eternall life and so if the Son of God be to be beleived before Socinus did the Jewes before us we have the light of that Revelation which the Heathens wanted and would have rejoyced at This would have corrected their Traditions and rectified their confused Expectations We have as St Peter speaketh a more sure word of Prophesy to which we shall do well if we take heed as to a light that shineth in a darke place untill the day dawn and the day star arise in our hearts that is untill the day come that we shall be admited into the presence of God and shall see him not in a glasse darkely but face to face Till that time come we must borrow all our light from Scripture which came not by the will of Man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1. ult St John we know in the time of the Gospell was the great Master of Revelations He was the person whom our Savior chose out of all his Disciples to reveal those things unto that were to come to passe in the End of the world And he hath given us a sufficient Testimony of our Security from greif at that time when we shall enjoy the presence of God in the new Jerusalem He saw the Heavens and the Earth fly away from before the face of God and there was no place found for them Rev. 20.11 He saw also a new Heaven and a new Earth and a new Jerusalem coming down from God richly adorn'd as a Bride in Expectation of her Bridegroome Rev. 21.1 2 3 4. And I heard saith he a great voice out of Heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and bee their God and God shall wipe away all teares from their Eyes and there shall be no more Death neither sorrow nor Crying neither shall there be any more pain Here You see we have a particular Revelation to assure us that in the resurrection of the just they shall have the first part of Happinesse which is Indolence or the security from greif Now the manner or solemnity of giving this Revelation deserves to be considered also For least this vision should be without an authentick Notary He who sate upon the throne said unto John Write for the words are faithfull and true This came not like a delphick whisper For he heard a great Voice and that not uttering the mind of God enigmatically as it were in a riddle not in amphibolies or equivocall language and of various construction as the heathen Oracles did who sought out darke speech that the Event might not overtake them in an evident lye but in plain univocall and downright termes There shall be no more Death nor sorrow nor crying nor pain This was a Voice from Heaven This is the eternall decree and covenant of God of which he commanded St John to be the Scrivener This is the enfeofment of the redeemed or in the phrase of the Spirit the words that are faithfull and true and cannot passe away This Text you see is generall and full and can bee meant of nothing else But seeing what is here spoken in generall is in other Texts delivered more particularly It will not be amisse to follow wheresoever the Scripture leadeth and so to take a more speciall account what are the miseries that ill men are subject to and that holy and good men by the mercy of God are redeemed from It is most true that Esdras long since observ'd that Mans condition is not greatly to be boasted
our Natures fixt for ever so that no malignant no pestilentiall vapor nor any new and heterogeneous ferment shall be able to alter or corrupt our Constitutions The pestilence that walketh in darknesse propagating it self occultly and the Plague that destroieth at noon day shall have no influence nor power over us Thirdly though the Body and all its parts be strong and the Air wherein we breath be sweet and wholesome Yet Diseases may arise from other causes For example sometimes there happens to be some dissagreablenesse in the matter of our Diet sometimes a mistake in the Quantity sometimes by some other accidents Errors are committed in some of our Digestions which as they happen in the first second or third Digestion to use the style of our vulgar Physiology they cause the pain in the stomach the Colick or the Flux the Obstruction of the Mesentery the fits of an Ague or the pains of a putrid feaver and many more as well Chronicall as acute diseases But all these are accidents of that Nature that they cannot possibly happen to our glorified Bodies St John declares Rev. 7.15.16 That in Heaven Men shall hunger no more they shall thirst no more There shall be none of those stimuli none of those pungent pains for want of meat and drink There shall be no use of Diet nor possibility of Comitting Errors in Diet on Digestions and consequently no surfet nor putrid feavers nor those other diseases that here arise from errors committed in diet and digestion There shall not be any burning feaver No nor so much as a febris ephemera not the least Inflammation of the Spirits from the heat of the Sun So St John proceeds The Sun shall not fall hurtfully upon them neither shall any burning It may be added to compleat the difference That Women which is the half of the rationall world bear children here and it is notorious that they do not bear them without pain and sorrow For to many a disease are they peculiarly and upon that account obnoxious before they can bring a Man child into the world But in Heaven it is Impossible that Women should have any of these Discomposures or that the now Naturall care for Wives and children should disturbe men there For our Savior hath condescended to tell us that those who shall be accounted worthy to attain that world and the Resurrection from the Dead neither marry nor are given in marriage nor can they dy any more They shall have a perpetuity but it shall be established in a better way than by succession of Generations For it followes Luk. 20.35 They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equall to or of like immortall Nature with the Angells and are the sons of God Thus you see how that in all things God exalts the honor of his Goodnesse to us He did us a kindnesse in giving us these pains during our Mortality In the resurrection that day of our Jubilee when there shall be no further use of them He will take from us our Diet of bitter herbs and do us a more great and excellent kindnesse He will establish us in such a state that it will bee Impossible any such cares or greifs should fall upon us I have spoken hitherto principally of our deliverance from greifs that are corporall and incident to us by reason of our Bodies But it is too true that we are subject here to those that are mentall also The Spirit of man may bear his infirmities That is such Evills as are incident to his Mans Body may be born by his Spirit Prov. 18.14 but a wounded Spirit who can bear When our strength is weaknesse how great is that weaknesse and when our Releif is Torment how great is that Torment It is for the sorenesse of these pains of Conscience that they are compared even by Heathens to perpetuall whippings to destructive diseases to sore and incurable Ulcers nay even to the Torments of Hell it self And it is most true that no man in this world can be perfectly secure from the pains and troubles of Conscience because no man can here be perfectly just no man can perfectly comply with the Dictates of his Conscience which containes yet a blotted Copy of Gods first Originall Law Nor can any professor of Christianity perfectly comply with the book't or later Edition of Gods Royall Law so as to need no remorse so as to be above the Necessity of sorrowing and Repenting for his sin Though David was a Man after Gods own heart yet there was a time when his heart smote Him And if his heart smote him for cutting off Sauls skirt and for numbring the people what work think you made his heart with Him in the not to be named matter of Uriah How bitter are those crye◠in the 38th Psalms Thine arrows stick fast in mee and thy hand presseth me sore There is no health in my flesh because of thy Displeasure neither is there any rest in my Bones by Reason of my sin For my wickednesses are gone over my head and are like a sore Burden too heavy for me to bear And how full of concern are those prayers in the 51. Psalm pen'd on that very occasion Cast me not away from thy presence Take not thy holy Spirit from me Restore me to the Joy of thy Salvation Deliver me from blood guiltinesse O God And St Peter that great Apostle though his pretended successor pretends he cannot erre yet he erred more than once and for his errors wept I wish I could read of any Popes that did the same for his errors I say he wept as bitter tears as ere were wept by Mary Magdalene But Heaven is above all these clouds and showers There is no trouble of Conscience there is no broken Spirit there there is no greif no sorrow no pain And therefore not the greatest of pains the pain of a troubled mind As in the state of Integrity there was neither sin nor sting of Conscience So shall it bee in the state of perfect Restauration The glorified Christians shall not only be purg'd from all their sins by the blood of Christ and be cloathed with his Righteousnesse but such Grace shall be given them that they shall grow up and flourish in an inherent Righteousnesse of their own The great Master of Revelations tells us that to the Spouse of the Lambe which is the glorified Church of Christ to her it shall be granted that she shall be arrayed in fine linnen which fine linnen as the same St John interpreteth it is the Righteousnesse of the Saints Rev. 19.8 They shall be as the confirmed Angels are secure from falling into any Action that may cause sin or sorrow Their trade shall bee to be ever Glorifying God and this shall adde to their Glory and to their joy that they shall know that this their glorious Employment shall neither have any end nor any Intermission And Having shewed you now that Heaven is free from the pains of
the son of God and which the foolishnesse of preaching hath in opposition to all their Philosophy again resetled over all the Christian world The first particular that we are to prove is this that they could never secure to themselves the happinesse they design in this life And this St Augustine proves to their heads I shall give you but a Tast of his Discourse First those prima Naturae those first happinesses of Nature which the Academicks made prime parts of their felicity saith he and where and how can they be so ascertain'd as not to be subject to various Casualties What greif is there though never so contrary to pleasure what uneasinesse and Disquiet is there Prima sic Naturam numerat Cicero Incolumitatem conservationemque omnium partium valetudinem sensus integros vires pulchritudinem caeteraque generis ejuidem v. Ciceron de Finib lib. 5. p. 144. though never so contrary to Rest and Indolence that may not happen to the Body of their wisest Philosopher Who can help his being deform'd if Nature made him so siknesse happens to one and hee wants health Weaknesse and Lassitude to another and he wants strength To another a Lasy Heavinesse and torpor and he wants Activity and which of all these may not happen to the Body of their Wisest Man Then as to the Soul What little assistance from our senses will remain towards the perception and comprehension of Truth Ea quae dicuntur prima Naturae quando ubi quomodo tam bene se habere in hac vitâ possunt ut non sub incertis casibus fluctuentur Quis enim Dolor contrarius voluptati Quae inquietudo contraria quieti in corpus cadere sapientis non potest Membrorum amputatio vel debilitas hominis expugnat incolumitatem deformitas pulchritudinem Imbecillitas sanitatem Vires lassitudo Mobilitatem Torpor aut tarditas Ecquid horum est quod nequeat in carnem sapientis irruere Quid ipsius animi primigenia quae dicuntur bona ubi duo prima ponunt propter comprehensionem perceptionemque veritatis sensum intellectum Sed qualis quantusque manet sensus si ut alia taceam homo fiat caecus surdus Ratio verò Intelligentia quo recedit ubi sopietur si aliquo morbo efficiatur insanus Deinde perceptio veritatis in hac carnum qualis ac quanta est quando sicut legimus in veraci libro sapientiae Corpus Corruptibile aggravat animam c. if a Man should happen to be blind and deaf And whether goeth the Reason and understanding of this great Philosopher how will he render it sedale and tractable if by the Tumultuary motions of the Spirits in a Disease he once be rendred Mad But allthough no such Disease should fall upon him yet how little perception of Truth can we possibly arrive to us whilest we are impeded with this Flesh Seeing it is true that we read in the book of Wisdome that the corruptible Body presseth down the Soul Impetus porrò vel actionis Appetitus si hoc modo recte latine appellatur ea quam Graeci vocant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia ipsam primis Natuae deputant bonis Nonne ipse est quo geruntur etiam insanorum illi miserabiles motus facta quae horremus quando pervertitur sensus ratioque ropitur Porro ipsa virtus quae non est inter prima Naturae quoniam eis postea doctrinâ introducente supervenit cum sibi culmen bonorum vindicet humanorum Quid hic agit nisi perpetua bella cum vitiis nec exteriori bus sed interioribus nec alienis sed plane fuis c. ib. and the earthy Tabernacle weigheth down the mind that otherwise would be apt to meditate on many things Hardly saith he do we guesse aright at things that are upon the Earth and with labor do we find the things that are before us Then for the appetitive part which the Greks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the latines have scarce any good Name for though it be esteem'd with them one of their prime parts of happinesse is not this the power by which when once the sense is perverted and Reason laid a sleep all those horrible actions of Mad and phreneticall Persons are perform'd Then as for the Morall vertues such as Temperance and Prudence Justice and fortitude which exceed the prime Happinesses of Nature and are introduced by learning and discipline What great Matter of Happinesse can there bee in these when they confesse that their vertue is allwaies in a perpetuall War with Vice not only with outward Vices but also with such as are within us not only with others Vices but also with our own We who are Christians confesse Neque enim nullum est vitium cum sicut dicit Apostous Caro concupiscit adversus Spiritum Cui Vitio contraria Virtus est cum sicut idem dicit Spiritus concupiscit adversus carnem Haec duo sibi invicem adverfantur c. absitergo ut quamdiu in hoc bello intestino sumus jam nos beatitudinem ad quam vincendo volumus pervenire adeptos esse credamus that the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and that these are contrary one to another so that we cannot do the things that we would and therefore we confesse also that we are not the adepti that wee have not yet attained that happinesse to which by the conquest of our carnall appetite we desire to be advanc't Et quis est adeo sapiens ut contra libidines nullum om ninò habeat conflictum And where is that Philosopher who by his Wisdome hath attained to such a Mastery as to be beyond this Intestine War and to have no conflict with his lusts To passe by those other vertues it is a full Testimony that they give us of their want of true happinesse whiles they describe unto us the happinesse that they suppose themselves to have in their vertue Fortitude The Stoick hath learn'd the lesson of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Epictetum in initio Enchiridii V. Commentarium Plutarchi Stoices magis inopinata quam Poetas effari Things within our power and things without our power so well that he will not allow any thing to be evill that it is not in his power to hinder But for all that let this Stoick boast of his Immunity from Evils or the Cyrenaick of his Pleasure or the Epicurean of his Indolence Tantus superbiae stupor est in his hominibus hic se habere finem Boni a seipsis fieri beatos putantibus ut sapiens eorum hoc est qualem mirabili vanitate describunt etiamsi excaecetur obsurdescat obmutescat membris debilitetur dolotibus crucietur si quid aliud ralium malorum dici aut cogitari possit incidat in eum quo sibi mortem cogatur inferre hanc in his
same kind the sacrilegious separatist is lesse prophane then He The separatist doth very ill when he profanes the materiall Temple but the intemperate Christian doth worse when he profaneh the spirituall The separatist defaceth the pictures of the Saints but the Intemperate Christian defaceth the very Image of God according to which he was created I think I may yet further follow my Apostle and step a little higher in expressing the honour that is done unto our bodies against which we sin by these Intemperances For our Bodies are not only said to be the vessels Temples and Sanctuaries unto Christ but even Members of him also because of the same Spirit that cohabiteth both in our Lord and us St Paul presseth this Argument home against the 3d and worst sort of Intemperance 1 Cor. 6.15 Know you not that your Bodies are the Members of Christ shall I then take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of an Harlot Surely he that desires to bee called by the name of a Christian and would deserve that name can never intend so vile an Act or willingly consent so to dishonor the Members of his Lord. The truth is our Religion goes beyond Philosophy and affords not only the best Rules of Sobriety but the best encouragements to it and the best Dissuasives from the contrary V Tacit. l. 3. Ann Alexandiū ab Alexan. l. 3. c. 11. Yet as Tiberius spake in Tacitus concerning the Laws anciently made in Rome against Luxury Leges contemptu abolitas securiorem Luxum fecisse that those Laws being once suffered to be despised made Luxury ride on more triumphantly and secure This is our very Case The Gospell of our Lord hath prescribed us good Medicines but our Disease is grown so great as to have the Mastery and to triumph over all our Medicines vice is grown so powerfull and impudent as to run down Religion it self from off the stage of this sinfull World when St John pronounced that dismall sentence in the Conclusion of his Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole world lyeth down and sinks under the power of its own wickednesse He excepted then the Christians out of that World 1 Joh 5.19 But where is now the power of Christianity it self where is there now even among Christians the Man that in St Johns sense sinneth not where is the Man that guardeth and keepeth himself so that the Wicked one toucheth him not Is it not an ill and a desperate case my Brethren that we can be contented with the empty name of Christianity and can suffer the Laws and power of Religion to be contemned Is not the Word of God as sufficiently able now as formerly to hamper and toyl the Consciences of profane and evil men Methinks I have a mind to imitate St James to make an Apostrophe to them and to call these wicked Men a little by their own names Yee Adulterers and Adulteresses those are the Apostles words Yee Drunkards and ryottous persons ye that are a shame and scandall to your profession yee that abuse the Members of Christ and continually dishonour and profane your Bodies your Bodies said I Nay they are not yours those vessels I mean that your Lord hath made and bought and which first in your Baptisme and since in every Sacrament received by you ye have dedicated to God and he hath appointed to Sanctification and holinesse What will ye not stand to the Covenants ye have made with your God Is it nothing in a Matter so sacred to give and to take to offer and resume to promise and prevaricate Is it not a great prophanesse and sacriledge to defile and pollute the vessels ye have dedicated And do yee not fear to be overtaken in your profanesse as Belshazzar was in his Or if you are not afraid of the Wickednesse that is in it for some indeed there are that are not afraid of any Wickednesse yet why are yee not ashamed of your folly Thus Vetulam praeferre Immortalitali to preferre the filthy Harlottry of the world and flesh before the eternall glory of your Bodies and souls Why do yee pretend to Christianity if ye will not practice it This we know that if you believe the Gospell you cannot think your selves secure in the pursuance of these practices O yee young Men why do ye not consider what Salomon hath foretold you that when you have rejoyced your fill and walk't till you are weary in the wayes of your heart and in the sight of your eyes you must in the end be brought to a Reckoning and a Judgement for all the particulars of your lives Eccles 11.9 O yee that are Men of Age ye that have been now for a long time professors of Christian Religion why do you not consider what our saviour hath prophesied Mat. 4.36 That as when in the daies of Noah Men were eating and drinking untill the flood came and took them all away so shall the coming of the son of Man bee It was nothing but his great kindnesse that made our Saviour give his Scholars that Caution Luc. 21.34 Take heed to your selves least at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfetting and drunkennesse and the Cares of this World and so that day come upon you unawares As he is a faithfull and wise servant that maketh it his businesse to do his Masters will so he hath the character of an unfaithfull evill and foolish servant who puts off the evill day and saith in his heart My Lord delayeth his coming and sinneth and wrongeth his fellow servants and eateth and drinketh with the drunken For the Daies of his particular Judgment shall come sooner than he thinks for The Lord of that servant as himself hath foretold shall come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of and shall appoint his portion with Hypocrites And let me tell you the portion of Hypocrites is one of the worst Portions that is paid in Hell That we may have a better Portion in a better place I shall conclude by pressing seriously upon you the very exhortation in my Text That Exhortation that wrought so happily upon St Augustine And if it wrought upon St Augustine why may it not by the gracious operation of the same Spirit work a like effect upon some of us Let us my Brethren cast of the workes of darknesse and let us put on the Armour of light let us walk honestly as in the day Not in ryotting and drunkennesse not in Chambering and Wantonnesse not in strife and Envying but let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the flesh to fullfill the Lusts thereof Let us know that our Religion ought to extend to every action of our Lives even to our eating and drinking and every part of our Conversation Let us remember whose we are who hath made us and who hath bought us with a price And since he hath made both and
redeemed both and we have offered and given both Let us glorify him with both Both with our bodies and with our Spirits for they are his Let us hold to that Rule of the Apostle which is or ought to bee the great Rule of every Christians life whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we doe let us do all to the Glory of God so shall we never do amisse but the peace of God shall be with us and preserve us for ever Gloria Trinuni Deo ΠΑΡΑΚΛΗΣΙΣ AN Exhortation to the pursuance of the CHEIFEST GOOD WITH A breif Review of the Opinions concerning it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12. MATH VI. 19 20 33. Lay not up for your selves treasures upon Earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where theives break through and steal but lay up for your selves treasures in Heaven to which adde v. 33. Seek ye first the Kingdome of God and his Righteousnesse IT is a certain truth that in every Man there is an innate desire of good and it is as true that very few attain to the Good that they desire For as Maximus Tyrius in his 19th Discourse hath ingeniously express't it It happeneth to us in this dark and muddy Region of the lower world as it doth to those who scramble for gold or silver in a dark night who while they want a light to distinguish what they feek after and only guesse at it by deceitfull circumstances fall together by the Ears for they know not what For he that hath gotten any thing will not part with it for fear he should have already gotten the desireable thing neither will he abstain from further scrambling for fear it should be yet to seek Here is all the Tumult and the strife the Clamors and the noise the sighs and the groanes the rapine and the suits and all the hurry of the overbusy world This is the same thing that is intimated by K. David in his fourth Psalm There be many that say who will shew us any good Not Many only but All even the whole world pretend to be and really are in the pursuance of this good But as St Paul observed concerning the Jews that they obtained not to Righteousnesse because they sought it where it was not to bee found So the Masse of Mankind attain not to the Possessron of Happinesse because they seek it where it is not They search for the living among the Dead The Psalmist had observ'd concerning the Joy of the vulgar that it was such a delight as did alwayes ebbe and flow according to the increase or decrease of their Corne and Wine and Oyl For in these lay their Treasures and upon their Treasures they laid their Hearts but he had setled his Eye upon the true Joy His hope was the hope of Heaven His expectation was the Expectation of the beatifick Vision His desire was to have the face of God eternally reconciled to Him The light of Gods countenance was more to Him then was the Joy of the Worldly man When his Corne and his Wine and his Oyl increased Psalm 4.6 7 8. This was the Happinesse of David the Man after Gods own heart who had an understanding whereby He was enabled to call Good Good and Evill Evill and was guided by the Spirit of God to have his Will and affections rightly placed which the greater part of the world neither had then nor have to this Day Philosophers Historians Poets and all observers of human Manners and Nature have taken notice of a vast variety in human inclinations All pretend and all seek yet in all this variety of Pretenders and seekers few have designed few have sought the greatest good Some place their happinesse in Luxury and Ryot others in Parsimony and thrift The Merchant in his gold the Drunkard in his Wine the effeminate in his Loves The witty Man in pleasant Conversation the Orator in fine and well adorned speech the Martiall man in fights and triumphs some sportive men have been so vain as to think there could be no greater Happinesse upon Earth then to bee a renowned Victor in the Olympique Games and to get a branch of Olive as a Trophee of Mastery in those feats of Activity Sardanapalus I 'le watrant you thought himself a pretty Man and a Prince indeed when he was curl'd and dress't and richly cloath'd and shut up in his Palace among his concubines but few others have thought that a design of life well chosen for so great an Emperor Xerxes thought himself little lesse then the God he worship't if indeed his pride then allow'd him to worship any when he 〈…〉 his fetters upon the Sea and joynd Europe and Asia with a bridge not considering how short should be the Glory of that Action and that it should suddenly end in being utterly overthrown There are no things done from the great Atcheivments of Alexander and Caesar to those little Arts that are not worthy to be named in a pulpit that are not practiced with some design of good But this is the misery of our Condition that in all this variety the Ends we design are generally if not Base and Wicked yet poor and mean and yet though poor and mean and eagerly pursued are seldome notwithstanding sufficiently attained But it is more worth our Notice and Admiration that Philosophy it self the great Mistresse of Curiosity should professe to correct the Aims of the Vulgar and to design so Wisely and yet should fail as notoriously as any other profession of doing any thing worthy of all her anxious Disquisitions That it should challenge so great a Name and procure so little Good that they should erre so widely in their searches after the Summum Bonum or cheifest Happinesse For I do not find that they had the good luck to attain to any thing that might give them just Occasion to cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have found it I have found it And those who seem to bee the adepti and to have gotten most considerable attainments contented themselves generally with a very mean Quarry a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maximus Tyrius Dissett 19 ad Finem Ad vos nunc refero quem sequar◠c. Cicero Academ Q. l. 4. It hath been anciently observed that Pythagoras his Learning ended in a few Musicall Iingles Thales's Wisedome in some uncertain Astronomicall Phansies Heraclitus's Contemplations concluded in solitude and weeping Socrates his renowned Philosophy led Him to the practice of unnaturall lust Diogenes his sharpenesse of wit to use his Body to endure all manner of nastinesse and course labor E. picurus's Inventions and Discourses of which he boasts so proudly set Him down contented with any kind of Pleasure We shall do Aristippus no wrong at all if we joyn Him with the more renowned Epicurus And why may not the Stoicks and Peripateticks Clubb also who are both represented to make the bare Action or vertue its own Reward Such are the Ends and so great is the
price is put into the hand of fools Our life will be unto us but Occasion of eternall Misery and it would have been better for us never to have been born Will any Man then whose faith is not asleep or in a journy will any Man I mean that believes and considers the existence of Heaven and Hell and the other doctrines of our Faith venture to commit a sin or to provoke his judge or to do any thing that may endanger the damnation of his Soul to eternall Death to save so poor a thing as this uncertain life much lesse to get Riches or Honor or any other worldly acquirement Let us not therefore halt between two Opinions If the Gospell be Gospell Let it have the power of the Gospell Fear its threatnings Entertain its encouragements Receive its Dictats If you receive not these stay no longer here to be a scandall to the best Religion Go rather to the Font where you were initiated and there publickly Renounce and disclaim your Faith Turn professedly Julians or Judas's and insted of the Apostles creed take up the loose discourse of the wicked Atheist or blasphemer as it is express't in the Second chapter of the book of Wisdome and boasted upon Occasions with a little Variety by our modern pretenders to prophane Wit we are as the ungodly wretch in that place most Cursedly expatiates born at all adventures he meanes by chance as if Men were not at all design'd or formed by the providence of God and we shall be hereafter as if we had never been For the breath of our Nostrils is as smoke or which comes very neer the Philosophy of our Modern Atheist A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little spark in the moving of the heart Which being extinguished our Body shall be turned into ashes and our Spirit shall vanish into the soft Air And our name shall be forgotten in Time and no Man shall have our works in Remembrance For our time is a very shadow that passeth away and after our End there is no returning If you are prepared now to renounce your Religion and to agnize these Aphorismes of Atheisme to be the articles of your Faith If you are contented to be reckon'd not with the sheep but with the Goats and to have your portion with these wretches hereafter you may from the same place take the Counsell of the wicked Reasoner It is a fit Application for such a doctrine Enjoy the good things that are present and regard not the world to come Fill your selves with costly Wine and Oyntments and let none of you go without some part of his voluptuousnesse Contemn the laws of God and Nature Oppresse the poor righteous man spare not the Widdow and which is perfect Hobbisme Let your strength be the Law of Justice and what is feeble count it little worth Lay wait for the Righteous Man The man of great and just principles and resolutions he must be rid out of the way because he is not for your turn he will be sure to expose your basenesse to oppose your designes of Villany and wickednesse Examine him with Despitefullnesse Try him with Contumely thus know his meeknesse thus prove his Patience Do not only make your scoffs at Vertue but which are acts worthy a perfect Brave destroy it and root it out and then fear not to adventure upon any acts of Impiety or Insolence These are the Councels of the confirmed Reprobate in the second of Wisdome shame and Wo unto us that this noise should be heard in our streets that these Counsels should at this day be put in practice among us And you my Brethren if you have not come into the Councell of these Cains and Nimrods if these Theorems of Ranting and Hectoring do yet affright you if you dare not deny the truth of the Christian doctrine that is not only countenanced by the Analogy of other certain Truths but hath also been confirmed by Miracles from God and gifts of the holy Ghost Then as ye expect the light and life of God ye must live as children of that light as heirs of that life ye must professe and practice just contrary to the beleif and practice of these reprobated Men Ye must believe that there is an eternall Wages reserved for Temporall Righteousnesse and an everlasting Reward to blamelesse Souls And that for all the Rallery of these blasphemers Man was not so wonderfully made by chance Nor born at all adventures but that God created Man to bee immortall and to be the Image of his own Eternity as the Author of the book of Wisdome there declares in confutation of that wicked Reasoning which according the Epicurean Hypothesis he had so lively represented you are of those my Brethren that have not as I hope stood in the way much lesse sate down in the seat of those insolent Scorners at all Religion and Goodnesse You beleive that our Lord Jesus Christ shall one day come to judge the quick and the dead when as St Paul writeth to his Colossians those that have done well shall receive the Reward of an Inheritance and those that have done wrong shall receive for the wrong that they have done and there shall be no respect of persons Those who have chosen to be patrones and practicers of Atheisme and given themselves over to the suggestions of the Evill Spirit and to the Vanity of their own hearts those who have contemned the Gospell which as St Paul observes is not hid to any but those that are lost and slight the Righteousnesse that is commended to us though they are lofty now and full of their Grandeur how will their countenance fall when the sun shall become black as Sackcloth of hair and the moon shall be as blood and when the stars of heaven shall fall to the Earth as when a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs. With what boon grace will they carry themselves when they shall see the Heavens depart as a scroll that is folded together and every mountain and every Island and this of ours among the rest shall be visib'y moved quite out of their places St John telleth us what will bee their condition at that time who are wanting in Religion and good Manners though otherwise exalted in secular dignity and Estate Revel 6.15 The Kings of the Earth and the great Men and the Rich men and the cheife Captains and the bond and the free Men and all that whole Gang of wicked Men and Unbeleivers shall hide themselves in the dens and rocks of the mountains and shall say to the Mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. He whose first Advent to us was humble and mean and he that in his passion for us shewed the meeknesse of a Lamb will then appear as the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah He shall then come no more as a Preist to atone for us nor as a Prophet to Preach unto us the way of life but then only as a Judge to acquit or condemn us And the man that hath made no advantage of the first advent shall not need to wish the second There shall be no Place nor means for Redemption then But the fearfull and Unbeleiving and Abominable and Whoremongers and Sorcerers and Idolaters and Lyars and other such sinfull Men shall have their part in that lake of fire and Brimstone where whatsoever Socinus or Mr Hobbes have thought to the contrary the smoke of their Torment shall ascend up for ever and ever and they shall have no rest day nor night Those on the Contrary who have beleived the Gospell of our Savior and by the power of their Faith have overcome the Temptations of the world and so by reason of their Inherent Grace have a title to plead the merits of Christ and his Righteousnesse for the Remission of their sins they shall inherite all things even all the Glorious unconceivable Happinesses of Heaven To which Kingdome of Glory God Allmighty bring us through all those means and methods that he hath sanctified to that purpose Now to the King of Heaven and to the Lord our Righteousnesse by whose merits only we have entrance into that Kingdome and to the Spirit of holinesse who can only give us title to those Merits and bring us within the conditions of the Covenant of Grace to the Whole holy and ever blessed Trinity in Unity be Glory Honor and Adoration for ever FINIS